Are you trying to figure out how to earn from blogging? Imagine that you could make money online every single day. Wouldn't it be nice to wake up to $100, $200 or more every day? Of course it would. Everyone would love to make money while they sleep. That's one of the best things about blogging.
Trust me, the first time I woke up to $25 in my account, I was thrilled. The first dollars you make as a blogger can really draw you into the reality of blogging as a career. If you dedicate the time and effort, there is no limit to how much you can make.
In this article, I want to not only teach you the easy way to make money online as a blogger, but I want to share with you, my experience and failures a long the way on my journey. Going through these failures taught me a lot, and I think everyone should know about them, to prevent making the same mistakes I did.
This won't be an ordinary how-to article. This will be more of a 'don't do what I did' article. I have made many mistakes along this journey and had I know then what I know now...Wow! I'm sure I would be sleeping on a yacht!
Blogging has always been something I knew about, but I never really partook. I used to think it was more of a public journal, (well in a way that is exactly what it is for some) and I didn't care to journal about my life. That was until I started couponing. Yes, for a long time, I became that crazy coupon girl. Spamming my newly found coupon deals on my facebook timeline. Inspiring some people and annoying some too. I seriously had it bad. I was so passionate about the subject that I really wanted to help others learn.
This would be the first step in starting your blog.
It's best to blog about something you have a lot of knowledge about. This makes it easier for you to teach others. If you want others to be able to get the same enjoyment out of what you enjoy, you have to figure out different ways to reach them. This is why blogging about a passion is better, because without that passion, you just won't care enough.
I knew I wanted to tell the world about couponing, and since I didn't care to add random strangers to my facebook, I searched for another outlet to teach. This is when 'start a blog' came to mind. I figured it would be my couponing journal. So I started it. I named my blog Columbia Coupon Mom. I created my blog through blogspot at the time, which was a free hosted blog. I didn't even know what a domain name was.
I was so naive to the whole blogosphere. I decided I would name my blog so I could focus on couponing locally. This is where my first mistake happened.
You will make alot of mistakes on the way. I didn't really have a plan. I just knew I wanted to blog about coupons, and it seemed better to present it to a local group. After all, I wasn't familiar with stores in other states. It just made sense to me. I went ahead with the name Columbia Coupon Mom, and focused on stores only in Columbia,SC. I purchased the domain name as well. This is a top step in blogging.
The most important step you can take when starting a blog, is to buy a domain name. As you see my domain name is TheVersatileMama.com. (It was Columbia Coupon Mom, I'll explain later.)
I find having a domain name match the title of your blog to be the best. This makes it your brand. It is fairly cheap to buy a domain name. I purchased mine from Godaddy.com for only $0.99 for the first year. It's a great deal if you are serious about
blogging as a career. After the 1st year you will be charged $14.99 typically for the next year. Many people also prefer paying for multiple years to save money and lessen the hassle of remembering every year. If you want to test out the domain name search, just click the banner to be taken to the search bar. If you have a name for a blog, type it in and see if that name is available. There are also a few more steps when starting the domain name search.
Some people like to use a keyword planner to check for domain names that have valuable keywords within them. I personally didn't know about this until it was too late. If you want to learn about finding good keywords, you can check out this video that helped me a lot. The next step would be to make sure your name is available on social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. These will be the top places you will be promoting content.
Once you figure out a domain name, and get those social media sites set up in your name, you are ready for the next step. Buy Hosting.
Yes, you will have to have hosting in order for you to set up your domain name. I prefer Go daddy hosting. I pay $8 a month because I chose to pay monthly. If you rather pay for a year or more in full, then you will pay a cheaper price. Check out their hosting packages here. If you use this link, you will save 50% off your total hosting package. Make sure you choose a hosting package that allows you to have WordPress.
The good thing about WordPress is all of the free plug ins that make your site so enjoyable for you and your readers.
I want you to understand that blogging is more than just typing and publishing. It's about learning new skills. You will learn so much about blogging, and the technology around it. When I started blogging I didn't know what HTML, but thanks to all of the amazing tutorials I have found online, I feel very confident in using HTML. It will be something you will probably have to edit at some point, and I assure you that there will be a tutorial out there, made just for you.
Once you have your domain name and hosting. You will probably have your WordPress site set up and ready to go. You will get to design your blog at this point. This is where you will get to choose a theme and create your menus. You really should sit down with a paper and pen and brainstorm this part. As you can see from my blog theme, it was one of the basic themes that come with WordPress. You can easily choose one from the main menu or you can purchase one.
I would also recommend googling "Free WordPress themes". This is how I have found many over the years. I change mine quite a lot. You will also need to create a menu. For example, if you are starting a couponing blog, then think about how to make it user friendly. Are your menu names going to be category types of coupons? Baby, Drinks, Food etc? Really figure that part out and when you have a list and are ready to create a menu, then google "How to make a menu on Wordpress." Yes. You will be googling a lot of things.
I want to share with you how to create categories because this will be important to use to separate your blog posts. When you start writing blog posts, you will find a side bar that has the publish button in it. Right under that publish button there will be a category section. You will want to Press "Add new category", and then type in what name you want. Make sure you capitalize it as this will probably end up being a menu for you in the near future.
When I create a blog post, I typically mark the category before I press publish. For instance, this post will be listed as Blogging 101. This is one of my categories that I use. So when a reader goes to my Blogging 101 category menu, they will see excerpts from all of my posts that were categorized as having to do with blogging. Be sure to check it out here.
Ok. After you have all of these steps complete, it's time to start writing. Before you even think about making money with your blog, you need to create content that will keep people wanting to come back.
Whatever topic you choose for your blog, you should write about. So if you have a blog called Toys for Kids, then you probably shouldn't write about guns and ammo. Start writing about whatever you want to write about, but stay within the topic of your blog. Make sure you share your content on your personal social media sites, and ask your friends and family to follow you and share with their friends. This is where it all starts.
Another great way to bring in more traffic (readers), is to have a small giveaway. What I typically do is once every few months I have a $25 Amazon Gift Card giveaway using Rafflecopter.com. This allows me to create entries that will increase my following. For example an entry could be "Get 1 entry for following me on Twitter" etc. I highly recommend this.
Also be sure to create a Google Analytics account so you can start keeping track of how much traffic you have. Once you get to a certain amount you will be ready for the money making. This will conclude Part 1 of How to Earn From Blogging. I will upload the second part by the end of this week. For now the biggest step is to create content, promote content,build traffic.
The next post I make on this will show some great traffic tips. Be sure to subscribe so you can grab the next part.
Update** Part 2 available here.
Trust me, the first time I woke up to $25 in my account, I was thrilled. The first dollars you make as a blogger can really draw you into the reality of blogging as a career. If you dedicate the time and effort, there is no limit to how much you can make.
In this article, I want to not only teach you the easy way to make money online as a blogger, but I want to share with you, my experience and failures a long the way on my journey. Going through these failures taught me a lot, and I think everyone should know about them, to prevent making the same mistakes I did.
This won't be an ordinary how-to article. This will be more of a 'don't do what I did' article. I have made many mistakes along this journey and had I know then what I know now...Wow! I'm sure I would be sleeping on a yacht!
Blogging has always been something I knew about, but I never really partook. I used to think it was more of a public journal, (well in a way that is exactly what it is for some) and I didn't care to journal about my life. That was until I started couponing. Yes, for a long time, I became that crazy coupon girl. Spamming my newly found coupon deals on my facebook timeline. Inspiring some people and annoying some too. I seriously had it bad. I was so passionate about the subject that I really wanted to help others learn.
This would be the first step in starting your blog.
Find A Topic You Are Passionate About
It's best to blog about something you have a lot of knowledge about. This makes it easier for you to teach others. If you want others to be able to get the same enjoyment out of what you enjoy, you have to figure out different ways to reach them. This is why blogging about a passion is better, because without that passion, you just won't care enough.
I knew I wanted to tell the world about couponing, and since I didn't care to add random strangers to my facebook, I searched for another outlet to teach. This is when 'start a blog' came to mind. I figured it would be my couponing journal. So I started it. I named my blog Columbia Coupon Mom. I created my blog through blogspot at the time, which was a free hosted blog. I didn't even know what a domain name was.
I was so naive to the whole blogosphere. I decided I would name my blog so I could focus on couponing locally. This is where my first mistake happened.
You will make alot of mistakes on the way. I didn't really have a plan. I just knew I wanted to blog about coupons, and it seemed better to present it to a local group. After all, I wasn't familiar with stores in other states. It just made sense to me. I went ahead with the name Columbia Coupon Mom, and focused on stores only in Columbia,SC. I purchased the domain name as well. This is a top step in blogging.
Important Steps Before You Start Blogging
The most important step you can take when starting a blog, is to buy a domain name. As you see my domain name is TheVersatileMama.com. (It was Columbia Coupon Mom, I'll explain later.)
I find having a domain name match the title of your blog to be the best. This makes it your brand. It is fairly cheap to buy a domain name. I purchased mine from Godaddy.com for only $0.99 for the first year. It's a great deal if you are serious about
blogging as a career. After the 1st year you will be charged $14.99 typically for the next year. Many people also prefer paying for multiple years to save money and lessen the hassle of remembering every year. If you want to test out the domain name search, just click the banner to be taken to the search bar. If you have a name for a blog, type it in and see if that name is available. There are also a few more steps when starting the domain name search.
Some people like to use a keyword planner to check for domain names that have valuable keywords within them. I personally didn't know about this until it was too late. If you want to learn about finding good keywords, you can check out this video that helped me a lot. The next step would be to make sure your name is available on social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. These will be the top places you will be promoting content.
Once you figure out a domain name, and get those social media sites set up in your name, you are ready for the next step. Buy Hosting.
Yes, you will have to have hosting in order for you to set up your domain name. I prefer Go daddy hosting. I pay $8 a month because I chose to pay monthly. If you rather pay for a year or more in full, then you will pay a cheaper price. Check out their hosting packages here. If you use this link, you will save 50% off your total hosting package. Make sure you choose a hosting package that allows you to have WordPress.
The good thing about WordPress is all of the free plug ins that make your site so enjoyable for you and your readers.
I want you to understand that blogging is more than just typing and publishing. It's about learning new skills. You will learn so much about blogging, and the technology around it. When I started blogging I didn't know what HTML, but thanks to all of the amazing tutorials I have found online, I feel very confident in using HTML. It will be something you will probably have to edit at some point, and I assure you that there will be a tutorial out there, made just for you.
The Fun Begins Here. DESIGN.
Once you have your domain name and hosting. You will probably have your WordPress site set up and ready to go. You will get to design your blog at this point. This is where you will get to choose a theme and create your menus. You really should sit down with a paper and pen and brainstorm this part. As you can see from my blog theme, it was one of the basic themes that come with WordPress. You can easily choose one from the main menu or you can purchase one.
I would also recommend googling "Free WordPress themes". This is how I have found many over the years. I change mine quite a lot. You will also need to create a menu. For example, if you are starting a couponing blog, then think about how to make it user friendly. Are your menu names going to be category types of coupons? Baby, Drinks, Food etc? Really figure that part out and when you have a list and are ready to create a menu, then google "How to make a menu on Wordpress." Yes. You will be googling a lot of things.
I want to share with you how to create categories because this will be important to use to separate your blog posts. When you start writing blog posts, you will find a side bar that has the publish button in it. Right under that publish button there will be a category section. You will want to Press "Add new category", and then type in what name you want. Make sure you capitalize it as this will probably end up being a menu for you in the near future.
When I create a blog post, I typically mark the category before I press publish. For instance, this post will be listed as Blogging 101. This is one of my categories that I use. So when a reader goes to my Blogging 101 category menu, they will see excerpts from all of my posts that were categorized as having to do with blogging. Be sure to check it out here.
Ok. After you have all of these steps complete, it's time to start writing. Before you even think about making money with your blog, you need to create content that will keep people wanting to come back.
Time For Content
Whatever topic you choose for your blog, you should write about. So if you have a blog called Toys for Kids, then you probably shouldn't write about guns and ammo. Start writing about whatever you want to write about, but stay within the topic of your blog. Make sure you share your content on your personal social media sites, and ask your friends and family to follow you and share with their friends. This is where it all starts.
Another great way to bring in more traffic (readers), is to have a small giveaway. What I typically do is once every few months I have a $25 Amazon Gift Card giveaway using Rafflecopter.com. This allows me to create entries that will increase my following. For example an entry could be "Get 1 entry for following me on Twitter" etc. I highly recommend this.
Also be sure to create a Google Analytics account so you can start keeping track of how much traffic you have. Once you get to a certain amount you will be ready for the money making. This will conclude Part 1 of How to Earn From Blogging. I will upload the second part by the end of this week. For now the biggest step is to create content, promote content,build traffic.
The next post I make on this will show some great traffic tips. Be sure to subscribe so you can grab the next part.
Update** Part 2 available here.
Great info, I read part 2 as well
ReplyDeleteI really need this information. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete