If the question of whether bloggers make money online or not has been bugging you for some time, the short answer is yes, you can make money blogging.
A report from Glassdoor showed that established bloggers could earn anywhere from $19k to $79k a year, with most of them making around $24k a year. Another survey from Blogging.com also revealed that 17% of bloggers could support their families with their blogging income.
So yes, bloggers make money. But it doesn’t happen overnight.
For most bloggers, it can take months or even years before you receive your first check. It all depends on how often you blog, the quality of your content, your chosen niche or topic and how competitive it is, and how effective you are at building and generating traffic.
That’s why before you blog, you first have to make sure that you’re 100% committed to it.
Ready to embark on your blogging journey? Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to earn money from your blog:
Step 1: Set up your blog
Before you do anything else, create your blog first.
Though it’s an obvious step, a lot of people falter at this one because they think that creating a blog is too technical and requires you to be computer and internet-savvy. But it’s pretty easy once you know how to do it.
First, choose a blogging platform. Though there are lots of platforms out there, the one that most bloggers use is WordPress. It’s free, secure, easy to set up, and easily customizable.
You can either get a free WordPress blog or a paid one, where you can get your domain and have complete control over how it looks and operates.
Once you’ve selected a platform, you can then secure your domain name and set up your blog host. These two go hand-in-hand, as you can get your domain in the same place where you get your blog hosted.
Afterward, you can proceed to set up your blog and configuring its design to reflect your personality.
Step 2: Choose a profitable blogging niche
If you really want to make money from your blog, passion alone won’t cut it.
One of the primary considerations in choosing a topic for your blog is having an audience who’s willing to buy things. You can write about quilted blankets all you want, but if there’s no demand for it, no one would read your blog or buy from you in the future.
Remember, you can’t create demand. But you can leverage demand by simply asking people what they want to read about.
For instance, if you have a health background and you want to write about health, research about the common health concerns that people have. You can then write about specific topics that interest people, such as living with diabetes, having a healthy lifestyle, or coping with stress.
Step 3: Create useful content
Now that you have your niche, it’s time to start creating content that’s relevant and useful to the niche or target market you selected.
Focus on creating content that has a significant impact on people’s lives, as these pieces are what people value the most. It will make them feel like they know you, thus making them like and trust you. And trust is essential if you want your audience to buy your products and services in the future.
Step 4: Level up your content writing skills
But creating content is not enough if you want to stand out from your competition. You might be writing the most insightful blog post about preventing obesity, but no one would read it if your writing is too technical and impenetrable.
To get your blog noticed among the crowd, you have to make sure that you’re writing the best content ever published on your topic. To do that, you have to know what kind of content is popular in your niche, you need to have a proven framework for writing posts, and your content should deliver value to your reader.
Once you master these three, it will be easier for you to create posts that people want to read.
Step 5: Promote your blog and build your audience
Marketing is an essential skill in blogging, but it’s something that most novice bloggers fail to maximize.
To do this, think about the type of reader you want to attract to your blog. Having an ideal customer avatar works in this aspect. What kind of blogs do they read? What forums are they participating in? Which social media channel do they engage in? Which podcasts do they listen to? Which accounts are they following on social media?
These questions help you figure not only who your ideal reader is but also where they frequently hang out online. Knowing that allows you to develop a presence in those places so that you can get front and center with your audience.
You can promote your blog posts by inserting them in your comments or answers to questions, but make sure that you’re coming from a place of help and not just being spammy.
Aside from hanging out where your target market is, it’s also a good idea to optimize your posts for search engines and Facebook, since Google and Facebook remain to be the top two sources of traffic for written content.
Step 6: Engage with your readers
Engaging with your readers allows you to build a community of blog followers.
Make sure that you respond to comments and reach out personally to some of your most engaged readers. It makes them feel they’re important, so they keep coming back for more. They might also help spread the word about your blog, giving you more readers and free promotion.
Plus, the more engaged your readers are, the easier it is for them to buy your products and services.
Step 7: Start monetizing your blog to make money online
Now that you’ve built your foundation by having a blog with top quality content and a highly engaged audience, you can start monetizing it through a variety of income streams.
Below are some of the ways on how you can make money blogging:
Place ads on your blog
Adding ads on your blog is one of the easiest ways to earn revenue from your blog.
You can add CPC (cost-per-click) ads on your content or sidebar so that every time a reader clicks on it, you get paid. Another type of ad you can have is CPM (cost-per-mille) ads, which are ads that pay you a fixed amount of money depending on how many people viewed your ad.
You can place these ads on your site with the help of Google AdSense, as it is the most popular ad network around.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is promoting other people’s products or services and earning a commission from every sale you get. With commissions ranging from 5% to 75% of the price, affiliate marketing is one of the most lucrative ways of earning from your blog.
You can write blog posts about an affiliate product or service you want to promote. It can be a review, a compilation list, or a how-to post with the affiliate product placed as a recommendation. Don’t forget to put your affiliate link for your sale to be counted.
But remember that your posts shouldn’t be purely promotional. Focus on providing value and giving out the benefits of the products so that your readers will feel compelled to buy it.
Sell products and services
Got your own product or service? You can leverage your blog to promote and sell them.
It does not have to be a physical product. You can sell digital products like e-books, online courses, videos, apps, themes, or plugins.
Again, when writing blog posts, the important thing is that you focus on what’s relevant and useful to your readers, not just purely pitching your product. Listen to what your readers want, then create a digital product that will benefit them.
Once you relay to your readers how the product will benefit them, it won’t be hard to convince them to buy it.
Build your portfolio
Did you know that you can offer blogging as a service to businesses?
With B2B and B2C marketers spending $44 billion for content marketing, blogging for businesses can be a lucrative venture for any blogger out there.
You can use your blog as a portfolio to showcase your ability to write about your chosen niche. If you want to be a health blogger, your blog should feature health-related articles.
Having a blog also builds your credibility, as it shows that you can create quality content. It also helps clients view you as an authority in the field, increasing your chances of getting hired.
But aside from blogging, you can further market your service by guest blogging on high-traffic sites, doing social media marketing and leveraging Facebook ads.
And to make sure that you’re building your freelance blogging career, don’t forget to ask for testimonials and reviews from your clients and add them to your site.
These are just some of the many ways to monetize your blog. Always remember that as long as you give value in your blog, you’re bound to build a loyal following that can help you make money online.
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