Starting your blogging journey might seem like an easy step but it sure isn’t. If you want to start a blog, the consistency, the accuracy, the need to always stay on top of the curve sometimes prove very daunting. But trust me it is very do-able. All you need to do is plan. ‘After all, failing to plan is planning to fail’.
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If you are starting your blogging journey then here is all you need to know. Read this guide and apply it through out this blogging journey. This well-prepared guide will help you to start and maintain a good blog, even if you have no technical knowledge or idea whatsoever about blogging.
The process of starting a blog can be very complicated especially if y ou are not a techy person. You could face a lot of challenges if you do not do it right. Most bloggers had to rely on Google every step of the way and learn from their mistakes as a beginner would.
What Is A Blog?
A blog is basically a space or an online journal where the owner presents information on a particular topic. Usually in chronological order. hence displaying the most recent or relevant content first. A blog can be a section within a website or a standalone project.
The first time blogs emerged was around 1994. Then, people to use them mainly to share their personal lives, including their experiences and interests. For today, blogs have become an essential online marketing strategy for businesses and one of the most profitable career choices for individuals.
Gone are the days blogs are mainly used for sharing ideas and opinions, but for now blogging has turned into passion-turned-profession as internet business to do and make money online.
What Is Blogging?
Blogging refers to the process of managing a blog, from idea generation to the publishing process. It includes the necessary tasks people need to run a blog, such as writing a blog post, promoting it, and practicing link- building strategies. With that being said, the person is called a blogger.
Tune your Mind For The Blogging Journey
Before we even start talking about starting a blog, you need to be sure that it is the right thing for you. Especially when your idea is to do blogging to make money. Blogging in itself is a means to let people know what goes on in your mind.
It’s an opportunity to showcase yourself, and your work makes people from far and near read and experience it. People are at the center of blogging. Therefore if all you want to achieve from blogging is money and you can not relate with people very much, you might have to look away from blogging.
Every blogger should have some characteristics to increase their chances of success. And every blogger should have some characteristics to increase their chances of success.
Here are some abilities you need to possess as a blogger:
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Be disciplined
If you are looking to blog for a living or as a primary source of income, you should be very disciplined about it. Discipline comes in the form of being consistent about writing and making sure you put your content first.
A disciplined blogger always sets blogging goals and pushes himself to achieve them promptly. The most important of these goals is mostly writing engaging content regularly.
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Write decently
I don’t mean the ability to write prize-winning literature articles. But the critical thing in blogging is to write (and avoid plagiarism) You don’t necessarily have to be a top-notch writer, but you should be able to express yourself in your chosen language of blogging.
A good understanding of tenses, grammar and sentence structures is enough to get you started and take you on top. Just like other things, the more you blog, the better your writing. But first, you need to start from a good point.
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Be a social person
Here, we do not mean you need to be the most extroverted person on the planet. However, as a blogger, you should be open to connecting with people and speaking with them. If it’s challenging to get along with people, you might have a hard time blogging.
However, this is a skill you can learn by attending more events and putting yourself out. Be open to criticism You have to keep in mind that people are going to judge every content you put out there. Some may encourage you, and some may even hate you.
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Be a helper
You may want to make money out of your blog, right? That means you should have something to sell. In this case, it is your content. Whatever you write has to help people or lead them to where to find help. Your content can best be described as your product, and the people are your customers.
Why Start a blog in?
There are a million reasons why you should start a blog. If you are a good writer and feel you would want to reach a broad audience, then blogging may just be it – after all, there are millions of Internet users in your country alone.
Apart from the desire to write, there are many other reasons why you should start a blog. Here are some of them:
Self-promotion and New Opportunities
If you blog in your “official name,” then when you apply for a job or position and your name is googled, your blog will likely show up very much. Apart from giving you that very much-needed online presence in today’s blogging can also help you tell the world what you can do.
If your blog gains a lot of recognition and respect, it will not be too surprising to have someone directly contact you with an offer or job opportunity.
You can make money out of blogging
Yes, you can make money out of blogging but don’t get it all twisted in your mind. You should read the part of this series that talks about making money from your blog.
Don’t also forget to check out misconceptions about blogging in Ghana. The money bit was touched in that post.
Become a published author
If you would want to publish a book, the best way to start is by a blog. If you follow this guide step by step, that should not be a problem at all. Publishers would always want to work with authors who already have an online presence
This is because it makes it easier for them to sell their books A blog also gives you the platform to market your books to your audience
Blogging Improves your Life
Blogging can help make you a better person in several ways. More basically, blogging helps you to improve your writing and communication skills People who blog can express themselves much more than those who don’t.
Blogging can also help you build skills such as interpersonal relationships and good thinking abilities. For blogs that encourage comments and interaction, the blogger learns to respect the views of others.
What do you need to start a blog?
After deciding on what to blog, you will have to jump into starting your blog.
There are five things you need to start your blog:
- 1. Dedication and time
- A domain name idea (this will be the name of your blog i.e., infomargin.com)
- A web hosting account (this is where your website lives on the internet)
- Good Content
- Content Marketing Strategy
How to start a blog?
Follow the steps below to start a blog:
- Decide on your blogging niche
- Choose a good domain name
- Choose a reliable hosting and blogging platform
- Set up your blogging software (WordPress)
- Start writing content for your blog
- Market your blog’s content
- Earn something in return from your blog
Decide on your blogging niche
It is not easy to decide on what you want to blog about. You would want to look at two things when deciding on what to blog at are your readers and your blogging subject or niche.
First, keep in mind that you are writing for your readers (unless you want to write for yourself only). You need to blog about a topic that will interest your readers and help you gain the kind of readership you want
Most people will read a blog post if it helps them to solve a problem. Therefore, try to get your blog posts to solve problems, if that is possible Also, most readers will want to learn something new.
It is no surprise that blogs that do a lot of “how-to” gain more readers. People are willing to learn, and you can help teach them. Your readers are going to be an integral part of your blog, and you must satisfy them.
Your blog should not be boring for readers as most of them want to be entertained in one way or the other. You should also provide quality content for your readers so that they know you are serious.
Subject of your blog
The other thing you need to look at when deciding on what to blog is the subject your posts are going to be about. It is true that you can choose to blog about everything and anything at all, but getting a niche is very important if you want to grow and maintain your blog.
Choosing a niche is a bit tricky, but you should choose a niche that is broad. Choosing a broad niche will help you to get content for your blog When you start blogging, you would realize the need to have fresh ideas.
Also, check out other people in the niche that you want to enter. If people are blogging about a subject and they are getting enough content, there is a good chance you would be getting the right amount of content too.
Here are some niches you could consider if you are looking to start a blog.
- How to make money
- Health and fitness
- Tech news and review
- Job search tips
- Education blog
- Sports
- Prayer points and Spirituality
- Beauty and fashion
- Lifestyle
- Personal Development
Choose a good domain name to start a blog
Choosing a domain name is very critical for the success or failure of your blog. Your domain name is how most people are going to know your blog by. Before starting Infomargin.com, I spent days deciding on what to use for a domain name.
Most of the domains I wanted to use were already taken. When choosing a domain name, you need to be intelligent and careful. You should choose a name that is “generic” enough, yet captures in entirety, or to a full extent, your blogging niche.
A domain name should be something people will be familiar with. For example, you cannot register bigfishes.com and say it’s a blog for shoes. it will only confuse your potential readers.
For a fashion blog, you could go for a meaningful name like fashionista.com. You can always check which domain names are available and which ones are not on whois.net.
Also, If you want to purchase a domain name for a cheap price, check out namecheap.com
Choose a reliable hosting and blogging platform
Web hosting confuses a lot of people. Buying a domain is not all you need to get your website up and running. Without web hosting, your domain will just be a name without a body. Web hosting is the space you need to store your web filers like the images and content you will produce.
There are options like blogger, drupal, ghost, etc can accomplish a decent blog, but if you want to make it big, then WordPress is the best platform for you.
WordPress is free, has excellent support and allows multiple users. It gives you great control over your blog’s future and allows you to grow your blog however you want it while enabling you to add functionalities like forums, online store, and paid membership.
Set up your blogging software (WordPress)
Depending on the hosting that you choose, there are straightforward ways to set up your WordPress software. Most shared hosting panels will let you enter an admin username, password and email. Make sure you use a unique username and set a strong password
Next, you will be able to login to your WordPress. At this stage, you can use a free theme to style the site and experiment colours and upload your logo. You can also set up your categories and tags for WordPress and do basic SEO.
You can opt for a professional WordPress website builder, like Elementor. Enabling you to build a WordPress website without having to code, Elementor offers a variety of templates designed specifically for blogs.
Here is a list of free WordPress plugins you must add to your site for much needed added functionality and features:
- Yoast SEO or RankMath
- kismet Anti-Spam
- Jetpack
- Wordfence Security
- UpDraftplus
- WP super cache
Start writing content for your blog
Once your blog is set up, the next thing you have to do is to write content. This is probably the most challenging part of blogging, and without discipline and passion, you might fall off at this stage or resort to plagiarism (which is worse)
There are various ways to start writing content for your new blog. Let’s go through them
Know your audience/readers when you start a blog
Depending on your niche, you need to know about the people who are to read your blog. For example, if you are writing an educational blog, there are two different audiences you should write for.
These are parents searching for schools for their kids and the kids searching for the schools themselves. Knowing who your readers are, it is far easier to come up with great topics that interest them
Take, for instance, infomargin.com This is an informative blog focused on everyday people (who may most likely not be tech- inclined). Since I know my readers may not have the best tech knowledge, I avoid unnecessary jargon in my write-ups and go straight to the point in plain relatable English language.
By knowing your audience, you can adjust your topics and writing to fit their interest and earn their love
Write great topics down
Getting blog post ideas and topics has been one of my major headaches Sometimes, you feel so worn out that you can’t write because you have no topics to write on. But that does not have to happen with you.
The first thing to do is look at what other players in your chosen niche are writing about. This could give you the first set of topics you can focus on and write about.
However, remember you need to be original and provide your readers with something they probably have not heard. What better way than to ask your readers what they want you to write about? This can be done in the form of questions at the end of some articles.
You could also head to google and type a question related to your niche. All those other suggested questions (usually at the bottom) are topic ideas you can put down and write on.
Organise your content – make it readable
The whole purpose of blogging is to get views and reads. No one wants to spend time creating a blog and have no views. Sometimes, the lack of views is so disheartening that it kills the vim that people start their blogging journey with.
The first thing I would say about making your content readable is to sound very natural when writing. Write as if the person you were writing for was standing in front of you. That way, the reader does not feel tired midway.
Also, make sure you keep paragraphs as short as possible. Ideally, for your blog post, no paragraph should have more than three sentences One of the most important aspects of organizing your content includes as many visuals (pictures, videos, infographics) as possible.
And don’t forget to organise categories and tags too. Organising your content will make your readers stay longer on your page, and you will have a higher chance of converting your users.
Be consistent
It is imperative to be consistent in your blogging. If you write one article a day, try to maintain that standard. It is better to post once a day every day for one week than to post seven articles in one day. Consistency signals to your readers and search engines that your blog is active, well updated and continuously has fresh content.
In order words, once you start your blog, keep going.
Market your Blog’s content
The next thing after writing content is to get it to the eyes of readers. If you followed this article carefully, all we have been doing is making sure that the content we put up is meaningful. That way, it is easier to market it.
For instance, if you chose topics that are beneficial for your niche audience and your article provides a certain degree of help, they will be more than willing to click and read more.
Marketing your content means pushing your articles so people can read, find them helpful and reshare. The most important of this cycle is resharing, because, well, referrals are powerful! People believe and trust information that has been shared by someone they know.
Let’s look at the various ways you can market your blog posts.
Social Media
This is an obvious one. Treat your blog like a person. Set up social media accounts for the blog and invite your family and friends to like and follow the pages.
- Telegram
Anytime you publish a new post, make sure you share it on the social media pages. A plugin like Jetpack for WordPress can automate this for you. Also, make sure you invite your blog readers to follow you on social media so you can still reach them when they are on their favorite social media channels.
With social media, you can make sure your readers won’t forget about you.
WhatsApp has a different space since it is so popular and not considered traditional social media.
With WhatsApp, you can take advantage of groups, broadcast lists and status to reach more individuals. Make sure you are not spamming them with unnecessary information, and that’s why you have to join those in line with your niche with the groups.
A post a day for your various WhatsApp groups is enough. Sending more will only reduce the attention that future posts will be receiving.
Family and Friends
In my experience, the support from family and friends when you start blogging is priceless. You can get a few family and friends alsp to do all of the sharing you do on WhatsApp and social media to complement your efforts.
Just ask them politely and maybe guide them on how to share and they most probably will do for you. Don’t forget to appreciate their deeds by saying thank you every time you can,
Monetize your Blog
Once you have passed the blog writing phase and have achieved a certain level of the audience, you are now opened to monetizing your blog. A lot of people have asked how to make money through blogging. The truth is, there are a lot of ways you can make money with your blog, and the options available depend on your niche and the work you are willing to put into it.
Let’s look at some of the ways you can make money with your blog.
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Providing a service
This is one of the easiest ways to make money from your blog. For instance, if you write about personal development, you can encourage your readers to book you to talk at their school, church, or personal development themed event.
Tech bloggers who talk about web development can offer to build websites for their readers at a fee. By providing a service through your blog, you are more likely to be hired because already, there is a connection between you and the reader via the article that brought them to you.
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Adsense
Google Adsense helps publishers make money by showing ads on their website. You can apply for Google Adsense, and once you are approved, you can start showing ads on your website.
Google Adsense might sound simple, but it involves a lot of work. Research has shown that websites that get a fair amount of search traffic are more likely to accept Google’s Adsense programme. With Adsense, the more traffic you get, the more money you will make. However,
Earning with adsense may not be lucrative in every country. Especially if you do not have more than 5000 page views a day due to the low CPC. Countries like US, UK Canada and others may earn you more. This is because advertisers in poor countries don’t bid high amounts, so the cost of clicking ads is not high like that from a rich state.
However, Adsense is an assured revenue stream with traffic and you should highly consider it.
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Direct Placements
This is one of my favourite ways of making money. Direct ad placements just mean companies and small businesses are contacting you to advertise their business on their website Direct ad placements just mean companies and small businesses are contacting you to advertise their business on their website.
This works very well for niche blogging. A health blog might receive offers from a dental clinic to put their hospital on the blog for more visibility. When it comes to direct ad placements, you charge the business or individual that contacts you based on your charges.
Mostly, you take part payment before starting to show the ad.
This should help you on your journey to success. Take the steps seriously be consistent and you will surely become successful.
If you have any questions about starting a blog? Leave them in the comments section and I will reply to every last one of them. All the best.
