Everything You Need to Know Before Starting a Blog
This article will discuss ways to monetize a blog, go over reasons you need to start your blog today, and everything you need to be doing before starting a blog.
So you’ve been thinking about starting a blog? Creating a blog could be the first step toward generating a second income while also expressing your creative side. Many successful bloggers use their blog as a side hustle. Others have replaced their full-time income through blogging.
What are some reasons YOU may want to start blogging? For some, blogging is purely a creative outlet or a way to share your testimony and life experiences to inspire others. Others may use blogging to write about their expertise in an area or generate more leads for their small business. Whatever your ‘why’ may be, be sure to establish your goals early on. Defining your goals will determine how you create your website, your writing style, how/where you market your content, and your short-term and long-term goals.
Once you determine the reasons you want to start your blog you may start to wonder: how will I make money from a blog website? There are so many ways to generate income from your website.
Here are a few ways you can monetize your blog:
- Ads: Placing ads throughout your website is one of the fundamental ways to generate an income on your new blog. If you are using a self-hosted website, you can place ads throughout your blog posts. A great ad program to start with is Google Adsense.
- Affiliate marketing: Affiliate marketing involves promoting products/services in your blog articles/social media posts to receive a monetary reward each time a customer purchases by clicking your affiliate link. Affiliate marketing is a great way to share your favorite items and generate a passive income by helping others access those same products. One of the best programs for new bloggers is the Amazon Affiliates Program.
- Sponsored posts: A sponsored post is dedicated solely to promoting a single company’s products or services. This article will explain how to write and price your sponsored post and what to expect!
- Selling your products and services: Selling your products and services is the number one way to generate income from blogging. Find a need that your readers have and find an efficient way to fulfill it. For example, if you are a blogger who writes about Finance/Money Management, create a digital budgeting tool or create a service for 30-minute consultations to discuss high-level financial planning. There are so many ways to get creative with this and simultaneously help others!
Now that we’ve discussed some potential ways to monetize your blog, let’s jump into the reasons you NEED to start your blog today.
Four reasons you need to start your blog today:
1. You can monetize your existing knowledge base.
As we discussed, there are several ways to monetize your existing knowledge base. Everyone has at least one thing their family and friends go to for advice. Maybe you make delicious and Instagram-worthy desserts or always throw the best parties. Curate simple blog articles that outline your process step-by-step and share them with the world. You can use any one of the monetization strategies listed above to rake in a side income while doing something you have already mastered.
2. Increase your customer base for your small business
The business expertise that comes with running a small business will set you up for success when starting your blog. A blog will elevate your current customer base and can increase it as well. Use your blog to establish your place as an expert and increase your brand’s credibility. Additionally, having a blog will give your business a face. Your customer base will be able to learn about you beyond the products and services you provide. Not only will this establish trust among current and new customers, but it can be a fun way to express yourself creatively too. See how other small businesses use blogging to help grow here.
3. Express your creative side
Blogging is a way to express yourself. You have free reign to write about any topic you wish, and you decide when/how often to execute your content. When it comes to marketing, you can create your very own designs and curate an aesthetic that helps your personality shine through. The actual blog post content is a collection of your ideas and what you are most passionate about. Canva.com is one of my favorite tools to use to get creative. It’s super user-friendly to use. I create all of my social media content and my Pinterest pins using Canva. Not only has it been fun, but I’ve been able to make aesthetically pleasing, shareable content while using my creative side as well.
4. You have the opportunity to share your story
One of the best parts of running a blog is the ability to share your story. So many others will be inspired or even entertained by the events in your life. Sharing your story is a great way to reflect and learn from the events that have taken place in your life while also providing important insights to others. Your story could be a life-changing turning point for someone or a way that others will feel that they are not alone. Also, one of the best parts about sharing your story is the ability to create a community. You will meet so many amazing souls throughout your experience and build genuine connections. This factor alone is one of my favorite reasons to run a blog!
So we’ve talked about the reasons WHY you need to start a blog. What are the next steps? There are some technical steps you need to take before diving into your blogging journey. Let’s discuss these a little further.
Things you should do before starting your blog:
1. Organize your thoughts to make sure your blog content will flow together. Create no more than three buckets of categories you will want to talk about in your blog. For example, if you are going to start a lifestyle blog, focus solely on beauty/fashion, travel, and interior design. As your blog grows, you will learn what topics your readers find most interesting. Doing a high-level analysis of these topics can help you define your niche.
2. Research the competition. You need to know how much information is already out there about your topic. The number one question you want to ask yourself is, “How can I differentiate myself from the competition?” What are the unique perspectives you can bring to what’s currently out there? Being innovative in a space that is already saturated will help drive your blogging success.
3. Determine your end goal. What do you want to accomplish from blogging? Is it to generate a full-time income or simply a passive income on the side to write about something you are passionate about? Defining your goals will help you:
- Determine how much content you create
- How often you post new blogs
- How to set up your blog website
- Determine the legal pages your site will require to monetize
There are so many intricate details to beginning your blogging journey. Once you’ve done your initial brainstorming, it’s time to take the plunge and start your blogging journey. My Ultimate Beginners Blogging Course has been a helpful resource for those who want to learn step-by-step how to create a blog. I’ve always been a believer in mapping out information in an organized way, so this blog course has miniature checklists for each section to keep you on track. The blogging course includes screenshots that explain how to create a self-hosted website to curate an aesthetically pleasing website that can be monetized using all of the methods listed above. It also lists out each resource I use to run my blog and the tools you will need along the way.
Conclusion
If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog, let this be your gentle push to start your journey today. You’ve learned the different ways to monetize your blog, the important reasons to start your blog, and the steps to take before starting your blog. Your reason may be to monetize your current knowledge base, to drive customers to your current small business, to express yourself creatively, or share your story. What will be your WHY for starting?
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