Blog and blogging are topics that have been talked about very often by so many. There are a lot of stories about how people are turning their passions into profits and how blogs and blogging have been used by many to achieve this.
The whole blogging thing still seems complicated to many despite the myriad of information on it. Questions that have been constantly asked on the topic are many as a result.
You may be one of those wondering if people really do make money bogging and how they do it. Well, the answer is – yes, people do make money blogging. As a matter of fact, people are doing it as we speak.
If you are a beginner or newbie interested in starting a blog or an online blogging business, the answers to the following questions most newbies ask would interest you.
We will be looking to answer 7 basic beginner questions on blogging in this post, bearing in mind that the topic of blog and blogging cannot really be covered by a single post.
1. What is a blog?
A blog (also known as a weblog) is an online platform that is usually used to create awareness for an idea, products or services or to ensure that an audience is built and well nurtured.
It is usually used as an information dissemination/marketing tool or as a journal, depending on what it is all about.
It can have one author or several authors who contribute to the blog on one or more related subject areas (niche).
2. How do I start a blog?
Starting your own blog is easier these days than it used to be some years ago.
Here are a few things you would need:
-Figure out your niche that you are passionate about.
-Find a suitable domain name for your blog. This is going to be the name or website address that people will go to in order to access your blog.
Let it be a name that is easy to recall and spell. There are so many other blogs online and many have similar names.
You do not want people who intended visiting your blog ending up on other people’s websites because the name of your blog is difficult to recall or spell.
–Self-host your blog. A free blog host such as www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com may be cheap at the beginning to use, but it more quickly than not becomes more expensive in the long run.
This is not in terms of money per-se, but in terms of the disadvantages hidden in the terms of use that might end up resulting in monetary loss. In such cases, your blog could be shut down at any time for any number of reasons. So be safe and just host with a reliable web hosting company.
– Decide on the best platform to use for the creation of your website or blog.
I personally use wordpress.org content management system (not wordpress.com). It gives you the flexibility of use whether you know coding language or not.
There are plugins (like apps on your phones) to do almost anything you need help with. However, there are many others out there such as wix, joomla, etc. You can explore whatever suits you.
-With all the above, you are ready to start creating content for your blog. Go ahead and write, create and share, share, share.
3. Do people actually make money blogging?
Yes they do. Many are as a matter of fact making a lot of money as you read this, and legitimately so too. But it does take a lot more effort, time and money than many who have little idea have been made to believe.
It is not a get-rich-quick method of making money. So if you are looking to start a blog for a very fast and easy way to make money, blogging may not be for you.
Successful blogging that actually does make you money takes a lot of hard work, time, persistence, and perseverance.
4. How do I make money blogging?
The answer is as complicated as it is simple.
The simple answer is – monetize your blog. The complexity is in the “how”.
A few of the ways to make money through your blog or blogging are Adsense by Google, creating and selling products on your site, selling coaching services, selling ads on your blog, affiliate marketing, etc.
All these methods would require a full course on their own, and that is not in the scope of this post.
5. I have created a website, monetized it, but nothing is happening on it and I am making no money. No one seems to be reading. What is missing?
It’s a traffic issue. I am talking about lack of visitors to your website.
The amount of money you make from your blog is a direct derivative from the amount of unique traffic that visits your blog on a daily basis.
If you have great content on your blog, and whatever you are offering is really awesome, if no one knows about it, no one can visit the blog. If you are unable to get them to visit your blog, they cannot benefit from the contents. Benefiting from your contents is what motivates them to hang around and eventually become paying customers. For that reason, you need to advertise your website.
Tell the whole world that you have got something that can help them and they will come. Visitors are more likely to stay and keep returning if they find something of benefit to them.
Without visitors to your blog, it is very difficult to make any money from it.
Importantly, here is the right way to go about it: Provide good content, drive traffic to your blog, build your audience before you monetize.
6. How do you get traffic to your blog to really engage them enough to build the necessary audience?
There are several ways to drive traffic to your blog. They range from a few free ones, to the very expensive ones.
Not everyone has a big advertising budget when starting out blogging. In fact, most people start off on a very lean budget. Whichever way it goes for you however, you have to somehow find a way to market your blog on whatever available budget that you have.
You can drive traffic through social media mentions and shares, targeted paid advertising on social media like Facebook and search engines like google, bing, etc.
Write posts as a guest and post to other relevant blogs in niches with similar target audience.
Build an email marketing list by giving out a freebie in exchange for people’s emails. Then market to them through a newsletter you regularly send out to them via those emails.
Something as simple as sending them a notification of your new blog posts and asking them to share it with others if they like it can go a long way.
It can ensure that they keep coming back, and keep getting others they share with to check out the new stuff on your blog. That’s traffic.
Setting up social media profiles on big social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, for your blog can make a lot of difference in your traffic generation. This is because you can engage with your audience and share the content on your blog with them. You can then link them back to your blog.
7. Can I start a blog for free and make money?
The answer would be yes and no.
Yes, because you can actually start a blog for free on many platforms like blogger by google and wordpress. Over a period of time, with consistency and determination, you could begin to make some money. But there are many disadvantages with such freebies. The negative consequences may be huge in the future.
No, because free is not always free in the end. I would recommend that you take your blog and blogging as a serious business if you really want to make real money. Therefore invest some money into your business.
At the beginning, spending a lot of money may not be in sync with your budget or even needed. That notwithstanding, do not always settle for the freebies online especially when it comes to things like hosting for example. Do not hesitate to spend some money on a few resources that can help your blog grow a bit faster.
I would like to know what other basic questions about starting a blog and blogging you would like answered for you especially as a newbie. Drop your comments below or click on this LINK and send an email with your questions.
