If you want to know how to start a blog for free and make money, then your best bet would be to read and follow the steps outlined in this guide:
Original Topic vs Original Spin
Your chances of finding an original topic that has never been covered in a blog are slim to none. However, you can add an original spin that has never been used to build your money-making blog.
Most people who make money with blogs have cleverly found a way to spin a popular topic and make it their own.
You may already do this when talking about various topics with your friends, family, colleagues and even complete strangers. All you need to do now is figure out how to express it through a blog and you are on your way!
Expertise Is Essential
Everyone is or can become an expert of something. Before you dive into identifying the specific topic or market that you want to target with your blog, you need to figure out where your expertise is located.
Keep in mind that the Internet is filled with resourceful articles, eBooks, informative blogs and other quality content that can help to boost your expertise and knowledge of almost any area. Use these resources wisely to stay up-to-date and remain a credible source for your readers.
Just because you knew a lot about a certain topic does not mean that you still know a lot about it. To maintain a competitive edge in the expertise department, you must keep learning and researching more about it to stay relevant in your field.
Passion and Expertise Blend Together Beautifully
Just because you are an expert on something does not necessarily mean that you are passionate about it. Conversely, passion for a specific subject will not necessarily make you an overnight expert.
It is crucial to keep in mind that these two factors play well together within the same playground. You must use one to feed and fuel the other to form the foundation of a successful, money-making blog.
The standard six figure blogger can breathe life into their content with their expertise on the topic and the passion that they have for sharing it with the rest of the world. This will help you to fill the voids that your readers may bring to the table.
For instance, your readers may match your passion for the topic, but want to learn more about it from your expertise. On the other hand, they may match (or even exceed) your level of expertise and simply want to learn to be more passionate about it.
Identify Your Target Market
In a perfect world, every blogger would love for everyone to read their content. Realistically speaking, though, that will never happen.
Therefore, you must identify your target audience. Basically, think of the type of person who will benefit the most from reading and subscribing to your content.
For example, most people who create successful mommy blogs are targeting mothers – not parents. There may be certain posts that will appeal to both parents. However, the bulk of the content within a blog for mothers specifically targets mothers.
What type of blog do you want to create? You will more than likely be able to quickly identify your target audience by simply figuring out what type of blog you want to create and the type of reader for which it was created.
Why is this important? You must successfully craft your content and structure your strategy to satisfy your target audience.
As mentioned above, you will never achieve the pipe dream of getting everyone to read your content. Even the most-watched viral videos online have still not been watched by millions (if not billions of people) around the world.
Instead of casting a big net for fish that you will never catch, your best bet is to find the small pond filled with fishes from your target market that will rush towards your rod.
What Is the Value of Your Content?
To make money with blogs, you must create a blog that is worth something to your readers. What is the value of your content?
The expression that “time is money” reigns true within the world of money-making bloggers. Your readers may not pay you with dollars, but they are paying you with their time.
The more time that they spend on your blog and with your online presence in general, the more money you will make. However, that is much easier said than done.
You must make sure that their time is well-spent, which is why you must calculate the value and accurately assess the usefulness of your content.
Remember: Your content adds value to your blog. Therefore, it is vital to make sure your content is unique, thoroughly researched, well-developed and helpful to your readers.
Creating an ongoing stream of valuable content will keep your readers coming back for more. It will also encourage them to bring more readers along for the ride.
Going Viral Should Not Be Your Main Focus
One of the biggest crutches that can destroy your blog before you even build it is an excessive focus on going viral. Developing quality content that forms a deep, lasting connection with your readers is the key to success.
A vast amount of viral content is somewhat shallow. Even though it may generate a lot of views, reads and likes at first, it’s “15 seconds of fame” will end much quicker than you realize and then quickly be replaced by the next “big thing.”
When you truly want to make money from blogging, you must focus more on long term results instead of just an “overnight hit.” Your goal should be to keep traffic flowing to your content for years – not days.
Posting and Promotion Go Hand-in-Hand
Too many novice bloggers assume that a good blog will “sell itself.” They figure that all they must is post it and the readers will come.
Contrary to popular belief, simply posting and publishing a blog will not bring you long-term success as a blogger. You must also have an effective promotion strategy in place that will help you to spread the word far and fast about your content.
When you think about it, circulation is essential for any type of readable content – from newspapers and magazines to medical journals and tabloids. You must have a solid strategy in place that is ready to work for you, your brand and your content.
Fortunately, the Internet is a huge help in this regard – but you still must know what you are doing to make money with blogs that are promoted successfully.
For instance, social media is a wonderful tool, but you must use it as a tool – not a toy – to make money from it.
Search Engine Optimization Is a Valuable Asset
A key element of your promotion strategy should focus on search engine optimization (SEO).
According to Yahoo! Small Business, a solid SEO strategy will help you to make it easier for the “search engine spiders” to find their way to your blog and boost its page relevance towards the top of your related search engine results.
One of the most important SEO tools at your disposal is the selection of your core keywords. Keep in mind that these are the words that your readers are already searching for online, which is why you need to make sure they can find them within your content.
To determine your core keywords, just think of the words and phrases that your customers and audience members would typically use to find your website. You could even survey your target market to get a crystal-clear idea of what they need to see from you.
In addition to a SEO strategy, you should also consider creating a structured social media strategy to promote your blog posts even more. This will help you to generate more organic exposure to draw more traffic to your website.
For a more complete view on optimization, check out this recent blog we did.
Use Social Media as a Business Tool, Not a Personal Party
Too many people assume that you can use the same casual, sporadic approach to your brand’s social media presence as you do with your personal page. The exact opposite is the case – especially if you want your strategy to work.
Whichever social media page or profile you use for your blog needs to be treated as a money-making business tool.
Most successful bloggers that make six-figure incomes each year from their blogs also have a social media strategy worth at least six-figures as well.
If you do not currently have a strategy in place, there is no need to worry. You can easily build one from scratch and generate lasting traffic for your high-quality blog posts.
However, another key quality that you must master is the art of consistency.
You Must Master the Art of Consistency
Posting content whenever you “feel like it” will get you nowhere near your six-figure goal. You may still make money from the exposure, but it will be a mere drop in the bucket compared to what you could make with a consistent schedule for publishing and promotion.
It is true that you may still go viral with sporadically-posted content – a lot of people have done it in the past. However, one of the primary answers to the commonly-asked question of, “How do bloggers make money from blogging?” is that they post, publish and promote content consistently.
This does not mean that you need to post something new every single day. That type of “content flood” could drown out your audience and compromise the quality of your overall message.
The key is to create a level of expectation from your readers. They must have a solid idea of what to expect from you and (more importantly) when to expect it.
Having a consistent posting schedule that you advertise and promote to your readers is vital. For instance, if you want to post new content twice a week, then you should identify the specific days of the week that your readers should expect it.
Sharing your posting schedule with your readers will also make you accountable to that commitment. You will need that “boost” on the days when you are feeling sluggish about your content.
Engage with Your Readers to Expand Your Audience
The most successful celebrities, professional speakers, filmmakers and other content creators in the world share a common trait: audience engagement.
If you want to build a blog that lasts with an income stream that comes with multiple zeros before the decimal point, you must find effective ways to keep your audience engaged and engage with your audience.
User engagement is a crucial factor that many successful bloggers and content creators overlook and then wonder why their online presence suffers.
Organic exposure may have grabbed the attention of your audience. However, long-term engagement will allow you to grip it and hopefully never let it go.
For instance, you should never avoid the comment section of your blog.
Quite a few people – including social media influencers and celebrities – avoid comments due to the likelihood of negativity found within those sections.
For those who are trying to build a blog from an unknown website to a money-making business, the comment section is just one of the keys that will help you to unlock the treasure chest of content cash.
The people who click, comment, like and share your content are essentially working for you without even knowing it. They are helping you to build your blog and get that much closer to your six-figure payday without expecting a single dime or dollar in return.
You must find creative, clever and consistent ways to make them feel valued – helping them to see that you appreciate their contributions to your online presence and want to recognize them publicly for doing so.
That is why is it important for you to respond to their comments, share your own reactions to their emoji reactions and express gratitude specifically to those who share your links and content with others.
Once again, you must always remember that you if you do not show gratitude to your audience, they will search for one of your competitors who will. If you expect loyalty from your audience, then you must first prove your loyalty to them.
Develop and Craft Your Monetization Strategy
Any business owner will tell you that the inventory is just the tip of the iceberg. You can have the best blog in the world, but still not make a dime from it without a successful monetization strategy.
When you learn how to start a free blog and make money, you may have a difficult time with creating the content at first or even generating traffic. Timing is everything!
You should never put the cart before the horse when it comes to monetizing your blog. To start spinning the wheels of your six-figure income stream, you must have a substantial amount of high-quality content and consistent traffic.
It is true that you can start to make money from your blog right away – especially when you use effective monetization tactics and techniques.
To unlock the true money-making potential of your content, though, you will need to make sure that your published content and generated traffic speak volumes about the success of your blog.
Direct Sales and Lead Generation Builds Revenue
If you already have a B2B or consulting business, then you need to take full advantage of direct sales and lead generation opportunities that use your blog as a tool.
Make sure that you strategically place a considerable number of calls to action within your content to direct your audience to your online contact information. Once you have them hooked, reel them in with a call-to-action that walks them through what to do next.
Your blog can also make money with direct sales simply by putting your product or service directly in front of your target audience.
Your inventory will serve as the centerpiece of your blog and then you will be able to build valuable content around it that will generate lasting exposure and draw more traffic towards it.
Advertise, Advertise and Advertise Even More!
Whether you have a product that you are selling or simply want to turn your content into a money-making machine, you must master the art of paid advertising to keep the money rolling into your bank.
Once you have generated a substantial amount of traffic, you will notice that advertising opportunities will become more lucrative than they ever have been for your online presence.
First and foremost, advertisers will find you so that you do not necessarily have to find them. Advertisers are always looking for blogs, websites and social media influencers that generate a substantial amount of traffic and followers.
You can generate an impressive income simply based on the volume of traffic that your blog generates. How so? The more clicks your content receives, the higher the chances that your readers will click well-placed ads within it.
Keep in mind that paid advertising is just one income stream that you can use to turn your blog into a money-making machine. To become a long-term six figure blogger, you must wisely use other tools at your disposal as well.
Use Affiliate Links to Add More to Your Piggy Bank
In addition to paid advertising, you can use affiliate links to generate more money with your blog. A lot of people use affiliate links to make money with blogging – regardless of the blog type or target audience.
Think about the various products and services that you can blend into your blog content seamlessly. Seamless blending is essential, though, because you do not want to turn your blog into a billboard.
A major mistake that can quickly kill your blog is to flood your content with affiliate links and paid advertising.
If your readers wanted to see a flood of sales copy, promotional advertisements and calls-to-action, chances are they would have just visited an online shopping website – not your blog.
There must be a “method to the madness” of affiliate links and paid advertising if you want your blog to succeed as you transform it into a six-figure income stream.
Fortunately, you will get a percentage of the sales that the links placed within your content generates. If you have already worked hard to generate a lot of ongoing traffic and repeat visitors, then you may reach your goal of becoming a six-figure blogger sooner than you think.
Looking for new affiliate ways to earn money out of your blog. Here are a few suggestions.
Grow Your Blog to Stack Your Money
When you think of your blog long-term, where do you see it? Where do you want your blog to be 5 weeks, months or years from now?
As you start to grow your audience, your audience will essentially demand that you grow your blog at the same pace – if not, faster.
Think about any type of business that managed to stay the same without building or growing what they offered to their customers over the years and stayed in business.
For example, you may have started your blog with 1-2 posts each week. However, when it starts to gain traction and generate a substantial amount of traffic, this post quantity must be revisited and revised as soon as possible.
The bottom line is that if your blog does not satisfy the growing needs of your audience, then someone else’s will. It’s a tough reality to deal with, but it is a reality that you must face and embrace if you want to keep making a six-figure income year after year.
Comfort and complacency may allow you to feel as if your content is in a “safe space.” Some people may feel that they would rather just keep things as-is instead of growing and building their blog and online presence.
Unlike other businesses, online content does not have the luxury of complacency. Even those who focus on learning how to start a free blog and make money will realize that growth and upgrades are the key to survival in this industry.
Audits Will Keep Your Train on the Tracks
The term “audit” has a lot of negative connotations that come along with it – especially when you approach “tax season” or get a letter in the mail from the IRS.
However, the successful six-figure blogger knows that making money with blogs requires you to conduct periodic audits.
Once you successfully turn your content-filled, traffic-driven blog into a money train, your next goal is to keep the train on the tracks. Effective audits and action plans can help you to achieve that goal.
There are several key areas that you should examine closely with each audit – including unique pageviews, entrances, bounce and exit percentages as well as the average amount of time that each reader spends on your pages.
A thorough audit will help you to appreciate the strengths of your blog, but also identify the key areas of improvement that must be addressed for it to become even more successful.
Pay Attention to Your Complete Pageview Count
It is easy to look at the number of your overall pageviews and get excited – especially when the number exceeds the 5 and 6-figure range.
However, there is a “red flag” here that a lot of bloggers overlook, and it ends up costing them more than they expect in the long run.
There is a big difference between overall pageviews and unique pageviews. The general pageview count will let you know how many people are visiting your website and reading your blog.
On the other hand, the unique pageview count reflects how many unique visitors visit your website and read your posts. This count will show you a more accurate depiction of your target audience.
Think about the average viral video. It may have 100 million views, but that does not mean it has been seen by 100 million different people. The same principle applies to your blogs.
Just because you may have 100,000 pageviews does not mean that you have 100,000 unique readers. Analyzing your unique pageview count will help you to see how your target audience is growing (or shrinking.)
Analyze and Try to Reduce Your Exit Rate
Another aspect of your blog performance that could hinder you from becoming a six-figure blogger is the exit rate. How quickly do your readers enter and then exit your blog?
Your goal should be to invite your readers into your virtual home (i.e. your blog) and encourage them to stay awhile. This is where a stream of quality content plays an integral role, because it allows your readers to see more and enjoy more with each visit.
Think about when you are invited to someone’s home for a tour. A tour of a studio apartment is much quicker than the tour of a mansion filled with rooms, artwork, and other interesting conversation starters.
You should have the same approach when creating quality content within your blog to reduce your exit rate as much as possible. You may start with a studio apartment, but you should focus on building your blog into a multiroom mansion that makes it difficult for your readers to leave.
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