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Blogging lately has been making a lot of noise in the industry. We’ve been seeing advertisements showcasing people who are making huge money through blogging, yet how to create a blog for free that actually makes money out of blogging has remained quite a mystery for most of us.
All it takes for one to Create a Blog is just a few hours a week and basic writing skills. Blogging can be a source of passive income as well as the main income, depending upon the time one chooses to spend on it.
Is it true that one can Create a Blog and make money through blogging? Is blogging truly profitable? Does blogging require a huge investment?
If you’ve been stuck at all these questions, then you’ve landed at the right place. This article is going to be your to-do steps to Create and make money through a Blog for free and make money out of it.
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How to Start a Blog?
Getting started is the most important and prominent step. If you’ve been planning to start a blog, NOW is the right time. Get started as we take you through a step-wise guide to Create and start a Blog and monetize it.
- Choose a Niche
- Choose a platform
- Choose a name for your blog
- Start posting
- Post consistently
- Promote your blog
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1. How to Choose a Niche?
Choosing a niche for your blog can be quite perplexing. Pick a topic that you truly enjoy writing and would not get tired of as blogging requires one to stay updated with the latest news of the niche and consistently work on those topics.
Conduct research on the niche size, competitors, growth potential, and other important factors before finalizing one. It is recommended to have a good command over the topic or niche that one chooses, as you should be able to write anything related to your niche.
There are different types of common blog niches like Tech blog, Food, Fashion, Lifestyle, and many more. However, choosing a micro-niche in which one is an expert is recommended as it attracts a more relevant and interested audience.
The first step to choosing a niche is to make a list of all the topics you love or are interested in:
Here are a few questions that you must ask yourself before you finalize your niche:
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A. Do I enjoy writing about the topic?
Ask yourself if you can write in the same niche for the next 5 to 10 years. Blogging needs consistency and time, hence you must choose a topic that you wouldn’t get bored writing
B. Do I enjoy learning about the topic?
As mentioned earlier blogging requires time and consistency in writing, it is a long-term commitment, hence one has to keep oneself updated about the latest updates in the niche and write about them, one must be interested and keen to learn them.
C. Do I know the niche?
It is always recommended to choose a niche in which you have a good level of expertise. Bloggers interact and build a network in their niche, it requires them to discuss various topics in their niche with fellow bloggers, their audience, various discussion forums, etc.
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D. Do others read about this topic?
The next and most important question is about the scope of the niche or the micro niche. What’s the use of a blog that nobody would be interested to read about?
As much as you love the topic, it is important for the audience to love the topic, because it is for them that the blog is written. It is your audience that will help you monetize the blog. So, it is extremely important to consider what the audience wants.
Google Trends is one of the best tools to determine the history of past years, growth, scope of future growth and more about any topic. Analyse the trends in the past few months to years in the niche, learn how many people have been searching on the topic, how has the trend been, are more people interested or has the interest has been decreasing.
E. Keyword Research
Keyword Research helps you with what exactly people are searching for, what exact words are they using, what’s the search volume of a particular topic and more information.
Some of the tools that help in keyword research are:
- Ubersuggest
- Google Search Console
- Ahrefs
- Moz Keyword Tool
- Google Keyword Planner
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F. Can I monetize this blog?
The first step to determine the potential to monetize your blog is to see what and how other blogs in your niche are doing it. Determine what is working well for them and what is not! A good surf through competitors’ blog pages can help determine the required information.
Some of the uncommon yet most potential methods to check and explore are:
- Similar products on Amazon and eBay
- Checking for the most popular Affiliate programs
- Possibilities to launch your products related to your niche
- Sponsored projects by niche-related brands
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2. How to Choose a Name for your Blog?
The name will be used in the domain name and it will serve as an address to your blog. It is important to choose an attractive name for the blog that inspires one to click on it just by looking at the name.
A unique and attractive blog name can attract more traffic than an ordinary one. Relevant keywords and industry trends have to be considered while choosing a name.
How to Choose a Domain Name?
A. Easy to type, spell and remember.
Keep the name easy, simple and yet impactful. Stay away from names that are difficult to spell, pronounce or type. The easier the word is the easier it is to remember. The easier to remember, the higher the chances of coming or returning to the blog.
B. Short and sweet
The name has to be attractive enough for your audience to click on it. However, it is extremely important not to move away from the ‘relevancy’ of the topic to choose an attractive name.
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C. Use keywords
Keywords are extremely essential to gain visibility for the blog on search engines. Using keywords in the domain name is a great trick to gain visibility.
D. Avoid numbers and hyphens
Numbers and hyphens are difficult to remember and hence they reduce the chances of traffic coming or returning to the site. They also tend to create an impression of unprofessional and unauthentic sites.
E. Choose the right domain extension
The most recommended domain extensions are .com, in, .co and .net in the same order. These domain names provide an authentic and professional impression of the blog.
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3. How to choose a platform to host your site?
Do not know how to code? Not worry! Sites like WordPress, Wix, and Blogger, are some of the free popular sites where one can create a blog with just click and drag method. These sites offer a free domain name as well as shared blog hosting. These platforms also provide pre-designed templates that one can directly apply on their site with or without making any changes.
However, the domain name that is provided by these free platforms is a sub-domain name of theirs and has the company’s name in the domain name for their branding purposes (ex – www.yourblogname.wordpress.com) and these platforms have their limitations regarding designs, templates, and some of these even restrict banner adverts and affiliate links which are the important sources of income through blogging.
Buying a domain name in India might cost between Rs.200- 500/- per year, which is a quite reasonable amount considering the expected returns through blogging. GoDaddy is the most popular and recommended site for buying and selling domains.
Getting a paid domain with a good extension is highly recommended for blogs that are starting to grow and monetize.
WordPress is the most recommended site to host a blog site due to its various features like Design templates, SEO optimization features, and more.
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4. Set Up a blog
Here’s a quick guide to set up a self-hosted blog with WordPress:
A. Choose and Purchase a hosting plan
Bluehost is the most recommended hosting site. There are three hosting plans that it offers: Basic, Plus and Choice Plus.
The basic plan has everything that a beginner needs and costs about $2.95. However, you can always upgrade to higher plans.
To get started open bluehost.com and click on Get started now.
B. Buy a domain name
The domain name mostly comes free with a hosting plan. All you need to do is type your name, choose one from the available extensions and complete the process.
C. Install WordPress Software
Go to ‘My Sites’ click on ‘Create Site’ on Bluehost and head on to setting up your new blog.
Go to the Dashboard click on ‘Customize Site’ and add your blog title, name, niche and other information.
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How to customize your blog?
WordPress provides two ways to customize your blog: Themes and Plugins.
Themes change the way your blog looks and Plugins add more functionalities to the blog.
There are thousands of blog themes that WordPress offers and you can choose one from the WordPress.Org Theme directory.
Some of the most used plugins are Contact forms, Social Network buttons, Improved SEO, Backup, etc.
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5. Start posting
Content is what makes or breaks a blog. Posting interesting and good-quality content helps in bringing your audience back to you. Posting interesting images, infographics, videos, podcasts, e-books, etc can help in attracting traffic.
It is also extremely important to optimize the content for Search engines for the blog to be shown on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). It is impossible to monetize a blog that doesn’t rank well on SEO; hence it becomes absolutely important to rank higher on SERPs to gain traffic and hence money through blogging.
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6. Post consistently
In recent days, blogging has been taken up by millions but only a few succeed. Why have been so many failed pathetically at this? Is blogging so difficult?
The key to success in blogging is consistency. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick hack but a gradual process, it requires patience and consistency and that is the only secret to succeed in blogging.
Here are a few tips to stay consistent in blogging:
- Brainstorm and list out your ideas
- Prepare a calendar
- Prepare a schedule and stick to it
- Break down the tasks
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7. Promote your Blog
The amount that one can make through blogging depends on the traffic and engagement that it receives. One can promote their blog among their friends and family, on social media platforms, forums like Quora, etc.
How to Attract Traffic to A Blog?
There are different methods to Create and promote a blog to gain visibility and credibility.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization is the most important method of all.
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On-page SEO
On-page SEO, as the name suggests, is the technique that is employed ‘on’ the blog to attract traffic. It is visible on web pages. It deals with the delivery of quality content and the usage of appropriate keywords at appropriate places.
Mastering the art of choosing the right keywords isn’t an easy job. How would it be?! After all, it’s the game changer!! If it was an easy job, every website out there would have ranked one.
To choose the right keyword always put yourself in the place of your audience and think about what you would type if you wanted particular information. Now that you have a list of keywords, conduct extensive research on those keywords, and consider the parameters like Search volume, Relevancy, Competitor Research etc.
The best places to use these keywords are the Title, in the first paragraph of the blog post, meta-descriptions, URLs, and image names. However extensive and repetitive stuffing of keywords in the blog can adversely affect the blog.
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Off-page SEO
While on-page SEO is done on the web page to attract traffic, off-page SEO is done away from the website, to drive traffic to the web page.
Backlinking is one of the most important methods to gain credibility for the blog. Backlinks are the links on one site from another. Backlinks play an important role in increasing Domain Authority.
Some of the other off-page SEO techniques are:
- Social Media Marketing – Maintaining a social media page for the blog can gain great visibility and branding opportunities for the blog.
- Guest blogging – Guest blogging is another way to secure backlinks and shoutouts from similar niche sites.
- Forum submissions – Submitting answers to questions or dropping a piece of information in the discussion forums along with the link to your blog can also help in driving traffic to the blog. Here it is important to note that the forums in which you participate are highly relevant.
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- Article submission – Submitting articles to other blogs for an exchange of shoutouts or reviews can be a mutual benefit and also help in networking.
- Video submission – Submitting your videos to sites that provide a backlink
- Image and Infographics submission – Submitting pictures and Infographics to sites like Unsplash provide a backlink
- Create downloadable and shareable documents – Offer content that is downloadable and shareable.
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How to Earn Through A Blog?
There are different ways for one to Create and make money through a Blog. Bloggers don’t just stick to one method but explore different ways and employ them. Here are a few ways to create and make money through a Blog:
1. Through Google AdSense
Google AdSense is the most popular and easiest way to monetize a blog. It is a free platform by Google to help online creators to monetize their channels. Google AdSense pays 68% of the clicks to the publisher and keeps the 32% for itself.
To start displaying ads on a blog site, one has to obtain approval from Google AdSense by applying for the same. On receiving approval one can start creating and posting ads on their site.
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To post ads on a site, Google provides two options to its publishers, Auto ads and custom ads. With auto ads, Google decides when and where to post ads on the site and posts accordingly, and in the case of custom ads, Google allows the publisher to decide when and where the ads can be displayed.
AdSense allows its publishers to post as many ads as they wish to display. One can also block those ads that they do not want to post on their sites.
AdSense ads work on all gadgets and it pays according to CPC (Cost per click) and EPC (Earning per click), i.e. publishers are paid for the clicks on the ads that are displayed on the site.
The Cost per click varies from keyword to keyword. If a click on a certain keyword pays $1, a click on another keyword may pay only $0.4, it depends on various factors.
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How to get AdSense approval?
Getting AdSense approval is a tedious task for publishers, here are a few points to keep in mind before applying for approval from AdSense:
- Before applying for an approval, make sure the blog has enough content
- The content must not be plagiarized
- Make sure the privacy policy and contact information are updated on the site.
Also, it’s important to note that one needs to provide the right postal address, tax information and a payment method to get paid by AdSense.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is another easiest way to earn through blogging. One can make money through affiliate marketing by providing affiliate links to products that pay a part of profits as commission.
Many companies that sell different kinds of products provide affiliate links through which bloggers can make money through the commissions of every sale that is made through their blog.
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Affiliate Programs pay publishers through different methods:
- Pay Per Click (PPC) – Payment is based on the number of visitors directed by the publisher’s site to the advertiser’s website.
- Pay Per Sale (PPS) – Payment is based on the number of sales made through the affiliate link.
- Pay Per Lead (PPL) – Payment is based on the number of visitors that provide contact info on the advertiser’s site.
Although affiliate marketing looks as easy as sharing a link on a website, it’s more than that, it requires one to market those products in unique and interesting ways to attract buyers. Choosing attractive and relevant products is key in affiliate marketing as it brings in an audience that might be interested in the product.
3. Sponsored Content
Sponsored Content is not just a way to make money but also a great way to build relationships with brands and network in the industry.
Writing a sponsored post for a brand is to promote the brand through articles, reviews, images, videos, and other means of communication.
Brands pay bloggers and publishers to give a shoutout or spread the word about their brand. Sponsored campaigns can be of two types:
Barter: Service is exchanged for free products, i.e. bloggers get free products and goodies from the brand for creating sponsored posts for them
Paid: Services are exchanged for money, i.e. bloggers and publishers are paid monetary compensation for creating and publishing sponsored posts.
To be a brand ambassador, one has to build an audience and engage with them. There are bloggers and social media influencers whose one of the main sources of income is brand sponsorships. Although it takes time, it’s worth the patience.
4. Sell Private Ads
No doubt Google AdSense is one of the best ways to earn money through displaying ads. But it involves a middleman and bloggers and publishers have to pay a commission to the middleman. To avoid this, one can opt to sell private ads.
Bloggers and publishers can directly approach the brands to display their advertisements on their blogs. This cuts the middleman cost and also builds a good network in the industry.
To sell private ads, the blog must have extremely high traffic and Domain Authority. For such blogs, at times, brands themselves approach to display their ads on the sites.
Just like sponsored posts, private ads too, require the bloggers to build a strong audience base and regularly engage with them.
5. Sell digital products
Selling digital products like e-books, online courses, and podcasts has been making a good sum of money for many bloggers. One can also sell digital prints, greetings, arts and crafts and more.
The biggest advantage to selling digital products is that it doesn’t involve any hassles of shipping or returns. But there’s no denying the fact that creating digital products is not an easy task, it involves extensive research and also costs quite a lot of money for the software and equipment.
The key to selling online products is to sell content that is informative and worth paying, the content must bring back the audience to the site again and again. Repeated customers are as important as new customers as they build a strong foundation for the audience base.
7. Provide Reviews
If one is an expert in their niche, they can offer to review new products launched by relevant brands for the exchange of products or monetary compensation.
This method works in the same ways as sponsored posts work, but here deliverables are not to post about the product but to provide a genuine review about it to help the brands improve.
Is Blogging good for me?
Blogging is a very lucrative job for anyone to take up, as it allows to one to work from anywhere and at any time, it doesn’t require anyone to report to bosses or work under pressure, but blogging is not for everyone.
Millions are entering into blogging but only a few can make it to the top. Their reasons are simple. Read the below points to know if blogging is your cup of tea.
- You love writing – Another word for blogging can be writing. It requires one to have good communication skills and one must be able to express themselves clearly.
- You have something to share – To be able to write is not just enough, one must share information that’s useful, information, and worth reading.
- You are consistent – Posting one or two blog articles doesn’t make a single penny, it takes a fair number of posts and promotions to drive enough traffic to make money through blogging.
- You accept criticism – There are indeed different opinions among different individuals and not everyone needs to agree with yours. So, a blogger must be open to different opinions and criticism.
- You are willing to stay updated with new trends in the industry – A blogger must know what’s happening in their niche and must stay updated with the latest news in their niche as a part of their work.
- You are a social person – Blogging requires one to interact with other bloggers and also with brands. It is important to build a network that shares common interests.
- You are creative – One has to be creative with the ways they present the content so that their audience sticks to them and also returns to them.
- You work hard – There’s no other secret to success other than hard work. Be it blogging or any other job, one has to put effort and work hard to chase success.
Tips to Succeed in Blogging
With growing awareness about the benefits and opportunities that blogging offers, the competition for it has also increased phenomenally. Here are a few tips for standing out and reaching the top:
- Offer Value – Nobody would return to a blog that has nothing to offer apart from a few words that do not add any value to the time they spend on your blog. Hence, it’s important to add valuable content that people would want to read.
- Engage with the audience – Engaging with the audience is the key to bringing them back to you. It builds a connection on a personal level.
- Ignore negative comments – There can be many comments that might come your way as you progress as a blogger. Ignoring negative comments and focusing on the bright side helps one to make it big.
- Catchy titles – Your titles define if your articles are going to be read. So, a catchy title that one cannot ignore and scroll down may increase traffic by 50-60%.
- Use Images, videos and Infographics – Long texts are boring these days. To break the monotony, one has made use of images, videos, infographics, podcasts and different means to communicate with their audience.
- Focus on Marketing – It is equally important to have a good marketing strategy as much as it is important to create good content. Good content that’s not noticed by anyone is vain. So, one must have a good strategy to promote the blog.
- Focus on Analytics – Analytics are a great way to determine what’s working and what’s not. It helps the blogger to know what type of content is helping build their audience.
- Get personal – Knowing more about the blogger helps the audience to connect with them easily and remember them. One can post new life updates and a little bit about them to connect with their audience.
Future Scope of Blogging
With easy access to the internet and smartphones, online content is now blooming with bright colours. From traditional to e-commerce, every business now has an online presence and is looking for content that attracts its audience. This makes blogging and digital marketing the next big thing and indicates that now is the time to get started.
However, one needs to understand that blogging needs no effort is a myth. Although it provides flexibility, it requires a fair amount of hard work and skills to grow the blog. It also requires one to learn new skills and software to grow in the industry.
Blogging doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time and tests one’s patience, Once you Create a Blog it’s worth it in the end.
Final words
Blogging, no doubt is a great option to make money, it provides the flexibility that the corporate and public service jobs lack and the best part is that one can Create a Blog with almost zero to only a few hundred rupees.
It, probably, Create a Blog is the venture that requires the least investment. All one needs to start is time and skill to communicate well through words.
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