How do I create and launch a blog? Step-by-Step Guide (2024)

1. Select a topic for your blog

Choosing a blog topic is the hardest part of learning to be a blogger. Ask yourself a question at this point.

Why do you want to start a blog?

Once you've identified your goal, you need to ask yourself a second question.

Can you write consistently on this specific topic?

It's thanks to consistency That blogs make money.

Here are four of the most popular blogging topics.

Popular blog topics

The subject of your blog should be based on the interests you actually have based on your expertise.

You don't need to commit to the first four I listed above. You just need a general topic.

I recommend that you choose a topic that is broad enough in scope to Make money blogging.

To find out if your topic has enough scope for you to make money, I recommend using SEMrush.

Enter your topic in the search bar to generate the estimated monthly search volume for your topic/niche.

Don't think of monthly search volume as numbers. Think of the numbers reported as people who are actively looking for what you offer.

The greater the search volume, the higher the profit potential, but also the stronger the competition.

If you're still having trouble deciding what to focus on, try the following:

How do I find a blog topic?

1. Keep a journal to keep track of recurring topics.
2. Ask a friend for help.

It is more than likely that your loved ones or the people whose opinions matter most to you can help you formulate a blog topic.

How much money can I make blogging?

Making money blogging is highly dependent on a number of variables.

The 3 factors to make money blogging

1. The number of users you send to your site.
2. Price of the product/service you offer.
3. Percentage of users who convert into customers, i.e. your conversion rate (CVR).

For example, 1,000 users come to your site with a conversion rate average of 2%. 20 users (1,000 x 2%) buy your product/service. Now let's say the price of your product/service is $40.

In this scenario, you would have generated $800 in revenue. 20 converted users x $40 (product price) = $800.

Conversion rates vary depending on your industry, price level, and seasonality.

The sector benchmark is, on average, 2%. To increase your conversion rate, read my guide on way to write a blog post that converts.

How much money does it take to start a blog?

You will need web hosting to start blogging.

Accommodations like Bluehost allow you to offer you quality accommodations at less than €8 per month.

I'm sure you've heard about all the blogs that make a lot of money, which is why you're here to learn how to start a blog.

However, for your blog to make money, it will take time to increase your site traffic. That's why producing quality content is key.

According to the global study of Hubspot, 1 to 2 hours are spent on average writing a 500 word blog post.

Don't be disheartened by the information in the chart. If the barrier were lower, blogging wouldn't be as profitable as it is. Now let's move on to the second step.

2. Choose a blogging platform

Don't get overwhelmed by all the options for starting a blog. All blogging platforms have strengths and weaknesses.

I would highly recommend the use of WordPress or Zyro as a blogging platform. This guide will focus on creating a blog on WordPress.

If you want to start a blog on another platform, read my step-by-step guide on creating a Wix website. You can easily start a blog on a Wix site in 10 minutes or less.

Why is WordPress the most popular blogging option?

WordPress is the best choice for blogging because of the scalability and flexibility it offers. Consider the following facts about WordPress.

1. It's free.
2. WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get)
3. Self-hosted and hosted options
4. A vast inventory of plugins

What are the best blogging platforms to use?

There are numerous blogging platforms, but the industry standard in this area is by far WordPress.

WordPress blogs represent 96% of the blogosphere, which is considerable. The numbers can't be wrong. WordPress dominates thanks to the wide variety of plugins offered.

What is a WordPress plugin?

A WordPress plugin is a third-party software from the WordPress community that can be installed on your blog.

Plugins extend the functionality of your site without requiring technical coding skills.

Let's talk about accommodation. Hosting is required for any website/blog, but there are two options for hosting a WordPress blog. Self-accommodation and accommodation.

What is the difference between a self-hosted site and a hosted site?

The differentiating factor is where the blog is hosted. The hosting option is generally free on most blog platforms. There are downsides to choosing the accommodation option.

When using a hosted option, files are stored and hosted on the platform's servers.

On the other hand, the self-hosting option is hosted on the server you choose at a web hosting provider.

This means that you can choose a faster server, which will allow your site to perform better.

Wordpress.org vs. wordpress.com, I'm sure you're wondering why the same company has two different domain name extensions (.org vs .com). wordpress.org is self-hosted, while wordpress.com is hosted.

How to create a blog on WordPress.org (self-hosting option)

The self-hosting option (the most popular option) gives you the option of being the owner of your domain name.

You will therefore not have the limitations that you will encounter with the free option of wordpress.com (hosted option). The vast majority of successful blogs are self-hosted.

How to create a blog on WordPress.com (hosted option)

When you're just starting out in the blogging world, the hosted option is the most appealing because it's technically free.

However, the technicality mentioned is due to the restrictions that are applied when it is completely free.

WordPress.com restrictions for free accounts

If you want to start a blog for free, WordPress.com will place ads on your site to earn money on your free account.

You will have no control over these ads. WordPress.com also doesn't provide you with a custom domain name for the free option.

For example, your domain will look something like this: yoursite. wordpress.com. Likewise, you also have the option of creating a blog for free with Wix.com.

Do not hesitate to read my comparative guide, WordPress vs Wix. In it, I present the pros and cons of WordPress.org (self-hosting) and Wix.

3. Decide which web hosting provider to use

As mentioned, I have a partnership with Bluehost.

While many other hosting providers have interesting unique features, Bluehost offers the best options for newbies by providing the following:

1. Affordable price model
2. Outstanding customer support
3. WordPress installation in one click
4. Money back guarantee
5. Reliability

After clicking “Get Started,” you should see four pricing options.

The cheapest option is great to get started. Bluehost offers reliable expansion options as you grow.

When your site starts to gather more traffic, you'll need to consider higher levels.

Here is a breakdown of traffic levels that differentiates prices based on growth.

• Basic plan - Low traffic level 5k or less in page views per month
• Plan Plus - Average traffic level 25k and over in page views per month
• Choice Plus - High traffic level 50k and over in page views per month

4. Choose a domain name

If you take your time buying a domain name, someone can and will register it, so don't wait.

If you can't find a domain name, Bluehost will give you the option to choose a domain later, but it is strongly advised to choose a domain as soon as possible.

Your domain name is critical to establishing your brand. Branding sets you apart from the crowd.

Have you already done a Google search? What link did you click on?

It's more than likely to be a brand you know or a brand you don't know, right? Having a good domain name can help you with SEO (search engine optimization).

If you're not familiar with SEO, I'll talk about it briefly later in the guide. In addition, I wrote a guide on What is SEO and how does it work that you should read once your site is online.

How does having a good domain contribute to SEO?

How to choose a good domain name

1. Easy to spell
2. Short or long.
3. Eye-catching and easy to remember
4. Communicate your brand voice
5. Use hyphens, not underscores.
6. Choose a .com address
7. If .com is not available, choose.net or.co.

You'll start the process of creating a blog by creating an account with Bluehost. Bluehost will ask you for the following information, which is described below.

After completing the registration process, it's time to complete the critical part of installing WordPress.

Setting up WordPress with Bluehost is done in one click thanks to the one-click installation function.

Installing WordPress

Once your domain name and web hosting are set up at this point, you will see numerous icons in your Cpanel (control panel). All you have to do is click on the “Install WordPress” icon.

By clicking on the icon, you will create a blog on WordPress on Bluehost.

Next, let's move on to the longest step in launching your blog, selecting a design, better known as choosing a theme.

5. Choose a theme for your blog

What are WordPress themes?

Themes are the aesthetics of your site. It's what people see from a design perspective. Before choosing a WordPress theme based on aesthetics, be sure to check the following boxes.

How to choose a WordPress theme

1. Compatible with search engines
2. Fast charging
3. Responsive design
4. High ratings and reviews
5. Easily customizable

I can't tell you enough how many new bloggers don't check the boxes listed above.

What usually happens is that the potential blogger decides to give up because they made a decision based on aesthetics rather than function.

The best advice I can give you is not to spend a lot of time looking for themes.

The most important thing is to keep in mind the functional design elements of the theme you choose. The key is to start creating blog content as soon as possible to convert site traffic and make money.

Bluehost offers theme options, but I suggest that you differentiate your blog with a theme that is not provided to the masses during registration.

If you want themes that are unique, functional, and carefully checked by professional theme developers, I recommend themes from the following third-party providers.

Recommended WordPress themes

• StudioPress (I use the authority pro theme)
• Elegant Themes (page builder included)
• ThemeIsle (High-quality free and paid themes)

How to install a WordPress theme

At this point, you should have installed WordPress, and you have chosen a theme that you want to install. With a bit of luck, you've picked a theme from the ones I recommend in order to save time, money, and headaches.

Once you have chosen to buy your theme, you will download your WordPress theme from a zip file.

What is a zip file?

A computer file containing one or more compressed files for storage or transmission, often with the extension.ZIP.

Steps for installing a WordPress theme

1. Type in (yoursite.com/admin)
2. Connect to the WordPress backend
3. Click on “appearance” and then select “Themes”
4. Select the “Download” option.
5. Find the zip file you downloaded
6. Download the theme from your zip file
7. Press “Activate.”

Congratulations! You have now uploaded your beautiful, fully functional blog design.

At this point, you've created your blog, but to make money from blogging, you'll need to do more.

The following steps explain in detail how to create interest in your blog.

6. Write great blog content

Without a doubt, this part is the most important once you are up and running with WordPress. Launching a successful blog starts with a proactive approach to creating content frequently.

Intent-based content writing

To be successful as a blogger, you need to understand that people are visiting your site with specific intent.

For example, your purpose/intention for being here right now is to learn to create a blog to make money.

You typed in a search term that eventually led you to this guide, and it wasn't by mistake.

That was planned; I focused on specific keywords to address in this guide by doing keyword analysis.

Keyword research is what gets you results to make money by blogging.

Keyword analysis

I highly recommend using SEMrush to perform keyword analysis. Here is an example of what the tool will show you.

Keyword analysis is essential, but the vast majority of blogs rule out using the AIDA model in unison with keyword research.

The AIDA model is the secret sauce of a content strategy, and you can't produce great content without a content strategy.

You also can't make a blog evolve without a bit of help writing your content. I recommend hiring a freelance writer to help you create content at scale.

Let's take a look at what the AIDA model is. But rest assured, once I explain what the AIDA model is, you will have a considerable advantage over most bloggers who want create a blog to make money.

READ MORE: 5 proven copywriting methods

The AIDA model

Each section of the Aida template is essential to start making money with your blog.

AIDA marketing will make it possible to separate those who can potentially earn a six-figure or even a seven-figure income.

Let's take a detailed look at each stage of the AIDA model.

Awareness raising

Your audience enters search terms into Google to find answers. The hope is that they will see you first, but how?

To find the top-notch content that your users are typing, ask Google for help.

Type in a specific keyword that relates to your blog's niche, then scroll to the bottom of the results and note related search terms.

The aim here is to write content that your target audience is looking for. You need to position your content for discovery.

I would not affirm anything that I am not actively practicing myself.

If you type the query”How to start a blog“In Google, I got a general guideline for including specific keywords in this guide.

I also quantified search volume for these particular keywords using SEMrush.

Interest

To get an idea of what people are interested in about your niche, I recommend using the keyword gap analysis tool. Enter multiple competitor URLs to find intersecting points of interest.

Once you've identified these intersecting interests, create content to rank for keywords that your competitors aren't currently targeting.

If you want to tap into the minds of your audience, SEMrush is an indispensable tool for increasing traffic to your blog.

Another great tool to use to help you understand the interest of visitors to your site is a tool called responding to the audience.

Answer the Public - This free tool shows you a list of relevant topics that you can write about by simply entering a term.

I recommend using topics that include target keywords identified from SEMrush and related Google search results.

Desire

Focus your attention on the specific search terms that you know your audience needs.

The key to making money blogging is understanding how to differentiate a desire from a need.

Think about it. How many articles do you read passively per day? The articles you read passively are desires.

You want to be entertained, and you want to learn. Not true? Now think about the needs.

If you need something, it is more than likely that you are taking action and not passively reading information about it. You have a specific objective in mind.

Action

To focus on action, you need to be selective in the keywords you're targeting. Not all keywords are equal.

What do I mean by keywords that are not equal? Think again about the intent behind a typed search term.

Here's a secret that most startups know but that most bloggers don't. There are three main intent-based search queries.

The 3 types of intent-based search queries

1. Intent of the informative keyword
2. Commercial intent of keywords
3. Intent of the transactional keyword.

What is informative intent?

Information queries are primarily focused on informed decision making. For example, look at the following query.

• The best [insert product/service] for...

Does your content respond to the specific intent of the user to guide them to action?

What is commercial intent?

If your users are informed, it is more than likely that they will start to enter this phase. Do the queries below sound familiar? Perhaps you entered similar queries into a search engine before making a purchase.

• Comments on [insert product/service].
• Compare [insert product/service].

People enter business keywords to make a purchase decision after collecting some initial information during the awareness phase.

What is transactional intent?

Transactional keywords are queries that aim to make a purchase. Do the following items sound familiar to you?

• [insert product/service] near me
• [product/service] cheap

A great way to identify the desire that can lead to action is to listen to your audience.

How to listen to your audience

A great tool to use to listen to your audience is the Thrive Themes quiz builder plugin.

This plugin is great for providing interactive quizzes that help you understand your audience.

You can create a quiz using an easy to use drag-and-drop interface.

I also recommend that you use Quora.com to help you listen to your audience in order to understand some pain points.

Understand pain points and write content that addresses them.

Tip 1: Quora has millions of users; becoming an expert on a specific subject to send traffic to your site is a Growth Hack that a lot of startups use. This tactic is known as parasitic referencing.

What is the SEO parasite?

Parasitic referencing, as its name suggests, relies on a host. The host is the higher authority website.

A link is placed on the host, which helps to strategically channel traffic from one website to another. The link placed on the host feeds on their influence and authority to gain popularity.

Don't be a spammer, provide value, and don't use every article as a way to send traffic to your site. Offer value, don't become a spammer.

If you do not deploy the AIDA model (Copywriting method) and don't align intent-based keywords with keyword search volume, you don't have an effective content plan to entice users to buy.

Many bloggers charge a high fee to teach you the information I've shared openly, but I've given you this information for free because I genuinely want to see you succeed 🙂.

I have personally deployed this tactic for startups and established businesses whose valuation is currently in the millions or even billions of dollars.

Let's take a step back. For Start a blog In order to make money, you must first sell a specific service or product to which to direct traffic.

Check out this list of ways to make money with a blog that I created, if you don't already have something in mind.

4 ways to make money with a blog

If you want to start making money with a blog right away, you should consider the following options.

1. consultancy
2. Selling products (E-commerce)
3. Affiliate programs
4. Online courses

consultancy

To make money blogging, you must first have a skill, whatever it may be.

Consulting to earn immediate income from your blog is a very viable option when you are a new blogger.

The good thing is that you don't need a lot of traffic to get a customer. But of course, the more traffic you have, the more customers you can get. In addition, offering freelancing is also a great option.

Create an e-commerce store

Selling products is a great way to generate money from your blog. If you are interested in the creation of an e-commerce business.

You can easily connect a WordPress blog to the platform Shopify. The best part about blogging is that it's one of the best ways to develop e-commerce.

It's a great time to start selling products online.

Since we are in a global pandemic due to the Covid-19 epidemic, look at the growth of the e-commerce industry.

As you can see on the graph, the impact of coronavirus on businesses is causing a substantial growth in e-commerce.

If you want to go this route, literally, there has never been a better time than now to start an e-commerce store.

Online courses

If you have a specific skill, you can teach others at a profit. You can build an audience on your blog to sell your courses directly.

If you choose to go this route, I recommend using thinkific.com.

Thinkific is one of the best online course platforms that you can use.

Affiliate marketing

What is an affiliate program?

Les affiliate programs allow this site and millions of other websites to make money without ads interfering with the site experience.

The key to earning affiliate commissions is generating new content consistently and offering high value.

By generating content consistently, you can insert affiliate links into your articles for different affiliate programs.

By offering value, you will ensure that your site is visited regularly. Affiliate marketing is the best option for websites that are just starting up and for established blogs.

The importance of the media

Keep in mind that when creating content, adding images is vital. When you focus on writing content, try to insert images that convey your message to your readers.

Studies show that blog posts that contain images get 94% more views than blog posts that don't.

Use Canva.com to create images. It's simple to use and has lots of pre-made templates handpicked by world-class designers. I use this platform on this blog.

When adding media to your blog, don't forget the videos. Videos play a crucial role in unwritten communication, which I recommend using in your blog posts.

“The average conversion rate for websites that use video is 4.8%, compared to 2.9% for those that don't.”

Now that I've covered the fundamental elements of a content strategy at a high level, it's time to get into on-site SEO.

SEO may seem technically difficult, but I can assure you it's not.

If you want to know more about SEO, I recommend that you read my guide on this What is SEO and how does it work.

7. Implementation of referencing (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be difficult for newcomers to the blogging world to grasp. I briefly mentioned SEO in this guide.

I also talked about keyword research, which is part of the SEO process. SEO is a broad topic, but it's mostly made up of three pillars.

1. On-page SEO

The practice of optimizing the elements of a website (as opposed to links on external signals, collectively referred to as “Off-Page SEO”) in order to improve ranking and visibility in search engines.

RECOMMENDED READING: Everything you need to know about on-page SEO

2. Technical referencing

The optimization process so that search engines can crawl and index your website/blog.

Technical SEO helps search engines explore, access, and interpret specific information.

READ MORE: How to carry out a technical referencing audit?

What is indexing?

Indexing is the addition of your website to S.E.R.P.S (search engine result pages).

Search engine robots scour your site looking for relevant queries that match what a user entered as a query to feed the indexed pages.

What is a Crawl?

A crawl consists in programming robots/spiders to interpret content based on specific keywords that Internet users type into search engines.

3. Off-Page SEO

The practice of positioning the links in your posts/articles so that they can be mentioned on external websites, better known as link building or link building.

To create links, you need to contact site owners to have your link placed on relevant external sites.

Tip 3: By creating your own images, you can create backlinks to your site. If a website wants to use your image, it will need to mention your site by indicating the source of the image.

A common problem when looking for backlinks is finding an email address, tools like Hunter.io will greatly help you find the contacts of website managers.

Think of link building as a popularity contest. When larger sites link to your site, you get more traffic. The more traffic you get, the more your ranking in Google increases.

Once you receive a higher rank in the search results, it gives you more credibility to what is known as DA (Domain Authority). Once you are credible, it increases your CTR (click through rate) in the search results.

A simple concept, no? This process resulted in a multi-billion dollar company that we all know as Google.

RECOMMENDED READING: Understand everything about Off-Page SEO

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Google search statistics

5.6 billion Google searches are performed every day. If you thought that was impressive, let's break that down by second. 63,000,000 Google searches are done per second

And that's only an estimate at best, as fluctuations happen during the holiday season and current events.

I've shown you these statistics to give you words of encouragement. There are literally billions of people looking for what you want to give them.

Google Trends for SEO

Do you want to see keyword fluctuations from month to month or over a year or more? Consult the Google Trends. It's a useful tool to help you plan content around trending topics for SEO.

Setting up an SEO plugin

Now that you know the main elements of SEO, you should focus on implementing on-site SEO.

While you may wince and say to yourself, I am not an SEO expert. No problem, with the All in one SEO pack plugin, you can run optimizations SEO for your site with ease.

How to install the SEO pack on a WordPress site

1. Log in to your WordPress admin area.
2. Navigate to the plugins section and click “Add New.”
3. Type “all in One SEO pack” in the search bar.
4. Click “Install Now” and select “Activate.”

Congratulations! You have installed the all-in-one SEO pack on your WordPress blog.

Here are a few more important aspects when setting up your site for SEO.

What is Google Search Console?

La Google Search Console is a tool that allows you to submit your site to the Google search results index. The search console also allows you to see what keywords are driving users to your site.

It helps you analyze clicks and the position of your site in the rankings. You will need to copy and paste a code on your website to be able to use it.

What is an XML sitemap?

An XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a virtual roadmap in the form of a file used to list all the URLs in a website. Sitemaps make it possible to identify information from search engines and help to effectively explore your site to facilitate its indexing.

By using the all-in-one SEO pack, you can easily create a site map in a few clicks.

Tip 4: To see the XML sitemap for any site, type the following in your browser sitemap.xml in your browser sitemap.xml

What is a permalink?

The term “Permalink” refers to a permanent link, which means that the link structure you have established will remain the same. Permanent links are designed to be easy for Internet users and web crawlers to read.

Here is a basic example of a permalink: http://nomdusiteweb.com/blog/titre-de-larticle

Permalinks are essential in guiding readers to the exact article they wanted to read. You can think of it as a virtual bookmark. It is an extension of your domain name in the specific articles you publish.

Follow the instructions below to set up the recommended permalink structure, which is considered best SEO practice.

1. Click on “Settings” in WordPress and select “Permalinks.”
2. Select the “Post name” structure.
3. Save your settings

Great job! You have come this far. Now it's time to understand who is visiting your website.

8. Install Google Analytics

Now it's time to add more power to your site. What is this power I am talking about? The power of knowledge, my friends 🙂 Analytics gives you insight into what's going on on your site. Without access to analytics, you wouldn't know what was going on.

Do you want to know if more women than men visit your site? Or even know where your audience is located geographically. These are questions that analysis can help you answer.

Here is an example of what Google Analytics looks like once installed.

By using analytics, you can better tailor your marketing efforts to those who are buying, not those who you think are buying from you.

If you want to benefit from this overview, simply install a plugin that will do the work for you.

I recommend using Monster Insights, because it is the market leader in the rapid installation of Google Analytics for WordPress sites. You don't have to be a data scientist.

Google Analytics implementation

If you use Wordpress:

1. Navigate to “Plugins” and click “Add New.” Search for “Monster Analytics.”
2. Click “install” once you have found the plugin.
3. Click “Activate.”
4. “Sign in with your Google account.”
5. Accept Google Analytics permissions.
6. Complete the authentication.

If you don't use Wordpress:

Add the script provided by Google Analytics when creating your account into <head>your site tag.

If you don't know how to do it, ask for help from a freelancer on Fiverr which will only cost you a few euros.

Now you will be aware of the visitors to your site. Congratulations!

9. Promote your content on the web

Once you've installed analytics tools, you'll be well equipped to understand which acquisition channels you need to focus on.

When the data starts to pile up, I recommend regularly looking at the referrals tab in GA to see what's driving traffic and develop these sites and topics.

Here are some traffic channels that can increase traffic to your blog and that you will need to develop on.

Marketing channels to drive traffic to your blog

1. Publishing on social networks
2. Listing your business on directories
3. Email marketing for your audience
4. Guest blog posts on authoritative sites
5. Set a budget for online ads

Social networks

Social networks are an extension of your site on external web platforms where you can share new trends known as news feeds.

It's essentially the new era of word-of-mouth marketing.

The power comes from users sharing messages to get users to click on your site.

Business directories

Directory listings can help you take advantage of high-traffic platforms to send traffic to your site, which is great.

Consider sites like Yelp.com. This is a perfect example of a business listing.

Several lists of businesses exist. All you have to do is find them.

Email marketing

Opt-in marketing, better known as email marketing, is great for bringing users who have already visited your site back to your site.

Email marketing can also encourage those same users to defend your site so that new users can see your articles.

If you are looking for the right tool for your marketing strategy, you can check out this article: The best email marketing tools and software

Guest blog posts

Les guest blog posts are a great opportunity to place your expertise on high-traffic websites in order to send users to your website.

It's a great way to build authority in your niche, meet other bloggers, make yourself known on various forums related to your niche, and create backlinks.

This is an activity that includes sending cold emails and building relationships.

First, don't think about the benefits you'll get from Backlinks.

You need to provide value to others.

It's worth repeating:

In the world of internet marketing, you need to provide value when you're writing guest blog posts.

Online ads

Showing ads is obvious, but remember that your traffic depends on your budget.

It is strongly recommended to have a business model that is already profitable before investing heavily in paid ads. Also, not all online ads are the same.

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To promote your new blog, the best strategy is to do whatever it takes to create links to your blog.

Links are like the currency of the Internet.

The more you have, the more seriously Google will take you and rank a new blog post quickly after it's published.

Here are the main strategies for promoting your blog:

Creating links

While posting invitations is one strategy for getting links to your blog, there are plenty of others out there.

First, the best form of link building is to passively get links without any involvement or awareness.

Sounds like a dream, doesn't it?

People naturally link to the best content they can find.

So how do you make sure your blog posts are “linkable”?

When you start a blog, your content should be unique and of high quality. This is the prerequisite for entering the game.

To take it to the next level, add visual elements to your blog posts. This can include infographics, videos, case studies, statistics, and other unique content that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Here are some other link building strategies to try after creating a blog:

• Creating broken links: Use a tool like Ahrefs to find blogs in your niche with broken external links. Email them to let them know that their link is broken and that your resource is a better option. This strategy is great because you're helping the blog fix its 404 error and (with a bit of luck) you get a link at the same time.
• Link retrieval: Enter your blog URL into the Ahrefs Content Explorer tool to find cases where your brand is mentioned but not linked. You can then contact the author of the article, thank them for the mention and ask them to add the link.
• Link partnerships: Build relationships with other bloggers in your niche to get links in their guest posts and vice versa.
• Competitive Research: Look at websites that link to your competitors to find new sites to contact.

If you're interested in more higher-level ideas, check out my new guide on creating backlinks.

Search engines and blogs

You can have the best blog in the world, if you don't have visitors, that doesn't really matter, does it?

So how do you attract people to your blog? The answer is very simple: thanks to blog referencing.

Search engine listings are the main method that potential readers and subscribers use to discover new blogs.

If they can't find you or, even worse, if you don't rank well in the search results, they won't know you exist!

When creating a blog, keep in mind that content that will appeal to readers is great, but you should also make sure that your blog can be found in search engines.

Search engine rankings are something that vaguely resembles the holy grail for new bloggers.

While it takes time and patience, it's possible to get good rankings even if your site is brand new, so don't lose hope for now!

The secret to getting a good ranking is not really a “secret.” It's just a matter of making sure that Google knows exactly what each page on your blog is about.

For example, instead of just saying “This article is about this” or “This article is about this” or “This article is about that,” use language that reflects what future readers might type into Google when looking for information about what your article is about.

Think of this as a good way to make sure Google knows what your page is about - then you'll start to appear naturally in relevant search results.

SEO title tags

It's what shows up in search engine results and encourages people to click on your blog.

It may be the same, different, or similar to the title of your articles, but more importantly, it should make sense when people are looking for specific words.

Additionally, search engines will truncate the title tag to around 160 characters. So you need to take this into account when thinking about your SEO title.

Remember to include the main keyword (s) you are targeting in your title.

Meta description

Meta descriptions are another on-page SEO factor to consider. These are essentially the words that appear under your blog post in Google.

They show up with your page, giving you total control over what Google thinks your message is about.

Use them to give readers a good idea of what they can expect from your blog.

Sitemaps

This helps search engines direct bots to your blog and also allows them to know all the pages you have.

You should submit a sitemap via Google Search Console, as this allows new content added to your blog to be indexed as quickly as possible.

Pay particular attention to categories and subcategories when creating your directory structure as they will appear in the site map.

It is very important to give search engines as much information as possible about your blog.

Widgets

Having a good blog for SEO purposes sometimes means displaying information in a widget as well as in your article.

This means that including things like RSS feeds, author information, and related posts in your blog posts will help search engines direct relevant readers to your site.

Widgets are also very useful for subtitles, as they give you additional functionality for your blog.

On-page referencing

You need to format your blog posts correctly in order to get a good ranking in search engines.

To do this, you need to ensure that your target keywords are in the URL, the H1 (title), the first H2 as a question, and throughout the content.

You can use tools like Jasper and SurferSEO to optimize your blog posts for SEO.

Types of online ads

• PPC (Pay per click)
• Display network ads (banner ads)
• Sponsored ads (Pay Per Post)
• Social media ads

You will need to decide what is the best option for your blog. A golden rule is to pay attention to your ROAS and ROI.

What is ROAS?

Return on ad spend (ROAS) measures the gross revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising campaigns. ROAS makes it possible to identify which methods work and, above all, what you can do to improve your advertising campaigns.

What is the difference between ROI and ROAS?

ROAS assesses the effectiveness of ads in relation to the ROI, which estimates the profitability of ads.

How do you calculate the return on investment?

The return on investment is calculated by dividing the profit by the initial cost of the investment multiplied by 100.

Here is the calculation of the return on investment represented in the form of a formula.

How do you calculate ROAS?

ROAS is calculated by dividing ad revenue by the initial ad cost multiplied by 100.

Here is the ROAS calculation represented as a formula.

10. Create retention by providing value to readers

Offering value is the secret to starting a blog that makes money. What does your audience want before they start offering services?

Listen first and foremost, and stay connected to your audience. Seth Godin talks at length about the value offer. Seth mentions the following quote in his book Tribes.

If you listen and serve your audience accordingly, they will come back to you. Also, they will talk about you.

To retain Internet users to your blog:

1. Write for the reader first and foremost
2. Have a clear message and value proposition
3. Set up an email incentive to keep in touch
4. Leveraging social proof

FAQs

What is a blog?

A blog is a regularly updated website, managed by an individual or a group, composed mainly of texts written in an informal and conversational style.

If you believe the statistics, in the United States alone, 42.23% of people aged 18 to 49 read blogs.

You can find a blog about any topic you want. For bloggers, it's a great way to increase followers, meet new people, and Make money online.

How much does it cost to start a blog?

When creating a blog, you have the option of using a free or paid blogging platform. Both have their pros and cons.

If you're a newbie and want to try your hand at blogging without paying upfront, WordPress.com and Blogger are great free platforms that allow you to do just that. However, a free tool always comes with restrictions. For example, you won't have access to better themes, ad restrictions, etc.

On the other hand, if you are a seasoned activist or a novice who is confident enough in blogging, you can opt for paid platforms.

Web site creation tools like Squarespace and Wix offer great paid plans that allow you to customize your site the way you want, with no restrictions. In addition, these platforms allow you to optimize your site for search engines, add advanced features such as an online store, drag-and-drop editors, etc.

Some of the essential expenses include:

• New domain name: It can cost you around $10 per year.
• Hosting: Shared hosting typically costs between $3 and $10 per month. Then there are more advanced options like VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, etc.
• Optional expenses include a premium WordPress theme (costing between $30 and $60), marketing tools, any additional SEO plugins needed as well as those for other purposes, and more.

Final calculations:

• If you think of blogging as a hobby, it should be free.
• If you are not very serious and don't mind the minimum features, it will cost you around $50 to $60 per year.

If you plan to start blogging full-time and invest in additional features to grow your blog, the cost can exceed $400 per year.

How do bloggers get paid?

Bloggers can be paid through advertising, affiliate commissions, course sales or e-commerce, etc.

The most common measure of compensation in affiliate marketing is the EPC (earnings per click).

Another measure is CPM (cost per 1000 impressions). For every 1,000 clicks on the ad, you get a fixed amount.

Apart from that, you can also sell products based on your expertise. For example, if you are holding a travel blog, you can sell brochures on the best tourist destinations, earn money through travel affiliate programs.

If you have a food blog, you can sell electronic recipes for your best dishes.

Offer something that is liked by a segment of your audience and offer paid subscriptions to enlist them. The amount can be as low as $5 per month per person. But if you manage to create value to attract large volumes, you can start earning a decent income.

Can I put Google Adsense on my blog?

Yes, although there are strict rules about what Google accepts and does not accept in its Adsense program.

Google Adsense is one of the many but most popular advertising agencies.

To avoid any difficulties when showing these types of ads on your blog, you need to make sure that you comply with Google's terms and conditions.