Are you struggling to start a blog be it for software review, entrepreneurship, food, marketing, and so on, but you are overwhelmed with all the starting blog information available on the web. Then this is for you.
Starting a blog most time can be daunting and disturbing but do you know that with the right knowledge you could be able to build a successful and professional blog.
Here you will learn how to start a blog, network a blog, and grow your income as a blogger.
The following steps below are what you will follow in order to start and grow a blog in any Niche of your choice.
Table of Contents
ADVANTAGES OF BECOMING A BLOGGER AS A CAREER
Blogging is used to share what you have knowledge of, show your expertise, and sell the service or product you have. It also has various other benefits as listed below:
BLOGGING AS A REWARDING CAREER
a) Help your present or future clients know more about you: Most time the data or the profile you use to propose to clients like linked-in, Facebook, or even Twitter might not be enough for them to see you as an expert in your career.
But with your blog, you could easily create trust and a sign of professionalism for your employer or target clients.
b) Boost your confidence and upgrade your level of being a writer or developer: Blogging on your expertise or your knowledge will make you dive more into research.
Interactions with your readers will also boost your confidence and the way you do things.
You could be asked questions and you will confidently give the response you never thought you could be able to due to the confidence you have derived from blogging in your expertise.
c) Blogging serve as a personal digital record: Blogging is always the way individuals and company express themself to their readers or customer.
Blogging can serve as a digital record in the sense that you have the history of what you have known or what you have shared, it might be about when you tried a new software and the outcome, or a new diet you are trying and the results you have achieved, or your personal story that you have shared with the world.
d) Change the way you approach life: One of the most differences between being a blogger and traditional publishing is that you have the opportunity to get feedback from your readers.
As a blogger with particular expertise, you introduce a particular topic that you find interesting and meaningful. You take time to lay out a subject in the minds of your readers and offer your thoughts on the topic.
Then, the readers get to respond. And often at times, their responses in the comment section challenge you to take a new, fresh look at the very topic you thought was so important at first.
HOW TO CREATE A PROFITABLE BLOG STEP BY STEP FOR BEGINNERS
Let’s walk through a step-by-step guide to starting your blogging journey.
STEP 1: CREATE A SMART GOAL FOR YOUR BLOG
A smart goal is:
Specific: Decide on set numbers or dates for your goals
Measurable: A goal you can track to help with accountability
Achievable: A goal that is likely to take place but challenging
Relevant: that matters or connecting to your biggest goals
Time Sensitive: Set a hard deadline to achieve your goal
You can take note of adding so I can to every of your set goals to start a blog.
Example 1: I want to get 1000 subscribers before month 6 so I can launch my courses to my subscribers.
Example 2: I want to make $3000 per month from my blog by month 8 so I can quit my job and travel full time.
STEP 2: 3 THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH TO REACH YOUR SMART GOAL
Write them down and plan when you will work on them.
For example, if your set goal is to make $3,000/ month blogging by month 8 write out tasks to help you: For example:
1: Build my email list to 400 loyal and engaging subscribers
2: Write and promote a weekly blog post (2000+ words per blog post)
3: Brainstorm 10 monetization methods and do the math to determine how many clients or customers you need in other to reach that goal
Taking action to do all this is important because it allows you to backward to make your smart goal a reality for you to achieve.
When you adopt this method, you will start to take action and build a real plant in other to achieve what you want your smart goals.
STEP 3: BRAINSTORM YOUR BLOG NICHE OR FOCUS
Now that you have known how to create a smart goal and how to plan or make deadlines in other to create a successful blog. Let go on to the next step which is what is your niche
Your blog can be simply known as your area of expertise or the industry you want to write or discuss.
To brainstorm about a niche, think about your passions, what you are good at and what you can defend and probably make a profit from or monetize.
You can create value with a niche you are passionate about and ideally experienced in, but how do you make money in that niche?
Below are the 5 main ways to make money:
- Affiliates
- Sponsored posts
- Monetization
- Ads
- Services/Consulting
- Online courses
Also, note that they are several bloggers who discuss unusual niches and are still successful.
You can blog and discuss anything from digital marketing to software reviews, entrepreneurship or business developments, and many more.
Try thinking about the illustrations above and list out a few of the ideas you think of when you start blogging about, what you will be good at before you make a decision.
STEP 4: DECIDE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Something like married moms or college students is too vague or not too concise. List out how old they are, what their goals are, what their struggles are, etc
It is very important to brainstorm your target audience NICHE you want to blog or discuss can have a different audience. Which of course will affect the way you need to market yourself and approach blogging in general.
Take for an instant your blog about vegan food and your target audience are busy moms with a large food budget there is going to be a lot different from a vegan food blog that target broke college students that barely have enough to feed themselves let alone follow your vegan tips.
The more you understand and know about your target audience or readers for your blog, the more effective your blog marketing will be the reason being you know who they are and what they want and you will tailor your marketing to that exact person to suit their needs.
STEP 5: UNDERSTAND YOUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT (USP)
Source: wikipedia.org
Understanding your blog’s unique selling points might be your writing tone, or your plans are to create contents that are 10x worth your competitor’s.
Making a unique selling point will give your readers reason’s to come back every time to get value, unlike your competitor’s content.
Trying to build a unique selling point is very good and great but not all your audience will accept your unique selling points especially when you use too much personal humor in your blog content.
Although it is great to use humor that is your unique selling point since you want to build a community of loyal followers – instead of subscribers showing little interest. And you wouldn’t get to build loyal subscribers by pleasing everyone, so that is okay by me.
STEP 6: SETTING UP A GREAT STRATEGY
Setting a great strategy for a blog reader to return is helpful and will lead to more loyal subscribers but how do you do that?
You can make a strategy whereby your niche and your unique selling points are included.
Let’s say for example: “Readers will visit my blog so they can learn how to launch an ebook and they will keep coming back as the #1 choice in my niche industry because of the great tips I will provide on how to launch an ebook, market an ebook and drop shipping of the book.
The best method for a successful blog is to introduce the aspect of teaching into your blog, for a specific type of reader what they want/need to learn.
That is the power of defining your niche to a particular interest and it is very important since you don’t want random blog readers or audiences to stick around but never return.
Owning a particular niche on a particular interest will make your readers come back to learn new things. About the topic, you teach or discuss.
Getting clear on your desired unique selling points will help create a loyal and constant audience for your blog. It will also create raving fans, a thriving community, and people who can’t wait to work with you.
STEP 7: MONETIZING YOUR BLOGS
Having decided what strategy you wish to use to make money blogging, remember that ads are not a really good idea for making money.
Try thinking of better monetization methods, you can try coming up with a particular product or service that your targeted readers or audience will want and desire.
You could try monetizing through affiliate products. These are other people’s products or services that you sell and get paid a commission when your audience purchase.
According to the “Blog Income report research study by The Blog Millionaire”, the statistical distribution of income source are different by the blogger income brackets.
The lower-income bracket, making between $2,000-$7,500/month, heavily relies on Ads and Affiliates, making close to 62% combined of the overall income source.
Bloggers earning between $7,500-$25,000/month are considered middle-income brackets. While Ads and Affiliate are still the top 2 income sources, Affiliate becomes the leading source of income taking over from Ads.
By this point, the bloggers have accumulated a healthy email list, and are able to sell their own products via email marketing without heavily relying on advertising.
Source: https://itsnotyour9to5.com
Finally, the upper-income bracket is for bloggers who make $25,000+/month. Interestingly, Online courses become the dominant source of income. Most of these bloggers offer several course-related products.
In other to boost your monetization methods you could try and take a look at what your competitors are doing or selling (your competitors are bloggers in the same target niche and who have target audiences or readers like you) for better monetizations.
You could observe if they sell online courses, digital downloads, or services
Just try taking note of how they monetize, but you don’t have to sell them the same service or products, but get an idea of what is working and not working in your industry.
n other to get you inspired to create your products or services which is really a great method for blog monetization.
STEP 8: PLAN THE FIRST 10 BLOG POSTS TO MONETIZE
In order to monetize your blog or use it as an affiliate site, you need to plan out a strategy for building the target audiences and spend time planning out the best method to use.
Let’s take this example, If your plan of monetization is to sell a book launching course, you need to come up with blog post topics that will attract writers who want to launch a book.
Keep in mind that they are many strategies for attracting target readers, out of which we have discussed the top 2 below:
- Your blog post or topics should be able to answer the reader’s questions.
- Your blog post should be helpful to your target audience in other to overcome pain or obstacles.
The blog post or topic should be specific and concise in order to help the target audience reach a goal or fulfill a desire.
If Finding topics or ideas to write about try using buzz sumo, check out the subreddit for your blog niche topic, go through topics relating to your blog niche on Facebook groups, and take your time to do the research on Pinterest in other to find a topic to you can discuss.
If finding a blog post idea is kind of difficult for you here is how to come up with 93 blog post ideas in 10 minutes.
STEP 9: PLAN YOUR BLOG HEADLINE
To make a very captivating and interesting headline you have to brainstorm and take note of writing different headlines you suggest.
Always remember while writing a captivating blog headline you have to keep in mind that your target audience or topic should be obvious.
The headline should relate and speak directly to your reader or subscriber need’s, want, and pain points in order to draw them into your blog post.
I have highlighted examples of good and bad headlines below:
- A bad headline that wouldn’t draw the reader in is: Publishing a book
- An example of a good headline that will draw a reader in is Proven tips on publishing a book in less than an hour.
The second headline is likely to draw in readers and sounds more engaging. Additionally, the second headline is more fun and appealing because it shows concern and is very specific. The readers know exactly what to expect. That is, they are going to save a lot of time if they go ahead to read your blog topic.
STEP 10: LIST THE TOP 3 ADJECTIVES THAT DEFINE YOUR BRAND
In order to list the top 3 adjectives that best describe your blog brand, you need to try to base it on your personality traits and how you can let those traits shine through in your blog posts. Since your reader wouldn’t like to read a blog post they feel is written by a robot, so it is important for the blog to represent your personality traits.
Now that you have highlighted the top 3 adjectives that describe your blog and your personality traits, you can also choose your target audience and how you can use your personality to be attractive to them so they don’t choose other blogs over you in your niche industry.
Having done all that you can notice that they all go back to your unique selling points.
Let’s take for instance your unique selling points might be
- *Masculine Industrious Encouraging
- *Feminine Spiritual Encouraging
Step 11: WORK ON MARKETING
Now that you have highlighted the ways you could get the traffic it is time to do your research to find out what your competitors are doing (successful blogs) and where your target audience or research communicates freely online.
Having all this information can help you to determine where to focus your effort (for getting traffic).
Brainstorm the idea or methods you think you know can work well for your personality and your specific target reader’s/ audience
For example: If you blog about creative writers or food blogs, Pinterest can be a very good option since your target audience might be visiting Pinterest in other to find books to read, or chefs or mothers might visit Pinterest in order to find a new recipe or cooking tricks.
On the other hand, If you have a blog about software tricks or how-to’s you might consider creating a video in order to go with each of your blog posts and focus more on building an audience on youtube. (since computer tricks or hacks are more popular on youtube.
STEP 12: BUILD YOUR SUBSCRIBERS LIST
To build and grow your blog into a profitable blog, you might have had a lot of ideas coming through your mind.
The truth is you have to learn how to build an effective email list for your blog, building an email list filled with loyal subscribers will eventually lead to people who will eventually purchase your products or service.
You will have to build your list of loyal subscribers using lead magnets, which are often free downloads – often PDF or video tips you offer to your target audience in exchange for their email address.
After you have listed out your lead magnet take note that your lead magnet should be close enough to the blog post topic you have it in.
While your lead magnets might be a PDF or a video that is truly valuable for your target readers or audience.
Now that you have your lead magnet inside of the blog post that it is related to. You can also advertise it in your blog sidebar and also try advertising it on social media.
STEP 13: TAKE ACTION! BUILD YOUR SCHEDULER
It is always good to create your schedule, I recommend creating out your schedule on google calendar based on your smart goals since it is free and available on many devices.
Then you can break down your daily tasks into a paper or notes planner. Doing all this every single day will help you plan out well and change your business while also making a huge impact on your productivity.
While starting your blog you need to choose a blogging platform like WordPress, Wix, etc. There are various platforms available, however, here in this blog, I will walk you through starting a WordPress blog step by step. Do you want to know why? Let’s dig in!
WHY WORDPRESS?
There are countless website options to choose from when creating a website. Here is why WordPress makes for a better blog-building option than Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly.
WordPress currently influences over 34% of the internet and gives users the freedom to build without boundaries. Self-hosting with WordPress gives you full control over each aspect of your website from designing your blog to adding functionality with plugins.
In addition, there is a robust and friendly community ready to help you create a website that is dynamic, unique, and powerful.
Now that you know the importance of WordPress as a blogging platform, let’s understand how to set up a WordPress blog.
7 EASY STEPS ON HOW TO START A WORDPRESS BLOG
Do you want to start a WordPress blog the best way? Starting a blog especially when you are not the techie type might be overwhelming and terrifying.
Think about this – you are not alone in the world of creating a blog for yourself.
The process I am about to show you is easy to understand even if you are a teenager or new to setting up a WordPress blog keep in mind that creating your WordPress blog can be easily started in as little as 30 minutes whether you’re a new web user or an advanced web user.
So your questions might be, what exactly do you need to start a WordPress blog?
There are three things you need to create a WordPress blog:
- A domain name idea (this will be the name of your blog i.e blogname.com)
- A web hosting account (this is where your website is hosted on the internet)
- Your undivided focus for at least 30 minutes.
Yes, you read it right. You can set up a blog from zero knowledge in less than 30 minutes, and I will guide you through the whole process, step by step.
1. CHOOSING A HOSTING FOR YOUR SITE
To help ensure your site is optimized for visitors and search engines, you need a high-speed hosting provider like Bluehost, although there are other better alternatives listed above.
See the Google trends report below to the most used hosting provider showing you that Bluehost is going to be the smartest decision to make for achieving blogging success.
On top of that, Bluehost is very affordable with basic plans starting at just $2.75 per month.
I and many other bloggers would recommend Bluehost without thinking about anything else. Also, it has some great features like an easy-to-use dashboard that comes in handy for beginners
There are numerous hosting options to choose from that come with the following benefits:
- 24/7 customer support
- Free SSL certificate
- Easy cPanel dashboard
- 99% server uptime
- High-end security measures
- High-speed servers
- 1-click WordPress Installation
Moreover, Bluehost is also Recommended by WordPress as the host of choice, has low introductory pricing, and a money-back guarantee. Lastly, it costs $2.95/month (via my link )
SET UP AN ACCOUNT WITH BLUE HOST AND CREATE YOUR NEW BLOG POST
Setting up a Bluehost account is quite simple. Just follow these steps given below:
STEP 1: REGISTER WITH BLUEHOST
Open up Bluehost Now in a new window and follow up here, the first action you need to take is to click on the Get Started Now to set up your blog.
STEP 2: CHOOSE YOUR HOSTING PLAN
Now that you are on the Blue host page, choosing a plan might not be difficult for you since they are several hosting plans for you, so you just select the plan that works best for you.
The blue host offer a different kind of service, they have three different hosting option you can choose from, and while the majority of their hosting plan includes a free secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate, users are given a full year of free domain, and a marketing credit of $200.
The basic Blue host plan: This is the most popular hosting solution that provides everything a blog starter will need to get started.
The blue host basic plan is an efficient and affordable hosting option for a blogger with a single site.
The plus Blue host plan: It is the best Blue host hosting plan to choose from if you are looking to scale and expect more visitor traffic to your blog since it allows you to own multiple blogs and features the 30-day free trial of Microsoft 365 email essentials package.
The choice Blue host plan: The choice plan is the biggest offer by the Blue host, this plans cover every package listed in the basic blue host plan and the plus blue host plan, the choice Bluehost plan provides its subscribers -Free automatic daily backups of their, code guard monitoring and restore services and full domain privacy.
STEP 3: CHOOSE YOUR DOMAIN NAME
When choosing a domain name consider choosing a name that is best for your business or brand and choose a domain name that matches your business or brand name for example yourblogname.com
If you have already gotten a domain name, you can enter it at the option while you will be taken through a few steps to make sure you have your domain name system (DNS) verified in Blue host If you don’t have a domain name yet, you can acquire a domain name for your blog through this step while it comes for free with your new word press hosting account purchase.
When choosing a domain name it is wise to consider the most important features of your blog, for example, the niche, phrases, words, and keywords that will help the audience recognize it faster.
If you’ve already selected your name, then you can add the information here. And if you need a new one, you get your domain name for free for the first year.
If you need more time to come up with a website name, you can always sign-up and choose your domain later.
Next, you will be asked to create your account, which is the final step of the process.
STEP 4: ENTER ACCOUNT DETAILS
Here are the “Account Information” details you need to enter to create your account.
The details you are required to enter is very essential so make sure to input the correct details, including your first and last name, business name if applicable, country, address, etc.
STEP 5: SET UP BILLING INFORMATION
After selecting your preferred host plan and choosing your domain name, you will need to add your account billing information and complete the package information to complete the setup.
As a Bluehost long-time user, I recommend you go for the 36 months plan because that is the best value so far.
While selecting your plan you will see optional extras that you can obtain, It is entirely your decision to consider purchasing the extras if you really want to.
But I don’t recommend purchasing the extras since they can be gotten later on if you decide you need them.
Finally, pick your payment option. Bluehost has a flexible payment option either you choose to make the payment via credit card or PayPal.
You have successfully registered your hosting plan with Bluehost
Congratulations – you’ve set up your hosting for the first time and you now officially own a blog.
You’re now signed up with Bluehost, which means you have done the most essential part of starting a blog and becoming an entrepreneur.
Now that the Bluehost account is all set, it’s time we move on to other important things. Follow these two steps to start creating a new blog post.
Step 1: WordPress INSTALLATION USING CPANEL
After purchasing your hosting plan, you will be sent an email with details on how to create an account and login into your web hosting panel which can be called (cPanel).
Your cPanel is where you have access to manage every feature like support, email configuration, and many more features.
Don’t forget this is where you have the access to install WordPress.
When you have signup to the latest Bluehost version with my link WordPress will be automatically installed for you.
This simply means you have to log in to your registered Bluehost account, and then click the login WordPress button to get started.
You can also log in to WordPress by simply going to yoursite.com/wp-admin/ directly from your browser.
Your word press installation will be automatically downloaded and you will have access to your admin dashboard Once WordPress is set up.
STEP 2: ADD CONTENT TO YOUR ALREADY SET UP BLOG
Now you have your admin dashboard set and ready, create and publish a post.
To make a post hit the add new post link from the left navigation of your admin dashboard.
Creating a blog with word press gives you a handful of customization settings, you can add custom logos, colors, or themes that signify your business and brand.
From here, spend some time making yourself familiar with the functionalities of your new WordPress blog.
Don’t forget to test out all the features and play around with different themes to pick the one that best suits your needs.
If you are not convinced with Bluehost as a hosting platform. Don’t worry. We got your back!
BLUEHOST ALTERNATIVES
There are numerous web hosting companies that offer shared CMS hosting packages with a wide range of hosting prices. And the provider you choose really matters. That’s because it impacts your website’s health, speed, reliability, security, and more.
As we all know that web hosting charges can change and certainly listed below are not the only web hosting companies providing shared content management system (CMS) hosting.
Provided below is the list of known Bluehost alternatives shared hosting companies, I recommend for speed, security, and blog performance.
1. HostGator
HostGator is unique because it is a cloud-based WordPress hosting provider which means it has fast load times. According to the vendor, their sites load about 2.5x the pace of sites using other providers. It also has other features including free migrations, advanced security, and a clean control panel so you can easily access all of your accounts and other hosting details.
Essential Features:
- Cloud-hosting provider
- Fast load times
- Free migrations
- SiteGround
SiteGround is a managed WordPress hosting solution in which you can maintain several different websites at the same time. With SiteGround, you will receive free migrations, auto-updates, and three levels of caching — setting it apart from many other providers — to ensure your website is as fast as possible. You also have access to 24/7 expert support to help you through any challenge you may experience.
Essential Features:
- Managed hosting
- Auto updates
- Three levels of caching
2. A2 Hosting
A2 is a unique provider because it allows you to choose between shared and managed hosting for your website. Shared hosting is suitable for a wide range of business types and, therefore, typically comes at a lower price — that’s because it meets the needs of a wider variety of businesses than managed website hosting does.
The good news is whether you choose shared or managed hosting, you will still have fast loading speeds, auto-setup, free SSL, and global servers included with A2 hosting.
Essential Features:
- Shared hosting available for general usage
- Managed hosting available with more advanced services
- Fast loading speeds and auto-setup come standard
3. WP Engine
WP Engine is a pre-configured and pre-optimized hosting provider that can save you time and work when installing and creating your website. Additionally, WP Engine also offers server upgrades, advanced protection to keep your website secure, and troubleshooting.
Essential Features:
- Managed WP hosting provider
- Constant updates and server upgrades
- Reliable expert support
Pro Tip: I advice you click the link to the website of any hosting provider you are interested in and review their pricing details and plans earlier to make any decisions about what will work for you and your blog.
All are functional with WordPress, so you don’t have a problem with purchasing any.
2. CHOOSE A DESIGN THEME
Here in this section, we will answer- How to Design your blog with a free WordPress theme?
If you’ve never worked on a blog before, you might start to feel a little bit reluctant with this process when designing your WordPress blog, but with the simple process and already suggested theme you would find it easy and it won’t get too technical.
In the theme appearance editor, you can edit:
- Site identity – your business name, logo, and other navigation items.
- Additional CSS – this is a place where you can place custom CSS instead of messing with your theme editor files.
- Colors – you can choose the colors for fonts, buttons, blocks, and other items.
- Menus – you can edit the placement of your menu navigation and which pages to include.
There are some blog design principles to keep in mind.
For example, your blog fonts should be between 14 and 17 points, legible, and easy to read.
You should also have menu navigation with a display that looks good on mobile and desktop.
Websites and Blogs with a poorly organized layout are difficult to navigate and may make your blog’s user experience less effective.
Remember, it is not necessary to spend money to install a paid theme if you find a free one you like. However, make sure it’s has a good display, loads quickly, and readers can access information easily.
One last thing you should know is that you don’t have to complicate the designs –your blog should be highly-functional and complicated.
HOW TO INSTALL A NEW THEME FOR YOUR BLOG
Here’s how you can install a new theme for your WordPress blog:
First, log in to your WordPress account (admin page).
You can always access your WordPress login page by going to yourdomainname.com/wp-admin.
Next, add your correct WordPress login details.
Once logged in, your WordPress dashboard will appear. While you are now on the dashboard, click on the “Appearance” option from the sidebar menu which is easy to see.
Next, select the “Themes” option from the “Appearance” section.
To search for the available theme options WordPress offers, click the “Add New” button at the top of the page.
Having clicked on add new you would come across a good number of themes to choose from.
You can move up or down and preview as many themes as you want before picking one for your blog.
You can also filter out the themes based on three categories: “Subject,” “Features,” and “Layout.”
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT THEME
When you’re just getting started into blogging, I don’t usually recommend buying a paid WordPress theme right away. Once you have some traffic and visibility then you can justify the investment and it’s will be smart to choose a premium, paid theme with more features and options. For right now though, a demanding theme design will be a distraction from your most important priority of actually bringing readers to your new blog.
WordPress comes with a good amount of free themes to choose from, so start with any of the options you like in Appearance > Themes > Add New Theme > Popular, without spending much time on selecting a theme for now.
Remember: You can always come back and change it later.
Read the descriptions of the available WordPress themes you have an interest in to get an idea about their features. Doing that will help you get an idea of whether the theme will be a good match with your niche or not.
Remember: Choose a responsive theme that works well on both desktop and mobile devices.
WordPress also allows their theme’s users to give ratings to their themes – so you can have a chance to check out the reviews to get knowledge about the quality of the theme.
Before installing a theme, make sure you have an idea of what it looks like by checking its preview or demo which is readily available in other to know what it looks like.
THE BEST FREE WORDPRESS THEMES
You can also install a large number of WordPress themes from other popular sites I recommend you go for, such as:
1. THEMEFOREST
Themeforest developers carefully review new entries from their community one by one to make sure they meet high-quality design and functionality standards.
The Templates available are for the best CMS like WordPress and Joomla, e-commerce templates for WooCommerce, Shopify, and more.
It is a huge library with top-quality themes and templates.
2. ASTRA
Astra is a fast, fully customizable & beautiful WordPress theme suitable for blogs, personal portfolios, business websites,s, and woocommerce storefronts. It is very lightweight (less than 50kb on the front end) and offers unparalleled speed.
Built with SEO in mind. It offers special features and templates so it works perfectly with all page builders.
3. DIVI
Divi theme Builder is an interface within Divi that allows you to use the Divi Builder to construct theme templates and assign those custom templates to pages or posts across your theme (including custom post types like Divi Projects and WooCommerce Products and Pages).
It is great for already good web user and it is recommended for complex designs
4. WEBIFY
Webify offer’s multi-purpose demos + Modular elements & custom cache system (i.e. only loads elements that are used, 2.4x faster) It is SEO friendly (rank faster on Google) + 160+ Elements & Modules + Unlimited Layouts + Lifetime free updates.
It is fast and doesn’t over complicate your blog design for search engine optimization.
5. SOLE DAD
Sole dad is a theme that offers sophisticated technological features of a cutting-edge blog it is colorful and vibrant and still simple and easy to use. It is fast loading, cleverly coded, professionally graphical, and designed to be responsive to WordPress multi-purpose blog and magazine websites.
Soledad is number one for simplicity and great features.
6. TOTAL
Total is a very open WordPress theme that is very easy to craft. Additionally, the total was crafted for its user’s in mind in other to get into the comfort of unlimited colors, sidebars, multiple headers, and icons. There are also awesome animations, photo or video galleries child themes, and even logos.
Lastly, Total is a great pick if you would love the great design but you are not too technical-oriented.
7. STUDIOPRESS
StudioPress is a powerful type of WordPress theme — the frame and body of the car — that acts as a design, security, and SEO foundation for your website.
It also “future-proofs” your site customizations, so there’s no hassle when it comes time to upgrade your software with one click.
It is a great selection for busy bloggers as it doesn’t stand for just design but also security and many amazing features.
8. THRIVE
Thrive Themes & plugins are built from the ground up to make your entire website convert more of your visitors into subscribers, customers & clients! is the fastest and most intuitive visual editor for WordPress. Easily create drag-and-drop layouts, and add buttons and advanced content elements.
It is a great selection for marketers and online product sellers.
If you like a particular theme, you can click on the “Install” button.
When you buy a theme, a zip file with the theme is sent to you via the email you used for purchase.
To install this external theme, all that you have to do is go to “Appearance” – “Themes” and click “Add New,” upload the zip file, and click install.
Wasn’t that easy? Congratulations, you now have a WordPress site with a new theme installed.
3. PICK UP THE PLUGINS YOU NEED
WHAT IS A PLUGIN?
Plugins give you extra features and let you add all types of features like optimizing your blog SEO, boosting your page load speed, tracking your blog analytics, having web visitors get subscribed, and a lot more.
There are a good number of plugins available that extend and give you extra features, the only problem is that you might find it difficult to find the essential plugins.
To give you better performance and customization with your blog I have gathered for you the 15 must-have essential WordPress plugins you should install on your blog today.
PLUGINS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. WP ROCKET
Blogs with fast page load rank better in search engines and give your reader’s better experience. WP rocket is a plugin for optimization, it optimizes your blog pages, reduces your file sizes, and does much more to ensure that your blog pages load faster for visitors.
It is the best WordPress caching plugin available for improved WordPress website speed.
Its features include CDN support, DNS pre-fetching, minification, and image optimization resulting in it being a beginner-friendly caching plugin.
2. WP FORMS
As a blogger, you will want to make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you, every blogger needs a contact form to make it easy for readers to subscribe and allow other bloggers to reach out for collaboration.
With WP forms you can build polls, surveys, email subscriptions, custom WordPress user registration forms, and login pages, which is why it is the most user-friendly drag-and-drop online form builder that allows you to easily create basically all types of online forms with just a few clicks.
3. YOAST SEO
SEO helps you get more visitors from search engines to your blog, although having a WordPress blog helps with SEO best practices.
But there is so much you can do to increase your chances of getting found on search engines using Yoast SEO.
The Yoast SEO plugin makes it easy for your blog to meet the highest technical SEO standards, while it also gives you the tools to bring your content to the highest standards of SEO and overall readability in order to boost search engine ranks.
4. BLOG VAULT
Blogs are vulnerable to data loss and security threats as the hosting provider might lose your data, your blog might be hacked or your host may terminate your account since there reserves the right to.
These recommended plugins backups everything needed to run your WordPress website, backup all WordPress files, your WordPress themes and plugins all files in the WordPress media library and allow you to save your backups to multiple cloud storage services, dropbox, google drive, and Microsoft one drive.
5. OPTINMONSTER
It is a great solution for recovering abandoned carts, converting website visitors, and growing your email list. It is the most popular conversion rate optimization plugin.
Their powerful display targeting features allow you to create high-converting opt-in forms that you can easily customize with their drag-and-drop builder.
6. AKISMET
With the rising internet user’s time spent dealing with spam is time stolen from the business of your blog.
Askimet filter’s out your comment spam for you, check your comments and contact form submissions against their global database of spam to prevent our site from publishing malicious content. so you can focus on more important things to do.
7. MONSTERINSIGHTS
It is the best google Analytics plugin for WordPress. The main function is that it helps you to get stats that matter, track links and ads, and track popular posts.
Monsterinsights is easily installed with google analytics on your WordPress blog, allowing you to track file downloads and order’s on your e-commerce blog. Using advance link attribution you can view exactly how visitors use your blog.
8. GRAMMARLY
Writing content on a blog can be time-consuming especially if you have to proofread, check for grammar errors, and fix punctuation. With Grammarly, you can write without spending much time proofreading and checking for errors.
Using the free browser extension for all major web browsers which has an upgrade plan, you can get instant proofreading for your emails, slack, google docs, social media posts, and many more.
9. SMUSH PRO
Large-sized images, high-resolution images, and uncompressed images can take a long time to load which can extremely reduce page load speed.
Some image compression tools destroy images with as much as 30% loss in image quality. Smush now let lets you compress any images in your blog and automatically optimize images to instantly boost your blog page load speed.
10. WPDISCUZ
These nice and modern comment layouts wpDiscuz version 7 are a revolutionary perspective on the commenting world! This plugin changes your website commenting experience and provides you with new user engagement features. It’s totally improved with brand new innovative features bringing life to your website.
It is the best alternative to Disqus and Jetpack Comments if you want to keep your comments in your database.
11. POPUP BUILDER
Popups are a good marketing tool, they’re impressively high converting. Pop up anything with Popup Builder, and create and manage powerful promotion modal popups for your WordPress blog or website. Powerful, and yet, easy to use this plugin will help you to grab your visitors’ attention to introduce them to your offers, discounts, or other kinds of promotional notices.
You can add unlimited pop-ups with their own configurations. We added an effective settings panel for each type. So, you can fully customize the popup themes, colors, sizes, and many other options.
12. ELEMENTOR PRO
It turns the entire process of creating WordPress websites 100% visual including your site’s header, footer, single post, and archive page design.
Among their page builder features are: Box shadows, background overlays, hover effects, headline effects, animations, shape dividers, gradient backgrounds, and much more.
13. THIRSTY AFFILIATES
This is one of the favorite affiliate marketing tools by bloggers who are into marketing. ThirstyAffiliates takes your random affiliate links (full of random numbers, letter strings, etc.) and cleans them up so that they look nice. For example, which one looks nicer:
- https://thirstyaffiliates.com/?aff=29e1c59be16c852
- https://www.yourblogname.com/recommends/thirstyaffiliates
The second one is more clickable, leads to higher conversion rates, and can’t be stolen by malicious hackers.
It is more than an affiliate link plugin but a tool designed for bloggers to make money.
14. BIGCOMMERCE FOR WORDPRESS
This is the best e-commerce tool that you can use to sell any digital products. With Bigcommerce you don’t have to compromise your existing blog for a fully customizable e-commerce store that runs via an API – so you handle all of your content in WordPress and your backend e-commerce in BigCommerce.
15. MAMMOTH.DOCX CONVERTER
You can use this plugin to convert documents into WordPress posts automatically. If you have got a lot of drafts with you, you should download them as a .docx file and insert them into my posts/pages with this plugin. The Mammoth .docx Converter will appear underneath your posts/pages, and it’s as simple as uploading your file and clicking “Insert into Editor.”
Pro Tip: Make sure your document’s images have both names and alt text before uploading into WordPress.
4. PREPARE YOUR CONTENT
After completing the essentials of your blog, it’s time to fill up your blog with content.
You should take note that you don’t have to be a professional writer to learn how to start a blog, it’s necessary to understand basic sentence structure and proper grammar. You should also make sure you can write for the web.
For example, it is important you consider using short paragraphs, bullet points, and images which help break up long blocks of text that lack variety and keep readers engaged.
ESSENTIAL TIPS TO WRITE YOUR CONTENT
1. CREATE YOUR BLOG PRE-LAUNCH ESSENTIAL PAGES
Your Blog pre-launch essential pages are very important pages of your blog, such as the Home Page, About Us, Contact, and more. You will find it easy to use since the WordPress Page Editor looks and acts almost exactly the same as the Post Editor.
The only major difference which you should take note of is that pages don’t have blog post categories and tags.
Before launching a blog, it is recommended you have a few pages in your blog’s top menu navigation so that readers quickly understand your blog and find important information.
Such as:
1. HOME PAGE
(please include Your Blog Home page image )
The home page is mostly the main URL of your website, it is the first page that gives your visitor’s a clue about you.
It isn’t necessary to include all your blog details on this page – its purpose is to sell your unique value proposition in two seconds or less.
If a visitor comes across your home page and there is no plain reason for what your blog is all about, it is likely they leave your blog without coming back.
A WordPress home page can be edited with a good number of available page builders like the Elementor plugin.
This tool allows you to drag-and-drop content blocks, including text, images, videos, color blocks, and more.
A good Home Page should contain:
- A slider or hero image with a headline and subheadline.
- A small section to tell readers more about what your blog is about.
- The main call-to-action button takes readers to an important page, post, or email opt-in form.
- Internal links point to your important content to make it easy for readers to navigate around your site.
There aren’t any rules for home pages so far, so get acclimated with your landing page builder plugin and have fun with it.
2. ABOUT PAGE
(please include your about-page image)
The About Page of your blog is another major page that should cover everything about you – who you are, what you stand for, and what your blog is about.
This section will help you connect with your readers on a mutual connection, so make sure you have it fine-tuned with essential information.
A good About Page should contain:
- Who you are.
- What motivated you to start a blog
- Your expertise or background to build trust with your readers.
- The pain point you’re solving and how what you have learned dealing with the struggles
- Your achievements so far.
- A call-to-action.
When a reader visits your blog and really likes your content, they will be eager to know more about you on your About Page.
If you find crafting a perfect About Page, you can make research other About Pages from blogs in your niche to get ideas and inspiration. Having an About Page builds credibility and helps you connect with your audience.
3. CONTACT PAGE
(please include your blog contact page image)
This page is all about sharing contact details with your blog visitors so they can reach you.
It is highly recommended to make this page since it helps to keep you and your readers in touch and having contact details also gives bloggers or other people who are not readers to get in touch with you either for guest posting or business opportunities.
A good Contact Page should contain:
- An email address
- A phone number
- Active social media links,
-
A contact form.
Take caution to only include what you’re comfortable providing to the general public.
To avoid complications, this should only include a simple page with a contact form
4. WIDGETS
A sidebar in a simple way is a column that can appear on the right or the left side of your blog posts and pages. The sidebar is mostly used to show blog categories, recent posts, ads, opt-in forms, and anything you want all of your readers to see.
This is known as a WordPress widget – and you can find these in your admin dashboard under Appearance – Widgets. It is best described as any place on your blog that isn’t directly within the page or post content.
These are easy to edit and similar to the main page and post editors, just in a different location in your WordPress dashboard.
You also need to add content to your WordPress widgets like sidebars and footers.
Here is an illustration from themespiral.com to help you understand better :
2. ADDING A NEW BLOG POST
Click on “Posts” in the left sidebar of your WordPress dashboard. Now, select the “Add New” button:
The WordPress Editor works a lot like the popular Microsoft Word and lets you do the following:
- Align text left, right, and center.
- Make text bold or italic.
- Highlight text and add links. You should also go to your link settings and make any external links open in a new tab – that will keep readers on your blog.
- Add and align images. On most blogs, images should be JPEGs no longer than 800 pixels wide. Any wider and image file size will slow down your loading times.
- Add categories and tags to posts.
While crafting your blog post, make sure to keep the tips provided below in your mind:
- Your blog posts should always provide value to your readers. Write with a clear beginning, middle, and end outline structure.
- Present your blog content attractively and make it easily accessible to your readers.
- Make sure both textual and visual content in the blog are high-quality.
- Format your headings correctly with H2 and H3 tags, and use bulleted lists and images to break up long lines of text.
- No paragraph should be longer than 3-4 sentences.
- Make your blog posts conversational to build a connection with your audience.
- Use 14-17 point fonts and use white space to keep your blog posts easy on the eyes.
- Add bullet points to help readers skim down the blog without missing anything critical.
- Double-check for typos and grammatical errors.
- Bold some text to make it stand out.
Congratulations! Your content is all set till here. Let us move on to another step now.
5. BLOG SEO
Make sure to download and install the Essential SEO plugin. This allows you to highlight your target keyword and get recommendations on what to do for SEO.
Most SEO plugins will have four important sections to add:
- Title
- Slug
- Meta Description
- Focus Keyword
Using an SEO plugin helps you access real-time feedback on how your blog post might perform in terms of organic traffic for a particular keyword.
An illustration from yoast.com:
Try to achieve as many green signals as possible. Once your content can be of a minimum of 80% go-ahead from your plugin SEO scan, you are good with SEO requirements and you are likely to enjoy the benefit of better ranking.
There is an option to “Preview” your blog post before publishing it.
If you are satisfied with the way your blog content reads on SEO and it is of your desire, go ahead and click Publish.
Remember, when you’re learning how to start a blog, you don’t have to be perfect on every side.
- When you click Save Draft, your blog post will be saved for editing later, but not yet published live on your blog.
- When you click Publish, your blog post will officially be published and appear on your blog archive page.
Once it’s life for you, make sure to visit your blog post’s URL and confirm the formatting and content look great for a good user experience.
Once you’re finished with your first blog post, you can go to Google Search Console, enter the new URL, and submit it so that it can be indexed faster.
Congrats on doing the SEO of your first published blog post!
5 EASY STEPS TO SET UP YOUR BLOG SEO
Below is a list of tools that might help you with SEO:
1. SET UP YOUR WORDPRESS BLOG PERMALINKS
A very important ranking factor highlighted by search engines is the URLs of your blog posts and pages.
When you add a new page or post, you should see the page editor and can choose the URL after dot com, as you can see in the image below.
The text after the .com is what a permalink looks like although it gives you the option to change it.
Bloggers simply define Permalinks as static hyperlinks that will direct your readers to a specific web page.
Normally, your permalink should be set as “yourdomainname.com/postID.”
Setting your post’s permalinks to the default standard will not only make it look unattractive but isn’t the best setting for better SEO ranking.
Before you start making content for your blog, always make sure to set a specific permalink structure for each blog post.
From your WordPress dashboard, go to “Setting” —> “Permalinks.”
You can choose from a variety of options. Many high-ranking blogs follow the “Post name” or “Custom” structures below.
The main thing to know is that every post or page should focus on just one target keyword, which should be in the area right after the dot com.
For blog posts, this permanent URL is the only thing that needs to remain unchanged after you have saved your target permalinks keyword.
Although a WordPress user can change a page or post’s title, meta description, content, and headings. However, the already changed URL needs to remain the way you have it saved.
This is because if you get inbound links to this URL, changing it again would result in a 404 error and losing that link value.
Having set your keyword permalink, make sure to save the settings before exiting the page.
Also, make sure you set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These two tools are 100% necessary to index your blog and monitor your traffic. These can both be easily integrated with the Yoast plugin.
2. CREATE PAGE TITLES
A <title> tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. The <title> tag should be placed within the <head> element of the HTML document. You should create a unique title for each page on your blog.
You need to create good titles and snippets in search results. If your contents appear on a search results page, the contents of the title tag may appear in the first line of the results Each page on your site should ideally have a unique title, which helps search engines know how the page is distinct from the others on your site.
If your site uses separate mobile pages, remember to use good titles on the mobile versions too. Titles can be both short and informative.
If the title is too long or otherwise deemed less relevant, search engines may show only a portion of it or one that’s automatically generated in the search result.
3. USE HEADING TAGS Use
Use meaningful headings to indicate important topics, and help create a hierarchical structure for your content, making it easier for users to navigate through your document.
4. USE META TAGS
A page’s description meta tag gives search engines a summary of what the page is about. A page’s title may be a few words or a phrase, whereas a page’s description meta tag might be a sentence or two or even a short paragraph. Like the <title> tag, the description meta tag is placed within the <head> element of your HTML document.
5. FRIENDLY URLS
Creating descriptive categories and filenames for the documents on your blog not only helps you keep your site better organized, but it can also create easier, “friendlier” URLs for those that want to link to your content. Visitors may be intimidated by extremely long and difficult content clues URLs that contain few recognizable words.
7 BEST FREE SEO TOOLS YOU MUST KNOW
1. Bing Webmaster Tools
It is a free service as part of Microsoft Bing search engines which allows webmasters to add their websites to the Bing index crawler.
Bing Webmaster offers a full suite of website and search analytics. Especially useful are keyword reports, keyword research, and crawling data.
2. Google Data Studio
If you need to merge data from different sources (for instance Search Console and Google Analytics), visualize, and share it – with google data studio you can turn your data into fully customizable informative reports and dashboards that are easy to read and share with clients.
3. Enhanced Google Analytics Annotations
Most bloggers say it is a highly-recommended Google Chrome plugin that overlays additional data on top of your analytics, so you can easily send screenshots to clients showing exactly how outside forces impacted traffic.
With this tool, you can see your targeted markets’ holiday’s as annotations within your google analytics reports
4. Google Analytics
It is the most widely-used web analytics package available. For being free, Google Analytics is significantly robust and integrates well with other Google products, including Optimize, Data Studio, and Search Console.
5. Search Console
It is known as the most useful free SEO tool that helps you fix issues and make your blog rank in search engines, most web user finds it hard to imagine doing modern SEO without access to the data inside Google’s Search Console.
It is the most reliable location for information on how Google crawls and ranks your site, and is one of the only places where you can get reliable keyword data.
6. Chrome DevTools
The sheer number of SEO tasks you can perform—for free—with Chrome DevTools is really surprising. From JavaScript auditing to speed to On-Page SEO, debugging and analyzing load performance
It enables its user’s to build faster websites, diagnose problems quickly and edit pages.
7. SEOquake
Out of all the SEO toolbars available on the market, SEOquake is probably the most powerful, and comes with a plethora of configuration options — so you can configure it to adjust to your SEO needs.
Aside from offering a boatload of data for every URL you visit, you can also perform basic on-page audits, compare domains, and export your data.
ADDING KEYWORDS TO YOUR BLOGS THE CORRECT WAY
Each blog post should focus on one main target keyword, and here’s where it should be included:
- Put the keyword in your blog’s permanent URL.
- Include the keyword in the title of your post.
- Add your keyword to the first or second paragraph.
- Include the keyword inside of your headings.
- Add the keyword throughout your paragraph text. A good rule of thumb is to use a 1% keyword density so that your keyword is included once for every 100 words. If your blog post is really long, this may be too many times. Use your best judgment and don’t keyword stuff.
- Add it to your meta description (optional).
You’ll see in my example below, that the target keyword is in the title, URL, and first paragraph.
Remember: in addition to text, blog posts that have audio, video, photos, infographics, and other types of visual content perform the best and keep readers engaged.
It’s also essential to make content that answers a reader’s search intent and stirs up readers to take action on your blog.
WRITING BLOG POSTS THAT MATCHES THE SEARCH INTENT
When planning your content strategy, think about what your reader actually wants when they are performing an online search for your target keyword.
For example, let’s say your target keyword is “How to Get Rid of Dark Knuckles.”
When you search for this term, you’ll see that a lot of blog posts feature titles including extra terms like Fast, Overnight, Quickly, and Home Remedies.
This shows that most people that want to get rid of dark knuckles want them gone as quickly and discreetly as possible. And search engine PageRank is pushing these articles to the top.
What idea does this give you on content strategy?
You should get right to the point and offer a list of the best ways to get rid of knuckles fast in an easy way.
It is advisable not to write a long post about “The Ultimate Guide to Getting Rid of Dark Knuckles.” and don’t start your blog post with the heading “What Are Knuckles?” which might be acceptable for SEO content in the past. All of this wouldn’t result in the performance you are expecting.
Instead, match search intent and provide the instant solution your readers are actually looking for by understanding the meaning behind their search.
This can be accomplished by looking at which content or topic strategy you noticed is included in content’s title tags that are currently ranking and integrating the format to your content.
Now that we’ve covered where to include your keywords and how to write content that match search intent, let’s go over some extra tips before you start writing. Which are:
7 FREE KEYWORD TOOLS
Here is a list of the best free keyword tools to aid your blog SEO.
1. KEYWORD SURFER
Bloggers used to recommend Keywords Everywhere (still a great tool) but they no longer offer a free version. As an alternative to this tool, the most popular community-based recommendation—that’s still available for free—is Keyword Surfer. This Chrome extension gives you keyword search volume in Google search results, cost-per-click, and keyword suggestions.
2. KEYWORD HERO
Keyword Hero is been known to work to solve the problem of missing keyword data with lots of advanced math and machine learning. It’s not a perfect system, but for bloggers struggling to match keywords with conversion and other on-site metrics, the data can be a valuable step in the right direction. Pricing as I know presently is free up to 2000 sessions/month.
3. UBERSUGGEST
Ubersuggest is a freemium SEO tool that provides a detailed analysis of keywords and websites. It also enables you to check your site’s traffic history, best-performing pages, and keywords.
Talking about keywords, Ubersuggest provides insights into the monthly search volume, SEO difficulty, paid difficulty, and related keyword ideas.
It is a tool that can help generate keyword ideas for your content marketing and strategy.
4. ANSWER THE PUBLIC
Answer The Public is a freemium keyword tool that generates a ton of keyword and content ideas in visual form and it combines the suggested searches from Google and Bing. If you want to generate a massive list of questions from any keyword set for your blog post, this is your go-to tool.
5. KEYWORD EXPLORER (MOZ)
Is a time-saving keyword research tool that helps you find profitable keywords and organize your keywords into the list. The Keyword Explorer and Content Assistant tool will help you get top rankings by combining three in-depth features: Keyword Research, SERP Analysis, and Content Optimization. Moz’s free community account gives you access to 10 queries a month, with each query literally giving you up to 1000 keyword suggestions along with SERP analysis.
6. KEYWORD PLANNER
This google own tool is an incredibly useful and powerful keyword research tool, built into the AdWords interface, which is usually used for SEO keyword research, content optimization, and topic ideas.
It uses Google’s own data and has useful functions like country filtering.
7. BUZZSUMO
It is majorly used to run a search to quickly discover content ideas, and uncover platform insights. Its Chrome extension is one of the few tools available that deliver reliable social share count estimates for any piece of content. You don’t get as much data with a free account, but you still get access to top content and trending data.
6. PROMOTE YOUR BLOGS
6 BEST PRACTICES TO PERFORM LONG-TERM GUEST POST OUTREACH
Guest blogging is one of the best ways to promote your blog, it is the act of writing content for another blog in your niche.
It’s a great way to build authority in your niche, meet other bloggers, founders, and content teams, get backlinks, and create lasting relationships.
And link building is another fantastic way to boost your Domain Authority (DA) and attract traffic back to your blog.
STEPS TO PERFORM ONGOING GUEST POST OUTREACH AND LINK BUILDING
Follow these steps to do guest posting the correct way.
1. FINDING GUEST POSTING OPPORTUNITIES
Don’t think about the benefits you’ll get first – it’s important to have the thought of providing value to other blogs and their reader.
Writing a guest post takes time and energy, To get started, you first need to research which sites to reach out to, and who to reach out to, hopefully, you have a good idea of who your target audience is, think about what bogs there read and always remember to not pursue guest posting on low-quality blogs.
Having a link from a low-quality blog back to your blog will result in a low amount of traffic and you might not be trustworthy as search engines would be signaled that you are connected to low-quality blogs.
Finding sites and networks to connect with other bloggers in your niche might be a bit tedious.
The following are sites and networks to connect with bloggers in your niche and find appropriate resources for guest post outreach and link-building:
- MyBlogGuest
- GuestBlogIt
- GroupHigh
- Copyblogger
- BlogSynergy
- BloggerLinkUp
It is recommended to use link explorer tools to check the backlink profile and domain authority of the blog you are guest posting on. The higher the DA, the higher the backlink value.
Some blogs even have a separate guest posting outreach page containing the guidelines as well as the email address to reach them.
It is important to take note that most websites will eventually get back to you, so wait a few days before you start pursuing them again.
Once you have a list of targeted blogs, you can look them up on LinkedIn or on their contact page. Then use a tool like Hunter.io to obtain their email addresses.
2. PLANNING YOUR GUEST POST CONTENT
What should be the topic of your guest posts? Naturally, it should be relevant to your niche and something similar to what you post on your blog.
Your blog content also should not be a post you have published on your blog or elsewhere and have a decent search volume.
Make sure to check out any editorial guidelines for the guest posting site and follow them closely, it demonstrates care and concern for them and readers and shows you are not just concerned about getting traffic to yourself.
Take note of these essential tips before planning your Guest post content:
- What level of target audience do they have (beginner or advanced)?
- The type of target audience. For example, is the audience B2B or B2C?
- What is the average word count of the article?
- What’s the type of content they often share? Do they usually post listicles, tutorials, or how-to guides?
Just like with your own blog posts, make sure to offer value and try to satisfy the interest of the readers. Most blogs that accept guest posts may also provide content guidelines so that you know the exact format and length required.
3. PITCHING YOUR GUEST POST IDEA
If a site’s interested in a guest post from you, you’ll typically have to pitch them a few blog post ideas. Again, these should be based on competitive metrics and keyword research.
This process can be time-consuming, but high-quality sites know the difference between a good pitch and a bad one.
So once you have chosen the topic you wish to pitch about, you will need to write a short description for each of them.
This should include:
- The Blog post headline or title
- An SEO keyword
- Suitable “anchor text” and URL. Although is optional, might be of benefit if you include it because it will act as the lead generator.
- A summary of what the blog post will include
4. READ THE GUEST BLOGGING GUIDELINES BEFORE SUBMITTING A PITCH
Reading a blog guest posting guidelines of which you have an interest in for guest posting is essential, since if you make a guest post submission that totally ignores their guest blogging guideline will leave no idea then:
- You reached out to them for your only interest
- Also, you haven’t read their blog and don’t have a feel of what it is about.
- Moreover, you didn’t consider doing some easy research to find out what the interest of their reader is.
The guidelines provided are there to make the submission process easier for all parties involved.
You can find blog guest posting guidelines on the contact pages, FAQ pages, and about pages.
Keep in mind that guest posting guidelines can be found at the end or footer of other guest posts or can also be found using the search bar to find guidelines.
5. WRITE THE GUEST POST WELL
A guest post submission should be your best work, keep these things in mind:
- Use Google Docs and other general word editors and format your posts properly.
- Follow the editorial guidelines closely.
- Use target keywords for SEO.
- Avoid grammatical mistakes.
- Add links to your website in the content and guest author bio.
- Include quality images if necessary.
- Submit the post in a timely manner – most blogs expect a completed post within 2-3 weeks.
- When adding links to your blog, make sure they are within the guest blog post content, relevant, and add to the quality of the article.
Do not over-optimize your anchor text, simple SEO guidelines recommend you only use an exact match anchor 1-5% of the time. It is necessary to use different phrase matches, partial matches, branded, and random anchor text.
For instance, if you wanted to link to your post on book launching, it is not advisable to use the anchor text “book launching”. Instead, you should use something that naturally fits: when launching a book, choosing a host, picking a host, in my guide, in my post, etc.
Remember, in your overall content strategy, keyword-focused, SEO-optimized blog posts aren’t enough. You also need high-quality links to your content from reputable sites in the form of guest posts.
6. GUEST BLOG POSTS SHOULD BE OF QUALITY AND POLISHED
The best way to come up with a blog post that is of high quality and ready for publication is to make sure it is the kind of content you would approve without doing a lot of editing and you know will add value to your readers.
Many bloggers who go into guest posting believe their guest post submission is a “draft” in their pitch. But the reason is that there honestly want to give the host blog the permission to make changes if their guest post hasn’t satisfied their highlights and the interest of their readers.
Regardless of all this, your guest post should be a polished piece of work that’s ready to publish as-is in your mind.
Remember: The less your guest post has to be edited and reformatted, the more likely it will be published.
7. LINK BUILDING
To start a quality link-building relationship with other bloggers, make sure your blog posts are “linkable” and can be referred back.
The preferred form of link building is passively getting links referring back to you without any involvement or outreach to other blogs. Take note that people will likely link to the best content they can find.
Few essentials to consider:
- Your content needs to be unique and high-quality, that doesn’t exist anywhere else
- Add eye-appealing visual elements to your blog posts these can be infographics, videos, case studies, statistics, and any other unique content
5 TIPS FOR LINK BUILDING
Follow these simple tips to build the links:
1. RESEARCH
What kind of blogs do you want to guest post in?
To make sure they’re high quality and would increase your authority.
Consider the following when making your research:
- Highly authoritative: Bloggers who know their dos and don’t are technically worthy of building a relationship with.
- Seen as trustworthy: Blogs that are genuine to their readers and would only provide quality links and wouldn’t spam so there should be considered for link building.
- Popular with competitors: Make sure the blogs you are researching on are popular with your competitors
2. LEARN BLOGGING TRICKS
The best way to get results in the best method is to learn blogging tips from other bloggers relating to your niche in other to build and learn link-building strategies that had worked and generates good results for bloggers.
In order to build authority in your niche simply study which websites are linking to your competitors in order to come up with new sites to reach out to for a quality relationship.
3. BROKEN LINK STRATEGY
This approach is adaptable because you’re helping the blog restore its 404 link error and hopefully getting a lasting link-building relationship at the identical time.
To best discover blogs in your niche with broken exterior links use link-building software to find them.
Get their contact details from their “contact us” page, if you found an email send them an enticing but concise email that their link is broken and your content may be a better choice for the damaged hyperlinks.
4. LINK RECLAMATION STRATEGY
This is very really helpful mainly if you have proper authority and people are believing in your content.
To reclaim mentions, enter your blog’s URL into the Ahrefs Content Explorer device to discover instances of the place your brand is referred to but no longer linked to.
You can attain out to the writer of the post, thank them for the mention, and ask if they can add the link.
Doing this will assist you to build the best relationship with different bloggers in your niche
5. BE AWARE OF YOUR COMPETITOR’S NEW LINKS
You should try to keep an eye on your competitor’s new links, it is very often you discover them linking to a higher authority blog of which you are not aware, so it is extremely important to be aware of your competitor’s activities.
The link-building tools below are recommended tools made to inform you about your new backlinks and also monitor your competitors’ acquired links with any of them.
7 BEST FREE LINK-BUILDING TOOLS
Get starting link building for FRE with these amazing tools:
1. DISAVOW TOOL
Google makes the Disavow Tool hard to find because most site owners usually don’t need to use it. But when you do, it can be useful for getting penalties removed and some SEOs swear by it for fighting off negative SEO. If you choose to use this tool, be careful and check with this guide on disavowing the right links.
2. LINK EXPLORER
Link Explorer is arguably the largest, highest-accuracy link index and the most accurate DA and backlink checker in the SEO world today, boasting 35 trillion links. The free account access gives you 10 queries and 50 rows of data per query every month, plus adds basic link metrics to the MozBar as you browse the web.
3. BACKLINK PROFILER (BLP)
The Backlink Profiler (BLP) is a great tool for finding mentions that look like links but finding brand mentions that don’t look like URLs will take a little more digging.
4. LINK MINER
Link Miner is a free Chrome extension developed by Jon Cooper, one of the masters of link building. Use it to quickly find broken links on each page, as well as see basic link metrics as you search Google. Simple, easy, and useful.
5. DETAILED
Detailed is a unique type of free link research engine, Detailed focuses on what’s driving links to some of the most popular niches on the web, without the extra fluff that can make reverse engineering success a sometimes time-consuming process.
6. BACKLINK CHECKER
Many bloggers don’t realize that Ahrefs gives a free back-link checker, but it does, and it is quite proper.
It does have more than a few boundaries in comparison to its complete-fledged paid tool. For example, you’re restricted to one hundred links, and you cannot search by way of prefixes or folders.
But it’s accessible for one’s quick link assessments, or in case you’re doing SEO on a decent price range.
7. LINK JUICE RECOVERY TOOL (TLR)
The Link Juice Recovery Tool helps you find the backlinks that your site has, that are linking to a non-existent page (HTTP-code 404). You should try and recover this power and trust those links either by recreating the page or redirecting the link to another existing page.
CREATE A LONG-TERM CONTENT STRATEGY OR BLOGS
Once you’ve had your first post published, it doesn’t end there, many believe it is just the beginning of creating content on your blog.
Most blog posts take months to rank on search engines and perform well only after making frequent updates.
But simply writing great content isn’t enough, It is necessary to have both a strong content strategy, as well as a great outreach strategy to build relationships (and links).
THE ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS WHEN CREATING A LONG-TERM CONTENT STRATEGY
REMEMBER TO SOLVE YOUR AUDIENCE’S PROBLEMS AND PROVIDE VALUE
Your blog must solve your audience’s pain points and search intents. Whether it’s by sending helpful guides to an email list or writing affiliate product reviews, you need to tap into the problems your audiences face – and the keywords they search for.
For example, if your audience primarily consists of bloggers, you should provide content around the best blog hosting platforms, set up tutorials, and basic how-to’s in order to be successful.
OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT
Ranking in organic search takes time, so you should see to it that you publish an article as soon as it is top-notch to publish and then submit it to Google Search Console so that it can be indexed and appear in search results.
For example, if your article is titled The 15 Best Blog Plugins in WordPress, search engines expect to scan the page and see contextually relevant keywords like the blog, functionality, WordPress, design, etc.
While these aren’t the target keywords people are searching for, they are semantically related to your main topic and help you provide a better content experience.
You also need to optimize your content based on long-tail variations of your main keyword.
Source:socialtriggers.com
Search engines are getting smarter and able to rank content not only for one keyword but also for many long-tail variations of that keyword.
Search engines place greater emphasis on natural language queries, considering context and meaning over individual keywords. It also looks deeper at content on individual pages of a website, with an improved ability to lead users directly to the most appropriate page rather than just a website’s homepage.
Use keyword explorer tools listed in this guide, to find related keywords that are close variations of your target keyword. These should be used in your headings.
For example, if your target keyword is Blogging setup software, other suggested keywords that would be a good fit are:
- What is the Best Free Blogging Software?
- Profitable Blogging Tips.
- What is the Best Blogging software for Small businesses?
- How to Use Blogging software (e.g: WordPress .e.t.c).
- What Are the Benefits of Blogging?
By targeting one main keyword and close variations within your secondary headings, you begin to rank for hundreds, if not thousands of keyword variations.
Remember, searches are not based on the same search intent – so you should understand which variations have the highest monthly search volume.
HOW TO FIND LONG-TAIL KEYWORDS
To find appropriate long-tail keywords for free, you can use the Google Keyword Planner.
Let’s assume you want to write a blog on content marketing. Now to find long-tail keywords related to your topic, go to the Keyword Planner.
Type in “content marketing,” and then you’ll get your keyword ideas.
Make sure to look for the keywords that are not only most in-demand but also relevant to your topic and have good volume.
TIPS TO SCHEDULE YOUR BLOG POSTS
If you’re planning a long-term content calendar, maintaining a consistent schedule is important. You need to keep up with a posting frequency and stick to it.
For example, if you’re planning to post one new article per week, make sure you check your content calendar and follow through.
You should create a roadmap for the entire week or even a few months, depending on your writing frequency. Working backward from there can help you decide which article you need to publish and when. It also helps you avoid missing your deadlines.
You can keep track of this inside of a simple spreadsheet with columns for your future posts, including:
- Target keyword.
- Blog post title.
- Monthly search volume.
- Word count.
UNDERSTAND THE COMPETITOR LANDSCAPE
With so many blogs out there, any niche of choice you choose will be full of competitors. There could be advantages if you truly know how to get it.
For example, if you love talking and mentoring about mindset, you should know there are plenty of blogs also providing those same topics meaning the audience of other similar blogs might directly or indirectly become your own.
In order to utilize this opportunity, you have to make a research what type of content you figure there are sharing and the methods they are using to increase engagement and authority.
After analyzing their entire strategy, you can also adopt some of the things you find useful.
There is a good number of sites that let you see the type of posts your competitors are sharing – and their competitive metrics.
GAP IDENTIFICATION
We’ve seen how to identify the topics that interest your audience. But what about the gaps? What about the issues that the audience wants to read about, but there’s no content?
You could log in to a Q&A website like Reddit or Quora, where you can see the exact questions that people are asking.
Better yet, use a tool like Ahrefs to view competitor traffic data. You can see which keywords you rank for, which ones competitors rank for (and you don’t), and where there is overlap.
This gap analysis gives you good keywords to target for future posts.
ANALYSE THE TRAFFIC
You absolutely need to use analytics tools to analyze your content’s performance
Tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs do this well. Since Google Analytics should already be installed on your blog, you can go to your GA dashboard to view metrics like site visitors, average time on page, total page views, and tons of other interesting stats.
You can view traffic to individual blog posts over any time period and compare it to previous periods to see if your traffic is increasing or decreasing.
Additionally, Ahrefs is the best SEO tool to track your blog post’s rankings and inbound links. You can view the individual keywords you’re ranking for and what position you’re in, which sites are linking to you, and a lot more.
BEST FREE TOOLS FOR COMPETITIVE, HISTORICAL, AND TECHNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
- SimilarWeb
SimilarWeb.com is a market intelligence platform that provides data-driven insights for any Website, App, or Industry, worldwide. You can research your competitor’s traffic, top pages, engagement, marketing channels, and more. The free offering is limited to five results per metric
- BuzzSumo
With BuzzSumo you can find the content that works, the questions being asked, and the topics which drive the reader’s interest, – quicker, easier, and faster than ever before. Its Chrome extension is one of the few tools available that deliver reliable social share count estimates for any piece of content. You don’t get as much data with a free account, but you still get access to top content and trending data.
- Hunter
Hunter is a popular email search tool, it is the most popular free email finder. You can use it to find the email address associated with your blog niche enter the domain name to launch the search with this tool and verify any email address you already have. You have access to 50 free queries/month before you subscribe to its paid plans.
- Wappalyzer
Wappalyzer identifies technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, e-commerce platforms, web frameworks, server software, analytics tools, and many more.
It’s 100 percent free unless you want advanced reporting the Wappalyzer-core package provides a low-level API without dependencies
- Wayback Machine
It allows blog visitors to see what a blog looked like in the past. It provides “universal access to all knowledge” by preserving archived copies of defunct web pages. It’s perfect for uncovering historical data. Which is 100 percent free for use.
- Bulk Domain Availability Checker
Domain name investors, domainers, domain bulk buyers, domain brokers, or web professionals can use it since it allows you to check available domains and register valuable domains before anyone else does.
Simply input up to 20,000 domains at a time, and it will quickly tell you if they are available.
These tools are great for any purpose at its best but do not copy other bloggers’ exact format or try to be like their branding because you admire or wish for their progress.
Instead, Get these questions answered during your long-term content strategy research from other blogs in your niche:
- What is the relevant content body of other blogs left unanswered?
- How long is the content provided, and are there chances for an increase?
- How many inbound links go to the article?
- Do they have a visual display in their posts like interactive videos or infographics?
- What is their Domain Rating?
- Do there fail to format their blog post properly?
Outranking your competitor would be easy and possible if you understand and take note of these highlighted possible research questions.
BRAINSTORM CONTENT IDEAS
Brainstorming content ideas is the next strategy for a continuous content strategy, here are the possible tools for generating ideas for your next content project:
This is a great tool to use when you want to see where you stand with your digital marketing. From your blogging efforts to your social media marketing, Website Grader grades vital areas of your marketing and sends you a detailed report to help you optimize and improve each area.
With this tool, you can figure out how to make your blog more SEO-friendly and discover new content ideas.
- BlogAbout
BlogAbout is a dedicated group of bloggers who don’t just read or promote – they interact with your product and share its merits and impact with their readers.
This brainstorming technique helps you put general ideas in contexts that would be appealing to your target audience. Once you have a headline you like, BlogAbout lets you add it to your “Notebook” so you can save your best ideas.
- HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator
Get blog post ideas for an entire year with Hubspot Blog Ideas Generator. All you need to do is enter general topics or terms you’d like to write about, and this content idea generator does all the work for you.
The Feedly RSS feed is a wonderful way to keep track of trendy topics in your niche of choice and find content ideas at the same time.
- BuzzSumo
Discover popular content and content ideas at BuzzSumo. This company offers a number of market research tools, one of which uses social media shares to determine if a piece of content is popular and well-liked.
In turn, this information helps you see which content ideas would do well if you were to create content about them.
- Blog Post Headline Analyzer
CoSchedule’s Blog Post Headline Analyzer tool analyzes headlines and titles and provides feedback on length, word choice, grammar, and keyword search volume.
If you have an idea in mind, run a few title options through the Headline Analyzer to see how you could make it stronger, and move your idea further along in the brainstorming process.
These tools would save you from the hassle of having long-term strategy shortcomings, it is necessary to understand that once you start producing great content users would engage with it and result in a higher ranking on search engines, this is the far superior approach.
CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY FOR BLOGS CONTENT
As of January 2020, 3/4 of 4.5 billion internet user’s say they read blogs regularly for buying decisions or tutorials.
Internet searches presently are expected to rise. This is because people depend on search engines for help due to the covid-19 pandemic. This helps them stay at home and get updated about what’s happening around the globe. Google says, are rising numbers of searches globally which are above 5.5 billion searches per day. This makes inflation on search engines from 3.5 billion searches per day.
With the rising searches and more platforms for information, you should consider creating a sound content strategy so you can bring in more readers and eventually retain them with more updated relevant content, you should also focus on producing quality and stand-out content.
Doing all of this will help improves your blog search engine rankings. Also, you will reap a boost in SERP rankings as a secondary benefit.
You may be thinking you might find it hard to do all that. But, it isn’t always hard as you see. With this simple guide, you will develop a content strategy that is easy to plot and implement
1. DEFINE YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY GOALS
Defining your goals is the major aspect of successful content marketing content with a specific purpose will lead to great content for users.
Take actionable act if you are creating content to boost blog awareness, generate leads, convert readers to prospects, attract long-lasting audience, improve search ranking results many more goals
Once you have clearly defined your goals, you will need to determine if a content strategy is in fact the best way to achieve them.
Having segments of your marketing concept requires different types of blog content. So, it is necessary to decide what content is most right for an audience to receive for a given purpose. Having this type of marketing strategy will help you have the right content highlights with the right person at the right time.
2. AUDIENCE RESEARCH
Developing your content marketing can be effective when you know who your audience is, what information they like the most, and how they want it.
Valuable information like that on content marketing can be gotten when you have a look at what type of blogs your readers are already visiting, which content they engage with, and which social media platforms they share content on.
This can be easily done by enabling Google Demographics and Interests for the types of blogs your audience engage with and Google Analytics for the content they engage with. Take action to review which social platforms are more popular for sharing on content pages.
Get Google Analytics to determine which blog content is producing the best results. To find the best results Click on Behavior>Site Content>Content Drilldown, sort by different factors such as Average Time on Page, Bounce Rate, and Pageviews.
With this information at your tips, you can create content that is targeted to your ideal reader, rather than content that you want to read.
Your goals for creating this content should be to increase the Average Time on the Page, decrease Bounce Rate, and increase Pageviews.
Using a variety of content types and channels will help you deliver different content to each type of audience you have in mind and engage prospects who will want to do business with you.
3. NICHE FOCUS
Content creators without a focused niche had made irrelevant information fill up the internet, although 99% of this kind of content is not seen by most web user’s because it doesn’t provide any real value, either already exists elsewhere and is simply re-posted or does not appear anywhere near the top of SERPs.
You need to create content that stands out, is unique to your niche, has a branding voice, and, most important, offers genuine value to readers of your blog.
Other blogger’s in your niche likely have similar content as your own, which means your target audience needs to know what makes your content better, which is why you need to remain niche-focused.
4. HAVE YOUR CONTENT PLANNED
To effectively strategies your content marketing decide the places your target market is often online, after which publish on those channels to attain them.
You’ll need to assume strategically in order to discover all of the sources available to you after which harness the strength of the marketing team, word of mouth, and influencers to definitely expand your content marketing.
What forms will your content material take? Infographics? Videos? Blog posts?
Having identified the subjects you want to take a position on, you may want to determine which formats to budget for so you can first-class express that function.
To ensure your target audience comes across it, make sure you are taking care to optimize the content body with SEO.
5. MEASURE THE MARKETING RESULTS
Measuring the results of your blog content promotion efforts is one of the maximum vital factors in developing a powerful content material advertising method.
Promoting your content material without having insights into your blog visitor’s remarks will lead to continuous ineffective content promotion.
To promote your content you need to recognize what your blog reader’s interest is, in addition to what they didn’t like, and why they pick a content format as a choice.
6. CONSUMPTION METRICS
It is essential during your content marketing, this is the initial draft of information you can gather when people view and engage with your content. You really can’t market content by measuring how the latest content marketing engagements were.
To get this data simply go to Google Analytics by clicking on Behavior>Site Content>Content Drilldown.
You can sort results provided by different factors such as Average Time on Page, Bounce Rate, and Pageviews.
With this data, you can find answers to questions like these: Did you craft a blog post that brought on a huge visit in traffic? Did your readers spend more time on a particular piece or genre of content? Did a piece of content results in a large number of comments or shares on social media?
The key is to always strategize before marketing any content. Don’t just promote content because you feel that is the only way to get reader’s instead spend time to strategize based on your recent promotion analytic’s .
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CONTENT PUBLISHING PLAN
It doesn’t matter in case you are trying to build your content marketing knowledge, making plans and putting yourself ready for greater blogging fulfillment will take dedication, and a view of your running a blog in your area of interest, as a business will assist you to produce a good publishing plan.
Although many still take the process as a very overwhelming thing to do, with the right tool and guidance on hand you will find it easy.
When it comes to creating successful content marketing initiatives, It is necessary you consider dividing your tasks into these four key areas:
- Thinking
- Planning
- Doing
Having those four key areas in mind, They are a list of the DIY tool kits of checklists, templates, and resources that can help make running your content marketing program a lot more manageable.
1. DEFINE YOUR GOAL
Brainstorm what your aim for developing a content marketing plan is, ask why do you want to produce content, and create a content marketing plan? Knowing your goals before you begin planning will allow you to have an easier time determining what’s best for your strategy.
2. AUDIENCE RESEARCH
To develop a successful content marketing plan, you need to conduct and clearly define your blog’s target audience — also known as your buyer persona.
As you are just starting out blogging it is it is important you have an idea of who your target audience is so you can produce more relevant and valuable content that they’ll want to read and convert on.
Ask yourself these essential questions:
- Do you want to target a new group of people?
- Are you interested to expand your current target market?
- Will you keep the same target audience?
Having an insight into your audience statistics by conducting market research each year is necessary to grow your audience.
3. CONTENT AUDIT
It is common for bloggers to start a blog with a blog post. But for the best marketing plans, you should try producing other content pieces. However, first, consider which kind of content you want to make.
For instance, if your blogging format is blog posts on weekly basis for the time blogging, creating an ultimate guide in a different format such as an ebook that carries all your blog posts would be a great way to share information that your readers will love since it is downloadable and handy.
As time goes on and after you have probably gained ground in your niche, review your content marketing efforts and the results from it by running a content audit. Make a plan on what you can do differently to generate desired results and set new goals to reach.
4. CHOOSE A CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
It is wise to have a system in place where you can create, manage, and track your content promotion, as I suggest we all know this system as a content management system (CMS).
With a content management system, you can
- Create content
- Get content publication
- Get content analytics.
Hubspot CMS can help you plan, produce, publish, and measure your results all in one dashboard.
With WordPress, you can add the Hubspot WordPress Plugins for free web forms, live chat, CRM access, email marketing, and analytics.
Other popular HubSpot alternatives to try are Aritic PinPoint, ActiveCampaign, SendinBlue, GetResponse, and WishPond.
You can follow the CMS provided by the link to learn more about which one fit your goals.
5. PROMOTION
Start making plans on promoting your content on social media platforms, once you’ve been regularly publishing content on your own blog. You should know that you will have to repurpose your content into new formats before promoting it to social media platforms, creating original content specifically for external sites, or publishing website content on various social networks.
Promoting on social media is important for increasing your brand’s reach and delivering your content to your customers where you know they spend their time.
There are a variety of options you can choose from to promote your blog post:
- Listicles They’re easy to scan, have digestible information and they’re super popular for social media sharing because you can create lists on almost any subject.
- Infographics are an effective way to provide valuable information with something visually appealing. They could be charts, statistics, step-by-step instructions, and even fun facts.
- Podcast MP3s podcasting can develop into full online shows that gain popularity over time, the easiest way to begin is to upload the MP3 of your podcast and publish it on your blog with a written transcription.
- Presentations and slideshows presentations and slideshows are just like infographics, they are an effective way to share insights and information in a visual format AdobeSpark, and Canva is a great online tools for free presentations and slideshows.
- Memes and GIFs Memes and GIFs are an excellent way to get people engaged and share your content, You could even make your own by using a meme generator.
- Video content Many online users preferred video over written content, videos are shorter, you can personally and visually connect with your audience and they’re popular sharing folders.
6. PUBLISH AND MANAGE YOUR CONTENT WITH A CONTENT CALENDAR
Your promotion plan should go beyond the types of content you’ll you want to promote — it should also cover how well you’ll organize your content.
With the help of editorial calendar tools, you’ll be on the right track for publishing a well-balanced and diverse content library on your blog.
Then, create a social media content strategy so you can promote and manage your content on other sites.
You can promote your blog on applicable topics at some stage in popular holidays. As suitable as this will sound you don’t want to restrict yourself to these vital advertising dates.
If there are vacations that might attraction to your niche-focused target audience, you have to don’t forget to publish your contemporary blog posts on social media structures and other online sites all through these essential days.
7. PROMOTE A BLOG ON SOCIAL NETWORKS AND MAKE MONEY BLOGGING
Learning how to promote your blog is very essential for progress towards monetizing your content and building a real business around your blog.
Because without a constant visit of readers coming in each day, week, and month—you’ll be left without a fundamental business model.
While it is important to note that creating highly impactful, useful content is the most important stability of a successful blog, truth be told even if your content is truly the best in your niche—it won’t be in the progress of reaching your target audience… if you don’t learn how to promote your blog and get to your ideal reader’s first.
STEPS TO PROMOTE A BLOG ON INSTAGRAM
Out of a billion monthly Instagram users, 63% (about 63 million) log in every day for an average of 28 minutes.
Out of 500 million people viewing Instagram stories every day, a third of those are from businesses.
With all of these statistics, it is important to promote your blog on Instagram, in order to build a successful brand follow the simple steps
1. Have a Plan & Create a Content Calendar Full of Great Ideas
Take the time to brainstorm clever content ideas that align with seasons, holidays, your blog’s upcoming events, and (most importantly) your overall traffic and engagement goals.
It is important to labor over ideas, delivery, and optimization when we write content, and share photos and videos on your business or brand’s Instagram account.
2. Optimize Your Instagram Bio with Branded Hashtags & CTAs
Your bio should be used to feature a call-to-action, branded hashtags, and a link to your blog, It’s this section where users will discover who you or your blog are and whether they will follow you.
Don’t, however, plead, sound desperate, or come across as spammy.
For example, do not include “Follow People Who Follow Me!” in your bio.
You want to let users know who you are and why they should follow you.
It is advisable to make sure this section is updated when needed.
3. Cross-Post Your Instagram Content to Facebook & Twitter
Go-posting Instagram content material to Facebook and Twitter can force users back to your Instagram profile.
Customers who didn’t realize you’re on Instagram and following you on different platforms will then discover that you’re on Instagram, too, for the reason that publishes will be aware it becomes shared from Instagram.
You may regulate your settings for every publish to go-post mechanically, or you could do it manually to choose posts.
4. Take advantage of the right hashtags that will help you to capture new audiences:
Source: follows.com
Using hashtags will get you in front of new audiences who are searching for the type of content you’re posting, whether they’re following you or not.
For example, if you are blogging about software, tag a relevant photo with hashtags like #software trends # latest software and anything that relates to your products like #office software, #developer software, etc.
If you blog locally, make sure to include local hashtags, as well. Take the time to do hashtag research and find the best hashtags for your particular content and your blogging niche.
It’s easy to identify which hashtags get the most traction because when you start typing # and your word, Instagram shows up how many posts have been done around that word.
Hashtagify. I is also a great tool for finding hashtags that are getting a lot of attention.
You can type in your primary hashtag and it will show you its reach as well as related hashtags and their reach, and all the hashtags related to those hashtags.
5. Look At What Your Competitors Are Doing and learn from it:
The preferred and insightful practice for how to get followers on Instagram is to take a look at what your best competitors are doing and learn from it.
Researching their accounts might reveal hashtags you have been missing, bloggers you haven’t reached out to, or other strategies that can inform your own.
Also, note which of their posts are performing the best – that can serve as another clue as to what can work on your own account.
STEPS TO PROMOTE A BLOG ON TWITTER
With 275 million users, Twitter is a huge platform for collaboration and idea sharing.
For you as a blogger, it promises a wide audience for your blog niche.
Here are the amazing tips and tricks to make your promotion easier and more effective, while you get the most from using Twitter.
1. Make use of bigger and more relevant online conversations to promote your blog
One of the best ways to get noticed is to make relevant conversation on something you’re saying on Twitter to get mixed up into a bigger conversation that’s already happening and trending online.
Many bloggers in any niche use upcoming high-profile days and events as an editorial road map for when and how to promote their blog post with tweets.
2. Include eye-catching visuals to your tweet:
In order to grab attention and get noticed in the highly crowded online space of expertise and trending stories is to use strong, compelling photography, GIF, or Video clip to really get in someone’s line of vision on Twitter
3. Start a mini blog with your profile
Making a mini blog from your profile doesn’t mean you should make it into a personal content hub, you need to retweet the tweets of all the bloggers in your niche, and tweet any news related to your niche or industry.
Starting a mini blog means making your profile a source of information so that people don’t have to follow many other profiles because they can find in your profile what others have tweeted.
You can take the advantage of BuzzSumo to find influencers and experts in your niche.
You can easily gain an insight into what best fit your profile by user engagements of their tweets.
4. Adapt to the use of Hashtags
This is the most implementable and effective action. You shouldn’t just tweet the link and catchy images. but after doing that it does not mean that everything is finished.
You should learn to use specific hashtags to increase your profile and content (links posted on) visibility in search of Twitter.
Hashatit is a great tool to find specific, trendy, and relevant by typing the keyword which is free to use
STEPS TO PROMOTE A BLOG ON FACEBOOK
With more than 60 million businesses already using Facebook for promoting content, It’s wouldn’t be wise to neglect the power and the value of taking advantage of a Facebook presence allows you to share your blog story, create relationships with readers and accomplish business goals.
1. Create an eye-grabbing post: Most Facebook posts that catch people’s attention in the news feed have very similar qualities.
You should take note of using a catchy headline, a design that immediately draws eyeballs, and text above the image that makes readers want to read the entire article.
2. Share the post on your profile in 4 different ways to increase engagements:
With Facebook you can post 4 types of status updates to your profile:
Link updates, Photo updates, Video updates, and Text updates.
Use all of these strategies to promote your blog post at different times on your Facebook Page, this will also allow you to get insights into different update types and times to see which gets the most engagement.
If you nail these three points, you increase the chances your post will drive more traffic to your blog.
3. Start showing up, Go Live:
Create awareness and build solid relationships by going live. Whenever you go live, your video will shoot to the top of your followers’ Facebook news feeds. People who have interacted with your page frequently or recently will get a notification letting them know about your live!
The boost in the news feed plus those notifications are a factor for increased engagement!
During the live video, you can have your link shared. They can be of your services or some signup links with any contact details.
One of the reasons live videos are effective is that people who join your event will see a notification every time you update it, This will keep your blog post fresh and impressionable.
4. Interact & Engage like a pro
Interacting is one of the neglected actions social media users make. No matter what social media network you’re using, whenever you get comments or messages, respond to them.
Provide insight and guidance like a pro when people ask questions. Also, thank them when they offer you praise or recommendation.
5. Join and create target audience Facebook groups
The essential step in promoting your blog post is to boost your Facebook post by joining groups. These should match your niche. Also, you can start creating groups for audiences with your interest groups.
You can also target one of two audience groups: people who like your page and their friends, or people who have previously engaged with your page. Promoting your post to one of these audiences first generates social proof that it is worth liking and sharing and sharing your post.
6. Integrate Facebook comments on your blog
By using a Facebook comments plugin, visitors can comment on your blog using their active Facebook profile or Page. One of the good reasons for using this strategy is that people will be encouraged to share the comment or your blog post on Facebook.
Those who leave the box checked will end up sharing a link to your post with their Facebook audience.
There is a good number of WordPress plugins available to choose from, be sure to choose a tested plugin that has plenty of reviews for the social media sharing plugin.
STEPS TO PROMOTE A BLOG ON YOUTUBE
Video marketing has been the most adaptable way of sharing information and it continues to be a huge form of marketing.
Video marketing user’s can only succeed with eye-catching thumbnails and creating high-quality videos, While bloggers and marketers can increase benefits derived by repurposing their video content across multiple online platforms.
This means that there are profitable for marketers, bloggers, and business owners who are creative with their video content.
1. Add Keywords to Your Video
Utilize the features of keywords in every aspect of your promotion channel. Promoting your content the right way entails using the best possible keywords to attract ideal subscribers. These subscribers will stick with your content and passively promote it by word of mouth.
Using important and effective keywords in your descriptions, titles, tags, and channel bio is an effective way to promote your content so that your target audience can find it with ease.
2. Start a live FAQ section on youtube
Start a frequently asked question live on youtube. This will increase visitors to your blog and everyone will see you as an expert.
Share the video across your social media platforms. Tools like Buffer or HootSuite can help you to schedule your social media posts so your video is shared multiple times across a variety of platforms.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are all great places where you can share your Q&A video.
3. Set goals for the following metrics: likes, shares, comments, and subscribers
Taking note of your promotional goals is the first step toward achieving desired results from your promotional efforts. You should know you can’t possibly achieve your goals if you don’t know what you’re aiming for.
Before you start implementing your promotional efforts, set the pace by establishing your content creation goals for each year concerning how many likes, shares, comments, and subscribers you should get within the year.
In addition to providing a goal that you can work towards, having insights on your YouTube metric goals is also a great base for constructing how your promotional efforts will manifest.
4. Design eye-grabbing thumbnails for your videos that would entail a user attention
Designing an eye-grabbing thumbnail as being one of the most underrated yet effective ways to boost your promotional efforts. It is essential you equip every video with a thumbnail that can grab any user’s attention right away!
Invest in making custom thumbnails that essentially speak for your channel without saying a word. Having a custom thumbnail tells users about your channel like:
- How committed you are to creating quality content
- Why your content is worth their time
Enhance your promotional efforts by making sure that you get the minor details right. In this case, that means spending a bit of effort on making your thumbnails as attractive as possible!
STEPS TO PROMOTE A BLOG ON QUORA
Using Quora for content promotion has been the most effective strategy that actually works. Bloggers believe Quora is a great blogging platform that allows the strongest synergy between a blog and semi-random Internet browsing.
From an insight given from Quora, it is great for writers who don’t have an audience. Also, for bloggers who have an audience but want to reach more people in any area of interest.
1. Start a Quora blog:
Quora offers the opportunity to create a separate blog on their platform or any niche or interest of choice from their user.
It can be a valuable part of your social marketing strategy. Since you would find an audience with the same interest as your own and you would also be known as an expert in your field for setting up a blog.
Here is how to start a Quora blog the right way
2. Provide well-explained, helpful answers: Quora has an “Ask To Answer” feature wherein a questioner can ask a question to 15 people. When someone directs a question to you, it will appear in the “Asked to Answer” section just below the Questions for You section.
Quora and Blogger have testified that they love Quora due to the incredible answers that a lot of people provide on the platform.
Take note that your answers should be
- five or six paragraphs long
- Easy to understand research and data
- providing complete answers to a question.
- outstandingly in-depth and valuable answers.
3. Find niche relating questions in your Feeds
Questions in your feeds are primarily there for you to read. If you have selected the right topics in your feed while setting up your profile, you can see some relevant questions in this section relating to your niche.
4. Follow topics related to your niche.
Become an active participant in these topics by posting insightful questions and valuable answers.
When appropriate, you should consider including blog post links back to content on your blog for full detailed questions, but don’t spam readers or questioners with irrelevant links to unrelated content.
To automatically find relevant questions and track your answers, Use a tool like QuestionsPro. Although the tool is still in beta, it can help you to streamline a big part of your Quora workflow.
STEPS TO PROMOTE A BLOG USING NEWSLETTERS
Source: act365.com
Email Marketing has by far been the biggest driver of growth and revenue for blog owners.
Integrating email services to your blog will allow you send to your blog community an update whenever you made new blog contents have a resource you want to share with them, or when new podcast episodes or youtube videos go live—doing all of this with your email subscriber’s will ensure your contents are out there and seen by more people.
1. Build your subscriber list:
Even if you’ve already acquired a lengthy listing of emails for consumers and prospects. You need to in no way give up including to it. Especially due to the fact that it’s now not nearly as tough as it sounds.
For example, make positive your listing is continually developing passively with a signup characteristic on your website.
Subscription varieties have to be on your domestic page, weblog web page and in all places else you can suit it except taking away from greater necessary content.
2. Targeted content material: Segmenting your e-mail lists by using reader demographics makes it less complicated to create a message that actually resonates with your readers’ wants and interests, which makes them extra in all likelihood to take up an offer, interact with you, or even to pass by it onto different potential clients.
3. Keep your emails out of unsolicited mail folders
If your cautiously built emails are flagged as spam, they’ll in no way see the mild of day. Start off by making positive your recipients have opted into your emails. So, you don’t seem to be going for walks afoul of any policies like the CAN-SPAM Act.
Beyond that, keep away from the usage of all caps, too many exclamation marks, and hyperbolic phrases. ACT NOW BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT. Poorly formatted HTML in your emails can additionally harm how they’re handled. Every unsolicited mail filter is different. So, an e-mail may pass by via one filter but get flagged with the aid of another.
4. Make sure the appearance of your email is easy and crisp
This sounds apparent, however, you’d be surprised how many content creators deliver emails that look like amateur websites from the new computer age. If someone has opened your mail because of a fascinating heading, you want to keep their interest.
This means:
- Use short paragraphs and ensure that key phrases and phrases relevant to your readers stand out.
- Which include bullet factors to assist people skim the content material and taking inside the vital points. Placing snapshots sparingly.
- Photos need to illustrate your message in place of updating your content material.
BEST EMAIL MARKETING SOFTWARE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES AND BLOGGERS
Email marketing as being the most cost-effective tool that is so popular a marketing tool for business. It has been used in various forms for driving traffic to a website. Also, for persuading a subscriber and building relationships with the audience.
Studies had shown in recent years by the UK based- direct marketing association (DMA) discover that for every $1 spent, email marketing has a return on investments (ROI) which is averaged at $38.
I have researched and reviewed a good number of email marketing software. Post this, I have come up with the best email services for your business.
Active Campaign has a very user-friendly design, with menus being easily navigable which have over 40 advanced, responsive templates to choose from for Classic newsletters, SMS, autoresponders, A/B testing, RSS triggered, birthdays (date-based)
It also offers a massive amount of integration options, such as PayPal, Shopify, Google Analytics, Facebook, and WordPress. You shouldn’t have a problem finding what you need.
Benchmark has been the number one choice for small business owners or bloggers, it gives the user very easily designed professional-looking emails, with more than 400 responsive email templates to choose from.
The software features an autoresponder that automates much of its work. And, detailed analytics to help with getting the information needed for a successful campaign.
GetResponse is an extremely low-cost email marketing software. It has pricing that is based on how many contacts you have. This means, that you can send as many emails as you want per month.
The software has an easy-to-use drag-and-drop design editor. These features more than 500 pre-designed templates and list-building tools. All these features help you start, grow and manage your contacts.
It is an email marketing software that offers tools for marketers to build an entire marketing program from start to finish. Using Getresponse includes features like :
- Responsive design
- A landing page creator
- List import tools
- Automation
- Email campaign analytics
However, the system is available in over 12 languages and serves more than 350,000 customer’s from over 190 countries.
Get response offer’s an 18% discount for signing up for a year at a time instead of monthly making the cloud-based software even more affordable.
HubSpot is an inbound marketing software platform. It includes email marketing, SEO services, blogging, marketing automation, landing pages, website design, and social media integration.
The email marketing platform offers:
- Lead generation tools
- Features custom personalization
- List segmentation
- Email campaign optimizer
- Easy email templates editor
- A/B testing
- Campaign analytics
- Automated sending
- Dedicated IP addresses
Sendinblue is the preferred and most attractive email marketing software for e-commerce businesses, it allows you to send email marketing campaigns, transactional emails, and text messages from one platform. The software synchronizes contact from popular programs.
You get detailed analytics on where your sent emails are being opened and what kind of devices.
The pricing plan is very efficient for your business budget and has pay points of the free plan, pay-as-you-go, and monthly plans.
Aweber email marketing provider runs develops and processes an opt-in email marketing service used by businesses, bloggers, and entrepreneurs. The software features are the best selected for a quick email campaign. These include:
- Over 700 free templates
- A drag-and-drop email editor
- List segmentation
- Contact management tools
- Email marketing campaign tracking
- Autoresponders
ConstantContant is one of the fastest and largest growing email marketing services that feature multi channels marketing campaigns (newsletters, offers, announcements, event registration, feedback, and promotions).
You can easily manage your email list, marketing calendar, contacts, and email templates.
Constant Contact is the best email marketing service for small businesses. This gives you access to easy tracking and reporting, Facebook ads integration, list segmentation, a free image library, and built-in social sharing tools.
ConvertKit is an easy-to-use, powerful email marketing provider that is designed for one type of target audience: online creators (like YouTubers and bloggers.) which means that there are not a lot of e-commerce-focused features that you as an online creator don’t need.
It is the fastest and also offers customizable sign-up forms and landing pages. This helps to bring in more email subscribers.
They have paid plans that are fairly priced and also offer a free landing page plan.
Mailchimp straight a forward user experience and impressive mail and newsletter tool that are easy to use and navigate for first-time experience and beginners.
Mail chimp is an all-in-one marketing platform to help you become a marketing expert. With their approach to marketing that focuses on effective contact management practices, powerful data analysis, and beautifully designed campaigns, you can manage and talk to your clients, customers, and interested parties.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR BLOG CONTENTS STAND OUT WITH FREE PHOTOS AND DESIGNS
There are many free design resources that can help you with appealing creative designs. Some of which are listed below:
BEST 7 SELECTED WEBSITES FOR FREE STOCK IMAGES
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is a website dedicated to sharing stock photography under the Unsplash license. The website claims over 207,000 contributing photographers. Also, it generates more than 17 billion photo impressions per month on their growing visits.
You can find beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any blog project. It is better than any royalty-free or stock photos.
2. Pexels:
Download Pexels and enjoy it on the internet, on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Get inspired by the amazing photos that get uploaded every day and create something awesome, whether it’s a blog post, social promotion, or a presentation with popular categories.
Death to Stock is an Artist Owned Co-op that provides you with the freshest authentic stock photos and videos. With unlimited downloads and new photographs added every month. If you’re willing to spend a bit of money, Death To Stock sends you a curated collection of free images. You can use these on your blog each week. Or, for $12/month you can get access to the 2,000+ professional photos on their Premium site.
4. Pixabay
With over a collection of 1.4 million photos, videos, illustrations, and vector graphics, Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, who share copyright-free images and videos. All contents are released under the Pixabay license you can use for free, without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist – even for commercial purpose
Vintage photos from public archives. Lots of cool options depending on your niche and design style while they are free of known copyright restrictions. It is simply recapturing history
6. Life of Pix:
Free high-resolution photos, no copyright restrictions for personal and commercial use. New photographs are added weekly! All images are donated to the public domain for your marketing, blog, or article – for free.
Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is an online repository of free-use images, sounds, other media, and JSON files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. This has over 21+ million photos and images from throughout history that is now in the public domain and free to use.
TOP 5 FREE BLOG CONTENTS DESIGN RESOURCES SOFTWARE
1. Visme for infographics and presentations
Visme is the tool you’ll need to create all forms of visual content for your blog. Design beautiful and interactive presentations, infographics, reports, surveys, social graphics, and over 20 other content formats, after quickly signing up.
Flaticon for vector icons
Discover and customize more than 3,133,500+ free vector icons in SVG, PSD, png, eps format, or as icon font. Also, download over 200 free icon sets for your web projects using their flat icon maker.
2. Canva for social media images and quotes
Create beautiful designs you’d need for your blog, from social media posts to custom quotes with your team. Use Canva’s drag-and-drop feature and layouts for various purposes. These include designing, sharing, and printing business cards, logos, presentations, etc.
3. Noun Project for design icons
Millions of curated icons are created by a global community. Use these free templates to create engaging, highly visual educational materials. It is a fantastic resource for blog icons.
4. Pixlr:
Pixlr Editor is the perfect solution as it’s free and feature-packed. This Precision editing online editor is small but powerful for people who are comfortable with tools like Photoshop.
5. PicMonkey:
It allows you to obtain thousands of extra graphics, lots more templates, tons of extra fonts & textures, and get free inventory photos and videos.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY AS A BLOGGER IN ANY BLOGGING NICHE
Here are 2 ways to make money as a blogger:
1. TEACH AN ONLINE CLASS OR COURSES
Teaching as a blogger cannot be overlooked. Your readers are expecting an increase in knowledge by being loyal to you. You need to take that advantage by earning more as a blogger. You could teach digital marketing and blogging even though you don’t really have much knowledge.
Your first class might not be successful try the second and third time until you succeed. Not only will you learn so much teaching but can also earn a good source of side income.
Starting an online class or course might sound difficult. However, with just a few simple tools and software you can teach video or audio courses online. Moreover, you can put together a package with a video or audio course plus a course handbook.
Consider what is your area of expertise and what questions you are asked mostly. Then see if you can turn this idea into remarkable online courses and classes.
2. START WRITING E-BOOKS
Source: myworkfromhomeincome.com
Writing an e-book is one good strategy that has not been tapped by many bloggers. There are fantastic potentials to earn money each year by selling e-books).
In the early days of blogging, selling e-books was the all and all for blogging careers. But as your business had grown and your income had increased.
It is recommended to get extra income by selling e-books. Especially if you can handle the occasional difficult customer service issue.
HOW TO BECOME A PRO EBOOK WRITER AND LAUNCH EBOOKS AS A BLOGGER IN EASY STEPS
Source: blog.scientity.com
1 . You need to write on a relevant and practical topic
The best-selling e-books and courses include how to make money, save money, lose weight, or get organized. Also, managing your time well, cooking better, or somehow practically improving your life are the topics in demand. But take note that an e-book that contains poems is not going to sell well. You can find a profitable niche to write a relevant topic about.
2. Your cover and sales page are everything
You can write a wonderful e-book. However, if your cover is of low quality and your sales page is ridiculous, it probably won’t sell.
Hire a designer to do your design. It is worth every of your penny and make sure that your page has a clear-cut call to action. Additionally, add details as to why a potential customer buys your e-book and has testimonies to back up your claim.
3. Hire a team or middle party to help with promoting your ebooks
Getting your ebook launched and sold is not hard as you think, If you have built up a strong blog audience and readers, have a blog presence, are passionate about your subject, and are a gifted and decent writer. You can achieve a book deal.
To succeed as a book writer, don’t just accept whatever book deal comes your way. Or whatever a book publisher offers you. While some publishers may be excellent to work with, you should always get an agent before signing any book deal.
You will not only have someone to summon and a middle party for promoting your book ideas to the publisher. However, have someone or a counselor hold your to help through any process and cheer you on any difficulties.
4. You should use up every marketing possibility
People need to see things again, again and again in order to consider purchasing. Write guest blog posts, get every blogger possible to review your e-book, run e-book giveaways on quite a number of blogs and find every creative way you can think about to get your e-book out there.
5. Accept social speaking engagements
If you love public speaking (or you want to grow to love public speaking) you can earn a fairly good side income by accepting public speaking engagements. If you don’t have any proposals coming your way, don’t be scared. You just need to get your name out there and build your reputation as a highly targeted public speaker.
Depending on your blog topic, you could offer to speak for free at local events to build up your portfolio. Also, you can offer a class through your local community hall for a small fee per sign-up.
If you succeed, offer it on a regular basis or teach the same class in a nearby town, as well.
As an added bonus, public speaking engagements can grow your career. Also, it can put your name and blog name in for large masses to notice. Moreover, it also helps to grow your blogging career and widen your audience.
6. Consider becoming a freelance writer or blogger
Making blogging a career can open a lot of opportunities for you. It is a great experience as well as an extra source of income. They are many jobs for you to consider and they are many opportunities available. If you are a gifted writer, reach out to small local businesses across the nation.
Many of these businesses will accept you writing an article for them. Also, they may pay up to $30 per article.
Since there are local and state publication, most of them don’t ask for exclusive rights.
7. Start offering consulting services to other bloggers or companies
Most companies are taking notice of bloggers. They realize that bloggers are much more adapted to social media and blogging. Due to that realization, most companies want to know how to grow their business through social media and bloggers.
Hence, there are more companies who are willing to pay bloggers. Why? To give them tips and advice or handle their social media presence.
Taking up Consulting jobs pays well. You could often make $50 per hour or more. However, consulting jobs might be difficult to get, since they are usually the results of networking and pre-established relationship.
When you get involved in consulting it is advisable not to sell yourself short or work for free.
INTRODUCING TIME MANAGEMENT TO YOUR BLOGGING CAREER
How can manage everything with just a little or no time for yourself, your family, and your career? You can manage your time well as a blogger. However, the most important thing to remember is that you have to do new things slowly.
For instance, creating a social media presence and email newsletter. If you would try to set it all up at the same time you would be completely overwhelmed.
Pace yourself and give yourself a target when setting up a blog. Challenge yourself to try new tasks or things little by little, don’t try implementing them all at once.
Pick one or two things to focus on for the months.
Set goals for each month. Break these goals down into weekly plans. And, then try to work on them for 10-15 minutes each day. Subsequently, you will master all these tasks and can add new goals and experiment with new ideas.
Always make sure you remember to compare yourself with yourself only. There will always be a blogger doing better or good at this or that and the other.
Don’t let it discourage you. Look at the progress you are making towards your goal – even if it works slowly or discouraging.
Source:blog.weekdone.com
HOW TO START AND GROW A SUCCESSFUL BLOG FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q1: What is a blog?
A blog is a tool that can help in various ways. These include developing an online presence, attracting leads, and engaging with an audience.
A recent study reported that 60% of blog visitors purchase a product after reading a blog post about it and has been rated as the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information.
Most topics based on your niche can be found and discussed. It is a great way to boost your income, connect with people and increase subscribers.
Q2:How do you start a blog for beginners?
I recommend going for a free self-hosted CMS like a WordPress blog. This is easy to use and gives you full control over your blog design and features.
- Get a blog and domain name which is the web address that people can find you with on the internet from affordable platforms like Namecheap,, Bluehost and Godaddy.
- Choose an affordable web hosting provider where your blog files will be hosted, Bluehost, WP Engine and Hostgator are great sites for security, speed, and support.
- Select a theme and design that is SEO friendly, easier to navigate, and responsive.
- Start creating your essential pages. These are about, contact and shop or hire.
- Commit to a regular publishing schedule by setting expectations with your readers and creating a goal for new content.
- Use free stock photos and quality designs to stand out.
- Publish and promote your blog contents all through social media handles and get more readers to your blog.
Q3: How to start a blog for FREE?
Starting a blog for free is possible.
There are various free blogging platforms like Tumblr, Blogger, and Medium. These are great for testing your writing skills, blogging for fun, and full-time.
If you need to be 100% on your blog and suit your preferences. It’s perfect for setting up a serious blog that you plan to work on long-term.
Deciding to go with affordable web hosting platforms like Bluehost and other powerful and affordable platforms like Dream Host and Hostgator will provide you with many chances of customization, your own dedicated domain name, and help and support with any technical challenges you come across with the blog.
Q4: How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog?
If you are just considering blogging, depending upon your goals and the type of blog you want to start. Your blog costs will be around $34.50 to $65.40 in the first year.
Here are some of the essential expenses for starting a blog:
- Domain name: It may cost you around $10 per month
- Hosting: Shared hosting cost usually costs $3 – $10 per month. Then there are more advanced options like VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, etc.
In general, you should plan to spend $100 – $250 for the initial development of your blog, and $50 – $150 per month for ongoing maintenance, email hosting and also going for an affordable shared hosting plan—while doing all of your own content writing, utilizing organic promotion efforts and also estimating your expenses by setting a budget.
Q5:How do get your first 1000 readers to your blog?
- Start with creating quality content that solves reader challenges and helps readers with better knowledge than other sources of information.
- Take action and build up your social media profiles gradually and consistently post blog links to your new content.
- Share content of other bloggers in your niche on your social media handles.
- Implement the use of keyword research and basic on-page SEO for your blog posts.
- Be focused and provide information based on your niche. If you are not straightforward with the content given, regular readers will lose interest.
- Try to update the audience with new content consistently.
- Use your personality and try to be conversant with your content, especially your writing style.
- Put graphics like images, and info-graphics to make your content interesting and stand out.
- Use analytics to track what is working, then do more of that!
Q6:How to increase traffic to your blog?
- Create updated content for your blog.
- Write content on a trending topic that your readers will find insightful.
- Optimize your blog content for search engine indexing.
- Write to target long-tail keywords.
- Use appealing headlines.
- Write a better Meta description.
- Add keywords to the blog posts.
- Include your target keyword in your blog URL.
Q7:How much money can I make blogging?
Blogging to build credibility can lead to many money-making opportunities. This makes it easy to make $500 – $2,000 per month by blogging in your first year. And then in years 2, 3, 4, and 5, you can significantly increase your monthly blog revenue.
Recent studies report that the average blogger’s salary is over $32,800 per year.
Q8:How do bloggers get paid?
Bloggers do not get paid once a month like with normal jobs. Also, they definitely do not get paid in just one exact way.
Bloggers can have a stream of income. These include joining display ad networks, getting sponsored posts from companies, affiliate promotions, consulting gigs, landing freelance, and many more.
Q9:How to start a health and fitness blog?
A fitness blog covers a wide variety of fitness topics, including muscular development, stretching techniques, cardiovascular exercise, dieting, etc.
Q10:Here’s how to start a health and fitness blog :
- Determine if your readers. They can either be yoga students, people interested in weight training, elderly people, or people of all ages.
- Get the perfect name that will hit off instantly with the audience.
- Choose your hosting provider.
- Select the theme that best suits your health and fitness you want to talk about.
- Establish credibility with your readers.
- Create SEO friendly content
- Promote your blog, especially on social media platforms like Instagram.
- Monetize it through social media, podcasts, and advertisements, since you will need all the attention you can get.
Q11:How to start a finance blog?
Before you get going with all the technical stuff, you must take a step back. It is time you consider which personal finance niche you want to be in.
There are plenty of niches to choose from: Budgeting, debt, early retirement, general finance, and Investing
Here’s how to start a finance blog :
- Choosing a very specific niche generally helps you to grow more quickly as an experienced blogger. As you will become known for that topic.
- Get the perfect name that best suits your niche.
- Choose your hosting provider.
- Select the theme that best describes the monetary issues you want to talk about
- Establish credibility with your readers and post regularly.
- Use your keyword research for new content.
- Learn about advertising and revenue in the finance blog
Q12:How to start a photography blog?
Are you looking to make a professional site to sell photos? Are you just looking to share your work with others? As a professional photographer, you should strongly buy your own domain name, so that you look like a reputable business. Most major blogging sites, like Weebly or WordPress, allow you to own your own domain name and customize your blog.
Essential tips to start a photography blog
- Get the perfect name that will hit off instantly with the audience.
- Choose your hosting provider.
- Select the theme that best suits your style and the fashion you want to talk about.
- Establish credibility with your readers by updating your blog.
- Add basic contact information to your page. Often this is in a little section labeled “About”. However, you can also delineate a “Contact Me” page on many blogging sites like Tumblr. This is important if anyone wants to use the rights to your photos or hire you for a project.
- Consider adding a Creative Commons license. These free licenses tell people what you will allow them to do with your photos.
Q13:How to start a food blog?
If you love food and sharing recipes, you may want to start a food blog, For example, this food blog concentrates on making appealing-looking food that’s best suited for Pinterest or Instagram. Other food niches include affordable meals, comfort food, healthy eating, desserts, and baking.
Essential tips to start a food blog:
- Host your blog online
- Design an appealing food theme
- Install essentials plugins
- Use keywords to optimize searches on your site. Keywords could include things like baking, jalapeno, and Indian cuisine.
- Stay active in Popular food forums including ChowHound, eGullet, and Mouthful Food Forum.
- Also, Share content with other food bloggers and influencer’s in the food review blog space. Since it’s food, you may want to give it the maximum exposure you can.
Q14:How to start a travel blog?
Travel stories, with their myriad trials, tribulations, and adventures, are made for sharing.
Is your blog just meant to keep friends and family in the loop about your travels? Or, do you hope to reach a wider audience?
Here is how to start a travel blog :
- Determine the sub-niche of your blog. These can be solo traveling, luxury traveling, budget traveling, family travel, and more options you could pick from.
- Find a place to host your blog online.
- Design your blog with a free WordPress theme
- Make an enjoyable trip your first priority. You can’t write engaging, enjoyable content if you’re not engaged with your trip.
- Create and promote your blog content.
- Share some images and videos of great events or post a link to a song you heard.
- To make money, sign up to travel affiliate programs that pay you.
Q15:Which is the best platform for the blog?
I believe that WordPress.org outperforms all other blogging sites. It is no longer news that word press has come to stay since it is the most dominant content management system for blogging and websites contents, according to W3techs word press has 61.8% of the CMS market share – more than all other CMS systems (e.g Drupal, Joomla and lot more. And it is used by 63.5% of all the websites as we know them presently.
It is a feature-rich CMS where you can edit posts, media, pages, comments, plugins, themes, users, website settings, and more.
CONCLUSION
To summarize all being shared, when you’re learning to start a blog, you need to:
- Select your blog’s name and niche
- Bluehost is what we recommend as the best place to start a blog.
- Get your blog online (web hosting)
- Design your blog with a free WordPress theme
- Prepare your first blog content
- Promote your blog and make money
- Develop a successful blog content strategy
- Commit to a regular publishing schedule on your blog
- Use free photos and designs to make your blog posts stand out
Blogging is a marketing tactic that helps get your business more online visibility. and also a marketing channel. Also, blogging helps support business growth, generate increased revenue, and build a community of your own.
Have you learned one or several things today? Do leave a comment with what you have learned. If you have been blogging, do share with us strategies you have used for the best results so far. Feel free to ask questions, I will do as much to provide an answer.