What is a backlink and why is it important for SEO?

Take advantage of blogging and everything you need to profit from it

 Do you think blogging is just a hobby? Make no mistake: they can actually make you a lot of money. Here's how to get started, find your niche, and turn your blog into a source of income.

Let's be honest: blogging isn't the easiest way to make money. But the great thing is that anyone can do it, and it looks great on your CV. All you need is something interesting to say and enough patience and dedication to generate traffic and subscribers. But how do successful bloggers make their money? 

We interviewed two of them to reveal their monetization secrets. Our guide offers you a concrete action plan to launch your blog and turn it into a profitable small home business.

• What's in this blogging guide?
• How to start a blogger
• What do you blog about?
• How to increase your blog traffic
• How to Make Money Blogging
• The biggest challenges to generating income

You have two main options when it comes to starting a blog: you can use a free blogging platform or create your own website. We'll introduce you to both, highlighting the pros and cons of each.

1 free blogging platforms

Best for: Casual bloggers and those who don't want to make money from their blogs. Advantages : Easy to set up and completely free. Cons : Limitations on personalization and video/image uploads, you often can't place ads or use affiliate links, you can't create a custom URL, and the platform reserves the right to remove your blog. Many platforms allow you to create a blog for free and are very easy to use. If you just want to blog casually at first, this might be a good fit for you. But free blogging platforms can be very limited. You'll only be able to customize to a limited extent, and your blog will have a storage limit that can make it difficult to upload large videos and images. Another downside is that your blog URL will look like “www.sillweb.wordpress.com” with platform branding. Most free blogging platforms also don't allow you to place banner ads or affiliate links on your site, which are important sources of income for most bloggers. However, if these things don't bother you, here is a quick summary of the best free online blogging platforms.

Best Blogging Sites

• WordPress.com

- This is a basic blog hosting service that is free and easy to use. You will have to support ads and WordPress branding unless you pay a monthly fee and cannot place ads on your site. There are also limited customization and expansion options.

• Blogger 

- Google's free blog hosting service, Blogger, is really easy to use. But the customization and design options are very limited, and there aren't many options if you want to add new features.
Medium – With Medium, the focus is on writing rather than design. It is used by many journalists, writers and experts and is a great way to share your work with a specific community. You can't run any ads and it's difficult to build your personal brand.

• 2 Create your website

Best for:  Dedicated bloggers and those looking to make money from their blogs. Benefits:  Full control over design and customization, your own custom URL, and the ability to use ads and affiliate links however you want. Disadvantages:  You will have to pay - first for your own domain name (URL) Then hosting, but we have advice on cheap web hosting. If you're not particularly tech-savvy, the idea of ​​creating your own website can seem quite intimidating, but it's very simple to do and you can create one in just 20 minutes. Owen, founder of Save the Student, has written an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide to show you how to create a website. With your own website, you will be able to create a unique personal brand (using your own URL), and there is no risk of your blog being removed by the platform – you will own the site and have full control over it. WordPress has an insane amount of templates or “themes” to choose from – take your time to choose one that fits your personality and the theme of your blog.

Choose something clear and simple, with room for large images and easy-to-read fonts (Comic Sans and Courier fonts are not). Create your own website »

3 How to choose a blog topic

This can be the easiest or hardest part of starting your blog. The most important thing at this stage is to choose a niche in which you can consider yourself an authority. The biggest mistake new bloggers make in this crowded world of blogging is starting a blog without trying to do something surprising or different. For example, if fashion is your thing, instead of combining general fashion content, could you instead combine your love of clothes with your keen interest in the environment by blogging about environmentally conscious designers?

• Here are the best ways to find a topic for your new blog:

Look at other blogs – that should be your first port of call. What actually worked? More importantly, what are we missing? Look for gaps in the market.
Using Google – What are people searching for? Use Google suggested searches and autocomplete to find out what people are searching for. If they're looking for it, that shows there's a demand.
Search Forums for FAQs – When people can't find answers to their questions, they turn to forums. What do they ask? What do they need advice on? This will show what people are interested in and what there is a lack of available information on.
Follow current trends –  What topics are currently in the media? It's good to choose a topic that lasts a long time, but if you can get back into trend quickly, you can quickly establish yourself as an expert on that topic before anyone else. Searching #journorequest on Twitter shows the type of topics journalists are currently covering.
Think about different types of content: can you create tutorials/how-to guides? Opinions? Interviews ? Lists? Maybe it's not what you write about, but how you write that sets you apart.
Identify your interests and passions – While all of the above are important, there’s no point blogging about something that doesn’t interest you at all. You will quickly get bored and people will discover your lack of enthusiasm. Write about something you really care about.
Check out our long list of small business ideas – get the entrepreneurial flow and bring in money!

4 How to increase your blog traffic

Once you've built your website, found an awesome blog topic, and published your first posts, the big question is: where are all the readers? You can't expect people to magically find your blog and start reading it. We must promote it! Here are the best and easiest ways to attract more readers for your blog: Promote your blog on social media. 

As with any business these days, you're unlikely to be noticed if you don't have a social media account. We recommend creating pages/accounts for your blog on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and even LinkedIn (you're basically your own business anyway, right?). 

Design these accounts with a similar color scheme/theme to your blog so that your branding is consistent and easily recognizable. Use them to share new posts and identify other bloggers/influencers/businesses who could share your content and help it reach a wider audience. 

You can also participate in paid advertising to help your blog reach a wider audience, or run a contest to get more likes. Once you have subscribers, pique their interest by posting regularly (not just new blog posts).

5 Connect with other bloggers

Get exposure to other people who blog about similar topics. Despite the fact that you are technically a competitor, you will probably be pleasantly surprised by the support from the blogging community. 

Many bloggers even have a "links" page on their sites that they use to link to many of their friends within the community in exchange for a link on your own blog. This will help you greatly with your SEO (i.e. search engine optimization – the likelihood of your blog showing up in Google searches).

If you interact with other bloggers and share their content, they will likely return the favor – you might even work on some collaborations!

• Respond to news on your blog

If something is happening in the news related to your niche, share it. This is what we call “information hijacking” and can be helpful in gaining high visibility for you. 

For example, if you're blogging about cheap student food, look for things like the latest Student Money Survey reveals. Students can spend an average of £101 a month on groceries, but you can tell them how to spend less (while eating better!). You can use social media to express your opinion with relevant hashtags, participate in discussions and even contact journalists to tell them you are available to comment. 

If you're really good at owning your niche, journalists might come to you.

6 Create viral content

Creating viral content will help you reach a new market, thereby increasing your readership. This may be easier said than done, but the key to creating viral content is to capitalize on controversial or highly discussed topics related to your blogging niche – as you can imagine, this often involves stealing information, as mentioned above. Since this is your niche, you'll be passionate, opinionated, and knowledgeable about it, so you'll be able to post an opinion that people will want to read, share, and talk about.

 7 How to Make Money Blogging

Once your blog is up and running, you can (finally!) start looking for ways to make money from it. Here are the best and easiest ways to make money as a blogger: Use affiliate marketing on your blog. 

Affiliate marketing works by adding tracked affiliate links within the text of your blog. You may earn a small commission each time a reader clicks on a site you recommend and makes a purchase. The links will take readers to a brand's website, and the money you receive is to say "thank you" for sending great readers to their site. Almost every online e-commerce site has an affiliate program, like Amazon, ASOS, and Apple. Sign up to Affiliate Window - a huge affiliate network where you can promote thousands of well-known brands and services from around the world.

We primarily use affiliate marketing as our main source of income, although Google AdSense is there for a few extra dollars each month. Affiliate marketing is a natural fit for many bloggers. As writer Siri Jones suggests: As a blogger, you are always recommending products and services to your readers. 

Many companies offer affiliate programs, so it's very easy to find relevant programs to join and start earning commissions. The key is to be authentic and honest with affiliate marketing. Write reviews and articles with your honest opinions and encourage readers to buy something only if you think it's a good product or service for them.

8 Add banner ads to your website

As a more visible way to advertise, you can sell ad space on your blog page to brands that your readers are interested in. Ads can be placed anywhere, but are most commonly found at the top of blog pages or in the sidebar. 

You can earn income in two ways. CPC (cost per click) means you'll get a fixed payment for each reader who clicks on the ad, while CPM means you'll negotiate a fixed payment for every 1,000 "impressions" the ad gets. As AdBlocker plugins grow, the CPC and CPM may be low, but it depends on your industry, and there's no harm in trying them. 

Write Ads and Sponsored Content According to the bloggers we spoke with, one of the best ways to monetize a blog is through sponsored content (or ad) opportunities. These are advertisements in the form of a paid article or blog post. For example, if Adidas is launching a new line of swimwear and you have a blog about women's sportswear, they might offer to pay you to write an article about their collection. You may also be able to add affiliate links at the top. 

This monetization method generally works best when you have a large niche audience. Once your readership increases, brands often contact you to discuss sponsored posts. I've only gotten sponsored content opportunities through PR companies, either directly or through apps like Takumi's Instagram agency. 

Responsible for sponsored social media posts If you have a strong social media presence, you will be very attractive to brands. Some people make their entire income from blogging through sponsored posts on social media. You can charge per post/repost and the fees can be surprisingly high. 

You'll need to work hard to build your audience first: brands see your "social proof" (or the number of people who follow you on social media) as proof that readers will also like what you post about them. Sometimes members of the press (or even brands that have their own blogs) will contact you if you are an expert on a particular topic and ask you to appear on their website. 

If you're particularly adept at cooking on a budget, for example, a newspaper might call you and ask you to contribute budget-friendly recipes to its cooking magazine. Don't be afraid to suggest ideas in your articles: if editors don't know who you are, a quick email introduction is a great way to get your blog's name out there. 

Work with an Agency to Create Your Blog Believe it or not, blogging has become so popular in the advertising world that there are now agencies exclusively interested in promoting bloggers from big brands. Working with an agency can be very profitable and give you security, but you'll need to have a decent enough audience to get assembled in the first place.

Agency fees are also incredibly high, meaning only big brands will be able to afford to work with you, and smaller independent brands will be scared off.

Depending on the type of blogging business you are aiming for, this may or may not work in your favor. To return to the example of ethical fashion blogs, agency fees can prevent you from working with the small, independent designers you really want to promote.

• Sell ​​digital products on your blog

If you have skills or advice to offer, another option is to charge for access to e-books, video lessons, courses or workshops. For this option to work, you need to be able to show that you are extremely good at what you do or that your content has proven to be incredibly valuable. It is not easy. It can be very difficult to convince online communities to pay because people tend to believe that everything on the Internet should be free. It's worth a try, right?

• Sell ​​newsletter space on your blog

It is also the possibility of charging a brand for advertising space or a mention in your weekly/monthly newsletter (if you have one!). It won't take long and you can get a reasonable amount. However, you will need to build an appropriately sized email list for brands to be considered.

• Get Employers' Attention as a Blogger

Using your blog to promote your own business or even find a job is another (albeit indirect) way to make more money with your blog. If you're one of the many students selling things online, your blog is the perfect platform to promote what you have to offer (although don't overdo it or you'll turn off readers). 

You can also use your blog as a sort of online profile: there you can build your credibility, show off your skills, and hopefully get a good job out of it. 

Think of it this way: your blog is like your own small business, and by showing potential employers that you can do it successfully, you're showing that you have an entrepreneurial spirit and know how to succeed. For more ideas on how to put your website to good use, check out these 20 Ways to Make Money with a Website.

• The Biggest Challenges When Monetizing a Blog

Nothing worthwhile comes without hard work and a few challenges. Don't be under the illusion that monetizing a blog takes time. 

Many bloggers only earn pennies monetizing their blogs each month – and that's after working on their blogs for a while. To have the opportunity to earn a full-time income from blogging, you again need to have multiple sources of income from a selection of sources. 

Monetizing a blog takes time and depends on a certain amount of traffic. The more readers you have, the more attractive you are to advertisers. 

Many bloggers decide to monetize very early in their blogging journey. Blogger Ursula  Makowska explains: I started blogging […] when I was at university. I decided to monetize my blog because I was spending a lot of time and effort creating articles, paying photographers for photography, and I also wanted to become a full-time blogger. I love blogging and wanted to follow my passion by blogging full time. 

It brought me happiness. Another major challenge that bloggers face is competition. suggested Kelle, of lifestyle website Kelle's Space. It's a challenge that rivals many bloggers in the same niche as me for opportunities; Work for bloggers is very rare. The blogging market is full of many aspiring bloggers fighting for visibility. 

However, if you work with dedication and consistency, it is possible. Siri Jones added: Blogging is definitely challenging because it requires a lot of commitment and consistency to be able to monetize it properly. 

The only thing I regret is that it didn't start sooner. I was able to make my first $500 in my first month of monetization, and this month I made just over $2,000. I'm now starting to get contacted by companies for sponsored posts, so hopefully my monthly income will continue to increase!

• Can you really make money blogging?

As we have seen, the answer is yes! But the amount of money you can make blogging varies. This is the nature of monetizing blogging in the beginning, but over time bloggers can do very well with it. Monetizing a blog takes time and depends on a certain amount of traffic. The more readers you have, the more attractive you are to advertisers. To earn a decent income from blogging, consider having multiple streams of income from different sources and through different means.

Edit This Article