By: Michael Keenan
Finding an Idea
Companies of all kinds are starting to create blogs as a way to build a long-term audience. But it’s also the reverse, as more and more bloggers are starting businesses as an extension of their blogs. This makes sense.
One of the biggest challenges facing new businesses is building an audience for their products. Meanwhile, new bloggers, on the other hand, usually work in reverse: building an audience first by consistently publishing good content, then exploring ways to monetize their traffic.
Starting a blog is easy if you just want to earn extra income. But if you’re thinking of creative ways to make money as a blogger, you’ll need to be strategic about how you set up your blog for success.
This guide will take you step-by-step through how to start a blog and grow it into a source of traffic and income. While our guide is aimed at those who haven’t started a business yet, it’s also helpful for any existing companies looking to enter the blogging game.
What is a Blog?
A blog is a website consisting of content, usually focused on a specific topic, that is regularly updated. Unlike other media and publications, blogs tend to take a personal tone, helping them connect more deeply with their audience.
People start their own blogs for various reasons, including:
- Sharing opinions and passions or insights into their lives
- Teaching others what they know
- Building an email list
- Developing their personal brand as an expert
- Making money online
- A mix of any of the above reasons
For these reasons, a blog can be immensely satisfying, especially when strangers start consuming your content, but it is also a commitment.
Whether you’re posting daily, weekly, or monthly, it’s important to be as consistent as possible, not only in the frequency of your posts but also in the quality of the content you publish.
It’s very rare for bloggers to see immediate results from their work in their personal or business blog, so it’s crucial to stay motivated in the early stages and keep your eyes on the prize.
How to Start a Blog
Starting a blog revolves around the following steps:
1. Find a Way to Earn Money from Your Blog
This may seem counterintuitive, but if you’re looking to make money through blogging, you should start with the financial aspect first and content second. A strong monetization strategy comes before your first blog post, as it determines the types of content you’ll publish and how you’ll grow over the long term. So, you want to think of your new blog as a business, rather than just a means of creative expression.
There are many ways to make money from your blog, depending on the type of blog you decide to start. For example, a small business idea paired with a blog can be a sustainable way to grow with little cost beyond time and energy.
Many people believe that using something like Google AdSense is the only way to start earning money from a blog. But while ads can help generate income, they require large amounts of traffic before they become economically viable. Fortunately, there are many other ways to start a blog and monetize it quickly, without needing a huge audience.
Here are six ways to monetize:
- Sell a Book
- Marketing
- Commission
- Digital Products
- Physical Products
- Services
- Subscriptions
A good example of someone who did this is James Clear. After writing a self-development blog, James wrote the book “Atomic Habits” to monetize his blog and leverage the knowledge he gained over the years from writing articles. This book, which is sold in both digital and physical formats, not only made his blog economically profitable but also landed him on the New York Times bestseller list.
This method allows you to earn a commission each time you sell a product for a partner. When done right, partner commissions can accumulate and be a great way to earn passive income.
An example of this is the Bases Loaded Softball website, which writes reviews of equipment to attract readers, then promotes a product from Amazon with each new article. If the reader buys the product after clicking the link, the blog earns money.
Online courses are a natural way for bloggers to monetize. Successful bloggers are experts at creating content, and courses leverage the knowledge you already have. Just check out CopyHackers.com for inspiration from a blog that has already made the leap.
Depending on the topic and content of your blog, you can start selling physical products that align with your brand and message. An example is Glossier, a cosmetics brand that originated from Emily Weiss’s fashion blog, Into The Gloss.
If you aspire to be a blogger, you likely have expertise in a certain area and excel at using words. Consulting, coaching, and participating in public events are great ways to monetize your blog.
Patreon isn’t just for YouTube video creators. When people see value in the information you provide, they may be willing to pay a monthly fee for exclusive access to content on your blog, making subscriptions a great way to monetize your blog.
The truth is that there are better and faster ways to make money from your blog that don’t require a massive amount of page views every day. This is doubly true if you can build a loyal audience, not just a large one.
Of course, your most important considerations will be who your audience is and how to serve them.
2. Choosing a Niche for Your Blog: What is Your “Thing”?
There’s no shortage of content on the web. It may seem hard to stand out, but there are two ways you can compete: choose a specific niche to focus on and create content with something that readers can’t easily find elsewhere.
It’s important to choose a niche that is narrow yet deep. This will ensure that you can create content continuously without running out of ideas, and it will influence the name of your blog (which we will address later).
You will also need to ensure that the niche you choose attracts an audience that aligns with your blog monetization strategy. What products or services might this audience be interested in purchasing?
You can do this in several ways:
- Focus your new blog on a specific location (e.g., New York)
- Center your blog’s topic on a specific sector within a larger category (e.g., not just recipes, but vegan recipes)
- Present your blog posts in a unique style or voice (e.g., humor)
- Compete on quality (e.g., detailed articles on a topic no one else wants to tackle)
For example, BlogTO covers a wide range of lifestyle topics but specifically focuses on the diverse city of Toronto.
The niche you choose will not only determine whether you can sustainably serve your audience through a continuous flow of content but also how you will monetize.
Ask yourself: What products or services does your blog audience want to buy? Whether you plan to monetize through display ads or other strategies we’ll mention later, it’s a crucial question to ask when choosing a niche for your blog.
You don’t want to skip this final step. Competitive analysis can help you build your brand and create a unique voice in your niche. The key to a successful blog is finding the gap in perspectives and filling it.
3.
Choosing a Blogging Platform and Template
Before you write your first article on your blog, you will need to set up blog hosting and a content management system. This is where many potential bloggers struggle if they’re not exactly sure which platform they should invest their time and money in.
The choice usually narrows down to either a self-hosted blogging platform or a hosted one: self-hosted
These platforms offer more customization options, but you will need to host the site yourself by paying a separate monthly fee to a hosting company. In addition to this cost, a web hosting plan requires some initial setup. WordPress is the preferred open-source platform if you are considering going the self-hosted route. Hosted
A hosted site will allow you to set up your blog faster. For example, Shopify includes hosting in all of its plans. However, unlike Shopify, some hosted sites, like Blogger or Wix, may limit customization options.
When choosing a platform, you’ll want to select one that features the following points:
- User-friendly
- Does not require coding or HTML skills
- Will be able to grow with you
During your blogging journey, there will come a time when you may want to change the look and functionality of your site as your brand matures, your traffic increases, and you organize more articles.
You will also want to ensure that your blogging platform provides a healthy ecosystem of plugins and apps – this can make a significant difference in improving your site’s performance, running backups, marketing your new blog, and streamlining tasks.
4. Choosing a Blog Name and Domain
Companies like Bluehost will offer you a free domain name when you sign up for a hosting plan. Bluehost also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the service.
When shopping for a domain name, it’s a good time to think about what you will name your site. Unless you are trying to build a personal blog or a site to showcase your work, I recommend not using your personal name as a custom domain. You can still be the face of the blog, even if your personal name isn’t in the URL, and it’s much easier to build a strong brand when you come up with a creative name that reflects your message.
Consider the blog Black Girls RUN! created by Ashley Hicks-Rocha and Toni Carey. The blog, although it is a collection of Ashley and Toni’s personal experiences as Black female runners, is part of their brand, Black Girls RUN!
When choosing a domain name, try to make it:
- Easy to remember
- Fun to pronounce
- Easy to spell
- Unique
Building a Blog on Shopify
Shopify is a hosted platform that includes an e-commerce site builder and a blog platform, along with add-ons like hundreds of plugins and apps to help you grow and sell physical/digital products or services right away. You can start your free trial today.
Once that’s settled, you will also need to choose your blog’s style.
The style is just a template for your blog’s design, layout, and site features. There are many great templates available for free on Shopify that you can set up with one click, regardless of the platform you choose. You can select a template in the “Online Store” tab in your Shopify dashboard, under themes.
But if you’re not satisfied with those options, consider paying a one-time fee for a premium template, as it will greatly impact the overall user experience.
Your site’s design can also affect search engine optimization (SEO) and engagement metrics on your blog content. Readers make a quick judgment about a site’s credibility based on its look and feel.
Look at The House That Lars Built. Just looking at this blog for interior design and crafting, you’ll know you’re in for an enjoyable experience.
From
the quick loading time to the soft colors and playful illustrations, The House That Lars Built is likely to attract readers interested in arts, crafts, and design.
Most of us can also recall landing on a poorly designed website and moving away when it became difficult to find what we were looking for. Spend some time choosing a new template, as it can make a significant difference in your blog’s performance.
Some Shopify apps that can expand your blog’s functionality include:
- Blog Studio, to enhance your blog posts using a drag-and-drop article builder
- Blog and Page Builder, to convert blogs from Google Docs
- Philyra, to create stylish product pop-ups based on keywords in your blogs
- Yoast SEO for Shopify, to improve your website’s SEO
5. Develop a Publishing Strategy
Every blogger needs to maintain a healthy stock of ideas, and it helps if you plan ahead to ensure that you won’t run out of ideas. Create a content calendar to help you track your ideas (and stay on track too).
You can use a simple table to plan your content calendar, but I recommend Trello, as it is free and also a good place to brainstorm and organize ideas. Your content calendar should include:
- What content you are creating
- Which audience you are targeting
- The distribution channels you will publish on and on what dates
You can use a simple table to plan your content calendar. However, there are many more effective tools available. Trello, Airtable, and Asana are good options as they make content organization more intuitive.
Thinking about your content mix is also important to get a sense of the scope of your blog and the categories/tags you can use to organize it as you add more great content in the future.
Some types of blog posts that should be included are:
- Pillar Content
- Trending Content
- Curated Content
- Feature Articles
- Visual Content
- Interactive Content
This is the type of content that answers people’s frequently asked questions. Pillar content is essentially educational.
Trending blog posts benefit from current events or topics that are popular right now. The great thing about trending content is that it can drive rapid growth on social media when done right. However, don’t make this the primary focus of your strategy. Use trending content strategically but don’t rely on it for traffic. It’s unpredictable.
Curated content can be a great way to enhance your original content strategy. The web is a vast place, and readers appreciate carefully curated content that aligns with their values and interests.
Interviews can be a great way to build rich editorial content. Feature articles tell a story and take readers into the minds and lives of extraordinary people. Interviews with prominent individuals can be a great way to build authority as you gain credibility through association.
Visual content is something every blogger should have in their strategy. Search engines reward blog posts that incorporate videos, original images, and infographics.
Quizzes can be a great way to boost engagement such as time on page and uncover deeper insights about your audience.
Try to plan each blog post at least one month ahead and publish it according to a regular schedule so that your audience knows what to expect for new blog posts. You can always adjust the calendar if a special story comes up and needs to be published quickly.
Before writing blog posts, start by creating an outline. Although some bloggers might choose to skip this step, writing an outline is an effective way to touch on all the points you need to cover. It will help ensure you include any relevant keywords and free your mind from the final destination so you can focus on the journey.
When
Once you’ve finished writing your blog post, before clicking publish, there are a few simple things you should do:
- Edit your work
- Organize your blog post with subheadings
- Craft catchy headlines and social media share images
When you come back with fresh eyes and use a tool like Grammarly, it can help catch errors in phrasing and grammar, but having a human editor to interact with can help elevate your articles to the next level.
Subheadings make your articles more scannable and accessible to readers.
Headlines and images are two crucial elements that can make or break the distribution of your article. While we do not recommend creating clickbait titles, successful headlines and images that stand out in social media feeds and spark curiosity are essential to attract readers to engage with your work.
Remember that your audience won’t grow overnight. You’ll have some successes and some failures, but you have to continue striving for growth.
6. Attract readers to read your blog regularly
We often talk about growing an audience after publishing. But if you want to start a blog and build momentum quickly, you should consider your strategy before launch.
Many bloggers struggle with content distribution for two main reasons:
- They do not have a defined and repeatable distribution strategy within their publishing process.
- Launching a new blog is already a daunting experience, and amplifying reach makes it even more intimidating.
The latter is something you’ll eventually overcome, but the former requires some initial thought and investment of time before launch.
So let’s review some ways you can plan for growth and make the most of every blog post you create.
Start collecting email addresses as soon as possible
No matter what platform you use for blogging, y
Source: https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-blog-and-get-read
Leave a Reply