Blogging to Make Money

Blogging to make money seems a far-sighted mirage. Many blogs seem not to make money while only a few are grossing most of the income. The slow process to make money also discourages many bloggers. And studies show that many bloggers despair and leave their blogs in the first three months. More than 80 percent of bloggers fail in the first few months.

Blogging to make money is not getting rich fast method. It takes years to even see a constant income that can replace your day job.

Rather you need to view blogging as a method of solving other’s problems. At first, you need to focus on such an objective. You need to help as many people as you can. You need to put in the work.

Later, you will get the results of your efforts, and you will be paid accordingly.

That is not easy by any means, especially if you are new to the industry. Then, you need to be more careful in each process, from the beginning.

This manual is prepared to help you own a blog to make money. And the steps make the process easy. It will show you where you need to start and where you need to finish. At the end of this post, you will be able to launch your blog, create content, analyze and back up your website and get readers, and start making money.

How To Choose Your Blog Niche?

It seems a good idea to blog about things that you already love. However, the challenge with this statement is, what you love doesn’t always make money or even my not have an audience. Most of the things that we love are simple hobbies.

Instead, you need to ask, does this hobby makes money?.

The second option to choose your topic is to ask ‘do I know this niche?’ If you are a trained professional, or if you already experienced the problem, then this could be the right topic for you. This is for professionals, such as doctors and nurses, and athletes, lawyers, accounts, and more. These people have a better knowledge of that specific problem than the rest of society.

If you are a mother, then the experience gives you a better position to talk about raising children. If you worked with diabetes, you might have more to say about the topic than the rest of us.

The third option is to ask,’ what do I want to learn?’. This is a good question. Even though you have no idea about a certain topic, you can learn about it, document what you learned, and show others how to do it. For example, some problems are complex, and they need time and energy to understand them. If you are already understood such concepts and you can teach others about it in an easier way, then this is the right place for you.

If you are 20 pounds more than what you want your body to be, you can start a blog and show your experience, your learned knowledge, and your hardships in your blog.

#Blogging to Make Money: Solve a problem

What Are Good Niches For Blogging?

There are no bad or good niches, as long as they have a good number of audience and money in them. First, you need to ask ‘Is there any audience that is willing to pay?’ This is an important question. There are fields where people need content for free and are not willing to pay. Or at least you need to convince them to pay.

One speaker once said it is better to sell painkillers than vitamin water. Because painkillers are a necessity, and for most vitamin water is an option.

Second, even if they are willing to pay, do they have the money? It seems a good idea to teach a college student about money or weight loss. The problem is that a college student would rather party with their 100 dollars than paying for some course or than buying some ebook that they wouldn’t read anyways.

Here are three niches that are evergreen: health, wealth, and relationship. These three markets won’t go out of the market any soon. The problem will exist for the years and years to come. This tells you that you can be in these markets and the need is high and there are paying customers as well.

Hobbies are also a good category that could get your money. Sports are big in many countries. If you blog about golf, you imagine the competition, but there are many readers out there looking for news and good content to improve their gaming. Automotive is another hobby. Who would want to read about a car motor? Not everybody. But some people need to know more about that muscle car’s motor type and more.

The third process of selecting your niche is to go deeper. You need to go sub-niche into the market. This is important for two simple reasons. One, people don’t search for a big market. They are looking for a solution to small challenges. For example, if you have flu, you don’t search abut health, instead you search about flu.

The second reason is that you can not compete with big blogs out there, not at this time. There are hundreds of already established bloggers out there who will kill you without even trying.

Then, why not go deeper? Instead of talking about cars, choose one brand or a car part. And be an authority on it. Be a go-to guy for that topic.

# Blogging to make money – choose an appropriate niche

Choose Your Domain Name Fast

Once you decide on the niche, you need to find a domain name fast and register it before another person does. You need to know that finding a short and good domain is harder these days. That is why people are looking for new extensions such as .co.

Here are three principles to choose your domain name.

1. Short is better. Facebook is 8 letters domain. Make sure your domain name is not hat long and hard to remember or to write.
2. No numbers or not symbols- I remember a friend registering his domain, only five letters but has numbers and symbols. Xy-34s.com is hard to remember. Don’t do that. Go for simple words that have no other funny letters.
3. Domain should express what you do. It can also be a brandable domain. But there should be room to grow for later. This means better not to choose domains such as ‘diabetes for 80 years old dot com’. Even if you have an audience now, it may limit your future desire to grow.

# Blogging to Make money: short, no numbers, and expressive

How To Create A Creative Domain Name?

A single term domain name is rare and very expensive to acquire. Then there is an option to choose double words. This means face + book

You can also mix two words and create a new one. ‘Read + it’…Reddit. or ‘pin + interest’…pinterest.

Create a completely new word such as google.

Or brandable names such as apple and amazon. These names require some work to create brand awareness.

Finally, the easiest way to find a domain name is to use the niche you are in. Health + line …is a known health blog. Niche+ hacks are a known niche website.

# Blogging to Make Money : be creative

How To Find Your Domain Name?

Visit these three websites to find your domain name. These three platforms are one of the few I used before, and I am happy with the results. SO, I share them here with you. Before you go hunting, you need to know two things.

1. Always check the past of the domain on archive.org, It was used before. Some domains are dropped because of penality their past might be involved in illegal activities. Don’t use them if they used to be in pornography or gambling related.
2. Always consider the principles mentioned above.

These are the platforms you can use to get your domain now.

1. Leandomanserach- this platform is great because it uses your keyword, and gives you back double words in seconds. You can view the results in terms of word length, or alphabet.

Let’s search domain name using the term ‘yoga’.

• Bustaname- is another platform that works with similar principles as leandomanserach. But this one needs your effort and your preference in finding the name. this uses synonyms and antonyms to find alternative names.

Start by adding a term in word combiner search box. You will see your terms in the ‘list of words ‘section. If the combined words are available, and not registered, then they will be listed in the third box ‘available domains’.

One trick I learned is that use the add group folder in the second box. This helps you put the words that you don’t need to mix in different boxes.

Enter many as many words as you can in the second group.

And for every word click the triangle and choose synonyms that you need to be in your domain.

Make sure to untick ‘for sale on resale marketplace’ unless you need to see premium domains as well.

I found yoga blood dot com, biotic yoga dot com, age yoga dot com. These are short, and very appealing names for the yoga enthusiast. I found these from my keywords and their synonyms.

• Expired domains-The The third option is to find once registered and deleted domains. This is a good find because the already created backlink and the domain age makes the domain better for search engines.

Once, you logged in you will get better filtering options.

I will start by entering my keyword in the search box.

There are short and good domains but reminded with the principles we discussed above we need to filter domains that we cant use. Then I click ‘show filter’ above the table.

Here is my setting.

Common

• Select ‘deleted domains’ under white domain list
• Select ‘market place domains’ if you are looking to buy. I don’t have a plan to buy so I pass this.
• Select ‘no numbers and ‘no hyphens’
• Select English, if you are working for English language speakers.
• Set domain per page 200 so that we can see as many domains as possible on one page.

Additional

• Select only .com domain.

Apply filter.  Here we got more than 84,000 domain names. Next, arrange them by word length and other settings to choose one.  

# Blogging to make money – choose an appropriate domain name

Register Domain And Find Hosting

Once you find your domain name, the next step is to register it. There is always a chance that someonemay register it before you.

Where do you register your domain name?

I usually don’t advise bloggers to register a domain and buy hosting at the same place. But some services changed my mind. One of these is Bluehost.

Bluehost is better because

1. It has many customers including big bloggers. This makes it more trustworthy.
2. IT has a good support system. 24/7
3. It has cheap options, especially for beginners.

The process is simple. First, go to Bluehost. Click get started. Choose the basic option if you are a beginner. And choice plus if you are already established.

Enter your domain name.

The domain name is available. That means you can register it and own it. You need to act fast here. From experience, if you search on whois type websites and if you don’t register it, they may take it. Coincidence or not, once one of these sites took the five domains that I checked on these sites and register it on the same day.

Once your domain is available, and create your account. Pay the amount. Usually discounted and domain name registration for the first year is free.

They will send you the approval that your domain is registered in your name. and they will send you your Cpanel admin account information.

Sign in to your Cpanel account, and find an install link. Here choose ‘WordPress’. Fill your website name. and click install. You can access Cpanel at yourwebsitename.com/cpanel.

Next, create an email address. Your email could look like [email protected]. Find an email in Cpanel. The other important thing to do here is email forwarder. This is forwarding any message you get through the created email to your email. Accessing email in Cpanel is not appealing. So you forward it to your email or unique email you create in Gmail or yahoo or another service. Check the forwarder section in Cpanel.

The next process is easy. But it needs care.

# Blogging to make money – choose a good hosting

Install WordPress Themes

Once you installed WordPress inside Cpanel, the next process is to access your website. If you completed the process, you will get a link to your website and your admin page. As you may already know, the Cpanel is where you control the background of your website. It is between the server and your website. WordPress admin is where you manage your website. Go to yourdomainname.com/wp-admin to sign in to your admin dashboard. Use the password you used to install WordPress in Cpanel.

And the WordPress admin is where you control your website design and development and other website based issues. You may not need the Cpanel much after you finish installing WordPress. Themes are the face of your website. Without themes, your website won’t be appealing to readers. The good thing about WordPress is, it has a function to install any theme with one click.

Not only this, but you can also find both free and premium themes. The free is as food as the premium if it was not for the options and settings to edit the design. The free has a simple color and header changing capability. You need coding skills and time to edit the design.

The premium has hundreds of options, depending on the theme designers.

Before choosing your theme you need to ask the following questions.

1. Does the theme have a good setting to change the design?
2. Do I get support?
3. Do I get a lifetime update for free?
4. Do I like the design?

Once you downloaded the theme, you need to upload it to the WordPress website. Go to appearance> themes and click the upload theme. Here upload the theme folder you downloaded.

# Blogging to make money – Install WordPress

Website Branding

Once you installed your theme, the next process is to create your logo that is compatible with your website color and design. this is part of your blog’s branding.

Branding includes logo, color, font, content, and services. Your logo is the first thing your readers will see. You have two options here: either you can create your logo or get help. I will show you the cheapest the most effective way to create your logo.

1. Use Adobe illustrator – this is one of the hardest if you don’t use illustrator. Illustrator helps you create a vector file and manipulate it to fit your needs.
2. Use a simple word logo. Use a simple font and create a unique logo.
3. Use Fiverr. Fiverr has cheap options for blog logo design.
4. Use canva. Canva is a powerful tool and it helps you create a logo using its resources and simple drag and drop options.

# Blogging to Make Money : Brand your website

Install Your Plugins

Plugins add life to your website. You know that the share button on a website is not part of the theme it a function added by plugins. Many of the functions on any website are because of plugins.

The good news is most of the necessary plugins are free. You find them on the WordPress directory.

To install a plugin first you sign in to your wp-admin. Then go to plugins. Click add new. And search the following plugins. These are very necessary plugins for your website.

1. Cache plugins- cache helps your website run faster. Use W3 Total Cache,.
2. Contact form 7- this helps you help readers to contact you.
3. SEO plugins- this helps you rank faster on search engines. Use Yoast SEO or Rankmath
4. Security plugins- Sucuri
5. Sharing plugins- Addthis
6. Code inserting plugin- insert headers and footers.
7. Wp-optimize

# Blogging to Make Money: Start with necessary plugins

WordPress Menu

Setting up WordPress is easy. One of the first steps, after installing the WordPress theme, is setting your menu. This is important in two ways. One, with this process you will know your general topic categories. For example, if you are working diet for diabetes, then you know what your general topic will be. This means every post you write will be categorized under these categories.

To find good menu items, first, identify your searched keywords. Use ubersuggest or keyword planner.

For example, let’s assume that you are working in a diet niche.

You can see the major sub-niches where you can write on. But all of them are about diet.

After you chose 5-10 menu items, then you need to create them on WordPress.

To create a menu, visit appearance > menu. Click ‘create menu’.

After you create your post, you will find the menu option on the right side of the post. You need to create one or more menus before publishing.

# Blogging to Make Money: Create Menus to create ease of navigation

Create a Content

Once you know your niche and the categories that you need to write your post in, the next process is to start writing. This is the most important stage of blogging. Without good and helpful content, your efforts won’t be fruitful.

Therefore, you need to find out the challenges your readers have and you need to solve it for them.

Types of Posts

There are various types of blog posts you can use today. Some of these posts are easy to write, and others need effort and research.

1. List blog posts- These are top 10 or 100 x in the world type posts. This is usually inspiring and informative. These may need further research but their presentation is simple and fun.

• How to or Step by step guides- these are steps to achieve something. This post is an example of a step by step post type.
• News type articles
• Infographics- this is an image and text-based posts where a long post is included in a single image. These types of posts bring most of the traffic.
• Articles- These are long-form posts that answer a certain question. This type of article has subheaders that support the main idea of the post.

The content of posts.

Every post needs to have an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction should explain at least two things: what the post is about and why the reader needs to read it.

You can include a sentence ’at the end of reading this post, you will be able to…’

The body of the post needs to have several subheaders. This is easy in list posts. The lists could be considered as a header.

Once you have your subheaders, you write at least 300 words for each of them. If you can write the same for 10 sub-headers, then you will accomplish a 3000-word post. This is the easiest way to write long articles.

Writing Long Blog Posts

The challenge I see that most bloggers have is coming up with ideas to write on a certain topic. If you are one of them, here is how you can write long posts.

1. Decide on the title of the blog post. Go to ubersuggest and find a certain keyword you can write on. For example, let’s assume your title for your posts is ‘diet for diabetes.’ Check the SEO ranking possibility on ubersuggest.

I see that the SEO difficulty is high. Then, I shift my title to ‘diabetes for diabetes type 2’ This is easier to rank.

• Once you got your title, click on the keyword to find other websites that are working on the same title. Unfortunately, almost all of these posts are big in the industry. It is hard to compete with these.
• However, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to. You need to be able to write a better post. Even Neil Patel, the owner of the ubersuggest, I read once, said you need to research on these websites and you need to write better.
• But you need to be careful not to go against the big once as your ultimate goal. A soon victory is improbable.

• Next, open these posts and see potential subheaders.
• What is type 2 diabetes?
• Which types of foods are recommended for a type 2 diabetes diet?
• What is the glycemic index? Which type of carbohydrates should be included?
  • Glycemic index and load
  • Grains and starchy vegetables
  • Which type of fats are recommended?
• Use google autosuggest and related searches as potential subtopics.

• Next, reorder these subtopics in a way that makes sense to write the post.
• Write at least 300 words under each topic. Write as much s you can, and as soon as you can.

# Blogging to make money – Writing Long Blog Posts

Images For Better Post

Images make your blog post more vibrant. It seems even adults are conditioned to look for an image among a long text. You may need good and related images that support your text.

Finding a free and good image has been a challenge for long. Now, you will find it for free, and you even don’t have to give copyright.

Here are good sources of the image you can use today for free.

1. Unsplash
2. Pexabay
3. Pexels.

Don’t forget to minimize their size, before uploading them on your blog. Use adobe photoshop or other online image compression tools. Besides this, the image compression plugins that you already installed will help you lose more size without affecting the image quality. This helps your website run faster, not takes more time to load.

# Blogging to make money – Use good images

Blog Headers

Headers are the first impression of your posts. Here are the principles to write a good blog header that gets attention.

1. Make it short. In the above example, you can use only ‘diet for diabetes 2’ as a post header. You may need to add ore terms in your SEO title. You can create your SEO title in your SEO plugin you installed.
2. Use numbers. Instead of ‘diet for diabetes 2’, you can also call it ‘10 proven diet for diabetes 2’ Numbers get attention.
3. Use terms such as the secret, guide, why…and more.
   • The secret to losing weight in 2 weeks
   • A full guide to becoming a marathon runner in one year
   • Why you need to consider your health at the age of 30
   • The reason why America is a racist country
   • 15 ideas to change your home
4. Use your SEO plugin suggestions- Most of these plugins advise using a number, one positive or negative word, and one power word. (you can use different blog post header and SEO header)

# Blogging to make money – Writing Long Blog Posts

How To Get Traffic To Your Blog?

A website without traffic is a hobby. If no one is reading your blog, then you are not doing a good job. However, what many new bloggers forget is that traffic may take along time. In the first few months, you may not even see more than 50 visitors.

But it is ok. As long as you did the research, and you already knew that there is a good volume of search on search engines, and you are using low competition keywords, you need to be patient.

On the other hand, only writing a lot of posts, and wait for a different result, may not work well.

Then what shall we do to get traffic fast? I will show you how you can get traffic faster to your blog.

1. Social media- This is a great way to get traffic to a blog. Especially, Pinterest is a good tool for consistent and long term traffic. Quora is another content platform where you answer questions and get replies. If you do a good job solving other’s problems, people are willing to visit your site. Reddit is another great place to get constant traffic. Quora and Reddit, need a constant content update and share.
2. Create a relationship with other bloggers. You can find top bloggers in any niche by searching ‘top bloggers in health niche’ Once you find a blog that you are interested in, write them telling them the things you learned from them, and if there is anything you can help them.
3. Mention influences in your list post. This means Write posts such as ‘ top hospitals in NY for diabetes patients’ or ‘top 50 health bloggers in the finance niche.’ Depending on your niche you can write a list of bloggers or blogs and mention their top posts, their rank, and why they are on the list. Then email the post to the bloggers. This has two advantages: one, they may read and share it on their blog, and second, their post will create a backlink to your post.
4. Interview people in the industry. Associating yourself with known people also increase your position.   
5. Guest post- Writing for other blogs creates traffic to your site. This means people who read the other blog, now will read yours.
6. Longer posts attract traffic. Although some studies do not accept this statement, longer, longer, and useful contents get attention in search engines.
7. Infographics- are image-based content. Since infographics are informative and appealing to read, people tend to share them. You need to find a problem people are looking for and create infographics. And include your website name in the infographics.

# Blogging to make money – get traffic to your blog

Blogging to Make Money: Build Email List

An email list is an important part of blogging to make money. They say the money is in the list. This means what makes money is the relationship you create with your audience.

There are various ways you can create your email list.

1. Create a resource such as an ebook and put it on the home page. Ask people to enter email to download the resource for free. Once they enter their email you will send them the link in their email.
2. Ask them to be part of your email list to receive new posts. This is a harder way of building list since people don’t give away their email easily anymore. People are tired of spams and advertisements.

Use AddThis plugin or wp subscribe plugins. If you need more options and more email subscribers, you need to pay more. Mailchimp for WordPress is another plugin.

# Blogging to make money – Get your reader’s email list

Blogging to Make Money: Install Analytics

Tracking your progress is necessary. If you don’t know how many people visited your site or how many people to action, your efforts will not be fruitful.

Use google analytics to track your visitors. Analytics.google.com.

Register your site on analytics. Then copy the code and paste it in the ‘insert headers and footers’ plugins that you already installed.

# Blogging to make money – control your data

Blogging to Make Money: Backup Your Blog

Creating a backup is a necessary step. Even though the hosting will create a backup for you, you need to create one for your self.

To create a backup you need to install plugins such as updraft or others. This is a simple one-click backup method. You can restore the website content to the previous state if you are encountered with any problem.

# Blogging to make money – Backup your website

Conclusion, Blogging to Make Money

Blogging to make money needs constant attention and good content. Without the effort, your blog won’t make money fast.

Any long term money-making ventures need hard work at the beginning. You may not see any readers at first, and it may seem you are working for no reason. But if you follow these steps, and you put your effort into the blog, you need to have hope and stay longer. Many people get despaired in the first few months.

If you stick around and learn more, and improve your blog, you will surely become successful and you will make money from your blog.