It’s no secret that people across the world are rushing to find new ways of making money. The economy is in trouble and millions have lost their jobs, at least temporarily. Earning cash from home has never been more important. The bad news is it is not as easy as those bots commenting on Instagram make it out to be. The good news is that it does not have to be all that difficult either.
One of the most consistent earners in the online space is the blog. Blogging has been popular for a couple of decades already. There are tons of people out there reading and interacting with blogs about any topic under the sun. This may be the perfect time for you to start making money out of your own insights and knowledge.
In order to make money from a blog, there are certain basic principles you need to follow. Here is how you can start a blog that makes money.
Find a niche
The question most wannabe bloggers start with is this: what do I have to say that someone else isn’t already saying? It’s a reasonable question, considering there are millions of bloggers online already bringing in a lot of visitors.
This is why it is crucial to find a niche. For some, instinct tells them that to get as big an audience as possible, they should write about a wide range of topics. However, it is actually by doing the opposite that you can get a consistent readership.
Imagine you wanted to start a blog about technology. Your blog would be lost among the millions of other tech blogs. You would have to get lucky or have the right connections if anyone was to see it. However, if you started a blog about optimizing Google Chrome with free plugins, you would still have a huge potential audience but not that many competitors.
The reality is that, with billions of people online, there is a large audience for just about anything. You need to worry more about how crowded the space is with competitors.
Hosting and CMS
While writing a blog does not require you to have technical skills, you will need to take care of a few fundamentals. Firstly, you need to find hosting. Hosting is what allows your website to get online in the first place. It is space on a server that hosts your website and others and connects them to the internet.
Secondly, you need to find a content management system (CMS). This is a platform like WordPress which provides all the tools you need to create an attractive and effective website. You can get free WordPress hosting, and WordPress itself is free, so you don’t necessarily have to spend any money. Sites like Wix are also easy to use, but WordPress is still the most popular CMS in the world.
SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is what facilitates your ability to be found on Google and other searches. By using keywords and a range of other techniques, your website will be one of the first results that comes up when you search for relevant topics.
SEO these days is more than just stuffing a page with keywords. Domain name is very important, so be sure to spend time coming up with a URL that rolls off the tongue. Readability is also very important, but this should be a given if you are writing quality material.
Spend some time getting to know the latest SEO strategies. There are a number of blogs which deal with the subject (and are a great example of a lucrative niche).
Monetize
There are a number of ways to monetize your blog. Most CMS platforms make it easy to connect to Google adwords via plugins. Google adwords puts targeted ads on your website and you earn money when people click through.
You can also earn money by having affiliate links. These are links to companies who give you commission for sales you bring in by mentioning or promoting them on your site.
There is a fine balance between using monetization to support yourself and selling out your blog for earnings. Visitors hate the latter, and will avoid your site in future as they will not trust your information. Make sure any affiliate links are reliable and are mentioned organically.
These are trying times, but it is still possible to make money blogging with a bit of work. Give it a try. You’ve got nothing to lose.
