How to Make Money Blogging (Tips from a Professional Blogger)

My friends text me after hours. Extended family tend to strike at weekend gatherings around the sizzling barbecue. And my coworkers tend to ask after the second cry during Friday drinks.

“I’m looking for some extra cash. Is it really possible to earn a decent income by blogging? ”

The answer is the same every time.

“That’s my oath. Tomorrow’s cashola belongs to those planning it today. So the real question is… are you ready to start planning?”

If you answered yes, read on.

Who is this guide for?

In our super cool world of fintech startups, #travel influencers, and mummy-entrepreneurs, it’s hard to know who’s there for status credits versus financial credits. But if you’re one of those tech-savvy people with a genuine interest in investing in your future, this is for you.

My Guide to Blogging is for balanced, entrepreneurial people looking to start a new business, side business, or avenue to escape the daily grind. It is particularly suitable for those who like to share their opinions and for those who like the idea of ​​taking their destiny into their own hands.

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Who am I?

What’s the secret ? How to start a blog and make money

As I mentioned earlier, the secret does not involve any witchcraft or dark magic. Starting a profitable blog simply requires planning. You know that old saying “give me six hours to fell a tree and I’ll spend the first four sharpening the ax “. Well, making an income from blogging is no different.

Here are six simple steps I recommend in my book It pays to blog, the ultimate guide to earning income from blogging.

Step 1: Choose a topic for your blog

When it comes to internet marketing, there is one phrase that I learned many years ago that has been proven to work time and time again.

“The riches are in the niches”.

It is so much easier to focus on one niche topic than it is to try to be everything for everyone. The challenge here is to choose the right niche, one that will be profitable and sustainable for you. To succeed in this step, it takes extensive keyword and competitor research on topics that you are passionate about (there are some great online tools available to help you out, including Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and SEMrush) to find the right one. niche for your blog.

An example of this concept in action is Laguna Beach Stays, a blog that I started before Airbnb, Expedia and Booking.com. By focusing on the niche topic of “Laguna Beach Vacations,” a topic that was frequently researched and had limited significant competition at the time, I was able to create a valuable digital asset that generated continued income of Google Adwords and affiliate networks for hosting. I finally returned this blog for a nice profit.

Step 2: Decide on your revenue model

Just like the physical world, there are many ways to make money in any given industry. In blogs, these options include:

• Image and text ads (there are manual and automated options for this)
• Sponsored content (blog posts, emails)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Sell ​​your own digital or physical products
• Training courses, memberships and more

The style of content you post on your blog will dictate your success with any of these income models, so it’s important to make this decision early on on your journey.

My first blog, Tshirt Alert, The majority of its revenue was generated through manual ad placements, including paid reviews, display ads (banners), and text link ads. Manual advertising is still one of the most lucrative forms of advertising because you can literally name your price! The challenge is to create an environment unique enough that advertisers can justify the investment.

Step 3: Come up with a great name

Having a memorable name for your blog is super important. I know it makes sense to most people, but what I see all too often is having the corresponding .com domain.

If you talk to someone from your local and they say “YesYou should check out this awesome blog I’m on, it’s called The Freedom Chaser “… you’re not going to look for TheFreedomChaser.xyz when you get home, are you. No father. You need the .com domain or you will lose valuable traffic to someone else’s website.

Of course, there are sometimes exceptions to this rule. For example, if you are only focusing on an Australian audience, it might add to your credibility to choose a .com.au as your primary domain, but even then I would look to secure the .com as well, to enable the future. expansion possibilities.

In short, it’s important to make sure that a high quality domain name is available to match your blog name. TIP: There are a handful of free brainstorming tools available online to help you find the perfect name and domain for your blog.

Check out some web hosting tools that also give you the option of buying a domain name.

Step 4. Choose the best technology for the job

When it comes to the technology that will power your blog, there is a stack of tech companies vying for your attention. But beware: not all blogging platforms are created the same.

In my 20 years of experience, I have found that the most robust blogging platform is the self-hosted version of WordPress (there is more details on why and how to set it up in my book). You’ll also need a reliable web host that doesn’t charge the earth for their services to give your blog a home and to tweak some of the WordPress settings for top search engine performance and exposure. With humans now sharing the attention span of a goldfish, site speed is key and I’ve found that the Genesis framework combined with a StudioPress theme is the key to achieving this. It’s one of the oldest themes on the market and it’s still lightning fast. Search engine rankings are also based on speed and performance; your goal is to appease the Google page speed gods.

By doing all of this, you will lay your foundation for the best chance of success.

Step 5. Post awesome content

Now comes the fun part: creating content so engaging it will get the whole neighborhood talking! I say this jokingly, but there is actually a deeper truth in this claim, because the more your content is shared by others, the faster your authority will grow.

So, do you need an IQ equivalent of Einstein and the creative genius of Andy Warhol to create highly shareable content? Hopefully not. You just need to know how to use the right planning and research techniques to uncover hot gems, then tailor the right post structure to your topic and audience. Some examples of popular post types include listings, tutorials, reviews, infographics, case studies, quizzes, and product comparisons.

I also encourage aspiring bloggers to start with the end in mind. When it comes to creating content, what I mean by that is figuring out who you’re writing for and how you’re going to reach them with your content, before you even start it. By doing this, you will find it easier to write content with a real purpose.

These are basically all the key components of my WISPR (Who, Ideat, Syndicate, Publish, Repeat) content planning framework.

Step 6. Learn from your victories… and your mistakes!

Being a blogger isn’t just about free merch and launch party invitations. An income-generating blog is a business, and behind every business is a treasure trove of data. If used effectively, this data can take your business to new heights.

To get started, you’ll need the tools in place to find out what works and get more done, as well as the ability to track mentions of your blog across the web. Free tools like Google Analytics and Google Alerts are a good place to start for this. It is also beneficial to monitor the activity of your competitors by creating alerts and also subscribing to their newsletters.

Last word

Becoming a successful blogger can be extremely rewarding. You can see why; in essence, you are creating media from scratch, creating content that will ultimately be consumed and discussed by thousands of people around the world. There are other benefits as well, like the extra income and the ability to work when and where you want.

But luck won’t get you to this point, it’s careful planning and dedication to the cause.

Blogging for profit isn’t for everyone… but if that sounds like your idea of ​​having a good time, I encourage you to take the plunge.

Read Jake’s eBook