I know you know it’s possible!
My guess would be that that since you’re here reading my blog; You want to know how so many other people have managed to earn money from blogging, (and how to do it yourself).
Right?
Maybe you’ve already tried it yourself but failed. It could be; I’ve failed multiple times as well. I must have gone through 6 or 7 blogs before I finally understood how it’s properly done.
One of the great things today is that everything is documented, meaning we can know what people did (and didn’t do), to achieve the results they have.
Below is what I did and what I had to learn to successfully start my blogging business. I’m going to take you from the first step of choosing your own niche, down to the final stages of monetizing your audience and beyond.
Please note; if you’re a “seasoned” blogger, you don’t need to read this. BUT; If you’ve never blogged or never made money from blogging, this might be something you would like.
Let’s figure this thing out together!
What You’ll Be Needing
A Blog Topic
You need to choose a topic to blog about, i.e what you’re going to write about. It’s always advisable that you pick something that is;
A hobby/passion of yours: You can start a blog on whatever topic you like but it’s always best that you pick something that really interests you.
Profitable: Make sure that whatever topic you choose, you can tie in a product with it. If you want to earn money, you need to have a specific offer (or service) that you’ll be recommending and promoting to your visitors. Preferably it would be something you personally use & believe in.
More on monetizing later…
Lots Of Time
From setting up your website, learning how to properly set it up so it makes money, and getting your first visitor (and eventually your first sale); YOU NEED TIME.
Giving time to your business is going to be critical. I don’t have the proper statistics but I would say that 70% of people quit just because they get fed up of “waiting”.
It will take time to go through all the stages and most probably you will get discouraged, but the key is to keep going no matter what.
That is why it’s important that you pick a subject you enjoy, because if you hate your topic, waiting for results is going to be a nightmare!
Building Up Your Blog
Setting Up
If you want to set up a blog with the intent of turning it into a full time or part time business, you need to be on WordPress.
There are plenty of others you can use but why not start with the best from the get-go? Not to diss “Blogger”, “Tumblr” or any other platform; but a LOT of folks out there would like to switch to WordPress.
You can switch but a; it’s a big hassle and b; most people don’t know how to do it.
For more reasons on why I think WordPress is the best option see my post here. And if you’d like to get started on WordPress and get training on it, then you should definitely start here.
Laying The Foundations
Once you’ve got your blog up and blog topic decided. It’s time to start laying the foundation for your business.
You need to have a “solid ground” before you can start building.
It’s super important that you start off on the right foot here, otherwise 3 months from now you’ll realize you’ve done it all wrong and you have to start again. This is when most people give up by the way!
Most try to go at it alone figuring they’ll learn the ropes along the way but that’s not really a bright idea. Especially when you can take a free starter course at Wealthy Affiliate that will cover just that.
Driving Traffic
To earn money, you need visitors and readers. The formula is simple:
Content = Visitors = Money
Once your site is ready, you can get going writing blog posts. Think of your blog posts as nets that you spread out across the web. The more nets you have, the bigger chance you have of bringing in some visitors.
Once you start creating content, you are now ready to receive visitors and this happens by getting organically ranked in search engines, using social media and basically whatever you can do to get your blog noticed.
Earning Money
This is all where it starts to make sense cents;
The laws of numbers will guarantee that sooner or later, you’ll run into your first sale. As long as you have visitors coming in, eventually, you will make sales.
Obviously the more visitors, the more sales you make and there is really no limit on how much traffic you can get!
How To Monetise Your Blog
Two of the most popular (and profitable) ways to earn money from blogging is AdSense by Google and affiliate marketing. That is when you sell a product and you get a commission from it, sort of like the Amazon Program.
For more ways to monetise your blog, check out: 6 Ways To Make Money From Your WordPress Blog and also my free ebook “How To Win At Affiliate Marketing”
What You Should Focus On
Once you complete the steps above, all is left to do is to keep working. Keep spreading out them nets and keep growing your readership.
As long as you keep pushing, your business will continue to grow. Just remember 2 things:
Keep Helping Customers
This is a priority here. Make sure that your blog keeps helping people solve problems.
If there is no value to your readers, there is no reason to come back and both the readers and search engines will start avoiding your site.
Bring as much value as you can and you will make money. People will buy what you’re selling, that’s a guarantee! Just as long as you’re bringing value.
Continue Improving Yourself
One of the principles of success in blogging is that you need to commit yourself to constant improvement. Always keep on perfecting your skills, knowledge and understanding of your audience and niche.
Stay on top of your game! If you don’t, somebody else will and they’ll leave you and your blog in the dust.
Let Me Know How I Can Help
What I’ve covered is just a scratch of what you need to know to make money from blogging, however these are the fundamental things you need to know and understand.
If you’re serious about learning the art of making money online, then I would like to invite you to try out Wealthy Affiliate, which is where I have learned to start, run and more importantly; make my “blogging business” profitable.
You can read my full Wealthy Affiliate review here.
If you do have any questions about what we’ve just talked about, then feel free to drop me a comment below and we can discuss how to make you a full-time blogger.
Thanks for stopping by, it’s been a pleasure and I hope I brought you value.
Chris Lee
READ NEXT: What To Blog About To Make Money: The 3 Step Formula
