There are several steps involved in making cash from a blog.
Create a blog
First of all you will need a blog. If you don’t know what a blog is, it’s your own personal website which you write articles, make videos, upload images or do all those things for. You can start a blog on just about any topic you choose. It makes sense to be one that you have some interest in but it’s entirely up to you what that is. Once you have decided what you want to blog about you can open a free account with WordPress which is the largest and most popular blogging site. Or you can pay a small fee to host your own site with a company such as Builderall or Dreamhost
We recommend you use Dreamhost if you are serious about making cash from blogging. Even though it will cost you slightly more to register a domain name and for hosting, it gives you complete control over your site. Plus they allow you to use WordPress on your site with a straight forward one click install. Builderall gives you a complete set of tools to start building and promoting your blog including a drag and drop website creator, email opt in forms, image editors etc.
Create content
Once you have your blog up and running you need to start creating content. If you are planning on having mostly written articles you need to really focus and start writing or you can alternatively hire a freelancer to write articles for you. The same goes for if it is going to be a video blog (vlog) or if you are going to be using mainly images or art.
Build an audience
The hardest part of making money from blogging is to find and build your audience. The old saying “if you build it they will come” has never been less true than on the internet. You need to promote and advertise your blog. There are multiple ways to do this:
- Paid advertising on other sites/blogs
- Sharing on social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, etc.
- Search Engine Optimisation – Ensuring that your site shows up high in search engines.
- Email list – Capture emails from people who visit your site so you can stay in touch with them.
- Participating in forums which is relevant to your blog
- Writing guest articles or commenting on other established blogs with a similar audience to yours
- Run a competition which you give away something relevant to your blog
- Offline advertising – printed merchandise, adverts in newspapers/magazines
Monetize
If you have the dedication and persistence to complete all the previous steps, the final thing to do is to monetise your blog. There are a number of ways you can do this which we have listed here:
- Affiliate marketing
- Sell adverts on your blog – sponsored articles, text links, banners, video shout outs.
- Sell products, courses, ebooks, software etc
- Hold workshops, conferences, meetups, online webinars
- Offer services – coaching, consulting, public speaking, training.
- Accept donations
Extra Cash
If setting up a website or a blog seems a bit daunting and you just want to focus on writing, there is a quicker way to get paid by writing articles.
Top Tip
Even though we have listed out the above steps in order. It is not a linear process. You will always find yourself needing to create new and fresh content to keep your readers keep coming back for more. Then you will want to experiment with different ways to monetize your blog. Trying different methods and tweaking what works and what doesn’t. There is a wealth of information on the internet for creating and monetizing blogs and below we have some of the best books you can read on the subject
Recommended Reading
The million dollar blog by Natasha Courtenay-Smith
Blogging Made Easy by Amen Sharma
Sites to use
Builderall – Complete online solution to start building and promoting your blog including website creation and hosting, email list, sales funnels, image editors etc.
Dreamhost – Host your blog on your own domain and have complete control with the ability to install WordPress in one click.
WordPress – Host your blog for free with WordPress.