Blogs are everywhere, and they are attracting millions of new visitors daily for businesses, brands, and individuals around the world today. What started out as a way to write about your interests, hobbies, and creating an online diary, has completely transformed the way content is created on the internet today. This is all thanks to the massive growth and power of WordPress. More than 30% of the sites on the internet are powered by the free content management platform, and this number continues to grow daily.
With all of this in mind, if you don’t have a website or blog already, you are probably thinking about starting one. Before doing so, you likely have a lot of questions. Today we’re going to answer some of the most common questions we commonly receive from various clients and brand partners on a daily basis. After reading through our answers, you should have a much better idea of how to start a blog with a purpose, while also not wasting your time and money in the process.
1 – How much does it cost to start a blog?
Blogging can be 100% free if you use a platform like WordPress.com or Blogger.com, though it’s highly not recommended. Instead, I recommend you go with a shared web hosting plan and getting a domain name of your own. This will allow you to own 100% of your content and it will only cost you a few dollars per month in the process. Web hosts like Bluehost not only offer cheap web hosting plans, they also provide new customers with a free domain name at the time of signup.
2 – Why should I pay for a blog and not go with a free blog hosting provider?
The main reason why you want to stay away from free blog hosting providers is the loss of control you will have over your site and its content. When something is free, it’s free for a reason. In addition to not having a domain name or complete ownership over your content and site, anyone who has a blog on a free hosting provider likely also won’t be able to make any money with their site or customize the look and feel to their needs. This is especially true for anyone looking to build a brand or promote their expertise with a blog. When you do a quick comparison between a free blog and one that is hosted on a shared service, the differences are huge. If you are completely new to blogging and just want to test the waters, feel free to use WordPress or Blogger, but I wouldn’t stick with them too long if you are going to get serious with your site.
3 – How often to do I need to write content to find blogging success?
Most people think that blogging is all about creating as much content as possible and doing a daily blog post. It’s actually the complete opposite. There are currently more than a billion active websites and blogs on the internet today — all of which are creating content. This means you don’t need to clutter up your site and the internet with more content. Instead of focusing on the quantity, simply focus on the quality. Create better, longer and more detailed content than the competition, then spend even more time promoting it. This is the best way to find success with blogging.
4 – Can you really make money with a blog?
A perfect example of this would be if you were to create a blog post about how to take a screenshot on your mobile device. While this is something most people already know how to do, thousands of people search for this in Google daily. If you were to create original blog content around this topic and get it to rank in Google, you could easily start making some money off your blog content right away. This could be as simple as throwing Google Adsense onto your site, or selling products relating to anyone who might want iPhone or Android mobile accessories.
This is just one simple example, but it works with nearly all aspects of creating content. Select a specific topic, question or need that your audience has, and create a powerful resource around it. The best way to make money with such content is to provide a call to action and solution for your audience to act upon. By staying as niche and focused as possible, it will also make it easier for you to rank your content in Google and get it in front of the right audience.
5 – What are the best ways to get traffic to my new blog?
As mentioned earlier, there are already way too many sites on the internet. With this in mind, it will be tough to compete in the search results and get your site to rank. This is especially true if you have a new website or blog. For this reason, you will need to make sure your content is a niche as possible and very focused. It’s much easier to rank for long tail keywords than generic. With this in mind, it’s also important to come up with content that people want to share. Two example of methods that are working extremely well are infographics on social media and creating expert roundups posts. Both of these methods will instantly allow you to reach new audiences and get social shares from authority figures and sites within your niche.
6 – How important is social media to the success of a blog?
There are currently over 2 billion users across all of the major social networks, with names like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn leading the way. WordPress is one of the most powerful CMS platforms out there, and it also makes the process of sharing blog content on social media extremely easy. With a few clicks of a button, anyone can add social sharing buttons right to their blog. This will make it easy for anyone to visit your site and instantly share your content, while also pre-populating a title, image, and even your social tag or username. In short, blogging and social media are a winning pair!
7 – Can you make a full-time living with a blog?
Yes, you definitely can make a full-time living with a blog, but you need to treat your blog like a business. Just like any other successful business, you need to have something of value to offer and a monetization plan as well. All of this needs to be thought out and pre-planned before the launching of your site. Since the start-up costs of a blog are so minimal, it’s quite easy to get started. This doesn’t mean it will be easy to make money with your blog. Take a look at any of these blogs generating thousands of dollars per month and see how they are catering to their audience and making good money in the process.
Blogs are great. But emails are better!
After running through the questions and answers above, you should have a much better understanding of what it takes to create a successful website or blog on the internet today. Remember, it’s not just about creating content and pushing new articles onto the web, it’s about creating value for your audience and building a reliable brand and resource over time. If you follow all of these recommendations and tips, there is no reason why you shouldn’t find success in the world of blogging.
It’s also important to remember that creating content and building out a successful website or blog is something that is going to take a lot of time. While we definitely recommend that every individual and brand take advantage of what blogging has to offer, it would be a huge mistake to forget about email marketing as well. If you would like to rapidly grow your mailing list and increase the number of people you get your message in front of daily, contact us today. We will walk you through the simple and effective process we have for delivery thousands of 100% opt-in subscribers to hundreds of our clients daily.