What is the biggest mistake bloggers make when they want to start a blog and make money from it?
They don’t set it up correctly. In fact, you could be leaving up to 6 figures on the table right now.
You have a message to share with the world. You’re a creator, a DIY enthusiast, an amazing business coach, a talented cook or foodie know-it-all, a finance expert.
In short, you are the PERFECT PERSON with all the qualifications to start a blog right now.
Not only that, but you are the right person to start a blog and to make money blogging.
That’s right. Make money with your blog.
We are about to cover how to start a blog and how to drive traffic to that blog whether you want to send Pinterest traffic or SEO traffic.
We are also going to talk about blog monetization so that you can be ready to make money from your blog as soon as possible.
Ready? Let’s dive in!
WHY DO I NEED A BLOG?
Let’s start this off by answering a question that I am constantly asked, “why do I need a blog?”
I’m glad you asked.
A blog is the best way for you to create and post your evergreen content so that you can attract and grow your audience.
Then you can turn that audience into email subscribers and paying clients.
Also, no two people are alike. This means that some people prefer reading blog posts while others prefer watching videos.
You can create both video and written content to appeal to your audience.
A blog is also a very low-cost way to build authority and share your expertise with the world. Consider it your resume.
IS BLOGGING DEAD?
Because of a sudden wave of fake marketing gurus out there, a lot of business owners were made to believe that blogging is dead.
Blogging is not dead. They just wanted you to buy their programs.
In fact, most of those gurus wrote blog posts about how dead blogging is. Ironic, right?
How can blogging be dead when thousands of bloggers are making upwards to 7 figures per year?
People still LOVE and most even PREFER blogs over other types of content!
If you have a blog and you are not making a dollar, you’re probably doing it wrong.
WHY IS BLOGGING IMPORTANT?
Blogging is important because it is one of the best ways to build authority and grow your email list.
Having an email list that you’ll own forever. You are not subject to algorithm changes.
Also, your content is evergreen, meaning your readers will always have access to your blog posts no matter how many times you update it.
Blogging, in my opinion, is the best way to leave a mark on the world and get recognized for helping improve thousands of lives.
HOW TO START A BLOG
I am keeping this guide very short and sweet.
I am walking you through the components that all blogs must have by default, from start to finish, along with my preferences for the tools that I use and love.
WHAT’S THE BEST BLOGGING PLATFORM?
WordPress.
WordPress is hands down the best blogging platform.
It is very easy to understand, and has A LOT of plugins that can help you scale your blog to the next level.
However, you should ALWAYS self-host. This means you should look into and invest into a hosting company that is going to make sure your site is always live and protected.
You can start a free blog using WordPress, but your blog will be OWNED by WordPress, not by you.
When you self-host, you can use WordPress as your blogging platform but you will own your site.
HOSTING: SITEGROUND FOR WORDPRESS
I use Siteground to host my blog.
They have 24/7 customer service (which I love because I am NOT good with tech).
They also make sure that my website is super fast, which is a must for SEO, and everybody is protected (including myself and my visitors like yourself).
Here is the step-by-step process:
STEP 1: Choose a hosting plan
STEP 2: Choose a domain name
STEP 3: Review and complete!
WORDPRESS WEBSITE BUILDER
Now that you have your hosting plan and are using WordPress for your blog, let’s create a beautiful and uniform website.
I have never invested in themes because they are very limited and I HATE having limitations when it comes to my business.
Because of that, I have Elementor and will never look back.
Elementor is a drag and drop builder that has both a free and a paid version.
They have a lot of templates that you can use, meaning you’ll never have to create a page from scratch if you don’t want to.
From sales pages to landing pages and opt-ins, you can do it all with Elementor.
Go ahead and get started with Elementor and build your home page, about page, contact page, and posts page right now!
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU POST TO YOUR BLOG?
It depends on sooo many factors!
Your posting schedule depends on your :
- – Availability (how much time do you have to blog?)
- – Your niche (how much can you teach based on your niche?
- – How much research does one individual post require?
- – How serious are you taking your blog?
If you have a food blog and have the time, you can cook and write blog posts every single day because dishes are infinite! Especially when you use your own spin.
If you are in the finance industry, you might want to write blog posts weekly because each article will require research.
My rule of thumb is at least one blog post per week, where two posts is the sweet spot.
This, however, depends on you and how much time you have.
HOW TO INCREASE BLOG TRAFFIC?
Now that you have set up your blog, chose your hosting, created the pages using Elementor, and know how many times per week you will be posting…
Let’s move on to the question I get the most: how to get more traffic?
The fastest way to get organic traffic (that means free) based on my experience is with Pinterest.
Sure, you can post on Instagram and try to get some visits, but Instagram is a platform created for social interaction and networking, while Pinterest is a search engine that shows results in a visual manner.
I also include steps and strategies!
HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING?
This is the second question I always get regarding blogging!
“How can I make money blogging?”
You’re in luck because I also have another post that covers exactly how to do that!
I refuse to add that to this post because then it will get extremely long (and you will leave).
By now you should have set up your blog, learned how to get free traffic, and also learned how to monetize that traffic.
Yoo-hoo!
Now go ahead and grab your 15 Pin Templates that convert so that you can get started on Pinterest with done-for-you pin templates. This means you’ll never have to stare at a blinking cursor designing pins ever again!