OlaAdams
Active member
Write your first blog post:
Once your blog is set up, we can finally get to the exciting part (and the part that makes you money): writing and publishing content.
The difference between starting a blog as a hobby and starting one to make money is that you can’t just write about whatever you want or think or feel. You have to be intentional about the topics you choose, how you structure your articles, and optimizing your content for traffic and conversions.
But before you even put fingers to keyboard, you need to figure out how you plan to make money.
Decide on a monetization strategy.
If your goal with starting a blog is to make money, then each article you publish should have a purpose. For example:
Selling your own products
Advertising for other companies (i.e. display ads)
Sending readers to affiliate products (i.e. companies you work with that pay you money for sending them new customers)
Capturing easy organic traffic to get their attention and send them to a monetized article.
If you don’t have a strategy behind an article, then what happens if it blows up or goes viral on Pinterest and you get a ton of traffic? You may gain some new email subscribers or readers, but your bank account won’t notice the difference.
One of the easiest ways to make money blogging as a beginner is through affiliate marketing, and the one we recommend starting with. As an affiliate marketer, you’re the middleman between companies and their potential customers. Your goal is to match a company’s products and services with people who could benefit from them.
You can find relevant products in services in your niche by signing up for affiliate networks. These networks offer programs from many different companies in the same place so you don’t have to sign up for them individually. (Oftentimes the program is only offered through a network, so you couldn’t sign up for it individually if you wanted to.)
If you already have some tools in your niche that you use and love, then you can Google “[product name] affiliate program” to find out if they work with affiliates.
If your goal is to eventually create your own products, affiliate marketing can help you determine what types of products and services sell the best among your audience.
Sign up for a few affiliate programs in your niche, ideally for products you use, like, and would recommend to others. Starting with monetization in mind, you can use your affiliate programs to determine what articles you write first.
Choose a topic idea.
Now that you’re signed up for some affiliate programs, the next step is to brainstorm a list of article topics.
Some of the best affiliate-focused types of articles are:
How to/instructional (that’s what the article you’re reading is)
Listicle (e.g. top 10 best ____)
Reviews, comparisons, and alternatives
Take a minute to brainstorm some article ideas based on the affiliates you’ve come up with.
Once you have a list of 5-10 blog post ideas, keyword research will help you identify any low-hanging fruit — i.e. keywords with decent search volume and low competition that you might be able to rank for relatively quickly.
Let’s say your blog is about losing weight from home and you’re now an affiliate for some companies that offer home gym equipment. One of the ideas on your brainstorming list might be “best home workout equipment.”
Using KWFinder, you can find the monthly search volume for this term is high at 21,600, but the difficulty level of 39 is also higher than what a new blog can probably rank for.
Once your blog is set up, we can finally get to the exciting part (and the part that makes you money): writing and publishing content.
The difference between starting a blog as a hobby and starting one to make money is that you can’t just write about whatever you want or think or feel. You have to be intentional about the topics you choose, how you structure your articles, and optimizing your content for traffic and conversions.
But before you even put fingers to keyboard, you need to figure out how you plan to make money.
Decide on a monetization strategy.
If your goal with starting a blog is to make money, then each article you publish should have a purpose. For example:
Selling your own products
Advertising for other companies (i.e. display ads)
Sending readers to affiliate products (i.e. companies you work with that pay you money for sending them new customers)
Capturing easy organic traffic to get their attention and send them to a monetized article.
If you don’t have a strategy behind an article, then what happens if it blows up or goes viral on Pinterest and you get a ton of traffic? You may gain some new email subscribers or readers, but your bank account won’t notice the difference.
One of the easiest ways to make money blogging as a beginner is through affiliate marketing, and the one we recommend starting with. As an affiliate marketer, you’re the middleman between companies and their potential customers. Your goal is to match a company’s products and services with people who could benefit from them.
You can find relevant products in services in your niche by signing up for affiliate networks. These networks offer programs from many different companies in the same place so you don’t have to sign up for them individually. (Oftentimes the program is only offered through a network, so you couldn’t sign up for it individually if you wanted to.)
If you already have some tools in your niche that you use and love, then you can Google “[product name] affiliate program” to find out if they work with affiliates.
If your goal is to eventually create your own products, affiliate marketing can help you determine what types of products and services sell the best among your audience.
Sign up for a few affiliate programs in your niche, ideally for products you use, like, and would recommend to others. Starting with monetization in mind, you can use your affiliate programs to determine what articles you write first.
Choose a topic idea.
Now that you’re signed up for some affiliate programs, the next step is to brainstorm a list of article topics.
Some of the best affiliate-focused types of articles are:
How to/instructional (that’s what the article you’re reading is)
Listicle (e.g. top 10 best ____)
Reviews, comparisons, and alternatives
Take a minute to brainstorm some article ideas based on the affiliates you’ve come up with.
Once you have a list of 5-10 blog post ideas, keyword research will help you identify any low-hanging fruit — i.e. keywords with decent search volume and low competition that you might be able to rank for relatively quickly.
Let’s say your blog is about losing weight from home and you’re now an affiliate for some companies that offer home gym equipment. One of the ideas on your brainstorming list might be “best home workout equipment.”
Using KWFinder, you can find the monthly search volume for this term is high at 21,600, but the difficulty level of 39 is also higher than what a new blog can probably rank for.
