Are you thinking about starting up a blog? We say do it!! Blogging is a good idea if it is something that you are interested in. However, being able to make money from a blog takes time and effort. You will need an effective strategy. It only takes roughly 15 minutes to set up a blog however, it can take years to begin to make money from it. If you are thinking of setting up a blog, read ahead for our guide to blogging content that works. 

First Things First, Find A Niche For Your Blogging

You will want to find a niche to help your blog to stand out. There is no need to have 300 make-up or skincare blogs for example. There are 2 key things that you need to consider when choosing your niche, it should be something that you are passionate about and it should be something that is proven to make money. For example if you start a fashion blog but aren’t particularly interested in clothes or the latest fashion trends, your readers will know and your blog will not do as well. The niche that you choose should be an industry that you want to build relationships in. 

Set Up Your Blog

When setting up your blog you will choose a hosting platform, select a domain name, and establish your theme and design. A site that we would suggest would be WordPress. To be completely honest Wix or Squarespace are probably the easiest sites to use however WordPress has better SEO options. 

You will want to make sure that you choose the right hosting plan. A hosting plan is what makes your blog accessible to people on the internet. The host that you choose has a massive impact on the well-being of your website as it can influence whether or not your website gets hacked, the speed of your website, and the downtime of your website. 

Once you have selected your host, it is now time to choose your domain name and purchase it through your host. When choosing a domain name you will want to ensure that it is easy to pronounce, relatively short, a common top level domain, and that it isn’t trademarked. If you are really stuck for a name ask your family and friends or you can use domain generator for some inspiration. Once you have decided your domain name, you can then purchase this through your host. Once you have sorted this out, it is time to get your website up and running. 

Begin To Write and Publish Blog Content

It is now time to brainstorm blog topic ideas and publish this content. However before you begin to post blog content make sure that you have filled the important static pages with content, these are pages such as the about us page, contact us page, services page etc. Once this has been completed, it is now time to write and publish your first blog post. 

Optimise Your Blogs For Search Engines

Now that you have uploaded your first blog to publish, it is now time to optimise your blog for search engines. When you decide to blog you will need to become familiar with SEO techniques and tactics. You will need to perform keyword optimisation and SEO meta tags on all pages. 

Keyword optimisation is the process of researching and selecting the right set of keywords that you think people will type in a search to find information like yours online. Keyword optimisation should be performed for any blog post or page. It is important to select the main keywords that you want to target for each page and make sure that you include these within your content. Doing this will make it easier for search engines to understand what a specific web page is about. 

When you publish a new blog or page you will need to add SEO meta tags for each piece of content. SEO meta tags are the SEO title and description. You will not see these tags on the actual page but google will use metadata to understand what the web page is about. This is an important step to complete if you want your content to start ranking in search engines. SEO tags should be prepared and added when you create a new page or post inside WordPress. The title tag should be between 50-60 characters and the meta description tag should be between 50-150 characters. 

Promote Your Blog

It is now time to market and promote your blog. Inform your friends and family about your blog and encourage them to follow and read it. To help promote your blog it is a good idea to include your blog URL in your email signature, include your blog within all of your social media accounts, and take advantage of every opportunity to market and promote your blog. 

There you have it, our complete guide to blogging. Did you find this helpful? If you found this post helpful, please feel free to read our other blog posts about digital marketing, SEO, social media marketing, and more.