Looking forward to starting a side hustle? Try blogging. Blogging remains at the top among profitable side gigs and can even help you make up to 3 to 4 figures a month. One of the main advantages of blogging is that it allows you to combine your interests and hobbies with work.
Through blogging, you can write about topics that you love and earn a monetary reward from them. I have been blogging since 2017 and have achieved everything I wanted. While I have made many mistakes along the way, I now know how to navigate the world of blogging, and I can prevent you from making those same mistakes. Here’s how you can start a blog that earns more than $1000.
Here’s a screenshot of a blog that I started. It’s been live for a year, and it’s earning around $550 per month.
1. Find a niche
Blogging in 2022 has become a lot more competitive, but if you excel in your chosen niche and are interested in it, there’s nothing to worry about. It has been estimated that around 50% bloggers don’t interest in their niche. A niche is the origin of the business, if you don’t choose a good, profitable, and interesting niche, you may not achieve your desired results and you’ll get bored in short time. These are a few things to keep in mind when finding a niche:
- Check Google Trends.
- It should not be seasonal.
- You should have an interest in it.
- The competition should range from low to medium.
- Check if people are buying or searching in the niche.
- Search the keyword on google and check the search volume. For example, if your niche is “gaming,” search “Gaming laptops” or “gaming keyboard” on google and sees the results and volume.
2. Choose a domain name
Your next step is to choose a domain name. Now, this may be tricky, depending on your intentions. If you want to make a brand, then go for any name related to the niche, but if you’re going to make it a small site, then go for a domain name that has the niche name in it.
For example, if I choose “gaming” as a niche and want it to be a brand or an authority, I can name it anything like cliffy B or Overclock, etc. But if I want it to be a small site that can be flipped, then go for a name like “gaminghub” or “gamingradar.”
Check the availability of the domain name now.
3. Find the best Web Hosting
There are hundreds of hosting options in the market; however, choosing the best and most affordable one is tedious. Honestly, speaking from experience, choosing a host can be very time-consuming.
After conducting market research and going through the process, I would suggest Bluehost as the mode desirable hosting platform. Bluehost gives you hosting for one website with 50GB SSD storage and 24/7 customer support, all for the cost of only $4.95 per month. Its vast features and affordability enhance blogger appeal.
4. Set the site up
Setting up the website includes the theme and plugins. The theme also takes up most of the time if you haven’t decided. I use GeneratePress and Astra as they are fast and SEO-friendly. The design is also simple. When installing a theme, don’t forget to check its speed, indexability, and customization ability.
For plugins, the essential ones are RankMath or Yoast SEO. If you are not familiar with WordPress, then you would also need a page builder. Elementor is considered one of the best page builders for small sites.
However, it tanks down your site speed. If you are the person who can deal with a bit of difficulty, then go for the standard Gutenberg editor. And Kadence blocks are recommended for Gutenberg editors.
5. Add content
Writing the content yourself is better for a new site, but it’s your call whether to outsource it or write it yourself. As I said before, if you choose a niche of your interest, you’ll likely end up writing all of the content yourself, not to mention it will save you a lot of money.
Plus, writing by yourself will save you the time it would take to find a writer. If you want to outsource the content but don’t want to hire writers, check their samples, and negotiate with them, we can help you write unique content written by our expert writer.
6. Add Internal links
Internally linking the website’s post is the best on-page SEO strategy, which all authority sites are doing. Internal linking helps create a structure that allows google to track down the site’s pages. So after adding content, don’t forget to link them to each other. If you don’t want to get in trouble, Link Whisper made by Spencer Haws will help you add internal links automatically.
7. Promotion
Promoting a blog in its early stages gives a green signal to Google. The blog gains impressions and allows Google to see a social presence of your site. The new E-A-T algorithm update focused on the blog’s social presence. The sites with a good social presence and a brand image saw a massive spike in traffic, while those without any social profiles saw a dip in traffic.