Zac JohnsonMaking money with a blog is something that all bloggers wish to one day accomplish. The sad fact is that with over 300 million blogs in the world today, more than 98% of them don’t make any money at all.
This main reasoning behind this statistic is that most bloggers simply aren’t trained with the necessary mindset to turn a blog into a business. Such factors include knowing how to write content that puts an audience into action mode, having the trust and loyalty of your audience and knowing how to monetize your site traffic.
However, all is not lost. Just like any skill or profession, becoming a profitable blogger is something that can be taught — especially with so many valuable resources online.
One such resource is the infographic below, provided by blogging.org, which breaks down the process of creating a successful and profitable blog before even getting started.
How to Make Money Blogging – From Zero to Profit
Creating a successful blog is more than just picking a domain name, throwing up content and hoping for the best. It’s actually much more, and there is a lot of pre-planning that goes into your blog before it even goes live.
We’ve broken down the path every blogger needs to take to one day hopefully have a successful and high traffic blog that makes them money.
Researching a Topic
Before even going live with your blog, you need to know what you are going to be blogging about and why. Will you have enough to write about? Is it something people are looking for? How will it make you money down the road?
Niching Down
The moment you’ve found the niche / topic for your blog, it’s now time for you to niche down again. You need to keep a very narrow focus so you can be the authority within that niche.
Creating an Editorial Calendar
Once you decide on your niche, take the time to create an editorial calendar to break down the different types of articles you will be creating for your site. It’s best to layout your content calendar now, versus finding out 2-3 months down the road when you might run out of things to write about within your niche.
Choosing a Domain Name & Web Host
Picking a good domain name is a lot more complicated than it sounds. Nearly all generic words and names are already taken, so you are going to need to get a bit creative. Stick with .com, .net and .org TLDs and also don’t use dashes or numbers in your domain.
When it comes time to choose a web host, don’t spend too much time on this. Spend a few minutes to compare the top web hosting companies out there, but don’t try to save a few pennies and go with an unknown company.
Install WordPress to Power Your Site
WordPress is the content management solution that allows you to create and manage the content on your site. Most web hosting companies now have a one-click installation process for WordPress — so you don’t need to worry too much about setting this up. Once you are setup and using the software, it’s pretty easy and self explanatory.
Creating Quality Content for Your Site
This is where a lot of site owners go wrong. They simply create content and hope for the best. Instead you need to create quality content that actually provides value. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if you’d actually find any value out of reading this content if you found it on another site.
Get Active on the Major Social Networks
There are over 2 billion users spread across all of the major social networks. Not only do you need to have a personal account on all of these sites, but you should create one for your blog as well. By having your blog setup with all of the social networks, you can start growing your fan base, subscribers and branding all at the same time.
Setting Up a Mailing List
There is no better way to grow your audience and readership over time, than to create a mailing list. The sad thing is that over 70% of the people who visit your site for the first time… well, they are never coming back. The only way to grab their attention and keep them coming back for more, is by getting them to join your mailing list.
Product & Service Creation
There are many different ways to make money with a blog, such as selling your ad space or using Google Adsense — however, the biggest players in this space are making the big bucks through their own products and services they offer. Whether it’s an ebook, online course or a private service, when you have your own brand and products, you will always make more money.
How to Make Money Blogging [Infographic]
Now it’s time to put everything we just discussed into action! Take a look at the infographic below and walk through these steps to eventually becoming a profitable blogger!
Source: http://blogging.org/blog/how-to-make-money-blogging/
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