How To Make Money Blogging – 8 Steps To Successful Professional Blogging

Blogging as a hobby is a great way to share your ideas with millions of potential audience members. However, when planned and executed properly, blogging can also help you generate a full-time income. This comprehensive guide will teach you how to start a blog and make money online by covering the basics to building a profitable blog.

With the growing popularity of professional blogging the last few years, some employees are slowly gravitating away from working in a cubicle and trying their luck at entrepreneurship. And what better way to become an entrepreneur than the low-cost, low barrier-to-entry business of blogging.

Becoming A Professional Blogger

Blogging can be a part-time hobby to earn extra income in addition to their full-time salary or it can be a means to financial independence. Many successful professional bloggers noticed the potential of their blog early and quit their 9 to 5 to scale their online business. With consistency and hard work, these bloggers have gone on to build million dollar online assets.

Nevertheless, when you think of blogging or making money online, avoid remembering the overnight millionaires of the dot com boom. These days, success as a professional blogger or even freelancer takes at least a year to achieve, and that's if absolutely everything goes your way. Writing and publishing content online are the easy parts; promoting your blog, growing traffic and converting it into revenue are the challenges.

This is why most bloggers quit before they even have a chance at success. Modern individuals are conditioned to expect instant gratification, but when the results are delayed, he is confused, frustrated, and ultimately, disenchanted with the idea of making money with the internet. Therefore, if you want to make money blogging, you need research the process in order to adjust your expectations.

1. Building your blog

There are many factors that you should consider before actually starting a blog. You might be aware that WordPress is the most popular and easy-to-use free blogging software available. All technology experts recommend WordPress for amateur bloggers, reserving Drupal or Joomla for advanced users.

Similarly, choosing a user-friendly, high-quality, yet cheap hosting company is also extremely important. Some of the best hosting services for amateur bloggers offer "one-click" WordPress installations, facilitating the process for users who have no technical background. A few of the top companies include BlueHost, HostGator, GoDaddy, and Web Hosting Hub.

2. Forming a content strategy

A content strategy will be your blueprint to growing your blog. From here, you must be able to define the following:

Objectives – why are you blogging?

Goals – what do you want to achieve with your blog? (Set your goals by quarter or year so you can revamp your goals depending on the progress you've made within that period of time)

Target audience – who will be your target audience? What is their demographic (age, gender, education, interests, needs/wants, challenges, purchasing power, etc.)?

Competitors – which other blogs are covering the same topics as yours?

Advantages – what do you feel you could do better than your competitors? What is your value-add?

Disadvantages – how can you strengthen your weaknesses?

Social media – what is the purpose of your social media accounts (engage with followers, drive more traffic to blog, increase sales, brand awareness, etc.)?

3. Finding the perfect design and layout

Most new bloggers aren't web designers, but I encourage you to avoid using the default theme available with WordPress. Instead, buy a premium theme. You shouldn't underestimate the importance of design, layout and style, especially if you are trying to become an authority or expert within a niche. How your blog looks and functions is critical to your credibility.

My personal favorite framework is Genesis by StudioPress, but there are thousands of beautiful free themes as well as inexpensive ones from ThemeForest, Elegant Themes, and MyThemeShop. It's best that you choose a free theme at first to build up your site's traction; however, you will eventually want to invest in a paid theme or even a custom design.

4. Creating an editorial calendar

The purpose of an editorial calendar is to plan and schedule post ideas in advance. This will give you ample time to research, write and schedule content in advance. While you may not need a formal editorial calendar as a solo blogger, you may want to create a regimented schedule to hold yourself accountable. For instance, plan on posting Monday through Thursday every week, and use the weekend to prepare.

5. Choosing the right ad platforms

Ad banners have become the go-to monetization strategy for amateur bloggers. There are many different ad networks and platforms, with the most popular and highest pay-per-click being Google AdSense.

These contextual ad programs feature ad units of different sizes that you can place on your blog. By simply copying and pasting code, these units will then show advertising based on the content of your page and your visitor's browser history, thereby increasing the chances of visitors clicking the ads.

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About Gary Dek

Gary Dek is a professional blogger, SEO expert, and freelance writer. He is the founder of StartABlog123 and specializes in content marketing, link building strategies, and helping entrepreneurs grow their online businesses. Previously, Gary was an investment banking and private equity analyst.

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