If you’ve thought about starting a blog, you likely have lots of questions. Can blogging for 60 minutes a day make you “Internet Famous”? How many visitors can you expect per month? Where do you host your blog, and how can you monetize it?
Before you start thinking about starting a blog, you should know that 36% of blogs have less than 1000 visitors per month, so don’t expect an influx of readers just by writing every day.
Moreover, to keep a blog, you have to devote time to it: at least 60 minutes a day, every day, and sometimes on weekends. In addition, the success of a blog is visible through time. The time factor plays on motivation — the lack of short-term results leads to many bloggers getting demotivated. Learn more about how to be an influential blogger here.
Writing 60 minutes a day may sound like an achievable goal, but remember that writing the article is only a tiny portion of the problem. Before launching your blog and investing a lot of time and money, you need to think ahead.
1. Define the objective of the blog
Direct your blog towards one specific target and define what messages you want to convey and how.
- Do you want to become famous?
- Are you searching for customers?
- Want to be recognized as a specialist in your sector?
- To simply share your knowledge with others?
2. Choose what to talk about
With a blog, there is no need to be a certified specialist.
There are three main types of articles published in blogs:
- Resource articles and links: place a series of links, pictures, and videos related to your activity and make a quick comment (30 minutes/article).
- Mood notes: react to the news — comment on new products or changes in your niche. Write for an hour on the topic and summarize the pros and cons with references.
- Reference content: these are the most time-consuming articles to produce, but not necessarily those that offer the most visits. Write your articles on a given theme with unpublished content or combine several sources to make a synthesis with at least 1,000 words.
3. Choose the name and hosting platform of the blog
To be credible, purchase a domain name from well-known registrars like Namecheap or GoDaddy, but do not use their hosting services. Cloudflare offers domain names for 9 USD and has excellent DNS services. Avoid Network Solutions at all costs.
Look for a domain name that matches your brand, has the keywords you want to target (if you can find one), and is a little flexible in case you want to change your niche slightly without starting over with a new domain name.
If you don’t know much about hosting and running a website, we suggest you use a hosted blogging platform like the two below. Using a blogging platform lets you get started now and upgrade later when you need more control or features.
Here are the two best-known blogging platforms:
blogger.com
Simple and practical, blogger.com is a good tool for beginners with automatic saves, plug-ins to add more features, and tools to manage your RSS feeds.
Still, this platform will show its limits very quickly as soon as your blog increases a little in power. The only significant interest here is to be able to place advertising and earn some money off your hobby.
wordpress.com
It’s flexible and highly customizable, thanks to the many plug-ins. You can host your site free or pay 5 USD monthly to use your custom domain name (recommended). WordPress is referenced on Google Search more than Google’s own Blogger platform.
However, if you want to optimize your SEO and make a 100% personalized blog, hosting your website with 37SOLUTIONS Technology Services & Digital Marketing is incomparable.
4. How to write on your blog?
Writing is not complicated, but there are a few rules to follow.
- Be natural. Writing on a blog is closer to the transcription of spoken language than marketing texts or dissertations. Relax on a comfortable sofa, like the ones from logan furniture, and imagine talking to a friend.
- Add keywords that will attract readers. The more keywords, the more significant “exposure” you will have.
- Avoid spelling and grammar mistakes. You may have written a fascinating and relevant article, but there will always be 2-3 people commenting on your spelling errors. Use tools like Grammarly to check your work before publishing your article.
- Write both long and short articles. You’ll want to post regularly, but you won’t have time for weekly 5000-word articles. While Google values longer well-researched content, readers searching for your keywords just want quick answers. Vary your writing between short posts (250-500 words) and longer articles going in-depth on a juicy topic. You should be able to write several small articles 2-3 times per week while creating longer pieces to publish a few times per month.
- Summarize your ideas. Unlike a dissertation, you must get to the point when writing your content. Improve readability, reread your text, and delete unnecessary paragraphs.
- Write the titles of your posts as advertising slogans. Arouse curiosity and compel your readers to find out more.
Here are some examples of titles that work well:
- X tips to improve your X in X minutes!
- X tips you must know before X
- The X steps for X
- X tools for X efficiently
- Find out how to X in 5 minutes/steps
- Here is the 5-step method for X
- Here’s how to stop having to X / get rid of X
- Do like X (famous person)
- What you absolutely need to know about X
Again, your titles should contain your keywords to improve your SEO.
5. How to quickly get content for your blog?
Research other blogs in your niche to get dozens of article ideas you can improve or expand upon by adding your personal touch. Be careful to use their articles for inspiration, not plagiarism.
If, after a few months, you still have trouble finding exciting topics, look at forums, Facebook groups, blog comments, and industry magazines to quickly find new topics for your articles.
You could ask your readers directly. Send them an email through your weekly newsletter and ask them:
- What they would like to learn
- What are their current challenges
- How you can help them
6. How to promote your blog?
There are dozens of sites to help you promote your blog, but the general rule is that 80% of visitors come from 20% of your sites.
For example, if your blog is popular on Facebook, you will most likely get your traffic from Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites rather than Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
Analyze where your visitors come from and focus your efforts on those sites by posting comments, proposing partnerships, and offering to write articles for them.
For your blog to make readers stay, you must:
- Have an original editorial line to differentiate yourself from others.
- Encourage your readers to leave comments.
- Involve your readers by organizing contests and competitions.
Blogging may not be as easy as you thought
Don’t be discouraged that there are ten blogs just like the one you’re about to create. There’s always room for new perspectives! To find your niche, you must clearly define your target and expectations.
When starting your blogging career, remember that it’s not enough just to write and publish articles — you should devote 50% of your time to promoting and advertising your brand. A well-optimized blog is a great way to make yourself known and find customers.
Good luck! We hope that your blogging experience will be a success!
