Do you want to learn how to start a successful and profitable blog as a newbie or profitable online business? Do you want to know how to make money online through blogging? Are you interested in creating and building the most profitable blog online? Do you want to earn additional income besides your normal paid job? Are you interested in learning blogging tips used by millionaire bloggers like John Chow, Linda Ikeji, Emma Onwuka etc…
If YES is your answer then I advice you read on….
For the fact that you have landed on this page proves you’re interested in building the most successful and profitable blog online, whether now or later. I will therefore start and focus this article on how to start a blog, grow blog traffic fast and make money. Look! I want you to mark these three key phrases “start a blog, grow blog traffic fast, make money” because they summarize everything about creating a successful and profitable blog.
You can start a blog but growing the blog traffic will be a big challenge. You can also start a blog and grow your blog traffic but making money through the blog becomes a bigger challenge.
Therefore, my interest is to help you start a blog, grow your blog traffic or readership fast and make money online through blogging. That is why I said “for the fact that you have landed on this page proves you’re interested in building the most successful and profitable blog online…”
I am here to teach you what I have been doing for the past 6 years to make money online. Most of the things I will be revealing to you are my blogging experiences, success secrets, questions I have been asked many times on blogging and what I have learn from many top millionaire bloggers which I have put into practice that yielded good and favourable result.
Who am I?
I am Emma Onwuka; a young entrepreneur, super blogger and the brain behind www.naijaonlinebiz.com . I’m full-time blogger. I make money online and teach others too how to make money online. I don’t teach people only how to make money; I also teach them how to self actualize their dreams and live the quality life they want. This is the mission for setting up this blog, www.naijaonlinebiz.com. I manage other blogs both free and self-hosted. I also… Hold it! Enough said about me. This article is not all about me, it’s about you. Contact Me if you want to know more about me.
Why did I write on blogging and making money again?
I have received uncountable number of emails, queries, and questions relating to how to start a profitable blog. This puzzles me because I thought enough has been written or said about blogging. Does it mean that those pieces of information out there on blogging are not yet enough? Anyway, let us not concern ourselves with that any longer! What I have written here is something different. It is just another packaged information product that worth one million dollar. Yes, It worth that amount!
Let me make this clear to you now, I am not here to entice you. Starting and building a profitable blog is not a get-rich quick scheme as many snake oil marketers would paint it and I rather would not want to be seen as one get-rich quick internet marketer.
Here are some of the questions that were constantly thrown into my email box are;
• How to start a blog for free
• How to start a blog as a beginners
• How to start a blog for free in Canada, India, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Ireland, Australia etc
• How to start a blog for free and get paid
• How to start a blog with no money
• How to start a blog for profit
• How to start a blog from scratch and make money
Congratulations! If you are one of those seeking answer to any of the above questions or one related to them; you have just arrived at the right page. So, if you are ready to learn, follow me and let’s start the ball rolling.
What will you learn at end of this article?
Apart from you getting answers to the above questions, you will also learn;
• 5 reasons why you don’t make money blogging
• 7 biggest mistakes bloggers make
• Top 5 Linda Ikeji’s blogging success secret; make money in Nigeria
• Make money online in Nigeria; how to apply John chow blogging style
Is that all? No!
Here is a summary of my blogging toolkit on how to start a blog, grow blog traffics fast and make money online as a beginner and or as profitable online business.
How to start a blog, grow your blog traffic and make money
I have broken down this blogging toolkit into different parts;
o PART A. How to start a blog
o PART B. How to grow your blog traffic fast and build authority
o PART C. How to make money through blogging
PART A. How to start a blog
Many people who dream of starting a profitable blog ended up not starting it. Why? I can’t actually figure out the reason(s). Maybe they are scared, lazy, undetermined….. However, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’. So, if you are interested in starting a blog;
1. Make up your mind
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.” Why you’ve not started a blog is because you’ve not make up your mind. Take the bold step to start a blog and in no time you will build a successful and profitable blog. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; even the longest and most difficult ventures have a starting point.
Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation.
In 2009, I made up my mind to give blogging a trial and today I can count myself among the successful bloggers. Believe it or not, I have every reason to count myself among the successful bloggers. One who makes up to $750 per month from his blog has every reason to count himself a successful blogger. Please, this is NOT to boost. So, are you ready to give blogging a trial? Make up your mind. Are you ready to count yourself among the successful bloggers? The decision is yours not mine.
2. Define your blog mission and blog type
Now, you’ve finally decided to start a blog. What is your blog’s mission? Ask yourself, ‘what am I intending to accomplish through this blog I’m about to launch?’ You also need to ask, “What type of blog am I launching; personal blog or business blog”. If you are starting a personal blog where you share things concerning your personal life, experiences, views, photos etc you may do away with blog mission statement. However, if your interest is to create such a business blog that will stand the test of time, you need to coin your blog mission. One important component of your overall blog’s strategy plan is your blog’s mission statement.
You blog’s mission answers these key questions;
• What opportunities or needs will your blog address?
• How are these needs going to be addressed?
• What principles or beliefs guide your blog?
Before I started this blog, I forged my own blog mission; ‘to teach people how to make money and to self actualize their dreams, so as to live the quality life they want’.
Top online Businesses like Amazon, eBay etc has its own mission statement. Amazon mission statement is “To be the most customer-centric company in the world, where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online.” eBay mission statement is to “Provide a global trading platform where practically anyone can trade practically anything.”
So, define your own blog mission if your must create a successful and profitable blog online.
3. Set your blog goals and objective
You can be working hard to build the blog you’ve started and it will seems as if you are not getting anywhere worthwhile. The key reason why this is happening is because you haven’t spent enough time to formulate your blog goals and objectives. If I should ask you, can you start a major journey without having an idea of your destination? I know you will not. You must have foreseen the end before you start up the journey.
Setting goals and objectives for your blog gives you a clearer picture of your future blog. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve through your blog, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You’ll also easily spot the distractions that can lead you astray from target goals. Setting goals for your blog will provide both long-term vision and short-term motivation. It helps you focus your knowledge, and to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your blog.
Every goals and objectives you are setting should be
• Specific.
• Measurable.
• Attainable.
• Relevant and Time-bound.
Your blog mission should guide your goal setting.
4. Find best profitable blog niche
What is the best way(s) of finding best profitable blog niche?
• Visit forums and know what people are looking for.
• Visit other blogs and look at readers ‘comments, questions and responses.
• Use keyword research tool to find out keyword term users search.
• Join different social media where users comments.
If after all these, you can’t still find the best profitable blog niche; “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life — think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” — Swami Vivekananda. This one idea can become the best profitable blog niche ideas you can ever think of.
5. Research for a profitable blog domain name
How do you pick up a profitable blog domain name? You have to do a Keyword Research for a perfect domain name. There are a lot of factors to consider when researching and choosing a blog domain name.
You blog Domain name should be
• Fairly short.
• Relevant to blog niche.
• Easy to remember or memorize and as well as easy to say.
Online users must be able to easily find your blog and pass it along by word of their mouth to others. These days it’s nearly impossible to get fairly short top-level domain name, like business.com, paints.com, house.com. Online users searching for different types of business will usually search with more specific terms. A domain that specifies what type of business or information they looking for, like www.smallbusinessideas.com , www.carsale.com , www.bestoilpaint.com are probably better blog domain name. If you are interested in having your blog rank high more in a particular locality or geographical zone, you must include the locality in your domain name. For example, www.nigeriabusinessideas.com , www.ghanaschool.com , www.southafricacars.com etc. In general, any domain name that general defines your blog niche is a profitable domain; go for such a domain name.
You can buy a domain name. What best places can you buy domain name? There are many places to buy a domain name. Some best places to buy a domain name are NameCheap, Godaddy, Hostgator, Web4africa, Bluehost.
• Top domain name reseller companies in Nigeria
6. Choose between self-hosted blog and free blogging platform
Without paying for domain name or hosting, is it possible to start a blog for free? YES! How do you start a blog for free? You can start a blog for free with free blogging platform like Blogger.com blogspot, wordpress.com platform etc. when you think of starting a blog for free in Canada, India, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Ireland, Australia etc; this is the only way to do it. I have seen successful and profitable blogs hosted on free blogging platform like blogger.com blogspot. Typical examples are Linda Ikeji’s blog (www.lindaikeji.blogspot.com ) and Nigeria Communication Guide (www.naijacomguide.blogspot.com ).
However, this is usually rare and with wordpress.com blog; you will not be allow to monetize your blog. I will tell you why Linda Ikeji was able to succeed and how Nigeria Communication Guide blog was able to stand still date.
If you really want to create a successful and profitable blog and not to be seen as an un-serious blogger then you must get self-hosted blog. You can choose to setup your self hosted blog with a blogging platform like www.wordpress.org. Avoid the use of free blogging services.
• Free blogging services are not to be trusted; your blog content or web page can be deleted without notification.
• Self hosting your blog will enable you have a full control of your blog.
• You can easily monetize your blog with different sources when your blog is self hosted.
• You blog URL will not look professional with free blogging platform.
Buying a domain name and self-hosting will not cost you much. With as little as $30, $40, $50, you can buy a domain name and host your blog. Nevertheless, if you are a newbie, you can start the blog first with free blogging service.
7. Choose your blog operational strategy and blog model
How do you intend to run your blog? What method(s) will you adopt to achieve your blog objectives? Do you intend to employ writers or will you do the work yourself. These and many more questions, you need to answer. By developing your blog operational strategies, you can examine and implement effective and efficient systems for using limited resources, capital, writers and the work process to achieve your blog objectives.
If you must create a successful and profitable blog, choosing a blog model is a good operational strategy. Just like your role model, so it is with your blog model. The best blog model you can choose is the one that is closely related to your niche blog. When you choose a blog model, study the blog to understand the success strategies of the blog. Put them to work on your own blog.
8. Pre-define your blog monetization strategies
Will you later think of making money from your blog? Yes! I know you will. So, it is better to early state how you will achieve this. There are many ways you can make money from your blog but your success is dependent on the nature of your blog. For example; Fashion and Entertainment blog can be making up to a six-figure from just direct advertisement while Technology and Spice blog will be making few tenths. This is one of the major reasons why your need a blog model to guide you through the choice of your blog monetization.
9. Start blogging
Now that you have gone through the above eight steps, get started with the blogging. If you don’t start now; you will end up not starting. Start proffering solutions to people’s problem. Show some level of expertise as you cover your blog niche market. Relate with your readers one on one through your write up, this is what blogging is all about.
10. Stick to your blog mission and objective
As you blog, ensure you stick to your blog mission and objective to build trust and brand. Take furthers step to grow your blog traffic fast and build authority.
Related: How to start a successful blogging in Nigeria
PART B. How to grow your blog and build authority
What steps can you take to grow your blog traffic fast and build authority?
I. Conduct audience research
As a blogger, it is important you understand what your readers want, needs, knows, and feels about your blog content. The more you understand your blog readers, the more you grow your blog traffic. The best way of understanding your readers fast is by conducting an audience research
How can you conduct an audience research? The best method will depend on the audience you are trying to target, how much information you need about them, and what resources you have in place for conducting the research.
Few important questions you need to ask before you begin your audience research are;
• Where does my audience hang out online?
• What is their biggest challenge at work?
• What sort of content or article do they most enjoy reading?
• How can I focus more around the things they love or find useful?
• What kind of language and terminology will my audience most appreciate?
• What medium do they like to engage with the most?
• Do they like data, graphs or plenty of images
You can conduct your audience research by;
• Reaching out to forums,
• Reaching out to other related niche blogs
• Joining, commenting and reading your Facebook friend’s updates and creating business fan page
• Joining commenting, and reading your Twitter friend’s updates
• Joining, commenting and hanging out on Google plus
• Joining Watsapp and becoming an Admin
• Conducting one-on-one interview
II. Targeting global audience vs. Local audience
All successful and profitable blog are targeted for global audience. The essence of targeting Global audience is because it pays more than local audience. For example, your adsense revenue is greatly affected by where your audience is coming from. However, if you are specifically targeting your local business blog for local audience then you may need not to border about international audience. Targeting local audience should begin right from the time you want to choose a domain name. Do you remember what I told you in step 5 on how to start a blog , “If you are interested in having your blog to rank high in Google more in a particular locality or geographical zone, you must include the locality in your domain name”.
If you actually want to increase your blog popularity, grow your blog traffic and build authority, target global audience.
III. Advertise and promote your blog
The worst thing that can happen to you is starting a blog that only few readers visit. To increase your blog visits, you have to advertise and promote your blog. How do you advertise and promote your blog?
• Tell people about your blog.
• Use Google Adwords advertising program.
• Use Facebook Ads
• Promote your blog via social media like Facebook , Google plus and twitter.
• Use free classified ads site.
• Comment and leave your blog link on forums and blogs.
• Join forums.
• Guest post on authority site.
IV. Respond to your blog comments fast
One way of growing your blog traffic fast and at the same time build authority is by responding to your blog readers’ comments. Sometimes, you can receive negative comments or unnecessary critics; knowing how to approach such comment(s) is a factor that can either mar or improve your blog traffic. Comments are to be responded fast to and when you don’t have answer to questions asked by your readers, don’t try to please them by giving answers which you know is wrong. This can scare them away when they discover the right answer.
V. Build an authority blog in your Niche
How do you build an authority blog in your niche area? To build an authority blog usually takes time, dedication and hard work. Few things you can do to build authority blog are;
• Create a well design blog with easy accessibility and navigation
• Optimize your blog and blog posts
• Write quality articles. Content is king but aim for quality content.
• Respond to comments, questions and email fast.
• Update your blog consistently.
• Offer free eBook
Don’t feel discourage if your blog is not getting up to one thousand visits per day when you start your blog. They will definitely come in due time if they found out that what they are looking for is on your blog. Therefore, you have to concentrate your effort in providing values, quality and solution rather than seeking for cheap popularity. Cheap popularity kills a blog.
Related: How to attract visitors to your blog
PART 3. How to make money through blogging
The essence of pre-defining your monetization strategy is to help you at this time you want to monetize your blog.
You can use a combination of any of the below methods to make money from your blog.
a. Advertising networks
• Google Adsense
• Media.net
b. Affiliate marketing companies
• Amazon Affiliate
• Konga Affiliate
• Jumia Affiliate
• Aliexpress Affiliate
c. EBook design and sales
d. Selling link and banner advertisements
e. Sale of product
f. Membership blog registration
For more information on how to make money online through blogging; read this, “How to make money through blogging”. The article contain a detail steps on how to make money through blogging
Every successful blogger started out as an amateur. Take the first step in achieving your dream and don’t forget you will encounter a setback. Blogging is fun and it is interesting.
This is the latest view in Blogging , blogging in new dimension and it is just a tip of the iceberg. As I told you earlier, what you have read above is just a part or an extract of our training course on Blogging.
Our training course on blogging
We are offering a complete training course on blogging. Some of the things you will be learning on this training course are but not limited to;
Training outline
o Introduction to blogging
o How to setup a blog
o Practical steps to creating a business blog
o How to find profitable blog niche ideas
o How to research for the best domain name and domain name resellers
o 250 profitable blog niche ideas yet untapped
o How to set blog mission and objectives that will stand the test of time
o Key blog operational strategic plans and planning
o Web content development and Audience targeting (local and international audience)
o Choosing a blog model and the must-know before choosing blog model
o How to match blog content with monetization methods
o How to test blog layout of exact same content and ad placements to boost ad income
o How to apply for Google Adsense and get quick approval
o How to apply for Media-net and get quick approval
o Fundamentals of SEOs
o Keyword research and free keyword research tools
o Blog on-page and off-page optimization
o How to avoid blog keywords cannlibazation
o Use of plug-in for page optimization
o Complete effective procedure for blog SEOs
o How to publish articles that are easily pickup by Newspapers
o Personalization in blog content writing and Brand building
o Pro and cons of Content marketing
o Effective methods of blog promotion
o Case studies
A. Linda Ikeji blog
B. Mytopbusinessideas.com
C. Naijaonlinebiz.com
D. Nairaland.com
If you are interested in this training course on blogging; simply indicate by sending an email with a title: TRAINING COURSE ON BLOGGING to immax2005@gmail.com or by using the comment box below this article to indicate your interest.
The training will start on November and last for 8 weeks