4.   Blogging



If there’s something that you're really passionate about, you can create a blog where you can talk about it regularly.

 

This is a fun way in which you can share your passions

 

while learning and teaching about what you’re already excited about with like-minded people.

 

In order to become a blogger, you would need to be a decent writer with the ability to write interesting, thought- provoking or entertaining content. You would also need to be able to post fairly regularly to your blog so that it can grow and build a strong following.

 

Blogs can make you money in several ways.

 

Just some of the ways are to have people pay you to post their advertisements by using a service such as BuySellAds.com (this is best for blogs with a lot of traffic), or by putting Google AdSense ads on your blog. With this option, Google will pay you each time someone clicks on their advertisements on your blog.

 

The amount of money you can earn per click will depend upon the topic of your blog and the competitiveness in the marketplace for advertising in your certain niche.

 

A third option is to sell affiliate products related to the topic of your blog. If for example you had a blog about weight loss, you could locate a weight loss product that has an affiliate program, which you can find at Clickbank.com, and either put banners up on your blog, or promote it to your newsletter if you're collecting the email addresses of your visitors.

 

In order for you to become a Blogger, here are some steps you can take:

 

●   First, you will need to choose a blogging platform. The most common, and the one I highly recommend is Wordpress.

 

Next, decide if you want a free account at Wordpress.com or if you would rather host the blog on your own domain (if you purchase a domain, your blog could be something like www.yourpassion.com, whereas a free account would look like www.yourpassion.wordpress.com).

 

Most people choose to buy a domain so that their blog appears more professional and so that they have more control and ownership. If you choose this option, you'll need to sign up with a hosting company (I recommend HostGator – their plans are as low as $4.95 a month), and then have your own domain connected to the hosting company.

 

This may sound difficult but it’s actually very easy, and HostGator’s customer support can help you with any questions.

 

HostGator actually make it very easy to install a Wordpress blog to your website in about 5 minutes or less with their "1-click" Wordpress installation option found inside your control panel.

 

Here's a video tutorial showing you just how easy it is to install Wordpress with HostGator:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmFd4nh1h4A

 

●   After your blog has been created, you can decorate it however you would like (Wordpress calls your blog layout a "theme".)

 

Here is a video tutorial showing how to change and edit your Wordpress theme:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ClkSIMKycI

 

●   After you have your new blog looking how you like, you can then start posting news, lessons, stories, articles or anything relevant to your blog.

 

Here's a video tutorial showing how to make new posts to your Wordpress blog:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX0DMAjtZZg

 

●   Try to add new content as frequently as possible so that you build up a regular readership base.

 

●   As Google and other search engines discover your blog, you should start to see more visitors coming in to your blog as they find you via searches related to your blog topic.

 

To get more free visitors from the search engines, your posts should contain keywords that people regularly search for on Google.

 

To see what people are searching for in your niche, you can use the Google Keyword Planner. Simply type in the topic of your blog and it will show you the most popular and searched for keywords.

 

Sprinkling these keywords within your posts will help Google understand what your blog is about and hopefully you'll start to see a flow of traffic to your site.

 

It can take time to grow your blog organically, so you should do everything you can to help bring in new visitors.

 

●   Some other ideas to get more visitors are to post your new blog posts in Facebook groups related to your niche so people can share it around.

 

Another option is to comment on established blogs related to yours so that their readers can click on the website link in your comments and visit your blog.

 

How much can I make out of blogging?

 

It can take some time to establish a blog, but the profit potentials can be quite large. Some people have sold their blogs for millions of dollars.

 

Your earnings will vary based on the amount of traffic you get, how interesting your content is, how often you post, and the types of advertisements you put on your blog.