A lot of useful tips have been written by different people on blogging for beginners to help the complete beginner to blogging build a successful blog.
The 5 facts you must know about blogging are some hard truth that don’t get talked about too often but that are critical to your blogging success.
The aim is not to scare you from blogging, but to give you all the facts so that you make an informed decision and commit to it.
Blogging for beginners Fact 1: Blogging requires time and commitment
Before starting a blog especially if it is to make money from home you want to be sure that you have the time and energy to commit to it and grow your readership.
What you will mostly be doing are:
Providing valuable content on your blog on a regular basis, ideally once everyday but not less than three times a week if you intend to grow regular readership.
You also would be generating votes for your content. It’s called link building. You link build when other related sites link to your blog or a particular post on your blog, vice versa.
When your blog get some quality links from other sites, the search engine consider your blog as important. So it helps your content ranking at search engines which eventually equals traffic (daily visitors) to your site.
These are the two major but not only task you have ahead and they both requires time. Even when you have the time, if you fail to create a balance between these two activities, your blog will lack.
Meaning you can’t spend all your time writing content and forget about building links to those content else you would have a blog full of valuable content but no one to read them.
On the other hand if you spend too much time chasing links to your site and neglect content writing (which is worse), you will have visitors come to your blog but leave immediately as they came.
Blogging is a very rewarding work from home business. There are people making 6 income figures from it. But to get from a zero level (nave blogger) to a successful blogger requires time, knowledge, dedication and patience.
Not one of those qualities must be lacking, else you would have to consider another work from home venture.
Blogging for beginners Fact 2: Know your Market
I consider this the most important part of this article which is not usually emphasized enough as it should.
This step either make or mare your blogging success.
Just like every other business, you must know the market you want to venture into before actually doing so.
Your market in the blogging world is the niche or topic you have chosen to write on.
It means you must carry out an effective research of your market to gather all the necessary data that you will need to make an informed decision.
After looking deep into a topic, you might realize that it is just not profitable enough to pursue it.
Here are the data you need to gather and evaluate before going for a topic.
The Monthly searches for the topic: Are there people searching for information on the topic? If yes how many? Is it high enough to bring you good monthly traffic?
He who has the traffic has the web.
The competition for the topic: The people already publishing online for that topic are your competitors. How many are they? There is always a room for another blog or website on the web. But you have to be realistic. As a beginner to blogging, your chances of topping the already existing sites on that topic are low, especially if they are well established authority sites.
Moreover, you easily make your mark when the competition is low or fair.
Pick out hundreds of profitable keywords: If you are writing on relationship for example, make a list of all the keywords that fall under relationship that you can write about. These keywords will form your blog’s overall content.
So after creating your blog you don’t fuse about what next to write on. You just go to your list and pick a keyword and write on it.
This way you build valuable focused keyword rich pages.
The Monetization options available to you: It will be heartbreaking to put all the effort into achieving a high number of readership only to realize that you topic can’t be monetized with the major monetization models.
So first ask yourself: What are the monetization models you will like to apply on your blog? Then make sure the topic you are going for can be profitably monetized with those options.
Example:
If AdSense (pay per click content ads) is a must for your blog’s monetization, then you want to make sure that the Cost Per Click for your topic and its closely related sub-topics (keywords) are above $1. But preferable $2 above if this would be a primary monetization model for you.
If you would like to sell third party products, then check places like clickbank to see that there are relevant books available to monetize your blog with.
Spy on your competitors: Is there a monetization model your competitor uses that appeal to you? How are your competitors addressing the topic? Maybe there is a better angle you can address it from.
Get general ideas but DO NOT copy your competitor’s work. Let their work give you ideas to better position yourself in the niche, in other to stand out from the crowd.
All these research and more are needed for you to make an informed decision about your blog’s topic. We have passed the time when just your passion for a topic can bring you success in it.
Especially if you are considering blogging for business, gathering all these data before even buying a domain (comes last after thorough research) and setting up your blog, will help you maximize profit from your market and topic.
There is always a difference between a site that was planned and the one that wasn’t and this will be evidence in the number of regular readership and traffic.
Blogging for beginners Fact 3: Keep It Real
In whatever you will do relating to your blog, always keep it real. Let things work naturally. Always at all times consider the two most important people to your blog success – Your readers and the search engines.
Some of the sites that will link to your content will require a link back. Do not just link to a site because of the benefit it will bring to your ranking. Link to a site because it offers value to your readers. And your readers will be grateful.
When you promote a product, make sure it actually offers your readers benefits. Do not just promote for the commission you get as a result.
If you try to take the fast root to the detriment of your readers and search engines, chances are that your blog will not go all the way.
Build honesty and credibility among your readers and good things will naturally happen to you.
Blogging for beginners Fact 4: Do be in a Hurry to Monetize your blog
This is very common with Blogging beginners. Once they set up their blog, the next thing is to monetize.
While there is nothing wrong about this it could distract you from what is at that moment important – building content and getting traffic.
It makes no sense to monetize a site with zero traffic.
I remember when I started my first blog. I added AdSense immediately and everyday I always check my AdSense account to see if I had made some money. But since I had no traffic, what I always saw was $00.00 which always brings down my spirit to move forward with my writing.
So build some content first. Then some traffic, before monetizing. That way you can start making money in your first month of monetizing your blog.
Traffic equals money
Blogging for beginners Fact 5: Build Relationships
Familiarize yourself with fellow bloggers especially of related niche. You can do this just by commenting regularly on their blog.
Building relationships with bloggers in your niche could bring some good deals. And you never know when you need a favor.
It is easier to ask for a favor from a friend than from a stranger.
It also keeps you updated about what is going on in your niche, which is important.
Most of all build relationship with your readers through comments, e-zines and newsletter. It is among what determines whether or not you get repeat visitors to your blog. The major determinant though is whether or not your content provide value.
So when you get frustrated about every other thing, just write more content. You can never go wrong with it.
Always keep in mind the saying: Content is KING
