Start Your Own Blog

          Being a blogger is one of the easiest ways to earn money from home. Unlike any other job, if you are blogging from home. You don’t need to work 9-5. You can work at any time of the day with ease. But beware blogging takes time before it starts making money for you. So I suggest you jump into this field slowly. If you have a day job, don’t quit it. Start part-time with your blog. Once it is on the stage where it is earning you more than your comfortable limits then it’s the best time to turn into full-time blogging mode.

Suitable For

People who love to write and would like to share their knowledge and expertise with the world. Ability to express knowledge in writing with simpler yet effective way.

How to Get Started

1. Pick a blog name. Choose something descriptive.
2. Get your blog online. Register your blog and get hosting.
3. Customize your blog. Choose a free template and tweak it.
4. Write & publish your first post. The fun part!
5. Promote your blog. Get more people to read your blog.
6. Make money blogging.

Tips

1. Start a blog about something in which you are really good at. For e.g. If you love travelling and you have travelled a lot of places then start a travel blog.
2. Always try to limit your blog to a particular domain. Don’t put content about multiple domains in one blog. For e.g. Writing about recipe tips on a fashion blog. Keep your blog specific to one domain only.
3. Using your experience and expertise, try to create a very unique and phenomenal content.
4. Try to give a lot of value to your readers. Write about something that will make a difference in your reader's’ life.
5. Listen to the readers of your blog. Try to solve the problems they are facing. Always reply to their comments. Make them feel better.
6. Be committed to your blog. A blog is like a relationship. Give it some love and it will flourish. Ignore it and it will die a death. There’s no point in being half-hearted in your blogging efforts - if you don’t care about it, why should anyone else?
7. Think about content, style, tone of voice, audience, etc.Look at the people who already do what you’re planning to do.  Ask yourself the following questions: How will I stand out from the crowd? What can I say that hasn’t already been said? What’s my unique selling point? Why do I want to do this?
8. Be professional in the way you handle and grow your blog. Don’t criticize other brands, bloggers or people. Remember what goes around comes around. You don’t want something you’ve said to come back and bite you one day.
9. Be open minded and willing to collaborate with other creatives. You’ll meet some fantastic and awe-inspiring people.

Monetization

        You can monetize your blog by recommending products or services related to your blog’s topic either by writing an informative article or placing banner ads on your blog’s relevant pages. You can earn handsome commissions when a person buys a product recommended by you. Another way is you can place Google Adsense ads on your blog. More people click on your ads more money you will make.

Top 7 Blogging Websites

1.       http://www.WordPress.org
2.       http://www.Wix.com/
3.       http://www.Joomla.com/
4.       http://www.Medium.com/
5.       http://www.Weebly.com/
6.       http://www.Blogger.com/
7.       http://www.Tumblr.com/

Tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/eky_ScK4uPU
https://www.youtube.com/lgu9MXlLEpo
https://www.youtube.com/7rbTyfnAV1M
https://www.youtube.com/dViOBrbu0KE
https://www.youtube.com/bc4WKqnRW30

Top Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners

Top Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners

Get ideas from your audience

Create blog posts that answer the most interesting questions from people you engage with on social media.

This can be a great way to gather ideas of what topics people would most like to read about, which will help your blog grow! One of the best ways I’ve seen this in action is through blog comments or Tweets. In one example, here on FastCompany a lot of people requested a post that features more women entrepreneurs:

Now, a few weeks later adding such an article where just women contributed and built great businesses was a big hit:

 

Understand your audience

Understand your audience better than they understand themselves. It takes a lot of upfront research, and often means being a member of the very tribe you’re trying to lead – but it pays off.

Brian Clark, founder and CEO, Copyblogger

Understanding your audience better means you’ll have a better idea of what blog content will resonate with them, which is a good start when you get to writing blog posts.

A great technique for doing this is to simply ask your readers first on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn with an engaging quote. If people respond well to it, than this is probably a great topic to write about. An example for this comes from Andrew Chen who famously “tests” his blogpost ideas on Twitter first.

And so does Joel here at Buffer. Take this example from a recent Twitter post of his, where he simply tweeted one quote to see how well people liked a topic before he blogged about

 

Write for yourself first

Write for yourself first & foremost. Ignore the fact that anyone else will read what you write; just focus on your thoughts, ideas, opinions and figure out how to put those into words. Write it and they will come.

Adii Pienaar, founder of PublicBeta

Adii’s experience in writing for himself firstly has made a difference to his blog in ways he didn’t expect:

Yes, since I’ve been writing for myself, I’ve found that I write more and I publish more often. I think though that the main reason for that is that I don’t decide whether to publishing something based on the traction / reception that the post will receive within my audience; instead if I want to publish something, I do so. For myself.

 

Build your email list

Start building your email list from day one. Even if you don’t plan on selling anything, having an email list allows you to promote your new content to your audience directly without worrying about search rankings, Facebook EdgeRank, or other online roadblocks in communications.

When you’re asking readers to sign up for your email list, you might want to try experimenting with different language. Willy Franzen found that his subscription rate jumped 254% higher when he changed his call-to-action from “subscribe by email” to “get jobs by email”:

 

Using this phrase more clearly tells Willy’s readers what they’re signing up for, which clearly worked well!

 

Love your existing readers

Love the readers you already have. A lot of bloggers get quite obsessed with finding new readers – to the point that they ignore the ones they already have. Yes – do try to find new readers but spend time each day showing your current readers that you value them too and you’ll find that they will help you grow your blog.

Darren Rowse, founder of ProBlogger

Focusing on your readers is a great way to get to know them better (see tip #2). I love the way Daniel Burstein describes blog readers’ expectations of you as a blogger:

A blog is really two things. One, simply a piece of technology, a platform. But, two, it is a promise in the minds of most readers, who expect that the blog should have actual content with some elements of value that is hyper-targeted to their needs. Much like with a newspaper. Readers don’t just look at a newspaper as newsprint that is delivered on their driveway every morning. They look at it as valuable information about their city, where they live, and the things that they do.

 

Focus on building an amazing call-to-action

I screwed up for years. I’d blog and blog. Some of my posts were doing very well on places like Hacker News, but I had such hard time getting return visitors. And very few people bothered to follow me on Twitter.

Don’t rely on people to do the work to find your Twitter account. Don’t rely on them to do the work to find your details in a sidebar. People are blind to sidebars. Thanks banner ads!

Finish your blog post with some kind of call to action to signup for an email list or follow you on Twitter. When I started doing this, I immediately increased my Twitter followers by 335% in the first 7 days.

Nate Kontny, founder of Draft

Nate uses a simple call-to-action on his blog now, that looks like this:

 

This particular technique we’ve also tested here on the Buffer blog and found it to work amazingly well to bring attention to other blog posts we’ve written, like this:

 

or to Buffer product features, like this: 

7. Give stuff away

Give away free content that adds value to people’s lives “until it hurts” and they will love you and become loyal fans.

Jeff Bullas, blogger and author of Blogging the Smart Way

A great example of this is the research done by Incentivibe, who found that adding a giveaway contest pop-up to the bottom-right of their website led to 125% more email subscribers.

Ways to Create an Engaging Blog Experience

 

Ways to Create an Engaging Blog Experience

Display Content With Cards

When you see the cards design, you probably think of Pinterest—bits of visual information at the reader’s fingertips. That’s why the card design is also effective for blogs to showcase multiple posts.
A card design helps marketers showcase multiple pieces of content in a visually appealing way. Instead of scrolling down a long list of blog ideas, it’s easy for readers to scan through the different cards, which makes it extremely user-friendly.
For example, Yoh’s blog features cards with different blog post topics. This allows the blog visitor to see a variety of options for content and decide what to click on next.

Yoh’s blog uses a card design to showcase content.
Readers discover new sites either through an interesting article posted on social media or because they searched for a specific topic online. Once they’re on the site, they’ll likely be engaged through easy access to multiple pieces of content.

Implement Responsive Design

Many people read blog content on the go—during their commute on public transportation, while waiting for someone or just hanging around. They also click on blog links while checking social media accounts on their smartphone.
According to a Google study on mobile sites, 79% of users who don’t like what they find on a mobile site will look for the information they need on another site. Additionally, 52% of users said a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company. These stats alone justify the necessity of responsive blog design.
While some Social Media Examiner readers check out articles on their desktop computers, others read it on a mobile device. Whichever way users explore the site, they’ll have an easy way to navigate.

Social Media Examiner is easy to read on a mobile device.
When people visit SocialMediaExaminer.com on a mobile device, they can scroll up and down to see the content options instead of scrolling up, down, left and right. It may not sound that important, but it makes a huge difference in the user’s experience.
When your mobile site is responsive, readers will stay put. They don’t need to leave your site to go to a more user-friendly website with the same information.

Serve Personalized Content

Personalization for blog content is becoming a necessity; it’s no longer something that’s just “nice to have.” This is especially important when you cater to multiple audiences, whether it’s different ages, specialties or roles within a company.

Show someone content that doesn’t relate to their interests, and they won’t spend much time on your website.

The first time readers arrive on the Sales Benchmark Index homepage, they’re asked to identify themselves.

Sales Benchmark Index homepage asks readers who they are, so they’re shown appropriate content.
After readers make their selection, they’re shown a list of appropriate blog articles, rather than seeing all of the available conte

Sales Benchmark Index blog content recommendations are different for each role.

Without asking visitors to fill out any forms, Sales Benchmark Index knows users’ roles at the company simply from their website design.
When you personalize your blog, it’s more than just a design benefit, although that certainly adds to the value. You give users a better experience by engaging them immediately and showing them targeted content.
Personalization gives marketers (and companies) more information about website visitors. This is great for testing and analytics, and allows them to segment interests and content even better.

Include Interactive Storytelling

When evaluating your blog design, also consider the look of your actual blog posts. A typical written blog post doesn’t cut it anymore; it’s all about user experience.
Readers now look for interactive elements within the blog posts. Find ways to incorporate them into your blog post design, whether it’s GIFs or special graphics that add to the article, infographics to supplement the material or an actual interactive adventure.
In their announcement of the new game Project Spark, Microsoft created an interactive post on their stories platform, rather than write a long post that explains the game, how they built it and other background information. In the post they take the reader on a journey; they ask questions and show different content based on the interaction.
Microsoft stories’ interactive blog post takes readers on an adventure.
After you choose a path, it continues the story. Note: Even if you say “no,” it gives you the option to change your mind.

Readers are taken on a different path based on their answers.
The more you read, the more engaged and invested you are in the story. You learn about the game in a fun, interactive way. It’s a “choose your own adventure” blog post style.

At every fork in the road, there’s always the option to answer no, complete your journey and download the game.
Microsoft constantly comes up with new ways to engage their audience and keep them coming back for more. It’s an excellent site for marketers to explore in hope of igniting ideas that will work for their brand or company.

Blog Topics Ideas

 Blog Topics Ideas

Blogging

• Step by step on how to build a blog

• Best tools for blogging

• Top blogging practices

• Best blog platform

• Share writing tips

• Top wordpress plugins

• Best hosting

• How to build your business

• How to promote your blog

Fashion

• Favorite fashion designer

• Favorite place to shop for clothes

• What is your fashion style

• How to dress like your favorite celebrity

• Clothing haul

• DIY clothing

• Best online clothing store

• Outfit of the day

Beauty/Makeup

• How to make your own ……….

• Your favorite beauty products

• Top makeup products

• Best hair products

• Top …….. beauty products

• Nail tutorials

• Hairstyle tutorials

• Makeup tutorials

• The best way to get rid of……..

• Makeup hauls

Food/Recipes

• Favorite meal

• Easy meal plans

• Pre-made meal plans

• How to prep food

• How to store food

• Food hauls

• Best couponing methods

• Cooking equipment you use

• Favorite kid meals

• Weekly/monthly food plans

Lifestyle

• Things you don’t know about me

• Favorite movie

• Favorite music

• Best dollar store hauls

• DIY crafts

• Craft tutorials

• Travel bucket list

• How to pack for vacation

• Traveling with kids

• Best road trips

• Places to visit before you die

• How to get travel deals

• Book review

• What you have learned

• Advice for your younger self

• Advice your parents gave you

• Parenting

If you have any great blog topic ideas please comment and share. I hope you have enjoyed and find this helpful.