Starting a blog can be very intimidating, especially if you are a beginner in 2024. In today’s world, where valuable information is scarcely available for free, beginners searching for how to start a blog often struggle to get their feet on the ground.
They are lots of beginners searching for information on how to start a blog.
A huge percentage of beginners trying to start a blog mostly end up getting confused in a “how-to-guide” (usually from an outdated post). Also lots of “how-to-guides” about how to start a blog make beginners see blogging as a long painful process that is not worth trying out.
In this post, I will be guiding you on every single step you need to know on how to start a blog in 2024. I will also show you pro tips that will help you become very successful blogger in 2024.
A blog is more like a website where new information is published and written in an informal or conversational style often with the aim of drawing an audience and creating an online presence while making passive income. You’re reading my blog right now, and this simple guide will help you create your own blog.
Do not wait any longer; begin now! Blogging is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to launch your own company and make money online (from anywhere in the world). To blog successfully, you don’t need to be a qualified professional writer or web developer with years of expertise in your industry. Any person may start blogging and grow a successful online business, regardless of age, geography, or skill level.
You should budget between $50 and $200 on average for setting up your blog. After that, your expenses per month should range from $20 to $60. However, a lot will rely on the type of blog you want to run and your long-term objectives.
The process of launching a blog has been so much easier in 2023, even if you have no past website-development knowledge. You may learn how to start a blog (quite easily) right now by following the instructions in this user-friendly guide, which was written with your convenience in mind.
Yes, millions of people around the world are switching to making money from the comfort of their homes rather than doing a regular 9-to-5 job every week. With relatively minimal initial costs, blogging may be one of the most profitable online businesses. You don’t even have to blog full-time. Even part-time bloggers can earn well into six figures per year from their blogs. All these are only possible with dedication and hard work. A dream will only remain a dream if you don’t start putting in the effort. Writing 2 valuable blog posts every week consistently with good promotion on social media can start generating legit traffic that can convert to income.
Want to start your blog fast?
Skip to the first step without learning every single detail?
Use these quick boxes to jump directly to the steps.
- To start a blog fast simply:
- Look for these boxes.
- Follow the brief steps.
- Click the link to jump to the next box.
Let’s get started on this ride!
If you are new to blogging like I was in 2022 you might have a lot of questions spinning around your head right now. I first came across the term blogging in a youtube video far back in 2021. Youtube algorithm randomly pulled a “How to make money online” video to my face which piqued my interest. Although I already started researching this topic to find my possibilities in the field of blogging.
From the time I watched the youtube video, I have taken blogging to be my number one passion because of the advantage it adds to my writing career. So if you’re a writer or you aspire to become a writer, blogging is the fastest way to kick start your writing journey.
Some of you might be wondering, “If this author knew so much about how to start a blog in 2021 why is he just launching His blog in 2022?
Before I begin to answer this question, this post will explain why you should start your blog immediately and not delay as I did.
How to Choose the best blogging platform in 2024
Every blog on the internet is powered by a blogging platform. There are several blogging platforms available on the internet such as WordPress which is a very popular platform (It’s free and very flexible).
I installed WordPress on my shared hosting account (Bluehost) because of the unlimited access to free useful tools and the flexibility it gives. Other platforms such as Blogger, Tumblr, Wix & Squarespace also have great tools that are also free.
Why do you need a blogging platform?
The major reason why bloggers have to choose a blogging platform is that all bloggers want their blog posts to be available for readers online. I will not deny I faced the hassle of choosing a blogging platform. I was really confused because they were a variety of great options to choose from.
Choosing a blogging platform for a beginner can seem a little challenging. There are lots of things to consider before choosing a blogging platform. But just to select a few, these are the most important kinds of stuff to consider:
- Budget friendliness
- Accessibility
- Speed
- Reliability
- Flexibility
6 Steps on How to Start A Blog In 2024
- Choose a blog niche where you can easily write content
- Choose your blog name and web hosting service
- Choose a basic theme to personalize your blog.
- Add two essential blogging plugins to find your readers and track statistics.
- Improve your blog security and privacy settings
- Create a blog that your readers will enjoy by writing engaging content
STEP 1: Choose a blog niche you can easily write content
If you’re anything like me you might be wondering what a blog niche is. That is ok! you don’t have to beat yourself about that 🙂
In this step, I will show you what to consider before choosing a profitable niche and start writing content.
New bloggers often make the mistake of launching a blog without considering critical factors that make for long-term success. That is why in this post I have carefully researched the factors to consider before choosing a niche.
A blog nieche is a wide topic area on which you will focus your blog’s contents. Some example of blog niches are travel, food, fashion, lifestyle, and technology ecetera.
Web hosting and domain names are not the same. However, they collaborate to make websites feasible. A domain name system is simply a vast, continuously updated address book. Each domain name has the address of the web hosting provider where the website’s files are kept.
How to Choose a blogging niche in 2024
how to choose a blogging niche is very important if you want your blog to succeed. Writing posts for a very broad topic like “digital marketing” will not be a good approach to becoming a successful blogger in 2024.
The reason why many blogs succeed at attracting tons of readers is because of the power of niching down. Also, the reason why many blogs fail is that the authors of those blogs were not specific about the niche they write and publish content.
As a new blogger, you can’t be writing content on technology and politics on the same blog. As interesting as that seems, that will be a counterproductive effort if you have growth in mind for your blog.
Although they are big media companies on the internet like CNN, Forbes, BBC etcetera that can afford to write for multiple broad niches.
A better approach will be to create a blog for technology content and another blog that will host content for politics to make your blog more specific.
Choosing a niche inside a broader niche is called niching down. This concept is used to make blogs more specific about the content they publish. Niching down also makes blogs rank for specific topics in an industry (an example of such industries would include: fashion, entertainment, gaming, technology, marketing, finance etcetera). A niche also serves as a platform to reach a target audience.
As I pointed out, digital marketing is a niche in the marketing space. Digital marketing can further be broken down into smaller niches like SEO, content creation, ad campaign management, social media marketing, etcetera.
If you were anything like I was back in 2021 I’m certain you will be confused about what niche to write content.
Congratulations, your confusion has just come to an end. Before you finish reading this post you will be certain of what niche to write content.
I know some of you already have a topic in mind you want to start writing content about. Before you go on this venture they are 6 things I want you to consider.
Let’s take a look at what these 6 factors are!
What is your passion for writing content in your preferred niche?
To be honest writing blog posts that rank on Google SERP takes a lot of effort. You have to be passionate about writing content to ensure you don’t burn out. Starting out as a new blogger is a lot of work especially when you have decided to compete in very saturated niches like health and fitness, finance, fashion, marketing etcetera.
Your passion for writing will ensure you continue to post and update content even when your monthly traffic isn’t great. If you are not passionate about writing in a particular niche I will not advise you to start on a journey you would not finish. You need to take the time to think about what you have to offer to your target audience before entering into a blog niche.
If you’re confident you can put effort into making content week after week then your passion is straight. They are many requirements to match if your content must explode in monthly organic traffic. Being passionate can keep you on track even when the result is not forthcoming.
Starting a blog from scratch can be time-consuming especially when you don’t have a team of content creators or SEO specialists to put down hours into your blog. You will certainly have to do everything yourself which can easily bring exhaustion. Your passion is like your encouragement engine to ensure your audience regularly gets valuable content from your weekly posts.
What is my goal for this niche site?
Before choosing a niche, you must first identify your site’s goals. Your goals would often determine the direction your blog would take over the competition in your niche. Your blog goals must include the value you will be providing for your target audience. When your content is devoid of value it becomes useless and will hardly attract readers.
When you add value to your readers you will certainly make a profit. Your goals should often determine what income stream you will prefer as you run your blog over the course of time.
These are very important questions to consider when setting up the goals for your blog
- Do you intend to target affiliate offers?
- Do you want a hands-off approach where your income is directly from display ads?
- What kind of income strategy do you want to adopt?
Are they problems to solve inside the niche?
The major reason why you should have readers come to your blog should primarily be focused on the problems you are solving in your niche. A variety of readers are unconcerned about how great your content and your products are if your content can’t provide a solution to their persistent problems.
Your blog can drag organic traffic when you provide solutions to problems that are peculiar to your niche.
How can you identify the pain points your audience has?
Your audience is going to have a variety of different pain points that can be broken down into the following categories:
Learning – readers in a certain niche may struggle because they are having difficulty learning all of the new skills that go with it. Again, there could be numerous causes for this, ranging from their personal inexperience to a lack of reputable information and lessons on related topics.
Productivity – this is an extension of the previously mentioned pain points. No matter what they do, members of your target audience may fail in making progress when it comes to learning about or succeeding in your niche. This could boil down to monetary issues or a lack of knowledge, or it could be something else entirely.
Monetary – They aren’t able to succeed in your niche due to financial constraints. There could be several reasons for this, such as current solutions not being cost-effective for average consumers. They may also not be experienced enough in your niche to know how to save, which leads me to my next point.
Support – Something you may come across while you go through each method listed below is several members of your target audience lamenting about the lack of support in your niche.
Are there enough topics to write content on?
While you might think a niche with tons of overall search volume will have plenty of topics to cover, that’s not always the case. If a niche has some high-volume seed keywords, but not many questions related to those keywords, you might be left with a short list of topics.
The reason this is important is that with my method of building niche sites, your goal as a beginner is to find low-competition keywords to target. In most cases, a low-competition keyword will have low volume.
What this means is that you need a lot of these low-volume keywords to kick-start your blog traffic and income. If you get stuck coming up with 50 or even 100 of these low-competition/low-volume keywords, your niche likely isn’t a good target.
I always target broad niches for this exact reason. By going broad from the beginning, you can deep-dive into a subtopic, then expand into another, then another, and so on.
Basically, if you want your site to grow into a massive authority site, you need hundreds, if not thousands, of potential topics to target on your site.
Is the niche oversaturated?
Next, you’ll want to determine whether or not there’s space for another site in your target niche. While I believe there are untapped opportunities in just about every niche under the sun, some are much easier to target than others.
Generally speaking, the niches with the highest advertising costs will be the most competitive. Some examples are insurance, health and fitness, and finance. While it’s definitely possible to carve out some space in these niches, it’s going to take more effort and likely take much longer to gain traction.
Is there enough search volume?
After completing the first few steps, the next one is crucial to confirm. Is the search volume in your desired niche high enough?
Even though you may have found a ton of questionable keywords in your niche in step #3, if each of those phrases receives just 10–30 monthly searches, there may not be enough potential traffic altogether to warrant creating a site in the area.
After all, the objective is to develop a site that, as it expands, can generate a lot of traffic and income. It’s crucial to determine your objectives and whether your niche has the ability to help you achieve them, even though everyone has different traffic and revenue goals.
Finding the specific search volume of a keyword is difficult. The greatest thing you can do is use a few tools along with some common sense.
In order to determine whether or not the niche itself has a good volume, start by looking at Google Trends. Following that, you should experiment with several keyword tools that can give you a rough indication of the search volume for a given phrase.
Keywords Everywhere is my go-to resource. It is quite affordable and functions as a Chrome or Firefox extension, displaying the popularity of different terms as you input them into Google Search.
Before you proceed into step 2, I want to believe you have selected your writing niche based on the factors I listed for choosing a profitable niche.
I know some of you might think choosing a niche isn’t as difficult as I labeled it to be. 🙂
Wait until you’re a beginner in a very technical field like computer programming/software development. Then you would understand just how difficult it is to settle in a new field or industry.
STEP 2: Choose your blog name and hosting
Starting out as a new blogger you will need to come up with a name for your blog. The name of your blog usually is the identity of your blog/business in the face of your audience. Choosing a name that looks professional can create a good first impression on your audience. Your blog name should always impose the type of content that is fitting for your target audience.
How To Start A Blog Quick Start Guide - Step 2
This is the initial stage when you will choose a blog name (yourblogname.com) and buy blog hosting.
- Go to Bluehost and click the Get Started Now button.
- Select the Basic plan.
- Select a domain name and enter it in the New Domain box.
- Create an account with Bluehost
Your blog’s name or domain name (such as yourblog.com) is what readers will see first, so it should ideally symbolize either the main topics you’ll be writing about—or it may be your own name, that of your business, a clever combination of words, or something else.
If you’re having trouble coming up with the perfect blog name, consider using Wordoid tool, a fantastic naming tool that will provide you with a variety of excellent options.
Now that you have chosen a domain name it is time to build your blog. There is an abundant list of options to choose from if you want to start building your blog in 2024. For the sake of simplicity, I will be using WordPress CMS. WordPress is the best platform for blogging as you have seen from the beginning of this post (platforms for blogging). WordPress is free and has support for millions of free themes and plugins we can choose from to build our blog.
A domain name is always prefixed with a post title when you’re browsing a blog. The photo below shows the posistion of a domain name on a web-browser:
What is a domain name
Bluehost is a shared hosting service that makes it possible for blogs and other websites to be available online. Bluehost uses web technologies to run many of the services they provide for its clients.
How to choose a good web hosting service for your blog
To choose a hosting service consider the following factors.
Reputable hosting company. To start a blog in 2024 you have to find a reputable hosting company. I use Bluehost to host Digital Network Savvy. I’m very confident to recommend BlueHost to you because I use their service to host my website. I will be a very bad person to recommend a product or service that I haven’t tried out. I also use Bluehost to host several other websites (personal and client websites). there are other cheap shared hosting alternatives like a2hosting, dreamhost, namecheap, and nexcess. You can also explore site builders like shopify, wix or squarespace if you are not technically inclined to web development and coding.
Free Domain. When I started using Bluehost I was given access to register a domain name for free. When you sign up for hosting today with Bluehost you will be given a free domain name. Bluehost covers you from recurring upfront fees associated with purchasing a domain by yourself. If you already purchased a domain name, don’t worry; you can still transfer your domain to Bluehost.
Great Pricing. Digital Network Savvy is a Bluehost affiliate partner, which means that in addition to using their service, we also receive a commission for referring new customers. Before Digital Network Savvy was live on the internet I already determine to join Bluehost. Click here to Join BlueHost now.
I’m not recommending Bluehost because I’m an affiliate partner (almost all hosting platforms on the internet have affiliate programs), I’m recommending Bluehost to you because it is the best reliable option on the internet.
Money-Back Guarantee. Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if Bluehost services didn’t really meet your expectation within 30 days you can request a refund.
Reliability. Bluehost is highly reliable because my website hardly ever gets any downtime. Be rest assured that your business will be up and running week-in-week-out on Bluehost. if you’re anything like me that is very cautious about power outages, Bluehost will always make sure you find rest when hosting your business on their servers.
Bluehost is powered by world-class IT technologies and hardly gets any downtime because of its custom-built 20,000-square-foot data center with enough backup generators to power a city.
Join Bluehost today to get your blog running with a free domain name and great hosting plans.
Now you know what makes a great hosting service, let’s proceed to register a domain name and hosting.
Now you’re ready to begin, goto to Bluehost and click the Get Started button.
Get started with bluehost
Next, select a hosting package.
Select a bluehost package
Prices range from $3 and $6 per month, depending on whether you want a simple, single-blog hosting plan or a more powerful one that allows you to create many blogs.
After you’ve chosen your plan, you’ll select or input your domain name.
Regiter your domain name
If you don’t already have a domain name, simply type it into the New Domain box.
If you already have a domain name, type it into the I have a domain name box.
Input your exiting domain name
Click Next.
Click next to proceed
You will be directed to the next page were you will select your domain name. When you have selected your domain name then you would click the continue button.
Click on continue to proceed
Finally, make a blogging account.
Enter your details and complete your Bluehost account Resitration
To finish your blog hosting setup, click Create your password.
Complete your Bluehost account registration
You’re on your way to becoming a blogger!2024202
STEP 3: Choose a basic WordPress theme
There are a lot of things to consider before selecting a WordPress theme for your blog. This is very crucial because a WordPress theme is responsible for the overall appearance of your blog (layouts, fonts, colors etcetera).
A WordPress theme is a tool that modifies the appearance of your website. The layout, typography, color, and other aspects of your website’s interface.
The best marketplace looks for elegant WordPress themes that are well-trusted and provide a high-quality appearance.
- WordPress
- ThemeForest
- ThemeGrill
- StudioPress
What you want for your blog is a theme design that is clear, responsive, and simple to use while still standing out. There are lots of free responsive themes on the WordPress theme repository.
How To Start A Blog Quick Start Guide - Step 3
The next step is to select and install a WordPress theme for your blog.
- Visit Themeforest
- Purchase the theme that best suits your preferences.
- Download and save the.zip file for your theme to your desktop.
- Back in your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Appearance > Themes.
- Click Upload, followed by Upload Theme.
- Choose File, navigate to your theme.zip file, and then click Install Now.
- Click the Activate button.
As a new blogger choosing the right theme that suits your blog can be kind of challenging because they are lots of things to consider. I would take you through those considerations shortly but before I do that I would like to bring you a perspective on the kind of theme that can make your blog look elegant.
The fastest WordPress blogging themes (tested and compared with real data)
Why is it essential to select the best WordPress theme for your blog?
Choosing the wrong WordPress theme could be fatal for your blog. The appearance and interactivity of your website influence not only how people perceive your online presence, but also your entire brand.
6 things to consider when choosing your WordPress theme
Prior to continuing with your chosen WordPress theme. I want you to immediately think about the following things. These elements will guide your decision-making for the long-term appearance of your blog.
The true test is about to begin.
List the key characteristics you want your blog to have in writing.
You must pick the components and features your blog will have before deciding on a theme. The headers, font, colors, post page, logos, and background are the key components of a WordPress theme.
With the help of the WordPress Feature Filter in the Themes Repository, you can quickly and easily focus your search for free themes on particular qualities like translation readiness and the availability of configurable options.
Prior to choosing a theme, it is also imperative to have a design in mind. You should be prepared to make decisions about your blog’s structure, such as whether you want it to have one or several columns.
A simple design is more in terms of style and presentation. Starting from scratch, the theme you select should only have components that will help you accomplish the goals of your website, not needless ones that will clutter your blog’s aesthetic.
Aim for themes with simple and elegant designs
Several WordPress themes have bright colors, intricate layouts, eye-catching animation, widgets, and other elements that might draw readers’ attention away from your content.
Look for a theme with a simple, clean design that places a lot of attention on usability. It should satisfy all of your blog needs without becoming overly difficult.
Check the theme’s cross-compatibility with web browsers
It’s no secret that there are a variety of browsers available for internet use. Reputable WordPress developers use advanced browser compatibility tools to test their themes.
There are numerous compatibility problems with free themes. I want you to give browser compatibility first priority while selecting a theme. Because many of your visitors will access your blog using their mobile phones, always make mobile devices your primary focus when testing for browser compatibility.
You will have a lot of trouble increasing visitors to your website if your blog doesn’t display properly on mobile devices. More often than other technology like computers or tablets, readers are always with their smartphones.
Therefore, even if your theme looks amazing on a desktop or laptop, make sure it looks perfect on mobile devices when viewed through various browsers. In any case, make sure a new theme appears as intended by checking it in various browsers before using it.
Priorities on theme responsiveness especially on mobile
With the explosion in traffic coming from mobile devices in recent times, you have to consider how responsive your theme is. Most of the up-to-date WordPress themes are responsive by default.
However, you cannot assume that the functionality would be adequate. Before making your site publicly available, test for mobile responsiveness.
Check for developer support for your preferred theme
Nothing is more frustrating than having a bad user experience with a theme especially if you are new to WordPress. There are lots of WordPress themes on theme marketplace like ThemeForest. So many of the developers of some of these themes have stopped providing support for their users probably because their product failed and didn’t make sales.
My advice is for you to choose a theme with strong community and developer support like Astra or Blocksy theme. There are lots of professionals that can solve any case scenario you may encounter. Having a bad experience when using a new theme can frustrate the process of building your blog, especially for beginners.
You want to be sure you have good developer support for your theme so that you can receive quick fixes for any errors in the appearance of your blog.
Search for possibilities of theme breaking down on usage
There are several reasons why a theme might breaks-down on a live website. This is not a new story when hosting a WordPress website.
Some of the reasons why themes break down may be due to a plugin update. This normally happens when a plugin is used as a dependent for a theme. These plugin updates might break down some features on the theme.
Another such scenario for theme breakdown will be due to WordPress updates or policy changes which can affect themes with no developer support. You want to look out for more stable themes on the WordPress repository. You can easily find a stable theme on the WordPress repository or theme marketplaces by looking for download numbers (These are statistics that can easily be spotted side-by-side with theme download links).
There are very popular themes on the internet with lots of support for any theme display and appearance issue. One such theme is the Astra theme. Astra has a large community and developer support for its users.
I use Blocksy theme on this blog and I rarely have any issues with the theme. Not because I am a tech enthusiast. It’s just that Blocksy theme is just perfect for all the settings I require for my blog. I would recommend Blocksy theme for your new blog because it’s free and comes with a lot of free features. Blocksy is a multi-purpose theme. You can use it to build the following types of websites.
Blogs
- Podcast site
- Portfolio site
- Ecommerce stores
- Online course site
- Agency website
Blocksy theme can do almost anything you want because it has a repository of template designs. it’s very customizable and easy to use. Blocksy theme is highly customizable with cool settings that can make your site look elegant. It even gets better when you use the pro version. So if you’re still confused about what theme to use for your blog I will recommend you try the Blocksy theme. You will certainly stick with this theme for a long time.
STEP 4: Add two essential blogging plugins to find your readers and track statistics
A plugin is a third-party package that is executed in WordPress to add additional functionality to your blog.
Plugins can be used to your advantage to create a great user experience for your readers. Also, plugins can quickly become the reason why your WordPress website might break down. In step 3 I talked about how plugins can break a website so it will be wise to uninstall plugins you don’t use for your website.
How To Start A Blog Quick Start Guide - Step 4
In the final setup stage, you will install two plugins that will enhance the functions of your blog.
- Go to Plugins > Add New on your WordPress Dashboard.
- Look for Yoast SEO. Click Install Now, then Activate.
- To add another plugin, click the Add New button.
- Search for MonsterInsights and then select Install Now, then Activate.
- To set up MonsterInsights, click Launch the wizard button!.
It’s also good to keep your plugin installation to a minimum as too many plugins can affect the speed of your website.
The two most essential plugins in WordPress for every beginner
YoastSEO. Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that helps you optimize your blog content and keywords to boost its search engine rankings. Much of what Yoast SEO accomplishes is automatic but it still requires your strategy and head knowledge of SEO. If you want to learn more about yoastSEO click here.
- Monster Insights. The most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress is called MonsterInsights. With just a few clicks, you can easily link your WordPress site to Google Analytics using MonsterInsights. In order to keep users coming back, MonsterInsights enables you to understand how they locate and use your website.
Now you know what Yoast SEO and Monster Insights are used for it’s time to install them in your WordPress blog.
Go to Plugins > Add New on your WordPress dashboard.
How to start a blog and add monster insights
Look for Yoast SEO.
How to install yoast SEO on WordPress
Then select Install Now, followed by Activate, and your blog’s SEO will increase immediately.
Next, look for MonsterInsights.
Search for monsterinsights on the plugin search bar
Then click Install Now, then Activate.
Click install to add mosterinsights plugin
Then, click Start the Wizard! and proceed with the MonsterInsights installation.
STEP 5: Improve your blog security
Improving your blog security can greatly impact the safety of your hard work, time, and effort; your blogging income; and your ability to blog more productively.
Preventing your blog from getting hacked can save hundreds of dollars trying to recover your blog from a hacker.
So, do your future self a huge favor and prioritize blog security after reading this post.
Here are 8 simple strategies to keep hackers and other risks out of your blog…
- Always keep everything in your blog updated
- Make use of SSL.
- Use a strong password at all times
- Use 2-factor authentication
- Do not use the default WordPress username ‘admin’.
- Install a security plugin
- Make use of Cloudflare DDoS protection.
- Finally, preserve a backup of your website.
STEP 6: Create a blog that your readers will enjoy by writing engaging content.
You have come to the final step of creating your blog. Congratulations on reading all the way down to this point!
Just before I get started with this step it will interest you to know that becoming a great writer is a process. At this point, you should understand the stages involved in creating a blog from step one. Writing compelling content that can engage your audience takes a lot of effort and great writing. At the end of this step, I will show you the quickest steps to write a compelling blog post. Stay connected as I take a dive into these steps. Now that you have created your own blog, it is time to make your vision become a reality.
To write your first blog post you must put the following things together.
Create a compelling blog. Remember when you installed WordPress you immediately selected a WordPress theme and installed a few plugins. But that’s not enough to make your website create a good first impression on your readers. They are a lot of work that needs to be done before your website can begin to drag traffic. You remember I wrote about having a passion for blogging at the beginning of this post. If you are not passionate about blogging you will struggle with setting up a compelling blog that creates a good impression with readers. A compelling and engaging website or blog in my opinion will be a site that has the following qualities;
- Contents that add value
- Quality website design and layouts (minimalistic designs)
- Elegant home page or landing pages
- Great user experience
- Fantastic images
- Easy page navigation
- Minimal to no distractions (page popups and display ads)
When your blog has all these qualities I listed above you can be sure your posts are compelling enough to drag organic monthly traffic. Before you publish your first post make sure your blog matches at least 3 to 5 of the conditions I listed above. When you leave a bad first impression on your readers, they may not be visiting your blog for a very long time. Even when you update your blog your first-time readers will still perceive your content as mediocre and uninteresting. So be sure to add your first impression to your bucket list when creating your blog. When you develop your writing skill for content that gets ranked high on Google SERP (search engine result page). Always remember to stay focused on providing value rather than lengthy content that gets readers more confused. Don’t get distracted in making money with your blog and lose sight of the value you’re providing for your target audience. Place your audience as your first priority when creating your content.
Add a photo of yourself. Readers of blog posts usually want to know or meet their authors. A photo serves as a great medium to establish a connection with the blog post author. So before you publish your first post make sure you have a photo of yourself in your blog. Make sure your photo is professional and with a smiley face. As a blog owner, you mostly will be the main administrator of your WordPress blog. Many big blogs on the internet have a team of individuals that organize and create content for their blogs.
Create a basic logo. Aside from your blog name, a logo is a little visual design of your blog name. There are many ways to design your logo I would not talk about that in this post. You can use text or graphical illustrations like shapes and colors. I know many of you are not designers. Designing a logo for your blog shouldn’t be a problem. You can easily hire a logo designer on Fiverr or Upwork for a couple of bucks to make an elegant logo for your blog. You can make your logo on design apps like Adobe Photoshop, and CorelDRAW or use online resources like Canva or Logomakr for free. You may be required to pay a set fee to get no-watermark images of your designs.
Include images in your post. “A photo speaks a thousand words” If you want to write a compelling post add images. A good post must contain at least 3-5 images.
Add quality backlinks. A backlink is used to redirect readers from your blog to other websites or from other websites to your blog. Readers that use links from other sites to get to your blog are using inbound links while readers that get to other websites from a link in your blog post are using outbound links. Adding many backlinks to your post can make your blog post rank higher on Google SERP (search engine result page). A post with a minimum of 100 quality backlinks would rank higher than a post with 10 – 20 backlinks. Google considers incoming links to be signals of high-quality content and outward links to be recommendations of other excellent content. Make sure you add an outbound link to other content creators and bloggers that relate to your post so that your audience can get more information about a topic. You can also reach out to these creators to add a do-follow backlink to your blog post on their websites.
Social media presence. Establish a social media presence for your blog. Usually, you will have to create compelling content on TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest & Facebook that will pique audience interest. This might seem like a lot of work but it pays up in the long run. Blogging in the 21st century is a lot of hard work and effort. It takes time, consistency, and patience to be visible on the internet.
Publish your post. When you have completed the above-listed steps it’s time to publish your blog. When you practice what I listed above on every of your content. Your blog will have the potential to drag 1-3k organic traffic per month. Growing a social media presence takes time.
It’s all about patience and hard work. When your blog becomes credible and your blog post ranks high on Google SERP do not allow negative criticism to destroy your efforts.
How to Blog like a Professional: 6 Blogging Tips to Improve Your Writing
Steps to write as pro blogger
Define your Target Audience
The first step to improving your writing is to identify your ideal writing niche. If you want to read more about selecting a profitable writing niche you can read my post on [selecting a blogging niche in 2024]. When you have identified your writing niche it’s time to define who you’ll be writing content for. My blog is very relevant to readers that are looking to start an online blogging business. So all the content I create is revolving around the type of readers that will be interacting with this blog. So If you’re passionate about writing content about fashion or eCommerce topics (like how to start up a dropshipping business). Then you will be attracting eCommerce or fashion readers to your blog.
Research for Quality Contents
The concept of research cannot be overemphasized if you want to be successful in any endeavor in life. Ranging from starting up a business to preparing the most sort after recipes you cannot do without research. So if you want to be a successful blogger in 2024 you will have to be a really good researcher, especially on the internet (google should become your best friend). Things like competitor research in business is a concepts that will not be going away for a very long time. To be honest this blog post was developed thanks to competitor research. I will be very silly to write my own concept of blogging considering blogging has been around since the 90s. Even if I decide to write my personal perspective about blogging It most likely won’t pay off because everything about blogging is already on the internet. All I have to do as a writer is to gather the most relevant information in a way that is engaging enough for my audience to be perceived as valuable.
Provide Value for your Audience
People around the globe regardless of race or social background will always place value above other things. So if you’re new to blogging always place value above your personal interest (profits and traffic coverage). Because at the end of the day nobody cares about your perspective on anything. The only thing people care about is the advantage your program gives to them ahead of their competition. If you’re afraid of competition in your preferred niche I will advise you to forge ahead and start providing the value that is lacking in your niche. When you begin to do this you will begin to stand out in your niche. Audiences are looking for that extra information to make them stand out and when you give them that they will stick with you for a long time.
Be Original and Write Original Content
What makes the difference between your blog and the rest of the blogs in your niche is originality. Readers can perceive the authenticity of your content. when you go about copying other authors’ content your blog will most likely not last. There are penalties when you violate copyright laws, you might attract very huge fines.
Use Story Telling to Write Engaging Blog Posts
If you want to attract an audience that will always reference your post you’ll have to learn the art of storytelling. Storytelling is a technique that engages readers and makes your content look interesting. Storytelling is not only used in blogging, it’s a practice that is being widely in the entertainment industry to keep the audience engaged. Storytelling normally places an introductory hook that makes readers or viewers look out for the next connecting line of your story while keeping them engaged.
Have a Sense of Honesty
Your blog needs to be authentic and feels real to your target audience. Write your blog posts in a way that represents who you’re, don’t hide behind the letters in your post. Make it easy for the target audience to connect with your personality. Make sure all you write about in your blog is verifiable by your audience. Before you click the publish button on wordpress ask yourself these questions;
- Is this post helping my audience solve their problems?
- Are my outbound links legit and authentic sources?
- Is my post controversial?
If you don’t do the above checks readers will perceive your content as not helpful and unreliable. Writing honest content, especially reviews on a product helps establish trust with your audience.
Bonus Tip!!!
Ignore Negative Criticism
Bad comments are unavoidable and criticism can come from uninformed individuals who aren’t actually your blog readers. These folks are not consistent readers in your blog and it’s very easy to spot them when they come in and write crap on your blog. The best thing you can do for yourself is to ignore them. Delete their comments if your must but make sure to control the vibe around your blog. You spent hours crafting your blog post always knowing you’re in control. If you’re a person that can’t withstand criticism then you’re not ready for long-term success in the blogging industry. Anything that is worthwhile would away face criticism, especially from your competitors. Pay no attention to such negativity when it encounters you.
How to make money blogging in 2024
How to make money blogging
They are many channels bloggers can use to monetize their blogs. Here are the top 6 avenues a blogger can use to generate passive income streams.
Using Ads to your Advantage
You can quickly generate revenue through your blog using display ads. Google Adsense is a very popular advertising platform. Adsense allows google to place display ads on your website on behalf of other companies to advertise products and services. Google gives you a fee per 1000 views of the ads through your content and also a fee per click or action on a display ad when a viewer makes a purchase from a merchant website.
Become an Affiliate Partner
As a blogger you can register as an affiliate partner with a company and write product and service reviews for prospecting buyers that is compelling enough to trigger a sale. When a buyer uses an affiliate link to buy a product from a merchant site like amazon, a commission for that purchase is given to the affiliate partner. These commissions are sometimes fixed or flexible depending on the affiliate offer of a company.
Sell A Product or Service on your Blog
Selling products or services on your blog is one of the most effective ways to convert your dedicated readership with your audience into a steady money stream. Selling your product on your blog helps you gain full control of your income. You don’t have to worry about third-party companies cutting heavy commissions from your sales. With trust already established your readers can easily make a purchase.
Accept Audience Donations on your Blog
With donations enabled in your blog integrating services like Stripe or PayPal, your audience can send in donations to support your content. This donation can help you cover your subscription and paid services you use in running your blog.
Make Sales with Online Courses
As your blog grows and you become an authority in your niche you can start creating online tutorials that can help beginners kick-start their careers in your niche.
3 reasons why you should start a blog in 2024
You become a better writer. Starting out as a writer requires lots of skills. Connecting with your audience can be challenging if you can’t write content that is worth reading. When you become a blogger you already start getting your fingers on the keyboard and begin to do research about what your audience is looking for on search engines.
You become more confident. You gain consistency by putting your writing to work when you publish content 3-4 times a week. When you begin to see your traffic numbers rise across your post you will be very confident with the effort you put into your blog. You become very confident with the value you’re also adding to your niche. Putting lots of research into your work using SEO will give you authority over search engines. This makes readers to trust your content and shares it with friends and colleagues through social media.
You’ll meet new people. A total of 5.07 billion people around the world use the internet today. When you start a blog today you automatically gain the potential to meet and interact with new people around the globe. Blogging makes it possible to learn about new cultural and social backgrounds as you begin to connect with people.
3 Reasons you shouldn’t start a blog in 2024
Don’t start a blog only to make money. Money should not be the main objective for starting a blog. Your focus should be to provide enough value to your readers. This way when your readers see your content help solve their problems you can be sure they would automatically convert to sales.
Don’t start a blog for just traffic. Don’t worry about getting thousands of readers right away because not all traffic is good traffic. Spend your time creating valuable content, and the audience will automatically show up. This only happens when you assist readers to solve their problems. In other words, prioritize adding value over growing traffic.
Don’t start a blog for Notoriety. Don’t start a blog because you want people to know you. Nobody on the internet actually cares about you. People have real problems and they are always in a constant search for a solution. Don’t be the person that is always controversial and adds no value to the internet. Make sure every piece of content your post on your blog adds value and solve people’s problem. Value is the only way to get visibility in the blogging industry.
Conclusion
I hope this guide was very helpful to you. If you have gone through the entire post I believe you are now equipped with all the information you need to start a blog in 2024.
Now that you have all the information you need to start your blog. I’d like to hear from you about what steps you found very interesting. I’d also like to appreciate you for reading the entire post. You’re awesome! 👍
If you found this post very informative and helpful I’d like you to share this post on social media to help other readers find this resource. Let me know what you think about this post in the comment section.
