Blogs are an excellent tool in achieving these desires. That is why people are also interested in building a blog from scratch. We want to share your experiences and knowledge with others.
Most people are familiar with the word “blog” or “blogging.” However, some fail to understand its concepts, even those who plan on building a blog from scratch.
This article will provide you some ideas about blogging and how you can be successful in building a blog from scratch.
Table of Contents
Why you Should Consider Blogging
Before taking a step in building a blog from scratch, it’s essential to check the reasons and benefits you can indulge in this field. Some of these reasons are the following:
It will help boost your confidence
One thing that makes us not confident is that we fail in communication skills, both verbal and written. Blogging will help you improve your reading and writing skills. It can be a foundation for your verbal skills as you talk to your clients and audience.
It will expand your network
What is terrific in the Internet world is the connections that you can get. The engagements you can create with your audience and clients can be an opportunity to include them in your personal networks.
As a blogger, you introduce yourself to the world. Regardless of the niche and field you will pursue, blogging is an opportunity to share your self, ideals, thoughts, and expertise with everyone. You will create a brand name for yourself.
Also, by reaching out to other bloggers, you can belong to a digital community with the same mindset and passion as yours. It will provide an opportunity for self-promotion
Once of the biggest benefits of expanding your network of bloggers is that you will be able to cross-promote each others products and services. Essentially, you can become an affiliate of one another.
Read: Affiliate Marketing Business Model: How To Set Up Your Systems
It can be a potential source of income
Fortunately, your passion for writing can be beneficial to you financially. The Internet is creating various ways to help potential bloggers like you to earn money.
Professionals can create a brand around their product and service. Your blog can be a good way to launch your business.
Also, there is affiliate marketing where companies can advertise their goods and services using your blog. There are endless possibilities for what and how to earn using blogging.
Reasons why you Shouldn’t Start Blogging
Meanwhile, it is essential to check the following signs that you shouldn’t consider blogging. These are some disadvantages. If you are eager to build a blog from scratch, it can take some time to build up traffic.
You are not into social media
Nowadays, social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are the best friends of bloggers. These are the best places to share and promote your future blogs. Assuring success without engaging in these digital networks is impossible.
If social media is not your strongest suit, you can always outsource this work.
Read: Outsourcing Your Social Media: Build Systems For More Profits
You do not know how to manage your time
Building a blog from scratch and maintaining it requires a lot of time and effort. If you do not know how to manage your time, this is another big problem you have to work out.
You are impatient
They say that great things start from small beginnings. If you are impatient and easily get irritated on small issues, you can never establish a good relationship with clients and other bloggers.
It takes time for search engines to recognize you and trust your content.
No successful person made it to where they are now without those small steps. So, if you want to get there without those small steps, maybe blogging is for you.
How Bloggers can Earn Money
Besides being a source to express and share their feelings and knowledge, blogging is a useful source of income. It is one of the many reasons why potential bloggers are eager to build a blog from scratch.
These days, companies and businesses use blogging to provide their customers with valuable and informative content.
It has been an effective marketing strategy not only in ensuring customer loyalty, but persuading potential clients too. We all know that people trust experts in particular fields, which can be manifested in blog posts.
Moreover, some blog owners earn from different advertisement strategies. Affiliate marketing provides an additional income stream with commissions.
Each time a customer buys from the affiliate company through the embedded links to the blog posts, you will be able to get paid.
Lastly, bloggers can sell their own blogs. It happens when a particular blog has higher traffic or monetizing strategy. An interested investor will buy it from them in hopes to make a return. Check out sites like Flippa for potential websites to buy.
Read: How Bloggers Earn Money
How to Start Building a Blog from Scratch
From the mentioned guide in assessing yourself if you are really into the blogging world, it is now time to start building a blog from scratch.
Start by preparing a planning stage
Before anything else, give yourself some time to plan for your blog. A strategy is an essential element to make sure that your blog achieves its success.
Giving yourself some time to plan can also save you from the possibility of spending time and money on something that isn’t worth it.
To start, here are the following questions that can help you:
- What is the primary niche of your blog?
- What will be your blog’s purpose and objective?
- How can you generate money from your blog? Will it from advertising (and what kind?)
- Who are your competitors in the market? What makes them stand out in the market?
- How to make your blog stand out in the market?
- How can you generate traffic from your blog site?
- How much profit do you expect your blog to generate?
From these questions and assessments, you can start conducting research and think about different niches. You can do keyword research, marketing research, and topic planning to move forward in your business.
Select the domain name
It is now time to think about what will be your blog’s name. It is crucial because this will serve as your identity in the online world. It is what everyone, especially your readers, will see first.
It will also represent what your blog can offer to everyone.
When choosing your blog’s domain name, take time to ponder what your blog name will be going to represent:
- What your blog will be about
- Who will be the target audience
- What will be the tone of voice of the blog contents
- The social media platform you will associate in the blog
- If the blog will be a pathway to build your brand
Meanwhile, here are some quick tips to help you get more ideas.
- Check dictionaries and thesaurus
- Use a blog name generator
- Use different language
- Get inspiration from books
- Play with words
Get your blog online; choose a reliable web hosting
The next thing is to make those ideas online, and this is where web hosting can help you. Web hosting will make your blog site accessible to the Internet world.
Its responsibilities include storing all of your blog’s files while securing it. It also provides accessibility to the audience as they click the link or type the blog’s URL.
There are lots of web hosting companies that can offer both good and bad features for your blog website. It’s best to check the web host’s features and reviews.
Check their starter plans, which are recommended to those who are building a blog from scratch. It can help you provide everything you will need for a starter pack.
Consider an annual subscription since you can save more from it. Wait until your blog is well established before exploring other plan offers your chosen web hosting has something for you.
Select your preferred blogging platform
For starters, WordPress and Bluehost are the easiest and simplest blogging platform to use. Moreover, it offers various features that anyone can easily explore to bring out the best in their blog sites.
While it is overwhelming to choose with various blogging platforms available in building a blog from scratch, it is essential to consider the following:
- Specific niche
- Blog necessities from that particular niche
- Features of the blogging platform
- Ease of use
- Integration and design features
Here are some things that you also need to check out:
- What will be your blog’s purpose?
- Who will be your target audience?
- What are the crucial features you will need?
- What is your design in your mind?
- How much is your budget?
Start creating your blog content
No matter how amazing your website looks like, it will remain useless without content. Your first posts are very crucial because this will help set the momentum for your blog. These also serve as pillar posts because this will start bringing traffic posts.
Here are some of the essential elements you consider, especially in writing your first content in your blog.
- Define your content– The content title defines the over-all focus of your content. It is also the first thing that your readers will check. With this, it must be catchy-something that instill their interests. Moreover, the first paragraph should clearly define what the topic is about.
- Break long topics into smaller ones– Long topics mean more information to share, and this is something that readers are eager to have. However, too much information can bore the readers and end it skimming the post, or worse, not read at all. To avoid this, keep the paragraphs shorter. Use sub-headings. Use other visual elements like images and photos to bring more life to the content.
- Include the reader– To create engagements with readers, you can leave a question that can make them think about what you share. Encourage them to leave their questions and views on the blog site’s comment section.
- Edit your work– Readers prefer content that is professionally written. It means it should be free from grammatical errors, plagiarized parts, and lengthy words. Editing and proofreading your work is something that shouldn’t be neglected. Check out Grammarly for all of these needs.
Promote the blog
After making sure that the blog is free from plagiarism and grammar errors, the blog is now ready for promotion. If you’re in the process of building a blog from scratch, it’s normal to spend some time promoting your blog.
In the meantime, the following can help you promote your blog better:
- Start with your inner circle, like your family, friends, and colleagues.
- Promote on different social media platforms.
- Find other bloggers in the community, check their posts, and take some time commenting and sharing your thoughts.
- Never neglect your visitors. Make an effort to respond to their comments.
- Collaborate with other bloggers.
- Create the content on a regular basis
Frequently Asked Questions:
What makes a successful blog?
As cliché as it may sound, the success of your blog relies solely on your hands. Your passion, skills, creativity, and efforts are some of the essential tools that can bring your blog to the next level.
As long as you provide what the internet world needs, there is no doubt that you can create a successful blog.
How much do I need to spend on creating a blog?
If you decide to do WordPress. Hosting will be a couple dollars a month. Blogging is not expensive compared to other business models. Avoid free blogging platforms if you want to monetize in the future.
Why do blogs fail?
Nobody wants an unsuccessful blog site. While lapses and some failures can happen, avoid providing bad content and giving up. These are the two reasons that the large majority of blog will fail.
