With all this talk about making money online you are probably wondering, “How is it done?”
There are dozens of ways to make money online but the way most people, like you, make money online is via a blog.
a) What is a blog?
A blog is a website on which you can post articles about a given topic. Most blogs use a free software called WordPress. If applicable you can also offer a forum, a Facebook page or more if you think user participation would be beneficial. At first you should just have a blog. Get that off the ground and see after a few months if additional tools might be helpful.
b) What should I blog about?
You should always try to blog about a topic you have a genuine interest in. You will have to blog a lot to become a reference site in your niche market. To better guarantee you will still be interested in talking about that topic it is best to talk about something you like or even better, something you know of better than most. Typically most poeple will have a few topics they can blog about.
For example:
– A niche cooking, lifestyle or fashion
– A niche financial, health or legal issues
– A niche activity, hobby or a review site
– A niche passion, art or sport
– A niche technical skill or expertise
From a “monetization” perspective there are competing forces in deciding what to blog about:
– Demand: Can you find or write content about this topic? Will people want to read about it? Are there people looking for this information?
– Offer: Are there already many other blogs about this topic? It is not because there are other blogs about this topic that you should not try. Sometimes much competition means that it is a topic in demand. You will often see a Burger King and MacDonald’s on the same block. Competition is not always a bad thing and can be an indicator of a high demand topic.
However there is such a concept as a saturated market. Certain markets are saturated and as a newcomer you should stay clear of them. If the market you are thinking about is saturated remember you can give things a unique spin. By doing a slight variation you could tap into a more specialized reader base and strive in your own niche market. For example a general topic might be “fixing used cars” while a niche market might be “fixing used vintage Jaguars”.
As a general rule, be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Try as niche of a market as you can dominate with as big of a potential audience as possible.
c) How will I make money with my blog?
By developing a great deal of content that will be both entertaining and educational to people interested in your niche market, you will capture people’s attention. Once you have captured people’s attention you can find ways to promote certain products or services that might be of value to them. If you are successful and develop a trust relationship as an expert in your field you can even further capitalize by actively recommending products you have evaluated or that you use yourself. Don’t expect to make $40,000/month in the first few months but if you become a top blogger in your niche you might even make more after a few years. What are you waiting for?
Some final tips:
– Try to be unique
– Try to be out there (extroverted). If this is difficult for you try to invent a “web persona”. Try to stand out.
– Your blog is about entertaining people or teaching/informing (passing data) to people. So yes, pass on your knowledge but remember to be entertaining as well. Many successful blogs have a tone and “web persona” that you can summarize in a sentence.
That is pretty much it. Good luck!
Here is my article/video on how to install the most popular blogging software WordPress. I will soon be offering free install of WordPress with all basic plug-ins when you order from Hostgator with my coupon code (christophe25) 25% OFF, so stay tuned!
