If you’re still unsure if you have a passion for writing, then maybe you’d feel more comfortable in writing about something else.
There are many great reasons why you should be happy doing what you do.
Business owners can earn money online, free up time to meet new people or goals, and enjoy being more consistent with their habits.
Writers may already feel confident in your ability to understand them and their work, but they go through the effort of introducing you to their community.
And others could find that blogging helps them express themselves and is a fun way to keep learning new things.
You don’t need to be an expert at writing or coding. You can improve yourself anywhere, so learn from other bloggers, read blogs, and look around see if there is a niche you can fill.
Be aware of your strengths and how you interact with people, and offer ways to make yourself more attractive. Adapting to the lifestyle you have now will only help you get into a routine and create a habit.
Choose your audience
Market research is one of the most important things you’ll do as a blogger. You need to know which genre of blogs to focus on.
Don’t start with vlogs (video blogs). Even though people sorta want them, they haven’t really been structured well for online consumption.
Start with text-based blogs like wordpress.com and loyalist. Then move onto video-focused blogs like youtube. Com and Vimeo
You should also have an idea who your target demographic is. Who are you trying to reach? What will make them listen more than anything else?
For example, if you were selling products, then you would want to provide some type of value proposition that helps them get what they want even if it means they have to put in time/work/money to get there.
Create marketing
Think back to what you used to do for work before you started blogging. Did you have an advertising or social media campaign?
Create one if you don’t, and start building it out. It can be something small like putting up a new ad campaign with a specific company or individual.
Alternatively, you could put together an entire promotional event for your blog that will promote it within your community.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure it’s something you want to see results from and get excited about. There is no point in pouring time into creating a super cool ad campaign only to feel disappointed when it fails to deliver results.
Keep working on it until you achieve your goal.
Price your blog
There are many ways to price blogs, but the basics are the same — sell advertising or other content until you earn enough money to live on.
However, we’re talking about pricing a business here—you need to look at what it would cost to run the business (or buy one). Overall, businesses can be expensive to operate and maintain.
It all depends on how much you want to pay for the rights to name the company, brand names, website templates, software programs, marketing materials, etc. Bottom line is that unless you really have the skills required to manage and maintain a business, you won’t make an attempt to charge for it, you will simply give it away.
Businesses within companies do generate revenue, though. If you use someone else’s trademarked logo or advertise using their banner ad program, they should compensate you for those efforts.
Likewise, if you connect them to customers through social media or place an advertisement in your newsletter, they also must pay to promote the product.
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How willing would you be to try out something new? To shop for groceries on Amazon? To drink beer from New Seasons Market? You have to trust two things — the quality of the products and the privacy of your information.
How confident are you that the product you purchase online will actually deliver what it claims? How secure is your personal data
Offer a free gift
There are many ways to earn money as an author, but the most popular way is by offering people a free book.
They can either offer it for a limited time or make it available only at their website.
The idea is that they have something valuable enough that someone will want it even without being forced to buy it.
It has been said that great stories have shaped human history since the beginning of time. That is why we tell stories – to share experiences, to entertain, to get ideas across about reality and imagination.
What you sell isn’t important; how you market yourself is.
You can give away your books for free and hope people find you (like Twitter and Facebook help people find you).
But some kind of marketing is necessary if you want to use social media to spread the word. And one of the best types of platforms is Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Here, you specify tasks designed to be done within mturk-website.com and pay very little per task. About 20 cents, in fact.
Your goal should be to build up a community of people willing to do those tasks for money. After all, social media is a platform built upon connections and communities.
And the more connected your members become, the more value you create for other users, and the more likely they are to reward you with purchases later.
Start advertising
Once you have published at least two blogs posts that are truly excellent, it’s time to start promoting them.
You can use ads or sell products yourself in order to generate extra income. Also, set up affiliate programs so you can get away with doing less work.
Affiliate programs are a great way to promote other companies’ goods and services. When people buy from any of these affiliates by clicking on an ad, they will pay money directly to your account.
For example, if someone buys something from Amazon for $100, their credit score is affected because they think those dollars would be worth $90 now. You only earn money when people click on these ads.
To help others find advertisements about your business, content sites usually allow you to create “affiliates” which automatically generates clicks to other businesses’ websites. For instance, many article publishers like WordPress let advertisers place links to their websites inside each article. This helps the reader make a decision to purchase after reading the article.
These easily accessible connectors give readers a reason to invest more time in reading your articles. Your goal is to encourage them to visit your website once they finish reading.
If you write very popular topics, you may want to recruit some friends who write good quality material (be sure to mention them in your credits). That way, you can split traffic and rank higher in search results.
Encourage commenting
One of the biggest reasons that people read blogs is because they feel like they are talking to someone else. You make them feel more connected to you and their experience with your product or service. It creates an inherent sense of worth, which in turn may encourage them to purchase something from you.
Commenting is one of the greatest ways to connect with your readers and establish yourself as a leader among your niche community.
They play a critical role in letting you know what works for them and what doesn’t, along with giving you insight into why things work and don’t work.
Viewers who visit your site multiple times may not realize that you have commented substantially throughout the web. Providing comments on your own posts enables others to see how quickly and efficiently you treat customers.
Who knows? Maybe this will convince some people to buy!
Make your blog unique
Even if you are not trying to make money, your blog should be interesting and stand out from the crowd.
Your personal story or opinion is more believable and engaging than factual information.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by focusing your content only on yourself or other blogs that parrot whatever others have done. Your idea must be standing out and must be original for people to want to read your work.
It must have uniqueness about it that makes people want to follow what you have to say. Most bloggers include citations when they quote sources (e.g., linkbacks) on their posts.
They identify themselves so that readers can contact them directly for more information. But all too often there is no way for someone who doesn’t know you to figure out where you are coming from.
Their first instinct is to ignore you at best or dismiss you at worst.
That is why being an expert is important. People will trust you more because of who you are and what you have been able to do.
That extra credibility gives you an advantage over those looking to break into the field and inspire confidence in what they are saying.
Provide easy reading
Beyond providing interesting blogs, people want more from free blog articles.
They want readable text!
And yes, even though your content may be unique, you should still invest in good writing practice.
You can start with just $15 per week of advertising, as well as better ranking for important words like “blog” and “write”.
However, without practicing great writing, your posts will stay at a basic level of readability.
So put some time into it – but don’t overdo it. Your writing should be enjoyable, not a burden.
Consider buying a couple of blogging books to help you out. Here are some high-ranked resources for new bloggers.