I’m pretty proud of the fact that I continue to make several hundred dollars a month without doing anything with my old blog. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but the blog I’m talking about is a super small niche. I’ve read plenty of getting started blogging articles over the years, taken a bunch of courses, and amassed some do’s and don’ts of getting into the blogging world.
So, you may ask, why is it I’m not smashing the headlines on ‘How I Made a Million Dollars blogging.’ To be brutally honest here, I’ve never worked hard enough at it. When the going got tough, I stopped going. That is where this blog comes in. I’m not quitting this time. I’ve cleaned my calendar, so to speak, of everything which I used to deem more important. So now, the story turns to helping you find your blogging inspiration. You see, that is the key to blogging.
At the bottom of this list, I go into more detail on how I make my money every month without touching my other blog. But for now, let me give you some basic rules of thumb to get your blog going on the right track.
Blogging for Beginners Pitfall #1; Blogging is not about me
It’s about helping you, my readers, with your blogging journey. I will have affiliate links embedded in this article. It will help me pay the bills for my newest venture. The commission I earn from them comes out of the parent companies’ share. I don’t bump the price to get a cut. If I can find a deal, I’ll pass it on to you.
My blogging journey started in around 2008 or 2009. I really can’t remember exactly when I got it ramped up. It took me a long time to get it going. I told a friend of mine when he was complaining about money that he should put some ads on his website. He had a site for his profession, and another person managed it. He looked at me and said, “Ads?” At that point, I wish I knew I was hooked on a journey that would take me all the way here.
I started digging into the world of online marketing under the guise of his behalf. Deep down, the bug had already bitten. This online thing, well, it’s an addiction. That was another one of my problems early on.
Blogging for Beginners Pitfall #2; Don’t leapfrog from one big thing to the next
I lacked focus. I got that other blog going; then I’d see someone killing it doing something else, then I’d jump on that. That’s why it took so long for that other blog to get going. I had no focus and had no end plan. I heard the words of so many top-level bloggers. “Stay focused!” Although I never did.
Don’t get me wrong; I did make some money along the way with these bright and shiny objects. But, I never really killed it. I did affiliate marketing for a while, I helped local businesses for a while with their online marketing, and I even did some freelance copywriting and article writing for the web. Nothing stuck. The other adventures I will talk about or have talked about (depending on when you are reading this article) elsewhere on this blog.
Having to do it all over from the start, with what I know now, I would have dug in harder in a significant niche and worked hard. That leads us to the next pitfall I continually fell into.
Blogging for Beginners Pitfall #3; Don’t be afraid or too lazy to roll up your sleeves and work hard
I was always looking for that magic pill everyone was trying to sell. Had I started with one blog and just begun writing and working, I would be much further along than I am now. Many people are going to try and sell you many things on your blogging journey. Some of them will be good; some will be bad. Do proper research and don’t be lured by an outstanding sales pitch.
I’ve met some pretty powerful copywriters along my journey. Some of them … their power is mesmerizing. The stuff in my affiliate links, I’ve been using for years. If I don’t like them, I won’t use them, and I’m not going to suggest you use them either. My point is there is no magic pill. Just dig in and start writing and see where it takes you. Now, I’m going to start with the good stuff. The positive tips to get you going in the right direction.
Blogging for Beginners Tip #1; Understand good blog structure from the beginning
A good blog structure will help you stay organized and will speed everything up from the beginning. Sit down and plan out your blog. Or, what you think will be your blog. Many times, a person’s vision for their blog, in the beginning, will look very different several years down the road. You can always change your structure as you go but start with a suitable structure in mind. For my blog, I create categories and subcategories to let me see how it will always layout. You can forever erase or add more categories as you need to change your structure.
Start with the primary theme in which you want to talk. Then add categories to that theme. Make your theme the main idea of your blog. The theme of this blog is, “I help people change the course of their financial lives by explaining how to pay off debt, budget their money to live well within their means, build a nest egg to take a good chunk of stress out of their lives, and create life to alter income.”
Then, I created categories like ‘Financial Freedom,’ ‘Food Journey,’ and ‘Living Life.’ I originally thought I wanted to talk about jobs and career paths, but for right now am deciding against it. Some of my subcategories are ‘Finding a new challenge in life,’ ‘Instant Pot Cooking tips,’ ‘Shopping Gourmet on a Budget,’ ‘Earning More Money,’ ‘Side Hustle,’ and ‘Expense Slashing.’
Create these in the categories section of WordPress. These will stay hidden until content gets written for them. So, if you see this article early on in this blog’s life, you might not see all the categories I’ve created.
Blogging for Beginners Tip #2; Understand and figure out a list of keywords for your blog
Keywords are an essential part of your blog; it’s cliché. But, I see so few bloggers do it. Now that you have your primary topics and subtopics, it’s time to find some keywords to target. Center your blog post around these keywords related to your categories. Keywords are the words typed into search engines to see particular topics.
There are a ton of different paid keyword tools out there. If you’re just starting, save your money and give Ubersuggest a try. It’s a free tool, and you don’t need much more to start than a simple path. Type in a keyword you think might be right and see how much traffic is there. I shoot for at least 1000 a month and as low of a CPC as possible. CPC is the amount someone is paying to advertise on that keyword for the number 1 position. Just don’t shoot for keywords with 0 CPC or too low of a CPC. Too small of a CPC means it probably won’t be a profitable keyword. Too high of a CPC will be hard to rank for also. Shoot for something around the middle of the road. Maybe, between $1 and $2 somewhere.
Like I said earlier, you don’t need super sophisticated if you are just starting. You just need some decent trafficked keywords to get you going on the right foot. As you learn and grow your blog, those keyword tools are great. Save your money for now though.
Blogging for Beginners Tip #3; Start a mailing list from the beginning
It’s been around forever, and it is still the most powerful way to keep in touch with your readers. Social media trends go up and down. Accounts get banned, and things disappear. Don’t build your entire strategy on other people’s platforms. Build your email list. Give to them until it hurts. Treat your email subscribers like gold and they will respond with high open rates. The most straightforward sale you will make as a blogger is to someone with whom you already have cultivated a relationship. I hear too many bloggers, and business people say they regret not starting their email list from the beginning.
I recently looked at an income report from a mid-six-figure blogger. The traffic from their social media marketing channels went up and down, but their income steadily rose. Then I saw the reason why. Their email list grew in direct proportion to their income. Start building subscribers right away.
Blogging for Beginners Tip #4; Never rely solely on one source of traffic
Think of blogging as building a platform for yourself. A platform really can’t just have one leg and stand very well. A platform containing two legs holds better than one, but it can still be a little shaky. Three is pretty solid. Four or more, well, it will take a lot of wind to blow you down. There are all sorts of flavors of the month. Some have been around for a while, some are better and easier to use, and others can provide a windfall of traffic if you use them correctly. I’m always keeping an eye out on what is right, what is easy to use, what is the highest converting, and what type of people or the mindset of people who are using any particular platform.
Some might not fit your personality, some might not fit your particular niche blog, and others might just plain be too expensive. Start researching places like Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Digg, Stumbleupon, and Linkedin.
Blogging for Beginners Tip #5; Start developing ideas for a primary product earlier than later
Having a product is how I manage to keep sales happening on a blog I don’t maintain. I have a bunch of articles SEO’d to perform well in Google. (I did tell you it was very, very niche) I have an autoresponder set up on my site to kick out 100 or so email newsletters for about four months after someone signs up for my list. I continually get about 5,000 page views a month and never have to write articles and maintain them continuously.
I also recommend that your first product be a simple EBook. Ebooks are simple to develop, can be sold on Amazon with no headaches for you, and get your feet wet on what it’s like to build your product. Over time you may want to do something more extensive, but a simple Ebook gives you something to sell while you are crunching away creating your blog. I have two books for sale on Amazon and the Kindle bookstore. I sell more physical books than I do Ebooks.
I sell physical books through Create Space. Amazon sells them, Create Space prints them on demand, and ships them to the customer. Each month they write me a check for royalties on the books. The books are nonfiction and around 20,000 words with illustrations I did in Keynote for Mac. (I can’t wait to start another book now that I discovered Pic Monkey and a couple of other image-building tools.
Now, I’m not saying you need to develop a product right away. There is too much to do in the beginning. But, after your about thirty or so blog posts you should have an idea of what your readership might want. You’ve probably done enough research for articles to determine what questions continually come up in your niche. Ok, we’ve looked at three common pitfalls beginner bloggers make and five useful tips to get you off on the right foot. As far as pitfalls, don’t be afraid to work hard. Don’t leapfrog around from one bright and shiny object to another. Blogging is about your reader not about yourself.
As far as tips, there are tons, but these are probably the most prominent three to get you going in the right direction. Don’t rely solely on one form of traffic. Build your email list from the beginning. Start thinking of creating your product sooner rather than later. Do a little keyword research to get a general idea if there is traffic there. And, give your blog a good structure so you and your readers can navigate it easily.
Be safe,
Kevin