How to Start a Blog You Can Grow into a Business

People blog for different reasons. Some bloggers blog to share knowledge, others blog to build a professional network, while still others blog to express themselves and share their passions and life experiences. If you are an ardent blogger, you can transform your passion into a business. Here’s how to start a blog that can grow into a business.

Blogging basics

Blogging requires no technical skills, extra credentials, or professional writing skills. If you want to transform your blog into a profitable business then you will need to strategically set it up for success.

You can make money blogging by:

• Selling products of interest to your audience
• Becoming a brand affiliate and receiving commissions
• Selling digital products like designs or photos
• Selling services like consulting, writing, and design
• Doing paid promotions/reviews for brands
• Running an online drop-shipping business
• Becoming a niche blogger – for example, recipe, lifestyle, or tech blogger

1 Pick your niche

When choosing a niche for a blog, bloggers stick to topics that they are passionate about like food, lifestyle, travel, technology, and others. However, when you have an intent to monetize your blog, it is necessary to think like an entrepreneur as well as a blogger.

When choosing a niche, target a specific audience that you can sustainably serve. Then provide them with content that they cannot find elsewhere. You can do this by focusing on:

• A specific location (for example, Sydney)
• A specific segment within a larger niche (for example, not just pet food, but vegetarian pet food)
• Delivering content in a particular style (for example, using humour).
• Providing quality (for example, providing in-depth information that is hard to find)

Four important considerations when blogging for money:

• Do I enjoy learning about this niche?
• Can I provide enough content within this niche to sustain my business?
• Is there a market for my niche?
• What types of products and services can I sell to my audience?

2. Choose a name for your blog

Choosing a name for your blog is exciting, but don’t overthink it. A good blog name should be:

• Easy to remember
• Short and concise
• Devoid of hyphens, numbers, and abbreviations
• Does not contain commonly misspelled words

3. Choose a web hosting platform

The third step is to get your blog online. You’ll need to choose the right web hosting platform. A web host is a server in which all your website files reside. The host ensures these files are securely stored while making your website accessible to people on the internet. You have three ‘hosted’ options to choose from:

1. Shared web host: You will be sharing the server with other websites. This is a cheaper option that could slow down your website.
2. Dedicated web host: Here you will have a dedicated server for your website.
3. Virtual private server (VPS): An option that provides you the best features of shared and dedicated web hosts.

You can also choose to invest in a self-hosted platform. These platforms offer more customizations but will require some initial setup and a monthly subscription fee.

When choosing a platform, think about the features you will need to monetize your blog. Not all platforms offer the features you require, so choose wisely.

Tips for grow your blogging so that you make money

With your website ready, it’s time to plan for growth and ensure that every post you create is valuable. The more valuable content you post, the larger your audience will grow. A large audience is your key to making more money from your blog.

• Collect email subscribers because every subscriber indicates that your blogging is going in the right direction
• Consider starting an email newsletter to keep your existing audience engaged and grow your blog audience
• Consider investing in business insurance once you have a business going from your blog
• Research the keywords used in your niche and use SEO to boost your business
• Set up a social media strategy, concentrating on platforms your audience uses
• It’s impossible to create new content every single day, so reuse and repurpose your content
• Create micro-content for social media posts, repost past blogs, and create infographics from existing content
• Set up analytics like Google Analytics to get more information about your audience – the time they spend on your website, the amount of time they spend on each post, and the number of readers you get
• Create a content calendar to keep track of when you need to post on your blog

Conclusion

When setting up a blog that you can grow into a business, it’s important to ensure you have a large audience. The larger your target audience, the more scope for growing your business. You might not become an overnight sensation in the world of blogging, so give your blog time to grow. Provide your audience with services and products they need, and with continuous nourishment you will soon find that your blog growing into a successful business.

References

Shopify. 2017. How to Start a Blog That You Can Grow Into a Business. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.shopify.in/blog/how-to-start-a-blog. [Accessed 22 January 2021].

Small Business Trends. 2020. 50 Small Business Ideas for Bloggers. [ONLINE] Available at: https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/11/blogging-business-ideas.html. [Accessed 22 January 2021].

Ryan Robinson. 2021. How to Start a Blog (and Make Money) in 2021: Ultimate Guide to Start Blogging Today. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.ryrob.com/how-start-blog/. [Accessed 22 January 2021].

Neilpatel. 2021. How to Start a Blog That Generates $3817 a Month. [ONLINE] Available at: https://neilpatel.com/how-to-start-a-blog/. [Accessed 22 January 2021].