Original Article can be seen here https://bloggershq.org/how-to-make-money-with-a-blog-the-blueprint-to-online-success/ So you are wondering and are curious about learning How To Make Money With A Blog, that's great! And I am absolutely delighted that you have taken the steps to join the blogging community. But, Do you know what the most difficult part of starting a blog is? It not the lack of information out there - there is a ton of information how to make money with a blog. It is weeding through the bucket load of info by "wanna be" bloggers that are not making a dime and stuff that simply does not work or the sites that put forward great or risky techniques that put you in line for a google penalty and then crying due to a lost business a few months or years down the line!. Don't want to wast your precious time and energy on strategies that put you at risk and keep reading this article if you really want to know how to make money with a blog the right way and don't risk a google penalty!

1. bloggershq.org/how-to-make-money-with-a-blog-the-blueprint-to-online-success
in by Derek Marshall
So you are wondering and are curious about learning How To Make Money With A Blog,
that's great! And I am absolutely delighted that you have taken the steps to join the
blogging community.
But,
Do you know what the most difficult part of starting a blog is?
It not the lack of information out there - there is a ton of information how to make money
with a blog.
It is weeding through the bucket load of info by "wanna be" bloggers that are not making a
dime and stuff that simply does not work or the sites that put forward great or risky
techniques that put you in line for a google penalty and then crying due to a lost business a
few months or years down the line!.
Don't want to wast your precious time and energy on strategies that put you at risk and
keep reading this article if you really want to know how to make money with a blog the right
way and don't risk a google penalty!
7 DAY FREE BLOGGING COURSE
Discover All That You Need To Build An Awesome Blog!
Sign up now and get started today with My FREE course!
1/37

2. How To Make Money With A Blog - Getting Started
You Are Building A Business Not A Blog!
When it comes to starting a blog keep it at the fore front of your mind that you are building
a business and establishing a brand.
That is the mind set for a very reason - it helps to keep you much more focused and more
serious about what you are doing and what the objective is - to start a blog and make
money!
This I say, takes time effort, a heck of a lot of hard work and a dash of patience and a lot of
persistence!. I am sure that you know and heard the phrase about persistence paying off -
in the case of starting a blog to make money that persistence might just end up paying off
your mortgage!
Focus on the fact that you are building a business and establishing a brand
How Much Money Can You Make Blogging?
Pretty good question to begin with. Now, I am not going to tell you that you are going to
earn $10,000 in the next 3 hours, 3 days, 3 week or even 3 months.
We have all seen those crazy hyped up scams and programs making those wild claims.
What I am going to tell you is that with consistent effort over a prolonged period of time
you will make money.
Blogging is very much about building a sustainable and profitable business online .
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3. How much you business earns is entirely dependent of a number of factors so I actually
can't say how much or give you and exact figure.
All I know is that with a determined effort and consistently working on growing your
business and brand is that you will make money.
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Today!
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of ConvertKit
Some people do hit some really big numbers like 5 figures per month, usually it is within 3
years some do it in as little as 2 years.
By your second or third year you could very well be earning enough money from your blog
for you to give up the day job and work on your site full time.
If you are determined, really determined to do what it takes no matter what and build out a
blog and an online presence and have the will power to spend just a couple of years of your
life doing something that many folks won't do you will live out a life that they simply can't!
then keep reading!
Everything comes at a price and a cost, or as Oscar Wilde put it "The price of everything
and the cost of nothing"
The cost is time - about 2 or 3 years of your life in exchange for real freedom.
Doing what you want from the minute you wake up to the second your head hits the pillow!.
Waking up naturally and alarm clock free is one of the great benefits that I have enjoyed
since 2009! I do believe there is a lovely health benefit that comes with that! - not to
mention no boss or work colleagues to stress me out!.
The only time I every hear an alarm clock is when I have an early morning flight to catch!.
Are you read you for some hard work?
And some real freedom?
Let's begin shall we?
(Be sure to bookmark this as this is going to be one long read, and in depth due to the detail
and help that I wish to give. I hope you enjoy reading this every bit as much as I love
creating and writing it).
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4. There is a lot of money to be made online, but for me the real prize is freedom, real freedom
What To Blog About To Make Money?
When it comes down to choosing what to blog about it requires a lot of though, deep
thought and in some cases a lot of research using big data or software tools that can and
will mine out that data for you.
Sometimes that software is available for free. And you should n't let the words "big data"
intimidate you. Heck...performing a simple search on google, something you have done a
squillion times before is mining big data to find the information that you need and are
looking for.
You really should wait, give a lot of thought into what you want to blog about because you
are going to spend a lot of time in that subject and topic area as you are in all essence and
meaning of the word building a business around it.
I recommend And Suggest that you bookmark this guide and article (Ctrl +D) so that you
can come back to it and start reading where you left off and not miss out on any of the
awesome tips and techniques
Better still, take a few seconds to sign up for my 7 day 100% Free E-course on blogging
and you will get absolutely everything you need to succeed delivered via email over the next
week!
And although money should be the last thing on your mind right now as you make that a bi-
product of all your efforts you and to know a few key signals that indicate that there is
money to be made for what you are going to blog about.
In short, you have to find your niche, the market or much better still the submarket in which
you are going to operate. The very topic of your blog.
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5. Be careful when it comes to selecting your blogging niche as you are going to dedicating a
lot of time and effort there.
How To Find Your Niche Market
First and foremost a niche is simply a sub market, a particular sector or segment of any
given market.
Here are a few examples:
Market: Running shoes, trainers.
Niche(s): Running shoes for children, Men's running shoes, Nike Running shoes, Addidas
Basketball shoes for men (or women), heck even Addidas basket Ball shoes for children.
Market: Laptops
Niche(s): particular product sectors, Gaming Laptops, Gaming laptops under a certain price
(or screen size) Business laptops, business laptops of a specific size and price range.
Laptops for students of a specific price range, laptops by a specific manufacturer and
chrome books!
This is something to be very super clear about because other wise you may be selecting a
market which is crowded, very busy and very competitive.
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6. Selecting a niche, or sub sector of the same market reduces your competition sometime
quite significantly and has the additional benefit for you and your blog becoming even
more targeted, leading a more loyal following.
One of the most important aspects of finding your niche market is to make sure that it is a
perennial evergreen niche and subject that has the potential to earn you money year round
and year after year.
I have nothing against fads - just understand that money is made only during a limited
period of time, the so called window of opportunity.
Widget spinners made a ton of money for some bloggers a few years back, but now? hmm
still kinda "so-so" money wise and dieing down quickly.
Seasonal niches are great and I do have some that balance each other out and ensure a
year round income with only two short gaps of low income. Those are outdoor space
heaters and portable aircon units.
I can get away with it because I have many sites in different areas and I am essentially
speaking not exactly relying on those sites to make me a living. Sure they pad out my
pension fund!. Which is kinda nice!
My point is you don't want to build a specific site that earn money only for 4 or 6 month of
the year.
Most certainly not to start out with, maybe later you may be interested in a seasonal niche.
What Is An Evergreen Niche?
Essentially speaking it is a market that never goes out of fashion or suffers seasonal
trends. There many such examples of season niches including website hosting, health,
beauty, music, travel, DIY, home security, and so on.
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7. Non evergreen niches tend to be seasonal or fads such as beach ware, winter heaters,
widget spinners, tamagochi's (oh god remember them? - giving my age away here!) July 4th
deals, Black Friday/cyber Monday deals
Finding Your Niche In 5 Easy Steps!
Step 1 Identify Your Passions, Interests And Hobbies
This is perhaps the easiest of all the tasks in niche research and identifying your blogging
niche. You have probably done this several times before!.
Grab a note pad and pen, or fire open a google doc's document and start making a list of a
dozen things that get your pumping, your juices flowing. Stuff you are passionate about, be
it yoga, cooking, sports, parenting, playing a certain instrument - hell even coding and
computer programming!
Do it now, do it right away!
This is an important step, probably singularly the most important in your journey online. I
am not going to a fluffy story about blogging being all rainbows, unicorns and sunshine - it's
not!. Just like any business it is not easy and it is hard work.
At some point it is going to test you. It is going to throw you a curve ball. If you are blogging
in a niche that you are not passionate about or interested in your chances of quitting and
throwing in the towel dramatically increase.
Even more so if it is your very first blog!.
This is not to say that the niche you choose has to be an "absolutely perfect fit oh my god I
was born to do this" kind of niche.
If you are deeply passionate about your blog and what you are blogging about your
chances of sticking with it greatly increase.
WARNING!
Taking My FREE 7 Day Blogging Course May Very Well
Result In You Winning Back Your Financial Freedom,
Causing Tremendous Personal Satisfaction & Living
Out The Life Of Your Dreams.
If and when you don't particularly care about the subject matter of your site, the chances
are rather high that you won't have that drive, determination and motivation to keep going
and persevere, especially when you encounter difficult times on your road to success!.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you discover what you are
passionate about.
What do you do in your free time? How do you like to spend it?
What organisations, clubs or associations are you a member of? Is there something,
a particular topic or subject that you have always wanted to learn about?
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8. Do subscribe to any magazines or online membership sites? Which ones?
Where do you spend your spare money (if any!) and what on? Are you passionate
about a particular product or brand.
Some real deep thought is required when it comes to finding what you can blog about
Step 2 Identify Some Problems That You Could Solve In Your Potential
Niche Area
With that list of a dozen or so topics ready from step 1 above, you can now begin to drill
down and home in on your list of potential niche site ideas.
Part of creating a business that is profitable you need to identify some potential problems
that your target audience, the potential readers of your blog are undergoing or experiencing
and present them with viable quality solutions.
This is not as difficult as it seems, its in fact very easy. The solutions already exist, present
it to them.
Example, your crowd loves cooking and exotic Asian food but just doesn't know how to
make it. Solution, present to them an option of viable cooking courses or classes that they
can take online and you can get a commission for the sale.
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9. Example, you are in the family beach holiday niche, problem chidren's sunburn. Solution,
recommend some quality and viable high SPF clothing for the children.
See how easy that is?
Here are some cool ways that can help you to identify specific problems that your potential
audience are actually experiencing.
Visit Question related sites like Yahoo Answers And Quora and see what pertaining
questions your target audience is asking. Do they have and specific pertaining
problems? What questions are they asking?
Check Out "AnswerThePublic" and enter your search terms related to your niche and
check out the results and note them down. These are real questions being entered
into search engines by your target audience. It is what they are searching for! Give
them the information that they are seeking.
Do a social media investigation! join some groups and listen in and see if there is any
specific chatter going on in regards to problematic areas that need resolving.
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10. An Answer The Public Search For the Drone Niche - Can you see some problems that need
to adressing and resolved there?
Step 3 Competitor Research!
Competition is a great thing! And it is not something that you should fear! The fact that
there are plenty of websites in the drone niche or a ton of fashion and beauty blogs (or of
whatever sector!) is a very good sign that you have selected a niche market that is
profitable and there is plenty of money to be made.
Make a spreadsheet and make note of all your potential competitors. You'll be analysing
them and potentially collaborating with them as you leverage each others following in the
future.
It is pretty easy to find competing sites, perhaps you have seen a few already. If not..just
head over to google and type in "best +your niche +blogs" replacing "your niche" with the
name of the niche that you are interested in.
Warning! - F.O.M.O ALERT!
Fear Of Missing Out On Taking My FREE 7 Day Blogging Course May Lead To
You A Melancholic State Of Infinite Sadness Due To Missing Out On The
Opportunity To Change Your Life For Ever And For The Better, Leaving You With
The Eternal State Of Mind Thinking "What If I Actually Built That Darn Blog!"
With that list of competing blogs and websites have a proper good look at your
competition! Is there something you can do better? can you address the niche from a
different or unique angle? is there something they are not doing (or covering) that you can?
Here are a few things to look out for:
Short content of less than 1000 words. Short content tends to lack depth and detail.
Perhaps you already noticed that. It also tends to rank less well in search engines
(but not always!) and is indicative of a poor user experience. Readers tend to spend
less time on site, which indicates that to google.
Low Quality Content. As it suggests you are looking for a general lack of quality in
the content, in terms of the information presented - which can be a long or short
article. Poorly written and bad grammar are not an issue at all, unless it is god awful,
Many bloggers are not writing in their native language and, besides it is not an
English language competition. You are looking low for that lack of quality within the
article. Perhaps the actual information is inaccurate or outdated.
Poorly Structured Site. Can you navigate the site easily or are you having problems?
Is the menu poorly structured with poor topic or subtopic categories?
Poorly Designed Site. Is it poorly designed ugly or a bland site is it covered in ads
everywhere and/or annoying popups? Or is it crisp clean and beautiful?
Does It Load Slowly? A slow site speed is a big turn off for readers.
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11. Those are only a few pointers for what to look for in a low quality site, you will develop that
skill in time.
Other things to look for include checking their content if they are actually addressing
problems that their readers are actually experiencing.
You gotta go that extra step and study the competition! It is an important step and well
worth the effort
Step 4 Are There Products To Promote Online?
This is perhaps one of the more logical steps of affiliate marketing and blogging is finding
if you actually have some products to promote in a given niche.
However, promoting other peoples products in exchange for a direct commission is not
obliged and is not the only method of monetising your blog.
You can go down the route of a membership site, creating your own physical or digital
products. And there there are is the selling of ad space.
All of which can be done integrated with each other, but the vast majority of blogs and
blogging is monetised by means of affiliate marketing.
Thus you have to find out if there are affiliate programs in your niche. To do that just head
over to amazon and type in your niche and some products related to it.
Generally speaking you want to be finding products that are available on amazon prime, at
least $100 in value, rated at 4 stars and above and at least triple figures of product
reviewers.
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12. The reason for this is obvious. You want some nice commissions, a product that is selling
well and is highly rated. It makes your job of promoting and recommending it much easier.
Side note: Amazon tends to be polemic amongst affiliate marketers due to the low 4.5%
commissions (category dependent) and the short 24 hour cookie. In favour of Amazon they
do tend to convert better than other affiliate programs due to a high level of consumer
trust.
Also, worthy of note is you get a commission on everything that is purchased, not just the
particular product that you promoted.
I spy with my little eye some nice commissions to be made in the electric guitar niche!
You can also perform similar searches on Walmart, eBay and other well established online
stores that have an affiliate program.
How To Find Independent Affiliate Programs
Perhaps you could consider it as step 4.5.
This is much simpler than it sounds and in my opinion it is good business practice to be
working with at least 3 different merchants to reduce the vulnerability of your site and
increase its diversity.
To find independent affiliate programs it is as simple as heading over to google and
performing a simple search.
Your niche affiliate program, replacing the words "your niche" with the name of your niche.
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13. Some example of the affiliate programs available in the musical instrument niche
You can also perform a the same search as above replacing the niche with product making
the search Product +Affiliate program
e.g "Electric Guitar Affiliate Program"
This is pretty much exactly How To Make Money With A Blog ! I hope you are enjoying this
guide so far.
Step 5 Can This Niche Generate Traffic And Money?
This step is fairly easy step to perform search of your niche on statista.com and check out
the market worth and how much is being spent online and if it is a growing or steady
market or not.
A simple search on that portal and I was able to find out some fine details in regards to the
musical instrument industry being worth $2Bn USD annually and growing by just over 2%
per year and online sales accounting for 50% of the sales with it set to rise to 65% over the
next few years.
With that kind of detail you will get to know how viable and how secure your new online
business is going to be.
Remember the devil is in the detail.
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14. Once you established the viability and feasibility of your niche you still need to establish if
there your niche has traffic. It is traffic that brings you your revenue. Any website with
traffic can be monetised.
How do we find out if there is traffic for your niche of choice?
Pretty simple, this is something you ought to know already by means of the work that you
have already done.
Is the market sizeable with a large amount of sales being made online?
Are there products on Amazon that have a high number of sales?
What is the social media presence and activity like for the niche?
Finally, perform a few searches on two unique and free tools.
Google Trends And Jaaxy
Google trends analysis of the Travel niche
From the google trends analysis we can see the stability of a niche over a long period of
time. Typically 5 years minimum is best. All niches will have their peaks and troughs for a
variety of reasons.
Jaaxy is a keyword research tool, which will give you 30 free searches. I suggest that you
use those some of those free searches to investigate your niche and find out if there is a
sufficient number of searches performed in the niche.
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15. Jaaxy Keyword Research Tool
Avg = the average number of searches performed for a given search term
Traffic = The traffic that you could achieve if (and when) you hit page 1 of google
The other columns, I will explain in later, they are of little importance just now.
As can be seen from the above screen shot there sufficient traffic involving the beauty
industry and a demand for beauty blogs.
If you followed this section so far, you have now found your blogging niche.
Congratulations. Perhaps time for well deserved chill out and relaxation before moving on
to the next section and let any content ideas to flow to you naturally.
Well done you are now well one your way to becoming a blogger
We Respect Your Privacy And Will NEVER Spam you!.
Further Reading:
How To Find A Nice Market Detailed Resource!
Blog Niches That Make Money Analysis of some fun killer niches with actual examples to
emulate!.
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16. Congratulations on your hard work and niche site and niche market research.
What Is The Best Blogging Platform?
Moving forward now that you have chosen your niche, it is important to select the correct
and the best blogging platform for you and your brand new website.
A good platform is one that is/or:
Easy to use!
Has no third party ads.
Allows for full customisation.
Permits you to have your own ads if you wish to monetise this wasy
Allows you to use affiliate links for the generation of revenue.
Is fully brandable aiding you establish your brand.
Can be installed on your own domain (website name) easily - very easily.
Permits you to add social media buttons to build your audience base
Allows you readership to easily subscribe to your blog's newsletter
Allows the installation of tracking apps like google analytics and Webmaster tools
(don't worry if your are not tech minded this all very easy to do!)
Quick to load and does not slow your site down.
And is regularly updated.
Required zero coding, but also allows you adjust the code if you wish to and are an
knowledgable and competent computer programmer.
This all screams out loudly to the current market leader and dominant force in the blogging
industry WordPress.Org
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17. (It is the foundation and bedrock to this site and all my online enterprizes).
Warning: Don't confuse wordpress.org with WordPress.com. WordPress.com does not
allow for many of the features mentioned above like customisation (limited) adding of
plugin to give your site its own unique features and feel and it is not full customisable or
brandable.
We Respect Your Privacy And Will NEVER Spam you!.
You are limited to a "your site".Wordpress .com which is more difficult to rank high in
search engines and unbrandable.
Stick with wordpress.Org
WordPress.Org powers approximately 60% of ALL websites - that is how customisable and
adaptable it is! 3 out of every 5 sites are built using WordPress as their content
management platform.
Image courtesy of websitesetup.com
With those figure and a growing market dominance it is pretty clear to see what is the best
blogging platform.
The Importance Of Getting A Good Blog Name
Now that you have found a niche and discovered the best blogging platform. You now need
a good name for your blog.
Any old name won't do. It just won't cut it. Niche specific and brandable is what is going to
be memorable and help you stand out from the crowd.
Long gone are the days where you could just stuff in keywords that have a high search
volume into your domain name and that's it.
This is called Exact Match Domains or EMD for short and is soo pre 2012! (Pre-September
2012 to be precise).
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18. Exact match domain has no relevance or influence on your ability to rank high in search
engines and get traffic. This is something that was confirmed by Matt Cutts, former Google
Chief and Head of Web Spam and all round well respected Authority on the subject of
Search Engine Optimisation.
Note, the date on the tweet.
Anyone telling you that keyword in your domain name is either clueless in regards to SEO or
giving you some very outdated advice.
It has been said by Google that they treat brands differently.
Image courtesy of Business.com
This is exactly why I have said from the beginning that you are creating and establishing a
brand. To get the idea fresh and clear in your mind that your are not just "blogging" or
creating "a website".
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19. You are building a business and establishing a brand.
The importance of good domain name should be clear in your mind now as why you have
to chose a brandable one.
Set aside on the search engines for better rankings and more traffic.
Choosing A Brandable Domain Name
Getting that domain name right is an important first step in establishing your online
presence.
This very site and its name required a lot of thought, I wanted to create a site that is a blog
and a complete resource centre for bloggers of all levels, a headquarters for bloggers, to be
known as an organisation and easy to remember. Hence the name "Bloggers HQ" and the
.Org.
It is memorable, brandable and conveys what this site is about and is easily identifiable.
Good site names tend to convey that very well and also are usually catchy, roll off the
tongue easily and are short and sweet.
Often no numbers or hyphens are included. These tend to confuse a reader and make
remembering the site name a little more difficult.
(One of my fave sites that I have been visiting frequently for about 5 years now has a
hyphen in it and I never remember where that darn dash is!.).
One important factor is to try as best as you can to get a .com, .net, or .Org there are called
Top Level Domains and enjoy a certain level of preference in search engines.
Avoid country specific suffix such as .co.uk, .ca, .Es, or what ever UNLESS you are
specifically targeting an audience and readership in that country.
You will will end up ranking better in a the UK with a .Co.UK domain extension and .Ca in
Canada but will find it more difficult to rank internationally with a country specific domain
name extension.
Spend some time thinking about a good domain name. If your creative and funky juices are
not kicking in try this cool site - which comes up with some really good names, a quite
catchy and brandable ones too.
Just type in your niche or words (in lowercase) related to your niche and see what it kicks
up!. If it sounds great and the .com or .net, or .org are available..go grab em!
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20. A couple of cool names generated by wordoid.com when using the word "foodie"
You can get your domain name from the very same place as you get your hosting.
Now, lets talk a little bit about getting the right hosting for your WordPress blog.
Best WordPress Hosting
While getting the best blogging platform is important, it is equally important that you get
the very best of all the other essential tools and elements when it comes to building your
online business.
This, in business terms is know as the "Ferrari principle" - getting the very best of all the
required ingredients for success. In terms of Ferrari and Formula 1 its the best car, with the
best driver, the best support team, the best engineers and so on.
For you and your brand new niche site and blog it all starts with the best blogging platform
(WordPress) which thankfully is free.
You now need some hosting, basically where your blog lives!.
Thankfully you are not short of choices there! in fact, in can be a minefield when it comes
to choosing a host.
Get it wrong and it can be a nightmare and affect your sites performance and ultimately
your visitors experience of your website (often referred to as "the user experience").
Get it wrong and you can end up with a whole bunch of unwanted problem and stuff getting
in the way of you building up and establishing your business and making money.
With that all said and done a Good host should Have:
WordPress preinstalled for you easy 1 or 2 click installation.
Excellent live support available 24/7 -365 days of the year.
Ultrafast servers and associated technology.
Unlimited bandwidth (traffic)
A lot of RAM memory and hard disk space.
SSD hard disk
CDN - makes your site faster
A lot of tutorials to help you should you need them.
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21. Great reputation online.
Ease of moving from plan to plan (i.e upgrade without penalty!).
No contract - leave when you wish!.
Does n't cost you an arm and a leg to host your
Cloud hosting.
This narrows the list down quite considerably. Hostgator, Bluehost, site ground, WPX, Site
ground and WP Engine.
These are all places where I would host my site. For one reason or another, predominantly
speaking site speed and their absolutely first class customer service The one I highly
recommend is Bluehost.
As the name suggests, they are very fast and put a huge emphasis on performance. I like
the fact that I am not tied to a contract, hosted on the cloud and have incredibly fast load
times.
The particular plan that I suggest is the Speed up plan, which at just under $6 month is
hardly breaking the bank and does offer superior performance with a CDN - content delivery
network added for free which increases your site speed tremendously!.
If cost is an issue, something I completely understand, you can always start off with their
basic plan, but the price difference is only $2/month and having the option of unlimited
sites and disk space, free Domain name and CDN is definately worth the extra price.
Which is really just $1 because a domain name is going to cost you $12-$15/year.
....And when you are really rocking it with a kick ass blog you can very easily move on up
your own virtual private server!.
Starting off with a VPS is a bit of overkill just now, stick with shared hosting for now!.
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22. WordPress Themes
Congratulations!
Making it this far, and if you are taking action you will have your niche, your brandable
domain, super lightening fast hosting with fast comet and wordpress fully installed!
Perhaps even you have chosen a Theme already.
What Is A WordPress Theme?
A wordpress theme is essentially the front end graphical design of your blog. It is the
styling and how your site will look to visitors. Themes can be free, premium and custom
made.
As your site grows in popularity it is best that you go along this progressive road. Custom
themes are bit more expensive than the high end premium themes but offer you a more
professional look and original design.
Premium themes are lighter weight and offer faster load speeds and fully customisation
and greater security. There are many online market places to buy premium themes. This
site is built using thrive themes.
Others I have used, and happily so include My Theme shop and Studiopress.
The free themes are available inside the WordPress dashboard. It is as simple as choosing
one and activating it.
If and when you decide to upgrade to a premium or custom theme you will need to upload it
to wordpress and then activate it.
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23. Installing or selecting a free theme
On the left hand side of your dashboard select appearance and then click on themes. This
will take you to the next screen.
Click That "+" sign
Click the Plus sign to be taken to the next screen, which will reveal a whole host of beautiful
free wordpress themes.
Note: The two that you can see, Luxe and Wordx are premium themes that I installed and
have used on that particular site (not this one!).
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24. A selection of some awesome looking free themes on wordpress
When you get to the next screen it will look very much like the screen shot above. Have a
look around and see what design suits your and your niche.
You have a proper look at the theme by pressing preview. Once you are happy with your
choice click install. This will install the theme.
Once it is installed, you will be need to click the button that says "activate" in order to
activate your theme.
Congratulations your brand new web site is now live, beautiful and on the internet.
Hello World!
When you visit your site you will notice that you have one live post. "Hello World" All new
wordpress sites have this as standard.
Just delete it. It is useless and serves no purpose. Removing it super simple.
The standard "Hello world" post on all new wordpress sites
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25. To find and remove this "Hello world" post simply click on "posts" and then "All Posts". The
"Hello word" post will appear as shown in the image above.
Just click the box to make sure it is ticked and then click trash to send the post to the trash
can.
Essential WordPress Plugins
A plugin is simply a piece of software that does something specific and is written in the
programming language PHP and can be added to your wordpress blog to enhance its
functionality. Some are free some are premium.
There are a few essential plugins that you must have.
1) A SEO Plugin, I particularly recommend All In One SEO Plugin by Michael Torbet.
2) EWWW Image Optimiser by Shane Bishop
3) Anti Spam Plugin.
The WordPress Plugins area
Finding and adding in new wordpress plugins is super simple, just click the plugins section
and add new. as show in the image above.
This will take you to the wordpress plugin library where there are tens of thousands of
plugins available.
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26. The wordpress plugin library is very extensive. To find plugins just type a few appropriate
search terms in the search box, as highlighted. In our case I have entered the name of the
Plugin that we are looking for, "All In One SEO plugin".
To get the the plugin just lick Install and then activate.
Note: for premium plugins you have to upload the plugin to your wordpress, which is done
by clicking upload and then following the steps indicated by wordpress.
Now that the All in one SEO plugin is installed you need to make a few minor adjustments.
Just click on the "All In One SEO" tab in the wordpress dashboard and click "general
Settings".
The following screen will appear.
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27. On set of minor adjustments to make in All In One SEO Plugin
From the screenshot above your home title, this is your SEO home title, what will appear in
search engines when people search for your site and find your home page.
It is good practice to put your site name and brand here followed by a catchy slogan or
something that says something about your business
For example,
The Drone Ranger | The Best Long Range Drones
The home description here you ought to put something that describes what your site is
about and could catch the interest of readers in the search engine results page.
Where it says home keywords, here you ought to put keyword phrases related to your niche
that are low in competition and have a reasonable number of searches. Typically at least
30 searches and of a QSR, Quoted search results (Competition) of 50-60 maximum.
These are the keywords that tell search engines what your site is about.
Hang on and hang tight for more information and a tutorial on how to find those niche
related keywords.
Keyword research is a skill within itself.
Then Scroll down until you see the following...
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28. Keyword settings by default is disabled - change it!
In the keyword settings section make sure that you click enable. by default it is set to
disabled.
You absolutely MUST click enable for you to be able specifically target keywords for the
content that you are creating. Targeting keywords is how you are going to get rankings, win
over traffic and get sales.
Once you have done all this, made the minor settings changes. Click "Update Options"
Of all the other settings options available, no other adjustments are required.
What Is Ewww Image Optimizer?
Ewww Image Optimizer, like All In One SEO Plugin is a very important plugin for your. It
performs functions that reduces the size and weight of the images that you use on your
site helping with your site speed.
Heavy and large images slow down your sites load speed and negatively effects user
experience - something that google gives a lot consideration to when it comes to rankings.
Having an image optimization plugin is by it very own definition going to help your SEO and
ranking efforts.
It will also help you to maintain good load speeds as all images uploaded will be
automatically optimized.
The installation of Ewww image optimizer is super easy! Just follow the very same steps in
which you found the All In One SEO Plug in above, this time just type in Ewww Image
Optimizer in the search box and choose the first one, click install and then activate.
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29. The first version with the higher number of downloads is the free version (the one I use) the
second one that appears is the cloud version which will host your images on the cloud
allowing for faster load times and a lighter site.
The cloud version is currently $9/month.
The standard settings for this plugin are fine as they are, there is no need to make any
adjustments or changes.
Writing Your Core Pages
You are almost ready to get rocking and rolling with your new niche site. It is time to start
writing and creating your core pages. These pages are important and all blogs should have
them.
These are:
About Me
Privacy Policy
Contact Me
As obscure as it sounds, having these pages aids in your efforts to rank your site high in
search results. It is clearly stated in the google quality raters handbook that the quality
raters are to look for about me, privacy policy and a contact page.
In addition to this creating a page telling your readers about who you are, and your
experience in your niche helps to create both trust and authority in your niche of choice
and helps to establish your brand.
It also helps to create a human personal aspect to your site. This is called humanising your
brand. Being easily contactable with your own easily findable contact page aids in the trust
factor.
Google give a lot of value to the E-A-T factor when it comes to ranking your site. E-A-T
stands for Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness.
Lets talk a little now about...
How To Write An About Me Page For A Blog!
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30. An about me page is and will be one of your most visited pages on your website. It can, if
utilised to its maximum potential one that generates you a lot of revenue.
This is not to say that you get all salesy and whack in affiliate links or links to your product
reviews. Naturally speaking that is NOT what you want to do - the very opposite as the
revenue gained is very indirect.
Firstly, how to make that about me page - and do make it a page and not a post!.
Just click Pages and add new to be taken to the wordpress editor where you can start
writing your about me page.
Your About Me page tell's the whole world who your are, about yourself and your blog and
what makes you an expert in your niche. It helps you to connect to your audience and your
audience to connect to you through your common interest in your niche.
It helps your crowd to relate to you through that shared passion. It is a great place to share
your values, goals and background and appear human, personal relateable and not a cold
impersonal business that can be gone tomorrow.
It helps in building trust and rapport with your readers, all the while putting a human face to
your brand. Humanising your brand is an important aspect of blogging and online
marketing.
As Ironic as it sounds...Your about me page is NOT about YOU.
Setting the ego aside, your visitors don't click on your about me page because they want to
hear, read and learn something about you. So don't go on rambling about your childhood,
your hobbies, your 3 cats, what you love having for dinner andwhere you went on holiday
last summer!
(unless they relate to your business and blog).
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31. It does not matter what kind of website that you have, or the niche that you are in you will
benefit largely from having one.
Your About Me Page Should:
State who the website is for and target a "pain point" in the niche, the frustrations
that your target audience experience and how your site can help them with that, let
them know and feel that they have come to the right place to find a solution to their
problems.
Should speak directly to the website visitor using the word "You"
Once it is crystal clear who your blog is for it is time to talk about your values and missions
with the business all of these values should have the effect of making your visitors feel that
they could benefit from using your products, be they your own or one's that you
recommend, and your services by making their lives better!.
Your audience should then know about your site's objective is and how they can benefit
from it. They still might be questioning the authenticity of it and if your business and blog
really is as good as it appears to be.
This is why you ought to use testimonials on your about me page so that your existing
clients and customers can speak to the visitors that are a little hesitant and doubtful.
The Testimonials should be specific and not vague and general.
For example "Jane's recommendations helped me a lot, her advice and consultation was
top quality she helped me to lose weight and get in shape. "
Compare that to "I found Jane to be a top quality and highly knowledgeable in the area of
weight loss, I took her advice, and managed to lose 10 pounds and get back to my idea
weight and shape - whats more I have kept this weight off for 3 months now!"
One is generic while the other is more exact and specific.
You should also talk a little about yourself, your business and your background. Your story
and what lead you to start your blog. It is okay to get personal and reveal a few personal
details in this part but do keep it relevant to your site and the subject and topic of your
blog.
Let your readers know that you did not start the blog a couple of days ago and that you
have genuine and strong reasons for starting it and that you do take it seriously. You
should add a photo of yourself, best if it is a professionally taken one to put your best foot
forwards and let your audience know exactly who you are, what you look like.
When your readers can see your face and know who your are, know your name they are
much more likely to trust you and makes you are your site much more human. Remember
what I said, humanising your brand is important!.
People buy from people they feel that they know and trust. Big Corporations know this, and
this why we have the phenomenon of Social Media Influencers and their associations with
certain brands.
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32. Don't end your story when you started your blog as your story does not end there don't give
that impression to your readers, tell them a little bit about how you enjoy and are
passionate about building and continuing the site.
Finally, do tell your readers how they can reach you, if they it by leaving your contact email
address and a link to your contact page.
And for those interested give them the opportunity to sign up to your email list by having an
optin for in your about me page.
Follow those steps and you will make a captivating about me page.
The Importance Of A Privacy Policy
It is important to have a privacy policy, let me say that again...it is VERY important that you
have a privacy policy on your blog!
It is an important document to make visible, and not hidden and unfindable on your
website. Having it in the footer is fine, or clear to see in the header.
This is a document that should detail your procedures and business's views in regards to
the information that is collected from visitors.
It has to written in clear and easy to understand language as to not confuse the reader in
and technical or geek-speak jargon.
The principle construction of a Privacy Policy includes and introduction where you inform
your website visitors a little bit about your site and its function that it has. If you site
collects information form minors you should state that crystal clear in this introductory
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33. section.
You should also include details regarding the information collected, the method of
collection and the storage of information as well as your contact details - which can a
simple contact us form or an @yourwebsite(dot)com email address.
You can get one for about $20 to $30 online at a number places online or for free at
Wealthy Affiliate.
Just create a Free Account, upload a photo (any photo) complete a short bio telling people
about yourself and then on your user control panel click "Websites" and then "Site Content"
followed by Clicking on the privacy policy (as shown).
Then all you need to do is edit the document exchanging the "Yoursite" for your actual
website address and then copy and paste this into your privacy policy page.
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34. Do make sure that it is a page and NOT a post.
Creating Your Contact Page
Creating a contact me page is super easy. Firstly head over to the plugins tab, click add
new and type in "contact form 7" in to the search bar.
The contact form that we are going to be using is Contact Form 7 by Takayuki Miyoshi
This Is The Contact for that you are going to be using
just click Install and then activate the plugin.
Your contact form should then appear of the left handside of your wordpress dashboard.
Click on it and click add new as shown.
Adding Your Contact form is super simple!.
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35. Once you have clicked "add new" as shown above you will be taken to the following page.
When you are on this page you should name it Contact Us or Contact Me, which ever you
feel is appropriate for you and your blog.
There is no need to adjust the code that you see.
The click "Mail" as highlighted in red.
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36. In this page, the only minor details to enter are obvious, just enter your email address where
it says to (as shown in the top red box highlighted, and adjust the rest of the details as
indicated exchanging the details for your actual website address and your name where
appropriate.
Then click Save!
Congratulations - you now have a fully functional contact form that should look a little bit
like this.
Now you have the foundation for your website ready you can take a well earned break
before proceeding as we will get to the meat and bones of your business.
And that is building a quality site that is highly informative and a resource for your
audience.
Highly Recommended Resource
For this beginning stage of the training and while you enjoy a nice break, or for use in
conjunction with it I very much suggest that you join Wealthy Affiliate and create a free
account.
You will get access to level one training which is very similar to what you have just gone
through, but in easy to follow over-the shoulder format.
Once you Join, just complete your account set up by adding an image and a tell the
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37. community of almost 2M members a little about yourself.
One of the biggest strengths of Wealthy Affiliate is not just the excellent training and live
weekly webinars but the community that is always so helpful.
I am a member there, and have been so for YEARS! and even though I have not used the
training side of things for a few years now, I still happily pay my dues as it is more than
worth it for the value that I get out of the support system there.
Any help you need, you can ask a question. PM site support, ask in live chat if it is urgent,
and that be anything technical or something related to my sites - they are hosted there - 25
sites and super fast hosting.
Training, hosting, SSL certificates, Live Weekly Webinars it really is a no-brainer for
beginners. And it is where I learned, and learned a lot in regards to blogging for money and
affiliate marketing.
Take Action!
Any help that you do need with Wealthy Affiliate or in regards to blogging just look me up
on the inside and I will give you my personal coaching for free. Just search for
"DerekMarshal" and we will take it from there.
It is up to you to take action and build that absolute banging blog that makes you money
and earns you your freedom from the 9-5.
https://youtu.be/XUQSRDeHup0
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