Hi, Welcome To, Blogging Series. My name is Palash. And in this post, I’m going to compile a list of 4 Most Ignored, But Crucial Things to Know Before Starting A Blog.
If you’ve already seen enough Youtube videos about how much money bloggers are making per month.
And, after seeing a couple of them, you also have incorporated a deep-burning desire to start a blog. (Thinking to get rich quick). Then this post is for you.
So, let’s get started.
Introduction
Let me tell you that, currently, at the time of writing this blog post. There are more than 500 million blogs out of 1.7 billion websites in the world. Meaning there’s approx. 1 blog, for every 16 people out there.
Starting a blog might seem an easy task. (It’s really quite easy to start a blog).
But what things will make your blog different from those other 1/2 billion blogs, is the real challenge.
So, to make sure, that your blog outshines others. Here are some of the Crucial Things to Know Before Starting A Blog.
Starting with No. 1,
A. Figure Out The “WHY” Of Your Blog
WHY do you want to start a blog? Or, what’s your sole purpose around it?
A.1. Is It Money You’re After?
If you’re like this guy, then let me tell you that chasing money isn’t a BAD THING at all. Moreover, I’ve good news for you, & i.e. you can earn a lot from blogging, just within 3 months of your launch.
There are already lots of agencies who are completely relying upon Affiliate Marketing Or Ad Publishing To Generate Revenue through Blogging.
Recently, a popular product reviewing website named as The Wirecutter, has been bought by The New York Times for about $30 million.
This website just used to produce guides on daily tasks & do product reviews like how to sell old iphones, The Best Headphones for Running, etc.
Have a look below of their website’s Screenshot.
And, in their 5 yrs of starting their career, they’ve generated over $150 million just from Affiliate Marketing Alone. (Advertisements Not Included)
Here’s a snapshot.
Here’s The Catch In Chasing Only Money Through Blogging
You’ve to make sure that if you’re completely after money. Then you alone won’t be able to generate enough cash for yourself.
You’ll need a team to work with you, if you’re looking to make money online faster than others.
Looking Blogging as a business isn’t a bad thing at all.
But you’ll need to make connections, & join some coaching before you can take Blogging as a full time business.
Many people like Ankur Agarwal, Kulwant Nagi, etc. They’re some of the most renowned Afiiliate Marketers in India making approx. $10,000/month just through Affiliate marketing.
But, if you think that they’re working alone, you’re mistaken. They’ve got a full team of content-writers, SEO specialists, Marketing Specialists, etc.
So, try to take this option with a pinch of salt. Until & Unless you can’t invest some cash into setting up of good team, workplace rent, salaries of the staff, etc. then chasing just the money, isn’t a good option.
Now, coming to the other “WHY” of starting a blog.
A.2. Is It Your Passion To Write & Share Wonderful Ideas?
If you’re passionate about writing and communicating with the world. Then Blogging is the best way to express yourself & generate a handsome amount of passive income.
But money won’t just roll into your bank account the next day. It’ll take time, hard-work and a lot of patience.
If you’re chasing passion, also try to measure once that.
“Is it possible to convert that passion into a cash printing business”.
Because some time later, you’ll grow up & realize that passion alone, won’t pay your bills.
Because when I realized that with my first blog, I had to shut it down, as there weren’t any monetization methods. I was just working hard and some time later, my passion withered away.
Before Starting A Blog, don’t just go & purchase a domain name & start writing like I did.
Follow These Steps instead:
- Do some market research,
- Examine the competition level,
- Figure Out How Other similar blogs are Monetizing Their content,
- Lastly, Check whether is it future proof or not? Meaning, Will That Industry continue to exist after 10 years or will it get wiped away?
Just don’t try to chase your passion blindly, Keep a keen eye & try to measure all the uncertainties.
Now, coming to the second most important question,
B. Figure Out The “WHAT” Of Your Blog?
Now, this is the 2nd most important Thing to Know Before Starting A Blog,
On WHAT Topic or Niche will you blog about?
There are 2 answers to this question. The first answer is for people who just want to earn money & don’t care about passion stuff at all.
B.1. Answer To “WHAT” Of The Blog, For Money Chasing Individuals
If you’ve completely decided to do hardcore Affiliate Marketing & earn money from blogging, then this “WHAT” question is the most important one for you.
The reason being, since you’re into blogging just for money. So, the niche which has the highest earning potential, will appeal to you the most.
You don’t want to go with the niches which are mediocre or low paying. You want products or services to promote, which can give you more than 35% commissions, & are valued at a higher price.
For example, if a niche has a $10 product vs another niche which has a $100 product. The commissions in both cases will be $3.5 & $35 per sale. But a good deal for you is obviously the second one.
So, you’ve to figure out the niches having higher commission rates as well as higher selling price.
It would be even better if you find such affiliate programs that give you recurring monthly payments.
Meaning, once a person purchases a subscription based service through your affiliate link, you’ll get paid every time they’ll pay their subscription fees each month.
Acquire a customer once, & get paid for lifetime.
Related: How To Write A Blog Post That Gets HUGE Traffic & Affiliate Sales
B.2. Answer To “WHAT” Of The Blog, For Passionate Individuals
If you’ve figured out that writing & sharing ideas within a community, & helping others out is your thing.
Congratulations !!!
Blogging is going to give you the best time of your life.
Since you’re passionate enough, so the work won’t feel like a burden to you. The only challenges you’ll need to face is some technical issues if you’re not a techie, which I will definitely cover in the upcoming posts in the series.
But as I’ve told you earlier, you also need money to thrive, so keep on looking for income revenue through various ad networks, Affiliate Programs, etc.
Talking about the rest, your passion, and my guidance will help you in blogging.
Related: How To Create Legal Pages For Blog To Avoid Hefty Lawsuits Upto $90K
C. Figure Out The WHO Of Your Blog?
After figuring out the WHAT of your blog, look out for WHO.
By “Who of Your Blog”, I mean that WHO Is Your Target Audience?
You’ve to select your target audience based upon your niche.
For. Ex, you have got a fitness blog, then your target audience is a group of people interested in fitness.
Either they’re currently pursuing any fitness activity, or want to start one.
We’ll target only specific people because not everyone can be our potential customers.
For Ex. Targeting people for fitness, who daily eat fast food at McDonald’s, isn’t the right choice, since they’re already not serious about getting fit.
We also have to segregate them upon various factors like how much they earn, what lifestyle they have, can they spend money on our affiliate products/courses or not, etc.
If you’re just starting a blog to make money, you also have to pay a keen eye on those people who have higher income potential, you’ve to monitor their lifestyle, and then target only those people who can spend money and can buy your products or services.
For detailed information, you can use SEO Tools to spy on your competition.
After selecting who is your target audience, the next step is to:
D. Figure Out WHERE You’ll Find Them?
After selecting your target audience, you’ve to approach them.
But before approaching them, you need to figure out where your target audience hangs out, where they work, where they eat, on which social media platform they’re highly active, etc.
And since we’re building an online business, we’ll focus more on the online approach to our audience.
The best way to approach your target audience is via direct interaction in
D.1.1. Facebook Groups
Look out for Facebook groups and only join those, which are created by authentic & influential people in your niche.
I’m asking to for authentic groups only because, there are already ton of fake groups with fake people who just come for time pass.
When In Facebook Groups, try to answer every question, reply to every comment and try to be a helper to the people.
And if possible, try to create personal connections with people so that they can trust you & in the future, buy from you.
Join My Facebook Group Here and connect with like minded people.
D.1.2. Quora
Quora is one of my best QnA website. You can find all sorts of questions in every niche. And the best thing is that, you’ll get tired by answering but questions won’t end.
If you found this website through Quora, don’t forget to share this post.
Related: I Used This Strategy To Gain Approx. 5600 Website Visits From Quora In Just 13 Days
D.1.3. Reddit
Though, I personally don’t use Reddit myself that much, but I’ve heard that it’s the second best QnA platform after Quora. As of latest stats, Reddit has about 330 Million Monthly Active Users.
So what are you waiting for, go and create an account on Reddit.
There are also hell lot of other sites and apps you can use for building connections, but to avoid overwhelming you with so much information, just go for these 3 in the beginning. And then scale later as required.
Now these were some of the major 4 things to know before starting a Blog, which obviously most people ignore.
Related: How To Start A Blog In 2021 That Makes $2593/Mo On Auto-Pilot
E. Conclusion
In short, follow these steps
1. Figure Out WHY do you want to start a blog.
Is It just for money, or are you really passionate about it.
If it’s just for money, it’ll be better for you to start an agency and team up with several people.
2. After knowing your WHY, focus on your WHAT
Literally, on what topics you want to create content about.
Is It Searchable, Profitable, In-Demand, etc ?
3. After The WHAT, focus on WHO is your Target Audience ?
Who are those people that’ll take interest in your blog?
Take a look at your competition and then make out an idea about how they’re attracting their audience.
4. Lastly comes the most important, WHERE Will You Find Your Target Audience ?
Prepare a full demographics on where does your target audience spend their leisure time, their workplace, their interests & most importantly, their problems.
Wrapping Up Things to Know Before Starting A Blog
BTW have you figured out the WHY, WHAT, WHO, WHERE things of your blog site?
Tell us in the comments below.
Also if you’ve any more suggestions on Things to Know Before Starting A Blog, also comment down below. It Might help others.
And don’t forget to subscribe to our blog site by filling in the form mentioned above.
Till then, happy blogging 🙂