Check out this comprehensive blogging guide for beginners if you want to start a blog but need more knowledge. Learn all of the common blogging terms and frequently asked questions.
What is a blog?
A blog can be defined as an online journal that focuses on a specific topic.
The topic, aka a niche, could be anything ranging from the author’s personal experiences to something as random as grooming cats. For example, this blog is focused on how to make money online.
A blog, therefore, needs to be regularly updated with new articles called blog posts, just like you would a hand-written journal.
Why should I start a blog?
Some people start blogs as a hobby. These bloggers blog for the simple pleasure of sharing their experiences or knowledge with their audience.
Nowadays, the majority of blogs are designed with the goal of making money. If you set up your blog the right way, it can be a very good source of passive income. Being the money lover that I am, I will only be teaching you how to blog for a profit.
Related Post: How to make money with blogging: Top 5 Ways
Is a blog different from a website?
Technically speaking, a blog is just a type of website. A blog is built in the same way that a regular website is. The difference is in the type of content that each holds.
The primary distinction between what people refer to as a website and what they refer to as a blog is that a website is often static, consisting of pages with material that does not change frequently.
A good example is a company website that conveys information like the company’s services and contact details. This information hardly changes.
A blog, on the other hand, is used as a tool to keep readers updated about anything they may need to know and is updated constantly.
A company can incorporate a blog on its website and use it to keep its customers/ readers updated on company news. However, standalone blogs are more common these days, and authors use them to keep their readers updated on the blog topic.
This website is a good example of a standalone blog, and on this blog, I regularly update you with fresh posts on ways to make money online every week.
What is a blog post?
A blog post is what you are reading right now. It is simply an article that is published on a blog.
What is a niche?
Simply put, a niche is a topic on which a blog specializes. This blog niche, for example, is making money online.
How do I pick a niche?
The purpose of a business is to provide value to its customers while making a profit. If you are treating your blog as a business, you need to make sure that you are constantly providing value in the form of blog posts.
It is, therefore, advisable to blog about something that you love or are at least curious about so that you don’t run out of blog post ideas.
However, it is even more important to blog about something that people actually want to read about. It would be futile to blog about something you love but that nobody wants to read.
Blogging is a numbers game. The greater the number of visitors you can bring to your blog, the more money you can potentially make.
A successful blogger, therefore, tries to strike a balance between passion and value. You are already aware of your passion, but you’ll need to use third-party resources to confirm if other people are reading about it. I recommend using an SEO tool like Semrush.
Tip: While Semrush may be a bit on the pricy side for new bloggers, it does offer a 7-day free trial. You can use this to explore how different niches are performing.
Do I need to be a web developer to start a blog?
No. You don’t need to know how to build websites to be a blogger. Anyone with basic computer literacy skills can set up a decent blog in less than an hour.
You can make use of ready-made blog templates. You simply need to take care of a few technical details first, such as registering a domain name and choosing a web hosting company to keep your website up and running. Check out the related post below that I made guiding you on how to set up your blog.
Although you can hire a professional web designer to take care of the website design for you, this is something you can do on your own with themes if you wish to save money and also gain some technical knowledge so that you don’t have to run back to the developer every time you encounter a small problem.
Just follow the instructions on the post below.
Related Post: How to start a blog in WordPress: Step by Step with Bluehost
Do I need to be a professional writer to start a blog?
No. You don’t even need to be a good writer. You only need to be interested in your niche and have a strong desire to learn more about it. To convey your point, you’ll need to be able to compose basic, readable sentences. You can then utilize free writing tools like Grammarly and Quillbot to help you out.
Grammarly is a service that helps you check for plagiarism and correct grammatical faults in your work. It can be installed as a Google Chrome extension. Quillbot is a paraphrasing tool that reconstructs your sentences and makes them sound more professionally written.
I have to admit before I started using these tools, I couldn’t even write a single paragraph without crying (literally). These tools have helped me to cut the amount of time that I take to write a blog post from roughly 5 days to only a few hours.
Related Post: How to Write a Blog Post Fast: 6 Apps that I Use
Most successful bloggers hire content writers to do the writing work for them. This is a terrific technique to save time and energy, but bear in mind to not just take the writer’s word for it. Make sure you revise the work and add your personal touch to it. Readers can tell the difference between a passionately written article and one written just for the sake of it.
You can find affordable content writers on websites such as Fiverr and Hire Writers. You will also find very professional writers on UpWork.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name, sometimes simply known as a domain, is your blog’s web address; for example, this blog’s domain name is emoneylover.com.
Every blog needs to have a unique domain name so that readers can find it. It is what readers type into the address bar of web browsers (e.g., Google Chrome) to access your website.
Domains are sold for an average of $15 by most web-hosting companies. However, if you set up your blog with Bluehost, you will receive a free domain name.
2 Tips when choosing a domain name:
- Short and simple: It’s always best to choose a domain name that is short and easy to remember for the sake of your readers.
- Related to your niche: For your blog posts to rank high on search results, it’s advisable to include keywords in your domain name. I blog about making money online and have included the word “money” in my domain.
You can use the domain checker tool below to check if the domain you want is available.
What is the difference between a domain name and a URL?
A domain is just a shortened, human-friendly version of a URL.
When readers type a domain name into the address bar of a web browser, the browser adds a prefix (which is just a bunch of characters that you don’t need to worry about) before the domain name so that it can navigate to the website. That prefix plus the domain form the URL.
You and your users don’t need to worry about memorizing the whole URL as the browser can figure out the correct URL from your domain name.
Example:
Domain name: emoneylover.com
URL: https://emoneylover.com
What is web hosting?
Every website on the internet is “housed” or “held” by a company known as a web hosting company which allows it to be live and accessible to the internet 24/7.
A web hosting company is a company that operates powerful computer servers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ensuring that websites hosted on its servers are operational and accessible on the internet at all times.
Building a website without hosting is technically possible, but it will simply sit on your computer with no one able to see it.
Bluehost is an example of a good web hosting company. I have written a post on how to set up your blog step by step using Bluehost.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is free web-building software that most bloggers use to create their blogs. This software allows you to use drag-and-drop technology to build your website.
In simple terms, you will just be dragging and dropping text and images into place to design your blog as you wish. As a result, you don’t need to be a web developer to utilize WordPress because the website is already developed for you and all you have to do is move a few things around.
When you host your website with Bluehost, WordPress is automatically installed. Check the full tutorial here.
How do I make money as a blogger?
There are various ways through which you can make money with your blog.
The top five ways, in my opinion, are:
- Advertising
- Affiliate Marketing
- Selling digital products
- Selling courses
- Sponsored ads
Related Post: How to make money with blogging: Top 5 Ways
