What is the Best Ways to Make Money Online
How to Create a Blog for Business
Blogging has come a long way from merely publishing random posts or using a blog as a personal diary. Today, blogging serves as an actual source of income by millions of digital entrepreneurs who turned their blogs and websites into monetized platforms. How did they do it? They harnessed the income-source potential of the internet.
In a nutshell, business blogging is launching a blog to sell or help others sell something (can be a product or a service). You start from building you blog, publishing posts relevant to what you sell or help other to sell, grow it, and monetize it through advertisements, affiliate links, and partnerships.
Of course, launching your blog for the purpose of doing business will not necessarily give you the assurance that it will give you actual revenue. The algorithm and trends in the internet is ever-changing and your success will depend on how "right" are you gonna do it.
Any aspiring business blogger must have an expertise, resources, and goal if they want to start their own business blog. In this article, I will share with you not only what you need but also the steps on how you can start your own career as a business blogger.
1. Choose your niche
Let us start with this - the lifeblood of your business blog is your expertise (reflected in your content). Before you can market a product or service to your readers, the first thing you will offer is yourself. What kind of value will they need from you and you will be willing to give them? This question shall be your starting point as you choose your niche. A niche is your area of expertise. For example, if your blog is about travelling, then your specific niche can be Asian travels. It will dictate the kind of information you will publish in your blog. Therefore, your niche should be based on what your target audience is interested in and what you as the blogger is comfortable to write about.
2. Set up your blog's domain and web hosting needs
Once you have decided with your niche, the next thing to do is to formally build your website. In doing so, you need to think of a domain name which will most likely be your website's name or title. It should be catchy and memorable but not too long and too complicated so your visitors will easily remember it. Your website name is also your brand name so it should be related to your niche. Buying a domain name also goes hand-in-hand with buying a web hosting service for your website. There are a lot of options online but if possible, you can opt for a platform or content management system that offers a web hosting service as well.
3. Choose a blogging platform/content management system
Just like web hosting services, there are a lot of options available online for a blogging platform or content management system. However, I personally recommend WordPress since I have been using it for years and it does not disappoint. It is by far the most user-friendly, accessible, and affordable CMS out there. Not only that, it is all-in-one because it offers you a lot of professional options for your blog or website like adding various plug-ins, making business easier for customized settings, and many more.
4. Customize your blog
The reason behind why a pizza parlor will look different from a beauty parlor is the same reason as to why your blog should be customized differently than other blogs from other niches. Normally, your blogging platform or content management system (just like WordPress) will already have options for you to install the theme and plug-ins of your choice. Your blog's theme will dictate its physical appearance and it should be related to your niche. Meanwhile, the plug-ins you can activate and install will depend on your needs and what kind of website or blog you own. Plug-ins are essential especially if you want to make your blog more versatile and professional-looking.
5. Publish relevant content
Now that your blog is almost ready, it's time to test run it and publish initial content. Starting from your very first post and as you continue growing your blog, your content should always be relevant to your niche and to your audience. This doesn't mean that you cannot just write what you want but you always have to prioritize the value you can give to your readers. The more they have their questions answered and problems solved by the information you publish, the more they will stay with you and your blog.
Being a business blogger will take so much of your time, effort, and resources especially at the beginning. You might even reach a point where you will ask yourself why are you still doing it. However, if you are really passionate with what you do, your goals will only be "few" steps away from you. In fact, you don't have to do it the "hard" way. You can do it the smart way.
Growing and monetizing your blog will entail consistent effort to publish relevant content, establish social media presence, enter partnerships with brands and other content creators, and even turning your blog into an affiliate blog. But no matter how you choose to grow and monetize it, always look back into your core which is giving value to your audience.
