Category: Blogging

Have you found yourself asking, “What should my first blog post be about?” If so, you’re not alone. Blogs are all over the internet, and they talk about all sorts of things, which means anyone can do it. But, getting started? Well, that’s a whole different story. You might have a thousand ideas floating around in your head that are just waiting to be put down on virtual paper. Then again, you might be a leader in your industry who wants to share your knowledge, but you don’t exactly know how to do that in blog form.

When it comes to your first blog post, the possibilities are endless, which can also make this decision a bit overwhelming. Fear not! We’ve compiled some tips to help you figure out how to write your first blog post. Before you know it, you’ll be up and running all over the internet!

What Should Your First Blog Post be About?

Let’s start by looking in the mirror. Who exactly are you? What should the world know about you? 

Since you’re just getting started, take some time to talk about who you are and why you think people should learn more about your thoughts. People connect to bloggers when they feel like they know them on a deeper level, so talk about your life experiences, and dive into the factors that drove you to wanting to start your first blog post in the first place. You don’t just want to be a nameless figure on the other side of the screen, so share photos and videos about yourself, too. These elements can help boost engagement and help people understand who you are. 

Are you still asking yourself, “What should my first blog post be about?” That’s okay. We have more tips!

Go through the five Ws: 

• Who are you? Really talk about who you are as a person and what kind of awesome information you’re going to bring to your community.
• What are you going to talk about? After all, that’s the whole reason you’re asking, “What should my first blog post be about?”, isn’t it?
• When should people expect to hear from you again, and why was now the right time to start doing this in the first place? Describe your narrative and tell your story in a way that starts from the very beginning and leads readers to the place you’re currently at.
• Where did you gain your expertise in whatever topic you want to talk about? Have you worked in your field for 20 years or do you have life experience that your readers will be able to relate to?
• Why are you blogging? This is important. If you convey that you have a point and a message to send into the universe, people will listen. If you don’t know what you’re doing, there’s no reason for you to gain trust or followers. 

And then, of course, there is the how. How do you plan to reach your audience and engage with them? Can you set them up with tips and ticks that will keep them coming back for more? Most of the time, when people ask, “What should my first blog post be about?”, they’re not really taking their audiences into consideration; instead, people often focus on their own desires to get words down on the screen. When you engage with the “how” question, however, you’re more likely to connect with viewers who will come back time and time again.

Writing Your Intro Blog Post

Now that we’ve answered the question, “What should your first blog post be about?”, it’s time to dive into the logistics. 

When you sit down to write your introduction, make sure your readers know you’re an open, honest person who can’t wait to share the tales you have to tell. It’s important to come across as authentic, rather than presenting yourself as a salesman who’s just trying to peddle products to people. 

Your intro blog post should answer one main question: what you can do to improve your readers’ lives?

When you answer that question thoughtfully, you should be able to produce a blog post that’s valuable and relevant to your audience. As time goes by, you can build upon that trust you’ve initially gained by offering tips, tricks, and secrets of your trade.

How Long Should Your First Blog Post Be?

Here’s the thing: there is no hard-and-fast rule that defines how long your blog post should be. The truth is, it’s more important to say things that are valuable and relevant to your readers than it is to just fill up the page with a bunch of words nobody wants to read. With that said, you probably shouldn’t post a bunch of 200-word blog posts because there’s only so much you can say in a post that’s that short. On the other hand, you really don’t need 4,500-word diatribes every day, either. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. 

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), it’s important to make your post long enough that the search engines will notice it (and understand what you’re talking about), but short enough to keep the attention of your readers. Generally speaking, you can shoot for a post of 1,000 to 2,000 words when you’re getting started. Later, you can sprinkle in shorter or longer posts, but this range is a great gauge for bloggers who are just starting out.

What Else Should You know?

It’s vital to break up the text so your readers aren’t staring at a huge wall of words on their screens. The less reader-friendly your content is, the more likely it is to fail. Since this is your first-impression project, be sure to make your post clear and concise, breaking up the paragraphs with bullets and headers every few sentences. Most readers on the internet scan content, but they don’t read it fully. By breaking your content up into easily digestible bits, you’re giving your audience the opportunity to understand your points on their terms. They can quickly scan your blog and see which points are most relevant to what they need to know.

Have you figured out what your first blog should be about? I’d love to hear your topic and join in on your journey! Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Need additional help with your new blog? Schedule a free 30-minute coaching call with me here!

Blogging is an ever-popular activity, providing you with the opportunity to share your opinions, provide insights and advice, build a community and become an authority in your area of expertise. 

Bloggers spend a lot of time in front of a keyboard and screen, often relying on laptops to create, post and respond to blog content. With hours of activity, you need the best laptop for blogging and should consider carefully the tools you’re going to use to communicate.

Here is a closer look at the 7 best laptops for bloggers in 2021.

Before we look at different models, it’s best to consider the features and functionality you need from a blogging laptop. 

Here is a helpful buying guide for the best laptop for blogging in 2021:

• Price. You can find laptops that run the range of pricing, from a few hundreds of dollars to several thousand. You’ll need to consider all the things that you use your laptop for before making a decision. Like with many things, you get what you pay for when it comes to a laptop. Consider a blogging laptop to be a business investment and be sure to invest in a model that will be reliable, functional and usable.
• Size. If you’re carrying a laptop from the home to office to coffee shop, you want one that isn’t going to weigh you down. Portability means considering not just the bulk of the laptop but also its weight. Lugging around a laptop, accessories and computer bag can get cumbersome. Look at the dimensions and weight before making a decision, knowing that a laptop screen that’s 14-15 inches is plenty for many bloggers. 
• Battery Life. While many laptop reviews jump to processing speed and operating system, battery life is equally, if not moreso, important. You need a battery that’s going to last, especially if you end up having to work somewhere where you can’t plug in. If you travel a lot, blog outside the home or like to blog whenever the moment strikes, a long battery life will serve you well.
• Processor. Processing speed equals performance. You want to be sure that your laptop is up to snuff when it comes to processing speed. Look for laptops with the latest processing chips, such as the Intel Core i5 chipset and 8GB RAM.
• Onboard Storage. If your blogging is mostly text and not heavy on video or high-resolution photo content, storage is not a huge issue. In fact, many bloggers can make do with just 500GB. That said, if your blog is full of high-volume content with large file sizes, investing in more storage is the prudent choice. Look for laptops with 1TB of storage in order to be safe and meet all your blogging needs.
• Bells and Whistles. While the long list of features listed for every laptop model can seem like filler, there are a few things to look for when choosing the best blogging laptop for you:
  • Backlit Keyboard. A backlit keyboard lets you more easily type in the dark.
  • Carrying Case. Most laptops today come with a carrying case or computer bag. If you don’t want to pay extra money or a separate case, be sure to test out the carrying case that comes with the laptop.
  • Keyboard. Do you like the way the keys feel beneath your fingers? You want to be sure that your keyboard works with your typing style and is comfortable.
  • Connectivity Options. Does your laptop have enough USB ports for a wireless mouse, headphones and a smartphone charger? Can it connect to external viewscreens the way you need it to? Be sure that there are enough connections for the way you compute.

Best Laptops for Blogging In 2021

Here is a look at the 7 best laptops for blogging in 2021, along with their top features and functionality.

1. HP ProBook 450 G7

• Weight: 4.41 pounds
• Screen Size and Resolution: 15.6 inches and 1366×768 display
• Processor: 10th generation Intel Core i5-10210U 1.6GHz
• Storage Space: 512GB
• Battery: 3-Cell 4WHr

This HP ProBook is a functional and easy to operate option. A major benefit is that it has the latest and greatest Intel chipsets, an anti-glare LED panel and a big screen resolution. There’s extended mousepad space below the keyboard and options that can increase the storage space to 1TB if desired.

2. Dell Inspiron 5000

• Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Screen Size and Resolution: 15.6 inches and 1366×768 display
• Processor: Intel Core i3-6100 1.6GHz
• Storage Space: 500GB

This highly affordable device with plenty of power and a lot of storage space for the price. This is an ideal basic blogging laptop for those who are mostly writing and editing. However, it does not have the firepower to support gaming or using high-powered editing suites. It’s a good choice for bloggers on a budget.

3. MacBook Pro

• Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Screen Size and Resolution: 13.3 inches and 2560×1600 display
• Processor: 10th Generation quad-core Intel Core i5 with turbo boost up to 3.8GHz
• Storage Space: 512GB

If your budget allows, there’s no getting past the power and performance of the MacBook Pro. There’s tremendous screen resolution, plenty of storage space, 10 hours of battery life and the Apple touches that have long popularized the line, including the touch bar and touch ID functions, graphics rendering unlike any other and reliable performance. This is what I personally use since I do a lot of video editing and run many different SEO softwares for my business. It’s an extremely powerful blogging laptop that I can rely on to get the job done.  

4. ASUS Chromebook

• Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Screen Size and Resolution: 14 inches and 1366×768 display
• Processor: Intel Dual-Core Celeron N3350 2.4GHz
• Storage Space: 32GB

One of several models with a hinge on this list, the ASUS Chromebook has a 180-degree pivot, making it easier to work and review content. Like all Chromebooks, this machine uses Google’s ChromeOS. It’s an inexpensive model for blogging with all the basic functionality you’ll need. It comes with 100GB of Google Drive storage, which is usually enough for most bloggers.

5. HP Flagship

• Weight: 4.52 pounds
• Screen Size and Resolution: 15.6 inches and 1366×768 display
• Processor: 7th Gen Intel Core i3-7100U 2.40 GHz
• Storage Space: 1TB

Released in 2018, the HP Flagship features touchscreen technology, which, while not every blogger’s cup of tea is a powerful feature for those that like the tactile option. It also features a large screen and a terabyte of storage. For those who want a touchscreen, this model lets you easily control apps and files with the touch of a finger.

6. MacBook Air

• Weight: 2.96 pounds
• Screen Size and Resolution: 13.3 inches and 1440×990
• Processor:  Intel Core i5 1.8GHz
• Storage Space: 128GB

There are many higher-end MacBook models available with lots of additional features, but the MacBook Air is built with trademark Apple efficiency in mind. The most notable difference-maker here is the weight, with the machine itself less than 3 pounds. This model, released in 2019, features all-day battery life but is not as strong as other models.

7. Acer Aspire R15

• Weight: 4.74 pounds
• Screen Size and Resolution: 15.6 inches and 1920×1080
• Processor: 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7500U
• Storage Space: 256GB

The Acer Aspire R15 is a little different. It functions as a laptop and as a tablet, much like the groundbreaking Microsoft Surface. It’s a versatile blogging laptop due to the 360-degree hinge that lets it act as a laptop, tablet or display device. It features 9 hours of battery life and can be used by writers and those needing to edit photos and video.

Are you looking to start blogging or take your blogging to the next level? 

My blog coaching services helps you identify trends, improve your SEO and write content that drives viewership.

Sign up for a free, 30-minute consultation to learn more!

The web has become a very resourceful place for sharing information with the public that anyone can readily and easily access. Content gets uploaded daily from various channels and platforms. However, not everyone prefers to expose themselves personally when creating and publishing content which is totally understandable. As a result, people are increasingly inquiring about how to start an anonymous blog.

Starting an anonymous blog requires you to adhere to some important steps in order to be successful with it. To learn more about how to blog anonymously, continue reading.

Steps on How to Start & Create an Anonymous blog

If you are wondering how to start an anonymous blog, it is relatively easy, but you need to follow some critical steps as outlined below:

Purchase a Domain

The first step should be purchasing a domain domain (I recommend HostGator for their competitive pricing and quality support) but ensure that it doesn’t have your real name. However, it should be something appealing and one that you can easily connect with. You can use a domain name generator which would be of great assistance in giving you some ideas to align your name with your blog.

Design an Anonymous Email That Fits With Your Domain Name

Make sure you create a new email for your blog that matches your domain name. Note that while indicating your log-in details, you can easily expose your privacy. Therefore, refrain from using your email in the privacy policy section, contact form, or other areas to ensure that you remain anonymous.

Ensure that you set up a Secure Domain name and Web Hosting

Keep in mind that anyone can look into a blog and know who owns a specific domain name within a few clicks. Therefore, you need to keep your details private to maintain anonymous blogging. Hence, it’s worth investing in a proven system that adds an extra privacy level to your site.

Hostgator is a reliable web host to sign up for and create your domain. Upon purchasing your web hosting account and domain name, you have the option of adding additional privacy so your information remains hidden.

You can rest easy knowing that your blog is anonymous; thus, your information remains private. Note that you will probably still receive occasional spam emails and calls but in very minimal volumes compared to when you don’t have domain name privacy.

Create your Social Media Accounts

The next stage is to create your social media accounts for your blog. Remember to use an email address that does not contain your name. Also, avoid linking any account to your original identity/personal profiles.

Join Forums

Joining various forums is a great way to know what your audience would be interested in, what they would want to have, among many. Therefore, you will see the type of content that favors most of your target population. Some platforms that would be of great help include Reddit and Quora, or any other within your niche. You can also post anonymously on forums, so it’s a great way to make connections, gain additional insight and direct people to your blog.

Tips on How to Start an Anonymous Blog and Thrive

Here are some tips to keep in mind while starting your anonymous blogging journey;

Keep your Content Anonymous

You may have tried your best to keep everything incognito, but you can easily slip up if you share some personal details. Before sharing any information, it would help if you give it a second thought. Some of the elements to watch out for include; your profession, the car you own, the dog breed you have, and where you went to school. No matter how casual the details may seem, any of them may compromise your secrecy.

Note that readers are interested in the experiences and messages you share. You, therefore, need to put more emphasis on the emotions and give in-depth information on all details. Besides, you don’t have to go into specificity to ensure that your story is interesting.

Also, avoid sharing some day to day activities such as a voting exercise you participated in or a conference you attended. In case someone decides to dig into your data, they might end up discovering your identity. Therefore, be careful not to expose your location, the activities you commonly indulge in, and more.

Keep your Backend Anonymous

A majority of the anonymous bloggers who have been found on the internet is due to technical errors. Some of the elements to look out for include;

• Using your email – Avoid using your personal email since it can be traced back. Therefore, ensure that you create an email that’s the name of your blog and not your personal name.
• Registration of your URL – Remember to select private when registering your blog’s URL, to make it harder for anyone to dig into your details.
• Linkable Accounts – There are several sign-in services available online that enhance your blog. However, it would help to avoid using similar details to log-in to your blog and personal accounts.

Be Cautious on Social Media

Social media has taken over almost every aspect of our lives, but you may expose your anonymous blogging if you are not cautious with what you post. Here are some things you need to avoid;

• Liking your content or following yourself – In your blog’s initial stages, you may be tempted to like your accounts on various social media accounts. However, this is a wrong move since you risk being outed by family and friends. For instance, Twitter shows whom you follow and what you’ve liked among your followers’ recommendations and timelines.
• Connecting your email to your blog accounts – Whenever you sign up for your blog Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, use only your anonymous email address. Note that the backend of various social media platforms can lead to exposure; thus, you need to be cautious.Facebook is one of the sites that is a bit tricky to use since you need a page that gets aligned to your profile. Therefore, you need to be creative in designing a convincing name and other updates on your timeline. For instance, regardless of how cute a photo may be, avoid uploading it on your anonymous blog and personal account. Also, be cautious not to like something that would show up on peoples’ feed.

Keep Numbers Anonymous

You may overlook the aspect of sharing numbers on your blog, but it would be best to avoid sharing any real numbers. Indicating a single variable could be the lead opener towards discovering a whole bunch that eventually expose your identity.

Keep your Photos Anonymous

Photos are a significant factor that can give away your privacy; thus, you need to adhere to the following privacy measures;

• Avoid recognizable objects or locations

You may post a photo assuming that the background is a rare location, but it may be well known to another person.

• Avoid photos that you have posted elsewhere

Using the same pictures on your blog and personal social media sites like Facebook is a dead giveaway for your privacy. If someone conducts a reverse image search on such images, it will quickly expose your anonymity. Therefore, make sure you use completely new pics that you have never used in any online platform.

• Avoid recognizable people

Avoid scenarios where you show any pictures with a person who is tied to you. Remember, facial recognition is a rapidly growing technology; thus, a face without a name can be unearthed within a short time.

• Remove location tags

When you take pics with a GPS enabled camera or a smartphone, your location tags get stored in the picture’s metadata. In case a technical guru takes a keen look into the titles, especially when you are near buildings, they can quickly tell your location. You, therefore, need to ensure that your location details are off to prevent such occurrences.

Encrypt your Digital Presence

You may be using a different identity, but your location can still get exposed through the IP address. If you use a work or home computer, the information can easily leak into third parties.

You can utilize VPN to mask your real internet location, which also encrypts your internet traffic. It makes hackers’ efforts difficult if they try to figure out your region. Besides, it’s legal to use this technique but ensure you choose an option that doesn’t affect your system’s performance or throttle your connection.

Stay Offline as long as Possible

You may be used to writing directly on CMS or WordPress, but this method may eventually expose you. Note that the more time you spend online, the higher your chance of leaving digital footprints. Therefore, do all the writing, proofreading, and editing of all your posts while you are offline. You can use some text editors such as Pages, Google Docs, and Microsoft Word.

Once you have the final draft, remember to delete the files from your device to erase any evidence when someone uses your desktop.

How to Generate Traffic While Still Blogging Anonymously

When you start an anonymous blog, it isn’t easy to get traffic since people do not know you. Moreover, you are not sure when your blog will get the amount of attention you expect. However, it’s still possible to achieve this goal provided you remain patient since your primary motive is maintaining a secret identity.

Some techniques that you can utilize to get traffic to your anonymous blog include;

Participate in Different Forums

Remember that you already joined forums; thus, go ahead and be an active member. Participate by answering questions and remain honest. This can be a great strategy to drive free targeted traffic to your blog.

Create a Pinterest Account and Promote your Posts

In most cases, putting your focus on one account is a good strategy. However, a Pinterest account is a good addition in case you want to start an anonymous blog on topics such as;

• Fashion
• Style
• Photography
• Travel
• Design
• Beauty
• DIY and crafts
• Health and wellness
• Quotes and inspiration
• Food and drinks

Using Pinterest when creating the above content types increases your conversion rates and other terms of sales. Additionally, it increases your viewers and grows your list of blog followers.

Promote your blog via Instagram and Facebook

Using either Facebook or Instagram to promote your blog is an excellent and cost-effective method. It helps you grow your account while also promoting a specific article. With time, you can have a community within the social media platforms that can get instant notifications whenever you publish a new post.

Note that you need to keep your audience engaged continuously in every channel that you create. It leads to a continuous increase in your target audience.

Post on Medium

Medium is another great platform that you can post your blogs. You need to import your content, make the necessary editing, and click on publish. The tool shows the number of people who viewed your articles and how many went through the whole text.

When your article is among the top stories, it gets featured in a daily email digest, app, and website. Additionally, you can potentially get discovered by large publishers who need authors.

One significant advantage of posting in Medium is the assurance of getting legit engagements and followers. Also, you don’t need to come up with new content each time; thus, you can syndicate your existing work and still attract more people. Additionally, most of the hot topics do well on this platform on areas such as;

• Technology
• Entrepreneurship
• Technology
• Life learning
• Politics
• Culture

SEO & Create Long Form Blog Posts

Another critical step to generating traffic as an anonymous blogger is making sure you focus on SEO and also crafting high-quality and long-form blog content. Google loves comprehensive and helpful content more than ever and this could be an excellent way to rank for specific keywords. This in return will help drive targeted traffic to your anonymous blog and build your following.

Conclusion

The above guide on how to start an anonymous blog, aims at giving a clear picture of how to start a website without putting your personal information out there. You may have many reasons why you want to start your secret blogging journey, and hopefully, this piece of content will help you achieve your goals.

Remember to be consistent with your posts on various social media platforms, engage your audience in different forums and focus heavily on SEO. As a result, you will generate quality content that will boost your traffic.

If you’re interested in one-on-one blog coaching, get in touch with me here to see if you’d be a good fit for my program!

For many people around the world, blogging is the main revenue stream. However, to monetize your blogging efforts, you first need to build trust with your target audience and position your blog as a trusted online resource. 

One of the key factors to consider is the security of your blog. 

Namely, your blog can get hacked in multiple ways – via the hosting panel, malicious code injections, outdated plugins, administrator accounts, unsafe themes, etc. While some attackers will only want to change the appearance of your blog, others may trick your visitors into giving them sensitive data or installing an infected program.

Bad experiences with your website will not only affect your conversions and bottom line. They may harm your reputation in the long-run, too. Once you lose your target audience’s trust, it may be difficult for you to regain it.

Here are a few brilliant cybersecurity tactics that will help you protect your blog.

Learn the Basics of Cybersecurity

Cyber negligence is the number one cause of cyberattacks. Any unintended action, such as clicking on a suspicious link or downloading an infected file, may lead to dramatic consequences for your blog. To avoid that, you need to learn the basics of information security.

Now, there are many online resources on cybersecurity for you to download for free, but they may often be confusing to anyone with little or no technical knowledge. To really learn to protect your blog, find the best cybersecurity courses for beginners to enroll in. Through professional assistance and peer-to-peer communication, it will be easier for you to understand how cybersecurity principles work in real-life situations. 

Limit Access to your Blog

Generic WordPress admin accounts are a super-easy entry point of attack. That is why you should delete them and create a new administrator account. 

Moreover, limit access to your WP blog. For example, there is no reason to allow guest authors to register on your WP site. Go to “Settings” and turn off the “Anyone can register” option. If several editors are publishing on the blog, make sure they have unique usernames and strong passwords. If someone stops collaborating with you, delete their account.

Create Strong Passwords

Weak and predictable passwords, such as your birthday or name, are common cybersecurity threats. Cybercriminals use sophisticated password-cracking methods, such as dictionary attacks, phishing attacks, or brute force attacks to crack almost any password combination. To make their job more difficult, you need to create complex, uncrackable passwords for each online account:

• Create random passwords that do not include any personal data.
• Do not use sequential numbers (1,2,3).
• Use the mixture of characters (upper-case letters, lower-case letters, symbols, and numbers)
• Never use memorable keyword paths (QWERTY).
• Use unique passwords for each account.

Use Secure and Up-to-Date Plugins

In the WordPress ecosystem, there is a plugin for everything. However, when installing plugins, you should always check how secure they are. Here are a few rules to remember:

• Never install unsafe plugins from shady sources.
• Update plugins regularly. Outdated plugins are simpler to hack. If a plugin does not have an update, uninstall it.
• Always remove plugins you do not need anymore. They will only clutter your code and attract cybercriminals.

Use Trusted Themes

Similar to plugins, unsafe and outdated WP themes are a perfect opportunity for online hackers to infiltrate into your blog and install malicious code. That is why you should always download the themes from reliable sources. Once you stop using the WP theme, delete it immediately.

Keep your Devices Safe from Malware

Start by investing in a paid antimalware solution to protect you against advanced cybersecurity hacks. Today, cybersecurity tools are cloud-based, meaning you will be able to use them across multiple devices. 

If your site runs on WordPress, install a reliable security plugin for WP. With plugins like Sucuri SiteCheck, Search Console, and Wordfence Security, you will be able to scan for malware, outdated software, and malicious scripts and bridge those security gaps faster.

Choose a Reliable Hosting Provider

If you are running a self-hosted blog, pay special attention to your hosting provider. Make sure they use appropriate cybersecurity measures. Most importantly, ask a web hosting vendor about their technical support. In case of a cyberattack, their support team should assist you in solving the problem.

Invest in an SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate ensures that the data, such as customer login details, signups, email addresses, is safely transmitted from and to your website. SSL encrypts user sensitive data and prevents attackers from intercepting and opening it.

Apart from keeping your data safe, switching from HTTP to HTTPS will also build trust with your target audience. Namely, blogs that use an SSL certificate are displayed in web browsers with a security padlock in the address bar. On the other hand, sites that still use HTTP are labeled as unsafe. That may impact their credibility and discourage users from signing up.

Perform Regular Backups

Knowing that you can restore your blog content anytime, you will feel much safer. That is why you should build and maintain a regular backup schedule for your blog. 

For example, you can perform backups yourself or get a web hosting provider that provides automatic backups. You could also use cloud storage plugins, such as Dropbox or Google Drive, to store your blog data. 

Over to You

Blogging is a serious business. As such, it takes time, energy, and resources. Your goal is to establish and nurture a spotless brand image and gain reader trust. That is why blog security should be your priority.

Remember, it only takes one mistake for your target audience to have a different perception of your blog. After a cyberattack, people will view your blog as an unsafe place for them, which may directly impact your conversions and bottom line.

I hope these cybersecurity tips will help you take care of your blog. 

 

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Author Bio:

Lauren is a regular Bizzmark Blog author that has many articles published with the main focus on clients who want their brands to grow in the fast-changing and demanding market. Her personal favorites are successes of small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs. She goes through life with one strong moto – Kindness, always.

 

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Definitely one of the more common questions I receive is “how do I monetize my WordPress blog?”.

Many beginner bloggers get to the point where they set up their WordPress website, start publishing content and then are completely lost when it comes to monetizing it to earn extra income.

First, let me say that you must make sure that you are not starting a blog just for the sake of making money.

This is a sure fire way to fail and not generate a loyal following/readership.

On the other hand, if you are blogging to provide value instead of blogging strictly for income, then monetizing your website in certain ways can really pay off.

Of course as bloggers we want to earn some revenue from our efforts, but always be sure to put your readers first by answering questions, solving problems, providing solutions and producing high-quality content.

From there, the income will follow!

With that out of the way, let’s go over 6 practical methods on how to monetize a WordPress blog.

6 Methods for Monetizing Your WordPress Blog

A quick recommendation is to first focus on building up your blog a bit before you begin to monetize it heavily. Try to gain a little momentum first and generate a steady stream of traffic before trying the methods below. This way you will learn the foundational steps of content generation, search engine optimization, traffic generation etc., before you worry too much about earning an income. Once you gain more and more traction, these WordPress monetization strategies below will be a great way to get started.

1.) Build Your Email List

Any and every blogger should be building their email list. This is one of the best ways to monetize your WordPress blog as it offers a direct line of communication for those who opt-in to your list. You can simply place an opt-in form in your side widgets, at the top/bottom of your website, or trigger an exit pop-up whenever someone tries to leave your website (see screenshot below of my side widget email opt-in form). There are many WordPress plugins and tools to help you create attractive subscription forms. To entice people to subscribe to your email list, make sure you offer them something for free in return for their email address. This could be a free video training series, e-book, webinar, coaching call etc. Make this a valuable giveaway to have a better chance of people buying your paid products in the future, further along in your funnel. Build up the trust right from the start.

You’ll want to create an email follow-up series for your subscribers as well (7 days worth of automated emails or longer is recommended). A pretty good rule of thumb is to provide 80% informational/helpful emails and 20% that are promotional/sell your services or products. If you were to just sell to your subscribers in every email, they would quickly and easily hit the “unsubscribe” button and never return. Collecting email addresses and building a relationship with your email subscribers is one of the best ways a blogger can monetize their WordPress website. Eventually this can be an incredible way to earn income from your blog.

For bloggers, the email marketing software I highly recommend is ConverKit. They offer flexible pricing and also a free account for people to test out their services. You can also read my full ConvertKit review here to get more details!

2.) Affiliate Marketing (Recommend/Sell Products You Personally Use)

This has been a great monetization strategy for me personally and I would say one of the easier methods bloggers can try out for themselves. Affiliate marketing is actually how I made my first ever sale from my WordPress blog. I sold a simple web hosting package from HostGator and made $65!

Affiliate marketing is when you sell someone else’s product and earn a certain percentage of each commission. One of the simplest and most ethical ways to approach affiliate marketing is to recommend products to your visitors and email list that you personally use or have used in the past. Make sure these are high-quality products that you think would benefit the readers of your blog. For example, I have a dedicated page on my website “Recommended Tools” that shows people some of the services that I use to run my online business. This page contains affiliate links to these particular internet marketing tools and I’ve also added this page to my main navigation for increased visibility (see screenshot below).

Another form of affiliate marketing you can try is writing product reviews on your website. So this would be individual blog posts crafted around a particular product you’ve tried. If you optimize these properly, they have a great chance of getting ranked highly on Google which can in return generate targeted traffic for the life of that post. You can review products you’ve both liked and disliked. For the blog posts of products you’ve disliked, you can recommend a better alternative product with your affiliate link at the end of the article. I see this method being used a lot. Just make sure you write these product reviews in moderation. You want most of your content to be valuable and informational. But by all means, every once in a while, throw a product review into the mix. This could really be helpful to people who are maybe on the fence about a particular product. There’s also a lot of monthly search volume for “review” type keywords, which makes this strategy very effective.

Examples: To see an example of a post that earns me affiliate commissions on autopilot, check this out. Also, I wanted to highlight one of my coaching students Chuck from CigarPals.com, who utilizes this method to create really high-quality cigar reviews, see here.

3.) Sell Your Own Products

Selling your own products can be a great way to earn an income from your WordPress blog. There are many different types of products a blogger can create and then sell. For example, I see bloggers selling e-books, video courses, webinar series, software, marketing tools, physical books, clothing, music, artwork, graphics and much more. What you sell as a blogger really depends on your type of website and the niche you operate in. The powerful thing about selling your own products is that 100% of the earnings are yours (unlike affiliate marketing). If you have a good product or product line that you’ve created, sky is truly the limit to how much you can earn from your website.

4.) Sell Coaching or Consulting Services

Selling coaching or consulting services can be a great monetization strategy for many bloggers. Even if you know just a little bit more about a particular topic than someone else, your information is valuable and can earn you an extra income stream. Now if you truly specialize in something, that’s where the big money can be earned. For me personally, my coaching/consulting is the biggest income generator for my website. It’s also the most predicable as people are constantly looking for additional help and support in a given area.

Once your blog starts generating more traffic, simply set up a designated page to explain your expertise and coaching program. Add a contact form and/or your email address so people can get in touch with you. I like to offer a free 30 minute phone call to both screen and incentivize potential clients. Again, it’s all about providing value upfront first before asking for payment. When gaining momentum with your coaching business, you may find that you have more clients and coaching inquiries that you can handle. This is actually a good problem to have as you can be selective with who you take on board and also charge premium pricing since your time is limited. Be sure to collect testimonials as you grow this part of your business and add them to your coaching page for more credibility. Some tools that have really helped grow my coaching business are Calendly (scheduling), Zoom (screensharing software), ConvertKit (email marketing software), Google Docs & Sheets (homework assignments and reporting) and Elementor (WordPress page builder).

Pro Coaching Tip: If you provide good coaching services to customers, you will be surprised at how many people start referring your services to others. When you get to this point, you can even pay the referrer a certain % of each sale. This is a win-win as current clients will earn money from referring others and you will continue growing your customer base. You can have an army of people marketing your coaching program just because you are providing top notch services. Talk about word of mouth!

5.) Accept Sponsored Blog Content

Another great way for bloggers to monetize their website is by accepting sponsored content. For this strategy, you will need to build up the authority of your blog a bit first and make sure you already have a sufficient amount of content on your website. This strategy is a win-win situation for all parties involved. The publisher gets fresh/unique content for their website and the guest contributor gets more exposure and a backlink to their blog.

The higher your domain authority is and the more traffic you have coming into your website, the more you can charge per sponsored posts. I’ve seen people charging anywhere from $25-$1,000 an article. This can really add up to an additional and consistent stream of income overtime, plus you’ll be getting fresh content to upload to your website. If you do decide to implement the sponsored content advertising strategy on your own WordPress blog, make sure you watch my video here first. Please leave me a “comment” and a “like” and let me know if you have any questions. It covers a lot of ground about sponsored content and provides great insight to get the most out of this particular tactic.

Pro Sponsored Content Tip: Only accept the highest quality content and spot-check any sponsored content submissions with a plagiarism tool such as CopyScape. You only want to publish 100% unique content that will be valuable and helpful to your readers. Duplicate content (that’s been published elsewhere) will do your website no good whatsoever.

6.) Banner Advertising

A simple and popular way to monetize your blog further is through banner advertising. You can either place your own banners on your website to personal and/or affiliate products OR you can sell that space for other companies to advertise their product(s). If you sell advertising space to other companies, you will need to be able to provide them with metrics of your website so they see the value in this. I personally like only using one banner ad on my website, that links to an affiliate product or one of my own products. The more banner ads you put on your website, the more it can tend to clog things up and take away from the content a bit. Make sure to not overdue this strategy and in my opinion, more is less here.

Wrapping Up

Now these are monetization strategies that I personally use on a regular basis, but of course there are additional methods you can try. I didn’t mention tactics such as Google Adsense, Creating Restricted Membership Content, Accepting Donations etc., for example, but know that the possibilities are endless when it comes to monetizing a WordPress blog. Adopt a monetization strategy that works for you and that is unique to your own blogging business. Something that works for one website, may not necessarily be the best method for yours. It’s best to get your feet wet and test the waters to see what yields the most results for your WordPress blog.

If you’re looking for additional help on how to monetize your WordPress blog, make sure to check out my blog coaching services here!

How are you currently monetizing your WordPress blog?

Many people have stories and ideas they would like to share with the world. Bloggers often channel their stories from personal experiences that allow them to connect with their audience on an intimate level. With the right strategies, commitment and hard work, you can turn your blog into a full time or part-time income. Like any other venture, your blogging journey will begin with the first step. However, before taking that leap, you must learn a few things to help make the process more manageable.

Here is an in-depth guide to help get you started blogging from home and building your business.

Work From Home Blogging (A Beginners Guide)

1.) Reasons for Starting a Blog

You must have a motive for creating a blog. In order to work from home blogging you need a clear plan guided by clear goals to help you stay focused and generate momentum.

Contrary to the misconception, you do not have to be an excellent writer to run a successful blog; you need the passion to share your knowledge and ideas. One of the reasons why people start blogs is to make money to supplement their primary source of income or as a sole source of livelihood. If you approach the venture well, you can indeed make money from it. The other reason is to share helpful content, experiences and stories with your friends, family, and even the whole world.

Other people blog to find a community to be part of; blogging about a particular topic attracts people with similar interests whom you can share your experiences with. You can also choose to further your skills as a writer through blogging. Before you opt to work from home blogging, make sure it is a venture you will enjoy doing. Remember, blogging is a long-term process and results won’t happen overnight. This needs to be something you can see yourself doing for a while.

2.) Choosing a Niche

Many aspiring bloggers take a lot of time trying to come up with the perfect niche for their website. First things first, pick a niche where you have some experience and expertise in. Also, make sure this is a niche where there are unlimited topics you can write about. Meaning you won’t have any shortage of great content ideas to write about.

Picking a niche that people are already writing about can be a good thing as well because from a business point of view, it means people are interested/searching for that topic. Again, make sure it’s a niche that you’re passionate about and have the knowledge to come up with quality article ideas. For example, it is not wise to start a sports blog if you do not fancy sports.

It’s important to note that by no means do you have to be the #1 expert in your niche. Even if you know just 10% more than most people, plus have the drive to keep learning, this will help you grow your blog. Your journey to find ways of how to successfully work from home may tempt you to pick the most “red hot” or “popular” niche. However, as stated, be careful because it is much better to create a blog around something you are passionate about and/or driven by (strictly from a sustainability standpoint).

3.) Name the Blog

The fact that there are companies that are in the business of naming companies goes to show you how challenging this can be. It is not necessary to hire professional assistance for the process. However, you should research and carefully think of a name that is relevant to your niche, memorable, and preferably short. Since the name of the blog will also serve as its domain name, it needs to be available when you go to purchase it. A blog with the same domain name is easier to find in search engines; hence they have better visibility. Mind mapping is an excellent way to derive a blog name. Write down the topic of your blog then write down words that are relative to the subject; it will give you a list of words to combine. Check the availability of the domain names in your list before picking the most suitable title.

4.) Choose a Web Host

Web hosting allows you to make your blog available online for the audience. Your host is responsible for the safety, security, and availability of the content to the readers when they type or click your URL. Working from home successfully as a blogger depends much on partnering with an excellent hosting company. If you intend to grow a successful blog, you may want to spend a portion of your money on developing a self-hosted, official, and professional blog. Going for a self-hosted blog gives you the freedom to do more, for example, the ability to really customize your website. By picking the right hosting company for your blog, you can focus on how to work from home and continue building your business with confidence.

Once you’ve settled on a domain name for your blog, you will then need to select your hosting plan from the available options. I highly recommend signing up with HostGator as they offer flexible hosting plans and also top-notch customer service. Many hosting plans that last for a year or more generally give you free registration for your domain name, so definitely keep this in mind.

5.) Plan Your Content Strategy

To work from home blogging, you must make sure that you have a clear plan and strategy for generating content. Your blogging career will involve spending a lot of time coming up with high-quality, catchy, exciting, and insightful posts. Since other bloggers may be operating in a similar niche as you, your content needs to stand out and give readers a different and unique perspective compared to the rest. Provide readers with your honest viewpoint about a particular topic. You can even make certain posts light-hearted to include a few jokes. It’s really up to you to discover your writing style.

Researching keywords is an excellent strategy for discovering people’s current discussions, thoughts and search trends. This data you gather will come in handy in ensuring that your content answers the questions of the readers and/or contribute to ongoing conversations on topics relevant to your niche. Decide the frequency and time of your uploads as well so your audience knows when to look forward to their next read. Consistency is key when blogging from home, so make sure you pick a schedule and stick with it.

6.) Designing the Platform

Over the years, WordPress has developed excellent and feature-rich themes and templates; therefore, choosing WordPress eliminates the need to create a design from the beginning. Visit the appearance section and go through the many theme options available. Preview several themes before settling on one. A quality theme generally has many active installs but offers customization to ensure your website still looks unique. A quality theme is also compatible with the latest updates from WordPress, and has excellent user ratings. The reviews, customer support, and responsiveness of the developer are also indications if you should go with a particular theme or not. If the developer responds within a timely manner, then the theme may be suitable.

Do not compromise on the mobile responsiveness and compatibility with your blog and theme. Many people use their smartphones and tablets for many activities these days, including reading their favorite blogs. Therefore, your blog should be adaptable; for instance, it should fit into both large and small screens perfectly to provide excellent viewing for your audience. Picking between light and dark theme is also crucial. You can either ask for the audience’s opinion, make the decision yourself or let the readers make their preference. Additionally, since screen resolutions change often, it is better to use larger fonts to improve the readability of your content.

7.) Marketing your Blog

The best content is not enough to make your blog grow at the speed you may want it to; promotion is mandatory. If you work from home blogging, utilize this quiet time to learn and implement marketing tactics to build your blog’s authority and following. One of the more powerful ways to market your business is through social media. Follow accounts that operate in the same niche as you and that have similar content; collaborate, connect, participate, and use relevant hashtags when posting your own blog articles on your social media platforms. Strive to become an expert and influence in your niche. Also, study the work of your competition’s social media strategy to gain necessary insight and inspiration.

Search engine optimization (SEO) ensures that when people search for relevant keywords, your blog appears among the top results in Google. The meta tags, titles of your articles, the URL, and even your meta description contribute to your page’s SEO. You should utilize a plugin called Yoast to make the SEO tag process easier. You also need to be conscious of the way you structure your content as well. The title and subheadings should be SEO optimized with target keywords. Your content should contain your main keywords and also be very informative and helpful. Compressing and including alt tags to the videos and images in the blog also can help your blog rank higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Guest posting is also excellent for gaining recognition in the blogging society as it not only gives you a larger audience but also builds backlinks, which raises the traffic for your site and helps with keyword rankings in Google. Try sending some pitches to bloggers in your niche for a chance to get your article published on an external website. You will get better at the guest posting process with time, stick with it and remain patient.

(Check out my video here if you’re looking for a more in-depth guide on how to build quality backlinks via guest posting).

8.) How to Generate Income through Blogging

If you intend to work from home blogging, you should know that you cannot monetize your blog by only posting content. You may have started your blog as a hobby, but as time passes, you can turn it into a full-on business in order to successfully work from home. You can choose to sell physical products such as hand-made jewelry, t-shirts etc. or you can sell services such as an online courses, consulting, and freelancing among others. Affiliate marketing is also an option you can take; by recommending a company’s product or service, you earn a commission for every click that results in a purchase.

Advertising is another way of making money through blogging by either posting ads for products and services on your site or doing a sponsored post for the item you wish to promote. However, sponsored content is only relevant if you have a broad and loyal audience. Typically, for you to do a sponsored blog, your traffic should be 5000 or more readers every month. Be careful not to alienate your audience when doing a sponsored post. Come up with a blog post that looks natural and relative to your style of publishing. By launching a simple podcast, you can use the traffic to seek brand sponsorships from companies who wish to tap into a particular group of audience.

Conclusion

It takes time to grow a successful blog and be able to work from home part-time or full-time, however the benefits of running your own business are priceless. Please use these tips to help get you kicked off in the right direction.

Also, if you’re looking for additional one-on-one assistance, please be sure to check out my blog coaching services here!

Today’s post is an exciting one and in my opinion one of the easiest ways to make extra income from your blogging efforts.

The method and strategy we will be discussing is accepting sponsored blog posts.

Before reading further however, if you’re a blogger, make sure that money/income is NOT your sole motivation for running your website.

This is a sure fire way to not succeed in the blogging world.

Focus on providing value first and the income will follow.

With that being said, let’s go over exactly what sponsored blog posts are, how to get them from other webmasters and how to turn this into a monthly recurring income stream.

(Note/Disclaimer: $100-500 per month is what I personally make using this strategy currently, but there’s potential to make a lot more or less than that depending on various factors. There are different variables at play here as you’ll see in the steps below but this could be a great strategy for many bloggers looking to increase their income).

What Is A Sponsored Blog Post?

A sponsored blog post is a guest article submitted to your website, written by another blogger or company, that you would publish to your blog for a fee.

The great thing about sponsored blog content is that it’s a win-win for both parties involved.

Let’s discuss briefly below:

How Does This Benefit The Guest Contributor?

• They get exposure to their content, brand, product, name and/or business.
• They are allowed a link to their website (also known as a backlink which is good for SEO) to be placed in their sponsored article. This overtime can help with their search engine rankings in Google.
• They can receive good referral traffic from people clicking on their link within the article (also, the more sponsored posts a person gets published on different websites, the more referral traffic they will naturally generate overtime).
• If they post their content on an authoritative website, there’s potential that the article could get plenty of social shares and even rank highly in Google for a given keyword, which means traffic on autopilot!
• They’ll make great connections and collaborate with other bloggers/webmasters in their niche.

How Does This Benefit The Website Owner/Publisher?

• They receive fresh and unique content to publish to their website which Google loves.
• The website owner has the ability to charge $50, $100, $250 or even $500 per sponsored post which can add up to a nice side income. Many companies have no problem paying good money for sponsored blog posts for the benefits described above.
• Saves website owner time of not having to write the article for themselves. They can also pre-schedule these out far in advance which frees up time and allows the website owner to focus on other areas of their business.

Something I’d like to note is that sponsored blog content should be mixed in with the content you personally produce as well on a monthly basis. You do not want all of the content published on your website to be from external writers.

Your readers most likely found/followed you because of the relationship you’ve built with them through your own content, so make sure you continue to write articles yourself. Do not just rely on sponsored content or your momentum/following might suffer.

Now let’s discuss exactly how to get sponsored posts for your blog!

How to Get Sponsored Posts for your Blog?

Getting people interested in publishing a sponsored post on your blog becomes fairly easy after a certain point, but you do have to go through the steps laid out below first.

The more established your blog is, the more money you will potentially be able to charge external writers.

The process below will provide you with certain checkpoints to focus on so you can begin getting sponsored post submissions and create a new stream of income for your blog.

1.) Write Compelling, Engaging & High-Quality Content

First things first, you must have a healthy dose of high-quality, compelling and engaging content on your website. I wouldn’t even think about accepting a sponsored post until you have at least 50 personal articles published to your website. If someone is interested in publishing content on your blog, they will need to see that you produce really good content to begin with and on a consistent basis.

If they were to come to a website that didn’t look updated and only had a few articles published, there would be no benefit for them to even bother writing a sponsored post. The first area you need to focus on is fleshing out your website with loads of high-quality and top-notch content.

2.) Build Up Your Domain Authority (DA) & Website Traffic

Simply put, the higher your domain authority the more you can charge for sponsored blog posts. The same goes for website traffic. Domain authority is a metric created by MOZ that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s on a scale of 1-100 (1 being a low domain authority, like a brand new website and 100 being a super reputable website like a Forbes.com). Read more about domain authority here.

In order to build up your own domain authority, you will need to be building backlinks for your blog. You can do this via guest posting or sponsored blog content. I recorded a step-by-step and in-depth video on exactly how to build backlinks through guest posting here. This should be very helpful if this process is new to you.

I recommend building up your domain authority to at least a 15 or higher before you start accepting sponsored posts. In order to see your domain authority score, you can use a free tool like this one here: https://smallseotools.com/domain-authority-checker/ and just plugin your website. Below is a screenshot of where to find your domain authority using this tool:

This is not an overnight process and will indeed take a little time to build up your website’s authority but be consistent for a couple of months and build as many quality backlinks as you can. Focus on building backlinks on websites that have a higher domain authority than yours and you’ll begin to notice your own domain authority increase as well.

3.) Create a “Write for Us”, “Contribute” or “Advertising” Page

Once you’ve completed the two steps above, you are now ready to create a designated page on your blog to let people know that you accept sponsored content. I recommend using “Write for Us”, “Contribute”, “Sponsored Posts” or “Advertise” as the title of the page. A lot of times people searching for sponsored or guest post opportunities use these keywords in Google to find various opportunities. I know myself and others have seen a lot of success with “Write for Us”.

You can make this page super simple and it’s basically a place for you to explain to potential writers what type of content you accept, your guidelines etc. For example, you can take a look at my page here to get some ideas: https://evanhoeflichmarketing.com/write-for-us

A few sections I would incorporate into your “Write for Us” or “Contribute” page are:

• General guidelines
  • 100% unique and high-quality content only
  • The wordcount you are looking for
  • If an author bio is required or preferred
• Topics You Accept
  • List out a bunch of topics you’ll accept that make sense within your niche and area of expertise
• Contact Information or Contact Form
  • Provide people with direction on how they can get in touch with you to submit a sponsored blog post

4.) Share Your Page & Field Responses

A lot of times, the inquires you will receive will come from people finding your website in organic search once your DA is high enough and you create your “Write for Us” page. You will want to come up with a price range that you will charge for publishing content (make sure to only accept high-quality and well-written articles). Feel free to experiment with your pricing as well. You will get better at negotiating and gauging what people are willing to pay with the more experience you have under your belt.

Also, be sure to share your page with other bloggers and let them know that you have sponsored content opportunities. People are always looking to get their content published on other relevant websites for the additional exposure and SEO benefits.

Wrapping Up & Final Notes

When you get to the point where you are accepting sponsored blog posts, you will need to run every article you receive through a plagiarism checker such as Copyscape. You do NOT want to publish any duplicate content or in other words, content that’s been previously published elsewhere. This is an SEO best practice to make sure that the content you publish is 100% unique to your website. Copyscape is super affordable and only a couple of cents per article search.

Also, as a reminder, the more you build up your own domain authority and website traffic, the higher you can charge for sponsored posts moving forward. Keep building backlinks to your website and also constantly work on increasing the amount of traffic your blog receives on a monthly basis. This will allow you to charge top dollar for sponsored blog content!

Are you currently accepting sponsored posts on your blog?

Interested in one-on-one blog coaching? Get in touch with me here to see if you’d be a good fit for my program!

I was inspired to write today’s post based on a recent coaching call I had with one of my clients.

Sometimes my best blog article ideas come from the questions and/or the situations I experience when working with different bloggers and companies.

Basically, my client Santanna was a fairly newer blogger and I noticed just from manually navigating her website that we needed to drastically improve the loading speed from page to page.

She had numerous high-quality images uploaded to her blog posts and pages which was great, but I had a hunch that this was part of the reason her website was so slow.

Most beginner bloggers do not realize that if your images are not compressed properly, it can negatively affect the website’s loading speed.

So the process we took with Santanna’s blog was as follows:

1. I plugged her website into a free online tool that analyzes page speed and provides recommendations based on what can be improved. I like using GTmetrix (https://gtmetrix.com/) and/or Google’s PageSpeed Insights (https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/) for website speed tests. This generally only takes 30 seconds to a minute to run.
2. GTmetrix confirmed my suspicion and let us know that Santanna’s blog images were not compressed/optimized for speed. It also revealed that her overall loading speed was right around 14 seconds, yikes!
3. Next, I had Santanna install a very simple WordPress plugin call Smush which with a simple click of the mouse compressed all of her images and reduced their file sizes.
4. We re-tested her website after the Smush process was complete and were pretty amazed to see that we shaved off over 10 seconds in loading time according to GTmetrix! This test showed her website speed now at 3 seconds compared to 14 seconds from the first test. And just from utilizing this one simple plugin.

Now there are many different ways to improve loading speed and every website will require a unique approach. In fact, I wrote an entire post on the steps I took to improve my own website speed here.

But starting with the images is a good first step for many bloggers to get things loading a bit quicker.

If you know that your images can use compressing/optimizing, follow the steps below to install Smush and run a before & after test using GTmetrix.

1.) First, Test Your Initial Website Speed (Before Test)

Again I recommend using GTmetrix or Google’s PageSpeed Insights to test your website speed.

Simply paste your URL into GTmetrix and hit “Test your site” (see screenshot below):

Next, let the tool run and analyze the data it provides. If your images need compressing you will most likely see a “C, D or F” rating next to “Optimize images” and an orange or red bar. The screenshot below reveals that my website images are well optimized already and compressed which is why you see a “B” rating and it showing green. You will also see a section for “Fully Loaded Time” in seconds, which is highlighted in the image below as well:

 

This will be your “Before” test that you can use as a benchmark. At the end, you will want to compare this to your “After” test once you install the Smush plugin, which brings us to the next step.

2.) Next Install The Smush Plugin for WordPress

Now we will want to install the Smush plugin for your WordPress website.

• To do this, make sure you’re logged into your WordPress dashboard and click “Plugins” in your left navigation menu and then “Add New”.
• Next search for “Smush” and select “Install Now”.
• Lastly, hit “Activate”.

Now find the Smush plugin that you downloaded in your left navigation. Smush will most likely take you through a quick setup process and all you need to do is select “BULK SMUSH NOW”. See screenshot below:

Let the Smush process run and it’s as simple as that!

You images will now be compressed.

Now we are ready for our “After” test.

3.)Lastly, Re-Test Your Website Speed (After Test)

Now the final step is to re-test your website in GTmetrix to see if there’s been any improvements in speed and performance.

Follow the same exact process laid out in step #1 above.

Analyze both the “Fully Loaded Time” and “Optimize images” section to see if you notice any progress.

If your images were not compressed prior, this should really help improve your overall website speed!

Wrapping Up:

Website speed is an area that you should look into consistently. You will want to re-visit this on a monthly basis and make a high-priority. Not only does this help with overall user-experience, but it also can improve your SEO. Google would much rather rank a website that is fast loading compared to one that is sluggish to provide their users with the best possible experience. Also, it’s recommended to check into other ways that you can improve your WordPress website speed outside of just compressing/optimizing images. This is just one area of many that can help your pages and posts load faster.

If you’re a blogger looking for additional guidance and coaching, make sure you visit my page here!

Are you currently using Smush or a similar plugin?

This is a guest post written by Jeff Finder.

You might have heard or seen people who make a lot of money from their blogs. But is it really possible to make money from blogging?

Yes, if your blog gets a number of visitors a month it’s practically possible to monetize it and earn a nice income out of it.

The real hurdle is making money from a blog that does not receive a lot of visitors. When you are just starting out it can seem like one of the most frustrating and difficult tasks. With so much knowledge to apply and strategies to use, how can you even find the resources and time to do this?

In this post, you’ll learn how to monetize your blog and make money with 14 profitable and proven strategies.

1.) Start Affiliate Marketing

If you are wondering how you can monetize your blog, you should consider affiliate marketing. It’s perhaps one of the most common ways that website owners and bloggers make money. This method is good especially when you’ve just started out and you don’t have a service or product to sell.

With affiliate marketing, you promote the services and products of other businesses. All you need to do is to create quality content that is in line with what you are promoting. Every time someone buys a product through your affiliate link you earn some commission.

For instance, if you are running a fashion blog you can sell, footwear, fashion apparel, and sportswear. To start affiliate marketing you can begin by joining programs such as Amazon associates, ClickBank, Shareasale and Commission Junction.

LaptopCut.com is a good example. It’s a dedicated blog for laptops and they write in-depth laptop reviews and put affiliate links to Amazon to monetize. Best Laptops For Teachers for example is an article where they have done a round-up review of top 10 laptops ideal for teachers with an in-depth review and buying guide (and of course put amazon affiliate link).

2.) Try Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the less expensive and most powerful ways to monetize your blog and make money. This method involves adding new subscribers to your email list.

By giving your subscribers a free gift you can get many visitors to subscribe to your blog. You can also do this by consistently creating quality content that drives people back to your site.

In order to be successful use some of the most popular email marketing platforms such as ConvertKit, AWeber, Mailchimp or infusionSoft. A good amount of money can be made by building a connection with your readers. With the help of email marketing, you can offer both affiliate and your own products through email.

3.) Use Google Adsense

Most people start a blog mostly for Google Adsense and Ads. This means Google Adsense is one of the most popular platforms around. There are two methods that you can use to make money through Google Adsense. These include:

• Based on Clicks. Despite page views, if a visitor clicks on the ad you’ll earn some money. Depending on the ad this can be something to do with $0.01 to a couple of dollars.
• Based on impressions. This generally depends on page views. For instance, for every 1000 page views, you can earn a certain amount of money.

4.) Sell Ad Space Directly

Although Google Adsense is quite simple to set up, the amount of money that you can earn is not much. With that said you might want to consider selling your ad space directly to the customers.

By doing this you get to set the price. Instead of getting paid only a small amount of cash, you can charge a flat rate for any ad to appear on your blog. This is not only easier but you can also earn some good money.

If you are looking for businesses willing to buy your ad space, just create an “Advertise Here” page on your blog where people can contact you for pricing information.

Since you’ll be responsible for everything, doing this is a little bit difficult. However, there are a number of tools online that you can use to make the process easier.

5.) Sell Ebooks

Making Ebooks of your services and goods is also another way to monetize your blog. Write an Ebook that explains the content on your blog. If you are teaching your users a new skill, then the Ebook is likely to give them value.

If you are committed and consistent there is a lot of money to be made from Ebooks.

6.) Accept Sponsored Posts

Accepting sponsored posts is a great strategy to make extra money from your blog. It is also a win because you will be receiving fresh and unique content to publish on your website without you having to write it.

If you have a consistent blogging schedule, great looking blog, and engaged visitors then companies will be willing to pay you a lot of money to get their content published. You can start by directly reaching out to brands, or simply create a “Write for Us” type of page.

Pro Tip: Any content that gets submitted to your website for publication should be checked with a plagiarism tool such as Copyscape. You do not want to publish a duplicate article as this could negatively affect your SEO.

7.) Make Money through Branded Merchandise

If you’ve developed a solid brand and following you may want to consider selling branded merchandise. Lots of people love to show their connection to a particular community by sporting branded merch. Some influences even use this as a way of monetizing their podcasts.

If you are looking to monetize your blog you can also do this. If your brand is not popular you may change this strategy and sell merchandise that’s relatable, funny and even helpful. The good thing is that you can do this without investing a lot of cash upfront.

8.) Get Paid Writing Reviews

Getting paid to write a review is almost the same as accepting sponsored posts. With this strategy, you can try out a product, write a review about it and then earn from the same.

The best thing is to write reviews of products that are related to your blog. For instance, if your blog niche is budgeting, reviewing budgeting apps and softwares make more sense than writing reviews about vacuum cleaners.

And just like sponsored posts you can contact brands directly and ask them whether they are interested in hiring you for review.

9.) Offer Coaching Services

If you are looking to make money within the shortest time possible then become a coach. Giving customers and prospects direct access to expertise and products is one of the best ways of making money.

It doesn’t matter how much experience you’ve gathered in the process, offering coaching services to your clients or visitors can always earn you some cash. Your responsibility as a coach will be to help people manage the challenges they are facing instead of giving up or getting frustrated.

10.) Create a Private Forum

Instead of turning your entire blog into a mentorship or coaching site you can create a private forum that people have to pay for to gain access. A forum is basically a page that people use to discuss different topics with each other and get the advice that they need.

Having a forum is one of the best ways of getting engagement and building a following around you. Plus with a paid forum, you can create a revenue stream from your blog.

11.) Sell Other Digital Products

Apart from selling eBooks and other services, you can also monetize your personal blog by selling products such as WordPress themes, printables, templates, audio recordings, and video tutorials among others. If you have a skill and digital product, sell it to earn money.

12.) Create a Directory

Depending on your blog niche, you can use your blog to play the role of matchmaker and create a job board or directory. These resources when done well are not only useful but can also attract a lot of readers.

The directory used to be the “in” thing online and they are still in high demand. If you are wondering how to go about this, there are a bunch of good directory plugins that you can use. You’ll even get plugins that will allow you to accept payments.

13.) Host Webinars

Although many businesses use webinars to generate leads, hosting a well-paid webinar is another means of making money. When doing this you only need to ensure that you are providing value.

Since there are many free webinars out there you should be offering something pretty good if you intend to earn money from it.

14.) Become a Freelance Blogger

A freelancer is a writer who creates content on various topics for emails, websites landing pages and products. If you already have a blog then you have all the skills you need to be an on-demand freelance blogger.

Top brands and companies are constantly looking for bloggers with the appropriate skill sets. So becoming a freelancer will give you a huge opportunity to improve your financial life. Once you’ve marketed yourself well you’ll start seeing business coming your way.

You can also join several Facebook groups and use the same to market yourself.

Wrapping Up

If you’ve already done the work of creating your blog, why not make some cash out of it. This process will just take a bit of know-how. After paying for development, hosting and design cost, your blog can easily make you money.

Give one of the above approaches a try and you may be pleasantly surprised by what comes out of it. Just make sure you choose the best niche and be consistent in what you are doing. Remember there is no success that comes overnight.

Author Bio

Jeff Finder is a Digital Nomad who travels around the world and blogs about technology, gadgets and specifically laptops at Laptopcut.com. He’s also an international speaker and loves to persuade youth to find their voice online and make it count.

 

 

Which blog monetization methods will you try from the list above?