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Namely, your blog can get hacked in multiple ways – via the hosting panel, malicious code injections, outdated plugins, administrator accounts, unsafe themes, etc.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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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!

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?