So you started your blog in hopes of earning money and creating a better future for you and your loved ones? Well, so did I and I wanted to share 7 things that successful blogs do that will help cut down on your learning curve.
They Get Started
It amazes me how many people I see in Facebook groups that say they want to know the best day to launch a blog or how many blog posts they need before they go live.
The truth is that most bloggers will tell you that they started with one blog post. I started this blog and my other blog with just one post.
Every successful blogger started from scratch with zero page views and zero followers. It takes time to build a profitable blog that actually makes a consistent income.
Unfortunately, 95% of blogs will fail because people are just not willing to stay consistent and keep working and tweaking until they get the results they want.
I know that if you choose a profitable niche that you’re passionate about, you can succeed. That’s why I wanted to share these tips with you.
7 Things Successful Blogs Have In Common That Will Help You
#1 They Chose A Niche They Love
It’s so easy to start a blog that anyone can get one set up in minutes, regardless of your technical skills. This is what makes so many people think that creating a successful blog is easy.
Yes, it’s easy to set up a self-hosted WordPress blog. Where the hard work comes in is when you’re trying to turn your hobby into an actual business that pays you month after month and year after year.
Some niches are more popular and profitable than others. Maybe you chose your niche based solely on profitability. I think we all do that, at one point in our blogging life.
What I can tell you from both personal experience and scoping out the most successful blogs online. You can’t succeed online if you’re not interested in the niche you’ve chosen.
It’s going to be hard to write content on a regular basis if you’re only chasing the money. I’m NOT saying that it’s impossible and some people can do it.
But based on my past experiences, I have to have an interest in the topic that I’m writing about. I’ve never been able to stick with a blog if I just chase the popular blog topics that make money.
That’s the reason that I’ve had so many blogs fail in the past. I was always chasing the money and never took the time to write about what I enjoyed about.
So before you create a site based off a blog niche list you found online. Ask yourself can you see yourself writing about this topic in the next 5 years?
It may not take you 5 years to earn money online, but if you look at some of the top bloggers, you’ll notice that they’ve been blogging for more than 5 years.
#2 Wrote Content for Their Audience Not Search Engines
As a new blogger, you’ll hear terms thrown at you like SEO, long tail keywords, LSI, low hanging fruit and etc. It’s mind-boggling and enough to make you want to quit before you actually get started.
When it comes to writing content, SEO is important and I suggest that you start reading everything that you can about it. This site helped me understand how SEO and LSI played a huge part in helping me get organic traffic.
Once you have an understanding of what Google wants in your articles. It’s time to write content that helps your audience, while also pleasing the search engines.
This means that you’re still focusing on the keyword you’re targeting, but you’re writing content in a conversational tone that helps your audience.
It takes time to understand how to write content for your blog that attracts your targetted audience. That’s okay, the more that you sit down to write, the better you’ll get with writing the right type of content.
The most important thing to remember is that you’re writing content to help solve your readers’ problems. Yes you want to get high rankings from Google, but that shouldn’t be your main goal.
Related: How to Use Yoast SEO Plugin and Everything You Need to Know
#3 They Showed Up Everyday Even Regardless of Results
One of the hardest things you’ll do at the beginning stages of your blog is write content when no one is reading your blog.
It’s one of the reasons why so many people quit within their first 6 months of blogging. I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy to keep publishing content when you’re not making money.
Most of us start a blog because we love the topic we choose, but that doesn’t mean that we want to do it for free. Blogging is hard work and sometimes it’s not a lot of fun, especially, in the early days.
If you’re just starting your blog and you’re still not getting any page views or making any money. You need to know we all went through that dry spell.
The most successful bloggers are the ones that were able to get through that dry spell and not let it affect them.
So whatever you do, keep showing up and keep writing articles even if no one is reading them. Stop looking at your Google Analytics if you are feeling unmotivated to write.
Promote your content on Pinterest using Tailwind to get more traffic to your new blog. Do whatever you have to motivate yourself to keep working on your blog when you’re brand new.
Just know that eventually, your blog won’t be new anymore and you’ll start to see it grow.
#4 Willing to Spend Money On Their Online Education
So many new bloggers refuse to spend money on their blogging education. I admit that you don’t have to buy a ton of courses and products to help you grow.
However, if you’re serious about making money and want to cut your learning curve in half, you need to invest in your blogging education.
Don’t spend any money in your first month of blogging. Instead, check out this training to access all the free training and learn the basics.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll realize what you need help with. There’s so much to learn when you become an entrepreneur and want to live the Internet lifestyle.
You can’t expect to always learn everything for free. Just don’t make the mistake of buying too many courses or products and not taking action. Remember, no product is going to help you if you’re not implementing what you’re learning.
#5 Treated Their Blogs Like Businesses
One of the best things you can do to create a successful blog is to treat your blog like a business. This means that there will be monthly business expenses for hosting, email autoresponders and other tools that will help you grow your blog.
The great thing is that you can control the expenses of a blog. At the bare minimum, you’ll need a domain and hosting account, this is the one that I recommend.
I know it’s hard to think about paying for a blog when it isn’t making money. But if you’re blogging with the intention of earning money, you should start treating it like a business from day one.
#6 Focused on Low Hanging Keywords They Could Rank For
Every new blog starts out with a DA score of 0 unless you buy a domain that was previously owned by someone else. But most people will go to Namecheap or their favorite Domain Registrant to buy a domain.
A blogger’s job is to create helpful content and promote it. As a new blogger, you don’t want to create just any content, otherwise, you’ll never get organic traffic.
One of the biggest mistakes I made on this blog was focusing on keywords that were too competitive. I was writing helpful content, but the keywords I was targetting were the wrong ones.
This blog is now over 2 years old and those posts that I wrote when I first started still do not bring me any traffic. The first spots on Google for most of the keywords are being held by blogs with a DA 50 or higher and most of the domains are over 7 years old.
At the time of this writing, my blog only has a DA score of 32 and I’ve only been blogging for 2 years. This means that I don’t stand a chance to rank for those keywords anytime soon or if ever.
Yes, I could probably build backlinks and to see if I can push those posts up. But I hate building backlinks. I’d rather write a new blog post on my own blog and publish it than give away my content or risk doing something that Google hates.
So use a tool like this to uncover low hanging fruit that a new blogger has a chance to rank for. Otherwise, you’ll waste a year or longer like I did chasing the wrong keywords.
#7 They’re Not Scared to Monetize and Make Money
It’s crazy when I see new bloggers say that they’re scared to monetize their websites. They think that their readers will get offended or people will think they are a sell-out.
You need to remember that blogging is a business and it costs money. There are tons of ways to make money online without looking like a sell-out.
I recommend starting with display ads and affiliate marketing. These are the two methods that I currently use to make money online. There are tons of ways to earn profits from your blog, but I recommend starting with those two methods.
If you’re new to affiliate marketing, this training course will teach you everything you need to know to succeed online.
Eventually, as your blog grows and is past the beginning stage, you can monetize using other methods. The most important thing remember is that you should never be scared to monetize your blog.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to earn money as long as you’re still providing valuable, helpful content that helps your audience.
I started monetizing from day one because I didn’t want to go back and have to add affiliate links later on.
Final Take Away
It’s so easy to believe that if you start a blog today, you’ll start to earn money next month. The truth is that it takes time to become a successful blogger.
The best part is that if other people have figured out how to do it, so can you. As long as you keep working towards your goals, there’s no reason why you can’t create a digital asset that pays you month after month.
Once you learn that there are no secrets to a successful blog, you’ll understand that all it takes is persistence and hard work.
Hand Picked Articles for You
- 5 Blog Post Ideas That Are Sure to Make You Money
- How Much Do Professional Bloggers Make And How They Do It
- How to Find The Right Niche For Your Blog (With Examples)
Hopefully, this will give you an idea of what it takes to create a blog that earns you money 24/7. It’s not as hard as everyone makes it seem. The thing is that it does take a lot of time.
Unfortunately, it takes some niches longer than others. So just keep that in mind as you’re working on your blog and not seeing the results you want to see.
