Before you learn how to start a successful blog, you must first find your niche, figure out how to make it profitable and successful, and figure out who are your ideal readers. In short, a niche is a topic or a subject that you write about most often, or even exclusively, in your blogs. Niche blogging is creating a blog to advertise to a particular market. Niche blogs are easy to monetize and they usually contain affiliate links, advertisements, or more. And that’s mostly how they become profitable and creates a passive income platform for you!

Passive income is when you continue to get paid after the work is done. It includes royalties from books, movies, or songs. It's also revenues that comes from real estate investments or business investments where you don't have to be present to earn it.

How to choose a niche for your blog

To become a successful blogger and to stay on top always, you will have to choose the right niche and work on attaining the highest form of knowledge within that topic. So pick the one that appeals to you the one you are passionate about and most interested in. Strive for success, happiness, and recognition. By choosing the niche of interest and having your own point of view, where you’ll be able to differentiate your personal blog ideas from those which are in the market or on the online platform.

At this point, now you’ll need to look at the best blog sites in the market by doing a few researches to determine the type of blog management tools are available to you and the one you want to use. I recommend that you make your own blog using a self-hosted setup that I will show you later in this guide. But before going a head you should ask yourself, how I start a blog, and here to go let me to explain you the steps further. When it comes to popular blogging platforms, you have the following recommended free and self-hosted platforms.

Free Platform

In 2020 for new bloggers, the availability of free blog platforms are such as WordPress.com, Blogger, wix.com, or Tumbler is tempting. By keeping your blog on a free platform, you let the platform own your name. You’ll be subject to their rules and restrictions. If you are looking to learn how to make money with a blog, they may limit or prohibit ads on your blog, or they may even place their own ads. If you are serious starting your own blogging platform, then quite the free platform.

Self-hosted platforms

Self-hosted platforms allow you to run a blog using your own prefer domain name. Aside from following your domain registrar and web hosting company’s rules, you’re fully in charge of your blog and its contents.

You have several choices when it comes to self-hosted systems (also called a Content Management System or in short CMS). The most popular is WordPress.org.

This option is called self-hosted because you will use your own web hosting space and name. If you use your recommended hosting company, then it will cost just a few dollars per month for the web space (hosting account), and you will get a FREE name domain for the first year. The actual CMS is usually open-source and free.

As I mentioned some free hosting options, the best course of action is to own your blog, especially if you will be using your own copyrighted material (articles, drawings, photos, etc.). You only need to pay a small amount of money every month, the same as you are paying for your coffee every morning, and you will build your own property. If you plan to sell some products or services through you can also do that to make money through, like music, books or anything else via your blog, then this is the best way to go a head with it. There is a lot out their like hosting providers who can help you to maintain an e-commerce blog.

Your domain name will be the name by which you will be known online, no matter what niche you choose for your blog. It’s your unique address on the Internet that your blog visitors will use to find you online. Your domain will be yours as long as you continue paying the annual fee ($5 to $10 for a .com domain). Users who know your domain/URL (uniform resource locator) can simply type it into their browser’s internet address bar and get to your blog page, or otherwise they will discover you through search engines such as Google and Bing.

The popular domain name is when it ends with “dot com,” but you can find the cheapest one also which are like .net, .org or your country specific popular domains which you may know. But most of the blogger is using .com because it is more popular.

If you're not sure what domain name you are going to chose and what domain names are available for your blog, Bluehost will help you with it. And you can try with the domain availability in the following link.

The moment you have come with a domain name for your blog and you are going to select a reliable hosting services will be one of the most important decisions to make. Because as long as you stay with that reliable hosting services the functionality and performance of your site will depend on your blog hosting. The hosting services will make it sure that your site is available 24/7 to your potential blog readers and visitors and the hosting services server is the place where all your blog or website information is stored.

Most of hosting services companies also offers domain registration services. Some people keep their domain name with the registrar company, separate from the hosting account. But I recommend keeping it all together under the same hosting service account will be hassle free the management and maintenance purposes.

Choosing the wrong hosting services can cause many problems with your blog. Just imagine choosing an internet service company that has no downloading speed will wait you couples of minutes to open your blog page. Your web host service is a major point of your services for making successful your blog; therefore, you must choose a reliable, trustable and performance wise provider for your blog hosting.

And there are a lots of reliable and trustable hosting services available in the market if you need help with it please let me know I can help you with it for sure without out any problem.

This section will provide you the detailed information to help you signing up for the web hosting account and how to set up the hosting of your blog. As an example, I will show you how to make a blog with Bluehost, but this procedure will work with any hosting site maybe not same to same but at some point is the same if you properly follow the steps.

1.Visit to bluehost homepage

Click on the link to take you to Bluehost website. Then click the “Get Started Now” and in the most website hosting or blog hosting is the same procedure.

2. Selection of your blog’s hosting plan

First select the plan you prefer for your blog. If this is your first time, I suggest you to go with the basic one until you explore your options and get a bite stable in your blogging habits. Because otherwise it is possible you can't pay for the next year. It is better that you always mange your expenses cost.

3. Selection of the Domain Name

Your domain name has an important role in the success of your blog, so you should take your time to come up with a name that should work for your blog and that can take your business towards the success that you are trying to get through. You can check in the domain availability box to see if your domain name is available.

4. Registration for Bluehost

After selecting your domain name, Bluehost will take you to the registration page where you have to fill a form regarding your hosting and your personal info as you are the owner of the hosting website, including the billing address and payment methods.

5. Select your hosting options

Pay your attention to your hosting options like protection for your personal information. And the duration like 12-month package has the lowest price, but if you go for the long term is not a problem at all that is a great option too but depends on your budget.

6. Launch your WordPress blog with Bluehost

Congratulations, we are almost there! Once you have your domain name and web hosting connected, it’s time to set up your WordPress.

Go to your Bluehost cPanel account; find ‘My Sites’ in the section click Install WordPress. This famous one-click set-up option offered by Bluehost that makes blog creation easy for us.

Now, if you go to your site’s URL, you will see a ‘Coming Soon’ page because the site hasn’t gone live yet. The reason is that you haven't design yet your blog. Now you’ll need to design a WordPress site before launching it, And as soon as you finalise the design of your blog, go back to the cPanel page and hit ‘Launch.’ and your website will go live.

The important thing in a blog is the start and the end of your blog, which includes the interface (design and layout) of your blog. Where you create an environment for your visitors to visit your blog, it is very important that to be interesting, eye catching and easy to use. In the long run, you want your visitors to easily find information on your site. You don’t want visitors to be discouraged by the colors you choose or the non-intuitive and unpractical way in which the information is displayed.

Start your search on a theme as soon as your WordPress platform is ready. The look and design of your blog depends on the theme you choose. Your readers will first notice the overall appearance, before even taking a look at the content. Choose a theme that looks great and interesting to read, but also works for your unique content needs.

The default theme that comes with your WordPress blog installed is about like twenty themes total while it’s a good starter for the choice of themes, you should always choose a theme which really go well with the niche of your blog.

For choosing a proper theme for your blog you should read the description of every theme you select or you go through. When you click on the Bluehost button in the left-hand corner, you will see the page with various tools that are designed to help you create your blog, or you can ask for the help in some point if you have a problem with it through your word press.

So far, you’ve got a domain name, chosen your blog theme, and you are ready to go head for the design and to finalize your blog. Now you must learn a little bite how to write your blog content to get to the world of blogging. Like how to bring important an interesting information through your blog to your visitors of your blog. And all those information is called content.

The next step is to figure out what content you need to use for your blog and what are the best practices to follow. And what your blog should be composed of, for example: words, photos, graphics, audio, video, etc. The content will be the belt for your blog that will make through the traffic for your blog. Otherwise no one will come and see your blog

Without great content, even the most well-designed, tightly-structured blogs will ultimately fail. The framework of a blog is the coding, but the attraction of the blog is going to be found in your blog content.

Three things your content should have

• The content speak to the specific audience and provides value to them in some significant way. If it doesn't sound real like our Commitments that some time we do in some points. You should have the powerful ideas into your mind and transfer it into your content and you should never forget: It’s not about only about you, it about your audience how you attract them towards the content you have in your blog.

• The content should be easy accessible, attractive and well presented. Your blog presentation must qualify to idea of your content. And also never try to cut the corners on low quality graphics or designs. Everything about in your blog must look fine and attractive to your visitors and encourage them to interact with your content as much as you it is possible to you.

• Your blog content can be on commercially market, but should never be commercially focused. Don't try to be greedy to approach your visitors with pop-up ads and big banners ads in your Blog. Showing your visitors greedy content can cause problem for your Blog to not be able to engage your visitors with your Blog content. Let them know through your content that you are ready to help them, not to use them.

As a blogger, you might get overwhelmed by all the available types of content and methods you can deliver to your readers. You have to remember that the content delivery method is less important than the actual content and its quality.

Wondering how you can create quality content? It’s simple.

Here are three simple steps approach you can use to make great content of any types:

• Point. State your main idea and point you are covering.

• Prove. Give an example of the idea you are covering.

• Perform. Use a simple way to execute the idea.

There are two blocks you need to be worry about, pre-launch and the post-launch content:

Pre-launch content

Before you start writing your day-to-day blog posts, you should make sure your static pages such as about us, Contact, etc. And other parts of your blog are filled with the suitable information. Let’s explore each of these content areas.

• About us. The most traditional page on any blog is the about. This page explains to new visitors about your blog what it is all about, who you are and why you run a blog about the particular topic. Depending on your niche and your style, the information you provide can be all about a business, personal or anything of your choice.

• Contact. This page allows your visitors to your blog to communicate with you at any time. It can be a simple page with your email address plus social network links, or you can use a simple contact form that visitors can use to communicate with you without leaving your website.

• Sidebar content. Your sidebar is the smaller column to the left or right depending on the theme you selected in your blog as a main content. In the sidebar, you could include your blog categories link, the most popular posts, ads, etc.

• SEO Meta Tags. You will need to prepare content for the SEO titles and description tags of each page not the actual page title. A Meta description Tag should generally inform and interest users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about. They are like a pitch that you convince the user the page is exactly what they’re looking for.

Post-launch content

• Blog posts. The blog post is an entry information or (article) that you write on a blog. It can include content in the form of text, photos, infographics, or videos.

• Cornerstone content, Cornerstone content is the core of your website. It consists of the best, most important articles on your site; the pages or posts you want to rank highest in the search engines. Cornerstone content can be either a blog post or a page. And it never loss the value because it is the best!

To produce quality content, you will have to use your originality and imagination. However, you have to understand that some content performs better than others. But again, you should start creating content that you feel comfortable with, right for your readers, and for your blog.

Start Promoting Your Blog

You’ve learned that the content is the rope that draws your audience. You can write the most compelling Blog that the world has ever seen and you design a blog interface that everyone loves it. But if it doesn't reach to your targeted audience then your work is a waste. Marketing and promotion happens every time you engage with your current and future readers. The success of your blog promotion will depend on the ability of your Blog niche.

Let’s look closely at the advanced and straightforward promoting/marketing activities you could be taking to become an authority and successful blogger:

Let Your Friends Know About Your Blog

Inform everyone you know about your new endeavour. You should include your blog name and URL in your email signature, list it on all your social media profiles, and use every opportunity to get the word out about your new undertaking.

Submit Your Blog to Search Engine

It only takes a moment, and it will help to get your blog indexed. To submit your blog URL to Google, sign in to your Google Account and go to the Submit URL option in Webmaster Tools. For extra credit, submit your site to Bing.

Submit Your Blog to Bookmarking Sites

Bookmarking sites can offer your content to a lot of potential viewers who are searching for content within your niche. You should do this every time you publish a new blog post to spread the word out. Some popular social bookmarking sites are Scoop.it, Reddit, etc.

Be Active in Your Niche

Get active on relevant blogs, forums, and social pages. Blogger communities are a good way to connect with other bloggers within your niche. You can engage, build friendships and help each other in spreading the content.

Be Active on Social Networks

Your business is unique, and you should make use of the social media avenues that best fit your own niche and style. Choose the one (or ones) that best fit your needs and become an expert at leveraging them to help you reach your goals.

Comment on Other Blogs

Commenting on other relevant blogs is a great way to build relationships with top bloggers within your niche. This will help you make them and their readers aware of your existence as well as developing your personal brand within the topic.

Guest Blogging

Take the relationship a step further and offer to write a guest post for other websites. Just be sure your work goes on reputable sites and that the content is directly related to your niche. Guest blogging is an excellent way to build an online presence.

Start Building Your Mailing List

Once your blog gains new fans and readers it’s a good idea to collect the email addresses of those who want to be notified of new articles and offers. As people come to know and trust you, they will respond better to your promotional efforts.

Advertising on the web (paid traffic)

Appropriate and well-informed use of paid media can help you gain exposure and attention before your organic (naturally derived) traffic takes hold. Paid traffic avenues include Google AdWords, and Facebook, to name a few major ones.

Remember that you can always find other ways to promote your new blog. Rely on the blogging fundamentals: a clear and well-functioning blog, focused and helpful information, engaging conversation and practical advice. Your authority will come from helping and giving advice to other people, your fans or readers.

There is a process called monetization, by transferring your blog activities into earnings. You should keep in mind that blogging isn’t at all about making money but instead creating useful content that will attract your readers and make them come back for more.

After producing great content and engaging your visitors through your niche in the market, you will become a recognized expert who will be able to build a significant list of followers and subscribers. Only then you could consider adding content that will generate income.

Blog Monetization Channels

How to monetize a blog? There are several ways which you can use. You should use the ones that prove most useful to you.

Running Ads on Your Blog

There are seamless possibilities for you to run ads on your blog. Regardless of your niche, you can opt for ads that are specific to what you are writing about or ads that simply better serve your advertiser’s purposes. Google Adsense is one of the most popular choices for ads purpose.

Enrolling in affiliate programs

Affiliate programs are ways of teaming up with retailers to promote their products and benefit from successfully carrying out sales through a commission. Some things that you need to consider when enrolling in affiliate programs:

• The number of affiliate sales will strongly rely on the number of visitors you have.

• You need to be credible enough for your visitors to click on your links.

• You may want to consider placing a notice on your Terms of Use page that you do use affiliate links.

There are a few popular online platforms that offer many affiliate programs you can enroll in Amazon Associates, ShareASale, etc.

Selling your products and services

If you are more on the creative and entrepreneurial side, you may want to consider using your blog as a venue for selling your products and services. Use this advantage especially when your blog gains in readership, authority, and popularity. There are plugins that you can easily integrate into your blog and start selling, such as the WooCommerce plugin. It comes with product pages, cart, checkout, secure payments, etc.

Writing and Selling an EBook

Another great opportunity to make money is to gather existing content from your own blog and offer it as a downloadable eBook. Your eBook can be sold independently if your blog has a commercial platform (such as Bigcommerce), or it could be sold elsewhere. A great publishing opportunity is offered by Amazon and their KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) program.

Sponsored Posts

Advertisers are always looking for exposure and are willing to pay you for placing a sponsored post on your blog. Those posts usually promote advertiser products or services and are a good way to earn some additional income for your blog. In the future, if you’re able to build one of the most popular blogs and become an authority in your niche, the advertisers would approach you to publish their posts.