Almost anyone can start a blog today. The success of millionaire bloggers like Lindaikeji, Bellanaija, and several others has boosted the drive of many individuals to not just read their blogs, but to also setup blogs of their own, all in a bid to make money online like their role models.
Starting and running a successful blog is not entirely as easy as it seems. The success of other bloggers makes it look like a bed of roses, but the nights and years of relentless efforts to always ensure there’s relevant information on their blogs for their readers mostly goes unnoticed. Rather, greed clouds the judgements of most wannabe bloggers, and after making the plunge, fall out in a short time.
If you’re ready to do what it takes to grow a successful blog, here are 6 steps every individual must take become a successful blogger:
Step 1: Create A WordPress Site:
If you’re serious about building a successful blog, the first step you must take is to create and setup a WordPress blog. There are many reasons WordPress blogs are better than Blogspot blogs. I listed them earlier in a detailed article here. But if you aspire to someday become a successful blogger, create a WordPress blog from day one!
Some great WordPress blog hosting options to explore are Ipages, Bluehost, and Hostgator. Personally, Bluehost is a great bet for any new blogger, because they don’t just offer an amazing support service, but you also receive a free website domain (a $15 value), a free site builder, and a 30-days money-back guarantee, if you purchase, at least, 12 months of blog hosting at just $3.95 per month.
After that, purchase a great WordPress theme from Themeforest or Template Monster, so your blog can have a very professional and good-looking interface.
See Also: How To Start A Blog — The Complete Beginner Guide For 2017
Step 2: Start Building An Email List:
This is the biggest mistake many new and existing bloggers make. They don’t start building an email list as early as possible!
Most people watch other successful bloggers thrive, and because of the drive to be like them, they pursue their dreams, only to get frustrated that what works for those bloggers doesn’t work for them. What they failed to realise is the successful bloggers like Lindaikeji and BellaNaija, got really popular when blogging wasn’t a norm, and so, grew largely from direct website visits, based largely on controversy. Today, everyone visits their blogs by default.
Today, new bloggers must do things completely differently to see any form of success, and this involves growing an email list from day one!
Most people will visit your blog once and never return, because they already have somewhere else they get information on the type of content you’re offering. The only way to get them back is to prompt them to sign up for your newsletter. Your pop-up pitch must be enticing and true to its word. And every time they get an email from you on a new post, they’ll tend to click to read, and overtime, come to trust your blog enough to visit it directly.
If you don’t build a mailing list from day one, your chances of becoming a successful blogger would be slim, because all your marketing expenditure could go down the drain when Facebook ads or pages, Google SEO, or any other marketing platform either goes down or blacklists you.
A great tool you can use to collect and send emails to your newsletter subscribers is Mailerlite. You can also use the tool for free till you collect your first 1,000 emails.
Step 3: Work On Your SEO:
Part of becoming a successful blogger is to always write blog posts that will rank well on search engines. When writing your blog posts, always think this: “Will this rank on google or any other search engine?”. It is important you don’t just write to educate your audience, but you also write to rank on google and other search engines. Getting a high SEO ranking may take a while, but consistency and following the complete SEO rules can get your articles to the front page of google.
Ranking on search engines will drive valuable traffic to your blog. This is because, people clicking to read your article are doing so since they seek information you may be providing.
By writing your articles to rank on Google, you spread your traffic source from not just social media and direct traffic, but also through search.
You can either use the Google keyword tool to research what keywords your article should rank for, or you could use SEMRush to execute a fail-proof SEO strategy.
See Also: Want To Become A Digital Marketing Expert? Here’s Everything You Need To Know
Step 4: Post At Least One Article A Week:
There are several reasons to post at least one article a week. One is user engagement. If your readers notice you don’t post regularly on your blog, they’d tend to go elsewhere to get hot and valuable information from a blog that’s more active than yours.
Another reason to write frequently is for SEO ranking. Google runs through blogs regularly and will begin to drop the page rankings of some that rarely post new content on their websites. This is done because an inactive blog probably has old information, but an active blog always has new and valuable content.
Step 5: Get Into Affiliate Marketing Fast!
Affiliate marketing is by far one of the most lucrative ways to make money blogging. It is an income generating source where you promote a product or service and get paid a certain percentage for every sale.
Why then should you start affiliate marketing early?
What works for one blog may not work for another, and it will usually take a long time to figure out the best affiliate programs that convert well for your blog. So the sooner you start testing affiliate programs, the better your chances of becoming a successful blogger with a substantial income.
See Also: 20+ High Paying Affiliate Programs That Will Make You Money From Nigeria
What are your thoughts on this article on how to become a successful blogger? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
Inspiring and informative.
Thank you for the commendation Ikoro.
wonderful article..how much would it cost to start a blog as a nigerian given the exchange rate fluctuations..
Hi Chigo,
Thank you for the commendation
It should cost about $67 for one year. You can recalculate based on the current exchange rate.
You can start the setup process here.
If you have any questions, do send me an email at [email protected]
Thank you for asking.
a nice and educating post. thanks for the enlightenment. but am not cleared on the 15 dollar value do u get paid or u pay 15 dollar for the website domain. please reply i need an urgent reply please
Hi Juliana,
It means you’ll get the domain name for free, instead of paying an extra $15 as you would have done on many other hosting platforms, for it.
Thank you for asking.
Have a couple of my blogs that needs to apply something like that! I am feeling excited to start over again after reading your ideas. Many Thanks! I am very hopefull to see changes and boost sales.
Thank you for the comment Beatrice.
Thank you for this write up.
You’re welcome Faith.
Hi, your article is brilliant. You’re an expert! I can’t wait to try it to my affiliate sites and hoping to read more affiliate marketing tips from you soon. Cheers!
Thank you for the commendation Matthews.
Have a wonderful time!
Brilliant ideas! I’m glad I reached your blog. It’s is so helpful to improve my affiliate blogs.
Thank you for the comment Rachel.
That was a nice one . How can we get to chat in private cos I still got loads of stuffs to talk to you about
Please send an email to [email protected].
Thank you for asking.
Highly informative and educative.
I’ve really learnt enough and i will apply them as soon as possible.
I love this. Keep it up.
What a complete and comprehensive write up here. I enjoy reading your posts, visiting your blog has thought me a lot as well helped improve my blog.
Thank you very much for putting up this.
Thanks for the information. Please, can I get news from another source and post in my blog
This information is duely needed for every Blogger.
Very informative sir
This is inspiring. I have created a blog with name jibayo.blogspot.com
How do i start making money from the blog as i have started gaining traffic on it. How do i add wordpress and webhosting to it???
Thank you very much for this great information from an aspiring blogger.
i have been trying to build an email list but dont know the right plugin to use
I am working on my html blog website, thanks for the advices
Thanks a lot .but I want to talk privately with you
Thank you for the comment Chinelo.
You can send an email to [email protected].
thank you.
Very very informative, thanks so much. I would love to start up immediately,but how much will it cost with my phone?
Really amazing steps! Thanks for sharing Stan.
Thank you for the comment, Cifford.
Thank you for the comment, Clifford.
This is such a great article. Thanks for sharing sir.
i like what i read. it will help me. Thank you
Hello, thanks for sharing your knowledge about this. I want to be a blogger on YouTube. Teaching people how to prepare food and other things. How much will it cost me to begin and am I to take this same steps?
Please what is the meaning of wordpress
Good write up Stan. This gives one broad strokes about Blogging. Any further detailed write up available?
I suggest you read our in-depth article on how to start a blog, Jimkuta.
You can find it here >>> http://startuptipsdaily.com/how-to-start-a-blog/
Thank you for asking.
My thoughts?
This is a perfect starting point for all want-to-be-successful bloggers. Minimal information but they all point you to information you should be look for. And thanks for downplaying the EXPECTATIONS – to be successful, hard work and creativity is needed.
Thank you for reading, Abdusalam.
Nice bullet points you gave on this article
I want to be celebrity
Nice and good.
Thanks Stan for the informations.
Thank you for reading, Promise.
Thanks for sharing useful information