How to make money on a personal blog: from creation to monetization
A personal blog is a space on the Internet where a user publishes his own materials on a free topic. As a rule, these are websites or pages on specialized blog sites about yourself and your hobby.
For those who have already figured out what a personal blog is and how to maintain it, it became clear that just having such a resource and doing nothing except publishing some materials is quite a bit. Visitors and prospective subscribers won't come by themselves.
To get regular readers and subscribers, you need to promote your personal blog. This is a constant and painstaking work, with many nuances and subtleties. But with a well-structured promotion, you won't have to wait long for the results.
Well, the next stage, which is, in most cases, the goal of creating a blog in itself is monetization. There are many ways to monetize, which together can bring substantial income to the owner.
How to do this, where to start and how to maintain the entire system, we will consider below in this article.
What is a personal blog
So, a blog is an Internet resource that regularly publishes content (text, images, multimedia). For blogs, both for personal and for any other, it is characteristic to have the ability to comment on entries or even to fully discuss them.
A personal blog is a website or account on a blogging platform where the author posts information about himself and his life, not keeping up with a specific topic. Keeping it like a regular paper diary or your own media.
Personal blogs can be directed to:
- Communication;
- Self-presentation;
- Entertainment;
- Socialization;
- Self-development;
- Monetization.
A blog created with a communicative task is usually the most frequent occurrence. The author writes articles, publishes photographs or shares his opinion with a certain circle of people who need it.
Another, no less popular, task of a personal blog is self-presentation. Not only professional qualities, but also personal ones. Thus, you can tell a large audience about yourself.
A few fewer people create a personal blog for entertainment, but still far from a small number.
A personal blog can be a great help in self-realization, as one of the ways. For example, writing essays, stories, articles, or maintaining a photo gallery. A person who creates something does not just self-actualize, but also receives feedback from subscribers.
Self-development is also not an unknown reason why bloggers run their Internet projects. With the help of a blog, an author can write texts, shoot videos or create drawings and see how he progresses in his craft. Moreover, all his subscribers can see it.
And finally, monetization. Sooner or later, any blogger comes to the idea that his blog can make money. Even if it was created for entertainment or any other purpose. Moreover, one does not interfere with the other.
How to start a personal blog
Different sources can answer the question of how to start your blog in different ways. Somewhere it will be said that this can be done in a few minutes, and somewhere they will give multi-page instructions for several days. But, the most interesting thing is that in both cases the information is correct.
There are several ways to start your blog:
- Dedicated blogging site;
- A site with a management system designed for blogging;
- Fully self-written website with blogging capabilities.
These three options have serious differences: somewhere you just need to register, and somewhere you need to purchase software, and sometimes pay developers to create it.
Choose from these options carefully and should start with setting a goal. You need to clearly understand what will be required from the blog. If frivolous entertainment, a way to chat a little or spend time - special blog services will do, where you become a part of the big blogosphere.
But if you plan to seriously engage in your blog, and even more so if you plan to monetize it, then you should choose the second or third option. Both of them are equally productive in terms of future monetization and work with it, but the second option does not require programming, layout and design skills.
So, to run your personal blog on a separate site, you need:
- Rent a domain name and hosting;
- Install a special blog management system on them;
- Connect and customize the design of the blog;
- Connect and configure multimedia services (if required);
- Start publishing content.
Domain
Domain is the site address that the user will enter into the address bar of their browser. Domains have zones: RU, UA, US, etc. You need to choose the one in which country you plan to collect an audience. There are also international zones: COM, NET, INFO and many others.
The domain is registered (leased) for one year and requires constant renewal. Registration takes place, as a rule, with the same company where you buy hosting.
Hosting
Web hosting is where your website (blog) will be located. All its files, databases, cache and other data necessary for work. Physically, hosting is a supercomputer that gives you space for your blog.
Hosting sites can be divided into two main types: ready-made solutions on a shared server or a dedicated server.
In the first case, the system is completely configured to work and you are given limited rights to access only the most necessary (do not confuse, the restrictions will be on the server configuration, and not on your blog).
In the case of a dedicated server, you are provided with a fully dedicated virtual or physical server on which you can do whatever you want.
You should choose, as in the case of the site, from the needs. If you do not have the skills of server programming, layout and other knowledge necessary to configure the server, then choose a ready-made solution.
By and large, for an ordinary blogger, a dedicated server is not needed, since such a solution is designed for specific tasks and needs. Everything that is required for blogging can be obtained from regular hosting.
Blog management system
CMS is a content management system. There are hundreds of such systems and it is difficult to choose the one you need without experience. But keep in mind that the content management system and the blog management system are slightly different. A blog management system is almost always a content management system, but a content management system is not always a blog management system.
To work with a blog, there is a very powerful, popular and free WordPress system, which has a huge out of the box functionality that is sufficient for any blog.
When choosing a ready-made hosting, installing WP will (most likely) be simple and included in the standard hosting package. In the case of a dedicated server, you will have to install the distribution kit yourself.
5 Smart Ways To Make Money With A WordPress BlogBlog design
If the choice fell on WordPress, then choosing a blog design from thousands of offers on the built-in market is not difficult. You can find a free solution, you can buy a paid one or order an individual one.
One way or another, the installation of the design in WP is done automatically.
Multimedia services
If the blog is planned not only text content, but also multimedia (video, audio), then you should think about connecting special services. The same WordPress, when you install a special plugin, allows you to integrate videos from YouTube or another service.
Video hosting should also be chosen with the expectation that it allows you to integrate into your blog. For example, YouTube. It is also worth considering the possibility of video monetization, not only by means of the hosting itself, but also by third-party platforms (for example, Ezoic).
Content
After setting up all the systems, you should think about the content. It is very important that the material posted on your blog is unique. If you start copying other people's texts, images or videos, then such a blog will be added to the black list by search engines and you can forget about its monetization forever.
Content is the content of web pages, social networks, messenger channels and various programs. Content is everywhere around us: YouTube videos, news, posts in Telegram channels, blog articles, and more. In fact, this is any information that you see.
You can write publications yourself or order them on copywriting exchanges - the main thing is that they are unique.
How To Write A Good Blog Article And Get More Traffic?How to promote a personal blog
The personal blog has been launched, the design has been worked out, the content has begun to appear, but there are still no subscribers. The classic situation for those who start their own personal blog for the first time.
In order to attract visitors to your website, and in the future - regular subscribers, you need to carry out regular work on the promotion and promotion of your blog.
Such work can be divided into several main options:
The more visitors to your blog, the more potential monetized actions they can take. And when choosing the promotion of your blog, you should calculate the costs of promotion and the possible profit.
The most frequent and less costly way of promotion is SEO optimization. Correct layout, competent and semantic texts with key queries and headings, loading speed - all this will lead to an increase in your blog in search results. This method of promotion is long-term, but its effect is the most stable and maximum long-term.
Social advertising is a way to promote your personal blog on social media. This can be the publication of reposts from your site for your subscribers, or a full-fledged advertising campaign.
Advertising networks are the most expensive method of advertising and it is worth resorting to it only when the probability of earning (even a single one) exceeds the cost of such advertising.
How to monetize your personal blog
The moment has come when the blog is regularly visited by the right number of people, there are regular subscribers and the owner has finally thought about its monetization. How can this be done?
There are several main ways to monetize:
- Display advertising;
- Looking for new clients;
- Sale of information products;
- Affiliate networks.
Display advertising on your blog is probably the most common way to make money and monetize. Everybody has seen such ads: banners on the page, pop-up messages and video (and even audio) inserts.
If a blog was created with the aim of attracting customers, then each new buyer or customer can be recorded in earnings from the blog.
Info products are copyright courses, books, projects, software and much more that are distributed exclusively via the Internet. Such products can be either personal or third-party.
An affiliate network is the placement of advertisements on specific products, when you purchase using your link, you get a percentage of sales. This type of advertising is no less profitable than display advertising.
A well-promoted blog, in the aggregate of all monetization methods, can bring good income to its owner. The main thing in this business is not to quit working on the blog and not wait for a mountain of gold in a few months. Everything comes with time.
Sasha Firs personal blog: example of a good personal blogFrequently Asked Questions
- How can personal bloggers create engaging content that attracts sponsorships?
- Personal bloggers can attract sponsorships by consistently creating high-quality, relatable content that aligns with potential sponsors' values.
