I have been in the blogging game for several years now, and I started getting into it long before the world realized the monetary benefits that came along with it. Running a successful website can create wealth that you never thought possible, but you truly have to enjoy creating new content and constantly improving upon your existing site. Regardless, the most frequently asked question that I receive is always about how to start a blog. Truth be told, starting the website is probably one of the easiest tasks to complete in the whole process of earning money online.
The first step in the process is finding reliable and affordable hosting. Companies like Wix website builder are beneficial for newbie bloggers because they offer the all-in-one packages for those just starting out. First, you decide on a domain name and then you register it. They have you covered there. Then you need a package to host your actual domain on a server, which they also provide. Lastly, you need to be able to make the site look pretty and interesting. Their easy-to-use site tools allow even the novice users the ability to create a thought provoking website right from the get go.
As I said before, the process of starting a blog is much easier than getting your blog noticed by others. Website promotion is really the more difficult aspect of running your own site. You want to be able to get your blog in front of as many new people as possible in order to build up and retain a solid readership base. There are a few different ways to go about this. First, consider that a large portion of your audience will be directed to your website via search engines like Google and Bing. This is important because the more the powerful search engines recognize your site as an authority in your related subject matter, the more traffic they will send you on a daily basis. The most important aspect of getting noticed and picked up by the search engines is writing long and meaningful content. The better your writing quality and relevancy to your subject matter, the better your search engine results will be. Next, you have referral traffic. This is the amount of traffic sent to you from other websites. My favorite tool for driving this number is guest posting. By teaming up with similar websites like yours, you can create and post fresh and interesting content on an already established site and use that to capture the attention of new readers that will inevitably visit your blog after reading the article. This is a marketing technique used since the beginning of the internet and I can attest to its effectiveness. Lastly, there is the direct readership base. These are the people that are already familiar with your site, usually based on the effectiveness of the methods mentioned above. They know they already enjoy your articles and site content, so they either simply type your site URL in, or perhaps utilize your Feedburner subscription, or maybe they are following you on Facebook or Pinterest and they catch your most recent content that way.
Once you have a website setup and established, and you are driving real daily traffic to your site, there are a number of ways you can then monetize it. Once your website is viewed as an authority in its niche, you will start to see advertisers email you for direct placements on your site. This could be in the form of an unbiased review written and posted by you, or perhaps something simpler and more prominent like a banner on the homepage sidebar. Then there is the more passive forms of income like CPC ads and affiliate related income. CPC means cost-per-click, which translates into revenue every time somebody clicks on an ad on your site. The easiest way to illustrate this is Google Adsense. I’m sure you have seen those text and image banners splattered throughout the various websites you typically visit. Every time you click on those, and especially when it leads to an end sale, you inevitably send a chunk of revenue to that site owner. Not a bad deal for them, huh? Affiliate income is similar but with a few different twists. This is where you promote products and get a cut of the sale. Consider yourself an online salesperson that is paid by commission. One of the biggest and well known affiliate programs out there is Amazon Affiliates. You can post Amazon affiliate links throughout your site and whenever somebody clicks on them and makes a purchase from Amazon you will then get a certain percentage of that sale. Considering how popular Amazon is now, only the largest online retailer in the world, there is a safe bet that with a little bit of traffic you can bring in lots of money.
Again, the key to making money on your site is driving as much traffic to it as possible, via any means necessary. If you used Wix to setup your website, then you have probably noticed some other nifty tools they offer as well. Consider the built-in SEO wizard that will help you tailor your unique content so that it enhances the traffic to your higher ranking keywords. Don’t forget about the power of creative newsletters! Having a working and viable email list is key to converting sales. When you want to blast out new promotions and other offerings from your site or services, having a tool that manages your customer emails and allows you to quickly send them new and relevant content can be quite powerful. This is particularly where Wix Shoutout comes in handy! They have great interactive social media tools, a detailed stats tracker, and an easy-to-use email editor for those technologically challenged.
Please see this informative video for useful tips
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