What is the best way make money from blogging?

BASIC STEPS

1. Start a blog

Clearly, if you want to make money blogging, you must have a blog. If you don’t already have one, no worries. Here are easy instructions explaining how to get your blog up and running.

Can I start a blog for free and make money?

This is a common question and the answer is yes. However, I would caution you against it. The reason is, when you use a free service, you don’t have full control over your blog—the free service you are using does. This can be risky, especially if you will rely on your blog for income. A self-hosted WordPress blog is my recommendation and can be started for as little as $5-$10 a month.

Related: How to Start a Blog (includes step-by-step instructions for setting up a self-hosted WordPress blog)

2. Create useful content

Once you have a blog, write useful content. Draw from your expertise & experience. Write informative posts and articles about your chosen topic. Make your content excellent.

What should I blog about?

If you’re stumped, here are ideas for posts readers will respond to:

• Solve a problem
• Relieve a fear
• Teach something new
• Explain how to reach a goal
• Entertain

In order to make money, you must have blog visitors. But in order to have blog visitors, you must have content worthy of a visit.

Related: How to Decide What to Write About

3. Build relationships with others on social media and around the web

At the same time you are creating valuable content, start building genuine and sincere relationships with others on social media and around the web.

Which social media sites should I use?

With so many social media sites, it’s hard to know where to start.

As I explain in this post, my advice is to think about where your target audience hangs out on social media and start there.

Is your blog for moms of preschoolers? Facebook and Pinterest might be best. Is your blog for business executives? LinkedIn and Twitter are probably safe bets.

Other than being active on social media, here are more ideas: participate in Facebook Groups, comment on other blogs or join forums. Find or start a mastermind group. Reach out to people in your niche by tweeting them.

Find people who could use the information you provide. Get to know them, interact, be friendly and helpful by offering no-strings-attached tidbits of your expertise. Word about you spreads best through people who know, like & trust you.

4. Establish a strong platform

Keep growing in the knowledge of your craft so the content you produce gets increasingly deep and valuable. Use your blog to get exposure, build authority, gain trust and be helpful.

In addition, use this time to think about the type of reputation you want to build. How do you want others to see you? How do you want them to experience your site? What do you want to be known for? This is all part of your branding.

5. Choose your income streams

Once you’ve started your blog, created some excellent content, built some relationships and given thought to your branding and reputation, start thinking about ways to generate blogging income.

There are many ways you can do this. In the rest of the post, I will outline 5 main types of income along with many specific ideas for each.