Why & How to Start a Blog in 2022?
Pavan Sargar
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Today's blog is fun and quite informative. Today we'll discuss why & how to start a blog in 2022? I know many of you might think that blogging is dead, but is it?
In this post, I'll answer all of your doubts regarding blogging & making money with it. Also, if you don't want to read the whole thing, you can find the Table of Content below to easily navigate through the blog.
How has blogging grown these past years?
Reading is the primordial way for humans to learn something new. Before the world of the internet, it was about reading newspapers, books, etc. but after the internet and the rise in Web 2.0, the way we write, read and learn has changed drastically.
The major reason behind that drastic change was and is blogging. After the launch of WordPress & Blogger, it became far easy to create blogs for even ordinary people. Blogging was at its peak and many micro-blogging services were launching like Twitter & Tumblr.
Many were making their profession as full-time bloggers and some were just writing as a passion or hobby, either way, they earned a really good amount with it.
Why blogging if Video content is much trending?
Ok, much about the blogging history, what about now? what about blogging in 2022? well, blogging is not what it looked like 6 years ago. It's now much more competitive and it takes time to make a living with it.
Does that mean you shouldn't create a blog? does that mean is blogging dead? Of course, why would you read if there's a high-quality unboxing video on YouTube, right?
Here's a fact -
Do you know how many Google searches are made throughout the day? According to skai.io, it's more than 5.6 billion and more than 2 trillion a year. It's a huge number, and can you say now that blogging is dead? Of course not.
Just think about yourself, how many Google searches do you do per day? Maybe 2 or 3 or even 1, it's huge as compared to the overall population.
I don't think that blogging is ever going to die, because there's always something new popping out, maybe in Tech, or Health or Entertainment, but there's always something new to write about.
It's 100% sure that blogging is changed and it's good actually because everyone is having an equal opportunity to do something on their own.
How to Make Money with Blogging?
There are tons of ways that you can make money with blogging. The only thing you need is patience and consistency.
You don't need to have tons of traffic to start monetizing your blog. But I recommend having at least 50 views per day before focusing on monetizing.
Here are the most popular ways to monetize a blog,
- Ad networks
- Affiliate networks
- Sponsors
If you are a beginner, I recommend going with the first two options.
Popular Ad networks to monetize your new blog -
I recommend going with the first two options, but if you are not able to get approval for those then go for Infolinks.
Google AdSense -
Google AdSense is the most popular Ad network to monetize blogs. This is what I use on my blog too. Its earning is based on CPM, CPC & CTC. That means you can earn for every 1000 impressions, for every click, and every successful conversion.
The minimum payout for Google AdSense is of 100$.
The best part is that you don't need to have any minimum traffic to apply for Google AdSense, and it supports tons of regional languages.
Here's a comprehensive guide on how to get Google AdSense Approval on your new blog?
Media.net -
Media.net is also one of the most popular Ad networks powered by Yahoo & Bing. it's mostly known for high pay. But it's hard to get the approval, because of their terms and conditions.
They haven't disclosed, but you need to have a good amount of traffic and it's compulsory to have your blogs in the English language.
The minimum payout threshold is $100.
Though I don't recommend just sticking with Ad Networks, because where you can make $0.10 for let's say 50 views, with the same views you can earn $10 or more using affiliate marketing.
Popular Affiliate Networks for Bloggers -
These are some of the Affiliate networks, you can start with Amazon Affiliate program, it's the best to get started with because of its simple UI.
Amazon affiliate's minimum payout is 1000INR in India.
You can also join tons of networks like Udemy, SkillShare, Namecheap using Rakuten & ShareASale publishers network.
Affiliate marketing is a skill, you'll not be able to sell a product within a day, you need to find the appropriate audience for it. The best way to find the appropriate audience is using Social Media & SEO, we'll discuss that in detail a bit later.
Which Blogging Platform is best for new Bloggers?
You've to be very careful while choosing a blogging platform. But, there's no a better or worse platform, it just depends on your own choice.
Like, if you want to have full control of your website or blog and grow it extensively in the coming years, you can go with WordPress[.org].
If you just want to do blogging or create some content and don't care about ownership or complete website control, you can go with these platforms like,
- Blogger
- Wix
- WordPress[.com]
- Tumblr
- Medium
Note: There's a difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com, wordpress.org is paid whereas you can get started for free on wordpress.com.
If your blog niche is particularly Tech, I mean the real tech not the unboxing tech, then you can go with specific blogging platforms like,
The best pros of using these platforms are that you just need to write, you don't need to manage theme or SEO, it's all already done for you by these platforms.
Why Choose WordPress[.org]?
There's not a straight answer for choosing WordPress as it has its pros and cons. Why I recommend it is because,
- More than 42% of websites on the Internet are powered by WordPress
- Highly scalable & flexible
- Tons of plugins just to make your day better
- Best for SEO
- An in-demand skill
The only con I think about WordPress is that it has its learning curve, you can't just get started easily as compared to other blogging platforms. But it's worth learning if you can.
How can you get started with WordPress?
I'll not cover every single step in this article, I'll probably create another one. Let me know in the comments if you want a step-by-step guide on getting started with WordPress?
Here's a list of what you need to get started with WordPress,
- Hosting
- Domain name
Sure, these will cost you some amount, you can go with a shared hosting plan cause it's the best for beginners and you can upgrade your plan after you've made something with it.
Which is the best WP hosting?
Sure you can choose on your own, but I recommend going with WP Engine's shared hosting plan as it has a 20% discount just use the coupon code ECOMO21.
And, what about a domain name?
I recommend purchasing a [dot]com domain name, you can get it from Bigrock. Though it's completely your choice.
Blog traffic & optimization for On-Page SEO -
Well now you've created a WordPress blog I assume, also you might've got Google AdSense approval and are completely ready to make some bucks.
But wait, it's not that easy, is it? Your blog is useless if it doesn't have an adequate amount of traffic. How can you get traffic on your blog?
There are many ways to increase traffic, here are some ways,
- Organic Traffic
- Social Media
- Ads (Facebook, Google, Instagram, etc.)
So, the easiest way to get traffic on your new blog is Social Media, which doesn't mean that you shouldn't focus on SEO. In the long run, SEO is what going to make you rich, but if your blog is new social media is the way.
Organic Traffic & SEO -
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a way to optimize your content to rank on search engines like Google, Bing, etc. Here are the major factors for SEO optimization,
- Website indexing
- Site speed
- No copied content
- Keywords
- Responsive website
The above factors mentioned are really broad and I can't cover them in one article, they all deserve a specific article. Meanwhile, you can use one of the free plugins to optimize your blog for SEO,
- Rank Math
- Yoast SEO
- All In One SEO - beginner-friendly
Website Indexing -
Indexing is the process to add your blog to search engines, without indexing your blog SEO is of no use. Here's an article on how can you index your new blog on Google and Bing?.
Site Speed Optimization -
Google hates slow websites, you need to optimize your site speed and how can you do that? Well, some WordPress plugins can help you with it,
- W3 Total Cache - Cache plugin
- Optimole - Image compressor
- Cloudflare - Content Delivery Network
No Copied Content -
If you are just copy-pasting from others' blogs to your blog. Then forget about blogging, before you know your site will get penalized and will not be indexed.
All of your content should be 100% original, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have references, you should have but mention it wherever you use one.
Keyword Optimization -
The keyword is the most important SEO factor. Keyword research & optimization is a skill and it'll take time to master it.
Make sure to not stuff the keywords, use it only where it's required, and it's recommended to have a 1% targeted keyword. Like, if you have 1000 words article, then your keyword count should be only 10.
Here are some tools that'll help you with keyword research,
Responsive Website -
65% of the Google Searches are made through smartphones and mobile devices. Though you don't have to worry if you are using WordPress. Just make sure to check your mobile site speed & errors and optimize it accordingly.
Here's a list of tools to check site speed and errors,
Must have Social Media platforms for Bloggers -
You're ready to roll and promote your blog on social media platforms, but which one to choose? There are dozens of social media, but here are 5 social media platforms that every blogger must have,
This list is based on my personal preference, and it's what I use to promote my blog. Pinterest is the best friend of Bloggers, and if you've never used it, sure it'll take time to learn, but it'll be worth it.
Facebook is still and was the best platform to promote blogs, sure it has now lost its charm due to Instagram. But it's still a must-have platform.
Twitter & LinkedIn are sort of similar from my perspective, you need really good writing skills to promote your blog on these platforms. These are the platforms where you'll find many readers, so these two are a must.
I've kept Instagram at last, because you can't directly promote your blog here, it's always an indirect promotion. Though you can use Ads, and if you've more than 10K followers then you can directly promote through Instagram Story.
If you want a specific blog post on how to promote blog posts on social media, let me know in the comments.
How many days till you earn your first $?
The first thing that you need to keep in mind, don't start blogging just because you want to make money. If you start with that perspective, you'll quit right before starting.
Blogging is a slow and consistent process, I started blogging telling myself that don't think about earning for a year. That doesn't mean you shouldn't monetize your blog, you should just don't think about how much you make.
I am not a consistent blogger, and most of my traffic comes from Social Media platforms. I hardly earn anything through AdSense, but I made $30 on Amazon Affiliate after just monetizing it for 2 months, and only $5 on Google AdSense.
I started this blog just for experimenting with some stuff, but later I decided to do it seriously. I'm trying to publish as many posts as I can, but I don't want to degrade quality over quantity.
I hope this post was helpful, if it was make sure to share it with your friends and family who are thinking about starting a blog. Also, make sure to subscribe to the notifications by pressing the bell icon at the left bottom of your screen, many articles on Blogging are coming up so stay notified.