How To Build A Profitable Blog?

Trying to turn your passion for writing into a lucrative venture?  This article will guide you through the process of building a profitable blog step by step.
To start, you need to be persistent. Over 90% fail in blogging due to the lack of persistence. Either they quit or they stop putting enough work into it. You need to keep working consistently and make improvements one by one in order to succeed in blogging.
As a reader, you might have an idea about what attract readers. Try to build your blog around those strong points and soon enough you will be spinning money.

Focus on a niche

Before you start writing or even set up your blog, make sure to brainstorm and carve out a niche. You must define the focus area you will be writing about. You can choose 1 or 2 broad categories and later stick to them. Talking randomly on random topics will not get you anywhere. It will rather waste your time and efforts.
Working long term on specific topics will help you build a reader base with similar interests. And eventually, you will be able to achieve thought leadership in that specific domain.
The most suitable area to blog about would something you are passionate about, something you have a keen interest in. This would allow you produce better content and keep writing for a longer period.

Set up your blog

Once you have made up your mind and have found out the areas or topics you want to talk about, start setting up your blog. Buy a domain and hosting that meets your requirements and budget. A domain will be the URL or address that people will need to browse in order to visit your blog. It is best to buy a domain that represents your niche and relates to your target audiences’ mindset.
Secondly, get a hosting plan for your website. The hosting plan you choose would greatly depend on the amount of content you will be publishing. Before selecting one, it is advisable to see through few prominent hosting providers.
When done with hosting and domain, you will need to find a theme for your blog. You can browse through online markets such as ThemeForest etc. to find one that goes with your blog. You can also find free or moderately priced good themes on WordPress.
Lastly, you will need a content management system to set up your blog. I would personally advise WordPress as it is the easiest and most commonly used platform for the purpose.

Publish Content

Once done with technical issues, it is time for you to start creating and publishing content. And before writing, it is better to conduct a keyword research to find out hot topics and search engine friendly keywords; keywords that attract traffic. And try to incorporate these keywords in your titles as well as the body of the content.
Make sure your titles are attractive and stimulate readers to click on the link to your blog posts. Moreover, try to talk in a simple and personalized way. Be sure your blog provides valuable information. Don’t brag too much. Try to use rich media i.e. images, video, embedded tweets etc. in your content. People usually have short attention spans. Rich media will help you keep their attention and help you keep them on your blog for a longer period.

Reach out to peers

Share your blogs with your friends, colleagues, family members and other people in your circles. Ask the close ones to share with their communities. Try to reach out to maximum people. Attract readers and use your peers to get as many as possible. It will also provide you insights as it will become a case study. You will know where you can make improvements.

Use Social Media

As you continue publishing more and more content, start sharing it on social media. Social sites like Facebook, Twitter etc can be a source of great traffic. And you can build a community on these social media. People start engaging with your content and if they like it they share it further with their friends and followers. Make sure your content is not boring and it holds some value for the reader. Same old repetitive content is not likely to do good on social media either.
A good piece of content is like flame while social media acts like petrol.

Build list of email subscribers

Add calls to action in your content and your website. Get people to subscribe to your blog through email. And regularly send emails to subscribers to gain more traffic. Send daily, weekly and monthly updates. Share hot news or exciting pieces via email. Email is a great way to get to your audience and it can be one significant source of traffic to your blog.
But remember, do not spam. People get vexed when bombarded with unnecessary emails. And always give your audience an opt out or else it can fire back by means of legal action.
In the beginning, it will not be easy. With thousands of blogs and articles being published every day, you will find it difficult to attract large traffic to your blog. But, with the passage of time, you can build authority in your niche and become an opinion leader. This would ultimately attract online readers and gradually build you a reader base.
And as said earlier, the key is to write persistently.