Quote: (06-04-2013 06:11 AM)zanetti Wrote:
Hi there
I will be emigrating to another country early next year and am planning on starting my own blog, discussing cultural stuff, nightlife, food etc. Plan is to ultimately monetize it.
Does anyone have any good advice on how to do this, from setting it up, to building it out etc. Are there any good resources (books, websites) that explain how to do this step by step?
thanks!
A blog discussing cultural stuff, nightlife, food and more sounds a bit all over the place. I'm not saying it can't work because there are blogs out there that similar and do work but it's usually better to niche down and focus on one aspect and cover it REALLY well rather than wishy washy all over the place content that tries to appeal to everyone but really ends up appealing to no one.
The more focused you are with ONE specific type of person in mind the more successful a blog will usually be. There are exceptions to the rule.
Get a self hosted Wordpress blog with your own hosting and domain. Don't go with free hosting. Buy a premium theme, I recommend Genesis Generate theme.
Some good sites to follow IMO are..
Social Triggers
Smart Passive Income
Viper Chill
Social Sprout
Copyblogger
KissMetrics Blog
Unbounce Blog
Shoemoney
None will tell you how to set up your blog or any of the basics but they are great examples of blogs that people love and make money.
Work out how you plan to monetize your blog BEFORE you set it up.
Figure out how you'll get traffic and where it will come from. The key is to work out who your target audience is (what they like, age, demographics etc) then figure out where they already hang out online.
Once you know that you go about getting your content (which should the best it can possibly be and different from everyone else no one wants generic nonsense) in front of your target audience.
It's easier to get your audience from somewhere they already are rather than build one from scratch.
You can get traffic from content marketing (article syndication & guest posting), blog commenting, forum posting, video marketing, banner ads, PPC on Google, Bing and Facebook, social media groups / pages.
Just find where they are and how you can get them to you.
Quote: (06-04-2013 06:28 AM)IQVX Wrote:
Make sure you can commit yourself to posting content every day.
And start advertising from day one.
Posting every day is silly to begin with.
Why post content when no one is reading it?
A complete waste of time and energy plus no one can write epic content every single day so you end up with half asses and generic nonsense no one cares about.
Until you have traffic you don't want to blog any more than once a week.
Spend the rest of your time promoting your blog and content rather than writing new stuff that no one will read.
Make your posts count.
Quote: (06-04-2013 06:33 AM)puckman Wrote:
word. also use wordpress.
Yes a SELF HOSTED Wordpress site though, that's the key.
Quote: (06-04-2013 07:27 AM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:
Do the research to see if there is a PAYING audience for what you want to deliver.
WIA
Very important.
Also ask yourself....
Is there a demand for what you are offering?
Is it already covered elsewhere?
Are they doing a good job of it?
Can you do better?
What will be unique or different about your site that will make people follow you?
Is there a lot of competition? (This is a good sign as it's a healthy market)
Are there a lot of products available to sell to these visitors? (Check Amazon, Ebay, Clickbank etc)
Where will your traffic come from and how much will it cost to get them there?
Should get you thinking...