The Business of Building a Blog

The Business of Building a Blog

With the ready availability of great Content Management Systems (CMSs) such as WordPress, Squarespace, Google’s Blogger (Blogspot), Wix, and many others, one would have thought that it would be so much easier to build and maintain a blog these days. Technically it definitely is a lot easier, but it goes way beyond the mere technicalities these days for your blog to stay relevant and to make for a worthwhile exercise maintaining it.

Setting up a blog today is way simpler than it was a decade or so ago. Back then, you’d have to shell out for a professional developer. Now, all you need is a domain name, web hosting service, and a slick WordPress template – just like I did with mine. But here’s the kicker – that’s just the beginning. Creating and running a successful blog involves more than just the setup.

People blog for various reasons, but let’s be real – most of us want our blogs to bring in more money than it costs to run them. To turn your blog into a money-making machine, you might need some expertise and know-how on digital marketing strategies. For one, you could implement some SEO practices that you can learn through this mygeekshelp article or similar write-ups on the web. The use of strategic SEO techniques can help you build a solid web presence and allow you to rank higher when search engine results are in the picture.

As a blogger looking to monetize your content, implementing SEO best practices is crucial for reaching a wider audience. Some key strategies worth focusing on include optimizing page speed, using relevant keywords in titles and content, and regularly publishing engaging long-form posts.

Page speed optimization ensures your site loads quickly for visitors, which search engines favor. Try compressing images, minimizing HTTP requests, and using a content delivery network. Researching keywords and phrases related to your niche allows you to create content aligned with search intent. Organically incorporate these terms in headlines, opening paragraphs, image names, and metadata. Search engines appreciate websites that regularly publish lengthy, useful articles. Aim for guides and how-tos over short blurbs. Make content scannable with subheads and bulleted lists.

By learning and applying fundamental SEO strategies in areas like site speed, keywords, and content, you position your blog for organic growth. If needing extra guidance, professionals providing SEO services in the home counties or elsewhere can offer complementary site evaluations, advanced analytics insights, and ongoing optimization to ensure your website achieves its maximum potential in search engine rankings.

You’d also want to ensure that your blog is user-friendly, and can attract more readers to generate revenue in the process. These, of course, require you to dive deep into the other aspects of digital marketing, which can be difficult when you’re on your own. So, you should consider reaching out to a digital marketing consultant Denver (or wherever you are) who can guide you on how you can make those blog bucks!

In this blog, I won’t get into too much detail about exactly how it is that I monetize my blog, because I’m pretty sure anybody who is interested in this topic has a good idea as far as that goes, but it’s worth getting into the optimization techniques used in order to maintain a consistent flow of traffic coming in, in addition to opening up channels for new visitors to come and “stay.”

It’s all about offering value, something which granted has become somewhat of a cliché these days. However, personally when I speak about value I’m referring to the information visitors come away with having read one or more of my posts. It can be very easy to lose sight of this intended value you want to give, but how I know that I’m still on the right path is when the ideas I discuss appear to be linked to some other information contained in other posts, so whenever I feel the urge to incorporate internal links, I know that I’m maintaining the required value to share.

This is just of one many tactics you can use to #SEOYourBlog, another being targeting specific keywords of course, but incorporating the services of a PPC agency should form part of your long term SEO strategy. I use paid marketing such as PPC advertising to effectively “introduce” new readers to my blog and the content it contains, because otherwise it can take a really long time to get organic links and other metrics used to rank higher in the search engines.

Organic SEO rankings are the ultimate aim for any blogger who is serious about getting ahead, but in the meantime the likes of PPC marketing should be incorporated because that’s how you get to learn which keywords to target.