What is a blog and how does it work?
"Blogging is a expression of you... a blog can take any direction you want, that's the beauty of blogging."
I hope you are as fired up as me to jump right into this article!
Let's kick things off, shall we? Just about every time I am talking to a family member or friend about my online blogging business they ask this question...
What is a blog and how does it work?
This question gets asked over and over again by people dipping their toes into the idea of starting a blog, or just people in general that have no clue what a blog is.
Sometimes the answers they get are great, other times the answers people find online send them off into a mental neverland of confusion.
Many people never escape from this unneeded confusion long enough to actually start a blog.
Listen friend ... I want you to avoid the latter situation and get started!
Simple as that, that's what this entire site is all about, cool with you?
Alright, let's break down what a blog is, and how blogging works in this article.
Your content, your personality
A blog is simply a website that gets continuous updates in the form of articles, videos, or really any other content it's owner wants to create.
Take wornBee.com as an example, this is my blog, as you read and absorb more and more of my work you will start to know my style and quirks.
Just reading my about page will introduce you to me, my style, and my goals with this blog.
You may like me ... :)
You may hate me ... :(
"You see? That's really what a blog is an extension of you, your personality needs to grab readers attention to make them see the value you are trying to provide them."
It all starts with a niche
We now know a blog is unique content.
Fresh content that is updated and helpful to your target audience, with your personal spin or style.
This in essence is the art of blogging.
With every blog post you create you build more and more "personality"
Eventually you start to grow an audience, people that want to hear what you have to say on the subject, people begin to trust your opinion and expertise.
This is one of the biggest steps needed when starting a blog, finding a niche that you can bring value to, this is how you build an audience.
Once we have an audience and consistent traffic through a lot of hard work and some SEO, (search engine optimization) you can earn money for your efforts in quite a few ways.
Like ....
- Affiliate marketing
- Advertsing
- Your own product
- Email marketing
Above are the more popular routes to go when looking to earn from your blog.
Selecting a niche
Before we can create quality content, we need to figure out what topic your blog will cover, this is where niche selection comes in.
Niche selection is often overlooked in blog training, the results are many abandoned blogs that people have simply lost interest in.
Before you learn anything else, including the technical side of things, you need to understand what a niche is and what yours will be.
"In a nutshell your blog will be a series of articles and other content that revolves around a single niche, or audience"
The people looking for information and help within your niche will be the people that find your content to get the information they want.
By the way ...
Honing your audience and becoming an authority in your niche
Over time as you continue to write and post great content, people learn from you and value your opinion on the subject.
You begin to gain "authority" in your niche, the search engines rank your content higher, traffic starts to come in daily.
Now were cookin' with gas! ...
Once you hit this point you can start making some real money with your blog.
How do you start a blog?
Now that we covered the very basic idea of how a blog works, the next logical question is ... "How do you get started?"
Let me warn you now, without some great training to get you rolling it will be interesting to say the least, the good news is you have wornBee.com!
Don't let me scare you away, you can do this trust me, it's easier that you think!
Let's take a look at the essentials that build a blog.
- Webhost
- Domain name
- CMS platform
#1 Web host
The host, or web host is where your files (ie) your website are stored. Think of it as a storage unit that can instantly tell a search engine where to find the data attached to a specific URL.
When you purchase a domain name you point that domain to the servers via a DNS record, this is what tells the search engines where to find your files (your host.)
Web hosting has different tiers and pricing, DO NOT GO TOO CHEAP HERE!
Remember, you are going to be putting in a TON of time into this thing, don't risk your files getting lost in the void of space because of a crappy host.
I use and highly recommend Siteground web hosting for many of my projects.
#2 Domain name
Next we need a domain name for your blog, this should be something related to your niche if possible.
Domains are cheap (under 10 bucks for most) however I have noticed more "premium" names that are getting very expensive.
Remember, this is your piece of the web, your brand, some tips when choosing...
- No numbers or dashes
- Keep it short as possible
- .com is prefered (although many other suffixes are getting popular)
- Make sure the name is not trademarked
#3 CMS platform
This is where the real work happens! The CMS (content management system) is where you acually build your blog.
The most popular CMS by far is Wordpress, I also love Ghost CMS.
These are what makes creating your design, content, and online presence possible.
A blog explained in 30 seconds
A blog is a business that uses a combination of quality articles and other forms of content, along with proper promotion and technical strategy.
When done correctly traffic flows into the "business"
Traffic is where you pull your audience from...
Your reach grows in the search engines...
You build authority in your niche through quality content....
You can then monitize the blog and earn from your work.
Technicals
Your domain is your property or "address"
You create your website on a CMS system and the store these files on a web hosting server.
Wrapping up
This was a quick ride over the basics of blogging, I hope it set you on the right mindset of how a blog works, and how you can earn money from it.
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Thanks for reading
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