15 Steps To Building A Successful Blog

The time needed: 60 days, 1 hour, and 5 minutes.

This is a step-by-step guide to building a blog that generates passive revenue. Our target in 12 months is projected at $1,000/m.

Check Out: Top List Of “The 7 Continents” Richest Bloggers



Let’s kick-off now.

1. Pick Your Niche – Getting to know your topics of interest and making an informed niche choice will increase your odds of having a good time blogging for business.

   
   You may not know much about what a niche is, especially if you’re starting. Most times, you will be tempted to write a bit of everything.
   
   There’s no much bad about wanting to talk about all the stuff you have the slightest idea, if not only that it’d rid you of focus and a defined audience.
   
   That’s why, you’re best up to speed with a clearly defined topic of interest, which we bloggers, call the fancy name “niche”.
   
   Basically, you can expand your horizon, that is, scale or add up new areas of interest as the blog grows- but definitely not right off the bat. Unless for a special reason.
   
   The summary of the whole point is; there’s something that already interests you, you aren’t making it up now.
   
   So, within the many not-well-attended-to problems in that interest, ask yourself a big question… and the life span of your blog will automatically be all about giving answers to your question.
   
   A few points to know when choosing a niche though is that you don’t have to be limited to the industries you are familiar with. You don’t need to know the topic like the back of your palms, rather, whatever topics you’ll always find the passion and motivation to consistently write about, over the course of 6-months and beyond, is a good candidate.
   
   Get it?
   
   If YES then, you’ve got one of the most important basics down.
   
   Get to know the thriving niches: 4 List of Blog Niches To Start A Blog
   
   Think about it some more!
   
   

2. Choose A Name, Your Domain Name

   As is in anything you can think of, the small things always matter, even your domain name does.
   
   Nobody will back out when they discover your domain name isn’t “right”. But it’s important for these reasons among others:
   
   ** It is one of the first things every visitor will see and can be utilized to communicate immediately, what can be expected from your blog.
   
   Is it a tech blog, news, gamble, Forex, travel, fashion, NGO, governmental, etc?
   
   ** Your domain name makes the first impression about your brand and as the old saying, “first impression matters”. In this case, a lot.
   
   ** In a few instances it also may impact your SEO positively or otherwise.
   
   In blogging, there are a few domain names good practices which include but not limited to:
   
   ** Use only domain extension that best represents your niche.
   ** Keep the length of the name as short as possible.
   ** In most instances, the .com domain is preferable over other extensions.
   ** You can do without full-stops(.) and hyphens (-) in-between your domain names, for visitor’s sake.
   ** Look out for a good Domain Registrar!
   
   So as regards the last point, where should you register a domain name for your blog?.
   
   Here is a little free package only for you: Get this Free Domain “Two-In-One Gift“.

3. Let Your Blog Come Alive – Get Hosting

   
   Having pinned your interest, brainstormed, and come up with a domain name, you are only a step away from having a blog that is live on the INTERNET.
   
   It’s time to get hosting. In this how-to step to building a successful blog, we are going to be basing our discussion on paid hosting of our blog site.
   
   Discover The Best Free Web Host To Start A Blog Now!
   
   So what’s next?
   
   Due to the high cost of time and resources as well as the security risks associated with locally hosting your blog, we’ll be employing the services of a professional web hosting company.
   
   It’ll cost only a token (the cost of a cup of coffee) and you wouldn’t dare want to compare the services to local or free hosting.
   
   And now, there’s another billion-dollar question – What host is best for you?
   
   Well, there’re so many enticing adverts out there. If you’d rather listen to me, my first recommendation will be exactly FastCloud.
   
   This recommendation is based on real customers’ reviews and high public ratings.
   
   Their services are impeccable.
   
   With this host, getting your site live on one of the best, cheapest, and air-tight security web hosts is just 10-minutes and a click away.
   
   

4. Install A Great CMS (Content Management System) – Use WordPress

   For bloggers, WordPress has to be the one-and-only CMS of choice. It’s not Joomla, Drupal, or the plethora of others for a very simple but powerful reason.
   
   WordPress is best for the job, which is the first thing to ascertain in a product.
   
   Besides being a great CMS, it suites every type of website, easy to use, intuitive, and beginner-friendly all at once.
   
   But… What if I do something stupid to my blog?
   
   For that, there are already-made solutions for you. At some point along the journey, you’ll definitely come across some bottlenecks.
   
   WordPress powers over 30% of websites/blogs on the internet.
   
   That means that there’s a very large user-base, and almost all kinds of the issues you may encounter have already been discussed and solutions provided for your use, in advance 🙂
   
   You’re cleared, aren’t you? come with me to know how the installation is done.
   
   Option 1: How To Install WordPress (The Hard Way)
   In the blogging world, it is called “one-click-installation”. Actually, there’s more than a click needed to fully set up WordPress, but generally, it’s a matter of a second to few minutes.
   
   Now, login to your FastCloud Cpanel. While you’re signed in, amidst the many applications and features and actions, look for Softtaculous and click on it.
   
   Find and click on WordPress to start the installation.
   
   Option 2: Do it The Way I Do!
   Chat FastCloud up to help you with the installation.
   Done!
   
   

5. Activate A Theme Suitable For Your Niche

   
   The look and feel of your WordPress theme can make or mar the beauty and elegance of your blog.
   
   A perfectionist can pay a fortune just to have a theme.
   
   As part of your branding, the good looks of your blog will pay off in the short as well as in the long run.
   
   If you’ve set out to do blogging as a full-time business, a premium theme will be an added advantage.
   
   Where to get your theme…
   
   WordPress comes with a handful of free themes if you don’t readily have a few bucks for a one-time premium theme purchase.
   
   Besides free themes, WordPress also has a robust market of premium theme collections which some have free versions with upgrade options.
   
   A way to find the perfect theme, fit for your blog and niche is by their layouts. Most WordPress themes come with a description of their features and interestingly, what type of blogs they’re most suitable for.
   
   Note also that choosing a theme doesn’t have to be a roadblock because you can always change it later in the future.
   
   I will immediately suggest that it’s changed (if necessary) only a few times.
   
   Of course, our blog is live now and too much of everything comes with new challenges to overcome, and- I bet you wouldn’t want to break your young blog- at least not yet.

6. Install Some Fundamental Plugins

   
   Plug + ins are a bunch of codes designed for specific functions.
   
   Your blog as it is has everything it needs to function great and smoothly.
   
   But plugins come in handy when we want to charge up the blog.
   
   There is an uncountable number of plugins for WordPress. That means you can’t possibly have ‘em all, else, your blog will go “gaga” 🙂
   
   Amongst them too, we have a few basic plugins you wouldn’t want to do without.
   
   PS: Do not install every plugin you come across, it can crash your site. In the same vein, plugins are codes rapped up under an enticing name; too much of them in your blog means more code which equals more weight, slow-site, complex, and difficult blog codebase to manage.
   
   List of Basic Plugins You’ll Want, Installed
   
   ** Akismet
   This plugin protects your site from spam content and attacks.
   
   ** Jetpack
   This plugin on your blog will protect you from hackers and many other security threats. It also helps you automatically share your publications (‘posts’ for short) on social media.
   
   ** Elementor Page Builder
   As you read more, you’ll discover the importance of a static homepage for your blog. Take a look at the homepage of my blog (and other great blog’s homepage too), it was built with Elementor.
   
   Elementor is a page builder that makes it easy for you to build fast, responsive, and beautiful pages, post-pages, and posts.
   
   This Free Version Is More Than Enough For A Start.
   
   ** WP Rocket
   Any of the web hosts’ recommendations has speed as one of their major features because they all know how much it affects your ranking on Google.
   
   What if you can further enhance that. Now you can, with the WP Rocket plugin.
   
   ** Yoast SEO
   This plugin has its territory in the Search Engine Optimization industry.
   
   Among the above-mentioned plugins, it’s one of the most important of all, obviously for the SEO benefits.
   
   ** Table of Contents
   You’ll need this to give readers an outline of what is discussed in your post.
   
   With a table of contents plugin, it is done even automatically from the blog post’s headings.

7. Write-out Content To Build Readership

   
   After all said and done, it all boils down to “what do you have for your audience”(?).
   
   The blog is live and good-looking. You have designed a homepage with Elementor.
   
   Get A Professional Web Designer Do Your Homepage for $5 bucks!
   
   Site speed is taken care of, and Yoast SEO is in charge of posts editing suggestions for the ranking aspect of your blog; you’re even security conscious with Akismet and Jetpack.
   
   CONGRATULATIONS!
   
   Now your blogging is coming together, but…
   
   Blogging is all about content and it is called that for a good reason- the whole deal is just simple: CONTENT (pictures, articles, audios, or videos)- contents.
   
   So, the next step on our 15 steps to building a successful blog is to start writing out content, in our case (or at least for now), blog posts.
   
   One of the reasons for the success or failure of a blog, and by extension, a blogger, lies in the type, quality, form, and feel of their blog content.
   
   And hey! This is the most important and also daunting part of blogging.
   
   Fortunately, I found the easiest ways to go about it.
   
   Blog Content Creation As a Step to Building a Successful Blog
   
   ** Learn How To Write Great Content (do it yourself (DIY))
   
   ** Get A Professional Hand To Do The Job Even Faster (Outsource)

8. Find Your Style/Voice

   Your niche will definitely influence the way you present your content, but that little difference between you and the next guy should be your unique voice.
   
   Some folks find it best to write their posts with lots of humor. A good number prefers being serious and straight to the point, and do not mind emptying their vocabulary bag.
   
   The ceremonial rule remains to be an authority in your niche- be that expert that everybody will like to listen to. It will take you nothing more than doing your research well, assuming you’ve “learned the art of copywriting“.
   
   With that been said, if you have a news blog, write like a news blogger, with facts.
   
   If it is a travel, personal, food, health & fitness, relationship, make money online, tech, etc; also blog like one.
   
   Check a few blogs in your niche to have a full understanding of what is meant by finding your style and voice as a step to building a successful blog.

9. Instill Faith

   Darren Hardy, my mentor calls some adverts “hocuspocus commercialism” (big word 🙂 ), but still, these ads receive the highest patronage. Why?
   
   The obvious reason is that these commercialisms have managed to get the trust of their viewers.
   
   Your blog in the same way needs the trust of your readers to really truly thrive.
   
   When I have faith or believe you, I’m very likely to trust your recommendations.
   
   A simple way of building this trust is by being genuine and always offering value.
   
   P.S: Sell only when necessary.

10. Start Driving Traffic

    
    The money is in the traffic. Gradually we’ll soon get to the climax, the ultimate goal of bloggers which is making money from your blog after the whole 15 steps to building a successful blog.
    
    Right before then, there’s something as important as the blog itself that needs to happen.
    
    You actually need to get people, not only one, two, or even one hundred but as many as possible- preferably something from a few thousand to some millions, to read your publications.
    
    We are at the stage where the number of posts you have on your blog will be as good as nothing if nobody gets to read them.
    
    You’ll have to pay rapt attention because driving traffic to your blog (especially as a new blog) is a big deal and very rewarding as well.
    
    The first way to get your first traffic is Facebook.
    
    Start by sharing the links to your posts on your personal account. For the first few visitors, then you’ll want to create a fresh Facebook account or page for your bog. And next, join blogging groups and be active.
    
    Secondly, Quora will boost your daily visits even more. All you’ll do is to get an account with Quora, pick a question that interests you, and pop in your answers.
    
    For constant and even lots of traffic, my post on Pinterest for Overwhelming Traffic, and the Ultimate Backlink Strategy for 10,000+ traffic, are a must-read for you.

11. Build Social Followership

    Just like celebrities, social media means more than just a chat platform to bloggers.
    
    A way to start this may range from adding a share button on all your blog posts (which is automatically added now by themes) way down to running social media ads.
    
    So bear in mind that your social media followers count and the number of likes on your posts matter now more than ever.
    
    Check Out: How to Get More Social Media Followers (Without Creating …

12. Monetize your new blog

    There was this myth I had, growing up about how bloggers make money from their blogs.
    
    From rumors and personal opinions, I concluded that bloggers make money by having the visitor’s data broad-band converted to the equivalent amount in US dollars.
    
    Poor me.
    
    Haven had a lot of experience now in the world of internet marketing and content, I now know.
    
    Same I’m also about telling you what and how we bloggers make the bulks.
    
    1. A very popular one is running ads (Advertisement).
    Talking about running ads or simply put, making money from Ads; there are a lot of services out there.
    
    The one tested-and-trusted being Google AdSense which is Google’s own Ads platform for bloggers and advertisers, is just the best way to kick off your blog monetization journey.
    
    This is just in a nutshell. Read the full post on how to set up AdSense for real money.
    
    2. I am all for Affiliate Marketing
    Affiliate marketing is a way every (beginner and advanced) blogger makes a percentage of the commission from the sales of a product or service.
    
    PS: A great number of the bloggers’ testimonies and monthly revenue report you see all over the web, is made from affiliate sales.
    
    Take it seriously. Read the full post here.
    
    There are other great ways to make money from your blog, but those will come after you have secured your spot in your niche.

13. … It is now a business

    Welcome thus far!
    
    So far so good. Now we are gradually closing in and if you have been following and taking action, you must have an elegant-looking blog with at least 30+ blog posts. Viola!
    
    Now is the best time to change the way you see your blog because now, you own a business, not just a blog. And as such, you must treat it as same.
    
    Get educated on the skills and mindset pro blogger uses to handle a business blog.
    
    Check out this post to get exactly what a business blog makes on average every month.

14. Get an additional hand

    Start employing other hands.
    
    At this point, only you can’t handle this blog, you’ll have to get a helping hand.
    
    A better alternative is to start outsourcing your weaknesses while focusing only on your strengths.

15. CONSISTENCY

    Consistency is the only tunnel to greatness.
    
    See you at the top!