Learn How To Blog And Become A Full-Time Blogger

Just stop and think for a moment. You want to learn how to blog yet there are already 500 million blogs online, all competing for attention.

I’ll just let that sink in for a minute.

The World is awash with blog posts. There’s a stinking pile of unloved blogs getting bigger everyday. All started by bloggers just like you, with huge enthusiasm and not very much knowledge.

Now 15 years ago it didn’t take much to start a blog. You could just start writing. Some of the huge bloggers around today launched straight into blogging about anything and everything. It worked but only because there was no competition.

They have no idea what it takes to be successful today.

I don’t mean to be negative. Fortunately, it’s still possible in 2021 to launch a high traffic blog. You just need the inside information on what it takes to be successful. My blogging guide is full of valuable tips to get your blog off to a good start.

How To Start A Blog In 2021 (The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide)

My name is Alison Wright. I started Simply Hatch to make learning how to blog both fun and straightforward. It’s aimed at non-techy wanna-be bloggers. Beginners with an urge to start writing but no idea how to go about starting a blog. I’m here to help!

Start a successful blog

I always think a blog without an audience is just so sad. All that effort wasted.

In the last two years, I’ve started two successful blogs from scratch. This one and my lifestyle blog Love Life Be Fit. Over the last 18 months, my lifestyle blog has grown to 120,000+ pageviews/month.

Better still, this lifestyle blog earns regular paychecks as a Mediavine Partner. These are my earnings for November, just from advertising:

Impressive hey! Now who wouldn’t want that as a blogging income? I also earn money from affiliate partnerships. It’s mainly Amazon at the moment but I have plans to grow other sources of income this year.

What’s more – my lifestyle blog is my side hustle income! I only work on it part time!

Simply Hatch takes up most of my time – helping out my blogging students. My lifestyle blog often gets ignored and I go several weeks at a time without posting.

This is honest blogging income all from white hat SEO on a blog that’s just over 18 months old. Following the right advice, writing the posts that get traffic, just about anyone can do this.

Now it’s your turn!

Learn how to blog with my easy to follow blogging guides…

What is a blog?

A blog is simply a version of a website. It’s a content management system, organizing content in categories and posts. The posts are presented in a diary-like order with the latest post on the top of the pile.

Just like a website, a blog also has pages. These are typically used for information pages such as “About” or “Contact” pages. Pages are normally used for information that stays static – doesn’t change very often.

Historically blog posts have a shorter lifespan. They can be topical for a few days, weeks or months before sinking to the bottom of the pile as a blogger produces fresh content.

This approach has changed as blogs try to win favor with Google. Currently by far the most important search engine, Google rewards updated content. Many blogs now produce evergreen content that stays relevant for a longer period and update their posts regularly.

What Is A Blog? And How Does Blogging Work?

Why is blogging so popular?

Blogs are an easy way to grow an online presence. If you have a message to get out to the world, blogging is a way to deliver it. You can use a blog to grow your personal or professional brand. It’s a good way to become an expert in your field.

Search engines love content, especially new content, and this is where blogs excel. Adding a blog to a business website is an affordable way to generate traffic and promote your goods and services.

Blogging is increasingly seen as a way to make money in its own right. It’s possible to generate high levels of traffic and making a good income from advertising and affiliate sales. Even serious news sites are adopting this approach for their lifestyle posts.

Blogging topics

To get off to the right start with your new blog you need a good blogging topic. Will you start a niche blog or a lifestyle blog? Are you an expert in a particular field or are you passionate about a sport or hobby?

Some people want to blog about their own life and share their experiences, while others blog to provide information. This could be travel advice, about personal finance, product reviews… there’s an endless list of good blogging topics.

In general, blogs that provide information for a sizeable audience work best, but there will always be exceptions. It also helps to blog about a topic you enjoy and can imagine writing about year after year.

These guides will help you avoid the pitfalls most new bloggers make:

Blog hosting and set-up topics

Most newbie bloggers have the elusion blogging is all about writing. I’ve had so many people tell me they’d love to have a blog but their writing isn’t very good.

Well, I’m about to shake up this theory. Writing is just one part of starting a blog. If you can write coherent sentences, you can start a successful blog.

Setting up your blog correctly with good hosting is just as important and one of the first decisions you’ll make is choosing your domain name.

There’s a lot of technology that goes into blogging. Fortunately, this hosting provider does all the hard work for you and makes it much easier to start your blog.

Content-creation topics

Content is the lifeblood of your blog. Without content, you have nothing to get your blog ranked on Google and nothing to promote on social media.

Your posts need to add value to your readers. This could be inspiring better lifestyles or providing essential information. Every time you write a post think about what’s in it for the reader. How will the reader benefit from reading this post and what are the takeaways.

Topic choice for a new blog needs to be realistic. You want to be writing posts you have a reasonable chance of ranking on the top page of Google search results. On any other page your blog will be invisible.

Results won’t be immediate but choose your topics wisely, write content that’s better than your competitors and be patient.

Download The 12 Month Blog Plan To Become A Successful Full-Time Blogger

The blogging process doesn’t stop when you’ve written your first blog post. You need to start promoting!

If you’ve selected a suitable post topic and writing a quality blog post, Google will hopefully send you some traffic. This could take anything from 3 months to over a year depending in your blog topic.

Tip: Google is sceptical of blogs that write about your money or your life topics such as health or making money. These types of blogs take a lot longer to rank as you need to build credibility.

Your immediate sources of traffic are social media, forums and FaceBook groups. Get promoting but just make sure you stick to any group rules.

I find this step interests the most people yet without traffic to your blog it’s very difficult to make money. You can make money with a small blog but it’s a lot easier if your traffic is 1000+ visitors a day.

Don’t be discouraged. You’ll find when the traffic on your blog starts to take off it can grow very quickly. Just make sure you’ve thought about how your blog will make money when you choose your blog topic.

These topics will help you plan your successful blog:

Extra resources to learn how to blog

Blogging is a continuous learning process. You learn the basics and start your blog. Once your blog’s set-up and you’ve written your first few blog posts you’ll be keen to learn more.

Maybe you’ll want to start an email list to communicate with your readers. Perhaps you plan to write and sell an ebook or even create a course.

I’ve added some extra resources to this blog to help you find the blogging tools you need as you start to grow:

Conclusion

Blogging is the ideal way to build an audience and share your thoughts and opinions online. It’s also a really affordable business you can start for less than $100!

It does take time to make money from blogging, but with hard work, some patience, plus the right knowledge and advice, most people are capable of building a full-time blogging business.

Simply Hatch is dedicated to helping you turn your dreams of becoming a full-time blogger into a reality. Get started now by downloading The 12 Month Blog Plan to become a successful full-time blogger!

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I learn blogging?

Follow a blogging guide to set up your blog in 7 easy steps. Get started with an idea and a domain name, choose a hosting company and build your blog, learn how to use your blog, write your first post, select a theme and design your blog, promote your blog everywhere and learn how to make money.

How do bloggers get paid?

The two most popular ways bloggers make money are adverts, where bloggers are paid via ad networks per impression or per click and affiliate marketing where payment is when a blog visitor clicks on a link for a recommended product and makes a purchase. Other ways of making money are sponsored posts, where a company pays for a post promoting their products, or creating and selling ebooks and courses.

Is it worth starting a blog in 2021?

YouTube videos may be extremely popular but a lot of people still enjoy reading blogs and search on Google for detailed answers to their questions. It’s a lot quicker to skim through a blog page to check it has the answer you’re looking for than watch a video. Blogs still have their place in 2021 and good blogs continue to earn a significant income.

What has replaced blogging?

Blogging has evolved rather than been replaced. All successful bloggers use social media and video streaming to their advantage as a means of driving traffic to their site. Bloggers are always adaptable looking for new ways to grow traffic and build revenue.