How To Start A Blog That Makes Money Using Blogspot (Blogger)

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In today's article, we will be talking about how to create from scratch, a blog that can make you money, using the free blogger (Blogspot) platform. Blogger is owned by Google and it is completely free. Although limited in plugins and features, compared to Wordpress, but still the best free blogging platform you can find online. It offers you access to design your blog and also add free plugins and features to your blog. The only thing you pay for is your custom domain name, which is optional. The good thing is, there are cheap domain names you can buy from Namecheap, hostgator, goDaddy, etc. But if you don't want to buy domain, you can run your blog on blogger free domain e.g. www.Blogname.blogspot.com .On blogger,  web hosting is free. 

Wordpress on the other hand, is not completely free, as it requires web hosting and domain registration, which can be quite expensive. One has to consider the web hosting cost. There are cheap web hosting services for Wordpress bloggers, with affordable or cheap hosting plans. Among the best web hosting companies, Wordpress bloggers favourites are Bluegost and Namecheap. BlueHost offers cheap domain registration hosting plans for Wordpress that run from $2.75/month, easy to use (drag and drop) website builder and also offers for first year. Are you a Wordpress blogger looking for affordable or cheap web hosting service for Wordpress? Check Bluehost or Namecheap to make comparison with other Wordpress hosting services out there. The difference is clear.

What is a blog? 

For those who are new to blogging, a blog is a platform, similar to website but different from website, where writer(s), authors or contributors share views on a topic or subject in the form of content (article, video or podcast). This can be content about a product, service, a niche and so on. This blog you are reading nowis an example of a blog. 

What is the difference between blog and website? 

The difference between a blog and a website is very simple. Blog is regularly updated with contents and these contents usually displayed with the new or latest articles coming first at the top of the page. While website comes with static pages with contents fixed and not regularly updated. Because of the regularly updated contents, search engines such as Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, etc. love blogs, as this helps search engines to keep their searchers updated with latest information online.  

How To Start A Blog 

Below are guidelines on how to start a blog that makes money for free.

Create a Gmail account. 

Without a Gmail account,  you cannot create a blog on blogger, as this will require you to create a Blogger account. Visit https://blogger.com and click to sign up. You will be taken to an empty page. Click the icon on the upper left side of the page to get options to edit. 

Give your blog a name 

From the options, click on New Blog to create a new blog. Now give your blog a name. For reference purpose, I gave mine "Copytheweb". Click on Next.

Create A URL For Your Blog  

This is what your visitors or readers will need to access your blog. It is advisable you give it a simple and easy-to-remember URL. From below image, I gave mine "Copytheweb ". After this, click on save. On you browser, open a new tab. Visit your newly created blog to see how it looks like. E.g. https://www.copytheweb.blogspot.com . Replace that with your url name. You will see an empty page with no article. 

 This is because you and I have not added any article. If you are fine with the design, please move on to add posts. But if you are not fine with it, then follow below tips to design your blog. Go back to blogger account. 

Download new blogger template  

Go to Google.com and search "for free seo responsive fast loading templates for blogger". From your provided list, view to select your favourite design. Download free template and Unzip the downloaded template file to get XML file. Go back to your Blogger account and click the upper left icon to get options. Below the provided options,  click on "Theme" to have the below page opened. Follow the below images to get it done.   

From the above image, click on "Restore" to upload your downloaded and unzipped file in XML format. When that is successfully done, we move to the next step. Go to the left upper side of the page and click the icon to get more options.

Add widgets and other features  

From the list of options, click on "Layout " and click on "Add a Gadget" to add more features or click the edit icon to edit the available features. 

Now You Can Create A Post  

Now you are ready to add your first content. To do this, click the icon in the upper left side of the page and click on "Posts". On this empty page, click the plus sign below the right side of the page to write an article. 

How To Start Making Money While Blogging  

Dor you to be a successful blogger, there are blogging etiquette you must follow. Below are actions you need to take. 

Rich and original content    

In blogging, content is the king. Brainstorm interesting topics related to your niche.  This means, you will need a niche. 

What's a niche? 

In a simple word, niche means your area of interest, what you are good at writing about e.g. Health, Lifestyle,  Technology, SEO, Finance, etc. You can search for a high paying niche. 

Be original with your content and avoid copy and paste.  If you follow this practice, it will hurt your blog traffic and ranking, as Google and other top search engines will penalize your blog. Target at least 1,000 words article with post photos. Always aim to proffer solutions to your readers problems and you will get it right.

Rank high in SEO  

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the gas you need to run a successful blog. This will help your blog and contents to rank high on Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu and other search engines. This involves using relevant keywords in your content,  using SEO tools to monitor and grow your blog, building backlinks for your blog either by submitting your blog to free or paid directories with high page rank or by using backlink tools to auto create backlinks for your blog with ease, share your posts on social media by adding share buttons to your blog, etc. This is how to drive more targeted traffic to your website or blog.

 

In building backlinks ,it is very important that you link your blog to top websites with high page rank, domain authority or page authority. You can either do this manually or use website submission tools to submit your blog to search engines and directories with PA 40 and above.

ALSO READ : List of free directories submission sites with high pagerank

4 Ways To Monetize Your Blog  

After updating your new blog with rich and original contents, and have built backlinks and have good seo scores, you are set to start making money with your blog. There are 101 ways to make make money online blogging. But we will mention just a few in this article. 

>>> Google Adsense: This is the best advert serving platform for both websites and blogs. Convert your blog traffic or visits to money, get paid for clicks and views. You can earn up to $120 per click. This depends on your content and keywords relevancy. Use long tail keywords in your content. Search engines like Google and others love it. You can generate long tail keywords using Keywords tools online. 

To use Adsense, you will need approval. Before you apply for Adsense, ensure your blog has at least 10 rich and useful contents and a good traffic. Your blog must have a good SEO score. When all these are set, you can visit https://adsense.com to apply. When you are approved, you will receive a message of approval from Adsense. Now follow the instructions to use Adsense.  

>>> Affiliate Marketing: This involves promoting products or services to earn commission per sale. Not all successful bloggers earn with Adsense. Most top bloggers do without Adsense on their blog. So, while you wait for adsense approval, you can register with some top affiliate marketing companies e.g. Rakuten, Shareasale, Commission Junction, etc. Register to get product links you can use in your contents. You can also join some top affiliate programs to earn recurring revenue by referring others to join. You get paid when your referrals earn money e.g. GainRock,  Fiverr, SEMRush, ShareASale, etc. Fiverr is one of the most popular gigs platform where you can find freelancers for different gigs. Join their affiliate program and earn from every traffic you send to Fiverr. ShareASale is one of the best affiliate marketing companies which enables affiliates to earn commission through sales (pay per lead, pay per sale, etc). It is similar to Rakuten affiliate program and Commission Junction. 

You should know that affiliate marketing and digital marketing are not the same, even though they work almost the same way.

Digital marketing means the selling of digital products online, which can either be your product or a third party product. Affiliate marketing means the selling of digital products, physical products or services both online or offline, which is owned by a third party that you are affiliated to. I hope I explained this the perfect way. 

>>> Accept Sponsored Posts: Sponsored posts are posts written to promote a product or service in a friendly and more detailed way, which can be by comparison or review. That is what we call Content Marketing. The truth is, when your blog is getting organic traffic, with quality backlinks, good seo score and high pagerank or page authority, Sponsors or companies will approach you for Sponsored proposals. You can also get paid to sponsor posts or contents on your blog via blogger outreach. There are platforms that connect bloggers or publishers and advertisers e.g. Adsy. Here, you either get an already written content from advertisers to paste in your blog or you will write the content by yourself. There are many others, but this is one of my favourites. 

>>> Display Ads On You Blog: Showing advertisements on your blog sidebar, above content or below content is one good way to make money from the visits your blog generates. You can display banner ad or link ad. This can be a sponsored ads from a sponsor or advertiser or you can get this banner or ad link from an affiliate marketing company you have joined. 

NOTE: I told you earlier that there are 101 ways you can make money blogging. The above are my favourites. I hope this was helpful for beginners and pros. Don't forget to share this with friends by clicking the below share buttons. Sharing is caring! Don't forget to contribute to this post by using the comment box below.