Complete Guide to Blogging (with FAQs)

Are you a beginner? Don’t know anything about blogging? But, want to create a blog for free and make money?

If your answer to these questions is ‘Yes’ then you’re at the right

This article include everything about blogging. It includes

• Blogging Basics
• Things to know before diving into the blogging journey.
• How to start a blog
• Different ways to monetize your blog and
• How to grow your blog

In short, this post is a complete guide to online blogging and will answer your all questions related to it.

So, What are we waiting for? Let’s start this guide (a path to blogging) below.

Blogging for beginners

Assuming you don’t know anything about blogging? I am starting this blogpost with its definition, evolution, and top reasons to start it.

But before starting with it, let me tell you one thing very clearly.

Blogging is not an overnight journey. If you want to make money immediately then sorry to say but the blogging profession will not going to help you. You may take at least one year to make your first dollar from it.

I started my online journey in 2009. It took me almost 11 years to reach this stage.

So, if you don’t have a long-term vision for your blog then please stop here. This profession is not for you.

But, a question may still arise how blogging is a good profession? Is it worth investing almost 10 years in a blog?

If you ask me this question me then my answer is YES. It is worth investing in a blog if you start early say at the age of 20 (along with your study)

So, by 30 your blog will be ready to make money online.

Note: You should not start a full-time blog immediately. Initially, you should work part-time. Once your blog starts making money. You can convert the same gradually from part-time to full-time.

So, are you ready to invest your time? If yes then please read below.

What is a Blog

A Blog is a website consisting of one or more writers sharing their own expressions, ideas, opinions, experiences, and observations.

In short, it is a website where one can write about anything online and others can read it.

For example, the Food Recipe blog, where you can write and share food recipes online. Similarly, you can also start a Health and Fitness blog and write and share health-related tips online.

For more details, please watch to below short video.

Evolution of a blog

The below timeline infographic will answer all your queries on the history and evolution of a blog online.

For more history on a blog, please refer to this Wikipedia page.

Why Start a Blog

There are two major reasons for starting a blog.

First, for hobby and interest. Usually, people who love writing start their own blog online.

Second, to promote business or make money online. Entrepreneurs use blogs to promote their business or make money online.

For a detailed explanation, I strongly suggest please refer to this article on the top 8 reasons why people start a blog online?

So, finally are you ready to start a blog? But, before you dive in, I suggest please refer to below important things properly.

Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Blogging

Hereby, I am sharing few things that you should know before creating a blog online.

#1. Blogging is long term Journey

Though it is mentioned earlier in this post. Once again, I am reiterating the same thing here. Blogging is not an overnight journey. It takes time to grow and get successful.

You will need at least one year to make money from your blog. But, once started, it will become passive income source of money for you.

Yes, with little investment, you can easily create the passive income source from your blog.

Trust me, its really a good deal. Even earning Rs. 10,000 per month after 2 years of starting the blog is good source of passive income.

Next, this income will get an increase over the period time. You will be also happy to learn that there is no upper limit on income from blogging.

I have seen many people making lakhs of money every month from their blog.

#2. Fluctuating Earnings

This is a second truth of making money from a blog.

Always remember, the income from a blogging site is not fixed. It keeps on fluctuating.00000

One day you will make few thousand only whereas on another day you will make lakhs of money from it.

This is because the traffic on your blog keeps fluctuating. If more users visit your blog then you will make more money or vice versa.

#3. Blog Promotion

According to Internetlivestats, as on 21.02.2021, there are more than 184 millions website registered online.

Now, if you are under impression that you will start the blog and people will find automatically then you are wrong.

No matter, how good you write. But, if you don’t promote your site online then no one will be going to visit your site.

Always remember, very tuff competition exists online. You need to compete with lakhs of blogs online to get successful.

#4. Search Engines is the only door

Ideally, there are two ways to visit any blog online. First, type the blog address directly in the address bar, and Second, use search engines like Google, Yahoo etc. to visit any blog online.

The first option will only possible if you know the address URL of the blog. In other cases, you need to take the help of search engine to find and visit relevant site.

But, do you know? Nearly 93% of all web traffic comes through search engines. It means if you want to drive traffic to your blog then Search Engines is the only door for it.

Hence, Search Engine play an important role in the success of your blog.

#5. Good at computer skills required

A good writing skills is not enough for creating a blog and making money from it. Besides writing skills, you will also need to have a good grip on computer skills.

By computer skills, I does not mean coding and programming languages. For blogging, there is no such requirement of writing the code. You can easily create the blog without writing even a single line of code.

But, it is very important that you understand the code written for any task. Even a beginner understanding is enough for creating the blog.

This is because, today almost every single code is available online. You only need to copy and paste the same at right place on your site.

In simple words, you should know the basic of programming language. No detailed knowledge required.

Pro tips: If anything goes wrong while copy and pasting the code. You can roll back to previous state using its back up file. So, there is no need to worry, if you copy and paste the wrong code in your blog.

For advance coding (require once in a year), you can hire the consultant for the same.

In fact, there are many local consultants available, who can handle all these technical issues in return of some money. You can hire him or her if you are not good at technical part.

Besides programming language and coding, I also strongly suggest to have at least a beginner knowledge of how a website work? You must be aware of various terminologies used in website working. For example, Web Hosting, Caching, 404 (not-found) error, HTTPS, etc. You should know these terminologies and its meaning.

#6. SEO still exist

Besides a good writing and computer skills, SEO skill is also required to build a successful blog.

Of course, like a web consultant, you can also hire an SEO consultant to do this task on your behalf.

But, hiring SEO consultant is not long term solution. This is because, SEO exist from writing content to promoting your blog online.

Your SEO consultant will only take care of Off Page SEO whereas you need to implement On Page SEO yourself while writing the blogpost.

For more, please refer to this article to learn more about SEO. This article is especially written for beginner who know nothing about SEO.

Next, I strongly suggest to learn On Page and Off Page SEO techniques before starting the blog.

#7. Youtube vs Blogging

This is another important thing that you should be aware before starting the blog online.

If you are not good at computer but still want to make money online then go with youtube channel instead of blogging.

Maintaining a youtube channel is easier when compared to blogging site. But, on other side, youtube channel have very limited monetization opportunities available than a blogging site.

Yes, in a youtube channel, you can only make money through Google Adsense and sponsored adveristing.

Whereas, in blogging there are many ways to make money from it. For example, Advertising, sponsored posts and reviews, space selling, etc.

Please refer to this article to learn various creative ways to make money from a blog.

In short, blogging is little more complicated than a youtube channel.

So, finally now you know the basic of blogging and want to start the blog.

But a question may still arise, how to start a blog? To get this answer, please read below.

#8. Start Micro Niche Blogging site

A micro-niche site is those blogs that are focused on a particular and small topic. For example, a health blog that only includes articles on Pimple care.

I strongly suggest starting a micro-niche blogging site if you really want to build a successful blog online.

For more please refer to this article on Unbeatable Guide to Micro Niche Blogging site.

How to start a blog and make money

There are two ways to start a blog.

1. Hire a web consultant to build it
2. Do it on your own (DIY)

But before you take any decision, I would request you to please read below paragraphs.

If you are a complete beginner then I strongly suggest starting with the FREE blog. Create a free blog on websites like Quora, Tumblr, Blogger, Webs, etc.

Within few clicks, you can easily create a free blog on these websites. Next, by writing on these blogs, you will gain some good writing, computer, and SEO skills.

The only major difference between a free and own custom blog is your ‘Website Address’. In the free blog, you will not get your required domain name. The below example will clear all your queries.

• Own Custom Blog Example: loveumarketing.com
• Free Blog Example: www.loveumarketing.blogger.com

Hence, in a free blog, you can’t enjoy the benefit of branding.

Further, free blogs have only limited space and features available. But, for a new blogger, these limitations don’t have any major implications.

Now, once you gain the basic understanding of blogging, you can move on to your own custom blogging site like I did.

I created my first free blogger site in 2007. In 2009, I created my first own WordPress blogging site called TechShristi.Com

I have spent almost 2 years from 2007 to 2009 in learning blogging. During this period, I keep reading various articles written on Blogging, SEO, and Online Store.

Next, I keep playing with my free Blogger site to learn the technical aspect of the website’s working.

I also took the help of video tutorials published online on various YouTube channels.

For more information and to learn how to start a free blogging site, please refer to this article.

So finally, you have the basic knowledge of blogging and on-hand experience of working with a free blogging site.

Now, its a time to start your own site using blogging platform.

Once again, I am retreating, if you are not comfortable with the technical aspect of installing a blog then you can hire a consultant to do the same.

But, if in case you decide to do it on your own then please refer to below articles to learn more about it.

• Best Blogging Platform to start a blog
• How to install a WordPress blog
• Customize a WordPress site

So, now your blog is installed and ready. Now, a question may arise, how to monetize your blog and make money online.

To get this answer please read below.

How to monetize your WordPress blog

The most common way to monetize your blog is showing advertisements. You can show ads on your site and in return you will get paid for the same.

There are many companies providing this service to bloggers. For example, Google Adsense, Infolinks, Media.net etc.

But among them, Google Adsense is the best and mostly used platform.

Google Adsense is a program run by Google that allows you to run ads on your website, blog, or YouTube videos and get paid when visitors view or click on them.

For more information on Google Adsense, please refer to this A to Z guide on Adsense.

But, What if you don’t want to use Google Adsense? What all are other ways to make money from a blog?

To get an answer to this question, please refer to this article on 10 ways to make money from a website online?

Grow your blog traffic

No matter, what technique you used to monetize your site. It will be directly related to traffic or conversion you will received on your blog. More traffic means more conversion and hence more revenue from your blog.

Hence, an attempt should be made to increase traffic to your blog.

But, once again, a question may arise, how to drive traffic to your site. To get an answer to this question, please read the articles posted on the given link.

For your convenience, I have mentioned a few frequently asked questions related to blogging below. I am sure, these FAQs on Blogging will answer all your queries.

Frequently Asked Questions (Blog FAQs Questions)

Over to You

Finally, after reading this article, I am sure your all queries are resolved now and you are ready to start a blog online. Please feel free to contact us or comment below if you still have any query about blogging or need any help in starting a blogging site.

You can also contact us if you want to add any question to the above list. We will be happy to include your suggestion in our FAQs list.

At last, I am happy to share a complete list of more than 60 blogging tools at below link.

Blogging Tools for beginners