[Starting a Successful Blog] Lesson 2
Hello,
Good to have you back here again! The previous lesson was pretty straightforward yeah?
In this post, you are going to:
- Learn the difference between blog & website
- Deciding your blog niche
- Researching blog topics
Before we dive straight in, I’m not sure if you notice this, but there are many websites and blogs telling people to register for a web hosting as their first step.
I’m like “Why?!”
Why do they do that? Did they start it that way that’s why they are teaching others to do the same? Or are they doing that because they just want to make an affiliate commission out of their readers?
I’m not going to ask you to register for a web host as your first step because it only means you start paying rental for a space before you are even ready to start a shop and move in.
1. Difference Between Blog & Website
Is there a difference between a blog & a website? Yes.
Google defines
Blog
noun
a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.
verb
add new material to or regularly update a blog.
"it's about a week since I last blogged"
Website
noun
a set of related web pages located under a single domain name.
In other words, a blog can be a component of a website, but a website can do without a blog. A blog requires regular updating of new content, also known as blog posts.
So what?
Good question.
You need to figure out if you’re planning to make money with your blog or not. It will determine whether you should opt for a self-hosted paid website with a blog, or go for a free hosted blogging platform.
There are many successful bloggers out there who are more focused on blogging and engaging with their readers than making money on free hosted blogging platforms. But there are also successful affiliate marketers who made money by starting out with a self-hosted paid website with a blog.
You don’t have to decide right now, and we’ll explore this more in lesson 7 before you make a decision.
2. Deciding Your Blog Niche
Decisions, decisions, decisions. You realized by now, starting a blog requires you to make a decision every step of the way.
But you can do this! Let’s make it fun as you figure out what would you want to blog about.
Get a piece of paper, or a word processor and answer these:
(P.S. The trick is answer in words or short phrases. This is not a graded examination.)
- What are you most passionate about?
- What do you love talking about most?
- What are your hobbies?
- What are your interests?
- Topics you are most passionate about
- What do people typically ask you for help in?
- If you had to teach something, what would you teach?
- At the end of it, circle topics that resonates most with you. Start broad, but streamline! But it
- shouldn’t be too generic like I am most passionate about food.
- For example, I love food. But food as a blog niche would be way too broad. So how can I streamline a little bit more?
Food > Vegan > Raw Diet > Raw Vegan Diet
So there you have it! I streamlined it to Raw Vegan Diet as my blog niche!
3. Researching Blog Topics
So now I have my niche, which is Raw Vegan Diet. What can I blog about this?
Since my blog is about food, then I can blog along the lines of:
- Veganism
- Raw diet
- Vegan food joints that serve raw food
- Food reviews
- Recipes
- Raw vegan diet plan for weight loss
But how did I get the topics about?
Here’s how to do it:
- Head over to tools.seochat.com/tools/related-keywords-tool/ and select level 3
- Using your blog niche, you probably have 2 to 3 keywords, input them into the search bar and click “submit”
- You will see a table of keywords. Look through them and select the topics you are keen on blogging.
- Compile a list of possible blog topics.
So it’s time for you to research and shortlist possible blog topics.
HOMEWORK
- Decide your blog niche
- Compile a list of possible blog topics
We’ll need it next lesson, so let’s get down to it.
By the way, I strongly advise you do this before heading to the next lesson.
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