Writing Your First Blog Post Tips and Ideas to Help You to Rank

 

 

At this level of your newfound blogging career, I assume you’ve completed the following tasks already:

 

1. Registered a domain name to start your blog,
2. Bought website hosting services to host your blog,
3. Installed WordPress blog on your domain, and
4. Optimized your blog for SEO.

 

But if you’re still researching information on how to start a blog and make money blogging online, you should consider downloading and reading my complete blogging guide. But the free PDF ebook is only available to our readers who have used our partnership link to sign up for HostGator web hosting services from this link. The blogging ebook explains everything you need to know about blogging for money without breaking a sweat.  It’s a no brainer blogging blueprint to say the least!

 

Today’s blog article is focusing on tips for writing your first blog post and I’ll be giving you some examples where necessary. For you to become a successful blogger on the internet, you need a system and a plan to follow to a Tee. This will become your roadmap for writing and publishing content that resonates with your target audience all the time.

 

As a matter of fact, your first blog post is the foundation and pillar of your online business success and content strategy. In line with this, there is a lot of housekeeping details you’ve to consider and adhere to in order to create a great blog post that constantly draw in free targeted traffic from search engines especially the big Google.com.

 

Personally, my first blog post usually targets the most popular and competitive keyword or search query in my niche market. For example, if I’m in the “work from home” niche market, I’ll be very comfortable creating and publishing an SEO article targeting “work from home” or “working from home” keyword phrases. And this keyword will be the exact URL or slug of the post which I want Google to crawl and index for me ultimately.

 

Yes, I may never rank for this search term in the SERP (search engine results page) but I’ll be happy having a web page on my blog indexed for my target search query. However, I believe in the nearest future and with the right marketing strategy and back linking my first blog post will be indexed and optimally primed for ranking.

 

This means that as the authority of my blog increases with time, you’ll discover that the work from home post will begin to rank as well. Yes, from the analytics, you may be surprised that your blog post for that target search term will be ranking on page one of SERP in some countries depending on the web surfer’s choice of search queries contained in your published blog article.

 

But you must make sure that your article is a long-form blog post of about 3,000 words or more. Also, you’ve to include LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords in order to be sure you’ve covered all the bases as far as keyword optimization is concerned.

 

But you must make sure that your content fills the gap omitted on the same topic or the questions which were not answered by other bloggers who are ranking on pages one and two of Google search results or other search engines.  

 

With that said, let’s dive in to the anatomy of your first blog post.

 

1. Keyword research
2. Selection of keyword to target in your blog post
3. Blog topic content research
4. Note taking of content ideas
5. Create your content outline
6. Craft the blog title
7. Write the introduction
8. Create the body of the blog post
9. Write the conclusion

 

Let’s go through the above steps one by one.

 

Step #1: Conduct Keyword Research

 

Your knowledge and ability to conduct comprehensive keyword research is the foundation of writing a great and compelling content that is searchable and findable on the internet. Web surfers, online shoppers and information seekers usually make use of search engines to find products to buy, services to subscribe to, find specific information for learning or purely for entertainment.

 

You can also do this by typing a search query that best describes your intention into the search field of a search engine like Google.com and go through the results that will be returned to you. For example, I can go to Google and type “how to make money online for beginners.”

 

Now, knowing how to dig deep and conduct keyword research to discover these search queries will help you to focus on the relevant and helpful content to create when writing your first blog post.  First, you’ve to select a seed keyword and enter it into keyword software like Google Keyword Planner tool.

 

From the keyword ideas, you can tentatively select a list of some of these search queries to target that best describe your products and services.

 

Step #2: Select a Keyword to Target in Your Blog Post 

 

In this step, you’ve to evaluate the best keyword to write your first blog post from the list of keyword phrases which you’ve selected in step #1 above.  You should base your keyword selection on the average monthly search volume, relevance of a search term to your target readers and its difficulty for ranking.

 

For possible SERP ranking preferably on page one of search engines, you’ve to choose a long tail keyword phrase with high search volume, high keyword relevance but low difficulty. For you to complete this task seamlessly especially to determine the ranking difficulty of a keyword, you may have to use paid keyword research tools such as Ahrefs.com or Semrush.com.

 

The easiest way to rank on page one of Google is to pursue long tail keyword phrases with low competition. These are search terns with 3 or more words which will be relevant to your readers and website visitors if you write content about them.

 

One of the best writing your first blog post tips which I learned a long time ago was to target transactional keywords especially when I’m building niche websites.

 

Step #3: Content Research

 

As soon as you’ve concluded your keyword evaluation step, it’s time to do content research in order to learn what information and topics to include in your blog post and information gaps to fill. Your goal is to write your first blog post that will attract targeted website visitors in droves.

 

You’ve to take down notes when reading published content by other webmasters or bloggers who are actively targeting the same keyword you hope to pursue. The websites and blogs actively targeting the keyword will certainly have it on the blog title, Meta description, introduction, body of content, and conclusion of the blog article.

 

If you’re making use of WordPress blog and you’ve installed and activated SEO plugin like Yoast SEO, you’ll have the opportunity to type the search query in the focus keyword field available at the bottom of every blog post editor.

 

Step #4: Create Blog Post Outline

 

When you’ve gathered sufficient information to flesh out your article writing assignment, you need to create a blog post outline to guide you as your roadmap as you type your content on your computer or laptop. You want to capture all the ideas and points to include and discuss in your first blog post.

 

The template of your blog article outline should be similar to the one below:

 

• Blog title
• Introduction
• Body of article
• Conclusion

 

Blog Post Title

 

This is the headline of your article. This is what will be indexed by search engines along side with the information you have filled out for your Meta description before publishing your blog post. Blog title should be catchy and tersely conveying the major benefit for the potential reader to be compelled to click on it to visit your web page and read your content in full.

 

If you’re relying heavily on free website visitors from search engines, you’ve to learn and master the art and science of crafting irresistible headlines. This will help you to have a high CTR (click through rate) to your blog web page.

 

As much as your title is expected to include your target keyword, it should be readable by your website visitors.

 

Introduction

 

Your blog post introductory paragraph has to ignite the interest of your reader for him to continue perusing your content. In addition, you’ve to find a way to make use of your search query in the first few sentences of your blog post.

 

However, I’ve seen some of my blog posts ranking even if the first paragraph did not mention my target keyword phrases. The corollary of this is that creating stellar content is paramount to your web page ranking as you target a long tail keyword phrase.

 

As a blogger, you must understand that you’re writing blog post to serve two fronts, namely to appeal to human readers and search engines bots. Although keyword stuffing is no-go area, you still have to find a way to naturally weave it into your content so that the search engines bots will understand the topic of your post.

 

Body of Article

 

The body of your blog post is where the full course meal is expected to be served for your website visitors and readers. Here, you’ve to appropriately make use of relevant search terms, images, screenshots, bullet points, number list, references, quotes, and so on. 

 

Depending on the type of blog post (how to, step by step, ultimate guide, etc), you’ve to explain and discuss your topic in detail in order to demonstrate your expertise. If you’re doing email marketing as well, you need to go extra mile to please your prospects or leads who may eventually become your subscribers. 

 

Conclusion

 

The conclusion of your blog post is the last paragraph or section which will summarize and round up your content. If you’ve not done so before now, this is where you’ve to use clickable CTA (call to action) link to direct your blog readers to more information on another web page on your blog or to an external website.

 

In blogging, this is the best place to ask your readers some questions and encourage comments from them. It helps to ignite discussion among the blog owner and followers and I see this section as a perfect conversation starter.

 

In conclusion, there is lots of writing your first blog post tips to share here which include:

 

• Know your target readers and write your blog post to address their needs, solve their problems and answer their questions accordingly.
• You can import content from Google Documents, MS Word, notepad or type directly in the WordPress editor.
• Be original and conversational in your writing.
• Let your writing style, tone and voice resonate with your ideal audience.
• Make use of the right vocabulary, lexicon, jargons, etc which your readers will understand without scratching their heads for meaning and interpretation.
• Let your content meet the EAT (expertise, authority and trust) criteria.
• Write for your target readers without leaving any stone unturned.
• Write for search engines too because of SEO (search engine optimization) factor.
• Write in short sentences, paragraphs, and use bullet points for easy reading and scanning.
• Edit your permalink for the blog post to reflect your keyword target.
• Include keywords in your post both primary and secondary keywords.
• Include images with alt text where necessary.
• Size your images for speed loading on your blog website.
• Assign as many tags as possible for each blog post. Tags represent relevant keywords associated with your blog article.
• Create a category for your blog post. Categories group your similar blog posts in their related folders.
• Make relevant quotes, references, links, etc, where appropriate.
• Tell your story to educate, inform and entertain your readers.
• Hyperlink texts for both internal and external web pages and websites.
• Use CTA (call to action) to help you drive home your points and direct your readers to other places on the web for further reading and action taking.
• Build an email list to get the most from your published content.
• Ask questions to encourage conversation for your blog article.
• Ask your readers to comment on your blog post, make contributions, add their own ideas, etc, so as to make your active.
• Ask your readers to share the link to your post on social media with share buttons.
• Your blog post story line should be able to move your readers to CTA or solution you’re recommending.
• Preview your blog post before you finally hit the publish button.
• Publish your blog post.
• Promote your blog post.
• If there is any major update or revision you want to make in your article, simply revert to draft, edit and republish your blog post.

 

Go ahead and do so if you have any questions to ask or comments to make. You can also share the link to this blog post in your social media circles.

 

My Top 10 Online Side Hustles to Make Money from Home

With the prevalent job cuts mostly ravaging the tech industries worldwide, you’ll agree with me that there is no better time than now to start online side hustles to make money from home. As I regularly peruse the TechCrunch.com newsletter every week day as a subscriber, I always discover alarming and heart-rending information about staff layoffs in various tech and blue-chip companies for economic reasons best known to the directors of these companies.

 

So, if you’re currently stuck with your day job or you want to make extra cash to pay the bills at your spare time, I can assure you that the information I’m going to share with you today will help you to get started on your side hustle business idea right away. In my first text post on this side hustle blog, I laid out the basic foundation on how to start a side hustle business online successfully.

 

If you research and dig deep on the internet, you’ll discover different online business models which you can start and they are a dime a dozen. But starting any one of them has its level of difficulty and profitability. However, I’m going to discuss some of these online side hustles to make money from home as clearly as possible so that you can hit the ground running with your choice business idea.

 

As I mentioned in my side hustle blog post, it’s a wrong approach for any entrepreneur to first think of making money from any business idea when he has not identified a specific problem to solve for that group of people who is grappling with the problem.

 

Before you can successfully make money with these side hustle ideas, you’ve to set a goal of how to research and find pain points in the marketplace which your target audience is desperately searching for solutions and validate if your solution will be viable for them.

 

Armed with this information, you can go further to evaluate the demographics and how to respond to their needs with the right solution that is guaranteed to sell. And don’t forget that the bigger the problem you hope to solve, the higher your rewards, holding all other factors constant. 

 

With that said, let’s dig into the top 10 online side hustles to make money from home.

 

Side Hustle #1: Start a Blog

 

This is one of the best ways to make money online. Even if you don’t have or know of any online business idea to start right off the bat, I’ll advise and encourage you to start a blog around a topic you’re passionate about. From there you can regularly publish content about related topics to drive targeted traffic to your blog website.

 

From your constant interaction with your blog readers through the comments section, you’ll understand and see a pattern in the type of information package or product your followers want to learn or buy from you.

 

In addition and with the help of keyword research tools, analytics, and webmasters tools, you’ll be able to clearly learn about the needs and wants of your target market by analyzing search queries and their intent. You can then use this knowledge and information to create a product or service that your niche is really in need of. As a case in point, I started this side hustle blog as a result of regular communications with some of my digital marketing training students.

 

I discovered that some of these students wanted a cheaper way to create a blog and make money blogging instead of buying website hosting at the beginning of their entrepreneur’s journey. With this in mind, I decided and resolved to start a free blog using Blogger.com this year around some side hustle ideas that will make money for me in the long run in order to prove that this system works.

 

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a freelance writer, virtual assistant, product creator, app developer, etc; you absolutely need to create a blog to write and publish content around themed topics which your audience wants to read about. Your blog is actually your virtual office, store or marketing platform where you can demonstrate and/or display your expertise, skills, products or services to your prospects, leads and customers from time to time.

 

Blogging is very important to every online business owner these days because it provides you with an online marketing dais to constantly interact and relate with your fans, followers, leads, prospects, customers, etc, at short notice and at a more personal level.

 

As a blogger, you can start a blog and make money in a matter of few months if you’re focused, committed and consistent with publishing high quality content on demand and on time. Blogging loves speed and making money from blogging is directly proportional to the monthly volume of targeted website visitors you receive if your blog is adequately monetized.

 

The volume of your monthly targeted website traffic will help you to evaluate the types of product offerings you should focus on and how best to monetize your blog. If you create a blog, you can earn money online from it in several ways including but not limited to:

 

• Promote, recommend and sell affiliate products and services i.e. affiliate marketing business,
• Create your own digital product and sell online,
• Sell ad spaces on your blog,
• Make money from sponsored posts and content,
• Contextual or PPC (pay per click) advertising, e.g. Google Adsense,
• Provide freelance business services,
• Write an ebook and sell from your own website,
• Run online training and coaching programs and courses,
• Build an email list of subscribers for email marketing campaigns,
• Become a paid or freelance blogger,
• Start product reviews website,
• Add job board with premium listing to your blog,
• Become a brand ambassador or influencer,
• Etc.

 

Online Tools and Resources You Need to Create a Blog

 

As a matter of fact, it won’t cost you an arm or leg to build a blog website. With a small fortune of less than $100 as your business startup costs, you can create a fully functional WordPress blog on the go. Yes, you don’t need bells and whistles of blogging tools and resources to start a blog and make money!

 

I’ve grown pockets of niche blog websites and authority blog under the radar by using self-hosted WordPress with free WordPress themes and plugins while bootstrapping every other app or software that I absolutely cannot do without at the beginning.

 

All it cost me was to sign up with HostGator web hosting which allows me to create blogs in any target niche market with the same account using their Baby Plan option. HostGator Baby plan will allow you to host unlimited domain names on the same account without paying any extra hosting fee which is a good bargain.

 

Because they support WordPress hosting, it takes few minutes to install WordPress blog on your domain; in short, it’s fondly tagged one-click WordPress install. And if you’ve read my comprehensive blogging guide, you’ll learn and master how to optimize your blog for on-page SEO (search engine optimization) quickly and use it to rank for profitable long tail keyword phrases and money keywords on the first page of search engines.

 

If you’re ambitious and passionate about blogging for money for the long term, you may want to create an email newsletter as early as possible and use it to build an email list of subscribers from scratch. But creating a valuable lead magnet to give away in exchange of subscribers’ email addresses is crucial to your success.

 

There are many email service providers (ESPs) out there that you can subscribe to and it will allow you to build your email list seamlessly. But GetResponse email marketing software is cheap and reliable compared to others. The best part is that GetResponse company has free trial for their service for first-time customers from this link.

 

In summary, the list and steps below are what you really need to start a blog and make money.

 

1. Register a domain name,
2. Purchase web hosting,
3. Install WordPress blog on your domain,
4. Subscribe to any reliable email marketing software for your list building strategy,
5. Regularly publish unique and high quality content on your blog,
6. Adequately monetize your blog,
7. Constantly promote your blog,
8. Make money online, and
9. Rinse and repeat in more niche markets.

 

Granted, it’s a whole lot of work when you start blogging for money but you’ve to pay it forward. For example, I’m starting a blog of this type and magnitude in order to provide value to my readers, beginners and newbies alike without knowing how soon I’ll make money from this blog website. But I’m making that colossal sacrifice upfront on the principle or law of reciprocity which will ultimately reward me for being my brother’s keeper!

 

Side Hustle #2: Become a Freelance Writer

 

Freelance writing is a big business online. As a matter of fact, internet businesses are content driven be it in the form of blog post, infographic, PDF ebooks, video, audio, podcast, webinar, etc. So, forget about the palpable threat, hue and cry  from generative AI writing tools like Jasper and ChatGPT lately.

 

Like I told a confidant about these online writing tools, this software is only as intelligent as their developers. A writing tool can become obsolete if it is not regularly updated and there is a ceiling or plateau as to how much they can do without human involvement and touch. ChatGPT can never be futuristic enough to have the information to address every topic or situation!

 

To this end, you’ve to understand that as a freelance content writer, you’re very relevant to webmasters, online business owners and bloggers who are short on time and too busy to do the mundane job of content writing and content marketing.

 

For instance, you can write blog posts, email marketing messages, white papers, PDF ebooks, landing pages, etc and get paid for your intellectual property services. It boils down to the quality of work you’re bringing to the table.

 

But the most important investment is for you to create a freelance writer website if you hope to command premium rates in the market and quickly publish writing samples for potential clients to read and evaluate your expertise, writing style, and tone before they decide to hire you.

 

Side Hustle #3: Write an Ebook and Sell It Online    

 

Writing and selling ebooks is one of the best ways to make passive income online. Depending on how relevant an ebook is to the needs of your target market, you can write an ebook and sell it online for years on end. You may only have to update it from time to time with minimal work load.

 

My first ebook was on how to buy and sell domain names. After buying and selling domain names for profit, I sat down and documented my domaining journey. For years, I was making passive income online from my domain flipping guide in addition to my domaining business.

 

When I became successful with my first ebook, I decided to write an ebook on how to start self-publishing business based on my own modest experience as an ebook author. It was so fascinating and rewarding selling ebooks from all over the world on a topic people want to learn about.

 

This modest success gave me a head start that there are legitimate online business opportunities anybody can do to make money from home. All it takes is to set a goal, create a plan and take consistent action until you start getting the desired results.

 

I’ll be posting an ebook publishing guide later in the life of this blog so that you can add it to your arsenal of multiple streams of internet income. But the most important take away is to write from your own valuable life experience (VLE) about a topic or subject that people are clamoring to learn about on the internet.

 

And this will involve internet research skills and digging deep through online communities, niche forums, discussion groups, chat forums, questions and answers sites, etc to find questions, gaps, voids and pain points among people of like minds in the marketplace and then fill it.

 

Side Hustle #4: Buy and Sell Domain Names for Profit

 

Let me warn you beforehand about domain flipping business; it can be addictive. But the good news is that it has low barrier of entry. With as little as $10 to register a domain name, you can start buying and selling domain names for profit.

 

I hand registered a custom domain name (HustleVim.com) for less than $10 to set up my free Blogger blog which is hosted at side hustle business blog. But if I wanted to buy a specific domain name (HustleVim.com) that matches my Blogger sub domain name from the aftermarket like Squadhelp.com or Afternic.com, I may have to cough out a tidy sum of money as much as $2,199 or more to acquire that domain name.

 

However, domain flipping success is a function of your uncanny ability to spot and register a domain that potential buyers cannot ignore or bypass. So, you need to be abreast of tech trends and loaded with domaining knowledge of what is currently selling in the marketplaces.

 

You can visit Squadhelp.com, Sedo.com, Dan.com, Afternic.com, etc to flip through domain names that got sold and domains for sale and get an idea of quality names you should be looking out for.

 

Side Hustle #5: Buy and Sell Websites

 

Website flipping is similar to buying and selling domain names. The difference is that in website investing business, you’ll sell your domain name and the website itself including its content, files, email lists, etc  to the buyer. But in domaining, you only sell the domain name. A website comprises of the domain name itself and all digital assets it possesses including software or app licenses. 

 

Website flipping can be likened to real estate investing. In short, a lot of online business owners tag is as virtual real estate investing because you’re selling the land (i.e. the domain itself) and the building (i.e. the website template, content on the domain, its traffic and earnings, etc).

 

There are several marketplaces for buying and selling websites such as Flippa.com and EmpireFlippers.com. The best website you can sell is the one making profit consistently especially for more than six months consecutively. It’s even better if the revenue generated by the blog or website is increasing month by month.

 

You’ve to be aware that the more digital assets a website has, the more valuable it is to potential buyers. But the most important metrics you should always take into consideration are the volume of monthly targeted traffic, monthly profits, passive income nature of the web site, cost of site maintenance, size of email list of subscribers, age of domain name and its rating and the volume, uniqueness and quality of content published.

 

As a domainer and website flipper myself, it’s a whole world of experience being in this business space. You’ll be able to learn and master the dynamics and mechanics of starting, growing and selling a profitable online business for a tidy sum of money.

 

Side Hustle #6: Start Copywriting and Ghostwriting Business

 

Copywriting is a lucrative online business model if you learn and master the use of words to evoke emotions. This is millions of dollars business because internet businesses are content driven. Talk about email marketing, landing pages, whitepapers, etc, you need a copywriter who can sell your products and services with words that propel actions. If you ask me, copywriting is a high-paying career and for good reasons.

 

Simply put, copy writing is all about creating words that persuade your target audience to take specific action now e.g. to buy a product, subscribe to a service, fill out a questionnaire, click on a link or submit an email address.

 

Ghostwriting, on another hand, is writing an ebook or book for clients who do not have the time or skill to write a book. If you’ve good writing style and tone, you can become a ghostwriter for celebrities, business owners, and so on.

 

Side Hustle #7: Become a Virtual Assistant

 

The question you may want to ask is, “Who is a virtual assistant?” A virtual assistant is someone a business owner hires to perform regular tasks related to his or her business such as answering phone calls, reading and sending emails, organizing to-do lists, scheduling events, etc on behalf of the company.

 

You can become a freelance virtual assistant for 2 or more companies if you know how to multi-task and work seamlessly and efficiently. The work becomes easier if a virtual assistant uses online project management system like TeamworkPM or Asana.

 

Social media management can also be a responsibility of a virtual assistant and you don’t have to be an expert to execute this task successfully. If this is your take, you can easily manage the process and postings and still be fine.   

 

Side Hustle #8: Affiliate Marketing Business

 

Affiliate marketing is one of the best online hustles to make money as a beginner. And the best way to start affiliate marketing and make money is to create a blog around a niche topic. As soon as you’ve optimized your blog for on-page SEO and regularly publish content on it, you can find complementary affiliate products to promote and sell using your links.

 

For example, if you write a blog post on how to start a blog and make money, there is no way you’ll not mention to your readers how to register a domain name and purchase web hosting. If you’re a partner to HostGator website hosting company, you can gladly recommend them to your blog readers.

 

One of the best ways to make money with affiliate marketing is to “use and tell.” In other words, if you make use of a product and service and relate your real life experience with potential buyers, your chances of success will be high.

 

Because I use HostGator web hosting services myself, I can describe my experience with them inside out and confidently provide my affiliate link to their official website. This will give your prospects and leads the confidence to subscribe to a service or buy a product. A lot of affiliate marketers miss this critical step to success and that is why you cannot find me promoting all kinds of affiliate products and services.  

 

The bottom line is for you to recommend affiliate products or services which you’ve used and comfortable with. It makes it easier for you to promote and sell such products. If you go through our affiliate marketing course, you’ll discover the best ways to make money with affiliate marketing business.

 

Side Hustle #9: Create a Membership Site

 

This type of online side hustles to make money require a bit of expertise. You must know something about a topic or subject more than the average person in your target niche. It’s easy to set up a membership site with WordPress blog and membership plugin.

 

Ecommerce plugin for WordPress CMS (content management system) helps you to gate your content at every level of paid membership. Your content can be categorized into video, downloadable PDF ebooks, audio recordings, questions and answers section, and so on.

 

The good news about membership site management is that it creates predictable recurring revenue month in and month out if you’re good at what you do and you deploy the right digital marketing strategy to drive targeted traffic to your website.

 

The best way to make money with membership site is to identify an ongoing problem in your niche which your target audience will be willing to pay for the solution month by month. It could be mastering new skills or developing new habits.  

 

However, to succeed in this space, you’ve to build a community with human connection. Bonding with your target audience will make it easy for you to retain paying members ultimately.

 

Side Hustle #10: Video Editing

 

I discovered lately that video editing is good side hustle to make money on the internet from one of my digital marketing students who provides this service. As you may already know, video production is telling a story visually just the same way you write a book with words.

 

There are online entrepreneurs who are looking for experts in video production and editing. You can focus on video editing and expand into other areas over time. What will really work for you here is your expertise and your attention to details.

 

I’ll be releasing an ultimate guide to online side hustles to make money sooner or later. You can bookmark this blog website so that you don’t miss out when I publish it as a free PDF ebook.

Why I Created My Side Hustle Blog

I’m starting my side hustle blog as a case study for majority of my followers who are looking for the best ways to make money online without breaking the bank. Four years ago, I started teaching digital marketing courses to aspiring entrepreneurs who wanted to learn how to make money online. This online marketing training program was actually a request by some of my fellow domainers in a forum where I’m also a member.

 

From my modest contributions to the domaining section of the forum, they perceived that I’ve the requisite experience and expertise to teach beginners internet marketing generally. That was how my coaching, training and mentoring program started.

 

With this singular request, I felt honored and I decided to create an independent thread in the same forum for absolutely free digital marketing training program where I regularly publish high quality content on SEO (search engine optimization), side hustle ideas, blogging for money, affiliate marketing, domain flipping, and so on.

 

And the responses and contributions to the thread from other forum members, readers, followers and visitors from search engines were indeed overwhelming.  In less than 30 days of starting this thread, I started registering students for my paid digital marketing course.

 

It has been awesome ever since teaching entrepreneurs how to make money on the internet without breaking a sweat or spending small fortunes. From my constant interaction with our students, we discovered that there is a big problem of not having enough cash at the beginning to start an online business with the majority of them especially when creating a blog.

 

Specifically, in year 2022, I had quite a number of students who wanted to go into blogging but don’t have the startup costs to sign up for paid website hosting services like HostGator.com. This got me thinking and I decided to do a practical case study on how to start a blog and make money using Blogger without spending a dime. 

 

Because I know that you can actually create a free blog with Blogger.com, I decided to follow this route to test the waters. But if you have about $100 to invest at the beginning to start an online business, you can read my comprehensive blogging guide on how to create a blog on your domain name using self-hosted WordPress CMS platform from this link.  

 

Basically, there are two ways to use Blogger blog to start your own business online.

 

1. Create a blog for free using Blogspot.com sub domain name, or
2. Register a domain name and map it to Blogger free hosting as a custom domain.

 

While the first option is absolutely free, the second option will cost you about $10 per year to buy a domain and/or renew it. The downside of the first option is that the free sub domain from Blogger will not be too good for branding and online promotions because it is a long URL.

 

For example, the Blogger free blog which I created for this passion project is at https://hustlevim.blogspot.com. Now, that URL is rather long for my liking especially when my online business starts growing and expanding. But alternatively, I can simply buy a domain like https://www.hustlevim.com and simply set it up as a custom domain with Blogger free hosting.

 

So, instead of using the long sub domain name from Blogspot.com, I can begin to use the custom domain (HustleVim.com) to promote my blog and business. And it costs less than $10 to buy a domain name from NameCheap domain registrar. If you cannot invest just $10 per year to start an internet business which you can grow into millions of dollars over time, that will be too bad!

 

Instead of branding and blogging with the long URL at hustlevim.blogspot.com, I’ll be using a custom domain name for my online promotions and marketing. There are so many benefits that will accrue to me for taking this decision.

 

• It is more cost effective for any blogger who wants to start a blog and make money without investing in paid web hosting services immediately because this is a partially free route. Just for $10 or less per year, you can get a domain name or renew it to run your blog seamlessly as Blogger takes care of the free website hosting part of your online business.

• With Blogger’s free web hosting, you can create a blog and monetize it to a greater extent successfully. This should give you a head start and go a long way for you to earn money online as early as possible and possibly upgrade to any reliable web host later in the course of growing your online business.

 

But there is no gainsaying the fact that you’ll be able to do more with your internet business if you sign up with a paid web hosting services at the beginning because of flexibility and added features such as creating custom email addresses, having website builder to customize your blog, plugins for added functionalities and dynamic themes for the look and feel of your blog.

 

For instance, for less than $100 in your first year, you can get web hosting from HostGator.com and start your online business on the cheap. Besides, they have excellent customer support and are reliable with robust features which include security, free SSL certificate, and so on.   

 

If you create a free blog with Blogger, you can transfer it eventually to a paid hosting service when you feel it’s time to do so. This is exactly what I intend doing with this side hustle blog when it is earning enough money to sign up for some online tools and resources necessary to run a professional blog.

 

As an aspiring blogger, you don’t have any excuse to not create a blog and make money because you don’t have the wherewithal to purchase web hosting outright. On this side hustle blog, I’ll be teaching you legitimate online business opportunities which you can start on the cheap and make passive income, month in and month out. I promise!

 

Some of the side hustle ideas which I’ll be teaching you will include affiliate marketing, domain flipping, website flipping, blogging for money, freelance writing business, writing and selling ebooks online, just to mention a few. I’m going to deploy my wealth of practical experience in digital marketing to make this side hustle blog an overwhelming success.

 

And if you find these tutorials educative and informative enough, you may want to consider enrolling for our complete digital marketing training program from this link.   

 

With that said, let’s dive into the side hustle business basics.

 

What is a Side Hustle?

 

Side hustle has become a popular buzz term lately which simply means any side business or part time job you can do at your spare time in order to earn extra cash which is exclusive of your main day job. In other words, it’s quite distinct from your regular job or work which you’re currently being paid for.

 

Side hustle business will earn you supplemental income in addition to your regular wages or salary which you’re receiving from your 9 to 5 day job. In today’s technological advancements, majority of workers and hobbyists all over the world are taking on online side hustles to start a business while still gainfully employed.

 

This is because it provides the needed extra cash and income to build wealth from the ground up and from anywhere in the world. This is exactly what I did some years back as an employee of a company. While I was still working, I started reading e-books and watching videos on how to make money online after returning from work at night for about one to two hours per day.

 

I took special interest in affiliate marketing business and domain investing. Within a space of 52 weeks, I became self-employed with just three online business models, namely, writing and selling ebooks online, buying and selling domain names and promoting affiliate products and services for commissions.

 

For you to make money online with side hustle business ideas, you’ve to be focused, consistent, persistent, committed and patient with your business goals. This may require you to invest in yourself, online tools and resources to facilitate your business to greater heights and become successful.

 

In today’s world of web businesses, the best investment you can make is to get a domain name and buy web hosting to start a blog. Through blogging, you’ll be able to learn and master the terrain of side hustles inside out by constantly interacting with your target audience and knowing what they want or need.

 

You’ll discover through keyword research your target audience’s search intent and the needs and wants of your target niche market. If you’re ambitious, you’ve to learn SEO (search engine optimization) which will help you to write SEO content around these keywords. Also, you’ll be able to use this knowledge to optimize on-page SEO for the keyword phrases and rank them in search engines like Google.com

 

You’ve to understand that a side hustler is a versatile online entrepreneur who has at least smattering knowledge of every topic related to digital marketing. He has the vim and vigor to satisfy the yearnings of his target audience by providing expert information or content through blog posts, videos, podcasts, free PDF ebooks, etc, as well as recommending high quality products and services to solve their problems.

 

Beyond that, as a side hustler you don’t have to stay in your comfort zone but you’ll always go out of your way as an expert to provide sufficient information about a topic, product or service that can benefit your readers, followers, subscribers and customers.

 

In the coming weeks, I’ll be teaching you how to start a blog and make money blogging using the free method and/or the self-hosted WordPress blog option. But if you want to fast track your online business success, it is advisable to get web hosting with a free domain name. It gives you more flexibility and leverage to build your website the way you want and to monetize your blog and customize it using plugins which serve various functions.

 

How Can You Make Money from Side Hustle Ideas?

 

Making money online should not be your primary goal of starting a side hustle business. This is where a lot of hustlers, beginners and newbies alike miss the mark!

 

Your first step is to develop a system of discovering what a group of people are in need of and then create a solution (product, service or information package) to address the problem. For you to complete this task, you may have to build an email list of subscribers in your focus niche and simply ask them what they want through questionnaires and online surveys.

 

You may also lurk around online communities and niche forums related to your topic so that you can elicit information about people’s needs, problems and pain points. From there, you can evaluate existing products in the marketplace in order to spot any gap you can fill. This will help you to become relevant and possibly stand out from the crowd as a blogger, product creator or business owner.

 

You should understand from the get go that making money online from your side hustles revolves round solving problems for any target market you’re working on. If you cannot spot any palpable and tangible pain points to solve in the marketplace, it’s a big red flag that the market may not be profitable after all.

 

Online Tools and Resources to Start a Side Hustle Blog

 

The tools and resources to start a side hustle business online successfully will depend to a large extent on your own personal budget and capacity and willingness to invest in them. However, registering a domain name, buying web hosting and creating a blog are unavoidable expenses which you’ve to incur if you want to take a long shot at internet business.

 

Although you can get around these tools without spending money, you’ll be limited and incapacitated when it comes to the best ways to monetize your blog. This is because the companies providing free hosting services and blogging platforms always have restrictive rules on how bloggers can monetize their blogs.

 

For instance, some free website owners will not allow you to create adult content or make use of adult monetization methods at all. And if your focus is on the adult niche, you cannot do anything about that!

 

As a blogger and as you grow your side hustle business, you’ve to consider subscribing to reliable ESP (email service provider). An ESP like GetResponse will provide you with email marketing software to build an email list of subscribers who are interested in your blog topics and may want to receive further information through your business newsletter.

 

As you already know, building relationship, trust and credibility are pivotal pillars to any online business success. It makes it easy for every internet marketer to promote and sell products with little or no objections. This is why one of the best ways to make money online is through list building. Yes, you’ll be able to promote and recommend products and services to your target audience with ease.

 

If you ask me, these five (5) online business tools are essential for you to invest in right away as you start working on your side gig.

 

1. Register a domain name,
2. Get web hosting,
3. Install WordPress blog on your domain,
4. Subscribe to reliable email marketing software, and
5. Create and publish regular but high quality content on your blog.

 

As I progress with this side hustle blog, you’ll be able to learn the importance and rewards of investing in the above vital tools, apps and software which will speed up your business growth and increase your monthly revenue in the long run. In my next blog post, I’ll cover my top 10 online side hustles to make money while working from home.