Where to start with blogging?

[sallysqueak]

Hi everyone

I'm new here, and new to blogging really, but I'm at a bit of a loss at the moment.

I currently do other forms of affiliate marketing, mainly lead generation using my own websites and ppc advertising, but it's very slow. Especially on a limited budget to get going.

I was having a look on here and it seems most of you recommend getting involved in a niche market rather than going for the sort of thing i'm already doing. So i'm thinking what the heck I might as well try (and possibly fail!) at this too.

I have a couple of questions. As a complete newbie to blogging, please can someone help me with these;

1. What is considered a good niche to choose? The one I am thinking of (and the hobby I am most passionate about) is a particular breed of dog. This breed is one of the less popular breeds, but those who have them or want them tend to want nothing else and love all stuff to do with them. I am a member of a couple of forums so I think I could get the blog going initially by giving it a mention in there, but when I look at the google keyword tool, the basic search term for the breed is only 40,500 local monthly searches and 368,000 global searches per month. Is this too low? Competition it says is 'low'. A search on google for the breed brings up virtually no adsense ads, but I suppose I could probably get some pet food or dog insurance ads showing on there instead or something?

2. Which blogging software should I choose if I do this? I'd ideally like to be able to have the option of adding both adsense ads and banners from affiliate networks if I choose to. I'd like the software to be free for me to use and preferably able to be intergrated into a website in the future, but standalone for now. What's best for this please?

3. Please can someone give me an idea of exactly how I could monotinize my blog? The only ideas I have are adsense, affiliate banners and possibly giving breed related products a mention in the blog posts with affiliate links to buy the stuff. Is this the general idea, and is this the limit of ways I can earn from a blog?

I think that's all my questions for now, I'd be interested in knowing what people think the potential is of a site like this. I am absolutely obsessed with the breed and have been for 20 years, so I know i'd find plenty to go on about, but is it viable and does anyone have any idea of what sort of money could be made from a blog like this?#

Thanks in advance!

Sally

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Sally,

Short on time so sorry for delay and this short reply.

But for #1 check out our Niche Marketing Forum. The stickies at the top will give you tips for either finding a good niche or helping you research to see if the dog niche you have in mind is potentially a good one.

2 - Wordpress is the way to go. Free, easy, Google loves it.

3 - Yes, you got it.

 

[sallysqueak]

Thank you I shall take a look x

 

[darkavenger972]

i'll take a look too, ty a lot !

 

[scottfanello]

Sallysqueak,

Those numbers are good enough to get going. I know another blogger who started a blog on Lucid Dreaming. After about 2 years of building her site she now makes $70,000 a year selling an ebook she made and other affiliate books and products on lucid dreaming. I just checked again on Google adwords and "lucid dreaming" has exactly 368,000 global searches. If that blogger can do it you can do and since you already have your niche you're good to go! I agree with the other post above, Wordpress is the way to go.

 

[SEO76]

I definitely agree that you?re going to be most successful if you target a niche that you actually have an interest in. That is, if you plan to do all of the content writing on your own. If you?re planning on outsourcing the writing, then you should go with whatever is the most profitable niche with low to moderate competition. Now, 40,500 local monthly searches is quite high. Are you making sure that you?re filtering the keyword results down to ?exact match? rather than ?broad??

I?m not really certain what you?re referring to when you say ?blogging software.? The only software you really need is Word . Now, as far as a blogging platform goes; Wordpress gets my vote hands down. You can go the Blogger route, if that?s your thing, but I?ve found that Wordpress has always yielded great results. There?s damn near a plugin for everything you?d need and placing Adsense or any other type of ads is quite simple with the widget tools.

The monetization is where you need to get creative. As you said before, you have an interest in this particular breed of dogs, right? Well, what kind of product or service would likely entice you to buy? There are a number of different routes that you could go here. One sure-fire way to make some profits is by offering a newletter. This will allow you to create a targeted list of emails that you could later use to promote dog related products.

I would say focus on some decently popular keywords with relatively low competition and SEO around those. Once you start to see some organic traffic flowing in, I?d then suggest that you formulate your monetization plan. For now, I?d mainly just focus on ranking for those keywords.

Pets related websites can be a huge money maker, if you play your cards right. The sky is the limit as far as the earning potential goes, but you?re going to have to

 

[Lucy Derrick]

Hello Sally,
Your idea is superb and choosing a good niche is necessary. For tips on monetizing your blog you could visit openwebsitetutorials. I would also say focus on decent relevant keywords with relatively low competition and generate link building with the help of SEO. A low or medium competition choice of keywords would be beneficial.
You could create a blog with WordPress which is a free open source blogging tool. Besides it is easy to use, fast and has a flexible blog script. It offers many features and a great collection of templates and themes. A few pointers when blogging :
Always write original and interesting content. Do not plagiarize.
Get a relevant domain name as short as possible and don?t opt for a free domain like .cc.
Establish a good permalink structure.
Change the tag line.

 

[bfg13]

Hello Sally,
Your idea is superb and choosing a good niche is necessary. For tips on monetizing your blog you could visit openwebsitetutorials. I would also say focus on decent relevant keywords with relatively low competition and generate link building with the help of SEO. A low or medium competition choice of keywords would be beneficial.
You could create a blog with WordPress which is a free open source blogging tool. Besides it is easy to use, fast and has a flexible blog script. It offers many features and a great collection of templates and themes. A few pointers when blogging :
Always write original and interesting content. Do not plagiarize.
Get a relevant domain name as short as possible and don?t opt for a free domain like .cc.
Establish a good permalink structure.
Change the tag line.

I can't agree more with the statement of using original and interesting content. You have a matter of seconds to grab the interest of the viewer.

 

[James Salmons]

The above comments are all right on target but just a couple of points for clarity.

First, and most important, while WordPress is clearly the best route to go and it is free to use, you do not want to go with the free WordPress.com but to set up your own domain on a regular host and let them install WordPress there from WordPress.org.

The free version on WordPress.com does not allow Adsense and has other limitations that are not what you want if you expect to make money from your site. You can pay them for some of these things but that can add up to quite a bit quickly.

You say you have some other sites. Probably those hosting accounts allow multiple domains so it probably will not cost you to add another one except for the registration of the domain name. If you are at one of the better hosts, like Hostgator or Dreamhost, they will have a "one click install" that will set up the program for you automatically (you will need little more than to choose a name and password).

Additionally, let me observe that the number of searches you say your keywords get is far beyond what most experts recommend for the minimum searches for a good niche. With low competition it should be great.

In the long run, if you build a solid reputation for providing good content you will make the most money from eventually offering your own product(s), an ebook or perhaps a Kindle book. You could also develop a training program that you deliver through email links or one of many other options.