Hello, BZian! Thank you for joining our community.
Before we get started, I want to make it clear that I’m not an expert. I’m simply sharing my own working process with you. I hope this will give you some ideas to begin your own blogging journey.
Now, let’s get started and dive into the details.
How do I select a niche/topic?
Selecting a niche or topic means identifying a specific audience or market that you want to target with your content. This audience could be interested in a particular subject, so it’s important to focus on them.
For example, if you want to promote weight loss products, your niche would be weight loss. This means you can write about diet tips and products to help people lose weight.
In my case, since I blog about making money, my targeted group is people who want to earn money. I write about topics such as blogging, lead generation, traffic generation, and online earning methods.
However, if you run a blog on a micro-niche, which is a very specific topic, you’ll need to brainstorm what your niche or topic will be.
For example, if you want to target people who are interested in buying SaaS products with lifetime deals, your micro-niche could be SaaS lifetime deals. Then, you can write about all the latest SaaS lifetime deals.
Hope this helps!
How do I choose a domain name for the niche?
Choosing a domain name for your niche is an essential step in building your blog’s identity.
In the make-money niche, it’s better to use your personal name. I chose to use my nickname with the word “Blogger” to create my domain name, which helped me build my personal brand.
For a micro-niche, I aim to choose a domain name that is relevant and meaningful to the niche.
For instance, if I create a blog about WordPress themes and plugins, I might choose a name like WP Costume.
If I were to start a blog focused on SaaS lifetime deals, a domain name like Offer GiG could be an excellent fit.
You can use this Domain Name Generator tool to help you find the perfect name for your blog. Just enter your seed keyword (e.g., baby diaper) and hit the “Generate” button. This tool will suggest domain names that are relevant to your keyword.
Recommended post: Domain Buying Guide
How do I build my niche blog?
Like most bloggers, I also use WordPress.
After selecting the name, I buy a domain-hosting package from a reputed company like Bluehost, Namecheap, or Hostinger.
Recommeded post: Hosting Buying Guide
I keep my blog design simple and clean. I personally use the OceanWP theme. It’s free.
However, if you prefer a premium theme, you can choose from options available on ThemeForest.
I always use a child theme of my core theme. And do all kinds of customization there. As a result, all my customizations remain the same even if the core theme gets an update.
I prefer to use fewer plugins. More plugins mean longer loading times and more security issues. They can even break the site with the next update.
I use the free Cloudflare plan, which helps increase my blog’s security and performance. Additionally, I use RabbitLoader as my CDN.
Recommended post: WordPress Installation Guide
How do I generate blog post ideas?
Undoubtedly, generating blog posts idea is a huge pain.
I use Topic Mojo to generate ideas by entering my seed keyword. Its Topic Model engine collects data from over 50 sources including Google, Quora, and Reddit.
For instance, if I created a micro-niche blog about “Baby Diaper,” I would search for it on Topic Mojo, which would provide results from different sources that people search for. Then I pick some lucrative results and note them down in Google Sheets for further research.
You can also use sources like Google, Quora, Reddit, and other blogs related to your niche to get ideas. It’s always good to follow other blogs in your niche to stay updated on current topics.
How do I research keywords?
I do basic keyword research to get an idea of my topic. And I do not use too many tools to avoid getting overwhelmed.
For keyword research, I use Ranktracker and LongTailPro (I have their lifetime deal).
I always try to choose lower KD (keyword difficulty) from the results. As lower, better.
I also check competitors’ strengths for a certain keyword from the tool’s SERP checker. All stronger competitors mean almost no chance to rank.
Let me give an example.
Suppose, I got the “Best Diaper For Under 6-Month Baby” topic idea from Topic Mojo for the “Baby Diaper” niche.
Now I will check how much search volume (SV) this keyword has per month, and what is its competition level.
Besides, I will check the domain authority (DA), page authority (PA), backlink, etc. of the websites which are on the first page of Google search for this keyword.
After checking all the data, if I think its competition is high, then I will avoid it. Otherwise, I’ll keep it on my list.
And I’ll do the same research for every topic that I got from Topic Mojo.
I’ll go ahead if I get enough lower competitive topics (at least 20) to write content for this niche. Otherwise, I’ll try another niche.
You may use Ubersuggest for doing keyword research. It has a free plan.
And if you ask me the best keyword research tool – it’s Semrush (Try it for free now).
Read: Semrush Review
Note: I try to choose the keyword that has SV (at least 100), KD (under 30), DA (under 30), and PA (under 30).
How do I create post outlines?
It depends on the post type. I do brainstorming and follow competitors’ posts to generate ideas.
If I write an informative article (like How to choose a good domain name), then I try to cover all related information on this topic, section by section.
For example, for “How to choose a good domain name for your business” I can cover:
- Introduction
- What is a domain?
- Different types of domain
- The steps that we should follow to choose a name
- The things that we should avoid to choose a name
- Conclusion
If I write a review article (like Semrush Review), then my outline could be:
- Introduction
- What is it? (the name of the product/service, like Semrush, or Bluehost)
- Who is it for? (use cases, and who should use it)
- Core features of this product/service
- Pricing and plans
- Pros and Cons
- Final verdict
How do I write content?
I’m not a content writer. I usually hire writers from freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and HireWriters.
I also use ClosersCopy to write content like blog posts, emails, ad copies, and social media copies myself. It’s an AI writing assistant.
For graphics design, I use Canva. It’s a freemium cloud-based drag-and-drop tool. I use it to create my post’s thumbnails and social media content.
Then I convert my thumbnails to WebP format using this Image Converter tool. This tool compresses the image as well. And then I use them in my posts.
How do I generate traffic?
I do not do off-page SEO as I’m alone.
After publishing posts, I use Radaar to share them on my different social media channels. It’s simple, just a few clicks.
My traffic comes from organic searches and social shares.
Sometimes, I also do PPC campaigns on different platforms like Google. In this case, Scalify saves my time.
For on-page SEO, I use SeoZian to get an overall idea.
How do I generate revenue?
Affiliate commission is my main income source.
I promote some products and services related to the blog topic that can bring value to others.
For doing affiliate, I use some affiliate marketplaces like Impact Radius, Share-A-Sale, JVZoo as well as individual companies like Bluehost, Namecheap, and Semrush.
I use AdSense also.
Besides, I sell some of my services through the homepage.