Disclosure: I am an affiliate of the companies, products, and services covered in this site to help my audiences reach their goals. If you purchase through my link, I get paid for the referral at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info. I sincerely thank you for your support.
The basics of blogging – how they work, what they are, and how they can help you
What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work?
How Do Beginner Blogs Make Money? How Do Bloggers Get Paid? If you want to find the answer to these questions and want to create your own blog, then you’ve come to the right place.
Hi, here is Rose again! Today I would like to share with you What a blog is and go to explain everything about blogging that a beginner should know about.
Back in 2016, I honestly had no ideas about what is a blog, what is a blogging platform, what is the difference between a blog and a website, and even didn’t know what bloggers do.
All the terms about blogging were completely new to me and actually kind of confusing.
Actually, I didn’t know What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work when i started…
I decided to start my first blog even i am a total newbie and tech noob. It is because I saw other people were making money online through blogging, and run it as a long-term business in their life.
Over the years, I made a lot of mistakes in my blogging journey, but at the same time, I learned a lot!! And now, I have built two four-figure blogs and make over $5000 a month blogging!
It’s so funny to look back at how far I’ve come. I would say blogging has completely changed my life now and I really LOVE to blog. And one of the big reasons I started this blog is want to share with all of you how great blogging is.
However, although blogging has now been around for more than a decade, I still have many people around me who don’t know what is a blog and how to start blogging or even didn’t believe that someone can make a living through blogging.
So, today, I’m trying to help new bloggers like you by answering the most common question about What exactly is a blog and how does the blog work, and so on.
What Exactly Is A Blog?
There are numerous options available if one wants a medium to express themselves on the web. Therefore, one of these media is Blogs.
So, What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work?
According to dictionary.com, a BLOG means:
“A website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.“
Still a bit confusing what is a blog? Yes, i understand what you feel.
So, here is another explanation in a simple way: A blog is a regularly updated website that has conversational articles.
In other words, Blogs are similar to an online journal or a diary of sorts.
Blogs are one of the most popular ways in which bloggers post regarding their everyday experiences to make mates, families, and other people a part of life.
- They are used by writers or journalists or even ordinary people.
- They connect people to others who have interests in their views or products.
Therefore, they are usually used as promotional platforms or to spread political views, or to provide another form of entertainment.
So, What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work?
“Blogging is a modern means of communication that long tail of internet gifted us.” – Tom Foremski (Former Financial Times journalist)
Actually, the word “BLOG” is a shortened form of its original name in the computer terms – “weblog.”
These kinds of weblog allowed users to “log” the details of their day-to-day diary-style entries. Nowadays, we call this kind of log action Blogging.
i.e. Blogging is a process in which to log into a website on a regular basis and publishing your own unique content on it.
Blogging is the new trend of this new world, and everyone is trying to take a deep dive into this ocean.
There is no doubt; blogging is an excellent opportunity to speak with the audience and talk about your interests and experience.
It won’t be wrong to say that blogging is the written form of a podcast.
Furthermore, you can determine the tone of these articles on your according to the audience’s interest.
What is a Blogging Platform?
A blogging platform is a website or an application which contains blog posts.
Those posts are put out by the authors and where readers can come and read the blogs they want to read.
Learn more: 7 Best Free Blogging Platform For Beginners?
Blogging platforms provide easy navigation through posts and ease of access to users which would make it more convenient for them.
Most bloggers prefer to use the platforms because of all the benefits they get, and it’s more sensible for professionals to go to a blogging platform too, than to make their independent websites because it costs less, unless you are very famous and can afford such luxuries.
What is Blog Hosting?
A blog host is an organization that offers space on its server and computers.
Whereas, This helps anyone to read the blog online too. A web host provider usually pays a flat for hosting the web on its website.
Self-Hosted Blog
Having a self-hosted blog platform requires the payment of money as you would have the whole control of it and it would be your brand. Therefore, you can choose to customize it as you like using custom themes and other such options. i.e. Your blog will look much more professional.
Free-Hosted Blog
It is a lot easier to use a free hosted platform as it requires you to only sign up and can also register on the platform. Whereas, your account can be a free one and you would get a subdomain through the platform.
What Is The Purpose Of Blog?
Mainly there are the following purposes to start the blog:
- Some people start to share their inner ideas and thoughts with the outer world.
- But some want to start the blog to attract people and earn money by generating traffic.
- It is a new and mainstream mode of sharing information.
- With the help of blogging, companies keep their clients intact and up to date.
Relate posts: Why Should I Start A Blog? 9 Reasons You Should Start Now!
How Many Blogs On the Web?
If we look at the record, then there are more than 570 million blogs on the web. Thus, the number of bloggers in the USA is reaching up to 31.7 million.
So, this data is projecting the trend of 2021, and we can assess the importance of this trend.
However, starting a blog is fantastic.
But…sometimes it involves specific implications that need attention. So, you can eliminate those concerns by taking an expert’s guide or reading an informative piece to create your own blog.
How Does Blogging work?
What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work?
Different from a typical website, bloggers as well as writers are the authors of the blog posts and will add content and create posts regularly. They write the content and the readers access it through the blogging platforms, just like this one.
Whereas, the communication between the bloggers and the readers becomes essential in improving the content that is being put out on the internet.
The readers can interact with the bloggers through comments and review sections and give their views on the blog posts.
What Makes A Good Blog?
One of the common questions that new bloggers asked is, “What makes a good blog ?”
Here is the key to a good blog – Content is the King.
A good blog might not be a big blog, but it should be a blog full of high-quality content that helps your reader.
Some bloggers make TONS of money from their small blog because they publish high-quality blog posts regularly, and make deep connections with their readers.
Once you build your blog with high-quality content that has solved the problem of your reader, they will build trust with you and truly connect with you.
Here are some points on how to write quality content:
- Be creative
- Make your blog easy to read and understand
- Say something interesting, useful, and unique
- Write without grammar mistakes
- Post continuously
How Do Beginner Blogs Make Money?
Do Bloggers Get Paid?
After discuss What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work, I know that you would like to know how to make money blogging for beginners?
There are various ways to make money through a blog. Here are the most common ways that bloggers get paid:
#Advertisement
The most common and easiest way to earn from blogging is through advertisements. The payment is based on the number of viewers on the website. There are various platforms, advertising networks, where you could get the ads from and put them on your blogs and earn money. Google AdSense is one of the biggest advertisement programs.
#Affiliate Marketing
Another way is through affiliate marketing. To make it simple, you sell other people’s products in your blog. To make it works, you include affiliate links on your blog and if a reader buys a product from there, you get a commission.
The most famous affiliate program is Amazon Affiliate and ClickBank.
#Sell Your Digital Product
It is another fantastic to make money blogging. Digital products are like e-books, music, photo, online course training material, etc. You can promote your product via your blog post and sell it to your audience.
#Sell your service
It is another way to get paid by blogging. Bloggers promote their skills in their own blog, and then offer freelance services like web development, content writing, and graphic designing, etc.
#Sponsor Post
In this way of blogging monetization, one company pays the bloggers to promote the product by writing something about it in their blog. Writing a sponsored post is a very common way to earn money among those bloggers who blog for sports, lifestyle, beauty, health topics.
Read More: How To Make Money Blogging For Beginners – Start A Profitable Blog In 2021
Who Is The Highest Paid Blogger?
One of the highest-paid bloggers is Arianna Huffington, founder of HuffPost, which earns around 500 million dollars a year.
Huffington built her blogging business up from a current affairs commentary blog in 2005 and develop it into a full-blown media empire after six years. Huffington Post was then acquired by AOL for $315 million.
The numbers sound crazy, right?
Blogging could be a great way to earn a big money. One just needs to learn the art of the trade, and of course, hardworking!
What Type Of Blogs Make The Most Money?
Now, you might be wondering what are the most profitable blog niches in the market that make money online. Here are the most popular blog topics:
9 Popular Blog Niches That Make Money
- Travel
- Health and Fitness
- Recipes and Food
- Lifestyle
- Fashion and Beauty
- Investment and Personal Finance
- Parenting
- DIY
- Pet
related reading: Types of blogs that money
Which Topic Should I Start Blogging?
Well…..It depends on your goal and personality.
Hobby Blog
If you would like to start your blog mainly for enjoyment, then just go with your heart and write what you’re passionate about.
Make Money Blog
If you want to earn money via blogging, choose the blog niche is the most critical step to start your blog.
What are you interested in + What are others interested in = Your Perfect Blog Niche
What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work – 5 Steps to find out what to blog
Let’s Find Blog Niches That Make Money by following these 5 steps:
- Step 1-List out what you passionate about
- Step 2- Check if any market value in your passionated niche
- Step 3- Identify the problem of the audience from your niche
- Step 4: Find products or services that your audience will be interested in
- Step 5: Look for a niche with low competition
After picking up your niche and know what you would like to blog about, then you are good to get started blogging!
How To Start A Blog As Beginner?
Ok! You know What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging works, and also the ways to make money blogging. It’s time to learn how to start a blog.
Starting a blog is not a difficult task. It is rather very easy. Below are the 8 Key Steps To Start A Blog:
What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work – 8 Steps To Start A Blog:
STEP 1: Discover Your Niche:
List the topic that you are interested in, and prepare a word document to drop out the market value of each of your interesting topics. By doing this, you will clear your mind and give a better answer about which niche you should get started.
STEP 2: Pick The Best Blogging Platform
There are various free blogging platforms you can choose from. Study their accessibility and ease of access and then determine which platform you want to create a blog on. It would be better to pick a free platform that is easy to learn on and which could offer many different choices with the communities and plugins on the site.
If you are a beginner, it would be better to go on a free platform to reduce the cost of risk. Wealthy Affiliate is one of the biggest blogging platforms in the world, they offer a FREE starter membership for beginners to get started. No credit card information needs.
STEP 3: Find a Perfect Domain Name
Naming the blog is one of the important, as well as fun parts. Here are some points to consider when deciding the domain name;
- Keep it short
- Choose a .com, .org, or .net
- Easy to spell and pronounce
- Avoid numbers and hyphens
- Use your name
- Use the blog name generator
STEP 4: Install WordPress
What is WordPress used for? It is a web publishing software that helps you to create a blog. It just may be the most flexible and easiest blogging content management system (CMS) for beginners.
As a beginner, i will suggest registering for the Wealthy Affiliate Free Starter Account to start WordPress. Why? It is because WordPress is a one-click installation at Wealthy Affiliate’s blogging platform with WordPress Training course. So you don’t need to worry about how to use it.
STEP 5: Select the WordPress theme
After that, you need to choose the theme of your blog and make it attractive to your visitor. In Wealthy Affiliate, there are over 3000 WordPress themes available for free to make your blog looks beautiful and amazing. No Design Skills Needed.
If your blog is for marketing purposes, make sure it is very presentable and appealing as it would be the most important thing if you want to attract more customers or users to it.
STEP 6: Install Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool from Google that helps you to see the people/traffic that is visiting your blog, and give you a detailed analytic report about the behaviors of your readers. Base on the numbers, you will know more about your audience.
STEP 7: Set Your Tempo For Blogging/Posting
Build a good blog is like a marathon that demands lots of hard work. So, you need to set a consistent pace for your blogging journey. In ideal, it’s better to write at least one blog post every week which is around 2000 words.
STEP 8: Build The Audience For Your Blog
if you want to start blogging, just keep in mind that you need to keep your readers engaged and present a very satisfactory read to them. It is the main factor that helps to grow your blog. In addition, there are many ways to build your audience, below are the easiest way to do so:
- Share your blog with your family, and friends
- Link your blog into your social media profiles.
- Share your blog posts on your social media account like Facebook, Twitter
- Become part of a blog community
What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work – Ready To Get Started?
Blogging is definitely one of the excellent sources of making money online. However, blogging is not a “become-rick-quick” game. In fact, it takes a lot of hard work and real knowledge.
But the good news is that there have many successful bloggers around us that will keep you motivated.
Ready to start yours now?
If you’re ready to get rolling and want to start your own blog for FREE, remember to check out my other post – How To Create A Blog For Free And Make Money (a step-by-step beginner’s guide with a detailed action plan).
What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work?
P.S. Kindly let me know did this post on What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work? help you? Are you interested to start your first blog? I would love to hear your voice in the comments section below!
What Is A Blog and How Does Blogging Work – Latest Posts Here:
- How to Create a Blog for Free and Make Money
- 7 Best Free Blogging Platform For Beginners? Best Picks For 2021
- How To Find Blog Niches That Make Money
- Why Should I Start A Blog? 9 Reasons You Should Start Now!
- How to Create a Blog for Free and Make Money
- How To Make Money Blogging For Beginners – Start A Profitable Blog In 2021
- How To Earn Money Online Without Investment(Free and Low Cost)
- Social Media Marketing For Beginners – 12 Best Tips To Use Social Media Marketing To Boost Blog Traffic
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of the companies, products, and services covered in this site to help my audiences reach their goals. If you purchase through my link, I get paid for the referral at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info. I sincerely thank you for your support.
There’s some really great information here on blogging! Its certainly given me more ideas, especially as to how I can get paid! I hadn’t thought about doing a sponsored post for anybody.
I have found that since finding my passion which is just something I could talk about all day, really helps with the blog itself and creating some amazing and unique content. We can all tell stories and can all be successful bloggers.
Hi Michael, thanks for sharing. And finding a niche that you’re passionate about is very important, otherwise, you will get bored and quit soon.
This is the most profound stop shop for all you need to know about blogging out there for free. I’m trailed to find such an amazing article to help me and guide me enhance my blogging business experience to reach my goal. This is great for any level blogger whether a beginner or advanced blogger. Thank you so much for sharing.
thank you:)
A lovely posts thats content is incredibly relevant and keep things brief and easy to read. I have struggled a while to understand what to write and about what and where would I even start. This post gave me some grounding and it even mentions a little about affiliate marketing which is the industry i’d like to get in to.
My question is, is it worth paying for a website if you just want to blog about your life and keep it personal?
Hi Taine, In the longterm, i will say it’s still worth paying for your own domain even you just want to blog about your life and keep it personal because you can have full control of your blog.
But as a beginner, i highly recommend you to join the Wealthy Affiliate’s FREE starter account first, it offers you to start without cost with a free domain from sitebrubix. And once you find that you want to continue as a blogger (no matter full-time or part-time), then it’s time to pay for a website and moving your free domain to your custom domain.
Hi Rose Tin
What a beautiful blog, I’m glad I found your bog today so be sure I’ll be following you. Thanks so much for sharing a good article to read to know more about what is a blog and how anyone can start making money working from home, writing a blog. I whish I had found you before, but it’s never too late to learn from a successful blogger, I started blogging a few years ago and I failed with a couple of blogs, today as I keep blogging on a new blog. This blog is doing better, but I still need some help, so I will be reading your website and I’m sure I will learn from you!
Hi Alejandra, never give up and keep moving forward and you will succeed! Hope my article can help you in some ways, thanks.
This is a very nice summary of what’s a blog and everything related to it. I’ve been blogging for a few years and I can confirm one can have a blogging website about anything and everything. One of my websites is about English learning, it’s in my native tongue. Another website is about health and beauty because I’m a nutrition freak 🙂 Blogging is a great way how to share ideas and experience and if you add a few affiliate links in your articles, it can provide decent extra money which can later become your main source of income.
I think blogging is a great opportunity for everyone who can write and enjoys writing at least a little bit. Nowadays when everything goes online more and more, people look for product reviews and for information on how to do things on google and on YouTube and all the blogs can profit from that.
Hi Lenka, thanks so much for your sharing! and yes, blogging is for sure a great opportunity for everyone, hope we can see more bloggers and getting success in the future.
I love how you described blogging as an online journaling type of process. It’s really Inspiring to see people like you give out there best advice and testimony on how they started and it’s been going so far. I started my journey on September 2019 and I still have a lot to learn and a lot to understand. Luckily, I’ve had a good fair share of visitors due to my niche which was helped me a lot during this journey. Thanks to people like you, some of us are still hanging on to seeing our businesses grow.
Blogging is one of the most lucrative online business anyone can go into a dm it’s been helping a lot of people make a lot of money overtime,. I’ve been into it for a while now and it is easy to get through if you have the understanding that is needed to let you know all you need
Bi Bolt, thank you for your sharing
Hi Rose! Thank you for this thorough article. I really like the way you break it down and list every single detail that goes into running a blog. I started out blogging for personal use and I would do favorites, DIY, skincare tips and it was basically just a lifestyle blog. Now that I’ve focused more narrowly on my niche I’ve found it’s much easier to maintain and, of course, making a career out of it is another bonus!
Hi Haley, it lovely to hear that you’ve found it much easier when you narrow down on your niche! i believed you have found the right audience for your blog! Good luck!