5 questions answered from a budding blogger

In this blog post, we worked with a start-up blogger who was about to start his blog. And still had some questions about getting started, how it works and where exactly to start. In this article we answer these questions and you can see how this works.

Suppose you already have a hobby that you put passion into, or you have an interest that you want to share your opinion about. Or you simply want to supplement your businesses website with fun information for customers. A blog is the answer to these questions. With a blog you can not only share interesting information, but also ensure that your project or hobby is funded. Let's cover the initial steps in this article.

What is used to create a website?

A website can be created in many different ways, however, for a blog there are ready-made solutions already available. This is called a CMS or Content Management System. Again, these Content Management Systems are available in a number of different ways. But the most widely used is the WordPress CMS. Which you may have heard about before. WordPress is used by the greengrocer on the corner, for enterprise solutions, and even for a large number of web shops.

Other Content Management Systems include Umbraco which is more focused on businesses, Joomla and Drupal. The choice here is always dependent on the preference of working method and preference of technique. Are you just a starter? Then a WordPress website is often the choice to go for. There is always the possibility to discuss your wishes further with an employee on the online chat. If you want to know more.

What is the maintenance of a website like?

With any website you have to deal with maintenance, updates to the Content Management System must be maintained. Updates of plugins, the website needs to be provided with content, and some comments and messages need to be maintained. For this it is necessary to at least once a month to sit down and update everything. You also need to have a backup set up for your website and database, so that if something goes wrong you can fix it. This is not difficult but does require some attention and homework. In our knowledge base you can read all about this and make sure you take the right steps with, for example, an update of WordPress. So read up and make sure you also keep up with changes in practices and more.

How to track visitors on your blog, and how to get more of them.

Visitor tracking on your blog is done with a statistics program, again you have many choices. Most users go for Google Analytics. Since there is a lot of information online for this, and it is seen as the standard for any statistics program. Google Analytics is easy to install with an update to the header of your page. Or with a plugin.

To get more visitors to your website you will have to roll up your sleeves. This does not happen by itself. There is no 1 way to do this. This is a combination of promoting your blog on social media channels, knowing how to conquer organic traffic on search engines like Google. And trying to score backlinks on other websites. You can also choose to advertise your blog. However, for starting bloggers this is often too ambitious. This will require a significant monthly investment.

How can you make money with a blog?

Everyone wants to get rich overnight from a website that you created in a few months. However, this is not the reality. A blog, like any website, will require a lot of work to make it a success. From writing content to promoting your website. Getting sleepy rich or passive income is not. However, with a blog you can make money in a number of ways. This can be with ads on your blog, where you earn a few dollars per 1000 visitors generally. Ad networks also exist outside of Google AdSense. And you can sign up for these when you are over a certain limit of website traffic.

There are also affiliate links on your blog, when an action or purchase is made on websites like Bol.com or Coolblue you can earn a percentage in return. These are the two ways in which money is generally made with a blog. Of course there are other ways available. However, this is too deep for an introduction article.

What do you write about with your blog?

A blog needs content in any case, without content you have almost no chance of success. So take the time for each article and try to come up with interesting topics. For example, questions that you yourself have come across with your hobby. And for this, try to imagine yourself on the starters that come into the hobby. For each passion, hobby or work there is a target group that would love to read about it, think of the foresters and their favorite chainsaw, the eternal Stihl vs Husky discussion. Plumbers weighing the choice between PEC and copper. Where to fish best around the IJsselmeer and so on. Find the right audience, make sure your content is fun and interesting to read and try to drive traffic to your website from multiple angles. Then you'll get the most out of your new bloghosting!