What do bloggers want

For me, blogging was an effective way for me to break out of my shell. As an anxious introvert, I found it hard to put myself out there and allow my thoughts and ideas to be heard. Blogging gave me a platform to shout from — a way to confront my fear of being noticed. And in doing so I realised there are people out there just like me. There are many other ways to use blogging to confront your fears.

It can be used to overcome impostor syndrome and feelings of not being good enough. In fact, many people use blogging as a way to aid in their struggles with mental health. Sometimes, it can just be a place to collect your thoughts.

Yes, it is perfectly possible to earn a living through your blog , lots of people are doing it. Those people you see making a success and a living as bloggers have been honing their craft for years. Choosing a profitable niche for your blog is a good place to start.

Some are easier to earn money from than others. But, selling your services via your blog requires you to build an audience targeting the people most likely to hire you. For each blogging niche, there is a lively community to go with it. It will be easier to make friends since you share common interests. A blog was where you would write about the happenings of your every-day life. I think I may even have an old LiveJournal dedicated to just that, hidden away somewhere.

Blogging to document your life, is a wonderful way to reflect. Past joys and past mistakes, can all be learned from to some extent. Out of the box, both WordPress and Squarespace are search engine friendly. A plugin we recommend for every blogger is Yoast SEO. This free WordPress plugin allows deep customization of your on-page SEO, but, more impressive, it provides automated content analysis.

This helps guide you to improve and optimize your content for better readability and improved reach in search engines. Following proper SEO practices can be a differentiating factor in reaching new people.

WordPress is extremely robust and customizable. But what happens as your new blog grows? Since WordPress provides you with complete ownership of the platform, it also provides a designer with the freedom to build and create your blog design without restriction.

Nothing is off limits. How do I become a blogger? The answer is in the question: the only way to become a blogger is to start a blog. The barrier to entry is gone, so start blogging if you want to become a blogger. It really is that simple. While the lines have blurred over the years, the simplest way to put it is that a blog is a type of website, one that catalogues, over time, the personal or professional thoughts and beliefs of a person or organization. As your thoughts, beliefs, and ideas change, so will your blog.

As a matter of fact, our blog has grown every year since and now boasts more than 3. Millions of people read our blog every year-and our audience continues to grow because, thanks to our blog, new people find our work every day. Blogs are popular all over the world, and they are the simplest way to publish content without middlemen or gatekeepers. Blogging is the opposite of a waste of time. Our blog is simultaneously our practice space-where we share new ideas and writings with the world-as well as an announcement board that keeps our audience abreast of any new developments in the world of minimalism.

Yes, starting a blog is arguably more important than ever. Whether you want to publish your writing, build an audience, open a business, or start a podcast , your blog is the home for your creative projects. If they fall out of relevance, then so do you remember MySpace. Because you own your blog, it stays with you no matter where the culture sways.

The best time to start a blog was a decade ago. The second best time is now. If you have an idea you want to share, get started! While new forms of media continue to enter the picture-podcasts, newsletters, social media-nothing replaces having a home for your creative work.

The Minimalists have a podcast, an email newsletter, and several social media accounts, but none of them could ever supplant our blog. Instead, we use our blog to point to these additional resources. If so, write about that! A blog is used for two things: to express and to communicate. A good blog is able to marry communicative writing and expressive writing to create blog posts that are informative and entertaining. When considering how you want to use your blog to communicate and express yourself, ask these questions:.

The good news is that starting a blog is free with WordPress. All you need to pay for is hosting, as outlined in the step-by-step instructions above. When talking to my writing students, I recommend writing every day and publishing a blog post at least once a week.

We usually publish two blog posts per week on this blog. Seth Godin blogs every single day. Whatever you decide, we recommend you stay consistent. Avoid grandiosity. Avoid throat clearing. Instead, find one thing that interests you today and write about that. For reference, you can read the first blog post on this blog, circa Be on the Mountain. Tweet to theminimalists with your question and a link to this essay. Ask Your Question.

The Minimalists. Download our free ebook: 16 Rules for Living with Less. Start your blog by adding WordPress. Pick a simple theme to make your blog your own. Add two key blogging plugins to find your readers and track stats. Write compelling content to create a blog that your readers love. Do you want to start a blog fast? This is a long essay and you may want to start your blog without learning all the details.

This is the first how to quickly start a blog guidepost. To start a blog fast simply: Look for these boxes. Follow the brief steps. Click the link to jump to the next box. Because The Minimalists are a Bluehost affiliate partner i.

Blogging Quick Start — Step 1 In this first step you will choose your blog name domain name and buy your blog hosting. Some of the best blogger campaigns are not ones that are just one post, or one tweet, or one month of banner advertising. Instead of just looking for a quick fix, think about working on an ongoing relationship. Maybe you do a banner advert for a few months, then a sponsored post or giveaway.

A few weeks later you could throw in some social media love and then wrap it all up with a post about how the collaboration worked out. Come up with a new idea and pitch it beautifully. Ditch the generic press release and be personable but professional. A spray and pray email or an unoriginal styled shoot idea is never going to cut it and, ultimately, always keep it real!

Great post Kat and very sound advice for anyone who wants to collaborate with a wedding blog. Fantastic post!

Really great post, especially as someone who has only recently launched a new blog and is hoping it may turn into something people will want to be featured on. May be a long way off but this is really useful advice as I certainly would want to absolutely love and feel loved by whoever I featured on my blog.

Great post, but I just wanted to comment on how beautiful the accompanying photos are too! Hi Kat Loving the advice especially when it comes to new bloggers like myself that are just getting started. But you hit the nail on the head and you have to start somewhere right. Love this post! I will heed your advice and be in touch. Great post and came just at the right time. Thanks Kat. Thank youuuuuu! Finding it all a bit overwhelming, with all the social media etc and getting to grips with blogging but loving all the collaboration!

This is when the creativity really starts flowing. Fantastic Post! What a helpful post! I am a newbie in the blogging world so I really appreciate any tips and tricks i find! This was a great read Kat, thanks. Great post! I have to admit that I cringe just a smidgen because I have made a few of those mistakes I am sure.

I especially love 6. I have just read your post with much interest as a relatively new business this is golden advice thank you! This page has been added to Favourites. I get the same with new planners wanting to work with me.

Oh and frequently they live miles away from me as all! If you want to start a blog for fun or to use it as an online diary, then you really only need to do one thing:. But, if you want to make money from your blog and turn it into a part-time or full-time career, there are other tasks you need to do. Some of these tasks include:. Plus, there are various administrative tasks like monitoring your website analytics, keeping your site updated, responding to comments, and much more.

For example, if you have a food blog , and write blog posts about your favorite recipes, your readers will find value in that free content. Then, in the future, those readers will be more likely to buy your cookbook. What you write about on your blog is up to you. Once you decide what you want to write about, you need to start publishing blog posts on a regular basis.

To figure out how often you should be publishing new content, check out our guide on blogging frequency. Many bloggers are self-taught and they learn how to write as they go. If you want to speed up the learning process, you can read our guide on how to write a good blog post. Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways bloggers make money. It involves recommending products to readers within your content. Every time a reader uses your affiliate link to buy the product you recommended, you earn a commission for the sale.

He wrote an article about the 5 best travel insurance companies:. He has an affiliate link for each travel insurance company he recommends in the post.

Whenever anyone clicks on a link and purchases travel insurance, he makes some money. Plus, you can write one good product review, and that article can earn you money over and over again. They should also be relevant to your audience.

Things like luggage, travel insurance, and hotels would be more relevant to your readers. To get started with affiliate marketing, you can join an affiliate marketing network like ShareASale :. Want to learn more about affiliate marketing? Read our guide on how to start affiliate marketing. Email marketing goes hand-in-hand with blogging. With email marketing, you can develop a more personal relationship with your readers through regular, direct communication. This will help you drive more traffic to your blog and even generate sales.

At Blog Tyrant, we have a complete guide on how to do email marketing. You can also follow along with this tutorial to learn how to create an email newsletter. OptinMonster is an amazing lead generation tool that makes it easy to turn website visitors into subscribers.