Have you thought of how to make money from woodworking in your own garage?
Imagine having a workshop in your garage or backyard for woodworking projects and making money out of that as a side hustle
Shaping and sanding your wood to finish your piece of furniture instead of buying it
You’ll save 80% of its money who knows maybe sell your woodworking for an extra income
Sounds interesting and eager to know how to make money from woodworking in your garage
Can you make money woodworking at home?
Yes making money woodworking in garage or any unused room at home is possible
Especially if you start with small scale with one or two woodworking projects
Start with one woodworking project and try to market it
You master these woodworking pieces so you can produce them in bulk
Later on you can take orders then produce your woodworking piece
How to make money from woodworking in your own garage
Is woodworking a good side job?
Woodworking is an easy to learn hobby
You need to learn how to hold firmly the tools and practice extreme cautions
Any mistake with saw can cause God forbids injury
The good news is that woodworking is a multi level projects where you can start right away with beginners projects
You can upgrade yourself as you go further with your projects trying new things
I recommend when you create any woodworking project to try to promote it
And create few pieces as the learning curve to create extra copies take less time than when creating the original woodworking piece
What tools should you buy to get started?
You can start buying few tools to get you ready and productive
Later on if it goes really well, you may need to upgrade the tools
Keep in mind you’re working as a one man show so the below are the best to start with
Circular saw – you need it if you are cutting wooden bars in straight lines
Cordless drill – definitely you need a portable easy to move around without the wire cable
Orbital jig saw – essential if you are cutting share like circular or oval into the wood
Random orbit sander – easy to smooth the wood instead of wasting time with sand papers
RIDGID wet/dry vacuum – I decided to add this one later as you need to clean after yourself
All the above components are less than $250 and you will be ready on the way of how to make money from woodworking in your garage or backyard
How much does it cost to start a woodworking at home?
As I said earlier with less than $200 you can buy all the above tools without RIDGID wet/dry vacuum
You can start doing many simple woodworking projects using the above tools
Before working on any woodworking project compare how much money you will invest in lumber for each project and how much you would sell it for
I recommend you choose the wooden project that costs you less lumber especially if the selling price is not that low
Where to buy your wood for your woodworking projects?
You need a wood that should be almost ready to use
If you buy wood from lumber store you will buy rough wood
You need to smooth its ends and use the orbit sander to smooth its surface
I know it would be good to use lumber as is if you are using it for rustic signs the one you place at the front door
But that’s not the case for most of the woodworking projects
In this case, you need to buy what is called S4S which stands for Surface 4 Sides
Which means the lumber is treated on all the 4 sides and ready for you to use it
There is also S2S – Surface 2Sides and S3S – Surface 3Sides
Most lumber stores like HomeDepot or Lowes have sections for S2S, S3S and S4S but they are expensive than lumber as it will save time for you
With how To make money with woodworking in your garage, you have to be smart and use the right type of surface sides wood
For example, if you are making rustic table you can use S3S as you don’t need to smooth underneath the table wooden board
How much do self employed woodworkers make?
It is very tough question as any self employed job relies on the owner’s reputation and how smart he/she is in managing the business
I can tell you those who work in woodworking companies earn an average between $39,000 and $72,000
First you start making money with your woodworking project in garage as a part time
Then if it is making you good money in a sense like 2 hours a day brings you half of what you make from your full time job
You would start to think about turning it to full time and switching your current job to part time to minimize the risk
What is hourly rate for woodworking?
According to FDMC’s pricing survey the average hourly rate in U.S. and Canada is between $35 and $85 per hour
Keep in mind woodworking projects vary in price according to wooden items being made and quality of finished materials
Which woodworking projects are easy to do in your garage right away?
Simple dinner table as you see the table below does not have any curves, grooves or wood carvings
Just a table board and four simple legs
Learn how to make money from woodworking
Shelf to hand on the wall enough to carry books or place antiques on
It doesn’t require lot of work
Keep in mind that you have to cut the horizontal bars from the two sides and the middle to inject the 3 vertical wooden bars
Outdoor bench that you can place in your backyard or at your door front
How to make money with woodworking by making easy benches
Indoor or outdoor chairs that doesn’t require any grooves or wood carvings
Simple two steps stair to store in your walk-in closet or washroom
Side table with few wood carvings but also you can make it with simple wooden bars
The above recommended tools cannot do the wood carvings
Garden plant basin that you can make from any lumber so materials are cheap
Shoe rack which looks like a bench with no back but with middle rack to store more shoes
Wooden ladder it can be used as a decorative item or to hand the towels in your washroom
Coat Rack keep it simple similar to the one you hand on your doors but surround it by 3 wooden sides one on top and two on both sides
Rustic candle holder this woodworking project won’t take any time and you can produce it in bulk items easily
Picture frames this is the easiest woodworking project you can start with
Wooden trays for coffee/tea or for decorations
How do you price your woodworking products?
It doesn’t make sense to assign a specific amount to your finished wooden product less than the item price in the marketplace, it doesn’t work like that
The right way is to calculate the following to come up with the right price
1- Materials
Materials are crucial factor and tricky for how to make money from woodworking project from your garage but why?
Well, you have to make sure to cut lumber into pieces that can save you money
Even if you cut a piece that you can use in another woodworking project
Same thing when buying your lumber where you can buy shorter wooden bars and get rid of their leftovers
This is better than buying longer wooden bars which are more expensive
2- Labor – how many hours on your side
When you start you can take 8 hours in one single woodworking project
Later on it can take you 5 hours but it will never go less than that
I meant you have to calculate optimum hours you put in any woodworking project
Next step is to charge an average rate for woodworking job not too low or high
3- Overhead costs
Come up with rent and utilities for your workshop
I know we are talking about how to make money from woodworking in your owngarage
But keep in mind you are using electricity and space in your home dedicated to your woodworking projects
I would say come up with the average workspace percentage your whole property
Then calculate your overhead costs by dividing your utility bills by the percentage of your workshop space and then by the percentage of the total hours to all the hours you can work part time during any given month
For example, if you use your garage which is 5% of your entire property space and you need 8 hours to complete your woodworking project
Assume you work 20 days in any given month with 2 hours each day
So you divide your bills let’s say $100 by 5% = $5 by 8 hours/20 days x 2 hours each day
This is equal $5 by 8/40 ~ $5 by 20% = $1
4- Advertisement
Ask yourself if you need to advertise on Facebook or any social media like Instagram
How can you market your woodworking business?
If you really want to make money advertising your woodworking project from your garage then you will have to follow all the methods below
Prepare the perfect shots for your woodworking project
Whatever your woodworking project is perfect and master piece
You have to prove it with the perfect shots
To take the perfect shot you need a good camera like Nikon D750
If you feel it is expensive you can look in the Nikon family for a cheaper one
What is more important is the background or staging environment
I mean like when you put your woodworking project on a table you don’t want a reflection or showing your room in the background
Create brochure or flyer with all your woodworking projects
I recommend to build a website for your business and add your woodworking projects there and expected time to send ship your items
But if you are not willing to do that then create brochure or flyer with all your woodworking projects
Start selling in antique stores
Look for stores that are not chain stores like Pier1
Negotiate with the owner to list your woodworking projects with what you intend to sell your items for and they can adjust their prices to make profit from your items
Sell your woodworking on Etsy
Etsy is a well equipped platform that helps you sell to your customers as most users who visit Esty stores are looking for candles, wood crafts and decorating items
This means you are in the perfect platform promoting the perfect niche
You can also create a Pinterest account and link your woodworking projects to your Etsy store
Sell in your neighborhood
What I meant by neighborhood is all the apps that can reach your neighbors in the city where you live in like Facebook Marketplace or an app called Nextdoor
Also you can try to open new market on eBay and Craiglist
Build social media accounts
Woodworking projects are a good fit on social media like Pinterest and Instagram
Focus on the above social media accounts but also you can establish your woodworking projects on Twitter and Facebook
Buy advertisement in woodworking or home design magazines
You have to test different magazines that have good number of readers
Keep in mind these magazines have to be highly relevant
Test sending direct mails in your neighborhood
Post mailing service can send flyers that can reach every mailbox in your area
Or you can choose a newly constructed area where the demand on your woodworking projects is high
Rent booth space in any trade shows
Apply the same concept to what I suggested to social media accounts
I mean choose relevant trade shows like home remodeling or antique shows
What handmade wood items sell best?
Below are not only best handmade wood items to make money from woodworking in your garage but also the simplest and most convenient woodworking products
Why? because you don’t need any talented skills to cut the wood in round or oval lines
Coat racks
Tea or coffee trays
Picture frames
Garden plant basin
Wall shelves
Is woodworking a dying trade?
Woodworking is not a dying trade at all
On the contrary, it is an original trade that will continue to develop as home owners started to add new product lines to the market
Think about IKEA and how they get their designers to create innovative woodworking products every season
Wondering how to create a successful blog and make sure you are on the right track
Even if you have started before building more than one blog And unfortunately you failed as you spent more than a year or two with barely 50 to 100 visitors maximum a week
I will ask you to forget the bad experience Leave it behind your back and start reading this ultimate guide on building a successful blog
How to create a successful blog
Forget your fears and frustrations
Now pay attention, I am going to show you how to make sure you are on the right blogging track
At least compare what I am telling you below to what you were doing
I will not sell you any course or refer you to any course to invest more money in
Everything here is completely free, it is up to you to believe what I am showing you below or play the reluctant role being scared to go to the same experience of building another blog where you are being afraid to get stuck again with no traffic and no visitors
I totally understand how you feel, may be you developed a hard shell around your head that no new bloggers are able to penetrate the blogging world
When sitting with your friends and they discuss the internet marketing money making schema, they relate it to con artists and gimmicks low standard people that sell a dream promising you of building successful blog
You cannot defend the fact that there are really bloggers making money not from making money niche
You stay speechless because they refer to you as an example of someone who spent gazillions time on his blogs where he should have invested that previous time into upgrading himself by taking new course in his career or study new field
Shortcuts on how to create a successful blog
This epic post is intended for audience who want to start their first successful blogs without moving through multiple sites to collect all they need to know
I cover every aspect related to how to create a successful blog Starting from thinking about starting a new blog Whether if it is your first blog or not
At least, I am doing my best here
You can help me by writing your comments below on what you think I did not cover
Definitely I will add it right away
If you don’t want to go through the entire guide You can click on each icon below and It will take you to the required step Continue reading till you see a link that brings you here again
Search for a nicheChoose your web hosting and domainInstalling WordPressWriting contentMonetizing your blogGenerating traffic
Introduction to Starting a Successful Blog for those who lost trust in blogging
When thinking about how to create a successful blog, Usually you don’t know from where to start There are tons of information over the Internet That you have to read and understand You try to apply what you learned
Then you feel like you are stuck as every blogger has his/her own opinion/training Ask 5 successful bloggers on how to create a successful blog You will get back 100 different answers Trust this guide and you will realize that everything makes sense here
What is the bad news about this ultimate guide
The bad news is, this guide will not take you by hands Force you to follow my every single step listed below To start a successful blog, you have to act on what is on this guide
That’s why if you have failed before on your existing attempts Then it happens that you come to this guide without any previous blogging experience, most probably you will not take it seriously
That’s because every blog on the Internet talking about how to create your successful blog especially if you are blogging for money
They all talk about the technical part Like how to install WordPress on your web hosting Yes I am blogging with WordPress or which plugins are highly recommended for you to use
As if the technical part is the only blogging challenge They do that because they earn affiliate commissions When you purchase your web hosting through their links
Me too, I will earn commission without any extra cost to you If you purchase the web hosting which I recommend through my affiliate link But it doesn’t mean that I will alluringly deceive you into believing that blogging for money is just a bunch of steps you put together and that’s it
Save your effort and look for something else to do I did not say save your money Because web hosting is around 5$ per month Blogging is the cheapest business investment Yes it is a business, if you think about it as a business
What is Successful Blogging
A Blog is an abbreviation of the term Weblog, it is a site with blog posts sorted in chronological order
Successful blogs should imply the follow focused objectives
Grab the visitors attention to click and land on your blog
Keep their attention and make sure they move from one blog post to another
Convince them to subscribe then purchase from or become a customer
Number 1 is all based on your titles because to grab attention you have to start with the title
Your visitors did not read your blog post yet, they are just reading you titles only
You can practice to write titles that bring Shock, Scarcity, Time Sensitivity, Exclusivity and Fear & Anxiety
Number 2 is the hardest one because you have to practice many things to learn how to keep their attentions
Please understand your audience what are their gains and pains
Just build imaginary person to talk too and target all your blog posts to him/her
You cannot be everybody to all different audience, just stick to specific person and this person represents a group of similar people whom you can target
Number 3 is all about doing 1 & 2 correctly, if you manage to do number 2 in a way that all blog posts connects seemingly and to cover all the stages of customers’ awareness starting from
Different levels of customers’ awareness
1. Most Aware
2. Product Aware
3. Solution Aware : customers are ready to join your mailing list
4. Problem Aware : throughout your blog posts about current problem and challenges facing your current audience
5. Unaware : throughout your blog that targets specific audience
Why do you need to blog
Question is why are you Blogging Most bloggers starting a new blog hoping to make money from it Not to deny the fact that few bloggers are blogging for fun Or they blog to extend their Networking and exposure
While many bloggers are trying to promote their business or brand For any motives from the above, keep in mind that Your blog promotes yourself You blog to solve problems
You blog to attract the kind of audience Who are looking for answers to their problems Who can evaluate your value provided to them
If you add your profile picture – you should to your blog Your audience will visually imagine you behind your blog
Ask for their feedback and comments Accept criticism as they act as your faithful mirror People comment when they say “WOW – This guy made a perfect post”
Check again with other bloggers on social media Facebook has tons of groups for bloggers helping each other Ask them for their opinion by reading every blog post
You have to state what is your Audience’s problem and Which Audience you are targeting (Beginners, Intermediate or Advanced)
Blogging can help you meet someone Who can impact your life or Whom you can really have an impact on his/her life All can happen just through your Blogging style (writing)
Can you create a successful blog for free
Yes you can if you are blogging for the above mentioned reasons like Blogging for fun, Networking and exposure …etc Then go ahead and create your blog on Medium.com, Blogger.com or Tumblr.com
Ask yourself this question Are you treating your blog as a business or hobby Don’t say I will start as a hobby and if it works for me I will turn it into a business
You cannot do that because when you are doing Blogging for free, you have limitations with monetizing your blog Because you don’t even own your blog If it gets shutdown, your effort is gone
Why bloggers choose to pay for hosting their blogs
Simply bloggers choose to pay for self hosting their blogs because
1) It is not expensive to pay for Web hosting It can be around 5$ a month, maybe less depending on where you are web hosting your blog
2) Full flexibility to choose your domain name You don’t have to pay for your domain as Most web hosting let you choose your domain name when you pay for their web hosting
3) Full control over your blog You can do whatever your like with your blog Nobody dares to shut down your blog
What are the outlines for starting a successful blog
You have to dissect your Blog building process into 4 phases Planning phase, Building phase, Content creation phase and Promotion phase
Under planning phase
You should develop what I call your new Blogging skills You are starting a successful blog to either get traffic or build an Audience
Building an Audience for beginners are really hard Because you have to focus all your effort on building Authority site You cover a specific focused niche and write everything about it Link all blog posts together to make your Audience bookmark your site
Can I do both directions together? Like getting traffic and building an Audience Short answer is yes but not at the same time
For beginners, You have to start a successful blog By getting the traffic that can generate full income for you Then by applying to Ad network like Mediavine or Adthrive To apply to Mediavine, they require at least 25,000 sessions per month
When you get your desired traffic Then you can start a successful blog By focusing on your Audience
You start by checking your Google Analytics Analyze the demographics of your blog then Build your blog posts to be an Authority site for specific Audience
For starting a successful blog focused on Audience Under planning phase you need to work on MINDSET, WHY, PROMISE, AUDIENCE and EMPIRE I will discuss below each one of these 5 Blogging skills shortly
Planning Phase Advice
Please if you are new to blogging, don’t start with building Authority site focused on your Audience because you will not be able to know and write about a topic more enough to make your website the one that visitors are hunger to bookmark it
Start your successful blog based on increasing your traffic then you can monetize your blog easilykeep it as a very honest advice I hope you trust it
Under Building phase
Very straight forward steps, you do it once with due diligence You master it, you don’t need to touch it again You choose your web hosting carefully, you don’t need to change it unless it is a bad choice, also for domain name, not recommended to change it as you will lose all your existing traffic Even if you did not have any existing traffic, no backlinks to your blog You will lose your Google’s indexing of your blog and start again with Google
Stop wasting time by reinstalling your WordPress or plugins There is no reason to do so as you can only change your WordPress theme or design If you need to test different theme or design – very little impact on your blog
N.B. If you are planning to switch to different WordPress theme Take a copy of all your Widgets code in notepad file or whatever You lose them when switching back to your old theme
Under Content creation phase
If you understand the plan phase properly I guarantee you a great success in this phase You will learn below the different types of blog posts I will show you how to create a great blog post
Under Promotion phase
If you have not missed anything from the building phase and you created great content to promote Promotion should not be tough you just need to know all about the different methods to reach your audience
Developing your Blogging skills
MINDSET
Yes it is a marathon not a race but I can make it online other successful bloggers don’t possess special talents but only determination and will MINDSET of yes I can learn new things down the road but that does not stop me from starting right now MINDSET of not falling into the Analysis Paralysis
You keep doing your investigation/research and not take any action Fearing of not being perfect so you defer “I will take action now” Now after MINDSET, comes the WHY
WHY
Always strengthens your MINDSET, I will explain it below Why are you starting a successful blog? for getting Traffic or for your Audience ?
If getting traffic then you have to think about each blog post separately Each blog post you write should be a master piece People wanted to read it, I will show you how below You write it in the best version possible
If for building your Audience Your Audience know that you want to make money online through them They will stick around if they feel that you are solving their problems Don’t entice them and offer a solution to their problems in a paid product
To simplify it with an example I created my WHY for this blog because I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to learn the tools that will empower their lives Although I covered all the technical steps for starting a successful blog in previous posts It was not enough and that’s why I started this post
PROMISE
The reason WHY strengthens your MINDSET Because every time you lose hope Ask yourself and look at your previous writings Have you really put your best effort to make each blog post the best version or to solve your Audience problems
After defining your WHY, proceed with the PROMISE Promise yourself that every post you write keeps up to your WHY
Now you have the MINDSET, WHY and PROMISE It is time to look for your
AUDIENCE
Looking for your AUDIENCE in some niches are easy Like “Weight Loss after pregnancy” or “Paying student loans for young people aged 25-34” If your niche is not targeting any demographics due to being followed by broad AUDIENCE You can find it later when you start analyzing your traffic Which is coming to your blog through Google Analytics
After AUDIENCE comes your EMPIRE The EMPIRE here is how to create a successful blog even if great source of traffic falls Your EMPIRE does not collapse
Finding your passion
I want you to start a successful blog You need a passion for something you love to talk about Let me call it a niche You don’t have to be an expert in your niche If this is your first time blogging I recommend not to pursue a niche that you are not interested in
At least you should have a passion that keeps you reading about it You read a lot from favorite blogs Where you can find missing content to write about For example, I love reading about making and saving money, budgeting, financing and blogging
Should you take your new niche to a new blog
If later on I find that DIY is a popular niche and has tons of traffic I can add it to my list of niches under the same blog or create a separate blog website for it
This decision should be yours I will not tell you If it is right or wrong to create a separate blog or expand on your existing blog
If you think that you can build a blog with hundreds of blog posts Covering only the DIY niche then you are moving into building an authority site If this is the case then definitely create a new blog site for DIY niche
Then you build a gigantic knowledge that you start teaching others about what you know This is when you start building courses or creating eBooks Before doing that you provide all you know to your audience Don’t keep secrets or hidden knowledge for your paid products
I know what you have been thinking What if your passion is about niche that does not make money Like Astronomy or breeding a spider then forget about it This is where the next step comes below
Researching within your niche
Well, do you like or enjoy reading about any of the following
How to make money Health and Fitness Personal finance Beauty and fashion Relationships and personal development Lifestyle like survival, gardening, Women’s lifestyle..etc.
If so then you have a winner, pick one from the above broad niches Dig more inside to find what sub-niches you still love to pursue For example, in the Health and Fitness, you can tackle “Weight Loss” or “Hair Loss” Weight Loss by itself is a still big niche, you can narrow it down to “Paleo Diet”
You can start with narrow niche like “Paleo Diet for Athletes” Then who knows you can scale it up to cover everything about “Paleo Diet” Start narrow then scale it but not the other way around
What if you have multiple interests on different niches How to choose between multiple niches for your blog Yes it happens to all of us We have multiple interests
There are tons of blogs covering multiple niches Stay at home moms write about Parenting, Blogging and Fashion That is totally fine to pursue multiple niches if you want
Why researching niche when starting successful blog is critical
Read this section below carefully In order for any blog to survive online It requires to get its traffic through search engines I will call it Google throughout this post Because Google is the master of all search engines Google is very slow when it comes to ranking your new blog
Pinterest is the next winning horse for traffic With Pinterest you can get traffic from day 1 I will use both Pinterest and Google to get all of my traffic Let me start with Pinterest and optimize my blog for the Google long term plan
I cannot use YouTube because majority of bloggers including myself We don’t have the right talent to create rich and enticing videos That can bring thousands of views per month By default it ends up that Pinterest and Google are the only sources of traffic
I know what you are thinking I forgot social media, No I did not Social media can be a good supplementary source of traffic But not the main one to rely on
Your blog will never be like Buzzfeed Where you create very attractive headlines You write about every things in all niches Sometimes fake news about celebrities that attracts readers like magnet
You have to consider in any niche you pursue that it is always Not seasonal and evergreen plus it gets tons of traffic
Validating your niche for the right amount of traffic
By using the common sense You realize that niche like weight loss is evergreen But I mentioned earlier that writing about Weight loss is not the right choice You have to be more specific
1- Validating you niche using Google trends
I would say this step is a must to do on Google trends Even if you decide to narrow down your weight loss Without using Google trends You act as someone shooting in the dark
For example, I searched for different types of diets without Keto I use United States and one year – Past 12 months with traffic type as web search Mediterranean diet is the winner
Wait, I added Keto diet and here is what I got
Keto diet outcomes all the other diets What about the 5 years long term plan
Wait again, Mediterranean and Paleo diets are steady for the last 5 years I would say it is really hard to predict how Keto will perform Start tackling both Keto and either Mediterranean or Paleo diet at the same time It will be tough to keep writing on Keto only
2- Validating you niche using Pinterest
You need traffic from day one You cannot wait for Google to love your blog After validating Google trends Validate that your niche has footprints on Pinterest
Not all niches are the same on Pinterest For example, blogging is the worst niche to drive traffic through Pinterest To prove this, when you go to Pinterest to create a new account Blogging is not even there at all
To validate that your niche drives good traffic You have to look for all pins and see how many repins Unfortunately Pinterest started to hide number of repins from desktop But it is still available on Pinterest mobile app and other chrome extensions I will discuss different chrome extensions later
The above pin got 71K This is a crazy number People are interested to read topic and repin it
Take it to the next level by following this tip Since this domain has one pin with 71K Copy this domain to Ubersuggest and search for all blog posts
Below you got all blog posts with total number of repins Now export your result to Google drive to keep them on Cloud You can check them from your mobile phone too
Keep exploring and expanding your list You will collect a list of blog posts to write about
3- Validating you niche using keyword research tool
While collecting your data from Pinterest You have a mission to write your blog post from the eye of Google too Google needs a long tail keywords to write your blog post about I tend to look for low competitive keywords By using a keyword research tool called Keysearch
I use keysearch to hunt for low competitive keywords with high volume My first task is to look for the main keywords around my Pinterest blog post It is easy to spot it from the title or if this blog post is not optimized for SEO Yes it can happen, then I suggest to use Google keyword planner
Export all keywords which you collected from Google keyword planner Copy them to Keysearch to search for all keywords volume and competition
Also you can come across a very low competitive keywords related to your niche Take a note of them by saving them to your Keysearch list
4- Validating you niche using Google
It can happen that Keysearch tool suggests few low competitive keywords Don’t trust the tool but go to Google and do your due diligence
5- Validating you niche using YouTube
This step will help you find what users are interested to watch Remember watching is not like reading People go to YouTube to watch product reviews
YouTube will give you a sense of similarity to Pinterest
For example the search above showing saving money on low income This is similar to Pinterest pins to save money or pay debts Even if you are on low income
6- Collecting all the related blog posts
If you remember earlier under how to create a successful blog
I mentioned the 5 stages of customers’ awareness where you have to write all blog posts to cover different types of awareness
Most bloggers that fail they create separate blog posts not connected to each other and they expect to see significant result from their effort
Don’t fall into this trap, putting an effort worth more than 1 year of writing contents should be done in a way that rewards you of your effort, but how?
I will continue with the Save Money, I need to get all the LSI which stands for Latent Semantic Index
I found a free LSI website called lsigraph.com just type Save Money and you get a list of articles to work on
I will not act here as other bloggers Who claim that their web hosting is better than others I am currently hosting this blog on Siteground Now this question to you
How to choose a reliable web hosting
There might be other web hosting companies equal to or better than Siteground But You should consider the following before buying your web hosting
1) Server reliability (Up-time scores and security)
Compare all your web hosting companies which you are interested in by uptime scores I don’t think this piece of information is hidden to the public With Siteground, I did not experience for the last year even one single downtime
2) Customer Support
How long they keep you on the phone for an agent to answer your calls I wait always around 2 minutes for agents If I use the chat, it is around 1 minute But I prefer speaking to a live agent over the phone
3) Availability of site backups
Actually when I switched to Siteground I did not know that they keep a backup for one month You can go back in time to any day during the last 30 days I consider this a great add-ons
4) Maintenance cost and renewal fees
There is no maintenance cost only renewal fees Maybe Siteground is little expensive than Hostgator Bluehost Again it comes for so many reasons
5) Ability to add domains
Almost most web hosting companies allow you to add multiple domains Exclude any web hostings that don’t
6) Account Limitations
I will not limit it to specific features When I switched from Hostgator to Siteground I noticed that Siteground has built in Cloudflare
If you are not aware of what is Cloudflare it is a US company that provides something called Content Delivery Network Service It boosts your web site page loading speed Protects you against any attacks .. and many more
That’s why I had to switch my web hosting from Hostgator to Siteground
Choosing your domain name
I already wrote before about how to choose your domain name Keep in mind, if you plan to do multiple niches Don’t choose a domain name that is restricted to one niche
A trend started some time ago Where you get a domain name with your nickname + blog Or any variations of family name (if unique) + blog e.g. MarcelloBlog.com
Installing WordPress
Actually a week ago before publishing this blog post I thought that WordPress and Drupal are the only popular Blogging platform I found there are so many CMS on the Internet that I haven’t even heard their names before Read more on frequently asked questions to know what is WordPress Also I recommend looking for WordPress Tutorial for beginners on YouTube to help you get started
How to choose your blogging platform
I have never thought about using any other CMS for Blogging except WordPress I am biased here to using WordPress As every wish of a component I dream about I found it in their plugins
WordPress hosts around 30% of all Blogging sites Nowadays most web hosting made it very easy to install WordPress Last thing you would worry about is the technical part I am not saying that because I know the technical stuff (I am a computer programmer)
There are millions of places including YouTube that show you that Once you install WordPress on your web hosting It becomes no brainer Check out this post below on How to setup your blog using WordPress
Configuring your WordPress theme and plugins
So many opinions about plugins I even get confused if my list of plugins are suffice If you are in doubt about which plugins to install on your WordPress blog Take it back to the PROMISE and AUDIENCE You promise to provide your audience great contents Then you need to measure that
You need to install Google Analytics Plugin Enhance the performance with W3 Total Cache Increase the security with Wordfence security The rest is up to you
You may think why I added this extra step here after configuring WordPress theme and plugins Well, now you have your theme ready and plugins installed, next is You have to arrange how your theme will look like Keep in mind that every theme has its own features Some are completely optional but few are mandatory to keep Below this is what I recommend to have
How to design your WordPress blog
You need to add/configure 4 things and you are ready to start Blogging
1) Your WordPress Must Do pages which are “About Me”, “Disclaimer”, “Privacy Policy” and “Contact”
Notice, I use the ME as you are trying to be personal This tone is acceptable as you are not a corporate
2) Your WordPress blog menu
Most WordPress themes make by default the home page as a collection of blog posts in chronological order From your WordPress Menu, create a map or structure of how you want your audience to use your blog
Like most bloggers create a menu that is called “Start Here” or “Courses” You can link your “Start Here” page to all your blogs posts under one category But I prefer to create a WordPress page so you can build blog posts that look like a course
3) Your WordPress sidebar
Sidebars are the right, left or both margins on every post, page and homepage Some WordPress themes can let you configure where you want your sidebars to show up
On homepage, specific or all pages/posts Anyway it is highly recommended to have it everywhere (I don’t see any valid point of restricting your sidebar on specific post/page) I also highly recommend to have a profile picture, few words about yourself Your social media icons to make it easy for audience to connect with you
I will not cover which affiliate offers or ads to add to Sidebars You have to test these things to see what works and what doesn’t It all starts to work for you once you get traffic rolling to your blog
4) Your WordPress footer
Some bloggers miss configuring their WordPress footer I recommend to check what you can add as widgets to your WordPress footer Just an advice, if your footer is close to the end of your blog posts You can add a call to action underneath your blog posts
Like subscription to your newsletter or any other call to action Also add contact information if possible Organize your footer links into columns, if possible Include a copyright notice Use graphic elements (like as soon on CNN…etc)
Reading thoroughly on your topic (understand each types of blog posts)
Even if you have excellent knowledge about your niche Still you need to look what other bloggers wrote about it The best writer is the one who reads a lot Now let us make a habit of taking bullet points of all the topics That you plan to cover in your post to create a useful content
What are the famous types of blog posts you can write confidently
You don’t have to be an author Your audience are not looking for authors
Learn these blog post types Then you are ready to write on your blog
LONG list as known as the Skyscraper :
LONG list when you list items/things with little contents This was before Brian Dean invented the Skyscraper method If you find a long list of how to solve xxx problem You list a longer detailed number of things and to solve same xxx problem Like 101 Ways to Drive Traffic to your website
How to and Tutorials :
You create a guide or white paper on a product or tool
Very good if you are busy writing other blog post contents All you do is send your question(s) to fellow bloggers Wait for their reply back and create a post around it Most of these blogger should be very well known in your niche
Cheat Sheets, Checklists and To-do’s :
I found Cheat sheets, checklists and To dos are suitable for sharing on social media Think how you can summarize tutorials or long posts to create Cheat sheets
Reviews :
Reviews are good for writing about a product or tool Your honest review will appeal in your writings
Infographics :
It a new type of image You illustrate your blog post by an image Before thinking this is not for me
There are many website offering easy tools to create fancy and attractive Infographics like Canva, GetStenciland Snappa
Interviews :
Find an authority person in your niche Build a relationship through social media Invite them for an interview No need for face to face just web cam, chat using Facebook Messenger or any chat tool
What is your blog’s tone or voice
What is your writing style Don’t pretend to be someone else If you read a lot for fellow bloggers It can happen that you like one for the others Maybe he/she is writing in a sarcastic voice
If you are not a sarcastic person You act always serious Just be yourself You should have your own personality
Tell a story about your weakness When you are relating your audience’s problem to yourself What are the steps taken to overcome this weakness You have to be a real person “human being” You should have your own point of view
Writing your contents
Now you understand all types of blog posts, you know your voice (tone) You are now ready to start writing your blog posts
How to create a great blog content that attracts your visitors like a magnet
1) Understand your audience
Any blog post becomes a great content If it resonates with your audience’s mind about their problem Always target very specific audience If it is for beginner, continue as a beginner guide
2) Start with an Introduction
Don’t just right away to the solution Although this is what your audience look for But at least remember to grap their attention Make them agree with you that you also suffered their pain
3) Make your contents navigational
Long contents even if they have separated into proper paragraphs Still very daunting to skim it to read what you want Please make sure to create table of contents Add a recap to the end of your blog post
4) Add media files to your post
Adding spices to your post Nobody likes long text with no images Always use the proper images or infographics That can easily help to illustrate your words
5) Add Call to Action
A lot of bloggers do great job in providing values They just forget including myself to include the call to action After having your audience read your blog post What actions do you want them to fulfill If you want them to subscribe to your newsletter Don’t be afraid to say so
Before I hit my point for planning your blog contents I assume that you have read the famous types of blog posts in the previous section
Based on what I have said before on the WHY, PROMISE and AUDIENCE It is very clear when you start a new blog If you are targeting beginners in your niche you need a lot of Ultimate guide (something similar to this blog post) How Tos and Tutorials when you start
Don’t refrain yourself in pursuing other types of blog posts Just keep in mind to stick to your PROMISE and AUDIENCE
1: Set Goals for Your Blog
When you start your new blog How long you plan for content creation Take a look at the below image for all types of blog posts
How many How Tos, Ultimate Guides or Tutorials do you really need If you can write down all your planned blog titles categorized based on their types This will help you estimate the amount of work load required from your end
I know when building a new blog, you work all by yourself Content creation should be your number one priority
2: Create Audience Personas
With keeping up the PROMISE and AUDIENCE Things can go not as you expect How would you know Checking your audience under Google Analytics I found that I am targeting 83% of female
3: Revamp your old blog posts
Do your best to create all different types of blog posts Final judge is your audience interaction on your website If you go to the traffic coming to all your blog posts As shown below, audience decided that not all your blog posts are created equally They like some of them over the others
Analyze your top blog posts that got the highest traffic Revamp each blog type either by creating another type of it Or even making it way better than what it was before By adding Infographics, creating Cheat sheet from its content I know you got the idea
Almost all bloggers including myself we monetize our blogs from day one This is not practically wrong but I came to this conclusion I want your opinion about it in the comment section below
If for fact, the first few months – 6 months to a year You gain almost zero or few cents if using advertisement network like Adsense Why don’t we ignore monetizing our blogs for the first 6 months
Focus only on writing your blog contents that reach out to your target Audience Again this is not an advice, I can call it a hint or conclusion That it has an impact completely on starting a successful blog
Anyway let’s say you are ready to start monetizing your blog So the question now is
How to monetize your blog
I don’t want to waste more words here as these items below are self explanatory But I will put few words for each one
1: Advertisements :
Displaying advertisement on your blog where you get paid if your visitors click on the ad like Google Adsense
2: Affiliate marketing :
You recommend a product or service with an affiliate link that indicates that it is coming from your blog You get paid if visitors make purchases through your link
Making money from your list of email subscribers if they buy your eBooks/Courses or through your affiliate link You have to build your email list and it has a learning curve by itself
4: Selling ebooks :
Creating your own eBooks, it can be a PDF file Most bloggers create a lucrative affiliate system to get use of other bloggers’ traffic
5: Selling Courses :
Similar to eBooks but can be delivered using a third party system like Teachable or Thinkific
6: Selling digital products :
Not limited to eBooks but any sort of multimedia like selling Video series to teach something
7: Selling coaching (consulting) services :
Sometimes you need to sit an hour with an expert that can be hard to find in eBooks or eCourses
8: Selling memberships :
Paying once or recurring payments for getting a service or consultation hours
It is about getting and increasing engagements to your blog
Don’t obscure your content
Focus your blog contents on your target audience
Ask questions in your blog posts
Choose your titles and headlines carefully you can ask for suggestions on Facebook groups like which title to choose title A or B and put all titles there
Focus to write appealing introduction to every blog post
Add visual contents to your blog posts
Ask for engagement nothing is wrong about it
The Real Truth About Starting a Successful Blog
According to a survey from ProBlogger 49% earned under 100$ 23% earned over 1000$ 16% earned over 2500$ 9% earned over 15000$ These numbers don’t add up to 100% There are so many details That’s why I included the full chart from ProBlogger blog
Credit for this survey image goes back to ProBlogger
Yes you can follow the niche discovery tutorial above But still not make any money Now it is either you give up or look back and see what went wrong
One of the main reason for failure is Doing small actions so you feel you wasted a lot of time like a year with no benefits Having people around you who know you are currently blogging On every occasion like Thanksgiving or Christmas You hear funny comments about how nerd you are with your blogging – waste of time thing
Is Blogging dead or You can still make Money With your Blog
Yes you can, so many bloggers make 4 to 5 digits per month This is not a myth, it IS a system not a secret That’s why it is available for everyone Yes It is a very long road that needs all your patience and strength If you have not built up any experience Keep in mind to
* First unleash your ideas within you
Everything you are going to write about has already been written on the Internet The key ingredient here is to add your unique experience, your own distinct voice Your own personality will attract others similar to you looking for a solution to their problems But if you focus on your audience problems, you are shooting the moon Look for your audience where they ask questions on Quora and Reddit to find solutions Even you need to write the exact same questions they ask in your blog post
* Enjoy your niche like crazy
If you don’t love your niche, it will show on your writing Actually this is true to a great extent Because if you know well about the topic then you need to write it from your audience point of view You will come up with ideas on creating digital products, revamping your blog posts content, writing eBooks
* Build a very strong relationship with fellow bloggers
This is number one success factor A lot of work can be done for each other Like commenting on each other blogs Asking them to guest post on your blog (if you are busy writing) Share your blog posts on their social media sites Don’t be afraid to ask questions to other bloggers Even if it is a simple questions We are not created all equal in all Blogging skills
* Expect a year of dedicated hard work Blogging before making money
During your first year, you can still make few bucks If you hear bloggers making significant money during first or second month Maybe They are not lying but they are Gurus Who failed before and have an excellent learning curve
* Don’t give up no matter what
At first, you will not get any visitors Just focus on writing your appealing contents that touch your Audience problems Never forget why you started Blogging in the first places Keep it on mind and hold tight to your dreams
How to arrange your Blogging schedule
The most successful key aspect to Blogging is consistency with writing You have to stick to a schedule of when you will be able to write every week Let’s say you will stick to Wednesday and Friday of every week at 7 pm for one hour
If you are writing using a mobile application There are so many mobile applications that let you focus and stop being distracted They block you from receiving phone calls or text messages Same features if you decide to use desktop/laptop applications
Remember I said stick to writing schedule I did not say stick to publishing schedule Meaning you cannot force yourself to publish a blog post once or twice per week This will be too much pressure on you
You need to stick to writing schedule Knowing that you don’t spend so long for one blog post If you are writing a long blog post (Skyscraper) You can arrange for another blog post that does not take long time from you Remember those that are able to push through things are the ones that succeed.
Promoting your blog
I know you have been waiting for this moment to read about How I promote my blog In fact, I am a very lazy person when it comes to promoting my blog
Assume that you have already completed setting up your blog and you wrote between 20 to 50 blog posts (each is 1000+ words) It took you an average of 6 months to do all of that and because content creation is an ongoing process
let me say that you managed to start promoting or you started promoting earlier When you were writing your initial blog posts
Time passes by, I will say another 3 – 6 months and seriously no sales at all or at good one or two If you give up, I won’t blame you but before you give up I will review thoroughly your blog and ask you few questions like
Stop and check your why, promise and audience
Do you remember the WHY, PROMISE, AUDIENCE Check your WHY if you say yes I stuck to the WHY Then I would say I will be your audience and I am visiting your blog I want to learn about gardening for beginners
I come to your blog post on How To Start Gardening in 2 weeks Very catchy title and promising to teach me in a short period of time So I keep reading You sprinkle affiliate links for organic fertilizers from Amazon I may click on the link to check the item but I will not buy Because you did not teach me Gardening in 2 weeks as promised
I still need to know lot of things like what is Best soil to use / best pots for gardening / best time to water your seeds …etc
Affiliate marketing is about CAT which stands for Context, Authority and Trust In few words, you did not promote something highly relevant to the topic (missing context) If it is about an Amazon book about Gardening for Dummies (I may buy it)
You did not cover your blog post in deep (missing authority) Don’t misunderstood authority by having a blog like Wikipedia At least authority to cover every aspect in your blog post That help me solve my problem You did not educate me enough which happens mostly through email subscription
How to know If my blog idea Is a good one
I will repeat again this part If it happens that your blog covers one or more niche
This means that even if you tackle this niche from different angle What they call it an idea
So come up with a new idea within these mentioned niches Again regular idea in popular niche, better than a brand new idea in unknown niche
Go ahead and unleash your ideas You are completely covered
I will give you an example In Personal finance niche You can come up with an idea To help household save on utility bills
I just came up with this idea As I found blog posts for saving on electricity So I said to myself Let me make it a little bit broad
I just wanted to show you How easy it is to come up with ideas within your niche
Are Audience in my niche willing to spend money
Everyone in this world cares about Wealth, Health and Relationship That’s why the above niches Work all the times
People are willing to spend money In order to lose weight (Health) or trying to bring their Ex back (Relationship) To invest in future (Wealth) You got the idea
Is my niche too broad or too specific
Think about it this way If you are going too broad It is very hard to write on all topics Plus it will be very hard to compete with authority sites
On the other hand side If you have the above idea about Saving on electricity bill Then you went too tight
Is my desired niche saturated
I don’t believe in niche saturation What I believe is competitive niche Where you will put extra effort and time
The good news is that The more competitive niche The more it indicates that There is money to be made
Is planning phase always required, what if I am currently making money with my blog without even knowing about it
Yes it can happen that many bloggers are not building a solid WHY, PROMISE, AUDIENCE and they are still able to make money from their blogs
Does this prove that I am wrong
No, look at the image below and try to understand that There are so many blogs which were built without the planning phase
Like Review sites, Lifestyle blogs and Mom blogs Where the latter addresses topics related to Blogging, Cooking, Parenting and Travels
They manage to spend more time on traffic Especially the right traffic like Pinterest Which works best for Cooking and Parenting They promote very highly relevant contextual affiliate programs
Golden Rules on blogging and contents creation
Blogging is not a rocket science, it is all about being patience, writing great contents, learning basic skills for creating media files like images/videos and keep learning about marketing and social media presence with a solid plan to start SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and link building from day one
Starting a new blog is considered a very long journey meaning expect 1-2 years of hard work with no significant return
Always evaluate your contents, are you really targeting your audience by answering all of their problems, I am afraid you waste 1 or 2 years for nothing (refer to previous bullet point, be on the right path, write useful contents that solve problems)
Focus on one niche and start a successful blog on solving the main problem for your audience with ultimate guide, take it from there and expand to cover more problems and include more blog posts to cover extra topics very highly relevant to your main problem which you are solving
Focus on the content creation when you start, you cannot do everything at the beginning, you will be distracted, even if you think about expanding your brand to social media start only with one (highly recommended to start up with Pinterest first)
Golden Rules on affiliate marketing and relationship with bloggers
Always start from the beginning to build strong relationship with other bloggers who own blogs relevant to your niche
Affiliate marketing comes second after writing great contents as you solve problems first then recommend to your audience the best affiliate tool/program/course that can help make their life easier (don’t do it the other way around by finding affiliate programs and then building contents around them – big NO)
Not everyone around you will understand what you are doing so stop talking about blogging to negative people or those who don’t share the same beliefs
Please do yourself a favor and stop procrastinating your ideas, focus more on content creation and don’t be picky on your WordPress theme or current designs as all these things can be changed later (You don’t marry your theme)
Recapping on how to create a successful blog
At the end of this post, I don’t really consider it an end as I will add more details on certain topics from those listed above, I won’t leave you confused but at least I need your help by commenting below of what you think still missing or you still need to know about or
Finally if you learned few things on how to create a successful blog, please share it with your friends using social media.
