What Is A Blogger And Where Do You Start?

Have you ever wanted to expand your online presence and create a little bit of extra cashflow? Well blogging might be what you’re looking for.

Becoming a blogger is great as a hobby and if you’re really successful then you can turn it into your full-time job. But what is a blogger?

What Is A Blogger And Where Do You Start

Very simply, a blogger is someone who writes articles for and runs a blog.

Don’t worry if that still confuses you, throughout this article, we’re going to explain what a blog is, how it makes money, and how to start your own.

Table of Contents

What Is A Blog?

Originally called ‘Weblogs’ (later shortened to blog in 1999), these sites acted as a sort of journal for Internet users. They were used literally as a way to log their day on the web.

Over time blogs have evolved from personal use to literally any subject you can think of.

Despite this evolution of the concept of blogs in the last few years, many people still think about blogs as something you would use to talk about yourself.

That’s not the case anymore…

Blogs are a great way for the average person to reach an audience. If you have an interest in a specific niche you can be sure to find a blog from a like-minded person around that same topic.

There are blogs for popular subjects which drive large traffic every month. While browsing the Internet you have probably ended up on a blog and not even realized it.

Maybe when you were looking for the answer to a specific question you had.

How Is A Blog Different To A Website?

The key difference between a blog and a website is the type of information they provide.

Blogs are constantly being updated and have ever-changing information, whereas websites have more static information that isn’t dated so they stay relevant for longer (imagine the website of a law firm).

Blogs also typically have a comment section for each article even if this is becoming less and less popular over time.

Nowadays is a lot more common for people to comment on a Youtube video than on a blog post.

It’s just the way use behavior is changing over time.

How Is A Blog Different From A Wiki?

While the difference between a blog and a website is clear, the difference between a blog and a wiki is a little bit trickier.

Essentially a blog is a page of information curated by one person. On the other hand, a wiki is a collaborative effort of information usually by volunteers, and is constantly being updated.

What Makes A Blog Successful?

Are you thinking to start a blog?

The main factor that will lead your blog to success is having original and interesting content. Content quality is without doubt the most important thing for a blog. If you are growing your blog and you want to know what to focus on, content quality is the answer.

If you love the subject you are writing about then people will see that in your article and will be more inclined to read more of your work.

The next most important thing is your blog layout. You want to have a user-friendly site that people can easily navigate and find visually pleasing to look at.

This is not very difficult to achieve considering that today there are platforms like WordPress that provide many user-friendly and mobile responsive themes out of the box.

Also, try to keep good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) standards when you write your articles. WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO help you do that with minimum effort during the writing process.

A successful blog interacts with its audience and helps its audience.

People go to blogs for honest opinions, shared interests, and to find answers to questions they have.

The joy of a comment section means you can reply to people and take any advice they may have. Your blog should be a learning experience as well as a teaching one.

It is important to keep your current audience interested and expand it. You can do this by having a large variety of posts on your blog.

Anything from pictures to listicles, you want the person who reads all of your articles to be entertained.

Finally, blogs that collaborate with each other naturally create a larger shared audience. This can be done by writing articles for each other’s blogs.

Why Do People Start Blogging?

There is a multitude of reasons why people start blogging, but the most important one should be that you have a passion for it.

If you love writing and want to share your interests with the world then you should start a blog.

For a long time, I wanted to start a blog, deep inside I knew it was something I wanted to do. And now that I’m a blogger I can say it’s one of the best decisions I have ever made.

I find writing a great way to express my creativity and I love writing articles that help other people.

For some of you, the ultimate goal might be to become a full-time blogger…

Being a full-time blogger gives you the freedom to choose when and where you work, without being beholden to a supervisor.

Not bad, right? 🙂

However, if you want to keep your blog as your hobby rather than your job, then that is totally fine too.

How Can You Start Blogging as a Beginner?

The joy of blogging is that anyone can do it, all you need is an idea or passion you are willing to pursue in the long term.

There are tons of free blogging sites like Blogger and WordPress so you don’t have to be well-versed in website making to start.

When choosing your blog niche (the topics you want to write about), try to pick something you are borderline obsessed over. This is so you don’t get bored with writing articles about it.

And if you don’t know what to write about, start by looking at your habits:

Which articles do you read?
Which videos do you watch?
What could you talk about for hours without being tired of it?

Those are all signals that the topic is something you are really passionate about.

Once you select your niche write your first article and see if you enjoy the experience. The only way to know it is by actually trying it.

We recommend writing a few articles a week when you first start in order to grow your blog faster. Don’t feel like your blog is limited to this subject forever, your blog can and should evolve over time.

Remember, blogs take patience. You’re not going to get overnight success with it and if you stay passionate and informative the audience will come in time.

Also, the first thing to note is that blogging isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes time and effort before you can start to make any sort of income off your blog.

I have written an article that explains the most common ways you can make money off your blog once it gets big enough.

Would A Blog Benefit A Business?

Yes, blogs are a great way to get your business out there.

Not only can you use it to show that you are an expert in your field with all the knowledge you provide, but you can also make your business seem more approachable since you are willingly giving out this information and helping people.

Blogs are also efficient in increasing the SEO effectiveness of your business.

Having articles that feature relevant keywords makes it so that anyone searching for those words may come across your website, thus increasing traffic to it.