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Is blogging really hard to learn and will it cost a lot of money? The answer can be easy to learn and cost nothing or the reverse, your call

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Why do people blog?

Blogging is a great way to release the inner writer. You come with a lot of knowledge so showcasing what you know and helping people is a most satisfactory occupation.

However, like everything in life it may not be for you.

Do you want fast money?	X This is not for you
Are you prepared to spend a year or more	Y To build a real business
Does blogging cost a lot to start	X The entries to blogging are primarily free
Is your writing level appropriate	Y There are many free tools to help you
Do you need to do programming	X No programming experience is needed
Can you learn the basics of SEO	Y There is a lot of information to support you on this
Are there different types of blogs	Y Blogging has many purposes and we will cover them below

Blogging Explained

Wikipedia is considered an authority site because it is built on reader contributions

Blogging is not generally instant income

Your first blog may attract a handful of readers if you get it all correct. Your second blog is another handful and so it goes on until you have built a good foundation of articles relating to your niche.

Whereas a Funnel is designed to take people from interest to a sale. A much quicker journey but a shorter life span.

Therefore your total blogs will generate a lot of traffic over a long period of time.

Why are blogs so different?

The idea behind blogging is really customer service. When you want to know something you ask Google ( Or Bing etc) and a blog will provide the answer and solution to your question.

So blogs are there to answer questions or solve problems either in a few words or a few thousand depending on the question.

An example could be;

Who manufactures Thermomix? Anwer: Vorwerk

Is Thermomix better than Kitchen aide; Answer: It is, or isn't because tralala.

Neither are selling tools except that we can add affiliate links to grow our income.

There are blogs written on every conceivable subject however there is still room for many more.

Can you come up with your keywords?

Narrow the question to win at blogging

Writing about a Thermomix is joining hundreds of other bloggers all scrambling for a page-one position. It is too hard so we need to narrow down the question. One way is to look at the “Google also asked” questions and find one that suits your idea.

Here I searched Thermomix and found the following on page one.

Which leads to more questions

These are the things readers want to understand and learn about, Therefore choosing a question and providing an answer is targeting your blog writing to a specific customer. From there you can transport them to other pages using internal linking.

The art of keyword selection

You will hear and read a lot about keywords. They are the start and end all of blogging. Get them right and your job is nearly done. Above I have shown one way how to find keywords.

You can use keyword tools and search for answers but narrowing down your topic to a question and answer will do the job.

Does Blogging cost a lot to start?

You can start a blog for free.

If it is part of your website you are up and ready to go. It is just another post.
For the casual user, you have shared sites like Blogger.com a Google site that is there for bloggers. But it is not a commercial site.

You can choose a low-cost site like Bluehost and buy a domain and pay a small amount for hosting your service. As you grow your blog and start earning some money your costs will rise accordingly but that is ok.

Finally choose a professional site like Wealthy Affiliate where you get full training, support, and even a free blog to see if this game is for you.

The inclusions in a blogging site that are necessary are site speed, security, and full ownership of all material. The cheap end of the market does not provide all of this.

Is blogging really hard to learn?

Among the many ways to be active on the internet blogging is probably the easiest to learn and is capable of the greatest return. Furthermore, the future remains bright as more and more readers seek respectable conclusions

Can anyone write a blog?

Blogs can be written in a local language or English depending on the market you are pursuing.

English of course, covers a much broader market but when you are targeting a local market the local language may be more appropriate.

Spelling and grammar are important but we now have lots of free tools to help us with our writing.
Google has spell check, probably the most common product is Grammarly and one I also use is Hemingway.com

These all have a free version that is quite enough for most of us. You can get the pro versions at a reasonable cost if you want more.

Can you earn money writing blogs?

Because blogging is time-consuming and consistent many businesses employ full-time content writers. If you develop a few skills and achieve a position with a company a long-term career can be achieved.

Is any programming required from bloggers?

We live in the entitled days. But a few short years ago you did need to have basic knowledge of programming but fortunately, that is in the past.

WordPress the original blog builder has kept right up to date with the concept of template blogging using blocks to insert your work.
It may be for a heading, a paragraph, an image, and all sorts of ideas. Select a block put your information in and load. it is that simple.

Other companies use a similar approach, some are free but others carry a small charge usually aligned with hosting as well.

A very small sample of the hundreds available

Is the knowledge of SEO important?

Readers are attracted to your blog from a variety of sources.
First, of course, is search engine optimization or SEO. This is the organic traffic found by readers everywhere using either your exact match keyword or Reader intent depending on the search engine they use.

This will give you perpetual traffic building over a lifetime and almost guarantee you returns.
Other ways which may include all Social Media, referrals, friends and family, Emails, and even hard copy material like brochures, etc.

Then there is paid advertising that gives you a front-page berth but at a cost. The cost is generally levied every time someone clicks on your advert. The cost could be a few cents to hundreds of dollars depending on the popularity of the word. This is a world for the more experienced and not the ameatures

SEO covers many areas

Yes, it starts with keywords however a lot more is needed to get maximum value. Under your heading is a Meta description describing your blog and what it represents. You can write this or let Google do it for you but you certainly understand what you are trying to represent.

Blogs are short sentences and short paragraphs written for time-pore readers. Remember you are answering a question not writing a biography.

Pictures and graphs add to the site as do color text and background.

When using WordPress you can use useful plugins like Yoast SEO that tell you what is being done correctly and importantly what is wrong with your blog.

Site linking is important

This is another part of SEO. There are three main types of web links;

Internal links	These are too other pages you have produced
External links	Backlinks from other sites boost your popularity
Authority Links	When higher authority likes your work
Affiliate links	Your income earning opportunities

Within this page, I have applied all the above links. Because I have written other posts on the subject you can read them for more information.

I have several other sites along a similar vein so I direct traffic to and from them.

Is blogging really hard to learn and what are the types of blogs

What are the types of blogs?

Business blogs.

These are posts relating to your main business. Done properly they can increase website traffic substantially thus growing revenue.

Affiliate marketing;

This is introducing products that may suit a reader. They are often paid for products for which you earn a commission if the readers buy a product.

Social blogging

Writing for charities or social organizations with no earnings intent. However, you may use them for recruitment purposes.

Personal blogs.

These start by telling a story that revolves around the writer. They may, however, also include affiliate links.

There are many reasons to take to blog writing and as long as you understand your intent and make a long-term plan anyone can do it.

Conclusion

Blogging offers many pleasures for the active writer. It is a creative release as well as an income generator. Furthermore, it may simply be for social good thus fulfilling your conscience for providing a benefit to others.

Whatever your reason for blogging remember it is a long-term career not a short-term goal

Is blogging really hard to learn by Peter Hanley

• Do Bloggers make money
• How to earn money from blogs
• What is Web Blogging?
• The skyscraper technique to blogging