… and how to earn money with it!
When I say “Blog website”, then I’m not talking about starting a blog on Medium.com, Vocal.Media, Blogger, Blogspot, Google Sites, Wix.com, WordPress.com,…
No.
I’m talking about getting your own webhosting, installing WordPress on it, using a web builder like Elementor, and creating your own, personal blog.
“But, WHY create your own blog website?”
“What’s the difference with the ones mentioned above?”
Let me give you the reasons.
1. Unexpected Account Termination
Imagine you’ve got a successful Medium.com blog, thousands of subscribers…. but then all of a sudden, you get the following message when you’re trying to sign in.
Unexpected account violation or termination (yes, it happens).
Whether you did something wrong on purpose or not, an error is easily made.
And just so you know — Free offerings from sites like Google Sites, Blogger, Blogspot, Wix.com and WordPress.com are even more problematic. Don’t risk it.
This brings me to the next reason:
Risk of data loss
If your account gets suspended, you might lose ALL your content, your subscribers, everything you’ve worked for.
Make sure that doesn’t happen.
Backup your articles, export your subscribers regularly (weekly).
2. Limited Features vs More Freedom
Third-party platforms usually have limited features, give you less freedom and are unlikely to appear in search results.
What do I mean with “Limited Features”?
- Can’t send manual emails to your subscribers
- Difficult to capture email addresses and building email lists
- No control over SEO
- No/limited control over design & what your blog looks like
- …
On the other hand, if you have your own website, you can do whatever you want. You can add WordPress plugins to:
- Collect email addresses
- Automatically back-up your website & content
- Improve website ranking, SEO & performance
- Send out mail/marketing campaigns
- Sell products, integrate a webshop
- …
Having a website gives you ownership, control and helps with search rankings.
You have complete freedom over the design as well. Make your pages and content easy to navigate, consistent, structured and user-friendly.
3. Endless income possibilities
Because having your own website gives you so much freedom, the income possibilities are endless.
Your own website = Endless income possibilities
You can monetize your own website in a numerous ways, while on other platforms, you’re dependent on their monetization system and THEIR rules.
You can:
- Sell products, e.g. e-books
- Integrate a webshop
- Freely promote affiliate products
- Monetize via Google Ads
- Offer subscriptions
- Offer any type of service
- …
Anything is possible.
But, HOW To Create your OWN blog website?
Well, I prefer getting a web hosting via Elementor and installing WordPress with Elementor web builder.
There are so many hosting providers and web builders out there, for example, I always see people promoting Bluehost — so I checked it out and it also seems quite good from what I see. But it’s ultimately up to you!
Also, the Elementor web builder is extremely easy, it’s basically just drag & drop and there are millions of tutorials online. It also has tons of nice templates that you can simply insert.
And I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again:
Having your own website allows you to install a lot of plugins that we’ll need in the future, such as marketing and email campaigns.
What to do when you’re stuck
Sometimes I got stuck too. When I couldn’t find the answer by Googling or on YouTube — what I did was — I reached out for help on Fiverr.
I got in contact with a web developer, and for $100 he helped me A LOT with the design and functionalities of my website!
Tips for writing successful blog posts
- Reduce interrupters in your content to allow people to focus and finish reading. For example, I’ve seen websites where all of a sudden in the middle of the article there are links to other articles, opt-in forms or other distractions. It’s annoying as hell. Just give your readers what they came for.
- Use a spell checker and grammar app to help you with your writing and remove possible errors. Possible tools are Grammarly, Ginger and Hemingway Editor.
- Keep your content relevant and fresh by updating old posts. You change, your knowledge changes, and technology changes. Check if your posts are still accurate and provide up-to-date information. Schedule in your calendar to review them at least once or twice annually.
- Use a call-to-action (CTA) in your texts. Examples: “Start your free trial, learn more, click here to join, create a free account, sign up today, get a 40% discount now”. Use visual elements like ad banners and CTA buttons.
- Review your website’s monthly performance with tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Big Webmaster Tools. Use these data & insights to improve your content & competitiveness.
- Optimize your website & content for mobile devices. Google predominantly uses the mobile pages of a site for indexing and ranking. Therefore, focusing on desktop content and appearance is less critical.
- Your website speed is vital. Do page speed tests, make sure loading times are optimal. You can do tests via GTMetrix or PageSpeed Insights.
- Make sure you have enough internal and external links. Internal links are important because they can help Google understand and rank your website better. External linking to reputable and authoritative sites boosts your credibility and SEO rankings.
- Attempt to increase links TO your website. Link building is the process of getting other websites to link to pages on your website. This will help them AND you to rank higher on Google Search results.
Key Takeaways 🔑
Creating your own website gives your many benefits:
- Freedom to post & publish whatever you want, without restrictions
- It’s your own website, and not Medium’s. You can use it however you see fit.
- Backup of your articles, in case anything should happen to your other blog.
- More reach! If you do your SEO right, you’ll get your content out there for more people to see.
- Endless income possibilities
- Tons of plugins that can make your website better.
Best of luck!
Michiel
