Blogging is one of the things a student can do while in school to make money. Many writers have corroborated that it is actually a good thing for students to have something doing in school so that they will not have to totally depend on their parents or guardian. I personally started blogging when I was still in the university. I read an article in the internet that taught me how to start a blog and make money in school.
Basically, i started my first blog because my parents were indigent. Coupled with that, I didn’t want to stop schooling just because my parents didn’t have the money to further my education. So, I started blogging to help my situation. Today, i will be showing you how to start up a blog and earn money while in school. Trust me; I will teach you exactly what i did to earn my first $100 with my blog as a student.
Aside from the step-by-step process of creating and making money from a blog, i will also discuss some of the good and bad sides of blog while in school. Conversely, this is apparently going to be a comprehensive guide on how to start a blog and make money in school.
I enjoin you to read through this article very carefully so that you will be able to get all the information passed here. Meanwhile, if after this tutorial, you still have questions to ask, kindly send them via the comment section. Now! Lets go into the crux of this article.
What is a blog?
A blog is simply a regularly updated website that is used to share information to readers all over the world. A blog can be for many purposes. For example, a blog can be to share information to the public, it can be for the purpose of making money online, it can also be for fun or all of these purposes put together. An example of a blog is shoutmeloud.com. This blog is updated everyday to give readers fresh information anytime they visit it.
It is also worthy to note that all blogs are websites, but not all websites are blogs. In other words, there is actually a little difference between a blog and a website.
What differentiates a blog from a website?
A website usually has a static homepage that is used to serve a particular purpose. For instance, https://bscholarly.com is a website because, it has a static homepage and it is not often updated like a blog.
From the foregoing, it is evident that a blog is not the same as a website. A website is not frequently updated but a Blog is frequently updated. This is basically the difference between a blog and a website.
I am aware that this is not supposed to be discussed in depth in this article. However, because this article is for both beginners and old bloggers, it is wise to explain it here. No doubt, knowing this will help to give you an incline of what blogging is all about.
What you should know about blogging
Below are some of the important things you should know about blogging before creating your own blog:
First of all, it should be noted that blogging is one of the most lucrative and legit ways to make money online. Blogging is not restricted to any particular country or person. In my view, it is the perfect job for students that really want to make money online. Nonetheless, i must also state that blogging is time consuming too. Trust me; not every student can keep up with the stress associated with building and managing a website. I was a blogger while I was in the university and I can remember how hard it was for me then.
One striking thing about blogging is that it is educative (Especially if you are a student). You will not only educate or entertain your visitors. You will also educate and entertain yourself through your research and fact finding.
Blogging will also help you to wisely use your time. The truth is that, after starting your blog, you will find it very hard to spend time playing and chatting with friends.
Lastly and more importantly, if you really want to be a successful blogger and you are sole bent on making money alone, you will definitely not achieve your dream. Yes! it is true that money motivates people to do more in their job. However, that does not mean you should be interested on just making money from your blog alone.
Frankly speaking, before a new blogger will start making substantial amount of money from blogging, he must have shown serious dedication for not less than 6 months. I am not saying this to scare you away from blogging. It is a vital truth and I seriously think you should know about it. Patience and dedication are very important to become a successful blogger. Please keep this at the back of your mind.
Having known all this, we will now move to the most important part of the this topic. Here, I will teach you the step by step process to start up a blog and make money from it as a student in school. In enjoin you to pay close attention to everything discussed below.
Choosing a Blog Niche/Domains
What is a blog niche?
A blog niche is simply what a blog is all about. It can also be seen as the central topic of a blog. For instance, if i have a blog and the only thing I publish on the blog is about students and how they can achieve their dreams in future, then my blog niche is education.
Aside from education, there are other Niches you can decide to choose for your blog. Examples are;
- Technology
- Entertainment
- Sports
- News
- Books
- Stories
- Love and many more.
How to choose a good Niche
In the blogosphere, there is no almighty Niche for everyone because people have different passion and what they like. I always ask students who approach me, seeking to know the best Niche they can start blogging one question. I usually ask them what they have passion for, and tell them to blog about their passion. Suffice it to say that your passion is the best blogging niche you can ever think of.
There is the speculation that some blog Niche attract more visitors than other. Well, i don’t subscribe to that even though it sounds true. If people are persuading to you to blog about niches that are deemed to be more lucrative than others, please do yourself good by giving cold shoulders to their ideas.
The truth is that, many bloggers became frustrated just because they failed to choose the right niche for themselves. So, if you really want to be an outstanding blogger, make sure you choose the niche that suit you.
What is a blog domain?
A domain name is simply the URL (Universal Resource Location) you want your blog to have. For instance, the domain name of this website is bscholarly.com. Having a domain name helps to distinguish your blog from that of every other person. The rule is that, no two websites or blogs can have the same domain name. So, if someone has already taken the domain name you want, you have to search for another domain for your site.
Tips for choosing a domain name
Finding a unique domain name for your website can be very frustrating. At some point it is going to seem as if all the domain names has already been taken. However, there are three basic tips you can follow to construct a unique and professional domain name for your blog viz:
- It must be short
- It should be related to the niche you have chosen
- Lastly, make it stylish
Best blogging platform to start your blog
Currently, Blogger and WordPress are by far the best and most popular blogging platforms to start your blog on. For the purpose of this tutorial, we will focus mainly on the Blogger blogging platform because it is more easy to setup, manage and it is free of charge. I may not explain everything you need to know about WordPress today. Nonetheless it is still one the best places anyone can start up a blog. You can do more research about it if you wish to start your blog on that platform.
Blogger is a blogging platform bought by Google in 2013. It is a totally free blogging platform that anyone can use and still earn from it. This was what made Blogger the most used blogging platform in the world. In my view, Blogger is an ideal place for people who are new to the blogosphere.
On the other hand, WordPress is also a great place to start up your blog or website. It is partially free, easy to setup and you can earn from it too. However, to be able to earn in a WordPress blog, you must pay some amount of money for your hosting and domain. Note that this does not make WordPress a bad idea for new bloggers because they give you full control over your site and contents, unlike Blogger.
How to create a blogger blog
Now that you know almost everything you need to know about blogging, we will now proceed to create a blogger blog from scratch. I enjoin you to painstakingly follow the steps highlighted below to create your own blog successful. Here we go!
STEP 1. Visit BLOGGER website at www.blogger.com. There you will see a page like the one in the screen shot below.
STEP 2. Click on “Create a blog”
Step 3. Now you will be asked to provide your Gmail and Password. Input the data correctly, and if you don’t have a Gmail, simply create one by clicking on “Create new Gmail”.
It is important to note that your Gmail account and password will be needed to access your blog afterwards. Thus, you are expected to keep them safe.
STEP 3. After you must have finished submitting your Gmail and password, you will automatically be redirected to the blogger.com dashboard. On the front page of the dashboard, click on “NEW BLOG”
STEP 4. Now a pop-up box will appear, asking you to input your Blog TITLE and Blog URL. You can now input your desired blog title and domain in the space provided.
Please do not add any extension after your domain name. Just put your chosen domain name.
Make sure you change your domain name to something else, if the system indicates that the one you gave has already been taking.
STEP 5. If you input your domain and the system indicates that your choice of domain is available, then congratulations, you can now choose a template from the list of template and click on “CREATE BLOG“.
Okay, if you followed the above steps effectively and it worked for you, then Congratulations! you are now the owner of a blog. All you need to do is to start publishing your articles for the world to see.
Meanwhile, if you wish to change your blog URL or Domain, you can do that buy buying a domain name from any local or international domain registrar online. You can also remove the “.blogspot” in your domain by buying your own domain name for the free blog.
How to create your first blog post on blogger
- To create a post, simply click on POST in your sidebar
- Click on “New Post” and instantaneously a big plain text box will appear.
- Type your article on the large textbox
- Add a title to your article and give it a label.
- Click on “PUBLISH”, and you article will be published live on your site.
Remember, while creating your article, you can format or beautify your work using the formatting bar tool at the top of the page.
How to grow and earn from your blog
As many writers will say, creating a blog is not the problem. The main problem is growing your blog and making money from it. Trust me; money and traffic is what will motivate you to continue writing on your blog. So, you have to know how to optimize your website to rank on search engines like Google, Bing etc.
Below are some important tips that will help you grow your blog and and make money while in school:
Learn how to optimize your blog post for search engines
SEO (search engines optimization), is a very important for growing your blog. I may not discuss in full, the tips and secrets for optimizing your blog (I.e making your blog appear on search engines like Google, Bing and others), because this article is not specifically meant to explain that. If you really want to learn SEO, please visit sites like:
Advertise your site on social media
Another great way you can grow your blog is by promoting it through social medias like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google and others. Make sure you shear your articles to all the social media sites you are in. Believe me, this is really an effective way to get enormous visitors to go through your blog.
Submit your site to search Engines
You must also ensure that you submit your blog URL to Google, Bing and Yahoo, to enable them easily crew your site. To learn more on how to submit your site to search engines, you can search on Google.
Frequently update your blog
This is one of the most inevitable tip that can effectively grow your blog. Remember, one of the distinctive feature of a blog and a website is that the former must be frequently updated, and the later is seldom updated. Updating your blog frequently, also helps to keep your readers coming, as they are preoccupied with the mindset that any time they visit your blog, they will definitely find new articles to read and learn from.
Provide quality and useful contents on your site
If you really want to grow and earn from your blog, you must be exceptional in your write-ups. Don’t copy things from other websites/blogs. Make sure you create your own unique content. Don’t put all your interest in making money. If you do so, then you must prepare to fall like other copycat bloggers.
Believe me, if you can effectively, create your own great content, people will come visiting your blog from nowhere. All you need to do is to keep your blog unique. Someone once told me that Google loves unique contents.
How to earn money from your Blog
Actually, there are many ways one can make money from a blog. However, in other to make this article very precise, i will only discuss the most tentative and basic ways to make money from your new blog.
Meanwhile, before you start using any of the methods explained below, I personally recommend that your blog is at least 2(two) months old. This is to ensure that the blog is already having a substantial number of visitors. Now, i will explain the two most popular ways to earn money from a blog
1. Placing adverts from ads networks
Below are the best five blogging advertising networks you can sign up with your blog and start earning from your blog:
- Google Adsence (The best and most lucrative among all).
- Infolink
- Media.net
- Popads
- Revenuehit
It is wise to have good knowledge of how all these ads networks work before signing up with your blog. This will help you to choose the best for your blog.
2. Direct advertising from companies on your blog
Another legit way you can use to make money from your blog as a student is by placing advertisement banners of companies directly on your blog and getting paid by those companies.
Note that earning through this way is almost impossible for new bloggers since they don’t have huge traffic in their sites. But it pays better than the other method mentioned above.
To attract companies to place adverts on your site, you can simply create a banner saying that adverts are allowed on your site. The banner should also contain your contact details so that interested persons and companies can contact you for advert placement.
Aside the methods I have already explained here, there are other tentative ways you can earn from your blog.
However, the methods I mentioned above are the two most popular ways of making money from blogging for both new and old bloggers.
Wrapping up
In conclusion, i must state again that blogging while in school is not very easy. As a student blogger, you will have to let go some things to keep up with your blogging career. That notwithstanding, if you really want to start up a blog and make money in school, this article has done justice to everything you need to know. Trust me; blogging really pays if you are dedicated to providing useful information to your readers.
Meanwhile, this is where I am going to stop on how to start a blog and make money in school. If you need to ask any question, please do so using our comments section. Alternatively, you can contact us using any of the information in our contact us page. Hope this was helpful?
