Making money online is not easy, but it’s 100% possible if you have the right knowledge and tools to help you.
Most successful websites started out as amateur blogging experiments which later morphed into a real businesses.
You might be thinking about an amateur blogging career, or maybe you’re already using something like WordPress, but it’s far too complicated for you to use properly (and it’s gravely outdated with 20+ years on the neck).
Either way, you’re definitely not alone, I started out as an amateur blogger as well. Every single website starts somewhere, and often with zero knowledge on how to become a successful one at that.
Blogging doesn’t have to be complicated no matter what anyone says, and this beginner’s guide is written with the true blogging newbie in mind, with specific steps to follow to help you learn the ins and outs of amateur blogging, without boring you to tears.
Let’s get to it!
1. How to start amateur blogging, the short and easy way
So you want to be an amateur blogger? That’s great! The world needs more voices, and the internet provides a level playing field for anyone who wants to share their thoughts and ideas. But where do you start?
There’s so much blogging information out there that it can be intimidating. And what about all that tech stuff? WordPress, hosting, domain names, plugins?
Relax, forget about all of it as I’m going to show you how to start a blog the easy way, without any of the fuss.
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Forget about picking a niche
The biggest challenge for most people in getting started with amateur blogging is the fear of making the wrong niche.
Picking a niche and mastering a specific topic can be daunting, so forget about it and start your blogging journey with a general blog instead.
Really, don’t pick a niche!
This is because you don’t want to pigeonhole yourself into the wrong niche that doesn’t work. A blog should be flexible and adaptable!
Once you start gaining traction, you’ll get real-world feedback on what topics your amateur blog is ranking for on the search engines.
This will be your cue to double down on what works and carve out “your niche” in that space.
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The brand of you
When thinking about getting started with amateur blogging, it’s important to think about the brand, but the thing is that this couldn’t be any simpler!
Choose your own name as the niche, “the brand of you”. This gives you the ultimate flexibility to pivot into what works as an amateur blogger.
With “the brand of you”, you unlock the key to creating a website that is authentic and true to you. Don’t try to be like someone else or replicate another blog (like SO MANY other amateur bloggers are doing).
Instead, let your unique perspective and personality shine through. This is what will separate your site from the crowd, and it will help you to build an audience of loyal readers.
2. How to set up your blog in less than two minutes
You don’t need WordPress to start an amateur blog. In fact, you can start one in less than 2 minutes using a tool called JetPage.
JetPage is a simple yet extremely powerful SaaS tool that helps you create a blog that’s blazingly fast and optimized for ranking on Google out of the box.
They have a free trial where you can create an entire amateur blog completely free, which doesn’t require any complicated tech like WordPress.
Just enter a few details about your blog and JetPage takes care of the rest, creating a site that looks great and is ready to go, pretty much up to the same standard as this very website that you’re reading right now (this works).
Once you’re happy with your newly made website and decide to go for it with JetPage, you’ll want to secure your own personal domain name for the website address, as they give you a generic one for starters.
Simply head over to Hostinger and pick up your own personal name as your website’s name (or some kind of abbreviation of it if your full name is already taken), and skip the hosting part.
Once you’ve got the name, follow the on-site instructions to connect them together, or let the support help you, they are friendly!
3. Creating content without the jitters
It can be tough to get started with content creation for your amateur blog, but it’s a necessary step if you want to build a successful blogging business.
The good news is that there are plenty of helpful tools out there to make the process of writing a blog post much easier, and I’ll share two of the best.
Hypotenuse.ai is a very user-friendly AI writing tool that makes it easy to create high-quality content.
Not only does it make your blog post writing process easier, but it also helps you produce content that’s a bit SEO-friendly to help with those search engine rankings.
It takes your ideas and turns them into well-crafted blog posts in a fraction of the time. Hypotenuse also helps with eliminating writer’s block so you can create content easily and without stress.
In fact, this very article that you’re reading was crafted with the help of Hypotenuse, who would have thought 🙂
Once you’re ready to upgrade to the big-boy software though, then you’ll get Jasper.ai which is the best ai writing software on the market right now.
You’ll find more info about Jasper and the best ai writing tools here.
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Build deep work habits
Building deep work habits is essential for any amateur blogger, and it’s something that takes practice. But once you get into a groove, it becomes easier and easier to produce content on a regular basis.
By building a deep work habit and dedicating a certain amount of time each day to writing a blog post, you’ll be able to consistently create high-quality content for your amateur blog.
And no this is not like the generic “keep a blogging schedule” type of mentality, it goes much deeper than that.
If you want to read more about the topic then I recommend the following books:
- The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
Once your little amateur blogging experiment starts to become profitable (yes you need to treat it as an experiment, nothing is guaranteed), you can consider outsourcing to writers or using ai software to scale your writing to new levels.
4. Getting into blog SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, most of the time, the simplest strategies work the best.
A great way to get started with an amateur blog is to use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs to find topic opportunities since keyword research is essential for good SEO.
When you know which keywords to write about, you can craft content that’s specifically tailored to rank well on Google.
Once you have a good idea of what people are searching for, use SurferSEO to optimize your content, so it has the best chance to rank for the keyword.
And that’s really all there is to it! With a little bit of effort, you can start seeing results in “as little” as 3-6 months.
5. How to avoid common amateur blogging mistakes
One of the most common mistakes new bloggers make is getting stuck on deciding on a niche. They spend so much time deliberating over what to write about that they never actually start blogging.
Don’t be that guy, pick your own name as your niche and be done with it.
What’s more, amateur bloggers tend to dabble in a little bit of everything instead of focusing on what’s truly important.
Things that don’t move the needle at all are the logo, website design, layout, arranging the header, etc. Don’t do these amateur blogging mistakes.
Thankfully if you followed this guide, you’ve already tried JetPage as they take care of all of this.
I know amateur bloggers who started out 6 months ago and STILL are fiddling around with WordPress settings, the logo, etc. all while having 2 articles published on the blog, pathetic.
What’s truly important is only two things to make your blog successful, are you ready?
- Content
- Links to that content
That’s it, the two most essential pieces of a blog, make sure to repeat it like a mantra:
Content and links,
Content and links,
Content AND links.
To avoid these amateur blogging mistakes, start by focusing on keyword research.
Once you’ve nailed down a list of topics that you have the potential to rank for, do your research and figure out what readers want to know about it.
Finally, don’t be afraid to start publishing content—even if it’s not perfect.
You can always go back and tweak it later, and truth to be told, no one will see it anyways until it starts ranking, which might be in a few months, or never.
There is a concept called Minimum Viable Product (MVP for short), and in our case, it’s essentially about getting a minimum viable post done and published, just enough for it to be picked up by search engines.
Once the post starts to rank, perhaps on page 2 or 3 on Google, is the time where you revisit the post, update the content, add more to it, and fully optimize the content.
This way we spend less time on topics that we potentially never have the chance to rank for.
Now building links to a blog post is an entirely different topic that I will not delve into, for now just get your blog and content production going.
Wrap up
There are some common amateur blogging mistakes that people do when they first start out on a blogging journey that can really throw off their game.
It’s best to avoid them in the beginning so you don’t get discouraged and give up on your blog before it even starts.
Blogging is a great way to connect with your customers and build up your business, but it can be intimidating if you succumb to information overload.
Getting into amateur blogging doesn’t have to be hard or complicated, though – in fact, all you need are the right tools and some basic understanding of how things work, which I hope that I illuminated in this post!
Happy blogging!