The purpose of this guide to give you a step by step outline consultation on how you can begin making money with your blog in just 7 days.

With business blogging becoming quite mainstream and a good way to generate traffic, you may wonder what your blog should be about. Well not to worry, that’s on the mind of almost everyone that is either just starting, or has been blogging for over a decade.

1. Determine the topics and platform.

The first step to establish a base for your blog. This involves coming up with a topic and a domain name that is related to the topic (unless you brand it otherwise), as well deciding on a blog platform. There are many platforms (a.k.a. content management systems)available our there, but our favorite and most established ones are WordPress and Ghost.

Once you decide on the above factors, you can host the domain on a host like Namecheap or Hostgator. Setup is very simple. 1. Book the host with your domain name. 2. Within your control panel (which you will be given access too), you can easily install WordPress with just a few clicks. 3. After WordPress is installed, you will gain access to your domain’s WordPress admin section, from which you can begin to customize your blog.

After that, it’s important to come up with a content plan, or a strategy for the type of content you will be creating. This may include stories, how-to guides, reviews, or opinion. Have a look at our guide on expanding your topic and coming up with content.

You can always go freestyle and simply write about what’s on your mind (this works for many people), but if you can’t think of a subject within the niche or are wanting to cater to what people are searching for, our suggestion is to use a Keyword Research Tool like keywordtool.io. This is a very useful tool that lets you type in your niche or primary keyword, and then gives you suggestions of specific keywords that people are searching for (sub-keywords). 99% of the time, you’ll quickly get a blogging idea to start writing about.

2. Monetize your blog.

After your blog is started and polished, you can begin on monetization. Many bloggers join ad. networks like Google Adsense to expedite ad. serving. You should spend some time growing the content on your blog before applying to these networks, as you have to submit your blog URL – which they do examine. If your blog’s quality is not up to par with their network’s expectations, you may be declined. Additionally, you can post your email on your blog to let potential advertisers contact you directly. This usually takes more time, but you won’t have to share any commission with anybody.

Have a look at some useful plugins to help you get paid for blogging.

3. Build and nurture your audience.

Once you build the foundation of your blog and monetize it, it’s time to get to work. This is when you begin to promote your blog on places like relevant forums and connect with possible visitors. It’s also important to engage with your visitors to nurture a long-lasting and valuable connection.

Have a look at our guide on useful tools (plugins) to build an audience and grow website traffic.

4. Optimize and grow.

Optimization is the most important factor in a blog’s success. It’s also the most ignored. Optimizing your on-page content for SEO as well as building off-page SEO is critical to grow your audience and expand. Learning to research and target specific keywords (within your blog’s niche(s)) in the online world is critical, as your blog will get recognition and grow trust for those keywords.