In my first post on this blog I mentioned five ways/places in which you can start earning a few bucks online. The first way/place I mentioned was through your own blog. Yep, a blog can make your money!

But, how? You may ask. Well, most bloggers in South Africa and accross the world make their money from being affiliates to webhosting companies, advertising networks and other affiliate networks. Some of these bloggers have managed to make enough to quit their day job and start blogging on a fulltime basis. I will name a few in future blog posts.

The following few steps will help you get started.

Step 1: Find a hosting company

If you are not planning to host your own blog and do not want to pay for hosting, this step does not apply to your situation- Step 2 will be your first step. If like me you do not prefer free blogging platforms, I advice that you look for a reputable hosting provider, look for a company with good reputation and one that doesn’t treat you like it is doing you a favour. I host with Hostgator and I am not shy to recommend them, because of a number of reasons – my blog never experienced a downtime for the whole of last year, but this year there was only one incident where the site was unaccessible. The incident lasted less than two hours. And I was never down ever since. Features such as unlimited disk space and bandwith on shared plans also attracted me. But there are other hosts who can provide you with similar services, just look around before you commit.

Step 2: Choose a blogging platform/software

There are a number of blogging software. They are not equal and their functionality also differs. While I prefer WordPress (This is no longer JUST a blogging plartform, it is the most powerful Content Management System (CMS) for any type of website. This is just my point of view though), I recommend that you choose one that is suited to your situation. For instance, a blogger who wants a platform that is provided to him for free may start a blog using Google’s Blogger, WordPress.org, LiveJournal, Open Salon, etc.

A blogger who wants to self-host (host the blog through a paid plan from a hosting company) may consider WordPress (I recommend this), Drupal,  Joomla, NucluesCMS, etc.

At the end of the day, it will be your call to choose the blogging software that fits your requirements just right.

Step 3: Choose the domain name

Your domain name is your online brand, it is your trademark, and it is what makes you unique. It is what separates you from every Tom, Dick and John who think that by just having a computer and some internet connection makes them the internet’s most thoughtful user. So set your self apart. Instead of having myblogexample.mybloghost.com, I recommend that you register myblogexamle.com.

Step 4: Content, content, content

This the most important step. You require content. And it must be original too. I have experienced a lot of copyright infringements myself. Lazy bloggers steal other people’s work and the publish it as their own. I say this is foolish and disastrous – because it hurts your search engine ranking, and you may be sued, or worse – you may be reported for copyright infringements in line with the United States of America’s DCMA and as all popular search engines are run from the US it means your website will be dead in no time. So the message I am trying drive home here is: Never COPY, be original. Honestly, I am one of those people who are tired of copycats.

Step 5: Make your blog search engine compliant, have your blog indexed

First of all get your blog a sitemap. Second, submit your sitemap to all major search engines. Most search engines have a webmaster tools programme which lets blog publishers make their blogs search engine friendly. (I will blog about this in a future blog post)

Step 6: Make the dough

You have the content, you have the traffic. It is time to make the cash! How do I make the money? You ask. Well, through affilate networks, ad networks, and sales of your own services.