Running a blog isn’t easy. It’s hard work! After all the blood sweat and tears it’s taken to get your website off the ground you’re now left with the challenge of generating traffic and getting your blog seen by the world. The more views you get, the more money you’ll make through affiliate marketing and advertising. So let’s take a look at some handy tools that can supercharge your blog from a ghost town into a money-making home business.
Necessary Tools for a Successful Blog
- Affordable Web Hosting Services – Bluehost
- SEO / SEM Tools – SEMRush
- E-Mail Marketing Program – AWeber
- Hire some Help – Fiverr
- Landing Pages – Unbounce
Web Hosting Provider
Affordable web hosting is the very first step to getting your website off the ground. A web provider is a company that you’ll use to host your blog and get it online.
There are plenty of suitable web hosting providers out there but by far the most affordable and reliable is Bluehost.
It’s also one of the more user-friendly web hosting services and those with low technical knowledge will be able to get their website up and running in no time using their one click WordPress install feature. So, if you suck at computers, don’t worry!
Bluehost plans start at under 5 bucks a month which means just one single affiliate sale every month will put your website in the black, and profit is what it’s all about.
Digital Marketing Services
Collecting e-mails and building a user base will be paramount to the success of your blog. Every person who visits your website and leaves without clicking on any of your affiliate links is a lost sale. Making certain that you’re capitalizing on every single user that visits your blog will be the difference between earning a full-time income from your website and not earning much at all.
AWeber is an intuitive all-in-one digital marketing platform that can help you build an e-mail list, promote your content on social media, and help you take advantage of online channels to improve the visibility of your blog and generate more traffic.
Their software is incredibly simple to use and completely automated. Create and design automated e-mail campaigns easily using their drag and drop editors and set up welcome emails for each person who subscribes to your mailing list. This type of software is perfect for blogs, small businesses, content creators, or anyone looking to build a mailing list and expand brand awareness.
SEO and SEM Services
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your website as efficiently as possible in order to generate organic traffic from search engines like Google and Bing. Unless you plan on spending a lot of money on advertising every month, organic traffic will be crucial to your success.
SEO services like SEM Rush help you pick keywords that have a high chance of ranking on the first page of Google results and optimize your content so that search engines will place your blog higher than your competition.
The services are pricey but in my opinion a necessity. All successful blogs use SEO tools to make certain they are maintaining an edge within search results and the money earned from the organic traffic these services will help you generate will more than make up for the monthly cost.
Create an SEM Rush account and test out their tools.
Landing Pages
If you’re planning to run an online store you’ll definitely need some snazzy-looking landing pages. eCommerce is incredibly competitive and turning every single click into a potential sale is your only goal.
Unbounce allows its users to create professional-looking landing pages without the need for a designer or developer. They include an intuitive suite of tools and powerful software to help you achieve your needs. Check em out!
Fiverr
Fiverr is a nifty little marketplace that you can use to hire writers, pay for press releases, or even find websites willing to link to your content for a small fee which can help boost your online visibility and generate more views.
It’s not a necessity but rather a handy option at your fingertips should you feel the need to use it. I’m art challenged and still am unable to stay in the lines when coloring so I’ve used Fiverr in the past to outsource all my digital design needs. It’s cheap and effective and by far the best option for getting some cheap skilled labor.
Final Thoughts
In the end, these tools will help bolster your blog and propel it to the next level. A blog is an investment and success won’t be achieved overnight. You have to look at it as a marathon – that will, one day, reward you handsomely for your efforts. These tools will shave years off of your journey and help you achieve your goals a lot sooner.
Every day thousands of blogs appear online. Most of these blogs will not succeed and often it’s not due to the content being poor or low quality but due to mismanagement and impatience. Most want instant gratification and if that’s what you’re after a blog is definitely not for you. If you’re after a rewarding experience that has the potential to generate six-figures worth of earnings each month then you’re in the right spot.