How to Start a Blog With No Money and Zero Experience
With a world so saturated with content, launching a blog from scratch can seem like a terrifying proposition. How can you stand out? What if no one reads it? And, most importantly of all—how on earth do you get started without any money or experience? With the cost of launching a website soaring into the thousands and college degrees not exactly being cheap either being a blogger is no easy feat. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. With grit and determination anyone with an interesting point of view and a willingness to learn can succeed as an influencer.
You just need
to know where to look for help and how to take advantage of opportunities when
they come your way. From getting free blog hosting to learning more about
blogging at home while avoiding alarming costs
Step One: Find Free Blog Hosting
Depending on what niche you’re blogging about; free blog hosting can come in different forms. However, it’s always worth a Google search to see what, if anything is available to you. To get started, try typing “free blog hosting” into your search bar followed by the niche you plan to write in.
For example, if you wanted to write a travel blog, you’d search
“free travel blog hosting.” This will give you a host of different sites you
can use to get your blog up and running without spending a penny. Once you’ve
bookmarked a couple of potential hosts, it’s worth going through their terms of
service to make sure they’re a good fit for your content and goals.
Step Two: Network and Learn as Much as You Can
When you’re first starting out, networking
may not seem like the most productive use of your time, but it is crucial. From
attending local meetups to joining relevant online groups, you need to get
yourself out there. With a huge industry like blogging, you’re sure to find a
community who are happy to help and offer advice.
Step Three: Write Consistent Content With No Strings Attached
While some will tell you to wait until you
have a big audience before you start accepting guest posts, others will tell
you to go ahead and get started. It’s important to remember that you’re not
under obligation to keep those relationships going. You’re not being paid for
your writing, so you can happily write and publish content on behalf of other
sites without feeling obligated to stay on the blog. This way, you can practice
writing, gain experience, and build a portfolio all at the same time. As a new
blogger, you may not have a large audience yet, which means some editors may
turn down your request to guest post. As a result, it’s worth offering to write
content for no strings attached. You can do this by contacting editors and
pitching yourself as a guest blogger. If they’re short on content and don’t
have the time to write an entirely new piece, they’re more than likely to say
yes.
Step Four: Put Together a Sample Showcase of Your Writing
Writing consistently is the best way to grow
an audience; however, it can take some time to build up a large readership.
With paid advertising not necessarily in your budget, there’s no way to speed
things up. However, there is one thing you can do to speed things up
exponentially—build a sample showcase. From completely rewritten famous quotes
to short stories that are based on your own life, it’s not essential that you
write brand new content. Instead, you can rewrite existing pieces of work or
have a think about your own life and come up with something that is relevant
but also entirely new. This way, you can speed up the process of growing your
audience.
Step Five-a: Guest Posting to Grow Your Audience
Guest posting is the best way to speed up the
process of growing your audience. However, it’s important to do it correctly to
avoid being blacklisted. To begin with, you need to find high-authority sites
in your niche and contact their editors. When contacting editors, it’s
important to remember that they have a lot on their plate, so you need to keep
your emails short and to the point. While it’s important to be polite, don’t
try to be overly charming as this can be seen as insincere. Instead, keep it to
the facts—you’re a writer, you want to guest post, and you have experience in
your niche. When they respond, make sure you check out their terms of service
so you don’t break any rules.
Step Five-b: Paid Advertising to Grow your Audience (If you have the
money)
As we mentioned before, this is probably the quickest way to grow an audience. However, it does come with a hefty price tag. Depending on the advertising platform you use, you could be looking at spending thousands of dollars.
However, if you’re keen to grow your audience quickly,
this can be the best option for you. Remember, the sooner you start, the sooner
you’ll grow your audience. So, no matter how intimidated you feel, don’t wait
for things to fall into place. Instead, get started right away and you’ll be
amazed at how quickly you progress.
Step Six-b: Paid Advertising to Grow your Audience (If you have the
money)
As we mentioned before, this is probably the
quickest way to grow an audience. However, it does come with a hefty price tag.
Depending on the advertising platform you use, you could be looking at spending
thousands of dollars. However, if you’re keen to grow your audience quickly,
this can be the best option for you. Remember, the sooner you start, the sooner
you’ll grow your audience. So, no matter how intimidated you feel, don’t wait
for things to fall into place. Instead, get started right away and you’ll be
amazed at how quickly you progress.
Conclusion
Starting a blog from scratch can seem like a
daunting task, however, it’s easier than you might think. All you need to do is
find free blog hosting, network with others in your industry, write consistent
content, and put together a sample showcase of your work. Finally, if you have
the money, paid advertising is the quickest way to grow your audience.
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