How To Get Started With Blogging For A Student And Make Money Online Through Blogging In 2020 Without Any Investment

In today's world, every second student in college is a blogger. And Blogging is also one of the best side-business to start in college as it can be converted into a full-time career later on and it is easiest to start off without any investment and experience.

But, though it is easy, only some bloggers become successful because they make some mistakes in starting of blogging. So, today, I'm gonna tell you some steps to get started blogging for a college student and how you can make money online by blogging.

1. Choose a blog niche and domain name

It would be best to choose that topic you are passionate about and have very well knowledge about it. Alternatively, your blog niche can be your hobby or interest. You can also choose to write a personal blog in which you will tell about yourself like what is your daily routine, what you do, how you do your work and that type of stuff. 

Choosing a good and unique blog niche is the very first and most important step towards starting a blog. So, it is necessary to take your time and then decide your niche. Your niche should Not too big, Not too small.

After choosing your blog niche, you should decide your blog name or domain name. Your domain name should also be related to your topic such that your domain name tells your blog readers and visitors your niche or topic.

You should also check if your domain name is available or not and change your domain name according to that.

2. Choose your blogging platform and get your blog online

As you are a student, I would recommend you use a free platform for blogging instead of a self-hosted platform that requires money to set up your blog. 

Free Blogging Platform (Blogger)

For new bloggers, there are free platforms available like blogger.com, wordpress.com, and Tumblr. But, I would like to suggest Blogger for you because it is the best free platform from which you can make some money. And you would hardly make some money from other free blogging platforms. In the free platform, your domain also contains a platform name.

Self-Hosted Blogging Platform (Wordpress.org)

If you are capable of investing your money into your blog, then you can choose a self-hosted platform. You can run your blog on your domain name, there is no restriction on self-hosted platforms. The best self-hosted platform is wordpress.org. In this, you will have your own hosting space and name.

So, you have to buy hosting (which I recommend you Bluehost basic plan of hosting) and Bluehost would provide domain name free for 1 year. You can buy it from their website and install WordPress on your website (installation of WordPress option would be given in Bluehost only).  

3. Customize Your blog

This is also a very important step while starting with blogging. Which theme or layout would you choose for your blog? For getting a good amount of views, the user interface needs to be very good.

It should be easy for a visitor to get information through your blog. There should be a search bar in reach of the reader and there should be proper labels present to easily navigate through the blog.

Thus, do choose a great theme to get the immediate acceptance of your blog by visitors. 

4. Write and publish your posts

The success of a blog only depends on its content. is your content accepted by the people or not? Does your blog engage your readers or not? Does your content make your visitors to take action or not? 

Long term success of your blog only depends on your content and information that you are providing to the people. So, you should concentrate to make your blog content better every day. This will only make visitors stay on your blog which increases your traffic and indirectly your income through the blog.

The content that you would be published should be unique and should not be plagiarised. Make your own content and publish your posts consistently on your blog.

5. Market your blog

The number of views on your blog depends on the number of people, your blog is reaching out. This is done by marketing your blog in the outer world.

Different ways to market your blog

1. Tell your friends and relatives about your blog
2. Submit your blog to the different search engines
3. Submit your blog to the different bookmarking sites
4. Get traffic from social media
5. You should be active in your niche 
6. Write comments on other blogs
7. Create an email list
8. Guest Blogging

6. Monetize your blog and make money 

Now, it's time to convert your blog activity into money. Blogging is only about providing useful content to people and make them come back to your blog not only making money. You should focus to give great content to your readers instead of your earnings.

Different ways to monetize your blog

1. Running ads on your blog using Adsense: It is the best way to monetize your blog. Mostly all bloggers make money by running ads on their site. You just have to be verified by Google Adsense to start earning. 
2. Join an Affiliate Program: Affiliate program is the way to promote a product and get a commission of each sale to happen through your link. The number of sales depends on the number of visitors coming to your blog. The popular Affiliate Program is Amazon Associates, ShareASale, etc.
3. Selling your products and services: If you have your own physical or digital product to sell, then you can sell your product or service on your blog. It is more of an entrepreneur side and business side.
4. Sponsored posts: You can get paid for one post in your blog. Advertisers pay to sponsor their products by making us writing or reviewing their products. If you have a very good following or are famous in your niche, then advertisers would be in search of you.
5. Writing and selling an eBook: It is also a good way of passive income. You can write your eBook and can sell it on your site. Besides this, you can sell your eBook on Amazon and their kindle direct publishing program.

Conclusion

Blogging is one of the best platforms to start in college as a side-business as it doesn't require any investment and experience. There are many people out there earning through blogging. 

But, being a successful blogger is not easy work as it seems to be. You must do follow the above steps to get up to a good level in blogging. You have to be consistent and patient in posting blog posts. It needs dedication and discipline to become a good blogger.

I hope these steps would have helped you in starting your new blog. And if you have any suggestions or tips that you think I should add-on, please feel free to write down in comments. And if you have any doubts about the above points, you can write it down, I would surely respond to it.