Around 70% to 80% of internet users read blogs, according to statistics by Blogwizard.com. Whether they do it to find an answer to a specific question or keep up with the latest trends, reading blogs has become an important part of users’ lives.
On the flip side, blogging has expanded its function because of this vast interest from online users. From a journal-type summary of the blogger’s day or a brief announcement of a new restaurant opening in town, it has become an income-generating and brand-building tool. Companies have seen sales shoot up because of blogs, and random individuals have assembled followers through it.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that a sports enthusiast like you wants to start a blog today. Creating a blog can be an exciting and rewarding experience. It inspires you to create amazing content, share it with a community of like-minded people, and even make some money off it.
Blogging requires a lot of effort, planning, and commitment. It also involves several steps to take for your blog to have a shot at success. This article presents four crucial steps you need to focus on if you want to launch that sports blog without a hitch.
1. Finding Your Niche
This is the most overlooked part of creating a blog, and it’s also the most important. You can start a blog about “sports,” but it’s a big topic to cover. Your blog must be unique and targets a specific audience. Do you like football? Start a blog about football coaches. Are you into cycling? Create a mountain biking blog.
Choose a niche you know well. Starting a niche blog is a good way to stand out from the rest, and it positions you as an expert in that area, earning you potential subscribers.
A good example is Nerd Fitness. It’s a health and fitness advice blog, but its main audience is self-proclaimed nerds. It mixes pop culture and workouts, gaining a million views per month and getting featured in Forbes and The Washington Post.
2. Getting Your Blog Online
Creating a website is not easy, especially if you’ve never done it before. To go live with your website, you essentially need these three things:
- Domain: This is your online web address that people can visit.
- Web hosting: This is a paid service that makes your website accessible to people on the internet. A host also keeps all your website files safe and secure. Think of it as a home. When someone comes over (types in your blog’s URL), they enter the host site and see your blog inside.
- Content Management System (CMS): This is where you will be writing, designing, and publishing your blog posts. A good example of a CMS is WordPress.
These things may sound complex, but they can be easy to organize with little effort. Some providers, like Bluehost and GoDaddy, bundle the domain, hosting, and CMS together to make it convenient for you. Depending on your goals or the type of blog you want to create, the average cost may range from $34.50 to $65.40.
Investing in a good website increases your positive reputation and enables you to earn from it through monetization.
3. Crafting Interesting Content
Content levels the playing field. Even a budding sports blog like yours can be a source of valuable information on the internet if you consistently put out high-quality and helpful content.
According to marketing software company HubSpot, these are the top three reasons people read blogs:
- They want to learn something new.
- They want to read something entertaining.
- They want to learn about the latest job trends.
Write a blog post that can satisfy at least the first two reasons. It helps to convey information in an interesting and sometimes humorous way.
This blog post about weightlifting by The Mike is a good example. It tells a story of an Olympic weightlifter with a memorable nickname. The blog post is informational but is written in a lighthearted manner.
Fundamentally, it’s also important to write about a topic or a niche that you are familiar with and have experience with. Being an expert in your chosen niche will allow you to provide genuine takes on certain subjects and offer reliable advice.
4. Monetizing Your Blog
Earning money from their website is definitely one of the goals of any blogger, and you can make it possible for your blog, too. Mitch Wilson founded Sports Chat Place, which is now a multimillion-dollar sports blog network.
It won’t happen overnight and requires a lot of effort. If you built an audience and have enough traffic on your site, you can earn money in three ways:
- Affiliate marketing: Being part of an affiliate marketing program, you can direct site visitors to partner sites where they can purchase products. You will earn a percentage or preset amount when they make a purchase.
- Advertising: You can allow ads to be hosted on your site through Google or other platforms. They can pay you depending on the number of views or clicks. You can host banner ads on your web pages or add HTML5 smart video player software that enables video ads to be played on your site.
- Sponsored posts: You can let other bloggers or businesses contribute content to your website, too. You can charge a nominal fee in exchange for a link as well as exposure.
Starting and running a blog is equally challenging and enriching. There may be other things to consider when maintaining a blog, but these four factors should give you a good start.
With the right amount of planning, dedication, and creativity, your sports blog can become everything you wanted it to be and more.
