FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 1
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 by Ling Thich
All rights reserved. This ebook or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or
used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the
publisher.
www.finsavvypanda.com | www.blogsavvypanda.com | ling@finsavvypanda.com
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 2
Affiliate Disclosure
This ebook may contain affiliate links. If you click on one of my affiliate links and
make a purchase, I may receive a commission for referring you. This comes at no
additional cost to you.
Please know that my mission is to help your blog grow so I only mention resources
I like and highly recommend.
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 3
About Me
My name is Ling and I’m the blogger behind Finsavvy Panda and Blog Savvy Panda.
I’m here to help you start, build, and launch your blog the right way!
When I first signed up for my blog on a whim, I was totally lost and did not know
where start. I read all the great and inspirational stories about bloggers making
over thousands of dollars a month, but where did this leave me?
Forget about traffic and making money for now. As a clueless beginner, I did not
even know how to log into WordPress, install a blog theme, set up my pages, or
draft my first post. Not to mention, I made a lot of mistakes that are very hard to
fix today. I had to learn how to navigate WordPress and launch my blog with zero
guidance (despite investing in so many courses)!
I don’t want you to go through what I did as a brand-new blogger and that’s why I
created this ebook for you. I want to show you, as a total beginner, the basics on
how to navigate and use WordPress without pulling your hair out. Along with,
how you can make your blog profitable.
Once you understand what WordPress is and how to use it, you’ll be able to setup
your theme, draft your first 5-10 blog posts, and finally launch your blog. This will
leave you with the foundation to move onto your next blogging chapter which is
learning how to get traffic from Pinterest and make money with your blog.
Ling Thich
• www.finsavvypanda.com
• ling@finsavvypanda.com
• Follow me on Pinterest
@finsavvypanda and
@blogsavvypanda
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Table of Contents
4-WEEK AGENDA TO BUILD YOUR BLOG ................................................................................................... 12
DOMAIN PRIVACY + PROTECTION PLAN .................................................................................................... 21
DON’T HAVE A DOMAIN NAME YET?......................................................................................................... 24
1. WHAT IS WORDPRESS? .......................................................................................................................... 28
1.1 What is WordPress.org? ................................................................................................................... 29
1.2 What is WordPress.com? ................................................................................................................. 29
1.3 Our Focus on WordPress.org (AKA “WordPress”) ........................................................................... 31
1.3.1 How to Log Onto Your WordPress Dashboard .......................................................................... 31
How To Secure Your Website ..................................................................................................................... 34
2. HOW TO SETUP YOUR BLOG THEME ON WORDPRESS.......................................................................... 39
2.1. What is a Blog Theme? .................................................................................................................... 41
2.2. FinSavvy Panda’s First Blog Theme: Olsen...................................................................................... 42
2.3 How to Setup a Free Theme (Using Astra)....................................................................................... 43
2.3.1. My TWO (MOST Valuable but Overlooked) Tips for Setting Your Blog Theme: .................... 50
2.4. How To Setup Astra Basic Guide (Continuation): ........................................................................... 53
2.4.1. GLOBAL (“TYPOGRAPHY”): ...................................................................................................... 54
2.4.2. GLOBAL (“CONTAINER”) AKA THEME LAYOUT: ....................................................................... 59
2.4.3. HEADER BUILDER (INCLUDES THE LOGO OR BLOG NAME): ................................................... 60
2.4.4. WHAT IS A SITE TAGLINE?......................................................................................................... 61
2.4.5. BLOG (“BLOG / ARCHIVE”): ...................................................................................................... 63
2.4.6. SIDEBAR: .................................................................................................................................. 64
2.4.7. How To Insert a profile, image, or logo into your blog’s sidebar ............................................ 67
3. WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR BEGINNERS................................................................................................. 73
3.1 How to Install Plugins on WordPress ............................................................................................... 74
3.2 List of Plugins for Beginners ............................................................................................................. 75
3.2.1. Classic Editor ............................................................................................................................. 75
3.2.2 Yoast SEO ................................................................................................................................... 76
3.2.3 WP Fastest Cache ...................................................................................................................... 78
3.2.4 Grow Social by Mediavine......................................................................................................... 79
3.2.5 WPCode ..................................................................................................................................... 80
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4. MUST-HAVE TOOLS FOR BEGINNERS ..................................................................................................... 82
4.1 Free Spell-Check Tool ....................................................................................................................... 82
4.2 ChatGPT (AI Writing Tool) ................................................................................................................ 83
4.3 Setting up Google Analytics Tool ..................................................................................................... 84
5. HOW TO SETUP PAGES FOR YOUR BLOG MENU .................................................................................... 87
5.1 How To Create A Page On WordPress .............................................................................................. 91
5.2 About Me Page ................................................................................................................................. 94
5.2.1 “About Me” Example: An Expert in the Beauty Niche ............................................................. 95
5.2.2 Do You Need to Emphasize You’re an Expert?.......................................................................... 95
5.2.3 Don't Stress Too Much About Your "About Me" Page! ............................................................ 96
5.2.4 “About Me” Page Template ....................................................................................................... 98
5.3 Contact Me Page............................................................................................................................. 100
5.3.1 Creating a new e-mail for your blog ....................................................................................... 101
5.4 Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Terms & Conditions ...................................................................... 107
5.4.1 What is a Privacy Policy? ........................................................................................................ 108
5.4.2 How to Setup Your Privacy Policy Page on WordPress........................................................... 109
5.4.3. Disclaimer Page ...................................................................................................................... 113
5.4.4. Terms & Conditions Page ....................................................................................................... 115
5.4.5 The Legal Templates You Need for Your Blog ......................................................................... 116
5.5 How To Setup Your Menu On WordPress ...................................................................................... 119
6. WHAT TO DO BEFORE PUBLISHING YOUR FIRST BLOG POST .............................................................. 127
6.1 WordPress Classic Editor ................................................................................................................ 128
6.2 Permalinks Setting .......................................................................................................................... 130
6.3 How To Choose A Niche & Determining Your Avatar .................................................................... 132
6.3.1. How To Choose Your Niche .................................................................................................... 132
6.3.2 How To Determine Your Avatar............................................................................................... 135
7. HOW TO WRITE, DRAFT AND PUBLISH YOUR FIRST BLOG POST ........................................................ 141
7.1 What is a Permalink?...................................................................................................................... 142
7.2 The Basics of Using Permalinks When Drafting Your Blog Post .................................................... 145
7.2.1 My Advice When Naming Your Permalink: ............................................................................ 148
7.3 How To Write Your First Blog Post ................................................................................................. 153
7.3.1 Don’t Aim for the Perfect Blog Post! ...................................................................................... 153
7.4. Write Your Draft with Word or Google Docs ................................................................................ 155
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7.5 Adding Headings and Subheadings on Your Post .......................................................................... 156
7.6 The “Quote Box” in Your Post ........................................................................................................ 159
7.7 How Many Words Should You Have In Your Blog Post? ................................................................ 161
7.8 Quick Tip for Food or Recipe Posts ................................................................................................ 164
8. WHERE TO FIND IMAGES FOR YOUR BLOG POSTS .............................................................................. 166
8.1 What To Do Before Downloading An Image .................................................................................. 167
8.2 Where to Find Free Stock Photos................................................................................................... 168
8.2.1 Quick Tutorial on How to Use Unsplash ................................................................................. 169
8.2.2 How To Choose & Download Images ...................................................................................... 172
8.3 Where to Find Premium Stock Photos ........................................................................................... 174
9. HOW TO INSERT IMAGES ON YOUR BLOG POST ................................................................................. 177
9.1 Compressing Your Images .............................................................................................................. 178
9.2 How to Setup a Feature Image for Your Blog Post ........................................................................ 181
9.3 How to Insert Images Throughout Your Blog Post ........................................................................ 184
10. HOW TO CREATE & INSERT LINKS TO OTHER ARTICLES..................................................................... 190
10.1 External Linking ............................................................................................................................ 191
10.2 Internal Linking ............................................................................................................................. 192
10.2.1 Tips and Tricks on Linking Your Other Blog Posts ................................................................. 194
10.3 How to Link to Other Articles in Your Blog Post .......................................................................... 197
11. How To Add A Category To Your Blog Post ........................................................................................ 202
11.1 How to Brainstorm and Come Up with Some Categories ........................................................... 206
12. HOW TO ADD WIDGETS ON WORDPRESS ......................................................................................... 209
12.1 What is a Widget? ....................................................................................................................... 212
12.2 How to Add a Sidebar on Your Blog ............................................................................................. 213
13. HOW TO CREATE A LOGO FOR YOUR WEBSITE .................................................................................. 218
13.1. Creating Your Logo with Canva ................................................................................................... 221
13.1.1 Using A Premade Template For Your Logo............................................................................ 223
13.1.2. Using The Elements Tab ....................................................................................................... 224
13.1.3. Guide On Creating Anything With Canva ............................................................................ 225
13.2 Using Your Logo Under Your Site Identity .................................................................................... 225
13.3. Your Tagline Under Your Site Identity ......................................................................................... 229
14. LEAVING COMMENTS ON OTHER BLOGS ........................................................................................... 232
14.1 How To Enable Comments on WordPress ................................................................................... 233
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14.2 Should You Comment On Other Blogs For Traffic? ...................................................................... 235
14.3 Blog Comments and Potential Google SEO Ranking Benefits ..................................................... 238
15. UNLOCK TRAFFIC POTENTIAL: HOW TO GET BLOG TRAFFIC ............................................................. 241
15.1. Pinterest Search Results: ............................................................................................................. 242
15.2. Google Search Results: ................................................................................................................ 244
15.3. How To Get Traffic on Pinterest For Beginners ........................................................................... 247
15.3.2. Create a Profile ..................................................................................................................... 251
15.3.3 Create Boards ........................................................................................................................ 253
15.3.4. Pinterest SEO and Keyword Research .................................................................................. 255
15.4. What Is Keyword Research? ........................................................................................................ 257
15.5. Create Pin Images with Canva..................................................................................................... 265
15.5.1. Creating Pin Designs That Draw in Traffic and Views .......................................................... 267
15.5.2. How To Link Your Blog Posts to Your Pin Images ................................................................. 271
15.5.3. Small Bonus: How to Make Your First Pin on Canva ........................................................... 274
16. HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING ................................................................................................... 287
16.1. Display Advertising ...................................................................................................................... 288
16.2. Affiliate Marketing ...................................................................................................................... 291
16.2.1. What is Affiliate Marketing? ................................................................................................ 291
16.2.2. How Does Affiliate Marketing Work? .................................................................................. 292
16.2.3. Amazon Associates Example ................................................................................................ 294
16.2.4. How To Get with Affiliate Marketing Using Amazon Associates. ....................................... 297
16.2.5. Other Examples of My Affiliate Earnings ............................................................................. 302
16.3. Create a Product .......................................................................................................................... 308
16.3.1. Creating e-books .................................................................................................................. 309
16.3.2. Creating printables ............................................................................................................... 310
16.3.2. Create online courses ........................................................................................................... 311
16.4. Sponsored Posts .......................................................................................................................... 312
17. HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH DISPLAY ADVERTISING ...................................................................... 314
17.2. Applying for Ad Networks ........................................................................................................... 323
17.2.1. Earning Ads With Google Adsense (or Ezoic) ...................................................................... 323
17.2.2. Earning Ads With Monumetric ............................................................................................ 326
17.2.3. Earning Ads With Mediavine ............................................................................................... 328
18. HOW TO CHOOSE A PROFITABLE NICHE YOU’LL ENJOY BLOGGING ABOUT ..................................... 335
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18.1 How to Enjoy Blogging While Making Money ............................................................................. 337
18.2 Niche-Focused Approach ............................................................................................................. 339
18.3 Multi-Niche Approach .................................................................................................................. 340
18.3.1 Starting a Lifestyle Blog (If You’re Really Indecisive) ........................................................... 341
18.3.2 From Niche-Specific to Lifestyle Blog: A True Story About Me… ......................................... 343
19. PROFITABLE NICHES............................................................................................................................ 346
19.1. Beauty, Skincare, Makeup & Fashion ......................................................................................... 349
19.2. Parenting & Mom Blogs .............................................................................................................. 350
19.3. Food and Recipes......................................................................................................................... 351
19.4. Travel & Eats ................................................................................................................................ 352
19.5. Fitness, Health & Wellness.......................................................................................................... 353
19.6. Arts & Crafts ................................................................................................................................ 356
19.7. Organizing .................................................................................................................................... 358
19.8. Home Renovation, Real Estate & Home Décor........................................................................... 361
19.9. Personal or Self-Development .................................................................................................... 363
19.11. Personal Finance & Money Matters ......................................................................................... 365
20. HOW TO USE CHATGPT TO WRITE A BLOG POST IN 15 MINUTES ..................................................... 368
20.1 What is ChatGPT? ......................................................................................................................... 370
20.2. How will ChatGPT help you write faster blog posts? ................................................................. 377
20.3 How to Use ChatGPT to Write Your Blog Post ............................................................................. 378
20.4 How to Use ChatGPT to Edit Your Blog Post ................................................................................ 390
20.4.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 391
20.4.2. The Body of Your Blog Post Using ChatGPT ......................................................................... 401
20.5 ChatGPT Prompts for Your Blog Posts.......................................................................................... 411
21. Should You Start E-mail Marketing As A Beginner? .......................................................................... 414
Next Steps – Level Up to Round 2 ............................................................................................................ 417
Blogging Tools & Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 424
Thank You! ................................................................................................................................................ 428
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Welcome!
First of all, I want to say congratulations on starting your blog! I am SUPER excited
for you! Starting a blog completely changed my life and I truly
believe that it could do the same for you!
Today, we're going through a step-by-step guide on how to set up your blog so you
can launch and share your great content with your raving fans!
I made this comprehensive tutorial as easy and concise as possible so you can get
your blog up and running quick – I know you are very anxious and excited to
publish your content.
One mistake that beginning bloggers make is that they try to perfect every single
thing. As a result, they spend hours, days or even months on the minuscule things
that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
I don’t want you to make that same mistake and not see results, so I always tell
beginners to aim for a grade B instead of a grade A++. You can always upgrade and
enhance your blog down the road as you gain more experience and understand
blogging better. This all comes within time.
For now, I just want you to understand the basics so you can get your blog up and
running. Trust me, a grade B is sufficient for beginners. Yes, even sufficient
enough to make money! Your readers won’t remember the nitty-gritty details of
your blog!
However, to help you avoid mistakes that are irreversible, I talk more about a few
particular things that you do NEED to get right the first time, so you don’t regret
when you become more experienced. These are mistakes I made and nobody
warned me about them. I only share this learn about The Finsavvy Panda Affiliate
Program to help you make money information with you so you don’t have to deal
with those problems later on.
Before you get started, be sure to by reading the next page.
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 10
Join My Affiliate Program
Again, thank you for investing in this The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30
Days! You are going to get a TON of value as a total beginner.
You’re going to get your money’s worth when you follow and implement all the
steps, tips and tricks taught in this ebook.
Now, if you want to earn back the investment you made in this ebook, and
generate future earnings passively with it, I invite you to join The Finsavvy Panda
Affiliate Program by following these 3 simple steps on this sheet here.
Joining my affiliate program is 100% free! This is a referral program where you will
be rewarded with a 40% commission on any sale when people buy any of our
products through you!
This is my way to say thank you for being a part of our team and spreading the
love! If you make at least 3 sales, you’re actually going to make a profit from the
investment of this ebook!
The beauty is you can continuously earn an affiliate income (passively) by
promoting my products for months and years down the road. I am super excited
to see you in my affiliate program so you can earn money too!
Again, you can get started by following the easy steps here.
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 11
4-WEEK AGENDA TO BUILD YOUR BLOG
I created this 4-Week Agenda to make it easy for you to follow the chapters in this
ebook. You don’t necessarily have to follow this outline. I only made this to make
your life easier and in case you’re unsure of where to start. Feel free to follow any
order that best suits you.
Remember, this ebook is designed to help you achieve your goals, but there's no
need to feel pressured or anxious about completing the tasks on a specific
timeline. Take your time (while pacing yourself) and feel free to follow the order
that works best for you. Even if it takes a few months to implement, that's okay!
What's important is that you take action and keep moving forward. Knowledge is
powerful, but it's only useful if you put it into action. So, stay positive and keep
taking those small steps towards achieving your dreams!
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WEEK 1
• FIRST REQUIREMENT: Before we get started with this ebook, it's crucial that
you have a self-hosted blog. To help you get started, I provided an easy
step-by-step tutorial here that will also give you 60% off your hosting plan!
• DAY 1: Start strong by diving into Chapter 1. Learn about WordPress and
the difference between its two versions. Then, read the "Getting Started
with the Basics" section to learn how to secure your website. You can find
this section right after Chapter 1.
• DAY 2 & 3: In these two days, read through Chapter 2 and log into your
WordPress dashboard to set up your blog theme. Remember, don't spend
too much time dwelling on the theme - you can always change it later.
• DAY 4: Continue with Chapter 3 and install all required plugins.
• DAY 5: Finish the week strong by reading through Chapter 4. Then, install
Grammarly to improve your writing and install Google Analytics to gain a
better understanding of how this tool can help your blog. Remember, taking
action is key!
• DAY 5: Make sure to read through Chapter 4 and install Grammarly to
improve your writing. After that, feel free to install Google Analytics to gain
a better understanding of how this tool can help your blog in the future.
However, it's important to note that installing Google Analytics should not
be a priority right now, especially if you don't have much traffic yet. Focus
on taking action and building your blog first, writing your first 5 to 10 blog
posts, and the rest will come in due time.
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WEEK 2
You can follow week 2 together with week 3.
Okay, this is a heavy learning week. You don’t have to implement them yet. Just
read, learn, and absorb as much information as possible for the week. However, if
you want to implement and take action while learning this week’s lessons, I
recommend following the schedule for week 3 together with this.
• DAY 1: Read section “Choosing A Niche & Determining Your Avatar” (this
section is after Chapter 6). Also, read Chapter 18 to 19. Go through these
pages before deciding what to write for your first blog post.
• DAY 2: Read Chapter 6 before proceeding to Chapter 7. Make sure to
implement what is taught in Chapter 6 (this is quick).
• DAY 3: Read Chapter 7 and Chapter 20. Learn how to draft your first blog
post.
• DAY 4: Read Chapters 8 & 9. Learn where to find beautiful images and how
to insert them in your blog posts.
• DAY 5: Read Chapter 10. Learn how to insert links in your articles.
• DAY 6: Read Chapter 11. Learn how to create a category for your blog post.
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WEEK 3
You can follow week 3 together with week 2.
• DAY 1: Read Chapter 20 at the same time. Sit down and write your first
blog post after going through all the chapters and sections mentioned in
Week 2. Refer to these chapters for instructions and guidance.
Take a break from writing if needed. Perhaps you want to review or re-learn
something that you did not fully understand the first time.
Write down a list of 5 blog post ideas. This will help you stick with what to
write next. As a side note, “How To” and roundup posts do very well. For
more clues, spend up to 30 minutes browsing around your competitors’
websites to see what they write about. You can always write the same thing
but in your own voice, words and using your own experience.
PRO TIP: I highly recommend attempting to write your own blog post from
scratch (just to see what you can come up with) before you go through
Chapter 20, which shows you how I use ChatGPT to write a blog post in as
little as 15 minutes. I bet you’ll fall in love with Chapter 20!
• DAY 2: Refer to Chapter 8. Spend 30 minutes to browse through stock
photos and download 10 to 20 images for your next blog posts. Since
you’ve written down 5 blog post ideas, you’ll have a good idea of which
images will suit your next articles. This will save you time in the future.
• DAY 3: Write your second blog post. Follow Chapters 6 to 11 if you need
guidance. Revisit Chapters 18 & 19 sections if needed.
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• DAY 4: Write your third blog post. Follow Chapters 6 to 11 if you need
guidance. Revisit Chapters 18 & 19 sections if needed.
• DAY 5: Read Chapter 5. This is a good time to write your “About Me” page
since you now have a better understanding of what your blog is about after
drafting your first 3 posts. You can also draft a “Contact Me” page.
Remember, you don’t need to spend too much time here since you can
always update this later.
• DAY 6: Continue reading Chapter 5 and draft your privacy policy,
disclaimer, and terms & conditions page. If you have time, go through
Chapter 12 to learn how to create a sidebar for your blog. This will allow
you to upload your image or logo onto your sidebar. You can always revisit
Chapter 12 later on.
• DAY 7: Write your fourth blog post. Follow Chapters 6 to 11 if you need
guidance. Revisit Chapters 18 & 19 if needed.
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WEEK 4
• DAY 1: Write your fifth blog post.
• DAY 2: Follow Chapters 6 to 11 if you need guidance. Revisit Chapters 18 &
19 if needed.
• DAY 3: Create your blog’s side menu by adding widgets to it. Refer to
Chapter 12 for a quick tutorial and play around with it until you are satisfied
with the look.
• DAY 4: I highly recommend reviewing or going through any lesson you feel
that you need to re-learn. This will help you fill in any gaps.
• DAY 5: Read Chapter 13. Learn how to create a logo for your website using
Canva. Understand what “Site Identity” means and fill this out in your
WordPress dashboard.
• Day 6: Read Chapter 15 & 16. BEFORE you learn how to make money with
your blog, you NEED to learn how bloggers get traffic to their websites.
Hence, it’s important to read Chapter 15 before moving onto Chapter 16.
The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic gives you a comprehensive and
effective strategy on how you can skyrocket your blog traffic with Pinterest.
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AFTER WEEK 4
Congratulations! You’ve set up your blog and it’s officially launched! After this, it’s
a good idea to have 25 to 30 blog posts ready upfront.
Once you’ve reached that number, you can continue to write 1 blog post a week
or 1 every two weeks just to “maintain” publishing content consistently while
learning other aspects of blogging like how to get traffic from Pinterest.
Of course, it may be better to have more content, but I want to say that blogging
generally becomes easier after this.
If you are a fast writer and you love writing, then go ahead and write more – this
will allow you to alternate more blog posts on Pinterest when it comes to
promoting your content!
Don’t rush your content by trying to pump out one post each day because
promoting your content should be your main focus (even when you only have 510 to start).
This becomes a little easier once you reach you first 30, 50 and even 100 blog
posts. However, if you’re a fast writer and have a long list of blog post ideas that
you can’t wait to publish, then by all means write them all up!
The suggestion on one blog post a week is for people, like me, who find it
challenging to write.
And that is why I mentioned in Chapter 4, you can use a tool like ChatGPT to help
you speed up your writing. With the help of this tool, you can overcome writer's
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 18
block and create blog posts in less time. You can learn how to use ChatGPT in
Chapter 20, How to Write a Blog Post in 30 Minutes.
Alrighty, let’s get started on building the blog of your dreams!
For those of you who already signed up for a blog with Bluehost, please proceed
to the section “Before Getting Started: Do This Immediately After Signing Up For
Bluehost”.
For those who don’t have a blog yet, please follow this easy tutorial where you
can start your blog. You will also get 60% off your web hosting plan when you
sign up through my tutorial page.
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 19
CHAPTER 0:
DO THIS IMMEDIATELY
AFTER SIGNING UP FOR
BLUEHOST
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DOMAIN PRIVACY + PROTECTION PLAN
This is for those of you who already started a blog with Bluehost. But if you don’t
have a blog yet, follow this step-by-step tutorial to create one now. Also, when
you use my Bluehost link, don’t forget to send me your Bluehost receipt with
your domain name because I have a special gift worth $50 for you! You can email
me your receipt at ling@finsavvypanda.com.
I added this section because I received a lot of emails from readers (who already
started their blogs) about this, so here is the very first thing I want you to do if you
haven’t yet.
I recommend adding the Domain Privacy + Protection plan because this feature
will protect you from receiving spam emails and calls.
It only costs $1.25 to $1.99/mo. (between $15 to $18 all paid upfront for the
whole year) depending on which country you reside. It’s a very tiny investment
that’s well worth it!
Follow these simple steps to proceed if you did not add this yet.
Step 1: Log into Bluehost control panel with this link:
https://my.bluehost.com/cgi-bin/cplogin
Step 2: Enter email or domain name and password.
If you don’t remember, reset it. If you have any issues, please contact Bluehost
support.
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Step 3: Click on “Marketplace” >> “Add-ons” on the left panel once you’ve logged
in.
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Step 4: Scroll down until you see “Domain Privacy + Protection” in the selection.
This should be between $1.25 to $1.99/mo. (depends on your country and where
you live). Not expensive and worth investing in this.
Step 5: Make sure you select your domain name from the drop down. Check “agree to the
terms and conditions” and click “By Now” button.
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DON’T HAVE A DOMAIN NAME YET?
For those of you who already have a blog domain name, you can skip this part.
That means when you registered for your blog, you already knew what name to
give your blog. Your blog URL would be www.yourdomainname.com like how mine
is www.finsavvypanda.com.
However, for those with NO domain name yet, and you selected the “I’ll choose a
domain name later” option while signing up for a Bluehost plan, make sure to
read this section. Your temporary domain name would look something like this:
abc.myxyz.bluehost.me.
I included this super quick and easy video tutorial (link attached in my Google
drive below) to help you register your blog name. YES, it is FREE, and you don’t
have to pay since you already purchased a web hosting plan!
Before you watch the video, make sure to log into your Control Panel through your
Bluehost log in here: https://my.bluehost.com/web-hosting/cplogin so you can
follow along with the video.
Ok, whenever you’re ready, click on it to watch and proceed:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v2utNPlsJNcYEG0ui4LTx5hH9v7U8CgR/view
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READ THIS PART!!!
I highly recommend thoroughly reading Chapters 15 to 17 for the next steps after
following the 4-Week Agenda. Also, keep reviewing Chapters 18 & 19 (along with
“Determining Your Niche and Avatar” mini section) until you fully understand
them. These lessons are a primer to help you get started with traffic and
monetization strategies.
ALSO, DO THIS NOW: You’ll also want to make sure you install “Classic Editor”
plugin before you follow WordPress screenshots in this guide. See Chapter 3 on
how to do this.
As a new blogger, it’s very important to implement the 80/20 rule: spend 80% of
your time learning how to build a blog and promoting your content – along with
that comes with implementing traffic and monetization strategies. The
remaining 20% goes to actually writing content.
Now, here’s a little secret that many new bloggers don't realize you don't need to
write a new blog post every day to make money. That's only necessary for big
publishing businesses with lots of experience and resources.
Let’s talk about how to make money as a new blogger. Many successful bloggers
earn their income by mastering Pinterest and SEO strategies. They're always
learning and testing different approaches to see what works best for them.
The key is to create content that search engines and social media algorithms will
love - this will help you rank higher in search results and attract more readers to
your site.
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It's important to be patient and give your blog time to grow - aim for at least 6 to
8 months and 30 to 50 blog posts before expecting significant results. And don't
forget to promote your top-performing posts to help them gain even more
traction with search algorithms. For more in-depth advice on using Pinterest to
drive traffic to your blog, check out my guide, The Golden Compass To Pinterest
Traffic.
Again, it’s important to remember that success doesn't come from writing a new
article every day.
Even those who earn a full-time income from their blogs know that learning traffic
and monetizing strategies is just as important, if not more so. They're constantly
working behind the scenes to figure out what works best for their blog and
audience.
If you're struggling with writing, don't worry - you're not alone. Many bloggers
find it challenging to come up with new content on a regular basis. That's why I
recommend using tools like ChatGPT to help you out. With the help of AI tools like
this, even slow writers like me can produce high-quality content in less time.
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CHAPTER 1:
WHAT IS WORDPRESS FOR
BEGINNERS?
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1. WHAT IS WORDPRESS?
Before we learn how to build your blog using WordPress, let’s quickly and briefly
talk about what WordPress is.
I know you don’t care about the technical details, and I don’t want to waste your
time, so this will be a quick introduction. Plus, it’s important to know the basics.
WordPress is one of the world’s most popular tool for people to create a
professional-looking website. That includes people like you and I who aren’t
developers. THANK GOODNESS because I wouldn’t have been able to start a blog
if it required technical or coding knowledge!
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Now, I also thought it would be useful to educate you on a few things to avoid
confusion.
When we hear the term, “WordPress,” many people get confused because there
are two ways to use WordPress. One way is through WordPress.com and the other
is through WordPress.org.
1.1 What is WordPress.org?
In our discussion, when we talk about "WordPress," we're referring to
WordPress.org. This version of WordPress is self-hosted (through a host like
Bluehost), which means you own your website and you're in full control – yes,
you’re the boss!
Think about it this way. It's like owning your own house versus renting a room in
someone else's house.
On top of that, by going self-hosted, your blog will look more professional and
your domain name will be customized, like www.yourdomainname.com. This way,
you'll have full ownership and control over your blog. For example, my blog is selfhosted, so my domain name is www.finsavvypanda.com. As a result, you will have
complete control over the design and functionality of your blog – this is what my
ebook will teach you.
1.2 What is WordPress.com?
On the other hand, when you start a free blog through WordPress.com, you can
write and publish blog posts without paying for hosting. But here's the catch - you
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don't actually own the blog because it's not self-hosted. It's like living in your
parents' basement rent-free, but you don't get to decorate it or make it your own.
Ugh, BORING, right?
For the sake of simplicity, just know that when people say they use WordPress
through a free blogging platform, it means they don’t own their website.
If I started a “free” blog, my domain name would look something like this:
www.finsavvypanda.wordpress.com. Do you see the difference in domain name
compared to the self-hosted one I mentioned above, www.finsavvypanda.com?
When you have the domain name, www.finsavvypanda.wordpress.com, you don’t
own your website. On top of that, you’ll have very limited to no control on what
you can do with the blog.
For example, your blog posts could be taken down without any notice. Depending
on the terms and conditions, they may prohibit you from using their platform to
sell your products, use affiliate marketing, or other methods to make money. It's
like playing in someone else's sandbox and having to follow their rules.
This is why I always recommend people to go self-hosted especially if they plan on
monetizing it.
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1.3 Our Focus on WordPress.org (AKA “WordPress”)
Throughout this ebook, I will guide you step-by-step on how to use WordPress so
you can quickly launch your blog before you dive your head into learning traffic
and monetizing strategies.
I use both my Finsavvy Panda blog and one of my test accounts on WordPress to
show you how to setup and launch your blog the right way.
1.3.1 How to Log Onto Your WordPress Dashboard
This entire ebook will assume that you’ve logged onto your WordPress account.
So, make sure you are logged into your WordPress through your admin login using
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this link (NOT literally this link since you need to insert your own domain name):
https://www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin
For example, if your domain name is “www.coffeecatlover.com” you would enter
your username and password using this link: https://www.coffeecatlover.com/wpadmin
If you signed up for a blog through a self-hosting company like Bluehost, you
would have stumbled upon an easy “1-click WordPress installation” process.
During this process, you would have registered for a username and password for
WordPress.
If you have trouble logging in, click on the “Lost your password?” link to reset it.
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GETTING STARTED WITH
THE BASICS:
HOW TO SECURE YOUR
WEBSITE
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How To Secure Your Website
Before we head onto chapter
2, we are going to quickly
learn how to secure your
website. In other words, we
are going to learn how to get
a free SSL certificate for your
WordPress site.
Don’t worry, it’s going to be
quick and easy. No technical
talk here! To take a step back, SSL stands for “secure sockets layer” and what this
does is it secures any data transfer between a user’s browser and the website
they are visiting.
Think about the time you are shopping online. Without an SSL, online shopping
would be insecure and unsafe since hackers could view sensitive data when
shoppers make a purchase with their credit cards.
When you visit a website or blog with "https," the "s" after the "http" indicates the
website is secure. These websites use SSL certificates to verify their authenticity.
For example, when you visit my website, it should automatically be
https://www.finsavvypanda.com instead of http://www.finsavvypanda.com.
This is why we are going to make your website secure so it’s safe for your readers
to visit. Plus, Google has said that they are favoring “https” websites over “http”
sites.
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Step 1: Log into your Control Panel through your Bluehost log in here:
https://my.bluehost.com/web-hosting/cplogin
Step 2: On the top right corner, hover on your avatar and click on “Security” as
per screenshot below.
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Step 3: On the left hand side of the dashboard, click on “My Sites” based on the
screenshot below.
Step 4: Click on “manage site” button as per screenshot below.
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Step 5: Make sure you toggle your settings to “ON” for the “Free SSL Certificate”.
NOTE: Some of you may see it “pending” because your site is still too new. Give
it at least one week and come back to follow these steps again. On the other
hand, you may see the word “Unknown” next to the “Free SSL Certificate”. In
this case, I highly recommend you contacting the support team of your hosting
company and ask them why this is missing.
Alternatively, you can install a plugin called “Really Simple SSL” and simply activate
it. But before you activate this plugin, I recommend making a backup of your site
using a free plugin called “UpdraftPlus”. I teach you how to install and activate
plugins in Chapter 3. Also, be sure to always backup copies of your content on
Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
I still highly recommend you contacting your support team about the “Unknown”
text next to your “Free SSL Certificate” before attempting the plugin option.
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CHAPTER 2:
HOW TO SETUP YOUR BLOG
THEME
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2. HOW TO SETUP YOUR BLOG THEME ON
WORDPRESS
Again, make sure to have the “Classic Editor” plugin installed before following
along with the screenshots in this guide. Chapter 3 will have this plugin covered.
And now, please read this chapter over again and again until you NAIL IT in your
head. I know it will be one of the most challenging parts to get through but
please do yourself a favor so that you don’t have to go nuts over this chapter.
Before we start, I want to stress out something that is VERY important. I recently
added this here because I ALWAYS receive emails from people who get very, and I
mean VERY, caught up with their themes and how their blog looks.
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When you are a total beginner who is new to the blogging space, you DO NOT
need to get too hung up with the look of your blog especially when web
designing is not your expertise.
I must admit it becomes challenging for me to change people’s mindset about this
part. It’s the one thing that prevents beginners from moving forward with their
blogs because they can’t stop dwelling on their blog’s appearance, and I don’t
want to see this happen to you.
I’m NOT saying it’s ok to have an ugly blog where it’s an eyesore for your readers
because that’s NOT ok! It still needs to look good and easy for your readers to
browse around, and I do lay out the free and budget-friendly options in a bit.
But If you want a perfect and professional-looking (AKA “pretty” or “gorgeous”)
website right off the bat, you would either need to know coding, OR you would
need to hire a professional website designer. That alone costs several hundreds
and even thousands of dollars.
Most beginners don’t know that bloggers with the prettiest websites either 1)
have experience with designing or 2) they paid several hundreds or even
thousands of dollars to get someone to do it for them. These are things people
don’t openly tell you about.
Having that said, when you are a beginner, I will tell you that being a successful
blogger has nothing to do with how pretty your website looks.
I understand that we all want a “perfect” and “professional-looking” site, but this
won’t happen immediately. The good thing is you can always improve the
appearance of your site when you have more experience with blogging.
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What I’m trying to tell you is it is MORE than sufficient and good enough to just
install a user-friendly theme (regardless of if you choose a free or paid pre-made
theme), do a few customizations, and head straight to writing and publishing your
blog posts.
Having valuable content that is actually helpful, and learning how to get traffic,
is what drives your blog earnings!
Now that we have that cleared, let’s FINALLY get started with this chapter on how
to setup your blog theme on WordPress!
2.1. What is a Blog Theme?
A blog theme is simply the overall layout, cosmetic and look of your website.
Luckily, you DON’T need any coding skills to get the theme you like. All it requires
is browsing through a catalog of themes (it’s like shopping for candy and makeup
at the girl’s shop) and choosing the theme you like.
Once you've selected a theme, you can make minor tweaks through a few
customizable options that are super user-friendly!
As a beginner, you can choose a free theme or a paid theme.
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2.2. FinSavvy Panda’s First Blog Theme: Olsen
FinSavvy Panda started off with a free website theme called Olsen, and it was still
able to earn a six-figure income.
Despite the “pretty” theme, I don’t recommend it today due to its slow response
and its lack of ability to optimize for Google SEO purposes. I’m not going to get too
technical into what that means (because I don’t want to overwhelm you), but
trust me, you’ll want to follow my recommendation of using either the Astra or
Kadence theme – both come with a free and paid version.
You can start off with the free as a beginner and you probably won’t want to
update it until you understand the foundations and get some traffic.
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To put things into perspective, there are bloggers who are still using the free
version and earning $3,000 per month. It goes to show that you don’t need to
invest money in a theme if you don’t want to.
I invested in The Foodie theme several years ago, but they stopped making this
(and this was then, so I just kept it since I have no time to change it). If I were to
start a new blog today, I would totally use Astra or Kadence.
In the next section, I’ll walk you step-by-step on how to setup your theme using
Astra.
2.3 How to Setup a Free Theme (Using Astra)
Not only do I recommend Astra, but many professional bloggers recommend it
too for optimization reasons.
Benefits of the Astra theme include the following:
• Lightweight
• Fast-loading
• Very beginner-friendly (it’s not uncommon to see that many experienced
and pro bloggers continue to run with it)
• Super easy to customize
• Free (although you can upgrade to paid versions)
Again, I am saying this in all honesty, if I were to start a new blog over again, Astra
(or Kadence) are the themes I would choose due to its simplicity.
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I really wish I knew about the Astra theme when I first started my blog because it
would have saved me a ton of time from navigating other random themes were
too technical and complicated.
Not to mention, one of the first blog themes that I used (Olsen along with other
ones available on WordPress) delivered slow loading time, which can negatively
affect how people will find you on search engines like Google.
For all those reasons, I am very adamant in recommending Astra theme (both the
free and paid version) as an example in this guide to help you get your blog up
and running as soon as possible.
NOTE: If you choose another theme, you may spend more time trying to figure
out how to setup your blog. Although the steps and concepts will be similar for
most WordPress themes, it’s not exactly the same since all themes are made
differently and with different settings/functions. Still, this should give you some
guidance on what to look for when setting up any blog.
Again, I can’t stress this enough, but I want to keep harping that you should really
give this theme a try (especially if you’re a total beginner who is NOT tech-savvy).
Yes, you will still face some challenges at the beginning, but it is a lot easier than
many other themes.
I keep repeating myself here because I constantly receive emails from readers
who get so worked up and frustrated with setting up their themes with a different
brand. So, by following my advice, and not getting hung up on your blog design,
you’ll get your blog up and running as quickly as possible.
Okay, let’s get started.
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Step 1: Log into your WordPress (WP) Admin
You can do this by going to www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin.
For example, if your blog domain name is ilovepinkcats.com, then type
www.ilovepinkcats.com/wp-admin into your web browser.
Next, enter your username (or e-mail address) associated with the account along
with your password.
If you forgot your password, or don’t know it, just reset it and create a new one.
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Step 2: Go to “Appearance” ➔ “Themes”
On the left side of your WP dashboard panel, go to “Appearance” >> “Themes”.
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Step 3: Add a new theme.
You’ll see something like this where you can see a list of themes you’ve used. If
your account is totally brand new, you may only see the box, “Add New Theme”.
Click on that big box with a “+” sign – “Add New Theme”.
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Step 4: Search for the Astra theme
In the search bar where it says “Search themes…”, type in “Astra” and hit enter.
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Next, you’ll see the Astra theme, which looks like this:
Hover over the theme and click on the “Install” button.
You can also click on “preview” to see how the theme looks on your desktop and
mobile.
Step 5: Customize your theme.
Once you’ve installed the Astra theme, click on the “customize” button so you can
start customizing your theme. There are so many ways to stylize and tweak your
theme – all you have to do is navigate around and play with it.
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In this remaining guide, I’ll give you the basic setup plan with the Astra theme so
you can get this out of the way and start focusing on what’s important – writing
your blog posts without stressing about how your theme looks!
But before that, I want to mention some really important tips. Whatever I’m
about to say, please nail this in your head (again), and just trust me based on my
own experience. In fact, most experienced bloggers who are being raw, authentic
and truthful about what you should or should not spend your time/money on as
a beginner will very likely say the same too.
2.3.1. My TWO (MOST Valuable but Overlooked) Tips for Setting Your Blog Theme:
I mentioned this earlier, but I really HAVE to reiterate this again because I KNOW
I’ll be receiving more emails from readers fussing about how their theme. They
will tell me it doesn’t look as nice as someone else’s who spent thousands of
dollars on it DEPSITE the fact that I’ve said this a million times (already).
Okay, your blog theme doesn’t have to look pretty or “fancy Dancy” for now.
Repeat after me.
“My blog does not have to look perfect (for now).”
If you’ve just started your blog as a beginner, I highly recommend getting this very
basic (Astra) theme setup without dwelling so much on aesthetics or appearance.
Why should you trust me on this?
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Well, based on my experience, and what I see over and over again in my entire
blogging career…
1. Writing and optimizing your blog posts is the top priority (NOT how pretty your
website looks)
Focusing on keyword research and publishing your content is a top priority if you
want to get blog traffic as soon as possible.
FYI: If “keyword research” sounds foreign to you, it just means searching for
highly searched phrases on search engines like Google and Pinterest. I actually
cover Pinterest “keyword research” in every detail possible and how you can use
it to explode your blog traffic in my best-selling traffic guide, The Golden
Compass To Pinterest Traffic – you’ll seriously be mind-blown by all the
information I jam packed into this all-in-one comprehensive course!
I often see SO many beginners dwell and spend all that unnecessary time on their
themes that they lose sight of why they even started their blogs. They become
hung up about every little detail that they don’t end up writing and publishing a
good amount of content until 3 or 6 months later.
It’s not uncommon for me to see people publish even 1 year later. The crazy part
is even at that time (after 6 months to 1 year, sometimes even 2 years), they STILL
dwell over their themes while also wondering why their blog isn’t taking off as
soon as they hoped.
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As you can see, they’ve got their priorities set backward, and I don’t want to see
you make that same mistake!
2. No one remembers how your website looks!
Secondly, no one is visiting your blog (especially when it’s new), so it doesn’t
matter how it looks right now. Even if you are getting some traffic at the
beginning, no single person (not even your mom) is going to remember how your
site looks.
And here’s the good thing if you tend to have OCD (like most people do) with the
appearance of your site. Your blog design and how you want to build your brand
can EASILY be updated once you start getting more traffic. I can guarantee that
you’re pleasing no one when you spend all that time on your theme. I’ve always
had readers ask me how I was able to earn a full-time income with my blog within
12 months! And you know what my answer is? This…
Here’s my simple yet often overlooked answer (because people tend to look
for complication and end up seeing no progress): NOT dwelling on how my
blog’s appearance was one factor that helped me focus my time, energy,
investment, and effort on areas that generated a WAY higher return – that
includes learning Pinterest for traffic, Tailwind, HOW to REALLY write and
optimize my blog posts, and understanding how blogs really make money
behind the scenes. So, again, how pretty your blog looks is not a top priority at
the beginning.
Okay, now that you understand that let’s continue with where we last left of…
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2.4. How To Setup Astra Basic Guide (Continuation):
PREREQUISITE: Have at least one blog post published before proceeding with
this guide, so you can follow along. Having at least one blog post, or even up to
3 articles ready on your website will make it easier for you to visualize your
customization.
Now that you’ve installed the Astra theme from the previous tutorial in Section
2.3, here are the basic setups I recommend getting your blog ready for launch.
In the remaining tutorial, I am going to use one of my test websites to
demonstrate this. This website is called The Modern Mocha, and I created this
blog separately to help you set up your blog.
The Modern Mocha is not intended to get traffic or to monetize – it exists to show
beginners like you how to set up your blogs with a fast and lightweight theme like
Astra.
By demonstrating The Modern Mocha as an example, it will help you move
forward and reach your blogging goals much faster.
Again, you can always tweak your theme and fancy it up once you’ve set up a
basic foundation and become a little more experienced with blogging.
Now, let’s get back to where we left off from step 5 above.
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KEEP IN MIND: I won’t go through every single setting or function since that can
take up to 500 pages of documentation, so I will highlight the important ones to
get your blog ready for launch. You’ll need to play around with the hundreds of
functions and options to see what works best for you.
2.4.1. GLOBAL (“TYPOGRAPHY”):
Once you’re in “customization”, from step 5 above (see above screenshot where
you click on the “customize” button), you should look something like this.
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This category contains one important aspect of your theme appearance, which is
the “typography” (AKA font, text, and size).
Typography is broken down into two categories – “base font” and “heading font”.
The general rule of thumb is you’ll want your font to be big enough for your
readers to read from their devices.
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Here’s what I did with The Modern Mocha website. The link to this post is here
and you can follow these settings, and/or tweak them to your own preference.
Base Font: You can choose your font and size in this setting. I recommend
choosing anything between 18 to 20 PX, but it depends on what font face you
pick.
•
•
•
•
Family: Inherit
Size: 20
Weight: Inherit
Text Transform: Default
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Heading Font: Heading 1 is generally the title of your blog post whereas heading 2
is the subtitle.
Here is what heading 1 looks like at size 40 PX:
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And here is heading 2, at size 26 PX, which are my subtitles:
There are also headings 3 and 4, which I rarely use. I usually use up to heading 3,
but anything beyond that is unnecessary. You can choose the sizes of each
heading as you wish.
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2.4.2. GLOBAL (“CONTAINER”) AKA THEME LAYOUT:
This is just how you like your overall layout to look, either boxed or stretched.
For The Modern Mocha, I am using the “Boxed” option, which you can see my
post is in a “boxed” place if you check out my homepage. This is the “default”
setting and I personally like it better than the other choices.
You can also try the “full width / stretched” option, which would give this
appearance on your blog roll:
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2.4.3. HEADER BUILDER (INCLUDES THE LOGO OR BLOG NAME):
With Astra Theme, you can quickly and easily create your own custom blog header
with the “Header Builder”. This feature allows users to customize their blog’s
branding, including logo placement, title font size and color, menu location, and
more.
By taking advantage of the “Header Builder”, you can create a unique and eyecatching blog header that will help draw visitors to your blog. However, you don’t
need to make this fancy when you first set up your website; you can always come
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back and make changes later on once you figure out how you want your logo to
look. For now, just type in your blog name along with your site tagline.
2.4.4. WHAT IS A SITE TAGLINE?
A site tagline is a brief sentence or phrase (no more than 15 words) that helps
your readers understand what your blog is about. When crafting your site tagline,
make sure it’s concise, memorable, and relevant to your audience.
For example, for The Modern Mocha test site, I used the tagline, “Home
organization and simple living made easy.”
This allows readers to know that the blog will focus on home organization and
simple living tips, without needing to read further.
By using an effective tagline, people can quickly decide if the blog is a good fit for
them. Always keep the intended audience in mind and craft your message
accordingly.
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Now, to input your blog name and tagline, go to Header Builder ➔ “Site Title &
Logo” under Elements tab ➔ “General” tab.
NOTE: You’ll notice a button called, “Select Logo”. If you’re using a program like
Canva to create a logo, you can simply use this button to upload your image or
logo. I personally recommend keeping this simple for now because it will allow
you to spend time to get started on your blog post, which is one of the most
crucial parts of building your blog. You can always create a logo 3 months down
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the road. There is really no rush since nothing is more important than
generating content for your readers.
2.4.5. BLOG (“BLOG / ARCHIVE”):
This allows you to switch the position of where you want to place your blog title
and feature image, along with the number of comments, category, and author.
You can see the image below to visualize this setting.
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2.4.6. SIDEBAR:
I talk more about the sidebar in Chapter 12, so you can review it there too.
The sidebar allows you to input your widgets for your blog page. You can choose
to hide or show the sidebar, depending on what type of layout you are looking for.
You can select, “Right Sidebar” in the Default Layout option to allow the Astra
theme to make room on the right-hand side for things like a search bar, bio or
profile, your recent blog posts, links to your top articles, or even links to the
products you want to direct your readers to.
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Sidebar customization: To customize the sidebar, you can go into your WP
dashboard and select “Appearance” then “Widgets”.
From here you can drag and drop widgets into the sidebar. This method gives you
more flexibility and customization options.
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This is how the sidebar of Blog Savvy Panda looks when I use the “Widgets” to
customize it. I used the image function for my logo and the text/paragraph
function for a short “About Me” section.
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2.4.7. How To Insert a profile, image, or logo into your blog’s sidebar
Let’s say, for instance, you want to insert a profile, image, or logo into your
sidebar. First, go to “Appearance” ➔ “Widgets” from your WP dashboard.
You’ll see your Main Sidebar or Right Sidebar. Next, click on the “+” button, and
then select the “Image” icon.
Selecting the “Image” icon will allow you to upload any image or logo you choose
from your computer/desktop. Make sure to hit the “Upload button” to do this.
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After choosing your image or logo, you’ll see this button with three dots – click on
that because we want to select “Edit as HTML” so that we can insert a basic HTML
code to center your profile image or logo (or else the image would be aligned to
the left as default).
Now, you can type in <center> at the beginning of the code, followed by </center>
at the very end to close it off.
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It would look something like this:
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Once you’ve done that, your image or logo will be centered:
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Note, you can move your blocks up and down by clicking the arrows to arrange
the placement of your image, links, text, and other categories, etc. It typically
makes sense to place your profile image or logo first, so go ahead and shift this all
the way to the top.
So far up to these steps, these are the basics you need to cover, so you can focus
on writing your blog posts.
REVIEW: You can review Chapter 7 to learn how to write, structure, and
optimize your first blog post.
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CHAPTER 3:
WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR
BEGINNERS
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3. WORDPRESS PLUGINS FOR BEGINNERS
You can think of WordPress plugins as apps. They allow you to add new features
and improve the functionality of your blog.
The beauty of plugins is you DON’T need to learn how to code something in order
to get a feature you want on your blog. This will make creating and launching your
blog easier! Think of how you use apps on your smartphone.
I don’t want to overwhelm you with plugins because there is a gazillion of them!
Plus, it’s not a good idea to download too many plugins as this will slow down
your website and may conflict with other plugins. Be cautious when you add
new plugins.
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For now, I list out all the must-have plugins for beginners to get your blog up and
running.
All of these are FREE which does the job, but you can always feel free to invest in
the premium versions in the future. They are all plugins I’ve been using since I
started my blog.
3.1 How to Install Plugins on WordPress
Before I list each plugin, it’s important I go through a quick tutorial on how to
install a new plugin in WordPress.
Step 1: Log onto your WordPress as usual. Go to “Plugins” ➔ “Add New” from
your Dashboard menu as per screenshot below.
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Step 2: Type in the name of the plugin you’re looking for into the “Search
plugins…” bar.
Step 3: Click on the "Install Now" button of the plugin you want to download.
Step 4: Click on the "Activate" button to activate the plugin.
3.2 List of Plugins for Beginners
Now that you know how to search and install plugins on WordPress, here is a list
of free ones I recommend for beginners.
3.2.1. Classic Editor
You can just type “classic editor” to search for this on WordPress.
The “classic editor” is a default editor that was used prior to the
introduction of the new Gutenberg editor in WordPress 5.0. It
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provides a simple and straightforward interface for creating and editing posts and
pages in WordPress.
Beginners who are new to WordPress may find the classic editor more intuitive
and easier to use compared to the Gutenberg editor. The classic editor allows
users to create and edit posts and pages using a traditional WYSIWYG (What You
See Is What You Get) editor interface, which is similar to using a word processor.
The main advantage of using the classic editor is its simplicity and ease of use,
which can be beneficial for beginners who are not yet familiar with the WordPress
platform. Additionally, some users may prefer the classic editor's interface
because it allows for more precise control over formatting and layout than the
block-based approach of the Gutenberg edit.
I personally use the Classic Editor myself and haven’t changed it. Since I’m creating
this guide for beginners on how to use WordPress, it will be helpful for you to just
stick to the classic version to follow along. Trust me, the new version is a bit more
challenging to learn and follow along because it uses “blocks” which can get quite
annoying.
3.2.2 Yoast SEO
First of all, SEO stands for "search engine optimization" and all
that really means is optimizing your blog posts with relevant
keywords to get your posts seen by people who are searching
for things on Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
If you're able to rank on the first page for something that gets searched a lot,
you'll get a ton of eyeballs and traffic onto your website.
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I am using the basic version of Yoast SEO plugin and all bloggers will recommend
this!
I don't want to overwhelm you here because SEO is beyond the scope of this
ebook. However, I do sprinkle important lessons related to SEO throughout this
ebook especially in Chapter 7 "How To Draft Your First Blog Post." It’s about
“permalinks” and I only cover the basic stuff which is MORE THAN enough to
help you avoid mistakes so you don’t regret any irreversible changes later on.
When you have time, I also recommend reading this beginner’s guide to Yoast
SEO AFTER you write your first 1-3 blog posts. Understand the basic functions like
“focus key phrase” and how to fill out the “Yoast SEO Metabox” but don’t dwell
too much over this information when you’re just starting out. You can always learn
more and change this later on.
QUICK TIP TO KEEP IN MIND: Don’t go crazy not hitting the green light on
everything on the Yoast checklist. You’ll get what I mean once you use this
plugin.
PRO TIP: I always recommend beginners to learn how to use Pinterest for traffic
before diving deep into Google SEO. You can learn more about the Pinterest
resources I use to get over 100,000 monthly pageviews via my recommendation
page.
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3.2.3 WP Fastest Cache
This plugin helps speed up your website and I'm using the basic
version on my smaller websites.
On my main websites with full-time income, I use something
called WP Rocket, which is a paid annual subscription.
With a faster website, you will improve user experience which is ultimately good
for SEO (which I briefly mentioned above).
All you need to do is install this into your WordPress and click on the “Activate”
button. Yup, that’s it! :)
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3.2.4 Grow Social by Mediavine
Grow Social is a plugin I use on all my blogs to make my posts
easily shareable. This is one of the best and most
recommended ones. There is a free and paid version. Free
will do the job. All it does is it adds the social media sharing
buttons such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. You don't
actually need to have those social media accounts to benefit
from the plugin because the reader can share your posts for you.
When a reader stops by your page, you want to make it easy for them to share
your blog posts. This can help increase your traffic over time so it's important you
install this plugin in the early stages of your blogging journey.
Once you’ve installed and activated this plugin, I highly recommend choosing
“Inline Content” instead of “Floating Sidebar” because the latter may distract
readers when they are scrolling through your content.
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3.2.5 WPCode
WPCode is just a simple plugin that allows you to copy and
paste a few codes into some headers and footers. Just install,
activate, and leave it for now. Don’t worry, this is a ONE-TIME
thing and it’s very simple to do.
Now, here’s the purpose of this plugin:
From time to time, you’ll need to copy and paste a code to get a tool working. For
example, when you register for a Business Pinterest account and claim your
website, you’ll be given a code from Pinterest to copy and paste.
This is where the WPCode plugin makes your life easier. Simply copy and paste the
code into either the header or footer. You’ll see what I mean later when you install
Google Analytics (I cover this later) and Pinterest.
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CHAPTER 4:
MUST-HAVE TOOLS FOR
BEGINNERS
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4. MUST-HAVE TOOLS FOR BEGINNERS
Now that you know which plugins you need to start your blog, we will be moving
onto the tools you need to help grow your blog. Here are two main must-have
tools for beginners to get your blog up and running.
4.1 Free Spell-Check Tool
As a beginner blogger, it's important to ensure that your content is
free from spelling and grammatical errors. Grammarly is a free online
tool that offers a quick and efficient way to proofread your writing,
identify and correct grammatical, punctuation, and spelling mistakes.
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There is also a paid version of Grammarly that offers additional features, such as
advanced grammar checks and plagiarism detection.
While the free version of Grammarly is enough for beginners, the paid version can
be more useful for professional bloggers or those looking for more advanced
features. Grammarly's real-time suggestions can help you learn from your
mistakes, expand your vocabulary, and improve the clarity and effectiveness of
your writing. You can download Grammarly here with this link.
Overall, having a tool like Grammarly in your toolkit can help you gain credibility
and establish your authority as a blogger, while also saving you time and effort in
the proofreading process.
4.2 ChatGPT (AI Writing Tool)
As a beginner in the world of blogging, you may struggle with
generating ideas, coming up with engaging content, or even
finding the right words to express your thoughts. That's where
ChatGPT comes in! ChatGPT is an AI-powered writing assistant
that can help you with all of these challenges and more.
With its advanced language processing capabilities, ChatGPT can help you come
up with new ideas for your blog posts, provide you with suggestions for improving
your writing, and even generate complete articles for you.
One of the most significant benefits of using ChatGPT is that it can save you time
and effort. Instead of spending hours trying to come up with ideas or struggling to
find the right words, you can simply type in a prompt or a topic, and this AI writing
tool will do the rest.
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Another benefit of ChatGPT is that it can help you improve your writing skills over
time. By providing you with suggestions for improving your writing, ChatGPT can
help you learn from your mistakes and become a better writer overall. Plus, since
ChatGPT can generate complete articles for you, it can also help you overcome
writer's block and keep your blog updated with fresh content.
4.3 Setting up Google Analytics Tool
This is a Google Analytics illustration on one of my other blogs.
I saved the best and most valuable tool for last!
This one wasn’t fun for me but the good thing is once you set it up correctly, you
won't ever have to think about it again!
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AND YES, it is vital and you should need to set this up!
Google Analytics is a free application and it allows you to track your daily visitors
and their browsing behavior. All of this information is GOLD and having access to
analyze this data will help grow your blog months and years beyond!
You'll have access to data such as pageviews and where they're coming from (e.g.
organic search traffic (Google), Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), unique users,
their location, gender, age group, interests, hobbies, etc.
I also created this separate PDF tutorial for you that shows you step-by-step
how to quickly install Google Analytics with all the screenshots.
This will show you how to sign up and install Google Analytics onto your
WordPress. In case you're wondering, I personally use the "Header and Footer"
approach (AKA the “WP Code” plugin).
Please only follow those instructions to install Google Analytics (this is the real
deal) and don’t dive off somewhere else. One mistake I see beginners make is they
start installing a “Monster Insights” plugin for Google Analytics from their
WordPress dashboard. Do not dive off to somewhere else!
Free resource: To learn more about Google Analytics for beginners, you can use
this resource from Google Analytics only once you start getting traffic. I highly
recommend learning how to use Pinterest to get traffic to your blog BEFORE
learning how to use Google Analytics. For now, just install this tool prior to
launching your blog.
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CHAPTER 5:
HOW TO SETUP PAGES FOR
YOUR BLOG MENU
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5. HOW TO SETUP PAGES FOR YOUR BLOG
MENU
In WordPress, your blog's menu is made up of what are known as "pages."
These are different from the blog posts you create, although they function
similarly in concept. Pages that you add to your menu, such as an About Me page,
contact page, or Privacy Policy page, are considered "static."
This means that they won't move like your blog posts do and will always be
accessible from the menu, making them a crucial part of your blog's navigation.
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On the other hand, when you publish a new blog post, your older posts will shift
down (not static) as the newest post takes priority based on the publish date. This
is called a “blog roll” and it would look something like this:
As a beginner, it's important to focus more on creating quality content rather than
spending too much time on your pages. However, as you become more
comfortable with blogging, I recommend organizing your pages in your menu to
provide clear and easy navigation for your readers.
Some bloggers also choose to include categories and subcategories in their menu
to further organize their website. For example, a beauty blog may contain
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categories like makeup looks, skin care, nails, and hairs. Whereas a personal
finance blog may include categories like budgeting, investing, and debt payoff.
While this may seem overwhelming at first, you'll get the hang of it as you become
more familiar with blogging and develop your overall goals. The key is to ensure
that your menu is user-friendly and helps your readers find the content they are
looking for.
To provide an example of a typical blog menu, here's a quick look at mine
(although please note that this screenshot was taken from a previous theme I
used on my blog). Since launching my blog, I haven't made many changes to the
menu, as it still effectively organizes my site's content.
In the image above, you can see that my blog menu only includes a few pages,
such as:
• About Me
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•
•
•
•
Contact Me
Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, Terms & Conditions
Home Page
Recommendations
As a beginner blogger, I recommend prioritizing the creation of your "About Me"
and "Contact Me" pages.
Once you've created those pages, you can focus on creating your Privacy Policy
(including Disclaimer and Terms & Conditions) page.
Some bloggers also add a "Work with Me" page to their menu to attract affiliates
and sponsors, or to advertise coaching or consulting services they offer. However,
as a beginner, it's best to start with the basics and expand from there as you
become more comfortable with blogging.
FYI: It's important to note that you need to publish each page you create in
order to add it to your menu bar. If you don't publish the page, it will remain as
a "draft" and won't be visible on the menu.
This is an important point to keep in mind, as I often receive emails from people
asking why their pages aren't showing up on the menu. So be sure to hit the
"publish" button once you've finished creating each page, in order to add it to
your blog's menu bar.
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5.1 How To Create A Page On WordPress
In this tutorial, I'll show you how to quickly create a new page on WordPress.
Once you've drafted and published all your pages (remember, these are different
from your blog posts), I'll guide you through setting up and creating your blog
menu at the end of this chapter. So, for now, focus on creating your pages using
the steps outlined in this tutorial.
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Step 1: Go to “Pages” ➔ “Add New” in your WordPress dashboard.
Step 2: Now you can draft your pages by following the next sections in this
chapter:
• About Me
• Contact Me (don’t forget to setup a professional e-mail, which I go through)
• Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, Terms & Conditions
FYI: In Chapter 6, I'll recommend installing a plugin called "Classic Editor" for
drafting your first blog post. This is because WordPress introduced an updated
editor called Gutenberg, which includes blocks. While Gutenberg is a modern
update, many users find it difficult to use and prefer the Classic Editor instead.
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For me personally, one of the challenges of using Gutenberg is the difficulty in
copying and pasting content directly from Google Docs or MS Word. This can be
problematic for bloggers who prefer to draft their content outside of WordPress
before publishing. However, by using the “Classic Editor” plugin, you can avoid this
issue and enjoy a more intuitive and user-friendly interface for drafting your posts
and pages.
If you're struggling with the Gutenberg editor, you can refer to Chapter 3 on how
to install plugins on WordPress. Once you've installed the "Classic Editor" plugin,
you'll find it much easier to draft blog posts and pages, with a more intuitive and
familiar interface.
In the next section, I’ll guide you through the process of creating and publishing
your "About Me" page.
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5.2 About Me Page
While it's important to include some personal details on your "About Me" page to
make it more relatable, it's not just about you.
No, your “About Me” page isn’t ALL about you! The focus should be on HOW you
can help your readers with their problems.
Consider what you're offering on your blog and how it can benefit your readers,
then highlight those points on your "About Me" page. By doing so, you'll establish
your authority and credibility as a blogger, while also showing your readers that
you understand their needs and are there to help them.
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5.2.1 “About Me” Example: An Expert in the Beauty Niche
To illustrate this point, let's consider an
example. Suppose you're a beauty lover who
enjoys experimenting with skincare and
makeup products.
On your "About Me" page, you could
mention your passion for makeup and
skincare, and how you love sharing your knowledge to help your readers improve
their skin and confidence. You might even link to your top blog posts that discuss
your favorite beauty products and how they can benefit your readers.
When writing your "About Me" page, try to convey your enthusiasm and
excitement for helping your readers (like how you help your girlfriends) with their
beauty and skincare routines. By doing so, you'll establish a stronger connection
with your audience and build trust and credibility as a blogger.
5.2.2 Do You Need to Emphasize You’re an Expert?
It's common for people to feel unconfident about their skills and doubt their
abilities when creating their "About Me" page. This can make them hesitant to
reveal their true selves or showcase their journey even if they have valuable
insights to offer.
The question many people ask is: "Do you need to be an expert to write an
'About Me' page?"
The answer is no - while it's important to establish your credibility and authority
as a blogger, you don't need to be a certified expert to share your knowledge and
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experience. Instead, focus on highlighting your unique perspective and
personality, and how they relate to your blog's mission and goals. By doing so,
you'll create a more relatable and engaging "About Me" page that resonates with
your readers.
Regardless of the niche you're in - whether it's beauty, organizing, parenting,
saving money, working from home, mental health, or anything else - you don't
necessarily have to claim to be an expert to create a successful blog. In fact, you
can use your personal experience and struggles to connect with your readers on a
deeper level.
For example, if you're someone who's struggled with debt and saving money, you
can share your journey toward improving your financial situation and offer tips
and tricks that have worked for you. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable and honest
with your readers about your struggles - this can actually make your blog more
relatable and engaging. It's also important to offer hope and encouragement to
your readers. Assure them that they can overcome their challenges and achieve
their goals, just as you have by making positive changes in your life.
Ultimately, the key is to show your readers that you're on a journey with them,
and that you're committed to helping them overcome their challenges and
achieve their dreams. By sharing your experiences and insights, you can build a
loyal following of readers who trust and value your perspective.
5.2.3 Don't Stress Too Much About Your "About Me" Page!
I wanted to include this mini-section because I've noticed many readers stressing
about creating the perfect "About Me" page, despite my advice. But here's the
truth: There's no one "right" way to write your "About Me" page - it all depends
on your blog's mission and your unique approach to helping your readers.
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You can choose to position yourself as an expert, sharing your knowledge and
experience with confidence. Or, you can approach your "About Me" page as a
journey, sharing your own struggles and lessons learned along the way.
Remember, it's also okay to update and refine your "About Me" page as you grow
and learn more about blogging and your readers. So don't worry if you don't get it
perfect the first time - focus on being authentic and true to yourself and your
blog's mission.
As you continue writing and connecting with your readers, you'll gain a better
understanding of their needs and interests. This will allow you to tailor your
content and your "About Me" page to better serve your audience and build a
stronger connection with them.
MY TRUE STORY: I have a personal experience to share that might help ease
your stress about your "About Me" page: When I was a newbie blogger, I didn't
stress too much about it and just wrote what came naturally to me. Looking
back, I said a lot of silly things that probably weren't very helpful to my readers.
It wasn't until two years later that I finally updated my "About Me" page. While
it's always ideal to nail it on the first try and clearly explain how you'll help your
audience, the truth is that you might not know exactly what your readers need
until later on in your blogging journey.
But here's the good news: your "About Me" page isn't the most important page
on your blog. Readers are more interested in your blog posts, which they find
through Pinterest or other social media channels. That's what generates your
traffic and blog income, not your "About Me" page.
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So don't stress too much about it - just be yourself and share your passion for your
niche. Your readers will appreciate your authentic voice. As mentioned, as you
continue to grow and learn as a blogger, you can always update your "About Me"
page to better reflect your mission and your unique approach to helping your
readers.
5.2.4 “About Me” Page Template
Now that you’re relived to know that you DON’T have to perfect your “About Me”
page, you can start writing it with this quick and easy template I made for you.
Use this as a guideline to get started, but feel free to change it up and/or add your
own personality.
Hello, my friends!
My name is ________ and I'm so happy to see you here on my blog, [insert your
blog name].
I started this blog because [give reason why you started your blog]. In my blog,
you're going to find the best [insert what you're going to help them with].
It's the special space dedicated to [talk about what your blog offers] for people
who [insert description/avatar of who your ideal reader is].
Regardless of if you're [insert whatever it is that they're struggling with, e.g. bad
at drawing, cooking, crafting, dancing, singing, etc.], this blog is going to give
you the motivation and inspiration to kick some butt! I am going to walk you
through and help you step-by-step along the way even if you have no experience.
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When I'm not writing on my blog here, I love to [insert what you love to do and
other hobbies, etc.].
Again, I'm so happy to see you stop by [insert your blog name]! I encourage you
to browse around for more inspiration and ideas. Here are some of my readers'
favorite posts to help you get started:
[insert and link out 3-5 of your best posts for your readers to browse around]
Stay in touch and remember to follow me!
XOXO, [insert your name]
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5.3 Contact Me Page
As a beginner, you can make this simple by including your name and e-mail
address. That's enough to get started, so nothing fancy here.
You also have the option to include a “contact me” form if you want your readers
or potential business clients to contact you directly through this page.
As mentioned earlier, you can also include a separate “Work With Me” page. This
page allows you to showcase your skills, expertise, and services to potential clients
who may want to collaborate or hire you for projects related to your blog. While
it's not necessary to have one when you're just starting, it's something you can
add later when your blog gains traction.
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5.3.1 Creating a new e-mail for your blog
You may be wondering whether you should have a professional e-mail like
ling@finsavvypanda.com or a general email like finsavvypanda@gmail.com.
You can always create new Gmail account that’s your domainname@gmail.com
when you’re a beginner.
I still have mine and use it from time to time. However, once you become a little
more experienced, I recommend setting up a professional e-mail that’s something
like this: first name@yourdomainname.com
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In fact, you can actually do this easily right now because Bluehost provides you
with a free starter professional e-mail (100 MB storage).
Log into your Bluehost Control Panel: https://my.bluehost.com/webhosting/cplogin
NOTE: This Bluehost login is different from the WordPress dashboard that you
log in to create and build your website! If you don’t remember your username
and password, simply reset it.
Once you log in, your screen should look something like this:
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Click on your little avatar at the top right and then choose “Profile”. Next, click on
“Advanced” on the left side of the panel:
This will now bring you to your control panel which will look like this:
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Scroll down until you find the Email category. You can now click on “Email
Accounts” based on the above screenshot.
Next, click on the “Create” button so you can create your first professional e-mail!
You’ll notice that you can create up to 5 different e-mails here.
Simply create your e-mail by choosing a name like your first name. Some people
use terms like “info” or “admin” for something more general - it’s really up to you.
Again, the maximum storage space for the free account is 100 MB which is good
enough for beginners.
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You now officially have a professional e-mail for your blog, so you can put on your
“Contact Me” page! Yay! :)
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PRO TIP: When you start looking into affiliate marketing and you want to apply
for affiliates or any form of partnerships, it’s best to use your professional email to register. Some companies may take longer to approve your application
(or in some cases even deny you) when you use something like a Gmail, yahoo
or hotmail.com.
Using a professional email address can help you appear more credible and serious
about your business, which can increase your chances of getting approved for
affiliate partnerships.
It's also a good idea to keep your email address consistent across all of your online
platforms and business-related communications, to help build brand recognition
and trust with potential partners.
Using a personal email like Gmail for communication with readers and other
bloggers is perfectly acceptable and may even be preferable in some cases, as it
can help you appear more approachable and relatable to your audience.
Ultimately, it's important to consider the context and audience when deciding
which email address to use, and to make sure that you're presenting yourself in a
professional and consistent manner across all of your business-related
communications.
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5.4 Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Terms & Conditions
Before we start, I want to say that I’m NOT a lawyer, so please don’t take this as
legal advice. This is just what I learned, so it’s always good to consult a
professional if you want to learn about the legalities of blogging.
For a quick and easy solution to get your legal pages (i.e. privacy policy, disclaimer,
and terms & conditions) up and running in the next 30 minutes, I highly
recommend investing in these legal templates I use here. Not only is this fast and
easy, but you’ll get everything you need for your privacy policy, disclaimer, and
terms & conditions pages to cover the legal aspects of your blog!
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5.4.1 What is a Privacy Policy?
A privacy policy is a document that explains how you collect, use, and manage the
personal data of your website visitors. It's like a set of rules that outlines your data
processing practices. If your website collects any type of personal information
from visitors, such as their name, email address, phone number, or credit card
information, you need to have a privacy policy. Your policy should include what
types of personal data you collect, how you collect it, and why you need it. You
also need to explain how you store and protect the data, and whether any third
parties have access to it.
Overall, a privacy policy is a way to be honest with your visitors and show that you
care about their personal information and privacy. In the next section, I will
quickly show you how to setup and draft your privacy policy using WordPress.
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5.4.2 How to Setup Your Privacy Policy Page on WordPress
WordPress provides a default privacy policy that is very basic and easy to set up.
For beginners, this is a good starting point to ensure that you have a policy in
place. You can follow my quick tutorial for beginners below on how you can get
this done. However, it's important to note that the default privacy policy may not
fully cover your website's specific data processing practices. Depending on your
website's features and functionality, you may need to add additional information
to your policy to ensure that you're fully transparent with your visitors.
If you're not sure where to start, you can use the default privacy policy as a
template and customize it to fit your website's needs. Some tips for creating a
comprehensive privacy policy include:
• Be clear and specific about the types of personal data you collect from
visitors and why you need it.
• Explain how you collect and store the data, and what measures you take to
protect it.
• Disclose if you share any data with third-party services or partners.
• Provide information about how visitors can access, edit, or delete their
personal data.
SET IT AND FORGET IT: I personally invested in these premium legal templates
for my privacy policy because it was a quick and easy process. Rather than
spending time trying to figure out how to write a privacy policy from scratch, I
was able to use the templates as a starting point and make minor adjustments
to fit my specific blog niche and location by following Amira’s instructions
within her templates. This overall process took me no more than 20 minutes to
get all my legal pages up and running on the same day!
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Ultimately, a privacy policy is an important legal requirement for any website that
collects personal data from visitors. While the default WordPress policy is a good
starting point, it's important to ensure that your policy accurately reflects your
website's data processing practices and is transparent with your visitors.
Anyway, here is a quick tutorial on how to set up the privacy policy page.
Step 1: Go to “Settings” ➔ “Privacy” in your WordPress Dashboard menu.
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Step 2: Click on the blue button “Create New Page” as per screenshot below.
You’ll also see a link called “Check out our guide” in the same screenshot. Click on
that link and you can use this guide from WordPress to help you draft your privacy
policy page in Step 3.
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Step 3: After clicking “Create New Page” from Step 2, you’ll see a draft template
that looks something like this.
Step 4: Once you're done drafting your privacy page. Click on the "Publish"
button.
NOTE: As I mentioned earlier, I’m not a lawyer so you should consult a legal
expert to learn more about the legalities of blogging. That’s why I highly
recommend investing in these legal templates drafted by Amira, a professional
lawyer, who specializes in the legal aspects of blogging. It’s a one-time
investment where you’ll also get FREE lifetime updates and you can blog and
monetize it with a peace of mind!
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5.4.3. Disclaimer Page
When you put a disclaimer on your blog, it means you’re not legally held
responsible for anything you write or publish on your website. Put simply, this will
protect you from lawsuits.
How you create your disclaimer will depend on which niche you’re in and what
you blog about.
For example, if you blog about personal finance, you don’t want to be held liable
for any financial damage of the reader. If they say that they followed your financial
advice but lost money, they could sue you when you don’t have a proper
disclaimer on your page.
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Similarly, if you write about health and wellness, you don’t want to be held
responsible for any damages if that person said they followed your health advice
but it did not work out for them.
On top of that, having a disclaimer will protect you from issues like having
information on your blog that is not current. Someone could sue you for this and
it can happen when you have older content that is not updated on your page (this
may reflect incorrect information) because events are always changing.
Now that you are aware of these events, you will want to add a disclaimer on your
website.
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5.4.4. Terms & Conditions Page
Terms & Conditions establish a legal agreement between a business (your website
or blog) and its customers.
This page is important because it sets the rules regarding how customers use and
pay for your products or services. They can allow you to enforce those rules in
court and they can limit the amount of money you have to pay in damages if you
make a mistake.
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5.4.5 The Legal Templates You Need for Your Blog
Now that you have a good understanding of the privacy policy, disclaimer, and
terms & conditions pages, you can now spend some time to create those pages
for your blog.
You can use the “free” versions by copying and pasting them, and tweaking them
based your blog’s niche, or try to hunt for more information about each page, but
from my experience, the “free” ones are not enough to protect your blog.
I confess that I personally made the mistake of using the “free” versions when I
was a new blogger, and I was seriously confused with all the legal language out
there, but months into my blogging journey, I did more thorough research and
found out that they aren’t enough to protect you!
If you want a really quick, instant and easy way to protect yourself with a privacy
policy, disclaimer, and terms & conditions pages all ready in the next 30 minutes,
then I recommend investing in this best value-pack starter legal bundle here
created by my friend, Amira, a lawyer by profession.
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This is the exact same legal bundle I invested in to gain a peace of mind, and it’s
the perfect package for any blogger who wants to protect themselves from any
troubles!
This investment is worth every penny and it works for bloggers in the US, UK,
Canada, Italy, New Zealand, China, Philippines, India, Singapore, Australia,
Thailand, and many more countries!
GET FREE UPDATES FOR LIFE: The great thing is you can receive lifetime access
to complimentary updates for your legal templates!
By using this exclusive link to purchase the Starter Legal Bundle, you will also
receive FREE updates specifically tailored for your website forever, which is an
amazing return on your investment! Given the constantly evolving nature of
regulations, it's important to update your templates regularly to safeguard your
blog and business.
When I was a beginner, I was naïve and made the mistake to copy and paste the
free templates from online and I later found out that they're not enough to cover
your butt!!
It came to the time where I started researching and looking around because I
wanted to stay safe with a peace of mind, so I invested in The Starter Legal Bundle
Pack (this comes with privacy policy, disclaimer, and terms and conditions along
with other bonuses) written by a professional lawyer, which I and many big
established bloggers trust 100%.
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This is her best-selling and most popular product and it's more than sufficient for
any beginner and intermediate blogger. I recommend the basic starter pack with
those 3 pages. It comes with FREE lifetime updates to make sure all your legal
pages stay current!
What I really love and appreciate is her templates are extremely easy to use. She
will guide you in her instructions on how to copy and paste them based on your
blog's niche.
It literally took me 30 minutes (my other readers told me it took them only 15
minutes) just to have all 3 of my pages ready because it was simply following the
instructions and copying and pasting it based on my blog's niche. This lawyer who
specializes in the legal aspects of blogging lays out which part you should copy
and paste based on what you blog/write about – even if includes topics that are
more or less general.
This was one of the best investments I made on my blog, and it gives me a peace
of mind!
It's something you can think about if you want to just have it done and out of the
way, so you can focus on other aspects of blogging like getting traffic, monetizing
and growing without thinking about the "legal" stuff.
As always, if you ever have any additional questions about this legal bundle, go
ahead and shoot me an e-mail at ling@finsavvypanda.com and I’ll give you my
very honest opinion!
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5.5 How To Setup Your Menu On WordPress
Now that you’ve created your pages, we are going to quickly teach you how to
setup your menu on WordPress. You do need to have at least one page ready
before following this tutorial.
Step 1: Go to “Appearance” ➔ “Customize” from your WordPress dashboard.
As you may know by now, whenever you need to make any changes or tweaks to
your theme’s look or appearance, you can do it through “Appearance” in the
dashboard.
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Step 2: You’ll see your customization options here through this window. Next, click
on “Menus” as per screenshot below.
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Step 3: When your blog is new and you haven’t created any menus yet, you will
see that your window looks like the screenshot below.
Click on the button that says, “Create New Menu”. I circled this in the image.
Before you move on, I want to say that free themes do limit you from doing many
things. That includes functionality and getting the exact appearance you want. I
just wanted to mention this so that you are aware.
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Step 4: You can name your menu name something like “Main menu”.
On one of my test accounts, I am using the Olsen free theme, and it has the
following options.
I selected “Top menu” (or you can choose “Main Menu”) in the checkbox so that
my main menu appears at the top of my page when you’re on the blog. Now, hit
the “Next” button on the bottom right.
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Step 5: Next, click on “+ Add Items” so you can add your pages (e.g. About Me,
Contact Me, etc.).
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Step 6: You’ll see these pages automatically come up once you’ve created them.
If you haven’t created your About Me, Contact Me page (or any other pages) yet,
you may not see this option in the red box below. You can ignore anything you’re
not familiar with such as “Shop” or “Add Cart”.
This automatic generation should know how and where to link back your pages
only AFTER you’ve created those pages.
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Assuming you’ve already created your pages, select the page you want to add to
your Main Menu simply by clicking on them. You can see I added “About” and
“Contact Us” page into the Main Menu of my test account.
You will also be able to reorder your pages too when you drag them up and down.
This will allow you to place the “Contact Us” page before the “About Me” page or
vice versa.
Step 7: You should be able to preview your pages on the right side of the panel as
you’re changing your settings. Once you’re satisfied with your preview, simply hit
the “Activate & Publish” button and you’ll see your pages on your main menu!
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CHAPTER 6:
BEFORE PUBLISHING YOUR
FIRST BLOG POST
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6. WHAT TO DO BEFORE PUBLISHING YOUR
FIRST BLOG POST
There are several things you must do before hitting that publish button. You need
to pay attention to this chapter to avoid making silly beginner mistakes that will
haunt you later on.
Now, before we learn how to draft your first blog post, I want to mention two
things that will make your life easier.
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6.1 WordPress Classic Editor
WordPress introduced an updated editor called Gutenberg. I gave it a try myself,
but I have to say, it hasn't been the easiest transition for me. I found myself
struggling with Gutenberg quite a bit, and I ended up spending more time adding
a simple paragraph than I would have with the Classic Editor. Inserting images also
wasn't as straightforward as it used to be, which was quite frustrating. While the
Gutenberg is modern, A LOT of other users find this update very hard to use and
prefer the Classic Editor.
Honestly, I was so fed up with Gutenberg that I switched back to the Classic Editor.
It's been my go-to editor for a while now, and I'm just more comfortable using it.
I'm not sure if I'll give Gutenberg another try anytime soon, but I know that it's a
controversial topic in the WordPress community. This is how the simple classic
editor looks – very classic, simple and straightforward:
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If you're looking for something simple and easy to use, I recommend installing the
plugin called “Classic Editor” which gives you the classic version of WordPress.
You’ll draft your blog posts much faster. On top of that, inserting images and links
will be easier. However, if you want to use the Gutenberg and get used to the
“blocks,” then go ahead. This is a personal preference.
I always type all my blog posts on Microsoft Word first to have a backup copy.
With Gutenberg, I couldn’t do a simple copy all and paste into WordPress in one
shot. I had to copy and paste them by line or individual chunks of paragraphs
because of their “blocks”. With the Classic Editor, I can just simply copy and paste
everything at once.
I don’t know if things have changed, but if you decide to use Gutenberg and you
are able to copy and paste your entire article from Word (or Google Docs) into
WordPress, shoot me an email and let me know your experience with it!
NOTE: If you want to give the Classic Editor a try, you can refer to Chapter 3
“WordPress Plugins for Beginners” to quickly learn how to install plugins in
WordPress.
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6.2 Permalinks Setting
I have one thing to say: make this ONE simple change NOW!
VERY IMPORTANT: SO many bloggers make this costly mistake, so I want you to
make a simple change to your permalink settings. I won’t go into the details of
what a permalink is because all that matters is you make this ONE-TIME change
NOW, before publishing your first post, and you won’t have to ever think about
it again.
Just know that you don’t want your permalinks (AKA blog post links/URLs) to
contain any dates because this will make your content look old as time passes by –
you want your content to be evergreen and timeless in order to look current and
earn great passive income!
Trust me. You will be thankful that you did this BEFORE publishing your first blog
post! A lot of experienced bloggers who made this mistake are very frustrated
over this today because it’s very hard to undo this!
Step 1: Go to “Settings” ➔ “Permalinks” under your Dashboard menu.
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Step 2: Select “Post name” and hit “Save Changes.” You are done now!
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6.3 How To Choose A Niche & Determining Your Avatar
Before learning how to draft your first blog post, I added a mini section that
teaches you how to choose your niche and determine your avatar.
This will provide you with examples of how you can draft your blog posts, so you
are writing to your target audience. I also want to mention that it’s okay to not get
this the first time!
6.3.1. How To Choose Your Niche
You may have already started your
blog and you sort of have an idea
of what types of topics you want
to write. If you already know this
part, then great! You can proceed
straight to the tutorial that teaches
you how to draft your post on
WordPress.
But I’m going to go through this lesson to show you how to choose your niche in
case you want a better understanding of topic ideas and what to blog about. And,
if you really want to take your blog to the next level, I recommend checking out
Chapters 18 and 19. There, you'll find even more detailed information about how
to determine your niche, blog categories, and target audience. These are all
crucial components of creating a successful blog, so don't skip over them!
Many readers often e-mail me and ask the following questions:
• “What niche should I choose?”
• “Who exactly am I writing for?”
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Before answering that question, I want to say this to you:
Don’t worry or dwell too much on this part for now because you honestly won’t
know exactly until later (this is especially true when you are a beginner with no
experience in blogging). Despite not knowing at the beginning, you’ll still do fine
because you will learn and adjust your strategies in your blogging journey.
When I first started my blog as a beginner with zero experience, I knew I wanted
to write about personal finance, but I had NO clue who my audience was. Sure, I
knew I wanted to blog about personal finance and money matters (I even wrote
posts that were off topic), but I still wasn’t sure who I was writing to.
Was I writing to women who are struggling with money because they spend too
much? Or to both female and male millennials who still live with their parents and
are having trouble paying off debt because they don’t have high-paying jobs?
You see, I didn’t have a very specific audience (or niche) that I was targeting, but I
still wrote articles and published them (and trust me, they were horrible and were
FAR from perfect, but the crazy thing is my blog was still earning a decent income).
Here’s the truth that no one really tells you about: It wasn’t until I got some
traffic that I was able to determine who my audience is because Google
Analytics is a free tool that gives you demographic data based on your
pageviews which tells you the types of people visiting your page. Plus, you will
realize once readers start commenting or e-mailing you.
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An illustration of Google Analytics using my other blog
Despite what I just said, I can still help you choose a niche as a beginner. I just
want to let you know that it’s okay if you don’t have it 100% figured out at the
beginning because this will come with time as you build your blog.
In the next section, I want you to take one step back and figure out who your
target audience is by writing down your potential avatars.
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6.3.2 How To Determine Your Avatar
Before learning how to draft your blog posts on WordPress, you need to
understand this.
Your target audience is a specific avatar you have in mind. They are specific people
within a demographic group (age, gender, ethnicity, etc.) with similar hobbies,
likes, interest, etc. who have a very specific problem they want to solve.
For example, here are some VERY specific target audiences (I say “very” because
these examples are more targeted and focused):
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Example 1 Avatar:
Stay at home mom looking for the best home organizing tips and
cleaning hacks because she wants to become productive so she
can manage her time better and spend it with her kids.
Some examples of blog post ideas you can write about for this avatar could be:
• Home cleaning hacks for busy moms
• Home organizing hacks for busy stay-at-home moms
• Increasing productivity and time management hacks for moms
Example 2 Avatar:
Busy mom in the corporate life, or any busy 9-5 job/career, who
wants to know how to increase productivity and manage her time
better so she can still go home and cook, clean and spend time with
the kids.
Some examples of blog post ideas you can write about for this avatar could be:
• Meal prep or meal plan ideas for busy working moms
• Home organizing and cleaning hacks for busy working mom
• How to organize and balance your life as a busy mom while working a fulltime job
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DO YOU NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE? You can see in example 1 and 2, the avatars
are similar in some ways – they are busy moms. The difference is one is a stayat-home mom whereas the other is a mom working a 9-5 job. Both these blogs
can still write similar posts and topics, but you will use YOUR own voice to
speak to YOUR audience (AKA your avatar) addressing a similar problem. This is
where you can be relatable because you understand your reader’s struggle or
pain point!
Example 3 Avatar:
A struggling millennial or Gen Z woman looking for budgeting and
personal finance tips to get out of debt. They want to build a
healthy relationship with their money so they can achieve financial
freedom.
Some examples of blog post ideas you can write for this avatar about could be:
• Dave Ramsey finance tips on how to get out of $X debt fast in X months
• Why making extra money could help you get out of debt especially for
millennial generation
• How to stop spending money so you can avoid getting into more debt
(written from the point of view of a millennial woman)
Those are just examples of avatars to help you visualize how you can draft your
blog posts so you can speak to YOUR target audience.
You can learn more about what to blog about and determining your niche here.
Along with that, I give a couple of examples on how to be more narrow vs. broad.
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There really is NO one right approach to this! It depends on your personality and
what you like to do. You can go either direction, and yet still be successful at what
you do.
As I mentioned, you don’t have to think too much about this part because from
my blogging experience, ALL beginners all start off writing almost just about
anything that comes to mind.
It’s great if you have your avatar nailed at the beginning but it almost never
happens for new bloggers. This is something you’ll get better and improve on as
you write more blog posts and understand your audience through the traffic you
get.
The most important part is to just take the first step in starting your blog and
writing your first 10-15 blog posts.
Next, learn how to setup your Pinterest business account so you can start
promoting your content on the platform.
I have my best-selling Pinterest guide called The Golden Compass To Pinterest
Traffic here where you can snatch a copy for 15% off when you use the code,
“GOLDEN15” at checkout.
This guide is the whole package – from beginner level all the way to advance. You
won’t need to ever invest in any other Pinterest product after going through this.
I’m confident to say that it is jam packed with insider secrets along with traffic
strategies that no one tells you about and it’s worth over $600, but it’s retailed at
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 138
only $129. The 15% off coupon is exclusive to you and it’s available for a limited
time only!
Not only that, but it also comes with a sweet bonus (for FREE) that shows you how
to make money on Pinterest with your blog – it gives you the exact monetization
methods I used to earn over $200,000 in a year!
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CHAPTER 7:
HOW TO WRITE AND
PUBLISH YOUR BLOG POSTS
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7. HOW TO WRITE, DRAFT AND PUBLISH YOUR
FIRST BLOG POST
Now that you understand what a “niche” and “target audience” means from the
previous lesson, let’s learn how to draft your first blog post.
My examples below show you how to draft your blog post using the Classic Editor
because this is what most people prefer, but you can still follow the tutorial with
Gutenberg.
You can refer to Section 6.1 “WordPress Classic Editor” for the quick word on
Gutenberg vs. Classic Editor.
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7.1 What is a Permalink?
Before we move on to learning how to draft a blog post on WordPress, I need to
quickly explain what a “permalink” is.
A permalink is a permanent URL (uniform resource locator) that links to a
specific blog post or page on a website. For example, my post about How To Get
Traffic From Pinterest and Make Monetize Your Blog has a permalink and that is:
https://www.finsavvypanda.com/how-to-get-traffic-from-pinterest/.
Notice for now the words in my permalink contain the phrase, “how-to-gettraffic-from-pinterest”. (By the way, hold this thought because I’m going to explain
how to name your permalinks in the next section).
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It is called a "permalink" because it remains unchanged indefinitely and provides a
reliable link for visitors to access the content even after it has been archived or
moved to a different location on the website. You don’t have to worry about this.
Permalinks usually include the domain name of the website (e.g.
finsavvypanda.com), followed by the path to the specific blog post or page (e.g.
how-to-get-traffic-from-pinterest).
In WordPress, permalinks can be customized to include different elements, such
as the date, category, or post title, to improve search engine optimization (SEO)
and make the link more user-friendly.
For our purposes, we will focus on the post title permalink since it is the most
crucial aspect of properly creating your blog post's web address.
Now that you have an understanding of what permalinks are, I’m going to walk
you through on how to draft and create your first blog post using WordPress.
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Step 1: Once you log into your WordPress, go to “Posts” ➔ “Add New” under
your Dashboard menu.
Step 2: Add title of your post
Add the title of your post in the “Add title” box as per screenshot in Step 3. Don’t
sweat it here because you can always change this title anytime.
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Step 3: Click on “Save Draft” to save the title of your post.
I want you to save it now so that you can see the permalink in step 4.
7.2 The Basics of Using Permalinks When Drafting Your Blog Post
Step 4: You NEED to pay attention here because it’s VERY important!
I already walked you through what a permalink is in the previous section. Here,
you will need to determine your “permalink” and choose wisely.
As mentioned earlier, permalink is the URL (or website address) of your blog post.
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It would look something like this:
https://www.yourdomainname.com/titleofyourblogpost
For example, in my screenshot using my test account, you can see the permalink is
https://www.mydomainname.com/organize-your-kitchen-pantry
You can see this is different from my actual blog post title, “5 Ways To Organize
Your Kitchen Pantry.”
Again, I mentioned in Step 2 that you don’t need to worry too much about the
title of your post for now because you can always change it later.
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One mistake I made as a brand new blogger is using the permalink that WordPress
automatically generated for me when I typed in the title of my blog post from Step
2.
WordPress would have automatically generated this permalink for me:
https://www.mydomainname.com/5-ways-to-organize-your-kitchen-pantry.
Now this permalink isn’t bad, but I had other posts with words in my permalinks
that looked ridiculous. Something like this:
“https://www.mydomainname.com/10-clever-ways-to-organize-kitchen-pantrynever-thought-about-3”
I would have a post called “10 Clever Ways To Organize Your Kitchen Pantry (I Bet
You Never Thought About #3) and WordPress would have generated a permalink
that is the same as my blog post title.
I want to mention this here because it would be very difficult to change the
permalink down the road. Also, the title in your permalink may hurt your Google
search rankings for that particular post if it’s not keyword targeted or if it’s too
long.
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7.2.1 My Advice When Naming Your Permalink:
Now here’s my quick advice for beginners when naming your permalink:
• Make it short and to the point.
• Tailor to the keywords you’re trying to rank for on Google searches (in this
case, how-to-organize-kitchen-pantry, ways-to-organize-kitchen-pantry, or
organize-kitchen-pantry are all fine)
• Tailor to the keywords you’re trying to rank for on Pinterest searches (for
example, dollar-store-crafts, Halloween-dollar-store-decorations, matchagreen-tea-pancake-recipe, diy-wooden-bench, holiday-gift-guide-for-mom,
etc.)
• Avoid numbers, dates, words and phrases that people don’t search for (in
this case, words like “clever” or phrases like “never-thought-about-3” are
very bad additions)
If you think about it, people don’t search for “5 clever ways to organize your
kitchen pantry."
Instead, they would type in the search bars “how to organize kitchen pantry” or
“ways to organize kitchen pantry."
You get the picture, right?
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If you’re still struggling, then turn to Google (or even Pinterest) as your best
friend.
Simply type a word or phrase into the search and see what suggestions pop up,
like “vegan recipes with”:
My pro tip to you is this: ALWAYS take a step back and put yourself in the position
of the reader or user. How do YOU search for things on Google or Pinterest? What
words and phrases do YOU type in those search bars when you're looking for
answers and solutions to YOUR problems?
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Doing simple searches online, whether you’re on Google, Pinterest, or another
social media platform involves you typing certain phrases and sentences into that
search bar. This is called “keywords” and you need to perform keyword research
as a blogger if you are serious about writing your posts the right way to drive
serious traffic and monetize on each blog post.
WORD ABOUT PERMALINKS AND KEYWORD RESEARCH: You can only perfect
your permalinks (and truly not make rookie mistakes) by doing keyword
research and following a solid strategy. Keyword research is beyond the scope
of this beginners’ guide, however, I go through this topic for novices and
newcomers in Chapter 15: How Bloggers Get Traffic to their Website. And even
more so extensively from the beginning to the end in my fail-proof Pinterest
traffic and monetization guide, The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic.
While keyword research can be overwhelming for beginners, fear not! With my
Pinterest guide, you'll learn everything you need to know to succeed.
I personally went from 0 to my first 50,000 monthly pageviews, and even
surpassed 100,000 for two of my blogs today, using the same strategies I detail
in this guide. I've tested and perfected my methods over the years, so you can
rest assured that they will work for you too.
My traffic didn’t pick up until I fixed all my permalinks (very painful process)
and reflected on the lessons I learned about keywording with intention. I am
really excited to you see attract your raving fans, so I don’t want you to miss out
on the opportunity to copy my exact blueprint and see your traffic explode!
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Phew, that’s a lot to take in about permalinks, right?
Don’t go too crazy over this part.
As long as your words within the phrase make sense from a search perspective,
and you’ve followed a few of my tips from above when naming your links, then
you can move forward without dwelling too much.
Here are several examples to help you understand how to name your permalinks
better for searches.
I outlined the blog post title followed by the phrase or “keywords” in the
permalink.
• 10 Unique Ways To Make Money Online for Teens: how-to-make-moneyonline-for-teens
• 12 Creative Ways To Make Money From Home: make-money-from-home
• 12 Disney Princess Gift Ideas For Girls: disney-princess-gifts
• 12 Gifts For People Who Love Cats: cat-lover-gifts or best-gifts-for-catlovers
• 50 Foods That Start with The Letter G: foods-that-start-with-g
• 20 Best Places To Visit in New York City: places-to-visit-new-york-city
• Chipotle Chicken Copycat Recipe: chipotle-chicken-copycat
• 20 Mother’s Day Dessert Recipes To Try Now: mothers-day-dessert-recipes
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Going back to our tutorial from step 4, you can click on the “Edit” button so you
can change the title you want in your permalink. Once you’re done, click on “OK.”
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7.3 How To Write Your First Blog Post
Now that we got that permalink stuff out of the way, you can finally freely write
your first blog post.
Fortunately, just like the title of your blog post, you can always update and make
changes to your content so don’t stress too much over the content you don’t think
is good enough.
I also have more helpful tips on how to write your first blog post here.
Go through it for the best beginner tips! It’s very quick and easy to read!
7.3.1 Don’t Aim for the Perfect Blog Post!
Whether you're experiencing writer's block or feeling anxious about publishing
your first blog post, I understand that striving for perfection can be a challenge.
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However, I want to share something with you that will give you the courage to
move forward, even if you feel like your post isn't quite ready yet.
I had a ton of blog posts that weren’t great with silly errors and horrible storytelling, but I still published them. No matter how many times I reviewed it and
made tweaks to them, it did not make a significant difference. And surprisingly,
they were still able to earn a decent income and I see this happening to many
other bloggers too.
TRUST me on this one. No matter how much you try to plan or make something
perfect today, you will still cringe at what you wrote months and years down the
road. It’s an experience that everyone goes through!
As you get more comfortable with blogging, just go back and change them a few
months or even a year into your blogging journey. No one will know and to be
honest, no one cares – hah!
Let me make it clear that I'm not suggesting you should be careless or haphazard
with your work. In the past, I've had instances where people misunderstood my
advice and produced low-quality content. They literally took this as the golden
ticket to being lazy and sloppy.
SO, PLEASE, I urge you to give it your all and put in 100% effort. As long as you
know deep within that you had good intentions to do your best. You should
always edit your work and make sure it’s readable and polished. I’m just saying
that you don’t have to beat yourself up for not making it perfect. There’s no such
thing as “perfect” anyway. Remember, grade B material is good enough for
beginners because you’ll improve them later on as you learn more about what
your readers want. This will definitely help you avoid wasting precious time.
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7.4. Write Your Draft with Word or Google Docs
If you like drafting your post on a Word Document or Google docs, you can do that
too.
Some people like to write a draft, edit it and then copy and paste the final copy
onto WordPress.
I personally do this myself. I use Word but I save all my Word documents into
Google Docs just in case. It’s my backup of another backup!
PRO TIP: This is a smart idea because you want to have a final and backup copy
of all your blog posts on your computer!
Also note that you may also want to install a plugin called “UpdraftPlus” to back
up all your work on WordPress. This plugin is free and it simplifies backups and
restoration. Definitely use this to backup your files and database backups into
cloud and restore with a single click!
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7.5 Adding Headings and Subheadings on Your Post
As you draft your blog post, you’ll want to include headings and subheadings to
organize your article.
This can also help you with your thought process when you’re writing. When you
categorize your ideas into headings, you’ll have a better idea of what to talk
about. For example, let’s say I decided to draft a post called “5 Tips to Furnish Your
New Apartment on a Budget.”
I would categorize my 5 tips into headings like this:
1. Dedicate a chunk of your budget to new furniture
2. Check with family and friends
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3. Surf the neighborhood for sales
4. Grab a few thrift store specials
5. Use multi-functional furniture
By separating them into headings, I can talk about each tip separately.
Not only will this be easier for you to write, but you’ll also make it easier for your
readers to go through your article. No one wants to read a long wall of text
without headings or breaks! Here is a quick tutorial on how to add headings and
subheadings to your blog post using WordPress.
• Step 1: Type in your heading and highlight it. Using my example above, I
would type in something like “Tip 1. Dedicate a chunk of your budget to
new furniture” and highlight this with your mouse.
• Step 2: Refer to screenshot below. Select “Heading 2” from the top left
drop-down menu. Make sure you bold this using the “B” button.
Most people use Heading 2 as their main heading.
Heading 1 is usually your blog post title by default, so you may want to start with
Heading 2.
You can also feel free to create sub-headings by using heading 3 and so on. Most
people stop at Heading 3 and sometimes 4.
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Your blog post won’t be complete without any images, so in Chapter 8, I will show
you where to find beautiful images for your blog.
In Chapter 9, I will show you how to insert images on your blog post.
In Chapter 10, I will show you how to insert links to other articles within your
blog post.
And in Chapter 11, I will show you how to select a category for your post. Hold this
thought for now.
Once your article has a title, good permalink title, great content with external
links, beautiful pictures, and a proper category selected, simply click the “Publish”
button, and your first blog post will be live!
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DON’T FORGET: Go back to Chapter 3 to review the Yoast plugin and read this
article. This goes hand-in-hand with drafting your blog posts but PLEASE don’t
dwell on it too much as a total beginner until you’ve grasped the basic concepts
of starting your blog. I’m trying to make this as easy as possible for you to get
your blog up and running.
7.6 The “Quote Box” in Your Post
I added this little section here to let you know there’s a button called the
“Blockquote” that looks like this in your WordPress editor:
This is like a “quote box” where you can insert quotes or any message you want to
emphasize to your readers.
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When you insert this “Blockquote”, you will notice an indent in your editor
because it treats it like you’re inputting a quote.
Here is what the actual blockquote looks like when I publish my blog post:
Please note that your blockquote will look different depending on which theme
you have.
All themes are made differently and that’s why the styles will vary. And if you want
to tweak it to a specific look or style, it will require some CSS coding.
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7.7 How Many Words Should You Have In Your Blog Post?
This is a tough one because there’s no right or wrong answer. I wouldn’t stress too
much at the beginning about your blog post’s word count because you can always
make changes or add more sections and words to them later.
BUT, try to avoid publishing blog posts that are less than 1,000 words. If you’re
consistently pumping out content that’s between 300 to 600 words, Google may
see it as “thin” content and that could hurt your chances of being found on their
searches in the long term. Google doesn’t like to show content that is not helpful
for readers.
Generally, it should be long enough to address the readers’ concerns or answer
their questions, but not overly long to the point where they would lose it.
Having that said, here’s what I recommend doing to give you a better answer to
“how long should my blog post be”? Let’s say, for example in a case where you
decide to write a post called “How To Get Rid of Acne for Teenagers”. I
recommend you typing this exact phrase on Google search.
Look at the top 3-5 posts and do a quick word count to see how many words
each post contains. You can take the average or median and use it as a gauge for
an idea.
You can install a simple Word Count tool on Chrome like this one, or another one
of your choice, to do a quick count on a blog post each time you’re on a website.
Once you’ve installed it, highlight the entire section of the blog post, and right
click to find out how many words there are in that specific article. Another way is
to just copy and paste an article into a Word Count website like this one.
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Step 1: Assuming you’ve already installed it and activated this on your browser,
highlight the entire article and right-click it.
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Step 2: Select “Count words” to see how many words are on the article. This one
indicates there are 1,212 words selected.
Again, there are no set rules on word count, but I’d say the minimum should be at
least 1,000 words.
Please, AND I WILL EMPHASIZE, PLEASE, don’t treat this as the final answer
because it’s not. I’m just throwing a “decent” size number because I know many
of you want to hear a number. It really depends on what you’re writing about and
whether readers find your article helpful.
The good thing is you can always make updates and additions to your blog posts in
the future when you understand what your readers want.
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7.8 Quick Tip for Food or Recipe Posts
Try this plugin here…
Whether you’re a
food blogger or
not, if you decide
to write about your
delicious recipes on
your blog, then I
recommend adding
a recipe plugin
called “WP Recipe
Maker” and learn how to use it. You can review Chapter 3 to learn how to install
a WordPress plugin
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CHAPTER 8:
WHERE TO FIND IMAGES
FOR YOUR BLOG POSTS
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8. WHERE TO FIND IMAGES FOR YOUR BLOG
POSTS
First, let me say you should NEVER take an image from Google, a website, blogger
or company and use it on your page! You can get into trouble when you do that.
If you really want to use an image or photo from a blogger and mention them on
your blog, always e-mail them and ask. FYI, you’ll probably never hear back.
Now that’s out of the way, you can find both free or paid stock photos.
As a beginner, you can survive with free images when you’re on a tight budget. I
didn’t pay for stock photos until after six months of blogging, but you can feel free
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to invest in them. They are, in my opinion, worth the money especially for your
blog’s main feature image.
I go into more detail of what a blog’s main feature image is after showing you
where you can find beautiful images.
8.1 What To Do Before Downloading An Image
VERY IMPORTANT: This tip I’m about to share with you is valuable and has to
do with improving your website’s speed. I see many brand new bloggers, and
still some experienced bloggers, who make this mistake.
It’s important because when you attach an image that’s too big in file size, it will
slow down your blog which impacts your readers’ experience. No one wants a
slow-loading page that causes their readers to bounce off. This tells Google that
people aren’t staying on your page and Google doesn’t like that.
As a result, this could affect your rankings on Google searches and ultimately
impact your traffic.
Having that said, I highly recommend selecting the medium or small size photo
when you download an image. I show you how to do this in the next section.
I also mention a free tool you can use to reduce your image’s file size without
sacrificing the sharpness or quality of your picture. This will be discussed in
Chapter 9 “How To Insert Images On Your Blog Post.”
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8.2 Where to Find Free Stock Photos
There are tons of free resources to get free stock photos. Here are websites I
always use and recommend:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
https://unsplash.com/
https://www.pexels.com/
https://pixabay.com/
https://stocksnap.io/
https://www.reshot.com/
https://freestocks.org/
https://www.foodiesfeed.com/
https://styledstock.co/
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One of my favorite free resources is Unsplash because they have more selections.
Styled Stock is also another good one. However, I highly recommend looking for
images from other resources too because you’ll find a ton of variety when you mix
them up.
8.2.1 Quick Tutorial on How to Use Unsplash
Since you are a beginner, I’ll run a tutorial on how to use Unsplash, or any other
photo resource, to help you look for the right picture for your posts. So, you’re
going to want to do a quick search for the type of images you want.
For example, if you’re in the beauty niche and you’re looking for an image with a
makeup brush, simply type in “makeup brush” into the search bar as per
screenshot below.
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Here are more tips and tricks on how to search for beautiful images.
If you’re looking for fashion related photos, you can type in the following into the
search bar:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
fashion
fashionable women
model
pants (if you want to be more specific, type in “wide leg jeans” or “cargo
pants”)
tank top
crop top
sweater
clothes
pink shirt
parka
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Or if you’re a food blogger and you’re looking for dishes, you can type in the
following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
food
healthy recipes
lunch
vegetables
noodles
breakfast
italian food
greek food
bread
rice
sushi
Japanese food
curry
Indian food
Burger
I blog about personal finance but I still search for other things like “happy women”
when I need an image of someone that looks happy for my blog.
Here are some more generic keywords or phrases you can use for any niche
depending on what you’re looking for:
• girl wearing sun glasses
• pink background (or if you’re looking for a different color like, “blue” or
“black”)
• pink aesthetic
• computer screen (or you can be specific like “person on laptop”)
• guy climbing
• successful woman
• strong man (“athletic man” could be an alternative)
• sad girl (depression may work too)
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You get the picture – no pun intended (hehe). Try different keyword variations to
see what results you get. But do keep in mind that because you’re looking for free
photos, you may not end up finding exactly what you want or like.
That is when I would highly recommend investing in a tool like Canva (the pro
version), so you can gain unlimited access to more images, photos, stickers, and
icons than you can imagine. Canva is really affordable and it’s what I personally
use as a solution to everything!
8.2.2 How To Choose & Download Images
As mentioned in Section 8.1, it’s important to use images that aren’t massive in
size.
If I were you, I would select either the medium or small size image. Just try to
avoid selecting the largest file.
Here’s how to do it in case you need a demonstration. I use Unsplash.com as an
example but the concept is the same with other stock photo sources.
• Step 1: Select the image you want to download.
• Step 2: In the drop-down menu on the upper right corner, you can choose
up to 4 different sizes. Avoid selecting the largest file. Some stock photo
sources also allow you to customize the size.
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VERY IMPORTANT: I will also mention a tool in Chapter 9 “How To Insert Images
On Your Blog Post” to help you reduce the file size without reducing its quality.
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8.3 Where to Find Premium Stock Photos
The great thing about free images is you don’t have to pay for them. However, it
can be limited in selection and some photos don’t look very professional. It does
take time to find the image you want.
This is where premium stock photo can help you save time and make your blog
look better. I find it very hard to find a nice picture for my blog’s feature image. I
usually purchase premium photos in bulk to get nicer images at a discount.
PRO TIP: You can buy an individual stock photo or in bulk. I always buy them in
bulk when DepositPhotos has a BIG sale over 70% off via a place called
AppSumo. The package I always buy is the basic 100 photos for less than $50,
which never expires and works out to be less than $0.50 a pc. You can use the
photos as many times as you want.
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In addition to that, I turn to my ultimate go-to default, which is again, Canva Pro
Version. It’s the minimum requirement and must-have program for any blogger. I
don’t know how I could ever live without Canva’s pro version!
As you can see, there are millions of photos, and they work for literally any niche
or topic you blog about. It’s definitely worth using them on your blog or Pin
template designs like these beautiful ones here when you start using Pinterest.
These are just a few examples of photos I got from AppSumo and Canva Pro when
– you won’t ever find these high-quality images via free stock resources:
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CHAPTER 9:
HOW TO INSERT IMAGES ON
YOUR BLOG POSTS
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9. HOW TO INSERT IMAGES ON YOUR BLOG
POST
Now that you know where to find beautiful images, let’s learn how to set up a
feature image and how to insert images throughout your blog post. Inserting
images in your articles are an essential part of blogging because they can help to
break up large chunks of text, make your blog post more visually appealing, and
provide additional context to your content. By using images, you can also help to
illustrate your points and make your blog post easier to understand. In fact,
research has shown that blog posts with images tend to perform better than those
without. This is because images can help to capture the reader's attention and
make your content more memorable. But before that, let’s teach you how to
reduce the size of your image without sacrificing its quality.
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9.1 Compressing Your Images
This is an extremely important thing to do first and you cannot ignore this section!
YES, VERY IMPORTANT: If you remember from Chapter 8, I mentioned that
large files will slow down your site speed hence causing readers to bounce off
your page.
Not only will you have lost traffic from readers who immediately bounce off, but
this could also impact your search rankings for that post on Google in the
future.
Most brand-new bloggers make this mistake! I was one of them because no one
warned me about it and I don’t want that to happen to you.
Bloggers who made this mistake are now slowly updating all their blog post
images. Imagine if you’ve already published over 30 blog posts! That’s going to
take A LOT of time to manually update!
SIDE NOTE: There are plugins (both free and paid versions) that automatically
reduce and optimize your image size when you upload them onto WordPress,
but it may not be a great idea to install too many plugins because this could
conflict with other plugins and/or slow down your website. Since it doesn’t take
long to do, and it keeps things cleaner, I personally prefer manually reducing
the size of my image with a tool instead of relying on a plugin that may cause
problems later.
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So, let’s help you avoid this mistake by introducing you to this tool that will shrink
your file size by 30-60%. You won’t even notice the difference in quality, and this
will save you a ton of hassles down the road!
Step 1: Go to www.tinypng.com. There are paid versions of tools like this but this
free one is more than enough for brand new bloggers.
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Step 2: Drag and drop the image file you want to reduce in size. Click the
“download” button and save it onto your computer so you can upload in your
blog posts later.
TA-DA! You’re done and now it’s time to use these images on your blog.
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9.2 How to Setup a Feature Image for Your Blog Post
First of all, what is a “feature image” on WordPress?
A feature image is the main image you
use for your blog post. It’s the main
representative image for your article –
the image that people will see first when
they visit your blog post, and it should
give them a good idea of what the post is
about.
Think of it like the cover of a book - it's what
draws people in and gets them interested in reading more. A good feature image
should be eye-catching, relevant to the post, and of good quality.
Having a feature image is important because it helps your blog post stand out and
makes it more appealing to readers. It also helps to create a consistent look and
feel across your blog, which makes it easier for readers to recognize your content.
As a beginner blogger, it's important to choose your feature image carefully. Look
for images that are visually appealing and relate to the content of your post. Also,
make sure that the image is optimized for the web so that it loads quickly and
doesn't slow down your website (as I already mentioned in the lessons above).
I highly recommend using at least one good picture and that is your post’s main
feature image.
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As you can see in screenshot below (inside the highlighted red box), this is the
feature image for one of my blog posts, "How To Create a Budget for Beginners."
This is a stock photo I purchased but as I mentioned earlier, you can use free stock
photos. I linked the resources in one of the previous sections. I no longer use free
stock images on my blog or for my Pinterest pin designs – they are either paid or
from the premium library in Canva Pro.
IMPORTANT STEP: Before you upload any images onto WordPress, make sure to
re-name your image files to words or phrases that contain the keywords you
want to rank for in your blog post.
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For example, in my post about creating a budget, I make sure that each time when
I upload a photo, I would rename them to something like:
•
•
•
•
•
“how to create a budget.jpg”
“how to create budget for beginners.jpg”
“how to make a budget.jpg”
“how to budget for beginners.jpg”
“budgeting tips for beginners.jpg”
You can come up with different variations for all the images you plan to upload
into that one blog post. This is better than leaving the image file with names like
“1.jpg” or “piggy-bank-file-2.jpg”.
I highly recommend naming the file name of your feature image to exactly the
keywords you want to rank for. For example, the file name of my feature image for
this post would be “how to create a budget for beginners.jpg”.
This won’t promise you that you’ll rank on Google just because you’re naming
your files to the exact keyword you’re targeting, but it’s good practice and better
than not doing it.
Here’s another quick tip. Try to use .jpg instead of .png files. The latter is usually
higher quality, but it will slow down your site especially when the file is too
large. The best to use today is something called “WebP”. I personally haven’t
implemented this yet (no time for me to look into it), but it’s something you can
look into.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me show you how to set up a feature
image on your blog!
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Step 1: Go into the draft of your blog post by logging into WordPress.
Step 2: In the screenshot below, you can see the “Feature Image” box which I
boxed in red. Click on “Set feature image” and choose the picture you want from
your computer’s directory.
9.3 How to Insert Images Throughout Your Blog Post
In addition to your blog’s feature image, you can attach images throughout your
blog post to make it more engaging and easier to read.
Readers' attention span is short, so it’s important to attach a few images in your
post to give your text a break.
Here’s how to attach images onto your blog post.
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Step 1: Once you’re in your draft post, click on the “Add Media” button as per
screenshot below.
Step 2: Make sure you’re in the “Upload Files” tab. Next, click on “Select Files”
and find the location of where you saved your desired image.
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Alternatively, you can drag your photos from your computer – you see where it
says “Drop files anywhere to upload”?
Step 3: This step is important so make sure you don’t skip this. Make sure you fill
out the “Alternative Text” field to include the keyword or phrase you want to rank
for because this has some Google SEO benefits (see instructions on the next
page).
Alternative Text (AKA “Alt Text”) is the important text of the image that is
understandable by Google and other search engines. This describes textually to
the engines when the image doesn’t load properly. The goal is to make images
more accessible to the blind who use screen readers. If you don’t include the
alternative text for the image, it will be displayed as an empty image.
On the other hand, it doesn’t really matter if you fill out the “Image Title
Attribute” field. The image title text attribute is used to provide additional
information about the image, and this image title is not used for search ranking,
so it doesn’t really matter if you fill it. This will just show the description or phrase
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when a user hovers over the image. Here’s how to fill out the fields. Click on the
pencil icon to make an edit.
Input the keywords or phrases you’re trying to rank for in the fields. I highly
recommend always filling out the Alternative Text field for SEO benefits. This could
help you rank on Google images.
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For illustration purposes, you see the phrase “budgeting for beginners” when I
hover over the image with my mouse?
That is the phrase I filled out in the Image Title Attribute field.
Again, this field isn’t as important, but it doesn’t hurt to fill it out.
Those are things that beginners should know about when it comes to inserting
images onto WordPress.
Remember to reduce the file size of the image, name the file to keywords you
want to rank for prior to uploading it onto WordPress, and finally, fill out the
Alternative Text (AKA “Alt text”). This is a quick summary of SEO benefits when it
comes to uploading your images properly onto WordPress.
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CHAPTER 10:
HOW TO CREATE AND
INSERT LINKS TO ARTICLES
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10. HOW TO CREATE & INSERT LINKS TO
OTHER ARTICLES
In this chapter, we are going to teach you how to create and insert links to other
articles. It’s vital to do this so you can lead your readers to other related content
or a post that has more detail about a point you made.
Here is a quick tutorial on how to add links to
1. External articles
2. Your other articles
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10.1 External Linking
I always recommend adding a few trust-worthy links to external articles. It tells
Google that you are referencing reputable sources hence trusting you as a source
and it may improve your Google search rankings. This could be you making a point
or linking to an article you think will help your readers.
For example, in one of my personal finance articles about paying off debt (see
screenshot below), I linked out to a credible source to make a point about how
much debt an average person has.
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10.2 Internal Linking
In addition to linking to external sources, you’ll also want to add links to YOUR
own blog posts.
This is called “internal linking” and it increases the chances of readers clicking
through from one article to another. But make sure that when you link your posts
internally, they are related to what your current post is about.
Put simply, internal linking is a way of connecting one page on your blog to
another page on your blog. It's like creating a map or a road that helps your
readers navigate around your blog more easily.
Let's say you write a blog post about home organization. You could create a blog
post about decluttering your kitchen, and within that blog post, you could include
links to other relevant blog posts you've written on related topics, such as:
• A blog post about organizing your pantry
• A blog post about kitchen storage solutions
• A blog post about cleaning and maintaining your kitchen appliances
Internal linking is important because it helps readers stay on your blog longer by
giving them more content to explore. It also helps search engines understand the
structure of your blog and can improve your search engine rankings.
So, think of internal linking like building a web of connections on your blog that
helps your readers and search engines find their way around.
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Let’s use my blog as an example. In my post about paying off debt, I interlinked to
my other posts about how to save money or make extra money to help them pay
off debt (as shown in the image below).
By doing this, I’m creating a pathway for my readers to follow that can help them
reach their financial goals more effectively.
I also linked a post about saving money, but it’s not shown in the screenshot
above. But let's say someone is reading my post about paying off debt and they
want to know more about how to save money on their monthly bills. If I include
an interlink to my post about saving money on utility bills, that reader can click on
that link and easily find more information about that topic without having to leave
my website. That’s the goal: to keep the reader on your page for as long as
possible!
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As you can see, interlinking is a valuable strategy for bloggers because it directs
your readers to finding additional information on a specific topic, encourages
them to explore more content on your blog, and potentially enhances your
website's visibility on search engines like Google. By connecting your blog posts
through internal links, you're essentially building a network of information that
allows your readers to easily navigate through your website and access the
information they're looking for.
10.2.1 Tips and Tricks on Linking Your Other Blog Posts
Now that you know what interlinking is and the importance of it, I’m going to walk
you through an effective strategy to help you boost your pageviews.
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This lesson is very important too and it’s something I feel beginners should
know. I felt misled and didn’t know until over 1 year later. Very frustrating!
Pay attention to this basic SEO tip. It’s vital when you are trying to rank on Google
searches. Many bloggers will teach beginners to link to their other posts because
it allows readers to bounce from one article to another hence increasing your
pageviews.
But what they don’t really mention much about is that naturally linking to your
other related blog post strategically is one way to boost your rankings on Google
searches as you have more authority later on.
Again, Google SEO is beyond the scope of this ebook but you deserve to know!
There are strategies to create an anchor text (AKA the text or blurb that you want
your internal link to be).
In my example screenshot below, I used the blurb “earn extra money on the side”
as the anchor text because I want Google to recognize the post that I’m linking to
as “ways to earn extra money on the side.”
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I also try to use different variations of anchor text that link to that same article in a
different post. For example, one of my other blurbs would be “how to increase
your income and earn extra cash.”
Using a food blog as an example, you’ll often see food bloggers interlink to their
related recipes. You will notice that in a recipe post about the best healthy salad
recipes, they’ll interlink to their other recipes like healthy chicken salad, classic
cobb salad, kale and avocado salad, healthy egg salad, curry salad, etc.
This type of internal linking is strategic and much better than you linking an
anchor text that says “click here to read this article” or “see this post here.”
Those don’t really explain to Google what the article is about so it’s best to create
different variations of anchor texts which describe what the post you’re linking to
is about.
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It’s good to have different variations of anchor text because this could help you
rank for different variations of long-tail keywords on Google. You can review what
keywords and longtail keywords are in Chapter 15 about how bloggers get traffic
to their websites.
Another tip is to avoid stuffing keywords that don’t make sense. For example, an
anchor text with “earn money free no job” or “make money at home 1000 a
month” doesn’t sound human at all. Try to speak to humans – your readers – and
be as natural as possible.
My final tip is to make your wording as simple and straight forward as possible.
Don’t make your anchor text too long.
10.3 How to Link to Other Articles in Your Blog Post
External and internal linking is done the same way. Here is a quick tutorial on how
to add a link in your blog post.
Step 1: Highlight the words, phrase or blurb you want to add a link to.
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Step 2: Click on the little “link icon” in your WordPress draft.
Step 3: Copy and paste the link address into the textbox.
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Step 4: You’re not done. Click on “link options” (it looks like a small little wheel).
Step 5: Make sure “Open link in a new tab” is checked off.
This allows your current page to remain open when a reader clicks your link to
another page.
You don’t want them to bounce off your current page to another page especially if
they’re still in the middle of reading your current blog post.
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Step 6: Click the “Update” button and you’re done. Now you have a link added to
your blog post!
NOTE: You’ll most likely only want to check off “Open link in new tab” if it’s an
external link, NOT an internal link. In other words, if you link to an outside
website that’s not yours, make sure this checkmark is on. If it’s linking internally
to your own articles, you don’t need to do this. In fact, it’s probably best you
leave the checkmark off if it’s to your own articles. Apparently, this is better for
Google SEO purposes.
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CHAPTER 11:
HOW TO CREATE A
CATEGORY FOR YOUR BLOG
POST
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11. How To Add A Category To Your Blog Post
Each time you draft a new post, you have the option to select a category for it.
What exactly is a “category”?
In the context of blogging, a category is a way of organizing your blog posts based
on their topics or themes. Essentially, it's a way to group similar posts together so
that readers can easily find what they're looking for.
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For example, if you have a cooking blog, you might have categories like
"appetizers", "entrees", "desserts", and "vegan recipes". Each blog post you
publish would then be assigned to one of these categories based on its content.
Categories can be displayed in a menu or sidebar on your blog, allowing readers to
quickly navigate to the posts that interest them. They also help you stay organized
as a blogger by providing a clear structure for your content.
When you're first starting out as a blogger, it's a good idea to think about what
categories you want to use and create them on your blog. As you continue to
write posts, you can assign them to the appropriate categories to keep your blog
organized and easy to navigate.
The good thing is you can create as many categories and subcategories as you like
but don’t overdo it. I would say around 3 to 5 at most for beginners.
By sticking to a reasonable number of categories, you’ll be able to organize and
manage your website without feeling overwhelmed.
When readers are on your blog, they can also click through the category and read
more articles related to that category.
For example, you’ll see that I divided my blog into the following categories:
•
•
•
•
•
Save Money
Blogging
Investing
Make Money
Money Management
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So, let’s say I write a post about “saving money on groceries” or “how to build an
emergency fund.” I would select “Save Money” as my category for those types of
posts.
Here are steps on how to create a category for your blog post:
Step 1: Assuming you’re in your draft post (see image in previous page), in the
right-hand sidebar when you scroll down, you can see the “Categories” section.
Click on “+ Add New Category.”
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Step 2: Now you’ll see an empty text bar where you can fill in a category name.
You’ll want to be general, but you can also be specific by niching down more. For
example, “Beauty” is general, and most lifestyle blogs would use this. However, if
your blog is only about beauty, you can create more specific categories like
“Skincare” or “Makeup Tutorials.”
Here are some examples of categories for a crafting blog:
•
•
•
•
DIY Projects
Crocheting
Gift Ideas
Upcycling
Make sure to choose a category name that you know you’ll blog more about in the future.
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11.1 How to Brainstorm and Come Up with Some Categories
Here are some actionable tips new bloggers on how to come up with categories.
1. Brainstorm potential topics for your blog: Before you can create categories,
you need to know what you'll be writing about. Take some time to
brainstorm potential topics or themes for your blog.
2. Think about how you can group similar topics together: Look for
commonalities between the topics you've brainstormed. Can they be
grouped together based on theme, genre, audience, or some other criteria?
This will help you come up with your categories.
For a personal finance blogger, some of the topics you've brainstormed may
include "budgeting," "investing," "credit cards," "retirement planning," and
"saving for a down payment."
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By looking at these topics, you can group them into categories based on financial
goals or themes, making it easy for readers to navigate your content and find the
information they need. For example, you could create categories like "Savings and
Budgeting," "Investing and Retirement," and "Credit and Debt Management."
3. Keep it simple: Don't try to create too many categories or your blog may
become cluttered and confusing. As mentioned, aim for no more than 3 to 5
categories to start. If you’re a general beauty blogger, you can use simple
names like “Makeup”, “Hair”, and “Nails”. Alternatively, if you’re a food
blogger, you can use simple category names like “Instant Pot”, “Vegetarian”
and “Meal Prep.”
4. Use descriptive names: Make sure your category names are clear and
descriptive, so readers know exactly what they'll find in each one. Let’s say
you’re a skin care blog, you can use simple yet descriptive category names
like “Night Routine”, “Morning Routine” or “Product Reviews” but only if
you plan to blog specifically about those topics.
5. Consider your audience: Think about who your audience is and what topics
they're most interested in. This can help you come up with categories that
are relevant and appealing to them.
6. Look at other blogs for inspiration: Take a look at other blogs in your niche
to see what categories they use. This can give you ideas for your own
categories.
Remember, your categories don't have to be set in stone. As you write more blog
posts, you may find that some categories are more popular than others or that
you want to add or even remove categories. Stay flexible and willing to make
changes as needed.
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CHAPTER 12:
HOW TO ADD A SIDEBAR TO
YOUR BLOG
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12. HOW TO ADD WIDGETS ON WORDPRESS
In this chapter, we are going to learn how to add widgets on WordPress.
You can think of it as customizing your blog’s sidebar like the screenshot you see
below.
This chapter would have flowed better if it was mentioned before drafting your
first blog post.
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However, most beginners are more anxious to write their first blog post, so they
won’t fiddle around with their sidebar until that’s done.
As a beginner, you can include the following to your blog’s sidebar:
• Your logo or picture of yourself (I talk about creating a simple logo for your
website in Chapter 13)
• A quick introduction of yourself which links to your “About Me” page where
they can learn more about you and what your blog has to offer.
• A few of your favorite blog posts that you really want your visitors to read
• Search bar, so users can easily search for things on your website.
As your blog’s goals become more clear, you can adjust it and include banners to
your online shop or products you want to sell.
For example, if you operate a blog that offers coloring pages and printables, you
can advertise your best-selling coloring or printable bundle.
Or, let’s suppose you run a website that offers coaching services (e.g. personal
finance, fitness, nutrition, skin care advice, etc.).
With that, you can create a banner (with a link) for potential customers to learn
more about your services. Yes, you can also think of your side bar as your main
advertising hub!
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Using my other blog as an example: On my www.blogsavvypanda.com website,
you’ll see me advertise “The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic” along with my
“Pin Savvy Canva templates” on the sidebar.
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12.1 What is a Widget?
Now, taking a step back, let me explain to you what a widget is (the formal
definition). A widget is a small application or tool on WordPress that can be
added to the sidebar of a blog’s main page.
Think of it as a shortcut that provides readers with extra information or features
without having to go to a different page on the website. For example, when I
insert a short bio of myself on the right-hand sidebar of my website (this is a type
of widget), you can simply click on my “Read more about me here” link (you can
see this in a short blurb in my bio) instead of navigating my blog to find out more
about me.
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Widgets can come in many different forms, such as a search bar, social media
icons, or a list of recent blog posts. They can also be customized to fit the design
and layout of your website.
The sidebar is a vertical column that runs along the side of the main content area.
Think of it like a toolbox that you can customize to make your website more useful
or interesting.
You can add, remove, or move widgets around using the widget function on
WordPress. It's like a remote control for your website that helps you make
changes easily.
Again, adding small tools or features to your website's sidebar (using widgets) can
make it more user-friendly and informative. These tools can give visitors quick
access to important information and help them navigate your site more easily.
By customizing your sidebar with these features, you can create a better user
experience and keep your visitors engaged with your content.
12.2 How to Add a Sidebar on Your Blog
Now that you have a better understand of widgets and what a sidebar is, here’s
how to get into your widget settings to do this.
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Step 1: Go to “Appearance” ➔ “Widgets” in your dashboard menu.
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Step 2: You’ll see a section called “Blog.” This is the main sidebar. Take a look at
your “Available Widgets” section (on the left) to see what you want to include in
your side bar (on the right). See image below.
Step 3: Drag and Drop the widget you want into your main sidebar section. In the
image below, you’ll see that I included the search bar widget into my main
sidebar.
Not only will this search bar allow your readers to easily search for keywords on
your page, and when you check your Google Analytics (refer to Section 4.2), you’ll
see what your readers are searching for specifically on your website. An example
would be me discovering that "dim sum" was a popular search term among
visitors to one of my food blogs. This insight inspired me to focus on creating more
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articles related to dim sum. As you can see, by using the search bar widget, you
can gain insight into what topics your readers are interested in.
You can play around with your widgets and create the sidebar you want to your
liking. I like using the image widget because it allows you to create banners that
link to the following:
•
•
•
•
Your favorite blog posts
Your online shop
Your products
A product review that has affiliate links
You can also use Canva to create image banners and Pinterest pins. It’s free to use
but I wholeheartedly recommend the pro version because of the unlimited access
to higher quality images!
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CHAPTER 13:
HOW TO CREATE A LOGO
FOR YOUR WEBSITE
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13. HOW TO CREATE A LOGO FOR YOUR
WEBSITE
Creating a logo will help you define your blog or website’s brand. A simple image
creates an identity and it will help your audience recognize who you are.
Having a well-designed logo will help you stand out from others in your niche, and
it will improve brand loyalty as your readers become more familiar with who you
are and what you have to offer them.
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However, because you are a brand-new blogger, you don’t have to stress too much
about creating the “perfect” logo. It’s okay to start off with a simple and basic logo
with the name of your blog.
For now, the most important part is delivering content that your readers want and
being able to help them solve a problem.
To create your first logo, you can use Canva. This is a free online tool for beginners
to design banners, logos, Pinterest pins, printables, brochures, etc. for their online
businesses.
I am currently using the Pro version of Canva. It is important to know that while I
was using the free version at the beginning of my blogging journey, I was able to
get by because the free version was great while it was still new. It’s like how
ChatGPT (the AI writing tool) was great at the beginning when it was free (still free
at the time of writing this), but they started limited the functions and made the
platform really slow with the free accounts as more and more users signed up.
I have to say that Canva really started to limit their options with their free account
because they want you to support and pay for the service, which makes sense,
right? How else would a business survive if everyone is flocking to the free
option?
Over the years, Canva changed the options to make it very challenging for us to
use their free account, so I highly (and I meant HIGHLY) recommend investing in
the Canva pro account if you want to take your blog to the next level. You can get
started and create a Canva account here.
I personally love that the Pro version of Canva gives me unlimited access to highquality premium stock photos from their library at a very low price! Another game
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changer is it allows you to create folders to help you stay organized (with higher
storage space), so the low-price monthly or annual plan is worth the investment if
you are looking for these option. If you go for the annual plan, you’ll pay the full
upfront amount and save money!
Anyway, I decided to write all of that here because I always receive e-mails from
readers asking me whether they should invest in a Canva account after going
through this chapter on how to create a logo or after going through my Pin Savvy
Canva Templates. I tell them, YES, YES, and YES!
Now that’s out of the way, I’m going to show you a quick and simple tutorial on
how you can create your first website logo using your name.
Please don’t laugh at my quick design since I am just going through a
demonstration to show you how to use it – not how to become a pro designer. :)
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13.1. Creating Your Logo with Canva
Step 1: Create a Canva account here.
Again, yes, I recommend purchasing either the monthly plan or annual plan. The
monthly plan is really cheap! And if you can afford to pay the entire amount
upfront for the year, you’ll be able to save money.
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Step 2: Click on “Create a design” button on the top right-hand corner and select
“logo”. You have the option to choose “Custom dimensions” if you prefer a
different dimension but we’ll stick with the standard 500 x 500 px.
Step 3: Have fun and design your logo! You can browse under the “Templates” tab
for some pre-made logo templates to see what fits you and your brand.
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As you can see, Canva has different categories for you
to choose. For example, they have café, restaurant,
food/drink, beauty, basketball, attorney, home
furnishings, etc. I highly recommend browsing around
and playing with the functions to see what you like.
In the next section, I’ll demonstrate how I would create
a quick simple logo for beginners to use. You can spend
more time on this if you like, but remember, it doesn’t
have to be fancy (at least for now) since you can always
change this later.
13.1.1 Using A Premade Template For Your Logo
I used a premade template from the “beauty” section. This ebook isn’t meant to
teach you how to design. Instead, it’s to demonstrate how you can take a premade
template and tweak it to your liking. :)
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13.1.2. Using The Elements Tab
Functions widely used to find icons, cartoon images, and vector are under the
element tab. For example, if you want to insert a panda or flower icon onto your
logo, you can click on “Elements” and search for them in the search bar.
Other element functions include adding shapes, frames, and lines. I recommend
browsing around Canva and getting the hang of using it because this tool will be
useful when you start using Pinterest to create pins. Making and promoting pins
that link back to your posts is going to drive traffic back to your blog.
Here are the results when I search for the term “flower” under the “Elements”
tab. You can search for almost anything you want. Remember that the free version
has limited selections compared to the premium, but again, the basic Canva is
enough for beginners.
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This is a quick demonstration of how I added a line below the word “PANDA” using
the “Lines” tool under the “Elements” tab.
13.1.3. Guide On Creating Anything With Canva
Free resource: You can always learn how to use Canva and design anything from
scratch using this step-by-step guide created by them here. This guide is perfect
for beginners who don’t have any design skills!
13.2 Using Your Logo Under Your Site Identity
Before I show you how to use your logo under your “site identity”, let me explain
what a site identity means.
As a beginner blogger, your site identity is the name, logo, tagline, and other
visual elements that represent your blog or website. It's the overall look and feel
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that your readers will associate with your brand, and it's what makes your site
stand out and be memorable.
Your site identity is critical because it creates an immediate impression on your
readers and can help establish trust and credibility.
Your logo, for example, is a visual representation of your brand and can help
readers recognize your site at a glance.
Similarly, your tagline (which I go through in the next section) is a short and catchy
phrase that sums up the purpose and message of your blog, and can help readers
understand what your site is all about.
When creating your site identity, it's important to consider your target audience
and the message you want to convey. Your logo and tagline should be reflective of
your brand and resonate with your readers, helping them connect with your site
and remember it over time.
Now that you have an idea of what a site identity is, let’s move onto the next step.
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You know that little logo in the browser tab when you visit people’s websites?
This is called a “Site Icon” and we’re going to teach you how to upload your logo
under your “Site Identity” settings.
Step 1: Go to “Appearance” and click on “Customize” in your WordPress
dashboard.
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Step 2: This will lead you to customizing your theme. Click on “Site Identity” to
upload your icon or logo.
Step 3: Click on “Select site icon” and upload the logo you made from Canva.
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NOTE: You don’t necessarily have to use your logo. You can use any image you
want but most people use their logos.
You’re probably wondering how to make the background of your logo
transparent so you can avoid a white or colorful background. The transparent
option looks better, and I usually rely on Canva to use this function. This is only
available in the Canva pro version and not the free account.
Fortunately, there are a few online tools that will get this job done. You can use
this tool called Luna Pic here to quickly make your image or logo transparent. I
wouldn’t dwell on this since it’s insignificant for beginners. My logo on the tab still
shows a white background and I didn’t bother to change it yet.
Overall, the “Site Identity” allows you to upload your logo, change your site title
(this is just your blog name), and edit your website’s tagline.
13.3. Your Tagline Under Your Site Identity
A tagline is a short and catchy phrase that is often used alongside a brand or
company name to convey its message, value proposition, or unique selling point.
It's a memorable and easily recognizable phrase that helps to differentiate a brand
from its competitors and can create a strong association between the brand and
its core message.
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Think of your website’s tagline as a quick and concise summary of what your
website is about using a few words. It’s usually the first thing your visitors see
when they come to your blog.
For example, my tagline for Finsavvy Panda is “Save money, make money, and
live a rich life finding the right balance”.
In the context of a blog or website, a tagline is a brief statement that summarizes
the purpose or theme of the site. It's often prominently displayed on the
homepage or header of the website, and can help readers quickly understand
what the site is all about.
A good tagline should be short, memorable, and relevant to the content and focus
of the blog or website. It should capture the essence of the site's message and
appeal to its target audience. Some examples of well-known taglines include
Nike's "Just Do It," Apple's "Think Different," and McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It."
As you can see, having a strong site identity is super important if you want to build
a successful blog or website. By creating a cool logo and catchy tagline that really
represent your brand, you can make yourself stand out and become a trusted and
memorable source of info for your readers.
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CHAPTER 14:
SHOULD YOU LEAVE
COMMENTS ON OTHER
BLOGS?
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14. LEAVING COMMENTS ON OTHER BLOGS
In this Chapter, we are going to discuss about blog comments.
We are going to teach you:
• How to enable them on your blog from your WordPress dashboard
• Whether commenting on other blogs is a good strategy to drive traffic back
to your website
• Whether there are Google SEO benefits to having comments on your blog
posts
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14.1 How To Enable Comments on WordPress
Let’s get started by making sure your comments are enabled on your blog.
Step 1: Go to “Settings” ➔ “Discussion” from your WordPress dashboard.
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Step 2: Choose your “Discussion” (AKA comments) settings based on your
personal preference.
Based on my settings, I allow “people to submit comments on new posts” and I
did not check off “automatically close comments on posts older than X days” to
allow readers to comment without any time restriction.
You also have the option to approve each and every comment that comes in.
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14.2 Should You Comment On Other Blogs For Traffic?
Many brand-new bloggers mistakenly think that the more comments a blogger
has on their blog, the more popular they are, and hence the more traffic and
money they make. This is far from the truth!
I know many bloggers who have absolutely zero comments on their blogs, but
they are still earning a great income online! In case you don’t know what
comments look like on your blog, they are a chain discussion after the end of your
post. This is where readers can drop their comments about your article. Here is a
quick example:
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Now, it’s nice to read and comment on other bloggers’ blog posts especially when
you are supporting new bloggers and forming genuine relationships with likeminded people who have similar goals.
However, one mistake I made at the beginning was I spent WAY too much time
and energy leaving comments on other bloggers’ articles. I was taught by
successful bloggers that this is a great way for new bloggers to get traffic back to
their blogs and that they should invest their time doing this!
They told me to make genuine connections with other bloggers by consistently
leaving comments on their daily or weekly blog posts. Their reasoning is that
other readers will stop by their post, read your comment and click on your page.
Despite spending many hours, days, and months reading and commenting on
other established bloggers’ blogs (and new bloggers’ blogs), I didn’t see huge
results in my traffic by leaving my meaningful comments. It was very insignificant!
This “commenting” task started to feel more like a chore and I was burning out
because no matter how much effort I put on my end to build relationships, I
always felt that the other end was not interested.
Not only was I investing time into something that wasn’t working, but I was not
utilizing my time effectively to learn the more important lessons or strategies
that would grow my blog as a beginner.
Once I knew that this wasn’t working out for me, I immediately stopped
commenting and focused my efforts in learning REAL traffic strategies that would
drive the true fans to my page!
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As a result, I invested my time into learning proper traffic strategies and today, all
my traffic comes from implementing Pinterest strategies and understanding how
Google SEO works!
Takeaway point: Writing meaningful comments on other bloggers’ posts is a
great way to form a relationship with like-minded bloggers, but only do this if
you enjoy it and when you have free time. It’s still important to build quality
(NOT quantity) relationships with other bloggers in your niche.
If your goal is to drive traffic and build loyal followers, I don’t recommend the
“commenting” strategy. Rather, you should focus your efforts to learn how to
generate organic traffic to your blog from sources like Pinterest and Google.
Overtime, this is where your true followers will find you!
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14.3 Blog Comments and Potential Google SEO Ranking Benefits
Now that we discussed what comments are, how to turn them on your blog via
WordPress, and whether they are a good strategy for driving traffic, let’s talk
about whether there are Google SEO benefits from having comments on your
posts.
According to Backlinko, there are over 200 Google ranking factors that will show
your articles on first page, and having blog comments on your website is one of
the, BUT likely a tiny percentage compared to other more important ranking
factors! By the way, I really DON’T recommend you going through the list of
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Google ranking factors as a beginner because this may be too overwhelming for
new bloggers.
Just know that Gary Illyes from Google reported that having a thriving community
(AKA a chain of blog comments) helps with page rankings. He said "a healthy,
thriving community on a site, that can help a lot" when it comes to Google
rankings.
Based on Gary’s comment, you can form a small group of blogging friends within
your niche and leave meaningful comments on each other’s blog posts. Again,
only do this when you have time. As I mentioned before, having a long string of
blog comments does NOT determine how successful a blog is or how much money
it earns.
It definitely doesn’t hurt to have quality comments on your blog posts, but don’t
dwell too much over this. Comments will naturally come over time when you
write quality content that helps your readers! However, even if you don’t get any
comments, it’s not a big deal at all! I have blog posts that don’t have any
comments on them, but they’re still generating income for me!
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CHAPTER 15:
UNLOCK YOUR TRAFFIC
POTENTIAL
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15. UNLOCK TRAFFIC POTENTIAL: HOW TO
GET BLOG TRAFFIC
This chapter is very exciting because it's all about getting traffic to your blog!
As a blogger, one of your main goals is likely to grow your audience and get more
people reading your content. One of the best ways to do that is by driving traffic
to your blog, and there are a few different strategies you can use to accomplish
this.
Two of the most popular ways to get traffic to your blog are through Pinterest and
Google SEO.
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SEO just stands for “search engine optimization”, which refers to the process of
optimizing your website and its content to rank higher in search engine results
pages (SERPs).
Essentially, it's all about making your website more visible and easier to find for
people who are searching for information online.
15.1. Pinterest Search Results:
Using myself as an example, when you search for the keyword or phrase, “early
morning jobs” onto the Pinterest search bar, you’ll see my article about jobs for
early birds appear:
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So basically, if someone is looking for a job that fits their early bird lifestyle, they
might type in "jobs for morning people" or "early morning jobs" on a search
engine.
If I did a good job writing an article about that topic and optimizing my Pin images,
I may show up at the very top of the search results! When that happens, lots of
people who are interested in those kinds of jobs will click on my article and read
it. That's why being at the top of the search results is super important - it helps
you get more readers and visitors to your website.
HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR ARTICLES AND PINS: To learn the advanced strategies
on how to optimize your articles and Pin images for explosive pageviews, I
recommend following the entire guide from beginning to end in The Golden
Compass To Pinterest Compass.
I personally love using Pinterest, partly because I'm drawn to visuals and partly
because it was the first platform I used to drive traffic to my blog.
Pinterest is a visual search engine that allows users to discover and save ideas for
everything from recipes to fashion to home décor. By creating eye-catching pins
like these that link to your blog posts, you can get your content in front of a wider
audience on Pinterest.
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15.2. Google Search Results:
Now, let’s talk about Google for a
bit.
Google, on the other hand, is the
world's largest search engine, and
it's used by billions of people every
day to find information online.
By optimizing your blog posts for
search engines using techniques like
keyword research and on-page optimization, you can improve your chances of
ranking higher in Google's search results and driving more traffic to your blog.
Let me give you an example using myself again. If you go on Google and type in
things like "piggy banks for grown-ups" or "cool piggy banks for adults", my
website will show up as one of the first search results.
Just like Pinterest, being at the top of the search results on Google is crucial
because it helps me attract more visitors to my website who are interested in the
topic I've written about.
It's like having a big sign that says "Hey, I have what you're looking for – piggy
banks for adults!" and drawing people in to check out my website.
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“piggy banks for adults”:
Results may change due to seasonality, algorithm shifts, and many other factors.
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“unique piggy banks for adults”:
Again, results may change due to seasonality, algorithm shifts, and many other
factors. While the idea of driving traffic to your blog might seem overwhelming at
first, don't worry! In this chapter, we'll break down the basics of Pinterest SEO into
simple, easy-to-follow strategies that even beginner bloggers can use to get more
eyes on their content.
GOOGLE SEO RESOURCE: If you want to improve your website's Google SEO
(search engine optimization), I've got a great resource for you to go through. It's
called the Moz Beginner's Guide to SEO, and it's broken down into seven easyto-follow chapters. I really wish I had known about this guide when I was
starting out because it provides all the foundational knowledge you need
without having to spend any money on resources. Best of all, it's totally free!
So, whether you're a beginner or just looking to brush up on your SEO skills, the
Moz guide is a fantastic place to start.
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I'll leave the topic of Google SEO to you for now. Instead, let's dive into the basics
of using Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog. I highly recommend Pinterest for
beginners because, let's face it, Google SEO can be pretty technical – being
“technical” ain’t my game! That's why I personally use it as a secondary traffic
source rather than my main one. But with Pinterest, you can start seeing results
sooner compared to Google. So, let's get started!
15.3. How To Get Traffic on Pinterest For Beginners
Pinterest is one of the most
powerful visual search
engines that can drive
massive traffic to your
website or blog. As a blogger
or business owner, if you’re
not leveraging Pinterest,
you’re missing out on a huge
opportunity to drive traffic to
your site. I've been using
Pinterest for my blog and
business for over five years, and I can attest to the fact that it’s a goldmine for
website traffic.
Pinterest has been an absolute game-changer for my blog, serving as the top
source of traffic that consistently brings in over 100,000 pageviews per month. It’s
no surprise that I receive an influx of inquiries about Pinterest strategies every
single day. With an audience of over 450 million monthly active users, ignoring
Pinterest as a means to drive traffic to your site would be a missed opportunity
that you simply cannot afford.
In this Chapter, I’ll show you how to get traffic on Pinterest for total beginners.
From setting up your Pinterest business account to creating boards, optimizing
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your pins, and conducting keyword research, I’ll give you actionable tips to help
you drive traffic to your website or blog using Pinterest. But for the purposes of an
introduction and to not overwhelm you, I’ll focus on the most essential steps that
you need to take to get started with driving traffic on Pinterest. By following these
steps, you’ll be able to establish a good foundation for your Pinterest presence
and begin driving some traffic to your site.
First, we’ll cover how to create a Pinterest business account and set up your
profile. Next, we’ll dive into creating boards that are focused on specific topics or
themes, and how to optimize them for search by using relevant keywords in your
board titles and descriptions.
From there, we’ll move on to Pinterest SEO and keyword research, which will help
you target specific niches and audiences with long-tail keywords that will attract
more users to your content. Finally, I’ll show you how to create visually appealing
pin images using Canva, and how to link your pins to your relevant blog posts to
drive traffic to your site.
By the end of this section, you’ll have a good understanding of the basic steps you
need to take to get traffic on Pinterest and start driving more traffic to your
website or blog. Additionally, here are several Pinterest resources that I’d like to
share with you:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How To Setup Your Pinterest Business Account
How To Get Traffic on Pinterest and Monetize Your Blog
How To Claim Your Website on Pinterest
How To Pin on Pinterest (by Pinning to Your Relevant Boards)
How Long Does it Really Take To Get Traffic on Pinterest?
How To Use Tailwind to Schedule Pins for Pinterest Traffic
The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic – The Exact Strategies I Used To
Skyrocket my Monthly Pageviews to Over 100,000
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WANT TO FAST TRACK AND SKYROCKET YOUR PINTEREST TRAFFIC? For a
comprehensive Pinterest traffic guide to quickly explode your blog traffic so you
can make money with your blog, follow The Golden Compass To Pinterest
Traffic. This is the exact strategies I used to go from 0 to 100,000 pageviews per
month!
To share the wealth of knowledge I have accumulated over years of
experimentation and thousands of trial-and-error hours, I’ve created The
Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic – the all-in-one, comprehensive A-Z guide
that unveils the secrets (that most people don’t tell you) to skyrocketing your
pageviews! This guide offers insider tips that others keep as closely guarded
secrets, and I am confident that it will give you the edge you need to thrive.
Don’t forget to use the exclusive insider coupon, “GOLDEN15” to get 15% off in
addition to free bonuses that come with this purchase!
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15.3.1. Create a Pinterest Business Account
The first step to getting traffic on Pinterest is to create a Pinterest business
account. A business account gives you access to a variety of features that are not
available on personal accounts. For example, you can verify your website, access
Pinterest analytics, and run promoted pins campaigns.
To create a business account, go to pinterest.com/business/create and follow the
steps to set up your account. You can either sign up with your email address or
use your existing personal account to convert it to a business account.
CREATE A PINTEREST BUSINESS ACCOUNT: I also have a separate tutorial on
how to create your Pinterest business account here.
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15.3.2. Create a Profile
Once you’ve created your Pinterest business account, the next step is to create
your profile. Your profile is like your storefront on Pinterest, and it’s the first thing
people see when they come across your pins. Therefore, it’s essential to create a
profile that is professional, engaging, and relevant to your niche.
Here are some tips to help you create an effective profile:
• Use a professional profile picture (a headshot or logo) that represents your
brand or business. You can see I use a panda image.
• Write a clear and concise bio that describes what you do and what your
niche is. For me, that’s about personal finance, making, and saving money.
• Add a link to your website or blog in your profile (you’ll also want to learn
how to claim your website on Pinterest).
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• Use relevant keywords in your bio and profile name to help users find your
profile.
Here’s an example of a clear and concise bio for a healthy food blogger.
Profile Name: Sarah's Healthy Kitchen
Bio: Certified nutritionist and healthy food enthusiast sharing easy, plant-based,
gluten-free recipes. Follow for healthy eating tips, meal ideas, and wellness
inspiration.
Keywords used: healthy food, nutritionist, plant-based, gluten-free, recipes,
healthy eating, meal ideas, wellness inspiration.
Here's an example of a beauty blogger's profile with relevant keywords.
Profile Name: Sarah's Beauty Blog
Bio: Experienced makeup artist and beauty blogger sharing tips, tutorials, and
product reviews. Join me for cruelty-free, clean beauty inspiration and skincare
advice.
Keywords used: beauty blogger, makeup artist, tips, tutorials, product reviews,
cruelty-free, clean beauty, skincare.
Also notice the sprinkled keywords throughout the descriptions above.
Using relevant keywords like these in your bio and profile name is crucial for
helping users find your profile on Pinterest. This is also known as implementing
“Pinterest SEO” into your bio. Again, “SEO” stands for search optimization”.
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When users search for specific keywords related to your niche or content, having
those keywords in your bio and profile name will increase your visibility in search
results over time.
It's important to choose keywords that accurately describe your niche and the
type of content you create, and to use them naturally in your bio and profile
name. By doing so, you'll make it easier for users to find your profile and increase
your chances of getting more followers and traffic to your website or blog.
15.3.3 Create Boards
Boards are like folders that organize your pins by topic or theme. When creating
boards, think about the topics that are relevant to your niche and the interests of
your target audience. Your boards should be organized, visually appealing, and
easy to navigate.
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You can learn how to create a Pinterest board with Pinterest’s tutorial here.
Here are some tips to help you create effective boards:
• Use relevant keywords in your board titles and descriptions to help your
target audience find your boards. For me specifically, that can range from
making money, saving money, online jobs, etc.
• Create boards that are focused on specific topics. For example, my specific
topic or theme is personal finance, so literally everything about money!
• Add at least 10-20 pins to each board to make them look full and active. As
a new user, you’ll want to save some of other bloggers’ pins from your niche
to make it relevant.
Here's an example of a board for a healthy food blogger with relevant keywords:
Board Title: Easy Plant-Based Recipes
Description: Get inspired with my collection of easy, plant-based recipes and
healthy meals, that are perfect for any meal of the day. From breakfast to
dinner, these recipes are designed to help you eat healthier.
Keywords: plant-based, easy recipes, healthy meals, breakfast, dinner, flavor.
And here’s an example using the beauty blog we mentioned earlier.
Board Title: Clean Beauty
Description: Explore my top picks for clean and natural beauty products that
are free from harmful chemicals. Perfect for skin and hair, discover new brands
and product reviews to help you make the switch to a healthier beauty routine.
Keywords: clean beauty, natural beauty products, harmful chemicals, product
reviews, skin, hair
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15.3.4. Pinterest SEO and Keyword Research
Pinterest is a visual search engine, which means that optimizing your pins (and
even the content with your blog posts) for search is crucial if you want to get
traffic from the platform. Pinterest SEO (“search engine optimization”) involves
optimizing your pins, boards, and profile for specific keywords and phrases that
your target audience is searching for on the platform.
Here are some tips to help you optimize your Pinterest profile for search:
• Use relevant keywords in your profile, board titles, and descriptions.
• Use long-tail keywords to target specific niches and audiences.
• Use keyword-rich descriptions for your pins and boards to help users find
them.
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Now you may be wondering, “Ling, what is a long-tail keyword?”
Well, that’s a great question!
Long-tail keywords are simply
longer and more specific phrases
that people use when they search
for something online. For example,
if someone is looking for a recipe for
a vegan, gluten-free banana bread,
they might search for "vegan glutenfree banana bread recipe" instead of
just "banana bread recipe."
By using these longer and more specific phrases in your Pinterest profile, board
titles, and descriptions, you can help your content appear in search results when
people search for those specific phrases. Not only are long-tail keyword less
competitive compared to general phrases like “healthy recipes” or “meal plans”,
but this strategy can help you attract more targeted traffic to your profile and
ultimately to your blog or website.
In the next mini section, I’m going to show you how to search for Pinterest
keyword ideas so you can find relevant keywords to use in your profile, boards,
and pin descriptions. Keep in mind that there’s so much more to performing great
and effective keyword research, and it’s one of the most important topics I cover
extensively in The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic.
Let’s just say the key to exploding your traffic is knowing how to do keyword
research and strategize on this skill. It’s an intense topic, but for simplicity, I cover
the basics to help beginners like you understand what it is and how it works.
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15.4. What Is Keyword Research?
Taking one step back, we need to understand what keyword research is and why it
is important.
Simply put, keyword research is understanding the terms and phrases (aka
“keywords”) that users are searching for to solve a problem.
For example, a reader might have a problem figuring out what to eat for dinner
tonight. To solve his or her problem, this reader may go onto Pinterest to search
for “dinner recipe ideas.”
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Another example is a reader may be searching for the keywords “bathroom
renovation on a budget” because they are in the stage of looking for ideas on
how they can renovate their bathroom without having to spend too much money.
The purpose of keyword research is to essentially understand what your audience
wants to find so you can provide them with a solution.
Now that you understand what keyword research is, let’s go through how to
search for keyword ideas on Pinterest.
Step 1: Search for any relevant word, keyword or phrase you are interested in
writing about within your niche. You’ll see that when you type in the first word
into the search bar (in the second screenshot example shown below).
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NOTE: Make sure “All Pins” is selected on the right hand-side.
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Pinterest never confirmed that these keyword suggestions are highly searched
keywords or phrases, but many content creators rely on these suggestions for blog
post ideas to increase their chances of getting traffic.
Content creators also use these keyword ideas to create Pinterest boards. That
way, people can easily search for you and your content based on what they type
into the search bar. Think of how you use Google to search for ideas, inspiration or
solutions to your problems. Pinterest is similar except they are more of a visual
search (as you can see with their vertical pins) compared to Google searches.
Step 2: Going back to my example, you see how the following ideas are showing
on the drop down when I type in the keyword, “healthy?”
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You see drop-down suggestions from Pinterest like:
•
•
•
•
•
Healthy dinner recipes
Healthy breakfast
Healthy eating
Healthy meal prep
Healthy lunch ideas
If you’re in the healthy eating, exercising, meal prepping, or food recipe niche, you
can create blog posts along with Pinterest boards using these keywords. Once you
select a keyword or phrase from the Pinterest suggested drop-down based on the
first words you typed in, you’ll notice additional keywords show up below the
search bar.
You see those additional keywords at the bottom?
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•
•
•
•
•
•
For weight loss
For family
For two
Easy
For weight loss clean eating
Vegetarian
These additional keywords or phrases give you an idea of what users are looking
for when they are searching for “healthy dinner recipes.”
They are probably looking for healthy dinner recipes that can help them with
“weight loss.” Some are looking for healthy recipes “for a family” or “two” (e.g. a
couple).
Maybe those looking for weight loss or family recipes, want quick and “easy”
meals. Everyone loves to search for “quick and easy healthy dinner recipes,” right?
There are also people who are interested in “clean eating” ideas or “vegetarian”
options when they are looking for “healthy dinner recipes.”
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Step 3: This step is highly recommended but not required.
You can dive deeper by clicking on one of the additional keywords that Pinterest
returns below the search box. This type of search is more intentional. The deeper
you go, the more specific and narrow the searches become.
For example, let’s suppose you want to write about “healthy dinner recipes for
weight loss” because Pinterest gave you extra clues by returning the additional
phrase “for weight loss.”
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You can click into the phrase, “for weight loss,” to see what other additional
keywords Pinterest returns. Here are the results after clicking on “for weight loss.”
You’ll see more additional keyword suggestions from Pinterest:
•
•
•
•
•
Clean eating
Low carb
Fat burning
Easy flat belly
Clean eating chicken
Again, this will give you an idea of what pinners or readers are looking for when
they search for the long-tail keyword “healthy dinner recipes for weight loss.”
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The search results are different from the more general keyword or phrase “healthy
dinner recipes.”
NOTE: If you click on “for family” after searching “healthy dinner recipes,” you
will see different results for additional keywords or phrases. I highly
recommend you playing around with these different long-tail keywords to get a
sense of what users are searching for.
15.5. Create Pin Images with Canva
Now you can see that putting a blog post takes some planning, like looking up
keywords (to see what types of posts are popular) and making an outline, then
actually writing the article, editing it, and putting it out there for everyone to see.
After completing all of that, it's time to move on to my favorite part of blogging –
designing your pins and promoting it to get pageviews!
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When it comes to Pinterest, the appearance of your pins plays a vital role in
grabbing the attention of your readers. In fact, it's what inspires them to click and
read your posts.
You don't have to be an expert in graphic design to make visually stunning pins.
Canva is a fantastic tool that you can use to create beautiful pin images, even if
you have no design skills.
However, I do want to caution you that there may be a bit of a learning curve,
especially if you're not particularly fond of design work. I don't say this to
discourage you, but to prepare you.
I've received a lot of emails from readers who have asked me how I make my pins
look so great without any design experience. Many have also expressed their
frustration with choosing good images, matching colors, and coming up with
compelling pin headlines. That's why I created my deluxe Pin templates bundle to
make the process easier and more efficient for everyone.
Now, here are some tips to help you create effective pin images:
1. Use high-quality images that are relevant to your pin’s topic.
2. Use bold, legible fonts that are easy to read.
3. Use text overlays to add context and make your pin stand out.
4. Use colors that match your brand or the topic of your pin.
5. Link your blog posts to your pin images.
In the next sections, I’m going to use examples from my 75+ Pin Savvy Templates
Bundle to elaborate further on my tips from above. I’ll show you how to unlock
the secrets to traffic-driving Pin designs.
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15.5.1. Creating Pin Designs That Draw in Traffic and Views
1. Use High quality images that are relevant to your pin’s topic.
I made these templates using Canva Pro and what I love about is there are a wide
range of high-quality images to choose from.
Let’s use a travel blog as an example here. You can enhance your content with
stunning images like the ones showcased below for “The Best of Japan: A
Complete Itinerary”. One of my personal favorites is the picture of the woman
holding the camera because it truly captures the joy of traveling.
On the right side, I've included a sharp and high-quality picture of a gift box using
one of my Pin templates. The image looks like it was taken by a professional, and it
doesn't look cheap or unappealing in any way.
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2. Use bold, legible fonts that are easy to read.
Take a look at the template on the left-hand side. Notice how I've utilized big and
bold fonts for the headline to make it stand out. This draws readers' attention and
if the title is captivating, they'll be intrigued to click on your blog and read more.
3. Use text overlays to add context and make your pin stand out.
Both of the Pin templates included in The Pin Savvy Templates bundle feature a
design technique called "overlay text", which means that text is placed over an
image. In the template on the right-hand side, you'll notice that the title is
positioned below the image, but the text still overlaps the picture of the mac and
cheese.
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4. Use colors that match your brand or the topic of your pin.
I've always been a fan of the color pink since I was young, and naturally gravitated
towards anything pink. My laptop case is pink, as is my phone case, and I always
seem to lean towards light pink Nike Air Max sneakers. That's why I chose it as the
main color for my brand. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the fact that
pink is often associated with femininity, but I just can't resist the color's appeal –
and it works for me!
However, what works for me may not work for you, and that's the beauty of my
templates - you can easily switch up the colors to match your personal
preferences. As you can see in the examples below, the template on the left
features shades of pink and blue, while the one on the right incorporates yellow
and blue. It’s amazing how there are countless ways to combine colors to make
them eye-catching and appealing!
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But if you want all that done for you, use premium templates like these to create
visually appealing designs quickly. Simply change your titles, colors, and swap the
images – in less than 1 minute, you’ll have a gorgeous pin ready for you!
If you're looking to accelerate the growth of your blog, it's important to prioritize
your time and not get too caught up in creating the perfect pin. Personally, I love
designing from scratch and playing around with different ideas, but I have to
admit it can be a very time-consuming process. To solve that problem, I now rely
on my 75+ pin templates to create pins at lightening speed, freeing up time for me
to focus on other high-return tasks that help me increase my income. Trust me,
my templates can work for any blog niche, and it will buy back your precious time!
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15.5.2. How To Link Your Blog Posts to Your Pin Images
Once you have your Pin ready, it’s time to publish it on Pinterest! Yay!
Step 1: Log into your Pinterest business account
Step 2: Go to “Create” ➔ “Create Pin”
Step 3: Select the desired Pin image from your computer drive and fill in the
fields.
See screenshot below to follow these steps:
1. Select your desired pin from your computer drive (where you saved down
from Canva)
2. Add your heading/title into the field.
3. Add your pin description into the field (remember to optimize it with
keywords and phrases, which I already went through in this Chapter)
4. Enter your desired blog post link.
5. Publish immediately or Publish at a later date (with later date, you can
preschedule your Pins, which I like to use)
6. Select your relevant board that you want to pin this pin. You can review
how to Pin on Pinterest here where I elaborate on this point.
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Follow the next screenshot as an example to see how I filled out my blog post
about best money-making websites and apps. You’ll notice I ignore “Add alt text”
because it hasn’t made any significant impact on me. On top of that, Pinterest will
recommend you pin 1,000 PX by 1,500 PX. I personally have some pins in this
dimension but not all. Many bloggers, including myself, don’t really follow this
precisely because this “Pin size” rule isn’t really set in stone.
Title/Pin Heading: You’ll see that my title contains my targeted keywords like
“best money website” and “earn extra money.”
Pin description: I also sprinkled in keywords like “best money websites”, “earn
extra money”, “make money from home”, and “boost your income.”
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Step 4: Finally, hit “publish.” Make sure everything is correct by doublechecking
your work before hitting publish.
It's important to keep in mind that simply pinning your content on Pinterest
doesn't automatically translate to traffic. Especially in the beginning, you won’t
see a significant uptick. There is a well-thought-out strategy that goes into making
the most out of Pinterest. It's not as easy as just linking your blog posts to your
pins. There are multiple factors to consider, and I delve into each one of them in
my comprehensive A-Z guide, The Golden Compass to Pinterest.
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15.5.3. Small Bonus: How to Make Your First Pin on Canva
As a small bonus, I'll provide you with a quick and simple tutorial on how to create
your first Pin using Canva. However, it's important to note that this e-book isn't
primarily focused on Pin design.
While I touch on Pin design in this tutorial, my comprehensive guide, The Golden
Compass to Pinterest Traffic, covers so much more than just Pin design. In that
course, I provide a wealth of information on Pinterest traffic and how to drive
traffic to your blog through Pinterest.
Before we dive into the tutorial on how to
create your first Pin on Canva, I also
wanted to share something exciting with
you. If you're looking for beautiful,
effective Pin designs that will drive clicks to
your blog, I have just the thing for you The Ultimate Pin Savvy Canva Templates +
How To Effectively Use E-book Bundle!
These exclusive Pin templates have been
developed and refined over the years, and
I use them on my blogs to generate over
100,000 monthly visits to EACH of my
websites. I've tested these templates while
pinning live to see what works and what
doesn't, so you can rest assured that
they're proven to be effective.
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If you're interested in these ready-to-go Pin templates, you can learn more about
them here. Trust me when I say that it only takes me 5 to 10 seconds to get a Pin
ready to go using these templates!
Now that you've had a glimpse of what a Pin looks like, let me guide you through a
straightforward, step-by-step tutorial on how to create your first basic pin with
Canva.
Step 1: Once you’ve created and logged into your Canva account, click on “Create
a design” ➔ “+ Custom dimensions” ➔ input 1,000 X 1,500 PX. This is the
optimal pin size recommended by Pinterest. See screenshot below.
Step 2: In the “Text” tab, click on “Add a heading” so you can create a title for
your pin.
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Step 2: Type in the title of your pin and choose your font.
You’ll see that I kept adding a new header for each line because I want to
emphasize dollar amount, “$300,” and word “ONLINE.” So, in total, I have 4
headings here. I also clicked on “Add a little bit of body text” for my watermark
below (where I input FINSAVVYPANDA.COM).
Referring to the above screenshot, you can see where I put the note, “PLAY WITH
THE FONTS HERE.” You can select your font type, size and color. You can choose to
bold or underline your font.
Other options include bullet points, alignment and spacing. Feel free to play
around with those functions when you’re creating your text.
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Step 3: Go into “Elements” tab and select square shape for the watermark. Refer
to below screenshot.
I also used the shape function to create a thin line at the top of the pin. You can
use your mouse to readjust the size and move them to the spot you want the
shape to be.
Once it’s in your desired position, you can select the color you want your shape to
be. In this case, I chose a light pink.
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Step 4: Choosing the color you want your shapes to be.
There are two basic ways to select your colors (refer to screenshot below).
You can choose from the “Default Colors” list at the bottom. Or, you can select
“New color” tab and pick the color you want from the color spectrum followed by
moving your cursor around.
If you know the color code, you can enter it directly in the text box.
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Step 5: Position your shapes.
You’ll notice that your shape may be in front of your text in the screenshot below.
You can fix this by selecting the shape. Click on “Position” and then select
“Backward” to bring the shape behind the text.
Step 6: Add an image.
As mentioned previously, you can add a stock photo from the library, upload your
own pictures or insert a cartoon image from the “Elements” tab.
Here, I decided to choose a cartoon image from the “Elements” tab. I typed in the
keyword, “laptop” to search for pictures that would suit my pin and used one of
the following images.
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You can also click on the image and resize it by dragging your mouse.
Step 7: You can keep the pin simple and leave it here.
Or, you can add one last effect to make it stand out a little more. This is where you
can play around with the Canva tool to try out different things. The possibilities
are limitless!
For example, in the “Elements” tab, when I type “lines” into the search bar, I can
do something like this…
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You can resize the rainbow-like image selected. I made it bigger and this is what I
did next…
Make sure the rainbow-like image is still selected. Go click on “Position” and
select “To Back” so it brings the image behind everything.
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Next, I would create a fade effect with the rainbow-like image as a final touch to
make the overall pin less distracting. You can do this using the “Transparency”
function and input a number out of 100.
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In this case, I typed “23” into the box, or I have could have moved the cursor
closer to the left to make it more transparent.
Here is the final result of the pin along with two other pins with minor tweaks.
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Now that you’ve made a few pins, I’m going to teach you how to upload them into
Pinterest so you can promote your blog post in the following chapter! I can’t wait
for you to get your first content out!
When you create a pin, make sure to link it to a relevant blog post on your website
or blog. Linking your pins to your blog posts is an essential step in driving traffic to
your site.
Here are some tips to help you link your pins to your blog posts:
• Choose a blog post that is relevant to your pin’s topic.
• Add the pin image to the blog post and make sure it’s visible and easy to
find.
• Add a call-to-action (CTA) in your blog post to encourage users to click on
your pin and visit your site.
• Make sure the link in your pin directs users to the relevant blog post.
While this guide gives you all the basics of getting traffic on Pinterest, if you want
to take your Pinterest game to the next level, I recommend taking a deep dive into
my guide, The Golden Compass to Pinterest Traffic.
In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn advanced strategies and techniques for
driving massive traffic to your site using Pinterest. I share all my secrets, hacks,
and strategies on how I use it to drive over 100,000 monthly pageviews.
I know they work because I was able to replicate this onto my lifestyle blog, which
is earning an income with Mediavine ads too! In fact, you can also get 15% off as a
Treasure Map reader by using the code, “GOLDEN15” AFTER you hit the checkout
button – you can purchase the guide here.
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Some of the topics covered in the guide include:
•
•
•
•
Advanced Pinterest SEO and keyword research strategies.
Tips for creating viral pins that get shared and save.
How to optimize your Pinterest profile for maximum visibility.
Strategies for getting more Pinterest users to save your pins so that you can
drive traffic to your site.
• How to use Pinterest analytics to track your performance and improve your
strategy.
• And SO much more!
With the right strategy, you can drive massive traffic to your site using the
platform. And remember that Pinterest is a visual platform, and the visual aspect
of your pins is crucial for catching the attention of your target audience.
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CHAPTER 16:
HOW TO MAKE MONEY
BLOGGING
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16. HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING
In this chapter, I will take you through a quick introduction on how blogs make
money. I'll introduce you to the most popular ways that blogs make money to give
you a basic idea of how it works.
My two favorite money-making methods for beginners are display advertising and
affiliate marketing. These were the methods that I used when I was a brand new
blogger with no experience, and they worked wonders for me! So, let me give you
a high-level summary of how blogs or websites make money.
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16.1. Display Advertising
Display advertising with companies like Google Adsense, Ezoic, or Monumetric is
an excellent starting point for beginner bloggers because it allows them to earn
money without requiring the experience and skills needed for affiliate marketing
or selling their own products.
These ads can be placed on the blog, and bloggers can earn revenue based on the
number of clicks or impressions they receive. This means that bloggers don't have
to worry about converting readers into buyers, which can be challenging for those
who are just starting out. Instead, they can focus on creating high-quality content
that they enjoy writing about, which can attract more readers and increase their
ad revenue. Overall, display ads are a simple and low-risk way for beginners to
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earn passive income while they build their blog and gain experience in the
industry.
Here is what display advertising would look like on your blog:
Now, I have to admit it is VERY tough to monetize with ads when you're new due
to lower traffic.
YES, I am being very upfront about this, so don’t think I’m saying it’s easy for a
brand new blogger who just started their blog a week or a month ago.
Despite it “being hard”, I still went ahead and started with Google Adsense. I was
so excited to earn my first $27 in November 2017 because it was this experience
that made me believe that earning money online with a blog IS possible. I just had
to find ways to increase that amount!
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It took me many months before I got my first paycheck from Google which was
$197.77 dollars in CAD which was equivalent to $150 USD during that time.
Once your blog traffic increases, you'll be able to switch to higher paying
advertising companies like Monumetric, Mediavine or AdThrive.
When I grew my blog traffic to roughly 30,000 monthly pageviews, I was qualified
to apply for Mediavine which allows me to earn about 5X the amount compared
to Google Adsense! As a new blogger, this was my first full month of Medivine
advertising earnings, $1,398.36 USD, for September 2018:
UPDATE SINCE JUNE 2020: It now requires 50,000 monthly sessions (~60,000
pageviews) to get into Mediavine. My Finsavvy Panda blog and 2nd anonymous
lifestyle blog did reach that minimum requirement. I will dive deeper later on to
explain how you can get started with earning money with displaying ads on your
blog or website.
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16.2. Affiliate Marketing
Ok, let's talk about one of my favorite monetization methods, affiliate marketing!
But first, what is affiliate marketing and how does it work?
16.2.1. What is Affiliate Marketing?
If you don’t know, affiliate marketing is just referring products that you love
and/or believe will add value to your audience. After they make a purchase, you
earn a commission at no extra cost to your reader or audience. Many affiliate
programs let you earn a commission by promoting something you already use.
You can promote anything as long as you believe it will benefit your reader.
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16.2.2. How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Now, here's how affiliate marketing really works when you put it in action: When
you sign up for an affiliate program with a company or brand that you love and
trust, they'll give you a special link that you can put on your blog.
Each time your readers click on that link and make a purchase, you get a
commission from the company. It's like having your own personal referral system,
and it's a great way to make money without having to create and sell your own
products.
Here’s a simple example. Let's say you're interested in promoting this ebook, "The
Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days," which you may believe will be
beneficial for your readers who are interested in starting a blog. (I hope you are
genuinely enjoying it by the way).
You can become an affiliate for this ebook by signing up for my affiliate program.
Once you've signed up, you’ll see a list of products that you can promote (this
works similarly with any other affiliate program):
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As seen above, you’ll receive a unique link that would look something like this
with your unique ID number – all you have to do is copy your special link:
“https://transactions.sendowl.com/stores/14114/1240XX”
You can use this special link on your blog post or social media account. Don’t use
the sample link above since that is NOT your special link. That was an example!
When your readers click on your link and purchase the ebook, you'll earn a
commission from the sale. In my case, I give out a 40% for every copy sold. If the
e-book is $47, that’s a commission of $18.80 per unit. The beauty of this? It’s a
win-win situation – you're helping your readers by promoting a useful product,
and you're earning money at the same time.
The key to successful affiliate marketing is to find products and services that align
with your blog's niche and audience. If you write about travel, for example, you
may want to partner with a travel company that offers flights or hotels like
Expedia’s affiliate program. Or if you're a food blogger, you could work with a
cooking supply company. Here are several popular affiliate programs and
networks you can join depending on your niche:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Amazon Associates (all niches)
Awin (all niches)
CJ Affiliate (all niches)
HelloFresh (food)
Home Chef (food)
Sephora (beauty, lifestyle)
Shareasale (all niches)
ShopStyle Collective (beauty, fashion, lifestyle)
Ulta (beauty, lifestyle)
rStyle (beauty, fashion, lifestyle)
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16.2.3. Amazon Associates Example
Since I'm talking to folks who are new to affiliate marketing and have different
areas of interest, I thought I'd use Amazon Associates as an example. Whether
you’re in personal finance, crafts, food, parenting, beauty, tech, health, etc., it’s a
versatile affiliate program that's open to everyone in any niche. Plus, lots of
beginner bloggers apply to Amazon Associates because, let's face it, who doesn't
shop on Amazon? It's super popular and most people who stop by your site will
most likely be a person who buys from Amazon!
You can sign up and become an Amazon affiliate here.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: However, I do NOT encourage you to sign up to Amazon
Associates (or any affiliate program) until you actually get some traffic because
they will kick you out if you do not make a minimum number of qualifying sales.
Not the end of the world since you can reapply again, but a BIG waste of time!
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Using my own personal finance blog as an example, you’ll see that I’m always
promoting one of my favorite books from Amazon, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I even
wrote a review about it because it’s an inspiring book that has completely
changed my mindset about money!
This review post about Rich Dad Poor Dad was actually written several years ago
when I first started my blog. I never updated it, but it has generated me affiliate
sales over the years. I also use this example to help you visualize what I’m saying:
You can see, I used my Amazon link with the anchor text, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”,
which goes to the Amazon page when a reader clicks on it. I also naturally sprinkle
my Amazon link throughout the post without making it look like I’m spamming the
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blog post with affiliate links. Trust me, no reader likes it when you spam the post
will too many affiliate links!
Aside from good books, there are many products you can promote from Amazon
Associates which works for every niche. For illustration purposes, here is an
example screenshot of one of my past monthly earnings from Amazon Associates.
I’m going to be very honest with you. Amazon is probably one of my least favorite
affiliate programs and I haven’t focused my time or effort there, but I have to say
it is a good start for beginners. Plus, there are all sorts of bloggers, from beginners
to professionals using Amazon Associates as one of their main sources of income.
Despite it being my least favorite, I still use it as a source of diversification because
it feels more passive compared to other ways I earn with affiliate marketing.
That being said, I’m going to give you a list of pros and cons of the Amazon affiliate
program.
Pros: They are a large and trustworthy company. Since Amazon is a big giant
online, most people across the globe trust them. When most consumers trust
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them, chances are they will buy from them even after clicking your Amazon
affiliate link. This generally leads to higher conversion rates because everyone
buys something online from Amazon. Retailers like Walmart or Dollar Tree have
lower online conversion rates due to consumer preference for in-person shopping.
Cons: Commission is literally peanuts! As you can see in the screenshot, I
generated $27,106.26 in monthly revenue for the company, but they only paid
me $834.87 in commission plus $7.00 in bounties. It sounds pretty absurd, right?
In total, that translates to about 3% in commission, which is extremely low
compared to other affiliate programs that offer from 10% to even as high as 40%!
The good thing is that all of my Amazon sales are generated from blog posts
where I only had to write the article once. So, despite the low commissions,
Amazon can feel quite passive when users click on your link and make a purchase
directly from your posts that either rank on searches or are shared by other
people on social media.
16.2.4. How To Get with Affiliate Marketing Using Amazon Associates
In this segment, I will show you how to incorporate Amazon affiliate marketing
into your blog posts. But, as a word of caution: it's important to note that before
you apply to any affiliate programs, you must have a significant amount of traffic
to your blog, including individuals who are actually purchasing those products
from your page. This will help you avoid getting removed from any affiliate
program.
If you implement each and every one of my tips, tutorials, and strategies outlined
in The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic, you can experience an exponential
surge in traffic to your blog, vastly increasing your chances of earning significant
revenue through affiliate marketing, all in a fraction of the time!
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Okay, here’s what you need to do to get started with affiliate marketing.
Step 1: Come up with a blog post idea.
The first thing you need to do is come up with an idea for your blog post that lets
you talk about products from Amazon. For example, you could write a review of a
specific item, like "Beats Studio 3 Wireless Headphones Review."
Another option is to create a list of # [INSERT YOUR PRODUCT] for [INSERT YOUR
AUDIENCE]. For instance, "10 Summer Sandals for Women."
Step 2: Next, you’ll want to sign up for Amazon’s Affiliate program. Only do this if
you’re already getting traffic to your blog. Let’s say a minimum of roughly 5,000
monthly pageviews.
Step 3: Once you’ve signed and they’ve approved you, log into your account. Go
to “Product Linking” ➔ “Product Links”.
This allows you to generate your affiliate link for the product you want.
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Step 4: Go to Amazon.com and look for the product you want to promote.
In your Amazon associates account, make sure you’re in the tab “Link to Any
Page”.
As you can see, it’s also asking you to “Enter the URL” into the field.
Because it’s asking me for the URL, I would open a separate browser by going to
www.amazon.com (outside of your affiliate account) and search for the product.
For example, if I’m writing a review about Dr. Dre’s Beats Studio 3 Wireless
Headphones, I would search for the link to this product.
When I searched for “Dr. Dre’s Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones”, there are
many options to choose from. I like the white and gold version, so I’ll select this
one to use.
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Step 5: Copy the link from the browser.
This is the link on the regular Amazon website (NOT Amazon Associates page) that
leads to this product. Copy the link, but make sure it’s not anyone’s affiliate or
referral link. It would usually be really long and messy if it was someone else’s
link.
Step 6: Go back to your Amazon’s Associates account from Step 4.
Simply paste that URL you got from step 5 into the field, “Enter the URL”.
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Then, give your link a relevant name, also known as anchor text. I chose to name
mine "Beats Studio 3 Wireless Headphones." That's the text that would appear if I
were to copy and paste the code given on the preview's right-hand side at the
bottom screenshot.
That generated code embeds your special affiliate link, and when you use this on
your blog post, you’ll earn a commission when a reader clicks through and makes
a purchase of that product.
Step 7: Hit “Highlight HTML” button.
By clicking on the “Highlight
HTML” button (see screenshot
above), your code will be
selected. Simply copy and
paste this code into your blog
post on WordPress (WP) by
logging into your WP account.
Make sure you’re in the “Text” tab and not “Visual” tab. The text tab is where you
can input HTML codes. Next, check your “Visual” tab to see how your link looks.
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16.2.5. Other Examples of My Affiliate Earnings
Whether you’re using
Amazon Associates or other
affiliate programs as a
monetization strategy on
your blog, the most
important thing is to be
honest and transparent with
your readers.
Always disclose when you're
using affiliate links, and only
promote products and services that you truly believe in. Your readers trust you,
and you don't want to lose that trust by promoting something that's not a good fit
for them.
While Amazon Associates may not be my favorite, affiliate marketing is definitely
one of my preferred monetization methods! It was actually my primary source of
blog income when I was starting out, accounting for over 80% of my earnings
during that period.
Ever since I branched out and added products to my blog and started other
websites, my earnings have become more diversified. These days, about half of
my earnings come from affiliate marketing, while the other half comes from a mix
of display ads and product sales. It's been a great way to spread out my income
streams. It keeps things interesting too!
Here is another example screenshot of one of my affiliate earnings and proof that
affiliate marketing is a great way for beginners to earn an income online.
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I blew up the screenshot here:
For beginners, no matter how new or small a blog, anyone can start earning with
affiliate marketing. Although you need some traffic to see your first sales, you
DON’T need 50,000 monthly page views to start earning your first affiliate income.
If I remember correctly, I earned my first affiliate income when my blog traffic
ranged between 10,000 to 18,000 monthly pageviews. Naturally, the more
pageviews your blog receives, the greater your chances of earning from affiliate
marketing. It's important to keep in mind that your conversion rates depend not
only on traffic but also on the quality of your marketing strategy.
For example, in my one of my posts about saving money, I like to mention the $5
Meal Plan because it may speak to readers who are looking for ways to save
money on food. Take a look at how I place my $5 Meal Plan affiliate link two times
in this paragraph.
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Whenever the reader clicks into this and signs up for the free trial, I’ll earn $1.50
to $4.00 per sign up in commission depending on which meal plan they choose.
Here's another example of my affiliate earnings from the $5 meal plan. Although
it's a low commission item, the high volume of leads can add up:
Affiliate marketing can be an incredibly effective strategy for monetizing your blog,
as long as you are transparent and truthful about your recommendations and
product reviews. By being honest, you can build trust with your readers and
ensure that they continue to come back to your site for your honest and valuable
recommendations.
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If you're already enjoying a product, why not share that with your readers and
potentially earn a commission at the same time? It's a win-win!
Of course, there is A LOT to learn when it comes to affiliate marketing, which is
why I recommend my affordable beginner's guide. While some may balk at the
idea of investing in an affiliate marketing course, I personally invested in a few
expensive courses ($200 to $300 courses) when I was just starting out as a
blogger, and it helped me grow my affiliate income from zero to over $5,000 per
month within the year.
Today, I earn over $10,000 per month from affiliate marketing alone, and I truly
believe that this monetizing method is worth learning for beginners. So, if you're
interested in learning more about affiliate marketing and how it can help you earn
money from your blog, I highly recommend checking out my guide for beginners.
Because I understand you are a
beginner trying to start a blog on
a budget, I created this really
affordable affiliate marketing
ebook with over 100 pages for
those of you who are new to
affiliate marketing called Affiliate
Income Booster.
You can use coupon code,
“BOOSTER50” after using this link
(and clicking the checkout button)
here to get 50% off.
This code is exclusive to Treasure Map To Blogging Success buyers and my e-mail
subscribers. This product will NOT be open to the public. I include one valuable
section about keyword research and what types of posts to write to make affiliate
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marketing work for you. This product is very private and exclusive, so you won’t
see this on my blog, shop or anywhere else.
I created this to help you understand what affiliate marketing is, how it works,
what programs to apply for, the basic understanding of keyword research, and the
best types of blog posts to write with a solid affiliate marketing strategy behind
those posts.
This is a very budget-friendly ebook for those of you who want to learn more on
how affiliate marketing works before investing in an expensive training program.
Again, you can purchase it over here. Don’t forget to use my secret coupon,
“BOOSTER50” so you can save even more.
Here’s one thing you need to know (the honest truth) before you invest your
money in an expensive or pricey affiliate marketing course.
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I see SO many beginners even intermediate bloggers struggle with affiliate
marketing regardless of how many expensive courses and training they go
through. And it’s NOT because the courses out there are bad. FAR from it!
The truth is taking an affiliate marketing course CAN help you understand and
develop a foundation for it on your blog. However, learning and being able to
convert your readers is a different story. Everyone’s audience is different
regardless of if you’re in the same niche as another successful blogger. What
works for one blogger may not work 100% for another.
On top of that, it also depends on how much traffic you’re getting AND whether
that traffic is the right traffic (AKA “quality” traffic). If you’re brand new to
blogging and have ZERO to VERY LITTLE traffic, you definitely won’t see immediate
results with affiliate marketing.
And even if you are getting traffic, you still need to understand WHO your readers
are and why they came onto your page in the first place. In other words, you need
“quality” and “intentional” traffic.
So, here is my advice. If you are a brand-new blogger, I highly recommend you
learn how to get traffic from a source like Pinterest before investing in a very
expensive affiliate marketing course. You can still enroll and learn what it is and
how to implement it, but make sure you are also learning how to drive traffic back
to your blog at the same time.
Again, if you don’t want to spend a lot on affiliate marketing yet, I recommend
starting off with this really affordable ebook to help you get started. Just
remember to use the coupon code, BOOSTER50 to get 50% off as a loyal Treasure
Map To Blogging Success reader.
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16.3. Create a Product
Another great way to monetize your blog is to setup an online shop and sell your
own products and services. This is something I’m doing now that I have a better
understand of what my audience wants.
Instead of selling other people's products through affiliate marketing, you can
create your own products or services and offer them directly to your readers and
followers.
Here are a few examples of products you can sell on your website or blog.
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16.3.1. Creating e-books
If you have a solution to your readers’ problems, you can create an e-book to help
them with their pain points.
For example, I get tons of e-mails every day from readers asking me questions
about how to start their blogs and how I’m able to make money online, so I
created this affordable e-book to help my readers.
On top of that, I get a lot of e-mails and questions about tips on how to build
wealth and kick start an effective savings plan, so I’ve been working on an e-book
to help my readers with that too. The key is responding to what YOUR readers
want.
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Whether your blog is about healthy eating, fashion, frugal living, organizing,
travelling, beauty, or any niche, there will always be an opportunity for you to
create an e-book that will solve their pain points.
I believe that creating e-books becomes easier once you get the feel of who your
audience is and what types of questions, they ask you.
16.3.2. Creating printables
Any beginner can start making money online by creating pretty printables that will
inspire or help readers organize their life. No matter what niche you’re in, you can
design printables by using simple tools like Canva, Microsoft Word, or Excel.
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Here are some examples of printables you could sell on your blog:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Motivational wall art printables
Pretty wall art printables
Budget binders like this one
Organize your life binder
Blogging binders
Meal planning binders
You could also package your printables to sell into a bundle and give your readers
a discount. For example, instead of selling a 1-pc wall art printable for $1.99, you
could bundle them into a 10-pc package and sell it for $5.99.
If “organizing”, “pretty” or “cutesy” is your thing and you’re interested in learning
how to create and monetize your blog with printables, then consider learning
more about it and testing the product by selling a low-price item (e.g. $7 to $15)
to see how it does on your blog – printables are a great for beginners.
16.3.2. Create online courses
I personally haven’t created a
virtual online course with recording
videos of myself, so I won’t talk
much about it. This is to give you
an idea of how you can make
money with your blog by creating
an online course. Many
experienced bloggers or
entrepreneurs will create online
courses that solve a problem for
their target audience. Similar to creating e-books, you can create an online course
with popular platforms like Teachable or Thinkific.
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Once you’re done creating your course, you can come up with a marketing plan
and put it up for sale on your blog or shop.
16.4. Sponsored Posts
I left this for last because I don't personally have experience with this. I've learned
that companies don't pay very much when you have a smaller audience (this is
likely the case for beginners).
Also, keep in mind that it takes a while to write a piece of content, so for
beginners, I don't see a high ROI with sponsored posts when you compare it to
affiliate marketing. For now, I'm likely going to focus my efforts on affiliate
marketing and creating my own products.
However, if you're interested, you can still make a decent amount through
sponsored posts. Regardless of how little you get paid as a beginner, everyone has
to start from somewhere.
Companies will pay you a flat fee for mentioning or writing a review about their
product on your blog. Like affiliate marketing, you should be 100% genuine and
honest when you are writing a sponsored post.
You can land a sponsored post opportunity when you directly reach out to the
company and pitch them your ideas. I've heard stories of many bloggers who are
able to successfully make thousands of dollars every month with sponsored posts!
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CHAPTER 17:
HOW TO MAKE MONEY
WITH DISPLAY ADVERTISING
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17. HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH DISPLAY
ADVERTISING
If you're new to the world of monetizing your blog, you may be wondering where
to start. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, there are a lot of different ways to
make money from your blog - affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and selling
your own products.
But if you're just starting out and don't have much experience with these other
methods, display advertising is a great place to begin. I personally didn’t dive into
other methods until I earned my first income with display ads.
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Essentially, display advertising involves placing ads on your blog and earning
money based on the number of impressions or clicks those ads receive. This is
how ads would look like on your site:
You know what's awesome about display advertising?
It's a lot easier to get started with compared to other monetization methods. You
don't have to be a genius marketer or have a ton of experience to start making
money.
Though I say it’s “easier” for beginners, I’m not saying it’s easy in absolute terms,
so don’t interpret my message the wrong way. You still need to be consistent at
this blogging game and put in the work!
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Plus, display advertising can be a great way to gain experience and figure out what
works for you.
In the beginning of my journey, I generated my initial earnings through display
advertising, and it snowballed from a few hundred dollars to thousands! That
valuable experience taught me how to explore other methods of monetization,
such as affiliate marketing, which has since brought in over $10,000 per month for
me alone!
Don’t be afraid to start small and work your way up. Display advertising is a great
steppingstone that can teach you a lot about what works (and what doesn't)
when it comes to monetizing your blog.
That said, it's important to remember that with display advertising, your success
will largely depend on your ability to drive traffic to your blog. The more traffic
you have, the more opportunities you'll have to earn money from not only ads but
other monetization methods too. So, focus on growing your blog by consistently
pumping out content, and you'll be well on your way to making money with
display advertising.
I want to be upfront with you. While this advice may seem simple, it is much
easier said than done. It is crucial to emphasize that the first obstacle you will
face is gaining a decent (let alone substantial) amount of traffic.
Building traffic will often be a new blogger’s struggle because they don’t have
experience with it which is totally normal and expected. When I was a brand new
blogger, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I was often spinning my wheels
even AFTER investing in many expensive training programs that promised
success.
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With so much conflicting information out there, I went with my gut and decided
to give Pinterest a try because I learned that this platform has the potential to give
you tons of traffic at a much faster pace compared to Google.
Anyway, my point is you NEED a lot of
traffic in order to make real money
with ads.
Don’t be fooled by experienced pros
who tell you that you don’t need a lot
of traffic. I totally get why they say that
now, but they unintentionally delivered
the message the wrong way without putting themselves in the shoes of beginners
and intermediate bloggers.
Just take my word - the more traffic you can get (as a beginner and intermediate
blogger) the higher you could earn with just ad revenue alone. Focus on building
your traffic and the rest will follow.
REVIEW: Read Chapter 15 to learn how to get traffic for beginners. I also have a
separate post here that teaches you how to get traffic with Pinterest and
monetize your blog.
GAIN MY INSIDER SECRETS: For more comprehensive information and insider
tips on Pinterest traffic strategies that most people hide from you, refer to The
Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic.
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17.1 How Much Money Can You Make with Ads?
Don’t expect to make much when you’re a brand-new blogger who just started a
blog a week or month ago. This ebook will cover the basics and it won’t go into
advanced techniques or strategies of earning with ads because it’s geared for
beginners who just started a blog.
Instead, I recommend focusing your efforts on creating content and promoting
them on social medias or my highly recommended source, Pinterest, to get
traffic as a start.
When you start displaying ads, expect to earn very little income with ads
especially when your traffic is low to nothing.
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For example, when I applied for Google Adsense back in November 2017, I earned
$27 for that month with less than 3,000 pageviews. During that time, I was just
focused on learning HOW to use Pinterest to my advantage to bring in traffic.
Within just a few months, I was earning a bit more with Google Adsense.
On average, I was earning $50 to $70 USD per month using Google Adsense and
this was due to implementing Pinterest strategies that increased my blog traffic.
This suddenly spiked to $150 USD from having roughly 30,000 monthly
pageviews. During this period when I achieved the minimum requirement of
25,000 sessions (roughly 30,000 monthly pageviews), I switched to Mediavine
because it offered A LOT higher ad earnings and exceptional client service.
Again, this was how much I earned in one month of displaying ads with 65,000
sessions (roughly 80,000 pageviews) when I was still a beginner blogger after
switching to Mediavine -- $1,398.36 USD.
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I also started a second blog and implemented the same Pinterest strategies from
my first blog.
The result is I was able to earn anywhere from $2,000 up to $10,000 per month
just from Mediavine display ads alone with my anonymous lifestyle blog:
Now, I am going to shed light on a less-discussed aspect of earning a "massive
income" through display advertising - a topic that successful bloggers tend to gloss
over or not mention at all…
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It wasn’t until I was in my 4th year of blogging that I realized this. Yes, it took me
THAT long to find out based on trial and error, AND my observations on what
other bloggers were really doing behind those scenes (that they don’t reveal). As
you gain more experience, you'll realize that the amount you earn from
advertisements is heavily reliant on the amount of traffic your website receives –
this part is obvious and not surprising at all. That one is common sense.
HOWEVER, what may not be
immediately apparent is that your ad
income, much like any other income,
is subject to fluctuations based on
seasonal changes, trends, and
algorithm adjustments on Google and
other social media platforms. NO ONE
can control this part no matter how
knowledgeable or experienced they
are in the industry. But reassuringly, your
traffic should recover as long as you stay consistent and treat your blog as BAU
(business as usual). No one is immune to trends and algorithm changes. So, it's
important to be aware that the stories you hear about bloggers making a
fortune SOLEY from ad revenue (such as $10,000 to $50,000+ PASSIVELY every
single month) can be VERY misleading without disclosing the following fact:
WHAT NOBODY TELLS YOU ABOUT: Generating 100% of your income through
ads alone is a challenging feat, requiring a consistent output of NEW content
(AT LEAST 1 post EVERY day) AND backlinks, comparable to running a highvolume blog like a magazine company. Unfortunately, many bloggers lie and
misrepresent themselves, appearing to be "one-person” shows when they
actually have a team working for them. If you don’t want to become an online
content publishing business, it's wise to diversify your income streams with
other sources (e.g., affiliate marketing, sponsorships, services, and products).
Also, focusing on “quality” (NOT quantity) traffic brings in a much higher ROI.
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Now that you have a better understanding of your goals and what may be realistic
for you and your family, whether it be running your blog independently or as a
small, medium, or large business, let's dive into how new bloggers can earn side
income through ad networks like Google AdSense and Monumetric. I’ll also
discuss Monumetric and Mediavine in more detail since I receive numerous emails
from readers asking how to qualify and apply for these networks.
PRO TIP: While you may be accepted to networks like Google AdSense or Ezoic,
I recommend spending some time on the side to learn how to use and
implement some affiliate marketing strategies. You can directly purchase this
really affordable affiliate marketing ebook for total beginners here to learn how
it works and what programs to apply to. As mentioned earlier, don’t forget to
use the secret coupon code, “BOOSTER50” after clicking the checkout button
and entering the code to get 50% off!
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17.2. Applying for Ad Networks
ATTENTION: Before you apply for Google AdSense (or an alternative ad network
called Ezoic), I want to mention this. You’ll hear many controversies on whether
you should or should not apply for Google AdSense as a brand-new blogger. Let
me present you with two sides of the story and you can use this information to
make your decision. I included this section because A LOT of people ask this
question very often and are paralyzed on what to do.
17.2.1. Earning Ads With Google Adsense (or Ezoic)
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Should You Apply for Google AdSense (or Ezoic) as a Beginner?
Case 1: Yes, apply for Google AdSense (or Ezoic)
When you’re a beginner who has NO experience and no clue on how building a
website or blogging works, it doesn’t hurt to apply for Google AdSense (or even
Ezoic) as an experiment. This could be your first step to earning your first income
with a blog and it will give you the experience.
I will emphasize again that making money with a blog isn’t easy and I do see a lot
of people struggle. So, depending on how patient or emotional you are, if you are
blogging away and putting a lot of effort into building your site but you don’t see
any results (and let’s be real here, most people attribute results to earning some
money), then you may be tempted to quit within your first few to several months
of blogging.
For me, just seeing that first $26.96 from Google AdSense in the very beginning of
my blogging journey gave me some hope.
It inspired me to learn more and work harder at achieving my next milestone.
Sometimes these small wins are a form a progress you need to see in order to feel
like you can move forward.
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At the same time, I want you to know how long it really takes to make money
blogging – I addressed this question in this separate post here, which you should
THROUGHLY read it to set some realistic expectations for yourself.
Before you apply to Google AdSense (or Ezoic), make sure this checklist is
complete:
✓ Website is AT LEAST 6 months old (this is from the time you purchased your
hosting plan)
✓ Website is operating on a theme that looks clean, minimal and easy to
navigate
✓ Blog has 20 to 30 high-quality articles published (aim for at least 1,000
words each)
✓ Each blog post is well-polished with nice images
✓ You have an about me page and policy privacy (including disclaimer and
terms & conditions)
✓ You have a contact me page
Overall, you want your site to look like you’re legitimate. Google wants to make
sure you are a legitimate blogger. You might want to wait after 6 months to apply
because when your blog is too new, you may get rejected – Google recently
changed this requirement. You can apply for Google AdSense here. Alternatively,
you can apply for Ezoic here.
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17.2.2. Earning Ads With Monumetric
Case 2: No, don’t apply for Google AdSense (choose either Ezoic, or wait for
Monumetric)
Almost all the established bloggers who are with Monumetric, Mediavine, or
AdThrive (the ad networks that pay you a lot more) will tell you to never apply for
Google AdSense because it is a waste of time.
I can totally understand where they are coming from. Google AdSense pays you
close to nothing compared to these other ad management networks and you’ll
never make any “big” money with AdSense.
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Most established bloggers who have made it and are successful now will
encourage beginners like you to wait until you reach the minimum of 10,000
monthly pageviews so you can qualify to apply for Monumetric. Or even wait for
3,000 to 5,000 monthly pageviews to see if you can apply for Ezoic.
When applying to Monumetric, you'll encounter a one-time $99 setup fee. I
personally paid this fee when I applied to the ad network for one of my hobby
sites that I'm currently exploring. However, I have heard from some Monumetric
members who claim they didn't pay this fee upfront. Instead, Monumetric
deducted the $99 from their ad revenue once they were up and running with the
network.
Here is a screenshot of my brand-new site with Monumetric – the site is very
niche-specific on Google (nothing like FinSavvy Panda or my anonymous lifestyle
blog on Pinterest) and it currently receives around 10,000 to 12,000 pageviews
per month:
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I would say that Monumetric (and maybe even Ezoic) is like a happy medium
between Google AdSense and Mediavine. If you're not keen on using Google
AdSense, but you're also not sure if your website will reach the 50,000 sessions
threshold (which equates to 60,000-70,000 monthly pageviews) required to
qualify for Mediavine, then Monumetric could be a solid choice for you.
You can apply to Monumetric here.
17.2.3. Earning Ads With Mediavine
Some bloggers will even stretch it far and encourage you to just wait until you
reach the minimum of 50,000 sessions (approximately 60,000 monthly pageviews)
to apply for Mediavine.
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Unlike Monumetric, there is no setup fee. I’ve been with Mediavine since August
2018 and I really LOVE their customer service! I’ve also heard good things about
Monumetric, but I personally don’t like them as much as Mediavine (as for now at
least). Maybe my new website is too young to judge?
The thing is I’m trying to see things from a beginner’s perspective (YOUR
perspective). Like I mentioned earlier, blogging is not easy, and many may struggle
at the beginning.
If you want to experience how it’s like to earn ad money with Google AdSense (or
even Ezoic) as a beginner, then definitely give it a try – again that’s what I did and
going through the process does help you learn along the way. Or you can wait
until you reach 10,000 pageviews and apply for Monumetric.
WHICH ONE SHOULD I CHOOSE? I know many people will ask me, “Google
AdSense” or “Ezoic” for a beginner? Between Google AdSense or Ezoic, I would
personally try Ezoic instead. I didn’t know about Ezoic until 3 years into my
blogging journey, so I went with Google AdSense. Based on consensus, you’ll
probably like Ezoic better than AdSense.
The only problem is no blogger will know when they will hit that minimum target.
Some are able to get there at a faster rate (e.g. 3 to 7 months) and some not so
much (8 to 12 months).
This leads to the next two chapters which is aimed to help you write blog posts
within profitable niches that could help increase your chances of getting more
traffic sooner so you can start earning with ads on your website!
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Remember, at the same time, you’ll need learn traffic strategies to help you get
there. That’s why I also recommend focusing your efforts on learning platforms
like Pinterest when you’re a brand-new blogger.
Luckily, you have the choice to unlock the power of Pinterest with my best-selling
guide, The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic available for purchase here!
This comprehensive ALL-IN-ONE guide is specifically designed to take beginners
and intermediate bloggers from zero pageviews to explosive traffic growth. It’s
the steps I took to get from 0 pageviews to over 100,000 pageviews per month,
which admittingly was NOT easy to figure out on my own even after going
through many paid trainings. I eventually realized (and learned the hard way)
that most business owners hide A LOT of information from you.
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It took me A LOT of time just to figure out things on my own and to earn income
like this:
$25,358 in two months just from one affiliate network:
$1,936 in a single day – yes, ONE single day:
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Several other payouts I received in my PayPal account from different affiliate
sources for the month:
Now, you can easily implement all of my strategies without wasting time or
encountering unnecessary hassle.
You'll learn everything you need to know, from setting up a professional business
Pinterest account and creating pins with effective SEO optimized descriptions to
implementing the most effective traffic strategies – including the strategies that
people DON’T tell you what they’re really doing behind the scenes. They will
make it sound, and even LOOK like they’re doing plan A (what everyone says on a
surface level), but in fact they’re really doing plan B, which is not disclosed.
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Sometimes, it may be mentioned but they don’t put emphasize on it because they
don’t want to make it obvious that it’s plan B giving them 80% of the results. And
no, plan B is NOT the easy way out. It involves actual work and effort, which
requires a lot of patience!
The Golden Compass to Pinterest Traffic goes beyond what most people say on
the surface to sound politically correct. I'm not going to sugar-coat it - I'll give you
the straight-up, honest advice you need to succeed. So, don't let your blog go
unnoticed - get your hands on The Golden Compass to Pinterest Traffic and start
making money today! Lastly, it also comes with a special bonus, How To Make
Money on Pinterest with Your Blog, that gives you the monetization methods I
used to earn over $200,000 in a year!
As an exclusive and special reader, I’m giving you access to my private coupon
code, “GOLDEN15” to steal all my insider secrets and strategies for 15% off!
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CHAPTER 18:
HOW TO CHOOSE A
PROFITABLE NICHE YOU’LL
ENJOY BLOGGING ABOUT
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18. HOW TO CHOOSE A PROFITABLE NICHE
YOU’LL ENJOY BLOGGING ABOUT
Before going through this chapter, you must read this post separate post I wrote
for you here. It’s packed with valuable information about how to REALLY choose a
profitable niche. These are things I really wished someone told me about when I
started blogging!
MUST READ: How To Choose a Profitable Niche – nobody really tells you this
and in my 5th year of blogging, I wish I didn’t make these same mistakes.
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I often get asked by my readers what they should blog about or what niche they
should go for to make money.
My advice is simple: don't pick a writing topic or niche just because you think it'll
make you the most money. Writing for the sole purpose of making a quick buck is
like taking a job you hate just for the salary. Don't get me wrong, it's important to
earn an income from your blog since you're putting in a lot of time and effort to
create valuable content. But if you want to enjoy blogging while also making
money, I suggest choosing a niche that you're passionate about, and then finding
ways to monetize it.
In the following section, I’m going to explain how to strike a balance between
enjoying your blog and earning an income. By doing this, you'll not only create
content that you enjoy, but you'll also attract an audience that shares your
passion, which can help you grow your blog and make some money in the process.
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18.1 How to Enjoy Blogging While Making Money
No matter where you are in your blogging journey, I've got a simple rule for you:
use the diagram below as a helpful guide to choosing a profitable niche that you'll
actually enjoy writing about.
And if you need more inspiration, check out Chapter 19 where I go over some of
the most profitable niches out there.
Ok, it’s fun time explaining this diagram to you.
You know that sweet spot where your passion, skills, and market demand
intersect? That's where you want to be. Trust me, it's easier said than done, but if
you put in the time and effort to figure it out, you'll reap the rewards.
1. First things first, let's talk about passion. I'm not saying you should quit
your day job and follow your wildest dreams without any financial backup.
But seriously, if you were financially independent, what would you be doing
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with your life? It's a tough question, I know. That's why I recommend taking
this free personality test - it's pretty amazing and might just help you figure
it out (as long as you're honest with your answers).
2. Now, let's talk about skills. What are you good at? What do people usually
compliment you on? And listen up, my friend - you don't have to be an
expert to be considered skilled. Maybe you're into cooking and like to try
out new recipes every week. You can write about what you've learned in
your culinary adventures and share it with your readers. Or maybe you've
made mistakes in the past and want to teach others the lessons you've
learned. Just make sure that it's a topic or question that people are
searching for.
3. Last but not least, let's talk about market demand. This is what the
majority of people care about. What are people searching for on Google
and Pinterest? I've got you covered - check out the profitable niches section
in Chapter 19 for some inspiration. Keep in mind that readers come to your
blog looking for solutions to their problems, not to read about your
personal issues. So, when they land on your page, they're thinking, "What's
in it for me? How can you help me?" Keep that in mind and you'll be on your
way to creating content that people actually want to read.
PRO TIP: I know it can be tempting to share all about your personal life with
your readers, but let's be real - they're not interested in reading a novel about
your daily routine. What they really want is content that helps them solve their
problems. So, when you're sharing anecdotes or stories, make sure they're
actually serving a purpose.
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Let me give you an example to show you what I mean. If you're blogging about
saving money or frugal living, you could share a quick story about how you called
your cell phone provider and negotiated a discount. Maybe you even did
something funny or sneaky to get the customer rep to give you a better deal those are the kind of stories that really stick with people!
But here's the thing: the story is only worth telling if it actually helps your readers.
At the end of the day, they're looking to learn how to save money on their own
bills, so make sure you're providing some tips or insights along with your story.
Keep it short and sweet, and make sure your point comes through loud and clear.
So, to sum it up: share your story, but make sure it's serving a purpose. Whether
you're talking about negotiating bills or any other money-saving topic, make sure
you're providing real value to your readers. That's how you'll keep them engaged
and coming back for more.
18.2 Niche-Focused Approach
Once you get a good understanding of the diagram and points, I illustrated above,
it's time to take a niche-focused approach. This means finding a topic or niche that
you're genuinely interested in and excited about writing about. It shouldn't feel
like a chore or just another job.
To get started, ask yourself some questions.
• What do you enjoy talking about with your friends and family?
• What do people often come to you for help with?
• Is there something you're passionate about learning and sharing with
others online?
• And finally, think about your own past struggles - how did you overcome
them, and what tips and tricks did you use to help yourself?
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For me, I started a personal finance blog because I'm passionate about learning
and talking about money. Growing up in a low-income environment, I know what
it's like to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to make ends meet. But I was
determined to change my situation, so I learned everything I could about
managing money.
Now, my friends and family often come to me for advice on saving money, making
money, and investing. So, I decided to start a blog in the personal finance niche.
And let me tell you, it's been a rewarding experience - I love being able to share
my knowledge and help others achieve financial success.
So, when you're choosing a niche, make sure it's something you're truly
passionate about. That's how you'll stay motivated and engaged with your blog,
and that's how you'll create content that truly resonates with your readers.
18.3 Multi-Niche Approach
Now, some of you might be thinking, "What if I like a lot of things and can't decide
which one to focus on?" Believe me, I know how you feel - I'm the same way! I
enjoy writing about personal finance, business topics, healthy living, exercise and
fitness, beauty products, traveling, food and restaurants, DIY projects, home
decor, and even cooking.
Or maybe you're on the other end of the spectrum and have no idea what you're
interested in. Don't worry, you're not alone! The good news is that there's a
solution for both types of bloggers: the multi-niche approach (AKA lifestyle
blogging).
With this approach, you can write about multiple topics that you're passionate
about. The key is to find a common theme or thread that ties all of your content
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together. For example, if you're interested in personal finance, travel, and healthy
eating, you could focus on creating content that helps people save money on
travel expenses while still eating healthy on the road.
So, don't be afraid to explore multiple niches - you might just discover a new
passion along the way. And with the multi-niche approach, you don't have to
choose just one!
18.3.1 Starting a Lifestyle Blog (If You’re Really Indecisive)
As you can see, my answer to you is to start a lifestyle blog if you're feeling
overwhelmed by all the different topics you want to explore, or if you have no
idea what to blog about. With a lifestyle blog, you'll have the freedom to write
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about almost anything that interests you - from fashion and beauty to travel and
personal finance.
Some experts might tell you to niche down from day one because:
• Google wants you to be an expert in what you blog about and
• The saying goes, “riches are in the niches.”
But I believe it's okay to take some time to explore different topics and find your
footing. Even I give contractionary advice because you’ll catch me saying, “I highly
recommend niching down to one topic” in my separate post about choosing a
profitable niche here. The ironic part is I personally run a lifestyle blog that covers
everything under the sun too!
There’s no one right answer. After all, blogging is a journey, and sometimes you
just need to experiment and see what works for you.
One way to get started is by writing about a few topics that interest you and
seeing how your readers respond. Use Google Analytics (Section 4.2) to track
which posts are performing well and which ones aren’t and use that information
to guide your content strategy.
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With Google Analytics, you’ll be able to track the behavior of your visitors - all of
this data and information can help you decide which topics to stick with.
Over time, you might find that you want to narrow your focus to a specific niche and that's great! But if you're still unsure, don't be afraid to keep things broad for
a while. The most important thing is to find a writing style and voice that works
for you, and to create content that your readers will enjoy and find valuable.
Remember, there's no right or wrong answer when it comes to blogging. It's all
about finding what works for you and your audience, and experimenting along the
way.
18.3.2 From Niche-Specific to Lifestyle Blog: A True Story About Me…
Okay, I'm going to be real with you guys.
When I was two years into my
blogging journey with FinSavvy Panda,
I was feeling pretty stuck. Despite the
blog earning a great full-time income,
it seemed like I wasn't able to write
about anything outside of personal
finance... SIGH.
But then, something amazing
happened. I started a second blog in
the lifestyle niche, and it completely
changed everything for me. Now, I have the flexibility to write about ANYTHING I
want, from food and travel to beauty and personal growth.
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It's been six months since I launched the new blog, and I'm happy to say that in
the last month alone, it earned over $3,000 in extra income on top of my main
blog! I've been testing and trying different posts, and this experience has given me
a whole new perspective on how other niches can make money.
UPDATE 2023: Not here to be negative but to be raw. I wrote the above
personal experience regarding my 2nd blog when it was new – in year 2020. I
was still learning and experimenting with various techniques. Today, my 2nd
blog’s ad earnings can fluctuate between $2,000 to $10,000 per month, with
the higher income coming in during Q4 (Oct, Nov, and Dec) when companies
increase their ad spending. But, here's the thing that really hit me hard. I have
to admit that (when I was still new) I was misled on a large scale, and it left me
feeling shocked and sadden about human nature. You wouldn't believe how
many bloggers and business owners, even those you thought were
trustworthy, deceive you about their high ad earnings and secret strategies. For
more details on this, check out Chapter 17: How To Make Money With Display
Advertising – go to page 321: “WHAT NOBODY TELLS YOU ABOUT”.
Now, when I say you can write about "anything," I don't mean you should write
about what you ate for lunch or complain about how much you hate Mondays.
What I really mean is that you can be flexible and write about a variety of topics,
as long as they help your readers become a better version of themselves. So, if
you're feeling stuck or limited by your niche, don't be afraid to branch out and
explore new topics. You might just be surprised by what you can achieve!
One of the reasons I started the second blog is because I want to share with you
which niches are profitable (check out the next chapter!) - especially if you're
using Pinterest to drive traffic.
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CHAPTER 19:
LIST OF PROFITABLE NICHES
TO CHOOSE FROM
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19. PROFITABLE NICHES
In this chapter, we will cover profitable niches and a few ideas on what you can
write about. There are a lot more other profitable niches out there but I’m
covering the ones I have confidence in.
Again, I recommend going through this post I wrote about choosing the perfect
profitable niche. These are the lessons I wish I knew when I first started my
blogging journey. In fact, I wrote this article in my 5th year of blogging, so you’ll get
a lot of valuable insights just by reading it.
All these niches do very well on Pinterest but how you monetize them depend on
which money-making strategies you use.
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I also have 100+ blog post ideas here that will help you think about what to write
while you go through this chapter.
Let’s quickly go through a recap on how blogs can make money before we list out
some profitable niches for you.
Blogs can make money through:
1. Display advertising – this is displaying ads on your website. The more traffic you
can get, the higher ad income (usually).
2. Affiliate marketing – this involves recommendation or promoting products and
services to your readers. When a reader clicks through your affiliate link (a special
link you get from your affiliate) to purchase a product, you’ll earn a commission at
NO extra cost to the reader.
3. Creating and selling your own products – you can create ebooks, online
courses, or printables/worksheets to sell on your blog. Most people do this by
setting up landing pages and an online shop.
4. Sponsored posts – Companies can reach out to you and ask you to write a
sponsored post by reviewing one of their products. They can compensate you
with money or free products.
5. Offering freelance or consulting services – you can offer 1-on-1 coaching on
what you’re trying to help your readers with.
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Review Chapter 16 to learn how to make money blogging for beginners (including
affiliate marketing) and review Chapter 17 to learn how to make money using
display advertising.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: I highly recommend you go through and read every
single niche in this chapter even if you don’t blog about it. You just may pick
up an important lesson or idea from going through this list that could be
applicable to you!
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19.1. Beauty, Skincare, Makeup & Fashion
Most beauty and fashion bloggers get compensated with a ton of free products
via sponsored posts. They can also make money through these strategies:
• Display advertising – the beauty and fashion niche get a ton of pageviews so
a bulk of their income is generated through ads. A lot of them also earn ad
money by starting a YouTube channel.
• Affiliate marketing – beauty and fashion bloggers earn money by
recommending beauty or fashion products and linking them to websites
using affiliate marketing strategies.
I also have articles about the best beauty blog post ideas here along with fashion
blog posts here worth writing about. You might want to look at these self-care
blog post ideas for beauty bloggers too.
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19.2. Parenting & Mom Blogs
This topic is very popular on Pinterest and a large chunk of income comes from
displaying ads. A lot of these posts are about pregnancy, parenting and mom tips.
It’s very possible to earn at least $5,000 per month just from displaying ads alone.
In addition to making money with ads, parenting and mom blogs earn money by
recommending baby products they use via Amazon using affiliate marketing.
You can also be creative and tap into the budgeting or organizing niche and earn
an income by creating products like organizing and budgeting printables for
moms. Readers who are moms have busy lives and want to learn how to organize
and/or save money, so you can think of ways to help them get organized and save
money as stay-at-home moms. You can also check out this list of lifestyle blog
post ideas along with self care articles that moms can write about. Just make
sure to tailor these topics to your audience, which are interested in mom and
parenting tips.
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19.3. Food and Recipes
Readers come to a food blog because they are looking for a quick recipe and that’s
why most food blogs generate most of their income with display advertising.
They also get compensated by writing sponsored posts for companies who ask
bloggers to include their ingredient or product in one of their recipe posts.
Food, recipes and meals are extremely popular on Pinterest and pageviews are
through the roof! There are food bloggers who earn between $5,000 to $30,000
per month just from displaying ads! The only downside is it may be hard to get
readers to buy a product so affilate marketing and product creation may be a
challenge here.
Not impossible though because there are people who love to buy meal planning
printables/binders or an ebook that teaches them how to meal plan. If you love
talking about food and recipes, and you like the idea of earning money through
ads, then this is a profitable niche to consider.
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19.4. Travel & Eats
Everyone loves to travel and have fun at the world's most-visited places. These
types of blogs earn a ton with display advertising because they get A LOT of
searches on both Google and Pinterest. You can also browse through this list of
travel blog post ideas for your website.
Here are more ways you can monetize with a travel blog:
• Affiliate marketing – you can recommend travel essentials to your readers
by linking to Amazon products. You can also recommend services like Sky
Scanner, AirBnb and City Passes to them. Just like recommending any
product, you’ll earn a commission when someone clicks through to buy.
• Sponsored posts – A company may reach out to you and ask you to write a
sponsored post for them by recommending a product related to travels.
Companies may also compensate your travel by paying for your tickets and
hotel.
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19.5. Fitness, Health & Wellness
Despite what you blog about, everyone wants to become a better version of
themselves. One niche that gets plenty of searches is fitness, health and wellness.
I also have some health and wellness blog post ideas here for those of you who
want to incorporate some self-care content into your blog.
People want to know how to lose weight, become healthier, or achieve their
dream body.
You can choose to niche down by focusing on a sub-niche like:
•
•
•
•
Fitness and training for women
Yoga for beginners
Healthy eating
Mental wellness
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These types of niches earn a good amount of money via display advertising. You
could also consider a starting a YouTube Channel and earn more ad money if you
don't mind being on camera.
As of writing this ebook, the keto diet has been a very highly searched keyword
for years so you can think about writing at least one post on it. That one post
could potentially be one of your top performers for generating passive ad income.
Whether it’s about keto diet for beginners or keto recipes, you can take advantage
of this trend and potentially generate a lot of traffic by learning how to use
Pinterest the right way.
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Another popular way to earn money is through affiliate marketing by
recommending fitness or health products that could help your readers. That
could be a fitness program/course, workout gear, weights, yoga mats, protein
powder, etc. However, I highly caution you to be careful with this because this is
related to your readers’ health.
CAUTION: Speaking of your readers’ health, it's important to keep in mind that
Google places a high emphasis on experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and
trustworthiness (EEAT) for websites that publish content related to health and
wellness (in addition to other niches like money, investing, etc.). This means
that the quality of the information you provide and your credentials as a
content creator can significantly impact your website's ranking in Google search
results.
Google's EAT (or the more updated version, EEAT) algorithm aims to ensure that
users receive accurate and reliable health-related information from credible
sources. Therefore, as a blogger or affiliate marketer in the health niche, it's
crucial to establish your authority and expertise by providing reliable and
trustworthy content and linking to credible sources to support your claims.
Failing to do so can negatively impact your website's EAT score and,
consequently, your search engine rankings, ultimately impacting your potential
to earn money from your blog. You can learn more about Google EAT here.
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19.6. Arts & Crafts
Holy smokes! The traffic is off the charts for arts and crafts on Pinterest (same
goes for the food niche). People keep coming back for more and more because
readers, mostly women, are inspired by craft ideas.
Similar to food blogs, most of the income comes from display advertising. Many
crafting blogs can potentially generate over $10,000 per month when you
implement the correct Pinterest strategies.
Other ways to earn are through affiliate marketing by recommending products
you use for your crafting project.
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Possible sub-niches you can consider are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Refurbished/upcycle furniture (AKA flipping furniture)
Thirfting by upcycling any materials
Mason jars
Sewing (very popular)
Seasonal crafts
Crafty gift ideas
Almost any crafts could do very well on Pinterest
PRO TIP: Consider writing 1-3 roundups at the beginning by including other
blogger’s craft projects. Mention them and give them a link to their blog. These
tend to do very well and are what most people call “easy traffic” because it
doesn’t take a very long time to create these types of posts that have the
potential to go viral on Pinterest.
However, you’ll want to start creating your own unique craft projects and
include that into your own round up post. That way, you’ll retain the traffic and
readers won’t bounce off to another page.
Not to mention, creating your own craft ideas will more likely attract backlinks
(AKA your page being mentioned) by other bloggers who are writing roundups.
The more backlinks (or mentions) you have, the higher your authority over
time. The more authority you have, the “easier” it is for you to maintain and
grow your traffic.
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19.7. Organizing
Organizing ideas are highly searched on Pinterest. Most women love to find
solutions on how to organize their homes, finances and overall life.
You’ll find various articles on storage solutions or how to organize a kitchen,
bedroom, home office, etc. I also included a list of organization blog post ideas
for lifestyle bloggers here. It also works well for those of you who only blog about
organization.
A lot of the income can come from display advertising and creating organizing
printables for your readers.
To take it to the next level, you could even offer your organization services and
earn money from your passion and expertise!
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Once you get the hang of generating ad income through your traffic, you can think
about creating these types of printable binders for your audience:
•
•
•
•
Organizing finances and budgeting
Home organization
Organizing your life
Monthly planners and to-do lists
Many bloggers package these into one bundle and sell it for $15 to $30 per
bundle. This topic can go hand-in-hand with decluttering tips and minimalism
ideas, so if you want to become a frugal blogger who likes to live with intention,
you can think about this.
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The tidying expert, Marie-Kondo, has become one of the most recognized
Japanese organizing consultant, so you can also consider writing a post that
summarizes her organizational tips. Posts with her name tend to do well on
Pinterest.
Overall, organizing is a highly searched topic and gets a lot of pageviews.
If you love organizing or if your goal is to become a more organized person, you
may want to consider starting your blog in this niche.
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19.8. Home Renovation, Real Estate & Home Décor
Everyone loves HGTV and for good reasons. Which woman doesn’t love a
beautiful home where she can live comfortably in?
These niches generate most of their income from ads and affiliate marketing.
When you use affiliate marketing, you can recommend readers to home décor
products from Wayfair or Amazon and earn a commission.
Home décor, DIY and renovations do very well on Pinterest. You can also tap into
another niche that performs well on Pinterest and use it to your advantage for
MORE traffic.
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For example, as mentioned earlier crafts do very well. You can create a roundup
post of home décor craft ideas for ad income since it has the potential to generate
a ton of traffic.
See, you just got to be creative by thinking about how to leverage off of
something else that’s also popular on Pinterest. Win-win! In fact, I have a list of
home décor and renovation blog post ideas within this article.
If you blog about home renovation, you could also leverage off the organizing
niche and write about organizing your closet space via DIY reno projects or home
solution products. For the latter, you can link your post to Amazon home
organizing products by using affiliate marketing strategies.
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19.9. Personal or Self-Development
As mentioned earlier, everyone wants to become a better version of themselves
and that’s why people love to read personal development (or self-development)
blogs. This blogging journey could even help YOU improve yourself too!
You could even tie this topic into self-care depending on who your audience is. I
see a lot of self development blogs also blog about self-care topics – again, you
can check out this list of self-care blog post ideas. I also included 100+ blog post
ideas here that include some self-development topics as well.
When you’re starting off and unsure of what to focus on, you can blog more
broadly to see what you enjoy writing about and what your readers are
responding to based on your data in Google Analytics (Section 4.2) over time.
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In this niche, you can write about anything that is related to productivity, positive
mindset, or setting goals. For example, posts like these generally do well on
Pinterest:
• How To Be a More Confident Woman
• How To Be Happy
• How To Be a Better Person
To give you a more concrete example, if you know that your target audience are
women who are looking to develop in their careers, you can also blog about
anything related to career and workplace tips.
For instance, I’ve seen posts with titles like “7 Things You’re Doing At Work That
Are Totally Unprofessional” (such a click-worthy title) or “How Waking Up At 5AM
Changed My Life” do well on Pinterest.
You could even write an article with a post title permalink (refer to Section 7.1)
“how-to-wake-up-earlier” but give your Pinterest pin title “How I Finally Became a
Morning Person” once you start using Pinterest to promote your post. That’s just
an example to get you thinking outside of the box.
Overall, the personal development niche can earn money on ads from high traffic
but I recommend focusing on affiliate marketing strategies and product creation
especially later on once you’ve niched down to a specific target audience.
That target audience of people are desperate to improve themselves so they are
willing to pay for products that can help them. That includes ebooks, worksheets
and printables that help them improve in a specific area.
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19.11. Personal Finance & Money Matters
This is the niche of my first and main blog. This niche generates a decent amount
of ad money on posts like frugal living and budgeting. Most of my income on
Finsavvy Panda comes from affiliates.
Personal finance generally isn’t as hot as the other niches I mentioned above. It
tends to do better on Google searches.
However, like I mentioned earlier, you can always use other popular niches on
Pinterest to your advantage. For example, you can write a post about how you
saved money by refurbishing a furniture. Remember, home décor and crafts are
popular on Pinterest.
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You can also write a post about how to plan a budget-friendly trip to New York City
that will help your readers save money. Travel does VERY well on Pinterest
especially with the popular cities.
Other topics that do great on Pinterest, but not as great as the other niches
mentioned above, are make money and work from home jobs. Despite the
relatively lower traffic (still high but not as crazy high as other niches on Pinterest),
these tend to do well with affiliates that have higher commission payouts for jobs
related to UberEats Delivery, Instacart, transcription jobs, virtual assistant,
teaching English from home, home businesses, etc.
Overall, most of the income in the personal finance and money matters niche
comes from affiliate marketing when you recommend saving money products,
credit cards, credit score checks, budgeting apps, investing apps, or
products/services that help people find ways to earn money.
Personal finance bloggers can also make money by selling budget binders, just like
the one I have right here. These binders come in all sorts of varieties, from ones
focused on building wealth to those helping people save their first $100,000, pay
off debt, and get their family finances in order.
Whether your target audience is someone who's living paycheck to paycheck or
someone who's looking to invest and grow their wealth, budget binders can be a
valuable tool in managing finances effectively. By providing structure,
organization, and a clear overview of one's financial situation, budget binders can
help anyone achieve their financial goals and improve their overall financial wellbeing. So, no matter who your target audience is, a budget binder can be a great
way to increase and/or diversify your blog income stream.
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CHAPTER 20:
HOW TO USE CHATGPT TO
WRITE YOUR BLOG POSTS
(IN 15 MINUTES)
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20. HOW TO USE CHATGPT TO WRITE A BLOG
POST IN 15 MINUTES
As a blogger, you're probably aware of the time and effort it takes to create quality
content that engages your readers.
Personally, I know all too well the struggle of writing a blog post from scratch, as it
can take me an extended period (I would say, like, FOREVER) to write one blog
post from scratch. In particular, when I first started blogging without any prior
writing experience, it would take me a full week, sometimes even up to ten days,
to write a single 2,000-word article. Looks like someone here isn’t a skilled nor
fast writer – can you relate?
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Although my writing speed has improved somewhat over the years, I'm still not
the fastest writer out there. For instance, if I were to write a 2,000 to 3,000-word
blog post today, including editing time, it would realistically take me around 2 to 3
days to complete – special thanks to my OCD!
So, for all you slowpokes and word vomit-challenged writers out there, I've got
some fantastic news for you if you struggle like I do!
It’s called ChatGPT. His other name is “Chat” or “GPT”. At least, that’s what he
told me when I asked him – hah!
With the help of ChatGPT, the ultimate AI writing tool, you can create engaging
content in as little as 15 minutes - well, technically that's the time it takes for the
tool to spit out some words based on your prompts and commands. But add
another hour to tweak, edit, and finesse, and you could have a fully formed blog
post in just 1 to 2 hours. Of course, this all depends on your level of experience
with the tool and how much of a perfectionist you are. But the point is that you
can save a ton of time compared to starting from scratch.
At the time of writing this, ChatGPT is relatively new, so there are some limitations
to its functionality. But, with the increasing number of people utilizing the tool, it's
expected to improve over time and provide even more advanced features.
There is a free and premium version available. If you’re a brand-new blogger,
you’ll get by with the free version. I’m using both versions and I can say that
beginners can go with the free account.
Alright, let me give you the highlight on what ChatGPT is and how it can help you,
as a blogger, to write faster and more efficiently.
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20.1 What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a writing tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help you create
content quickly and easily. With this tool, you can input a topic or prompt, and
ChatGPT will analyze it and generate a response based on what it knows.
Essentially, it's like having an AI writing assistant that can help you brainstorm
ideas and provide you with relevant information to use in your content.
Let's say you're a health and wellness blogger who wants to create a blog post
about a healthy chicken breast sandwich with kale recipe. You can input a prompt
like this into ChatGPT:
"I am working on my food blog. Write a 1,000-word blog post about healthy
chicken breast sandwich with kale recipe. Give readers an introduction,
answer the question, "is chicken breast in a sandwich healthy?" along with a
healthy recipe.".
When you do that, it will generate a response based on what it knows. For
example, ChatGPT might suggest a recipe for a grilled chicken sandwich with kale
and avocado. It could provide you with a list of ingredients, cooking instructions,
and even nutritional information about the dish.
Honestly speaking, it’s unpredictable what it will spit out, but here’s a glimpse of
my output when I give him this prompt:
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Here’s the continuation of my conversation with ChatGPT:
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Now, if you read through the prompt, you’ll notice that it didn’t actually give me
1,000 words. We need to accept that AI is not perfect, so you need to give him
better (and concise) instructions if you want something you’re satisfied with.
I have to admit that ChatGPT did not give me the best output. You’ll notice that
some of the information is either too generic, potentially incorrect, unhelpful, or
worded in a very “robotic” tone that lacks human touch. This is why knowing
your topic and fact-checking it is important when you’re using this (or any) AI
writing tool. Despite those limitations, we’ve got to give it some credit because it
can still help you get started with writing!
To form your post, you
can ask ChatGPT to
include step-by-step
instructions on how to
make the sandwich, as
well as tips on how to
customize it to suit
different dietary
preferences (e.g., keto or
no-carb by swapping the
buns with a lettuce
wrap). The great thing is
that even though ChatGPT generates recipe and information output, you can still
use it as a base for your blog post. What I mean by that is you could add on your
own personal touch to the recipe by sharing your experience making it, and how it
tasted once the AI gives you a generic article.
In addition to what I said above, you can also write a detailed description of the
dish, including its health benefits and how it fits into a balanced diet, with your
own unique voice. It’s important to use your experience and express your
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passion for healthy eating (if you are a healthy food blogger). Trust me, your
readers can tell if you know what you're talking about just by the way you write!
For instance, I’m going to nitpick on ChatGPT’s point about “low-fat sauces” (see
this in the screenshot of our dialogue above). Instead of using “low-fat sauces”,
you can be more detailed and give specific recommendations for which low-fat
sauce to use.
I’m going to use the following example as my own personal experience to
demonstrate what I mean:
It's worth noting that just because a food is low in fat, it doesn't automatically
make it healthy. Think about refined carbs and added sugars – low in fat but
super unhealthy! And just because a food is high in fat, that doesn’t
automatically make it unhealthy either.
For example, nuts
are not low in fat (in
fact, quite high in
fat), but they are
very nutritious.
Suppose you made
sauce with nuts such
as cashews,
almonds, pistachios,
etc. In that case, it
can still be
considered healthy.
Instead, you could
mention that the sauce needs to be made from whole foods with low-sodium
and no added sugars.
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Additionally, you could suggest alternatives such as skipping the sauce
altogether and using a healthy homemade hummus made with real extra virgin
olive oil or mashing an avocado to spread onto the chicken. Extra virgin olive oil
and avocados aren't low in fat, but they are very healthy.
As you can see,
what I just said
above is actually
based on my own
personal experience,
values, and beliefs
about about healthy
eating.
The point is to NOT
take everything at
face value from
ChatGPT and to use your own knowledge, experience, and critical thinking to
ensure the accuracy and quality of your content.
I have to confess that I got a little carried away with my words here due to my
frustration with people blindly accepting "low-fat sauces" or anything labelled as
“low-fat” as a healthy option when this is not always true due to false marketing
claims and to only find out that many recipes contain added sugars and other
harmful ingredients. It depends on the source and what type of fats (again, you
can tell this is the voice of my own “personal experience” and what I value).
The point I'm trying to make is that ChatGPT could present information that
LOOKS correct on a surface level, but in fact, it’s too generic and/and lacks
substance. And trust me, you don’t want to sound like that person lacking firstFINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 375
hand experience or someone who regurgitates information from elsewhere
without practicing or implementing it in real life.
I only say this because I often see many so-called “healthy” food bloggers give out
recipes that aren’t actually healthy. It may LOOK and SOUND healthy (scary part),
but it’s really not when you learn more about food and nutrition.
What I notice is a lot of bloggers just follow the herd and regurgitate information
that’s not true at all. I call this “the blind leading (or following) the blind” – and
unfortunately, ChatGPT may just rely on this type of information, so be careful. I’ll
be honest – I’m not perfect either. No one is. That’s why we all need to be opened
to learning and be aware that there are many things we THINK we know, but in
fact, we don’t know. That’s how we can learn and grow in our blogging journey.
Now that you have an idea of what ChatGPT is and how it works, I will go into
more detail on how you can use ChatGPT to write a good blog post with
accurate information in the next section.
As you can see thus far, for beginner bloggers who may struggle with writer's
block or need assistance in generating new ideas for their blog posts, ChatGPT can
be a lifesaver. It can help you come up with fresh perspectives and angles on your
topics that you may not have considered before.
On top of that, if you're looking to streamline your writing process and save time,
ChatGPT can help you generate outlines, headlines, and summaries for your posts,
making it easier for you to focus on the actual writing.
Overall, it can help beginner bloggers create quality content quickly and efficiently,
providing a much-needed boost to their productivity and creativity.
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20.2. How will ChatGPT help you write faster blog posts?
Now that you have a better understanding of what ChatGPT is from my
demonstration above, I hope you are convinced that ChatGPT is an incredible
resource that can help you write blog posts quickly and efficiently.
It can offer you fresh and unique perspectives and ideas for your content, which
you can then personalize and add your own voice to, based on whatever topic you
are writing about. This means you can take advantage of the tool's AI-generated
responses to inspire your writing, while still maintaining your own unique style
and voice. In other words, ChatGPT can help you elevate your content and make
it stand out, all while staying true to your own personal experience and
perspective.
Additionally, ChatGPT can assist you in generating outlines, headlines, and
summaries for your blog posts. However, as I mentioned many times, it's
important to note that you should always fact-check the information provided by
ChatGPT, to ensure its accuracy. The more you know about a certain topic, the
faster you can use ChatGPT and edit your blog post.
I know that whenever I use this tool for topics about personal finance, blogging, or
anything related to healthy lifestyle, it is not uncommon for me to spot rubbish in
his writing.
From my own experience with this tool, I can tell you that it can come up with
some pretty bizarre responses that will make you scratch your head and wonder,
"What the heck?" The scary part is if you have no clue about the topics you’re
blogging about, you may not be able to catch it, so be careful. As long as you
know your topic well, then there’s nothing to worry about.
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20.3 How to Use ChatGPT to Write Your Blog Post
Now, here comes the exciting part!
Let’s dive into how you can use ChatGPT to write a blog post for you in just 3
minutes. Again, it literally takes 3 minutes for him to write your blog post but it
may realistically take 1-2 hours or even more for you to edit and polish the article
until you’re satisfied with the final piece.
Since I’m creating this section that teaches you how to use ChatGPT to write your
blog post, I’m going to write a blog post for my Blog Savvy Panda website while
simultaneously using it as an example to guide you. The blog post that I’m creating
today is called “Self Care Blog Post Ideas”. Here are the steps using this example:
Step 1: Define the topic of your blog post.
Before you start writing, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to write
about. If you’re still stuck, then read this post on what to blog about.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: I also have a resource here to give you some blog
post ideas. Within this resource, you’ll find a wide variety of ideas ranging from
personal development, personal finance, and fitness to beauty, fashion, travel,
and general lifestyle.
Always remember to use a specific keyword or phrase to define the topic of your
blog post. In this case, the keyword I’m targeting is “self care blog post ideas”.
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Step 2: Log in to ChatGPT.
To access ChatGPT, log in to the OpenAI website and navigate to the ChatGPT
interface. If you haven’t created an account yet, you can sign up here
Step 3: Enter your prompt.
Once you're logged in, enter your topic or prompt into the text box. ChatGPT will
analyze your prompt and generate a response. Here I am entering my first prompt:
You can input a prompt and ask him to give you an outline for your blog post, but I
don’t usually like his suggestions on outlines, so I did my own research and came
out with my own outline. I told him this:
Write a 1,000-word blog post about self care blog post ideas for health and
wellness bloggers. I am a full-time blogger, so make sure to use a first-person voice
who sounds ecstatic and energetic. Use the following format:
1) Introduction
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2) Answer the questions: "What is self care?" and "Which type of bloggers can
blog about self care topics?"
3) 30 Self Care Blog Post Ideas for Health and Wellness Bloggers
4) 30 Self Care Blog Post Ideas for General Beauty Bloggers
5) 20 Self Care Blog Post Ideas for Skin Care Bloggers
6) 20 Self Care Blog Post Ideas for Hair Bloggers
7) 20 Self Care Blog Post Ideas for Mental Health Bloggers
8) 20 Self Care Blog Post Ideas for Spirituality Bloggers
9) 20 Self Care Blog Post Ideas for General Lifestyle Bloggers
That was my prompt and I’m really nervous to see what ChatGPT is going to spit
out. *CLOSING MY EYES* nervously!
Step 4: Choose the response that resonates with you.
After ChatGPT generates a response, read through the blog post and see what
resonates with you. This is the part where you’ll either LOL, get angry and
frustrated, or think “WTF?”
Or, if you provided him with amazing instructions (with the help of luck), ChatGPT
may have given you a piece you’re satisfied with. But in reality, that is not likely
the case. You will always be required to make tweaks and edit it, which leads us to
the next step…
Step 5: Use the response as a starting point for your blog post.
Once you've read through the output, use it as a starting point for your blog post.
Use the information provided by ChatGPT to create a rough outline of your post.
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In my case, here is what he gave me. Spoiler alert, I was not happy with the
result…
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For me, the intro was okay, but I would definitely want to make it longer and a bit
more personable.
Looks like I’ll need to make some major revisions!
I could also work with the questions that he answered for me:
• What is self-care?
• Which type of bloggers can blog about self-care topics?
If you read his answer from the screenshot, you’ll notice it’s very generic and lacks
my personal voice.
Nonetheless, they provided a good starting point for me to work with while
editing the piece.
Still, I was very
disappointed with the list
of self care blog post ideas
that were suggested to
me.
Sure, I could have simply
copied and pasted these
ideas for my readers, but
I’m not going to do that
because it is my
responsibility to provide them with worthwhile blog post ideas that their readers
are actually seeking for. Since I didn’t like his list of ideas, I did not use it.
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Here’s a glimpse of what ChatGPT gave me:
As a result, I chose not to use this initial list of self-care blog post ideas that were
generated by ChatGPT as they were not thoroughly vetted and lacked the
intelligence to do keyword research.
Now that you have determined which ideas you will be using as a base, here's
what you need to do next.
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Step 6: Edit and refine your post.
NOTE: Though this part takes up most of your time, just sit back and relax. Enjoy
the process. I created a separate section after this to show you the process of how
I use ChatGPT to edit my post using its initial copy as the base. You can review
section 20.4. How To Use ChatGPT to Edit Your Blog Post.
After you've created a rough draft with ChatGPT’s version, go back and edit your
post to ensure that it's accurate, relevant, and engaging. At this point, you can
continue to use ChatGPT to edit and refine your post. For example, I could still
attempt to ask ChatGPT to fix the section that I was not happy with. Here’s an
example of what I told ChatGPT to do after he delivered a poor article to me. I told
him:
Those are terrible blog post ideas. You are very repetitive. Try it again. This time,
we'll do one section at a time. Give me 30 blog post ideas for health and wellness
bloggers. Do not repeat the same word, "self-care" in every blog post.
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Now, see what he gives me after I prompt him with my feedback:
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He apologized to me and gave me a new set of 30 blog post ideas for health and
wellness bloggers without the word “self care” in each title.
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Although the results appear to be improved from the initial output, it is still my
responsibility to ensure that the suggested blog post ideas are worth writing
about. To do this, I conduct my own keyword research that is specific to the
niche. In addition to keyword research, I also use my personal experience to
validate the information provided by ChatGPT.
For instance, I am passionate about self-care and holistic health outside of my
personal finance and blogging career, particularly in the areas of natural beauty
routines, healthy eating, and practicing mindfulness. It is through this firsthand
experience that I can use my own judgement to determine if ChatGPT's responses
are accurate or not. And trust me, I spotted a lot of crazy nonsense only because I
am familiar with it and practice it IRL. But if I started prompting about men’s
health, cars, or electronics, I would be fooled by ChatGPT into thinking it’s
legitimate advice.
KEYWORD RESEARCH IS KEY: If you are interested in knowing how I do keyword
research to skyrocket my traffic to over 100,000 monthly pageviews, you can
learn all about my strategies and methods in The Golden Compass To Pinterest
Traffic. At the end of the day, you cannot rely on ChatGPT for everything. He
tends to give a lot of whacky answers even when your instructions are clear.
You still need to do your part by hunting for the right keywords and overall, just
being the go-to expert in your niche. You know your topic quite well (that’s why
you decided to blog about it in the first place, right?), so you should be able to
vet it through personal experience, knowledge, and fact-checking some points.
So, with the new response provided, I now have the option to either accept it or
continue to prompt ChatGPT for a better output until I am satisfied with the
result. Once I am content with the response, I can make the necessary changes
and edit the part that was redone.
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This particular step (#6) is the most time-consuming compared to the other steps,
as it requires a significant amount of effort and critical thinking to verify the
accuracy of the information provided. Additionally, rewording certain phrases can
be challenging and may require additional brainstorming. Even if you ask ChatGPT
to reword a particular section, there is no guarantee that the output will meet
your expectations.
But overall, you can see in this demonstration that it can help those of you who
are not natural-born writers like me to produce a blog post, so we don’t have to
start from scratch.
Step 7: Publish your blog post.
Once you're satisfied with your post, publish it on your blog and share it with your
audience.
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It may sound too good to be true, but with ChatGPT, you can create a blog post in
just 15 minutes, or up to a few hours if you need more time to fine-tune it. This
amazing tool offers a range of unique perspectives, ideas, and insights that can
help you produce engaging content in record time.
As you start using it, I’m confidant that you’ll find ChatGPT useful for your blog - it
is a valuable asset for any blogger looking to simplify their writing process and
generate high-quality content effortlessly.
GOOD TO KNOW: When ChatGPT exploded and became popular in 2022 to
early 2023, there was a lot of panic among content creators who use AIgenerated text. During that time, Google announced that it would begin
downgrading such content on its search engine. This caused many people to
worry about the impact on their website's visibility and search rankings. As a
result, many turned to AI checker tools to ensure that their content was up to
par.
However, Google has since changed their mind and said that they do not have a
problem with AI-generated content as long as it is relevant and useful for the
intended audience. Google just cares about the final result, which is good,
engaging and meaningful content. Preferably those with real and authentic
firsthand experience in whatever it is that you blog about. If you want to learn
more about Google's stance on AI-generated content, you can learn more here.
Note that the above information about Google is based on the time of writing
this, so make sure you double check if this still applies.
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20.4 How to Use ChatGPT to Edit Your Blog Post
I’m going to continue from where I left off in step #6 of the previous section to
show you how I would edit and refine my article, “Self Care Blog Post Ideas”.
Okay, here’s the screenshot of what I’m going to copy and paste onto a separate
Word document (e.g. MS Word or Google Docs) to use as my base:
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Again, I don’t like any of the blog post ideas that ChatGPT listed out for me, so I’m
not going to use them here.
20.4.1. Introduction
Let’s start with his introduction:
Hey there, fellow bloggers! Are you as excited as I am to talk about self-care? As
a full-time blogger, I'm always on the hunt for fresh, engaging content ideas to
keep my readers coming back for more. Today, I'm thrilled to share with you a
treasure trove of self-care blog post ideas that cater to various blogging niches.
So, let's dive right in and start spreading the joy of self-care!
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I don’t like this 100%, so I’m going to work with it. Remember, this gives me a
starting point so it’s better than starting from scratch. You can stare at the
screenshots below and read my conversation with him. I’m actually doing this
live and, on the fly, as I am updating this ebook – so everything you see here is
pretty raw and as real as it gets. Lol. I’m going back to the same chat box where I
left off. Right now, I’m asking him to change the introduction:
I’m crossing my fingers again this time – haha…
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You can see he gave me an updated version:
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At this point, I am a little frustrated, but I’ll take it and see what I can do with it:
Hey there, fellow bloggers! Isn't it exciting to discuss the ever-important topic of
self-care? As a full-time blogger myself, I know the struggle of constantly
searching for fresh, engaging content ideas that keep our readers interested
and coming back for more. That's why today, I'm absolutely thrilled to share
with you an extensive list of self-care blog post ideas that cater to a wide variety
of blogging niches. These ideas are not only versatile, but they also inspire our
readers to prioritize their well-being in various aspects of their lives. Together,
let's explore these thought-provoking ideas, and in the process, create a
supportive community that promotes self-care and personal growth. So,
without further ado, let's dive into this treasure trove of self-care blog post
ideas and start spreading the joy and importance of self-care throughout the
blogging world!
Here is my version as I make changes to what I like. Black text is what I kept and
red text is what I personally added myself. Yes, using my own writing without him
for this small part:
Hey there, my blogging friends!
Isn't it exciting to discuss the ever-important topic of self-care?
As a full-time blogger myself, I know the struggle of constantly searching for
fresh, engaging content ideas that keep our readers interested and coming back
for more. I remember as a new blogger, I used to struggle with blog post ideas.
Not because I didn’t know what to blog about (I actually had some ideas), but
because I wasn’t sure whether or not they were good ideas. During that time, I
had no idea of what keyword research meant and I had no idea what people
actually wanted even though I THOUGHT I knew. Boy, was I wrong and that led
me to making so many countless on my blog including the kind the blog posts I
wrote about. The sad story is I ended up deleted hundreds of my earlier blog
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posts because they were not what you would call “keyword targeted” nor
optimized.
I decided to add in my personal experience to make this post more engaging and
personable in red. I don’t think I’m a great writer, so guess what I did?
Yes, you guessed right! I copied my addition and pasted it into the ChatGPT
message box and asked him to reword this with more specific instructions. See
below screenshot.
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Hm, not too shabby, right? I quite like it because he was able to concise it and
eliminated my verbal diarrhea! And in case you don’t like the response, you can
always hit the “Regenerate response” button, or just prompt it with a different
instruction.
Thus far, I have this for my introduction:
Hey there, my blogging friends!
Isn't it exciting to discuss the ever-important topic of self-care?
As a full-time blogger myself, I know the struggle of constantly searching for
fresh, engaging content ideas that keep our readers interested and coming back
for more.
I remember as a new blogger, I used to struggle with blog post ideas. Not
because I didn't know what to blog about (I actually had a few ideas in mind),
but because I was uncertain if they were truly worth pursuing. At that time, I
was completely oblivious to the concept of keyword research, and I mistakenly
believed I understood what my audience wanted. Boy, was I wrong! This
misunderstanding led me to make countless mistakes on my blog, including the
types of blog posts I published. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that I eventually
had to delete hundreds of my earlier blog posts, as they were neither "keyword
targeted" nor optimized.
If you’re following along, I still have this remaining chunk that ChatGPT initially
produced for me, and I’m going to make minor tweaks to this too:
That's why today, I'm absolutely thrilled to share with you an extensive list of
self-care blog post ideas that cater to a wide variety of blogging niches. These
ideas are not only versatile, but they also inspire our readers to prioritize their
well-being in various aspects of their lives. Together, let's explore these thoughtprovoking ideas, and in the process, create a supportive community that
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promotes self-care and personal growth. So, without further ado, let's dive into
this treasure trove of self-care blog post ideas and start spreading the joy and
importance of self-care throughout the blogging world!
Again, the black text is what I decided to keep and I made my own changes in red:
I don’t want you to make the same mistakes as I did by blindly writing blog
posts that nobody cares about. That's why today, I'm absolutely thrilled to share
with you an extensive list of worthwhile self-care blog post ideas that cater to a
wide variety of blogging niches including health and wellness, beauty, mental
health, spirituality and general lifestyle.
These blog post ideas about self care are not only versatile, but they also inspire
your readers to prioritize their well-being in various aspects of their lives. The
best part is I actually invested some time to do some keyword research, so these
posts are definitely worth your time writing to attract readers and get traffic to
your blog. Together, let's explore these thought-provoking ideas, and in the
process, create a supportive community that promotes self-care and personal
growth. So, without further ado, let's dive into this treasure trove of self-care
blog post ideas and start spreading the joy and importance of self-care
throughout the blogging world!
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Now, I asked ChatGPT to revise some of my writing by copying and pasting certain
sections and sentences into the chat box. See our conversation below:
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By doing that, it allowed me to choose from a few options. You don’t have to, but I
was just having a little fun with the chat box. You can see my tone sounds so
demanding, right? I assure you I’m not like that IRL!
I also asked him to amend a small part for me that I made changes to earlier on.
This time I asked him to not tweak it too much because I want to keep it at the
same tone:
Okay, you ready to check out the intro to my article on "Self-Care Blog Post Ideas"
after getting some help from ChatGPT?
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Here is my final introduction that I’m quite satisfied with the help of ChatGPT:
Hey there, my blogging friends!
Isn't it exciting to discuss the ever-important topic of self-care?
As a full-time blogger myself, I know the struggle of constantly searching for
fresh, engaging content ideas that keep our readers interested and coming back
for more.
I remember as a new blogger, I used to struggle with blog post ideas. Not
because I didn't know what to blog about (I actually had a few ideas in mind),
but because I was uncertain if they were truly worth pursuing.
At that time, I was completely oblivious to the concept of keyword research, and
I mistakenly believed I understood what my audience wanted. Boy, was I wrong!
This misunderstanding led me to make countless mistakes on my blog, including
the types of blog posts I published.
Unfortunately, the sad reality is that I eventually had to delete hundreds of my
earlier blog posts, as they were neither "keyword targeted" nor optimized.
I don’t want you to make the same mistakes as I did by blindly writing blog
posts that nobody cares about.
That's why today, I'm super excited to share with you a comprehensive list of
awesome self-care blog post ideas that people are actually searching for. These
ideas cover a wide variety of blogging niches like health and wellness, beauty,
mental health, spirituality, and general lifestyle, making them totally worth
writing about!
These ideas are not only versatile, but they also inspire your readers to prioritize
their well-being in various aspects of their lives. The best part? I actually took
the time to do some keyword research for these posts. So, trust me, they're
totally worth writing to reel in readers and drive traffic to your blog.
Without further ado, let's dive into this treasure trove of self-care blog post
ideas and start spreading the joy and importance of self-care throughout the
blogging world!
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20.4.2. The Body of Your Blog Post Using ChatGPT
The body of your post could include anything like your points if you’re writing a
listicle, round up, how to guide, step-to-step guide, etc. However, with this blog
post, I’m structuring it a bit differently from the normal, so I’ll be including a few
questions before listing out my ideas. Again, you can always review this post on
how to write your first bog post and structure it for total beginners.
If you are still following along, you’ll recall that from step 6, I asked ChatGPT to
answer the follow two questions for me:
• What is self-care?
• Which type of bloggers can blog about self-care topics?
To illustrate it here again, he gave me the following responses:
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Let’s start with the question, “What is Self Care?”. Here’s what ChatGPT says:
Self-care is the practice of taking intentional actions to nurture and maintain
our physical, emotional, and mental well-being. It's all about giving ourselves
the love, attention, and care we deserve, allowing us to live happier, healthier
lives.
I actually like his original response, but I find it’s a little short. So, I’m going to ask
him to elaborate further but without giving me verbal diarrhea or fluff:
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Wow, I was actually pleased with this output. I especially liked the part where he
said the following:
“Self-care isn't just about indulging in bubble baths or spa days; it's a holistic
approach that includes proper nutrition, regular exercise, managing stress,
fostering healthy relationships, and practicing mindfulness.”
I also liked this:
“As bloggers who write about self-care, it's essential to emphasize that self-care
is a highly personal journey, and it can look different for each person. What
works for one individual may not necessarily work for another…”
All of this is so true, and it’s something I want to emphasize to my readers and
help them keep this in mind when they are writing their target audience.
Overall, there are a few things that I will tweak to reflect my personal experience
and values, but I think I’ll be keeping 90% of this.
Let’s me move… So, what ChatGPT’s answer to the question, “Which type of
bloggers can blog about self-care topics?” He said:
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Self-care is a broad topic, making it relevant for bloggers from many different
niches, including health and wellness, beauty, skincare, haircare, mental health,
spirituality, healthy food, and general lifestyle bloggers.
I like this too. It’s simple, straightforward and to the point. But remember, I led
him to answer it this way by giving him more clues at the beginning by using
words like “beauty”, “skincare”, “spirituality”, etc. He likely knew what I wanted
him to say because of my instructions in the prompt at the beginning. If you
forgot my initial prompt, you could review that part again.
Had I not included those and just asked him that question, it’s possible that his
answer could be different.
Curiosity kills the cat. So, let’s see what he says when I opened a new chat box
with no context:
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Whoa, it’s much longer and he included “personal development bloggers” which
is actually a good idea! I may have to go back to my original chat box and include
the personal development blogger too.
Who knew doing this gave me more ideas? Again, I’m doing this live with you, so
everything is on the go.
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Now, I went back to my original chat box about “Self Care Blog Post Ideas” and
typed the following into the prompt:
I wasn’t satisfied with this, so I led him further:
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I don’t love it. I can kind of live with this but will make changes to it too. Again, I’ll
use it as a base and work with it.
It looks like there are more edits to this question compared to my other question.
I’m going to use the information above and play around with this paragraph. That
includes making edits to it. Now, here’s how the final version to my question –
“Which type of bloggers can blog about self-care topics?”
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Self-care is a broad topic, making it relevant for bloggers from many different
niches, including health and wellness, beauty, skincare, haircare, mental health,
spirituality, personal development, and general lifestyle bloggers.
• Health and Wellness Bloggers: From a self-care perspective, these
bloggers concentrate on exercise, nutrition, stress management, and sleep
to help readers achieve a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
• Beauty Bloggers: Self-care encompasses both internal and external
beauty. Beauty bloggers highlight self-care practices related to skincare,
haircare, and cosmetics to boost self-confidence and self-expression.
• Mental Health Bloggers: Taking care of your mental health is always an
essential component of self-care. These bloggers dive into various coping
strategies, therapy options, and mindfulness techniques to help boost
mental health and enhance emotional well-being.
• Spirituality Bloggers: While physical health is crucial, spiritual health is
just as important but often overlooked. This where spiritual bloggers can
come in and help you explore meditation, mindfulness, and spiritual
practices to enhance inner peace and personal growth.
• General Lifestyle Bloggers: A lifestyle blogger could address diverse selfcare topics in pursuit of a balanced and satisfying life.
• Personal Development Bloggers: Personal development bloggers
emphasize the significance of self-improvement, growth, and goal-setting.
They offer practical advice and strategies for readers to increase
productivity, achieve personal and professional goals, and develop positive
habits that contribute to overall self-care.
These bloggers often overlap and can discuss various self-care topics, but
each one has a unique focus that caters to their audience's specific
interests and needs.
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Up to this point, I used ChatGPT to help me draft my blog post, “X Self Care Blog
Post Ideas”, which you can check it out here since it’s live on my website.
When you’re done with your post, you may want to put it through an AI detector
like this one here to see whether your post sounds like it was written by AI. There
are many AI detectors available online so find one that you like using. Again, as
mentioned earlier, Google doesn’t care about content that “sounds like AI” at the
time of writing this. But do verify this in case it changes in the future.
Just DON’T go crazy if it keeps telling you that it sounds AI and not written by
human. There will be many cases where a human wrote the article from scratch,
but the AI checker tells them that it’s AI generated, and vice versa. Let’s just say
an “AI checker” that is checking for “AI content” isn’t 100% reliable.
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So far, I only have the Introduction and body, including the two questions,
completed. I won’t be using ChatGPT for the actual blog post ideas because it
keeps generating rubbish. I will have to do this part manually myself.
While ChatGPT is an excellent tool, it's not a keyword research tool that I can
rely on for actual blog post ideas. Even if it does generate some ideas, I still need
to confirm that those keywords are relevant and legitimate. I always have a good
laugh at the chat box whenever I ask for clear instructions on some blog post
ideas. Even when I ask for highly searched or the most popular in a particular
niche, it’s usually a dud.
In my experience, they don't always suggest blog post ideas that include popular
search terms. This can be a significant problem, especially if I don't want to waste
time writing blog posts that won't attract any traffic. That's why, for the rest of this
post, I'll be conducting my own keyword research and verifying each blog post
idea.
HOW TO GET TRAFFIC WITH THE RIGHT BLOG POSTS: There is a right and
wrong way to write your blog posts. You can’t just blindly write whatever you
want just because you THINK it’s what people want. To learn more about
effective keyword research and finding the right keywords for your blog posts, I
highly recommend implementing the techniques I teach in The Golden
Compass To Pinterest Traffic. This guide is the ultimate resource for discovering
the best types of blog posts to write for your audience, helping you skyrocket
your traffic!
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20.5 ChatGPT Prompts for Your Blog Posts
Before we wrap up this chapter, I want to give you some ChatGPT prompts that
might come in handy when you're giving him your instructions. Here is a list you
can consider – I hope you have fun!
1. Create an article outline
Create an article for my blog post, [INSERT YOUR BLOG POST TITLE]
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Create an article outline for my blog post, the best places to visit in Japan.
Create an article outline for my blog post, 20 ways to save money.
Create an article outline for my blog post, 20 vegan recipes.
Create an article outline for my blog post, how to regrow your hair.
Create an article outline for my blog post, how to get smooth skin.
Create an article outline for my blog post, 20 gift ideas for Mother’s Day.
Create an article outline for my blog post, Canada Goose vs. North Face
jacket.
2. Specify your tone
I want the tone to be [POSITIVE/NEUTRAL/NEGATIVE]:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Emotional
Witty
Humorous
Empathetic
Persuasive
Motivating
Nostalgic
Generic
Bold
Firm
Angry
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Note: You could even give ChatGPT two or more emotions. For example, “I want
the tone to be funny and humorous”, or “I want you to sound funny and humorous
with a bit of wit”.
3. Specify word count
Write a 1,000-word blog post about [INSERT YOUR BLOG POST] with… [INSERT
YOUR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS]
4. Ask for more than one result/output
Sometimes, you might want ChatGPT to give you a list of things or several
examples to choose from. And, the good news is, even after he gives you an
output, you can always ask him for more by saying things like "give me another
one" or "can you give me more examples so I can have more options to choose
from."
5. Tell him what you don’t like about his output
For example, “I know I asked you to sound happy, but I don’t like that you sound
TOO happy. Can you tone it down a bit, so people don’t think I’m a freak?”
Or, “I don’t like that you kept using the word, ‘the’. It sounds too repetitive. Can
you please redo it?”
As you can see, there are numerous ways to guide ChatGPT in generating the
desired output, and the more precise and concise your prompts, the more refined
and superior the resulting output will be.
Alrighty, my friends, I hope you found this ChatGPT chapter helpful in writing,
editing, and refining your blog posts!
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CHAPTER 21:
SHOULD YOU START E-MAIL
MARKETING AS A
BEGINNER?
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21. Should You Start E-mail Marketing As A
Beginner?
As a beginner, you may be
wondering whether you
should start building a
subscribers list and dive into
e-mail marketing. Many of
my readers ask me whether
they should build a
subscriber list NOW as they
are creating their blogs at
the beginning stages.
I used to think that I NEEDED to start e-mail marketing ASAP because many
established bloggers would tout that “money is in the list” and that “you should
start building an e-mail list on DAY 1 when you start your blog.”
They would even say something like…
“I regret not building my e-mail list when I first started my blog. I also regret not
paying for a proper e-mail service when I was new!”
Yeah, it’s easy based on hindsight – everything is a regret once you have
experience with something. The problem is they don’t mention to beginners that
you'll need to understand your TARGET audience and have a solid marketing
strategy in order to convert and support the cost of your e-mail subscribers
especially when you’re on a paid service plan.
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ON TOP OF THAT, you’ll need to nurture your list by helping and engaging with
your people. Let me ask you a genuine question…
If you are currently investing your time to setup your blog, write posts, and learn
how to use 1-2 platforms to get traffic (those are all courses on its own), where
are you going to find that extra time to build an email list and write a newsletter
or chain of emails to your audience? Especially those of you who have a 9-5 job!
Now, if you have a digital marketing background and you know exactly how to
market your product or someone else’s product, then yes, go ahead and start email marketing now! After blogging for a several of years, I learned that building a
subscribers list and e-marketing is like a course on its own – it’s separated from
your blog (in a way). I, being full transparent here, struggled to build AND nurture
my list at the beginning of my journey while learning the basics first!
Long story short, in my honest opinion, I wouldn't look into email marketing YET
(especially not with the paid subscriptions) when you’re still very new in your first
few months of blogging until you learn how to get traffic PLUS understand how to
earn money with ads and affiliate marketing.
In order for e-mail marketing to work for you, it’s vital to understand marketing
strategies and/or how to use sales funnels.
However, it doesn't hurt to get your first 1,000 subscribers for free and play
around with this when you have the time. But ONLY if you truly have time
(seriously, I am for real and can’t emphasize this point enough to nail it into your
head). You NEED to prioritize everything else from setting up your blog theme to
writing your first 30 blog posts and learning how to REALLY use Pinterest
passively and effectively.
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And I don’t just mean creating a Pinterest business account and pinning out your
blog posts without an actual strategy behind the scenes. There’s WAY more to
getting traffic behind the scenes than just creating Pin images with Canva and
posting/linking them to your blog post – yes, there is a strategy that most people
don’t talk about, but I mention it all in The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic.
Don’t forget, you also need to know how to optimize your blog posts too so that
people can find you!
Not until you’ve mastered these things, do not start your e-mail list just yet – you
may end up deleting your list because the provider may start billing you. With a
growing list and not knowing how to monetize it, you’ll be surrounded with
worries about incurring monthly fees and wasting a lot of time.
Anyway, I added this section because I have countless people email me asking me
what they should use to start their list. So here it is…
ConvertKit didn’t offer this in the past when I started my blog, but fortunately
right now, you can get started with a basic and totally free account for $0 with
ConvertKit here to test out e-mail marketing for the experience. When you sign
up using my link, you’ll get to grow and unlock 1,000 free subscribers for FREE!
Once you have some experience, and you feel more comfortable with e-mail
marketing, you can choose to upgrade to the “Creator” or “Creator Pro” plan. I am
currently using the upgraded version and those ConvertKit plans give you more
options, bells and whistles, along with premium support compared to the free
account.
Again, only start looking into e-mail marketing when you can find time on the side.
I recommend prioritizing blogging tasks that are more important to you now such
as content creation, traffic, and monetization strategies.
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Next Steps – Level Up to Round 2
Congratulations, you’ve made it, my friend!
I sincerely hope you found this step-by-step tutorial helpful in navigating
WordPress and getting your blog started and launched.
You can actually get started by creating and setting up your Pinterest business
account once you're done your first 5 to 10 posts. This is the fastest and most
effective way to learn how to use Pinterest so you can start promoting your blog
posts!
As I mentioned throughout The Treasure Map To Blogging Success (especially the
chapters about how to get traffic, how to make money blogging, how to make
money with display ads, and how to use ChatGPT to write blog posts faster),
driving traffic is the next step to blogging success.
I can’t emphasize how crucial it is to get traffic to your blog – because without it,
you can’t make money! You have no idea how many beginners I see make the
mistake of trying to learn how to make money first BEFORE they even learn how
to get traffic to their website. Like, what?
If you want to make money from your blog by showing ads, using affiliate
marketing, or selling your own products, you'll need to take a specialized course
that teaches you how to do it. But, let me tell you something important. Before
you learn how to make money with your blog, you need to learn how to get
people to visit your blog first. So, it's better to focus on that first and then move
on to the money-making part. Plus, once you get enough traffic, you’ll
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 417
immediately qualify to start earning with display ads on your blog, which is
another HUGE win!
Learning HOW to ACTUALLY get traffic on Pinterest is also another course on its
own. Now that you’ve successfully completed stage 1 of your blogging journey,
which includes setting up your blog with the best theme, writing your first 5 to 10
blog posts, and having the basic understanding of how blogging works, it’s time to
celebrate your BIG win! So, go treat yourself to a wine or small piece of chocolate
cake.
Once you’ve celebrated your first milestone, you are SO ready to LEVEL UP to
stage 2 – and that’s getting traffic to your blog! YES, attracting an audience,
helping them and making a huge impact in their lives!!
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I personally use and love Pinterest because it gave me faster results than trying to
rank on Google. I dabbled with Google in my 2nd year of blogging, but I quit during
that time because it was too technical for me. Yikes, did I mention I’m a non-techy
person?
In fact, I waited until my 3rd or even 4th year of blogging to even get started with
Google (because most of my efforts were spent on Pinterest and learning how to
leverage the platform to skyrocket my traffic).
Well, now there’s a short cut for you to help you save 5 years of time. You don’t
have to go through what I did. Just learn everything and follow everything I do by
stealing my secrets in The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic, a comprehensive
A-Z guide I created just for you so you can succeed on Pinterest! On top of that,
you’ll also get my free bonus, How to Make Money on Pinterest for Bloggers,
which gives you the exact monetization methods I used to earn over $200,000 in
a year!
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 419
YES, I’m so excited to say you can now steal my extract Pinterest traffic strategies
that got me from 0 to over 100,000 monthly pageviews. Increasing my pageviews
as a beginner opened up the doors for me to earn my first Mediavine and affiliate
income online!
Within one year of blogging, I was able to boost my monthly pageviews on
Finsavvy Panda to over 100,000! Following that, I created a second blog to
diversify my income, which gets on average 100,000+ pageviews a month.
Increasing my monthly pageviews from 0 to 100,000 allows me to earn a
consistent income with my blogs using different monetization strategies including
display ads with Mediavine, affiliate marketing, and so on.
Today, I earn an annual six-figure income as a blogger and I want to show you how
by attracting the right type of traffic and audience to your blog. It all starts with
getting enough pageviews to your website – and I’m going to show you how!
FINSAVVYPANDA.COM – THE TREASURE MAP TO BLOGGING SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS | 420
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make for your blog. The value I'm offering is worth way more than $600 (which
you can snatch for only $129) - I'm talking about a comprehensive treasure
trove of valuable information that's jam-packed into this guide!
But that's not all, you'll also gain exclusive access to my 5+ years of experience
and knowledge within a year! Trust me when I say, time is of the essence and
investing in my guide now will not only save you valuable time, but also set you
up for blogging success in the future. Don't miss out on this to propel your blog
to new heights!
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I am delighted to have embarked on this exciting blogging journey with you, and I
am thrilled to continue our adventure together. The possibilities for skyrocketing
your Pinterest traffic are endless, and I cannot wait to show you how to unlock the
key to massive pageviews using The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic.
Let us go on an adventure together and navigate the vast and exciting world of
blogging, hand in hand, as we hunt for coins and treasures. Together, we will
achieve great success and elevate our presence in the blogosphere. So, what do
you say, my friend? Let's continue our journey and unleash our full potential!
As you sail on your journey on Pinterest, it's important to keep in mind that
success doesn't happen overnight. Remember, like any treasure worth seeking,
success on Pinterest requires patience and a steady hand. Take your time to learn
WordPress and create great content, while also familiarizing yourself with the
Pinterest platform.
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It's recommended to let your Pinterest account “age” like fine wine (and
naturally) over time by consistently promoting your blog posts. This will allow your
account to gain more traction and increase your chances of reaching a wider
audience.
With each passing day, you'll uncover new coins and treasures as your Pinterest
account matures, bringing you one step closer to unlocking the key to massive
pageviews So, take it slow, and don't get discouraged if you don't see immediate
results. Keep your focus on building your content and promoting it effectively on
Pinterest, and success will follow in due time. So, hoist the sails and set forth on
this exciting journey, adventurer. The rewards are sure to be bountiful!
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Blogging Tools & Recommendations
I know you’re still in the beginning stage of creating your blog and learning how to
build traffic. Because I always get e-mails from readers asking me what blogging
tools I use on my blog, I thought that putting them on this resource page will be
helpful for you.
Tailwind: This Pinterest scheduler app has changed my life! I don’t pin manually as
much anymore, and it has saved me SO MUCH time! When I started using Tailwind
as a brand new blogger for only one month, my traffic rapidly grew from 18,000 to
over 50,000, and eventually over 100,000 monthly page views!
You can get your FREE one month trial with Tailwind by using this link here (PLUS
get a $15 gift credit with the link if you ever decide to invest in the tool). No credit
card or any upfront payments necessary for the free trial!
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70+ Pin Savvy Templates: It took
me MONTHS and YEARS to figure
out what types of pin designs do
well on Pinterest. These are 30
Pin Templates I’ve spent over
thousands of hours testing my
blogs on the platform. The best
part is these templates were
designed to help you quickly
make gorgeous and stunning pins
that stand out from the crowd in
just minutes or even seconds!
You can learn more about this
affordable Pin Savvy Pinterest
Templates Bundle here.
When you purchase The Pin Savvy Template Bundle, you'll receive not only the
main product that will help you make more pins in less time, but also 3 additional
BONUSES at no extra cost.
These bonuses are worth more than the product itself, so it's a great opportunity
to get even more value for your money.
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Bonus 1: The Pin Savvy Guide 30-Page ebook on how to use the Pin Savvy
Templates.
Bonus 2: The Perfect Pin Guide and Checklist so you can optimize your pins for
more traffic!
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Bonus 3: Juicillicious Pin Headline Template so you can increase traffic with the
best headlines!
Again, you can grab all of this for a low price on this page here.
Link to the page: https://www.finsavvypanda.com/canva-pinterest-templates/
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Thank You!
I want to thank you for trusting me and allowing me to support you.
I also want to thank you for investing in my ebook. I really want you to succeed as
a beginner and I honestly can’t wait to see your blog grow months and years down
the road!
Again, I welcome you to join the Finsavvy Panda Affiliate Program here. You can
refer to the beginning section where I talked more about it. It is free to join and
you will earn 40% on all our products that you promote. Be sure to follow the
steps to get started. I can’t wait to see you there!
As always, if you have any comments or questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail
me at ling@finsavvypanda.com.
I'd love to hear your feedback on whether you found this ebook helpful in starting
your blog and what blogging tips you'd like to hear more about.
I care about the growth of your blog, so I will answer your e-mail!
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