So, you want to start a blog, right? Or perhaps you’ve already started a blog and haven’t had the success you expected with that blog.

This is quite common nowadays since most bloggers focus on the money aspects of creating a blog and they totally forget how to make the blog functional, the right way, so they can move in the right direction towards the success they expected.

Yes, making money from a blog IS possible only if you set the basics right.

I am going to write a few more posts on the topic of starting a blog and making money from it in a laser focused way for both beginners and advanced bloggers.

Before that, this post is to help you start thinking the “right” way about starting a blog.

Let’s get started.

Identifying your purpose with the blog

So you want to start a blog? And then? If you can’t answer the second question and if your sole purpose of starting a blog is your “want” to start a blog, you should pause right now.

Look, I am not asking you to stop - but just pause.

You might need to do some analysis of your “wanting to start a blog” mentality.

Just because you want to start a blog won’t mean that you’ve started an online business unless you don’t care about making money from your blog and treat it as a hobby.

But then you won’t be reading this post at this blog (the name is “Problogging Success” FYI :)) if that’s the case, right?

If you want to start a blog and make money from it, and make your blog a marketing tool for your business, then you have to sit down and do an analysis.

Ask yourself certain questions that helps you clarify your blogging goal.

Coz I am 100% sure, you won’t make it without a clear blogging goal and this step (of identifying the purpose of your blog) is highly crucial to your blogging success.

Sample questions you could ask yourself

Identifying the right niche

Most bloggers struggle to continue with their blog because they don’t make money from it. An equally “popular” (notorious) reason is that they chose a wrong niche.

When it comes to choosing a blogging niche, there are two crucial things that you need to take care of: Profitability of the niche and your passion for the niche.

Embracing any one of these and ignoring the other will run you into trouble. You should find a niche that incorporates both these aspects.

Of course I cannot provide you with a list of niches coz, I can only suggest profitable niches - but if you are not passionate about that niche you won’t be able to survive in the long run.

Doing keyword research and choosing a profitable niche is not the only thing about choosing a niche. When you are more keen on the money making aspects of a niche, you should also examine how you sync/resonate with the topic.

Can you produce content consistently without getting bored on this topic? How much expertise do you have in this area?

Even if you outsource content creation, you should be able to have a close look on what’s published on your blog and you are responsible for your blog’s content strategy.

Gone are the days where you can simply start a blog in an “alien” (yet profitable) niche, crank out a few posts, do all the shady link building to get it ranked on page 1.

These days are different. You have to be involved in what you produce; if not, you cannot please either the search engines or people.

In addition, if you choose a niche in which you are not interested in, you will soon burnout and you will also be frustrated.

Content is the life blood of a blog and if you choose an alien niche, you will struggle on this very step. So be careful in choosing the right niche as this could make or break your blog.

Identifying your capabilities

This point is missing in most of the “tutorials” that help you to start a blog. You cannot start a blog and then drag your feet on things.

If you refer to my previous post on internet marketing strategies, I’ve clearly pointed out that you need to approach blogging strategically.

You have to have these strategies in place BEFORE you start a blog - before you buy your domain name and before you start writing blog posts.

Having strategies not only help you clearly do things in an optimized manner, but it also helps you to identify your own capabilities.

If you start blogging and then find out that your blogging process involves 40 hours of content creation per week and 20 more hours of social media promotion, you will be doomed.

If you devise a strategy you’ll know how much time and effort is needed to run your blog and how much you can offer.

The same thing goes with money - if you don’t have blogging strategies in place you won’t know how much money it will suck from you. You might be surprised with the expenses you’ll have to make and this is no joke.

You might also be surprised (in a bad way) with the income, or any other form of “results” you get without a strategy. And you will also be shockingly surprised by how much you are being forced to extend yourself beyond your capabilities.

Before you think about starting a blog do a stock of your capabilities, your expertise and your financial status.

Plan out how much time and money you can devote to your blog and what results you expect off your blog in a limited time window. And plan what actions you have to take in this short time in order to achieve those results.

Now, will you be able to do those tasks? Will you be able to devote “X” hours per week for creating content? Will you be able to spend “X” amount of money on running your blog per month?

What kind of content can you create? Are you good at writing? Or do you prefer shooting videos?

As you can see, you should ask yourself a lot of questions and assess your capabilities before jumping in to avoid unpleasant surprises.

More to come on “How to start a blog”

In the coming days, I will be writing more on starting a blog, meant for both newbie and advanced bloggers.

If you are planning to start a blog, or if you are planning a new startup and want it to be more successful than your earlier one, use the tips I’ve discussed in this post!

This way you don’t have to regret and you don’t have to be disappointed. Start a blog with a proper foundation and good clarity - you will be fine.