Please talk to me like I'm a 5 year old

I started a blog 1 week ago and I'm so overwhelmed. I've read many articles on blogs but I'm left with more questions than answers. I need to start from the top....step 1

Initially I wanted to blog for fun but, in all honesty, it would be wonderful if I could supplement my income with blogging. I set up a wordpress domain hosted by bluehost, etc but I'm not sure where to go from here. To make matters worse I am very naive regarding anything techy. I have no idea how affiliates work, what a board booster is, etc. I'm just lost.

1. I read I need a niche in order to really attract readers. My niche was practical tips from a real mom. Real healthy but quick meals for families, how to save money shopping, how to repurpose furniture and DIY your own house renovations/repairs, how to grow your own vegetables, ideas for the busy mom that wants to be more organized, etc. But it this too broad? Too many topics under one umbrella?
If you think I should narrow it down some more I suppose the house renovations and repurposing furniture is more my passion. I'm no expert just an enthusiast. Could I still write enough articles about it?

2. I came up with the name AnotherSunrise before I actually decided I wanted to make money. I suppose you can look at anothersunrise as a metaphor for repurposing something...a new dawn to serve a new purpose. Is this too vague? Is it even possible to change the name this late in the game?

3. Do you have a go-to where I can learn how to do this step by step. I have no idea how to even get to the point of getting readers or setting up a newsletter or making any money.

Thanks for your help

L

 

I really believe that your niche should be something that you are passionate about, something where if you earn nothing, you would still be happy to do it. If that is mom tips, and personally that sounds like a great concept to me, then follow that. It does sound like you might be taking on too much, maybe for starting off, perhaps focus on cooking tips, before expand into furniture, etc.
The reason is, that if you do a blog for a topic that you are not passionate about, then sooner or later, it becomes a chore.

If it is new, why concern yourself with money? Build up the content, and the articles, have unique content that you can be proud of, and then once the traffic builds up, then worry about the money. I would not even bother with ads on my sites until you have a fair bit of quality content. For example, if you write an article a week, it would take you 3 months to get 13 articles.... this might be the time that you consider to apply for adsense.

Getting relevant traffic, now that is not easy. In the past, for one of my sites, I would contribute quality posts on forums, where I would usually say, "for more info see my site". This is a good strategy to do in the first few months of your site. Once your site is a few months old, and you have good quality content, then look into *other* seo methods. If you are handy with a video camera, doing a couple of cooking shows on youtube, is another example of this method, where people find your content, and if they like it, can come to your website for more information. Think about some of the ways that you have found websites (except for google). Personally, I have found numerous websites simply based on pinterest, youtube and forums (to name a few).

The only other SEO advice that I will give you is to watch some videos from "Matt Cutts" click here for some of his videos, (SEE, quality post on a forum, and linking to a website, will likely gain traffic to that site, shame its not my site). As Matt Cutts is from google, his answers are accurate, and this is the best place to start to learn about SEO.

 

Getting readers for a blog is always difficult. The mommy niche is popular, and it is competitive. What software/script are you using for your blog? Wordpress?

As far as affiliates and earning income, that is a distant concern now. Your main concern is creating compelling and informative content to attract readers. Once you attract readers, then you can worry about affiliates and earning money and something like that. And when I mean attract readers, a few hundred a day minimum before you even think about advertising.

Google Adsense is popular for blogs (but click-through rates are low). Depending on your niche, there are some other things you can try such as becoming an amazon affiliate (if you can advertise products somewhat relevant to your content that your visitors would want to buy). But if you are too focused on generating an income, your readers will see through it and it will turn them off. First comes the content, then comes the audience, then comes the money-making--and not too aggressively.

No, your content ideas are not too broad. If it is relevant to you, it will be relevant to others like you.

"Another Sunrise" is not bad but it is not relevant to what you are doing. It sounds more like a geriatric blog or a blog title for people suffering from depression or one of those inspirational story websites. I was going to say "mommy tips" or "practical household advice" but it seems that is an idea already in use. If you brainstorm some ideas, I am sure come up with a title/slogan/brand relevant to the theme of your blog. It shouldn't be too hard. Just open up a text editor and start writing down anything that comes into your head. And yes, you can change the name any time you want.

And if you are talking about changing your domain name, a good domain name is near impossible to find. So brainstorm more ideas if you don't like the one you have.

Getting traffic is always hard. Facebook networking, a Facebook Like button on your site, Twitter, and of course, making comments on blogs similar to your niche that allow you to submit your the URL to your website (which will make the name you post under clickable to your site) will help generate some traffic for you. And if people like what they see, they will click the Like button and you might get some more visitors from that. And if those visitors like it, they may click the Facebook Like button and you can get more visitors.

When I had a blog (I stopped because it was not making hardly any money and consumed too much of my time), I found that Facebook Likes were like a cascading effect and if I wrote a compelling (or offensive) post, I could generate hundreds of visitors just from Facebook.

Don't worry about advertising or newsletters or any of that stuff until you do the most important and most difficult thing first: getting visitors. If you need more advice about any of that stuff, just ask here on DigitalPoint and somebody will probably be able to offer you advice.

 

Your niche is great, your domain is great it can become your brand.

Write good content and share it everywhere your readers hang out: forums, facebook groups, tweet out your posts with appropriate hashtags etc. If it is quality and just what they need it will not be regarded as spam. Got to the people directly.

Focus on getting your "1000 true fans" (Google and read that iconic article by Kevin Kelly).

Your fans will share and promote your good content.
Your fans will tell you what their needs are. Then you can create products that they will be eager to buy.

 

When starting out you really need to pick a niche. Get really specific! This is the advantage of internet marketing, it allows you to do this. It is good you have an idea about the market you want to target, although I personally think it's too broad, and you will have difficulty gaining momentum due to this. You don't want to just help moms, you want to help moms with a specific problem. If you do this, you will have a much better chance of success.

 

Hello, I am new too, and like you, I am overwhelmed, I am following a challenge, http://30dayblogchallenge.com/ this helps because they guide you, one day at a time. As you, there are so many things that are hard to understand, I am writing about the difficulties I encounter every day as I go, if you want, check this out at my blog, www.becauseidream.com

I started the blog as a way to develop my writing skills and to learn, then I read about making money, which is not bad, I am on day 24 of the challenge, I have learned things but I am still confused. I know how you feel... so take a peek at my experiences.

Maria Gabriela
www.becauseidream.com

 

Hi guys, I have read and seen many talks about the word "niche", I have looked it up, and the literal meaning I understand, but for some reason, I am still confused when it is applied to a blog. If you do not mind, would you tell me if what I have is considered a niche?

Because I dream, Drawing, Writing, Reading, Learning
www.becauseidream.com

thank you! sorry if it is a dumb question, but I really need to understand if I am on the right path... The idea of making money is far away for me now.

thank you