19 Blogging Questions I get Asked Frequently

Let me first wish you a very warm welcome to Stray Curls.

I always assume that people who read my blog are regular readers who have known me since 2015.

But I have come to realize that I also have a lot of new readers who have landed on the blog for the first time.

I get tons of emails daily, and most cover specific questions repeatedly.

I have decided to write this blog post that answers all the questions you may have because I feel it will be really helpful.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner blogger with no clue about blogging or an intermediate blogger; you will find something useful in this post.

I will also link to several resources in each question, so please bookmark this post for later.

If you have a question that’s not on this list, then feel free to leave a comment below, and I will add it to this page.

Let’s begin.

Please sign up for my newsletter by downloading this 12-page free blog planner. I am consistent with my newsletters and send very helpful weekly tips via email.

This post includes affiliate links to products I truly (from the bottom of my heart) recommend, meaning at no extra cost to you, I may earn a small percentage which I will use to buy my poor dogs food.

1. What is a blog?

Earlier, blogs were more like diary entries.

People just published posts like:

• What I ate today?
• My stationery haul for August 2014
• My trip to Thailand in December 2008

These “blog posts” were about 300 words and had about 20-50 images per post. People would mainly talk about themselves and their experiences.

Search Engines like Yahoo or Duck Duck Go were very lenient.

You could rank for particularly any keyword.

Let’s say you wanted to rank for the words “chocolate pancake recipe.” You had to include the keywords 5-10 times in the blog post, and you’d rank easy peasy.

Those were the good ol’ days when people mostly wrote for themselves and still got tons of traffic.

But everything started becoming more competitive after 2015.

Between 2015 to 2018, blogging started evolving. 

People were starting blogs left, right, and center because blogging became a very legitimate way to make money online.

Search Engines like Google now needed to weed out the spammers and the bloggers who were in it for the quick bucks.

So they started implementing heavy algorithmic updates once or twice a year. They started making it more and more difficult for blog posts to rank. They started including multiple ranking factors that now heavily depended on:

• Expertise
• Authority
• Trust

Google now has over 200 ranking factors, and they keep tweaking these factors.

This led to topics related to health, nutrition, finance, etc, becoming more difficult to rank, and for good reason.

You wouldn’t want to read a cancer-related post written by a newbie who has no idea about cancer, do you?

So, what is a blog today?

A blog is a resource and a collection of pages that specifically answers queries related to a particular topic. 

• Let’s say you want to order a McDonald’s burger. If you google the calories of the burger, you’re reading a blog post.
• When you want to get ideas on what to draw on a Mother’s Day Card and read a round-up post, you’re reading a blog post.
• If you’re looking to read the specs of the latest iPhone, you’ll probably be reading a specs blog post.

Blogs are very tailored to users now.

They’re user-oriented.

We have drastically shifted from writing for ourselves to writing for others.

And that’s what constitutes a blog today!

Let’s move on.

2. What is the best type of blog to start in 2022?

I’ll cut to the chase.

If you want to start a blog that specifically makes money and you’re in a rush, please start a niche blog.

A niche blog is a blog that focuses very well on 1 particular topic.

Basically, it’s like buying a book on baking cupcakes, instead of buying a book on baking everything.

Let me give you another example of a niche blog:

• A pet blog is a broad-niched blog.
• Poodles is a niche blog. (This is what you want to start now)

Let’s say you have a poodle-niched blog; the blog posts will be like this:

• How do I potty-train my poodle?
• 5 best collars for Poodles
• 10 tricks you can teach your Poodle Puppy now
• My poodle is not eating; what do I do?
• How to teach your poodle to sit?

Do you get my drift? 

It’s easier to rank for poodle-related queries than pet-related or dog-related ones.

You’re still in the Pet niche, but you’re in a subset of the pet niche where your blog is only about poodles.

This is a NICHE blog. 

This is the fastest way to grow a blog because:

• You’re being super specific; Google trusts you faster and ranks you quickly.
• You have a better chance of ranking a blog on puppies for puppy-related keywords than a blog that focuses on pets.
• It actually becomes very easy to think of blog post ideas because you’re so focused on the topic.
• You can make a better income because your affiliate marketing click-through rate will be very high, and so will your ads. For instance, you can be sure that almost everyone that comes to your poodle blog either has a poodle or wants to get one.

I actually experienced this with my drawing blog (name to be revealed in a few months).

I started a niche blog in March 2022, and it’s been only 6 months since I’ve been blogging, but that blog is making me money and getting good traffic.

It focuses only on drawing – NOTHING ELSE.

And the blog is growing very fast.

It’s the fastest any blog of mine has ever grown. I made over $90 in my 6th month blogging on the newest baby blog (I’ll release an income report soon) only using ads and affiliate marketing. 

Here are some cool examples of niche blogs you can check out to understand more about this:

• Succulent Alley
• Dirt Bike Planet
• The Camper Lifestyle
• Easy Drawing Guides

You can also grow a niche blog for a year or two and then sell it.

You’ll earn 100X the monthly income of a blog roughly.

So, if you get the niche blog to a stage where it’s making $1K a month via ads, you can sell it for 80-100K dollars. Pretty neat, I feel.

Please check out my guide on starting a niche blog here. 

You can also read my book on starting a blog here:

The second most popular type of blog that you can start is a lifestyle blog.

A lifestyle blog is a blog about different topics that are closely related.

Imagine you’re blogging for a target audience that has similar interests.

You can cover closely related topics, and that becomes a lifestyle blog.

The con is it takes a while to grow.

The pro is you’ll never get tired of writing posts because you’re covering various topics.

So, if you get bored writing about 1 topic, you can write a post on another.

My very own lifestyle blog is Mind Space Cafe. 

Mind you, these take a while to grow but can be monetized very well via ads and affiliate marketing.

So, if you’re not in a hurry and want to blog about a few topics, then start a lifestyle blog. 

Here are a few examples of lifestyle blogs:

• Minimalism Made Simple
• A cup of Jo
• Jules Acree

3. What do the terms domain and hosting mean?

A domain is the URL of your blog. For example:

• www.straycurls.com
• www.yahoo.com
• www.mindspacecafe.com

URL stands for uniform resource locator.

Only 1 entity can own a certain domain.

So, if I register www.straycurls.com for a whole year, it belongs to me, and nobody else can use it. I can put up a website on this domain, which will be mine for as long as I keep renewing it.

Hosting is the house your domain will live in.

A website needs space to occupy. It can’t just live in space.

Just like you have a home, so does a domain.

Once you buy a domain, you must buy hosting to house your website.

Bluehost is one of the cheapest hostings you will find and is one of the best for beginner bloggers.

In my opinion, you will be spending less than $40 a year, and it’s worth it if you’re a beginner blogger.

I earned $50+ in my 5th-month blogging on the newest baby blog I started in March 2022 via affiliate marketing and ads so I made my money back and earned more than what I spent via the 5th-month blogging.

So, you can earn that amount back almost immediately especially if you niche down and write a lot of content.

I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who doesn’t want to spend a huge amount initially.

Check out Bluehost here. 

4. What does a beginner blogger need?

I have seen so many blog posts list countless plugins and software.

No, you do not need any of that when you’re just starting a blog – please keep your costs really, really low.

Here’s what you require:

You require a domain and hosting – these are the standard fees you will have to pay every year no matter what type of blog you own.

You can keep your costs really low if you buy your hosting with Bluehost because they also give you a free domain.

• Check out Bluehost here if you’re living in US/Europe/Canada/etc.
• Check out Bluehost India here if you’re in India.

Once you finish 1 year of blogging, shift your domain to Name Cheap so that your domain fees are low.

You will also require a WordPress Theme; here are the themes I recommend:

• Cheer Up for WordPress – perfect for Niche blogs and Lifestyle blogs – I use it for Mind Space Cafe – it loads fast, is SEO compliant, works well with ads, and is a very clean theme.
• Bluchic Themes for a professional-looking website – perfect for coaches, business people, etc.
• Avada Theme – great for SEO, slightly technical – I use it for Stray Curls
• Divi – the best drag-and-drop WordPress theme in the world- I only recommend this if you have a good design sense and have some idea about aesthetics.

Apart from the domain, hosting and theme, you require a Keyword tool.

A keyword tool will help you find low-competition keywords that you can rank for.

For instance, let’s say you are a food blogger.

You can’t write a blog post for a chocolate cookie recipe and expect to rank – this is a very high-competition keyword that you cannot rank for as a new blogger. But you can probably rank for this keyword “chocolate cookie recipe no chocolate chips no baking soda”

This is so specific that there is a very good chance you can rank for the keyword.

You basically have to target topics that no one (or very few people) have written for but are still being searched.

You can use Ahrefs, but it’s kinda expensive.

The next best tool is Key Search (use KSDISC coupon code to get an additional 20% off).

Once you cross 6 months of blogging, you can start an email list. Then you just have to send your weekly posts to your list to get more traffic to your website.

I highly recommend ConvertKit because it’s free for up to 1K subscribers, and you can make so many beautiful forms and lead magnets via this mailing plugin, so you will easily be on the free plan for more than a year.

5. Can I start a blog for free? I am a student and don’t have the money.

Yes, you can start a blog for free on sites like Blogger or Wix.

But please don’t expect to make any money from your blog.

If you’re starting a blog as a hobby and just want to practice writing or want to get your message out there, then, by all means, go ahead.

But if you want to make money, you have to think of starting a blog from a business point of view.

• You cannot become a doctor without enrolling for MBBS.
• You cannot become a lawyer without writing the BAR exam.

Likewise, you cannot start a money-making blog without buying a self-hosted domain.

You need to change your mindset and start a self-hosted blog to make money. 

You will also find these posts helpful:

• How to start a niche blog in India and make money 
• How to start a blog and make money 
• How to start a lifestyle blog and make money
• How to start an art blog and make money

6. How long does it take to get blog traffic?

I’ve already answered this question in detail in this post about how long it takes to get organic traffic, but here’s the gist.

Getting organic traffic depends on a variety of factors:

• How many blog posts do you write each month? Preferably 15+ each month will help you make quick progress.
• What kind of niche you’ve chosen? Niched blogs take upwards of 6-8 months, whereas lifestyle blogs take longer, like 1-2 years.
• How well you’ve optimized your posts for SEO – SEO basically means you are optimizing your blog posts for search engines.

The first 6 months are painful because your blog will be a ghost town.

You will get absolutely close to zero traffic even if you have some knowledge of SEO.

After 6 months of continuous blogging, you will start to see your Google Traffic pick up. This is because even though Google is indexing your posts, Google won’t rank your posts very high up. It takes time for Search Engines to trust your website and give you credit.

That’s why it’s easier to rank for low-competition, low-volume keywords.

It’s easier to rank for keywords like “how to stop overanalyzing after being cheated on” rather than “how to stop overanalyzing.”

You have to write content that people are searching for.

This will guarantee that you will be:

• Found
• Clicked on
• Read

Once you cross the 6-8 month mark, you should get around 1-5K pageviews a month. And then, it becomes very easy to grow because you know what’s working.

If not, then you are definitely doing something wrong. 

By the 6th month, you should have earned your first $10-$100.

You can expect to make $100 monthly within the first year of blogging.

In your second year of blogging, you will start making $500-$1K monthly.

It takes 12-18 months to hit that income monthly.

7. Is there any way to speed up getting traffic?

Yes, social media works beautifully to get more traffic.

I highly suggest not depending on it 100 percent, but about 20% of your time can be devoted to Social media.

I currently use almost zero social media for my latest blog because I feel my efforts are better utilized in writing helpful content. However, Pinterest is very lucrative and can get you tons of traffic if utilized correctly.

I do put up about 10-15 pins a month (I know it’s not much but I prefer writing content more) and Pinterest traffic seems to be picking up now after 6 months for my latest blog.

I explain my entire manual pinning strategy in this blog post.

Please have a look at it – you don’t need any tool, and you can spend just 10 minutes a day pinning. I feel my results are splendid even though I spend only 10 minutes a week pinning.

If you spend more time on Pinterest, Pinterest does reward you – this much I have figured out.

8. How long does it take to make money blogging?

I’ve answered this question in detail in this blog post. 

But honestly, it depends.

If you’re offering a service like:

• Graphic Designing
• Website building
• VA services
• Social media marketing
• Freelance writing

Then you can start making money on the very first day of blogging.

You just have to put up your services and try to get clients – your blog will act like your portfolio.

Facebook groups are another easy way to bag clients.

The more blog posts you put up on your blog, the better your chances are of being discovered.

Writing blog posts also helps you showcase your authority.

You’re giving your readers a chance to learn more about how you work, and this will help them hire you easily.

But if you want to make money via ads and affiliate marketing, it will take some time – because both of these monetization methods depend on blog traffic.

You can put affiliate links as you start writing posts, but the money will kick in only after 6-8 months because that’s when blog traffic starts trickling in.

Now, if you’re looking to add your own products like planners, eBooks and eCourses, wait until you’ve finished 6 months of blogging, and then put up your products using Sendowl. 

Here’s a very helpful eBook I found on setting up your products with Sendowl. 

9. Are backlinks useful? When do you start trying to get backlinks?

Backlinks are when someone links back to your website.

Backlinks tell Google that your website is credible.

Backlinks also help you rank more quicker.

Let’s say you are in the finance niche. And you get backlinks from very credible websites with high domain authority that are all in the finance niche.

This tells Google that your website is very valuable and that you’re producing quality content in the finance niche – it will boost your authority.

And you get a good chance of ranking for more high-competition keywords – this helps you get more traffic and hence more money.

Let’s say both you and a competitor have written a blog post on “50 self-love journal prompts.” Let’s say you are equally important in your field.

Both of you have quality content in that post, but the person who ranks on the front page will ultimately have more backlinks.

That’s just how it works.

Backlinks are kinda important in the blogging world.

But you want the good kind of backlinks.

Spam websites don’t count.

So, don’t try buying backlinks – this will get you penalized by Google, and you may even get deindexed – it’s not worth it. Trust me.

Backlinks used to be a very important ranking factor.

But after the May update released in 2022, backlinks are only part of the equation. This is because many people cheat the system by buying backlinks.

This is highly unfair to new websites that are trying to grow the honest way.

So Google is using more complicated AI to understand the type of content they are ranking.

Don’t get me wrong, backlinks are still important, but you can still rank without them.

However, if you are trying to rank for more competitive keywords that have higher search volume, then you will need to increase your domain authority.

I actually tried this experiment. I tried to rank for a particular high search volume keyword with 2 websites. The one that had the higher domain authority got on the first page within a week.

The newer website didn’t stand a chance. It’s not even on page 5.

Backlinks are important after 6-8 months of blogging.

That’s when you can try and acquire them.

I still try to get backlinks for Mind Space Cafe once in a while via natural methods like HARO because getting backlinks also means that other growing websites won’t be able to steal your ranking if your ranking is high.

It ensures that you will hold your rankings for as long as possible since your domain authority is higher than most.

If you are interested in increasing your backlinks because you want higher domain authority and want to rank for more competitive terms, check out Debbie’s eBook on gaining backlinks. 

CHECK OUT THE EBOOK HERE

It’s the one eBook I highly suggest with methods that don’t involve blogger outreach or guest blogging.

I don’t recommend any other resource except that eBook to gain backlinks.

I used it to increase my backlinks for Mind Space Cafe, which I found very valuable.

10. How many blog posts do I need to write?

This number keeps changing as blogging evolves.

Back when I started blogging in 2015, you could write 1 post a month and get oodles of traffic.

That number has changed now.

Because millions of blogs and websites are being created every second daily, content velocity is crucial to get substantial traffic.

If you can pump out 20-50 blog posts a month, you can certainly reach your goal of hitting $1K per month in a year’s time purely via ads.

This is a strategy most new blogs are following. It goes like this:

1. You start a blog in a low-competition or medium-competition niche like golfing, camping, drawing, etc.
2. You then pick out a lot of low-competition, low-volume keywords that are all within 30-100 search volumes a month.
3. If you can manage, you write between 30-50 blog posts a month or more. Some people choose to hire writers to increase that content velocity.
4. You focus on nothing but content and apply to Ezoic in your 3rd to 6th-month blogging. You will gain peanuts but applying to Ezoic will give you experience in working with ads; it will also motivate you to keep writing as you see pennies coming in each month.
5. You then apply to Mediavine when you hit 50K sessions a month, and by your 12th month of blogging, you will have approximately 500-800 posts and earn $1K a month.

You can follow this strategy if you are very serious about blogging.

But please note that the major mistakes people make here are:

• Not choosing a low-competition niche
• Having zero idea of SEO – if you don’t write SEO-optimized blog posts, you’re not going to rank, and you won’t get that traffic. You have to structure your posts properly and pick keywords properly. I explain everything in my SEO eBook here. 

Now, this is just 1 method.

If you want to make money via products, coaching, or other services, then you don’t need to write this many posts – 5 to 10 a month are more than sufficient.

That’s why you need to understand what your strategy is.

You can’t just blindly write posts and expect to make money.

You have to follow a specific strategy that works for you. If you’re clueless about how to go about it, you can book a 1-time coaching call with me to figure this out, and I can put you on the right path.

11. What kind of images should I use for my blog?

Keep your expenses low when you’re starting out blogging.

You can take your own pictures.

But let’s say you suck at photography like I do and just don’t have the time, then do yourself a favor and just get a subscription to premium Canva. 

CHECK OUT PREMIUM CANVA

Premium Canva is a very cheap monthly subscription, but you’ll get access to all their stock photos. And their stock photos are so versatile that I guarantee they will have photos for any niche you decide to get in.

Do not use photos from Google Images. You will be filed for copyright charges.

 

I was promoting a graphic novel once and used the cover in my blog post. I got issued a copyright notice where I had to spend over $1000 for using it without permission.

Luckily, I tracked down the owner and notified them that I was using the cover to promote their own book (I wasn’t stealing their images or selling the eBook), and she immediately took down the notice as she realized my claim was sincere, and I saved so much money.

It doesn’t matter whether you are in Canada, India, or Nigeria – these copyright notices are filed by lawyers stationed in almost every country.

They have algorithms that track the owner’s images so the minute it picks it up on your website, you will get issued the notice. And you will have to pay the amount no matter where you are.

They will track down your host and track you down and serve you a legal notice – so you can’t escape. Don’t assume you can escape these situations because you work remotely.

Stay safe, and use photos from websites that you have subscriptions to.

If the photo is not yours and you don’t have rights to it because you haven’t purchased it – do not use it!

12. What kind of blog posts should I write?

Excellent question.

Answer questions.

Valid questions.

Think about what kind of questions you are writing in Google Search when you want detailed answers:

• Oil-free foundations for oily skin
• My dog is not eating; what do I do?
• How do you make a no-bake cheesecake?
• Husband cheated, what do I do?
• Sony speaker making weird static noise
• Why do pigeons stare at humans?

These are the kind of blog posts you need to be answering.

You have to get super specific.

Answer the questions in bloody detail.

Let me give you an example.

For instance, I wrote a post in Mind Space Cafe on “Wife cheated but wants to reconcile, what to do?”

And this is how I went about it.

• I first explained to the reader that it’s not their fault that their wife cheated – I provided reassurance.
• Then I explained what they’re going to go through – feelings-wise – this gives them comfort.
• I then explained how to go about divorce if that is what they choose to do
• I also talked about how to handle the separation if they have kids.
• And lastly, I talked about how to handle the situation if they decide to stay with their wife.

When you decide to write a post, take a step back.

Take a walk to clear your head and ask yourself if you were typing this query on Google, what would you want to know or hear?

Understand the keyword intent – this means taking time to understand what the person is feeling or thinking when they’re writing the search query in Google.

I explain everything about keyword intent in my best-selling eBook. 

And then you need to craft an answer that is so detailed and thorough and at the same time well crafted and to the point that Google has no chance but to rank you.

Write like a human being.

Time and time again, Google has said that they don’t like AI-generated content, and they’re more focused on content that is written for users – not robots.

So, spend time writing quality content.

Read this post to learn how to write blog posts fast. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a tutorial, a step-by-step case study, or a list post; take your time to understand what the user wants to know when they write that query. Aim to answer the post in such a way that the user closes your page because they’ve got the answer and not go back to the search engine to find a better answer.

Structure the post methodically and organically. I explain how to do this in my eBook. 

This will help you rank at the top of the SERPs.

13. How do I come up with blog post ideas?

When you initially start a blog, you will be kinda throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.

For instance, when I first started Mind Space Cafe, I started blogging about topics like minimalism, productivity, and love.

It is a lifestyle blog, so I had no issue spreading myself so thin.

It took me almost a year to see what was sticking. I was only writing 4 blog posts a month, so the process took even more time.

I could have sped that up to 6-8 months if I wrote 10-20 blog posts a month or more.

I used a keyword tool to find low-competition, low-volume keywords.

When you start doing that a lot, you eventually understand who your competitors are because they’ll end up ranking for most of the high-competition keywords.

At this point, it’s all about learning.

You’re just learning what Google wants from you and trying to figure out what kind of posts are doing well for you.

So, just write.

Don’t worry too much about what will go through and rank.

Wait for 6-8 months till you can see some definite progress.

After 6-8 months, analyze your website and see what posts rank on the front page. This should tell you what your strengths are and what Google likes from your blog.

Now, it’s all a matter of rinsing and repeating.

In Mind Space Cafe, I noticed that the posts that did really well were the very emotional posts that drew from my own personal experiences like heartbreak, losing a parent, etc.

So, I inputted those keywords into my Keyword Tool and saw what other keywords the posts were ranking for.

There may be keywords that your blog posts are ranking for but aren’t a right fit for that keyword. So, write those down and write better and more appropriate posts.

Let’s say your post on how to bake a kiwi lime pie is ranking for the keyword, “how to bake a kiwi pie”

But your pie recipe has kiwi and lime in it. It’s even made differently.

So, you can either leave it at that, or you can write yet another recipe for baking a kiwi pie using only the kiwi ingredient.

They’re similar but different.

This will help you rank for a whole new set of keywords.

And by implementing this method, you’ll never run short of keywords or topics to write about.

14. How long should my blog posts be?

Some blog posts on Stray Curls are over 9K words because blogging posts and business posts are long. They’re detailed and have too much information to fit in 2K words.

On Mind Space Cafe, which is a personal and self-development blog, most of my blog posts are around 2-3K words because the topics I pick are very specific.

They can be answered in 2-3K words.

However, on the drawing blog, my tutorials are only 800 to 1K words because they are image-focused.

Please know that there is no magic number.

How long your post should depend on:

• What is your blog niche?
• What is your blog post about?
• Are you covering everything the user needs to know in that article about the topic?

So, take your time to write the article. Research similar articles and see the standard number of words people are writing for their articles.

Research is very important when you’re writing articles.

15. How do bloggers make money or get paid?

The best way to make money with your blog is through ads.

I always tell my readers that once they start blogs, just apply to Ezoic after you have about 20-30 posts. So you can do this after 1-2 months.

The idea is not to make money.

When you join Ezoic, you get access to their LEAP program. This speeds up your website, optimizes your images, and enhances your scripts so that your website loads super fast.

It’s also a great idea to put ads on your website because you will learn which blog posts earn you a higher RPM and makes you more money – this will help you write more content that has the potential to give you higher ad earnings.

It’s more of a learning and optimizing process.

Additionally, you will get a wonderful experience working with ads and learn all the technicalities in the beginning. You can experiment with your ads and set them up, and optimize them while your traffic is still low. So, even if you mess things up, not many viewers will be affected.

CHECK OUT EZOIC HERE

Once you hit 50K sessions, apply to Mediavine. Once you hit 100K pageviews, directly apply to AdThrive.

The idea behind this is these ad networks have a high RPM so you’ll get paid way more for the same amount of traffic.

You should also implement affiliate marketing.

I won’t go into detail about affiliate marketing because I have covered it in detail with other posts, so you can check out my posts here:

• Is affiliate marketing worth it? What do I need to know?
• 7 advanced affiliate marketing hacks that will work for any niche

It is important to understand that these 2 money-making methods are the most popular and the most passive.

You don’t need to do anything to make money once you’ve set these up. They are almost passive methods and will continue to earn you money as long as you keep writing content and updating it.

Now, if you want active methods of making money, you can do other things like:

• Offer coaching or other services
• Write and sell eBooks
• Start a shop and sell digital products or physical products

There are so many ways to make money blogging. 

16. Is there anything I need to know to put ads on my blog?

Don’t have more than 3-4 categories on your blog.

This makes it difficult to fill the categories with posts.

Google Ads has said very early on that they need to see at least 7 posts in each category when you apply to Ad Sense. 

I do not suggest anyone put Google Ads on their blog because they pay peanuts. But you do need to be in good standing with them to get approved by Ezoic and Mediavine.

You must be in good standing with Google Ads to get approved for almost any ad program. So, please create good content.

This is most important.

Make sure that your posts are not stuffed with affiliate links and look spammy. Just focus on writing at least 30-50 posts before you apply.

Once you get approved, you can pretty much start monetizing your blog after that.

Check out this post to understand how to get approved fast. 

Please note that the idea is to just get approved, you don’t need to put Google Ads on your blog. You can then apply to other networks and get approval faster because you already have Google Adsense approval.

17. What colors should I use on my blog?

Please use a plain and simple theme.

Do not over-complicate your theme and your design. Your aim shouldn’t be to build a unique brand. Your aim is to write good quality content that’s super helpful.

Make sure your background is white, and your font is dark grey or almost black.

You can use colored highlights like your links can be blue or pink. Make sure your links are always bold and have a dark color that is readable.

Open your website on your phone and ensure that your content is easy to read.

If you have zero design knowledge, get help setting up your WordPress Theme.

Or ask your friends to use your website on their phones and laptops and give you their honest reviews. If the website is too hard to read, change your fonts.

Make sure you choose a simple sans serif font that is readable and light on the eyes.

18. Is blogging even existent now? Or is it too late?

People are still starting blogs every single day.

I started my latest blog 6 months ago, and I plan on starting another one soon when the 3rd blog picks up a bit. I am going to start the 4th blog to sell it once it starts making me money.

Blogging is a legitimate way to make money online.

It is no longer easy to blog as before because you now have to optimize your content for SEO and focus more on the reader than on yourself.

But it is still one of the number one ways to make money online that involve:

• no need for video or social media (you can rely hundred percent on organic search)
• no need to upload photos or videos of yourself (you can use stock photos from Canva)
• doesn’t require you to work a full-time income job (if you can write at least 20+ blog posts a month, you can hit a full-time income in less than 2 years)

Blogging is a lucrative money-making business if done correctly.

Just don’t make these mistakes.

19. How do I get traffic to my blog? What is the best way?

Write, write and write some more.

I can’t stress this enough – you just need to write a lot of helpful content.

Think of your blog as a huge encyclopedia on the topic or niche of your choice.

It needs to cover a lot of topics super thoroughly to be a complete book.

So, just focus on writing content if that’s the one thing you have time for.

It’s okay if you can’t do social media, Youtube, or anything else.

The results from organic results are so much more worth it and give you 10X the results.

Once you cross 4-5 months, put up a lead magnet and build your email list for free with ConvertKit. They have such pretty forms that you can put for free on your website, and they will pop up and collect email addresses quickly!

Just sign up for free and set up 1 form. Set it up and forget it. It will collect email addresses without you having to do anything after that.

SIGN UP TO THE FREE CONVERTKIT PLAN HERE

Growing your email list is one of the best ways to earn traffic. You just have to send your peeps a weekly newsletter with your best blog posts. They will click the links, and you’ll get bonus traffic every week.

Besides, you own your email list, so you can always use this to sell products later or offer them coaching.

If you want more traffic, just sign up for my free traffic course here:

20. Is using AI good for blogging? Will I get penalized by Google?

Jasper was one of the best AI tools in the market.

As of now, a lot of bloggers are using ChatGPT and KoalaWriter.

I’ve read multiple reviews of these softwares. And although Google says it’s okay to use AI as long as you answer the question and the quality remains the same, I’m skeptical.

I feel the risks are way too high, because Google can say anything but we incur the greater loss if we lose rankings.

I have very controversial views on AI and Google is rolling out so many updates only because they want to weed out the fluff.

I don’t use AI because it’s still a machine.

I do use it to generate ideas when I’m stuck, but I write my own content.

You have to understand that AI does research based on what other people have written.

It scrapes the web and spews out stuff spun from other content. This means, that there is no originality. It is to a large extent still looking at other people’s content and using what other people have written.

This is my opinion but I know many other bloggers who are pro-AI. I’ve seen them talk about AI and use it. And some of them do well, some of them have lost significant traffic in the latest Google Core Updates.

So, it’s completely your decision.

But I don’t use AI for any of my blogs. I understand how time-consuming it is to write blog posts, but I don’t want to take a risk because I’ve worked very hard on my blogs and I don’t want to be caught in any of Google’s updates. I prefer taking my time to infuse my personality and personal experiences into my blog posts.

It may be slow, and it may feel like I’m lagging behind, but for now – I’m sticking with it.

Conclusion

I hope this post helped answer all your questions.

Still, have a question that needs to be answered?

Just type it in the comment box below! I’ll add it to this list or reply to your comment.

Either way, I am here to help you out! So, feel free to ask me anything.

If you’d like to receive helpful emails every single week that help you answer more questions on blogging, just sign up for my blog planner here.