How To Start A Blog And Make Money In Canada [FREE Course] 

What is a Blog?

According to Caroline Forsey:

“a blog is a regularly updated website or web page, and can either be used for personal use or to fulfill a business need.”

Caroline’s definition not only explains what a blog is but also highlights the key characteristics that distinguish a blog from other web pages.

Unlike other web pages, a blog needs to be regularly updated with relevant information that suits its target audience.

People often categorize blogs according to their niches (subjects). This leaves us with so many types of blogs such as:

Travel blog
Education blog
Food blog
Heath blog
Business blog
Entertainment blog
Sports blog
And so on

But from Caroline’s definition, we can categorize all the types of blogs into two:

Personal blog
Business blog 

It makes sense to categorize them into two because both personal and business blogs can fall under travel, education, food, health, and other niches. 

But creating a personal or business blog is not enough. You need to keep it up and running, that is where the concept of blogging comes in.

What is Blogging?

Blogging is the act of creating, promoting, and managing content regularly on a blog. 

Traditionally, blogging involves creating and sharing information, education, or entertainment text content on a blog. 

But as technology and human needs evolve, blogging now encompasses text, audio, visual, and audio-visual content.

However, not every content type works for every blog. So the exact content format you used would depend on your target audience and your blog objective.

For example, blogs that educate people about career development can achieve their goal by publishing just text content. 

On the other hand, blogs that provide guides and tutorials may need to include text, pictures, and even videos for easy comprehension.

Irrespective of the content format, blogging requires you to accomplish the following tasks regularly:

Create content 
Promote content 
Manage content 

When you do these, you can now call yourself a blogger. 

Who is a Blogger?

A blogger is someone who runs a blog. Running a blog involves writing, promoting, and managing content regularly.

As a blogger, you are responsible for the entire operations of your blog. 

This means that your ability and commitment will determine the fate of your blog.

A blogger is to a blog what a farmer is to a farm. As a farmer determines:

What to plant
When to plant
How to plant
How to grow the plant  
When to harvest 

The same way a blogger is expected to determine:

What content to create
How to produce 
When to publish 
How to manage and promote 
And how to monetize 

Understanding your roles as a blogger will help you maximize the potential of your blog and manage your expectations effectively.

In what follows, we are going to look at the things you need to know before creating a blog.

5 Things to Know Before Starting a Blog in Canada 

Many new bloggers exited the game too soon because their expectations did not match the reality. 

The problem is that many newbies usually have high expectations but end up committing less time and resources to achieve their goals. 

If you do not want to waste your time and resources by quitting the game early, you need to have the following five things at the back of your mind before starting blogging:

1. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme

As with every other business, you get what you invest in blogging. 

Do not expect to start seeing results from day one or a few days after starting.

It can take months before you can start generating significant traffic from your blog. 

The exact time it would take to start seeing results depends on the quality and quantity of your content.

2. Stay on your lane 

While it is recommended to learn from expert bloggers, you should not consume every piece of advice on the Internet.

There are many self-acclaimed blog evangelists out there who often share mouthwatering results that may not be necessarily original.

Their common intention is to appear as experts, thereby attracting public attention, especially from new bloggers.

When starting on this journey, it is important to equip yourself with sufficient knowledge to be confident in what you do.

Otherwise, you may find yourself changing from one blogging strategy to the other without results.

Fortunately, this course will equip you with the necessary information you need to maintain your lane while learning from real experts.

3. Consistency wins the race

One cannot overemphasize the importance of consistency in blogging.

Let me use myself as an example.

I have designed four blogs before this (My Wealth Experience). 

Not that I was not committed to all the blogs, but when I encountered a difficult challenge, instead of facing it headlong, I resorted to creating another blog. 

If I was consistent on my first blog, by now the monthly traffic would be counting in hundreds of thousands. 

What I learned is that the blogging business is full of ups and downs. However, those that are consistent often emerge victorious. 

The bottom line is, you should prepare yourself for any challenge that may come your way.

4. You cannot do everything at once

The task ahead is endless. As a beginner blogger, handling everything yourself can make you a jack of all trades and a master of none. 

Attempting to address everything at once can reduce the quality of your work and hurt your productivity.

If you have more time to dedicate to your blog, you can accomplish as many tasks at a time.

For instance, you can take a day to write new content, edit, optimize and publish it.

But if you are engaged with other activities, it may take you more than one day to write new content, edit, optimize and publish.

Knowing when to delegate some roles to those who can do it better will also help you maximize results.

Overall, it is important to identify your strengths and weaknesses and know how you can leverage them on your blogging journey.  

5. Have a picture of your blog in mind

Imagine a blog as a building. Before the building commences, an architect has to first sketch it out. 

This will not only serve as a guideline for the building, but it will show how the actual building would look like.

Similarly, you need to have the picture of your blog in mind even before designing it.

This will help you set clear expectations and a realistic plan for creating your desired blog.

Not only will having the picture of your desired blog help the design process, but it will also help the content structure as well.

If you do not have an idea, visit a couple of your competitors’ blogs and learn from their blog designs and content formats. 

Identify common patterns that you need to include and the gaps to fill to make your blog better. 

Why Start a Blog?

Despite the challenges that come with blogging, it remains one of the top digital marketing ideas today. 

There are so many reasons why you need to start a blog whether as an individual or business.  

Because of time, we will categorize all the benefits into five.

1. Greater exposure 

A blog connects you with people around the world who are interested in your content.

You can easily connect with people on your blog by writing content that rank on search engines (such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo) and promoting your content on social media platforms.

This not only boosts your popularity but offers higher earning potential.

Interestingly, the exposure that a blog provides cannot be compared with the limited exposure of traditional media and other digital marketing channels.

2. Builds authority

Some people showcase their expertise through books, newspapers, television stations, radio stations, journals, and other media.

A blog provides you with the opportunity to showcase and build authority in your subject area.

Building a subject-matter authority not only provides fame but also boosts your opportunities and influence.

Whether you are a student, graduate, or even a school dropout, a blog can help you build authority in your area of interest. 

3. Eases network building  

One great advantage of a blog is that it connects you with people who are interested in your content — not a random or casual audience.

With the exposure and authority that a blog helps you achieve, you can influence a large number of people through your blog. 

Accordingly, you can easily convert your blog visitors to customers, online community members, disciplines, or whatever you wish.

So long as your content resonates with your audience, you decide how to influence them. 

4. Less expensive

You can start a blog with $0. The same cannot be said of traditional media and other digital media platforms.

The cheapness of blogs makes it easily accessible to different categories of people including students, graduates, unemployed, stay-at-home moms, and so on.

Despite being less expensive, blogs also provide a long-term higher return on investment (ROI) than most media channels. 

A recent survey by the Media Relations Agency shows that companies that blog produce an average of 67% more sales leads than those that do not.

The bottom line is — blogging is a cost-effective way of connecting with people, building brand awareness, and generating leads and sales. 

5. Monetary rewards 

All the above benefits of blogging can yield monetary rewards.

You cannot only generate sales through blogging, but you can make money through affiliate commissions, ambassadorial deals, contract deals, and gifts from your generous audience.

The earning potentials are endless! 

But if you want to stay long on the blogging journey, monetary rewards should not be your priority.

When you prioritize the satisfaction of your audience over anything, all money rewards are earnable.

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