Google is the largest search engine in the world with billions of searches conducted on it every single day. Many people utilize the power of Google to find solutions to their problems or get answers to their questions. As an expert copywriter, I have been able to leverage the power of Google and build a passive income stream. In this comprehensive guide, I will walk you through the step-by-step process to build a profitable blog and rank your articles on Google to generate traffic and make money.
Choose a Profitable Niche
The first step is to determine a profitable niche. A niche refers to a specific segment of a market that you want to target. Some niches like gardening or pets generate less money while niches like online business, stock trading or cryptocurrency are highly lucrative. As a beginner, you need to find a balance between choosing a high-paying niche as well as a topic you are passionate about.
My website Successforbusiness.com focuses on helping people start an online business which is a topic I am passionate and knowledgeable about. I am able to generate endless ideas to write articles on this niche. You can also use AI tools like ChatGPT to get niche ideas. For example, you can ask ChatGPT: “Can you give me 10 highly profitable niche website ideas?”
ChatGPT will provide niche ideas like:
- Smart Home Technology
- Personal Finance
- Outdoor Adventure Gear
- Natural Beauty and Skincare
Choose a niche that sparks your interest and has money-making potential. The niche should be broad enough to give you ideas for many blog posts and specific enough to differentiate yourself.
Build Your Website
Once you have chosen your niche, the next step is to build your website. Every website needs hosting which is essentially renting a space for your website on the Internet. There are many hosting options from beginner-friendly ones like Hostinger and Bluehost to advanced ones for high-traffic sites.
I have used Hostinger and Bluehost to build my websites as they are perfect for beginners and available at an affordable price. Hostinger even provides free hosting for the first few months. Hostinger also has an AI website builder that can build a basic website in just a few minutes.
To get started, sign up for Hostinger and claim your free domain name. A domain name is the web address of your site e.g. successforbusiness.com. Hostinger provides a free domain with their plans.
Once you have signed up and logged in, you will see options to choose a template and design your site. For a blog site, I prefer to use WordPress as it provides more flexibility and control. However, Hostinger’s AI website builder is great for beginners to build a simple site quickly.
To use the AI website builder:
- Click “Change Template” and choose a template for your niche e.g. the Technology template for a tech blog.
- Preview different templates to see how your site will look. You can view the mobile and tablet version as well.
- Select the “AI Website Builder” option.
- Enter the brand name, website type which is “Blog” and a short description for your site.
- Hostinger will build your site in a few minutes based on the information you provided.
- You can then edit the images, text, and other elements on your site.
Once your site is built, the next critical step is to connect it to Google Search Console. If you skip this step, Google will not index your site and you will not get any traffic.
To connect your site to Search Console:
- Go to search.google.com/search-console/about
- Click “Start now” and go through the process of verifying and connecting your site.
- This will allow you to see important metrics like clicks, impressions, indexed pages and more for your site.
- It will also enable Google to rank your pages in search results and drive organic traffic to your site.
Write and Rank Your Content
The key to making money with Google is to rank your content on the first page of Google search results. To rank content, you need to publish high-quality and optimized articles on your site. Focus on writing in-depth articles on topics you have knowledge about.
Use SEO best practices like:
Choosing low competition keywords: Find keywords people search for that not too many other sites are ranking for. You can use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to find keywords.
Place keywords strategically: Include your target keyword in the title, URL, headings, alt text and 2-5 times in the content. Don’t overoptimize.
Provide value to readers: Write to solve people’s questions or problems. Give useful tips, actionable advice and recommendations.
Optimize page load speed: A fast loading site ranks higher in Google. Compress images, minimize redirects, etc.
Build internal links: Link to other relevant content on your site. This signals to Google that your content is valuable and improves rankings.
Earn backlinks: Reach out to authoritative sites in your niche to link back to your content. More quality backlinks result in higher rankings.
Engaging content: Create content that keeps people on your site. This also leads to more shares and links which help with rankings.
With consistent effort, many of my articles have ranked on the first page of Google. The traffic and income generated from these rankings are passive as I do not have to continue promoting these articles.
To start, aim to publish 2-3 blog posts per week. It can take 3-6 months of consistent work to start seeing good results from your content and rankings. Do not get discouraged quickly if you do not see immediate success. Keep creating valuable content and optimizing it, the traffic and money will follow.
Monetize Your Website
There are a few ways to monetize a website and generate income from the traffic received from high Google rankings:
Google AdSense: This is Google’s ad network. You can sign up for AdSense and place ads on your site. When people click on the ads, you make a portion of the ad revenue. This is a passive way to make money as you simply have to get people to your site.
Affiliate marketing: Promote other company’s products on your site and place affiliate links in your content. When someone purchases through your link, you earn a commission. Only promote products you have used or would recommend to your readers. Affiliate marketing combined with high-quality content is a great way to monetize your site.
Sell your own products: If you have digital products like online courses, ebooks or coaching programs or even physical products, you can sell them on your site. Link to your products in blog posts and sidebar to increase awareness and drive more sales.
Sponsors: As your traffic grows, you can approach companies in your niche to sponsor your site. Place their ads prominently in your sidebar or header in exchange for a monthly sponsorship fee. Sponsors are ideal for high-traffic sites.
With the right monetization strategy, you can generate $50 per day or more from your blog using the methods I have described. The key is consistently creating valuable content, optimizing for search rankings and then implementing the monetization techniques that best match your site and audience.
To summarize, here are the main steps to make money with Google:
- Choose a profitable niche
- Build your website and connect it to Google Search Console
- Write and optimize content to rank on page 1 of Google
- Monetize your traffic with Ads, affiliate links, products or sponsors
- Continue creating awesome content and improving your rankings and monetization
- Stay consistent and patient, success will follow!
I hope this guide provides you value in learning how to leverage Google to build a profitable online business. Let me know if you have any other questions!