How to start a sports blog? Starting a blog business is one of the first methods to make money online, and it still remains one of the most profitable online businesses. On average, bloggers make between $1,000 and $10,000 per month, which is a huge amount of money especially when you consider that the costs for running a blog are very low.
Since this is a popular trend nowadays, you should expect a lot of competition. There are around 380 websites created every minute and more than half a million new websites every day.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that every website makes a profit. According to MarketingSignals, almost 90% of all new websites fail within the first year.
That’s why it is important to do a lot of research and go through the steps we covered in this article, just to make sure you minimize risks and increase your success rate.
How to Create a Sports Blog
Pick Your Niche
Every blogging journey should start by finding the perfect niche. There isn’t a secret recipe for finding the perfect niche just because it depends on many things, such as your preferences, things you feel passionate about, and goals.
The golden rule here is to find a niche with low competition. When it comes to creating a sports blog, you need to be more specific in order to find a market with low competition.
For example, creating a general sports blog where you’ll highlight everything in the sports industry will be a mistake since you won’t get a chance to reach top search results.
Instead, you should go deeper into the subcategories and create a more themed blog, like for example, injury treatment in the NBA, or betting tips on horse racing.
The more unique topic you choose, the better the chances for reaching the top page in search results.
Choose a domain name
Your next step will be choosing your domain name. There is a general rule of thumb, that suggests picking a domain name that is easy to remember and with a .com extension. This will make your blog look professional and will not increase your probability of success.
With that said, it is still nice to have a simple domain name that is closely related to the main topic. It is important to note that your domain name can limit the topic on your website. For example, if you name your blog “College Basketball News” you’ll only be limited to this niche.
Choosing a Hosting Provider
Once you’ve purchased your domain, it is time to choose your hosting provider. This step is crucial for the success of your blog and it is the main factor that dictates your blog’s performance. Most new bloggers decide to go for the cheapest hosting option, which is “Shared Hosting”. This is a nice starting point, but once you start to generate more than 10,000 monthly users, you should consider getting more powerful hosting like Cloud or VPN.
Choosing a Platform
Now it is time to get your hands dirty and choose the base of your blog. This is a very important step that will dictate how you operate and the functionality of your blog. WordPress is the most popular choice when it comes to new blogs, and there is a good reason for that.
WordPress is a powerful website builder that is easy to use and has all the necessary tools and plugins to make a professional-looking website. On top of that, it is free to use and you can add a premium theme so you don’t have to worry about building your blog from the ground up.
Choose a Theme and Plugins
This step is all about creativity. There are hundreds of thousands of sports blogs and you need to find a way to be unique in this industry to succeed.
Fortunately, there are many premium sports themes to choose from ranging from $15 to $100. Most of them are packed with very useful premium plugins such as auto result tracker, analysis, security, and many other sport-related features.
This step is all about finding something that will work with the type of sports blog you want to run. So, make sure you come up with an idea, and then look for themes or plugins that will help you bring it to reality.
Final Words – how to start a sports blog?
All of these steps won’t matter if you don’t publish high-quality unique content that provides actual value to readers.
You can learn more from other sports blogs, like the TwinSpires Edge NBA blog. Check how they make lists of popular search topics, such as the youngest players in NBA history. Your content should be original, but you should also try to insert some relevant keywords to help your blog grow.
Being consistent at writing high-quality content is the only way to succeed in this highly competitive industry, so make sure you are prepared for what’s coming.