How to start a sports blog in 2024.
Start your sports blog with us.
Starting a sports blog is one of the best ways to connect with a wider range of audiences across the globe. One may start a sports blog based on many reasons. But the most common one is to share the passion with like-minded people. With today’s cluster of online blogs, you may shiver as to whether blogging has value as it use to be some time back.
But let me tell you that, you are not alone here, so nothing to worry about. Whether you are aiming to grow big like ESPN.com or Goal.com or stay small like Chelseaalways.com, there is a way for you. I am here to offer a helping hand. My step-by-step guide will seek to it that yours is created on a good platform and nurtured with good content so that you succeed within an expected period of time.
Fortunately for you, I have examples of sports blogs you can take inspiration from and start with ease.
How we see a sports blog today.
A sports blog is simply an online platform that connects people with the sports they like, the sports accessories they like, or both. This connection may come in different forms. But mostly in the written word accompanied by pictures and videos.
Is it worth to invest in a sports blog
Starting a sports blog has many benefits. I am sure you have your reasons before searching for this information online. Check these three importance of starting a sports blog and tell me it’s not worth investing your time and energy.
Firstly, it helps you to share your passion and clear your thoughts on topics you think it is necessary to get off your chest.
Secondly, it helps you to generate enough money to support yourself and the career you have chosen.
And lastly, it is cost-effective. You don’t need a lot of money before you can start a sports blog. When you read on, you will discover that you can start your sports blog without a penny. But I wouldn’t recommend that.
Advantages of making money through a sports blog
Making money through blogging gives you freedom as it creates room for what I will call passive income. Sleep and make money.
However, putting in good work through a strategic plan should give you the financial freedom you deserve. As simple as that.
Choosing sport as your niche is one of the best decisions you can make as a sports enthusiast. You don’t run out of content. There are unlimited events and trending topics you can write to engage your audience.
Think of sports goods, for example, people are searching for new sports equipment to make their lives better. Just write on them, put the link in front of your audience and they will click on your link to purchase.
Choosing Your Niche
Enough of the talking. Let’s hit the bull’s eye and stop beating about the bush. If you are interested in starting a blog, then you will have to define your niche clearly. The mistake most people do is to jump into this serious business without having a definite niche.
You should be able to answer these few questions.
What sport will you be writing about?
Will you work on the blog alone or you have a team. If you have a team, how many are you?
Should you focus on one sport or write on any topic that interests you across all sports?
Do you want to have a sports merchandise online shop?
If you will work on the blog alone, then I am afraid you can’t be the jack of all trades. It will be better to narrow your niche down. Skysports for example covers almost all sports because they have correspondents across the globe. So you may want to start with one sport. Even one sport may be broad for a solo writer. That means you should narrow it down again to one team. And here, you could see that your favorite team will be your selection. And since you know a lot about them, creating content will be easy.
Check this NBA website, they only talk about Lakers. This is a Solo team website that is doing great, you can take inspiration from them.
If you are planning on selling sports goods, or sports affiliate marketing, you will consider being an expert in one particular group of goods. For example. Selling only footwear, jerseys, balls, and so on. Check out this sports gear website: outdoorgearlab.com
I am not putting you in a box here. If you have the capacity to write about a lot, why then set limits for yourself?
Identify your target audience
Who will be consuming your content? Knowing your audience is one of the keys you will need here. Let’s say I want to write about the EPL, or Laliga, meaning I have to grow the audience in that direction.
If you are not planning on having a big website that will accommodate a full league, then you will be able to specifically narrow it down to one team. Let’s say I am a Chelsea fan and a football enthusiast who want to share content based on Chelsea alone. This will mean I should target only Chelsea fans and figure out what they enjoy best.
Let’s say you are running an E-commerce store or an affiliate website that requires people to buy from your website, or through your links, then branding towards a particular group of sports goods to get your audience defined is relevant. Depending on the size and focus of your blog you can easily outline the audience you may need.
Determine the type of content to create
Determining the type of content you want to write is also an important aspect of blogging you have to master.
Do you want to report on trending topics? Or do you want ‘how-to articles?
Whatever your idea is, creating good content is the key to blogging. It is the most important thing to consider as a young blogger. What are you planning to share with your audience? Will they love and appreciate your work?
Content is key. I keep saying. How would you know the kind of content your audience will be interested in?
Well, mostly that will be trial and error, especially when your aim is to generate traffic through social media. Here, the trending and topical issues are relevant as they are the other of the day.
If it happens that you write on news items, it will be necessary to stay up to date and be abreast with what’s happening.
Research on trending topics
Trending topics will help you to generate enough traffic for your website. After all, that is what everyone is talking about. The question is, where do you find trending topics? Google Trends is where you should look first. Another resourceful place to get the latest on sports is social media. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are places you will get what is happening now.
Creating Your Sports Blog
Now, it is time to create the blog itself. There are many platforms you can build a sports blog. Examples are WordPress, Blogger, Wix, etc. But in this tutorial, we are going to use the almighty WordPress.
Choose a blogging platform
Choosing a blogging platform is very crucial. Because it will determine your long-term success. Don’t go for cheap platforms that have a lot of limitations. But rather, look for the one you can have your freedom expand anytime you are ready.
WordPress.org is my most recommended blogging platform. You get all the tools and plugins you need. You don’t have to learn any coding if that is pissing you off.
However since you are doing something I will consider new, I recommend you take your time to familiarize yourself with WordPress tools. But before we can do that, we have to find a good hosting platform, where we can get a domain name for free and one-click WordPress installation as well.
Select a domain name and hosting service
Selecting a domain is also crucial. Don’t complicate things by going for a long name. Stay simple and catchy, that way you will be remembered easily. At first, we were thinking the recent domain extensions will affect SEO or will degrade our brand name. But that is not the case. Today, all the extensions are recognized and are treated just like the .com.
Despite the recognition of these extensions, I will still advise you to keep it to .com or .net if possible. Some domain names will put you in a box, and you will find it difficult to expand later on.
Steps to get a free domain name as you select your hosting plan
Head to hostinger.com
Scroll down and look at their hosting plans
Select your preferred hosting plan. I recommend you choose “Business Web Hosting. You can expand later if you want.
From there you choose a period and create an account to signup.
You will be asked to select a payment method and add your card details.
Finally, you will see a button that asks you to submit a secure payment.
From here, Hostinger will walk you step-by-step to install WordPress and other important plugins to get started. Don’t forget that their customer support works 247. Contact them as soon as the need arises
Design your blog
Designing your blog doesn’t require any coding skills just like I said earlier on. There are thousands of WordPress themes on the internet you can install. To have all the looks you want.
Astra comes with multiple themes for different blog types. If you want a magazine type of theme, then check out the Newspaper theme. It comes with a lot of different functionalities. Avoid free themes if possible. Rather, pay little and get customer support which I think is important.
Set up your blog’s structure
A blog must have the following pages.
An About page: An About page talks about the focus of the blog. It is important to have an about page in other for site visitors to know the brand they are interacting with. Keep it simple and catchy in other to create a good bond between you and your visitors. Below are examples of some about pages of some blogs.
Contact page: How do people reach you? Not having a contact page means your readers won’t be able to reach you with their concerns. On this page, you have to put down your address (if any), telephone number, email, social media profiles, etc.
Privacy policy: Your readers have to agree to your blog’s terms and conditions. Having this page lets them know that you collect some information through cookies for the progress of your blog.
Creating Quality Content
Designing your blog isn’t the most important aspect. The content strategy is. If you will be able to drive enough traffic for your website, planning your content is very important. There is a saying that “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.
Don’t rush in posting. Rather think of creating good content. You have to write compelling stories and articles that will bring your visitors back anytime.
Research and write quality content
Research cannot be taken out of blogging because probably someone has done what you are about to do. The research will help you to discover your competitors and what they are doing, and that will help you to plan your content to be ahead of them.
The most important aspect of research when it comes to blogging is you gain insight into the topic you are working on. Sighting examples and giving references will not only help in SEO but also shows how authoritative you have over the topic. This increases your credibility level and may let people want to come back for more.
Utilize visual aids
Well-written content accompanied by images, videos, illustrations, etc, gives clarity and better understanding. This can be done in many ways. Thus by uploading the images and videos directly from your computer, or by embedding them from social media or other websites.
Make sure your content is unique and SEO-friendly
No one wants to consume content they think you copied. Standing out of the crowd is the best way to grab more attention. If you copy the content, google and other search engines will turn blind eyes to your content. Don’t think of your content getting to the first page of the search engine if you are a copycat.
Building Traffic
When there is traffic there is money. You can’t create content, put them on your blog, and sleep to wait for Google ranking. I wouldn’t recommend that. There are several ways you can generate traffic to your blog without paying a penny. Below, we will explore several ways you can generate traffic to your sports blog
Share your content on social media
Who is not on social media in this modern world? Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, etc, are the places you should look for if you want a real audience. The growing audience in this place is what we call auto-respondent.
The moment you share your content, your audience gets notified. And because they love you and your content, they simply click on your link to consume your content.
Utilize email marketing
Emails are one of the great ways you can drive traffic to your blog. People treat emails as personal, and if you are able to collect a few thousand of them, you will be shocked to see how your blog will be flooded with visitors. Another auto-respondent. For emails, you wouldn’t want to be put in the spam folder. Therefore, you should read more on how to utilize emails as far as email marketing is concerned.
Utilize search engine optimization (SEO)
Create content for humans and search engine. How do you do that? Search engines use keywords to rank articles for the first pages. This means your content should focus on a keyword or key phrase. Let’s say I want to write about “Ten Best Running Shoes In 2023”, here, my keyphrase will be “best-running shoes”.
Search engine requires you to find vantage points in your articles and place them. Since your blog will be created on WordPress, there are a couple of plugins to help you do it without hassle. My recommended plugin is Yoast. They will hold you by the hand and make sure your article comes first on Google.
Monetization Strategies
Making money is important because you have to keep the blog running. There are ways you can do that, and we call it monetization. Below, I will take you through four solid ways you can monetize your blog and start making money.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you sell someone’s product and make a commission. When you signup with these websites, you are given a unique link to share with your audience, and when someone buys through your link, you make a commission.
Let’s take Amazon for example: when you join their associate program, you have a lot of products you can grab a link and put on your blog as an affiliate. There are a lot of platforms that allow affiliate marketing. You have to find the best one and the best products that your audience may be willing to buy.
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money because it creates room for passive income.
Advertising
The popular way to make money with your blog is through a display advertisement. Google Adsense is the leading company of them. When you sign up with them, you will be given a code to put on your blog, and automatically, adverts will be shown on your site. As people interact with your content and click on the adverts, you receive a small commission.
Adsense is not the only website you can sign up with. Media.net, propeller ads, Adsterra, and so on are all there for you.
Sponsored content
You can take advertisements from people and put them on your blog for a fee. This is when you have set up a proper Advertise With Us page. You can specify the kind of advert you accept and its corresponding charge.
Creating and selling products
Creating your own product means you will pocket all the returns. Unlike affiliate marketing where the owner of the product takes the bigger share and gives the promoter a small fraction of it.
Products such as ebooks can easily be created. Digital products can easily be sold on your blog. Physical products can be sold to generate income.
Building a Brand
You have to brand yourself well so that people who come across your content will know how serious you are. Below, we will look at how you can brand yourself to perfection.
Consistent branding
Although some niches may be more profitable than others. But whichever you chose as yours should remain the same. Consistently posting content around your niche is what will show you are serious.
Engaging with your audience
Your audience is your money. Don’t just create a post, grab the link, and post on your social media platform and think that’s all. You have to make sure that you respond to the comments section when necessary. Engage your audience by asking them relevant questions and their opinions on a subject.
Show appreciation when the likes come. Let them know how valuable they are and how proud you are to have them. Don’t go overboard else you will lose your value.
Network with other bloggers
Collaboration is a good thing if you want to succeed. Don’t think you know too much. Where you are going, someone is coming from there. Contacting other bloggers builds your network and helps you get a lot of backlinks which is important for SEO.
Tips for Success
I will not leave you just like that. The following tips are for you. They will help you to achieve greater heights in this blogging business.
Be consistent with your blogging
If you are not consistent with your blogging, you will lose readership. Follow your scheduled time and be sure you produce when the time is due. You can do this by writing more ahead of time or finding someone to help you in creating content.
Stay up-to-date with trends
Trends are the other of the day. Everyone wants to be abreast with time. Make sure your facts are not archaic.
