In this post, we will check out how to start a sports blog in 2023 and make money.
If you really decided to start a sports blog it means that you really follow sports and have a passion to read and write about sports content.
Everyone likes to spend time on what they love. If you are really into digesting sports content then it’s the right time to start a sports blog.
In 2021, around 57.5 million watchers in the United States watched digital live sports content at least once per month, a figure that is tossed to rise to over 90 million by 2025.
According to another report, the global sports market is predicted to grow from $388.28 billion in 2020 to $440.77 billion in 2021 at an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.5%.
The main reason for the growth is due to the companies jumbling their operations and regaining from the COVID-19 impact. The market is predicted to reach $599.9 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 8%.
Seeing the statistics, it makes sense to start a blog about sports because of the market and the number of people following it.
If you are a newbie and really wanted to start a blog then we are here to help you with proper planning to follow.
So without further delay, let’s quickly go ahead and check out how to start a sports blog and make money.
You can also check out our recommended products which we have categorized for all of you to start, grow and make money with a blog.
How To Start A Sports Blog in 2023 And Make Money
1 Decide The Sports Niche
The first thing that you have to decide before starting the sports blog is to decide on the sports niche. You have to categorize yourself on the topics which you can really passionate about and able to write in the form of an article.
You can go specific or cover different topics on your blog. The different categories of topics that you can write on are football, cricket, tennis, basketball, and WWE.
However, if you are a sole blogger then I would recommend you to go specific with one sport or particular club. For example, you can select a niche of football and start covering football content around the world.
2 Select a Blogging Platform
For selecting a blogging platform I always recommend you to go with WordPress. In the past five years, WordPress has evolved from being operated by 32.7% of the top 10 million most visited websites in the world, to being used by 43.3%.
WordPress is surely one of the most popular content management systems in the world. For making life easy, WordPress boasts you with a huge collection of themes, plugins, and counted benefits.
The customization of the blog is very easy if you are operating on WordPress. If you are serious to grow your blog to a large extent then surely go with WordPress ahead of anyone.
3 Select the Domain Name
Now the next step is selecting the domain name. This step is very important as the domain name represents the name of your website. The SEO best practice is to select a domain name that is similar to the niche.
For example, if you are going to start a sports blog on the football niche then the domain should be similar to onefootball.com or footballcrictic.com. We mean to say the domain should be having football keyword in it.
Tips On Selecting Domain Name
Check out the few tips which will help you to select a domain name for your sports blog.
- Always go with the .com domain – The .com domain is always a preferred choice for selecting a domain name and I will recommend you always go with it.
- Short Domains – Shorter domain names are easier to digest and googled in the address bar.
- Relevancy – Relevancy is the key factor, you don’t select a domain name with a football keyword for the Tennis blog. So relevancy is the key.
As far as domain registration is concerned I always go with Namecheap. It is a domain registrar that will help you to register a domain as cheaply as possible.
Namecheap – Namecheap has contributed over 4 million domain names to customers throughout the world. Namecheap prices are affordable and they offer you Privacy Protection for FREE.
- Good service and security features
- ICANN Accreditation
- Domains are simple to transfer
- Minimal upsell tactics
- 24/7 customer support via a help desk
4 Select Hosting Service
I will recommend you to go with Bluehost & Hostinger if you are just starting out. The shared plan of Bluehost & Hostinger is the recommended one. However, if you have the budget then I will surely recommend Cloudways hosting.
I personally use cloudways in the Sportshubnet blog and it’s blazing fast. Cloudways is one of the best cloud hostings.
Hostinger – If you’re on a budget, Hostinger needs to be taken into consideration. The one reason I am recommending it is that when I started my sports blog it’s been hosted on Hostinger. My personal experience with Hostinger is great. The benefits of using Hostinger web hosting are:-
- Decent Uptime
- Fast Loading Times
- Money-Back Guarantee
- Live Support
- Free Domain and Website Builder
- The shared plan starts at $0.99/month( Rs 59/month)
Bluehost – If you’re intending to create a website or blog, you must check out Bluehost because it’s one of only three hosting companies recommended by WordPress itself. The benefits of using Bluehost web hosting are:-
- Uptime Guarantee – 99.9%
- Response Time – 491 ms
- Bandwidth – Unlimited
- Storage – 50 GB
- Price – $3.95/month ( Rs 199/month)
Cloudways – My favorite cloud hosting provider is Cloudways. Right now Sportshubnet is hosted on Cloudways. Cloudways Provide five platforms to choose including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. The best thing is that it offers pay-as-you-go plans. Another advantage, it does not have any high renewal charges like other hosting providers. Cloudways even allows users to sign up for a trial and use their services for free without any credit card.
You can also use our promo code “SPORTSHUBNET” which will give you 20% off for 2 months.
- Very easy to set up.
- Excellent uptime.
- Supports numerous apps.
- Several flexible account tiers.
- Pay-as-you-go plans.
- Site cloning.
- Price – lowest plan starts at $10/month
5 Selecting WordPress Theme
Always select a theme relevant to your blog. There are a ton of free sports themes available in WordPress. It’s recommended to have a theme that is fast and not poorly coded.
How to Select a Quality Theme
Please follow the below factors to select a quality theme for your blog:-
- Always choose a theme that is fast and makes the visiting visitors happy. The recommended tool to test the speed of your website and module is Google’s Page Speed Insights.
- The layout of the theme must be super easy for the visitors to follow and engage with the content.
- The theme should be getting future updates. Don’t use any kind of pirated themes.
- Always prefer a theme with a high number of positive reviews.
You can use the Kadence theme, however, if you want to opt-out of premium themes one of the best destinations is Envato Market.
For a one-month subscription, you will get an Unlimited downloads to all of their products.
Envato has a massive collection of Video templates, Stock videos, Music, Sound Effects, images, Graphic templates, Presentation templates, Web templates, and CMS Templates including WordPress themes and plugins.
How to Install a WordPress Theme
Once you find the relevant theme in WordPress select the active button to activate the theme in your blog
If you have bought it, find the .zip file and upload it to your WordPress instantly. You can find the option for activating the theme In the appearance setting of the WordPress menu.
6 Install Plugins
WordPress plugins are add-ons in WordPress that add new elements and functionality to your website.
There are more than 59,000 free WordPress plugins available in the official plugins list of WordPress. However, we must comply with the few plugins as possible.
To install a plugin, you have to follow a simple process, go to Plugins > Add New. Search for the category of the plugin you needed and just install it for the added functionality.
Let’s check out the top and best plugins required for a new WordPress site:-
1 Akismet Anti Spam – Akismet is one of the few pre-installed WordPress plugins, however, to use it you have to activate the plugin manually.
Akismet is a plugin used to protect your blog from spam. Once the setup is completed Your site will become fully configured and protected in the background.
2 WPForms – WPforms plugin is used for creating beautiful contact forms, feedback forms, subscription forms, payment forms, and other types of forms for your site without any hassle.
3 Malcare WordPress Security – Malcare is a security plugin that continuously scans and instantly cleans up the malware and protects the WordPress site from being hacked and alerts you immediately.
4 Yoast Seo – Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that helps your site function excellently in search engines like Google.
It also enhances your website’s rankings on search engines, by assisting you to optimize your site’s content.
7 Publish Your Pivotal Pages
Now the next step is to publish your important pages on your website.
It’s very important to add those pages which represent you, convey your sports blog, and help to get in contact for any queries and questions.
Important Pages To Publish
Some of the important pages to add to the sports blog are:-
- About Us – An about us page is a detailed page on your blog where visitors can understand and learn more about you or your blog.
- Contact Us – Contact us pages are usually used by visitors to contact an individual or organization for a particular concern or query. They serve the user with the purpose of getting in touch with you.
- Privacy & Cookie Policy – Privacy Policy page Notifies users of how you collect, manage and store their data. Other than that it also notifies how Cookies are stored in your blog and how visitors gonna delete it.
8 Keyword Research Tool
The keyword research tool is a basic need for any blog. If you’re looking for the best keyword research tool go for Semrush.
I have been using Semrush for a while now and am very satisfied with the tool. Its free plan is more than enough for any entry-level blogger.
Semrush – Semrush pricing starts at $99.95 per month. You can also opt for Semrush free trial.
Google Trends – Google Trends is a website designed by Google that helps to understand the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. The website uses graphs to compare the search volume of different queries over time.
QuestionDB – QuestionDB is not a keyword tool. It can be incredibly compelling and helpful for writers and marketers trying to grow a blog. It’s my personal favorite tool whenever I need to look for fresh content ideas.
Just choose the right keyword, and it will return you a large set of questions.
9 Start Writing Articles
Now it’s time to start writing articles related to your niche. You can write two types of articles in your blog. The first one is evergreen and the second one is seasonal.
Evergreen content is those which will be relevant for the visitors for a longer period of time. On the other hand, seasonal contents are those which will be relevant for a particular time.
10 How To Get Traffic To Your Sports Blog
Organic traffic is always gonna rule when it comes to getting traffic. For that, you have to understand the basics of SEO. For understanding the SEO and rank in google always preferred to use Yoast SEO plugin in WordPress.
Content will always be king for sure. We recommend you write as much content as possible in the best descriptive manner.
The more long-form content you write the more chances of getting into the top 10 rankings of Google. Quality will always be important as Google does not like duplicate or thin content.
We also extremely advise you to create a page on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote your blog.
You can also opt for email marketing to promote your articles to your subscribers. As you are starting out you can opt for Aweber or MailChimp.
11 How To Make Money in 2023 With Sports Blog
There are multiple ways you can make money with a sports blog. Some of them are mentioned below:-
a) Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to make money with a sports blog. With affiliate marketing, a blogger can promote products or services related to sports and earn a commission for each sale that is made through a unique affiliate link.
The process is simple, the blogger chooses products that they believe their readers would be interested in, creates a unique affiliate link, and promotes the product through their blog or social media.
To start with affiliate marketing, the first step is to find an affiliate program that offers products or services that are related to sports.
This can be anything from sporting goods and equipment to sports training programs and online courses.
There are many affiliate programs that cater to the sports niche, such as Amazon Affiliate Program, Sports Direct, and others.
Once you have joined an affiliate program, the next step is to promote the products or services through your blog.
This can be done through product reviews, tutorials, or by simply mentioning the product in your blog posts.
It is important to make sure that your blog readers know that you are promoting a product as an affiliate, as this helps build trust and credibility with your audience.
In order to make the most money with affiliate marketing, it is important to choose products that are relevant to your blog’s audience.
The key is to find products that are high-quality and in demand so that you can maximize your earnings potential.
Additionally, it is also important to promote products in a way that is natural and not too pushy, as this will help you build a strong and loyal following.
Finally, it is important to track your earnings and conversions from affiliate marketing.
This will help you see what is working and what isn’t so that you can optimize your strategy and increase your earnings over time.
With the right approach and commitment, affiliate marketing can be a highly lucrative way to make money with a sports blog.
There are a ton of sports affiliate programs available and the top marketplace to find those brands and programs is mentioned below:-
b) Ezoic
Ezoic provides web publishers with automated website intelligence for their ads, content, layouts, and more. I have been using Ezoic to increase my ad revenue.
Ezoic other best tool is Site Speed Accelerator which guarantees a mobile PageSpeed score on Google of 80+ with just a click of a button.
Ezoic uses AI to understand website visitor behavior. This adds the ability to collect important data which will help them to automate decisions that improve visitor experiences, SEO, and website earnings.
c) Sell Ad Space
For Seling ad space, BuySellAds is the top choice. You just have to list your site at BuySellAds and advertisers can check the stats and instantly buy advertisement space on your website.
It’s up to you to accept or reject the advertisement. The recommended option is to accept the advertisement related to your niche.
Once you accepted the ads, it will start contemplating on the site and money will be credited into your BuySellAds account. BuySellAds charges 25% of the transaction and 75% credited to the publisher’s account.
d) Native Advertising
Native advertising has been one of the best when it comes to making money from blogging. A kind of sports blog can generate a lot of revenue with Native advertising.
If you want to opt for native advertising then go for the native advertising mentioned below:-
e) Sponsored Reviews
Sponsored Reviews are reviews in which the blogger is paid for his posted review. In order to be paid for a review, the first process is to find a potential advertiser who will be interested in acknowledging a review on a blog.
Then the sponsor reaches the blogger literally, requesting him to review a product in a sponsored post. One of the top ways to find advertisers for sponsored posts is to apply for Izea.
12 Other Blogging Resources And Tools
Grammarly – Grammarly is a very useful tool, I have been using this tool for my blog. Grammarly helps you to identify spelling and grammar mistakes while you are writing.
WP Rocket – When it comes to caching plugins, I highly recommend using WP Rocket. No caching plugin can beat the performance and features of WP rocket. It is a premium caching plugin but it is worth a single penny.
Envato Market – Envato Elements is one destination for everything. I have recently used their services for premium plugins and themes. My personal experience is awesome. For a one-month subscription, you will get an Unlimited downloads to all of their products.
Envato has a massive collection of Video templates, Stock videos, Music, Sound Effects, images, Graphic templates, Presentation templates, Web templates, and CMS Templates including WordPress themes and plugins. Envato’s pricing structure is awesome. Users will get unlimited commercial licenses to content across the platform.
13 Promoting Your Sports Blog
Now you have done everything possible for the blog. It’s time to promote the blog as much as possible. In complement to creating great content, you also ought to get that content in front of many eyeballs as possible.
As it is equally important to create quality content it’s also important to promote your content as much as to get the attention that it deserves.
Let’s check out the different ways to promote your sports blog:-
1 Social Media
Promote every piece of content to different social media accounts. social media is surely one of the best ways to promote your content to a wider audience.
Share each and every post to social networking profiles and enclose a link back to the blog.
2 Email Marketing
Email marketing is another way to promote your content to your followers. In this type of promotion, the content is shared with the email address.
You can schedule your written post for your blog subscribers whenever you publish new content. For Email Marketing you can opt for the services of Aweber.
3 Quora
Online forums are another way to promote your content and have eyeballs. one of the best ways is to have a Quora account and start promoting your content there.
The process is just simple, give a glimpse of your content and include a link back to your blog for the full article. Always remember to add value to the people not spam them by just adding links back to the blog.
{If you really want traffic to your blog, or if you are looking for help and want any sort of advice related to blogging, please book a service and time with us by clicking here. We will notify you about your appointment by email.}
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