How to start an Instagram blog in 8 steps

It’s simple to set up an Instagram blog if you don’t have any experience. Because Instagram has a 2,200 character limit for captions, it is microblogging. This is in contrast to traditional blogging platforms which have no limit. For Instagram bloggers with over 15,000 followers, it is possible to make $200 per sponsored post.

Many people create a blog on Instagram to sell products. Square Online is a great place to start if this is your goal. You don’t have to pay anything until you make a sale. It is also the easiest way to set up. This is ideal for Instagram bloggers with limited time to set up an ecommerce store. Start today for nothing.

Square Online

These are the eight steps to get started with an Instagram blog.

1. 1. Create an Instagram account

It is easy to create an Instagram account. The most time-consuming step is to choose your username. You can always change your username later, unlike other social media platforms. Many people prefer to use their full names as usernames in order to build a personal brand.

In just a few easy steps, you can get started with your Instagram account.

• Get the Instagram app on the Google Play Store (Android), or App Store (iPhone).
• To open Instagram, tap the icon.
• If you are using an Android, sign up with your phone number or email address. You can use an iPhone to create an account. Next, enter your number. A text message will be sent with a code and verification code. Alternativly, you could use a single sign-on by choosing your Facebook login.
• The prompt will ask you to create a username or password.
• If you don’t want your family and friends to read your blog, make sure you have a public profile.

Users can also sign up for Instagram from a desktop now. You may have more than one Instagram account. Some people choose to have an account for their personal brand as well as a company (such as an ecommerce store or podcast).

2. 2.

If you want to grow your Instagram account, it is important to provide what your followers expect. You might confuse your followers if you post a sponsored advertisement for a recliner on Instagram. You’re telling your followers what type of content you will be publishing on your Instagram blog by choosing a niche.

When selecting a niche, it’s crucial that you do your research. Although you can always change your focus later, it can cause confusion for your audience. Many Instagram bloggers begin with a broad category, such as a lifestyle blog, before moving to a more specific niche, such as parenting or travel. You should also know that many Instagram bloggers eventually start a blog. This website doesn’t limit the number of characters you may use.

Travel

You can be more specific within a travel niche. You can focus on either domestic travel or international travel on some Instagram blogs. You can find entire blogs dedicated to Disney travel. There are also blogs that focus on solo travel, plus-size travel, and traveling with pets. One travel Instagrammer even dedicates her account camping in her living space to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many Instagram travel bloggers have success hosting tours and making money. Many bloggers also share their knowledge on how to travel more. To get inspiration for new places, I am a fellow travel blogger and follow many other travel bloggers on Instagram.

The Blonde Abroad is a popular travel Instagram blog. She also has a blog on her website, a YouTube channel, a private Facebook community, and hosts tours around the world.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle Instagram blogs often feature photos and posts about everyday activities, hobbies, and insights. They tend to focus on a specific category rather than sharing everything. Lifestyle bloggers may write about money, family, travel and food.

Brand partnerships are a popular way for lifestyle Instagram bloggers to monetize their content. Brand partnerships can often be sponsored posts where the Instagrammer is paid to post a story or Instagram photo about a product. They may also be able to join affiliate programs with other brands and receive a commission for any sales they refer.

Rebeka Rpati is a lifestyle blogger who also has a blue verified check mark to her name. This is likely because she’s Miss Universe Hungary and a TV presenter. This lets other users know this is a legitimate account for this public figure.

Food

There are many niches for food Instagram bloggers. There are bloggers who blog about baking, grilling and sous vide. Bloggers can be diet-specific, such as paleo, keto, or gluten-free. Bloggers may also showcase the food they ate while traveling or only the food from a particular area, such as NYC food carts.

Brand partnerships, cookbook writing, and creating their own gadgets are some ways that Instagram food bloggers can make money from their blogs. Sous vide bloggers might share a recipe using sous vide and link to their favorite sous vide machines.

Pinch of Yum is a Minnesota-based couple who are not only food bloggers, but also host food photography workshops and run a food blogger membership site teaching others how to have their own food blog.

Money

Many money-related topics are covered by Instagram money bloggers. These topics include personal finances, credit cards and paying off debt. They also discuss making money, investing and niche-specific investment topics like Forex or cryptocurrency.

Money bloggers make money by partnering, sponsored posts and affiliate links. Popular money bloggers have developed their own tools, such as planners and budget binders. Popular monetization strategies of money bloggers include online courses, coaching, consulting, membership sites, and online courses.

Ramit Sethi is a personal finance blogger behind the NY Times Bestseller, “I Will Teach You to Be Rich.”

3. Make a captivating bio

An Instagram bio is a small piece of text that appears below your Instagram photo. Your Instagram profile allows users to view your photo and all the posts you have created. This is also where people can follow you. You can use this area to tell everyone who you are and what you believe in within just 150 characters. You have one chance to make a first impression. So spend some time creating a compelling bio.

It’s important to let your followers know what you can expect from them if you become an Instagram blogger. Users may choose to share their contact information, such as an email address or phone number. This is especially important if they are a company or want to discuss collaboration opportunities. Some users prefer to share their location and hobbies, while others prefer to share a quote.

Be specific about what you want to highlight in your bio. Make sure it is relevant to your niche and the audience you are targeting. If you are clear about who you are and what you want to convey, it is easier to attract people who share your values.

On my Instagram bio, it’s clear that I’m a travel blogger. Readers can expect to see travel photos, our homestead, and my family.

4. Get or source attractive images

Instagram is a visual platform that places more emphasis on the photos than the captions. You must follow the brand identity style guide before sharing photos.

The same aesthetic should be maintained across all your Instagram posts. This will help you create a consistent look for your profile. You don’t always have to use your own photos to post. You can use many stock photo sites, such as Pixabay and Pexels. Although many of these images do not require attribution it is a good idea to check the restrictions on each image.

Each of these photos from Pexels has the same warm mood and would work well on the same Instagram feed.

5. Write Your Instagram Blog Posts

A caption is also used in Instagram blog posts. Captions can not exceed 2,200 characters. Many consider using Instagram to blog as microblogging. This is different from writing a full-fledged website.

Blog posts don’t have to be more than 2200 words in order to tell a story. Instagram is a great place to share short, thought-provoking captions. Your first and last lines of captions should be the most important.

Your first line should grab the attention of the reader. It should be a short one-liner. What’s stopping someone scrolling through your post on their newsfeed? It should be short enough that they can easily read the caption without needing to click “more”. You can share an offer, make an interesting statement, or provoke an emotional response.

The last line of your message should contain a call-to-action (CTA) Your CTA could be as simple as asking followers to comment on your posts. Your CTA may ask you to tag a friend. For more information, see the link in the bio or click the follow button. The “double tap if I agree” CTA is a reference to the action one does to “like” an Instagram photo.

If you are writing a lot, it is important to ensure that you break up your text. It can be difficult to read large amounts of text without line breaks. Your content should be simple to read. Instagram makes it difficult to create this content within the app. Many people use word processors or notes to write down their drafts before pasting them into Instagram to keep the formatting.

6. To Boost Discoverability, Use Relevant Hashtags

A hashtag is a phrase or word preceded by a (#). hash sign. These hashtags enable users to search for messages related to a topic. It will show travel photos if you enter #travelinspo into the search field of Instagram.

Both static Instagram posts as well as Instagram stories can contain hashtags. You can use up 30 hashtags in static posts. A story can contain up to 10 hashtags. Even non-followers can search for your content using hashtags. This allows Instagram bloggers reach new audiences and grows their following.

Many bloggers use Later.com to find the most relevant hashtags. It allows you to enter a hashtag and it will suggest similar hashtags or other hashtags that are commonly associated with the hashtag. Once you have reached your limit of 30 hashtags for your caption, the program will notify you.

There are 48 million posts with the #travelblogger hashtag. Users can follow a hashtag to see these posts in their news feed without following each individual creator.

7. Geotag Your Posts

Geotagging a post is simply adding a geographic location to inform others about where the photo was taken. Some users like to provide more details about the location of an image, such as the name and address of a coffee shop. Some prefer to tag Manhattan or New York in a more general way.

Geotagging allows others to see your location. Geotagging also allows others to find images from a specific location. To find other people who have been to the same spot, a user can search Instagram using their location. Bloggers can include your location to increase their reach. Instagram users can search for geotagged posts and find any one that is. You might get a new follower if a user likes something you have posted.

This Instagram blogger has geotagged their location as Manarola, Le Cinque Terre, which is in Italy.

8. Get to know other Instagram users

Social media is all about being social. This involves engaging with other Instagram users. You can comment and like other users’ posts and can also follow them. Interacting with other users increases their likelihood of visiting your microblog and profile. If they like what you see, they might follow you back, or leave a comment or like to return the favor.

Use Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is one of the most loved features on Instagram. Story acts as a slideshow and is only visible for 24 hours on the Instagram Story feed unless you choose not to feature it. The Instagram Story will be featured in your Highlight section, and it will stay there until you delete it.

These Instagram stories allow users to share images, videos and text. Stories are less curated than static posts that appear in your Instagram feed. They will remain on your profile forever unless you delete them. Many people choose to share behind-the scenes footage from their day on their stories. You can also share GIFs and create polls. Bloggers can tag stories of other users and, if they have a product on Instagram they can tag it.

You can enable a feature that allows visitors to swipe up on your story if you have over 10,000 followers on Instagram. A user can swipe up on the content to take them to the URL of their choice. This is a great spot to add an affiliate link.

Instagram stories let you see who viewed your story.

Comment and like other users’ posts

Engaging with other users’ content increases their likelihood of returning the favor. Your comments on other posts should be more thoughtful than an emoji and show that your captions were actually read. A sentence or two is enough.

Follow other users

The follow-unfollow technique is one of the most common mistakes on Instagram. It is when you follow a user with the intent of having them unfollow you once they have. Although it’s quite common on Instagram, many people find it to be tacky.

Instagram stated that they are working to develop policies to stop this from happening. The best way to grow your followers is to authentically connect with other users that you like.

How to make your Instagram blog more profitable

There are many ways to make a living with your Instagram account. You can monetize your blog by becoming an affiliate for another company’s products or services, creating sponsored posts and selling your products.

You can include a link in your bio, but any links added to the caption of a post won’t be clickable. You can create a free account at a website provider like Square Online and keep a list there. This is useful if your posts include different links.

You can also use linktr.ee which is another popular site to list URLs. Linktr.ee is not the best place for bloggers with a website. I prefer to get page views, rather than passing it on to another service. There have been instances when linktr.ee accounts were temporarily closed down due to an update on Instagram.

An example of a landing page that an Instagram account links to specifically for Instagram rather than using linktr.ee, but it operates just the same. (Source: The SweetLife Company by April Beach)

Use affiliate links

Affiliate marketing programs allow creators to earn a commission by referring customers to merchants. These commissions typically amount to one to 10 percent of a sale but can be increased if a lead is generated or a click via a custom link. Clicks and leads typically pay less than $1.

Many Instagram bloggers find this a great option because they are often talking about their favorite products or services. It might be worth getting paid. Merchants and bloggers sometimes offer incentives to their followers, such as a 10% discount coupon. These incentives don’t typically count towards the affiliate commission and instead come out of the merchants’ marketing budget.

RewardStyle allows Instagram bloggers to sign up to an account. This app uses the LiketoKnow.it App to allow them to easily share products in their posts. This is the best part: The blogger gets a commission on sales.

An example of Instagram user @arrayoffaces using an affiliate code to promote a product.

Make Sponsored Posts

In exchange for a free product, discount, or cash, Instagram bloggers can produce content for brands. The number of your followers and how much engagement you get will determine the amount you can earn per post. A blogger with 15,000 followers might earn $200 for a post, and $350 for video. Stories on Instagram tend to be less lucrative because they disappear within 24 hours. Find out more about setting up your blog rates.

Because brands care more about engagement metrics than vanity metrics, you can still make money. This is because you can artificially increase the number of likes and followers you have by buying these. Comments are more difficult to create artificially. Engaged audiences are more likely to trust and listen to you.

An example of a sponsored post by user @kkateli

Sell Your Own Products & Services

You can control the features and production of your products and services by creating your own. Products such as supplements, books, ebooks, apparel, kitchen gadgets, and e-books can all be created. You can also offer design, coaching, consulting and other services. These tend to have higher profit margins because you don’t have to produce any physical goods.

Square Online is a great option if you don’t already have an ecommerce site but still have a few products to sell. You can quickly set up an online store by using the products you have posted to Instagram, even past posts. You only need to follow three simple steps and you won’t have to pay until you sell.

FAQs on how to start an Instagram blog

This section answers the most common questions regarding how to create an Instagram blog.

What are the Instagram bloggers most successful?

Instagram bloggers can post frequently, have less than 100 followers, and still make little. There are also bloggers with millions of followers who make millions of dollars. Success will not be measured by how successful you are, but your talent, resources and dedication to blogging on Instagram.

How many followers are required to be considered an influential person?

Influencer status is not determined by how many followers you have on Instagram. You can have up to five Instagram followers. If you post about a tea mug and your followers go to buy it, then you have officially influenced the purchase.

How many Instagram followers am I required to be verified?

Instagram verification doesn’t care about the number of followers. Accounts that are notable, such as those often copied, are eligible for verification. These accounts include politicians, celebrities, and athletes. Instagram can verify you and will review your noteworthy accomplishments through independent sources such as news channels or magazines.

Bottom line

It doesn’t matter what reason you have for wanting to start an Instagram blog. You can do it quickly. After creating your account, you can start sourcing images and writing your first post. It takes only a few minutes. You can create engaging content quickly with Instagram, without having to spend money, build a following and possibly even make money.