Starting a Hunting Blog – How to Do It in 7 Easy Steps

Thinking about starting a hunting blog? Great idea. Find out how to start a hunting blog below.

Hunting is not a hobby for everyone, and those who do enjoy it tend to be exceptionally passionate, knowledgable and focused.

These traits also make the odds of success very high for anyone thinking about starting a hunting blog.

The 7 steps below detail how anyone can do exactly that, and will ensure that your very own blog is setup for success and scale.

Starting a Hunting Blog in 7 Steps

We have covered each step in more detail below.

Before you make a start on step 1, I suspect you’re keen to hear why I am even qualified to teach you how to get a hunters blog up and running.

Who I Am & Why You Should Listen To Me

My short bio is that I am an experienced online marketer, who has built and sold multiple blogs myself whilst advising countless multi-million dollar brands on their online marketing.

In fact, I have been building my own websites, blogs and online projects since I was a teenager.

Over the past 10 years I have had multiple online successes (and exits), and at least twice as many failures.

Whilst I wouldn’t say I am a seasoned hunter (or a hunter in any respect – I have never tried), I have researched and can appreciate many of the topics any passionate hunter would want to talk about on their website or blog.

So, now that you know who I am, we can move on to the first step in creating your hunting blog.

Planning Your Hunting Blog

Odds are you are ready to jump right in as you would when you’re out scouting a buck.

However, if this is your first blog you will need to know how to plan first.

If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.Yogi Berra

Planning our blog before we start creating or writing will ensure that we spend our time and resources as effectively as possible.

It will also mean we give our blog the best chance possible of growing a loyal following, and maybe even earning some money, within the shortest amount of time possible.

The first thing we need to plan is our niche.

Pick a Niche

“Hold on, I thought the niche was hunting?” I can hear you saying.

You would be right.

But that isn’t to say that this niche can’t be narrowed further.

Well if there is any particular area of hunting that you are especially good at, say big game hunting or fowling, that is exactly what you should do.

Don’t worry if this isn’t the case for you, since you can totally start a general hunting blog.

Only it often makes sense to narrow your niche as a beginner since you may see traction sooner by publishing comprehensive content across a smaller topic.

Let’s look at some hunting niche ideas below to get the ball rolling.

Hunting Blog Niche Ideas (The Best Hunting Blog Niches)

Big Game Hunting Blog
Fowling Blog
A Blog Focused on The Hunting of Specific Animals (e.g. Bears, Big Five, Fox, Mink, Predator, Commercial or Pest Hunting)
Hunting Gear & Equipment
Camouflage Hunting
Bait Hunting
Active Hunting
Dog Handling & Training
Recreational Hunting
Safari Planning

No doubt there will be many other areas and niches a experience hunter will be able to come up with.

Remember, just because your blog starts focused on dog handling and training, it can always grow to then talk about other areas of hunting.

At this point you may wish to read more about picking a blog niche.

Find Competitor Hunting Websites, Blogs & Bloggers

Identifying successful hunting blogs that you can find inspiration from is incredibly easy, so it is surprising that so few people do it.

Looking at what other hunters are already doing right on their blogs and websites will help you plan the direction of your own project.

We are going to use two very simple and easy to use tools to identify some competitors, Google and SEMrush.

To begin with, jump on to Google (or any search engine) and type in ‘hunting blog’.

Play around with the search above, including your narrower niche subject if you picked one, to find even more competitors.

Whilst you are doing this, copy and paste the URL of each competitor blog that you visit.

You should take a quick look at the websites ranking on at least pages 1 and 2 for the search.

Right, now that we have a list of successful hunting blogs (they must be doing okay if they are ranking decently for a keyword like ‘hunting blog’), we can move on by creating an SEMrush account.

Make use of the 7 day free trial and try putting every hunting blog on your list in to the tools Domain Overview section.

The SEMrush Domain Overview tool provides you with the key marketing related information and stats of the website(s) that you run through it.

In this case, we are going to be looking specifically at the keywords that the blog(s) are ranking for.

We will also be able to see who the competitors are of the hunting blogs that we are looking at.

For now, just take all of the information in and don’t do anything with it yet.

We are going to come back to the tool in another step and use it to find some good hunting keywords to target.

Starting a Hunting Blog in 7 Steps

Now that we have spent some time researching and planning, we can move on to actually creating our hunting blog.

1. Pick a Domain Name for Your Hunting Blog

The web address/URL that people type in to the address bar in the browser to reach your website is called a domain name.

You will find that the best domain names are relatively short, easy to remember and related to your blogs topic.

Unfortunately the shortest and most generic hunting domains (like huntingblog.com) will have already been registered. So you may have to be creative when naming your blog.

Try combining a few different words related to hunting to come up with a good domain, or even try adding your first/surname in front of/after a hunting related word.

Tips on Selecting a Domain Name

Make it Short
Keep it Memorable
Relevancy is Important (Include a Word/Words Related to Hunting)
Avoid Numbers, Hyphens & Special Characters

You should spend at least an hour or two selecting your blog name.

A domain/blog name can be changed later, but it isn’t ideal to do so.

If you haven’t registered your domain name yet, do so now.

I would recommend signing up for the WordPress hosting service offered by Bluehost (we are going to talk about hosting in the next step, but I recommend them there also). This includes a free registration for your chosen domain name.

In general a domain name will only cost you a few dollars per year, although as mentioned above you can get the first year of your new domain free if you go with Bluehost.

Many people overthink the domain step.

Yes you need to pick a hunting blog name that you will want to stick with for the foreseeable future, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Although not ideal, you can change blog and domain name later on if absolutely necessary.

If you find yourself spending hours worrying about your domain, just pick the best of your bunch and proceed to step 2.

2. Select Your Hunting Blog Hosting

Free Hosting Vs Paid Hosting

Many beginner bloggers incorrectly assume that free hosting is what they need.

The issue with free hosting though is that it doesn’t scale well.

Free blog hosting will limit what you can name your blog, since you are tied to hosting it on the subdomain of the hosting provider like huntingblog.wordpress.com.

As you may be thinking already, this doesn’t look the most professional and also isn’t the most shareable and trustworthy blog setup.

Decent paid hosting costs no more than a cup of coffee each months, around $4 or $5, and ensures that your blog is setup for success and growth from day 1.

Remember, your blog hosting will likely be your blogs biggest monthly expense.

Any extra spend will come from optional add-ons that you may or may not be interested in.

So, whilst you can definitely set up a hunting blog for free, you may not wish to do so once you consider the limitations of doing so mentioned above.

I recommend going with Bluehost for your domain name and hosting.

With the above being said, some people may still wish to start with free hosting.

So below I have listed some great free and paid blog hosting services.

Free Blog Hosting Options

WordPress
Blogger
Wix
Weebly
Medium
Tumblr

The above services are all great and beginner friendly, but they do have their limitations.

Paid Blog Hosting Options

Bluehost
NameCheap
HostGator
AWS

The above services are also great options for a beginner blogger. Out of all of them, I’d recommend starting with Bluehost.

3. Install WordPress

Once you have your hunting blog name and hosting selected, you will want something to help you manage, publish and grow your blog.

The software(s) that allow you to publish and maintain your blog is often called a content management system (CMS).

There are many CMS options available, and all have their own pros and cons.

By far the best and most intuitive beginners blog CMS is WordPress.

WordPress is easy to install and use by even the most technically challenged bloggers.

More so, the top hosting providers often provide their own tools that let you have WordPress installed on your hosting within minutes.

The service that I recommended above, Bluehost, has one such tool called Bluerock.

Bluerock offers one click installation of WordPress so you can have your hunting blog up and running within minutes of signing up.

4. Find a Hunting Blog Theme

Now that you have WordPress setup, you will want to get your blog looking how you want it.

WordPress lets you customize your blog by changing the overall theme that you are using.

They (WordPress) have many free themes available for you to chose from.

But if you can’t find any free theme that matches the look and feel that you are going for, you will also be able to find a near endless number of more personalizable paid WordPress themes on theme marketplaces like Themeforest.

I will say that, if you spend a decent amount of time looking, you are likely to find a free theme that at least comes close to what you are looking for.

Still, a paid WordPress theme usually costs about $49.

So if you do find one you love, it isn’t going to break the bank if you decide to treat yourself to it.

Also, keep in mind that you may want to change your theme in a few months time once you have published some more content and refined your brand.

Personally, I would go with a free theme initially.

Your theme can be changed relatively easily later on if, after a few months of publishing, you decide you want to make your blog look more bespoke.

5. Personalise Your Hunting Blog

Customized blogs are more memorable, trusted and often enjoyable to use.

One of the many brilliant things about WordPress is that they have a lot of blog personalization options.

Once WordPress is installed, and your theme activated, you will see a link called ‘Customize’ in the left hand menu if you hover over the ‘Appearance’ text.

It will open a customization panel which lets you control and personalize your blog.

Start by adding a custom logo and selecting some colors and fonts that compliment it and your theme.

Also, spend some time finding relevant and high quality images.

Great images will take the look of a blog to the next level.

6. Carry Out Keyword Research

At this point your hunting blog is live, and it is looking how you want it to.

Congratulations on getting this far.

You would be surprised at how many people don’t and only dream of starting a hunting website.

Next, we will find some hunting related keywords that people are searching on Google for and that you can target in your first few blog posts.

We will need to open up the SEMrush tool mentioned earlier to do this.

You should already have an account, or if not go ahead and create an account on the basic plan (don’t forget to use the 7 day free trial!).

Start by typing in ‘hunting’ to the keyword magic tool

You will see that lots of hunting related keywords will show up, probably a good few hundred pages of them.

Now, you should not try targeting any of the keywords found on the first few pages at this point.

They will be far too high competition, and the top results for those may not even be blog posts.

Jump to the later pages and find keywords with between 100 and 1000 searches a month, note them down for later.

Next, grab the list of hunting blogs that you made earlier and put them in the main tool.

Note down what kind of articles they have ranking for hunting related keywords and consider writing similar ones yourself.

7. Publish Your First Hunting Blog Post

Now that you have your first few keywords to target, the only thing left to do is publish your first blog post.

This can be as simple or complex as you make it, and many beginner bloggers like to put up a less-than-finished article as their first post just to get it over with.

I recommend that you pick a single keyword to focus on from your list, and search for it on Google.

Find a blog post ranking top for the keyword, and read it.

Google is telling you that this kind of article performs well for that keyword.

So in your own blog post you will want to cover the same topics that the author of that ranking blog post has covered (at a minimum).

Once you have covered all those (in just as much detail), you should then one up them.

Add even more useful and relevant information to your blog post, and try to make it the best resource anyone searching for that keyword could possibly hope to find.

The above is part of search engine optimization, which we will talk about in more detail below.

Your main focus should be on answering the questions and concerns that people interested in hunting might have.

Educate your readers. Entertain them. You will find that they come back time and time again to engage with you and help your hunting website grow as a result.

Tips on Writing & Publishing Blog Content

Add Structure to Your Blog Posts With Headings
Link to Interesting & Relevant Content (On & Off Your Blog)
Answer The Questions People May Be Asking After Reading Your Article
Use High Quality, Unique & Relevant Images & Video

Write consistently, and eventually you will develop a unique tone of voice that readers recognise and love you for.

Marketing Your Hunting Blog

Without a doubt you will at some point be asking how you can get more readers to your blog.

Lets be real, marketing a website or blog is hard.

It isn’t impossible though.

Following the tips and strategies below will help you grow your hunting blog to new heights and attract new loyal readers.

Blog Marketing Tips

Start With & Master a Single Marketing Channel
Look to The Long-Term & Avoid Strategies That Could Risk Damaging Your Reputation
Be Consistent & Patient – Keep at a Single Marketing Method For At least 6 Months
Be Bold, Unique & Creative in Everything You Do

SEO For Your Hunting Blog

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about getting your hunting blog ranking highly in the organic search results.

Some claim that this is the best kind of website/blog traffic since it is free, highly relevant and exceptionally well targeted.

We have answered what SEO is above, but that doesn’t mean that you know how to do it.

The first thing to keep in mind is that, although many search engines exist (like DuckDuckGo and Bing), it tends to be easiest to focus on the biggest one Google.

If you followed the keyword research step above properly, you will already be off to a good start when it comes to your SEO.

Likely you will be writing blog content that targets low competition, highly relevant hunting related keywords.

Effective keyword research, and writing your blog content with SEO in mind, helps ensure that you will see rankings in Google and general results in the fastest time possible.

In the early days of your blog, getting small wins is important since this will help you keep up momentum and stay motivated.

Once you know your content is targeting reasonably low competition keywords and catering to those keywords better than any one else, you should turn your attention to building relationships with other prominent hunting blogs and websites.

Try finding unique data or information that well known hunting blogs and websites might find valuable, then email it to them.

If you do this right, and your data/content is unique enough, odds are some of these blogs/websites will link back to your blog whilst discussing it.

These 3 things (keyword research, quality content and links from authority hunting websites) are what will help you rank highly in the search results.

Find summarised and expanded SEO tips below.

Hunting Blog SEO Tips

Target Low Competition & Relevant Hunting Keywords
Make Sure Your Content is Better Than Anyone Else Targeting Those Keywords
Regularly Link to Other Blog Posts (Internal & External) Within Your Articles
Send Unique & Valuable Data/Content to Other Trusted Hunting Bloggers/Websites
Never Risk Your Blogs Reputation For “Quick” SEO Wins
Read Google’s Guidelines & Stay Within Them Always

Patience and momentum is key in SEO. So don’t be disheartened if results don’t come overnight. Keep at it.

Social Media Marketing For Your Hunting Blog

These days it is not wise for a brand or business to ignore social media.

The majority of your blog audience will be spending a lot of time on social media.

As such these social platforms present a brilliant opportunity for you to not only connect with and understand potential readers, but also to promote and grow your hunting blog.

That doesn’t mean that it is easy though.

Social media marketing takes a lot of time, potentially taking time away from your writing and other marketing other activites.

So as mentioned above, if you pick social media marketing as your main marketing method, at least initially don’t worry quite so much about the other ones listed in this article.

Hunting Blog Social Media Marketing Tips

Optimize Your Social Bios (They Should Be Interesting & Link to Your Blog)
Post Regularly on All Your Social Channels (At Least Once Per Day)
Connect, Communicate & Engage With Your Followers
Connect, Communicate & Engage With Other Hunting Influencers
Personalize Your Social Channel Style

I recommend picking just 1 social platform to grow your following on initially. This helps keeps things simple and prevents you from getting overwhelmed.

Find more social media marketing tips, tricks and tutorials and keep learning as your blog grows.

Content Marketing For Your Hunting Blog

Content is without a doubt the single most important part of the successful hunting blog puzzle.

Remember, the reason people read your blog is for the content that you publish.

Not only will not publishing truly great content hurt your SEO efforts, but it will damage every other thing about your blog.

Try to always be improving your writing, and seek to publish the greatest hunting related content online.

It is a balance between perfectionism and action.

Write the best content possible, but remember that you have to actually be publishing content regularly for anyone to find it.

Hunting Blog Content Marketing Tips

Publish Consistently
Lean in To Topics That Your Blog Quickly Ranks Well For
Send Others Your Blog Content So They Can Share it (If They Want To)
Keep Content Regularly Updated & Fresh

Publishing great content is hard work. The rewards are well worth it though. So put in the time and effort, and eventually the rewards will show.

Looking for more content marketing tips, tricks and tutorials? Check our site regularly. This is what we do and what we talk about.

Email Marketing For Your Hunting Blog

One of the few limitations and problems with SEO and content marketing is that it doesn’t guarantee that your readers will come back once they’ve answered their initial question.

Sure, if your content is great they might take it upon themselves to check back regularly, but this certainly is not the norm.

Email marketing allows you to capture that initial attention and interest, and use it to start building a real relationship with your readers.

Email marketing is one of the few things that I recommend you starting doing alongside one of the other marketing methods mentioned in this post.

How?

First, install an email capture plugin like Mailchimp or Sumo.

This will allow you to offer something of value to your readers, like a guide to hunting or a course on how to become a better hunter, in return for their contact information.

Once you have this (and their permission to get in touch), you can then email them when you post new content on your blog and get them back to your hunting website time and time agin.

Lead with value and, at some point, try selling them something of value so you can start making money from your hunting blog.

Hunting Blog Email Marketing Tips

Lead With Value To Capture Email Addresses & To Sell To Your Subscribers
Publish a Accurate Privacy Policy & Link to It Often
Seek Feedback via Email From Your Readers
Start Building Your Email List From Day 1

All business owners find value from having an email list. Do not wait until your blog is seeing thousands of visitors per month before you capitalise on this opportunity.

Paid Advertising For Your Hunting Blog

Look, paid advertising is extremely difficult to master.

And making paid ad campaigns that earn you money will require a lot of time, effort and testing.

This will likely cost you a lot up front also until you have perfected your process.

So for beginners, I recommend you don’t dabble in paid advertising until you are already making money from your hunting blog.

Once you are ready to begin running paid campaigns though, the results can be amazing.

Paid ads will allow you to grow your blog much faster.

You can get your blog and brand in front of potential readers almost immediately.

You can read how to perfect your PPC campaigns in our PPC tips, tricks and strategies category.

It is likely that you will start by advertising on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram or via sponsored posts/content on other hunting websites.

Hunting Blog Paid Advertising Tips

Look at How Other Hunting Blogs Are Using Paid Ads
Measure Everything You Can
Know What You Will Sell
Be Ready To Test Your Ads Relentlessly

As mentioned, once you are making some money via other marketing channels is a good time to start testing paid advertising.

Monetizing Your Hunting Blog

Huge well done on getting your hunting blog up and running!

Over the next few weeks and months you will want to publish as much quality content on your blog as possible, targeting relevant and reasonably low competition keywords.

Once you have done this, maybe you have got some great backlinks from some other hunting websites also, you will no doubt want to try and make some money from your hunting.

Fortunately, modern technology and businesses make doing so incredibly easy.

There are many different ways that you can make money from your hunting hobby and blog, and I’ve listed the main ones below.

Hunting Blog Monetization Methods

Direct Your Readers to Relevant Affiliate Offers
Make Your Own Hunting Gear & Products to Sell
Offer Hunting Tuition
Offer a Online Hunting Skills Course
Find Hunting Sponsors
Use Display Ads (Like Google Adsense or Mediavine)

Research the various monetization methods available so you can make an informed decision on which one you want to go with.

As with your marketing, you are likely best picking just one monetization method initially and getting that going.

Once you are making some money from your blog, you can always add additional monetization methods.

In line with this you may wish to start with a more beginner friendly monetization method.

Manufacturing and selling your own hunting great would be great and likely make you more money, but it won’t be easy.

You will have to deal with suppliers, the legal side, and customer service.

Using display ads or affiliate offers on the other hand means you can spend the bulk of your time further growing your blog.

It would be worth testing a few ones out, even temporarily, or just thinking about how you see your blog making money over the long term.

Summary

Thanks for reading the post.

With so much to think about and consider, you will probably want to quickly re-run through the main steps or note them down quickly.

Try not to overcomplicate any single step and remember that real results come from a combination of your efforts.

The sooner you start, the sooner you will see regular readers and additional income coming from your blog.

So with that being said, best of luck starting your hunting blog!

Feel free to drop any thoughts, ideas and/or questions you might have in the comments section below.

Starting a Hunting Blog – FAQs

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Hunting Blog

You can actually start a hunting blog for free by using free blogging services like WordPress or Blogger. However if you want to go with a more customizable and scalable option, a domain and blog hosting will only cost about $10 all in (then a few bucks each month for the hosting).

Can I Sell My Hunting Blog?

Many people interested in starting a blog wonder if they’ll eventually be able to sell their online asset. The answer is yes. Many online blog and website marketplaces like Flippa and/or Empire Flippers exist where people buy and sell online businesses.

How Long Does it Take To Build a Hunting Blog?

This will depend on how quick you run through the steps listed above. I have got a blog live in as little as a few hours before. If this is your first online project though I’d give yourself around a week to find your feet.

How Will My Hunting Blog Make Money?

You have a few options when it comes to monetizing your hunting blog. You can do everything from selling your own hunting gear and equipment to adding display ads to the website. Carry out some research on the various monetization methods available to find the right one for you.

What Makes a The Best Hunting Blogs?

The best hunting blogs are setup and run by passionate hunters. They know what people practising hunting are interested in and have practised plus perfected writing content that compliments those interests. Finally they find ways to constantly offer additional value to their loyal readers (be that through extra content or in the ways that they monetize their blogs).

Is it Easy to Start a Hunting Blog?

Starting a blog is not a difficult as some online course sellers would have you believe. In fact, you can do it by following the 7 simple steps above. Channel your interest and passion for hunting into your new blog, and you will be sure to find success.