Want to start a blog and make money, but don’t know how? You’re in luck! In this article, I will walk you through the process step-by-step.
Blogging is undoubtedly one of the best ways to make money online today.
It’s so popular that you can find tons of information on starting a blog and making money online.
However, a lot of that information is outdated or incomplete.
In this article, I will take you by the hand and walk you through each step of starting a blog and making money.
It’s going to be a wonderful decision if you start a blog, and it can be an even better decision if you monetize your blog with the right techniques. You see, there are many ways to make money blogging, and in this article, I’ll explore some of the most popular methods.
But I’ll start with the basics so that it is easy for you to follow.
Understand: What is a blog?
A blog is a type of website that is typically used to publish articles regularly. The articles are known as blog posts, and they are written by the site owner or a guest blogger from time to time.
In most cases, blogs are mainly for sharing information and connecting with others. However, there has been a significant increase in the number of businesses that have started using blogs for marketing purposes.
Blogs can either be hosted on free platforms such as WordPress.com or self-hosted on a custom domain name that you buy from a domain registrar. You will learn more about the difference between free and paid blog hosting in a later section.
1. Do you know When did blogging start?
Blogging started in 1994, and it has gone through an enormous transformation since then. Blogging was first brought to life by Justin Hall, who was a student at the University of Southern California. Hall started a website called Links.net, which was the first blog in the world.
Well, there are a lot of things to know about blogging. But it’s not about blogging history or the definition of a blog. It’s a lot more than that.
As a beginner, it’s enough for you to know that.
A blog is a type of online diary where people write about their thoughts, ideas, and anything else they’re passionate about.
2. Who can start a blog?
There is an old saying…
“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
The same holds for starting a blog. If you have the will and determination, you can start a blog and make money.
If you know how to move a mouse and type on a keyboard, you can start a blog and make money. However, to be successful in blogging, it is important to have strong writing skills. In other words, if you can’t write well, blogging may not be the best option for you.
3. Are you a writer?
I know, I know. You’re thinking, “I’m not a good writer.”
Trust me, I’ve been there. In the early days of my blogging career, I was terrible at writing. It’s safe to say that my blog posts were boring and difficult to read.
But, over time, I’ve learned how to write better blog posts by studying the work of other successful bloggers and practicing regularly.
So, if you’re not a good writer, don’t worry. You can improve your skills over time. Just be willing to put in the work and you’ll be fine. What you mainly require to become a better writer is to have a burning desire to improve.
Thinking of making grammatical mistakes?
Relax! We all do.
You can easily find many useful grammar checker apps online to help you proofread your posts before publishing them.
The point is that it should not be an excuse not to start a blog because you’re not a good writer. It’s just an excuse that can hold you back from becoming successful in blogging if you don’t address it.
So I recommend that you don’t quit your day job just yet. Instead, focus on continuously improving your writing skills and building a blog that generates a minimal income. Once your blog starts making more money, then you can think of quitting your day job.
That’s a better approach, don’t you think?
4. Why Should You Start a Blog?
If you are still wondering if you should start a blog, below I will show you the top 5 reasons why you should.
- Reason #1: Blogging is one of the best ways to share your thoughts and ideas with the world.
- Reason #2: Blogging is a great way to connect with others who share your interests.
- Reason #3: Blogging can help you improve your writing skills.
- Reason #4: You can make money from blogging by using the right monetization techniques.
The best part?
Anyone can start a blog and make money with the right mindset. There is a lot to learn and it may take some time, but you can do it.
5. Choose the Best Blogging Platforms
A blogging platform is simply a website or software that you can use to start a blog. Not every blogging platform is the same, and each of them has unique features that can be beneficial in different ways.
For instance, some blogging platforms like Blogger and Tumblr are free to use, but they don’t offer the same range of features as WordPress, which is the most popular platform for bloggers. It’s free and open source.
There are tons of blogging platforms out there, but the ones I’ll mention in this section are the most popular and widely used.
- WordPress – WordPress is the most popular platform for blogging because it’s free and loaded with features.
- Blogger – Blogger is a free platform owned by Google. It’s very easy to use and perfect for beginners.
- Tumblr – Tumblr is a free platform that’s known for its social networking features.
- Squarespace – Squarespace is a paid platform that offers a wide range of features, such as custom domains, e-commerce, and more.
- Wix – Wix is also a paid platform that offers a wide range of features, such as custom domains, e-commerce, and more.
If you’re not sure about which blogging platform to choose for your blog, WordPress.org self hosted platform is the best choice for you. And, now that you know about the top blogging platforms, it’s time to start setting up your blog.
6. Things You Need to Start a Blog!
I am sure you are excited to start a blog and share your thoughts and ideas with the world, but first, you need to set up your blog. Below are the steps to help you start your blog in no time.
In short, you’ll need 3 things to start a blog:
- A domain name – the URL or link of your blog, for Example – wpnavin.com, questioncage.com, or navinrao.com
- A web hosting account – is where your website’s files and database are stored so that they can be accessed via the Internet from anyone anywhere.
- A blogging platform – this is what you’ll use to create and manage your blog. I recommend that you select only WordPress.
- Of course one of your Debit/Credit card to make the payment.
That’s it. Let’s get those without any hassle, get all at a time with Hostinger. They provide a domain for FREE with a Hosting account.
Start Your WordPress Blog Step by step
We will see how to start a blog with Hostinger, one of the best beginner-friendly hosting providers. FREE Domain and Optimized Performance.
Step 1. To begin, click on the link
You will be landing on the above page, Click on the Claim Deal button.
Step 2. Choose a hosting plan
Click on Choose plan under “Premium” plan. It will take you to the cart.
There will be multiple plans, but you can go with the Premium plan. It just costs $2.99 per month and that will suffice your needs.
Step 3. Your cart – Click on Continue
Now, you are in your cart. It is advised to go with the 48-month package. It’s cheaper and 2 months FREE.
Step 4. Fill in your address and verify the Order summary, Click on Continue
Step 5. Make the Payment
Next, the very obvious thing to make the payment is to fill in the card details.
Choose a WordPress Theme
A theme is what will give your blog its look and feel.
There are thousands of WordPress themes to choose from, both free and premium. You can find free themes from the WordPress.org Theme Directory. Premium themes can be purchased from marketplaces like ThemeForest.net and CreativeMarket.
You can choose a free theme for your WordPress blog or purchase a premium theme. If you want to use a free theme, there are many options available in the WordPress themes repository, as already mentioned.
Just search for “free WordPress themes” in Google and you’ll find many options.
If you want a premium theme, my favorite place to buy WordPress themes is ThemeForest.net. They have a huge selection of themes and you can find almost any type of theme that you’re looking for.
Another place to find premium WordPress themes is CreativeMarket.com. They have a wide selection of themes and you can find some great deals on premium themes.
Whether you choose to use a free or premium theme, you’ll need to upload it to your site and activate the theme on your website.
- To do this, go to Appearance » Themes in your WordPress admin area.
- Then click the “Add New” button.
You’ll be given a bunch of different options to choose from. If you know the name of the theme that you want to use, you can enter it in the search bar.
Or, you can browse through the different available themes.
Once you find the theme that you want to use, click on the “Install Now” button and then the “Activate” button. Now, the new theme will be applied to your blog.
If you’re not happy with the theme that you’ve chosen, you can always change it later. Just go to Appearance » Themes in your WordPress admin area and click on the “Activate” button beside the theme that you want to use.
Now that you’ve chosen a WordPress theme for your blog, it’s time to set up the right permalink structure for your site.
Setting Up a Permalink Structure
A permalink structure is the URL of your blog posts. By default, when you install WordPress, it will use a permalink structure that looks like this:
This permalink structure isn’t the best for SEO and will lead to negative SEO results if you use it on all your blog posts.
It’s much better to use a custom permalink structure for your blog posts. This will ensure that you get the most benefit from your blog and that you don’t annoy Google and other search engines.
To use a custom permalink structure, go to Settings » Permalinks in your WordPress admin area.
Then, select the permalink structure that you want to use.
There are many different permalink structures to choose from, but the best one for SEO is the “Post Name” structure.
This will make your blog posts look like this:
This URL structure will allow Google to display your post titles in the search results.
For more information about how a permalink structure affects SEO, go here: The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Permalinks.
Make Sure Your Website is Indexable
Before you start publishing content on your website, you need to make sure that your website is indexable by Google and other search engines.
To do this, first, go to Settings >> Reading in your WordPress admin area.
Then, make sure that the checkbox beside “Search Engine Visibility” is unchecked. It makes sure that your website is not excluded from search engine results and can show up in Google search results.
This part is crucial because you want your website to be indexed by Google so that it can crawl and index your blog posts.
If your website is not indexed by Google, your blog posts will never show up in Google search results. If this happens, you’ll never get any traffic from Google search results and all of your efforts will be wasted.
Set Up a Backup for Your Blog
Before you start publishing content on your website, you should set up a backup for your blog. This means that you should have a copy of your website and blog posts stored on a separate server or computer.
This is highly important.
If, for some reason, your website goes offline or your blog posts are deleted, you’ll have a backup of your website and blog posts that you can use to restore your website.
There are many different ways that you can set up a backup. If you’re on a shared hosting plan, then most web hosts provide automatic backups of your website. But, it’s not always a smart choice to depend on the host. You should have your backups too to make sure that your website is always safe.
You can use a free plugin like Updraftplus (which I recommend for beginners) to automatically back up your website to Dropbox or Google Drive.
There are many backup plugins like Updraft Plus. You can use any one of these to make automatic backups of your website and blog posts.
You don’t want to work on your website day and night, start getting traffic to your website, and then lose everything because of some disaster.
That will be a nightmare!
Therefore, you should always make sure that you have a backup of your website even before you write your first blog post.
Install WordPress Security Plugins
Another important step that you should take is to install WordPress security plugins. These plugins will help to protect your website from hackers and other security threats. Some of the best WordPress security plugins are:
- iThemes Security
- WordFence Security
- Sucuri Security
Simply, go to Plugins » Add New in your WordPress admin area and search for “WordPress security.” Then, install the plugin that looks best to you.
These plugins will help to prevent hackers from gaining access to your blog and will also improve the security of your website.
Make the Most Important Pages of Your Site
It’s time to create the most important pages for your blog like Homepage, About, Contact, and Privacy Policy.
To create these pages, go to Pages » Add New in your WordPress admin area.
Then, fill out the information for each page.
Once all the important pages are created and filled with the necessary information, make sure to add each page to your menu.
Now, it’s time to add content and publish posts on your blog.
Congratulations!
You’ve just created a blog with WordPress. Now, it’s time to start publishing content (blog posts) on your blog. In the next section, you’ll learn how to write blog posts and get them published on your blog.
Start Blogging
Now that you’ve created your blog, you’re ready to start blogging.
To write a blog post, go to Posts » Add New in your WordPress admin area, and then, write the title of your blog post in the “Title” box.
Then, write your blog post in the “Editor” box.
The new Gutenberg editor is a great way to write your blog posts. It’s a block-based editor that makes it easy to create beautiful blog posts with formatting, images, and videos. You can learn more about the Gutenberg editor here.
Once your blog post is written, you need to add a featured image. A featured image is a great way to attract attention to your blog post and also helps with SEO.
To add a featured image, go to the “Featured Image” box in the post editor and then, select the image that you want to use.
You can also add an image or video to your blog post by choosing the “Media” box in the post editor. In short, there are almost all the necessary blocks available in the Gutenberg editor to write great blog posts.
Once you’re finished writing your blog post, you can publish it on your blog by clicking the “Publish” button on the top right corner.
That’s all there is to writing a blog post.
Now, your job is to publish content on your website regularly.
The best way to attract people to your blog is by publishing high-quality content regularly. The more quality content you publish, the more traffic you’ll get to your blog. If it’s your first time blogging, you should start by publishing one post per day on your blog. This will help you to get in the habit of writing and publishing content regularly.
It will also improve your writing skills. The more you write, the better you’ll get at writing every day.
Write Great, Useful Content
The main purpose of blogging is to write great content for your target audience.
To find out what topic to write about, you need to do some research and find out what your target audience is interested in.
Then, write blog posts on those topics.
For example, if you’re blogging about movies, create blog posts that discuss movies in detail. Write about specific movies and provide information for your readers.
If you have a blog about WordPress, you can write blog posts that discuss how to use WordPress or provide tips and tricks for using WordPress.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to writing blog posts. You just need to be creative and provide valuable information for your readers.
To research your topic, you can use keyword research tools like Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and SEMrush to find out what topics your target audience is interested in or questions people are asking in your niche. Then, use topics that you find through research as the basis for creating blog posts.
Write blog posts that you would want to read and take the time to publish high-quality content on your blog. Don’t just write a blog post and publish it without editing it. Your blog posts should be well-researched and written to provide value for your readers.
Publish content on your blog regularly. It’s important to publish new content on your blog every day or week because it keeps people coming back to your blog to read more. It also builds up your website’s search engine ranking.
If you’re unable to write a blog post every day, then publish at least one post per week. The more content you publish, the more traffic you’ll get to your blog.
Once you have a few blog posts published on your website, it’s time to start promoting your blog posts. Because if there’s no one to read your blog posts, you won’t get any traffic to your website.
Promote Your Blog Posts
When it comes to promoting your blog posts, there are a lot of different ways to do it. Yes, there are an endless number of ways. You can promote your blog posts on social media, email marketing, paid ads, and more.
In this section, I’ll discuss a few ways to promote your blog posts.
One of the best ways to promote your blog posts is by sharing them on social media. When you share your blog posts on social media, you get an opportunity to reach your target audience.
On top of that, people are more likely to click on links when they’re shared on social media. So, you’ll get more traffic to your blog post from sharing it on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Another great way to promote your blog posts is by emailing them to your subscribers. When you email your subscribers about your latest blog post, they’re more likely to click on the link and read it.
You can also promote your blog posts by running paid advertising. Paid advertising can be a great way to get more traffic to your blog post. You can use platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Ads to promote specific blog posts.
Promoting your blog posts in different ways can be a great way to get more targeted traffic to your website and drive more leads and sales to your business.
Keep Connecting With People
Once you start building a following on social media, it’s important to keep connecting with people. The more you interact with the people in your target audience, the more they’ll trust you.
It also allows you to build relationships with them. When you have a relationship with someone, they’re more likely to buy from you or become a customer.
So, make sure you’re interacting with people on social media. Respond to their comments, ask them questions, and give them advice.
You can also connect with other bloggers in your niche. There are plenty of ways to network with other bloggers, so take advantage of them.
For example, you can join Facebook groups or use Twitter to look for other bloggers in your niche. You can also join LinkedIn groups or attend live events with other bloggers in your industry.
You should also put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to start conversations with people in your target audience.
If you have a business, you should join industry-related forums and discussion groups. This is a great way to connect with people who are interested in your industry. The more you connect with people, the more they’ll trust you and want to learn from you.
Build an Email List
As a blogger, you need a way to connect with your readers and keep them up-to-date with your latest blog posts. One of the best ways to do that is by building an email list. That way, you can send out emails with your latest blog posts and get more traffic to your website.
An email list is also great for building relationships with your readers.
Plus, when people sign up for your email list, you can send them promotional offers and special discounts.
There are a few ways to build an email list. You can use tools like LeadPages or OptinMonster to create a lead capture form. That way, people can sign up for your email list by providing their email addresses.
You can also use social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to build an email list. You can create a custom form on your website or blog and ask people to sign up for your email list.
When you have an email list, you have a new way to promote your blog posts and drive more traffic to your website. You can also send emails with special offers and discounts, so it’s a great way to get new customers and engage with the people in your target audience.
Once you grow your blog and receive regular traffic, you’ll need to come up with ways to make money. There are multiple ways to make money as a blogger, so you’ll need to find the one that works best for you.
Make Money with Your Blog
There are a few ways to make money as a blogger.
You can sell advertising, promote affiliate products, or use Google Adsense. You can also offer services like consulting, coaching, or teaching.
You’ll need to find the method that works best for your blog. In this section, I’ll discuss the most common ways to make money as a blogger.
Sell Advertising
If you have a blog with a lot of traffic, you can sell advertising.
To sell advertising, you’ll need to contact advertisers and convince them that your blog is a good place to promote their products or services.
Advertisers are usually willing to pay a lot of money for advertising, so it’s a great way to make money as a blogger.
Well, if you are just a beginner and your blog doesn’t get thousands of visitors, it will be difficult to get advertisers interested in your blog. The point is that you should not directly contact any advertiser in the beginning stage of your blog. In most cases, this strategy doesn’t work.
The solution?
You can use Google Adsense to sell advertising. Google Adsense is a program that allows you to place ads on your website. You can get started with relatively low traffic numbers. When someone clicks on the ad, you’ll get paid.
You can also use other ad networks like Mediavine or Ezoic to sell advertising on your site or blog.
Promote Affiliate Products
Another way to make money is by promoting affiliate products.
Affiliate marketing means that you get paid when someone buys a product or service that you promote.
There are a lot of affiliate programs out there, so you’ll need to find the ones that work best with your blog. For example, if you have a blog about fitness, you might want to promote the latest workout gear or supplements. Or, if you have a blog about cooking, you might want to promote cookware or recipes.
You can promote affiliate products in a few ways. You can create a blog post about the product, or you can create a video review. You can also add an affiliate link to your website or blog sidebar, so people can find your affiliate products easily.
So, if you want to make money blogging, but don’t have your product or service to promote, you can promote other people’s products as an affiliate marketer. This is a great way to make money because you don’t have to create your own products.
I suggest that you promote recurring affiliate products. It means that every time someone buys the product, you’ll continue getting paid for it as long as the person stays subscribed to the product or service.
Sell eBooks on Your Blog
Another way to make money with your blog is by writing eBooks and selling them on your blog.
If you have a lot of authority in your niche, people might be interested in buying your eBook. You can also write a book about a specific topic related to your blog.
For example, if you have a blog about fitness, you might want to write a book about how to get fit without going to the gym. Or, if you have a blog about cooking, you might want to write a book with healthy recipes.
Once your eBook is ready, you can create a landing page on your website and promote it to your readers. You can also sell the eBook on other websites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Offer Special Services
Another way to make money as a blogger is by offering services like consulting, coaching, or teaching.
If you’re an expert in your niche, you can create a course and sell it on your blog. Or, you can work with other bloggers and help them grow their blogs. You can also offer SEO, design, or social media services.
Sell a Physical Product
You probably already know that you can make good money by selling physical products on your blog.
There are a few things you need to do to make this work.
First, you’ll need to find a supplier, and then you’ll need to create a website or dedicated e-commerce store. Then, use blogging and social media to drive traffic to your site and promote your products.
And finally, make sure you offer great customer service.
If you can do all of this, you’ll be able to make a good income by selling physical products on your blog.
For example, if you have a fitness blog, you might want to create workout accessories like gloves and water bottles. Or, if you have a beauty blog, you might want to create beauty products like makeup and skincare products.
The point is that when you have the right audience when your blog, you can make a lot of money no matter which strategies you use to monetize your blog.
Conclusion
If you have been thinking of starting a blog for money, I hope this article has given you some ideas on how to start and monetize your blog.
And, I must say that I still use Bluehost to host my blog. The good thing about them is that they provide a free domain name when you sign up for hosting.
I have been a happy customer of Bluehost for years, and I highly recommend them to you. They have great prices, so it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to start your blog. If you are interested in Bluehost, click here to get started.
So finally, you have learned the steps to start a blog.
It should not be difficult to follow these steps. Still, if you need any help, please leave a comment below, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
And please, share this article if you’ve enjoyed it!