You will learn how to start a blog that can make money today in 6 steps, and it may take about 5 minutes to read.Declaimer: The links within this article contain affiliate links which I will receive a commission from any purchase you make.
How To Start A Blog And Make Money In Six Simple Steps
Starting a successful blogis not rocket science or one needs to have a degree to start blogging. There is much information online for you to get started but inmost cases,it may require someone who can put you throughall the difficult aspectsto get a better result on time.
And that is the reason I created this blog post toshow you step by step to start a blogthat can generate income.
When I started blogging some years back, there were many challenges I faced along the line but instead of getting tired and quiet, I was following most of the top bloggers by reading their contents and testimonies which gave me hope.
When you areabout to start a new businessit is very important to have adequate preparation and little knowledge about the business. If you want such a business to boom and complement your effort.
The same thing applies to blogging, when thinking about how to start a successful blog, you need to know your market or niche. For example, your niche may behealth, wealth, relationship or finance.
Not all bloggers are successful, some are making 6 figures per month while some are making a penny, and it depends on mind setting and your goal.
Why do people start a blog?
If you’re reading this guide on how to start a blog, you must have a reason. And 90 per cent of bloggers start blogging to generate income while only a few people blog for fun.Are you interested in blogging for fun to increase your income or to serve as a major source of income?
Some people create blogs purposely toadvertise their offline business, so no limit, there are many things you can do with blogging.Are you interested in being aprofessional blogger,or do youthink you don’t have what it takes?
It is a good idea to have more sources of income than depend on your day job. Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, what if you are asked to quit your day job or if the condition warrants it, what will happen?
You may be a ghostwriter and help people solve certain problems through your content in your area of specialization and make people fall in love with what you write.
Your 1-Minute Quickstart Cheat Sheet
The quick start guide helps you to get started as soon as possible, but we won’t cover everything here, only two important steps.
First, you need to have an idea ofwhat you want to blog aboutand thename of your blog. From there you can choose the best web hosting to host your blog.Head to theBluehost and sign up for the basic plan.The basic plan is $3.95 per month, and you can select three years in advance to get more discounts.
Unleashed The Idea Within You
Everybody is creative and has something unique. Three things will make you a better blogger and they are very important. They are:
- Passion
- Skills
- Knowledge
Do you have an idea of what you want to blog about?
What niche do you think you can provide quality and informative content that will answer the questions of your readers?
Whatever the niche you choose, you need to love it and be ready to learn more about it, therefore you can become an authority in the niche.Blogging is aboutproducing quality content.
Are there other bloggers in the same niche?
If you choose a niche that has no competitors, that is a big signal that the niche may not be profitable.The essence of starting a blog is to make money, not for fun. And if people are not ready to spend money on what you recommend for them, then it is more or less a waste of time.
I will talk about monetization later-making money on your blog.If you’re interested inNUTRITION,find out if there are other bloggers in that niche. Go to Google and type nutrition blog and see if there are many blogs on nutrition.
If people are blogging about nutrition, then that is a signal to show that people are spending money on the niche.
Types of Blogging Niches That Are Profitable
If you don’t know much about the blogging niche, below are some of the profitable niches where bloggers are making millions of dollars every day.
- Food
- Finance
- Technology
- Health and Fitness
- Making money online
- Personal Finance
- Fashion
- Blogging about blogging
- Travel
- Lifestyle
- Art+diy and more.
Here is thelist of profitable nichesyou can check to give you more ideas.Before choosing a niche, you need to understand that, you must at least have little experience, skills and knowledge in the niche to be able to write quality content that your readers will love.
Don’t just pick a niche because other bloggers are making money from it. Understand your ability and your strength before you decide.
How To Start A Blog In 2024 In SIX Steps
Step 1: Choose A Blog Name And Niche
Now that you already have a niche in mind. it is time to pick a good name for your blog.The domain name is very important as it willrepresent your brand. This is what people will use to find you and your business.
It is essential to find the best domain name for your business.But don’t waste much of your time on this aspect. One of the best ways to find a good domain name for your blog is tobrainstorm other related blogs in your niche.Take a piece of paper and start to write down the name you think will fit your brand.Alternatively, you can use your name if you prefer.
For example, if your name is Alex Peter, you can use Alexpeter.com as your brand.Many professional bloggers use their names to build their businesses but it is not compulsory.NOTE: If you are interested in selling your website in feature, it is advisable not to use your name. Nobody will want to own a brand that Is not his/ her name.
Understand Domain TLDI will advise you to register the .com domain and NOT .net or .org.Now you have the list of the suggested domain names you think it might fit your business, it is time to know if the domainS is available or not.
This is the most difficult aspect when it comes to registering a new domain for your business. You may have up to 10 domain names and later discover that none of them is available.
The best place to start is BlueHost, you can use Bluehost domain search to know if the domain is available for registration or not. Not only that, the tool will suggest some available domains for you.
Once the domain is available,then proceed to registration. Bluehost offers FREE domain registration when you want to host your domain with them.
The next step is to find the best hosting for your blog.BlueHost is among the best web hosting and I recommend it to host your domain.
Step 2: Get Web Hosting With Hostgator
This is the most fun part of it. You are reading to make your first blog go live.Making your blog live is not rocket science as complicated as many people think.
How To Start A WordPress Blog On Hostgator
In this section, I will learn,
- How to register with the best hosting and get a free domain
- How to install your blog
- How to customize your blog and more
Hosting Your Blog On Hostgator
You will get a free domain directly from Bluehost which makes the whole process very easy and simple.
I recommend starting from Bluehost. If you do this, you can get a FREE domain for the first year if you buy 12 months’ worth of Bluehost.Sign up for at least 12 months of hosting as you will be saving an amount of money this way. So with Bluehost, you don’t need to pay for domain registration again.
Not only do you get acheaper monthly pricewhen you buy at least 12 months of web hosting, but the free domain just makes it even better.
If you decide to get the free domain from this hosting company, just continue to the next step as you can purchase your hosting and get the domain all in one step.
Setting up a WordPress blog on Bluehost is very simple and easy, with no hassle. First, we need to talk about the costs of blogging:To get the cheapest price to start a blog, choosing the “PLUS plan is all you need.
Hostgator Cost
If you only want to host one domain, you can chooseBASIC which is $2.75 per month.If you are a beginner and you are unsure about blogging, I recommend signing up for the 12-month plan as this is very affordable for one year.
TheBluehost BASIC plan is all you need for now, so forget the Plus as they are very expensive. You can change to other plans later if there is a need for it.Another thing you may need to pay for when it comes to blogging isDomain Privacy Protection,which costs only $0.99 per month.
This is important so that your contact information is protected and safe,but not compulsory.If you register throughNamecheap, you will getfree privacy for one year,which means you don’t need to pay for domain privacy for the first year.
You don’t need anything other than the above; you do not need the other items that Bluehost sells, soyou will need to uncheckany of the extras that are listed.
NOTE: if yousign up with Hostgator, you will get aFREE DOMAINif you purchase a 12-month or longer hosting plan.Now, let’s install your blog on Bluehost.
- Go to Bluehostand click the “Get Started Now” button.
- Click on the preferred package you are interested in, prefer the plus-most popular one.
- Click on SELECT
- Enter your new domain name, or if you have registered a domain, type it into the space provided and click the NEXT
- Fill in your account information.
Choose your plan: There are 3 plans, starting from12 months,24 months and 36 months.Make sure to uncheck all except domain privacy. If you don’t want it, you can also uncheck it.
Enter your payment information:
Don’t forget to check and agree to the Bluehost policy. Then click SUBMIT.Next, you will be asked to enter a password.
Make sure you can rememberyour passwordany time you want to log in to your hosting account.Click here to read my Bluehost reviewInstall and set up WordPress BlogStarting a blog is not as difficult as many people think, one just needs to master the steps, and then you are done.
And this is the most interesting part; to install your blog just requires a click of the mouse.Setting up your WordPress blog is very simple, you only need to install it through the control panel (Cpanel).
If you sign up with Bluehost, you will need to locate Install WordPress.Log in to your control panel given by Bluehost.If you are facing any problems,contact me here.
On the WordPress Installation screen, click “Install WordPress”When you are in your cPanel (your Cpanel login will be sent to you through Bluehost as an incoming email.Click the “One Click Install” button. Then, click on theWordPress iconon the next page located under “Blogs.”
Click on the “Start” button. This will begin the installation.13) Click “Show advanced options.”
Now, you will see “Advanced Options.” This is where you pick your username and password for your website. You should choose something safe. Avoid using “Admin” as your username.
This will prevent a hacker from hacking your website. Creating a username with a combination of different letters, and numbers, both upper and lower case is very important.Remember to save your username and password.
You will need to check “Automatically create a new database for this installation” and “terms and conditions of the GPLv2” are checked as well. Click “Install Now.”
If the installation is successful you will see WordPress has been successfully installed.
CongratulationsNow head to your email, and you should receive information from Mojo Marketplace.
This email is important, ensure you save it! It contains your website URL, your blog admin login URL, and your WordPress login username.
Now with your password and username, you can log into WordPress and you’ll be directed to your WordPress dashboard.
You will need to spend some time going through the various settings. At first, it may be confusing but with time you will master everything.
Log in to WordPressTo log into your newly created WordPress site, simply type in your domain followed by “/wp-admin”.
For example, www.domain/wp-admin.You will now enter the administrator username and password you created when you installed WordPress.
In case you are confused for any reason if yousign up for Bluehost(such as how to set it up, how to get a premium theme, etc.), you can quickly send me an email so I can assist you. I’m here for you, so don’t be afraid, I would love to receive your email. Watch this video
Step3: Setting Your Domain With Other Hosting Accounts
Note:You can skip this section if you buy your domain directly fromHostgator.If you buy your domain through Namecheap or another domain registrar, then you will need topoint your domain to your hosting account.
Namecheap has a full support page for setting nameservers for your domain names. Below is a summary:How to configure your DNS Nameservers when you are using Namecheap for your domain and Bluehost or another hosting:
- Log into the Nameceap.com Account Manager.
- SelectManage Domainsfrom theDomain Namesdrop-down menu or theManage Your Accountlist.
- Select the domain you wish to configure or modify using the checkboxes and then clickSet Nameservers.
- There is a space provided to enter your updated name server information under the BluehostName Servers.On the right side of your page, clickSave Changesat the bottom. Your DNS server should look like this:ns1.bluehost.com;ns2.bluehost.com.
Afterconfiguring your nameserver,you need to add your domain to your Bluehost/ other to complete the configuration.You will then need to add the domain you bought (from Namecheap) as an addon domain to yourweb hosting.
You can simply do this by logging into your hosting account and clicking on “Addon Domains”( clicking on “assign.”) Follow the steps and it is very simple and easy!
Step 4: Customize Your Blog With a WordPress Theme
The next thing is to change the theme of your blog to make it look more professional and attractive to your readers.There are thousands of themes you can use for your blog both free and paid.
Below are the places you can get niche themes for your niche blog.To make your blog look professional, you will need to know little coding but most premium
WordPress theme has done all the coding job for you, with the premium theme, you don’t need to know any coding to make your website look attractive and professional.
If you are looking for the best WordPress theme for your blog, then the Genesis theme seems to always be the most popular.Popular Themes are:
StudioPress
ThemeForest
Elegant Theme
There are free themes on WordPress you can use too. Just go to “Appearance” by the left-hand side of your WordPress dashboard and click on “Themes,” then activate any theme you are interested in testing out.
After installing your theme, you can start designing your blog easily!Alternatively, you can simply visitwordpress.org/themesand find yourself a bunch of free themes, there are more than 10,000 themes available for free. You can use them for your niche blog if you cannot get a premium.
WordPress Plugins
Now that yourblog is alive, it is very important to get traffic from search engines and let people know that your blog exists.
There are many plugins but few are working better. To be frank, you cannot do without a plugin, so it is a must. The first one Iam going to introduce is the SEO plugin.
There are hundreds of WordPress SEO plugins but I would only mention a few that are working better and used by millions of internet marketers and bloggers.
WordPress SEO
(i)SEO PROCESSOR-The best SEO plugin used by more than 1 million bloggers
(ii)SEO by Yoast:-It has both a free and paid version. This is another best plugin that can help your blog drive more traffic to your money-making blog.
NOTE: If you want a quick result, I strongly recommendSEO PROCESSOR, it can boost your website and let people find your keyword on the first page of Google.
iii)Google XML sitemaps:-This helps to build a sitemap for your blog and also pings. It can help in getting your blog indexed quickly.
(iV)Contact Form 7:- Helps easily add a contact form to your WordPress pages/posts
v)W3 Total cache or Wp super cache:- This plugin is very useful, it makes your site load faster. It generates static HTML files from your dynamic WordPress blog.There are some other plugins available onwordpress.orgfor free.
How To Customize WordPress Blog
Install WordPress ThemeIn this section, you will learn some WordPress basics blogs, including the following:
- How to customize a WordPress blog
- How to get familiar with the WordPress dashboard
- How to change your blog’s design and have a better look
- How to Install new plugins/features
- How to make your blog search engine friendly and attract more traffic
I believe you have set up your blog; you’re now set to start using WordPress and customizing your blog.
This is very easy and fun at the same time.Remember: You can log in to your blog by going towww.myblog.com/wp-admin/and using the username and password you set up with BlueHost or any otherweb hosting companyyou signed up with.
You Need To Understand the WordPress DashboardWhen you log in for thefirst time,you’ll see a dashboard or admin panel that looks something like this:
Let’s explain some of the most important ones you need to know as a new blogger:
“Dashboard” shows you a recent activity of your blog, including how many posts, comments and pages you have. From the dashboard, you can also write up a quick draft blog post here – but don’t – I’ll explain and show you a simple and better way to post content on your blog.
Posts –This is a place where you’ll click if you want to post new blog content or need to edit an existing one.
Mediais a library of all the pictures, videos, and audio files you’ve uploaded to the site. You can manage all of them here.
Pages arewhere you can add a new permanent page – like services,about meorcontact page(not a blog post!) and also manage the pages you’ve already created.
Comments– This is a place to manage all comments. You can check which comments are waiting for your approval, review comments you’ve approved, see which comments have been labelled as spam by WordPress and also delete comments you don’t want.
Appearance– this is a place where you can edit the design of your blog, and install new themes and layouts. I will show you step-by-step how to do this later.
Plugins –is where you can click if you want to install a new plugin likeSEO plugin, contact plugin and more. I will show you how to do this very soon.
Settings-you need to familiarize yourself with this section. Here, you can change your blog’s title and tagline, change your email address and manage all of your site’s essential settings.
Changing Your Blog’s Design (Themes & Layouts)WordPress platform uses design templates named
Themesto figure out how your site should look. Changing your blog’s layout and design is as simple as only need to install a new WordPresstheme.
There are over 3,000 designed, fully customizable and free themes to choose from – so you’ve many options.
But if you want to use a premium theme, then head over toSocrates wp themeYou can checkwordpress.orgfor the free theme and install it or follow the simple steps
BelowHere’s how to find and install a theme you love:On the left side of thedashboard locate the “Appearance”tab, then click on “Themes”
On the next screen, you’ll see some themes are already installed. If you want to change to another theme, click the “Add New” button at the top, or the “Add New”square to start searching for a new theme.
Now, you’ll see tabs where you’ll find featured,popular and brand-new themes, as well as a “Feature Filter” and search bar.
Why I like the“Feature Filter”is that you can choose themes in certain colour schemes, select precise layouts and even choose themes with built-in advanced features.After choosing the options you want, then click on “Apply Filters” on the left-hand side.
If you’re finding this difficult, just search by keyword – you will get a better theme, and any method applied will work well.
Once you’ve found a theme you prefer, click “Install”. You’re almost done!After the theme has been installed, click“Activate”on the next screen
After you activate the theme, you cancustomizeit to our test.I don’t encourage people to use a FREE theme, there are many premium themes you can purchase for less than $40 to make your blog look professional.In case you prefer a premium theme, here are a few you can consider:
- StudioPress Theme
- ThemeForest
- and more
Now that the blog is live with a beautiful design, it is time to make it search-engine friendly.To start with, you only need to install some important plugins, as too many plugins can slow down your blog and affect your search engine ranking.
Installing a New Plugin (add some features to your blog)“Plugins” are little software modules that you can install to improve and add more features to your blog. They can do all sorts of things, like:
- Adding contact forms
- Comment spam
- Making your blog SEO-friendly
- Sign-up forms
- Adding photo galleries
- And LOTS more.
Here are the steps to installing them.
First, mouse over “Plugins” in the sidebar, then click “Add New” or just click on the plugin, then add new.
There are two ways to install the plugin: If you have a downloads plugin on your system, then click on the upload plugin.
It will bring a pop-up where you can click, and then find the plugin on your system to upload.
Alternatively, you can install the plugin through your blog dashboard. This is the easiest way.After clicking on add new, then, on the left-hand side, you will see where you can find any plugin using the keyword to search.
.Then, you can search by keyword to find the plugins you want to install. On the left-hand side, locate search plugins and type any plugin you want to install.
Once you find a plugin you like, click“Install Now”and then click“Activate Plugin”on the next page.
CAUTION: Before you install the plugin, it’s a good idea to check the rating and the positive rating before you install them. Some plugins can cause problems with your website, or work poorly.
Also, make sure both plugins and themes are always up-to-date, though, WordPress usually lets you know when some of them are out of date.
If you don’t know whichWordPress pluginsto use at first, have a look at my blog post:
Top 5 Plugins To Install When Your Blog Goes Live
- Security plugin;
- SEO plugin
- Spam Checking plugin
- UpdraftPlus
- Social media plugin
Go to plugin>New> search plugin and find the most rated plugins and install them.
Configuring your blog search engine-friendly
There are some changes you’d need to make to your blog to make it search engine friendly.Change the permalink of your blog
If you don’t want the URL of your blog to look ugly, a better way is to use: http://myblog.com/start-a-blog.
Tochange your permalinks,click on “Settings”-> “Permalinks”and use the following settings:What we want to do is to change the permalinks to this..‘’/%postname%/’’ without aquote, as you see it from the image above.
Make sure to think or select thePost Name, then copy the/%postname%/into the space in front of theCustom structure.Make sure you click save at the bottom to save your settings.
Adding Blog Posts and PagesBy now I believe you have a fully working WordPress blog on your domain name with a custom blog theme that fits with your blog’s topic.
Congratulations– you’ve done a LOT and I am proud that you’ve managed to get to this point.
In the LAST step, you will learn how to write your first blog post and I will share some tips for writing perfect blog posts.
The next step after customizing the WordPress blog is to show you how to write a post inside the WordPress blog.
Adding Blog Posts and Pages
In this part, I’ll show you…
- How to write a post inside a WordPress blog
- How to add images, links and format text
- Some tips and tricks for writing great content
- Using WordPress to Start a Blog
- Adding a New Post
To add a new blog post, click the“Posts”section at the left-hand side, and then click on “Add New”.
Since this is your first blog post, you won’t see anything in the blog post, so after clicking on the add new, it will bring the new edition where you can start writing or blogging on any topic you want.
You need to be familiar with the EDITOR to understand how to make your post look better. Now let’s look at the inside of the new editor.
Click on the +(PLUS) sign at the top in the right corner to the WordPress Gutenberg blocks. The Gutenberg blocks allow you to add headings, lists, and tables of content media such as images, video, audio and more to the blog post.
The first step is to add the title of the content in the title box, and WordPress will create a permalink for the post based on the keyword in the title.
Then, you can start typing the blog post in the text editor until you’re satisfied.You can save the content to draft or publish your content live by using the box menu at the right of the page. You can also schedule the post to be published later it depends on you.
After your post is published, you can find them under the section“All Posts” of the “Posts” tab, so you can edit the post any time if you like.Let’s take a quick look at some things you can do to spruce up your post:How to Add Images
To add an image to your post, clickthe “+ sign”button right above the content field.Quick
Tip: Before you click on“+ sign”, ensure you’ve left yourcursor inside your blog postwhere you want the image to appear. Or else, you’ll need to move it later on.Next,under media, click on theimage, and then click“Upload”.
When you’ve found the file, double-click it and WordPress will upload it automatically.When finished uploading, ensure the image you want is selected, and click the “Insert into post” button to add the image to the post you’re writing.
You can resize the image, add the link and moreAdding a Link to Your Blog Post
Linking out your blog post to other related websites is a great way to build relationships and share exciting content.
To add a link, just highlight the words or keyword you want to add a link to, there is going to be a pop-up.
On the pop-up, click on thechain icon, post the URL link and click and themark iconto save the link.
TheURLis the web address of the link you want to share. Make sure you include “HTTP://” before the “www.” address, or your link will be broken.“Link Text”is the text you want people to click on to get to your link.
It might be “Click here”, or anything you choose.“Open link in a new window/tab”– it’s a smart idea to check this box.
Otherwise, when someone clicks your link, they’ll leave your blog.If you want to link toan existing page or blog post,you can use the “Search” sectionto find a post or page you’ve already created and click it to add a link.
Finally, click “Add Link”, and your link will be added where you left your cursor in the post you were writing.
Adding Headers & Editing Text
It’s a good idea to use headers and bold to make your content easier to read and scan.
Adding Headings
To add a heading, click on the + sign menu at the top, then locate HEADING, click on it and it will show the heading types.
Try to only use “Heading 1” once within your page (usually at the top), and use “Heading 2” or “Heading 3” for other sections in the copy, as this is better for search engines.
Most themes already configure the title of the blog post to be heading.
Tip: You can also highlight the text you want to change in your blog post, THEN click on the PLUS sign menu and select the format you want the text to be in
.Editing FontsYou can also bold, italicize, underline and even change the colour of your text in a click or two.
“B” is for bolding
“I” is for italics
“U” is to underline your text
“A” will open a dropdown menu where you can select the font colour
This is all pretty simple for someone who has worked with Microsoft Word.As you can see, your blog will have a new look.
Learning how to customize a WordPress blog and design is very important as it can attract more visitors and tell your reader how much you value your blog.
Step 5 How To Promote Your Blog
In this section, I will talk about blog promotion. It is crucial and determines the success of your blog. It would be best if you learned step by step to drive traffic to your blog, the more traffic you get, the more money you can make.
There are many ways to promote a blog and get thousands ofwebsite traffic, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of processes and hard work. So, let’s look at some unique ways to promote your new blog and start getting people to visit the blog.
Technical SEO: Site Optimization
You will learn sometechnical SEOyou need to put in place to make sure your WordPress blog is SEO-friendly and running smoothly. The two types of SEO are on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Let’s take a look at each one to understand them.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO is essential, and you will get more targeted traffic from Google and other search engines.
On-page SEO is basically how to optimize our content for target keywords. This includes a proper heading, keyword placement, content quality, and many other factors. Below is the On-page SEO Checklist when writing and posting your content.
- Keyword in Title
- Keyword in Permalink
- Keyword in the first paragraph
- Keyword in the Image Alt tag
- Tweaked Keywords in H2 or H3
- Bold Important Keywords and related keywords
- Italics 1-2 important Keywords
- Outbound Link to relevant, high-quality sites
- Internal links to related articles
- Remove all stop words from the Permalink
- Add multi-media (Video, Slides, Infographic)
- The more content length, the better it is. Minimum: 2500 words of content
- Optimize the image (Compress and resize) before uploading
- Check the Page loading time
- Use LSI Keywords (Use Google search to find related Keywords)
- Keyword ONCE in Meta Title
- Keyword ONCE in Meta Description
- Keyword ONCE in Meta Keywords
- Optimize your blog post
- Write Great Headline
- Add media such as images and videos to your blog post
The above checklist will optimize your content to make it search engine-friendly. Site Speed: Always check your blog to ensure that it meets the Google speed test. Nobody wants to stay around any very slow website.
If a site is very slow, there are chances that it will be losing 40% of its traffic. It is essential to optimize your site to increase loading time.
One of the SEO factors of search engines is ranking your website. Some plugins can increase loading time such as the W3 caches plugin.
Security
As I mentioned before, security is essential thanks to some WordPress plugins that can save you from hackers and malware.
If you fail to put security measures in place, then you may get attacked by hackers at any time. This may depend on your hosting; some
WordPress hosting already put security measures in place. But in case you still need to protect your blog, check the best security plugin in the plugin section through your blog dashboard.
Indexing and crawling
Always check and ensure that your blog post is in index and craw. If your blog is not indexed in the search engine, nobody will find it even if you write quality content.
Many SEO plugins can do the job as I explained before. The best two SEO plugin is the Yoast plugin and the Rank math plugin.
Internal Linking
Internal linking can have a great impact on your ranking. It is one of the significant SEO factors that search engines consider to rank websites.
What is internal linking?
Internal linksgo from one blog page to a different page on the same domain. They are commonly used in the main navigation.
These types of links are beneficial for three reasons: They allow users to navigate a blog. They help establish a hierarchy for the given blog or website and spread link equity. For example, let’s say you wrote a blog post about On-Page SEO, and in the next blog post, you wrote about the 10 best SEO plugins to optimize your blog.
Both articles are related, you can link to each other for readers to learn more about both topics. You link from On-Page SEO blog posts to the best SEO plugins and vice versa.
Want to learn more about On-Page SEO? Then check these blog posts: Now, that you understand what on-page SEO is, let’s go into the off-page SEO (Backlinks)
Off-Page SEO (Backlinks)
Off-page SEO plays a major role in ranking your website in search engines, and it is better to understand how it works at the earlier stage of your blogging career.
What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO” also known as off-site SEO, refers to actions taken outside of your blog to increase rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs). The process of acquiring links from other websites is known as backlinks.
When someone links to your content or shares your content, it means it provides value. There are many ways to get backlink to your website and increase search engine ranking such as quest posts, producing quality content worth sharing or asking other bloggers to link to your article.
Off-page SEO is a broad topic and here are the best articles to learn more:Onpage SEO by ahrefsandSEO guide by Backlinko
Build Email List
Many people still believe that email marketing is dead, but it is not. Email marketing is one of the best ways to promote your blog.
You need to collect your blog readers’ email addresses and build a relationship with them. Most people reading your blog post or visiting your blog may not come back again, but you can reach out to them if you have their contacts.
As soon as your blog is getting tons of traffic, start building an email list. It would be best to use email marketing tools such as Getresponse or Convertkit, to send your subscribers emails. If you don’t have the budget,
I advise you to start with Getresponse, which only costs $15 per month. You can use it for 30 days to test its features without paying a dime. If you are not building a list, you lose your visitors as email marketing is a high and cost-effective marketing tool to grow your blog faster and increase your profits. WordPress plugins are available to create a form on your blog and collect your visitors’ email addresses.
List of WordPress plugins
Optinmoster plugin You’re losing more potential subscribers every day without building an email list. So, as you’re building a list, you can share it with your subscribers when you write new content.
When you provide value and help them, they will be happy to buy whatever you recommend for them. Remember, you’re starting blogging to generate income, not for FUN.
Social Media Marketing
Nobody is new to social media nowadays, and I am very sure you’re on Facebook Twitter, Pinterest Instagram to mention a few. Social media is a great way to pass your information to thousands of people and let them visit your blog to read the content.
I love Pinterest, and it is one of the best social media platforms that can drive massive traffic to your blog. If you’re in food, personal finance, health and fitness, or a DIY niche, make it a priority to connect your blog with Pinterest.
Other niches also work well. One of the tools that can make your work easy is the Tailwind app which allows you to post automatically on Pinterest after scheduling your pins. Facebook:
There are two ways you can get traffic from Facebook. You can create a page for your blog, and any time you post new content, then share it on the page.
People who like your page may see it and probably click on the link to read the entire content. Another way is to create a Facebook group to invite a friend to join, which is a great way to build your community to engage your content.
More and more people are getting results from groups compared to the page, so it is essential to combine both and be very active by sharing more informative and engaging content to build more trust and grow your group.
Others are Twitter and Instagram. Both are great for sharing your content to drive more traffic to your blog.
Community and forum
There are some communities and forums you can join and start sharing your experience and skills. You can find forums within your niche to join and be active. If you’re internet or online business niche,warrior forumis a great way to start.
There are thousands of people who share information on this forum every day, and you can be part of it. Quora: Quora is the best Q&A platform with millions of visitors every day. Leverage the power of Quora to drive targeted traffic to your blog.
Find questions within the topic of your blog and start answering them. If your answer provides value and helps people, they will be willing to visit your blog and learn more.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging (guest posting) is writing content for another website. Generally, guest bloggers write for similar blogs within their industry to get traffic to their websites.
It is a marketing and SEO technique where bloggers write and publish a blog post on a third-party blog to promote their brand.
There are two main reasons for guest blogging:
To get traffic to your blog and for SEO purposes, to gain a backlink, and to improve your blog ranking in search engines. It is the best way to grow your blog and make more profits.
You can’t do away with guest blogging, so it is better to start earlier when you have up to 10 blog posts on your blog.
YouTube
Creating aYouTubevideo is another way to promote your blog and get tons of traffic. The first step is to create a YouTube channel for your blog.
Optimizing your channel to reflect your blog topic is a great way to build authority in your niche. You don’t need expensive software or equipment to create a video. I know people who use their smartphones to start.
But if you want to get thousands of traffic fromYouTube to promote your blogand also affiliate products, you may need to invest a little money I am using the Blue Yeti microphone and it is fantastic.
There is also a microphone you can buy for less than $50. You can get Camtasiavideo softwareor other tools to create videos.
Video is getting more engagement, and it is time to use this source of traffic to promote your blog and attract thousands of visitors. Starting a blog without content promotion won’t give you the desired results.
If nobody is visiting your blog post, you won’t make a penny. Traffic determines your blog’s success, and it is the most challenging aspect when it comes to blogging.
What next?
Your blog is getting traffic, and you’re happy. Then how can you make money to complement your efforts? You need to monetize your blog before you can start making money.
Starting a money-making blog goes a long way, but if you follow all the steps I explained and put more effort into writing quality content people love, it is time tostart making money.
Step 6:Monetize Your Blog and Make Money
You have learnt step by step how to start a blog, and your blog is live, people are reading your blog. Let’s now talk about making money from your blog through blog monetization.
What Is Blog Monetization?
Blog monetization is a way of making money from your site. It helps you to earn revenue from the online content on your blog. To start making money from your blog, here are some different online revenue models and popular strategies to monetize your blog.
Make Money From Your Blog
Ads Monetization on Your Blog to make money
As a blogger, ad monetization provides a revenue stream for your blog content. You can also offer advertising space for any businesses or companies who want to showcase their product that relates to your content. Google Adsense: Google AdSense works by serving ads on your relevant content.
If your blog is generating thousands of views every day, this is an excellent opportunity to make more money from the blog. For example, if you have a blog post on the best web hosting, Google will serve ads related to web hosting on that page because it is relevant to your blog content.
Also, there are many cases where irrelevant ads will serve on content. To monetize your blog with Google AdSense, it only takes a few days to get your account approved.
Before you apply for a Google AdSense account, make sure your blog is getting traffic to avoid being rejected.
Another best alternative to Google ads is Media.net. Media.net serve ads just like Google AdSense, and many people are making thousands of dollar every month with media.net.
Media.netis owned by Yahoo and Microsoft, so it is a reliable way to make money with your blog.
Making Money Blogging with affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the best way to make money blogging, and I don’t think there is any blogger without promoting affiliate offers on their blog.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is the process of getting a commission by promoting other people’s or companies’ products. The affiliate searches for a product within the niche then promotes that product and earns commissions from each sale they make.
There are thousands of companies or individual products you can promote and make money. I will list some of the best affiliate marketing programs to find hundreds of products to promote depending on your niche. You can get started with the following affiliate programs:
- Amazon affiliate program
- ShareASale affiliate program
- Clickbank
- Commission Junction
- And more
Two Types of Affiliate ProgramsIf you’re a blogger and seriously want to grow your blog from zero to 10k per month, you need to find the best affiliate programs with high commissions.
- Onetime payment affiliate programs
- Recurring payment affiliate programs
One time, affiliate programs only pay once for any sales you make while recurring payment affiliate program pays you a commission every month until your referrer stops the subscription.
I strongly advise you to promote more recurring affiliate offers and get paid monthly. Here are the types of programs that pay recurring commissions:
A subscription program such as software is the best place to start. If you’re into Internet marketing, here are some of the recurring programs you can promote.
- Webinar software
- Sales funnel tools
- SEO tools
- Podcast platforms etc.
Below are the links to find more affiliate programs to promote
32 high-ticket affiliate programs paying affiliate programsBest networking affiliate programs
Make Money Blogging by Selling Online course
Another way to monetize andmake money from a blogis to create and sell an online course. Selling an online course is a profitable business, and lots of people are making thousands of dollars every money.
You don’t need to be an expert before creating an online course to teach people what you know and share your knowledge and skills. Michelle Gardner, one of the bloggers who are making over 100k per month created her online course teaching people how to start affiliate marketing.
The online course alone is generating almost 50k per month. Many people believe that you need to be an expert to create a profitable online course.
Still, it is not true; you only need to know more than the people you’re teaching and the ability to present the course information in such as way that it adds value to the people, helping them solve their problems.
Some of the best places you can sell your online course areTeachableandThinkific platforms.If you’re interested in selling an online course or launching your first digital product, you can check my Product Formula review which explains the Jeff Walker program.
Sponsor posts/review
Accepting sponsor posts and reviews is another way to monetize your blog, but it is not as common as others. Your blog needs to be getting thousands of traffic before you can think of asking companies or individuals to come and place sponsor posts on your blog.
Sponsor posts are a method by which companies pay you a certain amount of money to advertise their product to your blog audiences in the form of a blog sponsor.
If you have a blog that is getting a massive amount of traffic every month, you can find companies in your niche to advertise their products to your audiences.
Freelancing Work
One of thefastest ways to start making moneyfrom your blog is to become a freelance writer for another well-known blog in your niche.
You have already a blog, and you have a good understanding of blogging and how to write unique content that can go VIRAL, why can use it to your advantage?
Many companies and businesses are looking for a writer who can provide the content to market their products. So who is in a better position to grab the offer?
There are freelancer bloggers who make up to $40 per year even more, although this depends on your experience and how far you can prove yourself as a professional writer.
You can use your blog to advertise your expertise. Other ways to monetize your blog and make money are:
- Podcast Sponsor
- Selling Physical Product
- Sell eBook To Your Audience
- Start Coaching and Consultant Business
- Offer PAID Membership Plan
- Display an Advertising Banner on Your Blog
- Selling Digital Products to your audience
Summary of How To Start A Blog
Here is a summary of what you have learned about starting a blog and making money in 2021.
- How to pick your blog name and niche
- Host your blog and get it online
- Customize your blog with a WordPress theme
- Write your first blog post and make it go live
- Promote your blog to get traffic
- Make money from your blog through monetization
I covered almost everything you need to know about how to start a successful blog to make money, so take action and don’t wait till tomorrow.
Creating a blog is very easy but building one that will be profitable requires more effort, time and dedication.
There will be obstacles to get you distracted when you start, but I advise you to get going and don’t look back. Share your skills, knowledge and passion and get paid to travel around the world.
If you have any questions on how to start a WordPress blog, kindly ask by comment and I will be glad to answer all your questions
How To Start A Blog: Conclusion
Now have come to the end of how to start a blog, I hope you have learned something better about how to create a blog and make money.
There is no more time to procrastinate make sure you take a step further and register your domain and web hosting.
You need to start from somewhere and your first step gives you confidence that you can do it, don’t wait till tomorrow start your blogging career now.Starting a profitable blog is not as difficult as many people think, but only requires more time to get the best result.
Are you starting a blog now?
If you ever have any questions or any technical problems on how to start a blog or set up a blog, please ask through the comments or contact me through ‘’contact us’’ and we’ll try to help as best we can. What are you waiting for, start a profitable blog now and rock the world!!
How To Start A Blog In 2024: FAQ
Let’s look at some questions people are asking about how to start a blog in 2021 with tips and answers to those questions.
How do bloggers get paid?
Blogger gets paid based on the revenue they generate from ads such as Google AdSense or affiliate product they promote on their blog.
Google ads pay based on impressions which depend on the traffic you send to your blog. For the affiliate programs, you get a commission anytime you make sales through your affiliate link.
Can you start a free blog?
Yes, of course, you can start a blog for free, but if your primary reason is to make money from blogging and build a brand, it is advisable to go for the paid ones.
There are many blogging platforms where you can start a blog for free such asBloggers.com,wordpress.comandMedium.
If you’re starting blogging and don’t want to invest money such as hosting, the platform mentioned above is an excellent place to start. For those who want to start a blog to build a successful business, you need to think twice and be ready to invest money.
Get affordable hosting to host your blog like BlueHost, and it only costs $2.97 per month, plus a free domain.Some of the advantages of free blogging are:
- Lack of control
- Limited customization
- Limited monetization
- Lack of support if there is an issue to solve
- Free hosting services are not reliable
You decide what to archive and any business that does not involve any investment can’t yield good results. You can get much from freebies.
What type of blog makes the most money?
The type of blog that is making money depends on the niche. Here are the best blogging niches that are making the most money in the blogging business;
- Health and Fitness blog
- Finance blog
- Marketing blog
- Lifestyle blog
- Tech blog
- Mom Blog
- Fashion blog and more
Does blogging still work in 2024?
Blogging still works, and it will continue to work. And if you’re even thinking about starting a money-making blog, then today is your day. Take a step and follow all the steps in this content to get your blog live within 5 hours.
Blogging is even more relevant this year than before, and thousands of people are starting a new blog every day and learning how to monetize tier blogs to generate income.
Whether you’re starting a blog on the side to add more income sources want to start full-time blogging and grow it to a profitable business or have some other goal in mind, blogging is one of the best ways to build a successful business.
Does it cost money to start a blog?
If you just want to create a blog for fun, you can do so for free through WordPress.com,Blogger.comandMedium.com.
And if you create a blog with your domain name and host it on premium web hosting, you can do so for under $60 a year. So if you are trying to make money from your blog, get ready to spend money before making money.
Is blogging still profitable?
Blogging is one of the most profitable businesses you can start with little budget compared to other online businesses such as eCommerce and others. I know many bloggers who are making a living through blogging and travelling worldwide.
How do I get the reader to read my blog?
As I explained before, it is crucial to find people reading your blog content. Without getting people to read your blog, it is impossible to make money from blogging.
What are the best Domain providers?
There are many domain providers where you can register your domain but I would like to recommend theBEST domains registrar, Namecheap used by millions of internet marketers and bloggers.
If you don’t want to use theBluehost free domain, then you can use Namecheap to sucre a new domain for your blog. Namecheap is one of the best domain registrars with a great reputation.
One of the advantages of NameCheap is that you can get one free year of whois guard to protect your information from spammers and competitors.
CLICK here to register your domain today. I share different ways to get people to read your blog, so make sure you read the tips and follow them.
Thanks, hope to hear from you in the comment section on how to start a WordPress blog to make money.
Related Posts
- The Traffic Syndicate Review: Traffic Mastermind 2024
- Automatic Cash Cars Review: Is Automatic Cash Cars Legit?
- Hustlers University Review 2024 By Andrew Tate
- Is Apex Focus Group Legit? The truth Is Revealed.
Oyundoyin Anthony
Oyundoyin Anthony is a blogger and an affiliate marketer that offers helpful contents to people who are looking for different products for their needs. He enjoys helping people to achieve success in their business.
