HOW TO START A BLOG TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE – STEP BY STEP GUIDE

Are you wondering How to start a blog to make money online, then you’ve come to the right place to learn the basics of how to start a blog to make money online?

Being a blogger for full time, I can appreciate that having a blog will not only create a way of earning money online but also improves your writing skills, you will learn thousands of new technologies, tips, and tricks for creating awesome money-making blogs.

Apart from this, you will be able to inspire, educate and entertain your readers with your quality content. The best part is that as your blog grows you will be able to monetize it.

One way or another way, blogging is the first step towards pursuing your dream job or a favorite hobby. While starting a blog may seem daunting to you, but here I will guide you step by step in how to start a blog to make money online. The process is quite easy and if followed passionately you will be able to see the results within a couple of months from your blog.

In this tutorial of “How to start a blog to make money online”, you will get all the guidance and the necessary tools to start a blog to make money online. You will get to know how to start your website from zero to hero.

So without any further delay, as the name of this article “How to start a blog to make money online” let us learn step by step the process of starting a blog.

Quick Navigation about How to start a blog to make money online

You must be curious now about how to start a blog?

Let me tell you blogging is an art which is already happening for years, I do agree that now it is much more evolved as compared to previous times. Now blogging has the potential to take a full-time job. But sadly, many people still don’t know the power of blogging, they are not aware of how to start a blog. With your blog, you can engage your audience to learn skills, make money online and sell your products, courses, etc.

Yes, all these can be done with blogging only.

I remembered that when I started blogging, my reactions were the same as yours. What a blog? What will I achieve with blogging? and blah blah questions.

How can I be a blogger and make money with blogging?
What are the ways of setting up a blog?
How to start a blog to earn money online?
Will I be able to make money with blogging?
Where to get hosting?
What are the best domain providers?
Should I use free blogging platforms or buy paid hosting?
And lot’s of many more pieces of puzzles

The best part is that now I know the answers to all the above questions, and I am here to let you teach you the answers to these questions. This article is curated in a way that it should cover most of the answers of questions which pops up in the mind of new bloggers.

So are you ready to start a new blog and make money online?

HOW TO START A BLOG TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

Excited?

“How to start a blog and make money online” I am gonna assist you step by step, just like a kid is taught how to take his first baby steps. I will also tell you what I have learned so far from my 10 years of experience of blogging, I won’t tell you anything which is outdated or is not legit.

If you are looking for quick and ill-legit ways then this guide is not for you, you can simply close the tab.

If you are still reading this post, then it means you are ready to start a blog following legit ways and best practices. Glad to know that you have decided this way.

The decision I took to start a blog was nothing but to earn money online. I didn’t take it as a hobby or time pass, I was determined to make money online through my blog, and now I am proud to say that my blog is earning more than $1000 per month. Now I can pay my bills, being my boss, and grow my blog to reach the next step.

In this post, I will guide you on “How to start a blog to make money online” step by step.

1. What Is A Blog?

Have you ever thought of what is the actual meaning of a blog? People keep on saying blog, blog, blog… what do they mean by this word? Enough Suspense!

Ideally, a blog is an online tool to publish new content, build an audience, and of course a way of earning money online. Almost all bloggers have one or another reason for starting a blog, but the common goal of every blogger is to make money online through its blog. In this article, we will go through the important tips and what are the steps needed to start a blog to make money.

2. Should You Start A Blog?

You may have your reasons for starting a blog, but most people don’t know why they are blogging? They are blogging just for their time pass or hobby. In my years of experience, it is the first and most important aspect that you must be clear in your mind that why do we want to start a blog? Is it your goal to make money online with your blog or just wanted to become a good blogger for any other reason?

You may be surprised to know that currently there are more than 2 million blogs are published online and the count is increasing day by day. These statistics indicate the love for blogging among people all over the world.

If you are getting inspired by blogging, then there is nothing that can stop you to become a successful blogger, I must admit that money will come as a side product of blogging. Being a blogger, you just need to keep track of your goals, your commitments, and a few cents to start and set up your blogging route.

If you are still reading this post, then I would like to congrats you on your determination, you have the potential to create a cool blog. I promise you that at the end of this article you will be having your blog ready. Cheers.

TOP REASONS TO START A BLOG – HOW TO START A BLOG TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE – STEP BY STEP GUIDE

Before deep-diving further, let us first see the top reasons to start a blog.

2.1 Make Money Online

For most people, the topmost reason for starting blogging is to make money online. They have opted for blogging as their full-time job. Yes, you guessed right, they made it as a job. You will be amazed you know that there are thousands of bloggers who have 6-7 figure income with their blogs. You can also start a blog to make money online.

In my years of blogging experience, blogging is considered as one the most profitable business with very little cost. A good-quality blog post will be able to make money for years. A part of this blogging also needs less time as compared to the usual 9-5 jobs. Also, you will be able to consider yourself as your boss, no one will be there to rule you. This article will teach you how to start a blog to make money online.

With blogging, you will be able to generate 5-6 figures income. With this income you can pay your bills, you can go on vacation. The best part is that once your blog can generate 6-7 figure income, you can opt for retirement.

Blogging also gives you confidence, strength, and recognition across bloggers. It will provide you a platform to showcase your skills, passions, knowledge to the world. A good number of readers and buyers across the different niches are always looking for good blogs where they can promote their businesses or products.

2.2 A Way Of Building An Audience

Some businesses have their in-house products. The other reason for blogging is to build a huge list of audience to promote your businesses or products. I have learned that by building an audience list you can increase your income at least 10 times more.

2.3 Sharing Your Personal Stories And Beliefs

Blogging is also a way of sharing your stories, personal learnings, or experiences with the world. You can start a blog and start sharing your own experiences or learnings. Blogging is one the fastest and easiest ways of sharing your thoughts, learnings, skills, etc with the world.

2.4 To Become A Quality Content Writer

Do you like writing? Yes, blogging is also a way to learn how to write quality content. By writing daily or weekly blogs your writing skill will get improved. You will come to know the qualities needed in a good-quality content post.

In the next step of How to start a blog to make money online, we will learn about niche selection. I am confident that you are ready to get started to learn how to start a blog.

3. Stick With A Blogging Niche

It’s much easier to learn “How to start a blog to make money online“ in comparison to deciding a niche. The main and important step before moving forward is to decide and stick with a particular blogging niche. If you are thinking of starting a blog, then you must have an idea.

Your idea doesn’t need to be unique and great, but it should be able to solve at least one problem faced by people in their day-to-day life. You should think a minute that whether your idea is solving any problem or not before writing posts.

If you doubt your niche, then is it important to consider the below points.

3.1 Do I Have Enough Knowledge In The Niche Or Am I Ready To Learn More In This Niche?

Ideally, you should not pick a niche where the chances of earning are high, but you don’t have any interest in that niche. Merely selecting a niche because of earning potential will not make you the winner. Blogging needs consistent learnings and that can be possible only when you have an interest in that niche. Moreover, you won’t be able to work continuously in that niche due to a lack of interest.

You should select your niche which you like to explore more. The niche should be selected in a manner where you want to know more, you want to learn more in that niche. Whenever you see a new blog in that post, you should be getting a feeling of knowing and learning more about your niche automatically.

So, before selecting your niche, take a break, think twice, do analysis or reach out to your friends and families to get feedback. Lastly, you are the one who knows yourself at best.

3.2 Will I Be More Concise On That Particular Topic?

Once the niche is selected, you should think that if a topic is given to you then will you be able to be more precise on that topic? It can be sports, movies, games, or tech posts. Think twice and focus on a more narrowed topic. Know in which topics you are best.

I came across a blog that is in the food domain, and each post of that blog is specific to some particular recipe, there is nothing mentioned about additional recipes sticking with the topic of the post. You will be amazed to know that the daily income of the blog is almost $25000.

Unable to decide the niche, let’s check out some of the common niches

• LifeStyle Niches
• Product Review Niches
• Beauty Niches
• Cooking Niches
• Gardening Niches
• Technology Niches
• Finance Niches
• Health Niche
• Parenting Niches
• Education Niches
• Gaming Niches
• And the list goes on

4. Select A Blogging Platform

Now we have an idea about what is a blog? We have selected a niche also. Now the question comes what should be the blogging platform? At this step, you must be thinking what is the best blogging platform to get started with your blogging journey?

4.1 Is It Worth Joining Free Blogging Platforms

I must admit that if you search for free blogging platforms, you will end up with thousands of such platforms. But the main question you should be asking yourself now “Is it worth it to join free blogging platform?

In my years of blogging, I learned that blogging on free blogging platforms will make you enable to publish, update your posts on them easily, but you won’t be able to do any customization with that.

The concept is that if your aim is not to take blogging as a full-time job or start a business with it, then you can happily use these free blogging platforms.

But if you have a long-term goal of making blogging a business and job for you, then I must suggest you use some hosting, like Bluehost or HostGator, etc.

The free blogging platforms have many limitations that you won’t be able to start a campaign, you have to stick with the limited number of widgets provided by them, etc. Please note that you will be still able to make some income with free blogging platforms by using google ads.

But If you want to get into the blogging world having all controls with you, then I will recommend you to use WordPress as an efficient blogging platform. In case you are not a tech person or you are an absolute newbie, you can easily work with WordPress. Apart from it, there are thousands of tutorials are already present on the internet which will teach you to know more about WordPress.

This tutorial will aim to step by step guide for how to start a blog to make money online. The best part is that you don’t need to install WordPress at all. Nowadays the hosting companies will take care of this for you. One such hosting provider is Bluehost.

Bluehost is one of the top hosting providers in the blogging domain. Millions of users are already using Bluehost services.

Bluehost’s latest feature “Blue Spark” provides a free service to get you started in setting up a WordPress website. It’s free! Remember when you buy hosting from Bluehost, just get in touch with their support team to opt for blue spark services free. Bluehost tech support team will help you to get through all the technicalities.

Excellent, we have moved one more step ahead in setting up your blog.

In comparison to other blogging platforms, there should not be given any chance for a second thought. Believe me and just go for WordPress. You will be ultimately saying thank you to me.

5. Choose A Domain Name

Oh, again a new tech term? Domain Name? Don’t worry we will guide you on what is domain and how to get a domain?

A domain name is a unique name that refers to a particular website. On the internet, every website has a domain name and which is unique. Remember two websites can not have the same domain name.

If you are not sure how to choose a domain name, then there is no need to panic at all. Choosing a domain name for your website can be much easier than you have thought. You can use various domain name generator which will suggest good domain names for your website.

So its time to get a domain, but before that let us see some of the best practices used to select a domain name

Is your selected domain name easily pronounceable? There is no advantage in providing the complex, unpronounceable domain name.

• Is your domain name specific to you only? Then simply use your name for the domain name
• Make double check that there are no spelling errors in your domain name
• Is your domain name short and rememberable?

You don’t need to put a lot of effort into selecting a domain name. But it is a good practice to at least do some research for your domain. Keep in mind that your domain name must not confuse your audience. Never have a domain name that is similar to the existing domain name. You may have tempted to get a domain name with only some characters different from an existing website, with such a domain, you are just confusing your audience.

When you buy hosting from this link of Bluehost, you will get a free domain for a year. Using this technique you don’t have to worry about the domain at least for a year. Afterward, you can renew your domain with minimum charges.

6. Get Website Hosting And Plan

Now it’s time to get hosting. Hosting companies’ task is to manage and maintain your blog in a working condition. Your selected hosting company will provide you an online space where you can put all your blog files, your content, etc. Hosting companies will provide you all the services needed to run a blog. Please note that without a hosting service, you won’t be able to make your blog online.

From my years of blogging and usage of Bluehost hosting, I recommend Bluehost only. I have got a $2.95 Special Price Offer for my readers which is almost 50% off the regular price of $7.99.
Grab the offer here by creating an account on Bluehost.

If you use my special affiliate link, you will be getting a discount and will able to save a handsome amount.

It’s good practice to always select a reliable hosting provider company for setting up the blog. Keep in mind that it is most important to select a hosting provider that provides excellent service and fantastic customer support. You will be surprised to know that many of the bloggers including me are not too technical to handle all the complexities of the hosting etc.

These are the top reasons to get Bluehost as your hosting provider for your blog.

• More than 5 million websites are hosted on Bluehost. It’s recommended by wordpress.org
• Automatic updates for WordPress
• Free SSL certificate
• Automatic WordPress installation
• Free domain name for 1 year
• 24/7 customer support to solve any problem
• Ideal for new customers

REASONS TO CHOOSE BLUEHOST HOSTING? HOW TO START A BLOG TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

Along with wordpress, I would also like to recommend Bluehost as the hosting provider. Bluehost is one of the top web hosting companies which is exceptionally good in its services. Bluehost has already hosted millions of websites successfully, therefore rated as a top-rated hosting platform.

The best part of Bluehost is that it takes less than 5 minutes to install WordPress with Bluehost. Still not excited, okay I must admit that the blog you are reading now is also hosted on Bluehost. Excited now! Bluehost also provides good customer support and less cost in comparison to other hosting providers.

• You can start signing up just for $3.95/month
• You will get a free domain available for one year
• You will get a 24/7 customer chart
• You will get a 24/7 chat support

Irrespective of the plan and terms of service you choose, if you get the hosting through this link, you will always get a discount. Make sure to get the hosting from the provided links to avail of extra offers and discounts.

It may sound a bit tough for newbies to learn WordPress, working and installing with plugins, further choosing a theme, etc. Not to take more pressure, the Bluehost support team will assist you in every step.

6.1 Talk To Experts

After getting the hosting plan from my link, it’s time to get in touch with Bluehost experts. You need to get in touch with Bluehost support either online or by calling. Highly trained Bluehost representatives will speak to you and will walk you through all the necessary steps.

You need to share your website goals, depending on which they will suggest to you the recommended plugins and the best theme suited for your goals. However it’s not necessary to follow their advice but as said they are experts, so they will provide you’re the best possible resources for you.

7. Time To Start Your Blog

Now it’s time to start your blog. Here I advise you to stick with me and I will guide you step by step in creating your WordPress blog with Bluehost. Just follow the steps and you will be having a beautiful website within minutes. The process of creating a website is very simple and straightforward. It won’t take days to do the same.

7.1 Step 1) Click The Link Signup For Bluehost

This link will land you on the main page where you need to click on the big green button showing “GETTING STARTED NOW”. Please note when you’ll finish signing up through my link, you may get additional benefits.

7.2 Step 2) Decide And Select A Hosting Plan

Now it’s time to select a plan. You may select

• Basic
• Plus
• Prime

According to the goals of your blog, You can select the plan. If you have plans of growing with your blog then I will advise you to go from the Plus plan.

7.3 Step 3) Register A New Domain Name For Free

Now it’s time to register a new domain name for free with Bluehost. Alternatively, you can opt for the existing domain name. In case you have already a domain name, you can still have a new free domain with my link.

7.4 Step 4) Provide All The Details For Purchasing The Hosting

Now it’s time to provide all the required data for purchasing the selected hosting plan. I will suggest tp cross-check your details twice. Make sure that everything is correct and up to date.

7.5 Step 5) Choose The Number Of Years For Your Selected Hosting Plan

Bluehost provides services for a different number of years. You can opt for 1,2,5,10 years plan. Depending upon the goal and business of your blog you can always select several years. In my years of experience, if you aim to grow and make money online then your should select at least a 3-year plan. If you think that cost is pretty much higher then you can change it to 1 year. But selecting a long duration will have benefits that it will cost less, you will get a higher discounted percentage.

You can always upgrade your selected services anytime. So there is nothing to worry about in terms of go for selecting the plans.

7.6 Step 6) Add Your Billing Information

Now time to add your billing information and click on the checkbox to agree. Uncheck all other boxes, you think that are irrelevant to your aim. Click on submit.

7.7 Step 7) Set A Strong Password

Congrats! You have just completed all the processes. Make sure to create a strong password for your account.

7.8 Step 8) Login With The New Password

Now it’s time to log in with your new password.

7.9 Step 9) Choose A Theme

Now it’s time to pick a theme suited for you. You can try different themes. Don’t worry you can change the theme at any time.

You can choose a random theme to continue building your new website.

7.10 Step 10) Cheers!

Since WordPress is already installed and now you are done with a free WordPress theme. Now it’s time to start building your website.

7.11 Step 11) Working With WordPress Theme

You will now see the “Welcome to WordPress” message. This is the WordPress dashboard. With basic instructions, you can select whether you would like to go for a business website or need to go for a personal blog. The good part is that you can do it these setting by your own if you know.

7.12 Step 12) Congrats!

Now at this step, you should take a quick tour of your WordPress. Now you will be getting an idea of how WordPress works. You can either go for setting up your website first and launch it now or you can select it to launch later.

In my years of experience, I learned that the first impression is the last. Based on the same learning I will advise you to set up the website first and then publish it.

8. Set Up WordPress Site

Now the next step includes creating a new blog for your website.

Being a blogger, most of your time will be spent on the WordPress dashboard. In the beginning, it might seem very intimidating for you, but in some time you will get familiar with the dashboard. The best part of WordPress is that it is very easy to use and simple to navigate. In some time you will become the master of the WordPress dashboard.

Below is the home screen of your blog dashboard. There are also options to customize this dashboard making it more useful.

The next step includes changes the common settings. Click on the settings in the left bar and click permalink. Double-check that you select the ‘post name’ option. It’s very important to make these settings before you start writing your post and generating URLs.

Navigate through your WordPress dashboard, you will find out many options for creating posts, pages, uploading media, etc. As time passes and you create your posts, you will get to know about the dashboard more.

9. Selecting A WordPress Theme And Design

You may be aware that WordPress provides thousands of free plugins, themes, and many other features for its users. It also provides thousands of free themes, which you can freely use to create your website.

When you join Bluehost, you will also get access to many free WordPress themes that you can use freely without any issues.

On top of these free themes, having a custom theme is also an option. Custom themes are those themes that can be bought from other vendors. Custom themes are not free. It’s always a good idea to go for custom themes rather than free themes if your budget allows. Custom themes have many more customized feature which is not available in free themes.

Elegant themes have some very good themes and that too available at a reasonable and affordable price. Divi is one of the most popular WordPress themes, having a drag and drop visual page builder. You can visit your WordPress gallery here.

10. Time To Install WordPress Plugins

Once you are done with installing a theme on your own, it’s time to install the essential plugins which are a must for your website.

From my years of experience, I am going to suggest to you the most needed plugins necessary for your website at this stage. You can install or uninstall any plugin at any time. If needed you can even go for paid versions of plugins.

Installing a plugin is a very straightforward process. Just go to your dashboard and click on Plugins in the left bar. Click on “Add new”. Put the name of the plugin in the search bar, located on the right side of the screen. Search for the plugin and click Install Now.

I recommend you bookmark this page so that you can refer whenever you need to find a piece of information.

10.1 Yoast Plugin

Yoast is one of the most popular and recommended plugins for a website. It handles all the Search Engine optimization-related tasks.

10.2 Akismet Plugin

This is another important plugin to keep your website from spammers.

10.3 WP Super Cache Plugin

WP Super cache is a fast caching plugin to improve the speed of your website.

10.4 Shortpixel Plugin

Shortpixel plugin is needed for improving the website images.

10.5 Contact Form 7 Plugin

This plugin can be used for implementing your contact form.

11. Create Core Pages And Main Menu

For creating a professional website, you should concentrate on creating site main pages. In my experience, the core pages of the website are Disclosure and Privacy pages, Contact page, about us page.

11.1 Create Legal Pages (Disclosure, Privacy)

The first and foremost step is to create legal pages for your website. If you aim to make money online, then you must respect google policies. If you are planning to use Google AdSense or any affiliate links then it should be mentioned on your privacy policy page.

The main reason for having a privacy policy page is to comply with the law. Privacy policy and Disclosure are the most important pages you must implement in your blog.

11.2 Contact Page

There are times when you want your readers to get in touch with you. TO handle such a scenario you must provide some ways for your audience to get in touch with you. The best and easy way for them to connect is to through contact forms. People who are looking to contact you or the website can use this form to interact with you. Here is my sample contact page with a form on it.

11.3 About Us Page

When you create a blog or website, you should tell your audience about your blog or website. New visitors or businesses are always eager to understand what the business is about the blog. You can just refer to google to find out the best ways of about us page. More precisely, even a simple page can do wonders.

12. Change Basic Blog Settings

Now it’s time to do some basic blog settings for your website.

12.1 Setting The Permalink Structure

The main and necessary important step is to set the structure of the permalink of your posts so that google can find it easy to understand. Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on settings. Next, click on permalinks. Choose a Post name that is the best option for google.

12.2 Making Your Blog Public And Indexed By Search Engines

Under Settings go the Reading, cross-check to see the box in the search engine visibility section is not checked.

13. Time To Write Your First Post

Excited to write your first post? Now it’s time for you to write your first post. It’s a great feeling to start writing content for your readers. If you find it tough in writing the content, do some research on the internet, get some ideas and then write good quality content.

Once you have your content ready. Just click on publish and you are done.

14. Promoting Your Blog

The next step is not to promote your blog and try to get more traffic on your website. Keep in mind that this won’t be happening overnight. It is a continuous effort and you will be able to see a small growth in your blog daily.

I will tell you some of the most used ways of promoting your new blog and increase website traffic.

14.1 Use Social Media Platform

The best place to promote your blog is on social media platforms. Most bloggers use social media to promote their blogs. Here are some of the quick places to promote your blog

• Your Facebook Profile
• On a new Facebook page
• Join Facebook groups
• Use Twitter
• Pinterest

15. Monetize Your Blog

There are many ways to monetize your blog and start making money online. But in the post, I will let you know the most profitable ways of making money through a blog.

• Affiliate Marketing
• Display advertisement
• Selling digital products
• Sponsored content
• Offer services
• Review Products
• And yes there are other methods too.

Suppose you have thousands of blog posts and you are getting probably 10k page views every month. You can apply for an ad network and make huge money every month. Or let’s assume that you are using some companies’ products, then you can recommend those products to your readers. You will get a commission if someone buys through your affiliate link and you will earn a commission. This concept of making money is called affiliate marketing.