This page contains affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase through these links, I earn a small commission at no cost to you. I do not promote anything I do not find helpful or effective.
Starting a blog is not an impossible dream. It takes work and perseverance, but can be a wonderful outlet and source of income sharing what you are passionate about. Using the affiliate links below, you and I both benefit. There’s no extra cost to you, but I receive a small commission that allows me to continue blogging.
Blogging Basics
When you know how to start a blog that makes money, the sky is the limit. In order to earn money from blogging, the blog itself needs to be what’s called self-hosted. I’ll talk more about this later. Self-hosting gives you money-making decisions. Blogs that have the ability to make money are described as “monetized“. There are several common ways bloggers can earn money through their sites:
- revenue through ad networks
- affiliate programs with companies
- endorsing products from companies (sponsored posts or selling ad space)
- selling items, e-books, digital courses or services
But first, I will walk you through the steps of creating a blog.
How to Start a Blog That Makes Money
Decide on if you want a monetized blog or not
Many people create blogs for free through wordpress.com or blogger.com. Even though these sites are free, they don’t allow you the freedom to monetize your blog because they are the hosts and control the advertising.
But if you think you would like to blog and make an income while doing it, then consider having a self-hosted, monetized blog from the beginning. This gives you freedom to make decisions related to how you want to make money through your blog.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Create a domain name
Thinking of a domain name for your website can be the easiest and hardest part, depending on what you want to focus on. Easy because it can be very fun to brainstorm your .com, but hard because many domain names have already been claimed. Some keys to a successful domain name are making it:
- related to your topic of interest (so people know the gist of your blog)
- easy to spell (so people can find it)
- search-friendly for Google (simple wording)
If you want to test your domain names to see if they are taken, you can go to bluehost.com, go to “Domains” under the menu. Type in your desired domain name and see if it is available. Run your draft names by friends and family too. Honest responses can be so helpful in shaping the direction of your domain name.
I’ll never forget the idea I had for a blog name that involved two hard-to-spell vegetables. I thought it was cute. When I ran the name by my blog-reading sister, her response was, “Okay, what is that even about?” Time to go back to the drawing board!
Thankfully I settled on nickelplatekitchen.com. You can learn about the meaning behind nickelplatekitchen.com here.
Photo by Martin Reisch on Unsplash
Choose a platform
What is a platform? A platform is a way to manage your content and store files on your website/blog. It’s the behind-the-scenes controls to writing and creating your blog. WordPress.org is a popular platform with about a third of websites using it. This WordPress platform was also highly recommended by successful bloggers I respect. There are other platforms out there, but this is the one I am most familiar with and have the most experience with. It’s free and is automatically installed with bluehost, which I’ll talk more about next.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
Select a Self-hosting provider
Your site needs to be hosted (a.k.a. self-hosted) or stored by a provider so that others can access it through the internet. I self-host this site through bluehost.com. A site like bluehost.com is how a blogger registers a domain name (.com) for their blog and becomes self-hosted with the freedom to monetize.
Bluehost makes it easy to do that. I found their rates to be very reasonable and competitive. Use this link to access bluehost to create your own self-hosted site. Because I am an affiliate with bluehost, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
How to start a blog with Bluehost:
Once you hit the “Get Started” button, you’ll see plan options. You can start with the basic plan and upgrade later as needed. If you pay for an entire year, you’ll save money. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee. They have 24/7 support as well.
Then select your domain name. You’ll get it free for a year with a bluehost plan.
Once you’ve signed up for a plan and entered your information, you’ll need to create a strong and secure password. To access your website, you will log in through bluehost.
Pick a theme that you like. Once WordPress is installed, you will be able to explore more themes and select exactly what you fits your needs.
Next you will select a “business” or “personal” site, and complete the steps as they prompt you.
You can wait to hit the LAUNCH button. I waited. I wrote content. Tried to figure out all of the plug-ins I would need. There are many WordPress and blogging resources for that. With the learning curve of blogging, it took me a few months before launching.
Photo by Sara Torda on Unsplash
Ultimate Bundles: help in how to start a blog that makes money
When I first thought about blogging, I had no idea where to start.
I heard about Ultimate Bundles Genius Blogger’s Toolkit through Ruth Soukup of Living Well Spending Less and Elite Blog Academy. I signed up for Genius Blogger’s Toolkit in October 2017 and found it to be an incredible treasure trove of resources for beginning to advanced bloggers created by multiple highly experienced and successful bloggers. It is what helped me create and launch this blog.
This bundle includes everything from how to start a blog, writing engaging content, growing a following through social media, how to monetize a blog for income and much much more. I dug into this rich resource for a year or so before finally deciding on a blog name and registering it through bluehost.com. (Being a public school special education teacher at the time limited my free time to start a blog!)
If you are seriously considering blogging, I highly recommend purchasing for the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit, which is available October 2-7, 2019.
THIS YEAR GENIUS BLOGGER’S TOOLKIT OPENS FOR PURCHASE OCTOBER 2-7, 2019. I am an affiliate of Ultimate Bundles Genius Blogger’s Toolkit. For what you get, it is an incredible value.
Sale Dates: Wednesday, October 2 @ 8am ET through Monday, October 7 @ 11:59pm
Price: $97 for the full bundle
Value: 94 products worth $7395.27
Contents: 26 eBooks, 7 Printables & Workbooks, 55 eCourses & Videos, 5 Stock Photo Packs & Templates, and 1 Membership Site
Consider investing in this as a guide to help you on the next step of your blogging journey. Having purchased it and used it, I can not say enough good things about this blogging resource bundle!