How to start a money making blog? Hmm… 🤔 Blogging is one of the best ways you can increase your revenue online. No wonder there is a thousand and one bloggers who are making very decent income only based on blogging…
The mere fact that you are reading this now shows that you are also looking to learn the basics of blogging and how to monetise it.
We shall be showing you the step by step guide of how you too can become a successful blogger even if you are just a beginner. In fact, this blog is specifically for beginners.
We are very much aware of the excitement you feel when you are starting an online business. Especially reading about the numerous over hyped stories online of how you can become a millionaire over night, it makes you think there was some magic portion to it.
And we are also very much aware of the huge disappointment you feel when you realise that there are no magic wands or portions anywhere and that you have to work really hard to get even your first sale online.
9 Self-improvement Books That Changed Our Life and helped us gain financial freedom.
But having said that, there are still lots of people making serious money online just blogging. Some have even become social media influencers, millionaires (not the overnight ones though)and big time entrepreneurs.
Just like you, we were also looking for ways to monetise our blogs. But like they say “nothing good comes easy”. We had to put in the hard work. Luckily for us the online business course in affiliate Marketing we took afforded us the opportunity to learn various aspect of online business and BLOGGING was one of them.
We also learnt a great deal from Blogging Guru. The practical steps are amazing. From how to launch your own WordPress Website to Blog Monetization Methods and Traffic Blogging. Their training course is extensive packed with useful information and very affordable to help you succeed as a blogger. We highly recommend this course to new beginners or anyone looking to improve their blogging skills. You can check out this course here
After applying all we learnt about the simple basics of blogging, we have been experiencing significant growth in our revenue that is being generated from our blog posts.
One of our core values in life is adding value to others. We decided that there are lots of beginners out there who may not have the necessary funds to invest in trainings and expensive courses but need to understand that they can still begin to earn money blogging about their passion until such a time they are able to.
Hence this step by step guide.
So we are going to dive straight into it without sugar coating it.
1. The first step is to Choose your niche and Define your target audience
You need to determine and understand who you are going to be writing for and how you are going to help them. This is a very important step as it will help you determine who your Avatar is; which is very crucial to drawing the ideal readers and followers.
Building your ideal audience Avatar is quite straight forward. You just need to think about WHO you want to reach. For example, young parents between the age of 25-45 years looking for how to earn money working from home and at the same time have sufficient time with the children.
If you noticed, in that one description, I have been able to determine various factors
- Age group 25-45yrs
- Parents with kids
- People looking to find the right work and life balance
You should strive to narrow this down to that one specific type of person. This will make it easier to write for that reader and provide value to them.
Remember when you are giving valuable information, this will lead to traffic, recommendations and eventually income for you. But the focus is being able to provide value to your Avatar.
You also need to ask yourself: Is it something that you love or have a passion for? Will it be effortless to write about the topic? Is there a market for that topic?
We have a passion for motivating and educating people to find and fulfil their dreams, hence our niche is mainly to educate people looking to find the Time, Financial and Geographic freedoms by living the digital lifestyle on all it requires to be a success in internet marketing.
REVEALED: How to sell any of over 1 million products – without a dime of investment!
2. Choose a Blog Name
You then have to choose a name that will reflect your niche and make it easy for your blogs to be located and associated with you. For example if your niche is about gardening, you can choose a name such as ‘gardensguru’ or better still you can decide to build a brand for yourself by using a self named blog. E.g mikeandtonia.
Just remember it’s got to be what you are passionate about. Choose a name wisely.
3. Choose a Domain name/Hosting
It is always best if your domain name is the same as what you have chosen as your blog name for obvious reasons. This will make sure that your blog can easily be associated with your site URL which is your domain name. If you decide to use your topic as your blog name, then use same as your domain name. This is to avoid confusion.
In the example above, your domain name could be ‘gardengurus.com’ or in our case, mikeandtonia.com
You can then check if the name is available on BlueHost
Hosting is like the landowner that gives you a space to build your house. Hosting network or companies give your blog a space in the internet world where you can be reached.
It is always best to go for a self-hosted blogging platform as compared to a free blogging platform. That way you have more freedom in terms of customisation. You also get full control over your content. With a free blogging platform, you risk loosing your content at any point in time! Now that is one thing you don’t want to happen.
Self-Hosting usually cost very small amount but it is worth every penny!
We highly recommend BlueHost for your web hosting. Most bloggers and new bloggers now use them. With as little as less $3.95, you can get a free domain name (talk about saving some money), free site builder, consistent uptime, WordPress (with just one click) and very importantly, support 24/7. Click here to get your domain.
4. Now Install WordPress
If you are using BlueHost, you do get a one-step install for WordPress. With just one click and there you have your WordPress!
But if not, you have to install WordPress. This is necessary for the backend of your blog and you need it to start making money on your blog.
As mentioned, this gives you access to your backend otherwise known as your dashboard where you do and control everything for your blog.
With WordPress getting to your dashboard is easy just type your URL/wp-admin. E.G https://gardengurus.com/wp-admin
Below is a summary of the 3 simple steps in using BlueHost as your web hosting platform.
Step 1
You will land on a page with 3 plan options. As a newbie, the basic plan will be good to start with and of course you can always upgrade in the future as your business gets bigger. This plan comes with a website, free domain, 50Gb space and SSL Certificate.
Step 2
After writing your much loved -thought-of-domain name, you will be taken to a page where you must fill in your details and make payment. You shouldn’t feel the need to add any extras just yet.
Step 3
Click on the Log in to WordPress button and there you go with your very own WordPress website. Awesome!
You now have a blog ready to be customised!
5. Decide what type of Blog you want to build
Is it a personal blog or a business blog? Knowing the type of blog you are building will help you determine if you want a professional theme or not. If you are looking to monetize your blog, you need to tell WordPress because then it is different from if you are just blogging as a hobby.
6. Pick and Install a Theme
With BlueHost, you can get a ton of super awesome, powerful and very professional themes to get you up and running. As a blogger it is advisable to own your space by getting one of the professional themes. However, as a beginner, you can still start off by using one of the free themes but you should be looking to change it to a more professional one when you are able to afford it. A good first impression is absolutely important because the look of your page is the first thing anyone will see even before reading your awesome post.
7. Design your blog
Whichever platform you decide to use, there is usually a live preview of how best to use the theme you bought. Take advantage of this previews. Take a snap shot if you must, check out your favourite bloggers website for ideas and inspirations and then start building.
Don’t forget it doesn’t have to be perfect at the initial stage but hey, it’s your blog and you can always modify it as you become more conversant with it.
8. Set up your Blog email
It will be something like welcome@yourwebsite.com or yourname@yourwesite.com
- Login to your account
- Select email tab on you menu
- Fill in the form that will appear for you to create a new email with your details
- Select create account
9. Create Social Media Accounts
Create a social media account using same user name on all platforms that you choose to use. This will make it easy to find you on all the different platforms. Ours is MikeandTonia and it is the same in Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Bing, Twitter. This minimises confusion and allows potential followers find us anywhere
10. It’s now time to GO LIVE!
Now you have everything all set, start creating contents and start posting. It is a continuous process and you will get better and better at it as you keep blogging.
Now you can officially refer to your self as a Blogger.
I need to mention that it doesn’t matter that you are not getting the views that you may have anticipated when you are a beginner, it’s going to get better as long as you don’t give up.
11. Set Up Google Analytics
This is particularly useful to keeping track of activities on your blog such as how many view your page is getting, where they are coming from, how well your blogs are doing, which of your posts are the most read etc.
12. Start Building Traffic
You need to put blogs out there by sharing your post on all the social media platforms you have created. This is to draw traffic to your website. There are numerous ways you can also draw traffic such as joining groups and participating usefully in the groups, collaborating with other bloggers.
Always remember if you offer solution to someone’s problem, the chances of them seeking you out when they need an answer again is very high.
13. Start Monetizing your Blog
It is imperative that you focus on creating useful contents and building your traffic when you first start blogging and to continue doing so. When you know you have built enough traffic that trusts you based on the value you have been adding to their lives, you can now start monetizing your blog. You can do this by;
Recommending products or services that you have tried and tested to your audience and which you are an affiliate of. A good place to start is Amazon Affiliate and by applying for Google Adsense to get ads on your site to mention jut a few.
Now then I hope you have found this blog post useful and do checkout other topics on our web page www.mikeandtonia.com
Keep Blogging.
For more motivational thoughts check out our other post as well:
The revolution in learning. The evolution of you.
9 self-improvement books that changed our life
How to join high paying affiliate programs as a blogger
We turned our lemons into lemonade
As soon as I noticed this internet site I went on reddit to share some of the love with them.
Thank you Todd. Means a lot to us. Keep sharing please 💪🏼💪🏼