This post may contain affiliate links for which I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Get a Siteground hosting for yourself at 3.95$/month and get the SSL certificate free. Your site got HACKED? Never again.
WHY SHOULD YOU EVEN LISTEN TO ME?
I am not the first person to tell you how to start a blog and make money blogging. There are billions of other bloggers doing the same thing.
After blogging for a year I realized that you need to have a direction where you want your blog to be. It is just like having a business with its MISSION and VISION clear from the very first.
Yes, many bloggers claim to earn 1000-2000$ within a 1-year launch BUT I am not that lucky one.
Having no blogging goals and not knowing what the next steps should be will lead your blog nowhere.
So with this experience, I thought to write the post about the essential things you should care about if you want to start a blog to earn online.
There is EVERYTHING on the internet, but if you want your progress to be faster then do get into some blogging courses.
I got my Blogging Goals and a definite focus from Scrivs and his community of Billionaire Blog Club. I really do not understand how can someone be available 24*7 answering to all member queries.
No that does not mean you have to take this course to have blogging success.
Just take any courses you feel like. Or else you can also learn on your own but that will be a bit slow paced just like me on the 1st year of blogging.
If you want to get a bird’s eye view of everything you need to learn to build a successful blog then join the free 12-Day Blogging Bootcamp ~ Scrivs
Now back to the pavilion.
6 Steps to start a Professional Money Making Blog.
STEP 1: DECIDE YOUR NICHE
This should be the first step before you setup everything or anything. There is no point to think about a successful blog business if you are aren’t sure what to write about.
O You have a business and want a blog for that? Good. Go Ahead. Here you are already sure about the topic. But you cannot just write anything day in & day out about your business. Your blog should be something which can provide value to the readers.
If you want to start a blog just to have your flexible work timing and to earn your living from it, just like me, then you need to know the niches which actually make money.
Yes, there are several bloggers who would say Go after your passion, but I would slightly differ here. I would say “you need to have a certain amount of interest in whatever topic you choose to write’.
Why am I saying this?
Because once you choose a topic then you would be writing everything about it on a daily basis. So if you hate your blogging niche then your readers would get that hint in your voice of writing and ultimately would leave your site in no time.
Choose a niche which you enjoy. Not necessary it’s your passion.
If you are SUPER CONFUSED with your blogging niche then check 7 blog niches to earn money.
The end objective is to make your blog an authority blog for that topic.
STEP 2: CHOOSE YOUR BLOGGING PLATFORM
WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms. That does not mean that your site also has to be on WordPress. There are several other blogging platforms like Squarespace, Tumblr, Wix, Joomla, Weebly, and others.
It is my personal choice to use WordPress as it is highly customizable and free.
DO NOT get confused between wordpress.com and wordpress.org.
WordPress.com is a basic blog hosting service offered for free by Automattic (Company who created WordPress).
- You have to additionally purchase a custom domain name (Or else your blog will have www.domainname.wordpress.com as a suffix)
- Cannot use too many useful plugins
- Will not be able to run advertisements on site (So, no ad monetization)
- Less customizable
- WordPress may delete your site anytime if they feel you are violating their regulations.
Many bloggers start with wordpress.com and often shift to wordpress.org because of its limitations.
So here comes WordPress.org to the rescue.
WordPress.org is also free but it requires a hosting provider. (Coming to it later).
- It is fully customizable and gives you control over every aspect of your website.
- You can choose from thousands of beautiful themes or can use premium themes.
- Use as many plugins you want.
- You can make online store site, membership site or any type of sites you like.
- Most importantly it is SEARCH ENGINE friendly.
WordPress.org may require a bit of learning curve, though there are thousands of free online tutorials to support you. The one-step solution WordPress problems which I found is WPbeginner.
SQUARESPACE
Next, I would like to speak a bit about Squarespace. This was another platform which I was thinking of considering. But WordPress won me over.
With Squarespace, you can create beautiful websites using its drag and drop feature.
If you do not want to indulge much in the tech part then Squarespace offers the simple and easy features for beginners with mesmerizing professionally designed templates.
It also offers domain name SSL, Https.
But the problem is for the personal plan it limits you only to 20 pages and 2 contributors and you are also limited in using few services and tools.
The personal plan starts at 16$ a month (12$ paid annually) and 26$ for a Business plan (18$ paid annually).
So to reduce expenses people also migrate from squarespace to wordpress.
You should check the other blogging platforms as well before you start blogging.
STEP 3: CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME
This will be the most confusing part of your blogging. Even after settling down with a domain name you will feel, I should have bought this or that.
Trust me, the domain name does not matter SO MUCH as you are thinking. Yes, it is a business name that is hard to change later as you will have your brand associated with that particular domain name. But you can come up with anything cool and build your brand and blog with that particular name.
If your domain is already taken then spend some time thinking of combining a few words which can best describe your site.
There are a number of sites that will give you domain name availability suggestions. Even without logging in you can check GoDaddy’s domain name search for free. It will give you some suggestions based on your keywords.
You can even get a domain name in under 1$ from NameCheap.
In fact, many of the web host providers already give you a free domain along with their annual subscription like Bluehost or GoDaddy.
.com, .co, or Something Else?
.com is the most popular one as it is the primitive TLD. TLD stands for the top-level domain which means it will be displayed in the URL.
I always prefer to choose .com as people are familiar to see it. The other TLDs feel like they are less important. Though the other TLDs are also becoming popular day by day.
Earlier google search somewhat used to prefer .com (I felt), but nowadays the other TLDs are also coming up in searches. So if you really want to take a domain name, the TLDs should not matter much.
STEP 4: FIND A WEBHOST
It is another difficult task.
Different people have different opinions about which web host is the best one.
When you are just starting with your blog then you may not require many resources but as you grow, you will need more bandwidth and other flexibility and that is where choosing a hosting service suitable for your blog type comes into question.
Right now am in GoDaddy’s hosting service provider but very soon I will be switching to site ground. Personally, I want to stick to siteground for their amazing customer service.
Update: 10th May 2018.
I have already shifted to siteground hosting as they are providing a free SSL certificate too. This means you will have HTTPS:// before your domain name and Google loves that and also makes it more searchable. (BETTER SEO).
You can have your siteground hosting at 3.95$ per month from the link given.
Another strong option is the WP engine. You may not know it but this is a dedicated web hosting to WordPress. WPengine is the best which can happen to your WordPress site. Though it is a bit pricey so I prefer sticking to siteground which is good from every aspect of my blog.
Another popular and cheaper option is Bluehost. This is also a decent web hosting provider.
There is also GoDaddy which is cheap and it is my first hosting provider. Any reason for which am thinking to change it? NO. I just wish to use Siteground because of free SSL and thinking of my blog’s future and resources.
STEP 5: INSTALL WORDPRESS & CHOOSE A THEME
Most of the hosting companies provide some easy wordpress installation.
Whatever hosting companies you decide, whether siteground, bluehost or godaddy or any other, you can always find youtube tutorial or posts about installing wordpress.
The next step is to choose your theme.
Once again you will be confused.
I would say at first publish a post. Then choose a theme.
It will give you a clearer picture of how your posts going to look like.
You can definitely change the theme later but changing themes more often is not suggested as it will break your entire site structure and every time you will have to put things in place.
There are thousands of free themes which you can install in wordpress.
Just go to wordpress dashboard> appearance> themes
You can check STEP 6: START BLOGGING
Now you are all set.
Just start writing. Put all your enthusiasm and love in your blog posts. Your readers should be able to know you by your posts. (It is the first step to Branding).
Write at least 15 posts before you start marketing your blog. For marketing, you can use Facebook, Pinterest, or any other social media at your comfort.
Do you think I missed out on SEO for marketing? Definitely, it is there but since SEO takes time to show results so it is better to use any social media platform at first.
I absolutely love Pinterest. You can get enough free tutorials about marketing free blog posts with Pinterest. There are several Pinterest courses too. I loved Carly’s Pinteresting Strategies.
Check out what Scrivs say about BLOGGING.
“Starting a blog Is Just the Beginning
One of the biggest reasons why many bloggers don’t even get off the ground is because they suffer from analysis paralysis.
The other ones simply don’t know what the next step is supposed to be.
That’s why I created the 12-Day Blogging Bootcamp.
This is merely the beginning of your blogging journey. If you want to get a bird’s eye view of everything you need to learn to build a successful blog then join the free 12-Day Blogging Bootcamp.
In this bootcamp, I go over the things that many bloggers won’t tell you about starting a blog that makes money. It goes into detail about the steps that I take to start my blogs.”
Start the Free 12 Day Blogging Bootcamp
Aksharafinserv
Tuesday 30th of May 2023
Great post. Excellent Very helpful blog. Thanks for sharing.
Kashmiri Paper Mache
Tuesday 27th of April 2021
This is Very Informative Articles Specially for New Bloggers. I Like This Article. Thanks for Sharing the Important Information and tips in this Article.
barfservice.ir
Thursday 15th of April 2021
that was perfect
Aboutconnect
Friday 5th of February 2021
thanks for sharing this awesome info . your article is informative and excellent . keep it up with such great content .
shikha
Tuesday 2nd of February 2021
Thanks for sharing