How to Start a Blog in 8 Easy Steps

Happy woman typing on her laptop with coffee

Here are a few reasons why I think you are here troubling yourself about blogging:

  • You want to monetize your blog
  • You want to educate and inform your audience
  • You desire to connect with people through your blogs
  • You want to share your story

So, which one are you? Or, are you all of that? Oooh, that sounds fun! Like, you love traveling, sharing your stories and itineraries, and monetizing your blog? Woah, who doesn’t want to work on something you like, right? Money is just a plus!

Step 1: What is your Niche?

Before you get started creating your blog, you first want to understand two things:

1. What is your Niche?
One thing is for sure and this is the most important thing you should be thinking about now: to become a strong and flourishing blogger, you need to choose a topic that you are passionate about. Yes, so choose your niche that totally matches your interests in life. Some of the blog niches are Food, Lifestyle, Health and Fitness, Beauty and Fashion, Travel, Personal Finance, and like this one, How to make money!

2. Why do you want to start blogging?

Knowing the true reason why you want to start blogging also matters. Why? Because if you do not want to monetize your blog and you purely just want to write about your life stories and other experiences, then this is easy like you do not need to extend some effort into promoting your blogs. But, if your reason is to share your amazing stories, you want to share useful information, you want to sell products, you want to promote the services you are offering, and all that stuff while you want to make money out of it, then you must be consistent, organized and you need to make a content plan for your blogs. So, yes, you need to know your main purpose as this is like the backbone of your blogs.

Understanding these two things will help you create clear content and intention behind your blogging. 

Step 2: Register a Domain Name

You can register your domain in any of the following, the one I personally use and love it SiteGround:

  1. SiteGround
  2. HostGator

Instructions for registering your domain on SiteGround:

Domain names services with their price
  1. Once you are on the SiteGround website, you will type in the desired domain to see if it’s available. You’ll select the
  1. I searched the name “myfirstblog.com” to check if it is available. After seeing the results, if available, you can proceed with registering the domain. A domain is an ongoing thing you will need to pay for on an annual basis. If you do not renew your domain ownership, it will be available for someone else to purchase. Registering a domain name means buying for the right to use that name for a certain period of time. If the name you like isn’t available, you can use the same name but a different extension like .net, .info, .org, etc, whichever is available and what you prefer.

Step 3: Selecting your Blogging Platform

Selecting your platform depends on your preference. There are many blogging platforms, my favorite is WordPress. You can also use: blogger, tumblr, wix, ghost, and squarespace.

The 5 reasons I love wordpress is because:

  1. WordPress is Easy to customize with Themes and Plugins
  2. WordPress is SEO friendly
  3. WordPress is super easy to manage
  4. WordPress is Safe and Secure
  5. WordPress can handle different Media Types

Step 4: Choosing your Blog Hosting

Web Hosting is an internet service that allows you to set up a website and use its technology to run and make it available online. Still not sure? Your domain is considered your “online address” now think about hosting as the land your property will be on. Some of the most leading web hosting companies are SiteGround and HostGator. I am personally using the SiteGround web hosting and I just love it! I haven’t experienced any downtime with SiteGround. Both are offering affordable and flexible plans that you can check to match your blogging needs. If you are a starter, I highly recommend that you choose the basic plan.

packages
 

Done subscribing to a web hosting that totally matches your blogging needs? Yes? Oh, that’s awesome! Way to go!

Step 5: Buying the Perfect Theme

Wait, what? Do I really need to buy a theme, Valery? Okay, hold on a second. We all know that there are free themes, for example, in a WordPress site. Oh, but your other question might be like should you buy a theme? Is it worth paying for? Something like that, right? So, before I answer that, I would like to enumerate some of the reasons why people are buying premium themes for their blog website:

  • They do not know how to overall style their website
  • They are too busy to set up their own website design, especially if they have a business to take care off
  • Web design services are way more expensive but you still want your blog site to be more stylish
  • Same with Web developers, and they are too advanced for a starter like you

So, the answer to your question if buying a theme is worth it, I can totally say yes! You see, I am a very busy person with my work and my business. Since I want my blog site to be organized and beautifully designed at the most affordable price, I bought this Blu Chic theme and I am loving it! I do not need to design each blog as my theme is automatically used for all posts that I create. Amazing, right? You can also check this theme out!

Step 6: Writing Your Blog

After setting up your WordPress website, it is time to write your blogs and publish them.

  • On the left side menu, look for the “Post”
  • Create a New Post
  • Fill up necessary details from title to adding images, to adding actual texts.
  • Publish your blog once you are done!

Step 7: Promoting Your Blogs through Social Media

Why do we need to promote your website? Well, the main goal is to have numerous readers to widen the scope and be able to reach more interested individuals. Having a great blog is a great start, but sharing it with different platforms is just an excellent way to reach more people and get more traffic to your website. Yes, it is. However, if you are a busy person, there are great tools to help you manage and share your blog posts–on time and on your terms. I have been using Tailwind for a while now and it is just amazing and efficient for a busy person like me!

Tailwind Logo

This tool is free! But of course, free trials have limits as well. So if you find yourself enjoying the tool, subscribe to their affordable plans.

Step 8: Bonus Part – Making money out of your Blogs

Yay! You are here, in the last part and the bonus one. Okay, so, I am assuming that you are done publishing and promoting your blog. You know what, monetizing your blog seems hard for you, but this is not true! There is a possibility that blogs can be profitable. But, there is a big BUT, never expect to make some money in the first week or first month. It could take around 6 months to 1 year to begin noticing a regular flow of income.

This is why blogging needs commitment and effort, but from the moment you generate enough or even a huge number of audience or reader, I can give you some ideas and approach you can apply to monetize your blog.

  1. Advertising Space – After generating enough number of audiences and you are able to make your blog a popular one, advertisers will pursue you for the chance to promote and advertise on your blog site. How? I highly recommend that you use Google Adsense. Google will find the advertisers for you. The essential part that you will do is to place the Google Adsense code on your blog to begin running and showing ads. The more click and money the ads have collected from your site, you will have a part for it. In the process, Google actually does the hard work here, and you just wait for your part.
  2. Affiliate Program – Now, what is an affiliate program, Valery? An affiliate program is a form of advertisement that is commission-based. Once a reader of your blog clicks on a link inside your blog, they will be redirected to the actual website of the advertiser and once they purchase using your link, you will earn a commission for that. This is more of like earning through reviewing certain products.
  3. Selling your own product – If you have a business, this is the easiest thing to do. You create blogs about your services or items and if your reader is interested in it, they can order it directly from you.
  4. Membership – One way to also monetize your blog is by having a membership option. You can give your members exclusive deals and content that are only available if they choose to register for a paid membership. Some exclusive deals can be free consultations if you are a coach, offering unlimited downloads of your digital products, some great private content accessible by members only.

 

Okay, so see? There are a lot of ways to make money out of blogging, especially if your blog has great site traffic. You can definitely take advantage of it. Before we start, I asked you about your reason why would you start blogging. So here it is, knowing the purpose of your blogging will determine the best and the most suitable way to monetize your work.

So, take your time. Explore lots of things! All successful bloggers know that it will really take time to actually receive your first paycheck. But if you continue to do your blogs with hard work, effort, attention, and dedication, eventually, income will flow your way.

Valery Vargas

Valery Vargas

Valery is a 30 something millennial, Latina, entrepreneur at heart, first time mama, real estate investor, bookworm, board game enthusiast, and dreamer.

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