How to Start a Blog and Earn a Full-time Income
2 years back, I was sitting on my couch, scrolling shorts on UTube. I saw something that really grabbed my attention, It was a blogger’s income report who was making around $25,000 per month with his small blog.
WHAT IS IT?
I reacted at once.
Living a luxury life had always been a dream of mine, and that income report really inspired me to go deep more.
I was SO inspired by all the fascinating stories of how bloggers were earning several thousands of dollars a month.
I just decided to give it a shot, without too much thinking, without much research and without any knowledge about blogging. I jumped right in. And thank god that I did!
When I first started as a beginner, I was just looking forward to earning $300 to $500 per month in extra income, which with hard work and effort, I was able to make money online all by using Pinterest in my first 6 months of blogging.
Fast forward 1 year, I was earning an extra $5,000 a month blogging on top of my full-time job!
And to be honest, I never really had the expectation to become a blogger (I’m still not used to calling myself a blogger), but in 2nd year of my blogging journey, I am earning over $10,000 per month as a full-time blogger with my small blog, which allows me to earn more money, pay off debts, save more, and finally quit the job I disliked!
My whole flipped (for the better) just because I took that chance and made something out of it and started a blog.
Today I am earning online without leaving my home while being able to spend more quality time with my family and friends.
I definitely enjoy this lifestyle much more because I have the freedom to work where I want and when I want.
I am not saying that starting a blog is much that easy because things might seem confusing initially.
Yeah, I promise you that I will try my best to make things better for you. When you will spend some time learning new things every day about blogging and implement them, you will start earning.
Just like you, I was a little bit scared. So many questions were surfing in my mind like how I will start a blog, my writing skills are not good, how I’ll monetize my blog and so many more.
I was very nervous and lacked a lot of confidence because growing up, I was surrounded by a negative and toxic environment, so I never thought of myself as worthy enough to achieve anything in life.
Luckily, when I found out that you don’t have to be a good writer, or know how to code, I started my blog on a whim!
One amazing thing about blogging is that NO MATTER where you’re from, what your background is, the level of your education, or how old you are, ANYONE can start a blog and make money online with no experience!
Thinking About Starting Your Own Blog?
Let’s Have a Look at the bonuses First:
- High Money-Making Potential
- Beginner-friendly
- Helps Kickstarting a Business
- Bringing New Clients to Existing Business
- Financial Freedom
- Sharing your Knowledge/ Expressing Yourself
- Building an Audience
- Making a Difference
- And so many more…
Myths That Might Stop You From Starting a Blog
1. It requires good writing skills
Absolutely Not
You must hold a degree to start your career in blogging. Trust me, you don’t.
The only thing you should care about is communicating clearly to the reader and being consistent in your efforts. You should know how to use words articulately.
People admire relatability, honesty, and realness, not some over-the-top big fancy words.
2. Starting a Blog is Expensive
Only if you believe $2.95/month is expensive, then yeah, it is pretty expensive 😉. If you can just manage to skip 1-2 lattes in a month, you’ll be able to afford it. Just saying!
3. Growing a Blog Takes Forever
It’s true, but only to some extent.
Yes, a brand new blog takes time to grow, we’re not making instant noodles here, we’re creating a sustainable income source for the long haul.
As most important things takes time, growing something that remarkable will take a year or two. But once you’ve reached a certain threshold, your growth becomes exponential.
For example, it took me a year to get to 20k monthly page views, but it went from 20k to 100k in a matter of two months and so did my income (5X growth).
So yeah, you can say that it takes time, but the growth after that makes it all worthwhile.
I wrote this guide to help you learn how to start your blog TODAY. All of the links in this post will open in a new tab so you don’t lose your place.
Ready to dive right in? Don’t worry It’s easy…
As I’ve already mentioned before, starting a blog in today’s age is quite a cakewalk, all you have to do is follow this guide step-by-step and you’ll have your very own blog within the next 10 minutes.
Let’s get started
1: Choose Your Niche
If you want to start a blog and make money with it, the first thing you’ll want to do is determine a blog niche that is profitable.
In blogging, your topic is known as your niche.
So what niche do you have in mind?
This is where you ask yourself the following questions:
– What do you love talking about to your friends and family (or even strangers), that you can’t shut up about?
– What are your strengths, skills, and interests?
– Perhaps they’re not your strengths or skills (yet). But what do you enjoy talking about?
– What motivates you to learn and grow within that niche?
For example, I wouldn’t consider myself an expert when it comes to personal finance, but I am confident enough to offer tips based on my experience and what I’ve learned. As you all know, there is no limit when it comes to learning. The best part is being able to learn and teach at the same time!
Here are some popular blog niches:
- Parenting and Mommy Blogs
- Food, Meal Planning, and Recipes
- Travel, Entertainment, and Eats
- Healthy Eating
- Health, Fitness, Workout, and Exercises
- Food and Diet (you can blog specifically about one diet if you like)
- Arts, Crafts, and DIY Projects
- Sewing and Crocheting
- Upcycling, Thrifting, and Refurbishing
- Real Estate
- Home Renovations
- Beauty, Fashion, and Make-up
- Relationships (Family, Marriage, Love, etc.)
- Personal Finance, Budgeting, and Money Matters
- Frugal Living
- Minimalistic or Zero-Waste Living
But these are just a few examples of blogging niches. You can literally write about any and every topic imaginable. Don’t limit yourself to the abovementioned.
You can blog about almost anything as long as you are sincerely interested in that topic. AND let’s not forget… you need to keep the reader in mind by solving their problems!
Your blog posts need to provide value by solving a problem (or at least entertaining to read)!
This is what I learned within my first year of blogging…
You DON’T need to reinvent the wheel.
Go ahead and pick a topic or niche you want to blog about.
PRO TIP: Feel free to pick which is profitable but please don’t overthink this too much. Simply get started with a topic you love to discuss and learn as you go.
PICK A DOMAIN NAME
Now, you will have to think of a name for your blog (domain name). For example, the domain name of this blog is Passionscafe.com, similarly, you’ll have to come up with a blog name.
Try to think of a name that reflects the topic/niche of the blog. If your blog will be about cooking and recipes, you can name it Foodmood.com or something like BigTasteTable.com, it is completely up to you.
Alternatively, you can name your blog after your full name, (First name)(Surname).com.
Here are some tips for choosing a domain name:
- Make your blog name related to your niche.
- Make your name easy to spell and say
- Make sure that the .com of your chosen name is available.
- Add modifying words, if it is not available what you are looking for.
- Use your own name. If you can’t think of a catchy name for your blog, using your own full name as your domain name is always a safe bet.
THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A PERFECT BLOG NAME!
Just like you, I was extremely excited about starting my blog, so I wanted to come up with the perfect name!
Truth be told, there’s no such thing as the perfect blog name. I spent so much unnecessary time overthinking this and I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.
Thankfully, I stopped overthinking and I just went for my blog name.
If I thought or planned too much, I wouldn’t have started my blog and I wouldn’t be here to share my journey on how I make money blogging.
You can check if the domain name you’re thinking of is available or not below:
If the entered domain is available, TAKE IT RIGHT NOW! because it is not sure whether it might be available tomorrow or ever.
One moment shows availability and in the other minute, It is GONE.
I know it’s not that easy to decide on a blog name you like in a second. No problem.
You can still go ahead and set up your blog now (Bluehost gives you this option), then come back and choose a domain name later.
In the next section, I will show you exactly how to get your domain name for free with Bluehost (as opposed to paying $15 to $20 for it.)
Isn’t interesting?
HOW TO START A BLOG FOR FREE?
But, wait a minute, does this mean you actually have to pay to start blogging?
Alright, let’s be real for a second, and let me set the record straight on FREE vs. PAID blogging.
Yup, to start a blog, you need to pay a small hosting fee to Bluehost (starting at $2.95-$6.99/month). And it’s 100% worth it!
Hosting“Hosting” is like a house on the internet, the place where your blog will reside, and the “Domain” (e.g: Passionscafe.com) will be its address.×Dismiss alert
I started this blog, Passionscafe.com, using this affordable Bluehost plan here and I have no regrets because if I didn’t start my blog, I wouldn’t be here sharing my blogging story! By starting my blog with a simple web hosting plan, I was able to make a full-time income as a new blogger!
1. Buying Hosting for Your Blog
Bluehost is perfect for beginners and is very affordable. It’s guaranteed to make your blog load fast, keep it safe and secure from hacking, and keep it online at all times. Plus, you get your own domain name for free for one year!
Yup, 3 years back I took the same decision and I am glad as I did that.
First, go to Bluehost.com, if you haven’t already and you’ll see the page given below.
Make sure you have the page pulled up in a separate tab before beginning the tutorial, as you’ll be following the guide and executing the steps on Bluehost simultaneously.
Get the Best Web Hosting on Bluehost
After tapping the button, you’ll see the homepage of Bluehost (Image given below).
Just tap on Get Started Now, you will see the page like the image below:
Now you’ll tap on the “Choose Plan” button that will take you to the list of the paid WordPress plans. Since you’re a beginner, you won’t be needing any other plans other than “Basic“.
So now, tap on, you guessed it, “Basic“, which covers all the basic things you need to have as of this moment.
After that, you’ll be redirected to a page that’ll get you your blog name (domain name) that you checked before.
Simply type the domain name you have in mind under the “Create a new domain” section and make to check the spelling once or twice.
What if I haven’t decided on a name yet? If you haven’t decided on a domain name for your blog yet, click “I’ll create my domain later.” Or you can wait a couple of seconds and this offer will pop up on the screen:
And for the last page of this step, all you have to do is fill up your details and choose your term plan. The minimum you can choose is for 1 year and it goes up to 3 years.
Mind you, the cost per month reduces when a longer-term plan is chosen, so I would suggest you choose a 3-year package. This way you’ll be paying less money per month. Cost-efficiency? Check!
Now, just uncheck every box except the “Domain Privacy+Protection“, and enter your payment details.
One more thing…
Bluehost does have a 30-day refund guarantee, so you don’t have to think twice if this is worth the money or not.
You can easily ask for a full refund if you find that this “blogging thing” isn’t for you.?
After the purchase, there are a few small steps like creating a Password for your blog and whatnot, all of which is easy and pretty straightforward.
CONGRATS, YOU’RE DONE!
2. INSTALL WORDPRESS
Don’t worry, you’re almost done! This is the most fun part!
Bluehost makes this super easy with their 1-click WordPress Installation button.
Once you’ve clicked it, wait until WordPress is installed.
What exactly is WordPress? WordPress is the content management platform that your blog will run on. Your WordPress dashboard is where you will go to edit the look of your blog, write blog posts, upload images, etc.
Welcome to the WordPress Dashboard!
40% of all websites on the Internet use WordPress.
It’s extremely easy to use, even if you’re a total beginner.
Bookmark this link so that you can easily access it when you want to log in.
The link to your WordPress dashboard is: https://yourblogname.com/wp-admin/
It took me just 30 minutes to learn WordPress when I started😊
3. Design Your BLOG
Now it’s time for the fun part – Designing blog.
WordPress is the place you can publish posts, images, and everything on your blog. We can also install the required WordPress plugins to power up your blog with some additional features.
It may be complicated at first, but don’t worry. It’s much easier than it seems. I recommend you read the WordPress beginner’s guide to figure out everything easily.
When you log in to your WordPress dashboard for the first time, you will be prompted to go ahead and choose a theme for your blog:
There are literally dozens of free themes you can find under the Appearance→Themes, in your blog dashboard.
If you wish to have a more premium, professional, and customizable theme, my #1 recommendation will be GeneratePress themes (I use it for both of my sites). GeneratePress is lightweight, cheap, and very beginner-friendly.
Now after applying your preferred theme, all you have to do is, Launch your blog.
What’s Next on Blogging?
You already have a blog live on the Internet.
But it’s still empty, so it’s time to fill it with some pretty amazing content.
Now that you have your very own blog, start creating/writing your thoughts, and your views, express yourself on the topics you find interesting and share that with the world (and yeah, make money along with it ?).
4. Start Creating Amazing Content
Once everything is set up, you can now start creating content, i.e., your pages and posts. Begin by creating your basic web pages like the home page, about page, and contact page. Then you can start writing your first ever blog post.
If you haven’t started implementing the steps yet, just tap on the button below and get started.
Go to Bluehost Now
5. Start Driving Traffic to your Blog Now
My recommendation for beginner bloggers is to start out on Pinterest. It’s one of the best places to drive free traffic to your blog.
Yes, Google Loves new websites
But it is quite difficult to drive traffic initially.
Pinterest is one of those platforms that many small business owners and bloggers overlook. This is often due to the misconception that the platform is only used for looking up recipes and home décor ideas.
However, there are several other blog niches, such as fitness, DIY, finance, parenthood, tech, relationships, and coding that are extremely popular.
In fact, about 61% of the traffic to my blog — Passionscafe.com — comes from Pinterest.
Here in this section, I’ll reveal the exact strategy which I used to drive traffic from Pinterest and how I earned $300 from my blog in just 1 month as I started.
Why Pinterest?
- It’s a search engine. Most people have the misconception that Pinterest is a social media platform, but it’s actually a search engine. This means that your content will continue to be found years after being published instead of disappearing a few hours later like on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
- As of the first quarter of 2022, Pinterest had 433 million monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide, up by roughly 2 million users in the previous quarter.
- It’s easier to rank. Pinterest’s algorithm isn’t as advanced as Google’s, which means it’s easier and faster to rank for popular keywords.
- The audience consists of high-income users. 27% of adults who use Pinterest earn $30,000-74,999 per year, and 41% earn more than $75,000, according to Statista.
8 Hacks to Get Traffic From Pinterest
1. Explore Pinterest
The best technique is to use Pinterest’s explore page and check out what type of content is popular in your niche.
After you click on a topic, Pinterest will show you things like featured articles, trending searches, and popular ideas.
This is a great way to not only see what’s popular, but also what keywords your competitors are targeting.
2. Pinterest Ads: No Money Required😜
To find keywords using Pinterest Ads, log in to your Pinterest account and go to Ads > Create ad.
Don’t worry, we won’t actually be creating a campaign. We only want to see more keywords.
Anyway, now click New ad group on the left column > select any strategy (doesn’t matter) > click on Keywords & Interests > Add keywords.
In the right column, type any keyword for your blog topic. Pinterest will automatically show you related keywords and their monthly search volumes.
These keywords are the most popular keywords on Pinterest, with some having over 5 million searches per month.
If you’re running Pinterest Ads, these are the best keywords you could use for your campaigns. Here’s a great Pinterest analytics guide in case you need help analyzing the performance of your organic and paid Pinterest campaigns.
3. Tracking your Pinterest keywords
Now that you’ve found a few keywords, it’s time to write them down somewhere since you’ll be using them to create content and optimize your Pinterest account.
You can use any tool you feel comfortable working with. It could be anything, like:
- Trello boards
- Notepads
- Word
- Google Docs
- Excel
Personally, I love using Excel spreadsheets to keep track of keywords.
4. Use related keywords in your Board titles and descriptions
On Pinterest, users can search specifically for Boards to follow, so it’s important that you include related keywords in your Board titles and descriptions.
The same rules we covered above for optimizing Pins apply to optimizing Boards. The only difference is that you don’t really need to add hashtags (some people would argue you don’t even need to add them on Pins).
5. Include keywords in your Pin Titles and Descriptions
After you’ve typed down some popular keywords in your niche, it’s time to start your Pin titles and descriptions so that they can be found when people search for those terms.
In order to optimize your Pins, you want to:
- Add the main keyword in the Pin title and description
- Add the main keyword on your Pin image (Pinterest reads text placed on images)
- Include other related keywords in your Pin description
- Include between 2-5 relevant hashtags at the end of your Pin description
6. Your Pin & Post Title – Just Match IT
Pinterest is becoming more and more like Google. The platform now scans your blog post to see how much it relates to the Pin that’s linking to it.
Making sure that your Pins match the content being linked to is what Pinterest engineers refer to as Pin cohesion.
Pinterest wants to make sure that a Pin’s web page matches its semantics. For example, if you publish a Pin titled “Green Throw Pillow” and add it to a board titled “Living Room Décor,” Pinterest might expect to see it linked to a retail site with home décor products.
7. Create Engaging Pins
One of the best ways to make sure that people click through to your blog is to create curiosity with your Pin titles and images.
This technique isn’t only used for Pins, but also for things like email subject lines and blog post titles.
For example, if you wrote an article titled “Foods to avoid for weight loss” and used an image of a donut on your Pin, not many people would click through because it’s pretty obvious that donuts are high in calories.
A better image to use would be of something like yogurt, which is typically considered healthy but most of them have tons of added sugars.
Also, using a title like “Healthy foods that make you gain weight” would create more curiosity.
8. It Must Be UNIQUE
When it comes to making your Pins stand out, most people give you the same advice — use bright colors that get people’s attention.
While it’s true that brighter colors tend to be more attention-grabbing, it isn’t necessarily a good idea for Pinterest.
The reason is that if everyone is using bright colors on their Pins, then no one will stand out.
A better technique is to look at how the Pin designs of bloggers in your niche look and create something different.
For example, if you’re in the fitness niche and see that all the Pins have vivid colors, you can use earth tone color combinations to stand out.
On the other hand, if you see that everyone’s using earth tone colors, you could then go for something more vivid.
6. How do Bloggers Get Paid?
Here are literally dozens of ways you can monetize your website.
1. Display Ads
The most common way to monetize a blog is by integrating display ads. Once your blog has reached a traffic threshold, you can easily apply to premium Ad networks Such as Mediavine and Adthrive and they’ll handle the rest.
And since I am a member Of Mediavine, I can tell you that the money you make from Mediavine is pretty high.
I make anywhere from $1500 to $3000 from the ads alone every single month. And this value always doubles during the holiday season (Nov-Dec).
(Threshold values for applying: 50k sessions/month (around 60k Pageviews/month) for Mediavine and 100k Monthly pageviews for Adthrive)
Once the ad codes are installed on your website by the ad network itself, all you have to do is sit back, write your articles, and get paid every month. It’s that simple.
2. Affiliate Marketing
It is a marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals. There are many e-commerce sites, that have started affiliate marketing programs and you can join those networks like:
3. Sponsorships
A sponsored blog post is a popular blog monetization strategy. In a nutshell, a company pays you to create content about its products on your blog. They may even write the post themselves, so all you have to do is publish it.
It’s similar to how influencers accept sponsorships to promote a product on Instagram or YouTube.
You can also reach out to brands directly to see if they’d be interested in partnering with you.
4. Get Paid to Write Reviews
Of course, you want to write reviews for products that are relevant to your blog niche and your audience. For instance, if you blog about budgeting, reviewing budgeting software and apps makes more sense than reviewing vacuum cleaners.
And like sponsored posts, you can reach out to brands directly or you can use a platform like PayPerPost to connect with companies that would be interested in paying you for a review.
5. Write an Ebook
Selling ebooks is another popular way to monetize a blog and it’s a great source of passive income.
Passive income is income that requires little to no effort to earn and maintain. When you write an ebook, you only have to write it once. Then, you can sell that ebook over and over again to your readers.
But, if you want your ebook to sell, it needs to be good.
Most importantly, the topic of your ebook needs to be interesting to your target audience. Blogger Sarah Mae wrote an ebook based on a question about forgiveness she often gets asked by her readers.
06. Offer Online Courses
If you have something valuable to teach your audience, you can turn your expertise into online courses that your readers can pay for.
You don’t even need to be an “expert” to teach an online course. As long as you have some knowledge in a subject that you can share with readers, you can sell online courses on your blog.
For instance, if you blog about cooking, you can sell video cooking lessons to your audience.
SUMMARY ON HOW TO START A BLOG AND MAKE MONEY
Phew! We made it to the end of this long and informative tutorial on how to start a blog and make money for beginners!
I hope you found this in-depth guide helpful in starting your blog. Let’s do a quick recap on what you need to do today to start your blog and earn an income online.
Step 1: Determine your blog niche
Step 2: Decide what you want to write or blog about
Step 3: Choose your blog name (AKA domain name)
Step 4: Invest in a basic and affordable Web hosting plan like Bluehost
Step 5: Customize the look of your blog with WordPress
Step 6: Create your blog pages (e.g. About Me, Contact Me, Privacy Policy and Disclaimer pages)
Step 7: Write and publish your first blog post
Step 8: Promote your blog to get traffic (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and search engines)
Step 9: Apply monetization strategies to make money with your blog (e.g. display advertising, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and product creation)
Final Words
One day, or Day One.
Today could just be another day, or it could be the day that will change your life forever.
This could be the day that marks the beginning of your journey towards financial freedom and more fulfilling life. This could be the day you finally start your own blog, build it up, grow it, and manage it towards success.
And one year from now, you could be the proud owner of a successful blogging empire, earning unlimited passive income, working wherever and whenever you choose to and living your life the way you want to.