How To Start a Blog and Earn Money | A Complete Guide

This is the age of AI and blogging has become hard.

Wait let me rephrase that.

This is the age of AI and blogging has become hard for those who want to write shit content and expect to clock in $10,000 a month.

Lol.

Let me tell you.

Blogging is arguably one of the best ways to earn money and secure financial freedom simultaneously.

For example, right now I am writing this blog while chilling at a beach in Bali, Indonesia. I am clocking in over $10,000 a month from my blogs (all combined) and the best thing about it is that I don’t need to wake up at 8, get dressed by 9 and head for the office at 9:30.

Now note, I am not trying to demean someone by saying that office jobs are shit.

No they are not.

It is because of these amazing office guys that blogging software exists. If someone would not be coding WordPress, I might never have been able to write my blogs down.

If someone would not be improving the Pinterest algorithms, my pins might never have shown on your Pinterest feeds.

If someone would not have been working on updating my Facebook feeds, I might never have been able to share my posts on the amazing platform.

So, its not that office jobs are shit but there are certain humans who want to live life in a pretty chilled out manner.

I am one among them and hence I decided to take up blogging as my source of income.

And the best part about it is that I got no regrets.

So, if you want to start your blogging journey and have no regrets, just like me, just follow the 10 steps below and you are good to go.

Let’s begin.

Step-by-Step Guide To Starting a Blog

Define Your Purpose and Niche

Every blog starts by focusing on 2 main points.

The first is purpose and the second is niche.

So, before you start, ask yourself the eternal question.

What is going to be the purpose of my blog?

Is it going to help people solve their bigass life problems? Is it going to help people earn shitloads of money or is it going to help people find an answer to their queries?

Whatever it is, you should have an answer before you start blogging.

For example, before I started blogging, my purpose for starting EcoVirtuoso was to provide simple and sound financial advice to a global audience.

And I think, I have succeeded in it.

Once you have your purpose, it’s high time that you start determining your niche.

Now what’s gonna be your niche.

That varies upon your interest.

For example, if you like cooking, you can start a blog under the “Food and Drinks” niche. If you like traveling, “Travel and Destinations” can be a great niche.

Whatever be it, it is recommended that your blog should focus on a specific topic. It should not be that one post talks about food and the other one talks about travel.

But at the same time, you can write about food in a specific place that you have visited.

Whatever the case, make sure that the posts are interrelated since topical authority is one of the most important factors of a successful blog.

Choose a Blogging Platform

Once you have selected the topic on which you would write the blog, what you should do next is select a blogging platform.

The hands-down winner here is WordPress.

Why You Should Choose WordPress as Your Blogging Platform?

These are the reasons why.

Ease of Use

WordPress is renowned for its user-friendly interface. It’s designed for non-technical users, meaning you don’t need coding skills to create and manage a blog.

The platform offers a straightforward dashboard, easy-to-use tools, and visual editors that make blog creation and management accessible for beginners.

Additionally, there are numerous tutorials, guides, and a supportive community available to help you navigate any challenges.

Customization Options

One of WordPress’s biggest strengths is its vast range of customization options. With thousands of themes and plugins, you can tailor your blog to look and function exactly as you want.

Whether it’s design, functionality, or both, the extent of customization is almost limitless. This flexibility allows you to create a unique blog that stands out and meets your specific needs.

Cost-Effective

WordPress can be very cost-effective, especially for those just starting out. The WordPress software itself is free to use; you only need to pay for hosting and a domain name.

There are also many free themes and plugins, which means you can build and run a professional-looking blog with minimal investment.

As your blog grows, you can choose to invest in premium themes and plugins, but this is not a requirement for creating a successful blog.

Other Blogging Platforms

I won’t force you to go with WordPress. Here are other options that you can explore.

Blogger: Owned by Google, Blogger is a free and easy-to-use platform ideal for casual or beginner bloggers. It offers basic customization options and integration with other Google services like Google Analytics and AdSense. However, it has limited design and functionality compared to more advanced platforms.
Medium: Medium is known for its minimalistic design and focus on writing and content rather than design or website building. It’s an excellent platform for writers who want to reach an existing audience and don’t care much about customization. Medium allows you to monetize your content through their Partner Program.
Squarespace: Squarespace is a website builder that offers elegant design templates and a drag-and-drop interface, making it easy to create visually appealing blogs. It’s a great all-in-one solution for bloggers who also need e-commerce or portfolio features. Squarespace is a paid service with a free trial period.
Wix: Wix is a user-friendly website builder with a variety of design templates and a drag-and-drop editor. It’s suitable for bloggers who want more creative control over their site’s design without needing technical skills. Wix offers both free and premium plans.
Ghost: Ghost is a professional publishing platform focused on content creation and management. It’s designed for simplicity and speed, with a minimalistic editor. Ghost is great for bloggers who prioritize content and want a fast, SEO-friendly platform. It offers a hosted service (paid) and a self-hosted option (free to download).
Weebly: Weebly is an easy-to-use website builder with drag-and-drop functionality, making it a good choice for novice bloggers. It offers various design themes and basic blogging features. Weebly has free and paid plans, with the latter offering more features and customization options.
Substack: Substack focuses on newsletter blogging, allowing writers to send their posts directly to subscribers’ inboxes. It’s an excellent platform for building a subscriber-based audience and offers monetization options through paid subscriptions.

Pick a Domain Name

You have selected your niche. You have chosen your platform.

It’s time to give your website a name.

Here are the Do’s and Dont’s.

Do’s

Keep It Short and Memorable: Choose a domain name that is short, easy to remember, and easy to spell. Shorter names are easier for users to recall and less prone to typos.
Use Keywords Wisely: If possible, include relevant keywords in your domain name that reflect your business or the content of your website. This can help with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and make it clearer to potential visitors what your site is about.
Choose the Right Domain Extension: While .com is the most popular and widely recognized, there are many other TLDs (Top-Level Domains) available, such as .net, .org, .info, or more specific ones like .blog, .tech, etc. Choose one that fits your business or niche.
Make It Brandable: Your domain name should sound like a brand. This means it should be unique, catchy, and stand out in your visitors’ minds.
Think Long-Term: Your domain name is a significant part of your brand identity. Think about how it will represent your business or blog in the long run.
Check for Trademarks: Before finalizing your domain name, ensure it’s not already trademarked by another company to avoid legal issues.
Consider Variations and Misspellings: To protect your brand, consider buying variations and common misspellings of your domain name.

Dont’s

Avoid Hyphens and Numbers: These can be confusing and are often misunderstood or forgotten. They also make the domain name more complicated to verbalize.
Don’t Use Slang or Overly Trendy Terms: This can make your domain name seem dated as trends change.
Avoid Long and Complex Names: Long or complex domain names are hard to remember and increase the chance of typos.
Don’t Choose a Name That’s Too Similar to an Existing Site: This can confuse your audience and might lead to legal issues.
Avoid Using Double Letters: This increases the chances of typos (e.g., “bloggerresource.com” might lead to typing errors like “bloggeresource.com”).
Don’t Ignore Local SEO If Relevant: If your business is focused on a specific geographic area, consider including the city or region in the domain name for local SEO benefits.
Don’t Rush Your Decision: Take your time to consider all factors. Your domain name is a key element of your online identity.

Get The Right Hosting Package and Connect Your Site

This is the most controversial and the most talked about aspect in the game of blogging.

But I am going to answer it in a short and crisp manner.

Since you are just starting out, choose any one of the popular WordPress hosting packages. But the most important thing is that, make sure to get a package with a duration of at least 3 years or more.

Why 3 years minimum?

Because no matter how many blogging courses you take, how many books you read, you still need at least some time to figure out what actually works for you.

For some, that time frame is 4-5 months, while for others it can be even a year.

So, 1st year is experimentation, 2nd year is application and results.

Note that this time frame varies from person-to-person and hence many people actually start seeing results from the 9th or 10th month itself.

Now that the truth is told, I am giving you a list of some of the most popular WordPress hosts that offer some amazing 3-year hosting packages with great discounts.

Best WordPress Hosting Packages

Bluehost: Bluehost is one of the most popular hosting services, especially for WordPress users. It’s officially recommended by WordPress.org. Bluehost is known for its affordability, ease of use, and one-click WordPress installation. They offer a range of hosting options including shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting.
Hostinger: Hostinger is another amazing hosting platform, renowned for its excellent customer support and high-performance hosting. It offers features like free SSL certificates, daily backups, and managed WordPress updates. Hostinger is a great choice for both beginners and experienced users, and its 4-year hosting plan is what separates it from the rest.
HostGator: HostGator is a well-known hosting provider with a variety of plans suitable for all sizes of websites. They offer one-click WordPress installs, a free domain name for the first year, and 24/7 support. HostGator is often chosen for its affordability and reliability.
GoDaddy: GoDaddy is not that popular when it comes to hosting but it’s still one of the market leaders in securing domain names. Irrespective of that, its 36-month plan is a great way for you to get started with your blog experimentation techniques. Unmetered bandwidth, SSL certificates and Daily On-Demand Backups are some of its positives.
A2 Hosting: A2 Hosting is renowned for its high-speed performance and reliability, making it a popular choice for WordPress hosting. They offer a range of hosting options including shared, VPS, and dedicated servers, all optimized for WordPress. A2 Hosting is also known for its excellent customer support and superfast turbo hosting solutions.

After you have bought your hosting package, all you need to do is connect your domain to the host by changing your nameservers. What I would recommend is that just ask your hosting provider to do it for you.

All the above hosting providers have terrific customer support and hence, doing that would be a piece of cake for them.

Choose the Right Theme

After you have got your hosting plan, time to install a theme.

Now, WordPress gives a default theme like 2022, 2023….. but I would recommend that you get a 3rd party theme. Two of the best themes in this case would be GeneratePress and Kadence. Both are free, but the latter provides even more customization options.

Regarding customization, let me tell you that there are literally endless tutorials on YouTube when it comes to these themes. Check any one of them and you customization is sorted.

However, before designing your blog here are some things that you should note.

Target Audience: Understand who your readers are. This will influence your design choices, such as layout, colors, and font styles, to appeal to your audience’s preferences and expectations.
Purpose and Goals: Clearly define what you want to achieve with your blog. Whether it’s to share information, sell products, or build a community, your objectives should guide your design decisions.
Content Strategy: Plan your content in advance. Knowing what types of content you’ll be producing (text, images, videos, etc.) will help determine the layout and features your blog needs.
User Experience (UX): Prioritize a user-friendly design that ensures easy navigation, fast loading times, and a mobile-responsive layout. A good UX keeps visitors on your site longer and encourages them to explore more content.
Branding: Your blog’s design should reflect your brand’s identity, with consistent use of colors, logos, and fonts. This consistency helps in building brand recognition and trust among your audience.

Create Essential Pages

A lot of bloggers say that these pages should not be your priority but I would say otherwise.

I remember that in one of my new blogs, I forgot to add these pages and one fine day, I woke up and saw that the traffic has completely vanished. After much thought and analysis, I realized that my blog had these pages missing. Added them, and the traffic was back.

Here are some of the essential pages that your blog should contain.

About Page

This page is crucial for introducing yourself or your company to your readers. It should provide information about who you are, what your blog is about, and your mission or goals. The About page helps build a connection with your audience by giving them a glimpse into the person or team behind the blog.

Privacy Policy (including Cookie Policy)

A Privacy Policy page is legally required if you collect any personal data from your visitors, such as names, email addresses, or location data. This page should detail what information you collect, how you use it, and how it’s protected.

The Cookie Policy, often included within the Privacy Policy, should explain how your blog uses cookies, which are small data files stored on users’ devices.

Contact Us

This page allows your readers, potential business partners, or advertisers to reach out to you. It usually includes a contact form, your email address, and sometimes a phone number or physical address.

The Contact Us page is essential for fostering communication and building professional relationships.

Disclaimer/Terms of Service

The Disclaimer page is important if your blog provides advice, opinions, or endorsements. It informs readers that the information provided is for educational or informational purposes and not to be taken as professional advice.

The Terms of Service page, on the other hand, outlines the rules and guidelines for using your blog, including copyright information, comment policies, and any user behavior expectations.

Plan Your Content

Planning content for your blog involves a strategic approach to ensure consistency, relevance, and engagement with your target audience.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to plan your blog content:

Understand Your Audience: Start by identifying and understanding your target audience. What are their interests, needs, and pain points? This will help you create content that resonates with them.
Define Your Niche and Goals: As already discussed, clearly define the niche of your blog and what you aim to achieve with your content. Whether it’s educating, entertaining, or selling products, your goals should guide your content strategy.
Conduct Keyword Research: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to find keywords and phrases your audience is searching for. This will help you in creating SEO-friendly content that drives traffic.
Generate Content Ideas: Based on your audience’s interests and keyword research, brainstorm content ideas. You can also look at competitors, social media trends, or use tools like BuzzSumo to generate ideas.
Create an Editorial Calendar: Plan your content in advance using an editorial calendar. Schedule posts, considering factors like seasonality, holidays, and industry events. This helps maintain a consistent posting schedule and ensures timely content.
Decide on Content Types: Determine the types of content you’ll produce (e.g., blog posts, videos, infographics). Diversifying your content can engage your audience in different ways and cater to different preferences.
Allocate Resources: Consider the resources (time, money, skills) you have available for content creation. This might influence the frequency of your posts and the type of content you can realistically produce.

Write and Publish Your First Post

There you go.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and the journey of a $10,000/month blog begins with the first word.

I am saying this again and again. Don’t be scared.

Your first few blogs would be shit and there is absolutely nothing to worry. As you put in the time and resources, you will see that you are improving.

Just make sure to not give up.

If required, write, edit and rewrite your draft in a Google Doc or Microsoft Word document, and then publish it.

Anyways, here are certain things that you need to focus on.

Understand Your Audience: Tailor your content to the interests, needs, and preferences of your target readers.
Choose a Compelling Topic: Select a subject that is both relevant to your niche and of interest to your audience.
Create an Engaging Title: Craft a title that is catchy, clear, and effectively communicates the value of your post.
Focus on Quality Content: Ensure your post is well-researched, informative, and provides value to your readers.
Simple and Clear Structure: Organize your content with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion, using headings, subheadings, and bullet points for easy readability.
Images are Optional: Use images only if you think it is necessary. Don’t clog your posts with multiple images.

Promote Your Blog

After you have written around 100 posts, it’s high time for the world to know that your blog exists.

Although Google traffic will slowly start flowing, however what I would recommend is that you try out few other options as well.

For example.

Facebook: Let your friends and family know that you have started this blog. Share it with them as much as you can.
Forums: Find a forum that caters to the specific niche of your blog and try to answer queries to specific questions. Add your blog link at the end of it for others to check out your blog.
Pinterest: Create high-quality pins for your blog and direct them back to specific pages of your blog. Over time, your blog will receive consistent traffic from them.

In short, build a loyal brand audience and make sure that people around the world know that you have this website.

Monitor and Improve

Finally, once you have everything in place, it’s time to improvise, overcome and adapt.

What does this include?

Use Analytics Tools: Implement tools like Google Analytics to monitor your blog’s traffic, user behavior, and engagement metrics. Pay attention to metrics like page views, bounce rate, session duration, and sources of traffic to understand your audience better.
Track Audience Feedback: Monitor comments, emails, and social media interactions for direct feedback from your audience. This feedback is invaluable for understanding their preferences and expectations.
SEO Performance: Regularly review your blog’s search engine performance. Use SEO tools to track keyword rankings, backlinks, and search traffic. Update your content and SEO strategies based on these insights to improve visibility.
Content Analysis: Periodically review your content to identify which posts are most and least effective. Look for patterns in topics, formats, or writing styles that resonate with your audience, and use these insights to guide future content creation.
Technical Health Check: Regularly check your blog for technical issues such as loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and broken links. A well-functioning blog provides a better user experience and is favored by search engines.

Ultimately, remember that blogging is a journey and not a destination. Every year, there are endless algorithmic changes that happen and hence, you need to keep yourself updated with the necessary knowledge.

Till then, let’s move on to the meaty part now i.e. How to Earn Money from Blogging.

How to Earn Money From Blogging?

Advertising

The crux of monetizing a blog is advertising. It is the best option available and trust me, many idiots say that you should not place ads on your blog because it slows down your site blah blah blah.

Let me tell you something.

That’s all bullshit.

Ads don’t slow your site if you optimize them properly. So watch a few tutorials and your site speeds would be faster than Usain Bolt’s Olympic records.

Now, what are the best advertising options.

Let me tell you.

Adsense – Requires no page views, but still 1000-3000 PVs/month is recommended. Once you have that, apply immediately
Mediavine – Requires 50k sessions/month. Terrific RPMs and will definitely help you earn a lot more than Adsense.
Raptive – Requires 100k pageviews/month. Similar to Mediavine in RPMs.

If you ask me to choose between Mediavine and Raptive, I would recommend both. Just use them both and choose what you like.

Also, there are endless other advertising options, but I would recommend either of the two. And note that you won’t get approval for either one if you

Affiliate Marketing

Someone creates a product. You promote it and if someone buys it based on your recommendation, you earn a commission.

Affiliate marketing is as simple as that.

In fact I have a complete guide on affiliate marketing written on my blog. You have to check that out.

Email Newsletters

As soon as you create your blog, it is recommended that you place a pop-up and starting capturing emails.

Why am I telling you to do so?

Because emails are still one of the best ways to build an audience. Most emails have an open rate of over 35% percent making it one of the most lucrative ways to earn money from your blog.

Now you must be thinking how can emails help me earn money?

Simple.

Imagine you have 10k email subscribers and every email you send has an open rate of 35%.

So 3500 people are checking your email.

And how do you monetize that email audience.

place an ad directly on your email (if your ad providers allow so)
add a hook line and entice your users to visit your blog
add affiliate links directly to your emails.

See.

So simple and so effective.

Selling Products and Services

Last but not the least which I personally feel is better than affiliate marketing, it has to be selling your own products.

First, decide what product should you sell. As in, digital or physical.

If you want to avoid the hassle of warehousing and supply-chain, I would recommend going with digital products.

But if you are hell-bent on selling physical products, I would recommend something like Amazon Merch or some other Print-On-Demand services that don’t require warehousing.

Now what kind of print-on-demand services can you try out?

If you think you have a knack for design, I would recommend.

Tshirts
Seasonal T-shirts
Sweatshirts
Mugs
Greeting Cards

All these require basic design skills and a few advanced ones as well. But if you can learn some basic design from YouTube tutorials, you would be good to go.

Now coming to digital products, the best option would either be one-on-one coaching or courses.

One-On-One Coaching

Every person has a different learning level. When you work with them one-on-one, you are actually providing them with the care and attention that they have always wanted.

Now what are you going to coach them about?

Simple.

Whatever your blog focuses on.

After all, you are an expert now with the amount of knowledge that you have garnered over the last few months right?

You might have your doubts, but trust me, after writing 100+ posts, you will be more knowledgeable than an Oxford University professor regarding your specific subject.

Let’s say you are running a food blog about Korean recipes.

There are endless amount of people who actually want to learn making Korean recipes. They are the ones who need that specific care and attention, asking questions along the way.

You are going to be their savior by providing them with the necessary attention. And that my friend, sums up why one-on-one coaching is an amazing way to monetize your blog.

Online Courses

Now, it can happen that you are short on time and don’t have the resources for one-on-one coaching. What you can do then, is gather all your knowledge and information and put it in the form of an online course.

Create an WooCommerce platform on your blog and sell it there.

If your product is good, there will be endless amount of people who will be buying it.