Blogging is an easy way to make money from home. It’s simple to get started and can be done from anywhere in the world! Learn how to start a money making blog today!
Whether it’s a Homesteading Blog, a Mommy Blog, a Fashion Blog, or just a Blog about your Crazy Family, the information on starting a blog can be a little overwhelming.
Or maybe this is your first step towards trying to figure out how to start your own blog. Either way, I’m so glad you’re here!
If you are ready to take the leap into blogging, to carve out a piece of the web-o-sphere all your own, to start making money for something that you love talking about, then you are in the right place!
Over the past 12 years I’ve owned and created content for 8 different blogs. Each one served it’s purpose for a time and was well loved by me… After years of practicing and learning and researching, I finally figured out exactly how to have a fun, enjoyable, profitable blog!
For 4 years now I’ve created content and made money through my blog A Modern Homestead. It provides not only a creative outlet for me, but also a full time income for our family, and lets me share my passions with the world, not just my friends and family!
Have you been itching to try your hand at blogging? It’s really easy to get started! Let me walk you through the 3 easy steps to starting your own blog!
Exactly How to Start A Blog!
If you don’t have a blog, but making money on the side wherever you are sounds great… or maybe you’re not even worried about money and you just want to have fun, here are the 3 steps to take to get started!
NOTE: I’m not going to tell you the cheapest way to start a blog. Instead, I’m going to show you the fastest and best way to get started with a profitable blog! While you may technically be able to start a blog for $3.95, you are left with a low quality product, and zero idea of how to be successful!
These steps will lead you through every single part of starting a blog and making money from day one. And, while it may be a teensy bit more than $3.95 to get started, the money you spend will come back to you within your first month if you implement these steps fully!
Step One: Get a Hosting Service and Domain Name
Hosting is the service that allows my website to be viewed anywhere in the world. Without hosting, I would only be able to see my site on the computer and no one else would ever see it… which would be sad 🙁
But not all hosting accounts are created equal!
Bluehost is often pushed by bloggers, but as someone who was with them for 12 years on 8 different sites (and loved them until recently!), I can tell you that their service has gone drastically down hill this year.
Instead, for the same price, you can get started with Siteground. Their service is phenomenal, their customer service and tech support are off the charts, and they will even transfer your existing site (if you have one) for free!
At the same time that you buy hosting, you need to grab a domain name.
(If you are going to grab hosting, I would be honored if you would use the link below! It gives me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much!
Click here to go to the hosting page and follow these steps:
1. Select “Get a New Hosting Account”.
2. Select “Register a New Domain”.
3. Choose your hosting plan. Tip: If you’re just starting out, the cheapest plan is fine! You can upgrade as needed at a prorated price.
4. Complete the payment info section and submit! Tip: I would get both the privacy and site monitoring services, though they are optional.
Click here to take the first step towards creating a passive income for your family!
Step Two: Set Up Your Blog
Now that you have hosting and a domain name, you’re officially a blogger! Congratulations! Next it’s time to actually get your blog set up and start writing content!
So in step two, you’ll want to install WordPress and a theme!
INSTALLING WORDPRESS ON SITEGROUND
Follow these easy steps to install WordPress on your Siteground account.
- Log into your Siteground account.
- Click “My Account” at the top of the screen.
- Click “cPanel”.
- Scroll until you see “WordPress”, click that button.
- Follow all on screen instructions to install WordPress on your domain.
INSTALLING A THEME ON WORDPRESS
Now it’s time for the really fun part! Installing a theme and customizing it to the look and feel you want for your blog! Follow these steps to install a theme on your WordPress account.
-
- Log into your WordPress account. (YOURDOMAIN.com/wp-admin and enter the information you entered during setup in the previous step.)
- Click “Appearances” on the left-hand side of the screen.
- Click “Themes” and browse the free themes until you find one you like!
- If you’re ready for a gorgeous professional theme, this Genesis theme is the one I use and I absolutely adore it!
- Click “install” and “activate” to finalize your theme choice. Don’t worry, you can do it again if you don’t like the results!
TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR THEME
- Click “Appearances” on the left-hand side of the screen.
- Click “Customize”.
- This will open up the customize options for your theme. Play around with it and enjoy!
Feeling Overwhelmed?
But if that seems a little overwhelming, I recommend grabbing this Launch Your Blog course that my blogging bestie Anna and I put together for bloggers just like you! If you want to get started in the fastest way possible, then this is the course for you!
Whether you already have a blog or not, this course covers everything you need to know to actually be successful!
We walk you through everything, WITH VIDEOS so you know exactly what you are doing by the end! From picking your niche, setting up your theme, to writing your first post and actually bringing people to your site, this course is exactly what you need to get your blog up and going!
Here are a FEW of the things you’ll learn in this course!
- Why you should start a blog
- How to find your perfect niche
- Creating an unforgettable blog name
- How to start your blog from scratch
- How to set up a theme
- What plugins to use (and why!)
- How to write your first post
- How to get people to actually read your blog!
- How to create images for Pinterest and more!
- Exactly how to make money with your blog!
- Every step you need to take to be successful at blogging!
Step Three: Make Sure Your Blog is Money Ready
As you’re setting up your blog it’s also important to make sure you have everything in place to start making money.
If you don’t, you will be leaving big money on the table! In fact, I have a second blog that I started just 4 months ago which made $300 in it’s SECOND month!!
If I hadn’t had everything set up and ready to go when I created that blog I would have missed out on that first big month, as well as the ones that followed!
HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING
There are quite a few different ways to make money, depending on your page view bracket, but any blogger, at any level, can make money blogging!
Here are a few ways to make money as a blogger:
- Ad Revenue
- Product Sales for Products You Create
- Sales for Other People’s Products
- Sales for Services
- Sponsored Content with Companies You Trust
- … and more!
To find out exactly where you should be applying to get the most money for your efforts based on your page views bracket, check out my book Make Money Blogging at Any Level: 2018 Edition.
Here are a FEW of the things you’ll learn in this book!
- How to get yourself and your blog ready to make money.
- All the income sources you can pursue for your blog size, and how to maximize those streams.
- How to contact companies directly for sponsorship opportunities and how much you should charge.
- All the tools you need to make sure your blog stays profitable.
Grab the information to make sure you are making the most of your blog, no matter how big or small!
NOTE: This book is included in the Launch Your Blog course!
Are you ready to get started?
Now that you are armed with the exact information you need to get started, it’s time to take the leap!
Blogging is one of the cheapest ways to start an online business and make money from home. It’s flexible, easy to start, cheap to maintain, and you can grow your income to thousands per month! I’m proof. And you can do this too!
Laurel says
I have a blog through blogger. I tend to be a little all over the place with topics, although it is for the most part, a mommy blog. I’m not very disciplined though, and only post when I feel like it. I’ve also recently started another blog for mental health…and have toyed with the idea of starting one for fitness too. When I post on my main (first) blog, I share it on Facebook and sometimes instagram and typically get anywhere from 300-5000 views…. so people are reading. But I have no idea what I’m doing!!! I don’t make any money from it! With 4 kids that I homeschool and some crazy life adjustments the past 6 months… I would love to lock onto a way to turn my passion of writing into income. Feel free to email me if you have time to share some pointers ☺
Victoria says
Hi Laurel!
I’ll post my response here, so more people can see these tips too! 🙂
Here’s what I recommend doing for an existing blog to get organized and to the point of making money.
1. Decide on the 1 main topic you want to cover.
2. Choose 2-4 sub topics that fit well underneath that.
3. Move to WordPress. It’s a 2 steps very easy process! WordPress will give you access to the best website features and ad networks!
4. If you need hosting, grab it here with my link for 60%. This is who I use after 12 years with Bluehost and it was switching to Siteground that allowed me to really start making money!
Once you have that in place, you’re ready to move on to creating a professional site!
BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE – Make sure that your site is looking top notch! You can download a free WP theme to get started, but having a really nice site is going to help you the most as you attract new readers and keep them coming back. If you want something a little more professional right off the bat, you can search Etsy for themes (WordPress themes). Make sure it’s a Genesis theme if you do that, and a good theme will be between $20-60… anything less than that is likely to be sub par.
Oh, also make sure it’s “mobile responsive”.
Here are some steps for you to start getting organized –
1. Make sure you have 3-4 per category that you want to cover (if you chose some new topics in the first section)
Oh, you’ll want to install Google Analytics onto your site asap too (if it’s not already). Use this tutorial to get it set up: https://sridharkatakam.com/add-new-website-google-analytics/
And this tutorial to add the plugin to your site to see how things are going: https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_2893258695&feature=iv&src_vid=P6B33w0MqSw&v=d4VIZ0XnA-c
Make sure you never have 2 Google Analytics plugins at a time because that will cause major issues with your reporting!
2. Start promoting on Pinterest and other social media. My friend Anna just wrote this great book about how she went from 0 to 10K page views in less than 30 days. I’ve read it and it even taught me quite a bit, so I would recommend it!
And here’s the link: https://transactions.sendowl.com/stores/7432/33314
This is obviously optional, but it does have a lot of great info to get you started! It’s over 100 pages of quality content. I have a few tips here, but she covers a lot more: https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=7028e94401c29bb87327ce537&id=9a900579a0
3. Get your site monetized for earnings asap! To start out, once you hit 1000 page views a month go ahead and apply to Gourmet Ads (use this link so they know I sent you: https://refer.gourmetads.com/5906) That will keep you earning a little until you are in a higher page view bracket.
My book covers everything you need to know about all the different ways to make money blogging based on your page view levels! Each level has it’s own set of monetizing options.
Here’s the link for that: https://www.amodernhomestead.com/make-money-blogging-at-any-level/
4. Create a freebie to get people to sign up for your newsletter.
5. Start sending out a weekly newsletter, or monthly, whichever works for you.
6. Work on getting a product to sell.
7. While you’re getting everything else set up, strive for 1 new post a week and no more. That way you’re creating new content, but not overwhelmed with trying to do everything at once!
I also have a blogging newsletter that has a bunch of really great info that you can read here: https://us15.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=7028e94401c29bb87327ce537&id=dfe2bd957d
I would start at the bottom and just read them all! Also, join the newsletter at the top of the newsletter page to receive future issues too!
Anyway, I know that’s a LOT of info, but I know you’re all ready to go!
Victoria
Jerri says
Would this book be useful for someone already locked in Bluehost. I already paid for the year. I really need a useful book.
Victoria says
Hi Jerri! While I do recommend Siteground for hosting, this book doesn’t rely on you having Siteground to make money! I hope that helps ❤
Haffy says
Hi Victoria
I purchased your ebook on making money online at any level. I was wondering if I can implement all the tips in the book being based in Australia. Are there any restrictions? Do you have any advice for those living outside the USA? Would it be more profitable for me to look for advertising companies that are Australian based? I’ve got a 2 week old and 18 months and looking for opportunities to make money at home so I don’t have to return to work. Thank you 😉
Victoria says
Hi Haffy! Thank you so much for your purchase! I completely understand about needing to stay home with your baby… that’s exactly where I was too <3
So, I know that at least 2 of the ad companies I mention in the book work with blogs in Australia, so you should be good to go!
Overall, the tactic and ideas presented in the book are applicable no matter where you are in the world. I wish you all the success in the world and good luck!!
Bob says
I came across your blog through the Accidental Hippies blog and, thanks to you and Emily, decided to start a blog about our Homestead adventure. I started using one of the free themes from Siteground, but am not really happy with it. I really like the theme you guys use. I currently only have 6 articles on my blog, but have several more in the making. I also want to do a photo gallery, but the theme I’m using isn’t very conducive to that. Is it a huge hassle to switch over to the Midnight theme offered on your blog? I think it would really work well for what I want to do with my blog.
Victoria says
Hi Bob! I’m so glad you started your own site, I can’t wait to check it out! To answer your question, the theme comes with full instructions for how to install and set it up. Everyone who’s purchased it has said it’s the easiest theme they’ve ever set up.
Generally, with the instructions, it takes about 30-60 minutes to fully set it up. I hope that helps! If you have any other questions, let me know!
Colleen says
How many views per month is normal for a blog that’s been up for a month?
Victoria says
Hi Colleen! Depending on your promotion techniques it could be anywhere from 400 to 10,000 in your first month! I had a new blog myself that reached 100,000 in the second month (about 17 days into the second month)!
But it’s not all about page views! I have blogging friends who were making $3000 a month with less than 4,000 page views. And I myself was making several hundred a month with a new blog right out of the gate!
Everything is relative, so making sure you have all the tools and info to make the most of your blog is so important!