How to Start a Blog and Make Money

Do you want to know how to start a blog and make money from it? I am going to share with you the complete simple 12 step blueprint to creating a money-making blog.

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Yes, Blogging is still a thing. Blogging is actually the coolest job out there, in my opinion. Being a "blogger" can mean staying at home with your family, drinking your coffee in peace and writing about things that you really love.

You can also make great money doing it. We all got a little taste of working from home during the pandemic and some of us decided WE LOVE IT. If you are one of those people and you yearn for a stay at home job, then keep reading. I will show you how to start a money-making blog!

Want to see my very first blog post? Don't laugh... I've already come a long way in a short period of time - read it here.

How do I make money with blogging?

I remember being confused about this when I started, so let me clear it up for you.

I decided to start a blog when I saw other women doing it and making over $10,000 per month. When I saw that other women could do it, I knew I could too. I am never afraid of a little work if I know it'll bring big results.

I started learning more by reading blog posts of successful bloggers, watching youtube videos and listening to blogging podcasts.

As a beginner blogger, the answer to your question "can money be made in blogging?" is YES. There are some things you need to know first!

Should I start a blog?

Ask yourself these questions:

Do you want to work from home on your own time?
Do you want to own something that is all yours and you have the freedom to do what you want with it?
Do you find it somewhat fun to write?
Are you willing to put in some time for something that will ultimately become passive income?

If yes, then let's get you a blog!

How can I start a successful and profitable blog?

For me, I needed an exact blueprint and I couldn't find one ANYWHERE. So, I made one for you to avoid your frustration.

Related post: My Pinterest Strategy to Getting More Customers

Step 1: Who are you speaking to?

What will you choose to write about and who will your blogs help?

In order to decide on this, you'll need to consider what you love and what you are passionate about. You should know that if you are not passionate about what you dedicate your time to, then you won't stick to it.

The most profitable topics:

Fitness, health and wellness
Food
Motherhood
Travel
Finances
Ways to make money (think; real estate, social media, influencing, UGC, etc)

What are things that you could keep writing about for years to come? You need long-term vision with this.

Step 2: What is your brand name?

We all know blogs like "Huffington Post," etc. Imagine for a moment that your blog makes it really big, what is the name of your blog?

Personally, I kept mine as my name to coordinate across all of my social media platforms. I had the idea that if someone found me here, then they'd easily find me everywhere else because my name was streamlined.

You don't have to use your name, you can be more descriptive with your topic. For example; you might be a fitness blogger and name your blog "The Fitness Freak" and it's very obvious what you write about.

Once you decide, you will check for availability within domains.

Visit godaddy.com and type in your chosen name. It will tell you if your blog name is taken or available as a URL.

What is a URL? It's your website link. For example, mine is www.chandlerleeco.com. You'll want to stay on brand and keep your URL the same name as your blog, this will also make you more searchable!

Heads up: the purchase of your domain name is NOT expensive. If it is charging more than $2.99 then that means someone else is using that domain. If that happens to you, you'll need to think of a different blog name.

Also, stay away from a domain URL with .net or .org or .co. Keep searching for a domain name that allows you to have .com.

*Pro Tip: post about your blog name options (narrow it down to 3) to your social media and ask your followers to vote on which name they think is best! This is going to start stirring up excitement from your audience and they will feel like they got to be part of it!

Step 3: Purchase your Domain and Your Hosting Site

Ok, this was one thing I did NOT understand at first. You will need what is called a "hosting" site to help you give your blog a place in the online world. Think of renting an apartment, you get to rent a place to live but the apartment complex provides the building to hold the apartments themselves.

Personally, I use Attractwell.

Attractwell:

I use Attractwell as my hosting site option because it was the simplest to understand. I was able to set up my blog and figure out my posts in a matter of minutes. Plus, Attractwell will offer email, zoom, texting, website pages, landing pages, course platform and MORE. That's actually insane.

Attractwell is $1 your first month! It comes with with 24/7 support!

Step 4: Create Blogging Pillars

So, you have decided your overall topic that you will blog on, now it's time to think of pillars and categories.

You will be able to display these pillars on your website and allow your visitors to view more of your blogs.

You don't want a ton of pillars, I suggest limiting your pillars to 4. Make sure that your pillars and categories compliment each other and make sense. For example; if you are a fitness blogger, you would NOT have a pillar for real estate, you'd have pillars such as - meal prepping, gym advice, fitness outfits, stretching, etc.

Step 5: Create your blog business email

Login to your Attractwell account & follow the instructions on setting up your business email. I think I pay $13 for the year to have my email address! Again, these are SMALL investments for a HUGE ROI.

With your email address, remember to keep it streamlined with the name of your blog. All of this needs to flow together and make sense!

Step 6: Protect yourself legally

We are going to create some posts within your blog that you never knew you needed.

About Me Page (don't overthink this), you will find inside of Attractwell > settings > you can create your "about me" page and check the box to include at the bottom of each blog post (SIMPLE AF)
Disclaimer Page - use this site to help you
Terms of Service Page - use this site to help you
Privacy Policy Page - use this site to help you

Step 7: Start Writing

You probably have no idea where to start, so let me break this down for you.

you'll want 2-3 CORE posts for your blog
then another 5-10 complimentary posts

You don't need hundreds of blog posts if you do this the right way, you just need QUALITY. posts.

Inside your core posts, you will tell your story. Share about your topic in depth and why it's important to you.

Inside your complimentary posts, you will elaborate on information you couldn't fit into your core posts.

For example; you are a dog trainer and you blog on dog training. Your core post might tell the story of your childhood dog protecting you from a thief. Inside your post you might mention that your childhood dog lived longer than a normal dog does and you contribute that to his diet. You'd link a complimentary post "what to feed your dog to ensure he lives a long and health life" to the core post. Make sense?

*Pro Tip: don't wait to publish any posts, as you complete them, PUBLISH THEM! You can always edit/ add more. You don't need more than 1 post before you begin publishing live blogs.

Step 8: Track your data

I had a coach once tell me that in order to be a successful entrepreneur, I'd need to learn how to make decisions based off of data instead of emotion.

When it comes to tracking data for your blog, you'll want to look at these numbers:

Page views
Where your blog visitors are coming from
Which posts are doing best

With this data, you'll be able to create more valuable content. You'll understand what the blog readers want from you!

Learn how to set up google analytics and track data here

Step 9: Drive traffic to your blog

Now that you've created your core posts and a few complimentary posts, you need to generate attention to your blog!

Create a routine to publish a new complimentary post every week (you could do this bi-weekly or monthly depending on your goals, but if you choose one per week, you will CRUSH it and crush it QUICKLY). Remember, it's better to create GREAT posts instead of high quantity.
Create a Pinterest account for your business and start adding your blog posts as pins!
Start sharing about your blog on your social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Lemon8, YouTube...) *you don't need all of these platforms, it's best to get really good at just one of them before you diversify.

Step 10: Make money with your published blog

You have the opportunity to make money with your blog in a few different ways.

Once your blog gets good attention and has consistent views, you can apply to an ad network and allow ads to be run on your blog posts
You can become an affiliate for different companies that align with your blog topic. An obvious, and very popular, affiliate partnership is with Amazon.
You can use your blog to serve with free value but also use it to sell your digital offers (ebooks, templates, guides, online courses, etc) *this is where I have seen the most profit
You can do a combination of all of them too! You don't have to choose just one.

And that's a wrap! You are well on your way to bringing in another hefty stream of income!