How to Start a Blog and Make Money From Home
Did you know that Internet live stats data shows that are more than 1.3 million blog posts written daily?
Why would bloggers all over the world write more than 1.3 million posts daily if they do not make money?
The bitter truth is that not all bloggers out there make money because most treat their blogs as a hobby and not a business investment.
I know you are reading this post because you want to learn how to start a blog and make money with it.
Yes, you can make a full-time income out of blogging, but you need the right advice on how to create a blog and make money, which you will get in this post.
Check out my blogging journey here!
| Recommended Readings….. |
Disclaimer
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Ten reasons why starting a blog is awesome
It is a source of passive income
You will inspire and positively educate, inform or transform others
It gives you a platform to recommend products and voice your opinions
Helps you to become a better communicator, writer, and
It will open excellent networking, partnership, jobs and other business opportunities for you.
It makes you grow and develop intellectually because it is challenging and requires you to keep learning.
It will help you to build an online brand, presence, and expertise at something, which you can become a consultant or coach later in life.
It will help you to establish authority and trust, especially if you remain consistent in providing quality content and products.
It is easy and free, which means it requires no prior experience to start. All you have to do is follow all the step by step directions provided in this post on how to start a blog and make money with it.
It provides flexibility and independence in life because you become your boss.
How to start a blog and make money from home in 10 steps
1. Build your blogging idea/plan
Recommended Reading: How To Come up With a Profitable Blogging Niche Idea
Every profitable business begins with a plan; even your blog should have one.
You can build your blogging idea through answering these questions:
What market, need/problem will your blog exist to solve? And how will you solve that problem?
Every blog on the internet serves a specific function and most narrow down their focus to one or two niches/subject areas.
Learning how to start a blog and make money begins with clearly understanding the purpose your blog will serve. See examples below;
Problogger.com: Niche/market: Blogging, The problem it solves: Help bloggers who want to start a blog and grow a stable income online.
Makesenseofcents: Niche/market: Finance and personal income, Need/problem it solves: Offer information which helps people to manage and budget their finances better.
Healthhappylife: Niche/market: Health and fitness, Need/problem: Teaching/coaching people on how to live healthy and happy lives.
Recommended reading: 3 quick hacks to finding your blogging niche and How to create an online business idea for your blog
Who are the customers/ clients your blog will serve?
There are many types of users on the internet. For example, in the women category, there are girls, single women, teenage daughters, mothers, pregnant women and college girls among others.
Therefore, one single blog cannot exist to solve the needs of all women.
Thus, you must identify the specific audience personas you want to serve or reach/reach with your blog when learning how to start a blog and make money with it.
You must know their demographics, goals, where they buy, other blogs they follow, where they spend their time online and who they are.
Buyer persona information will help you to create content, products and promotional campaigns tailored to the specific needs of those audiences.
Recommended reading: How to create accurate buyer personas
How will you be unique and different from competitors in the market?
What unique value proposition do you bring to the market different from others offering the services, products, and content in your niche?
What is that unique thing you will do to succeed where others have failed?
What gaps have your competitors left that you can fill?
You are not the first blogger, and you will not be the last, and this means that you must create a unique idea which will make you stand out in the market with many other competitors.
Your customers will only choose you if you are offering value they get nowhere else on the internet.
Suggested reading: How to create accurate unique selling propositions
Is that blog idea profitable?
Remember that making money blogging also depends on whether the idea you have chosen is profitable and viable or not.
There are many ways you can use to test if a blogging niche or idea is profitable or not.
- Research competition: How much money do they make and what do they say about the niche?
- Search volume: Does the idea has keywords with enough search volume?
- Gather feedback: Create surveys with data gathering tools, such as Typeform and Survey Monkey, or use social media polls to ask your target customers, friends and family if the idea is worthy.
- Affiliate networks or e-commerce site: Are products in that niche fast moving or best sellers?
- Evaluate yourself: what do you feel about the idea? Is your heart ready and willing to give all the sacrifice it takes?
2. Select a domain name for your blog
Recommended Reading: The Three Things You Need Before You Start a Blog
A domain name is a unique name or network address identifier which will help search engines and your target audience to identify your blog on the internet with over 3.9 users and 1.9 websites daily.
Examples: sproutmentor.com, problogger.com, smartpassiveincome.com, Linux.org, and yahoo.co.uk among others.
I hope that you have noticed that there are many types of domain name extensions, such as .com, .org, .net, .edu, /Gov and .info among others.
| Type of Domain Name Extension | Examples |
| Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) | .COM, .NET, .INFO, .ORG |
| Generic Restricted Top-Level Domains | .BIZ, .NAME and .PRO |
| Sponsored Top-Level domains (sTLD) | .EDU, .GOV, .TEL, .JOBS |
| Country Top-level domains | .QA for Qatar and.TR for Turkey. |
| Reserved Top-level Domains | .INT, .TEST & .EXAMPLE |
Seven tips to use when picking a domain name for your blog
Extension: The .com extension is the most advisable to use in a blog because it is memorable, universal and prioritized by Google.
Length: Stick to less than 15 characters. A length domain confuses your blog readers because it is hard to remember and type on search engines.
Simplicity: Avoid complicated names, keep it natural and memorable.
Keywords: Where possible add your target keyword in the domain name.
Special characters: only stick to letters and numbers to avoid confusing your readers.
Domain name search and generation: In case you are lack ideas for the perfect domain name, there are many domain name generators, such as Namestation and DomainsBot to crowdsource for ideas and suggestions.
Domain name availability: Use the right tools, such as Domainr and NameVine to find out if your chosen domain is available for use and not taken by another blogger.
3. Choose web hosting service provider for your blog
Recommended Reading: The Three Things You Need Before You Start a Blog
A bad host can slow down your website and even cause you to lose all your files in the worst scenario.
Your blog content will need a place where it can be saved, and these are the servers provided by a web host.
When my blogs are new, I host them on Bluehost Shared Hosting as explained in this blog post. Another good option cheaper like Bluehost is NameHero, which is really a good option if you want to host several websites on one server.
After my blogs begin getting traffic (more than 20,000 pageviews) I move them to Siteground as explained in this detailed Siteground Review.
When the blog grows to more than 100,000 pageviews, I move them to Bigscoots Managed WordPress Hosting.
See proof of what am saying in this video.
Why I Recommend You Get Started on Bluehost Shared Hosting?
Recommended by WordPress.org: If you are using WordPress as your website platform, you want to choose a host that is recommended by WordPress.org.
Popularity: Bluehost powers over 2 million websites on the web, which means they are reliable.
Money-back Guarantee: If you test out their services and do not like, Bluehost has 30-days money back guarantee.
Available support: Bluehost has a vibrant support system through chat, email, forums and knowledge base support, such as the Get started Guide.
Affordable: Their shared hosting plan starts at $3.95, which is cheap and affordable considering the features available. The good thing about Bluehost is that it has a wide range of hosting types and plans, which you can upgrade to when your website begins to grow.
4. Selecting a blogging platform
Recommended Reading: The Three Things You Need Before You Start a Blog
A blogging platform is an environment where you can use to create posts and manage other resources in your blog.
There are free and paid/ self-hosted blogging platforms, see a list of the best in the two categories below;
| Free Blogging platforms | Paid blogging platforms |
| WordPress.com | WordPress.org |
| Medium | Wix |
| Blogger | Squarespace |
| Tumblr | |
| Joomla | |
| Squarespace | |
| Wix |
Why you should not use a free blogging platform to start a blog and make money
They have limited capabilities and customization options
Low monetization potential because you will not be able to display ads and other monetization methods.
If the blogging platform closes or something happens to it, you lose everything making it insecure.
Little or no support such that if you experience a problem, you are on your own.
Most of these platforms have little trust and low reputation, which can easily damage your reputation to your target audience.
Most have limited resources, blogging tools, and design customization options.
Why I Recommend You Use WordPress As Your Blogging Platform?
Popularity:Over 25% of websites are powered by WordPress see them here in this showcase.
Theme and plugin ecosystem:WordPress has over 1million+ plugins and themes which are all free.
For both technical and non-techies: If you are not the technical kind of person like me, why pay over $200 to hire a developer for something you can create for yourself by following these simple guidelines.
Availability of resources: There are countless blogs, websites and YouTube channels dedicated to teaching non-techies and beginners how to make the best use of the WordPress platform.
PS: I am talking about WordPress.org, not WordPress.com. Read a comparison of how the two are different WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com.
5. Get Your Blog Online
STEP ONE: Visit BlueHost
Use this link to visit Bluehost and get a 50% reduced cost.
Once on that page, click on the “Get Started Now” button. See image below.
STEP TWO: CHOOSE A PLAN
Bluehost has three plans available in the shared hosting type: basic, plus and prime. All are good for you, but we are going to choose a basic plan because we are just starting out. Once your website begins to get traffic, you can upgrade to a higher plan.
Click on the “Select” plan Button to be directed to the next step.
STEP THREE: ENTER YOUR DOMAIN NAME
The good news is that Bluehost offers domain names for free, you do not pay for it as part of the hosting package.
If you are still struggling with this step and can’t seem to make up your mind, proceed to the next by clicking on the “Choose later!” link at the bottom.
STEP FOUR: CREATE AN ACCOUNT
In this step you will complete five essential activities: provide contact information, complete package information, enter billing information, agree to terms and conditions and finally submit the application. See the images below.
Firstly fill out your contact information and other personal details……
Secondly, complete the package information, such as choosing the duration and purchasing additional services…..
Finally, provide payment/billing details, agree to terms and submit the application.
STEP FIVE: INSTALL WORDPRESS
After completing step four above, you will receive an email with your Cpanel login details.
Visit Bluehost and login to your Cpanel dashboard.
In the Cpanel, navigate to the website section and click on the “Install WordPress” option.
You will be redirected to Mojo marketplace, a site that allows you to install WordPress at a click of a button without navigating through multiple steps. Click on the “Start” button.
After clicking on the start button, you will be taken to a page where you will be required to select the domain you want to install WordPress on. Just select the domain you registered while you were purchasing the Bluehost hosting package and click on the “Check Domain” button.
You can choose to edit username, password and site name details in the advanced settings, then click “Install.”
Wait for a few minutes for the installation to finish, and a screen with your WordPress login credentials will appear.
Login to your WordPress dashboard with those credentials and begin the next processes.
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6. Make first initial settings for your new blog
Related Post: 10 Things To Do Immediately After Creating a New WordPress Blog
A new blog needs several settings before you begin to make money like;
Set site title, tagline and time zone
Configure permalink structure
Set the right reading, discussion, and admin settings
Install a theme
Install recommended plugins
Verify property with webmaster tools
Set up Google analytics
Create your first post
Brand your site
Visit Bluehost Get Started Guide to learn all the settings you have to complete from your cPanel, such as setting a professional email for your blog among others.
7. SEO your blog
Related Post: How To Perform Search Engine Optimization (SEO) On Your Blog Posts
In order to start a blog and make money from it, you will need an active audience and blog traffic.
You can get free organic traffic from search engines if you learn to use SEO the right way.
SEO is divided into two broad categories: on page SEO and off page SEO.
Blog SEO tips you need to remember
Do keyword research and use at least 1-2 long tail keywords per post or page.
Make sure your blog is mobile friendly because 80% of your target audience will access your blog through mobile devices.
Optimize your images by resizing and naming them appropriately.
Make internal and external linking to related content a habit within your blog posts.
Wring original and long-form content around 1000 words and above.
Use an SEO plugin, such as Yoast SEO.
Make sure that your blog loads fast to reduce bounce rate and increase conversion.
8. Monetize your blog
Recommended Reading: How To Make $3000+ With a Blog
Learning how to start a blog and make money from it involves using the right monetization methods.
In case you are wondering how bloggers make money from their blogs, below is a list of ways you can use to monetize your blog like;
- Affiliate marketing
- Display ads, such as Google Adsense
- Sell physical merchandise
- Sell digital products, such as eBooks and courses.
- Sell your services, such as freelance writing and coaching among others.
- Earn from sponsored posts/content.
9. Promote/market your blog
Recommended Reading: How To Market Your Blog Online (The Ultimate Guide)
In this process, starting a blog and make money from it means making sure that its content gets to the right target audience.
90% of your right blog readers will never find you unless you tell them that you exist by promoting and marketing your blog.
Smart bloggers use the 80/20 rule where there spend 20% effort writing a post and 80% marketing it in different platforms.
Methods of promoting a new blog to attract right readers and drive traffic
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
- Search engine marketing
- Forum and community marketing
- Influencer and outreach marketing
- Content upgrade and repurposing
- Paid advertising
It is easy to get lost in all the above methods as a new blogger because each has its unique process of promotions and rule of operation.
My recommendation: Yes, I use all the above platforms, but the one that I have experienced most results from is Pinterest and Google.
10. Avoid these common mistakes when starting a blog
Recommended reading: 15 blogging mistakes to avoid
Choosing a slow, insecure or lousy hosting provider: I would recommend you select Bluehost or SiteGround. I use SiteGround, and you can read ten reasons why I love SiteGround hosting.
Picking a bloated and wrong theme: A poorly responsive and coded theme can profoundly harmful to your blog SEO. I use Divi theme from Elegant themes, and you can read 20 reasons why I love divi WordPress theme. I recommend you check out Kadence, GeneratePress or Trellis if you want a theme built for speed, ad revenue and SEO.
Not performing search engine optimization from the beginning.
Failure to measure progress from Google analytics and social media analytics insights to know if you are progressing or just wasting time.
Not creating an email list from the beginning
Failure to engage and network with your readers and other bloggers.
Imagining that you will start making money overnight. It takes persistence, consistency and right practices to make a full-time income from a blog six months down the line.
Waiting too long to launch for a “perfect ”
How to start a blog and make money Conclusion
Finally, you got to the end of this guide!
Yes, it took me too much time preparing this guide just for you to learn how to start a blog and make money from it.
My joy is helping you with as much information, which will get you started on this journey of starting an online business.
Remember that blogging is just one of the type of online business you can start out of this comprehensive list of 40 online business ideas you can start today.
The good news is that some online businesses are free to start and others can be done from the comfort of your home, which leaves you with no excuse why you cannot start your online business today.
Therefore, take action today and use all the ten steps explained in this guide and start a blog and make money from it from today.
Feel free to leave a comment below asking a question or even better provide a suggestion of a post you would like me to write about.
| Recommended Readings….. |
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Hello Hilda Mwende, I am Patrick Mumo and I would like to create a profitable blog. There are some few things I would like to know from you kindly:
What are your domain name registrars and web hosting companies, your blogging platform for your blog, please?
Hello Patrick,
I just sent you an email with detailed guide and resources which I use.
Hosting: I use SiteGround in this blog and in my other websites I use Bluehost
Blogging platform: I use WordPress.org
Theme: I use Divi from Elegant themes
My domain name I just paid for it when I was buying my hosting package.
Wish you luck!
When some one searches for his required thing, thus
he/she desires to be available that in detail, thus that thing is maintained over here.
I am happy that you found what you were looking for. Feel free to reach out for any help.
I have been trying to make money from my blog for 11 months now with no luck. Could you have a look at it and tell me what you think.
Hello Bright,
I am sorry for that. Trust me I know how that can be frustrating, especially after all the work one puts on a single post. I have looked at your blog and I think I can give some insights. Kindly reach me on [email protected].
Cheers!
Hi friend. Your blog is really awesome learned a lot from your blog kindly keep it up. Thank you if you want to earn online then have a look here shrink earn
Hello Michelle,
Thank you so much for the appreciation, it is a great motivation to keep up the good work.
great info, thank you
Thanks, Friend,
For this best article. From my website today I am earning 20$ per month.
Great informative post. I need to start looking into content upgrading like you mentioned. Maybe you can make a post about how we can reach out to influencers and…well…influence them to give us small bloggers a shout out?!
Keep it up :).
Hello Dan,
Content upgrading and updating is a very important strategy. For example, two months ago this post (https://www.sproutmentor.com/10-easy-work-from-jobs-for-lazy-people/) was only referring less than 1000 visitors, after updating it its referring more than 8,000.
Sure I can put up a post soon on reaching influencers, Thank you for the suggestion.
Cheers!
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Thanks for shraing How to Start a Blog and Make Money From Home nice post.
Thanks for sharing the information. I just started a blog from your tips and guides given in the post and i have bought namecheap hosting. thanks
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