TEN STEPS TO STARTING A BLOG:
So you have been thinking you might like to learn how to start a blog and make money as a blogger. That’s Fantastic! Blogging is a wonderful idea!
Not only can blogging be a lot of fun.. but should you decide to become a full-time blogger it can also provide you the opportunity to make some very good money while you’re at it.
But.. you say.. “I know nothing about blogging.. I need to know where to start“.
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OK.. So before you move forward on your blogging journey.. there are some important first steps you need to take:
STEP ONE: START A BLOG AND MAKE MONEY
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BLOG ABOUT?
I am assuming that before making the decision you might like to learn how to start a blog you already had some ideas in mind as to things you might like to blog about.
If not.. this is the time to make some decisions. Sit down and make a list of the things you are most passionate about.
It is always best to choose something you know very well. It would be difficult to advise others on something you have little experience with yourself.
Although.. if there is something you would like to know more about.. that could be a good niche as well. This option would require more in the way of research. But, as you are doing your research for your blog posts.. you are at the same time learning more about a topic you have been wanting to learn more about anyway.
The niche you choose should also be something you really enjoy since you will be spending a lot of time writing blog posts relating to this topic.
What kinds of things could you talk about all day long and never get tired of it?
NOTE * If you are a complete beginner and have NO idea where to begin.. check out my top-selling course “Blogging Step-by-Step“.
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STEP TWO: START A MONEY MAKING BLOG ON WORDPRESS
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO NAME YOUR BLOG?
Once you have decided on your niche it is time to come up with a name for your blog. It is always best to choose something that gives your audience some idea as to what your blog is all about.
Your domain name should reflect the objectives and purpose of your website.
If the domain names you like are already taken.. try adding “a”, “my”, “the” or “best”.
In any case, you should try to avoid using hyphens in your domain name as in:
my-awesome-blog.com
If you own a business and this is going to be your business website.. then your domain name should be the name of your business.. if at all possible.
In some cases, you may need to use one hyphen to make the web address more readable. For instance.. say you live in Bell, CA and you own a lighting company.
The web address might be something like belllighting.com With the three l’s all together it may be confusing to try to read.
You could always write it as BellLighting.com on such things as stationery, business cards, the website home page, etc. However, this is not going to change the fact that the web address (URL) will still read: belllighting.com
In cases such as this.. one hyphen may help to make it more readable such as:
bell-lighting.com
In any case.. NEVER use more than one hyphen.. as it tends to make the web address look spammy. There are many people who will not click on a domain with more than one hyphen for this reason.
Make a list of the domain names that you would like to investigate further. You should also avoid any “cutsie” or mis-spelled domain names.
You don’t want to be constantly spelling the domain name for people or explaining whatever it was you had in mind at the time you registered some quirky domain name.
You also want to be sure not to infringe on anyone else’s trademark. In the case of most generic domain names, you should be just fine.
First of all.. very generic terms are difficult to trademark.
Believe me.. I have been there.. tried that.
Secondly.. If the term were trademarked
the trademark owner would likely be using it for his own domain.
If you have any doubt at all about the name you have chosen.. it is best to be safe and take the time to do a trademark search at USPTO.gov
STEP THREE: HOW TO START A BLOG FOR MONEY
REGISTER YOUR DOMAIN NAME
Registering your own domain name is NOT difficult. You should register your domain through a reputable domain registrar such as NameCheap or GoDaddy.
I suggest NameCheap as they charge less than some of the other registrars.
As of this writing, the price for a new .com domain is $6.98 using promo code: NEWCOM698.
You can register it.. pay for it.. and renew it annually.. all through the registrar’s site. In fact, you can set it to automatically renew year after year. It doesn’t get any more convenient than that!
Go to NameCheap or GoDaddy now and begin your domain name search.
Enter the domain names you are considering and check through them until you find one that is available.
Always try to get a .com since that is the most common domain extension. This will also make it much easier for people to remember should someone want to recommend your blog to their friends.
If the .com extension is not available for the domain name you like.. either move on to your next favorite domain name on the list or add one of the short words as mentioned above.
If you have questions during the registration process.. the people at NameCheap will be happy to guide you. They have a live chat that you can use to request assistance.
To learn more about domain name registration.. read our post:
* Registering a Domain Name
STEP FOUR: START A BLOG BUSINESS AND MAKE MONEY
YOU NEED TO BE IN CONTROL OF YOUR BLOG!
As a blog owner.. you need to be in control of your own domain name and your own hosting account. This is especially important if you expect to earn money from your blog.
I am sure you have heard of places where you can sign up to use one of the website builders and start your blog absolutely free.
To the inexperienced newbie blogger, this might sound attractive.. and you may have even considered doing that yourself. However.. allow me to warn you:
Hosting your site on one of the free platforms
is definitely not the best way to go!
There are several reasons for this.. all of which will make perfect sense to you as you become more knowledgeable in your pursuit of learning how to become a blogger.
For now.. let me point out just a few of the most important reasons…
- When you are using someone else’s platform and not paying anything to use it.. there will be limitations as to what you can do.
Not only that.. but, you may have to put up with ads on your site.. and you may not be able to add your own affiliate links.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - When you build your website using one of the free builders, you lose the ability to make your site unique.
Several million other customers who are using the same free platform will also be using the exact same website template you are using.
This diminishes the user experience.. which will result in lost customers.. and lost customers equals lost revenue.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - The free builders are also widely known for not being SEO-friendly.
They are basically drag-and-drop visual editors which generate nice-looking websites on the fly.. but that’s about the extent of their capabilities.
* However, keep in mind.. the number one most important thing that is going to bring traffic to your website is SEO.
To learn more about website builders.. read our post:
* Website Builders – Good? or Not so Much?
STEP FIVE: START A BLOG AND MAKE MONEY ONLINE
ARRANGE YOUR WEB HOSTING
Now it is time to decide on a hosting company to host your domain name. You don’t want to put a lot of time and effort into creating a blog and then host it with an inferior web host.
One of my favorite web hosts is Hosting.com. They are one of the top web hosts as far as speed. I have domains hosted with A2 Hosting. I am impressed with the speed of my sites and have always been very happy with the level of customer service as well.
Google’s Speed Update has put a lot of emphasis on the loading speed of your website. This means site speed is of the utmost importance if you want your site to rank well in the SERPs.
If you have been blogging for a while and may have more than one blog.. another of the superior web hosts is WPX Hosting.
WPX allows you to host up to 5 websites for $20.83 per month. You will get 2 months free if you pay annually.
Check all the WPX Hosting plans and find one that suits your budget.
Another great hosting service is BigScoots. Their hosting plans are competitively priced and their customer service is among the best. Click on Products and drop down to Web Hosting > Shared.
To learn more about website hosting services.. read our post:
* Best Website Hosting Services
STEP SIX: HOW TO START YOUR OWN MONEY MAKING BLOG
YOUR BLOG IS GOING TO NEED A THEME
Basically, the WordPress theme you choose will determine what your site looks like. That is to say.. the right theme will make all the difference in allowing you to have a nicely designed site without having to know anything about coding.
WordPress has some free themes.. but I have found that the free themes are not very user-friendly for beginners.
Some of the easiest themes for beginners are from Restored 316 Designs. These themes are called child themes. The parent theme will be Kadence, which is a free theme.
The parent theme provides the foundation and coding that make the theme work properly. The child theme allows you to control the look and feel of your site.. to give it the aesthetically pleasing appearance you are going for.
The images below are only a couple of the themes available from Restored 316 Designs. As of this writing.. there are currently 17 beautiful child-theme designs to choose from.
Just replace their text with your text.. and replace their stock images with your images and make it your own.
Find a selection of versatile, flexible, and easy to customize WordPress themes
on our page:
Best WordPress Themes
STEP SEVEN: AND NOW THE FUN BEGINS!
So.. you have installed your theme.. you have worked on customizing it to look the way you would like it to look.. and now you are ready to start creating some content.. well almost!
Another of the most important things in starting a blog is making sure you have all your important Legal Pages in place.
To learn more about legal pages and what is required.. read our post:
* Legal Pages Needed for Your Website
You will notice WordPress has Pages as well as Posts. If you are confused.. don’t feel bad. When I first started using WordPress.. I was confused as well as to what the difference was.
Pages are used for the things you do NOT want to show up in your list of blog posts.
Pages are for things like:
Your About Page..
Your Privacy Policy Page..
Your Contact Page.. and most importantly..
Your Legal Disclosures.
Once you have created these pages and have them all in place and linked.. now you can go ahead and begin creating content for your blog.
Start brainstorming and make a list of things you want to write about on your new blog. These should all be things relating to your chosen niche.
To learn more about website content creation.. read our post:
* Content Creation – A Guide to Creating Blog Content
STEP EIGHT: STARTING A MONEY MAKING WORDPRESS BLOG
HOW WILL PEOPLE FIND YOUR AWESOME NEW BLOG?
Now that you have a few posts on your blog.. have fine-tuned them to the max.. added some images.. and made the site live.. it is time to figure out how to get visitors to your site.
People are always looking for new and creative ways to get traffic to their websites. Facebook, Pinterest and your Email list will all help to get things rolling.
However.. the truth is: Nothing Beats Search Engine Optimization (SEO)!
Learn how to give the Search Engines what they want and they will send you all the traffic you will ever need.
What exactly is Search Engine Optimization? Well.. as the name suggests.. it is the art of optimizing your site so it will rank higher on the pages of Google, Yahoo, etc.
If your site is listed on page 25.. or even on page 5.. your chances of getting traffic are very slim.
Think about it.. when you are searching for something on Google.. how many levels deep do you normally search? Do you go past the first page?
Statistics have shown that 75% of users only check the first page. That means if your site is not showing on the first page of search.. you are missing out on 75% of your potential customers.
There is actually a tacky joke among SEO’s:
“Where is the best place to hide a dead body?”
Answer: “On the second page of Google!”
STEP NINE: START A BLOGGING WEBSITE AND EARN MONEY
JUST HOW IMPORTANT IS SEO?
It is absolutely imperative that you have a good solid understanding of SEO to get your site to rank well in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Investing in a comprehensive SEO course and/or a few SEO books is an investment in yourself.. your business.. and ultimately in your success.
The money you spend on educational courses and materials is a tax deduction for your business. As my accountant always reminds me.. you might as well spend the money on yourself rather than give it to Uncle Sam.
NOTE: Before I recommend any books and/or courses..
I always purchase them myself.
I want to be sure the information is accurate, useful and most importantly
that the product is worth the price being charged.
When it comes to learning SEO.. the following books are the ones I feel give you the best bang for your buck.
These books are very affordable.. and will provide you with a good basic understanding of SEO so you can get started on the project of optimizing your site for the search engines.
One of the best books on SEO is one that has been written by Debbie Gartner. It is called Easy on Page SEO.
Debbie has also written another book called Easy Backlinks for SEO.
Since SEO requires on page optimization as well as backlinks to your site I am including links to both of Debbie’s books.
NOTE: If you purchase both books as a bundle you will save $10 on each book.
Here is a link to the bundle as well.
GET THE BUNDLE HERE
STEP TEN: HOW TO START A BLOG AND MAKE MONEY
EARN MONEY BY MONETIZING YOUR BLOG
You will no doubt want to monetize your blog at some point so you can earn some money for all your efforts. There are several different ways to earn money with your blog.
One of the most popular ways is with affiliate programs. A couple of the best affiliate networks are FlexOffers and Awin.
You can go ahead and apply to the networks as soon as you have a few posts on your site.
In fact, browsing through the different advertisers available on each of these networks might even give you some good ideas for posts to write.
However, don’t start applying for any of the individual affiliate programs until you have quite a few blog posts on your site.
First of all.. the advertisers you apply to will check your site to see if it is a good fit for their products. If they see only a handful of posts.. they may decline your application.
And, secondly.. if you apply before you have any traffic to your site you likely will not generate any sales.
Some of the advertisers will cancel you from their program if you have not made any sales within a reasonable length of time.
For a list of the best affiliate networks.. read my article:
* Best Affiliate Marketing Networks
About the Author: Sherry Bennett
Ms. Bennett is a Professional Blogger, who has been earning a living online with niche websites for 25+ years.
Through hard work and dedication, she has turned her passion for blogging into a 7-figure business.. and you can do the same.
Read More
* If you are a new blogger just starting your blogging adventure
learn how to start your blog the right way from the beginning:
Blogging Step-by-Step
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Your blog is a great example of excellence in content creation! I’m always impressed by the depth of your knowledge and the clarity of your writing.
Thank you for all that you do to help bloggers everywhere.
Thank You for your kind words. I created this blog as FREE resource for those who want to learn more about blogging. I am glad you are finding it helpful.