You want to start a blog, but feel overwhelmed by all the information out there on how to do it. To do it properly and perfect from the start. You want it to look professional and you want to avoid looking like a newbie.  In this article you will find step-by-step instructions on how to start a money-making blog in 2020 that is right from the beginning.

A blog is a website with article-based updates, also known as blog posts. Usually, blog posts have a comment section at the end, that allow the writers to interact on a more personal level with the readers. By building relationships with your readers, you will gain their trust and respect, which is a significant factor if you plan to monetize. But we’ll talk about monetization later.

Before starting a successful blog, however, you must ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you passionate about something and feel the need to tell everyone about it?
2. Do you want to use your knowledge to help others?
3. Are you prepared for the hard work and dedication a blog will take?

If you answered yes to these 3 questions, congrats! You are on the right mindset to start a successful, money-making blog.

Good news: I’m here to teach you how to start a money-making blog in 6 easy steps!

Step 1: Choose a blog name

Consider your topic and brainstorm a few keywords. Once you have about ten keywords related to your topic, mix and match to find the perfect blog name.

Your blog’s name should let your readers know what you’re all about. It should be short and memorable, consisting of a maximum of 4 words.

Once you have decided on a name, it’s time to check its availability on the social media platforms you plan on using, which you should reserve, to guarantee the availability once you are ready to start using Social Media. Then, you should also buy your domain. Which brings us to the next step.

Step 2: Decide on a hosting company and buy your domain.

You will want your blog to be self-hosted, rather than having it set up on a platform such as wordpress.com, or blogger.com. If you set up your blog on one of those platforms, your website’s name will always be something like www.yourblogname.wordpress.com or www.yourblogname.blogger.com. Aside from not being professional, it gives your readers the idea that you’re not that devoted to your blog and that you may not take it seriously. Besides, such platforms don’t give you room for personalization and monetization.

I recommend you set up your self-hosted website with the WordPress.org platform. WordPress.org is a 100% free, open source platform that allows you to build your website and personalize it as much or as little as you would like.

Before you start to design your blog, however, you have to decide on a hosting company. I, personally, recommend SiteGround. SiteGround is the hosting company behind Fiercely Balanced and, with servers located in various regions, significantly lowers the loading times of your website. And you do want a fast, responsive website. Furthermore, I’m a bit of a freak regarding internet security, and SiteGround offers privacy and security features for every domain you purchase. Not only that, but the customer service is awesome and really helpful. AND, there is a WordPress integration system once you purchase your domain, that makes it super easy for you to start posting immediately!

You can get hosting from SiteGround for as little as 3,95€/month, just give it a go!

Step 3: Branding

There are a number of web designers that you can hire to build the website of your dreams. Or, you can totally choose a free Wordpress theme and just personalize it to suit your own style. As you do that, think of consistency. Decide on a theme, a tagline, a color palette and font styles that suit your taste and appeal to your audience. Then, just apply the same styles throughout your website, your social media platforms and posts. Ideally, your audience should be able to identify something you made and associate it with your brand.

Step 4: Actually blogging

Decide on a few categories for your blog. For example, your main topic could be interior design, and you could probably categorize your blog posts as D.I.Y., décor, and organization. Adding categories helps your audience travel through your website more easily and more efficiently. And we all love a user-friendly website. Once you have decided on your categories, brainstorm a few blog post titles and just write! Write your first blog post and publish it. BAM! You can now call yourself a blogger!

Step 5: Promote your blog posts

Remember the Social Media platforms you reserved back in step one? It’s time to start using those to their full potential. Promote your blog posts. Engage with your audience. Build relationships with your readers. Answer messages and comments. And like, comment and follow fellow bloggers you find inspirational and build relationships with them as well.

Step 6: Monetization

Once you have captivated a following, people will start trusting you and what you have to teach. Give them the opportunity to sign up to your e-mail list. E-mail subscribers are a blogger’s best friend. They’re the ones who are really interested in what you have to say, which makes them the most likely people to buy your products. Start an e-mail marketing program from the early stages of your blog. Offer people something in return for their e-mail address and nurture the people that actually sign up. Mailchimp is a great e-mail marketing platform and is free for up to 1000 subscribers, which is a great start up option. Once you have reached 1000 subscribers, you might want to upgrade to other (paid) platforms, such as ConvertKit.

The monetization of a blog can be made in a number of ways: selling advertising space, through sponsored posts, through affiliate programs or, the one that depends only on yourself, selling your own products or services. You can focus on one monetization strategy or just go for it and use them all. However, I recommend starting from just one and working your way up. The more options you have to generate money from your blog, the more money you will make. But that is only true if you do things right.

In conclusion

In order to start a money-making blog, the first step is to choose a topic and decide on a blog name. Once you have decided on your name and what you would like to blog about, sign up for the social media platform you plan to use. Then you should decide on a hosting company (as I mentioned above, I recommend SiteGround) and buy your domain and hosting plan. The next step is to think in terms of branding yourself and your blog and how you want your readers to see you. Step 4 is an easy one and is actually starting to blog and publish your first post. After hitting the publish button, you will want to promote your post on your social media channels and start grabbing a following. As soon as your tribe is starting to grow, it’s time to start thinking about monetizing your blog.

That’s it! Not so scary after all, is it? All you have to do is start!

Have you started your blog, yet? Are you struggling with any of these steps? Are you implementing this method on how to start a money-making blog? Please let me know all about it in the comments.

Until next time.