How to Create A Blog and Earn Money- A Step By Step Guide for Beginners
So you want to start a blog? Whether you’ve been thinking about starting a blog for some time or just don’t know where to get started, you’ve come to the right place!
In this post, I will show you the EXACT FORMULA I used for setting up a beautiful blog that will start making you passive income.
By following these steps, you will save yourself a lot of time and headache that I went through when I first started out. No more wasting time going through trials and error.
Here I will help you build the right foundations for your blog, so you can start making money right away.
Some Blogging FAQ
Before we dig into how to start a blog, let’s address some of the common questions I’ve been asked.
What is a Blogger
A blogger talks about various topics that they’re passionate about.
- If you want to blog about your everyday life, try starting a lifestyle blog.
- Love food? Try food blogging.
- Want to live in a different country every month? Travel blogging is your answer.
The beauty of blogging is you can write about anything under the sun, as long as there’s an audience for it, you will do great.
A blogger can typically write about these topics using a blog or a vlog. A vlog is typically short videos posted on social media platforms such as Instagram, Youtube, or Facebook. Whereas a blog is will created content on a personal website, usually a WordPress site. We will discuss more in-depth how to create a personal website for your blog shortly.
Why Start a Blog
Blogging is one of the most popular ways of making passive income. The beautiful thing about blogging is that
- You can do it in your own time. Blogging has allowed me to make my own schedule. Not having to ask anyone for permission to take a day off, or being able to attend important family events without worrying what the boss would say- has been such a huge change for me.
- You can make passive income. Blogging has allowed me to travel the world while making passive income. Imagine being able to sip margaritas at the beach, while watching your bank account grow. I will show you exactly how.
- Fully showcase your passion and creativity. My favorite part about blogging (as cheesy as it sounds) is being able to connect with you. I love getting emails in my inbox of people sharing stories about the amazing life they’ve been able to create for themself and for their family. And at the end of the day, what more can a girl want than to know that she’s contributed in some way.
Blogging has allowed me to make my own schedule, travel the world while making passive income, and connect with you. The blogging industry is growing faster than ever, and there are many excellent opportunities for new bloggers. Let me show you how.
How To Create A Blog : A Step By Step Process to Starting a Successful Blog
When I started The Rich Girl Blog, I had no idea where to start. I followed SO many tutorials to help me get started and went through a LOT of trial and error. From having to move hosting multiple times (more on this later) to my site was down for more than 72 hours, and almost losing the contents of my website. I went through so many hurdles before being able to get this site on track.
And that is why I decided to write this guide. To help you set yourself up for SUCCESS, so you didn’t have to go through the trials and errors that I went through.
OVERVIEW
- Chose what you want to blog about
- Chose your blogging platform
- Pick Your Host
- Decide on your domain name and Set up your WordPress
- Design your blog
- Time to start blogging!
STEP 1: Choose Your Blog Niche
PICK 2-3 NICHES
Pick a topic that you would like to blog about. Then niche down. For example, if you want to blog in the Beauty space. Writing about “beauty” might be too broad. If you want your blog to be successful, you need to avoid being too general. The term niche just means the topic in which you will blog about. For your beauty blog, you might pick “skincare” as your starting niche.
I recommend picking 2-3 niches, so you can focus on building your authority in these topics. Once your blog starts to grow and you are getting in the swing of things, go ahead and add additional topics to your website. Keep in mind that the niche of a blog can sometimes affect how much money a blogger can make.
STEP 2: Select a platform for blogging
I USE AND RECOMMEND WORDPRESS.ORG
There are many platforms that you can choose from. Some of them are free. Although, these free platforms include Wix, WordPress.com, and Tumblr. It’s generally NOT recommended to use free blogging platforms because they have many drawbacks such as:
- Unprofessional look
- Limited options for customization
- Low potential for monetization
- Lack of control
I recommend that you use self-hosted WordPress.org. This is known as the perfect choice for bloggers, especially newbies, and for the long term.
WordPress.org is referred to as the self-hosted open-source version. Don’t get this confused with WordPress.com which is hosted option. For WordPress.org all you need to do is pay for the domain and web hosting.
To download WordPress go to WordPress.org, Click “Get WordPress” and click on “Download WordPress”
STEP 3: Pick Your Blog Hosting
I USE AND RECOMMEND BLUEHOST
A blog hosting is where you make your blog “live” to the public. It’s like renting a space for your business. The only difference is that you are renting it online. One of the best and most affordable services is called Bluehost. I use Bluehost for all of my blogs.
Bluehost is super affordable at only $2.95/month. So for only a few dollars a month, you can start a blog and keep the costs as low as possible. Plus, Bluehost also has amazing customer support in case you have any difficulties launching your new blog. And WordPress.org is included in their domain plans for FREE.
STEP 4: Visit the Bluehost Website
Visit the Bluehost website and click the button that says “Get Started”
STEP 5: Pick a Plan
When you land on the Bluehost website, you will have options as to which plan to choose. Although the $6.95 plan is recommended, I suggest starting off with the basic plan. You can always upgrade as your blog grows.
STEP 6: Pick Your Blog/ Domain Name
Next, choose your domain name, also known as the name of your blog. Remember to make it memorable, unique, and reflective of your personal style.
- Under the “Create a new domain” enter your desired blog name.
- If you already have a domain, enter it under “use a domain you own”
If you don’t have a domain name in mind, don’t worry. You don’t have to choose now. Select “I’ll create my domain name later”
STEP 7: Create your account
Fill in your information here to finalize setting up your account. Make sure you enter your correct email since this is where Bluehost will be sending you your password.
In the package information section, you can choose between the 12-month and 36-month plans. Select the one that best fits your needs. I personally choose the 36-month plan to solidify my commitment to the blog and get the best price possible.
It’s inconvenient that you can’t just pay the $2.95 monthly fee, but it’s good that you won’t have to worry about it after that. Other websites that allow you to pay for hosting on a monthly basis are significantly more expensive.
Package extras: I didn’t add on any extras so I can’t recommend you add it either.
Once you have completed this process and added your payment information, it’s now time to rock and roll!
STEP 8: Set up your password.
After you finish your purchase, you will be prompted to select a password. Create a password that you’ll remember. This is your login
Congratulations! You are so close to becoming a blogger!
STEP 9: Designing your website
Now comes the fun part of building a website!
After logging in from the above step, you will arrive at a screen that will ask you to pick different themes. A theme is a software that controls the appearance of your WordPress website. This is what your blog will look like. WordPress comes with a default theme already, but I didn’t like any of them, because I thought they didn’t look professional.
The look of your theme is what gives your blog credibility and makes people want to stay. It’s the first thing people see when they come to your page.
It took a while searching for the themes that I love, so I have curated a list of my favorites below. They are so stylish, and so affordable compared to some other places which could go up to $1000+.
- BluChic : Chic, Feminine WordPress themes. That are easy to set up and customize with drag and drop features.
- Restore 316 : Beautiful, Elegant wordpress themes. These are also very easy to set up and customize
- 17th Avenue Designs : I am using the theme “Clover” from 17th Avenue Designs for this blog.
All of the above themes come with installation instructions. I followed the instructions that came with the theme files after I completed the purchase. The instructions made it very easy to set up and walked me through ways to customize the theme. There you have it, chic on a budget
Step 10: Create a logo and Essential pages
Now that you’ve set up the overall “look” of your blog, it’s time to create your logo. Here are a few ways you can create your logo.
- Fiverr: You can hire a designer to do it for you for very reasonable price on Fiverr. I’ve hired many freelancers from Fiverr before and most are very skilled and can deliver according to you’re looking for.
- Creative Marketplace: Here you can find beautiful, elegant templates for your logo and brand.
- Canva: You can create it your self on Canva. I currently use Canva Pro to make all my designs for this website and our social media. For $12.99/ month it is so worth it.
YOUR ESSENTIAL PAGES
You also need to create essential pages to provide people with the necessary information. These pages include:
- The About Page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy Page
- FAQ’s
If you need help with this section, I recommend checking out Blogging for New Blogger’s:
Free Legal Course for Bloggers: A free course that will walk you through the legalities involved in blogging
Full Blogging Legal Page Bundle: Where you can copy and paste your legal pages straight to your blog.
Final Thoughts
Congratulations! You’re finally ready to start blogging. With these steps that you’ve just taken, you can easily get your blog started for generating income, even if you are a beginner.
It can be overwhelming, but like what you did with setting up your blog, the best way to start blogging is to just start. Start writing.
One year from now, your future self will thank you 🙂
