How to start a blog that generates money? full guide

July 1, 2022 Zaher Zaidan

Home » Blog » Blogging » How to start a blog that generates money? full guide

So, you’ve decided to start your own blog? great idea.

Let’s imagine the situation. You have probably searched lots of websites for the word “blogging” to collect some ideas to start your website.

Despite the fact that you expected to find straight answers, the truth is you came loaded with different things.

Making a decision out of these contradictory answers is suicidal. Who is giving the right answer? Why do replies differ that much?

well, hold on

All bloggers over the world started as newbies. I had these questions in mind before and was confused and frustrated till I discovered after many mistakes what is true to start with and what to stay away from.

In this post, I will make it simple and easy for you.

This will be a step-by-step guide that you need to start your blog and which can be considered as a reference you can depend on.

I would prefer to have a look at the information mentioned about blogging before starting.

let’s move on.

Pick your blog niche before you start.

This step is perhaps the most difficult of all unless you are prepared and know what you are going to write about or what type of blog you intend to create.

for instance, if you are a dog lover and/or have pets, or you want to write about training dogs how to behave, based on your experience raising them, then your niche will be “dog training”.

So, the Niche is the broad topic area around which you will center your material. Topics such as travel, cuisine, fashion, lifestyle, technology, and others are examples.

The difficult thing is when you don’t know what to talk about or write about.

Believe me, it took me months to choose what to write about and I regret the wasted time I’ve sacrificed.

It took me more months to start a blog, All I was thinking of was perfection, whereas all that I needed was execution.

Choose a name before you start your blog.

Within the name of your blog, include a word or two that clearly indicates what your material is about.

Before you can create a terrific blog, you must first pick a domain name – and then locate a location to host it. A domain name is simply what people put into their browser’s address bar (URL) to access your website. It serves as the foundation for your whole brand.

For example, when you want to access Google, you just type Google’s domain name [www.google.com], or Facebook.com when you access Facebook.

The finest domain names are not the ones that are humorous or showy; they are the ones that people remember quickly. Good domain names also assist Google in determining the topic of your blog.

How to start a blog? Look for the best hosting provider.

The first thing you need when starting your own website is to choose a web host. A web host is a company that stores your website on its servers and offers the tools and assistance needed to keep it running properly.

THE SIMPLIFIED DEFINITION OF WEB HOSTING FOR BEGINNERS

There are several sorts of Web hosting, each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. Shared hosting is the most common kind of Web hosting, which allows up to 500 website users to share a single server. Although this sort of Web hosting is inexpensive, it is sluggish and difficult to handle huge websites.

As a beginner, you don’t have to ace your head with these terms. All you need is a starter plan from Hostinger, one of the cheapest and most favorite for me, and also top bloggers in the world use it.

You can simply get the starter plan, which they call the Single Shared Hosting for only $1.99/mo. but I’d prefer you do the same as me, go for the Premium Shared Hosting.

For only $2.99/mo., you will get:

Free domain name (worth $6.99).
Free email
Free SSL certificate (worth $11.95)
Managed WordPress.
WordPress Acceleration

Isn’t this an amazing offer?

What are you waiting for?

Start your blog by creating a Hostinger account.

Get prepared, because, after 20 minutes, your website will be active online. feeling great right?

let’s dive into the practical steps.

Click on Hostinger.
Get started.
On the next page, click on Create a New Website.
A new page will pop up asking: How would you build your website? choose WordPress.

On the next page, you will choose if you want to sell something on your website. Choose No.
On the next page, click “skip.”
Now choose the Premium Shared Hosting option for $2.99. You’ll get a free domain and SSL.

Now you are on the shopping cart page, you’ll be asked to create your account in Hostinger. Don’t worry, this is the account where you can log in to the platform panel later. You can easily sign up through your Google account or even Facebook.

Select your payment. (I went with PayPal)
Submit your secure payment.

After that, you may choose a blog template to work with. Alternatively, you may start over by clicking the text link at the bottom. If you’re new to this, I’d suggest starting with a template. There are several beautifully designed alternatives to pick from.

After that, you’ll be able to buy a new domain or connect an existing one to your site once you’ve made a selection there.

This should be simple because you previously looked for accessible domains and you know your choice. On the left, click “buy a new domain,” then enter your preferred domain in the form that appears.

If you have a small budget, like $10 more, it is preferable to buy the WHOIS privacy. This will protect your contact information against scam callers and unsolicited mail.

The big news?

You’re almost done.

Just give it some minutes for migration, don’t worry, Hostinger will do the whole process for you.

Later on, you can access the panel and set up your business email. It is a piece of cake. Just choose the email address, for example (admin@yourdomain.com), and it’s all set up for you.

install WordPress

When the Hostinger setup procedure is done, you’ll be prompted to connect your domain, browse your site, or navigate to the WordPress dashboard or the Hostinger control panel.

You will see four choices. Select Manage WordPress. A new section will appear in the hpanel. Click on “Setup” next to SSL certification, and now you’re done.

Choose a theme to design your website.

Now if you type your domain name in the browser (yourdomain.com), you will be taken to your fresh website.

You can always log in to your log-in screen by typing your domain name with “/wp-admin” added to the end of it.

For example, www.example.com/wp-admin.

Enter your credentials and you’re in.

(Enter the domain name and password you chose when you signed up for WordPress).

Don’t panic if you see a boring appearance on your website, this is the pre-built theme that we are going to change now.

in the left black sidebar, hover over appearance and click on themes.

WordPress offers hundreds of ready-to-go themes for free. Although paid themes (designs) are more advanced and prettier, all we need now is a free theme to start, and later we can scale.

You can choose Neve, Astra, or Optimizer (I use Optimizer). Then you can buy a theme from Themeforest or Elegant Themes. It’s up to you.

Back to our free themes, on the top, you’ll see “add new.” Click it and hundreds of themes will be available to select one.

You can simply preview the theme before selecting it by clicking on its thumbnail and seeing if it fits your domain.

Once you’re satisfied with one, click install, then activate.

Customize your theme.

and now that you have your theme installed and activated, you’ll need to customize it.

Firstly, keep in mind that I, like everybody on the net, made countless mistakes when customizing my theme. It took me days to feel comfortable with a theme, and every now and then you’ll search for a new one.

Secondly, don’t make this mistake; you need execution at the moment and not perfection. Start working on something that is simple and easy. Simply, start your blog.

Simple customization, the plugins you need for a great blog.

Before we start, a plugin is a piece of software that adds functionality to your website and gives you more features than you expect. To add a plugin:
Hover over the plugin icon on your admin page to see it in action.
Add new.
In the search bar, type the name of a plugin.
Choose it
Click install
Activate.

I made a selection of the most important plugins for you to start, and later on, you’ll have the experience to choose among hundreds of them that fit your business.

Wordfence security: one of the must-have plugins to secure your website from malware. It is a layer of defense that keeps you protected.

Updraft: This is a plugin used to back up your website in case something goes wrong. By using this plugin, you’ll keep your data saved, backed up, and restored. You can run automated backups and save them inside your free Google Drive account, Dropbox, or many other places available for your choice.

Yoast: this is without any doubt the most important plugin in WordPress (at least in my point of view).

Optimize your blog for search engine traffic.

Create a property on Google Analytics:

If you’re looking to get a handle on your website’s traffic and some idea of how people are interacting with it, you need to create a Google Analytics account. There are a few things to keep in mind before you get started, though.

First, you’ll need to create a Google account if you don’t have one already. Once you’ve done that, you can create a new Google Analytics account or sign in to an existing one.

Once you’re logged in, you’ll need to add your website’s domain name and the website’s URL. You can find these in the “Website Info” section of your Google Analytics account.

Optimize with the Google search console.

This is an easy process just put your website’s URL, and your website will be verified automatically.

Optimize with Microsoft Bing.

Bing is a search engine developed by Microsoft and has around one billion visits per month. So, do you want to miss being indexed by their webmaster tools? of course not.

Optimize with Yandex.

Yandex is Russia’s Google. It is a Russian-Dutch company that offers a search engine and other services.

Letting Yandex crawl your pages along with Google and Bing will give you the maximum opportunity to get free organic visitors from the world’s largest search engines.

To apply to Yandex follow these steps prepared by Yoast.

Set up permalinks. (Show in your blog’s URL)

Always set up permalinks to improve your visibility in search engines. Go to your WordPress admin page, hover over settings, then permalinks.

On the permalink’s settings page, select “post name”, scroll down, and save changes. That’s it.

Now your URL will show this format: www.example.com/post instead of showing numbers and signs.

monetize your website and generate money.

This is the last stage of building our blog.

Every one of us is looking for revenue out of our business. You definitely don’t want to start your blog just for fun, but most bloggers make the deadly mistake of putting the cart before the horse, in other words, making money their priority. This will lead to unsuccessful stories, unfortunately.

Blogging is an excellent monetization avenue. You’ll grow your audience through blog articles, email newsletters, comment participation, and social media platforms.

Through engagement, blogging draws others into your life. When you think about your favorite blogs, you may feel as if you know them on a personal level. Driven by trust, your audience will eventually turn into your loyal customers.

Make money with advertisements.

Anyone may use Google AdSense to place an ad on their blog. The main source of income, however, comes from private sales of ad spaces on your website.

You may generate a full-time income selling ad space on your website if you create a high-traffic blog.

All you have to do is add their banner and keep doing what you do best: writing about your passion or skill.

Because money should not be the motivating motive in your early efforts, monetization is the final stage in developing a lucrative blog.

sell digital or physical products.

One of the streams you may build on your website is to sell products.

These products vary from physical (toys, electronics, etc) to digital (software, ebooks, etc).

Monetize with affiliate links.

Affiliate marketing has a lot to offer. In a word, affiliate marketing is the practice of collaborating with a merchant to promote their goods. When a customer clicks on the merchant’s link and makes a purchase, the affiliate gets compensated. Affiliate commissions may be quite lucrative in this form of marketing.

When launching an affiliate marketing strategy, there are several factors to consider. One of the most vital things is to ensure that the seller is reputable. It is critical to conduct research before signing up with any merchant, as there are a number of bogus merchants out there. Another significant element to consider is the commission rate.

Conclusion:

Starting a blog is a piece of cake and takes you twenty minutes, but starting a blog that generates money is not the same as being a blogger.

You need consistency when publishing your posts, and I would prefer you to publish on a weekly basis or less.

Later on, you’ll learn by yourself what the perfect timing to publish is, based on your knowledge of your audience.

As you begin your blogging experience, be patient. It is unrealistic to expect to make hundreds or thousands of dollars overnight.

Fortunately, starting a blog is inexpensive, and it won’t be long before you make a profit.

In this guide, I’ve put in your hands the first step to success.

You can start now by getting your free domain and web hosting at Hostinger.

Start your blog now, follow my steps and create great content. People will read your articles, become your audience, and eventually, you’ll achieve your goals in no time and will have your own blog online that generates money.