How To Start A Money Making Blog In 2023 (Step-By-Step Guide)

Let me guess, you’re here because you heard of people making six figures blogging and, now, you want to do the same? You want to start a blog and make a lot of money, fast.

I’m right, aren’t I?

I totally understand. Blogging seems like the total dream job, doesn’t it?

Picture this… You are at a beautiful, exotic beach, you open up your laptop and start writing a post. Cash flows into your pocket almost at will. Life is good, right?

Well…not exactly.

Why anyone would even want to work at a beach in the first place? At least in my mind, if I am at the beach, I want to enjoy the sun, not be on my laptop!

Anyway… it takes A LOT of time, work and dedication to start making money with a blog.

But, I’m going to teach you in this easy step-by-step guide how you can start your own blog and make money.

Are you ready? Let’s dive in.

Make sure to save/pin/bookmark this page, and come back to it for later if you can’t finish everything today.

1. Choose Your Blog Topic/Niche

Honestly, choosing the right topic/niche for your blog is way less complicated than it seems or other bloggers seem to make it.

What is a niche? You may ask…

A niche is a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.

What this actually means? It means that you blog about one particular topic, and not for 5-10 topics. But, I will explain this in a minute.

Firstly, almost all niches can make money.

If you worry about your niche being “profitable or not”, stop, you’re wasting precious time that you could have dedicated to building your blog. Almost every niche/topic can make money. I even know a blog about needlecraft that makes over $5,000… PER MONTH!

Making a full-time income from blogging is more about how intimately you know your audience and what they need than any particular topic.

You need to figure out WHO you want to write for first and then see WHAT you’ll be writing about.

Secondly, choosing a blog topic/niche should be something fun.

My take is, choose a niche/topic you either: a) have a passion or experience in a certain topic b) or you have a legitimate interest in learning about that particular topic.

I personally love personal development/mental health and the whole aspect of improving yourself, so this is what I started blogging about.

I started with this topic because I am passionate about it and have experience in it (me being an introvert and overcoming my social anxiety), so talking about it was easy.

Thirdly, you won’t know if you don’t start.

You won’t know if you like skiing until you’ve tried skiing, right?

You won’t really know if you like blogging about a particular topic (or even blogging in general) until you’ve actually tried it. 

“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”
― Mark Twain

2. Build Your Blog

Now that you’ve decided on a blog niche, the fun part begins…

To build your blog, you only need 3 things:

• Domain name – A domain name is the text on the top bar of your webpage. “menalstyleproject.com” is my domain name for this website.
• Blogging Platform – This is where you will make the designs, edits, and write your blog posts!
• Web Hosting – Just like buying a property for building a new house, you need to buy space on the internet for your blog to set up. A web hosting provider helps you buy and secure this property!

In this guide, we are going to use the blogging platform WordPress with the web hosting provider Bluehost as this combo is the best option for every beginner.

Also, enroll in this training for new bloggers for FREE.

Why Use These WordPress and Bluehost Together?

• WordPress is the main platform used by 95% of successful bloggers because it’s insanely powerful and customizable.
• Bluehost is a perfect starter host for beginner bloggers and has a fast 24/7 customer service.
• WordPress actually recommends Bluehost, and that makes the setup process easy.
• You get a *FREE* domain name.
• You get a *FREE* business email.

How Much Does It Cost To Start A New Blog?

The great news is that is really affordable to start a new blog.

And that’s why it can be a pretty great long-term investement.

These basic costs are:

• Blog Hosting plan – $3.75/month (paid annually $135)
• Optional, not necessary at all; blog theme – anywhere from $50-150
• Optional; if you want to pay someone to write blog posts for you – $5-25

These costs are not just to start your blog, but make it as professional as it can look.

There are good free options for a blog theme. If you are on a tighter budget and can only spend money on ONE thing, the blog hosting plan is the #1 most important investment you can make.

If you haven’t already, click here to go to Bluehost and then use the tutorial below for easy, step-by-step directions.

This tutorial is going to start with the homepage of Bluehost.

If you don’t want to waste any time from your day, you can actually purchase a turnkey website. Check here for more info.

I’m going to guide you through the process of how to start a blog step-by-step!

First, go to Bluehost.com, if you have not already.

After you click the “Get Started” button on the homepage, you will see a list of plans and pricing options.

Next, choose which pricing plan best suits your needs. Don’t overthink it, for starters, go with the BASIC plan.

After selecting your plan, you will want to enter your new domain name (you get a *FREE* one with every Bluehost plan), as seen down below:

Don’t have the domain name you want just yet? No problem! You can click “I’ll create my domain later” and continue with the guide and select your domain later on!

Now on the next page, you will create your account.

Then, scroll down to the box with the Package Information. There, you are going to choose the LENGTH of your plan.

I recommend the 36-month plan because it provides the best value for your money and is the plan that I did buy myself, but the 12-month plan is great as well.

After selecting the length of your plan, scroll down to the section on package extras.

Uncheck all boxed options *except* privacy protection.

Side Note* If you selected the option to choose a domain name later, you won’t see this option right now. You’ll just want to pay for it as an add-on when you decide to register a domain name.

Selecting domain privacy protection hides your personal details so that your information remains confidential.

Unless you want to be spammed with tons of emails and phone calls every single day, this should be a no-brainer!

Now, all that is remaining to do is to add your credit card number, check the Privacy Notice box and hit Submit!

Congratulations! You Now Have Your Own Blog!

Not so complicated after all, am I right?!

In the next page, you’ll be prompt to create a password for your account.

After selecting your password, click the “Login” button. Now it’s time to set up WordPress!

After you’ve signed in you’ll see a page that looks like this:

On this page, it will ask you about your blog name and some other information about it.

Press “Continue”. This will direct you to select a theme for your WordPress blog.

The themes on this page are all free. Pick a theme that inspires you the most and goes in line with your brand.

Don’t worry – you can change this at any time.

After selecting your theme, it will take a few minutes to set up your WordPress dashboard. Once it’s finished, click “Start Building” to go to your WordPress dashboard.

Now you have officially installed WordPress to your blog! Pretty exciting right???

3. Understand How WordPress Works

WordPress can be really complicated to get the grips of a first. That’s why in his section of the article I’m going to show you the basics of WordPress.

I promise you it won’t be that bad!

This is how your WordPress dashboard will look like, and I’ve highlighed the main areas we are going to focus on right now:

Posts

Your posts are your “blog posts” or “articles”.

Blog posts are generally organized by categories so that people can easily find the content that they are interested in.

For example, on my blog, my posts are organized into the following categories:

• Mental Health
• Lifestyle
• Self-Improvement

You can have 2 categories or you can have 20 categories on your blog! It doesn’t matter, unless it’s all categorized.

Pages

Pages look very similar to blog posts but the contain some of the more technical stuff of blogging as:

• Contact page – a page where you usually have a contact form where people can reach out to you.
• About page – telling your readers your personal story and what’s your purpose with your blog.
• Legal pages – Privacy policy, disclaimer, Terms and Conditions, etc.

To create a new page click on “pages” in the menu on the left. Then click on “add new”.

For the contact page, leave your email or add a contact form.

For the about page, write a few words about you, your story, and your personal mission with this blog.

Now… let’s talk about legal pages.

The most important legal page you need and cannot have a blog without is a Privacy policy.

A privacy policy is a statement that tells your readers about all the personal data you collect from them. (creepy, I know)

So, I highly suggest creating your legal pages ASAP.

Comments

This is where all the comments from the people who read your blog are going to be.

Media

The media library is the home of all the images that you upload to your blog.

You can add images directly to the media library (not so convenient) or you can add them directly into blog posts and they’ll automatically be added to the library.

Appearance

This is where you can customize your blog in any way shape or form. From themes to menus, sidebars, to other widgets.

Plugins

A WordPress plugin is something that adds new functionality to your WordPress site or extends existing functionality on your site.

There are both free and paid plugins, that can help you with:

• Speed up your blog
• Secure your blog
• Add social icons and share buttons
• Help you with extra design, and much more

Users

This is where you can change your email and/or password if you want. Also, you can add/delete users from accesing your blog.

Adding users is probably something you won’t need right now, only if you hire some web developer or someone to help you with the design of your blog.

Settings

Finally, the settings area.

In there, you can change your:

• Site title
• Tag line
• Email address
• Time zone and time format
• Blog posts settings
• And many many more

I know that all of these can be very overwhelming for a beginner. Don’t worry! I, myself probably have spent many hours trying to figure out what I can do with WordPress.

My advice here is to just start playing around in WordPress. Watch YouTube videos, read blog posts about it, and click on some of the links on the dashboard in order to get familiar with the settings and the whole platform.

4. Write Your First Blog Post!

What should my first blog post be about?

Your first post can be about whatever you want, but I recommend to keep it simple and friendly.

As you can see, it isn’t something special.

All you have to do is to tell them a little bit about yourself and why you started your blog.

Let’s write your first blog post!

First, go to Posts -> Add New

First things first, let’s come up with a title for your first blog!

Here are a few ideas:

• My First Blog!
• Why I Started My Own Blog.
• Welcome To (Blog name)!
• Welcome To My Blog About (Topic/Niche)

Don’t worry, you can change the title name at any given point!

After you’ve introduced yourself, then you should hit “Publish” in the top right corner of your screen, so other people can see it.

Your blog post remains in “draft mode” while you are writing it. This means that a draft copy is saved in WordPress and no one can view it until you decide to publish the content.

Once it’s published, there will be a link at the top of the screen to view your post.

After you’ve published your blog post, you can share a link on your Facebook account or send the link to family members or friends if you’d like to share it with anyone!

5. Go Live Already!

Here we are, the final countdown…

The last step of starting and building your blog is… to make it official!

Hit that blue “Launch your site” button.

Your blog is ready to be found, seen, and enjoyed by people!

It’s time to conquer the blogging world, one post at a time, one page view at a time.

Best Resources

Some final words…

I know from firsthand how overwhelming and confusing the whole process of blogging can be. Just not too long ago, I was right there looking at my laptop’s screen in the same seat you are right now.

The single most important thing you can do to anything in life is to get started. Give a pat on your shoulder because you are awesome!

Once you went live with your blog, and gotten a bit more familiar with the WordPress interface, there are some important steps you should do with your new blog.

These are:

Write Content.

Now that your blog is live, wha you’ll need to focus on is to write some content.

Take your time with writing these articles, make them the best they can possibly be.

These will help you bring more people, connect with them, sell products to them, and many more.

Remember that:

Articles/Blog posts=People=Audience=Money

Content is king!

Get Some Eyeballs To Your Blog.

After you’ve written a few articles, it’s time to attract some visitors to read your blog!

There are a few different platforms that you can use, such as Google, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, and Reddit.

Personally, the two most important platform to focus on is:

• Google SEO,
• Pinterest

Especially Pinterest early on, it’s one of the best places to drive the most organic (free) traffic to your blog relatively fast.

If you want help with Pinterest and on how to set up your entire account, as well as with experienced advice, click here.

Make Money.

Finally, the moment you all’ve been waiting for.

Most new bloggers get overly focused on trying to make money right out of the start. But the truth is, you need to build a strong foundation first.

That is, creating high-quality content and getting visitors to your blog.

But… Money?!

Okay, okay! So, the best ways to make money as a blogger are:

• Displaying ads on your blog
• Affiliate marketing
• Sponsored posts
• Selling your own digital/physical products
• Offering services, and much more

Personally, the best way to make money as a beginner blogger is through affiliate marketing.

You essentially promote products and/or services to your audience, and whenever someone buys it from your special link, you get a commission back.

The great thing about affiliate marketing is that it doesn’t require huge amounts of traffic (just like displaying ads) to make some money.

You can make money even if you don’t have 100’s of thousands of page views, YET!

To learn how to monetize your new blog and start making money now., read the guides here.

Final Thoughts

There you have it, this is the complete step-by-step guide on how to start a blog for beginners!

It wasn’t thaaaaaat hard, wasn’t it?

I really hope you found this post helpful and easy to follow.

I’d also be more than happy to answer any questions you may have!

P.S If you enjoyed it, save it!