My life completely changed when I decided to learn how to start a blog.
I was in my 30s and knew I wanted to do something different with my life. For me, writing was fun. When I found out women were actually writing blogs and making money while doing it, I was instantly hooked. Getting out of my 9 to 5 became my obsession. Any working mom knows how it is.
My son had childhood asthma so he got sick often. Thankfully I had family that could care for him while I was at work but I would have given anything at the time to be able to stay at home and take care of him myself. I also missed out on a ton of activities and things both of my kids did while growing up. Now they are both adults and I’ve made it my mission to help other mothers jump out of the rat race and live life on their own terms.
Over several years of blogging I’ve met some amazing people and learned so much.
I’ve been able to teach others how to start their own blogs, opened my own product-based business, and much more. It’s been an awesome journey.
This post is going to dive deep into showing you exactly what you need to do to start a blog, the tools you should use, how to get traffic and earn an income blogging.
Are you ready to get started? Let’s go!
12 Steps on How to Start a Blog
Step 1: Determine Your Passion
Some people will tell you to blog on a topic that rolls in the money. I get it, but if you don’t pick a topic that you actually enjoy then how long will you really stick with it? Your niche (main blog topic) needs to be something that has earning potential AND something you enjoy enough to stick with for the long haul.
Step 2: What Should My Blog Be About?
Sit down with paper and brainstorm. You’ll need to figure out where your strengths, passions and knowledge intersect.
Step 3: Choose a Domain Name.
The domain is the web address where your blog will reside. Mine is bossmomblogger.com. Don’t let this step scare you. Your domain name can be tailored with keywords related to the blog itself or it can be something you enjoy that is quite general like mine.
Step 4: Decide Upon a Hosting Plan
You’re going to need a blog host and not one of those free ones. Free hosts do not give you the opportunity to make money with your blog or actually own it. There is a variety of hosting companies that offer reliable service at a really cheap rate so don’t stress over this process. Think of your hosting company as the neighborhood your blog will live in. Bluehost is one of the best hosting plans out there and I highly recommend them. Check out Bluehost HERE and sign up for blog hosting at the low price of $2.95 a month.
Step 5: Install WordPress
WordPress is the main platform where most successful blogs reside. It’s not hard to learn. I’ve used it the entire 12 years I’ve been blogging and absolutely love it.
Step 6: Go Ahead and Setup and Log into Your New WordPress Blog
Setup with most any host will give you step by step instructions along the way when you make your blog purchase. Go ahead and log in and get familiar with the WordPress dashboard.
Step 7: Install a Theme for Your Blog
There are literally thousands of nice WordPress themes, both free and paid, that you can choose from. Themes come with perks, color schemes and built-in options. You can go with a minimalist design starting out or something more advanced.
Step 8: It’s Time to Write Your First Blog Post
After you write your about me page, you need to work on writing your first post. This should be on a topic that is within your niche.
Step 9: Invest in Yourself
Blogging or starting any business is a learning and constant growing experience. The more you learn and grow the more successful you can be. Invest in e-books, courses, and other learning materials to help you along the way.
Step 10: Start Working Towards Building Your Traffic
Traffic to your blog is super important and organic (unpaid) traffic is gold. You want to use keywords and search engine optimization (SEO) to help draw in people to your blog. Your high-quality content will keep them coming back for more.
Step 11: Decide How You Plan to Monetize Your Blog
There are numerous ways you can earn money blogging. You’ll need to determine which ways are right for you. Some monetization methods include selling your own products that are aligned with your niche, becoming an affiliate, advertising, or participating in sponsored posts.
Step 12: Finding Time for Your Blog
This is a big thing for working moms. So often they get caught up in the “I just don’t have the time” lie their minds keep telling them. This little misinterpretation your mind is telling you will hold you back from ever being able to become a successful mompreneur who officially broke the chains of her 9 to 5 and started living a life of freedom. With the right schedule, dedication, hard work and mindset, you’ll be able to work your 9 to 5 while your blog grows and continue to be the super mom that you already are.
It’s not difficult to learn how to start a blog.
You can get your site running pretty quickly and in all honesty have your blog up and ready to start in a day.
You don’t have to know how to code or any form of computer programing. As long as you know how to write and share your ideas you can become a blogger. It doesn’t matter what age you are or your profession. Blogging does not discriminate. There are successful bloggers in their teens and early 20s on up to 80s and beyond! You can seriously do this!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means I receive a commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase through one of my links.
Choosing a Hosting Plan
Over the years I’ve used several different companies to host my blogs. So I can tell you which ones I think work the best and which don’t. You don’t have to stick with the exact one you chose today either.
BlueHost – Best Platform for Beginning Bloggers
BlueHost is a wonderful option for starting a blog. There are more than 2 million sites powered by BlueHost. You don’t have to be tech savvy and it’s really easy to navigate. The installation process is easy too.
Perks and Overview
- Low cost of just $2.95 per month starting out
- Free Domain for the first year
- Free SSL certificate – this is important for keeping your blog and readers secure
- Free backups so you don’t have to worry about losing any content
- 24/7 Chat Support
Bluehost is an excellent option for bloggers to start and grow their online businesses. It’s very affordable for any budget and includes everything you need to build a fast and secure blog.
Remember it’s important to start a self-hosted blog. There are two WordPress platforms and people often get confused between the two.
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
WordPress.com is the free blogging platform. Ads that do not generate any income for you are placed on the site. You do not own the blog you set up and you can’t monetize it.
WordPress.org is the one you need for a self-hosted blog where you pay a small fee like you would with Blue Host. You own the blog, no ads are placed unless you are the one placing the ads and there are tons of ways to monetize it.
So, it’s vital you choose the right blogging platform you have the opportunity to build a successful business.
What Should I Blog About?
To come up with a profitable niche (blog topic) you will need to do some research. Some of the more popular blog niches include: lifestyle, fashion, beauty, tech, making money online, mommy blogs, decorating, crafts, and working from home. You can pretty much blog about anything you like but if you want to make money doing it, it’s important to determine if your blog topic is profitable.
You don’t have to be an expert. All you need to do is work on learning more about your topic and share with your audience as you grow.
How to Find Profitable Topics
Perform an Amazon book search using the topic you would like to create a blog about. If you find books written on that topic and they have a good amount of reviews, it’s a topic people are wanting to learn more about and will be willing to may money to do it.
You can also do a Google search. If the niche you’re thinking about has search volume and people are making queries, it has an audience. You want the search volume to fall sort of in the middle. Est. in the low thousands range. You can niche around a topic with a high search volume but you may have to work much harder to get noticed in all of the competition.
Be sure to remember the topic you choose must be one you can happily write about because you’re going to be spending a lot of time with your blog.
You Need to Niche Down
This involves finding a topic that checks out good in your research, determining you want to go with it and then doing more research to narrow it down. You want to eventually become that “go to person” in your particular field of expertise. A niche that is more specialized will draw in more traffic because your competition will be less than a broader topic.
Since I love cats let’s use this as an example. Say you want to blog about cats. Starting a site on this broad topic will give you lots of competition because there are tons of sites about cats all the way from bloggers to big box brands. So you’ll want to narrow down your topic to a certain breed of cat.
Let’s pick orange tabby cats. Even though you’ll probably still have competition it will be manageable. It’s really no different than brick-and-mortar shops. They all have particular types of products they sell. They don’t try to carry everything. Most shops and restaurants focus on a certain type of product and cater to a certain market. The same should hold true for your blog.
Picking Your Domain Name
Now that you have figured out what your niche will be, you need to decide upon a domain name. It needs to be easy to spell and remember. You can use keywords in your domain name or make it something cute or something you like. Be sure it is family-friendly and appropriate if you want the chance to earn money with your blog.
Don’t get stuck on figuring out a domain name. Give it some thought, maybe ask for opinions and just go with something that sounds right for you. Later on if you want a new domain name you can rename it so don’t let this become an obstacle for you.
It’s Time to Create a Logo
Once you have named your blog and you have it running it’s time to start building your brand and part of that is creating a logo.
Canva is an awesome platform for creating a free logo or you can visit Fiverr where there are many professional designers who will design your logo for you cheaply. I’ve used both. The logo I am using now I designed with Canva.
Installing WordPress
WordPress is free with BlueHost hosting.
When you sign up for a reliable host like BlueHost, the signup process will guide you through setting up your site. You’ll log into your new blog use the username and password you chose in the beginning. You can start your blog off with a free theme or you can get a paid theme.
Lots of bloggers start their blogs off with what we call a pillar post.
These are in-depth, long articles that give great solutions to problems your audience faces. You can edit and improve these posts later on if you like.
Before launching your blog (taking it live):
- Be sure to have written 3-5 Pillar Posts
- Share a clear profile picture
- Write a detailed and friendly About Me Page
- Have a clear blog menu
- Create a Disclosure Page – if you participate in affiliate marketing
- Be sure to have a way to contact you (you can add this to your About Me page)
- Share links to your social media pages
When you start writing your first 10 blog posts think about:
- Posts that are dedicated to growing your traffic
- Blog posts than can help you make money and drive traffic to your blog
Consider your blog the go-to place that offers advice and help for your particular niche. You want your audience to benefit from the content you share on your blog and feel they got what they came for when they leave.
When someone is skimming a post, they want to see what is in it for them. Focus on what helps your reader.
As you continue building your blog you want to work on getting more visitors along the way. Produce amazing content that offers solutions. Use social media such as Pinterest and Facebook to grow followers and push more traffic.
Once you get traffic and continue adding consistent content that has value, your blog is golden. It’s not easy work but its valuable and rewarding work that you will benefit from down the road.
Getting Traffic to Your Blog
There are proven strategies successful bloggers use to drive traffic to their blogs
The easiest and quickest way to drive traffic is to use Pinterest. This visual search engine is the winning ticket for bloggers. Pinterest covers numerous topics and tons of people visit it looking for information.
Creating pins and pinning posts are pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
- Create your Pinterest Business account (it’s free)
- Setup a profile and main categories for your niche boards
- Create a few pin images for each of your blog posts
- Pin images regularly
- Use a Pinterest browser extension to save time
- Start using Tailwind to help build your Pinterest account
- Join Tailwind tribes to draw in more traffic to your blog
The above is all steps successful bloggers take to increase their traffic.
What is Considered an Awesome Pinterest Image?
Pinterest is a visual platform so beautiful images and great headlines go hand in hand.
A High Quality Pin Image Has:
- A title that is easy to read and catchy
- Contrasting and bright colors
- Attention grabbing crystal clear images
- Your blog name or logo
- Learn how to create stunning Pinterest pins
Canva – This is my ultimate favorite program for creating gorgeous graphics in no time at all. They offer a very nice free program and Canva Pro which I pay about $12.00 a month for.
Get good at Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization is just an elaborate way of saying “getting traffic from search engines.” Google is the biggest search engine so it basically means getting traffic from Google.
To get Google traffic you have to use search engine optimization with your blog.
This means researching keywords that people look for and using those keywords in the body of your blog post. It also means using SEO plugins like Yoast SEO among others. These WordPress plugins make it so easy to place keywords and analyze each of your blog posts.
Getting traffic from Google is a long-term game meaning it can take months to years to earn a steady stream of traffic from Google’s search engine to your blog. To get traffic much quicker I recommend using Pinterest and social media as well as making sure your blog is SEO friendly so the search engine traffic will start coming in eventually.
Getting traffic takes time and work but the efforts you put in are very much worth it. You’re building a business and all businesses take time and energy to create so don’t get discouraged. Work on it and continue to work on it and you’ll start getting results
How to Make Money With Your Blog
Remember, the first thing you need to do is decide upon a domain name and purchase your blog through a reputable host like BlueHost. It’s a commitment sort of like a relationship is. If you want to make money and grow a solid business, you have to be in it for the long haul.
You will need to work on building quality blog post that give valuable information to your readers. Work on building a social media following and creating a relationship with your readers. Focus on helping, giving and serving and the rest will follow.
Blogging is not a get rich quick scheme.
You have to put forth the effort and you get what you put in. The more you work on serving and giving to people the more you will grow and your monetization strategies will start going to work for you.
Set goals and follow through with them. Make it a habit to stay on track.
There are many money making methods you can use to earn income with your blog.
Here are the top methods to monetize a blog:
- Advertisements
- Sponsored Posts
- Products
- Affiliates
- Services
Most successful bloggers build a strong email list and stay in contact with their subscribers. Participating in affiliate programs can be one of the first methods of monetization you use.
Affiliate marketing (same as participating in affiliate programs) is promoting a product and earning a commission if you send a buyer to the affiliate company and they make a purchase. Some affiliate programs pay you for sending them leads. You receive a percentage of the sale, or a certain commission or finders fee.
It’s free to sign up for most affiliate programs and each company has their own set of rules.
A few key things to remember when participating in affiliate marketing is that you are required to disclose that you’re using affiliate links at the top of your blog posts. You’ll also need a disclosure page on your blog.
What companies have affiliate programs?
Tons of companies offer affiliate programs. The easiest one that most bloggers start with is Amazon. You can sign up for free and promote any one of their products.
Other companies that offer great affiliate programs include:
- ShareASale
- FlexOffers
- Commission Junction
- Clickbank
- Rakuten
- AffiBank
- Shutterfly
- Target
- Bloomingdales
- BigLots
- Walmart
- TJMaxx
- Burlington
- Dillards
- Macys
Once you have built a loyal audience and you send them to your fantastic product reviews and get conversions on your affiliate links and start making sales.
You Can Offer Services
When your just learning how to start a blog, offering services could be a quick way to make a money.
Here is a quick list of service ideas:
- Virtual Assistant
- Consulting
- Freelance Writer
- Proofreading
- Online Coach
- Home Décor Personal Assistant
- Online Personal Stylist
- Virtual Party Planner
- Cooking Assistant / Recipe Reader
- Breastfeeding Support Group
- Working Mothers Coach And Motivator
- Healthy Living Coach
- Yoga Or Pilates Live Classes
Host Ads On Your Site
Advertisements may be one of the most popular methods to make money with a blog. It’s not exactly the most profitable. You’ll need to generate a lot of traffic to reach at least $1,000 in ad revenue per month.
It can clutter up your site. I’m not a big fan of ads but some bloggers love using them for passive income.
Below are popular ad companies to use on your blog
- Google Ads
- Media.net
- Mediavine
- Sovrn
- AdThrive
Some of the companies above do have page view minimums and strict requirements.
Selling Your Own Products
Online products such as ebooks, courses or membership sites are highly profitable and an awesome way to monetize your blog. The downside is that it takes a lot of skill and knowledge to write an ebook or create a course. You could use amazing platforms like Thrivecart or teachable to make the tech side a bit easier.
While ebooks and online courses take time to create, you can start with selling small digital products and still benefit from huge profit margins.
If you’re really knowledgeable in a particular field and people constantly ask you for advice on that topic, then bundle it up into a course and share your knowledge with the world!
Online courses and e-books are very popular.
Readers love the convenience of receiving an e-book instantly without waiting or paying for shipping. They also enjoy taking online courses from the comfort of their own home.
Here is a nice list of online products you can create and sell on your blog:
- Calligraphy Course
- Online Art Classes
- A Children’s Ebook
- Step By Step Exercise Videos For Postpartum Recovery
- Motivational Videos For Overwhelmed Moms
Earn Money With Sponsored Posts
Do you ever hear of blogger’s getting free stuff from companies? Well, it’s most likely that the blogger received a free item in exchange for a sponsored post.
So What is a sponsored post?
A sponsored post is a dedicated blog post written based on the requirements given by your sponsor. It’s not a regular blog post where you can write about whatever you like. The post has the purpose of bringing awareness to a particular product through your power as an influential blogger.
The sponsor company could either pay you for your blog post or send you free product. Each contract is different. The larger your following and influence, the more money you can request for a sponsored post.
Below is a list of large companies that offer sponsored post opportunities.
- Blogher
- The Blogger Network
- IZEA
- Mode Media
- Collectively
- Social Fabric
- The SITS Girls
Remember to grow your blog and in return grow your income with your blog you need to help others. Be authentic and try to be the best at what you do.
There may be someone out there who is going through the same struggles you are right now. Share your story and your journey. The internet makes it possible that you can help someone on the other side of the world. Someone who just desperately needs it’s going to be okay.
Don’t let all of this information overwhelm you.
Take it in piece by piece. There’s no need to try to digest it all at once. Time management is important when you’re becoming a blogger. Rome was not built in a day and neither was a fully functioning money-making blog.
It’s important to manage your time wisely making time to blog as well as time for family, self care, the job that keeps you financially upright while your blog grows and whatever else you have going on.
The best way to keep everything in order and organized is to come up with a plan.
Create a calendar and organize what parts of your blog you want to work on each day and block off a certain amount of time. When your time slot elapses simply stop until your calendar says its time to work on your blog again. This is a good way to keep from getting burned out and overwhelmed. Allow yourself rest and free time.
Blog Action Goals Should Include:
- Write 1,000 words for a new blog post
- Write your About Me page
- Create and pin 5 new Pinterest pins
- Do keyword research on 10 topics for future blog post ideas
- When Life is Crazy, Focus on small action steps that are quick
There are going to be some days you can’t even touch your blog and that’s okay. Like the times when the kids are sick and you have a ton of other things going on. Just be sure you make time for your blog when you are able to do so.
Blogging is more than chugging out a 2,000 word blog post.
It also means connecting with and building your audience daily. That can be posts, simple social media updates, newsletters, etc. It’s similar to how you connect with friends.
I hope you are able to use this post as an awesome guide for publishing your first post!
Are you ready to learn more about how to get started blogging? If so, sign up for my free course Boss Mom Blogger Roadmap where I show you the exact steps you need to take to get your blog started in less than a week!
