This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure here
Are you wondering how to start a blog and make money from it as everyone in the blogging world? I can bet you’re as interested as I was when I started and looking for an easy, comprehensive guide to help you start a blog and make money from it.
You will love starting a blog that will generate you money on auto-pilot, I can tell you blogging changed my way of living.
I was able to make $10,000 a month from my blog my first year only and working full time as a freelancer (UPDATE: I’ve quite freelancing a year ago).
UPDATE: As of January 2023, I’ve officially become a 6-figure blogger and I’m now known as an entrepreneur not only a 6-figure blogger.
If blogging has changed my life and helped me becomes independent financially, you can too.
If you’re wondering how much you can make blogging as a beginner, I can ensure you can make up to a thousand monthly within a few months (I’m the proof).
Here are some of my blog income reports if you want to know how much I make money blogging:
How I Made $331,31 My first 4 Months of Blogging Only – October 2021.
How I Made $1321,24 Blogging in May 2022.
With this comprehensive and easy tutorial on how to start a professional website that will make you money, you can easily set up your blog in hours only.
First, let me share with you a few reasons why you should start a blog
- You will be financially free.
- You’ll no longer need to find or work in a 9-5 job.
- You can work from your room.
- You will earn money while you’re sleeping.
I initially started With Houna in November 2020 but officially started blogging in 2021.
I was able to make my first $300 after a few months of blogging only. This is the moment when I’ll be financially free and don’t need to look for a 9-5 job after graduating if I work hard for it.
After one year, I was able to make over $1000 monthly and hit $10,000 income in one month, and I have never been lower than this ever since.
Trust me, you’ll make the same and even more following my step of step how to start a blog and turn it into a full time business.
How to Start a Blog and Make Money
1. Pick up a Niche
Choosing the topic you want to blog about is the first step of setting up your blog.
You want to blog about a topic you’re passionate about, so you keep going year after year. You don’t want to start blogging about a topic you don’t have experience with, or you don’t really like because you’ll end up feeling burnout.
2. Choose A Domain Name
Deciding what your blog name is going to be can be easy than you think. While you’ll have to brainstorm, you’ll find the perfect name for your blog that will reflect your personality and niche.
When you’re choosing your domain name, make sure you don’t have special characters (-) or spelling mistakes on it (double “a” or something).
Also, make your domain name short so people can remember it easily when they want to go back to your blog for more articles.
3. Get Your Domain Name
I’ve got my domain name with Namcheap, which is the best platform for domain names. They offer amazing customer service and free privacy protection forever (not all hosting offer this).
Also, you get the domain name for a very cheap price. I remember mine was only few bulks which is good for a beginner.
Go to Namecheap
Write the domain name you want to get and ensure it is a “.com” and click search.
The reason why you need to choose the “.com” and not “.org” or “.net” is because this is more for brands and organizations.
Next, you want to ensure your domain name is available.
After making sure it’s available, you click add to cart, and you get it.
If the domain name you’re seeking isn’t available, you can brainstorm another one.
4. Pick up a Host
Now, you need to get a self- hosting to get your website live. If you want to make money blogging, you definitely need to avoid free platforms like blogger, wix, and squarespace, as you won’t have full control over your website.
There so many self-hosting on the internet, but I only recommend and use Namehero.
First, let me explain why you need a separate self-hosting for your domain name and website hosting.
While most self-hosting websites offer a free domain name when you go with them, I highly recommend avoiding this as you don’t want to have one company have full control over your website.
For example, if you’ll have a technical issue with your domain name, you’ll only reach to your domain hosting to fix it so it won’t affect your whole website.
When you have your domain name and website hosting under one company, one issue can affect your whole website.
Picking up a host was one of the hardest decisions I’ve made when I started, and I didn’t want to go with a host that will give me a headache.
Luckily, I’ve chosen Namehero with the mindset back then that I could change if I don’t like it. And guess what? I never went back or changed it’s the best hosting I’ve ever encountered.
First, they have the best customer service. When I started, I got them to do most of my blogging setup, which no other hosting do it for you.
I asked over 25 questions in one day (I’m not exaggerating, I’ve actually counted them LOL), and they answered me quickly and effectively.
Second, they are so cheap, I got the turbo cloud plan, which was only $74 a year. I do recommend just going with their starter plan, which is $2 a month.
How cheap isn’t it?
Lastly, they offer high security and protection for your website, which is why I really love it.
Click on Get Started button to go to the hosting packages options.
You’ll get to a page where choose your Hosting Plan that is Ideal for You.
You’ll find four different hosting plans. As I said, I’ve chosen the Turbo plan because it said it’s the most popular but you can choose the starter plan. Click Order Now to continue to the next page.
Add your Domain Name
Next, you’ll have to add your domain name that you’ve got earlier on the “Use a Domain Name you Own” column and click next.
If you haven’t got a domain name, you need to get it first.
Choose the Yearly Plan.
When I started, I’ve chosen the one-year plan, and I did regret it later on. First, it’s cheaper to get the two year or three-year plan, and second, you won’t worry about the monthly billing cycle.
I would recommend getting either one year or two years plan.
By the way, you don’t need to get any extra deals like the monthly backup and other additional stuff; you don’t really need them.
Then, click Next and then fill up your information, and voilà! You’ve made it.
5. Get a Website Theme
After getting your domain name and your self- hosting, you’ll need to get a website theme.
Designing a beautiful website is essential to look professional, and your readers can take you seriously.
Having a professional and beautiful theme will make you more credible.
As there are both free and paid themes, I recommend getting a paid theme. Free themes don’t look good, and they are limited in customization options.
Also, buying a theme isn’t that expensive so you’ll be able to get a professional-looking website on a budget.
I’ve spent time looking for the best yet cheapest themes for WordPress, and as so many bloggers recommend the 17th Avenue Themes to be the top for beautiful and cheap themes, I’ve got their theme “Amelia” that I still use untill now and I really love it.
It was really cheap and gave me the professional looking website without spending thousands on a custom-designed theme. PS: This is to AVOID
There is another new theme released by the 17th Avenue Themes designer called “Clover” that I’m totally obsessed over it.
If you have a bit of money to spend on a theme, I highly recommend it because it’s so flexible and you can customize your website the way you want it easily yourself without any designing skills or coding.
I’ve been in love with it since it was released and I have bought it as well!!
The next thing I wish I had chosen when I got my theme is to get them install the theme for me.
It took me so much time to install it because I was super busy with exams, and I had little time to setup it up.
If you’re in the same situation and you need your theme to be setup professionally (let’s admit it, did some errors LOL), they offer an installation service that will save you the effort. This installations service is the best option to start, but you can install yourself too.
6. Legal Pages
As you’ve completed all the steps of having a professional blogging website, there still a one last step of how to start a blog you can’t ignore it which is getting legal pages that will protect your website.
If you’re starting a website and you want to make money from it, you have to get a privacy policy, terms and conditions, and a disclaimer policy.
These legal pages are important and you need them as ad agencies and even affiliate programs require them.
When I was looking of how to get the blogging legal pages and staking other big bloggers, I’ve come across Amira Law who is an entrepreneur and a lawyer who helps bloggers protect their businesses.
She offers different blogging legal bundles that you can get for an affordable price that she makes sure your website and your business is protected.
This made my blogging journey so much easier and I was able to apply to any affiliate program I wanted as they consider me as a business.
I have got Amira’s starter bundle and I highly recommend you to get the same which includes all the legal pages you need to run your website.
And that’s it!
Congratulations, you’re officially a blogger now! Can’t wait to see you grow and shine.
Glad to see that you recommend name hero for host and name cheap for domain. I need to change things around in my blog.
Honestly, they are the best, especially the host, I was surprised about how good they are especially when you start out and you don’t know anything about hosting. Hope you’ll have the same good experience like me.
Wow, that is a crazy accomplishment in just one year! I am so inspired.
Thank you! Appreciate this.