How to start a blog and make money today
Updated 5:15 AM EDT, Thu April 11, 2024
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Are you looking to turn your writing into wealth, your expertise into earnings, your passion into profit or your hobby into hard cash? Consider blogging, which has evolved from a form of self-expression into an avenue for generating income. It can become a profitable side hustle as well as open other business opportunities.
In this guide, we’ll explore how to start a blog and make money. You’ll learn everything you need to know to set up a blog from scratch and different ways you can make your first dollar (of many, hopefully).
We receive compensation from our partners for Featured Offer placements, which impacts how and where their offer is displayed.
How much money can you make by starting a blog?
Blogging income varies widely depending on your niche, the monetization strategies you adopt and how long you’ve been blogging, in addition to whether it’s a side hustle or your full-time pursuit.
Not all bloggers choose to monetize their blogs. According to Finances Online, only one out of three bloggers earn money. About 10% of them are making more than $10,000 per year, with blogging generally more of a side hustle than a regular income stream. Just under 15% of bloggers earn enough to make a living out of it and about a quarter make a side income of $100-$1,000 per month.
Bloggers are also unlikely to earn much or anything in their first six months of blogging, according to a study by Productive Blogging. The more consistently you blog and the longer you stick with it, the more likely you are to successfully monetize your blog. The study also says that for those able to achieve it, it took an average of two years to start earning full-time income from their blogs.
How to start a blog in 6 steps
Choose a niche
As a blogger, you have the freedom to write about anything and everything that interests you. But, if you want to start a blog that makes money, you need to choose a specific niche and stick to it. Focusing on a niche will help you create an identity for your blog.
Your blog’s niche is the specialized subject matter about which you publish content. Anything from travel, food and lifestyle to gaming, astrology and paranormal investigations can be blog niches.
There will be tough competition in any area you choose, so you need to be specific about what you blog about. A good example is The Blonde Abroad. Travel blogging is a highly competitive niche; however, this blog focuses on solo female travel instead of general travel content.
Here’s how you can choose a monetizable niche for your blog that you’re passionate about and that interests your readers:
- Explore your interests: What are some topics that you constantly read about? Do you have specialized skills? Think about what you do daily and see if it sparks an idea for something you can write about.
- Analyze other people’s interests: One way to do this is to check if your selected niche is trending upward or remains constant on Google Trends, as shown by the “personal finance” search results. Notice how the graph shows a consistent interest over 12 months. This means that many people are interested in this topic and is a good indicator that this interest will continue in the future. You can also check out other blogs that publish similar content and see how popular they are.
- Check if your niche has money-making potential: Do a quick Google search and see if companies are advertising on these keywords. Look at the search results page to see if there are any ads displayed at the top of the page. If there are ads, it’s a clear indication that companies are advertising on those keywords. You can also check out competitor blogs to see the available monetization options. Do they display advertisements on their web pages? Are there affiliate links or digital products for sale?
Name your blog and buy a domain
Ideally, your blog’s name should reflect your niche. This will help both your readers and the search engine know what your blog is all about. However, make sure that your name isn’t too specific. It shouldn’t restrict you from branching out into other areas related to your selected niche. You can also use your first and last name or go with your brand name. Here are some other helpful tips for naming a blog:
- Experiment with blog naming formulas like this: Blog name = [adjective] + [first name]. An example is Adventurous Kate, an adventure travel blog.
- Use a thesaurus to find creative words for your blog name.
- Keep your blog name short so that it’s easily recallable.
Check if your preferred name is available as a domain (i.e., the digital address for your site) by using searches found on many popular domain providers. Once you make a decision, register your domain name.
You can get a domain name from platforms like NameCheap or Dreamhost. It can cost anywhere between $2 and $20 annually.
Related: How to get a free domain name (4 easy methods)
Select a blogging platform
To start a blog, you’ll need a content management system (CMS) and a hosting platform.
The CMS is where you write and design your blog; it’s often part of your website-building platform. The hosting provides the necessary infrastructure for your blog to exist on the internet and be available to readers.
Widely considered one of the best blogging platforms, WordPress is a strong option if you’re looking to start and scale a blog. WordPress has both hosted and self-hosted platforms — WordPress.com and WordPress.org, respectively. The former has built-in hosting through a range of plans, starting at $4 per month (paid annually). The latter is a free, open-source CMS that gives you complete control and customizability but requires you to purchase an external hosting plan. Both versions of WordPress provide access to numerous plugins and themes.
Other popular platforms that include both a CMS and hosting services include Squarespace (plans start at $16 per month paid annually) and Wix (plans start at $17 per month).
Create your blog’s website
If you choose an all-in-one website builder with a CMS and hosting, you simply pick your plan and use the provided editor (often a drag-and-drop editor) to design your site using a premade or customized template.
If you use a self-hosted blogging platform like WordPress.org, the steps will vary somewhat depending on the hosting platform you choose. However, here are the common steps you’ll likely need to take:
- Buy a hosting plan: Once you’ve decided on a web-hosting platform, buy a suitable plan from them (here’s a breakdown of what you can expect website hosting to cost).
- Setup domain: Enter your registered domain name into the hosting platform. Your blog will now have a URL and a name.
- Install your chosen CMS on your web-hosting server: Most web-hosting platforms offer one-click installation tools to install WordPress. Platforms like Bluehost and SiteGround can host and manage WordPress automatically. Once you complete this step, you can start building and managing posts and pages on your new blog.
- Select a theme: Choose a predesigned template on WordPress that aligns with your blog’s niche and aesthetic preferences. You can customize the theme by adding your logo, changing color schemes and arranging the layout (use our guide for help designing your website).
- Log in and start blogging: You can now start creating your first blog post and publish it.
The steps above can help you create a simple blog website. You can gradually add other essential pages like about us, contact and home.
Related: Deciding between Squarespace vs. WordPress? We put them through their paces.
Create a content plan
An amateur blogger doesn’t have to worry about content strategy. But since you’re starting a blog to make money, you need to create a content plan that resonates with your target audience, drives traffic and ultimately opens revenue-generating opportunities.
After deciding your niche, you may already have an idea of the topics you can cover. This is your starting point. The next important step is keyword research. If you’re new to search engine optimization (SEO), this might seem overwhelming but it’s actually quite simple.
Keywords are the words or phrases people type into search engines like Google when they look up something online. You need to publish content on your blog based on what your target audience is searching for to gain more traffic. Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs can help you find the most popular keywords in your niche and how often they are searched (search volume). If your blog articles rank for high-volume keywords, you’ll get significantly more traffic to your site.
Here’s the tricky part: High-volume search keywords are extremely difficult to rank for, especially for newer blogs. What do you do? The solution is to target low-competition keywords. These are low-search volume keywords that have less high-quality content available on the internet.
You want to create good content on these keywords and start ranking for them. This strategy has two benefits: You’ll get your first organic visitors to your blog and build regular traffic, and it will increase your chances of ranking for high-competition keywords in the future.
We also recommend creating an editorial calendar to ensure that you publish content consistently. Your readers want new content, and regularly publishing content is also an important trust factor for Google, according to experts.
Grow a blog audience
If you have a great blog that no one knows exists, you won’t be able to monetize it.
The inevitable way to grow an audience for your blog is SEO. According to Orbit Media, bloggers who pay more attention to keywords more often are more likely to report success. This is because the traffic generated through organic search engine results tends to be consistent over time. So, always follow SEO best practices when writing blog posts. Besides a focus on keywords, this may include optimizing the images on your site, adding links to your related content and improving your site’s load time.
As a new blog, it will take some time before you get enough traffic to your blog through search engines. One way around this is to promote your blog on social media, according to Ionut-Alexandru Popa, founder of BinaryFork, a tech blog.
“It was pretty easy back in 2005-2006 to rank in Google and get traffic as you add more content to your site. This seems almost impossible today if you’re in a niche where there are giant players. What I started doing last year is working to create a following on social media. I need to post frequently, interact with everyone who leaves a comment and network with bigger players in my niche. It’s working slowly and surely.
My goal is not to become an influencer but to attract people who are interested in what I have to say. Then, it’s easier to direct your audience to your website. For me, the best platforms are LinkedIn and Substack. This is what I think is working today for small niche bloggers.”
Ionut-Alexandru Popa, founder of BinaryFork
Once you build a solid audience through your blog and social content, you have more validity with advertisers and can get more paid promotion opportunities.
Another way to grow your blog audience is by building an email list of loyal subscribers. Your email list can quickly become your most effective tool for connecting with your readers. By landing in your audience’s inbox, you’ll stay top-of-mind. This can lead to more blog traffic and eventually more revenue.
How to make money with your blog
There are many ways to monetize your blog, from advertising to selling digital products or content subscriptions.
Offer advertising on your blog
You’ve probably noticed snippets of ads on blog pages, like those from The Soccer Mom Blog.
The blogger gets paid when a user views or interacts with an ad. This means the more traffic you have, the more income your ads generate. It’s a great way to earn passive income with your blog and monetize viral content.
The best way to start advertising on your blog as a beginner and make money is to register on a display advertising network like Google AdSense, Infolinks or Mediavine. Such platforms claim space on your blog and handle the end-to-end process of advertising from connecting with relevant advertisers to billing. All you need to do is embed the code they provide into your site. Depending on their policies, you’ll get paid either for showing the ads or for the number of clicks on the ads.
Blogs with high traffic can directly collaborate with brands. You can offer advertising space on your site to businesses related to your niche.
According to Commision Academy, Google Adsense pays $10-$20 for 1,000 views on average. Your exact income will vary depending on your traffic volume, the quality of traffic and ad placements.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you promote and sell products from other brands related to your niche and earn a commission with each sale. Bloggers recommend products or services within their blog content. If a user clicks on one of the affiliate links and makes a purchase, the blogger will make a commission from the affiliate brand.
Here are the main ways you can get started with affiliate marketing:
- Join affiliate networks like ShareASale or ClickBank
- Partner with the Amazon Associate’s Network
- Join affiliate programs of brands
- Reach out directly to brands you want to work with
To do affiliate marketing successfully, create content where you can naturally incorporate affiliate links. Write about topics where you can promote products while keeping the trust of your readers.
Juliet Dreamhunter, founder of Juliety, a blog about AI tools for business owners, earns most of her blog income from affiliates. She only promotes products that she believes in.
“I find that it’s much easier to promote products that I’m genuinely impressed with, especially those that I use every day for my own business. I never promote bad or shady products because there is no point in making single sales that ruin your reputation. The goal is to help my audience solve their specific pain points, so I’m testing everything myself and documenting the process, which results in hands-on detailed reviews that are helpful for my readers.”
Juliet Dreamhunter, founder of Juliety
Sell digital products
When you build an audience that finds your blog valuable, that audience may be willing to pay for digital products like e-books, templates and online courses. You can start creating digital products after you’ve gained some insight into your audience.
You can create a separate landing page on your blog to sell items related to your niche or use a third-party platform like Thrivecart or Teachable where you can publish your digital products and accept payments.
Take a look at the range of online courses offered by Embracing Simple, a lifestyle blog by Christina Tiplea. She hosts her courses and printables on Teachable.
Write sponsored content
You may have seen influencers promoting brands on their social media posts. You can do the same with your blog and make money.
Through a sponsored blog post, you get paid to feature a brand’s product. Unlike affiliate marketing, compensation isn’t based on whether or not the reader makes a purchase. Bloggers are generally paid a flat fee.
On creator networks like Social Fabric and Sway Group, you can get matched with relevant brands and make deals. You can also reach out to brands related to your niche and offer to write sponsored content.
Writing sponsored posts can be tricky. You want to share your honest review with your audience as well as promote the product. Make sure you ethically write sponsored content — share both the good and bad to help readers make an informed decision.
Build an email list
Technically, emails can seem unrelated to the topic of monetizing a blog, but they’re more related than you think.
With the help of lead magnets (resources or something else you offer in exchange for contact information), you can ask your readers to sign up for your mailing list. Your most loyal readers will give you their email addresses. Thus, you gradually build a user base that you can reach without relying on the unpredictability of search engines.
When your list members are engaged enough, you can send them affiliate links or product recommendations along with helpful content.
Sandra Beckwith, the blogger behind Build Book Buzz, says that she uses her blog content and email marketing in concert to generate income. Beckwith makes most of her blog income from affiliate offers, and email plays an important part in that.
“Each week, I send my subscribers a short newsletter that previews and links to the week’s blog post and free marketing advice. The email includes a short P.S. promoting one of my training programs or digital products or a product or service offered by a marketer I collaborate with as an affiliate. At least once a month, I email my list of 10,000-plus [subscribers] three emails promoting an opportunity to buy one of my products or an affiliate training program, tool, or online summit I’m speaking at for a discount with my affiliate link or special coupon code.”
Sandra Beckwith, Build Book Buzz blogger
Content subscriptions
If your blog has regularly returning visitors, a subscription model is a great way to generate predictable revenue.
Your audience will pay a fixed amount typically on a monthly or annual basis. You can offer a premium newsletter, exclusive learning resources, early access to your content or consulting services. You could combine several of these elements based on your audience’s preference.
Platforms like Patreon and Ghost allow you to set up your open page where you can create subscription tiers and offer exclusive content to subscribers. Substack is a platform where you can create paid newsletters and collect subscriptions.
You can also create a premium online community where subscribers can join to network with other community members, access exclusive content or attend live events. Check out this subscription-based community hosted by Rachael Pilcher,the blogger behind Mighty Freelancer.
Writers can join this community to connect with fellow peers in the industry, get guidance and share potential gigs.
We receive compensation from our partners for Featured Offer placements, which impacts how and where their offer is displayed.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
The best blogging platform for you depends on your needs. Overall, WordPress is a great option because of its flexibility, customization features, extensive plugins and user-friendly interface. If you’re looking to create an e-commerce blog, Shopify, Wix or Squarespace might be better options. Blogger can be a good choice if you want a low-cost blogging platform.
Depending on the type of blog and the features you want to add, you may spend from $100 to $200 for one year. Basic costs include domain registration costs, hosting costs and CMS/software costs (WordPress.org is free). If you invest in customized themes, design services or add-ons and apps to manage SEO and other functions, expect to pay more. Most of your blogging costs will be recurring payments.
Yes, you can create a free blog on some platforms including Blogger, Tumblr, Wix, Ghost and Medium. Some of them come with optional premium plans. You can also use WordPress.com to create a free blog, though it has many limitations.
Blogs can make money in many ways, including through advertisements, affiliate links, sponsored content, digital products and subscription services.
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines, hotel chain, or other commercial entity and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of such entities.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended and should not be understood to constitute financial, investment, insurance or legal advice. All individuals are encouraged to seek advice from a qualified financial professional before making any financial, insurance or investment decisions.
Note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed or may no longer be available.
