How to start a Money-Making blog in 2021 (with no experience)
This post may contain affiliate links, please read my disclosure here
Introduction
If you’re anything like me, you should probably think about starting a blog for some time now. My how to start a money-making blog in 2021 is perfect for you.
This is the year that you make that thought a reality. No more procrastination. No fear holding you back.
2021 is the year to make your dreams become a reality. It is not too late to start a money-making blog.
I will teach you how to start a money-making blog in no time. Just follow this easy step-by-step guide to start your blog today.
Let’s Get Started
1.Why start a blog?
Before you start a blog you need to know why you want to start one. Is it just a fun little blog to have a creative outlet?
Or do you want to make money and turn it into a business to help other people?
Whatever the answer is will depend on how serious you take it and how hard you work on it. If you want to blog for money, you have to be willing to put in the work.
Blogging is a lot of hard work. And you may not see any results for months or even the first year. Even though you work on it everyday. This is the downside of blogging. And it is the reason why so many bloggers give up and quit blogging so soon.
But you won’t because you have a strong why for starting your blog.
●You may want to provide a better life for your family.
● Want to quit your job and travel the world.
● Or you want to stay home and raise your kids.
Whatever it is, it will push you to succeed and not to quit and give up when things are hard and you are not seeing any results.
You also want to build a strong belief in yourself and your abilities. Believe that you can do this and learn all the skills you need to make a money-making blog. Be persistent and motivated and don’t give up. When you do that your blog will be successful.
2. Get self-hosting
You do not want to go for a free blog. A self-hosted blog will hold you more accountable. It is also far easier to monetize than a free blog.
Start a blog with Bluehost for only $3.95 a month and get a free .com domain.
3. Pick a niche
What is a niche?
It’s a blog topic. What you will write about. You don’t want to write about anything and everything. Write for one specific group of people.
Who do you want to help? How do you want to help them? Describe your ideal reader in detail. What are their pain points and their most pressing need? Figure it out and help them solve that problem.
4. Pick a Blog name
A blog name is important. But not as important to spend days or weeks trying to decide on a name. Pick a catchy, easy to spell, and interesting name. If you can’t come up with anything, just use your name. It would be more beneficial to your branding anyway.
Related: How to choose the ‘Perfect’ Niche
5. Pick a hosting provider
I would highly recommend you go with Siteground. They are one of the best hosting providers. If they are a bit expensive for you like they are for me, your best bet would be Bluehost. It is more affordable and it’s catered more towards the beginner blogger.
Related : Siteground versus Bluehost review(why I’m not with either)
6. Setup WordPress
WordPress.org is the best and most popular. It is the go-to platform for bloggers. It powers 37% of all the websites on the internet. It’s great when customizing your blog and when you want to add features through different plugins. It is a bit complicated to understand and navigate in the beginning.
But the many functions and monetization benefits outweigh the steep learning curve. It took me many sleepless nights to figure WordPress out. Bloggers don’t warn you about that. Be prepared and use Google and youtube to guide you through the process. There are tons of good videos that walk you through the steps.
7. Write your important pages
Make sure you have all these important pages set up before launching your blog
It will save you so much trouble in the long run. Your most important pages are:
1. Your about me page
2. Contact me
3. Legal pages
8. Create Content
5- 10 In-depth helpful blog posts are what you need to launch your blog. You want to give people a reason to stick around your new blog and to do that you give them more than one post to read.
Solve your audience’s problems. Make sure people are actually searching for the content that you’re right about. Otherwise, there is no need to write it and you are just wasting your time.
Related: How to Write your First Blog Post
Before you brainstorm what content to write, do keyword research and then solve their problems.
9. Publish your posts/ Launch your blog
Proofread your blog posts. You can use Grammarly for this task. Add high-quality graphics. Use linking, internal and external links. Add a call to action. What action do you want your audience to take? Leave a comment? Subscribe to your mailing list or purchase a product?
Tell them what you want them to do next. Then publish your posts. Launch your blog/ go live.
Now that you’ve launched your blog, you have to get it seen.
Related: How to Launch your Blog Successfully in 15 simple steps
10. Get traffic to your blog
There are lots of ways to get traffic to your blog. You can use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, and lots more.
But I only use two of them for the time being.
●Google (SEO)
I would suggest you start with these two as well. Because they will bring the most traffic. Learn and master them. Then you can move on to other traffic sources.
Pinterest brings a lot of traffic, almost instantly for most bloggers. Focus on learning how the platform works. How to create beautiful, eye-catching pins and use keywords to drive traffic back to your blog.
Related: Pinterest SEO Made Simple in 12 Easy Steps
(Pinterest) The Fastest way to grow your new Blog
SEO
SEO takes around six months for a new blog to start generating organic traffic. So start immediately. Once implemented, it runs on autopilot. It does take some time to learn SEO and can be confusing when just starting to learn. Be patient and apply what you learn one step at a time.
How to make money with a Blog
Affiliate marketing
Probably the best one to get started with. But what is Affiliate Marketing?
It’s earning money by promoting products or services from companies. You sell a product and get paid a percentage.
Ads
Putting ads on your blog is a very passive form of income. You don’t have to do much. It’s as simple as making an income when people click on your ads. The catch is however that you need a lot of page views to make a decent amount of money. The more page views you get the more money you can earn.
Sponsorships
A company that pays you to write about their product or service. But you also need a decent amount of traffic to attract sponsorship.
Own products
Creating your own product, physical or digital products to sell on your blog. Digital products are best because then you don’t have to worry about shipping, refunds, and all those kinds of hassles that go with physical products.
Your own products will take time to create and you first need to learn your audience. What their wants and needs are before you create a product that will be valuable to your audience.
The best monetization method to start with is affiliate marketing. Promote a product you love, know and trust. And that will earn you money as soon as possible.
Offering services/ coaching
Offering services like writing, virtual assistant or coaching can also earn you money fast. Which is great because blogging doesn’t make money immediately. But you can make money by offering your services like writing for other bloggers who don’t have the time but are willing to pay for yours.
Conclusion to how to start a money making blog in 2021
Starting a blog can be as simple or as difficult as you make it. In this how-to start a money-making blog in 2021 with no experience, I tried to make it as simple and easy for you as possible.
The less we have to do, the less overwhelming we feel. That avoids analysis paralysis and makes us take more action.
If you want to go more in-depth in learning how to start a blog I have a 13 step by step how to start a blog post that you can read here
I hope you find this helpful and will start your blog soon.
If you have any questions feel free to contact me. I’d be happy to help where I can.