How To Start A Money Making Blog In 2020

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Learn how to start a money-making blog in 2020. Follow these step-by-step instructions for beginners and set up your blog in less than 10 minutes!

If you’re reading this it’s because you’re interested in starting a profitable blog, right? You want to use your voice to help others, make money from your passions and inspire others along the way. Or, you are wanting to share your story to inspire others. 

But, you aren’t sure where to start. Or, maybe you’re overwhelmed by the whole process.

I get it. I really do. I work with bloggers and business owners everyday that tell me how overwhelming it is to start a blog of their own. 

I have been in your shoes. When I first started blogging, over 10 years ago, I had been researching it for over a year before I had the courage to start my own. At that time, I started as a mommy blogger that wanted to document my children’s lives. I had no clue you could make money from blogging. It wasn’t as easy to do as it in now!

Now I own a successful blog called Las Vegas Fit Mom, that I have been able to turn into an amazing opportunity for my family and I. Not only have I made it successfully profitable, it gives me a place where I can inspire women to say goodbye to their excuses and become the healthiest version of themselves.

I have taken my 10 years of blogging experience and turned it into The Blogging Academy, where I teach you everything you need to know about how to make money blogging!

Blogging has changed over the last 10 years! And honestly, starting a blog is one of the best decisions I’ve made! Being able to share your passions with the world and get paid for it is a beautiful thing. I can work from anywhere, on my own time, and have complete control over my content.

Are you asking yourself, can I really make money with my blog?

Short answer, YES! The idea that you can make a living out of blogging isn’t anything new. There are countless ways to monetize a blog for profit. In fact, it’s one of the benefits of owning a blog.

So in this guide, I’ll be showing you how to create your own blog and giving you tips on how to make money from it.

Anyone can make money from their blog and change their life, but it’ll take some hard work and determination. I won’t lie to you, blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. It definitely takes time but it’s totally worth it!

I learned a ton about how to effectively monetize a blog and I teach it in my blogging course.

There are several ways to monetize a blog:

• Display advertising
• Affiliate marketing
• Sponsored posts
• Creating and selling digital products (ebooks, courses)

I recommend taking a blogging course like mine to get a good understanding of the different monetization strategies so you can choose a strategy that is best for you. Without blogging courses, I would have had no idea where to start. It really helps having someone who has been successful teach you what they’ve learned.

So with that being said, keep reading to follow this simple 8-step guide to create your very own money-making blog. 

Step 1: What will you blog about? What will be your blog “niche” or “theme?”

I know this sounds easy but in order for your blog to be successful, you’ll need to determine what your blog will be about and its purpose. You will hear the term “niche” a lot when it comes to blogging and its extremely important you know what the heck it means! Your blogging niche basically means what’s the topic, the category, or the theme of your blog. 

Here is a list of the 12 most profitable blogging niches:

• Fitness and weight loss
• Health 
• Dating and relationships
• Self improvement
• Making money online
• Beauty
• Fashion
• Parenting
• Gadgets and technology
• Travel
• Lifestyle – this one allows you to talk about all the other topics as well and it the most popular our of the 12 blogging niches. 

In order for your blog to be successful long-term, you’ll need to determine its purpose. What is your main goal for this blog? Is it to inspire people? Is it to teach others and give people your knowledge on a certain topic? Share your story? Is it to help grow your business? 

If you don’t know the who, what or why – who your blog serves, what it’s about and why you’re creating it – than you’ll be disorganized and your blog won’t get anywhere.

I have created these questions for you to help you get a clear view of what you want you blog to be. 

So I encourage you to sit down, grab a piece of paper, and answer the following questions.

1. What are your long-term plans for your blog?

Do you want to turn it into a business and leave your 9 to 5? Do you want to connect with others who share the same passions as you? Do you want to achieve financial freedom? Do you want to help and motivate others? Having a plan lined out for your blogs future is so critical for its success. Not only will it give you direction and keep you organized, but it’ll allow you to reach your goals quicker.

2. What is your business plan for your blog?

Create a business plan for your blog – YES this needs to be treated like a business and not a hobby… If you want to make money then it needs to be treated like a business and not a hobby! Do I need to say it louder for the people in the nose bleed seats?

OKAY!!! 

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING TREAT IT LIKE A BUSINESS AND NOT LIKE A HOBBY!!! Blogging as a hobby will bring in hobby income but, turning it into a business will change your life! 

So create a business plan and set goals!

3. What do you want to blog about?

If you want to start a blog, you have to find a niche – remember that word for before! This is the foundation of your blog. A lot of bloggers will tell you that you need to focus on one niche, but as you can see on my blog Las Vegas Fit Mom, I don’t really follow that “rule.” There are a lot of successful multi-niched blogs out there! 

But with that being said, I also think your blog needs a focus, or something that ties it together. So if you decide to have multiple niches, just keep your blogs focus in mind and you should be good.

4. Who are you blogging for?

Who will your reader be? Are you going to help moms who need parenting advise? Are you doing to help women start businesses of their own? Help someone lose weight? Think for a moment about who you’re going to serve and what kind of services you’ll offer.

When you don’t know who you want to help, you can’t attract them. So think about who your ideal reader is and give them answers to what they are searching for. So try to get super clear on your target audience. This is the driving force behind what will make your blog successful OR the reason is fails.  

5. What is your “why?”

What is your why? Why are you creating this blog? What’s driving you to become a successful blogger and creating financial freedom? Do you hate your day job? Are you a newly single mom who has a family to support? Do not forget about yourself as your “why”. A lot of people do this and it’s a reason why they fail as being a blogger or owning a business of their own. So create a “why” list of 15 things and make sure 5 are something that will light a fire under your butt each and everyday!

Step 2: Naming Your Blog

What do you want to name your blog? 

Writing down a list of words that describe what your blog is about will help you narrow down a name. For example, if your blog is a fashion blog, you might want the words “fashion,” “beautiful” or “style” in the title. If you have your niche somewhere in your blog name, it’s easier for people to know what your blog is about. 

Overall, choose a name that represents your brand and that you love. Just try to make it short and easy to remember!

To start a blog is to start a brand. There are three types of blog brands you can start:

• Personal brand
• Business brand
• Mixed brand

Read the following to see which one fits what you’re looking to create!

Personal Brand

Your blog’s name is your name, such as jacquilayne.com or jacquelinelayne.com (I own both domains and have them redirected to my other sites — also protects anything I might want to do in the future.)

Business Brand

Your blog’s name is related to your niche, such as laynedesignstudio.com or wackyjacquisdesigns.com … You will be promoting your business or offering a service.

Mixed Brand

Your blog’s name is related to your niche but you’ve personalized it. Most blogs fall in this category. It’s basically a business blog with a personal connection. Lasvegasfitmom.com is very much a business brand but it has my face and story on the front page to personalize it.

Personal + Business Brand

Can you do both? Yes, You can start two blogs instead of one if you can’t decide. 

I recommend starting one at a time instead of trying to grow them both at the same time. Focus on building one blog brand first and its social media accounts. Then after a year start your new blog and focus on those social media accounts that you want to grow. If your content is good – your blog and social channels will grow when you promote your posts on them.

Pro-tip: Also, make sure it’s a name that’s not taken by other blogs or social media sites.

Have you narrowed down what you want to name your blog yet? 

Step 3: Choose A Platform

This is a very important step!

If you’re serious about blogging as a business and want to actually own what you create, than I suggest going with a “self-hosted” platform like wordpress.org.

Free “hosted” platforms such as wordpress.com, wix and blogger means that someone else is hosting your blog or website. These type of websites have so many limitations. To me the most important one is you don’t even own what you create, there are very few customization options, you can’t use plugins (they’re basically like apps for your blog.) It’s almost impossible to make any money and some sites don’t allow it. 

So many of my clients have had their WHOLE blog deleted for no reason and they lost everything they’ve created. Please protect yourself. 

But, by buying a self-hosted platform, you have complete control over your site, meaning you can monetize and customize it to you hearts desire.

Now, with a great blogging platform, you’ll also need a great host.

Lets get more into technical terms you need to know when owning a blog:

• Domain: This is your website or blog address. ex. https://laynedesignstudio.com … Think of the domain as your home address. 
• Hosting: (Such as BlueHost) Think of this as the property your house is placed on. 
• Platform: (Such as Self-Hosted WordPress) Think of this as the structure of your house.
• WordPress Theme: Think of this as the way your house is laid out, what features it has, and the decor of the house. Is this house 2 stories or a one story house? Does it have 2 bedrooms or does it have 4? Are the colors of the walls blue or green? 

My favorite hosting company that I genuinely recommend and adore is Bluehost.

When I first started Wacky Jacqui’s Designs, I was on the hunt for a super reliable and affordable hosting company and Bluehost is one of the best out there!

Here are some of the main reasons I started my blog with Bluehost:

1. You Get A Free Domain – Bluehost gives you a free domain name for the entire year when you sign up through my special link. 

2. 24/7 Customer Support– Chances are you’ll have a few questions in the beginning of your blogging journey. And, that’s okay! Bluehost has fantastic tech support and will help you with your questions at any time. I usually use the chat box on their site, and are taking to a real person within minutes. Yesterday my client Jessica of JessicasFarmHouse.com had a few questions and she was able to get everything answered within 5 minutes of starting the chat. 

3. Automatically Installs WordPress For You – No need to fumble around with complex codes to install your site – Bluehost does it for you within seconds of purchasing your package!

4. Affordable For New Bloggers – When I first started Wacky Jacqui’s Designs, affordability was my top priority in choosing a hosting company (a stay at home mom’s budget who was just starting her business) and Bluehost delivered! Bluehost is paid annually (meaning you pay for the year all at once) BUT if you would like a monthly options I suggest StableHost. 

5. FREE SSL Certificate – An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts information sent to the server using SSL technology. Encryption is the process of scrambling data into an undecipherable format that can only be returned to a readable format with the proper decryption key. In simple terms, this is a secure connection to your site and it keeps your readers and customers information safe. If you are looking to sale anything on your website THIS IS A MUST! And, guess what you are getting this for FREE!

Bluehost is offering special pricing for Layne Design Studio readers so you can start your own blog for just $3.95/month!

As you can see, Bluehost has a lot of great features for blogging new bloggers. Not only are they reliable and secure, but they offer great support that you probably won’t get anywhere else for the price point.

So, are you ready to get started? Follow this quick tutorial and you can get your blog up and running in 10 minutes! Before we begin, make sure to head over to Bluehost.com, then come back to this tutorial and follow along!

Step 4: Set Up Your Blog

Choose your plan

Go to Bluehost.com and click the green “Get Started Now” button. Bluehost has three basic plans to choose from: Basic, plus and Prime.

I suggest new bloggers start with the basic or plus plan. If you plan on sticking with one blog for awhile, the Basic plan is perfect for you. And, if you use my special link, you can save up to 60% off the regular price!

Choose your free domain name 

This is where you’ll want to place your chosen blog URL (the name people will type in the search bar to find your website). Remember, the exercise above we did above on naming your blog? 

This will be how people remember you and what sets you apart from others, so try to keep it short and simple – no hyphens, numbers or symbols and stick try to .com if possible.

When you get to this page, you can use your existing domain name or pick a new domain name. 

If you have already bought your domain, you can still use it – Just enter in into the existing domain area. Checkout this video on how to change your domain name servers to point to your new Bluehost hosting account. I used godaddy since its the most popular place to purchase domains. If you need help with this please reach out to me for any questions you might have. 

Create an account, confirm your package, and pay

Fill out your account information. Don’t forget to write down your username and password somewhere that you won’t forget because later you’ll need them to sign into the Bluehost dashboard.

Next, you’ll choose your package of 12, 24, 36 or 60 months.

If you want the most bang for your buck, then I’d suggest going with the 36 month plan. It’s the one I use and is the most affordable long-term option at only $3.95/month. 

Uncheck any extra features that you don’t think you’ll need right away (most of these you can get through free plugins.) The only option that I recommend you keep is the Domain Privacy Protection because it hides your personal information from unwanted visitors – unless you want spam calls all day every day for months asking if you want services for your new website. 

Fill out your payment details, check the standard Privacy Policy and Terms of Service and click the green submit button. 

That’s it! Let’s start building!

Congratulations, you now have hosting for your blog – woohoo!

Step 5: Setting Your WordPress Site Up! 

Now that Bluehost has installed your WordPress site for you, all that’s left is fixing some WordPress settings, installing some must have plugins (like apps for your website, we will go over this more later), and installing a theme. 

First, you will be asked to pick a theme. Just choose a default theme for now. Don’t worry about how it looks because we’ll change it to a better one later.

Once you’re in, you’ll see the WordPress dashboard where you get a behind the scenes look of your website before it launches. This is where you’ll write posts, monitor comments, change settings, modify your design, manage your website and much more! 

If you aren’t familiar with WordPress, then I’d suggest spending some time clicking around and getting used to where everything is. It shouldn’t take you too long to get the hang of, but if you do get stuck then there are a ton of Youtube tutorials you can watch. WPexplorer.comalso has a great guide on the WordPress Dashboard that covers everything from installing plugins to changing site settings.

Remove Any Unnecessary Plugins

A plugin is a piece of software that can be added to a WordPress website to extend the functionality of your site. When you first install WordPress you will have some unnecessary plugins automatically installed. Plugins are fantastic for adding different abilities to your site, but too many plugins can cause issues, cause conflicts between other plugins and slow down your site. You want to make sure that you only have ACTIVE plugins installed that you absolutely need and use on a daily basis for your website.

Remove The Following Plugins –

• Hello Dolly – This plugin comes standard with any new WordPress installation though its actual purpose is useless. It adds lyrics to songs at the top of your screen.
• MOJO Marketplace – This will automatically be installed when you do the WordPress one-click installation.
• Bluehost – This is automatically installed for you and helps you manage your Bluehost account from your WordPress blog, this is unnecessary.

How To Uninstall A Plugin –

1. Navigate to the left side of the dashboard, hover over Appearance>Plugins.
2. If the plugin you want to remove is activated, click on “Deactivate.” 
3. Select all the plugins you want to delete by clicking delete, in order to delete your plugin they must be “Deactivated”.

Select Your Permalink Structure

The next step is to change the permalink structure. The permalink is what identifies how the URLs coming from the site are saved and used.

Navigate to the left side of the dashboard, hover over SETTINGS and click on PERMALINK.

I recommend the “Post Name” option. You can choose any of those options but I would recommend NOT using a date in your URL structure since it can damage your SEO and you can’t update it and repost it. Let’s say you have a tutorial that becomes outdated and would like to update it with new content, you can’t do that if your post URL has a date on it.

Update Your General Settings

Navigate to the left side of the dashboard, and go to Settings > General. Navigate to this area just to make sure its setup the way you want. Make sure your “Site Name” and “Tagline” are correct, don’t worry you can always come back to change it.

• Site Title – What is your site title? Blog name? That does here!
• Tagline – Using a few words, explain what your site is about. This will be your tagline/slogan
• WordPress Address (URL) & Site Address (URL) – DO NOT TOUCH THIS, LEAVE IT ALONE!
• Email Address – Make sure you have entered a valid email address. This address is used by WordPress to send messages regarding the administration and maintenance of your WordPress site. If you allow comment approval this is the email the notifications will be sent to you have a new comment
• Membership – Check this checkbox if you want anyone to be able to register an account on your site. (I don’t recommend this)
• New User Default Role – This pull-down box allows you to select the default Role that is assigned to new users. This Default Role will be assigned to newly registered members or users added via the Administration > Users > Users Screen. Valid choices are Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, or Subscriber. (not needed if “Membership” is not selected”
• Time Zone – Select the correct time zone for your website. From the pulldown box, choose a city in the same time zone as you.
• Date Format – Choose the desired date format.
• Time Format – Choose the desired time format.
• Week Starts On – Choose the day you want the week to start on.
• Site Language – This is the WordPress Dashboard language.

Click Save When Done! You can always update these settings, just don’t touch the URL fields.

Make Sure Your Reading Settings Are Set Properly

Navigate to Settings > Reading and make sure this setting is set correctly.

The options in the Settings Reading Screen are few in number, but still important. You can decide if you want posts or a “static” Page displayed as your blog’s front (main) page, AKA landing page. You can also adjust how many posts are displayed on a single page.

• Front Page Displays – Use this setting to determine if your posts or a “static” Page displays as your blog’s front (main) page or will your latest post be displayed.
• Your Latest Posts – Check this radio button so your latest posts are displayed on the blog’s front page.
• A Static Page – Do you want your readers to land on a certain page (landing page) or do you want them to see your blog post first?
• Front Page – In the drop-down box, select the actual Page that you want displayed as your front page.
• Posts Page – In the drop-down box, select the name of the Page that will now contain your Posts. Typically it would be a “blog” or “Article” page you have created.
• Blog Pages Show At Most – [X] posts – Enter the number of posts to be displayed, per page, on your site.
• Syndication Feeds Show The Most Recent – [X] posts – Enter the number of posts people will see when they see your site’s feeds ex. domain.com/feed
• Full Text – Click this button to include the full content of each post on your front page or category pages.
• Summary – Click this button to include a summary of the post and your readers will have to click “read more…” to see the actual post. (I recommend this since it will help with site load times)

Step 6: Create your WordPress login

One of the best things about signing up with Bluehost is that they install WordPress automatically for you. This makes your life so much easier – believe me! It’s a lot easier than having to install it yourself.

But, you need to create your WordPress login to make it easier for you to have access to your WordPress dashboard and keeps your website more secure.

On the left side of your dashboard click Users > Add New > Fill out your info . Remember your username and password, and try to make it as unique as possible. Give it the “Administrator” role

Once you have done this you are going to log out of your website and re-login using the Username/Password you created above. The login link is domain.com/wp-admin (replace the domain.com with your domain)

Go back to Users > All Users > Hover over the admin name, Delete the “admin” user and transfer everything to your new user profile.

Step 7: Choosing A WordPress Theme

Congrats – your blog is officially set up! Woohoo! Give yourself a pat on the back. Now that your platform and account is all set up, it’s time to choose a theme! If you want your blog to have a professional look and feel to it, you’ll want to get a theme. Luckily it’s super easy to do and requires no coding knowledge.

There are a few options you can choose:

• Hire a web designer to create a custom website for you: This is often expensive, but if you are ready to invest in yourself, your business or both … then this is the way to go! Contact me and let’s book a clarity call today! 
• Choose a free WordPress theme: While WordPress has a ton of themes to choose from, they are often overused and limited design-wise. This is a great option when you are starting out. 
• Purchase a pre-made theme from a third party: This is the most common option and one I’d recommend. There are millions of pre-made themes out there with unlimited design options so you can customize your site to your liking. Creative Market is a great place to look at!

Go with one that’s affordable and best represents your brand. If for some reason you don’t like the theme you chose, you can always change it later. 

If you are choosing a free theme from the WordPress market, you can easily click the install button and then click activate. 

If you’ve purchased a theme, download the theme files and install them to WordPress. I promise it’s really easy! After you’ve purchased your theme, the files will download to your computer in a .zip folder.

To upload them to WordPress, all you need to do is go into your WordPress dashboard, click the Appearance tab and go to Themes > Upload or Add New Theme > Install > Activate.

Step 8: Install the necessary plugins

If you aren’t familiar with what plugins are, think of apps but for your website. They add extra features to your blog to help it perform better.

Below are some of the Plugins I recommend for blogging beginners:

• Akismet – As a new blogger, you’re going to get a ton of spam comments. I know from personal experience. Luckily, all you have to do is install Akismet and you’ll never see a spam comment again – seriously! It’s that good.
• Yoast SEO – This plugin is a must-have for all bloggers! It helps your posts be better optimized for SEO so Google search engines can rank your site higher in their search results.
• Ultimate Social Media Icons  – This plugin allows you to put social media icons anywhere on your site (I put them in my sidebar) and it has tons of customization options! 
• Social Warfare – This is the most straightforward, simple, yet powerful social media plugin out there. I mainly use Social Warfare to place social media icons at the top of each post.
• Broken Link Checker – This plugin is another must have for any site! If you have any broken links, this plugin notifies you and gives you the ability to fix it. No more pesky 404 errors!
• Woo Commerce: If you plan on having an online shop on your site, this plugin is your go-to. This is what I use on all my sites. 
• Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall– This Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware plugin searches for Malware and other Virus like threats and vulnerabilities on your server and helps you remove them. It’s always growing and changing to adapt to new threats so let me know if it’s not working for you.
• iThemes Security – Take the guesswork out of WordPress security. iThemes Security offers 30+ ways to lock down WordPress in an easy-to-use WordPress security plugin.
• Jetpack by WordPress.com– Bring the power of the WordPress.com cloud to your self-hosted WordPress. Jetpack enables you to connect your blog to a WordPress.com account to use the powerful features normally only available to WordPress.com users.
• jQuery Pin It Button for Images– Highlights images on hover and adds a “Pin It” button over them for easy pinning. You can add a custom “Pin It” button as well.
• Regenerate Thumbnails – Allows you to regenerate all thumbnails after changing the thumbnail sizes or your theme.
• Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Hardening – The Sucuri plugin provides the website owner the best Audit logging, SiteCheck Remote Malware Scanning, Effective Security Hardening and Post-Hack features. SiteCheck will check for malware, spam, blacklisting and other security issues like .htaccess redirects, hidden eval code, etc. The best thing about it is it’s completely free.
• Wordfence Security – Wordfence Security – Anti-virus, Firewall and Malware Scan.
• WP Instagram Widget – A WordPress widget for showing your latest Instagram photos.

Installing Your Plugins

Luckily WordPress makes installing plugins a breeze.

Go to Plugins > Add New. You can search for different plugins in the search bar or upload ones already saved on your computer.

Once you’ve chosen a plugin, click on Install Now > Activate. 

Now you have officially created your WordPress site!

Here are some things you should do next:

• Write your first post
• Write your about page
• Create your contact page
• Take The Blogging Academy course

Final Thoughts

Whew! That was a lot of information to soak up.

The biggest piece of advice I can give new bloggers is to not let fear of failure or uncertainty hold you back.

Remember that indecisiveness kills progress and is the biggest time waster. If you want to start a blog now, then the best thing I can say is to just do it!

Also, take it slow in the beginning – baby steps. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with information overload and end up burnt out before even getting started. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. You don’t need to know how to do everything right off the bat.

When you are ready to start making money from your blog take The Blogging Academy course!

If you’ve just created a blog, let me know what kind it is in the comment section below. What are you blogging about? I’d love to know!

Where to next?

• You can sign up for my Free 30 Home Business Affirmation printable and email series.
• Check out The 8 Elements Needed For A Successful Brand
• Check out the Building Your Brand eBook designed to help you create your brand in four days!
• Join The Blogging Academy!
• Join the Facebook Group!
• Check out my services!
• Check out my portfolio!