Learning how to start a blog website for profit is a great decision you have just made and if you’re just getting started you’re in the right place.
In this post, we want to walk you through learn basics of how to start a blog with simple steps .
How to Start a Blog for Profit in 7 Simple Steps:
Step 1. Choose Your Best Blog’s Topic.
You need to choose the right topic for your new blog and is less complicated than you might think if you follow the right guides! But you could have heard other bloggers saying that it’s not that easy!
The only thing to keep in mind is to choose the topic that you do enjoy writing about.
Almost all blog topics can make money 💰, but because it’s hard to change your blog’s topic later on, if you’re starting a blog to make money 🤑 not just for fun, you really need to put some effort into figuring out whether you have an audience and monetization options before you build your blog.
However, if you need more help choosing a blog niche and want to learn more for deeper analysis, read our full post on How to Choose a Blog Niche That Makes Money!
And here we’ve got for you some helpful and useful FREE internet keyword tools that can help you figure out whether there’s an interested audience for your new blog.
These are some of the keyword tools that do help bloggers to discover what people are asking or searching about….
What is a keyword?
A keyword is basically any word or group of words that people search for in Google. And keywords are very important in a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
Google Trends – This tool is very easy to use and shows you whether the interest in your chosen topic is decreasing or increasing, but increasing 📈 is better to consider!
KWFinder – This is a Keyword analysis tool, you can just input a “keyword” to see how popular it is and find the right keywords for your website that you can easily rank for.
AnswerThePublic – This free tool lets you input a “keyword” to get instant, raw search insights, direct from the minds of your audience.
Step 2. Choose Your Perfect Blogging Platform.
If you want to start a blog, there are many blogging platforms available but now you need to select only one to help you get your content up onto a web.
We recommend WordPress, a tool that helps you create, publish, and share web pages.
WordPress is the BEST by far and most popular blogging platform . Including this very blog you’re reading, WordPress is now powering 39.5% of all the websites on the Internet.
Why is WordPress the best blogging platform to start a new blog?
It’s easy to set up and use. Very easy, WordPress does not need technical background even non-techies can publish their blog posts.
It has a huge community. WordPress is by far the most popular means that you can easily find help for any challenge you may face from other users.
It’s easy to add functionality. WordPress has what we call “themes” and “plugins”, they will help you customize your blog and allow you design it to look attractive with no knowledge of coding.
Something you need to keep in mind here, they’re two different platforms named “WordPress”:
WordPress.org is what we highly recommend you. It’s easy to get your own self-hosted WordPress blog. Where you have complete control on everything of it, like the look, monetization…….You install the free WordPress software on your own hosting, and domain.
WordPress.com offers free services on some specific different elements of it, but with a lot of limitations and that means you don’t have full control over your website, which means you never fully own your blog.
Here’s a Tip
We know that some new beginners are probably looking for tips on how to start a blog for free and there is nothing wrong with that.
You need to allow us to guide you on how to start a blog website which you’ll have full control over it.
Our recommendation is to go with WordPress.org and you’ll have to invest a little in the blog.
Keep in mind that most FREE things do always come with a lot of limitations and conditions, which may hinder you achieve your goals.
Step 3. Register Your Domain Name, Set-up Hosting, and Install WordPress.
Is It Easy to Get My own Self-hosted WordPress Blog?
Yes, all that you need to get your own blog website hosted include:
A domain name – This is the text in the URL bar of your webpage found on a web browser. As you can see below “Weboodillia.com” is our domain name for this website.
Web hosting – You need to buy a space on the internet for your new blog website to setup with Bluehost, which is our favorite and highly recommend for all new bloggers or beginners.
Reasons why newbies need to get started with Bluehost:
You get a FREE domain name registration at $0 for one year.
Bluehost #1 proven by WordPress web hosting, with just 1-click installation and your blog is up running onto web.
Powering over 2 million websites, Bluehost offers the ultimate WordPress platform which makes the setup process easy.
FREE SSL, and FREE 24/7 support by in-house WordPress experts.
Affordable blog hosting plan get started at $2.75/month
WordPress installed on your domain – This is the place where you will be able to edit, write your blog posts, and publish on the internet.
A WordPress blogging platform is the main platform by far most used by successful bloggers because it’s easy to use, powerful, and customizable.
This is a great combination and easy for new beginners set up their blog websites within few minutes possible.
There are some common questions that almost every starting blogger asks, which is why we’re going to answer them so that you know how to make the right decision for your blog website.
How Do I Start a Blog Website for FREE?
The answer is a YES, if it’s really what you’re looking for, WordPress.com and Blogger.com are the best free platforms that let you do that.
But keep in mind that free blog platforms come with a lot of limitations, you don’t have full control of your blog or website, which means 100% you never really own your blog site.
Here’s a Tip
The truth is that you can’t start a blog site for free, without putting any money 💰💰 into it, and expect to earn money from it.
So you shouldn’t start a free blog website if you want to turn your passion into a successful profitable business.
Once you have decided to move on with start a blog that will make money 💰💰💰as a business 📃 the next question you might have is …….
How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog Website for Profit?
These days it’s not expensive, just at a very affordable price to start a blog that can make money 💵!
Here are the start-up costs that you can expect to invest at the beginning:
- Blog hosting starts at $2.75/month with Bluehost(paid annually $110.88, will see it down as we show you how to host)
- Customizable blog theme starts at $47 Astra Theme (free option available).
- Email service starts at $15/month with GetResponse.
But Blog theme and Email service two are optional.
“4 Steps on How to Build an Online Business for Beginners”
, please find the form at the end of this post.Do You Need Help With Your Blog / Website And Have No Idea Where To Go?
Please, check out 🧑💻 👨💻 these helpful and useful resources and tools 🧰️🛠 for your new blog.
Your Domain Name Registration.
As an example, we’re going to use “byonahub.com”.
Before we start the question is……
What Are the Things that Really Make a Good Domain Name?
When you’re picking your domain name, it should be easy to remember (avoid using dots, numbers, and hyphens in your domain) and simple to type (keep the name easy to spell).
Use a .com if possible. But if you find a great domain name using something else, it’s great as well.
Once you have a blog name (domain name), all that you need is to sign up for web hosting and register your own domain.
Set-up Hosting With Bluehost.
To get started now, go to Bluehost.com.
- Click o Get Started
- Choose the basic plan.
- Enter your new domain name to check if it’s available. Remember for us we’re using “byonahub” as an example.
- Then start creating your account.
- Choosing the Basic Plan
- Entering your blog name (domain name) to check if it's available.
- After you found the Domain Available, then start creating your account
- Scroll down to the next section 'Package Information'.
We recommend that you sign on for a longer plan if possible, where to select the length of your plan choose a 36-month price.
If you’re starting something to stick with for a while, so you’re making the commitment to your blog and yourself! But if you decide the 12-month price, it’s great as well.
You shouldn’t have to worry if you change your mind because Bluehost allows you to cancel your plan at any time during the first 30 days and get a full refund.
- After you go to the next section on 'Package Extras'.
For the confidentiality reason you need to make sure that privacy protection is checked so that your personal details can be hidden.
This will help you avoid receiving spammers’ and scammers’ messages.
Please, it’s good to uncheck all boxed except domain privacy + protection, just like this below:
Now to finish this process, add in your credit card details, check the Terms of Service, and Policies and finally Click the green button to Submit!
The next step is to pick a username and password so you can log in to Bluehost!
Finally, you can now click the “Login” into your host account.
WordPress Installation.
Once you have created your account and logged in, you need to install WordPress on your hosting account just with a 1-click installation.
Click on Advanced then scroll down under software you will find WordPress as you can see below:
Now to create a blog you need to pick a theme, as you can see here below, there are a lot of attractive free WordPress themes to choose from, even premium that may inspire you.
However, you can skip this step, and pick your theme later by clicking on the “Skip Button” at the end of the page.
To login into your WordPress admin account, go to yourdomainname.com/wp-admin
Step 4. Pick a Highly Customizable WordPress Blog Theme.
Select a WordPress theme that will help you make money blogging.
Here are the BEST popular and fastest WordPress themes available: Astra Theme(the one we’re using here on this blog), and GeneratePress. All these are excellent themes, we suggest you visit each of them and make your choice.
Why? Because are general themes without style locked to create a timeless Website, so you would pair that with any of the page builders such as Brizy, BeaverBuilder, or Elementor.
The best WordPress theme will always allow you to easily change things, redesigning the website but not changing themes or tools whenever you want to add more features, and easiest CUSTOMIZABLE for beginners and professionals.
We would also like to introduce to you ThemeForest, the LARGEST library for WordPress templates, themes, and plugins in the world, find out the ones you need for particular websites.
However, there’re plenty of attractive free WordPress themes to choose from, but we recommend from our favorite, we use and love.
Step 5. Install Some Important WordPress Plugins.
In order to add content and functionality to your new blog, you will need things called “plugins”.
Here’s a Tip
When you’re starting a new blog, it’s very important that you try to keep the plugins to a minimum in order to avoid any code conflicts and save you from any confusion occur.
Here’s a list of minimum BEST plugins you should start with on your blog website:
Page Builder – You can get any of the most popular and best page builders for WordPress websites available today: Brizy, BeaverBuilder, or Elementor. All of these page builders are amazing for any WordPress theme.
ShortPixel Image Optimizer – It’s the best image compression tool we’ve tasted. ShortPixel Image Optimizer compresses all of your images so that they are smaller files and helps your pages load faster as visitors interacting with your blog or website.
3⃣ Site Kit by Google – Getting your site ready for search engines. We use and love Site Kit. It’s a great solution for your blog/website to use everything Google has to offer to make you successful on the web.
4⃣ Yoast SEO – We use Yoast SEO to achieve more things on weboodillia.com such as our sitemap, content analysis, page title, and Meta descriptions.
5⃣ UpdraftPlus – Backup/Restore
Step 6. Start Creating Useful Content that Serves Readers.
Congratulations! You’ve now started a blog and are ready to start BLOGGING.
Keep in mind that search engines like Google, Bing & Yahoo are after the most relevant content. DO NOT get scared, you can build your website in a way that is ready for SEO, create quality, and relevant content.
Working on Your "HOME" Page.
We all know that a HOME page is the main URL of your blog/website. So, you have to make sure that a reader hits your home page and quickly understands what your site is about, if not that they may bounce and never return.
Creating Your "ABOUT US/ME" Page
Every successful blog will have some information about their brand, who they are, and why they want to help people, in order to build trust with your audience.
Step 7. Start promoting Your Blog.
You need to promote your blog’s content in order to get traffic on your Website.
The most powerful way to promote your new blog is to build links to your blog, Google will take you seriously and rank all of your new blog posts (content).
All you need is to be creative, and add visual elements to your blog posts such as videos, infographics, case studies, statistics, and these must be unique content that doesn’t exist anywhere else.
Congratulations! You now own 100% your very own blog website, well hosted, and good to go creating great content and grow your blogging business!