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How To Start A Blog And Make Money (A Detailed Step-By-Step Guide)

September 29, 2020 by Ling 43 Comments

how to start a blog and make money

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy for more information.

I was just like you a few years ago.

As a person with no experience with the online world, I wanted to learn how to start a blog and make money.

I was SO inspired by all the fascinating stories of how bloggers were earning several thousands of dollars a month.

When I first started as a beginner, I was just looking forward to earning $300 to $500 per month in extra income, which with hard work and effort, I was able to make money online all by using Pinterest in my first 6 months of blogging.

Fast forward 1 year, I was earning an extra $5,000 a month blogging on top of my full-time job! You can even check out my raw and honest blog income reports I wrote for you. These income reports were written by me, from the perspective of a beginner, when I had no clue what I was doing.

And to be honest, I never really had the expectation to become a blogger (I’m still not used to calling myself a blogger), but in less than 2 years, I was earning over $10,000 per month as a full-time blogger with my small blog, which allowed me to earn more money, pay off debts, save more, and finally quit the job I disliked!

 

Here are just a few screenshots to prove that starting a blog and making money online for beginners is REAL and possible!

how to start a blog and earn money online for beginners

how to start a blog and make money with ads

start a blog and earn money online for total beginners

 

Here is a preview of my blog income journey when I started as a beginner. Just like you, I started at $0 and wasn’t making much money blogging until many months into my journey.

blog income report

All because I took the courage to start this little blog of mine, I’m now able to work from home and earn money online while being able to spend more time with my family and friends.

Today, I can skip a day or two of work and no boss will be breathing down my neck. I can take a 2-hour lunch break, and no one will question where I was.

Just imagine.

As a mom (or dad), you can work from home and spend time with your kids and not have to miss their first recital.

I definitely enjoy this lifestyle much more because I have the freedom to work where I want and when I want.

I have to admit that there will be challenges when you first start your blog because everything will seem quite overwhelming and confusing, but I promise that things will become better when you motivate yourself and spend time each day learning something new about blogging.

I’ve had many struggles and roadblocks while building this blog, but I didn’t let those setbacks hold me back. For example, I knew that two of my biggest weaknesses was my writing in English, and my lack of technical skills. On top of that, I was very nervous and lacked a lot of confidence because growing up, I was surrounded in a negative and toxic environment, so I never thought myself as worthy enough to achieve anything in life.

Luckily, when I found out that you don’t have to be a good writer, or know how to code, I started my blog on a whim!

I felt a tiny spark of hope and there was a calling within me. So, what I did was I kept learning and implementing everything I could learn about what makes a blog profitable, and by the time you know it, I became a full-time blogger earning over six-figures a year online! I still think to myself, “how crazy is that?”

Well, crazy or not, it happened, and I’m here to motivate and inspire to start your blog too!

I want to let you know that NO MATTER where you’re from, what your background is, the level of your education, or how old you are, ANYONE can start a blog and make money online with no experience!

That’s because your readers are not here to read a professionally written research paper. No one’s got time for that!

They are here to learn more about you and how you can help them with something, which I will elaborate on later in this blog post.

On top of that, starting a blog with Bluehost powered by WordPress here makes it easy for you to set up your blog without any technical or coding skills required. I will elaborate on this later too.

how to start a blog and make money bluehost

When you start a blog using this exclusive page here, you’ll save big and get 60% off web hosting and pay as low as $2.95 USD a month for 36-months (all paid once and upfront). Plus, you’ll get a FREE domain name ($15 value) when you use this page to start your blog and go for at least the 12-month plan. I encourage you to take advantage of this low pricing because I don’t know when their prices will go up.

This is seriously one of the most affordable ways to make money today, and I’m SO glad I started my blog with Bluehost when I was a beginner! This is the web hosting I recommend to all my friends and readers. In fact, they are all happy that they started their blogs with Bluehost too!

 

I also offer my exclusive FREE 7-day email course to teach total beginners like you how to start your blog from scratch. I show you the EXACT steps I took to start a blog all the way to building traffic and earning a full-time income with NO tech and NO writing experience. My e-mail course has helped thousands of people start a profitable blog and I would love to help you too. Sign up below to learn how! 

 

How To Start a Blog and Make Money as a Beginner

In today’s blog post, I will teach you everything you need to know about starting your blog and making money with it.

 

This is a very long and informative post on how to start a blog and make money with it. You don’t want to miss out on this valuable information, so make sure to bookmark this page or save it so you can refer back to it when you’re ready to start your blog!

 

OK, are you excited?

I know I’m very excited for you and I can’t wait for you to start your blog! There are exactly 10 steps to starting a blog and making money as a beginner, so let’s dive in!

 

Step 1: Choose a profitable blog niche

how to start a profitable blog for beginners

If you want to start a blog and make money with it, the first thing you’ll want to do is determine a blog niche that is profitable.

In other words, what will your blog be about that?

For example, this blog that you’re reading now is everything about personal finance, saving money, and finding ways to make money. There are A TON of profitable niches to choose from and I included a list of them for you when you read further below.

When choosing a blog niche, always keep in mind that readers come to your page because they want something from you. This is the first thing you must consider and it’s what separates a blog that makes money from one that doesn’t.

Whether it’s a “how to” tutorial on something they’re searching for (e.g. how to start a blog and make money like the page you’re reading now) or a motivational speech to get them inspired by you, they are looking for something that will benefit them.

They are not on your blog to read about your personal stories unless it is a story that inspires them or motivates them to become a better version of themselves.

So, before you choose your blog niche and ideas on what to write about, I highly recommend choosing 1) a topic you enjoy talking about while 2) being able to help or serve your readers.

It’s important to hit these first two points:

  • A blog niche that will keep you interested
  • A blog niche where you can help and serve your readers

In other words, don’t choose a topic just because you think it will make money. Sure, it may work out, but can you really keep writing about something you don’t have any interest in?

For instance, the Keto diet has been a very popular and profitable niche for many years, but I personally don’t know anything about it, and I have no interest in learning about this diet. If I decided to start a blog on this subject matter, I’d probably not succeed because it would feel like a dread writing about something I have no interest in reading or learning more about. However, if you love everything about Keto diets and you have a passion to learn and teach others about this topic, then definitely go for it!

At the end of the day, what I’m trying to say is you don’t want your blog to feel like a chore or another 9-5 job just solely for money.

I encourage you to use the diagram below to help you hit your sweet spot! The closer you are to the yellow star, the better for you!

how to start a blog and make money passion

Passion

What is one topic you could talk about all day long without feeling bored about it? Could it be fashion, travel, home decor, renovations, healthy living, exercising and working out, well-being, positive mindset, gaming, religious matters, crafts, parenthood, math, organizing your home, budgeting, personal finance, money matters, entrepreneurship, business marketing, etc.? This list can literally go on and on because there are SO many things you can blog about!

 

Skills

What are you good at? What do you usually get compliments on? What excites you so much to the point where you are keen on learning that skill?

 

Market demand

Is your topic very popular? Is it highly searched for? For example, self-development, happiness, fashion, beauty, makeup, healthy living, workouts, home organizing, home decor, DIY renovations, personal finance, budgeting, money matters, business, tech, marketing, etc. are popular topics that get searched for every single day!  There are many more topics that get searched by people every second!

 

A List of Profitable Blog Niches

Now that you understand which three elements to hit, let’s help you choose your blog niche.

There are SO many different profitable niches for you to choose from and here is a list of examples and ideas for you. I’m sure there is at least ONE from this list that you’ll be interested in blogging about whether you’re an expert or a beginner who is just learning about it.

Remember, the best form of learning is teaching someone, so even if you’re not an expert in the field, don’t hesitate to start your blog in any of these topics. I know many people who didn’t start off as experts (in fact, many were newbies in the topics they were blogging about) but by starting their blogs, they were able to learn on the go while teaching it on their blogs!

Here is a list of some examples that are very popular! You could blog about almost anything and share your stories along with some tips as long as it helps your readers. By the way, this list is not in any particular order.

 

  • Parenting and Mommy Blogs
  • Food, Meal Planning, and Recipes
  • Travel, Entertainment, and Eats
  • Healthy Eating
  • Health, Fitness, Workout, and Exercises
  • Food and Diet (you can blog specifically about one diet if you like)
  • Arts, Crafts, and DIY Projects
  • Sewing and Crocheting
  • Upcycling, Thrifting, and Refurbishing
  • Real Estate
  • Home Renovations
  • Beauty, Fashion, and Make-up
  • Relationships (Family, Marriage, Love, etc.)
  • Personal Finance, Budgeting, and Money Matters
  • Frugal Living
  • Minimalistic or Zero-Waste Living
  • Home Organizing or Decluttering
  • Organizing Your Life (printables, agendas, planners, etc.)
  • Productivity and Time Management Hacks
  • Self-Development or Self-Improvement
  • Positive Mindset and Happiness
  • Entrepreneurship and Business
  • Career and Personal Development
  • Technology and Gadget Reviews
  • Graphic Designing
  • General Lifestyle

 

As you can see, the ideas out there are unlimited!

Again, you can blog about almost anything as long as you are sincerely interested in that topic.

AND let’s not forget this: Make it about your reader. You need to keep the reader in mind by solving their problems! Your blog posts should provide value by doing just ONE of the following (you don’t necessary need all):

  • Inspiring or motivating
  • Solving a problem
  • Entertaining

 

Step 2: Decide What to Write About

Now, you might be thinking to yourself…

“What should I blog about?”

how to start a blog and make money what to write

Just like you, there are billions of other people out there who want answers and solutions to their problems! Remember that your readers are desperate for help and they want someone like you to inspire, motivate or guide them to where they want to be.

Put yourself in your reader’s shoes. When you land on any page, you want to know how that blog post can inspire, motivate or help you solve your problems!

 

Blog Post Ideas and Examples

Think about the time when you turn to Google or Pinterest for answers. You were probably searching for a lot of “how-tos” or other types of questions on that search bar such as:

 

Personal Finance Blog Post Ideas:

  • How can I save $600 a month
  • How to start investing with $100
  • How create a budget for beginners

 

Wedding Planning Blog Post Ideas:

  • How much money do you need to save for a wedding
  • How to plan a wedding with no money
  • How to plan a wedding during covid

 

Exercising and Healthy Living Blog Post Ideas:

  • How to lose weight without exercising
  • Can I lose 20 pounds in a month
  • How to do a squat properly with instructions

 

Parenting and Mommy Tips Blog Post Ideas:

  • How to put your baby to sleep
  • Newborn essentials list
  • Postpartum recovery

 

Beauty and Skincare Blog Post Ideas:

  • How to get rid of acne in 20s
  • How to get rid of premature wrinkles in 30s
  • How to do a messy bun with long hair

 

Home Décor and Home Renos Blog Post Ideas:

  • How to tile a kitchen backsplash like a pro on a budget
  • How to make your small space look bigger
  • How to refurbish and paint old furniture

 

Travel Blog Post Ideas:

  • Things to do in New York City on a budget
  • Places to visit in Chicago
  • 7 Day Itinery Japan

 

Food and Recipes Blog Post Ideas:

  • How to make a healthy banana bread recipe without sugar
  • The best lasagna recipe with ricotta cheese
  • Healthy Fajita chicken burrito bowl recipe

 

You see what I mean? You search for questions like that because you’re looking for help, so those were some blog post ideas to get you thinking of what you can write about!

 

Going back to the 3-circle diagram above, my point is if you want to enjoy blogging while being able to earn an income, your ideal spot is to hit all these 3 elements — passion, skills, and market demand. I know it’s easier said than done, but if you really put the time and effort into figuring this out, you will be rewarded and I know you will as you start drafting more blog posts!

 

You don’t need to be an expert to start a blog and make money!

how to start a blog and earn money online

Honestly speaking, I was not an expert in anything when I first started this blog (I’m still not an expert). I was just as lost as you are right now and had no clue how to start, where to go, and what to do.

I started this blog on a whim and learned a lot of things on the go. Those small incremental things I learned is what allowed me to build a small audience and earn a full-time income of over $10,000 per month with this small blog in less than 2 years.

So, I am going to repeat this again. You DON’T have to be an expert in your field to be considered skilled. You can document your learning journey and teach others your mistakes and what you’ve learned.

For example, it could be your journey to becoming a more organized person, be better with managing your money, losing weight, getting out of debt, etc.

Your journey, things you’ve learned, and lessons add a ton of value to your readers because you’re helping them get from point A to point B – this is more relatable. You don’t necessarily have to be an expert and help them get from point A to point D, H, K, or Z as that may be too overwhelming for your readers!

This should give you a better understanding of what you can blog about while being able to offer help to your audience who can relate to you. And believe me, you WILL have RAVING fans who want to hear more from you even if you don’t see yourself as an expert – you are an expert in their eyes because you are 1-2 steps ahead of them. You’ll be surprised but believe me when I say there ARE tons of people who are 1-2 steps behind you and want to learn from you!

On top of that, don’t ever think that your blog niche is saturated or is high in competition and that you won’t stand out.

This world is full of abundance and there is never enough information for people to consume.

People love consuming information and trust me when I say they want to hear from YOU specifically because you have a unique voice with different life experiences and stories that other people don’t have.

 

Step 3: Choosing Your Blog Name

how to start a blog and make money blog name

Now that you’ve decided on your niche and what to blog about, the next step is to come up with a blog name.

The biggest excuse most people have for not getting started on a blog is that they can’t pick out a name for their blog. I don’t want this to discourage you from taking that next step. I want to help you brainstorm some ideas.

If you already have a domain name in mind, you can go ahead and search to see if your blog name is available in the search bar below. If it’s available, then it’s your lucky day, and I highly recommend you to start your blog now and act on it quickly because you’ll never know who will take your blog name! This actually happened to me when I started a second blog (I waited a week and it was gone), and it happened to my friend when he started his first blog. Until this day, he painfully regrets not starting his blog immediately when the name he wanted was still available.

 

If you still can’t decide on your blog name (AKA domain name), you can still start your blog and choose your name later. Bluehost gives you that option here. That way, you can start building your blog and writing your content without having to think about your domain name yet.

 

So, when I was thinking SO much about my blog name, I had a lot of thoughts that went through my mind and it was VERY overwhelming!

Can you relate?

This leads to my next point when it comes to choosing your blog name…

 

There is no such thing as the perfect blog name!

Just like you, I was extremely excited about starting my blog, so I wanted to come up with the perfect name!

Truth be told, there’s no such thing as the perfect blog name. I spent so much unnecessary time overthinking this and I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.

Thankfully, I stopped overthinking and I just went for my blog name. If I thought or planned too much, I wouldn’t have started my blog and I wouldn’t be here to share my journey on how I make money blogging.

Plus, I later realized that your name isn’t going to make or break your blog. If you don’t like your name, you can always easily change it down the road.

For those of you who don’t know yet, my name, “Finsavvy Panda” is supposed to mean “financially savvy” panda because I blog about personal finance things (and I decided on the Panda because I like the animal and I have some personal sentimental value attached to it).

Even though I get many questions about my name, it didn’t break my blog in any way! But now that I have more experience in blogging, here is just ONE thing I would’ve done differently when choosing a name.

 

Things to consider when choosing your domain name

If I could change just ONE thing, I would’ve considered a name that’s simple and easy to remember.

Choose words or phrases that are easy to remember:

I would’ve also used words like “finance”, “dollar” or “money” in my name because it explains what I blog about.

If you blog about arts and crafts, you can use words like: Arts, artsy, crafting, crafty, painted, paint, paintbrush, brushing, strokes, etc.

If you want to start a parenting/mommy blog, you can use words like: Mommy, mom, mum, motherhood, mama, parenting, parenthood, etc.

One last example.

If you blog about food, cooking, recipes, or healthy living, you can use words like: Yummy, yum, delicious, tasty, recipe, spice, spicy, hot, salty, sweet, healthy, eating, kitchen, spatula, pan, eats, bites, etc.

Sigh… when I was a complete newbie, I used the name, “Finsavvy” along with an animal, the “Panda”! What on earth was I thinking? I was TRYING to be “unique” and “different”…*FACE PALM*

 

Lesson learned: It’s good to be “unique” and different, but don’t try to be  TOO “unique” or “different” when it comes to choosing your domain name. Just be straight forward with your words and make sure your blog name is easy to remember.

 

Today, I get a ton of e-mails from people asking me “what does Finsavvy mean?” and “why Panada?”

Although my blog is earning a healthy income regardless of what my name is, I admit I have a minor regret in using “finsavvy” and even “panda” in my domain name. But, again, anyone can easily change it later so it’s not a huge problem if you ever change your mind.

 

An option to choose your blog (domain) name later

Again, if you’re not sure what niche to choose or what to blog about, you can still go ahead and start your blog and choose your name later.

And don’t worry, I know many people who choose their names while they are in the progress of writing content and setting up their blogs.

 

Don’t forget to check out this resource that helped many brand-new bloggers who have NO experience create their blogs from ground up in just 30 days: The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days

 

DON’T spend your time worrying too much about this. Bluehost has an option here to choose your name later so you can get started on your blog without the stress of picking a name first.

Proceed to Step 4 below for a quick and easy tutorial on how you can start your blog!

how to start a blog and make money bluehost choose domain name later

If you have a domain in mind, then great! If not, that’s okay because you can still start your blog and choose your name later.

Go ahead and follow this step-by-step tutorial to start and register your blog today!

 

Step 4: Invest in a basic web hosting plan

You are going to be super excited because we are going to FINALLY help you start your blog! Follow this simple step-by-step tutorial so you can start building your blog and having fun with it!

how to start a blog with bluehost and make money beginner

Before we dive into the tutorial on how to start and register your blog today, I want to mention that it is important to invest in an affordable web hosting plan and go self-hosted.

I started this blog, Finsavvy Panda, using this affordable Bluehost plan here and I have no regrets because if I didn’t start my blog, I wouldn’t be here sharing my blogging story! By starting my blog with a simple web hosting plan, I was able to make a full-time income as a new blogger!

 

Why you should NEVER sign up for a “free” blog

I NEVER EVER recommend signing up for any “free” blogs if you want to make a real income with your blog.

First of all, when you purchase at least a 12-month hosting plan using my exclusive discount page here, you’ll instantly get 60% off plus a FREE domain name (a $15 value)!

I ALWAYS recommend investing in basic web hosting plan because for one, it is so cheap to get started (literally the cost of a cup of latte a month) and you will actually OWN your blog. When you sign up for a blog that doesn’t cost anything (like blogger platform), you don’t actually own your blog and you won’t make money on those platforms.

Secondly and most importantly, you’ll want to purchase a hosting plan, because it is a basic essential and a MUST have if you want to actually earn with your blog. Advertisers and companies will only take you seriously and want to partner up with you when you own your blog! This is the route my blog took and that’s why I am able to earn over $10K per month with my self-hosted blog! Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself. This is SO important if you want to make any real income!

 

1. Getting started with Bluehost!

Click on the green button, “get started now” when you enter this Bluehost discount page right here.

how to start a blog and make money bluehost

I recommend choosing the “basic” 36-month plan to get the cheapest price to start your blog — this is the plan I personally purchased when I first started.

This is affordable and it only costs $2.95 USD per month using the special discount link above (pay full upfront) when you sign up for the 36-month plan.

The next option available is the 24-month plan, which goes for $3.95 per month.

The third option is the 12-month plan. If you sign up for a 12-month plan, the price becomes $4.95 per month — this is still an extremely cheap option to choose because your investment would cost less than $60 for the whole year!

The 12-month plan makes a great choice if you want to try out blogging without spending a lot of money upfront. Plus, you still get a FREE domain name as long as you sign up for the 12-month plan through this link.

Again, the best value would be the 36-month plan because this lowers the monthly rate over the 36-month period (plus, you get a free domain name as well).

You can ignore the “plus” and “pro” packages — “basic” plan is all you need especially when you’re only starting one blog.

There’s no need to pay extra especially when you’re a beginner. Plus, you can also change these options later down the road if you decide you want extra features.

 

2. Choose and register your domain name

Next, register your domain name (I went through great tips on how to choose your domain name above).

Again, this domain name is included for free as long as you sign up for at least a 12-month plan with Bluehost.

To get the best pricing, I recommend going for a hosting plan that is longer than 12 months because it will save you money in the long run.

I personally went for the best value which is the 36-month plan. You can follow the steps to set up your domain name.

Don’t have your domain name ready?

As mentioned, if you don’t have your domain name ready. You can click at the bottom “I’ll create my domain name later” as you can see the screenshot below.

how to start a blog and make money create a domain name later selection

 

3: Create your account

Here you will create your account by filling out the following information.

 

Account information:

First, fill in the account information which includes your first name, last name, country, etc. by following the screenshot below.

how to start a blog and make money account information bluehost

 

Package information:

Now, make sure you’ve selected the account plan you want to go with. I went through the differences between the basic 12, 24, and 36 month plans with you above.

Note that depending on where you reside in your country, the pricing in your currency will be automatically converted based on the current exchange rate. If you live in countries like Canada, the U.K., Australia, or anywhere in Europe, you’ll see your own currency. But if you reside in other countries not listed here, you should see this in terms of US Dollars.

 

Package Extras:

You’ll see options like the following:

  • Codeguard Basic
  • Bluehost SEO Tools Start
  • SiteLock Security Essential

You don’t need any of these extras. You can simply ignore them for now. There’s no need to pay extra especially when you’re a beginner. Plus, you can also change these options later down the road if you decide you want extra features.

 

Payment Information:

Now, follow the next step to provide payment information.

If you don’t have or use a credit card, you have the option to pay with PayPal by clicking on “see more payment options”. It is free to sign up for a PayPal account.

how to start a blog and make money payment information

 

4. Choose your password

Next, choose a password for your account, confirm it, and then log in.

Hint: It’s best to choose a password that is NOT the same as your banking or private information. That’s just common sense. 🙂

how to start a blog and make money bluehost create password

 

5. Install WordPress

Don’t worry, you’re almost done! This is the most fun part!

Now that you’ve purchased your hosting plan along with your free domain name, the final step is to install WordPress!

Bluehost makes this super easy with their 1-click WordPress Installation button.

Once you’ve clicked it, wait until WordPress is installed.

how to start a blog and make money bluehost wordpress installation

As you can see in my screenshot below, Bluehost will ask you to choose a theme, which you can play around with now or later. You can choose what you feel fits your personality.

 

6. The final step to registering your blog

Now that you’ve selected your theme, you can select “Start Building.”

how to start a blog and make money bluehost start building

Next, Bluehost will ask: “What kind of site can we help you set up?”

You can choose either “Business” or “Personal.” It doesn’t really matter.

how to start a blog and make money bluehost start building

Going forward, you can log in to your WordPress dashboard and learn at your own pace.

Bookmark this link so that you can easily access it when you want to log in.

The link to your WordPress dashboard is: https://yourblogname.com/wp-admin/

 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Bluehost support. They offer 24/7 via email, online live chat, or by phone.

 

The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days!

You can learn everything you need with this very affordable blogging resource here on how to create and build a profitable blog from scratch with WordPress as a beginner in 30 days. Many of my readers have purchased this ebook and were able to quickly build their blogs faster than the average person.

I highly recommend focusing your efforts on building a solid foundation at the very beginning before you dive deep into learning traffic and monetization strategies as creating a strong foundation is what will set you up for long-term blogging success.

I see too many beginners who neglect this very first part (including myself when I was new at this) and end up making many mistakes with their blogs without realizing until later and they all regret not setting up their blogs properly the first time! Just TRUST me on this one. You’re going to thank yourself down the road for setting up your blog properly today.

how to start a blog and make money ebook

 

Step 5: Customize the look of your blog

Congratulations on starting your blog!

Now it’s time to customize your blog and make it look pretty and presentable for your future readers!

 

Installing your blog theme

In your WordPress dashboard, go to “Appearance” ==> “Themes.”

There are many free and paid themes you can choose from, and WordPress makes it easy for you to add the desired blog theme you’d like here.

how to start a blog and earn money online wordpress appearance themes

When I was a beginner, I was using the Oslen Light theme which is free. I only changed my theme later to a paid version because I was focusing my efforts on other areas of my blog that would generate higher returns at the beginning while I was still learning.

With that said, going for a free theme now isn’t going to stop you from making money on your blog as a beginner. Just make sure it looks modern, clean, and presentable.

You can always choose/change your theme later. There’s an abundance of free and paid themes!

Once you get the hang of blogging with WordPress, you can get more serious about installing a specific theme you love.

 

 

Step 6: Create your blog pages

Blog pages are different from your actual blog posts (these posts are what you write about on your blog to share with your readers), and your pages will usually be displayed at the top of your blog menu.

As a beginner, there are at least 3 pages you’ll want to create:

 

1. About Me Page

In simple terms, you can think of your “About Me” page as your quick 1-page biography or resume.

Though you can add some personal things about you to make you more relatable (and it’s always a good thing to add a personal touch), your “About Me” page isn’t ALL about you.

Instead it’s about HOW you can help your readers. Again, your readers only care about themselves and they want to know how you can help them!

What are you offering on your blog that will help your readers’ problems?

For example, in your about me page, you can talk about your personal story or your struggles (e.g. money, beauty, weight, eating healthy, confidence, etc.) but only use it as an anecdote to help your audience who may be going through a similar struggle as you. Along with that, be sure to mention how your blog will help them with that specific problem.

If you are blogging about getting out of debt, mention your personal struggles and what you did to pay off $X amount of debt.

If you want to blog about your struggle with weight, it’s okay to talk about your journey and what you’ve done or what you’re currently doing to lose weight and become healthier.

Everyone wants to become a better version of themselves no matter what topic it is, so if you are blogging about self-development or self-improvement, you can talk about any of your past or current problems (e.g. your struggle to find happiness or self-confidence) and talk about the steps you took that helped you overcome those issues.

 

Can I start a blog anonymously and still make money?

You might be thinking this:

“Can I blog anonymously and still make money blogging? Do I have to put my face out there? I’m a very shy person and I don’t feel ready to spell my name and face on the blog.”

 

Here’s my answer:

Yes, absolutely! You can blog anonymously.

In fact, when I first started, I was totally 100% anonymous and didn’t have any pictures of myself but I was still able to earn a full-time income!

I’m just as shy and introverted as you if you are asking this!

On top of that, I know many bloggers who don’t reveal their full names or picture but they are still very successful and doing well! The important part is learning and understanding how bloggers actually make money blogging!

 

2. Contact Me Page

As a beginner, you can make this simple by including your name and e-mail address. That’s enough to get started, so nothing fancy here. You can also include a separate “Work With Me” page or put it together with your “contact me” page for potential advertisers to find you.

 

3. Privacy Policy Page

Before we start, I want to say that I’m NOT a lawyer, so please don’t take this as legal advice. This is just what I learned, so it’s always good to consult a professional if you want to learn about the legalities of blogging.

A privacy policy is a legal document or a statement where you disclose how you gather, use, and manage a reader’s data. In summary, it outlines your data processing practices.

If your website collects personal information from your visitors, then you need to write this on your website. It must include information such as category types of personal data collected, methods of collection used, and reasons for collection methods of storage and security of the data, and whether third parties have access to the data.

Any type of personal information includes name, email address, credit card information, phone number, etc.

 

Creating a Privacy Policy Page in WordPress

WordPress makes it easy to set up your privacy policy. Here is a quick tutorial for beginners on how you can get this done.

In your WordPress Dashboard, go to “Settings” ==> “Privacy” to create your Privacy Policy Page.

start a blog and make money wordpress privacy policy

 

Next, click on the button called “Create New Page” as shown below.

starting a blog to make money wordpress create privacy page

 

You’ll see a premade privacy policy template and you can tweak it based on what your blog is about. This is the free version of a privacy policy template that most beginners use.

I also recommend drafting a disclaimer and terms of conditions page, which I mention about next.

 

Disclaimer page

When you put a disclaimer on your blog, it means you’re not legally held responsible for anything you write or publish on your website. Put simply, this will protect you from lawsuits.

How you create your disclaimer will depend on which niche you’re in and what you blog about.

For example, if you blog about personal finance, you don’t want to be held liable for any financial damage of the reader. If they say that they followed your financial advice but lost money, they could sue you when you don’t have a proper disclaimer on your page.

Similarly, if you write about health and wellness, you don’t want to be held responsible for any damages if that person said they followed your health advice but it did not work out for them.

On top of that, having a disclaimer will protect you from issues like having information on your blog that is not current. Someone could sue you for this and it can happen when you have older content that is not updated on your page (this may reflect incorrect information) because events are always changing.

Now that you are aware of these events, you will want to add a disclaimer on your website.

You can learn more about disclaimers and how to draft one by using this guide on how to write a blog disclaimer.

 

Terms & Conditions page

Terms & Conditions establish a legal agreement between a business (your website or blog) and its customers.

According to TermsFeed, a Terms & Conditions page is important because it sets the rules regarding how customers use and pay for your products or services. They can allow you to enforce those rules in court and they can limit the amount of money you have to pay in damages if you make a mistake.

You can also learn how to write your Terms & Conditions here.

 

Step 7: Write and publish your first blog post

I went through the steps above on how to choose your niche and what to blog about. Now it’s time for you to actually write and publish your very first blog post!

In your WordPress dashboard, go to “Posts” ==> “Add New” to draft your first blog post.

I highly recommend you create headings and subheadings in your blog post to organize the layout of your article.

You’ll also want to avoid a wall of text by breaking text and sentences like this

You see what I’m doing here.

And here…

I am breaking up my sentences to create more white space as this makes it easier for the reader to read.

Another thing you’d want to do as you write more blog posts is to link them to each other especially if they are related in the topic.

For example, you’ll see that I interlink to my other blog posts on this article that are related to making money with a blog.

If I want to direct my reader to one of my blog income reports, I can interlink my February blog income report post like this.

To interlink your blog posts, highlight the blurb or text you want to create a link with and click on the little “link icon” in your WordPress when you’re drafting your blog post.

how to start a blog and make money add interlink to post

Now, you can input your desired URL address and save it.

The whole point of interlinking to other blog posts or sources in your article is to direct your readers to more useful information to learn more about something. It could be the URL to your other blog post or to another website that provides more information.

 

Step 8: Finding images for your blog

start a blog and make money stock photos

Your blog posts wouldn’t be complete without images, so here are some of the most popular places you can look for free stock photos to use on your blog:

  • Unsplash
  • Pexels
  • Pixabay

 

When I was a beginner, I relied on a lot of free stock photos because I wanted to try out blogging to see how it works out. But as I started earning money with my blog, I invested in premium stock photos for more and higher quality selections. There is a limit to “free” things, so if you want more options, you can invest in premium stock photos, but I’m telling you in all honesty, as a beginner, you don’t need them right now.

 

Step 9: Promote your blog

Once you have your blog set up properly and written at least 5 to 10 blog posts, you are ready to start promoting it for blog traffic.

You can use social media channels like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to promote your blog.

I’ve personally focused my efforts on Pinterest and learning how to rank on search engines like Google. You can set up a Pinterest business account here to get started. It’s free to sign up for and use and it’s what I’ve been using to drive a lot of my blog traffic – and YES, this is 100% free traffic; not paid ads!

You can learn how to use Pinterest to drive traffic and make money here.

 

Step 10: Make money blogging

There are many ways you can start a blog and make money with it. Here are some of the most popular ways to make money blogging.

 

1. Display advertising

This is probably the easiest way to earn for beginners. I only say it’s easy because when you first start, you can apply for Google Adsense and start placing ads on your blog to earn from traffic. BUT, it’s tough to monetize with ads when you’re new because you likely won’t be getting as much traffic. I personally started with Google Adsense and was excited to see my first $1.45 in my account, LOL! Woo-hoo, let’s celebrate!

It took me many months before I got my first paycheck from Google which was a couple of hundred dollars.

 

Once your blog traffic increases, you’ll be able to work with higher paying ad companies. When I grew my blog traffic to 30,000 monthly pageviews I was qualified to apply for Mediavine which allows me to earn 5X the amount compared to Google Adsense given the same number of pageviews!

 

Mediavine recently changed their requirements and now require you to have at least 50,000 sessions (about 55,000 to 60,000 pageviews in the last 30 days) to apply.

 

Instead, I recommend beginners to focus on building traffic to reach 10,000 monthly pageviews and apply for Monumetric. This also requires a $99 upfront “setup” fee, but it doesn’t ask you to pay from your pockets. Instead, it deducts that payment from your ad earnings once you’re qualified to apply and have the ads set up on your blog, so it doesn’t feel like you actually paid for anything.

 

Once you reached 60,000+ monthly pageviews and qualify to apply for Mediavine, you can make the decision to switch over if you’d like. I highly recommend Mediavine, and you should switch over if you ever reach that many pageviews, because they have phenomenal service! I definitely recommend them!

 

2. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of my favorite ways to make money blogging. With affiliate marketing, you recommend a product that you love and/or believe would benefit your readers (by using your affiliate or referral link). When the reader makes a purchase or signs up to something, you’ll get rewarded with a commission at NO extra cost to your reader.

I love using this as a monetizing strategy on my blog because I can recommend almost any product that I think will be useful for my readers. Plus, if I’m already enjoying the product, I may as well mention it to my readers because it could help or benefit them as well! It’s a win-win!

You can learn more about what is affiliate marketing and how to make money with affiliate marketing for beginners here, however, I don’t recommend brand new beginners to immediately try to make money with this method.

I always recommend starting your blog, creating your website and publishing at least 5-10 blog posts, and learning how to get traffic to your blog before looking into affiliate marketing strategies.

 

3. Selling your own products and services

This is a fantastic way to help your readers while monetizing your blog. Instead of selling other people’s products through affiliate marketing, you can create your own products or services and sell directly to your readers and followers.

Just a few examples of products you can sell on your blog are ebooks, printables, and online courses. On top of that, you can offer your services online such as 1-on-1 coaching on literally anything you’re which can include teaching English, financial planning, social media services, freelance writing, web design services, and so much more!

 

4. Sponsored posts

I left this for last because I don’t personally have experience with this. Also, keep in mind that it takes a while to write a piece of content (at least for me because I’m a super SLOW writer), so for most beginners, I don’t see a high ROI with sponsored posts when you compare it to affiliate marketing. For now, I’m likely going to focus my efforts in other areas to monetize my blog.

However, if you’re interested, you can still make a decent amount through sponsored posts. Regardless of how little you get paid as a beginner, everyone has to start from somewhere. Companies will pay you a flat fee for mentioning or writing a review about their product on your blog. Like affiliate marketing, you should be 100% genuine and honest when you are writing a sponsored post. You can land a sponsored post opportunity when you directly reach out to the company and pitch them your ideas.

By the way, please don’t interpret this as I’m saying sponsored posts aren’t good. I’ve heard stories of many bloggers who are able to successfully make thousands of dollars every month with sponsored posts! This is just something I don’t see working for me personally.

 

Related posts on how to start a blog and make money for beginners:

  • How To Become a Full-Time Blogger and Make Money
  • How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing For Beginners

 

 

Keep learning and investing in yourself to make money blogging

I sometimes get asked questions like this:

“Can I start my blog without paying anything? I don’t want to pay and still make money. How can I do that?”

As I mentioned earlier, I ALWAYS recommend investing in a basic self-hosted plan because for one, it is so cheap to get started (literally the cost of a cup of latte a month) and you will actually OWN your blog. When you go the “free” route, you don’t actually own that blog and you won’t make any real income.

I highly encourage you to make the effort and motivate yourself to save as little as $30 to $50 each month by monitoring and reducing your spending on things that aren’t as important to you. In no time, you’ll have enough money to invest in a web hosting plan, which only costs as low as $2.95 a month!!!

Overall, don’t be afraid to invest in yourself by purchasing a hosting plan and a few blogging resources to help you and your blog grow faster. My blog wouldn’t have taken off if I didn’t invest in resources or tools as a beginner.

You can still start off by buying just the basic hosting plan and learn all by yourself and purchase a resource or two whenever you’re ready. The best thing about blogging is it’s so affordable and you can do it at your own pace. But, always remember that investing in yourself is SO important if you want to make any real money with your blog!

Once you start earning more money with your blog, don’t be afraid to reinvest that money back into tools or other blogging resources that will help you grow. It also goes without saying: You must spend money to make money.

 

Summary on How To Start a Blog and Make Money

Phew! We made it to the end of this long and informative tutorial on how to start a blog and make money for beginners!

I hope you found this in-depth guide helpful in starting your blog. Let’s do a quick recap on what you need to do today to start your blog and earn an income online.

Step 1: Determine your blog niche

Step 2: Decide what you want to write or blog about

Step 3: Choose your blog name (AKA domain name)

Step 4: Invest in a basic and affordable webhosting plan like Bluehost

Step 5: Customize the look of your blog with WordPress (you can learn more about this ultimate guide to building and launching your blog with WordPress in just 30 days)

Step 6: Create your blog pages (e.g. About Me, Contact Me, Privacy Policy and Disclaimer pages)

Step 7: Write and publish your first blog post

Step 8: Promote your blog to get traffic (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and search engines)

Step 9: Apply monetization strategies to make money with your blog (e.g. display advertising, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and product creation)

Step 10: Continue to learn and invest in yourself with these blogging resources and recommendations.

 

Have you started your blog yet? If you have any questions about how to start a blog and make money, be sure to leave a comment below and ask away. I’m more than happy to help and will answer your questions! 😊

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. silvia so

    January 7, 2021 at 6:57 am

    Hi Ling,

    Happy New Year!

    I have been reading and visiting your website for a while.

    I really plan to follow your advice and start making money with my website asap.

    There one thing that I really don’t get though. I didn’t find any info on how you got the first 10,000 subscribers.
    I understand that from there on it’s a question of designing and planning to advertise, but how can I get from one to 10,000 people reading my content?

    Does it just depend on the quality of your content? You started writing and people came to you? From what I have been reading about making followers with a website I understand there must be more strategic than that.

    Can you help me out with this issue?

    Wishing you all the best with your two blogs in 2021,

    Silvia

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 8, 2021 at 6:26 pm

      Hey Silvia

      I’m glad you enjoy reading my content! 🙂

      I only talk about how I get traffic back to my blog. I don’t talk about subscribers nor how many I have. I don’t talk about subscribers because e-mail marketing and building a subscribers list isn’t something I recommend a beginner doing right off the bat when they start their blogs.

      Are you talking about the 100,000+ monthly traffic (not subscribers) I mentioned in my income reports? I mainly use Pinterest to get most of my traffic along with some from Google searches. For beginners, I recommend getting started with Pinterest and learning how to use the platform to get traffic. I spent my time dabbling with the platform and learning how to use it. There are a ton of resources, both free and paid, that teach you how to bring traffic to your blog using Pinterest. You can also learn how to rank on Google searches by taking courses that teach you the strategies. Once you have set up your blog and built a good foundation with content, I recommend investing in courses that teach you how to get traffic. I find that most of the time time, free information online is either dated or just all over the place and scattered.

      And yes, you should always strive to write quality content so you can get ranked on searches where people can find you when they type their questions or what they’re looking for in the searches – like how you search on Google and Pinterest.

      Let me know if this helps! I wish you the best with your blog!! 🙂

      Ling

      Reply
      • Silvia

        January 9, 2021 at 5:47 am

        thank you Ling!

        Reply
  2. Rachael

    January 5, 2021 at 4:15 pm

    Hey!

    I’m really wanting to get started blogging BUT I’m curious about how often I should post?

    How do I input affiliate links? Do I just post on Pinterest to get people to the blog? How many articles should I have written before putting myself out there?

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 6, 2021 at 11:46 am

      Hi Rachael

      That’s awesome to hear that you are starting your blog!

      You can actually start publishing your first blog post immediately once it’s written. By publishing your first post, you’ll also be letting your blog and domain name age, which is a good thing and has benefits! It’s what I would do to any new blog because I want them to sit there and let them “age.” They say that a site’s age matters in a website’s search engine rankings, so I always recommend starting your blog and registering your domain name as soon as possible even if you just have one blog post ready to go.

      The good thing is there won’t be anyone visiting your blog YET and they won’t see your content unless you are promoting it on social media or Pinterest. Another good thing is that Google will know your site exists when you’ve created your blog and published your very first post or page.

      So, go ahead and just publish your blog posts on the go – keep adding content one by one and share your amazing content!

      How often you post depends on your comfort level. Because I’m personally not a fast or good writer myself, I published only once a week when I first started. Of course, the more you can post at the beginning, the better. Think of it as putting the upfront effort to reap the benefits later of not having to write as often.

      And whenever you are ready for the world to read your blog, you can start promoting it on social media channels! I personally push my content out one by one as soon as they get published. After blogging for some time, I realized there isn’t really an official “launch date” since no one will see it unless you share your links on different platforms.

      I never recommend beginners to dive straight into affiliate marketing without setting up their blogs properly, creating content, and learning the basic foundation first. You can still learn more about affiliate marketing and how the links work in this post here.

      And yes, you can create what they call “Pins” (aka images) for Pinterest by using an easy tool like Canva (there is a free version for beginners to use) and share your blog post link through those images you create. The great thing about Canva is you don’t even have to be a designer because they also provide free templates so you don’t have to make one from scratch.

      I hope this helps!

      Reply
  3. Hannah

    January 4, 2021 at 5:26 pm

    Hi Ling

    As I was reading About Drafting your pages on Treasure Map to Blogging ebook I already wrote my first blog post. Do I still need to add Classic Editor /Gutenberg as a plugin?

    Kind regards,

    Hannah

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 4, 2021 at 9:55 pm

      Hey Hannah

      I still prefer the Classic Editor because it makes using WordPress easier. The Gutenberg is more modern but the “blocks” make it difficult to draft posts and insert images. If you like simple, similar to Google docs or MS Word, then go for the classic editor by installing the plugin! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Caren

    January 4, 2021 at 5:10 pm

    Thanks so much for the information! This has been super helpful in my journey with creating my own blog. Love all the information provided.

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 4, 2021 at 9:46 pm

      I’m glad you found this start a blog tutorial helpful! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Lauren

    January 4, 2021 at 3:19 pm

    I am having trouble picking a domain name, and am also wondering if I can change it eventually if I don’t like it. As well, how important is it that I start out with only a few topics to write about? I have many things I want to eventually write about, but I’m afraid of not having a clear theme to my blog and losing readers. Are new topics things I can eventually add to my blog, or can I start out with more than a few things to write about, e.g. hiking, camping, DIY, natural products, sewing, knitting, and eventually kids and home stuff?

    Thanks for your help!

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 4, 2021 at 4:02 pm

      Hi Lauren!

      The great thing about Bluehost is they have an option for you to choose your domain later. That means you can get started right away with building and writing content for your blog while you decide on your domain name later when you select “I’ll create my domain name later” in the step where they ask you to register your domain name. You can follow this starting in steps 3 and 4 of this blog post. The screenshots should also make following the instructions easy! The domain name is still free with this option! 🙂

      Once you’ve registered your name, you can always change it down the road – it would be like purchasing a new domain name (less than $18 for the entire year). But the steps involved are more than just a simple change because you’ll still have your old links under your original domain name.

      The thing is I also personally regret my domain name (LOL) but what I realized and learned is that your domain name won’t make or break the success of your blog. As long as the domain name is easy to remember and makes sense to what you’re blogging about, then you’re good to go. The more important part is writing quality content that your readers want and being able to serve and help them.

      You can definitely start a blog and write multiple topics. The key is to write all your topics in a way that will target the audience you want to bring to your blog. I see moms who start blogs and write multiple topics like meal planning, outdoor activities, home decor, crafting, sewing, kids, etc. but they usually write in a way that speaks to their specific “mom avatar” who are similar to them. For example, anyone can write a generic meal planning post but most moms who write this will speak to the mom/family audience by naming the post “quick and easy meal planning recipes for busy moms with 5 kids”.

      If they want to write about hiking or camping, these moms would again target their audience by giving the post the title of “X fun hiking trails your kids and family will love”. As you can see, they have a common theme to their blog which targets motherhood and family activities.

      Some bloggers may tell you that you must narrow down and focus on just ONE specific topic from day 1, but I find that this will be difficult, especially for beginners with no experience. So I always recommend starting off with multiple topics that spark your interest if you enjoy more than just one thing. This will allow you to explore a whole new world out there! Once you develop a readership over time, you’ll learn what the majority of your audience wants based on your blog stats and traffic. From this, you can decide to narrow down a little bit more and focus more on a specific area.

      I know many blogs that write about many topics and are still able to earn a very healthy income, so there’s no right or wrong approach. I personally have another blog like this too with many different topics and it’s doing great!

      I hope this advice helps! Let me know if you have any additional questions! I’m more than happy to help you get started! 🙂

      Reply
  6. faryal

    January 2, 2021 at 6:56 pm

    Hi Ling, how are you?
    I wanted to ask you that can you write about different topics in the same blog like some sections e.g if someone writes about fashion and recipes in the same blog under different sections? Or should we keep our focus only on one thing?

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 3, 2021 at 12:21 pm

      Hey Faryal!

      You can definitely start a blog and write different topics. This would be defined as a “lifestyle” blog and I know many of these do really well despite having different categories. The key thing I would focus on is your audience.

      For example, if you are a college student, you can start a lifestyle blog and write many different topics that are tailored to college students such as fashion for college students, quick and easy meals for busy students, time management and organizing tips for students, saving money tips in college, etc.

      Another example is starting a lifestyle blog for moms. You can create content like parenting or mom tips, quick and easy recipes for busy moms, time management and productivity hacks for busy moms, etc.

      The great thing about starting a lifestyle blog is you get the freedom to write almost any category/subject anything you want. You’ll also learn a lot a wide variety of different subjects! This is especially true for those who feel they like to talk about almost everything and can’t stick to just one topic.

      There isn’t a right or wrong approach to starting your blog. Instead, I recommend focusing on your target audience. The great thing is you can still choose to narrow down and focus on one topic later on. I hope you find this helpful! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Susan

    January 2, 2021 at 1:11 am

    First of all I’d like to wish you an awesome 2021! I hope it will be a good year, I am really excited about it.

    I have been a bit slow in getting going with the blogging, am trying to do some work on it while I am away on holiday. Just a quick question, I am busy selecting a theme for my blog. I see that there are themes specifically for different areas of interest, eg food blog, or real estate and some others. My question is this: can I select any of them for my blog and change it to my niche or do I have to search for one in my niche? Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.

    Kind regards,
    Susan

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 2, 2021 at 1:23 pm

      Hi Susan!

      Thank you! I’m also excited about your new blog and I can’t wait to see you build and launch it! 🙂

      There’s no limit to how you use different themes. There are literally thousands and millions of pre-made themes out there and you can use them in however way you want. Even if the theme is marketed or advertised for a specific niche (i.e. for food, lifestyle, business, real estate, etc.), you can still use it and tailor it to what suits and fits you and your brand. For example, the current blog theme I’m using is called the “Foodie Pro” theme and it is advertised for recipe or food bloggers but I’m still able to use it and make it appeal to my personal finance audience.

      Because you’re new to blogging, I wouldn’t worry or stress too much about the theme you choose. My advice is to choose one that you think looks good and reflects your personality/brand. Your readers won’t know whether your theme is made for a specific niche. As long as it’s clean, easy to navigate, and overall mobile-friendly, then you’re good to go! The great thing is you can always change your theme or customize its settings until you are satisfied with it.

      I hope this helps!

      Reply
  8. Juherianto

    January 1, 2021 at 10:05 pm

    Hi Ling,

    Happy New Year 2021! I love your blog content Finsavvy Panda and learn about blogging stuff from you. I would like to ask do we need to make a blog about the niche that we’re passionate and have knowledge about at the beginning? And how about others blogger who can make several Amazon affiliate blog in a different niche, does it mean they’re knowledgeable and passionate about those niches? looking forward to hearing from you 🙂

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 2, 2021 at 3:01 pm

      Hi Juherianto

      Happy New Year to you too! I’m glad to hear that you are learning a lot about blogging from my posts! 🙂

      You should definitely be choosing a niche or topic that you enjoy talking about. You don’t have to be an expert but when you are passionate or have an interest in a certain topic, you will learn more and become knowledgeable in that area. I know many people who started blogs not knowing much about the topic they write about, but their drive and motivation in learning to become better in that one thing (e.g. whether it be cooking, crafting, beauty, fashion, saving money, home renovations, DIY, etc.) is what drove them to become more knowledgable each day.

      I can’t speak for other bloggers who make several blogs in different niches to earn via Amazon affiliates because I am not in their position. But I know it is very possible to earn an income using Amazon affiliates on a blog that is in a niche you are passionate about. I’m using Amazon affiliates on both my blogs (which I enjoy very much) and it’s still earning me a consistent income each month. It all depends on your audience and your strategy to convert your readers. 🙂

      I hope this helps!

      Reply
  9. Katelyn

    January 1, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    Hi Ling. Thank you for the great post! It was definitely packed full of useful information! I just started my blog and am very excited to see where it goes. What are your best recommendations for marketing and promoting your website? I have Pinterest and have started creating pins. Should I sign up for Tailwind? Thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • Ling

      January 2, 2021 at 1:40 pm

      Hi Katelyn!

      That’s awesome to hear that you’ve started your blog. I am very excited for you too and I can’t wait to see you grow! 🙂

      My best recommendation is that once you have content and your blog set up, then learn how to get traffic by focusing on one source. Once you become familiar with that one source (in your case, Pinterest), then diversify your traffic by learning another source (e.g. Google, Twitter, IG, etc.).

      Since Tailwind is an automated scheduler for Pinterest, I only recommend using Tailwind once you are familiar with Pinterest and how to use it. I didn’t start using Tailwind right off the bat until I was familiar with the platform and getting some traffic by manually pinning first. It’s always best to use automation tools once you understand the basics and how it works manually. I hope this helps!

      Reply
  10. Olivia

    December 23, 2020 at 12:56 pm

    Hi Ling!

    I wanted to let you know that your guides to setting up a blog, have really helped me to feel confident enough to launch my own blog. So thank you so much for your guides and knowledge!!

    I had a question about stock photos and wanted your opinion. I am starting up a skincare blog, and do enjoy taking pictures of my own products and setting up my own little shoots. Of course, I want to incorporate my own photos in my post and was wondering what would be the best way of protecting my photos. I know watermarking photos is probably the easiest and quickest way to protect them. I was wondering if you knew of another method? or even how to sell photos? what are your thoughts on this?

    Thank you so much!

    Reply
  11. Ankush Saurabh

    December 22, 2020 at 3:55 am

    Is there any discount going to come on Christmas? Btw, are you still using Bluehost or migrated as you get 100k traffic I guess?

    Do you think Bluehost makes the blog a little slower? I have heard a lot about siteground. What’s your opinion?

    Reply
    • Ling

      December 23, 2020 at 2:37 pm

      Hi Saurabh!

      Bluehost is great and offers one of the best value plans especially for total beginners! Plus, it offers a free domain name too along with the discounts when you use the links in this tutorial page, so it saves beginners the hassle of purchasing one separately and taking additional steps to link them together.

      I started this blog using Bluehost when I was a beginner and it was still operating with no issues even with over 120,000 monthly traffic! Up to the point where I was comfortable and reached my goal of earning $10K per month blogging and monthly traffic went over 120,000 monthly pageviews, it was time for me to switch to a hosting company for intermediate bloggers. This blog is now using Big Scoots’ $34.95 monthly plan (paid $419.40 upfront for 12 months) and I only recommend this to people who are more experienced with blogging and getting more traffic.

      Even with my second blog, I’m still using Bluehost’s most basic $2.95 per month plan (paid $106.20 upfront for 36 months) as I am typing this and it’s running great with no speed issues!

      Siteground’s starter prices are higher and it doesn’t come with a free domain name. I was looking at Siteground when I was starting my second blog, but I decided to go with Bluehost again for better value and it just made sense to with a new blog. Plus, I personally had a good experience with Bluehost when I first started this blog, so I just went back to them again!

      In all honestly, beginners should focus on the aspects of learning how to set up their blogs, create great content for their readers, and learning how to drive traffic and monetize.

      In the grand scheme of things, where you host your blog will not make or break your success as a beginner who is learning the basics to get it up and running. That said, I recommend going for the hosting that is affordable and easy to use. Once beginners gain some experience and are getting more traction with their blog, then they can decide to switch to something more premium. Not to mention, a beginner with a new blog doesn’t need lightning-fast speed until they are really getting heavier traffic and they understand more about how blogging works.

      I hope this helps! 🙂

      Reply
  12. Nik

    December 19, 2020 at 5:52 pm

    Thanks Ling!
    I tried to create the account with the 36 month plan for $2.95 but I don’t see the add on for domain privacy.

    Reply
    • Ling

      December 20, 2020 at 8:44 pm

      Hi Nik!

      It should be in the step after you choose your domain name. It will bring you to the “Account Information” page and below, you’ll see a category called “Package Extras” – below this section, you’ll see “Domain Privacy + Protection” for $1 a month. You can make sure there is a checkmark in the box and uncheck the other extra features since you don’t need them. 🙂

      I also have these steps along with screenshots on this tutorial page, so definitely refer to it to start your blog!

      Reply
  13. Nikka

    December 19, 2020 at 12:12 am

    Hi Ling!
    There are 3 different options for starting the Bluehost accounts. Which do you recommend for beginners?

    Reply
    • Ling

      December 19, 2020 at 12:07 pm

      Hi Nikka!

      The best plan is the 36-month plan because it gives you the lowest monthly rate. With this plan, it works out to be only $2.95 USD a month (this is an upfront payment of $106.20 USD for 36 months). That means, for the full 3 years, you won’t have to think about renewing any plans.

      When I was a beginner, I personally went for this same plan and paid the one-time upfront investment because I knew that I was going to stick with it in the long term. This also gives me a ton of time to start my blog and learn what I need to learn without having to worry about anything. On top of that, you’ll save more money over the 36 months given that this is their best-value option.

      They also have an alternative option for beginners to invest only $59.40 for the whole year AKA 12-month plan (that works out to be $4.95 per month). Many of my readers still go for this plan when they want to try out blogging without spending a higher upfront payment and then they decide later whether they want to renew their plan. That’s another great option you can consider if you want to test the waters.

      You’ll get these discounted plans when you use the links on this tutorial page under “STEP 4: Invest In A Basic Webhosting Plan”. On top of that, you’ll also get a free domain name no matter which plan you go for (e.g. 12, 24, or 36-month plan).

      P.S. An often asked question is whether you need any add-ons or extra features. The answer is no, you do not. I did not include any add-ons when I was a beginner, so make sure you uncheck anything that asks you to pay for extras. The only extra feature I purchased and recommend adding is the “domain privacy protection” which is only $1 a month (I mentioned in my tutorial as well when you follow the guide in Step 4). This will prevent you from getting spam e-mails and any unwanted contact, so the small cost is worth it!

      I hope this answers your question, Nikka.

      Let me know if you have additional questions and I’ll be glad to help! 🙂

      Reply
  14. Nikka

    December 18, 2020 at 11:56 pm

    Hi ling! As a beginner which is the best option for starting a blog as there are 3 different options with different price ranges.

    Reply
  15. Trudy

    December 18, 2020 at 11:42 am

    Hello Ling,

    First of all, thank you so much for this blogging course. I believe it’s really inspiring me to start up my blog, my only problem is I can’t figure out what my blog will focus on. Yes it can be my passion or past experiences but how can I really put it down in writing in a way that connects with my readers

    Reply
    • Ling

      December 19, 2020 at 12:41 pm

      Hi Trudy!

      I recommend using this worksheet here to help you get started and thinking about what to blog about. It will allow you to answer some questions about yourself and brainstorm ideas. I also attached a sample of my own worksheet to give you examples on how to answer those questions.

      In this step by step post on how to start a blog for beginners, I also have the following sections, so definitely go through this too while answering your worksheet:
      Step 1: Choose a profitable niche
      Step 2: Deciding what to write about

      When you write about your passion/interests or past experiences, make sure you’re solving your readers’ problems and making your written content about them, and not all about you. It’s great to use your personal story or experience as an anecdote as long as it ties back to what your blog post is about. For example, if one of your blog posts is about how you lost X pounds, or how you paid off $50,000 debt, you can share a personal story of how you did it. Just make sure that when you are writing the content, you are also providing your readers with actionable steps and tips on what to do. Your readers will read your story and feel inspired by it as long as you give them meaningful and realistic tips on how to achieve those results.

      I hope you find this helpful. Feel free to let me know how it goes!

      Reply
      • Trudy

        December 19, 2020 at 1:01 pm

        Thank you so much Ling. I’m really glad to at least have your guidance through my journey as a beginner. Your reply has helped me understand that writing a blog is not rocket science and I don’t have to over think it, thank you once again!

        Reply
  16. Sylvia

    December 17, 2020 at 11:44 am

    Hi Ling.. still working on setting up my blog. I just now noticed there is something asking me to Import Demo Data for the free Olsen Light theme??? Is this something I have to do in order to have this theme set up? It states that importing the demo data (posts, pages, images, theme setting) is the easiest way to set up the theme. It will allow for quick edit of everything vs creating content from scratch. I already started setting up my About/Contact page. Do I need to do this One Click Demo import for this theme? Or just ignore it??

    Thanks bunches.

    -Sylvia

    Reply
    • Ling

      December 19, 2020 at 8:47 pm

      Hi Sylvia,

      There’s no need to import demo data from the themes – personally, I ignored it.

      Yes, importing demo data might be helpful, but they usually contain a lot of things you don’t need. You’ll probably end up spending more time cleaning up and removing the demo data than starting with a blank slate.

      Many themes make it very easy for non-techie beginners to make changes and customize the look of their blogs to their liking. I highly recommend you to play around with your theme’s setting and use the preview function to view your blog before saving the changes.

      I hope this answers your question!

      Reply
  17. Chandhini

    December 16, 2020 at 7:45 am

    Hi Ling,
    Your e-mail course & your blog was very useful & motivated me to start my blog. I do have one query. Should I start using Pinterest after publishing at least 4 to 5 articles or can I do it with one article itself?
    Thanks in advance!

    Reply
    • Ling

      December 16, 2020 at 3:00 pm

      Hi Chandhini,

      I’m glad to hear that you are motivated to start your blog!

      Yes, you can start publishing your first blog article and promote it on Pinterest as soon as it’s done but don’t keep saving the same pin on the platform because Pinterest may consider this as spammy behavior. I also recommend writing more articles so that you have a variety of content to share on Pinterest.

      I find that it’s easier to share pins and your content when you have a variety of blog posts.

      Let me know if that answers your question. 🙂

      Reply
  18. Jasmin van der Moezel

    December 15, 2020 at 5:52 pm

    Hey Ling,

    first of all I’d like to say thank you for the great encouragement you are giving people!

    I have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time now but it always seemed like such a huge task that I didn’t know where to start or find the time. You show me it actually isn’t. So thanks for that. It must feel pretty awesome helping people 😊

    Secondly, I finally decided to just do it! I talked to my husband and he set up a world press.org website for me over his hosting and domain. So now I am having a subdomain. Also that’s pretty handy I am not quite sure if it is the best solution for me as I am having trouble getting the Google Adsense to run. Any tips?

    Last but not least I am a bit stuck of what I want to write about. I am passionate about my kids and finances, but I feel it might be to broad of a topic. What do you think?

    Thanks for taking the time to read this.

    Jasmin

    Reply
    • Ling

      December 15, 2020 at 7:18 pm

      Hi Jasmin!

      That’s great to hear that you’ve started your blog! 🙂

      You may hear some people say it’s a good idea to niche down, but niching and narrowing down usually work for those who know they are set to sticking to that one topic. For example, skincare is very focused and if you know you want to blog about skincare, then go for it. Beauty, on the other hand, is broader than skincare but it’s still niched. It really depends on the owner of the blog and what he/she is determined to stick with over time.

      However, there’s nothing wrong with being more broad, like a lifestyle blog, as long as you know who your target audience is. The key is understanding who your readers are and their struggles. For example, you can still blog about your kids and finances and target moms around your age who want to learn more about household finances and kids – this works well too. 🙂

      I just looked at your website and you have an “About Me” page which is great, but I don’t see a lot of blog posts published yet.

      If your site isn’t set up properly yet (e.g. no pages, no published content, no images, not optimized, just doesn’t look ready, etc.), then I don’t recommend applying for any display advertising on your blog yet. I often see a lot of beginning bloggers get very anxious and ahead of themselves. And when they blindly apply for Google Adsense without focusing on building their blogs properly and writing quality content, they end up getting rejected from displaying ads on their site.

      Also, you’ll want your domain (the blog) to age a few months before applying because your blog will be too new and they may reject you for that reason too.

      The good thing is… as you let your domain sit and age, you can focus on building a strong foundation for your blog along with writing quality content for your readers. By the time you know it, you’ll have a good collection of blog posts, your pages will be set up and your blog will be ready to go!

      Overall, your site should also look polished and user-friendly.

      Advertisers will review your site and if it doesn’t meet up to their expectations, they won’t allow you to place ads.

      Let me know if this advice about starting your blog helps! 🙂

      Reply
      • Jasmin van der Moezel

        December 16, 2020 at 7:36 pm

        Hey Ling,

        Thanks so much for your feedback. It’s nice to get some feedback about the content. I will see how I go with my topics, but my targets were mums like me who like to save a bit of money and enjoy their kids, so it seems perfect.
        It does seem like I got a bit ahead of myself. I posted my first blog post yesterday. Yay!
        Now I’m working on the privacy policy and disclaimer.
        I will work on my side a bit more then before I will apply for advertisement again. I have reread this post as well and it is so informative. Thanks for your hard work.
        Jasmin

        Reply
  19. Elle

    November 23, 2020 at 11:19 am

    Hi there,
    Thank you SO much for your post 🙂
    The way you write your posts, and are super honest about your blogging experience is SO refreshing!
    I am a totally newbie blogger and it is SO disheartening when I end up on blogs that tell me they are earning X amount and have been doing so since day 1!
    I can’t wait to read more from your blog 🙂
    Many thanks for inspiring me to get my s*** together and take my blog seriously!!
    Elle xo

    Reply
    • Ling

      November 25, 2020 at 5:35 pm

      Hi Elle!
      I’m glad you are enjoying my blog posts!
      I remember how it feels to be a beginner and there were many times I felt discouraged, like almost every single day in the beginning because I thought something was wrong with me since I wasn’t able to earn money right off the bat like how I saw others were. But I tried putting that feeling of discouragement on the side and stayed focused on learning at my pace and level.
      What I realized is that blogging involves work, consistency, and patience, but it is SO rewarding once you accumulate knowledge and creating content over time. The beauty about starting a blog is there are still SOO many things to learn regardless of which stage you’re in.
      I’m really excited for you to see you grow and prosper with your blog, Elle. Feel free to let me know about your progress and updates – I’d be happy to walk with you on your blogging journey!

      Reply
  20. Kira McDonald

    October 27, 2020 at 4:20 am

    I love this post and your blog! This is what I needed to start my blog and I am still learning. I signed up for your email course and I love that too! I love how you walk me through step by step without throwing me off with funny terminology that I see on other blogs. I will let you know when I start my blog and if I need more help from you. Thank you for giving me hope that I can do this too!

    Kira

    Reply
  21. PJ

    September 3, 2020 at 7:45 am

    Ling,

    Is it possible to make an income within 3-4 months of blogging? Even just £500 a month. If I put in A LOT of hard work. Thinking of taking a blogging course but not sure which one to take.

    Reply
    • Ling

      September 6, 2020 at 11:21 am

      Hi PJ

      Yes, it is possible to earn your first income within 3-4 months if you put a lot of hard work and effort into learning how to monetize your blog and apply the right strategies to it. When I was new, it took me a few months to earn my first little income online but took a year for me to make blogging a full-time income. It really varies and depends on the individual – how much work they put into, how much they want to learn, and how fast they learn the strategies. On top of that, you’ll need to actually implement those blogging tips, tricks, and strategies. It does require work and it’s not mission impossible. You can start off by joining my free start a blog course that will guide you towards taking your first step:

      https://www.finsavvypanda.com/StartBlogLandingPage

      Let me know if you have any questions about starting your blog!

      Reply
      • Chandhini

        December 15, 2020 at 10:16 pm

        I am a subscriber of your e-mail course, which was very useful & has motivated me to start a blog. Should my blog have at least 5-6 articles before using pinterest?? Or will 1 article would be suffice? Thanks in advance

        Reply

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About Finsavvy Panda

Welcome to Finsavvy Panda! My name is Ling and I love everything about saving, investing, earning, and building net worth. I managed to save my first $100,000 in my 20s. I’m all for flexibility and balance, so I’d love ❤ to help you do all of this WITHOUT telling you to cut back on your favorite Starbucks drinks! 
I also started this blog as a side hobby to make extra money in 2018. After realizing that my blog is earning a full-time income, I decided to quit my job! Now, I want to help you live life with a purpose, so come join me today!
Want to know more?
Read more about me here.

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