The Steps to Start a Money Making Blog: 8 Step Guide was a topic I struggled finding information on. Paying for a course isn’t something I mind doing. But, none of them seemed to tell me what exactly was in the course until after you bought it.
Why do people gate keep this…?
So, I just kept digging and finally started putting the pieces together myself for two years. The first two years my blog was live, it didn’t drive any traffic. Finally after all the digging, I felt like I had all the puzzle pieces I needed to figure out this whole blogging thing and how to make money doing it.
I will never understand why people feel the need to gate keep things like this. That is the reason I am writing this blog series. I want others to have the information I struggled to find all in one place.
Keep in mind this isn’t an automatic you will make money overnight success. It will take a lot of strategic planning to develop your blog. This information will get you started down the right path in creating all the framework to successfully set up a money making blog.
Start your money making blog with these 8 steps…
1. Pick Your Niche
First and foremost you are going to need to pick your niche. Your niche should be something you could talk about all day for hours upon hours. Because, you will basically be doing that in your blog as you talk to your audience about that subject. Once you have decided on your niche, you can start thinking about the name for your blog.
2. Bluehost
Picking the name of your blog is what you will need for the next step to be completed. Which is buying your domain name. Your domain name is essentially your website/blog name. You will have to make an annual payment to continue to own that website/blog name.
Bluehost is a web hosting company that is very user friendly and affordable. They make the set-up process extremely easy and ensure that your website/blog name isn’t already taken. This is who I used to host my domain name.
3. Legalzoom
You have to think of your blog as a business if you want it to make money like a business. I used Legalzoom to help me set up my LLC for the blog. Legalzoom has an amazing system that does it all for you.
There were some really important things I didn’t know I needed they provided for me. They provided me with an operating agreement. A checklist of things I would need to be in compliance with my county/state laws. I had no idea I needed a permit from my county to run my business out of my home. Knowing that my business is set up correctly and in compliance with my local state/county laws is the best feeling ever thanks to Legalzoom.
4. Chase Business
We did quite a bit of digging into which banks were the most recommended for small businesses. Take your time when you are deciding where to put your money. I mean you are creating a business to be your livelihood. You need to make sure your money is protected and secure.
Chase was a bank that kept coming up time and time again in our search. They had amazing reviews when it came to small business support. That is the bank we chose to use for our business. This link is good for a $200 account sign-up bonus!
5. Build Your Own Blog
Now we are into the building of the blog itself. Let’s just say there are so many different things to set up when it comes to building a blog. Not only do I want you to understand the legal side. I also want you to know about the back end work that makes blogging possible.
Having a well designed and thought out blog website is probably the second most important aspect of this business. You need a site that visually draws your readers in and is also easy for them to navigate and want to stay a while.
Showit is a platform where you build your blog with beautiful pre-made templates. This platform takes all of that tedious and overwhelming coding work and does it for you. That way you can just pick a website template you like and start plugging in your photos and content right away.
With a Showit blog, pre-made template, you should be able to easily build your blog within a few days to a few weeks. This is how I built the first version of my blog. They have incredible customer support there to assist you with any questions you may have about the process. This link will give you a free month of Showit to tryout for yourself!
6. Choose a “self-hosted” site
This is the part that took me two years to figure out. There are two types of blog websites you can build, a “hosted” and “self hosted” site. The difference between the two is extremely important to understand.
The “hosted” site is something that a platform like WordPress.com hosts for you. This means that you can still own the domain name but they essentially own the site. Since you are using their platform, they can, at any time, take down your site if they see fit. Scary, right? I know. There is good news in all of this.
Going the “self-hosted” route is the way to go. You are the only person that can ever decide whether your site comes down or not. WordPress.org is where you can get a “self-hosted” site. With a self hosted site you will also be able to run ads on your site. Running Ads is probably one of largest revenue streams bloggers have. You can not run ads on your blog if you aren’t a “self-hosted” site.
7. Hire a Blog Website Builder
You can save yourself time and go ahead and do what we did this go round. Pay someone to build you a blog website for you. Gillian is who we hired to design and build our blog. She was so easy and professional to work with. She sent us links with checklist and to-do’s. This made uploading and getting all of our content to her very easy.
Gillian sent us a preview of the rough draft blog she put together. I was instantly in love with it and so excited to see the finished product!!!
She built in many back end items that we didn’t even know we needed. They have helped us learn so much about driving traffic to our site. Posting amazing content our readers want to read. Let her know Bryanna sent you, I would love for her to know that we love spreading the word about her amazingness! Here is the link to get connected with her so she can build your blog too!
8. Take a Blogging Course
I am sure you have seen courses for all kinds of things all over the internet in the last decade. There is literally a course for almost anything you can think of and learn right in your own home. Yes, this means there are also blogging courses that can really help you monetize and perfect your blogging skills.
Gillian, our website builder has an amazing Blogging Course. Her course is jam packed with everything you need to know about starting your blog and making it profitable. She has seriously been a game changer for us in so many ways. We couldn’t be happier that we found her at such a crucial time in our blogging journey. Go check out her Influencer Blogging 101 Course and see for yourself! (Use Code BRYANNA for 10% off)
Bonus Step: Start an Email List ASAP!!!
Why start an email list?!?! Having a following on social media is great but we don’t own our social pages. Our social pages could get hacked or deleted without any warning. We would lose every single one of our followers if hacked, or the platform decided to just ban or delete our page. Recovering those social pages is nearly impossible and we would have to start all over with building a new following.
Flodesk is an email system that we use to grow our email list. We own this list and no one else can just choose to delete it one day. I never knew how important an email list was until it was explained to me in this way. It is our way of being able to stay in touch with the readers and followers who have chosen to hear from us on regular basis.
Flodesk is user friendly and the templates and layouts are up to date with today’s email marketing needs. Click this link for 50% off your entire first year!!!
I will always be honest with you. I want to remind you that setting up a blog takes work and time. The good news is though, what took me a couple years to figure out. You just learned in the last 10 minutes. I truly hope these 8 steps to Start a Money Making Blog help you get started and hit the ground running.
Our 8 Steps to Start a Money Making Blog is an amazing resource on how to correctly set up your blog before you worry about monetizing it! Making sure your blog is set up the right way can make all the difference in making it profitable in the long run.
What’s next…?
If your Blog is up and running and you need help with monetizing it. Check out “8 Blog Monetization Strategies 2024“. This is a great resource to dive into the many different ways you can make money with your blog.
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You know I love a good DIY. That is why I created this Blogging 101 Series. To help you be successful in creating your own blog. I found that a lot of people gate kept this information. I am here to help others who struggle to find the information like I did.
If you’re a DIY lover looking for additional resources, you can find them here!
Great work on this post! Learned a lot from it.