So you have decided to start a money making blog. I’m so glad to hear that. This blog post is a beginner’s guide on how to start a money making blog. 

In this guide on how to make money blogging for beginners, you will learn how to start a blog and monetize it so you make money blogging.

Blogging is fun and it unlocks a lot of opportunities. I love it so much that of all the decisions I made in my life this is the one I don’t regret a bit.

I want you to feel the same. And if you want to make money from it then there’s no shame in starting a blog for money.

Therefore, I have written this guide for beginners in such a way that they don’t feel overwhelmed about starting a blog. 

Be with me till the end of this guide, today I am all determined to help you start a money making blog. 

Or just let me do it for you. 

SAVE THIS PIN PLEASE.

This post may contain some affiliate links that is I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you that I would use to maintain this blog. Thanks for understanding.

Before starting it, I just want to cover one of the most asked questions. 

Can You Make Money Blogging? 

Yes. It takes a while but you can make money from your blog. 

I’ve met bloggers with successful money making blogs. 

If you look at some examples of blogs that make money you will understand that blogging is worth it. 

Michelle Gardener Schroeder from Making Sense Of Cents makes more than $10,000 every month. 

But that takes time, I started this blog last year when I was a beginner and in 9 months I started making money from my blog. I made my first income by selling my SEO writing services. Then I started learning affiliate marketing.

I’ll tell you a secret….

Blogging is profitable because of multiple streams of income. 

There are different types of blogs that make money. 

Some earn from affiliate marketing only while some from ads.

As you grow your blog you will discover many ways to monetize your blog. 

If one method didn’t work out for you there are many options available. 

You can always find the best one.

Okay back to our topic, I hope that you know the blogging basics so that we can go ahead with the real stuff. 

7 Easy Steps To Starting A Money Making Blog For Beginners

Here’s a step by step process on how to start a money making blog.

STEP 1 – Choose A Blog Niche 

Before even thinking to start a blog you must figure out your blog niche.

What Is A Blog Niche?

A blog niche is a common topic around which all of your blog posts will be focused. 

For example, a food blog will publish content related to food and recipes. 

I have had a few of my email subscribers ask me ‘what should I blog about?’ and if you are also feeling this way then it is okay. 

Since we are starting a blog to make money it is important to do some research before. 

The blog niche you would pick must have these qualities.

Qualities Of A Perfect Blog Niche

Here are some of the factors to consider before finalizing your blog niche. 

• Less Competition – Blog niche is ideal when not many people are blogging on the same topic. High demand blog topics are generally difficult to compete with.
• Profitable – Blog niche should help you make money. Make sure it has various monetizing methods. You have to look at all of the blog topics that make the most money. 
• Become An Expert – You must have command on your topic otherwise you won’t be able to write for long. 
• Interesting – A group of people should be interested in reading your blog.

Answering these questions will help you pick a profitable blog niche. 

You can also follow my actionable guide on how to find your blog niche. And don’t forget to grab the free list of 221+ blog niche ideas.

Pro Tip – A niched blog grows much faster than a non-niched blog.

Once you have a blog niche you should create a nice name for your new blog.

Choosing A Blog And Domain Name

Your blog name is the identity of your blog. 

You can create a cute name for your blog however, you want it short and simple. 

The domain name is the address of your blog. It is generally the same as your blog name. 

For example, my blog name is Ekta Swarnkar and my domain name is https://ektasw.com. 

I have an actionable guide on creating a blog name to help you with it.

STEP 2 – Get Web Hosting

Once you have chosen your blog name it is time to move to the next step. 

It is to choose a great web hosting service that is also beginner-friendly for your money-making blog. 

What is a Web Hosting?

Web hosting is an online space that you would buy for your blog. It is where your website data is stored.

You would think why not start a free blog? It is because a free blog has limited options such as

• No SEO optimization options.
• Limited money making options.
• No theme customization options.
• And many more.

While on self-hosted blogs, you can add multiple streams of income and make modifications the way you want.

To start a money-making blog you must invest in it.

So there are some factors to consider before buying web hosting. 

Qualities A Web Hosting Company Should Have

• Cheap Web Hosting Services – It should be cheap. 
• 24*7 Customer Support – Your hosting provider must be able to help you anytime. 
• Fast Loading Time – It should be able to load your site within a second. 
• Beginner Friendly – It should have an easy to navigate dashboard.

Here are my top 5 great web hosting services for beginner bloggers if you want to have a look.

However, I use and recommend Bluehost for every beginner blogger. Not only because the Bluehost web hosting plans are super affordable but also it gives a lot of free benefits that most web hosting companies don’t give. 

RELATED – Why did I choose Bluehost? – Read Here!

For example, 

• Free domain email. (with other hostings $4-5 per month)
• Free SSL.
• Free Domain. ($11- 12 per year)
• Free Caching system.

And it is one of the WordPress recommended web hostings. 

I have a whole blog post dedicated to how to start a blog on Bluehost. Open it in a new tab and start a blog from there.

Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost

Here’s a step-by-step procedure if you want to keep going. 

1- Choosing a hosting plan. Not sure what kind of blog to start? Choose the basic plan. 

2- Now, enter the domain name. Remember, you created it while coming up with a blog name? Yes, that!

If you haven’t picked a blog name yet, click on “I’ll create my domain later.“

3- Then, enter your basic account details, plan details, and extras. 

4- Enter your billing information. 

5- You will receive an email shortly from Bluehost. Now, confirm your purchase via email.

6- On your dashboard, create a strong password.

7- WordPress automatically gets installed on your dashboard.

Make sure you went through each of the steps. If you have, feel free to move to step 3.

And if you used any other hosting and installed WordPress you can continue from step 3.

STEP 3 – Choosing A Blog Theme

Well, congratulations! You have started a blog already and it was the most difficult step on how to start a money-making blog. Now only small things are remaining. 

Let’s cover them one at a time.

What Is A Blog Theme?

A blog theme designs the look of your site.

It decides the look of your blog. 

Therefore, it becomes necessary to choose the best theme for a WordPress blog. 

If you had noticed, WordPress gives you some options to choose a free theme. There are some great free themes there but you have to be very selective there.

Not every theme is good.

Qualities Of A Great Blog Theme

Your blog theme should have these qualities.

• It should be a responsive WordPress theme – A responsive site is one that automatically adjusts itself based on the size of the screen. For example, it looks differently on mobile and laptop.
• Fast Loading Website – Your site should load in a second. Your theme should ensure that.
• SEO Friendly – A website that is designed keeping SEO in mind is a good choice. 

Here are the 5 best premium themes for you to pick from. 

However, I use the Astra theme on my blog and it is awesome.

Let’s find out why!

Astra Theme 

A wonderful free WordPress theme to install on your blog is the Astra theme. This theme is highly responsive and coded especially keeping website speed in mind. 

Check out the Astra Theme here.

It also has a premium version. You can always update it. Read why I prefer the free Astra theme over the pro version for new bloggers.

DIVI Theme For WordPress

If you want to try a great premium option then the DIVI theme is your pick. It is a classic theme that comes with lots of premade templates.

It has become a choice of most bloggers.

Check out the DIVI Theme here.

Now you have a great theme installed on your site. You can customize it from the appearance option on the sidebar. 

But you can do it later. Let’s now fix your permalink structure.

Super important.

Changing The Permalink Structure

Permalink structure is the structure of your URL. 

Click on the settings from your WordPress dashboard. Then click on the permalink. Select the post name. 

By doing so your blog post’s URL would look like this. 

https://yoursite.com/something/

This way you can include keywords in your URL. It is a preferred one. 

Now step 4. 

STEP 4 – Necessary Pages And Plugins

It is time you start forming the structure of your site. WordPress offers great functions for you to design your website. 

Must-Have Plugins For WordPress

A plugin is a mini software designed to perform specific tasks.

Most money-making blogs look professional. These plugins add extra functionality to your site and some are necessary. 

• AntiSpam Bee – A free plugin to protect your site from spam comments. 
• Contact Forms 7 – A free plugin to create contact forms for your blog. 
• WP-Optimize – A free caching plugin to maintain its load time. 
• Elementor – To create professional-looking pages. 
• ShortPixel – A free image compression plugin. 
• Yoast SEO – A plugin to take care of SEO.
• WordFence Security – A security plugin to make your site safe.

There are more plugins, here’s an ultimate list of essential WordPress plugins for beginners. 

Essential Pages For A Website

Your website should have some important pages that will tell your readers more about your website. 

1. Home Page – It is the main page of your blog. A home page is like a table of contents to help readers navigate to different pages of your site. 
2. About Page – It is a page dedicated to you and your blog. Make sure to add a bit about yourself, what you write, and the people you write for. 
3. Contact Page – Most of your readers would want to reach out to you. You have to make it easier for them by creating a contact page.

Pro Tip – You can use Elementor to create professional-looking pages. I have created my home page using Elementor. 

As you grow your blog you will realize that you will need more plugins and pages. But these are the necessary and basic ones. 

On to step 5. 

STEP 5 – Publish Great Content 

The best way to grow your blog is to publish quality content on your blog regularly. 

The good news is that it’s not that hard. With practice, you will improve it. 

So, how to create quality content regularly? 

How To Write Your First Blog Post?

I know it is very hard for beginners to write their first blog post. Therefore, I have written a whole guide on how to write and publish your first blog post. 

Here’s a checklist I use to make sure my blog posts include everything. 

• An H1 Title Tag – A Catchy Blog Post headline. 
• Some H2 and H3 Title Tags. 
• An Introduction. 
• The Main Content. 
• A Conclusion. 
• Images. 
• Internal links. 
• External links. 
• A proper structure. 

Here are some related posts. 

• How To Write Catchy Blog Post Headlines? 
• An Easy Guide On Writing SEO Friendly Content
• How To Do Keyword Research?

Keep Publishing Quality Content 

Your priority is your readers. Therefore, every blog post on your blog should be focused on solving their problems. 

This guide will help you plan a content marketing strategy for your blog. 

These types of blog posts are proven to help you generate blog traffic. 

And, this guide will help you find out your target audience so that your posts reach the right audience.

Download the free blog planner to keep track of your blogging tasks.

So this is how to start a money-making blog. Congratulations on becoming a blogger! You’ve got far and done great.

Now, a few things to get better at blogging.

STEP 6 – Grow Blog Traffic

When you are publishing engaging content on your blog it is evident that your blog traffic would increase but slowly. 

It can take a while (6 to 7 months for a new site) to start getting organic traffic. 

Till then you can use other ways to promote your blog posts and get some traffic. 

However, you will also have to try different ways to grow blog traffic. 

Fortunately, it is not that difficult. 

To learn how to grow blog traffic check out these 21 easy tips. 

One of the best ways to speed up your growth is to invest in blog courses. 

Here are two great options for you. 

Angela’s Blogging Bundle

I love and follow Angela’s advice religiously. Her blogging bundle is one of the best investments. 

It is filled with awesome tips that are easy to implement and bring results. 

Check out the Blogging Bundle here.

Carly’s Pinteresting Strategies

Pinterest has a great potential to drive targeted traffic to blogs. I gain around 15 to 20% of overall traffic from Pinterest. 

Her Pinterest course is one of the best choices for bloggers who are looking to grow their Pinterest. 

I have purchased many Pinterest courses and this is the only one I recommend. 

Check out the Pinterest Strategies here. 

Once you start seeing some traffic to your blog you can start monetizing your blog. 

STEP 7 – Monetize Your Blog

One of the most asked questions is how do bloggers make money from their blogs?

However, I want you to take things slow from here.

It is very important to wait for some time to build trust and traffic and convert it into a money-making blog. 

There are many types of blogs that make money from different methods. 

How To Monetize Your Blog? 

Here are some ways to make money blogging. 

• Affiliate Marketing – Earning a commission by recommending a product. Here’s a beginner’s guide to getting started with affiliate marketing.
• Displaying Ads – Earning by selling your blog space to display ads. Here’s a list of the best ad networks to join as a blogger.
• Sponsored Posts – Getting paid for writing for companies. 

Check out this post to find out more ways to monetize your blog and how to do it. These are the top ways to make money from blogs. 

So this is how bloggers get paid.

Is this it? No. 

It will take time to make money blogging. I made my first income after 9 months of starting it. So, you need to be patient here.

You will have to improve your skills to scale your earnings. 

Some Tips To Grow Your Blog

• Learn SEO – Organic is the best type of traffic a blogger can get on his blog. Therefore, focus on learning SEO from the first day. Start with my guide on writing SEO friendly blog posts. 
• Learn Social Media Marketing – Getting Google traffic as well as social media traffic is the icing on the cake. Therefore, learn how to utilize social media to divert traffic to your blog. Social Media Examiner is one of the best sites that teach about it. 
• Learn Content Marketing – To make money easily you must learn how to sell through your content. You can start with my guide on Content Marketing For Bloggers.

Here are some free resources for you to grow your blog. 

And here’s my resource library in case you need anything. 

Conclusion: How to Start a Money Making Blog?

So this is how to start a money-making blog. 

But starting a blog is not enough. You have to work on it daily to produce results. 

As blogging is something in which you learn almost every day. Now, I’ll leave you with this blog post to learn how to write your first blog post. 

If you need any help you can always contact me. 

Please let me know in the comments section if you have any questions. 

I hope you found this post helpful. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Or why not subscribe to my newsletter and get blogging and writing tips straight to your inbox every week?

Ready to learn awesome blogging? Here are the 23 tips I learned in 1 year. 

P.S. – You can also buy a blog that is established and grow it if you don’t like to start a blog from scratch.