How to Start a Blog & Make Money in 2024

You must have stumbled across those six-figure income reports on Google and Pinterest. You must have read about bloggers making hundreds of thousands of dollars every year while traveling the world.

Ever wondered how these successful people do it?

What makes them different?

Well, it’s because they were daring enough to try something new, to start a side hustle and scale it up. Be it starting a blog, an online store or freelancing, we have to start first to move ahead. As the saying goes, “well begun is half done!”.

Does any of these situations sound familiar to you:

• Feeling trapped in your 9-5 job and living for the Saturday nights.
• A constant feeling to do something more meaningful with your life
• Wanting to travel the world but being unable to do so
• Constantly falling short of cash and having to postpone your dreams
• Drowning in bills and credit card debts

If so, you can avoid these situations by simply deciding to try something new, by deciding to start a side hustle. And what better thing to try than blogging!

I know it all sounds fancy. You must be wondering, “is it even possible to make money blogging?”

Well, of course, it’s possible. Need proof?

Here’s a small list of 10 bloggers earning obnoxious blogging incomes!

• Tim Sykes – $1,000,000+ per month
• Melyssa Griffin – $200,000+ per month
• Sarah Titus – $200,000+ per month
• Chiara Ferragni – $175,000+ per month
• Pat Flynn – $175,000+ per month
• John Lee Dumas – $150,000+ per month
• Heather and Pete Reese – $150,000+ per month
• Jeff Rose – $125,000+ per month
• Elisa Larson and Emma Chapman – $125,000+ per month
• Alborz Fallah – $125,000+ per month

Please note that this is a really tiny list of ten people compared to the actual number of established bloggers out there!

Now that we have seen the possibilities of successful blogging, let’s dispel some blogging myths that usually stop people from starting a blog.

• Myth 1: It is expensive to start a blog. No, it is not. It costs around fifty dollars to host your blog for one complete year (it literally is a fifty-dollar business!). You can run a blog if you could skip a couple of coffees every month.
• Myth 2: You need to be a computer wizard to start a blog. This is another huge misconception about blogging. There is no hardcore technical knowledge needed at all for blogging. It’s a more creative and less technical business.
• Myth 3: You need super-strong writing skills and be an English language expert. No, you do not. People read blogs for advice and simple solutions to their problems. They value simplicity, honesty, and realness in writing, not the number of tough and fancy words you could cramp in. Know that majority of your audience will be normal people like you and me looking for simple advice.

With that said, let’s see how to start a blog of your own right now

Starting a blog is pretty much a cakewalk in 2022. Follow the steps below and you will have your own blog ready in the next 15 minutes.

Let’s Build Your Blog Now!

1. Choosing a Blog Topic & Blog Name

The first step in starting a blog is to choose the blog niche. A Blog Niche is the topic you will be blogging about.

For example, the blog topic of Financial Folks is personal finance. Similarly, you can choose any niche like cooking, travel, fashion, sports, fitness, lifestyle, hobbies, pets, etc.

It essentially boils down to your passion and what you want to blog about. Start a food blog if you like cooking, a photography blog if you are a photography enthusiast, a travel blog if you love traveling, and so on.

Do not overthink a lot and get yourself confused. Choose a topic you love, something you can consistently write about for the years to come. That’s your niche.

Decided on the topic?

The next step is to choose a blog name (also called a domain name).

A domain name is the digital address of your blog. For example, “financialfolks.com” is our domain name.

There are two options for you while choosing a domain name.

First, you can choose a domain that is related to your blog topic. For example, “financialfolks.com” reflects the personal finance niche it is in. Blogs like “pinchofyum.com” (Cooking and Recipe blog), “theblondeabroad.com” (Travel blog), “techcrunch.com” (Technology blog) similarly reflect the topic of the blog.

Else you can choose your own name as the domain name and build a personal brand.

Some examples of personally branded blogs include “sethgodin.com” from Seth Godin, “tomcruise.com” from Tom Cruise, “adamenfroy.com” from Adam Enfroy, or variations of your name like “gatesnotes.com” by Bill Gates, “cupofjo.com” by Joanna Goddard, “nomadicmatt.com” by Matthew Kepnes, etc.

The pros of this method are that you get to snap up your own name as a domain name (before someone else with the same name does) and build a personal brand. Once your blog starts growing in authority, you will be known as an expert in the topics you write about.

Ready to get your domain name?

Use the link below to search for your name or a keyword-based name.

Search Domain Name Availability on Bluehost

Is the domain available?

If so, let’s see how to get that domain name right now before someone else picks it up. Follow the steps below to get your domain name along with hosting.

2. Hosting Your Blog

The first step is to visit “Bluehost.com”.

Tap the button below to visit the Bluehost homepage. The page will open in a new tab so that you can follow this guide and execute the steps in Bluehost simultaneously.

Visit Bluehost (70% Off + Free Domain Name + Free SSL Certificate)

You will now reach the Bluehost homepage which will look like below. On the top right, you will find an option to choose the currency of your preference.

Now, click on “Host Your Site“.

You will now be taken to the plan page which looks like below.

Choose the “12 months” section and “BASIC” plan.

This is the most cost-effective option and will provide you with all the important functionalities required for running a successful blog.

Click on the “Select” button. You will now be taken to a page where you can choose a free domain name.

Under the “Create a new domain” section, type the domain name you want. Try searching for your own name or a keyword-based name.

Now click on the “Next” button. You will be taken to the final page where you have to fill up your account details.

After adding your personal details in the “Account Information” section, choose “Basic 12 Month Price” in the “Package Information” section. The 12-month plan is the most cost-effective option for a new blogger.

In the “Package Extras” section, you can unselect everything except the “Domain Privacy + Protection“.

Make sure that you do not uncheck the domain privacy. Domain privacy keeps your personal information private and protects you from hijackers and malicious domain transfers.

Now add the payment information and click submit.

And that’s it!

You have now officially obtained a blog of your own!

You will now receive the domain details in your mail. And there are a few more steps like setting your password, logging in to the dashboard, etc., all of which are super-simple, straightforward, and hardly take a few minutes to complete.

3. Customize Your Blog

The next step is to customize your blog to make it look amazing. You can make use of blog themes to do that.

Under the “Themes” option in the “Appearances” menu, you will find thousands of free themes that you can use. Astra and GeneratePress are two of the highly popular free themes.

This Financial Folks blog you are reading right now is designed using the pro version of GeneratePress theme.

The final step is to launch your blog. Visit “Bluehost->Home->Launch with confidence” and click on “Launch your site“.

Tada!

You have now officially launched your blog for the entire world to see!

Give yourself a pat on the back for this amazing work. Now, there’s one more work remaining. It’s to write amazing content!

4. Writing Amazing Content

Now that your blog is up and running, you have to start writing content. Share your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and expertise with the world.

You do not have to be a domain expert or a journalist-level writer to do that. Blogging is all about providing helpful tips to others. It’s about providing some form of value to your readers. And the simpler your language and style of writing is, the easier it is for your readers to digest it.

Be yourself, write about topics that you love and the audience will inturn love you automatically!

5. Make Money Blogging

Once you have your blog set up and some content published, the next step is to start making money.

So, how to make money from your blog?

There are two main ways to make money blogging. The first method is to show advertisements on your blog.

For every person who views the ads on your posts, you will make money. You will make even more money if your blog visitors click on those ads.

The second method is affiliate marketing. Here you will be promoting products and services that pay you for referring customers.

For example, one of the most popular affiliate programs is that of Amazon. If any of your blog readers use your affiliate links to visit Amazon.com and make a purchase, you will be paid a small commission by Amazon.

Other ways to make money include writing sponsored posts, starting an e-commerce store within your blog, starting a related Youtube channel, etc.

6. Growing an Email List

The final and one of the most important steps in achieving blogging success is to grow an email list.

This is a crucial step for anyone who is serious about using their blog to make a long-term living. You need to grow a mailing list.

An active list of email subscribers will help promote your posts and will hopefully support your products or whatever it is you do in the future.

I recommend Constant Contact to store your mailing list. They provide a 60-day free trial where you can try email marketing for free and see how well you are able to convert your blog visitors to email subscribers.

Tap the button below to visit the Constant Contact homepage.

Visit Constant Contact (60-Day Free Trial, No Credit Card Required)

You will now reach the Constant Contact homepage which will look like below.

Click on “Start Trial“, enter your email address and password and you will be ready to use the full power of Constant Contact, for free, for 60 days!

That’s it!

That’s how you can start a blog and share your thoughts with the world. With time, your blog will start growing in authority and start making you more and more money.

Final Thoughts:

You could be a travel lover, fitness nerd, an awesome chef, a professional sports player, or a rocket scientist. Irrespective of where your heart lies, blogging gives you an opportunity to make money writing about things you love and enjoy doing.

Blogging truly has the power to change lives. I “highly” “highly” recommend you to start a blog and give it a solid 1-year try.

Your Bluehost hosting will last for 1 complete year. So, please give blogging a solid 1-year try. Because that’s how great success stories are made; it’s through experiments, it’s by trying something new, it’s by taking a chance and overcoming the challenges.

And if you are still on the fence, try starting a personal blog using your own name as the domain name. That way irrespective of the results, you will still own your domain name and can convert it to your portfolio or CV website.

Having a CV website is becoming increasingly common and is an advantage over your competitors in recruitments and job searches. So, owning your own name as a domain name will absolutely be a win-win situation for you. How does that sound?

Ready to give blogging a try and change your life?

Click on the link below to start your brand new blog!

Visit Bluehost (70% Off + Free Domain Name + Free SSL Certificate)