Let’s start a WordPress Blog together today! I’m going to teach you everything you need to know when it comes to launching a new blog. We will discuss what niches are profitable, how to actually monetize your blog and I’ll show you exactly how to set up your brand new blog with a step-by-step tutorial. Blogging isn’t going to make you money overnight, but if you start today, who knows where you could be in 6-12 months’ time.
I started the blog Reinventing Neesha (now The Fun Money Club) way back in 2014. When I started I had no real intention of making money from it. It was just an outlet for me to write about my experience living on job seeker’s allowance and my job searching journey. Fast forward to 2021 and my blog consistently makes me over £2,000 a month. My best month I made £11,005.74! Blogging has truly changed my life financially. I no longer have to worry about making my monthly pay check last. I now work just 10 hours a week on my blog and spend the rest of my time at home with my son. I’ve learned a huge amount about blogging in the last 9 years and I’m going to share all that knowledge with you today.
I know starting a blog can be daunting. It feels like there is a lot to know but these are things you can learn over time as your blog grows. You don’t need to know it all now. In this blog post, I’ll show you the crucial things you need to know before starting. Everything else can wait until later. Forget what you’ve been told about social media, you do not need to be an Influencer with 100,000 followers to be a successful blogger. Trust me, I’m one of them! So throw everything you already think you know about Blogging out of the window and start from scratch with me today.
Disclosure
I am an affiliate for Bluehost, and will receive a commission if you sign up through my referral link. This is at no additional cost to you, and you will get the lowest price and a free domain name through my link.
Why Start a Blog?
Blogging is easily one of the cheapest side hustles you can start. You can start a blog today for under £2.50 a month with Bluehost. Blogging really does have infinite possibilities when it comes to making money on the internet. There are so many doors that have opened for me because of my blog. Generally, the overheads of blogging are very low. Your only monthly cost when starting out is your web hosting and your domain name. This also means that the profit is far higher than traditional side hustles such as an online product-based business.
So drop that extra cup of coffee you grab on the way to work and learn how to start a blog with me today. Whether you want to earn a side income alongside your main job or you want to become self-employed with blogging being your main income, these are both achievable goals. The possibilities with blogging really are limitless.
Already know what your blog is going to be about and how to monetize it? Click here to skip ahead to the Bluehost WordPress set-up tutorial and find out how to claim your free ‘Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers‘ eBook worth £47!
Choosing a Blog Niche
Your blog niche or the topic you write content about will really define how much money you can make when it comes to Blogging. You could start a blog about absolutely any topic but some niches are far more profitable than others. So that’s something to bear in mind when deciding what you are going to start blogging about.
Some of the most profitable blog niches include:
- Travel
- Food
- Finance
- Beauty
- Fashion
- Fitness & Health
Your blog topic really can be anything. Ideally it needs to be something you are either:
1. Extremely passionate about
or
2. Very knowledgeable on
To find your blog niche, quickly write down 10 blog post ideas you have. What category do they fall under? That’s your blog topic!
The more you can write on a topic the more profitable your blog will be. Eventually, you will need to write lots of blog content within your blog niche so it needs to be something you could endlessly write about. You might find your niche evolves over time, mine did. I started blogging about finding a job, this progressed to a beauty blog and now 9 years later I write about making money online. So don’t fret too much about your blog niche now.
Skills you need to Run a Successful Blog
Your financial success as a Blogger will rely heavily on one of two things. You will either become successful from your Blog ranking within Google’s search engine results page, or you will become successful from growing a social media following. We are going to focus on the former of the two and that involes knowing a little bit about Search Engine Optimisation.
My social media following is relatively small, it’s not something I’ve focused on a lot. I rely heavily on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Keyword Research. Back in 2020 I really did my homework and read up on SEO and Keyword Research and the financial pay-off was incredible. I managed to triple my blogging income in a very short period of time by focussing my efforts on this area.
The two online courses that really helped me grow my blog to where it is now were Navigating SEO and Navigating Keyword Research by Lyrical Host Courses.
So if there’s one skill you learn today I would highly recommend it be SEO and Keyword Research. The payoff, in the long run, will be absolutely worth your time and effort.
Why is SEO and Keyword Research so important?
By writing your blog posts and targeting a specific keyword you can almost guarantee your blog traffic. You can build up an audience for a blog that has no social following by utilizing SEO. It’s something every blogger should know.
Like I mentioned earlier my blog doesn’t have a huge social following. I have under 16,000 followers across all my social media accounts. Yet 71% of my blog traffic comes directly from the search engine results page. I don’t have to actively do any promotion to get the blog views rolling in. And more blog views = more money.
SEO and Keyword Research can feel like a bit of a minefield when you start out but it’s absolutely worth investing some time in learning.
How to Make Money Blogging
There are a number of different ways in which you can make money blogging, these are:
- Affiliate Marketing
- Sponsored Posts
- Blog Adverts
- Email Marketing
- Digital Product Sales
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is the process of promoting a product or service. For every sale or sign-up you will receive a commission (payment) for that sale. For example, if you were a travel blogger you could promote a hotel. If anyone booked a stay at that hotel via your affiliate link you would receive a percentage of that payment. Affiliate commissions vary massively from as little as 1% all the way up to 100%!
Affiliate Marketing is my top-earner. 56% of my blogging income so far this year is made up of affiliate income. This is a whole topic in itself. If you carry on reading this blog post I’m giving away a free copy of my eBook Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers worth £47 which teaches you the exact method I use on this blog to make £1000’s every month from affiliate income.
Sponsored Posts
A sponsored post is when a brand or company will pay you to write about their brand on your blog. Here is an example of a sponsored post I did for Tempur on Creating a Bedtime Routine for Toddlers. I was paid £700 for this sponsored post. Sponsored posts are an incredible way to make money via your blog.
Blog Adverts
You’ve seen this all over the internet, they often pop up between posts on social media or on news websites. Bloggers can utilise these types of adverts too. For every view, your advert gets you will make some money. The more views you have the more money you can make. I’m currently using Ezoic to monetize my blog via adverts. I’d highly recommend Ezoic if you are looking to monetize your blog via adverts.
Email Marketing
Every blog should have a mailing list! I’ve written a freebie eBook called ‘How to get your first 1000 Mailing List Subscribers‘. It’s another huge topic that I can’t cover within this blog post. But if you are starting a new blog you absolutely need to start a mailing list too. It’s super easy to set up. I currently use Mailerlite for my mailing list. It’s totally free to start out using and only costs you when you reach over 1,000 unique subscribers.
Digital Product Sales
Eventually, you could launch your very own digital products to accompany your blog. It’s something I’ve only recently done myself but it’s another income stream alongside all the other things I do. If you really want to launch a digital product I’d highly recommend The She Approach eBook Bestseller Bootcamp. The Bootcamp covers the start to finish process of launching a successful eBook.
How to Make Money Blogging Summary
Those are the five main ways to monetize a blog. This might seem overwhelming right now but these are all things that will grow along with your blog. I did my first sponsored post within 6 months of launching my blog, affiliate marketing came 3 years later, and launching a digital product took another 4 years after that. I didn’t get serious about blogging until around 2018. You can absolutely do it in a much shorter time frame than I did but you don’t have to rush things.
Now you’ve got an idea in mind for your own blog it’s time to put that into practice and launch your very first blog!
How to Start a Blog with Bluehost – Step by Step Tutorial
Bluehost is my favourite web hosting account to use when I launch new blogs for a number of reasons:
- Bluehost is one of the cheapest hosting platforms available. You can start a blog for under £2.50 a month.
- You get a FREE domain name.
- You also get a FREE custom email address (This makes you look very professional when approaching brands)
- It’s super easy to use and set up a new blog from scratch with Bluehost.
- Technical support is available if and when you need it.
- Your blog will be self-hosted. This basically means that you own your blog and you are not held back with options on how to monetize your blog. A lot of free platforms do not allow you to monetize your work.
Sign up to Bluehost today to start your very first self-hosted WordPress blog.
What's included?
- A free domain name and email address
- Hosting for under £2.50 a month
- A free SSL certificate
- Technical support
- PLUS get a free copy of 'Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers' worth £47!
Let’s launch your first blog together, below you will find a step-by-step guide of the Bluehost sign up process.
Step #1 – Select your Plan
Bluehost have a number of different plans available to suit all needs and budgets. If you only intend on launching one blog then the Basic plan is for you. If you have ideas for multiple different blogs then I’d suggest opting for the Choice Plus plan. All plans come with a free SSL certificate and free domain name registration.
Step #2 – Register your Domain Name
This is always my favourite part of setting up a new blog, setting up your custom domain name. Think about the niche you have chosen and how that ties into what your blog is going to be called. If your blog is going to be a generic lifestyle blog you could also use your name as your domain name. If you are struggling to find a domain name I always use the Thesaurus website to help me come up with words relating to my topic that I might not have thought about myself. I also love bouncing ideas off my partner to see what he comes up with. If you are REALLY stuck and don’t have anyone to bounce ideas off then please message me on Twitter or Instagram for help. As I said, it’s my favourite part of setting up a new blog so we can come up with some ideas together.
Step #3 – Create your Account
Complete your details and select your account plan. I’d recommend going for the 12-month plan as this allows you to shop around next year or stick with Bluehost again depending on the renewal price. Your 12-month plan needs to be paid for upfront in full. The total cost should be around the £25-£30 mark at a saving of 70% by purchasing through my exclusive link. This price also includes your free domain name and free SSL certificate.
There are lots of package extras offered but none of these are essential for the running of your blog. You can always add these on later once your blog starts bringing in some revenue if you feel you need them.
Step #4 – Installing WordPress
Now, this is where the fun starts! Once you’ve purchased your Bluehost package, paid, and set up your username and password you will then need to install WordPress. This process is extremely straightforward.
Bluehost will guide you through a series of screens in order to set up your WordPress blog ready for posting to.
- Set your Blog Name and Tagline (These can be changed later)
- Pick one of the free WordPress themes. (Pick any theme you like the look of, for now, this can be changed later)
- Bluehost will start installing WordPress
- Once Bluehost has fully installed WordPress click ‘Start Building’
- That’s it your blog is live! (Bluehost automatically put up a ‘Coming Soon’ page so you have time to work on your blog before you officially launch it to the public)
Now all that’s left is to start writing your content!
You might find yourself wanting to upload a more professional theme before you launch your blog. Some of my favourite companies for WordPress themes are BluChic, 17th Avenue Designs and Restored 316. The theme I am currently running on my blog is the Chic Boss theme from Blu Chic.
How to set up your own custom email address in Bluehost
Having a custom email address is important for things like launching a mailing list and contacting brands. Here’s how to set up your free domain email address in Bluehost:
Head to the ‘Advanced’ tab from your Bluehost dashboard. The under ‘Email’ select ‘Email Accounts’. This will take you to the page where you can manage all your email addresses.
To create a new email address linked to your domain click the blue ‘Create’ button to the right of the screen.
Select your domain name from the drop-down menu.
Where it says ‘username’ this is the wording that will come before the @yourdomain.com. Popular options are your own name, hello and contact. My custom email address for this blog is hello@thefunmoneyclub.co.uk
Next set a password and select your storage amount and click ‘Create’.
You now have your own custom email address for your blog.
Claim your Free Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers eBook
I hope you have found this ‘How to Start a Blog’ guide helpful. I’ve got an extra little present just for you. To really help you hit the ground running in launching your new blog I’m giving away a free copy of my eBook ‘Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers’. The eBook covers absolutely everything you need to know about affiliate marketing from how to find products and services to promote to how to write blog posts that make money. You can find more information about my eBook and what is included in it by clicking here.
To claim your free copy of 'Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers', sign up to Bluehost via any link in this blog post. Then send me a screenshot of your Bluehost receipt by email to hello@thefunmoneyclub.co.uk. I will then email you back a free copy of my eBook normally priced at £47!
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Awesome tips. I will definitely be referring back to this post when I need some guidance on monetising my blog.
Thanks for this Neesha. Wanted to set up another blog for a while, but was worried about the initial start-up costs. The Blue Host plan is amazing value.
Is the big problem or hurdle not finding something that people will find interesting to read? And that you have something interesting to say?
You’d be surprised what people will read. If your topic solves a problem or answers a question people will read it.