How to Start a Blog & Make Money Online ($200k Per Month)
Learn how to start a blog in 7 easy steps.
Follow this step-by-step guide to discover the tactics I used to make $1 million with my blog in under two years, reach more than 500,000 monthly readers, and be featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider.
Tons of advice on the internet regarding how to start a blog is outdated.
Taking advice from someone who started a blog ten years ago is like asking directions from a person who still relies on an old-fashioned map and compass.
Blogging is a much different landscape today, and the best way to start a blog is to update your strategies for the 2020s using practical blogging tips.
That’s why in this post, you will learn how to start a blog in 7 easy steps:
- Set up your blog.
- Choose your blog’s niche.
- Install WordPress.
- Choose your blog’s theme.
- Install some easy WordPress plugins.
- Create great content
- Promote your blog
As you follow along, eight videos from my YouTube channel also dive into blogging strategies further.
How To Start A Blog: The Key Steps
Here are the steps to follow.
1. Set Up Your Blog.
Here’s my favorite beginner setup at the lowest cost with the best features (based on my 10+ years of experience):
- Click here to go to Bluehost.com (<- that link gets you a discount) and click Get Started Now.
- Choose the Choice Plus Plan.
- Enter the domain name you want to use (i.e., adamenfroy.com).
- Enter your account information.
- Under Package Information, choose an account plan based on how long you want to pay. (Remember, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee with all plans, so there is no risk!)
- Uncheck the Package Extras (you don’t need them.)
- Complete your purchase, choose your password and log in to your Bluehost account.
- Answer the onboarding questions or skip them, but choose “blog” when prompted.
- Click “skip” when it comes to choosing your theme. (We’ll get that sorted out later.)
- From the Bluehost dashboard, click the WordPress button on the top right, and you’ll end up on WordPress.
Congrats! You now have a self-hosted WordPress blog! 😀
Here are some other things to consider when choosing a name through a domain name registrar:
- Your name should be memorable and not too difficult to type.
- Don’t confuse people with difficult spelling; keep the name easy to spell and pronounce.
- Avoid using numbers and hyphens in your domain, as it can confuse people.
- Keep your name broad if you need to pivot to an adjacent niche.
2. Choose Your Blog’s Niche.
We all know that your blog needs a niche.
Whether it’s marketing, cooking, Crossfit exercises, vegan dogsitting, underwater parkour, solo dancing – whatever crazy personal blog topic, there are endless things to blog about.
Here’s the problem:
Most professional bloggers will tell you to start with something you’re passionate about because it helps you “maintain a consistent writing schedule and push through failure to succeed.”
They’ll also tell you to choose a niche at the intersection of passion, skills, and experience:
Source: mintnotion.com
However, if you want to start a site to make money blogging (read my blog income reports), this model is flawed because it’s missing one major component: the brand of you.
As a blogger, you are the brand.
When choosing your niche, it’s time to brainstorm about the following:
- What you want to teach.
- Where you may already have experience.
- Any leverage you may have in an industry.
- Where you can extract value from the market.
In Blog Growth Engine, we teach a concept called “The Authority Flywheel”.
This concept revolves around a detailed flywheel exercise that looks something like this:
It has four parts starting with “You” because your niche is based on you first and foremost; your life is your niche.
The next step is uncovering your expertise.
Not what you think you are an expert at or want to be an expert at but what you have a proven track record of succeeding at.
Your expertise enables you to make money as a newbie with a new blog.
The third step is taking an honest look at the market.
Ask: How can you monetize this market? Just because you’re passionate about this niche doesn’t make it the right niche for you.
And last but not least is the leverage you have in your life.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What levers can you pull?
- Do you have connections?
- Insider information on a market?
- An incredible skill set compared to most people?
- How are you uniquely positioned to leverage any and everything in your life that others can’t keep up with?
I am confident that The Authority Flywheel is bulletproof when choosing your niche and starting a blog that works.
Having a blog business plan that revolves around these questions can help you stay focused, productive, and motivated.
Here’s an in-depth video on how to choose a profitable niche from my YouTube channel:
3. Start a Blog By Installing WordPress.
Self-hosted WordPress is the best blog platform for new bloggers.
The good news?
Bluehost automatically one-click installs WordPress right from your hosting dashboard, making starting a blog a piece of cake.
You’ll need to pick your theme the first time you get to your dashboard.
There are plenty of attractive free WordPress themes, including free blog themes.
However, if you want to pick your theme later, you can skip this step by clicking on the “Skip This Step” option at the end of the page.
You get to a new blog page where you need to click on the “Start Building” option.
Next, select the type of site you plan to create, and WordPress will help you with prompts. You can also click “I don’t need help” to go right to your dashboard.
Finally, enter your “Site Title” and “Site Description.”
From here, spend some time making yourself familiar with the WordPress dashboard.
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial for choosing your blog’s tech stack:
Now, let’s choose a theme for your blog.
Are you ready to start your blog? Get started for just $2.95/month (63% off your hosting plan) with my link below:
4. Pick a Theme for Your WordPress Blog.
A WordPress theme is a collection of templates, files, and stylesheets that dictate your blog design.
Right now, your blog might look something like this:
This blog uses the default WordPress theme, and on the left is a menu that helps you change its appearance.
Now, there are two options when it comes to themes:
You can get a free theme with limited options or a paid theme.
I recommend you pick a theme like Kadence or WP Astra, which are the best for bloggers.
Here’s how you can install a new theme for your WordPress blog:
First, log in to your WordPress account (admin page).
You can always access your WordPress login page by going to yourdomainname.com/wp-admin.
Once logged in, your WordPress dashboard looks something like this.
Here, click on the “Appearance” option from the sidebar menu.
Next, select the “Themes” option from the “Appearance” section.
To search for the theme options WordPress offers, click the “Add New” button at the top of the page.
As you can see below, there are many free themes.
Before picking one for your blog, preview as many WordPress themes as possible.
To install an external theme from a site like ThecmeIsle, go to “Appearance” – “Themes” and click “Add New,” upload the zip file, and click install.
Done.
Ready to launch your blog and follow along with this guide? Get started for $2.95/month and get 63% off your blog hosting plan:
5. Install a Few Simple WordPress Plugins.
Plugins are tools that integrate with your website and extend its features.
When starting a blog, choosing the best ones for SEO and site speed is essential.
Here’s a list of four of the best ones you should add to your blog:
1. Elementor Pro.
Elementor Pro is a WordPress landing page builder, and it’s the tool I used to create my home page and about page.
They have a free version of Elementor, but the Pro version takes it to the next level with much better templates.
2. ShortPixel Image Optimizer.
ShortPixel compresses all of your images and screenshots so that they are smaller files and your pages load faster.
I’ve tested many different image compression tools, and ShortPixel has been the best.
3. WP Rocket.
WP Rocket is an all-in-one site speed plugin that can simplify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, integrate with your CDN, reduce database bloat, and more.
I’ve tried other speed tools like Autoptimize and had some issues with them. WP Rocket is the best, in my opinion.
You can get started with WP Rocket for $49 per year.
4. Yoast SEO.
I use Yoast SEO to manage my sitemap, robots.txt, page title, and meta descriptions. Another great option is RankMath.
6. Create Great Content for Your Blog.
Congrats!
You started a blog and are ready to start blogging by creating your first blog post.
This is where the rubber meets the road.
One thing first:
Blogs are no longer places where you write updates and gain a following.
They are now Google-driven websites that require organic search traffic.
This is where on-page SEO comes into play (check out my full video below):
When you write your first blog post (and every one after that), focus on one main target keyword, and here’s where you should include it:
- Put the keyword in your blog’s permanent URL.
- Include the keyword in the title of your post.
- Add your keyword to the first or second paragraph.
- Include the keyword inside of your headings.
- Add the keyword throughout your blog post.
My example below shows the target keyword in the title, URL, and first paragraph.
Once you have a list of the top 5-10 keywords (topics) you want to cover, it’s time to start writing (or, you know, use an AI writing software.)
Remember, in addition to text, blog posts with audio, video, photos, infographics, and other visual content perform the best and keep readers engaged.
It’s also essential to write content that matches Google search intent and compels them to take action on your blog.
Moreover, use keyword rank tracking software to track the position of your various keywords in search engines as time goes by.
Writing Blog Posts that Match Search Intent.
When planning your content strategy, consider what your reader wants when performing an online search for your target keyword.
This concept is the psychology of search intent and is at the heart of your blog content strategy:
For example, your target keyword is “How to Get Rid of Pimples.”
When you search for this term, you’ll see many new blog posts feature titles, including additional terms like Fast, Overnight, Quickly, and Home Remedies.
This data shows that most people that want to get rid of pimples want them gone as quickly and discreetly as possible. And Google’s PageRank is pushing these articles to the top.
What does this mean for your content strategy?
You should get to the point and offer a list of the best ways to get rid of pimples quickly.
Don’t write a long post about “The Ultimate Guide to Getting Rid of Pimples.”
And don’t start your post with the heading “What Are Pimples?” like many SEOs did in the past.
Instead, match search intent and provide the solution your readers are looking for by understanding the meaning behind their search.
You accomplish this by looking at which additional terms are included in currently ranking content’s title tags and reverse-engineering the search.
While you don’t have to be a professional writer when starting a blog, it’s essential to understand basic sentence structure and proper grammar.
For example, short paragraphs, bullet points, and images help break up long, monotonous blocks of text and keep readers engaged.
You can also check out my guide to the best grammar checkers to use alongside your blog this year and why I use Grammarly.
Extra Tips to Improve Your Writing.
- Your blog posts should always provide value to your readers. Write with a clear beginning, middle, and end outline structure. You can make even the most mundane topics interesting if you understand story arcs and hero’s journeys.
- Present your blog content attractively and make it easily accessible to your readers. Make sure both textual and visual content in the blog are high-quality.
- Format your headings correctly with H2 and H3 tags, and use bulleted lists and images to break up long lines of text. No paragraph should be longer than 3-4 sentences.
- Make your first blog posts conversational to build a connection with your audience.
- Use readable fonts and use white space to keep your blog posts easy on the eyes.
- Add bullet points to help readers summarize the blog without missing anything critical.
- Double-check for typos and grammatical errors.
- Bold some text to make it stand out.
Remember, a blog is a living thing that you can update over time. So don’t try to make your content perfect – get your blog online and publish it without fear – you can continually update it later.
You can learn more about my content assembly line method below:
If you haven’t started your blog yet and are ready to go, get started for just $2.95/month (63% off):
Create Your Home and About Pages
Before starting a blog, you should have a few pages in your blog’s top menu navigation so that readers quickly understand your blog and find important information.
In my blogging course, Blog Growth Engine, I extensively cover the pages you need to launch your blog and start on the right foot.
I call them “Your Core Four” pages, and they are:
1. Home Page.
We all know what a home page is – it’s the main URL of your website.
This page shouldn’t include every little detail about your site – its purpose is to sell your unique value proposition in two seconds or less.
If a reader hits your home page and doesn’t quickly understand what your site is about, they may bounce and never return.
You edit your WordPress home page with a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) page builder like Elementor.
This tool allows you to drag and drop content blocks, including text, images, videos, color blocks, and more.
A good home page should contain the following:
- A slider or hero image with a headline and subheadline.
- A small section to tell readers more about what your blog is about.
- The primary call-to-action button takes readers to a significant page, post, or email list opt-in form.
- Internal links point to your important content to make it easy for readers to navigate your site.
2. About Page.
Your blog’s About Page should cover everything about you – who you are, what you stand for, and what your blog is about.
This section will help you connect with your readers on a deeper level, so don’t hold back.
Make sure to write about the following:
- Who you are.
- What made you decide to start your blog.
- Your expertise or background to build trust with your readers.
- The pain point you’re solving and how you’ve dealt with the same struggles as your audience.
- Your success story.
- A call-to-action.
To keep readers engaged, I wrote my About page like a story.
I start with how I battled self-doubt to starting a blog and turning it into a profitable business:
People don’t necessarily want to read about all of your recent professional accomplishments.
This story isn’t the place to brag about yourself but to allow people to understand who you are.
You can check out my About Page here.
3. Blog Post Template
Your blog post template page is fundamental when starting a blog.
Your blog mainly consists of posts; you must have this template dialed in before publishing posts.
Your blog posts need to be:
- Easy to read text by making sure you use large enough font in black with a white background. (Do NOT break this rule 🙂)
- Your text should be no wider than 850px. Once you start going beyond this, your readers have to look too far from left to right, making it difficult to read.
- They need to have proper line spacing. If you take this post you are reading right now, for example, you will notice that I have no more than three lines of text before a paragraph break.
Those are the main points you need to address, but one thing that is also super helpful when starting a blog is looking at sites you want to model (not copy) and reverse engineer what they are doing.
This concept is true for every area of your blogging business, especially in the blog post design.
4. Blog Archive
Every blog has a “/blog” page like Adamenfroy.com/blog; your blog shouldn’t be the exception here.
Note: A current trend in blogging is to use a more complicated page structure, but if you start a blog from scratch, use a standard /blog archive page that chronologically displays your posts.
A good rule of thumb to follow here with this page is to make sure that it is simple and displays no more than ten posts per page.
The same advice applies here as above; you want to model (not copy) sites in your niche that are getting great results.
5. Contact Page
Having a page with a contact form means that people can get in touch with you needed.
Ensure that you have a confirmation message when someone submits their form.
This page can be as simple as:
Thank you so much for reaching out. We’ll get back to you as quickly as possible.
Plan Your Future Content
Another common question is how to prioritize new blog post ideas.
This should be based on keyword metrics, including search volume, difficulty scores, and how well you think you can rank for a keyword.
You can keep track of this inside of a simple spreadsheet with columns for your future posts, including:
- Target keyword.
- Blog post title.
- Monthly search volume.
- Word count.
- Priority.
Analyze Your Content
You need to use analytics tools to analyze your content’s performance.
Tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs do this well. Since a Google Analytics account should already be on your blog, you can go to your GA dashboard to view metrics like site visitors, average time on page, total page views, and tons of other interesting stats.
You can view traffic to individual blog posts over any period and compare it to previous periods to see if your traffic is increasing or decreasing.
Ahrefs is the best search engine optimization (SEO) tool to track your blog post’s rankings and inbound links. You can view the keywords you’re ranking for, which sites are linking to you, and more.
Ready to take the leap? Start your blog for just $2.95/month with Bluehost today.
7. Promote Your Blog.
To promote your new blog, the best strategy is to do whatever it takes to build links to your blog.
Links are like the currency of the Internet.
The more you have, the more Google will take you seriously and rank a new blog post quickly after you publish it.
Here are the top strategies to promote your blog:
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is one of the best ways to promote your blog.
It’s a great way to build authority in your niche, meet other bloggers, get exposure on various forums related to your niche, and get backlinks.
Guest blogging is a hustle that includes cold email outreach and relationship building.
First, don’t think about the benefits you’ll get from backlinks.
You have to provide value to others.
Said differently, in internet marketing, you must provide value when writing guest blog posts.
For a full rundown of this strategy, read my guide on guest blogging, or check out my YouTube video below:
Link Building
Although guest posting is one strategy to get links to your blog, there are plenty of others.
First, the best form of link building is passively getting links without involvement or outreach.
Sounds like a dream, right?
People naturally link to the best content they can find.
So how do you make sure your blog posts are “linkable”?
When starting a blog, your content needs to be unique and high-quality. That’s the basic entry fee to get into the game.
To take it to the next level, add visual elements to your blog posts. These can be infographics, videos, case studies, statistics, and any other unique content that doesn’t exist anywhere else.
Here are some other link-building strategies to try out after you set up a blog:
- Broken link building: Use a tool like Ahrefs to find blogs in your niche with broken external links. Send them an email that their link is broken and your resource is a better option. This strategy is great because you’re helping the blog fix its 404 error and (hopefully) getting a link simultaneously.
- Link reclamation: Input your blog’s URL into the Ahrefs Content Explorer tool to find instances where your brand is mentioned but not linked. Here, you can reach out to the post’s writer, thank them for the mention, and ask if they can add the link.
- Link partnerships: Form relationships with other bloggers in your niche to get links in their guest posts and vice versa.
- Competitor research: View which websites are linking to competitors to get new sites to reach out to.
If you’re interested in more next-level ideas, check out my new guide to link building and check out my video below:
Search Engines and Blogging
You could have the best blog in the world – if you don’t have visitors, it doesn’t matter, does it?
So how do you get people to your blog? The answer is straightforward – through search engines.
Search engine listings are the primary method used by potential readers and subscribers to find out about new blogs.
If they can’t find you, or even worse, if you aren’t ranked highly in search results, they won’t know you exist!
When you create a blog, remember that content readers will love is excellent, but you also need to ensure people can find your blog in search engines.
The secret of achieving good rankings is not a secret at all – it’s simply about making sure Google knows what each page of your blog is dedicated to.
For example, instead of just saying, “This post is about this” or “This post is about that”, use language that reflects what future readers might type into Google when searching for information on the topic covered by your article.
Think of it as an excellent way to ensure that Google knows what your page is about – then you’ll naturally start appearing for relevant search results.
SEO title tags
SEO title tags appear in search engine results and get people to click on your blog.
It can be the same, different, or similar to the title of your articles, but most importantly, it needs to make sense when people search for specific words.
Also, search engines will truncate the title tag to about 160 characters, so you should consider this as you think of your SEO title.
Don’t forget to include the main keyword/s you are targeting in your title.
Meta description
Another on-page SEO factors to consider are meta description. These are the words that appear beneath your blog post in Google.
They are displayed on your page, so you have complete control over what Google thinks your post is about.
Use these to give readers a good idea of what to expect from your blog.
Sitemap
This helps search engines direct search engine bots to your blog and also lets them know about all the pages you have.
You should submit a sitemap via Google Search Console, as this ensures that new content added to your blog can be indexed as quickly as possible.
Pay attention to categories and subcategories when creating your directory structure, as this will be shown in the sitemap.
Ensuring that you give the search engines as much information as possible about your blog is very important.
Widgets
An excellent blog for SEO sometimes means displaying information in a widget and your post.
This means including RSS feeds, author info, and related posts to your blog posts will help the search engines direct relevant readers to your site.
Widgets can also be great for subheaders, giving you additional functionality for your blog.
On-Page SEO
You need to format your blog posts to rank on search engines properly.
To do that, you must ensure your target keywords are in the URL, the H1 (title), the first H2 in the form of a question, and throughout the content.
You can use tools like Jasper and SurferSEO to optimize your blog posts for SEO.
Mistakes That Can Kill Your Blog Growth
If you’ve been blogging for any length of time and you do not see the results you want, your approach may be wrong.
It’s easy to become discouraged when your blog isn’t growing, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Focusing on Inputs Instead of Outputs
One of the most common mistakes bloggers make is focusing too much on inputs instead of outputs.
By inputs, I mean things like researching topics, writing content, creating images, and so on.
While these are all critical pieces, they don’t directly lead to blog growth.
What does lead to growth is getting your content out in front of people who need it – or, put another way, output.
So instead of focusing solely on creating content, focus some energy on things that will help get your content seen by more people, such as link building and social media marketing.
Link Building
Link building is integral to growing a blog because it helps build credibility with search engines and increase visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Unfortunately, many bloggers shy away from link-building because it can sometimes feel uncomfortable or awkward.
But if you want to grow your blog, link-building is essential – so make sure you’re doing it!
Having a Content System
If you’re running a content-driven business – whether a blog or something else – then having a content system is crucial for success.
A content system helps ensure that articles are being published regularly and efficiently so that readers always have something new and exciting to read about each week or month (depending on how often you post).
Not only will this help keep readers engaged with your content, but it will also give them a reason to come back again and again.
Trust the Process
When starting a new blog or website, it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to see immediate results – but unfortunately, that isn’t always realistic.
It takes time for blogs (and websites) to gain traction in search engines and start bringing in traffic organically – so don’t expect overnight success.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all; trust the process and keep plugging away at your goals until, eventually, you’ll start seeing results.
Having Unrealistic Monetization Expectations
Finally, unrealistic monetization expectations can lead to disappointment and cause people to give up on their blogging journey before they’ve even started.
It’s important to remember that most bloggers don’t make money until they reach certain traffic levels – often upwards of 100K visitors/month or more, depending on their niche.
So if monetization isn’t happening right away for you, don’t worry – keep focusing on consistently putting out excellent quality content over time; eventually, those efforts will pay off.
How to Start a Blog [Infographic]
Feel free to post this infographic to your blog! Just please make sure to add a link back to my blog as the source. 🙂
I also researched the biggest challenges for new content marketers based on the stage of their blog’s growth.
Here’s what I found:
Using AI To Start Your Blog
With plenty of AI tools available, you can use automation to optimize your blog and generate new content.
Here are a few of the best AI tools to help you get started.
ChatGPT
Created by OpenAI, this tool can generate content with natural language processing.
ChatGPT can write blog posts faster and more naturally by typing in prompts.
While uniqueness is not its strong suit, you can perform keyword research to generate ideas that help you find blog topics.
Jasper AI
Jasper AI is an AI-driven writing assistant that can help you create copy for blog posts, emails, and other types of content.
This tool helps you quickly conceive ideas and offers suggestions on improving your content.
It’s a great way to save time when creating content ideas and editing existing work.
With plenty of templates and ideas to get you started, it’s easy to create high-quality content with Jasper.
Surfer SEO
By analyzing a base target keyword and its related terms, Surfer SEO helps you to create content that directly answers your readers’ queries.
This tool will also provide insights into the types of content that perform best in search results and how often specific keywords are used.
Plus, it can help you track the performance of your content over time and give you tips on improving it.
DALL-E
AI image generators like DALL-E can quickly generate relevant images for your blog post.
It’s a great way to make your content more visually appealing and draw readers in to read more.
Grammarly
Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that helps you to improve your spelling and grammar.
It’s an excellent tool for bloggers who want to ensure their content is error-free and engaging.
How to Start a Blog: FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).
A blog is a regularly updated website run by an individual or group, primarily consisting of text in an informal, conversational style.
If statistics are anything to go by, in the United States alone, 42.23% of people aged 18 to 49 read blogs.
You can find a blog for any topic you want. For bloggers, it’s a great avenue to increase their subscriber base, connect with new people, and make money online.
There are so many reasons to start a blog.
One of the most prominent reasons is to influence and inspire online readers. If you have in-depth knowledge in your field of work and decent writing chops, you can truly help others. Correct monetization of your blog can make you a decent passive income.
Blogging can provide you with the perfect platform to:
– Develop yourself personally
– Improve your writing
– Build new relationships and network in your field
– Share your knowledge with your audience
– Make a lot of money
Speaking of money – this blog launched in 2019 and now makes over $100k/month.
You can use a free or paid blogging platform when you start a blog. Both have their pros and cons.
If you’re a novice and want to try your hand at blogging without paying upfront, WordPress.com and Blogger are excellent free platforms that let you do just that. However, there are always restrictions on a free tool. For example, you won’t have access to better themes, restriction on advertisements, and more.
On the other hand, if you’re a seasoned campaigner or a novice confident enough about blogging, you could opt for paid platforms.
Website builders like Squarespace and Wix provide excellent paid plans that help you customize your site the way you want without restrictions. Moreover, such platforms allow you to optimize your site for search engines and add advanced features like an online store, drag-and-drop editors, and more.
Here are some of the essential expenses:
– New domain name: It may cost you around $10 per year.
– Hosting: Shared hosting costs $3 – $10 per month. Then there are more advanced options like VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, etc.
– Optional expenses include a premium WordPress theme (costing between $30 – $60), marketing tools, additional SEO plugins needed, and those for other purposes.
Final Calculations:
– If you consider blogging a hobby, it should be free.
– If you aren’t that serious and don’t mind minimal features, it may cost you about $50-$60 per year.
Now, if you’re planning to go into blogging full-time and invest in additional features to scale up your blog, it may cost over $400 per year.
To get readers to your blog, you have to provide value to your readers.
Here are some steps that’ll help get you there:
– Master SEO – this can’t be understated
– Create catchy headlines – your headline is the first thing someone reads. Help them figure out the benefits by enumerating them. The ideal clickable headline is: Odd number + superlative + target keyword + year
– Publish blog posts consistently as it makes your readers take you more seriously
– Use call-to-action (CTA) buttons and opt-in forms to make your readers act
– Offer incentives to current readers like product discounts and insider knowledge
– Share your posts on social media
Implementing all the steps mentioned above can help you get initial traction for your blog.
There are more than 600 million blogs in the US alone. But 95% of them aren’t successful. Many factors set apart successful bloggers from non-successful ones.
Some of the critical factors in starting and running a successful blog are:
– Understanding market viability and audience revenue potential
– Being well versed in digital marketing – you need to have a firm grasp on SEO, keyword research, affiliate marketing, email marketing strategies, etc.
– Being great at self-promotion
– Offering value-based content
– Providing content consistently
– Creating a schedule and sticking to it
– Engaging subscribers proactively and solving their pain points
Yes, they do. Bloggers can get paid exceptionally well. Others make nothing from their blogs.
Breaking it down, bloggers mostly get paid through:
– Advertisements
– Affiliate marketing
– Online courses
– Sponsored posts
– Selling products
– Consulting
However, if your blog posts don’t offer much value, creating an income is difficult.
Bloggers can get paid via advertisements, affiliate commissions, course or ecommerce sales, and more. The most common metric on how much you get paid in affiliate marketing is EPC (earnings per click).
Another metric is CPM (cost per 1000 impressions). You get paid a fixed amount for every 1,000 clicks on the ad.
Apart from this, you can also sell products based on your expertise. For example, if you run a travel blog, you could sell brochures on the best tourist destinations. Or, if you run a food blog, you could sell e-recipes of your best dishes.
Offer something valued by a segment of your audience and bring paid subscriptions to enlist them. The amount could be as low as $5 per month per person. But if you can create the value to attract large volumes, you can start to make a decent income.
Starting a blog doesn’t have to cost much. You can start a blog with minimal investment and sometimes even for free.
While you might consider yourself a blogging dummy, you must decide whether to self-host it or use a fully-hosted platform.
Usually, using a fully-hosted platform costs a small monthly fee. But getting a free platform is easy. Most blogging beginners opt for free, self-hosted platforms like WordPress.com and Blogger.
Here’s a list of some of the best blogging platforms (both paid and unpaid). If you’re serious about blogging, I recommend using a paid option.
When you use a free platform, you’ll have to abide by the platform restrictions and will rarely be able to blog and make money. With almost unlimited revenue potential, you should pay to host your blog.
Food and recipes are some of the most popular things people search for. Since everything is readily available, food connoisseurs are willing to try and experiment with different cuisines and flavors.
Now’s as good a time as any to start your food blog.
Here are some steps to do just that:
– Choose your web hosting company.
– Select a perfect name for your blog relevant to your niche.
– Choose the perfect theme for your food blog. A suitable theme can attract viewers instantly and help you increase your subscriber base.
– Perform keyword research and choose a sub-niche in the food space.
– Start posting and learn how to write recipes in an SEO-friendly manner.
– Get backlinks and guest posts from other food blogs.
– To sustain your blog, you might also want to find ways to monetize it. Third-party advertisements, affiliate marketing, and selling exclusive recipes are some ways to do that.
Traveling is something that most people are passionate about. If you are, too, you can start your travel blogging journey and make money from your blog recommendations.
Many travel affiliate programs pay when you recommend hotels, Airbnb, travel gear, travel insurance, etc.
Here’s how to get started now with a travel blog:
– The first step is to determine the sub-niche of your blog. There are plenty of options, including solo traveling, luxury traveling, budget traveling, family travel, and more.
– The second step is to decide on a name that’ll be an instant hit with your target audience.
– Set up web hosting.
– Get the perfect theme for your travel blog.
– Perform keyword research and choose a sub-niche in the travel space.
– Publish travel articles based on your expertise, and format them for SEO.
– Obtain backlinks and guest posts from other travel blogs.
If you’re interested in the latest styles, starting a fashion blog and tapping into that interest is a great idea.
However, it is a saturated space, so you must make extra efforts to start and grow your fashion blog.
Here’s how you can start your fashion blog:
– Think about what type of fashion you want to discuss in your blog. Fashion can be a broad term, so selecting a style or niche is essential. For example, do you want to blog about high or street fashion? Vintage or Gothic?
– Get the perfect domain name that will hit off instantly with the audience (don’t go with a free domain name with other brands in it).
– Choose your hosting provider.
– Select the theme that best suits your style and the fashion you want to discuss.
– Create content consistently. Never miss out on blogging.
– Promote it heavily, especially when blogging on social media platforms like Instagram.
– Since it’s fashion, you want to give it the maximum exposure. Monetize it through social media, podcasts, and advertisements. You need all the attention you can get.
If you are passionate about beauty products and the latest trends, starting a beauty blog could be for you. This type of blog is best paired with a YouTube channel and Instagram account.
Here’s how you can start a beauty blog:
– Think about what you want to talk about in your beauty blog. Oily vs. dry skin? Fair vs. dark complexion? The list is endless, and it’s up to you to decide your focus area.
– Pick your blog’s name. When it comes to beauty, a catchy, memorable name can attract the right audience.
– Again, choose a hosting plan and install a beauty blog theme.
– Do keyword research on the how-to keywords that people are looking for.
– Schedule your articles and embed YouTube tutorials into your posts.
– Advertise on social media and via email newsletters.
– You can also provide video tutorials and share beauty tips to increase your subscriber base.
WordPress is the simplest way to make web pages and makes up over 30% of the Internet.
A WordPress site helps you create, publish, and share web pages. It’s also one of the most user-friendly platforms for hosting blogs. And you only have to pay for the domain name and web hosting.
It is a feature-rich CMS (content management system) that allows bloggers to create, edit, and publish content. It features a dashboard to edit posts, media, pages, comments, plugins, themes, users, website settings, and more.
WordPress.com and WordPress.org are two very different platforms.
WordPress.com offers an end-to-end solution to start a simple website for free. You need to sign up, and you are all set to build your website.
WordPress.org is an open-source website platform that can be leveraged only through a paid hosting account.
Here are some key differences between the two platforms to help you make a more informed decision:
1. Cost:
WordPress.org is free to test but to make the website visible and published; you need to buy website hosting and a domain name.
WordPress.com: You can start a free blog with a WordPress name. You will have to pay at least $4 monthly for a custom domain name.
2. Setup:
WordPress.org: Setting up a blog or website on WordPress.org requires some technical expertise, including buying hosting and domain name, followed by their integration with the website.
WordPress.com: WordPress.com guides the user in a step-by-step process to make the setup hassle-free.
3. Themes:
WordPress.org: It offers excellent customization options through more than 7,500 free themes. Users also get to choose thousands of premium themes.
WordPress.com: It comes with limited customization options. Free and personal plans offer over 150 themes, and other premium plans offer over 200 paid themes.
4. Plugins:
WordPress.org: You can access thousands of native and third-party plugins.
WordPress.com: It allows the installation of plugins in only business or ecommerce plans. These plans cost $25 and $45 per month and offer over 50,000 plugins.
Now, it’s up to you to decide which platform aligns best with your requirements.
Taking backups should be done automatically by using plugins available for most blogging platforms.
Whether it’s your first year or your 5th, regularly backing up your blog should be a priority to ensure that if disaster strikes, you can pick yourself back up and continue as though nothing happened.
Yes, you can. A plugin from Amazon is specifically designed to allow people to do this.
The key to selling products is ensuring they are relevant and valuable to your current readership.
Yes, although there are strict rules about what Google accepts and don’t accept on their Adsense program.
Ensuring that you stay within the parameters of Google’s terms and conditions is the key to avoiding any difficulties in running these ads on your blog.
No, you don’t need to be a great writer to start a blog.
Most successful bloggers will tell you that it’s not about writing ability but rather about the passion for the subject and understanding the target audience.
Having an engaging writing style and crafting compelling stories are helpful skills that can help your blog become successful, but they are not essential.
Furthermore, many tools are available to help you improve your writing skills so that you can write interesting and informative blog posts.
Anyone can become a great writer with practice, patience, dedication, and willingness to learn.
So don’t let the fear of being unable to write keep you from starting a blog.
Blogging is important because it provides a platform for people to express their thoughts, ideas, and opinions in an organized manner.
It also allows them to share knowledge with a broad audience.
Additionally, blogging can have advantages such as: – Building relationships and connecting with readers around the world
– Promoting products, services, and brands
– Generating traffic to websites
– Increasing visibility on search engines such as Google
– Offering helpful advice and resources to readers
Blogging is an excellent way for businesses, organizations, and individuals to communicate effectively.
By creating content, bloggers can attract new readers, build relationships, and drive traffic to their sites.
Ultimately, blogging is an essential tool that can help anyone reach a larger audience and promote their ideas or products.
No, you don’t have to share your identity on a blog. You can choose to remain anonymous if you prefer. However, it is essential to remember that creating an online presence with a unique identity can help people take you more seriously and build trust in your content. That said, starting an anonymous blog is a perfectly valid option if you prefer. As long as your content is interesting, informative, and engaging, your readers won’t necessarily need to know who you are to enjoy your blog.
Starting a Blog: Summary
As you can see, starting a blog is pretty easy.
Content strategies, link building, and monetization can be the tricky part.
Ultimately, your success with blogging comes down to how fast you can scale your content publishing and link-building efforts.
Because that’s how you rank on Google for valuable terms and make affiliate revenue – getting to page 1.
To recap, the seven steps are:
- Choose a niche.
- Pick a blog name and web hosting.
- Install WordPress.
- Picking your blog’s theme.
- Install WordPress plugins.
- Create great content.
- Promote your blog.
However, making your first blog successful is hard work.
To read more about starting a blog, check out my other guides:
Now, it’s your turn. Why not start a blog today?
Start a blog now with Bluehost and get 63% off your hosting plan ($2.95/month).
Here’s a list of the top blogging courses to help you start your blog.
Hi Adam,
Updated guide on whole steps for starting a blog. Good one for new bloggers.
Dear, I have a question. When you write articles and optimize with Yoast plugin. Do you make the both signal (Readability & SEO) green? Or just SEO signal?
Can you tell me is it must to make Readbilty signal green for fast ranking?
Thanks in advance.
Regards
Sadhan Pal
Hey Sadhan, great question. I typically make sure to add my target keyword into Yoast, but I use other tools instead. I use Grammarly for readability and Clearscope for the right semantic keywords to add. Grammarly is $19/month and Clearscope is a bit on the expensive side, but definitely worth it in my opinion. I highly recommend both tools. If you want to strictly use Yoast, I would make the SEO green, and then use the readability metric to better understand your writing style. You may be using a lot of passive voice, long sentences, etc. and it can help you adjust your writing in the future. No need to fret if that one’s not green all the time. I hope that helps!
I know that this response is of some age but one thing I can definitely recommend in regards to readability is Hemingway (google Hemingway app). It’s a free online tool, that indicates the biggest comprehensive problems, such as too long sentences, passive voice etc. You can download a paid version locally but it’s not necessary from my POV. Just my 0.02
Amazing post, super detailed. Would do anything to get more information on the seo part, especially keywords what is the range of difficulty you target, how many time to write etc there is a lot of conflicting point of views out there
Thanks, Adam for this long detailed guide on how to start a blog.
I really enjoyed it. And I am looking forward to your next post.
Cheers.
Great ,Thank you
Thank you Adamenfroy for sharing information about how to start a blog in 2019 for beginners.
I am also a beginner your article is well explained and very informative.
Great job…
Thanks. 🙂
Thanks for another gem!! Where do you find your best content writers?
I’d check out sites like ProBlogger, Textbroker, Fiverr, etc. You really have to vet your writers individually.
Good read and thank you Adam. I am taking up this 90days challenge using your blueprint. Wish me luck Just one disadvantage about affiliate marketing as I am in Malaysia and there’s alot of formalities to clear before I can join. Wish me luck.
Let’s see if I can copy your model.
Good luck!
Nice post Adam Enfroy, in depth information for how to start a blog for beginners. Staking around to get in touch with your next post.
Thank you Adam, your very detailed content has given me much more focus than the general blog info floating around out there.
Great post Adam, I received the 7 days guide. It is well explained. Thanks for taking the time to prepare it. I will use bluhost to host my next blog.
Sounds good Jose – I wish you the best of luck.
Keep it up with the good work. We are building a new blog and that is tough to gain momentum. But, giving up is not an option.
Hi Adam, this information is invaluable! I’ve been reading a couple of your articles over and over again. I’m a complete newbie to all of this and am having trouble finding a niche. I’ve been playing around with the free seo websites but don’t really understand the marketing lingo. I’m not sure what cpc number to look for, backlinks, domain score…. This is all a foreign language to me. Anyway, do you have an article that breaks all of this down a little more? In the meantime, I’ll keep combing through your website. Thanks for what you do!
Hey Carmen, thanks for your comment – I’m glad you’re finding my content useful. Right now if you’re looking to dive deeper, I go in-depth in a free email course if you join my email list. I’m also planning to launch a full video course early next year which goes into everything in super-deep detail: how to pick your niche, keyword research, setting up WordPress, affiliate marketing, etc.
Hey Carmen, I’d check out my article on guest blogging – it covers some of these keyword and link building terms.
Work is excellent. A really informative post.Thanks for sharing this kind of post.
You shared a very informative post. Many people including me will learn a lot from this post to start a WordPress blog. Thank you for sharing this kind of information.
Well done Adam Efroy, you real hit the nail by the head, infact this is the best “how to start a blog” post I have ever come across. But I have a little question, how do you build links, I mean authority links to your blogs
Thanks! I have a guide on guest blogging on my site that covers link building strategies.
Great Work Adam Enfroy!! You have written a fantastic and detailed guide on how to start blogging. Fabulous!
Thanks. 🙂
I have read many articles about how to start a blog but this includes A to Z pieces of information.
Really great work.
Thanks for providing such great info.
Anytime!
Thanks. It is very helful
A really informative post.Thanks for sharing this kind of post.
Really great article.
Help a lot to new bloggers.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for this great article, I really learnt a lot From it today. Keep up with the good work.
Glad it helped!
Thanks for sharing information about How to start a Blog.
Great job.
wow thats nice and very helpful post for me because i was thinking to start my career as a blogger and this article helps me how to write a impress and attractive blog post…. thanks again and please share more tips for new blogger’s…….
Great post Adam Efroy… I just started a blog on technology to give insights to the user about all the tech buzz. I
was looking to write and publish my 1st blog post and fortunately I came across this post which I found really helpful to craft my 1st and further posts. With this I think I would be able to write more appealing post for my upcoming audience. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge in such a great manner
You’re welcome – I’m glad you found this post helpful.
Thanks for sharing great information about How to start a Blog.
Hi Adam,
I enjoyed reading your article, really explained everything in detail and very interesting and effective. Thank you for sharing and good luck for the upcoming articles.
– Best Wishes
Hey I want to make a micro niche blog but I don’t know much about it. Can you tell me about micro blogging below?
I don’t recommend microblogging. Search engines like long-form helpful content.
amazing
Wow man just amazed by the information and the effort you put together for bringing up this Content, I Enjoyed reading it and also gained some insights for improving my blog.
Thank You 🙂
No problem!
Some gold in there, thank you.
Looking to up my blog game this year.
Bookmarked for future reference.
You’re welcome 🙂
After reading this article one thing is for sure blogging is not for everyone, if you need to do all that i rather stay in my regular work. First i do not have any skills or the passion or the experience. Blogging if done correctly is not free with so many software and apps you will need for your blog. Bolg is for people who can the skill to write and have an analytic mind and have a above average IQ. It will take time and effort there is no doubt about it. NO i guess blogging is for people who can stay in front of the computer long periods of time. I wonder how many days it took you to write this article, great writing, great blog but , blogging is not for me.
Thanks for sharing this kind of post. And I am also created my blog that is about ENT means health relative blog. And I agree this is very beneficial approximately health.
This is Amazing Post. 🙂
Yes, your words are right. Everything is beautiful in your post. I wish you success
Nice post.
nice work, keep up the good work.
Fantastic comment! On my way to the stars. thanks Adam!
Hi Adam,
You are saying
“A blog needs a mix of both super high-volume/high competition and medium volume, low competition keywords”.
Why do you need the high volume high competition keywords if you can build traffic easier from the long tails? Especially if it’s much harder to monetize the high competition keywords like “how to make money online”.
Hey Andrew, that’s an excellent question. I would say that the benefit of high volume/high competition keywords (while not necessarily being the highest revenue-generating pages) is that they bring in the most traffic and build up your blog’s email list/brand awareness.
It’s exactly like how a SaaS company operates – think of a company like Shopify, BigCommerce, Hubspot, etc. Most of their traffic is to their blog because they aim for high volume keywords like “dropshipping”, “marketing statistics”, etc. vs. just to their Feature pages.
If you only focused on long tail keywords like “marketing automation software”, “best ecommerce platforms”, your website’s traffic would be much lower and you’d lose out on the top of funnel brand awareness traffic from the high volume terms. Check out the top traffic keywords for Hubspot for example – outside of Hubspot, it’s random high volume things like shrug emoji, photoshop, resignation letter, etc.
Basically, you need the most possible people to find you via these high volume terms – they’ll join your email list, navigate to your other high value pages, and potentially make you money over time.
The growth in traffic helps build credibility in your niche and greatly increases the size of your email list.
very detailed article
Hello,
Excellent! Your article is very helpful. These tips are most important for a new blogger. I am also a new blogger and your article has inspired me. You have described very well. That’s why I love your article. But it takes a long time for a website to succeed. Please Suggest to me, which Niche is profitable and It would be great to start a blog on a niche. Thank you very much for sharing these tips and valuable resources.
Priyota Parma
Executive Consultant
Careeriz
Hey Priyota, thanks for your nice comment. I personally like these niches: marketing, finance, AI, smart home, SaaS.
Well it does seems promising at the beginning, but I gave up eventually, because of how tiring it was, hence, I can’t make any progress or getting any profit
Very Well written blog with lots of details in this section, i really enjoyed reading this potential information regarding this blog, thanks for sharing such creative information about how to start blog
Hi,
Thanks for sharing this wonderful post For everyone who wanna start a blog.
Keep posting and sharing knowledge posts like that.
You’re welcome – I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Will do! Thanks.
Hey, thanks man for writing such a helpful article for us.
Thanks for the extremely in depth article Adam!
One question I have as I read through this.. I know you emphasize that it’s important to pick a niche that’s profitable and contains the right audience but if there is a specific niche that you really want to blog on , for example personal finance, should you just write blog posts based on the target keywords for seo?
What if your audience gets wise to the fact that you are just writing posts and promoting products because they are the “hot thing” that everyone is searching for on the internet?
Aka how do maintain a central theme in your blog instead or just writing posts covering many different topics?
Hey Matt, this is a fantastic question.
While your blog should have a central theme (and you should be able to build your own personal brand and email list), sometimes there’s a disconnect between your fans/subscribers and your affiliate revenue-generating articles.
For example, if someone visits my email marketing software page and purchases Constant Contact via my affiliate link, I make a commission and don’t really care if they come back to my site (or “get wise to the fact” as you say). Most of the people that make affiliate purchases are just looking for the right tools and don’t want to join my email list or come back to my site – and I’m okay with that.
To combat this, I make sure to keep my software reviews (affiliate articles) in the marketing niche so that many of these people might also be interested in my other content. When you develop a keyword strategy, it’s a balancing act between your blog’s “how-to” guides and your affiliate review posts.
Thanks for sharing this post. I got some useful information from this blog.
Hey Adam, Your outreaching techniques are awesome. I found your guest blog resource links very useful although one domain is expired I think.
Thanks – I’m glad you found it useful. 🙂
Awesome Adam, it was mind-blowing. I think, Rank Math is much better than Yoast Free.
Really Good post , I’ll use this when I’ll start Using wordpress
That article was just amazing. I feel like I can launch my new blog and be successful with it because you post had so many great examples and resources. Thank you so much for sharing this helpful information with us.
Great blog!
I want to start a blog but I’ve realised neither I have great writing skills, no professional experience, research skills and also don’t have a thought process like you, no social network at all. Neither, I don’t want to sell any course. So, there’s no way to do guest blogging. I have been reading several blogs from a long time. Now, I don’t think I can write like you in deep. I can write a normal hobby base blog but not a business base. I can’t earn from a hobby blog. So, it’s better to stop thinking about starting a blog. It’s not easy to earn money on Internet. I don’t have any choice apart from stop thinking about to start a blog. Thanks for opening my eyes!
I know I’m the first one with a negative comment. But, looking at your experience, your talent. I’m nobody. After all, you are earning $40k month and I am earning 0. I know I can’t earn on Internet. I know quitting hurts but I don’t have talent, skills like you to earn. It’s heartbreaking! 😭
Regards
Sumit
Hi Sam! while what you have said maybe true, the ultimate question is are you willing to learn?
This is the only difference between you and Adams or any other successful blogger out there.
Even those who study atomic physics start somewhere…everything looks challenging and difficult until it is done.
nice work, keep up the good work.
excellent
Thanks for the detailed guide! Gonna start my blogging life inspired by you!
Awesome Sam! I wish you the best of luck.
Hello Adams! i have read every letter and word of this epic blog……i know see the reason you are able to make the figures you post…..
Its some motivating ….and full of pointers and maps on how to get started as a blogger….
I registered by domain two days ago….
As i read this, i have a lot of back pain from car accident two years ago..I write and read at time kneeing and sleeping on my stomach due to back pains……
But you know what bro…..i will follow your example and guidance….my target is to make $20,000 in the next one year….am very inspired…..this will be my first blog…..but am committed to make it work. thanks again.
Writing from Nairobi Kenya.
That is awesome Daniel. Sorry you’re not feeling well but I wish you the best of luck and that is a great goal! 🙂
I can see that in your table of contents if I click on any topic(say Pick a Domain Name.) means, the url is changing like the accelerated mobile pages.
Google will index only pages, not the entire website. In the above case whether google will index all the posts associated with the pages separately or index it totally as a single page
Hi Adam- one question for you that didn’t cover here is how much you are paying for a first draft of a long form post? I’d imagine, given the in depth nature and quality of the writing, the cost would be in the $50-$100 or more range for something 2000-2500 words but I’d be curious to hear if can give some more specific info on what it costs for well researched, well written articles?
And also where have you found your content providers- Upwork, Fiverr, or some other source?
Thanks- really appreciate the in depth and actionable info you’ve laid out here!
Hey Matt, great question! Yes, the cost for that word count is generally around $100-120. After receiving the initial drafts, I always update the content over time to increase its length and improve the writing style.
Finding a good writer is a somewhat time-consuming process – you can use a freelance site, but the quality varies and you’re always forced to order new content through their platform. I initially found success by posting a job opportunity on the ProBlogger job board. I posted the job (with some details on my niche, length, style, etc.) and got about 80 applications within a few days. The goal is to then vet your top 3 choices by giving them an outline and see which ones provide high-quality content that matches what you’re looking for and is delivered quickly. It ends up truly being a 1:1 process to find the best writers. I hope that helps!
Appreciate the fast response and details, thanks!
Amazing post, super detailed. Would do anything to get more information on the seo part, especially keywords what is the range of difficulty you target, how many time to write etc there is a lot of conflicting point of views out there
Hi Adam, Thanks for the amazing article. I had a question for you. Do you recommend buying an existing domain in an area similar to the blog you are looking to start with high DA and TF, CF scores and use that for your blog in order to get faster traffic and higher search rankings?
I have seen that approach work as well. However, you have to be very careful and do a lot of research into the previous owner, current link profile, etc. It’s a riskier move but can help you start from a higher DA.
This is useful and very inspiring. Looking forward to starting my blog using your guide. Thanks
I was pondering to use a free version of blogging because I didn’t want to spend any money when I just got started. Nevertheless, I went online and did my research and have decide to sign up for my own domain and hosting. I think this is one of the most important decisions as I’ve complete control over my digital properties.
Thanks for the guidance.
Jeremiah
P.S. I didn’t sign up with BlueHost though. I went with CloudWays instead.
This is the most detailed, straight to the point
“how to start a blog” article I have read in a very long time.
You sure know your thing and I so much enjoy reading your blog!
very nice
very nice and very long blog bro
Hi Adam, thank you for this post! Great content.
What you consider to be a pillar post on a marketing blog? Would it be a “how to..” type of post?
Thank you
Yes, this should be a large how-to guide that would be most helpful to your audience.
Hey Adam, I’ve just started a blog but don’t have the website layout and theme stuff to design it done yet, should I get all that done then post some articles or wait on the writing? Love your content by the way, keep it up!
Either way works – just get your keyword research done and your site up as soon as you can. Once it’s up, honing in on your audience, building relationships and getting links will be your foundation. It takes trial and error and all you can do is get it posted and start hustling.
Nice blog!!! Thanks for this content.
Interesting Post!!!
Thanks for amazing information it’s very useful
Hi Adams, this is such an epic content only that there is a but, despite having everything well planned out it’s not meant for a broke ass newbie with all the pro softwares and services needed for optimization.
Am inspired though and will definitely try your strategies. Please I need more insight on how to start up a successful tech blog as a newbie. Thank you.
Keep up the good job!
Wow! Adame,,,, your guide is very helpful,, l,ve learned that before you enter affiliate program and all that, you should wait until your content ranks in page 2 to 3 on google. just few questions though…
You say if you are a serious blogger, maintaining a blog will cost over 400 dollars per year. Lets say you don,t have enough money or you are limited, what’s the way around it because some tools for SEO are expensive,
Talk about convert kit which costs over 50 dollars per month, Ahrefs which can cost over 100 dollars per monrh , a good quality content you say costs between 100 dollars to 120 dollars and etc,.. are their any other alternatives you can use apart from expensive tools like this?
Is it a must you use an email marketing tool for you to sell your products? Say, an ebook, course or something. Of course l understand the importance of email marketing. But is their any way around this?
You say using your name as a domain is cool , it can transform into a brand. Is this applicable to all types niche, say farming and etc?
I,ve heard many times several bloggers saying that you need to follow your passion, that all niches can make money, is that true according to you?
Do you know of any low competition niches but with high search volume which can be good for Adsense , Mediavine or even ezoic monetization?
Blessed.
Hey Elim, while the more expensive tools help you scale your blog faster, there are some cheap ways to get started. You can sign up for cheap web hosting – Bluehost is $2.95/month. Then you can use Mailchimp for email marketing at first, which is free. You can do keyword research with Google Keyword Planner or get a trial for Ahrefs, do all of your keyword research, and cancel your plan. And you can write all of the initial blog content yourself rather than hiring a freelancer.
Using your name works for many niches, but it’s really up to you. For example, if it’s farming, I’d probably go with a farming-related domain name.
While most professional bloggers say to follow your passion and that all niches can make money, I disagree to a certain extent. While it’s true that you can write about anything that is searched for online, get traffic, and make some money with ads and building your email list to sell stuff, some niches are way more profitable than others. For example, if you choose a niche that’s hard to monetize, chances of quitting are much higher.
Wow, You are Awesome Brother. It is a very detailed blog. After seeing this blog, I can definitely say that your competitors must have been afraid of you.
Adamenfroy which theme you use in your website
Good writing with details of begin with the new blog. It is so useful as the beginner.Thanks.
Glad you found it useful, Maggie!
This was the most informative article I have read in a while , so entertaining Adam 🙂
Thanks for sharing such wonderful information…
great post, thanks
Hey Adam, I’m reading all your posts and are really illuminating.
The business you have going on is pretty impressive. And the level of details on your posts is really deep.
I’m planning on start blogging. I think I found a niche where I have leverage, connections and I can provide value to people. What I lack of (besides all the knowledge you are sharing) is the ability to write proper blog posts. Being English my second language and my niche being more english speaker (readers), it would be better to start there.
Could you elaborate more on how is your interaction with your content writer?
I mean, I read your long, super detailed and insightful posts and I simple can’t imagine how you can communicate all this to a contractor without actually writing the entire thing 😀
Thank you so much!
Hey Gonzalo, that’s great your starting a blog and excellent question.
When I work with content writers, I provide detailed outlines that include the target keyword, title, headings, and any other helpful info. Once I receive the draft via Google Docs, I import it into WordPress and make initial edits myself. Then I also update the post over time myself – many posts that start at 3,000 words, I’ll update to 6, 8, 10,000+ words depending on the competition.
Every blog post is a living document – you want to continually update it if you want to keep up with the competition and rank on search engines.
Thank you Adam, your very detailed content has given me much more focus.
That’s great – thanks Amelia. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing such highly informative post. I recently started following you more often here on your blog and got so inspired that I started my own blog. I know it’s going to be a thrilling journey.
Thanks and Keep inspiring.
Regards
That’s awesome – thanks for reading. 🙂
Great post! Thanks!
Such an ultimate article about blogging. I am also a blogger and want to see my blog on the top. I will use these techniques to make my blog better.
That’s great Alka – I with you the best with your blog. 🙂
Thanks. This guid is very usefull, that help me more and provide me with important information.
i like your blog am a big fan but you have to update your price tag on your bluehost is not $2.95/month but $3.95/month now
It’s $2.95/month via my affiliate links in this article. 🙂
Really good content.
Brilliant explained
Thanks!
Hi Adam,
What a comprehensive blog! Thank you for taking your time and effort to share greatly detailed information on blogging. This blog helps me to get started on my blogging plan earlier than I thought.
I have a question tho, I plan to first start with blogging then affiliate marketing, and stage 3 is to add physical products on my blog. I wonder which platform will the best in terms of SEO, commerce and cost?
A WordPress platform with an eCommerce plugin
OR
An eCommerce platform (like Shopify or Woocommerce) with a blog function
Thank you for your answer!
Ana
Hey Ana, thanks for reading and for the nice comment. 🙂
I’d go with WordPress and the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin. You get to use WordPress for the best possible SEO/features and the best backend ecommerce with the BC4WP plugin. It’s much faster than WooCommerce too – I personally use it for my digital products.
Hi Adam! Thanks so much for putting together this super informative article, it’s been invaluable for me in starting my online business blogging.
I do have a question: Do you sign up for the affiliate programs first and put your referral link while you write your articles, or should you generate constant traffic first before applying for the affiliate programs?
I’d focus 100% on getting traffic first. Then once you’re getting some traffic, apply to the applicable affiliate programs and add your links.
Today make it the 7th day of me being in your blog I really appreciate all the mentorship and coach. The email you give out worth a thousands of dollar because it really a startup guide but you give it as a freebies, let not talk of the free 7 day WordPress blog launch pdf because it’s the master guide for beginner like me..
So as I have follow and read the instructions in both email and pdf I have been implementing it in one way or the other but the question I have is that as you have recommend bluehost as the best web hosting if I wanted to create a blog that will be having organic traffic up to 400k visitors a day like your own blog which plan should I go for so as not to be bandwidth all time. Or should I ask you directly that which plan is Adamenfroy.com used.
That’s great you’re finding my content useful. 🙂
I recommend Bluehost because that’s what I started with and I think it is the easiest and best option for beginning bloggers. I ended up switching to a higher-tier plan with WP Engine after my blog hit about 300k visitors per month. Bluehost was still doing fine, I just wanted to set myself up with a higher-tier (and more expensive) hosting plan.
Thanks for the reply!
What I’m trying to ask is that I want to create a new blog and I’m planning to use your guide to get even over 400k visitors into the blog and when I get to bluehost I fond this plan.
SHARED, VPS and DEDICATED. and under shared there’s: Basic, plus and Choice plus. Under VPS there’s standard, Enhance and ultimate and under Dedicated there’s standard, Enhance and premium.
Which one do you recommend for that can accommodate 400k visitors a day
Thanks for your reply in advanced!
Sometimes VPS and Dedicated hosting require a lot of your own development work. If you don’t have a dedicated web developer that can manage all of your own files on your server, go with the Bluehost Choice Plus or Pro. More importantly, after you sign up for hosting, use Cloudflare as your CDN for better performance.
Your site is fantastic and thank you for sharing. I do have one question though. What if I have multiple niche ideas…do I need to set up multiple websites for each idea, each with its own domain?
Hey Collin, if they are very different topics, then yes, you should have them as different blogs. You can have a pretty broad niche, but it’s important not to stray too far into totally different topics.
Hey Adam,
Truly great stuff here. I’ve gotten most of it down except the monetization part. 🙂
Well established blog in a very specific upscale-ish niche with about 6k visitors monthly. I had initially planned as a rank/rent model but made decent affiliate money until about two months ago when Amazon changed their payout percentages. Definitely appreciate your well rounded approach of multiple affiliates rather than relying too heavily on one and am in the process of re-inventing my site(s) with this in mind.
Thanks again for the amazingly detailed information. As a side note, I subscribed to your 7 day course and am enjoying the Backlink Blueprint and Affiliate Advantage offerings.
That’s great Perry – thanks!
Wow, amazing in-depth content dude, love your website layout.
Question, what theme do you use on your site, and how do you find topics to blog about, is it with keyword tools?
Keep up the great work.
Hey Martin, I had a buddy of mine who’s a web developer create a custom theme. When I first launched, I used a theme called Spencer by CSS Igniter, which worked well. And for keyword research, I use (and highly recommend) Ahrefs.
Thanks for sharing the information.
it is really useful.
Thanks Adam for creating such a long guide on how to start a blog. you are really doing great to help the youngsters to get information about it. i really enjoyed your work and i am waiting for your next post.
Hello Adam, Thanks for sharing the detailed article on blogging. This is really inspired me a lot and I learned so much from your post.
Regards,
Ravi
That’s great – thanks Ravi!
Hello Adam,
This article was really helpful. I am a newbie to blogging. These days I am working on my SEO. When it comes to keywords how do we have to focus? I got to know that keyword density should be 3-5%. My average word count is about 1900. So if I add 76 keywords in my article (in a meaningful way), will it help my SEO?
Thank you!
Hey Dineth, I would focus less on keyword density and more on adding relevant semantic keywords with a tool like LSIGraph or Clearscope. If your word count is 1,900, you can still rank with the target keyword used 5-10 times or less. Make sure it’s in headings though.
hello Adam,
I want to know, how often one should post new blogs to get the desired traffic.
I recommend new bloggers focus on quality over quantity. One 3,000+ word blog post is worth more than 10 low-quality, 500-word articles. If you can publish one long-form, high-quality article per week, that is great.
Hello, I am 15 years old and am very dedicated. I want to start a blog with minimal starting costs and write part-time (because of school). I know it takes effort to earn money but one of the things that I pride myself on is being dedicated and work towards my goal. I really enjoy reading your content and will probably re-read it multiple times to get better knowledge. I am interested in writing about marketing (how to make money, and helping people start a blog for themselves). Should I buy a Wordpress account or should I try the free version first then buy a paid account? Also, I’m not the greatest writer, but I think I can write modestly and using other blog posts as sort of guides, I think I can do well. And do you write the content yourself? I really hope I start a successful blog and would love to send you a gift or something to appreciate how you helped me tremendously. I hope you reply and thank you if you do. 🙂
Hey Bob – that’s awesome that you’re learning this much about starting an online business at 15. 🙂
I recommend you go with a WordPress.org account and pay for web hosting, as you might as well start with your own domain name and do it right. You can find cheap web hosting for as little as $1-3/month – check out Bluehost or Hostinger. I’m not the greatest writer either but improved over time. I do pay for first drafts for certain posts but always edit and update all content myself. No need to send a gift – very nice of you though!
Thats really helpful for me in setting up a new blog
Awesome!
Hi Adam!
I’m 16 and almost about to launch a blog. 🚀 I’ve been following you from April. Your blog is super informative and really inspiring.
I’m writing on these – how-to guides for Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. (for traffic) and software reviews like 3d, 2d software, photo editors etc. (for revenue generation).
I’ve been learning 3d since I was 11 and I’m on YouTube since March 2017. And I’ve used most of the software and I think I can teach people satisfactorily.
I now have 5 quality articles with 4000+ word each ready for launch. My question is that how much articles should I upload in a month? (I can work for 6 hours a day. Write for 3 hours/day a week and other 3 hours for learning SEO and link building.)
I hope you’ll reply, and thanks in advance! 🙂
I want to send you something when my blog will hit some revenue because you just saved me from halting my blogging plan.
Fun fact: I’ve earned my first 2000$ from 3d from a client who got redirected from YouTube. (Not funny indeed! 😅)
Hey Devdutt, that’s awesome you’re launching a blog at 16! Way ahead of me – thanks for the comment. Every blog will be different, but I think that a good goal is publishing 1 blog post per week.
hey there ADAM am new here but the big question is why didn’t i find you early…… well your content is great and of quality i liked the way you use pictures its good bro and i got a sack of information there nice to meet ya!
Great information in simple easy language that a non-tech can understand. I was thinking of starting a blog but knew nothing about it as to what to do how to do. Now I know all that is needed to know.
Thanks
Wow, all this information are gold. But it doesn’t work for everybody, I’m a nurse or ex nurse to be who knew nothing about tech or media savvy and slowly learning my way up, and I can’t blog about something that I know nothing of or can offer, but I am building my blog as I dive into this whole new world for me. Thanks!
Best of luck!
this is very helpful article for beginners
Hi Adam,
Incredible “about me” section and highly impressive blog. I’ve chose to jump in with no looking back and build my blog, YouTube and other supports and love your advice and how you manage your business. I’ve been an international franchisor and failed or quit no less than 15 companies I created for reasons you put in writing like I’ve never seen. Sure hit home! Anyhow, just wondering as I see affiliate with BlueHost and wondered if you used them for this entire blog site or if it was possibly SiteGround, InMotion, DreamHost or some other. I want to start from day one able to scale as needed and not look back or second guess my decisions…..I tend to do that into oblivion all the time. Would appreciate your advice sir! Thanks Adam!
Hey Brett, thanks for the nice comment and I’m very glad you found my blog. I’ve used pretty much all web hosting providers. I started with Bluehost and then switched to WP Engine for more bandwidth once I hit higher traffic numbers. You can’t go wrong with either. 🙂
Thanks Adam! Great post and very informative:)
I couldn’t help but wonder, why did you remove the social sharing buttons from your site? Not just on desktop but also on mobile?
Mainly for site speed
Thanks a lot for this information can add a blog to the business website?
Of course. 🙂
thank you for this very very informative post. Your explanation is very good & each point is greatly explained and easy to understand. I think anyone can start a blog following this step by step approach.
Thanks Frankie.
All in one guide for newbies like me. Good Job Adam, Thanks
You’re welcome. 🙂
Hello Adam! I started blogging some weeks ago, I did not know how to select the best niche and target audience. Thanks for letting me know “How to Start a Blog in 11 Easy Steps”. By using your tips, I started earning from my blog. Your tips are the lifeblood for every beginner. Keep posting!
That’s awesome! I’m glad you found my guide – keep up the great work. 🙂
Very nice article. Thanks for sharing.
Very Helpful and Informative post.
Thanks!
hello adam,
seriously this blog is a real case study example of how to scale rapidly. I was unaware about lots of things which are hidden tools to grow a blog like a business. you just published amazing and user friendly content. thank you.
Thanks!
Very Helpful Guide Brother
Thanks!
Nice article. informative.
Hi, ths is really an amazing post with full of information regarding start a new blog, it’s really help to bloggers. appreciate your kind effort.
Thank you,
Saily form TechRecur
Thanks!
Thanks Adam for this powerful approach to running the blog as a business and not as a hobby and for the detailed journey to take the reader by the hand from scratch to start a blog, with the best tools.
I started mine 4 months ago, I have 9 blogs published, focused on encouraging people over 55 to start their own business on the internet, but I still have no traffic. I found your recommendation of guest blogging excellent. Can you give me some tip of where to start to get some articles published on a blog with greater authority on the subject.
Amazing post!
I started blogging many years ago and I stopped after some time. Now I understand the reason why. Well, I started another blog some months back. This post came up on my Google news feed just at the right time!
Can you share how to get great content writers? Finding the time to come up with content for my blog seems to be my major problem at the moment.
Thanks again for sharing!
Hey Yemi, I’m glad you found this article. Finding good content writers ultimately becomes a 1:1 process. You can try Fiverr and sites that like, however a lot of those writers have other projects going on simultaneously and might not have the time to dedicate to your site. I recommend you try to post a job on something like the ProBlogger job board. You can post your site’s niche, what you’re looking for, and the article cadence you’d like. You’ll get a lot of applications so narrow it down to your top 3 choices, then send them an outline and see how well they do – pricing, quality, and speed. Best of luck. 🙂
Hey Adam,
Does ccTLD effects in targeting people around the globe? Is it ok to use that for blogging?
Or should I go with TLD only? since I have already purchased hosting and ccTLD so I can’t change it now.
I mainly focus on dot com since I write to a global audience. A country code top-level domain can help improve rankings in certain geographic areas. For example, I use a VPN to check my keyword rankings in other geos. Many results that rank in the UK for example, are .co.uk domains. I would say that unless you plan to write mostly all of your content specific to your country, go with a normal TLD.
Wow, big thanks Adam. Many people would try to sell this information and based on the fact that many people in 2020 need to find alternate ways to create income this is really great. Honestly, I’ve been working online since 2008 and am well aware of the carrot and bait techniques people use to get you to buy their income programs and then keep you hooked to buy the next “level” so that you can really make things take off. The telecommunication companies use the same selling techniques to get you to upgrade all the time, very similar to leveling up in a game. Scientology uses these techniques. Sadly these are well known marketing tactics that utilize psychological concepts that people fall for. It’s a bit weird to get this honest, but the reality is our digital world is swimming with psychological marketing tactics. It’s very refreshing to find your blog and see the effort you’ve make to assist people to get started online. Do you need to put some money into making a business successful? Yes. But you’ve made things clear for people here. No smoke and mirrors. Kudos.
Hey Anja, thanks for the honest (and nice) comment. I’m glad you found this post useful and unlike other paid content online. 🙂
HUGE well done for this blog Adam! Best one I have come across so far that is outright useful! I have two questions for you please:
1. I have no knowledge on SEO and keyword research but I am about to take an online course and start really gathering information on this before I start my blog. Since you mention that your success is mainly due to the marketing expertise and knowledge you acquired from your previous job, to scale up the blog business quick, would you say hiring an SEO expert along with a content writer would be beneficial in my case?
2. I plan to enter the personal development niche, focusing in particular on another sub-niche. In your opinion, do you think the personal development niche is a good candidate for affiliate revenue? I do have some ideas such as referring books and reviewing self-help apps / courses. I ask this question as I couldn’t help but notice that although the personal development niche is one of the top niches to make money from, you did not mention it in your blog post. Was wondering if there was a reason behind this.
Thank you!
Hey Vanessa! Thanks for the nice comment and questions.
1. I wouldn’t necessarily hire an SEO expert, but continue learning it for yourself. You mainly have to know how to use WordPress and understand that high-ranking content: 1. is high quality content with semantic keywords and 2. has a lot of links pointing to it. Building a blog successfully is a link building hustle, and that includes a lot of email outreach, guest posting, and building real relationships. An SEO expert won’t be able to help with that.
2. Personal development is not a good niche for affiliate revenue in my opinion. You aren’t able to easily sell a product to an audience directly from their Google search. For example, in personal development you’re providing free content and basically selling some sort of helpful information. Yes, you can join affiliate programs and sell other people’s courses (like Tony Robbins, for example), but conversion rates (and revenue) are lower for one simple reason: the Google searcher is looking for help with a topic, not a product, and won’t convert as well. Some personal development keywords with a lot of search volume like “letting go”, “leadership qualities”, “motivational quotes”, “how to be confident” aren’t very monetizable.
That isn’t to say you shouldn’t go into personal development – you can make money by building an email list, adding Mediavine ads to your site, and selling digital products and courses. It’s just not the best for affiliate marketing. I hope that helps!
Adam
Thank you Adam for sharing this, I did not know about blogging at all until I have read your post, it is very inspiring!
Am gonna start my blog right away! 😀
Thank you again Adam and keep inspiring
Nicolas
That’s great – thanks!
It really comes down to the keyword research and making sure the majority of your posts are optimized around what people are searching for. From there it’s a game of numbers, pumping out as many high quality posts as you can. I supplement some of my sites with YouTube videos and that really seems to help drive traffic too. Not all of your posts will make it to the front page but some of them will.
Very true – great points!
Hey Adam Enfroy,
It too great because of your post is in deep with full guides that give lost of efforts to the readers, so that’s great ‘
Thanks.
excellent post. Thanks for helping me in blogging
Hi Adam, it was a useful guide I enjoyed reading it. and much thanks… But I still find it difficult to pick a theme which theme do you recommend for a blog or what do you use.
I use a custom theme now but in the past I used a theme called Spencer by CSS Igniter. I also hear good things about Generate Press.
Hi Adam!
This post contains very useful information for new bloggers like me. After researching many blogs finally it gave me confidence that i can also start and develop a blog.
That’s great!
Well written and done!
I started blogging in the past few weeks and realised tthat
lot of articles mmerely rehash old content but add very little of value.
It’s god to see a useful article of some real value to
me and your readers.
It is on the list of details I need to replicate as a new blogger.
Reader engagement and material value aare king.
Some excellent ideas; you’ve certainly managed to get oon my list of blogs to follow!
Carry on the excellent work!
Congratulations,
Tessy
Thanks Tessy! Glad you enjoyed the article and found it valuable.
When you are setting up “site title” and “site description”, is this what will show on your home page? So you use your name adamenfroy.con, is this your site title? Want to be sure to get this right on set-up. My blog will be linked to my online t-shirt store, so I am picking a domain name that matches my store just with blog.com after the main name…. In the site title filed would I put
storenameblog.com as the entry?
Your site title should be the name of your website, not the .com. For example, my site title right now is Adam Enfroy | Scale Your Online Business at Startup Speed. It will be basically the clickable link on Google searches and the text that appears when a user hovers over your tab in a browser.
Fantastic Info in This Blog Thanks for Sharing This
Hi Adam,
Great and detailed information starting a blog as a beginner. I am into Web Designing and Development since 15 years. I worked mainly in E-Commerce domain. So my question is how I can find a broader niche and it’s sub niche so that I can narrow it down to the final one?
Can you advise?
Thanks,
Sunil
I try to flip conventional niche selection on its head. Don’t worry about it when you start. Go with your name as your domain name, start broad, based on your unique identity (what you actually want to write about), your experience, the market (where is the money potential with affiliate, etc.), and your own leverage.
Starting broad gives you the freedom to pivot when one sub-niche doesn’t work. Go with your name because it doesn’t matter – 95% of blogs fail. Go with your unique experience and what you know best. Narrow it down based on YOU, your expertise, and where the money is. Success in blogging is being fluid and adapting over time based on your own identity and experience. Choosing a smaller niche pigeonholes you.
I have an easy niche selection system I already created for my future premium course on starting a blogging business. I’d join our free Facebook Group and interact with our group of bloggers if you haven’t already. Cheers!
Love this! Thank you for sharing!
Great content! This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Thanks for your help 🙂
Thanks Chris!
Wow Adam,
These are amazing tips. I personally think it’s a much better route to pay for the small hosting fees and get a solid Wordpress blog as opposed to free.
Agreed Chris. 🙂
Thank you very much, Adam. I started blogging 2 years ago but it didn’t work out, my Seo was bad as I was still learning and I think I rushed into it without any real goals. I want to make money as well as help people. I just have a few questions :
Is weight loss for women a good niche?
What do you think are the most profitable niche?
How often should I post and how many words per post?
At what stage should I start searching for and writing guest posts?
Hey Amarachi, thanks for the questions and I’m glad you found this post. 🙂
I’ll do my best to answer your questions, but in blogging, a lot of this stuff is very specific to the individual and tough to answer.
When thinking about niche selection, don’t go into it thinking “what is the most profitable niche”. The most profitable niche is probably finance/credit cards, but that’s almost impossible to rank for unless you have a team of 20 people working on your website. Your niche should be at the intersection of your professional life experience and where you believe you can extract value from the market. If you were to become a coach and start coaching something today, what topic would it be? If it is weight loss for women, then you’re off to a good start. If not, you may want to rethink things.
Choosing the perfect niche is almost impossible at the very beginning. A lot of sites promote the strategy of creating these little niche sites and monetizing them. My blog teaches that YOU are the brand – it’s not just about the niche, but it’s about finding ways to use your professional and life experiences to create a memorable brand. I can’t tell you which niche to choose because it has to come from within.
In my premium blogging course that will be launched early next year, I’ll go into this in more painstaking detail. For now, I’d take out a piece of paper and write out all of your experience and what possible markets you could extract value from.
As for how many words per post, that is entirely dependent on competition. You need to analyze who is currently ranking for the specific target keyword and how long their posts are. Every post will be different. You need to analyze the SERP to see not only how long their posts are, but also which headings they’re using, what questions they’re answering, and how they’re answering the question behind the keyword (search intent).
For guest blogging, you should start that process early – as soon as you have your first few posts up and a nice looking website.
I hope that helps!
Adam
Amazing content you have shared here. Keep it up
Hey Adam,
AdamEnfroy.Com is my all-time favourite. This blog is the perfect solution for every newbie who wanna start their blog. You have written a very detailed article about blogging. Thanks for sharing such wonderful content with us.
Regards,
Sayem Ibn Kashem
great tips about how to start blogging & earnings tips. its a all in one post. amazing information. thank you
Thanks William. 🙂
Great content! This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Thanks for your help 🙂
Its really hard to find such amazing content nowadays, it feels really good after reading your post.
Hi Adam,
I wanted to thank you for inspiring me to create my first blog. I have absolutely zero experience in blogging, web design, etc. and to be quite honest its really intimidating and there is quite a learning curve, but I’m determined. Probably would have been better to start this years ago when I was single and had minimal responsibilities other than my job. But now being married with a 1 year old, and my wife and I both working full-time jobs, I have to squeeze in time to work on it whenever I can. My goals are similar to yours and I love the info you have provided. Keep it up! If you by chance do read this or are interested in seeing my blogs progress let me know. I plan on publishing my homepage with an about me page and 2-3 pillar articles by end of January and at that time pushing to do as many guest blogs that I can squeeze in between February and March. Who needs sleep anyway?
Hey Joey, thanks for the great comment and I’m glad you found my blog. Your plan sounds solid and please keep me posted on your progress. Feel free to join my Facebook group too if you haven’t already. 🙂
Hi Adam.
I am starting a business in digital marketing, and right now finishing three different courses. All of them are the state of art. 1. A course teaching Launch products; 2) a course teaching how to sell as affiliated; and 3) Paid Traffic. All of them in Portuguese. I was seeking reliable strategies from the best guys explaining the kinds of stuff that matter.
In this sense I discovered that applying a Bible principle works well: “For everyone asking receives, and everyone seeking finds, and to everyone knocking, it will be opened.” Lk 11:10.
I am excited to start my blogs (I am starting one and being a partner in two other ones) and to share what will result from this.
Congrats on the amazing content that you share here.
Thanks for sharing this information
Hi Adam
I bought a course this week who teaches how to make money from authority site and i must tell you that this article has opened my eyes on what i really should do in order to succeed. I searched on google for “niche site ideas” and came to your site, since then i read many articles. Thanks for this wonder-full content!
I would thank you if you could please answer my questions:
1. Where do you buy content from?
2. Do you choose in which page to show mediavine ads? why there are pages with and without ads?
3. Under the how to make money online category there are only 9 sub categories, are you intended to add more in the future or your limit it for a reason?
Thanks
Tal
Hey Tal – great questions.
1. I hired a few different writers and provide them with outlines and the content plan.
2. Yes, I choose the individual pages for ads. Ads are the last resort when it comes to blog monetization. I remove them from specific affiliate posts that are generating more revenue (transactional search intent) and keep them on posts that are harder to monetize (informational search intent).
3. Those aren’t subcategories, just posts that I’m linking to. I am building out more content silo pages in the future with more in-depth content.
Dear, Mr. Adam,
Thank you very much for sharing this valuable tips. I was absolutely unknown about the blogs. Today, I was searching small business ideas and I reach yours blogs. First time, I am able to understand about the blogs. I read almost all contents of How to start the blogs in 2021 and also read your story which is really inspiring. I am so much excited about the blogs and want to start my own blogs. I want to ask one question to you “Can I start a blog myself from your this guideline as a beginner ?
Thank you so much
I’m glad you found my blog. 🙂
Yes, you can get started from this guide. I also recommend you sign up for my email list on my homepage where you can get a free WordPress Blog Launch Checklist and another free 95-page guide to starting a blog.
Hi Adam!
This is the best post on starting a blog which I have never seen. Thank you so much Adam. And I have a small doubt which make me happy if you clarify this, ” you said that having our own name as domain name is best in more ways but my name is ‘Hemanth Srinivas’ which is someward long and difficult to say. So can I use it as my domain name.”
Thank you!
Thanks! I think it probably is a bit difficult for the average person to spell. You could use your first name and another word. Overall, the key is that the domain is broad enough to give you the freedom to pivot and not solely focused on one micro-niche.
Thanks Adam for your valuable suggestion !
As for now in the beginning i have different topics in different niches like tech,finance. So should i have to write on topics in different niches which are in my mind or should i focus on only one niche topic ?
Thank you Adam!
Start with a focus on one single niche. It can be broad like tech, but don’t go into too many multiple niches. You want to be known for one thing, not a broad site with multiple niches. Then, within that niche, start to test a bunch of different smaller sub-niches to see what performs well for you. For example, if you’re in finance, sub-niches could be things like real estate, investing, money management, etc. Over time, you can find the niche that works best for you.
Overall, your blog needs to be known for one thing. When someone goes to your blog, they need to think, “Ahh yes, Hemanth is the best expert in (fill in the blank).” It can’t be a random broad site that talks about tech and finance.
I hope that helps!
The information you’ve shared in this blog is remarkable. Thanks for sharing such quality information.
Hey Adam,
Interesting read, thank you for sharing!
Do you go in depth about consulting in any of your posts?
This part:
“Instead of focusing on adding affiliate links and ads to your site when you have little traffic at the beginning, see if you can come up with a high-end consulting offer to build momentum and make money right out of the gate.”
…seems important, but I’m not exactly sure how one should approach a business to offer consulting.
Hey Mark, I don’t have a full post on that at the moment but that’s a good idea. I’ll get one in the works! 🙂
Hey adam awesome guide i m impressed brother. I also want to grow my blog. Can you please tell me what should i do to build more backlinks and can please tell me how did your grow you blog at such speed in under 14 months only. I really want to learn the strategy. please help me get the materials from you. I m confused from where to start. Email me your study material or course i m ready to invest in myself.
Sign up for my email list and you’ll get all of my free content and the steps you need to take. 🙂
This article was really helpful in making plans for the new year…Thanks a lot
HI Adam, very useful blog! I was reading trough it, but only got through a quarter of the whole thing, but I can’t see anymore where I was left and I can’t find anything related to my notes. Did you change the blog? This is what I had:
1. Audience Revenue Potential.
2. Your Niche Needs Affiliate Marketing Potential.
3. Use Your Professional Leverage.
etc
Could you please help? Thank you in advance and keep writing! 🙂
Thanks! I moved that content to a separate post here.
This is very interesting, thanks! Is this still relevant in 2021?
I launched my blog in 2019, so these are the most up-to-date tactics you can find anywhere online. Check other blogs that rank for “how to start a blog” and they started 5-10 years ago.
Adam!!! I am so grateful oh. Because of your trainings, I now rank on page 1 for “best email marketing software to use in Nigeria” . I am currently working on back linking strategies with your guide.
That’s awesome!
Hi Adam,
This article of yours is really helpful. I am about to start a blog on events, events trends and event technology.
Whats your take on this?
Please do let me know
Excellent! Your article is beneficial. These tips are most important for new bloggers, and I can easily relate to it because I also started blogging a while back. You have described this article very well. That’s why I like your writing. But it takes a long time for a website to succeed. Finally, I can say this is really an amazing post full of information regarding starting a new blog, and it’s conducive to bloggers. Appreciate your kind effort.
Thank you very much for sharing these tips and valuable resources.
You have got some great posts in your blog. I will be visiting again.
Useful information. Thank you!
Thanks for this. I really like what you’ve posted here and wish you the best of luck with this blog!
Thanks!
Thanks for this. I really like what you’ve posted here and wish you the best of luck with this blog!
Thank you!
Absolutely epic guide on starting a blog! Managed to go into enough detail without making it seem too complicated. Seriously love how well you can tap into the beginner mindset even with your experience level.
Love it!
Thank you Kumar. 🙂
Thank you for the great information. Loved it
You are a true inspiration and a very good teacher. I have followed all your articles, guides and regular emails and the kind of knowledge you are sharing is simply awesome. All your articles are so detailed that one don’t need to look for other resources and your link building strategies, income reports are amazing resources for beginners. Thanks a lot for sharing everything with transparency. Keep motivating and keep sharing.
Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying the content. I appreciate you mentioning me on your site as well. 🙂
Great post! So happy I found this, thank you.
Great content you are an inspiration. I am very interested in starting my own blog. I am just unsure as to the content of my blog. My son has ADHD and that is a passion topic for me. I just dont know if it to niche. Should I do one a little broader ?? Can I do a blog geared toward women with multiple topics or does it have to be one direct topic ??
The best option is to start with a broad niche based on the brand of YOU and your name. That allows you to test and tweak different sub-niches until you find one that sticks.
one million is a nice number.
I wish I was as successful as you are.
I read through all your insights and they are amazing. I want to start a lifestyle blog with broad topics to see where the blog will take me. I have read about how to actually start the blog. As a new blogger what is the first thing i should do to have the blog actually make income ? Should I start with adsense or with an affiliate ? If I wanted to do a topic on fitness (i have done beachbody for years) can i post things about beachbody and the programs or do i need to get permission from them ? If I wanted to do a topic on modeling (my daughter is a model through an agency) Could I make money by promoting the agency on my blog ? How do I actually do that ? Sorry for all the questions but you have a successful blog and a wealth of knowledge.
Hey Nicole! You should really focus on two things: publishing content and getting backlinks. Blog monetization is simply a byproduct of ranking on Google for affiliate terms. I definitely wouldn’t recommend worrying about monetization for your first 3-6 months. And no to AdSense.
If you join my email list, I have two new videos I’m sending out this week and next on The Content Assembly Line and The Link Building Machine that should help frame the two disciplines that all bloggers need to focus on – content and links.
As for your other question on Beachbody, you can join their affiliate program (or any other company’s affiliate programs) for that matter. Just Google “Company” + affiliate program and you can join via a form. Then you can grab your unique affiliate link and add it to your site.
Again though, don’t focus on spending time on the monetization aspect at first – it’s a wasted effort until you’ve done enough of the content and link building efforts to get traffic in the first place.
Feel free to join my email list and our Facebook Group linked within the emails for more help!
Thanks,
Adam
Hi Adam,
Do you recommend starting a blog with a free google site for someone who doesn’t have enough money to start paying for web hosting or other expenses? I’ve seen a google site ranking for some of the most competitive keywords and I would like to know what you think about that.
If you want to truly start a blogging business and make money, you need to be able to pay the $3-4/month and go with real web hosting and a WordPress site.
Hi, quick question, does your affiliate links are made from clickbank? Thank you so much!
I’m currently in over 200 affiliate programs – most are individual programs outside of an affiliate network. I am in ClickBank but I think it’s just for 1-2 affiliate programs, so not much of a priority. If you’re looking for the best affiliate networks, join Shareasale, Impact, and CJ.
I just started my blog literally yesterday. I picked a domain. I set up through blue host and word press. I picked a theme and now I am stuck. I dont know how to navigate through to start the web page. Is there a place that can help ? I know the topics I want and have written a few blogs but dont understand how to actually do it to the blog ??
Hey Nicole, there are plenty of WordPress tutorials and websites online. If you need more help, you can also join our private Facebook Group of Blogpreneurs. We have an active community of bloggers and would be happy to have you. 🙂
I’m really inspired by what you did man! Really hope that my blog can blossom like yours can you give me advice on how to be a successful blogger?
Yes, join my email list on my homepage and you’ll get all of my free blogging content. 🙂
Great comprehensive guide, I am starting a blog and this is so helpful, thank you
cheers.
Hey Adam, that’s one great article. Your journey is very inspiring to newbie bloggers like me. So much has changed in the blogging space now and it’s often so confusing. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. 😊
Thank you for this article, useful one!
Dear Adam
Awesome post. Two questions:
a.) Is it still possible to make money in the personal finance niche or is it not a good nice for starters?
b.) Do you think you can make big bucks also if you have a non english site?
Yes and yes. Just go for it.
Thank you for sharing informative post. This post really a helpful thing for every blogger.
Great Post!
Hey Adam, so inspiring to see what you do. How high are the expenses every month to rank on page 1 for software reviews? for how long do you need to do it? Is $4K enough for 12 months?
Good question. Expenses are entirely dependent upon how much work you’re willing to do yourself vs. outsourcing. And each post is unique in its content and link building requirements in order to rank. When I started my blog, I wrote everything myself and did a ton of link building outreach as well, so I didn’t spend anything really to get some early posts to rank on page 1 and start making thousands of dollars a month. However, some other posts (like this very one you’re reading now) have required years of backlinks and are just scratching page 1.
The first expense should be a writer to free up your time, then an outreach person to work on your backlinks. I cover the exact strategies in my blogging course. 🙂
Really loving blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustments would really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your theme. Appreciate it. loving it.
It’s a custom theme that I had a developer friend of mine make. However, there are a ton of free themes I’d start with like WP Astra or Kadence.
Hi Adam,
A very interesting and helpful read and above all it is “Motivational and Inspiring”. I read your story and that helped me get the confidence to break the shell and come out with my own story, which too has a lots of Ups and Downs. I intend to start my own blogging site soon and I really want to tell people about you and your site so that others can also learn and take inspiration and guidance from you as I did. Can you help me with that part?
Cheers!
I wish you the best of luck and feel free to share whatever you’d like. 🙂
Awesome article. Easy to read and understand. You said “However, making your first blog successful is hard work”. What about the second one?? 😁😁
I am new to blogging and these articles are very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Amol
Hi, Adam, you are a great inspiring person for everyone. I started the blog in 2019 and I did all the hard work by implementing important things such as making Yoast SEO better, adding google AdSense and amazon affiliate links, and even posting 600+ posts on my blogging site named http://meerymaking.com/ but I am very sad that I didn’t make any single penny from ads and affiliate links. I tried to watch videos on youtube and tried to even contact some persons but they don’t reply.
So I request you that please guide me and let me know that what exactly I missed in my blogging site named http://meerymaking.com/. I hope that through your guidance I can do better and can start a better profitable blog.
You have no content direction (no articles that can make good affiliate revenue). And no backlinks.
Hey Adam,
The word “easy” – wish that was the case. You offer so much great information but will take us
a long time to digest and then implement. Thank you for the inspiration. We can not back
burner a new blog any longer thanks to you!
Be well.
Hi Adam
Great work, you have inspired me to start my own blog.
I’m currently working a full time job, so just out of interest, how much time did you spend in your spare time dedicating to the blog?
Thanks
I’m not gonna lie – to grow it like I did I spent probably 30-40 hours a week on the side. But as long as you can spend 10+ you can make progress.
Cool I thought that would be the case.
I’m using Jasper to create some articles and looking to do around 3-4 weeks just to get some content on the site. Then will look to improve the SEO in every aspect with internal linking and outsourcing good quality links. Then progress to adding content that will be worthy of adding affiliate links too. Well that’s the plan for now.
I’ll let you know how I get on.
May look to join the masterclass as I’m very determined to make this a success, like you have!
Thanks again!