Making money with a blog is a dream for many people. It is possible to earn writing posts but to succeed it is important to work properly. I have learned it by practicing. While I was preparing my first article I was studying how to do it online. How? Following expert courses, reading books, and applying tips from guides. Among the material I found on the internet, I want to mention someone who inspired me a lot. Neil Patel, an expert in the field, realizes cool guides (videos and posts) and it is easy to get tips and tricks with him. Well, I started to have good results. I want just to share with you how to start a blog for free and make money. Some people say that it isn’t any more useful to write blogs. It is false, just it is important to follow the evolutions. Yes, the essential is to pay attention to trends and even create them. But always starting from a blog.
I can say that it is not hard, but neither so easy. Work hard is the keyword. You need a strategy and a concrete plan to make clear the goal also to your readers. So, if you want to earn money seriously online, you have to get my tips and learn how to start a blog free. Well, I am going to explain to you the way to do it without any cost, but I also give you some other hints that are not completely free. No, don’t worry, it’s not about my hints, but about the blog, you will create. It is just a matter of a few dollars. But it will be up to you and you will read why.
Some bloggers are rich and maybe you will become rich as well, but don’t expect to write a few posts and earn huge money. You need time and a lot of work. I don’t want to make it harder and neither discourage you, but just to make you aware. I am here, I make a profit, I am improving my blog and earning more month after month. Then at the beginning, you will have some extra cash to travel or to pay bills, but if you will be hardly engaged with it, it will become your job. First, learn how to do it and don’t rush. Let’s see what you need to do.
Why?
If your question is: why should I start a blog to earn money to travel? You have to clarify if you are ready for this and then understand that blogging can be a profitable way. This is a good way to get an extra income. Plus, if you write about travel, it will be easier for you to get in touch with companies interested in cooperating with you. For example, you can be hosted in a hotel in exchange for some featured posts.
This doesn’t come immediately and it works like that if your blog will be bigger. In terms of the number of visits. Anyway, step by step you can get paid to host banners, advertisements, and paid posts. My example concerns travel because I write about this, but the guide is valid for any niche.
How to start a blog for free and make money?
Did you consider the freedom given by a blog? You will work anywhere. What you need is only a computer connected to the internet. So you will be able to work also while you travel. Or just to consider moving to another city. By writing and sharing online you will have the chance to connect with people and companies. This will give you a nice experience, I can be witnessed in this part thanks to My Anasa Travel Blog, and part of the contacts will become opportunities.
New ideas, cooperation, paid chances. But you have to be sure about the topic. To have success you have to be genuine, to give something useful: tips, knowledge, and direct experience. If travel is your passion, why not work on a travel blog. Otherwise, write about the things you know and like. Most people online search for someone who can teach them something useful. So focus on your skills.
5 steps to start
There are five steps you must do to start a blog. They will put you in the right way and also they will make it faster. Imagine, you can build your website in around 20 minutes, but only after following the five steps.
1. Define niche and name
First of all, you have to decide on the topic. Choose the niche according to your competencies. It is about your passions, but of course, you have also to check if there is enough interest in the topic you want to write about. Mare a research online about readers’ interests. It is good if the niche is specific, but not too much, otherwise, only a few people will follow you and you won’t earn.
About the name, my suggestion is to use yours in combination with words that define the topic. The descriptive combination of words will help you to get more traffic. People will find your blog easily.
2. Select the best platform
To set up your blog you need a platform to host it. There are many options, but I suggest WordPress because it is complete, well updated, and well known. So it will be easier to use the tools and to get noticed by people and other bloggers. It includes the best features.
You will need to consider the self-hosted WordPress.org software if you want to become a blogger and earn money.
3. Find the domain and a web hosting
Web hosting is a platform that helps you to maintain the blog. Because it gives tools and features to charge fast the pages, protect the site from attacks, and so on. So to choose the best one is essential to have success.
The domain name is very important because you won’t have many chances to index it and get traffic with the URL yourname.wordpress.com. You will need yourdomain.com site. This will allow you to index better the blog on search engines, to use Google Ads to earn money from your visitor. But this is only one of the multiple ways to get money. The unique web address will be perfect for the blog. But be sure to find it for the name you choose. It may be already used by others, so you will try different combinations.
4. Design and maintain your blog
When you subscribe, for free, to WordPress you have a lot of themes to choose from without a fee. You don’t need a webmaster, you can do everything by yourself. There are many templates easy to use and ready-made. Just select one that is fast to charge for visitors and with an attractive design. Inside you can adjust the various options to customize it. You can always change it and buy one with more features. If you want to learn how to start a blog for free and make money, keep in mind the design. It’s an important element to attract people.
5. Study
I learned a lot from practicing, but while I was writing my blog, I was reading books and guides. Experts’ tips are the basic to make it better and to succeed. It’s a huge world and there are many things to know to get traffic and earn money. Trends change fast and there is always the risk to stay out of them and fail. So spend time studying. I will suggest to you some websites and books at the end of this post.
How to start a blog free: questions and steps
Don’t be in a hurry and stay focused on the goal. This is the first rule when you start a blog. Opportunities will come, not immediately, but you will have good chances, growing with you. The ways to monetize your site are mainly four. The first one is to sell advertising space. You can subscribe to Google Ads or similar services. You will need a domain, so not free space on the internet. Remember: to earn a good amount of money in this way you have to register a huge number of visitors.
Then you can promote affiliate products and earning a commission. This way is more profitable, but you have to be sure to influence your followers. In case, you have your product to sell or you want to propose a tutorial or ebooks written by you, the blog will help you. The website can become the perfect space to find buyers and clients. Now you know what are the main reasons to start a blog to earn money to travel. I think you got also some tips about the pathway you have to follow for the first steps online. But we need to proceed step by step. All these things will come after. The beginning is so important, so move correctly. Let’s see what you have to do.
Questions to ask before to start
1. Why are you starting a blog?
The answer will help you to set your goals and to find the proper audience. This is the key to make it profitable. Define what you want to communicate. A message, an idea, some tips can be the object. Do you want to build a community around a cause? Do you have a brand and your goal is to keep followers? Do you want to spread some tutorials? The task of the blog is up to you. It is possible to promote something, to educate, to inform. It must be very clear to you and then to your audience.
So, work on it, find the purpose of your online activity. Don’t think only about the topic, but the goal of why you want to have a website. For example, you want to sell services or products, you want to find a way to earn money online, to create a company, to share new ways of expression. You have to understand very well why you are opening a new space on the internet. Figure out what you want from it. 61% of people search for bloggers’ recommendations to buy something. So this can be a good opportunity. Keep in mind following the steps about how to start a blog for free and make money.
2. How can you start a blog for free?
This question is why you are here. You can do everything without spending a cent, even if a small budget can help you to grow faster and better. ree blogs. Register for a free blog on WordPress. You will get, as I already mentioned, a domain like yourname.wordpress.com. This will limit you. You can’t use ads to earn, you have the logo of WordPress and maybe of their partners. That’s why it is a good opportunity to consider a self-hosted domain. You will continue to use WordPress to edit your blog, but you will be more independent, also earn money, and get traffic from search engines.
Choose a platform and buy a custom domain name. This will increase your online potential. Anyway, this can be even done after a while. I will explain how it works and how much it costs. You can work totally for free for the first period and then buy the domain and subscribe to a self-hosted platform.
3. Is blogging still relevant?
This question is often the object of discussions on the internet, but the answer is always the same: yes! Of course, the world is changing fast and blogs as well, but they always occupy a relevant position for the people. Blogs are like a lighthouse because often they give concrete support on different topics. So, start a blog for free and make money. It is the right time if you want to do it.
10 years ago blogs were a piece of news and they had a lot of chances to develop, now it is easy to find interested people online who are searching for blogs but to win the competition the quality must be high. Blogs are effective to introduce products, ideas, brands, and so on. So it’s the proper moment to start. The hardest part is writing good content and make people aware.
Be consistent, but take always care about the contents, they must provide something meaningful. Then interact with people and use social networks to promote your site. That’s why you need to have a lot of motivation to do it. Success doesn’t come if this is just a hobby for you. There is a lot of work to do to maintain them alive.
All the steps to do
1. How to choose the best niche
If you want to learn how to start a blog for free and make money, this is the first thing you have to think about. The right niche has to count on your competencies, on the audience interest, on the numbers. Let me explain better. Your passions are the starting point, so you will be able to tell the people something valuable. Then it is necessary to have someone (a huge number of people) who wants to get the information you spread. In the end, you have to analyze the potential audience (who they are and how many they are), the competitors, the companies who are active in the field.
The last point is essential, especially for affiliate marketing. To make money promoting products and services of enterprises you need to have cooperated with them. So it is good to have some and with quite popular brands to catch easily the attention of your audience promoting them.
So use these 3 elements to make your choice:
- Check the size of the niche
- Search and spy competitors
- Analyze monetization potential
This is a useful process to verify if your idea works or not. It is a validation to be done before starting a blog.
2. How to choose the blogging platform
Once you decided your goals and the niche, you can act. You have to select the platform to set up your blog. I have already mentioned WordPress, which I use, but there is also Blogger, owned, and managed by Google. The first one is used by 70% of worldwide websites. In the USA 96% of bloggers and companies use it. Make your blog self-hosted is the best choice since the beginning. It will be easier to index it on search engines.
The solutions are two:
- Hosted blog solutions (free or freemium plans)
- Self-hosted blog solutions (free open-source software)
Hosted solutions are good because WordPress and Blogger are free and they make everything easy. But all the limits, starting from the domain, keep you far from many opportunities. You need to be independent to earn money. Especially if you want a partnership with affiliate marketing networks or to put some paid ads on your site.
Self-hosted options open all the doors for you. You can continue to work on WordPress and Blogger, but you have your domain and no limitations. Also, you can add plugins to improve features and tools to manage the blog. You are in charge of your site and everything will depend on you. The fee is low, but you can start to earn after some posts. Blogging is free, but you need the service of a self-hosted platform. Providers give you support and a lot of services to get better results online in terms of performance.
What are the costs? It depends on the platforms you want to use. Anyway, you won’t spend that much, but you will have more benefits than just using the free options.
In this post, inside the resources part, I give you some details and discounts. Here I make a general calculation:
- hosting service around $7 per month (billed annually);
- domain name registration around $18 per year.
The total is around $102 for the first year. It’s not much, considering that already in the first 12 months you can earn a few hundreds of dollars or even more. Only the results will tell that, but it is possible.
Keep in mind that self-hosted platforms give you different plans according to the storage space and the traffic. The basic one will be surely enough for the first year.
3. Pick the domain name
This is your business card, your presentation. So choose very well the name of the blog and verify if it is available. You can do it directly on the self-hosted provider site. They have the proper tool. In case it is already taken, the system gives you the alternatives in various combinations. The URL must identify you and be easy for your readers to digit and find you directly.
I suggest HTTPS protocol. The final “s” determine the security. So it will guarantee visitors showing that their data are safe while they are on your blog. The extension dot com is very good, but you can choose dot blog, dot net, or something that works.
4. Create a web hosting account
When you have the domain name, you can start the process to register on a self-hosting platform. This step is necessary to learn how to start a blog and make money. I use SiteGround, it is a reliable platform. This blog is hosted by them since 2018 and I am completely satisfied with the performance and the support. They ensure to make my blog (yours too if you will subscribe) available 24/7. The first year, according to the periods, can give you some more advantages, like free domain registration.

The registration to the self-hosting platform
Now it’s time to see briefly how to start a blog for free and make money. Well, almost free. It is easy and fast, so you will need a few minutes.
- Access SiteGround and start the registration
- Select the hosting plan, the basic one will be enough and you can always upgrade later when you need it
- Explore the extras and select the most important ones. The costs are low, but they help you a lot. Mainly it is about privacy protection and attacks prevention
- Set up the domain name for your blog
- Finalize the registration with your data and payment information
- You can select the period for the service. If you want to purchase it for 24 or 36 months you will get a better price. It is up to you
Then you can create your account with WordPress using SiteGround.
- Create the account on SiteGround with a password and enter the domain name
- You have to select the type of site you are going to open. You need to choose among the options proposed
- Pick more features to start to customize the blog. Choose the ones you want from the given ones
- Write down the title and a short description of your site
- Choose the themes available to design your site
- Launch the blog
- Start to write the posts
Customize the blog
When you finish with all accounts creation you can work on the appearance. So you have to choose the teme. The design and layout are essential. They are the presentation of your site. It is like a dress. Its task is to attract and underline the features. Choice can make a difference.
I found this part very funny and I have to confess that I often make some changes, to test the reactions and to make it always cool. It is nice for me to work on the aspect many times in a year because it makes it more interesting to readers. You don’t have to do the same, but keep in mind that you can start with free themes and then do an upgrade or just buy one. If it is free it will be easier for you to test it and change the idea.
When you open your WordPress dashboard you have to click on “Appearance” and then “Themes”. You will access a huge catalog. To reduce the list use filters. Ask for the free ones and maybe the most popular ones. Don’t worry, you can customize, so even if many people have the same theme, the personalization allows you to apply a lot of options, like color, boxes, and etcetera.
In the list you can see a small picture of the theme, I suggest you click on “preview” to have a more clear idea of the general aspect. Then if you install it, you can ask for a live preview to see your blog with that theme. If you don’t like it, you can uninstall it. Anyway, the first time you don’t have content, so the live preview can even be too much, you don’t need it.
Follow these tips to choose:
- read the theme description to have an overview of features and functionalities. It is useful to understand if that is what you are searching for;
- preview the theme demo to see how it appears;
- verify the ratings because the reviews of other users can be helpful to decide.
Keep in mind that once installed you have to work on it and you can always change it with another one that fits your blog more. The free ones are enough to start and all of them give you the chance to personalize the aspect and the features.
How to work on the theme
Once you installed the theme and activated it, you can start to work on it to personalize it. From the dashboard of WordPress, you access directly the function “Customize”. According to the theme chosen, you have different options. There are some common steps to do, inside the customization menu you just need to click on each voice to be guided to the procedure to input text, images, and so on.
- Upload the logo, it should be good to have one, so create it.
- Write the name of the blog and a sentence as a subtitle, that is a very short description. Like a phrase with keywords to make in a very few words understandable the topic of the site.
- The layout allows you to choose the background colors, the text style, and so on.
- The page template can be personalized with a huge variety of options that you can explore in the customization menu because each theme has different features.
- If you want, you can add a background image.
- The menus are completely up to you, you can add a primary and a secondary one, choose the main categories, add social links, and decide the menu location.
- Widgets will help you to display more specific content and you have the freedom to select their location.
- There are two important options: the dynamic and the static page. The first one allows you to show the last posts, while the static homepage is up to you how to realize it, but it will be always the same and it won’t show the last posts.
- Customize the appearance of the site using customized CSS. This is an advanced option.
You find buttons to check the appearance of the blog on different devices. Use them to verify step by step if your customization works well on desktop, smartphone, and tablet. This will be useful to prepare a good experience for your readers.
Using block editor on WordPress you have more options to prepare your posts and you can realize visual stories. Plus you will manage blocks to easily and quickly add text, videos, and images. It is particularly suggested to create landing pages. The theme is essential if you want to start a blog for free and make money.
The plugins
In the WordPress dashboard menu, you find the function dedicate to plugins. It is done to allow you to add plugins. They are applications studied to make your blogger work easier and more effectively. There are thousands of plugins, you don’t need to add many, otherwise, you risk making the site slow and you even don’t use all of them. Select the best ones for you. Some of the most important ones will be automatically added by SiteGround and you can review them in the “Plugin” section.
Let me mentions some Plugins you should use.
- MonsterInsights – This is the Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, it monitors and analyzes all the traffic to your blog.
- Squirrly – The most complete SEO plugin for your blog, to optimize your content for search engines. It has also a feature that helps you to rank high on search engines for some focus pages. It counts also as a tool to promote your blog on social networks. That’s why you have to consider it among all the SEO plugins on the market.
- Autoptimize– It is essential to reduce the load time of the website and to deliver faster content to readers.
- Akismet – Avoid spam in your comments protecting your contact form. You won’t have malicious messages published on your site.
- Contact Form 7 – This form is dedicated to all your readers who want to contact you. Thanks to CAPTCHA it prevents spam requests.
- YARPP – It creates a related posts list at the end of each of your posts. This will encourage people to continue browsing your site and to read more articles. So you will reduce the bounce rate, an important criterion used by Google for site rankings.
All the plugins are free to use, but they offer also premium versions. With small yearly fees, you can have more tools and features. You can upgrade at any moment, but at least for SEO, I suggest you buy the complete plugin to get immediately all the functions and ranking better on search engines.
You want to know how to start a blog for free. As you have read, you need to spend a little money to have better tools. It is not necessary to do it immediately when you open your blog, but if you will invest, you will have a chance to earn money. This is your goal. Don’t forget. Now you are ready to create content and promote the blog.
Plan content and promotion
You have to share useful information because there must be a reason to follow your site. Valuable posts are your unique goal. You will need many posts to get success. Not hundreds, but some. Start with a plan, so you can decide exactly what to write and when to post it. Use images, graphics, videos, and podcasts to make it more attractive and usable.
Keep in your mind these three important elements:
- write for a specific audience, imagine your readers, decide to whom you want to communicate, and use the proper way to catch their attention;
- use quality in text, images, and all that you insert into the post. It must be easily accessible;
- don’t write commercial posts, but even if your goal is to promote some product or service, tell a story. It has to appear like your direct experience. Then don’t use pop-up ads and giant banner ads to greet your readers. They have to engage with content.
Maybe you have doubts about quality content. Follow this approach, it helps you.
- Focus on the main idea and the points you are covering
- Add examples to clarify the main ideas
- Explain the idea in a simple way
You have to make a pre-launch and a post-launch.
The pre-launch requires verifying that your homepage, the menus, and each part are properly filled. The information will be added values, something that may attract the reader. The content has to be related to the homepage. If you set a travel blog, it is not a good idea to add food recipes. The “about us” part has to tell readers what it is all about, who you are, and why you are running it. Then be sure that the contacts form is working properly to allow people to contact you. Not only followers will send you messages, but also other bloggers and companies interested in cooperating with you.
The post-launch actions have to work on post contents, like images and infographics. Also, each post will be part of a category or a page, with static information updated with new posts. Be sure that everything is clear and easy to access.
Thanks to the Squirrly plugin you will have forms and checklists to create an SEO-friendly post to rank it on search engines and get traffic. Meta tags will be part of it and they are important for search engine algorithms.
Texts are essential because they contain the main information, but make the reader’s life easier. Images, videos, and so on are helpful to improve the on-site experience.
Remember to verify the performances of each post. Not all of them will have the same result. This is normal, but if you observe the reader’s behavior on your blog with Google AdWords help, you will know what are the better articles for them. So you can improve your activity. This is an important element of the guide about how to start a blog for free and make money.
Blog promotion
You will write the best content ever, the most valuable posts, but no one will read them. It is normal, people need to know about your blog. At that moment they will see the contents and they will start to read them and to follow you. Without promotion, you won’t have success. Work on your niche and find the proper ways to reach the right audience. There are many options. I list the most important ones, so you can get inspired.
Share the blog with friends. Make them aware of your activity online. They will support you, also in sharing your posts through their social network profiles. In this case, you won’t maybe find an interested audience among your friends, but friendship will be the first step to spread the word and find the first followers and readers. Use your friends like a window to open to show yourself to the world.
Submit the site to search engines. You need a self-hosted platform with your domain. So then you subscribe to search engines (Google, Bing, Yandex…). Create an account and submit the URL. You will indicate also the sitemap, the file with all the posts, and pages listed. Don’t worry, Squirrly will create the sitemap for you.
Submit the blog to bookmarking sites. This type of platform, starting from Twitter and Pinterest, shows your content to a lot of potential viewers interested in your niche. Every time you post an article, share it on those platforms. Try StumbleUpon, Pocket, Digg, Reddit, Slashdot, We Heart It, Scoop.
Work hard in your niche. Take part in discussions on forums, other blogs, social pages. The communities will represent a way to connect to the right audience. The more you are engaged and the more authority you will gain, so you will grow your readers.
Use social networks. You need to be active on your social profiles dedicated to your blog. Post frequently, comment, and answer your comments. It is important to create followers and readers for your site.
Write guest posts. Some blogs accept articles written by other bloggers in the same niche. Use this opportunity to grow visibility. Contact them and select the ones with a good amount of followers and with good authority. This is helpful.
Create a mailing list. Using free giveaways and valuable resources collect emails from your readers. Through the newsletter, you can send updates and also affiliate marketing links to promote products and services to earn money.
Online ads. The fastest way to grow and to find traffic is to use paid ads on search engines. Through Google AdWords, Facebook, and Pinterest you can have paid space to get clicks and so visit your blog. It is a good way, but sometimes you get visitors who maybe won’t return. Then it is quite expensive, especially if you will use competitive keywords. Organic traffic is better.
There are many other ways you can find, be creative, and try to reach the right audience using all the online and offline tools. Add the link to your blog in your emails. Help people in solving problems or in finding answers and you will have faithful followers ready to support you.
The way to make money with your blog
You got information about how to create a blog, but you want to know how to make a profit from it. You will need some time, it depends on your work and the niche, but if you engage yourself with it, you will reach the goal. Don’t do it and especially don’t show it! What? To write the blog just to make money. Why? Because you don’t conquest the audience by making promotional posts. You need first to attract readers. You have to learn it if you want to know how to start a blog for free and make money.
Share valuable information, become an expert in your niche and you will be considered as you deserve. You can be a real influencer, gain a lot of money. But proceed step by step, keep in touch with followers, create a relationship with them. They must find something useful in reading you and consider you an authority. That’s the way to profit.
Ideas and tips
There are different opportunities to get money through your blog. You will use some of them or even all of them. I suggest you activate more channels, so you can see what performs better. Anyway, don’t overdo especially at the beginning. Keep in mind that around 60% of bloggers make money through this activity. Do you want to how to start a blog free? Focus on the positive number, but don’t forget the other 40%, it will motivate you to do better.
Ads on the blog. Register your domain to Google Adsense, so they will put ads on the space where you allow on your pages. They will pay you when your readers visualize them or better they click on ads. In this case, the profit is higher. Anyway, keep in mind that to earn good money you need a lot of traffic. So don’t expect to gain so much after your first posts. There are also other channels like:
- Mediavine (for bloggers with at least 50,000 page views per month)
- PropellerAds
- Media.net
- Amazon Ads
- Adversal (have at least 50,000 monthly page views)
- Monumetric (have at least 10,000 monthly page views)
- Infolinks
- ylliX
- Evadav
- PopAds
- RevContent
- Adsterra
- OIO Publisher
- SHE Media (dedicated to a female audience)
- AdRecover (have at least 10,000 monthly page views from Adblock users)
- MadAds
- Bidvertiser
- Adbuff
- BuySellAds (have at least 150,000 monthly page views)
- AdClickMedia
Affiliate programs. Be part of affiliation networks help you to put links in your posts and get commissions for your readers’ purchases. You can mention some product or service in your posts, add the affiliate link and then, every time your followers will click and buy, wait for the money. There are a lot of platforms. When you choose, focus on commissions, duration of cookies to maximize the profit, but think also about the quality of the brands and products proposes plus the relevance of the products with your niche. I list some of them here. There are the main networks plus some companies of the different niches.
- Admitad
- Sovrn //Commerce
- Skimlinks
- Amazon Associates
- ShareASale
- CJ Affiliate
- eBay Partner Network
- Clickbank
- Travelpayouts
- Agoda
- Booking
- Tripadvisor
- Airbnb
- Cupid media
- People media
- Match.com
- Eharmony
- EliteSingles
- Coursera
- Udemy
- DIY.org
- Teachable
- Razer
- Alienware
- Nvidia
- Microsoft
- GanttPRO
- PromoRepublic
Keep in mind that the number of sales relies on the number of visitors, so you need a lot of them to get money from affiliations. More people, more chances to make sales. You need to write good posts to convince them to click on links. And then write down the Terms of Use for your blog to notice readers that you are using affiliate links.
Sell your products. If you are creative and you realize some products you can sell them through your blog. If you are an expert in something, you can write your posts, but also an eBook or prepare a course or a digital product to sell. It is a good way to improve earnings. If you want to add a shop to your blog, use the WooCommerce plugin. You can easily find it among plugins on your WordPress dashboard.
To write and sell ab eBook you can start from the blog. Once you have a certain amount of posts with guides, tips, and so on, create the digital book and promote it through your blog. Many online platforms will help you to transform a blog into a book. Amazon can be a good way to sell it and you can make a promotion on your pages.
Paid posts. When you start to be more visible online and on search engines, brands will contact you to host written posts or articles to write about them with a link to their website. You can also offer yourself. Contact the brands you think might be interested in and propose the chance to create a blog post about them. In this case, you need to select companies more suitable for the topic you treat. Also, it is important to show them the added value that they can get to accept your proposal.
These are the main ways to monetize your blog, anyway, you are free to find some other method using your creativity and competencies. But grow the traffic so see a certain amount of money.
How to start a blog and make money: other resources
I am using WordPress and this is surely a good solution because you can work easily. A lot of tools and plugins to facilitate the task of the blogger. But you need some more tools to start a successful blog. In the previous paragraphs, I gave you some links to the main resources you will need to set up your blog and start to earn money. Now I have something more that will be as well helpful. Your work and the content are important, but they are not enough. Let me give you some more tips to get the most useful tools to make a better blog and also to make a profit.
1. Keyword Researcher
Start a blog and grow. This is your goal. So you need to focus on SEO. The first rule concerns keywords ranking on search engines and get visibility. Keyword Researcher is the best way to increase traffic. It is a software application that helps you discover long-tail keywords. Then it organizes your keywords. You can import CSV Files from the Google Keyword Tool. Write web content and plan a web-content strategy for your website.
2. Niche Website Templates
Another important aspect of a blog is related to the aspect. A good graphic helps to increase traffic and especially to reduce the bounce rate. That’s why you have to consider Niche Website Templates. It gives you a professionally designed unique website template package. It’s ideal for sales pages, landing pages, squeeze pages, and all kinds of niche websites.
3. Viddyoze
Video is becoming more important month after month. If you want to start a blog you should consider posting videos. You can create them to attract visitors and to make them remain more on your site. Viddyoze is software to realize automated animation. This is a solution to save time and create unique videos for your main topics and your blog will grow fast.
4. The 12 Minute Affiliate System
Blogging is a way to earn money, so if you want to start a blog and make a profit you need a strategy. It is all about affiliation marketing. To learn fast and to have some help you can easily follow a proven system. It is called The 12 Minute Affiliate System. It is a simple plug-and-play activation in as little as 12 short minutes. You can earn even more than $900 per day, as it happened to me.
5. Canva
This online tool will one of your best allies, especially to promote your blog on social networks. Canva enables you to create that content quickly and easily. You don’t need graphic design skills. The design offered is updated to new trends and it is highly engaging. There are many formats to realize logos and posts for social networks. You can access templates, pictures, videos, music, draws, and all that you need to realize the material you need. The free version is good, but limited so it is better to subscribe to get unlimited access to all the features. You will be able to plan your posts directly from the platform. You will create them and the system will post them on your social profiles at the right moment when you will decide.
6. Skillshare
When you start an activity online, you need some skills to face all the challenges. That’s why you should learn more about content writing and social profile management. Skillshare has thousands of video courses made by experts to support you in the learning process. There are photo and graphic lessons, tutorials to grow online, and to do marketing. I can offer you two free months on the platform with unlimited access to courses. You have only to click here.
A platform ready to support you
I am not telling you anything about WordPress or other platforms to base your blog on. This is something that will give you help with the content. It is called Airtasker and it works to outsource tasks. You can apply according to your competencies and propose yourself for specific tasks. Also, you can present yourself to people and business proposals and work for them. You will get paid. But I suggest you something else if you want to start a blog.
You can search for some help. I mean a photographer or a writer. You will get tailor-made material to create successful content. Professional people will work for you and you will see your blog rapidly grow online. Airtasker will be your ally. It is normal to work hard, but some help offers more great results. Start a blog now and search for experts on the platform. But it’s not finished. Click here to get 25$ off. It will be a profitable investment for you and your blog.
Last considerations and some answers
You are ready to create your blog and to get your domain, plus to start to promote and earn money. But maybe you need still some encouragement. Or mainly you want to clarify some doubts. I can try to answer some common questions.
You have the tools in my post, you have the way to create your blog. But do you exactly know what is it? It is whatever you want. There are texts, images, videos, information, tutorials, news. The most important parts of a blog are sharing content and interact with readers through comments. So, keep it in mind to create your site. Learn how to start a blog for free and make money. Apply the knowledge and earn online. You will be happy!
How much money can you earn?
There is no answer. Many elements influence the results. Don’t think to gain since the first post. You will need time to build trust and to get loyal followers. If they think you are an expert and you give good tips, they will continue to read it and they will become your source of income. So, if you have a job keep it, do blogging in your spare time. You have to work hard but also you can’t renounce a salary while you grow. Then, if you will have success, you won’t have any limits.
According to some researches, the average income for bloggers in the USA is $30,000. This means that you can earn less, but even more. Some bloggers get millions of dollars each year. You will need time to reach the amount of money for your living. Try to use all ways, because you have to understand the one that works better for you. Don’t count too much on ads on your site at the beginning. Low traffic won’t help you to make a profit in the first period.
What is the best niche?
Fashion, food, travel, photography, tutorials are representing the main interests and researches on the web. Anyway, they are generic and big topics. You should pick something more specific inside them. It is good to do something new and different, it will help you to catch the attention of the audience. Anyway, don’t forget your passions and competencies. This is the most important step if you want to start a blog for free and make money.
I suggest you do a market search. Find out some keywords and research them on Google. So you will find useful information about competitors and also about people’s interests. The first ten results will give you an idea about what and how. Free tools can support you in analyzing the volume of researches by keywords. I gave you a resource about keyword research. A small investment will help you also to find the best ones for your posts to rank higher.
One more tip. If you see on the top of the results on a search engine some ads, it means that those keywords are popular. Those topics are popular and profitable. Another way to find a niche is Amazon. They recognize commissions if you send buyers to their platform. Check out the programs and see the higher commissions. They indicate the popularity of items and are connected to specific arguments.
Will you lose my free blog by switching it to a self-hosted platform?
If you are just starting you can do all the processes together and it will be fast and easy. In any case, if you start for free and you choose to pass to SiteGround later, you won’t have problems transferring all your content. There are tools to import your posts and you will maintain the WordPress features. The same will be if you use Blogger.
What can you do if the domain name is already taken?
In this case, you need to choose another one. Registering with SiteGround you will get help directly from the system. It will give you all the alternatives using the same name combing the words or adding numbers, points, and so on. If they don’t like you can skip domain registration and do it later, so you have more time to think about it.
Do you need a course to use WordPress?
It is not that hard to use WordPress, but surely it can be useful to learn how to work with all the tools and features. That’s why I suggest you check the Skillshare platform. It is plenty of video tutorials made by experts. This is a good way to learn and to practice step by step improving your blog activity.
Conclusions
It is easy to start a blog and you can have success online. If you want to have more blogging tips, don’t forget to read my direct experience advice. Also, be sure to connect to your blog your social network profile. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and the other major platforms will help you to share the posts. It will be a way to attract followers and readers. The more visits you will have and the more chances to earn you will have.
If you want to get updates and read some special content, subscribe to my newsletter! You will get weekly news with something that I don’t share through the blog. Including suggestions to make money to travel.
Share this post if you like and use the comments space below to ask questions or share your experience. I will be happy to read and answer.
Here all the guides you need to have a
successful and profitable blog
Nice post!
In fact, I want to do that.
Lets see if I reach my goal! 🙂
Thank you! Your blog is really on the way. You are many steps forward. I hope you will reach your goal.
You know, I started just because of passion, without any goal to earn money, except to pay the domain, but who knows, what it will happen… 🙂