Are you eager to express yourself, share ideas, and earn income simultaneously? Consider starting a blog!

Why don’t you start blogging?

Your interest in this area suggests you’re inclined toward blogging and want to take charge of your work.

Instead of working endless hours for someone else, why not invest that time in your blogging business?

It’s not you don’t have to work, but you will be working for your blogging business, not for others.

Traditional 9-to-5 jobs often consume our time without clarity on who truly benefits. Meanwhile, precious moments with family are lost.

After earning my Ph.D., I chose blogging as my career path.

While studying, I realized the importance of working for myself, at my own pace, while contributing something meaningful to the world.

Each of us has a story that can inspire others to embark on a blogging journey.

Blogging is one of the most effective ways to engage in online marketing and content creation.

It offers the potential for a flexible, rewarding career while allowing you to express your passions and share them with a wider audience.

Blogging is now one of the most popular and lucrative methods for online marketing and content creation.

It offers the potential to start a flexible and rewarding career while allowing you to express yourself and share your passions.

With patience, consistency, and dedication, anyone can start a blog and. earn money from it.

Blogging provides a fantastic opportunity to share your ideas and knowledge with a global audience, offering a great sense of satisfaction in the process.

Begin your blogging journey today and tap into the immense potential of blogging!

Start your blogging journey today and harness the potential of blogging!

If you’re ready to create your first blog or want to learn how to monetize it but aren’t sure where to start, we can guide you on your path.

You are in the right place. By the end of this blog, you will know how to create a blog, promote it, and monetize it.

Here, I’m going to explain in simple steps.

• How to create a blog
• How to Promote the blog
• How to make money blogging

I’m confident that after reading this blog, you will be ready to start your blogging journey and develop your own website.

Let’s begin this step-by-step journey together!

Step#1: Select Your Niche and Blog Topic

If you want to write something, the first thing is which topic /subject you would choose to write the blog.

So, you first need to know How to Pick a Blog Niche (blog area) in which you want to write the blog.

You can choose the area where you feel you have good knowledge or choose where you are interested and enhance your knowledge in the future.

There are many areas in which we can write something valuable for our readers.

Some of the trending areas or niches are as follows.

And many more niches are available.

Select one of the niches for your blogging.

Example: Currently, my niche is Blogging, and my blogging topic is How to Start a Blog.

Remember, choosing a niche for your first blog doesn’t mean you have to stick with it forever.

If it is required, you can change your niche based on your area of understanding, interest, and learning.

So, do not worry and start your first blog.

Before going to the next session, you should have 2 things ready: Blog Niche and Topic Name.

Example: Suppose you decide to start a food blogging, though the food is a very vast area so you should curtail it down. You could focus on oil-free foods or vegan food or even focus on only infant food and recipes.

By this, you reduce your competition and create a niche area for yourself.

Blog Broader Niche = Food, Blog Narrow Niche= Oil Free Food, Topic Name = 3 Great Healthy Oil-free Breakfast

In my case

• Blog Niche: Blogging
• Topic Name: How To Start A Blog

Step#2: Select the Blogging Platform

In the previous step, you selected 2 things: Blog Niche and Blog Topic.

Now, let’s move forward.

There are many blogging platforms in the market as follows.

• Blogger
• WordPress.org
• WordPress.com
• Squarespace
• Tumblr
• Gator

And many more are available.

The other leading blogger & I selected is WordPress.org after doing research.

More than 40% of the websites that you see on the internet are using WordPress programs.

There are 2 things: wordpress.org and wordPress.com. Generally, if we say WordPress 90% time, we are talking about wordpress.org.

In case of any confusion , you can go thrugh our blog WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

In case of any confusion in choosing a blogging platform, you can refer to our guide on choose best blog writing platforms.

You should select free WordPress.org for your blogging, as it has many features that would surprise you from time to time.

It is free and provides the best features.

So, till this point, you have selected the blogging Platform as WordPress (WordPress.org).

My blogging platform is also WordPress.org

So next you should select WordPress.org as your blogging platform.

Step#3 : Decide Domain Name & Web Hosting Plan

Until now, you have selected the 3 things; in my case, it is as follows.

• Blog Niche: Blogging
• Topic Name: How To Start A Blog
• Blogging Platform: WordPress (WordPress.org)

Now, let’s move to a domain and hosting topic.

There are many web hosting providers in the Market, but before starting, you need to understand the 2 words Domain name and Webhosting.

What is a Domain Name?

It is your website name.

In my case, my website name is mssaro.com, so here, mssaro is my domain name.

So, you have to decide your Domain name,

The Domain name you have to purchase.

But sometimes you can get this free (for one year) while purchasing the Hosting plan.

You’ll see how to get a free domain name in a few minutes.

You need to first check whether your domain name is available or not.

Check Your Domain name Availability

Choosing the right domain name is a crucial step in establishing your online presence.

Before you start building your website, you need to ensure that your desired domain name is available.

Checking domain name availability is a foundational step in creating your online brand.

By using search tools, considering various extensions, and ensuring legal soundness, you can secure a domain name that effectively represents your business.

Remember to keep it short, memorable, and consistent with your brand identity. Once you’ve done your research and made your choice, act quickly to register your domain.

Starting your online journey with the right domain sets the stage for success, so take the time to make a thoughtful decision. Happy hunting!

What is Web Hosting?

It is where you keep your website running to be accessible worldwide on the internet.

Web hosting you have to purchase.

Sometimes web hosting you can get free, but it comes with limitations, you are restricted to many things on such free hosting.

Pro Tip:

Based on my experience, purchasing dedicated hosting is a more effective way to monetize your website.

So now let’s continue, I will explain web hosting, which I and many reputed bloggers have trusted.

That is BlueHost, one of the world’s most reputed Web Hosting providers.

Why did I Select this Bluehost?

• Great Reputation It has a very good reputation among the other Hosting providers, which develops trust in Bluehost.
• Free Domain (for the first year): If you purchase the hosting from the Bluehost, the Domain name will be free for the first year, from next year onwards it will renew at $ 7.99/m (for basic plan). Initially, you should save money and invest only in an area you cannot ignore.
• 50 GB SSD storage: Even in a basic plan, it initially provides 50 GB SSD storage, which is quite good.
• Great Customer support: It has great customer support, which is important in the web hosting plan. It has 24/7 support, which has been very helpful in my journey. Whenever I used to get stuck, on an immediate basis, I got support via chat, and it saved a lot of time from googling(searching for solutions on the internet). As a website owner, you can encounter many technical problems during your blogging journey, so customer support should be great.
• Easy to handle: It has a very easy user interface that can be understood quickly. Also, it has proper documentation for many areas.

In the beginning, You can select the basic plan; in the future, you can easily upgrade this if required.

If you purchase the Hosting from the Blue host, so Domain name is free for one year.

Let’s see step by step how to get the Hosting with a Domain name.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you ever feel confused or need any assistance during this process.

Step #1: Click the below button to select the Hosting Plan.

Disclosure:

Please note that some links include affiliate links that have no additional cost to you; I‘ll earn a little commission out of it, which helps me create quality and well-researched content completely free for my readers. I recommend only those products which personally I feel are helpful for my reader’s blogging journey.

Step #2: Select BASIC Plan in Bluehost

You will see many plans like Basic, Choice Plus, Pro, etc.

Start with the BASIC plan, you can always upgrade it later as needed.

Note: These price may vary as Bluehost update the price as and when required.

Step #3: Once you select any plan, the next Domain setup page is displayed, where you have 3 options.

1. Create a New Domain: If you do not have a domain name, you can create a free Domain name for the first year. And follow the steps that Bluehost provides.
2. Use a Domain you Own: If you have purchased the domain name from somewhere and it exists with you, choose the second one.
3. I’ll create my domain later: Also, you have 3rd option if, at this time, you don’t want to create a Domain, so choose the below one. Do not worry; later, you can create this.

So not having a domain name, choose option 1. In this way, while buying hosting you will get a free domain worth $1.99/ m.

If you have your domain name, choose option 2.

If you want to create a domain name later, choose option 3

You can choose any option based on your requirements.

I am selecting 3^rd option, Account creation page is displayed.

You can create your account by submitting the information below or using a Google account.

Fill in all the above information.

Bluehost also provides some extra packages. Ensure to uncheck not required packages.

Otherwise, it would be included in the total cost.

Step #4: Now fill in the Payment information details below.

And submit the page. And you will see the below purchase success page.

Step #5: Create Password Now, the time to create your password, fill out below.

Now login to your Blue host portal.

Get Started and Click here to head over to Bluehost.

Step #6: WordPress Installation

Bluehost installs the WordPress automatically,

As soon as you log in to your Bluehost portal first time, it quickly starts your WordPress installation.

After completing this, you can see the WordPress admin Dashboard.

Congratulations! You can see the WordPress dashboard.

Step# 4: Select a Look and Feel (Theme) of your Blog

Till this step, you should have 5 things ready with you.

In my case, it is as follows

• Blog Niche: Blogging
• Topic Name: How To Start A Blog
• Blogging Platform: WordPress (WordPress.org)
• Domain Name: mssaro <your website name>
• Host Name: Bluehost

Now it’s time to enrich your website look and feel.

When someone looks at your website or blog page, they get the first impression of your website. Your website look must be impressive.

But yes, it doesn’t come in one day; it takes some time.

Many free /paid themes are available, and you can choose anyone who can provide a great view.

I started using Astra, which is quite good and lightweight. Some of the properties of the Astra theme are as follows.

Performance: As far as performance is concerned, it is very impressive, and its load time is less.

Customization: It has a lot of customization options that can be used in no time.

Learning curve: It has a proper training document, which is very helpful.

Astra has a free and premium version as well. Astra’s free version has a lot of things to implement.

Initially, you should try the free version, and after some time, if you feel good, replace this with the premium version.

You can download the Astra theme from here.

Also you can check GeneratePress & OceanWP theme.

WordPress also provides some free themes as Twenty Twenty-Four , Twenty Twenty-Three, you can try those. as well

Now, let’s see how we can install a theme in WordPress. Mainly there are 2 ways to install the theme in WordPress.

1. Through the WordPress Dashboard Portal- search theme and install and activate the theme.
2. If we have a theme in a Zip file, upload the theme and activate this.

In detail, you can see all the steps in the Install a Theme blog.

Select your theme as per your requirement.

Step#5: Write Your First Blog

Till this step, you should have 6 things ready with you.

In my case, it is as follows

• Blog Niche: Blogging
• Topic Name: How To Start A Blog
• Blogging Platform: WordPress (WordPress.org)
• Domain Name: mssaro <your website name>
• Host Name: Bluehost
• Theme: Astra <your website look and feel theme>

Are you writing your first post and confused about what to write?

For example, my first blog was on Should I Start a Blog as I was learning this then.

So, my suggestion for your first blog is to write for that where you have some learning.

Or, during this blog creation journey, if you are learning new things that you feel are helpful for readers, you can write on that.

You can also refer to my guide to writing your first blog.

Do not overthink about your first blog. It will not make a ton of money in 1 to 2 days.

Your consistent writing and learning will help you earn a lot through your blogging.

Remember, without any promotion, you will not taste the success in blogging.

Let’s check how to create a Blog Post in WordPress.

How to Create a Blog Post in WordPress

In your, WordPress DashBoard click on Posts–> Add New

You would get the Blog Post page where you can start writing the blog.

Above is Gutenberg Editor, which is very powerful and works on a block basis.

This means each item, like Paragraph, Image, Video, etc., would be added as a block in our blog post.

You can add your Blog Post title and use the + tool to add anything.

Now, you can start your blogging journey and hit the first Blog Post.

Step#6: Install the WordPress Essential Plug-in

Initially, I would recommend installing one essential SEO plug-in named Yoast SEO, which is free and would take care of your on-page SEO-related things. That would play a vital role in driving traffic to your blog pages.

You can download Yoast SEO from here.

You can also refer to some important plug-ins for WordPress.

Step#7: Promote Your Blog / Generate Traffic for Your Blog

Now you have come to the essential part of promoting your blog?

Content creation is essential, but we can’t ignore the power of blog promotion.

Here, blog promotion plays an important role.

Suppose you wrote an excellent blog after researching and spending 15-20 days, but you haven’t done anything for its promotion.
The result is that very few people would be able to read your blog, and your hard work would be wasted.

Best work should come in front of readers. And without promotion, it is not possible.

You have created your first blog and need to promote this blog.

There are many ways to promote the blog. Here, I am explaining the prominent 5 ways to promote this.

1. First, Submit your Website (XML sitemap file) to Search Engines (Google, Bing, etc.)

Your pages should be visible to popular search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.

At least initially, do for Google.

This would increase your organic search.

For that, you need to follow the below steps.

Step1# Create / Find your XML Sitemap file First: 

I am talking about an XML sitemap file, not an HTML sitemap file.

An XML sitemap lists all the important pages of a blog, ensuring that Google’s bots can crawl and index these pages for better ranking.

To learn more about sitemaps, check our sitemap guide for beginners.

You need to find/create a SiteMap XML file for your website.

Normally sitemap file is created automatically; you can refer to my blog on find your sitemap file.

Tip: You can install the free version of Yoast SEO; it creates a sitemap file automatically. I am using Yoast SEO.

After installing the Yoast SEO plug-in, go to Yoast –> General —>Features and on the XML sitemaps option

The XML sitemap file location of my website is as below

https://mssaro.com/sitemap_index.xml

Step 2# Submit this XML Sitemap file to the Google Search Console (Google):

Now, you have to submit the site map file to Google.

You can check my detailed blog on submitting sitemap to search engines.

2. Proper SEO With Excellent Quality Posts:

SEO stands for search engine optimization.

Mainly, SEO comes in 2 Parts as below.

1. On-Page SEO:

On-page SEO is a cornerstone of search engine optimization, playing a pivotal role in how well your website ranks on search engines.

By focusing on keywords, quality content, meta tags, proper use of headers, and a clean URL structure, you can significantly enhance your site’s visibility and attract more organic traffic.

With regular updates and continuous optimization, on-page SEO can yield long-term benefits, making it a critical ongoing effort for any digital marketing strategy.

To earn organic traffic, whatever you do on your blog post page /website.

Example: Optimize the page with keywords.

2. Off-Page SEO:

Off-page SEO includes all the activities that you and others do away from your website to raise the ranking of a page within search engines.

Unlike on-page SEO, which deals with the optimization of the site’s content and code, off-page SEO focuses on improving the perception and authority of your site.

To earn traffic, whatever you do apart from your website/pages

Example: To earn backlinks

Try to understand On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO and slowly start implementing those techniques.

You can install the free Yoast-SEO plug-in. It would take care of on-page SEO things.

Its free version has a lot of things.

Initially, you would not be required to purchase this.
After installing, read some tutorials on configuring Yoast-SEO and complete this.

3. Use Social media:

Social media plays a vital role in promoting your blogs.

On Social platforms, millions of users are active daily; those can be your potential readers.

So, in the initial phase of blogging, if you want to rapidly increase your reader count, social media is the best one to use.

Many social media networks exist nowadays. But initially, you can try for 3.

YouTube: For video, you can use this. It is one of the most significant search engines in the world for videos.

Facebook: For posting your videos and blog, it is one of the largest user-based platforms. Daily, it has around 2 million active users.

Twitter: Posting your blog or news is the best one.

So, you can use social media to boost your traffic.

4. Email Marketing:

Email marketing is an effective way to promote your blog.

In this, you have to sign up with one email service provider. After sign-up, you have to put a short sign-up form across your essential blog pages for a reader subscription.

If any reader subscribes to you through this sign-up form, you get the email ID of that reader.

And in the email service, all such mail IDs are adequately organized with valuable data.

Imagine you start with 100 subscribers. When you publish a new post, an email service can instantly send it to all 100 subscribers. That’s pretty impressive!

So, in the beginning, use some free email service, and once you get many subscribers, you can choose a good one. You can try Mailchimp initially.

Other mail services like Brevo, MailerLite, and Sender are also you can check.

5. Integrate Google Analytics with your Website

Google Analytics is a Google’s free tool to track your website’s visitor behavior..

You need to analyze your website’s daily traffic. And for that, Google Analytics is one of the best free tools.

Why Google Analytics?

Best Traffic Analysis of your Website

• Track where your visitors are coming from
• What they’re doing on your website,
• How long they stay on your website.
• Identify your most popular pages and understand user behavior at a granular level.
• From which device are they hitting your website, like Mobile, iPad, Desktop, etc

Get Real-Time Data

See what’s happening on your website at any moment with real-time reports.

Use Google Analytics Mobile App

Monitor your key metrics anytime, anywhere with the Google Analytics mobile app.

Advanced Audience Insights

You can segment your audience by demographics, interests, geography, and more.

Integration with Many Other Tools

You can easily integrate with other essential tools like Google Ads, Google Search Console, and more.

Get Customizable Reports

You can create custom dashboards and reports that align with your business objectives.is tool, you can track.

And many more things that you would see once you integrate your website with Google Analytics.

In a one sentence, You can not miss Google Analytics.

You can refer how to set up Google Analytics for a website.

You can also search google analytic setup tutorials on YouTube and Google.

Note: Use the latest tutorial only.

Step#8: Monetize Your Blog (How to make money from the blog)

There are many ways by which you can make money from your blog, but here I am explaining only 2 ways in the beginning.

1. Advertising: 

You can show the ad on your blog and can earn money. It is one of the simplest ways to earn money.

For beginners, the first name comes as Google AdSense, the Google ad program launched in 2003. You can get approval from Google AdSense and start showing the ads on your blog.

Google AdSense is the reputed one you can trust on this without any doubt.

Their Ads are of good quality and shown on your blog. If readers click on Ad so through clicking you earn some bucks.

Many other Ad networks are also available, but in the beginning, you should start with the simple and reputed one.

As the day passes and your blog gets high traffic, you can try another ad network (Google AdSense Alternatives)

2. Affiliate Marketing :

In this, companies pay bloggers to promote their products through your blogging.

For this purpose, you must use your blog’s affiliate links.

Let’s understand this with some examples:

• Assume company ABC has one product XYZ.
• You start analyzing and using XYZ product, and if you strongly feel that this product is really good and helpful, you share this product with your blog readers in the form of an affiliate link.
• If your blog reader clicks this affiliate link and purchases XYZ products, you earn a small commission at no extra cost to your blog readers.
• In this way, you earn money, which is a very effective way of earning money.

You can do Affiliate Marketing in many areas like Health, Education, Fashion, Online Teaching, etc.

There are many other ways to earn money through your blog. You can check our detailed Guide for How to make money blogging.

Conclusion:

Finally, it can be summarized what are the important points you should keep in your mind during the blog creation journey.

In this blog creation process, You have seen for creating, promoting, and earning you should have the following items.

• Blog Niche: <Your selected blog niche>
• Topic Name: <Your first blog name>
• Blogging Platform: WordPress (WordPress.org)
• Domain Name: <your website name>
• Host Name: Bluehost<Hosting Account>
• Theme: Astra<your website look and feel theme>
• Blog Promotion: Through search engines, Social media, Email
• Earn Money: Through Affiliate Marketing and Google Ad sense

From my side, I tried to put most of the important and little things related to Starting a New Blog.

But still, If you face any problem creating your blog, please feel free to drop a message in the comment section. I would be happy to help you.

Now it is your turn to start a blog, do not overthink, and write your first blog.

Infographics: How to Start a Blog and convert this into a Profitable Business

Last But Not Least

Create your Blog Editorial Calendar and stick to publishing the blog on the decided date. I know it is not easy.

Also, Start creating YouTube Videos to promote your blog.

Develop consistency in publishing the Blog and YouTube Video.

Work on On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO

Optimize the image in your blogs; it will improve your website performance.

Continuously analyze your blogging site traffic data through the free Google Analytics tool.

Make the habit of using Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Trends, and Google Keyword Planner; all are free.

Create your blog & video promotion strategy and keep promoting those.

Keep working on the quality of your blog and video content.

What is Next?

If you still have some confusion about starting a blog, you can refer my blog Should I start a Blog.

I would suggest before starting your blogging journey if you have time, so go through my blog Blogging Mistakes to Avoid and rectify, which would help you a lot from the beginning.

If you want to know the cost of creating a blog, you can refer to my guide, How much does it cost to start a blog.

After starting your blog journey, blog promotion is important to boost your traffic.

If you don’t promote your blog properly, you will not get significant traffic, and consequently, earnings will be impacted hugely. So, you need to check Blog Promotion Checklist.

Also, nowadays, YouTube has become a massive source of traffic. You can use youtube to drive traffic to your website . Also, you can refer to our blog How to start a YouTube Channel.

You can not ignore the power of Facebook to drive traffic; you can get a good amount of traffic from Facebook. You can read our blog How to create Facebook Business Page.

Also, check How to get traffic from Quora.

I believe, till this time you have a better understanding of how you can start your blogging journey. But if you have any doubt, you can ask in comment section.

Keep Smiling, and Start Sharing!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on How to Start a Blog and Make Money