Are you trying to find out how to create a blog for free and make money?
If your answer to that question is yes, then let me tell you that you’re not alone, I was actually in the same situation where you are right now, maybe a couple of years ago, and yes I got my answers.
Now, here’s another question that I’m going to ask you as well…
Are you trying to learn how to make money with a blog? If your answer to that question is yes, then you’ve just arrived at the right place. In this article, I’ll show you everything you need to know about how to start a blog the right way, and I’ll share some awesome resources about how to make money blogging.
Let’s get right in…
Table of Contents: [hide]
How to Create a Blog and Make Money
- Find Something You Would Love to Blog About
- Select a Hosting Company
- Get Started with WordPress
- What do I do Next?
How to Create a Blog and Make Money
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It’s actually easier and faster than you really think.
If you want to start a blog, then you need to choose a blogging platform, there are several different blogging platforms that you can choose from: WordPress, Blogger, Wix, Weebly, etc.
All of them have their pros and cons, but the most popular blogging platform so far is WordPress, and there are a couple of reasons for that. It’s the most flexible, offers many functionalities and there’s also a community of users who are willing to help each other out.
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I personally use and recommend WordPress.
When you want to create a blog with WordPress, you basically have two options: hosted blogs and self-hosted blogs.
Hosted WordPress blogs, also known as WordPress.com blogs, are a free option offered by this platform but it limits your potential for generating income. This is because they don’t allow certain types of monetization options.
Self-hosted WordPress blogs, also called WordPress.org blogs, requires you to make a small investment in a hosting company but it gives you much more control, and it doesn’t limit your potential for generating income.
In this article, we are going to talk about how to create a blog with WordPress and the only investment you’re going to make is less than $50. You’ll be able to setup your blog and be ready to start learning how to make money with a blog.
Yes, I know there are also other platforms out there that you can use in order to create your blog, but none of them will allow you to create a perfect blog with great design and the simplicity you have with WordPress.
So let’s get started…
- Find Something You Would Love to Blog About
Blog about something you really enjoy. If you aren’t excited about your topic, then it would be really hard for you to write about it for years, you’ll get bored very quickly. Who wants that? If you don’t blog about something you love, then you will be failing before even starting.
Also, make sure that your topic is something with plenty of room for discussion. When you create a blog you need to know that it will require a lot of content to get going and still after years remain interesting. You’ll be doing this for many hours, so make sure you have plenty to talk about.
Here’s a list of some broad topics that you can choose from, or at least start thinking:
Education
Charity
Music
Celebrities
Personal Stories
Humor and Fun
Myths
History
Sports
Recipes
Politics
Global warming
Parenthood
DIY
Home remedies
Life Hacks
Products reviews
Family
Gaming
Travel
This is just to give you an idea of the topics you can explore before creating your blog, it really doesn’t matter, as long as you are passionate about it.
- Select a Hosting Company
Like I mentioned before, if you want to start a blog and make money, then you need to go with the Self-Hosted WordPress Blogging platform, that way you have all much more control about your blog and you’re not limited with your income potential.
Now, in order for your blog to be accessible to other people around the world, you need to have a hosting plan or server space. There are many hosting companies that you can choose from, but the one I use and recommend for you as well is Ipage.
Check out my iPage review and also use this link to get a special deal with a 75% discount!
Here’s what you get, and the reason why I started my blog with Ipage several years ago and would also recommend the same thing for you.
Great price to start off with your first blog with an excellent hosting.
A free domain name for 1 year.
$500 on credits for advertising and marketing tools.
Free WordPress installer (less than 5 minutes).
30 days money back guarantee.
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Now, once you open the link, just follow these instructions:
- Click on the Get started Now Button (Look at the image above)
Once you do this, you’ll be directed to a different page in which you can select a free domain name for a whole year, this is also part of the special offer (A domain name is a service that usually pays around $10/year). - Now you have to register you Free domain name
Your domain name will be your blog’s web address. For example, webseomarketers.com is my blog’s domain name.
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If you don’t have any idea of what domain name you can use, or what you want is already taken, don’t worry, you can use your name, or think about something short and easy to remember.
If you have previously registered a domain name and you want to use for this new blog, you can do that as well, I’ll give instructions on how to get it transferred over in just a moment.
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Make sure you click on choose my item, and let’s move on to the next step…
- Select your Plan
You can choose the plan you’d like to start with, with you go for the 3 years, then you’ll get the lowest price starting at $1.99/mo, 2 years will be $2.45/mo and 1 year will be $2.99/mo.
How to Create a Blog, How to Create a Blog for free, how to start a blog, how to start a blog for freeI typically recommend going for the 3 years if you can, because you will not have to worry about your hosting plan for a whole 3 year period, plus you get the cheapest price. If you are on a low budget, don’t worry, just go for the 1-year term.
- Customize your Plan with Extra Features
At this point you’ll see a few extra features that you can add in order to customize your hosting plan, I’d recommend adding Domain Privacy if you can afford it, this will hide your personal contact information and keep it protected for $9.99/year, otherwise just make sure everything is unchecked and you’ll pay the lowest price for only the hosting plan.
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Check out the total amount, make sure that everything is correct and then click on Continue to payment.
- Enter your billing info
Here you just need to complete all the fields with your billing information, you can make your payment with a credit or debit card, as well as a PayPal account.
Make sure that everything is correct and just hit Purchase Now.
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Once you complete this step, you will receive an email with your login information and a temporary password, follow the instructions on how to change your password and login to your new hosting account.
Now you’re almost done, your blog will be live in just a couple of minutes…
- Get Started with WordPress
So, now our next step is to install WordPress on your new hosting account and start working on how your blog will look like.
As soon as you change your password to something you’ll never forget (My advice, save your password in a place where you can always find it, in case you forget it), you can go ahead and login to your new hosting account, and this is what you’ll see…
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All you need to do here is just click on the WordPress icon (please follow the arrow), you will now be taken to a WordPress installation wizard that will do all the work for you.
This is how the setup wizard will look like, all you have to do here is just select the domain name where WordPress will be installed, leave everything else as it is and click on Next.
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If you’re transferring a domain that you’ve preiously registered with another company, first take a look at the following turorial and go back to the previous step: How to transfer your domain name from another hosting company
Now, just confirm that you want to overwrite the directory and click on “Next”. You’re almost done with this and we’ll head over to your new blog.
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Now you’re going to add your blog’s title, this is typically the same as the blog’s name, in my case is “Web SEO Marketers“, also an admin username, you will use this everytime you login to your blog, make sure it’s something that you can remember and don’t use “Admin“.
Also here you’re going to add the email address where you want to receive all notifications about your blog, like when someone leaves a comment, and last you’ll set up your password, make sure is not easy to guess.
Check all the little boxes below and click on “Next”.
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Now just give it a couple of minutes, maybe 3 minutes and your WordPress will be installed. Once WordPress is already installed you will get a confirmation email letting you know your username and password and giving you instructions to access your WordPress blog.
You can now close your hosting panel, just go back there when it’s time to pay your bill.
Here’s what you need to do next…
In order to access your WordPress blog, you’ll type in your blog’s URL in your browser like this “mydomainname.com/wp-admin“. This is how you’ll be able to log in.
Remember the username and password you’ve created before?? Here’s where you use it.
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This is how your WordPress panel will look like:
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The black column on the left is your WordPress dashboard, you will soon become very familiar with all the options there.
Also, keep in mind that you don’t have any content on your blog yet, therefore you need to start working on a few things before making your blog visible to others, you don’t want any visitors to come to your blog and just find nothing.
[1] When you are ready to get your blog live, all you have to do is just click on the link indicated in the image above.
This is how your blog will look to any visitors until you’ve added some content and personalized your blog a little bit.
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Here’s a list of all the things you need to do before your blog is ready to go live, just click on what you need and you’ll have all the instructions step by step:
- Install your first WordPress theme
- Install recommended plugins
- Write a great about page
- Write your first blog post
My recommendation is that you take care of these 4 steps that I mentioned above and write at least 5-10 useful articles before your blog goes live.
Don’t worry if you’re not a good writer or if it takes you very long to write an article, that’s ok, we’ve all been through that, just give yourself time and you’ll get better.
- What do I do Next?
After you create a blog and take care of all the basic steps before your blog goes live, then is time to start building your content. Give your future readers something to read.
Write high-quality posts on a consistent basis. Keep in mind that your main goal is to become the go-to resource in your topic or niche.
Once you’ve published some excellent posts, start building your presence in social media. Follow influencers and share every article you publish, little by little your audience will grow and your blog will become more popular.
Don’t forget to check out all the resources I have here for you, just to help you continue your blogging journey, here’s a couple of them: