I started a blog that lets me write about the things I love, share ideas with an audience of awesome readers, and has turned into a multi-million dollar business. If you’ve been daydreaming about creating a blog during yet another endless conference call, read on.
The first thing to know is that if you’re interested in something, lots of other people are, too. I have obscure interests like “the best iron” and “the best habanero salsa” — and there are profitable blogs out there on those exact topics!
That means if you have something you’re passionate about, you can start a blog and attract great readers. And if you want, you can turn it into a profitable website.
It does take work, though. Don’t let any articles fool you — you can’t just push a button and print money. If you follow the steps below, you’ll get a shortcut to starting a blog and sharing your passion with the world.
A great blog involves research, content strategy, and a fresh perspective.
So, if you have a story to tell or a niche to fill, it’s time to learn how to start a blog and unleash your creativity.
It’s tempting to write about general topics like “productivity” or “dancing.” Avoid the temptation and narrow your focus. Tell us your unique point of view and share your distinct voice.
When I started, there were lots of books and sites about money. But I focused on the psychology of money and I wrote for young people (using language that young people use). This meant that people who came to my site could instantly tell if they liked me or not.
Some said, “No thanks” and left. Not a problem — my blog isn’t for everyone. But others said, “I’ve never heard someone talk about money like this” and kept reading. Many of those people have been reading me for 10+ years. Some have spent over $10,000 with me.
There are two main questions you should ask yourself when setting up your blog and choosing your focus. 
Do I enjoy learning about this subject? You can tell when someone truly enjoys what they’re writing about…vs someone who’s following some gimmicky SEO template to get traffic. If you’re writing something you truly love, you’re going to get real people who follow you, comment on your material, and share it — which builds even more authority. On the flip side, if you don’t particularly like a topic, it’ll quickly surface in your writing. I can tell when I wrote something boring or flat because my readers are bored, too!
Still not sure? Think about what your close friends and family talk to you about. What do they ask for your advice on? What do you love sharing with your friends?
Do you know the best secret hiking spots in your state? Do your vegan recipes on Instagram get the most engagement? Let these answers guide your blog focus. Don’t worry if others have already written about the topic. Nobody has written about it like you will. 
Next, “Does this already exist?” It’s fine if you have competitors. You’ll use your voice, your examples, and your focus to stand out.
I know what it feels like in the beginning. You might think that a blog centered around crocheting crafts out of found materials is unique. Lo-and-behold, after a little Googling, you find a blog floating around focused on that exact niche. But don’t worry — that person can never match your passion and your experience.
Remember, competition is a good thing — it means other people are interested in the topic. So focus on being different than your competition by doubling down on what you love, what you believe, and what you want to show your readers.
As a guy who chose the name I Will Teach You To Be Rich for my blog, you might be asking yourself: What the hell is this guy going to teach me about naming right now?
Well, like it or not, the blog name tells you exactly what to expect: Someone who is going to teach you to be rich. It’s a big, brash promise — and if I’ve done my job, it delivers.
I would never call it “Personal Finance Management.” It’s boring and it sounds like everyone else! Use these ideas as you think of your own blog name.
Finding a name for your blog might seem intimidating at first, but don’t overthink it. Here are some tips to remember when you’re brainstorming your blog name:
You can keep your domain name as long as you continue to pay your annual fees, which typically run $10 to $15 per year.
So, you’ve chosen a niche around perfecting the art of macramé on a budget and named it. Now, what? The next step is to select your web host.
Web hosting is a service that makes your blog accessible through the web – it has a significant impact on your site’s overall functionality and its performance.
There’s a vast array of web hosts to choose from at all price points, from a few dollars to thousands. Above all, a good web host will walk you through setting up and launching your blog.
You have two options here: hosted (Blogger, WordPress.com) and self-hosted (WordPress.org). “Hosted” blogging platforms, like Wix or Squarespace, offer a hands-off approach to your blog. You deal with one company, and all of your content and files live on the blog platform’s servers. These platforms manage data and web hosting, so you don’t have to.
Unfortunately, hosted platforms can be limiting and slow down the growth of your blog. Some might even put restrictions on how much money you can make from your content. Or you might be prohibited from monetizing at all.
“Self-hosted” platforms require you to install blogging software on your own web server.
Self-hosted platforms like WordPress.org allow you to set up and maintain your blog with a unique domain and web hosting. If you want to sell products, sell a service, or run ads, this is the right choice.
You’ve probably heard of WordPress’s blogging platform already, and there’s a reason for that – it’s easy to use and powerful. WordPress also delivers tons of free plugins you can leverage to customize and optimize your blog. My suggestion: Use WordPress.
New bloggers may not realize they should protect their blog by doing some basic security housekeeping tasks. 
Backing up your blog should be one of the first things you do after setting up your blog. While it’s rare that a web host will lose or delete your site, it can still happen. 
But your site suddenly disappearing isn’t the biggest threat to your blog — hackers are.
Hackers and other cybercriminals can infect your site with malicious code. 
If the worst-case scenario occurs, but you have a backup of your blog available, you can restore a clean version of your website. 
Copyrights need to be respected, especially when it comes to the visual elements of your blog. 
Small-time bloggers are often the victims of what is called “Copyright Trolls.” Well-meaning bloggers might accidentally use copyrighted images to add visual interest to their content. 
Copyright lawyers can sue you for damages based on the use of a copyrighted image, even if the lawyer doesn’t own the copyright or represent the entity with the copyright. As a result, bloggers can be bilked out of money. 
How do you avoid this? Never use copyrighted images for your blog posts. If you’re not sure, it’s better to be safe than sorry and choose an image you’re confident that you can use.
It’s actually very easy to find images available for free through the public domain or free stock photo sites. For example, in Google Images, click Advanced Search and sort by “Usage” to see different image rights. Be sure to credit the website and artist.
A step above using free images you find on the internet is to use your own graphics. Smartphones offer basic but helpful editing tools, and you can get surprisingly high-quality photos. Websites like Canva offer free tools you can use to create blog header graphics and other visual elements you can insert into your text to make your posts look more attractive.
Besides securing your blog, you should also take steps to protect your personal identity. Your web host should offer a domain privacy service that keeps your personal information private.
Besides domain privacy, avoid sharing identifying details in your blog like where you live, your schedule, names, and other similar details.
Although this might seem like a no-brainer, there’s evidence that millions of people still using passwords like “password,” “abc123,” and other easily-guessed combos. 
Here are some basic password tips to keep in mind:
You can use a password manager like LastPass if you’re concerned about forgetting a complex password. 
Now for the fun stuff. Installing a theme for your blog is a straightforward task, but it can take time to accomplish since there are thousands of free themes to explore.
While it’s essential to ensure that your blog is attractive and user-friendly, it’s equally important that it complements your blog content. If you’re working on a WordPress site, look for themes that say “SEO optimized”, “responsive” or “fast loading” themes.
Many free themes can make sites look odd when viewed on a mobile device, or make for increased page speed (aka the time it takes a page to properly load). For users on sites like squarespace or Wix, you shouldn’t have to worry about these potential issues. 
For example, if you’re starting an urban photography blog, a theme emphasizing visuals is preferable to text-oriented themes.
To get more relevant results, you can apply filters while searching for themes like designs based around your blog subject, for instance.
Before you start posting regularly, it’s smart to add a few basic, standard pages to your blog to boost your website’s credibility.
Your “About Me” page should explain who you are and the focus of your blog. Spend time making it interesting and fun. 
Readers are often interested in getting to know you and how you started your industry or niche. You don’t have to write an entire autobiography, just describe how you got to the point you’re at now. Over everything else, be relatable. 
For example, show your readers that you’re a credible source. Why should they listen to you? What experience do you have that makes you knowledgeable on this specific topic? If you’re writing a finance blog, are you a CPA? If you’re sharing recipes, what do you bring to the table that will make your audience want to listen to you? A coupon-cutter, perhaps? 
Tell your readers how long you’ve been doing it, how much money you save, and why they can benefit from the information you’re sharing.
If you want to monetize your blog, you’ll need to make sure you comply with all laws regarding data collection, privacy, and advertising. Adding standard disclosure language is an essential step if you want to make money.
You should also note your commenting policy. For example, do you allow anyone to comment? Do you ever delete comments? Are there commenting rules?
It’s important to make it easy for readers and businesses to contact you. Set up a dedicated page with an embedded contact form or just list out your email — speaking of which…
Another step you should take during the initial phases of your blog set up is registering a customized blog email address. At the outset, this may not seem all that important to you.
But details matter — especially to your readership and people who might reach out to you for partnerships, content writing services, and other reasons. 
A professional email that matches your blog looks professional, credible, and helps build up your brand’s authority. An email from an email address with tons of numbers and a mishmash of letters can look spammy. If you’re unlucky enough, any email sent from a suspicious-looking email can be automatically filed to the “junk” category of your recipient’s mailbox.
As a professional blog owner, you don’t want to be confused with a Nigerian prince who needs a one-time investment to set up a new school playground. 
An email that’s simply [email protected] lends polish to your brand and can help you monetize your blog later. Nobody wants to do business with [email protected] 
When you’ve done all the hard parts on your actual blog, it’s time to branch out to the world of social media. Social media is another channel you can use to alert followers to new posts and attract new visitors and more traffic. 
Many social media platforms also allow you to set up ads that you can use to extend your blog’s reach. 
Have a post on your blog that is performing well? You may want to consider targeting ads for it to get even more people on the page. Or, maybe you have an underperforming post you revamped — you might consider sending more traffic to that post with social media ads.
Below are some basic social media tips and which platforms to target.
Set up a Twitter profile for your blog (here’s my twitter account as an example). Add a Tweet button to all blog posts you publish on your blog so followers can easily retweet them. 
Follow other big names within your niche and interact with people in the industry already. Tweet out alerts for new posts.
Set up a Facebook page for your blog. Share your content on Facebook, schedule posts, and invite friends and families to like your page.
Set up an Instagram page. Here’s my Instagram page as an example. Find compelling images and use tools that allow for longer, evenly spaced captions to publish snippets of full-length blog posts or even exclusive “mini-blogs.”
Although this is a platform for building a professional network, almost any blog can still be relevant to a professional audience. Obviously, a blog about marketing is going to be more relevant to a wider group of people on LinkedIn, but don’t write it off if your blog is more niche. 
LinkedIn provides the ability to connect with other bloggers and thought leaders within your industry. My LinkedIn is here.
SEO or search engine optimization is crucial, especially if you want to monetize your blog. SEO helps improve your site’s chances of appearing high on Google’s rankings for relevant search queries.
Although SEO can be intimidating at the outset, WordPress actually makes it pretty simple – even for beginners. 
One of the best ways to get started on your blog’s SEO journey is by downloading a plugin called Yoast SEO. Yoast can give you readability ratings, keyword density, and point out pages on your blog that need a little SEO boost.
If you want to do a deeper dive into SEO, you can also conduct some keyword research. In most cases, you’ll naturally be using keywords as a result of providing valuable content around a particular subject. 
But SEO tools like SEMrush, for example, can suggest alternate keywords to incorporate. Just don’t get too hung up on keywords and stuff too many in your posts, because Google can penalize your blog for doing so.
Once you have the keywords you want to target, use them in your title, title tags, first sentence, heading, subheadings, and any anchor text you use (the text you link to related pages on your website).
You can also optimize your images for SEO. When you upload images to your blog, use keywords in the file name, and use the alternate text space to write a keyword-rich description.
In most cases, it’ll take a few years to build an audience. Yes, years.
Here are a few blog tips to help nurture a loyal blog following and audience:
Not every blog post you write will be award-winning. There might even come a time where you feel like you’ve run out of ideas. To avoid frustration and creative dead ends, consider brainstorming smart blog post content ahead of time. 
If inspiration for a new post doesn’t pop into your head and you’re stuck fighting through a severe case of writer’s block, you can choose from that list of vetted topics you’ve created.
Okay, but what if you’re out of topics, and now you need to create new ones from scratch? 
So, you’re posting regularly, and everything’s set up. Now, how do you encourage people to visit and read your blog? 
Since you’ve already taken the first step of setting up your social media sites, it’s now time to leverage them as the fantastic promotional tools they are. 
By publishing immediate social posts promoting your new blog content, you can get immediate follows, shares, likes, and retweets that can build momentum, so your post to go farther. 
It’s important to remember that your audience is likely to follow you on a few different social media accounts. 
That means you need to customize each snippet or preview text you use when promoting a blog post. 
What you don’t want to do is copy and paste the same verbiage repeatedly for each of your accounts — it comes off spammy and uninteresting. Optimize your messaging for each social stream and audience.
Did you hit virtual gold with a blog post that went viral? Don’t be shy about promoting it again after some time passes. 
Re-promoting content that didn’t do well in the first place might not be the best strategy, but posts that have strong stats initially can do well again in the future. 
It’s a good idea to focus your efforts on creating evergreen content that stays relevant over time.
“Evergreen” is just a term that internet marketers use to refer to posts considered timeless. This type of content stays useful years after the initial publication because it tackles a core problem or subject. An evergreen post might be “How to Clean Your Bike Chain.” A non-evergreen post would be “How to Clean Your Bike Chain During a Pandemic.” 
Are you only sharing a blog post’s headline through your social media channels and calling it a day? Well, that gets boring very fast. To keep the interest in your blog higher, change up the messaging, and get inspiration from your own content.
Guest posting is a way to promote your blog by contributing to another blog within your industry. By providing a guest post to another blogger, you can help build your own website’s credibility. 
Guest blogging can accomplish three different goals for your blog: showing others you’re an expert, pushing traffic to your blog, and building backlinks. 
Quick Explainer on Backlinks: Backlinks serve as a “vote” for your site. But not all backlinks are created equally. Links from relevant, trusted websites pointing to your website can your site move up in Google’s rankings. But, if spammy websites are giving you backlinks, that’s a red flag that may result in a ranking drop.
To pursue guest blogging, you’ll need to find places to submit a guest post. If your blog is about bikes, you’ll want to search for similar blogs focused on your bikes and make sure the blog owner is active with an engaged audience.
You can also use a simple Google search to find blogs accepting guest posts. Just use a keyword relevant to your niche plus “submit a guest post” or “guest post guidelines” and other similar search terms.
Once you’ve found blogs to guest post for, you’ll need to pitch a few content ideas. Make sure you do your due diligence and research the blog’s tone of voice, type of audience, and other information you need to know. Pay attention to guidelines like the required word count. 
Some guest post bloggers allow you to post links to your blog in the content itself, while others will enable you to post your blog link in your byline. Each guest blogging site operates differently.
There are many ways you can monetize your blog, but the two you can most easily leverage are affiliate links and services.
Affiliate programs work through pushing links to products relevant to your audience. When your audience clicks through the link to that recommendation, they get a unique tracking code. If they end up purchasing, you’ll get a portion of the sale.
Another way to monetize your blog is to offer services or intensive information related to your topics of expertise or industry. 
Depending on your blog’s focus, you can provide live workshops, one-on-one consulting sessions, or comprehensive online courses. Your blog serves as the jumping-off point, but your audience will only convert into customers if you’ve demonstrated authority and knowledge. Neither of which happens overnight.
Creating a blog requires patience, strategy, and the desire to develop quality content. You don’t have to be a professional writer to create a successful blog.
Plenty of everyday people have created a blog out stemming from a genuine interest that exploded into a successful brand. If you’re ready to try something new, blogging is a great way to flex your creative muscle and potentially earn some money.
Still, have a few remaining questions about starting a blog? Get answers to your blogging FAQs below.
While it’s true that you can, if your end goal is to monetize your blog and transform it into a lucrative side hustle, it makes more sense to pay to host your blog on your own server with your own domain name.
Not only will this make your blog more “legit” from the outset, but it also gives you much more flexibility for monetizing down the line.
Yes and no. While starting a blog is a reasonably straightforward process, the key to creating a successful one is consistency.

Consistency and developing a strong content strategy are going to be the most difficult parts of maintaining your blog, especially if you have other responsibilities demanding your attention like a day job, kids, or other obligations. 

With that said, writing regularly for your blog is easy once it’s a habit, and you have a running list of future blog post ideas from which to choose.
Most of your costs will come from hosting and registering your domain name.

Those costs are often grouped together in shared hosting providers, but if you’re going to dedicated hosting you’ll likely spend less than $200 for a year. If you use a free platform like WordPress or Drupal, then you can save additional costs. 
You have lots of options. It’s not unrealistic to make a range from just one cent to ten cents per page view through ads. If you get around 1,000-page views each month, you can earn $10-$100! And depending on the success of your blog, it can go up from there.

You can also go the route we go: creating amazing programs and selling them. Here’s a look at our products page, where we cover money, business, careers, and psychology.

Depending on your number of readers, product quality, and product pricing, you can make a substantial amount — even millions of dollars per year. We’ve done it and we’ve seen it with many others. We cover more about turning your blog into a business in our Earnable program.
Yes! Blogs are still critical in the internet landscape. There are a few things to note about how people read blogs that have changed over time. For example, people are much less likely to read a blog post from beginning to end. 

Instead, people tend to skim a post for the information most relevant to them. Keep that information in mind as you’re writing your initial blog posts. 

Well-structured blog posts should utilize headings and subheadings so that information is organized efficiently, and readers can find what they need.
Ultimately, you’ll need to provide value. Good information on a particular subject is the best way to set your blog apart from others. But a difficult-to-use site with a lot of great information is unlikely to garner much attention. First impressions matter, in real life and in virtual life.

Your site should be user-friendly, easy to navigate, and easy to skim. And don’t forget to integrate enough negative space to give your readers somewhere to “rest.”

Focus on making a site that even an older relative could navigate.
If you allow comments, you need to be prepared for spammers and trolls. One way to deal with this issue is by turning off commenting altogether. You can also moderate the comments yourself or install plugins that can help reduce the frequency of spam.
Bloggers may use their blogs to increase their authority within a certain niche or industry, sell things like memberships, sell digital products like e-books or courses, use affiliate links, or monetize with CPC or CPM ads. 

FYI: CPC and CPM stand for “cost-per-click” and “cost-per-thousand-impressions,” respectively.

At IWT, we focus on building an audience through engaging, useful content and then charging for our premium courses that are designed that help people achieve larger goals like:

Starting a business
Finding their dream job
Improving their productivity

In fact, we offer training courses in many different areas that ultimately help people live a richer, happier life (really, it’s a lot. Check out all of these programs and courses!) 

The trick here is delivering a product that your customers are excited about and which exceeds their expectations. We invest a lot of effort and research to deliver products that our customers love, so if you want to make money with a blog, you should plan on putting in a lot of work.
Before you get your answer, it needs to be said: don’t let the list of blog types inform the choice of your blog alone. 

Why? Well, if you want to start a blog about newborns because that’s a niche that’s historically made money, you can only do so confidently if you’ve had a baby yourself or work with babies. 

If you’re an 18-year-old single college student without a kid, it doesn’t make sense to start a blog about newborns. Keep that concept in mind before pursuing a subject simply because it historically makes money in the blogging world.

Top Blogging Niches:
Crafting
Parenting or newborn 
Health
Lifestyle or family life
Budgeting
Interior Design or home decor 

If your blog doesn’t fall under one of these umbrella categories, don’t panic. Ultimately, these are just basic categories that won’t make or break the success of your blog. Stay authentic to what you’re actually passionate about. 
If you want to know what types of people visit your site, you have a few free tools you can leverage. Two of the best are Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (GA). 

Both of these tools are easy to install and offer training so you can learn to use them. GSC and GA can reveal interesting insights into visitor behavior, backlinks to your site, and other pertinent information about your site’s ranking for particular keywords.
While there isn’t a hard and fast rule about content length, if you’re trying to get ranked on Google, their advice is that your content needs to be exactly as long as is necessary to completely answer the question. 

That’s a little vague, but it basically means that if you can answer the user’s question in a paragraph or two, then there’s no reason to write 2000 words on the subject.

But taking a complex topic and trying to condense it down to a paragraph typically isn’t a good idea either.  Your posts shouldn’t be full of fluff for the sake of reaching word count goals. Instead, try to create comprehensive posts that cover a particular subject detail. 
While instantaneous success isn’t unheard of, you will probably need to blog for a few months or closer to a year before you see any revenue. Your initial year operating the blog should focus on analyzing what’s working and what isn’t working. Here are some questions you should ask (and know the answer to!) after your first few months to a year of blogging.

What are the most popular posts? The least popular?

What are the demographics of my blog visitors?

How long are people staying on my page?

Is traffic trending up, down, or is it steady?

Starting a blog isn’t going to be an overnight project, but with time and patience, you can turn it into a real side hustle. 
While instantaneous success isn’t unheard of, you will probably need to blog for a few months or closer to a year before you see any revenue. Your initial year operating the blog should focus on analyzing what’s working and what isn’t working. Here are some questions you should ask (and know the answer to!) after your first few months to a year of blogging.
What are the most popular posts? The least popular?
What are the demographics of my blog visitors?
How long are people staying on my page?
Is traffic trending up, down, or is it steady?
Starting a blog isn’t going to be an overnight project, but with time and patience, you can turn it into a real side hustle. 
Ramit’s best advice, straight to your inbox.

source