The first blog I started was for my website, where I sold my own made clothing. I literally had no idea what I was doing when I started my first blog in 2019.
Back then, I never realized that you could earn money blogging, I had no idea how to get traffic, and… I failed miserably with my blog. I don’t think I even looked into it seriously, because I had no strategy and it was just for fun (but still a lot of work!).
I’m so glad I gave it another shot, because I learned a lot. I failed with my first blogs because I didn’t know what I was doing. I realize that now, after taking multiple courses on blogging and marketing. Therefore, I’d like to share what I’ve learned over the years.
If you want to start earning passive income from your blog or make it your primary income stream, you need an effective strategy. With the right approach, a lot of bloggers have found this online business to be very lucrative. If you want to start your own blog, many new bloggers probably have some of the same questions I had.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Please read my disclaimer for more info.
How to start
So, I’m hoping this blog will help you solve some of your blogging questions. I know that blogging can be overwhelming in the beginning, but remember that most other bloggers were in the exact same place you are when they first started.
There is always something new to learn in this blogging world, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned blogger, and no matter how much experience you have, there is always the potential for growth.
No one knows it all, and I’m just a regular person who figured out how to start a blog and earn money from it. Due to that, this blog is all about how to start a blog and how to earn money blogging.
When is a good moment to start a blog?
If you are interested in starting a blog so you can make income from home, you are in the right place!
First of all, you can start at any moment you like, no matter what day or month it is. Some people may be saying, ‘Am I too late to start?’ But that’s never the case.
The online world is still so new, and each year, there are new ways to monetize and grow your blog. Trust me, today is a great time to start a blog!
For example, it wasn’t until the past couple of years that companies and advertisers started realizing the value of online influencers, such as bloggers, and that means even more opportunities to earn money with your blog.
Before that, companies wanted to work mainly with celebrities to advertise with, but now, it is actually shifting to bloggers and other online influencers (like YouTubers and Instagrammers).
How long does it take to earn money from blogging?
There is no one answer to this question. It can take a year of blogging to start earning a few hundred dollars a month from your blog. It can take longer, too, and some bloggers manage to make money after 6 months.
I know some bloggers who were making thousands of dollars a month after just a few months of blogging. There are also other bloggers who aren’t making any money at all. Nothing. I was one of those; I could not g
et my first blog to make me money. By accident, I had a one-dollar payout. ONE DOLLAR! After a year of blogging! Looking back, now I know what I did wrong, and that list was long… Now I have the much-needed knowledge from multiple courses, and I want to share what I’ve learned with you.
As you can see, blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme, and there isn’t a timeline for when you will start to earn money blogging. However, if you are serious about it, you never know what it may turn into.
It all depends on you, the effort you put into your blog, whether you have the time to learn how to monetize your blog, and more. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
Bloggers earnings
The online world is a huge place, and it is just going to keep growing. Every blogger earns a living in slightly different ways, and everyone has a different message and story.
Plus, there are so many different ways to earn money blogging, and the options will probably continue to grow.
Of course, because the blogging world keeps changing, there will constantly be new things to learn, but that is always the case for any kind of business, no matter what industry you work in.
So, if you are thinking about finally starting a blog, today is the day. Don’t let your fears hold you back any further. Are you ready?
How to find a blog name
For some people, this is the hardest part! It was for me, and it made me start my first blog a year later than I wanted. A year!! Such a waste of time! Over a name! Deciding on a name for your blog is probably one of the hardest parts of blogging.
Even if you know exactly what you want your topic to be and have some articles written, deciding on your blog’s name may be stopping you from actually creating your website and launching it.
For this blog, I came up with Bosslady Ingrid. It is catchy, and I receive compliments on it too. I started with a Digital Marketing business (hence ‘Bosslady’), and my name is Ingrid. It’s quite simple if you look at it this way.
I wanted it keep it personal, with my own name. It helped with choosing my domain name too, because all the amazing blog names I could come up with were already taken…
Blog name ideas for writers
Coming up with a blog name shouldn’t lead to stress, so here are my tips for deciding on a blog name:
- Make your name easy. My top tip would be to make sure that your blog name is easy for people to type or spell out loud. I’ve seen blog names that are extremely long, contain words that are difficult to spell, and so on. Instead, you should make it as easy as possible for your readers to find you.
- Think about what you’ll be writing about. Think about the topics you want to write about, who your target audience is, and more, and then jot down descriptive words that are related to each. Brainstorming like this is a good way to come up with a blog name!
- Use a thesaurus to find similar words. If your first or second choices are taken or if you want to see if there are some catchier-sounding blog names, using a thesaurus can help you with some new ideas.
- Make it a catchy name. You may want to think of something funny, use alliteration, or something else to make your blog name catchy and memorable.
- Use your own name. If you don’t want something catchy or if you think you’re not creative enough, then just use your name. It’s super easy that way, and more and more people are starting to do this.
See, creating a name for your blog can be easy!
Don’t dwell on this to long, it can stop you from starting. You can also choose to start your WordPress website now and choose a domain name later. So you can work on your website and your first blogs, and come up with a great name as you go.
That is how I started my new blog, too. So I could start without deciding on my blog name right away. At least I started fast this way!
Topics to write about so you can earn money with blogging
To find out what you want to write about, it should be something that you are very passionate about. What could you talk about all day?
People will know if you are genuine or not, so choose something you really like. Are you a gamer? Baking bread? Love fashion? Talk about what you’re good at.
This can make blogging feel fun instead of like a chore. You can blog about several topics or you can blog about one specific thing, such as personal finance.
Some people think that you have to write about blogging to earn money blogging. But this is not true. The reason you may think that is because the bloggers who have income reports are the ones who talk about blogging, but that’s only because it fits in with their niche of trying to help other people start a blog. It’s meant to encourage others and to show them that it’s possible to earn money blogging.
Write blogs for money
It wouldn’t make as much sense for someone who writes about fashion or DIY stuff to have income reports. And, many people don’t like to openly share their income – money is a taboo subject still.
The truth is that people in all different niches make money blogging. I know bloggers who are successful and write about health, clothing, home renovations, DIY, finance, travel, homesteading, business, self-help, relationships, food, and more.
I even know plenty of people who just write about their lives and earn a full-time income from doing that.
So, how do you determine what to write about? There is no right or wrong answer to this question. I recommend creating a blog around a topic that you are passionate about, that you are an expert in, that you like, or something else along those lines.
For me I cover a ton of different topics here. I talk about my Digital Marketing business, social media, Affiliate Marketing, blogging, and ways to make money online (as a beginner).
Some things that you may want to think about when choosing your blog topic
First of al, what blogs do you enjoy reading? If you are thinking about starting a blog, I’m assuming it’s because you probably enjoy reading blogs yourself. If that’s the case, then you may want to think about which blogs you really enjoy spending your time on, and possibly blogging about something similar.
Secondly, what are you passionate about? It’s best to start by thinking about what you are passionate about. Perhaps it’s a sport that you really love, crafts, cooking, managing money, travel, or something else. Whatever it is, blogging about your passion is great because that will show in your writing, and your readers will enjoy that.
The third point is, what are you an expert in? Now, you don’t need to be an expert in your blog’s topic to earn money blogging (more on that below in the next section), but if you are an expert at something, then this could be a topic that you blog about.
There are many successful “How To” websites because people love to learn new things through blogs.
And, there is probably something you could teach (everyone is an expert at something, even if you don’t realize that yet!). Think about the questions your friends and family are always asking you about, topics that you enjoy helping others with, and so on.
And last, but not least
And lastly, what things do you like learning about? Like I said above, you don’t need to be an expert in a topic to blog about it.
People LOVE reading blogs from people who are learning or trying new things. This is because everyone has to start somewhere, and people love following the journey and seeing how something is actually done.
So, if you are learning how to earn money blogging, for example, that could be where you start your blog. You can write about all of your mistakes, talk about what you’ve learned, or show how you have tried and reviewed different options, and so on.
What kind of blogs make money?
This can actually be any kind of blog! To earn money blogging, your blog can be about anything and/or everything. It’s entirely up to you.
Here are some possible blog topic ideas to help you figure out what to blog about. The list doesn’t end here either. Choose one, all, or some. Think about what I talked about before: if it’s your passion, you can write about it. Here is a list of some ideas:
- Fashion
- Beauty
- Lifestyle
- Starting a business from home
- Food
- Home
- Garden
- Family
- Kids
- Finance
- Marketing
- Crafts
- DIY
- Small business
- Outdoor activities
- Fitness
- Health
- Animals
- Travel
- Games
- Relationships
- School
- Electronics
- Inspiration & advice
The beauty of having a blog is that it can be about anything, and you can still earn money from it. But, the only thing I would avoid when starting your blog is writing about legal things or tax issues.
You should be an expert before giving people legal advice. You could get someone (and yourself!) in a lot of trouble if you gave them the wrong information. So it’s better to stay away from that as a beginner blogger!
Can you start a blog for free?
Whether you can start a blog for free depends on what you want to achieve with your blog. As you know, most people have a desire to make money from their blogs.
Therefore, I’m going to assume that’s your goal as well. You may have heard about free blog websites, and all you need to know is that those are great options for someone who wants to start a website for fun.
They will allow you to get up and running very quickly, and they will be easy to use. It’s perfect for the recreational blogger, like someone who just wants to use their blog to keep family members up to date or have a place to document their travel adventures.
It’s different if you want to monetize your blog, now or in the future. There are many reasons I wouldn’t want a money-making blog created on a free website platform, but the main one that’s enough to make me pay for my blog is that on a free platform, YOU DON’T TRULY OWN YOUR BLOG.
When you publish a blog on Blogger, for instance, you are technically at the mercy of Blogger. They own the platform your blog runs on, so if they decided they wanted to shut you down, they could.
When you start making hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month, that’s not an acceptable scenario.
What’s the deal with self-hosted blogs?
To keep your blog safe, and the way you can truly own your blog, is if you create a self-hosted blog.
What this means is you buy a domain name and hire a company to “host” your blog.
In other words, you register your blog name and then look for a service to help you display your website on the internet.
What does it cost to start a self-hosted WordPress blog?
Getting a self-hosted blog up and running doesn’t cost as much as you’d think. The base price is $2.95 per month for web hosting if you use Bluehost. WordPress is free software that allows you to build a blog.
Start a self hosted blog
Your blog should be self-hosted if you want to earn money blogging. It’s actually one of the first things you should do.
A free blog is fine if your blog is just for fun. But as soon as you want to make money from your blog, you NEED a self-hosted blog. Let me explain this.
I recommend you start on self-hosted WordPress (this tutorial will help you start your blog the correct way).
I cannot say this enough, but I do not recommend Blogger or WordPress.com (you want the self-hosted version, which is WordPress.org – confusing, I know).
Buying that $10 domain name from Blogger or GoDaddy does NOT mean you are self-hosted either. The best blogging platform to make money is self-hosted WordPress, like Bluehost.
A self hosted wordpress blog
Advertisers, companies, and readers will know you have a free website, and that looks unprofessional. Advertisers and (affiliate) companies do not want to work with you.
Plus, your blog can be deleted at any time and for no reason if you are using a free version, which actually happened to my coach.
Even though you may save some money in the beginning, not being self hosted can hurt your chances of earning money through your blog.
Trust me, I’m serious about this. Go with self-hosted WordPress, and it will significantly increase your chances of monetizing your blog. It will only cost you $2.95 a month, and you’re good to go! That includes a free domain name too!!
The best blog website
So, to recap, the positives of being self-hosted on WordPress include:
- Your blog will look more professional, meaning you will increase your chances of making money online.
- You will have complete control over your blog.
- You own your blog, and it can’t be deleted for any reason.
When can I start making money from my blog?
You may have the expectation that your blog will make money in six months’ time, but I’d like to point out that blogging is a longer-term thing. While you can’t expect to make money right away, the earnings can come with a lot of hard work.
The most important thing is that you start NOW, so you have time to get everything set up before you absolutely need the blog to be earning. It can take one or two years before your blog starts to take off.
Bloggers who have realistic expectations about how long it takes to get a blog profitable end up sticking with it longer and making more in the long run.
To make money blogging, you need pageviews. The good news is, you do not need millions of pageviews per month to earn money. It’s safe to say that if you want to increase your income, it will be important to increase your page views.
Every blog is different. It is not always the blogs with the largest number of readers that make the most money.
That’s because once you understand what your readers want and how to reach out to companies, you can make a good income from your blog. Regardless of the amount of pageviews you receive. But it all starts with the page views, and more is always better.
How to increase traffic to your blog
To make your blog a success, you need to post regularly to be an active website for Google. Make sure you post high-end blog posts. Readers come back to blogs with high-quality and helpful posts.
I recommend that your blog posts be at least 500 words, but 1000 would be better. Also make sure your content is easy to share. Also, guest posting is a great way to reach a new audience and helps build partnerships with other bloggers.
Learn SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to improve your website’s visibility. The title of your post is a major factor in whether readers click on your blog or not, so you need to create catchy headlines.
To increase page views on your blog, you should also focus on encouraging visitors to explore multiple pages on your blog, make it as easy as possible for readers to read your other blog posts.
Don’t underestimate the power of social media! Pinterest is the top one traffic source for most bloggers, and Instagram lets you interact with your audience more and can help you reach a larger audience.
You may want to check out Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Snapchat, YouTube, and others, too.
You can also start to connect with other bloggers. you should look at other bloggers as friends and colleagues, not competition.
You can connect by commenting on their blog or sharing a blog you really like. Facebook groups are also a great place to meet other bloggers.
You don't have to spend much before you can earn money from blogging
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to start a blog. You need a computer, a host for your blog, and maybe courses, guides (like this blog), and eBooks to learn the skills.
As you can see, you do not need to spend a lot of money to earn money blogging – You can spend less than $100 total for the whole first year. You just need the blog.
Getting traffic to your blog can also be done for free. Use social media to get people to your website.
On Canva (also for free), you can create posts and reels for Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Pinterest and X are free tools you can use to drive traffic to your blog. All it needs is time.
Time to grow, and time to let Google find your website (Google SEO can take up to 6 months – 1 year before it’s working optimally!). Blogging is not “getting rich fast”. It’s better to keep this in mind, not to give up too soon.
This is how you create a new blog posts
It all starts with a new idea for a blog topic. Make a list of possible article topics and keep that on your laptop or phone. The topics I write about come from life experiences, reader questions, research, and articles that I’ve come across.
For example, if I see a post on social media that I find interesting, I will turn it into a blog.
Now it’s time to write your blog. Personally, I like to write an article from beginning to end without any breaks. It may take me an hour or two to write the article, or sometimes it may take me all day.
It doesn’t matter. Sometimes, content does span a few days, but for the most part, I like to finish a piece of content in one sitting. Once I think the content is perfect, I add images, format the post the way I want it to look, and add links to related content on my website.
I make sure to have blogs ready to post for at least one full month, including the days that the blogs will be published. And, I like to make sure I cover a good variety of topics each week.
For example, I don’t usually like to have a whole month of just one topic. Instead, I like my posts to vary. Once the article is published on my website, I share it on Pinterest. I also schedule it to share on Pinterest for future dates as well.
How to get images for blog posts?
Putting pictures in your blog posts is important. They can help explain your story, break up text to make a blog post easier to read. You also need images for social media (such as Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram).
Important: You can NOT just do a Google image search and use the pictures you find, and the same goes for images and pictures you find on Pinterest. Doing those things will get you in trouble with the person who owns the photos.
Similar to how you wouldn’t want someone to copy and paste a blog post of yours, you shouldn’t take photos without permission. So, please don’t do that. Use free stock images!
Currently, I source the pictures I use from two main areas: my own photos and stock images. I wrote a blog about how to find free Stock Photos and Videos.
Photography is an area that I’m still looking to improve, so I mainly use stock images that are ready to use. I absolutely love Pexels and Ivory Mix . They both have great stock photos that fit perfectly with blogging.
This Is How Bloggers Actually Make Money
How to earn money blogging? Many of you are interested in blogging, but you aren’t sure where the income actually comes from. So, how exactly does a blogger make money?
Well, I’m glad you asked, and I’ll tell you all about it: you can make money as a blogger in multiple ways. Success depends on your niche, quality content, audience engagement, and your effective monetization strategies.
The most popular way to make money with a blog with Affiliate Marketing. Basically, if you help a company make a sale, they might be willing to pay you a commission.
Many companies, large and small, have affiliate programs that bloggers can join. After you sign up, you get a unique link for a specific product. If someone clicks that link and then makes a purchase, you get paid!
How Do Most Bloggers Make Money?
The second thing you should start right away is to create a newsletter. It’s a way to increase blog traffic — and make money as a result — by making an email newsletter to promote your content. This will ensure that people who find your blog will come back to read future posts.
Blogs are free for people to use; it’s free information. But, since your readers are interested in your topic, they very well might be interested in paying for more/higher-quality information on that same topic.
For example, if you write a blog about healthy dessert recipes, your readers might be interested in buying a whole eBook of just healthy pie recipes.
Creating and selling (digital) products is a great way to monetize your blog because you can create exactly what your readers are interested in, and you get to keep 100% of the profit.
You can display ads on your website, such as with Google AdSense, then you are paid by Google or by any number of other companies. You can offer advertising on your blog to make money. As the publisher of a blog, advertising can provide a healthy revenue stream for your online content. Advertisers are willing to pay to gain exposure to your audience.
Some bloggers opt to sell private advertising on their site to specific businesses. These ads are often sold at a monthly rate, rather than based on the number of clicks or impressions the ad gets.
Make sure you also read these articles about making money with blogging:
This Is How You Make Money Blogging
