In this blog post, I’ll be walking you through how to start a blog in 2024 and actually start to monetize your blog.
I personally think blogging was one of the best things I started and I cannot be happier that I know how to generate income using a blog.
I hope you find this useful too in starting your blogging journey!
- How I got started
- What you need to start a blog
- How to start a blog step by step
- What to do after you start a blog
How I Got Started With Blogging
I was pregnant with my 1st baby.
I used to work at 9-5 job, a Fortune 500 company, slaving my time away in a corporate job I no longer was passionate about. After years of back to back meetings with no breaks in between, and climbing the corporate ladder, and feeling ‘successful’, I was feeling so worn out and tired. I knew I had to switch my job, but I decided I’d stick it out and get my maternity benefits as much as I can and then quit my job. Leaving the house at 7am and coming home 7pm, which used to be okay as a single person, would no longer be okay when the baby is born.
But quitting my job meant I needed an alternative income source. My husband worked, but I liked having dual income and living comfortably.
That’s when I started looking at all the online income generating opportunities.
I started my blog then. I started my Amazon business then.
When I first started this online journey, I was more interested in growing my Amazon business that I put the blogging on the back burner for a long time.
I would write a few things I would be interested in here and there and use Pinterest here and there.
Figuring out motherhood while also trying to build an online business was no joke. I had no idea what I was doing both as a mom and as an entrepreneur!
Fast forward to now, I’ve sold my Amazon business. It was a success, that generated multiple six figure income per year. But I was tired of managing inventory and responding to customers.
That’s when I decided I’d take blogging more seriously.
I knew there’s real money in blogging….I just needed to figure out how!
I knew if I can master SEO and Pinterest, I could drive some real traffic to my site and make some serious income.
I decided to really dig deep into SEO and implement some strategies for SEO.
But every time Google changed its algorithm, the traffic to my site got hit HARD.
Google was dictating how much traffic I get and I felt defeated again and again made me so MAD!
But Pinterest kept generating traffic for me month after month and my income only increased with Pinterest.
The more I used Pinterest, the more reward I received.
As a visual person, I enjoyed creating images and graphics and it certainly paid back.
With my blog, I now make consistently $5K and more every single month….
Even without me writing a single blog post or spending even an hour on the blog, it generates over $5K every single month, just purely from traffic alone.
It’s truly passive now which is the best part.
Great thing about blogging is that it really doesn’t require any start up cost to start making money. I don’t need to manage inventory. I didn’t have to deal with customers. And if you are like me, I am not someone that enjoys being in front of a camera. Or even show my face anywhere.
The fact that I can be anonymous and still generate that much money every single month (and climbing) is truly amazing to me.
And if I can have a profitable blog spending only 2-4 hours per week or per month, I know you can too.
What do you need to start a blog?
Computer of course! Well, that’s a simple answer, but if you are wondering things like all the tools you need to really start a blog (where to buy domain, host your website, and what style of blog sites you want to set up), sign up to my FREE email guide that walks you step by step over the next 3 days.
I tell you exactly what you need to do day by day to help you learn and implement so you can have a blog up and running in 3 days!
How To Start A Blog Step-by-Step
Don’t Choose Your Niche
WHAT!? What do you mean, don’t choose your niche!? Aren’t you supposed to choose a topic you want to write about?!
Yes, you do, and if you know exactly what narrow topic you want to write about, then great for you.
What I mean by ‘don’t choose your niche’ is this shouldn’t be your concern.
I have a lifestyle website. And if you know something about Google SEO, google hates these lifestyle websites. They think lifestyle websites don’t have the ‘expertise’ on the topic they know about and really hits you hard with no traffic at all.
The recent google algorithm change in 2024 hit hard travel bloggers and lifestyle bloggers that they deemed to not have expertise….this was really sad as my google traffic plummeted!
But that doesn’t mean I can’t make money from it! I use Pinterest to drive traffic and Pinterest loves lifestyle topics. It doesn’t penalize you for writing about home decor one day and writing about pets the next day.
If you can focus on one topic, then that’s great. What I’m saying is, it’s not necessary in earning income.
What’s more important is knowing the style of content that resonates well with the audience and that drives traffic to your website.
Purchase Blog Domain
Deciding on the name of the blog domain is probably the first step to setting up your blog. You first need to find out if the domain name is already taken or not.
The place I like to purchase AND host my domains is Bluehost.
Bluehost is the place I purchased all my domains and hosted when I first started. It is very user friendly and the customer service is great for any beginners.
Now I use Bigscoots now that my website gets more than 100K visitors per month, but Bluehost is great for any beginners to start.
Here are few reasons to use Bluehost:
- It’s affordable! Hosting plan starts at $11.99 per YEAR. That’s probably your starbucks run right there. Now I pay $34.95 per MONTH to bigscoots, and that’s $415.80 per YEAR. You can always upgrade to other hosting sites when your blog starts to drive significant traffic, but I managed to run my blog on Bluehost almost close to hitting 100K visitors per month, so you are in good hands at a value price.
- Bluehost makes everything simplified. Instead of buying the domain and hosting separately, bluehost makes everything all integrated and seamless. And Bluehost integrates seamlessly with WordPress. I know there are so many other website makers out there (wix, squarespace etc), but for blogging, WordPress is the King.
- Infinite Growth Opportunities – WordPress is the king in the blogging world. There are so many apps, themes, and tools to make blogging easier and grow your blog.
What To Do Next
If you have signed up to receive my free 3 day email course, then you are good to go! I will share the following in my email course:
- Setting Up Your Blog the Right Way—Your First Step to Success
- Crafting Blog Posts that Attract Readers and Keep Them Coming Back
- How Pinterest Can Drive Massive Traffic to Your Blog Starting Today
I like tips that are broken down to actionable tips so that’s what you will find in the email course.
I make it short and sweet, easy to follow so you can get started within a day.
Starting a blog has been one of the best investment of my time and I hope it will be yours too.