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Are you ready to sweat blood, give up all your free time and spend bags of money to start a blog?
NO!!!!… you shout, right?
GOOD! None of those things are needed to start your blog.
Why Start a Blog Today?
You’ll just have to walk with us through a few guided steps and spend little or nothing to get your blog active. The real question to ask yourself is “Why not start my blog?”
Why should you start a blog designed for business and income?
Blogging has completely changed our lives. It can do the same for you.
Blogging is absolutely the best place to start earning money online and we’re here to help you get moving today.
You need no technical experience to follow this free step-by-step guide to starting a blog.
You WILL have a blog ready to go before you finish your second cup of coffee today.
This blog post will not dive into the general topics of what a blog is and the basic ways to make money with it. We recommend you visit our post titled: It’s a good time to start a blog – to learn about what a blog is and how you can make it work as a money-making business.
We are here to show you exactly how to set up and start a blog today. Does that sound exciting? We hope so.
The time needed is measured in minutes and your cost for all of next year can easily be less than $100.
FREE Blogging Email Course
Start a Money Making Blog with this easy to follow
FREE EMAIL COURSE - add your email now to start!
No matter your age or background, you CAN start a blog built for business.
You can truly start a blog regardless of your age, location and experience level.
As we enter the 2020’s, millions of people around the world are looking to make money online. Some move from a traditional 9-5 job to work from home, some set up an office and some travel the world with their laptop.
Blogging can be one of the most profitable online businesses with very low costs, if you do it the right way.
And the best part is, the small amount of time you put into writing a blog post today can make money for you long into the future.
Enough talk. Let’s get moving and start your blog.
Step 1 – Your blog topic and name
Choosing the right topic for your new blog is less complicated than most bloggers make it.
Select a topic where you have a natural interest and some experience in. This will help you have an honest and positive conversation with your audience.
Your blog should then focus on how well you know your audience and what they need rather than your view on any particular topic.
READ MORE -> How to Find a Profitable Niche for a Blog (opens in a new tab)
We’re hoping you also check out the above post. It goes into details of what a blog is, how you can find out what your audience is searching for and how you can make money with it. This post was designed to give you confidence and start thinking about topics you could blog about.
You don’t have to know your exact blog topic and name before taking the next step, but it helps get your blog moving forward right from the start.
No problem though, the hosting company we recommend here will let you choose the domain name (also called a url) later, if needed.
Step 2 – Web Hosting and Blog Platform
You need two core items to start a blog:
Blogging Platform – This is where you make edits and write your blog posts.
Web Hosting – Just like buying property for building a new home, you need to buy a space on the internet to start your blog. A blogging host helps you secure this property!
We recommend the WordPress blogging platform and the web-hosting company Bluehost as the ideal combination for new bloggers.
- WordPress is the main platform world-wide; used by over 90% of profitable bloggers because it is powerful and offers flexible design and support options.
- Bluehost is a perfect starter host for new bloggers and has 24/7 customer service.
- They are fully integrated with one another and Bluehost makes the setup process easy.
At this point, you might be wondering:
Can you start a blog for free?
You could start a blog with a free blog platform, but we don’t recommend it. There are many reasons, but your desire to make money with your blog is the main one.
Here’s more why free blog platforms can work against you:
- Free sites like Blogger (and others) are not great for monetizing as most ad networks will not allow sites built with these services
- You will look more professional to any visitor with WordPress and Bluehost. This is crucial when you want to make money with your website.
- Make it your own! When you host WordPress on your own, you can literally choose a design theme from thousands of options.
- You don’t own your domain name on a free platform
- Less bandwidth – you will need to upgrade from a free to paid plan with higher visitor counts
Why should you start a blog with Bluehost?
- You get a FREE domain name when you sign up
- It is the cheapest host available
- WordPress and Bluehost integrate perfectly and Bluehost makes the setup process easy
- Most recommended host for WordPress websites
- Super easy to use for a brand-new blogger like you!
Here's what to do next:
Click HERE (or click the image below) to sign up with Bluehost and enjoy these benefits...
Go ahead and do it now – the link opens in another tab, so it’s easy to come back to read further.
After you click the button to get started on the homepage, you will then see a list of pricing options.
$2.95/month – 3 years
$3.95/month – 2 years
$4.95/month – 1 year
Next, choose the pricing plan best for you. As a beginner, you don’t need more than the BASIC plan to start your blog. This gives you one website and includes SSL protection, which is a new and very important addition to the basic plan.
You’ll save 63% if you choose the 3-year plan and your first year will only cost $35. It’s important to know when you start that all hosting companies, including Bluehost, offer lower introductory rates.
After selecting your plan, you will want to enter your new domain name:
Don’t have the domain name ready yet? No problem, you can click the link to create it later.
Read further => How to come up with a great domain name in under 30 minutes
On the next page, you will fill out the Create your Account section with the payment step at the end. This is very straightforward and Bluehost will walk you through it.
Done yet? Great.
You have officially started a blog built for business. This is your business address on the internet.
Bluehost will send you to create your password before moving forward. Make sure it is a unique password with at least 6-8 letters, numbers and symbols.
After selecting your password, click the “Login” button. This will direct you to select a theme for your WordPress blog.
FREE Blogging Email Course
Start a Money Making Blog with this easy to follow
FREE EMAIL COURSE - add your email now to start!
Getting Started with WordPress
We’re assume you’ve agreed to go with the WordPress blogging platform. The good news here is that Bluehost has automated the process to keep you moving toward the starting line.
They will offer you some very nice free themes. You can select any of these free themes to get started. You’ll have the opportunity to change this at any time.
You can certainly look to purchase one of the hundreds of theme options available. We recommend you select a free theme offered on Bluehost and keep moving forward.
It will take a few minutes for Bluehost to set up your WordPress dashboard. Once it’s finished, click “Start Building” to go to your WordPress dashboard.
From here, click on the “Business” button, as shown below. Don’t worry if you accidentally click Personal. It really doesn’t make a difference to your blog’s performance.
1) Next, you’ll be asked to set up a Site Title and Site Description.
This should be simple and descriptive of what your blog is about. If you aren’t sure what you want to say just yet, just click to skip this step and you can set it up later.
2) It will now ask if you will be updating your blog with new content. Duh! Select Yes.
3) From here, you will be prompted to select whether you’d like to set your homepage up to show recent posts or to have a static homepage. You can select either, but most people end up using a static homepage.
You can also change this at any point in time in the future if you change your mind.
4) After selecting your homepage design, Bluehost will ask you if you want to set up a Contact page. Say no for now.
5) From here, click on the Connect to WordPress.com button. Next, you will be prompted to create an account for JetPack. Skip this step for now.
6) Before moving on, make sure to go to the email account you signed up with so you can verify your address with Bluehost. You have 14 days to do this, but you should take this step as soon as possible so you can access your Bluehost dashboard.
Way to start your blog like a pro!
This is a good time to stop and enjoy what you have accomplished. We will provide you with a detailed explanation on how to carry out the design and action steps in your WordPress dashboard in a separate post.
In no time at all, you have now set up your home on the internet.
You have the framework for a great blog built to make money.
Now that you have a blog in place, you’ll want to start deciding what content to create. We're ready to share more great information to help you start focusing on your niche and how to determine your customers’ desires and pain points and deciding what content to develop.
Special Section: Start a blog and build traffic with Pinterest
Getting traffic – building an audience – is the power source need to truly kick-start you blog built for business or any kind of online business.
Without traffic you don’t have a blog that makes money.
TRAFFIC = $$$$
We’ll walk you through a way you can get traffic with less organic competition found on Google and without paying a dime for ads.
Sweet!
There are only a few ways you can get organic “free” traffic.
The main way is with Google, where we all go to search for something or find answers for our problems.
Another route is social media, which requires ongoing posting on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, etc.
There is one more option and I think you’ll see we’ve saved the best for last.
Imagine a free traffic generator that is both bit like Google and social media channels.
Start your blog traffic with Pinterest
You’ll find Pinterest is a never-failing traffic generator and the best friend you can have for your blog.
To monetize your blog, you will need traffic and Pinterest is by far the easiest and fastest way for new bloggers to get traffic.
We’ll fess up before going further… Nina is the founder and CEO of Profitablepin.com – the Pinterest Marketing Agency. She dove deep into Pinterest when other options became too expensive or time consuming.
She discovered a platform where traffic was easy to grow if you knew the right way to do it. She has found excellent results for her own efforts and for others.
And before you say: Pinterest is just makeup, hobbies and recipes, right?
Nope! It is so much more.
Think of Pinterest as Google search with images and active sharing
Pinterest is the place where people go to improve themselves. Remember when we said you need to write blog content that provides answers for the problems people are searching for?
Well, Pinterest is THE TRAFFIC TOOL for nearly every blog built for business.
But how do you get started with Pinterest? Let's go over it now.
Here's how you plug into Pinterest to drive traffic to your new blog:
1. Start a Pinterest Profile
The first step is to sign up as a Business. So, when you land on the Pinterest sign up page – STOP and scroll down to the bottom of the screen to click “Create a Business Account.” Don’t start filling out information on the main page.
If you already have Pinterest personal account, you can use that after you convert it into Business account (check your settings). You might need to clean the profile from non-relevant personal boards and pins.
Once you've logged in, go to Settings to fill out your profile details. We highly recommend using your own image, rather than blog logo, on the profile.
2. Create relevant boards
Create one board for your blog posts and then other boards around your blog topic. If you blog about personal finance, you could also create boards on budgeting, saving tips, money making and more.
Fill out board descriptions and add relevant pins to the board. You won’t have much content early on, so it is totally OK - and recommended - to add other people’s pins to your boards.
Create at least 10 relevant boards to make your profile look authentic to pinners.
3. Get creative with pins
Now it is time to pin your blog posts to Pinterest and this requires you to create some pins.
This is a super important step in the process! But also a fun one
A pin that gets clicks has the following:
- Correct size of 2 by 3 horizontal image, for example 600 x 900 pixels
- Appealing image / graphics
- Readable fonts
- Text that captures browsers attention
You might not get it exactly right in the first go around and that is OK. You can create multiple pin variations and test which one people respond to.
4. Get social with Pinterest
Now it is time to get the social part of Pinterest working for you. This means joining Group Boards.
Group boards are where multiple people pin their content. When you join a group board, you'll get the advantage of connecting with other peoples’ followers!
There are a few ways to find the best group boards for your blog:
- Pingroupie.com - search engine for group boards (but does not always give best results)
- Check out other people’s profiles to find group boards
- Check out and join appropriate Facebook board groups
Once you've found a group board you want to join, read the description to find instructions to join. Most likely this means sending a message to the board owner. Apply to multiple boards as it might take time before you are accepted.
Group boards have a "Request to Join" button which makes applying super easy and quick!
5. Maximize your visibility with Tailwind
You can get results with Pinterest without Tailwind but it will be slower than with Tailwind! Manual pinning is good but Tailwind is great
You can trial Tailwind on Nina and get 100 pins for free by clicking this link. Plus, you can start using Tailwind Tribes as a free member, which can be great for visibility too!
6. What is Tailwind?
Tailwind is a scheduling and pinning tool for Pinterest (and Instagram too). It is super easy to learn and amazingly effective!
Tailwind can pin new blog posts, and repin old ones, to your own boards and group boards.
If you become serious about using Pinterest for your blog built for business, we highly recommend automating your pinning.
It saves you so much time and the investment is just $10 a month - that's just a couple of lattes!
Take Pinterest to the next level…
Go ahead and dig into Pinterest a bit. We’re pretty sure you'll get hooked and want to learn more!
Happy Blogging, Pinning and Building Your Audience.
