So you want to start a blog? Starting A blog can be one of the best decisions you can make when trying to create income online.

Think of it as online real estate you control and own. Follow this tutorial to get started.

The first step is to pick a niche or topic for your website. Then, purchase a domain name and web hosting. Next, install WordPress. Finally, write content and publish.

It’s that simple. Now that’s not where I’m going to leave it.

This will be an in-depth tutorial for beginners looking to build their affiliate blog using the wordpress.org platform. But first, what is a blog exactly?

When you purchase through my affiliate links down below and all other links throughout this article, I will be paid a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support, it is greatly appreciated. You can visit My Affiliate Disclaimer page by Clicking Here

What Is A Blog?

A blog is a website that is created and maintained by one person or a small group of people.

Blogs are usually written in a conversational style like how two friends would communicate with each other.

Finally, Blogs are typically updated regularly with fresh content created on a daily or weekly basis.

Why Start A Blog?

When you create video content on YouTube, you don’t own the platform, YouTube does.

YouTube is free and at any time YouTube can shut down your channel or not show your videos in the recommended feed.

Now, if you follow all the rules on YouTube’s platform, this probably won’t happen, but it’s risky.

However, when you pay for a self-hosted website, you own the content and have greater control with less risk.

For a hosting company or WordPress to shut you down, you would need to be doing some pretty terrible things on their platform.

This is why I believe creating a blog is one of the best decisions you can make if you are serious about creating an online business.

Think of it as digital real estate. A property you own and control that you can use to reach thousands or even millions of people with your message or even to sell a product.

Choose A Niche Topic For Your Blog

The first step you’ll need to take when starting a blog is to choose your website’s main niche or topic.

If you are planning to monetize or make money with your blog this is especially important.

The most popular niches to choose when monetizing your blog are the following…

The reason these niche topics are the most popular with your potential readers is that they address a major pain point in their lives.

Everyone wants to be healthier, make more money, and keep their relationship with their significant other healthy and intact.

With a health niche, you can create a fitness blog that teaches people how to lose weight, build muscle, or heal an underlying health issue.

You can monetize by selling a complimentary workout plan or promoting supplement shakes.

A wealth topic will allow you to target people who want to make money online and at home.

When monetizing wealth blogs you can promote online business opportunities or sell affiliate products related to online marketing.

The sky is the limit, however, you will gain the most success by choosing one of these 3 niche topics for your blog.

They are the easiest to promote and monetize with.

Choose And Purchase A Domain Name

After you have chosen your niche topic the next step is to choose your domain name.

This is the name of your website that will be publically visible and searchable to the world.

For instance, the domain name of my website is Build Digital Income.

This means my publically searchable website name is https://builddigitalincome.com/, this is my website’s home page.

The most popular domain suffix that can be chosen are .com, .org, and .net.

I highly recommend that you choose a domain name with the .com suffix as this is the most popular and best recognized.

For example, if you wanted the domain name My Business, you would choose the popular .com suffix, so your full domain name would be mybusiness.com.

However, if the .com domain is not available a .net or .org will be fine.

Just keep it as short as possible.

The shorter domain names perform better in Google rankings and are easier for people to manually type into the Google search bar.

Purchasing A Domain Name From NameHero

On the NameHero homepage, Click the orange “Get Started” button.

NameHero offers some of the fastest and most reliable website hosting around.

I like NameHero because they make it easy to purchase what I need and set up WordPress.

When purchasing a domain name I recommend you purchase through NameHero as well.

Since you are getting your domain name and hosting from the same company, setup is much faster.

This is because your domain name will be automatically assigned or parked on your DNS servers. So there is no need to wait up to 48-hours for your website to go live.

You can get a domain name for as little as $12.95 per year for a .com domain when you purchase by clicking the links below.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

( PLEASE NOTE: I will receive a commission when you purchase through my links).

To signup for a domain name and web hosting through NameHero, click here.

Purchase Website Hosting Through NameHero

Click the orange “Order Now” button below the Starter Cloud plan (First plan on the left).

You can get web hosting for as little as $4.30 per month when you choose NameHero’s Starter Cloud web hosting plan and you prepay for 36-months.

You can get this deal by clicking here through my affiliate link.

Type in your chosen domain name and choose .com as your extension. Then click the blue “Check” button to see if your domain is available.

If your domain name is available, you will receive a “Congratulations” message. Click the blue “Continue” button to proceed.

Click the “Drop-Down” arrow and choose the “No Backup” option. Finally, click the blue “Continue” button.

You don’t need to check any of the boxes. Simply click the “Continue” button to move on.

The image above shows the price of a yearly web hosting plan with a 52% one-time discount.

On the “Review & Checkout” page, once you have verified that you’ve chosen the correct web hosting plan, click the green “Checkout” button.

On the “Checkout” page, you will need to enter your personal and billing information.

Then, make sure to check the “Terms of Service” and “Payment Policy” boxes.

Once you have verified that all of your personal and billing information is correct, click the blue “Complete Order” button.

Install WordPress

Once you have purchased, you will be sent your login credentials via the email address you supplied NameHero.

Click the drop-down arrow and click the Login link.

Login to the NameHero client Area by entering the email and password sent to you by email.

In the cPanel menu, scroll down to the “Scripts” section and click the “WordPress icon”.

Click the blue “Install” button in the top left corner of the page.

In the “Blog Title” field, type the name of your website with spaces, for instance, let’s say your website domain name was mywebsite.com, then type in My Website into the box.

Next, create an “Admin User” name, and fill in your first and last name.

Then, type in the email you want to be associated with your website. All email correspondence from WordPress will go to this email address.

Check both checkboxes at the bottom and click the “Install” button to begin the installation of WordPress.

Once the installation is complete, you will receive your WordPress login credentials in the email account you just entered on the previous page.

Congratulations, now that WordPress is installed, it’s now time to choose a theme for your website. A theme dictates how your website will look and function.

Choose a WordPress Theme

Once you are logged into your WordPress website you will be taken to your dashboard area.

Here you will find important information and alerts about WordPress updates, your installed theme, and plugins.

However, now it’s time to install a theme. Go to the menu to the left and click on Appearance > Themes.

Then, click the “Add New” button on the top left of the page.

Choose whatever theme you think fits your style and click the blue “Install” button.

You’re all set, now it’s time to configure WordPress for optimum website rankings.

Configure WordPress

So, let’s change some settings to allow WordPress to better serve your website.

On the left-hand menu go to Settings > Permalinks.

Then click the “Post Name” radial button option.

This allows your article permalink to be nice and short and only display the name of your post after your domain name.

This will help SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in Google search.

Install Plugins

Now it’s time to install an essential plugin.

Think of plugins as add-on applications that enhance the look and functionality of your website.

A must-have plugin is the Classic Editor plugin.

This will allow you to bypass the current post editor and revert it to the classic editor, hence the name.

This will make following along with me when creating your first post a lot easier.

The older classic editor is much simpler to use especially if you are new to WordPress.

To install a plugin, go to the menu on the left and go to Plugins > Add New.

In the top left-hand corner in the search box where it says “Search Plugins…” type in, classic editor.

Click the “Install Now” button. Once the plugin is installed, the button will turn into the “Activate” button

Click the “Activate” button. Congratulations, you have now installed your first WordPress plugin. Now let’s learn how to start a blog.

Can You Start A Blog For Free?

The short answer is yes. However, I highly recommend that you pay for self-hosting through a hosting provider.

This is because when you go with the free method, you are renting the platform and are at the mercy of the platform owner.

Another issue is since these platforms are free, the platform owner will place ads on your website.

You have no control over where and what type of ad they place on your website.

So what are these platforms? Well, the 3 largest free website platforms are WordPress.com, Weebly, and Wix.

If money is a serious issue at the time, I would suggest you start with a  free platform.

Once you start making money, then I would transfer over to a self-hosted platform where you pay for your domain name and hosting.

I recommend WordPress.org once you are ready.

How To Write Blog Posts

For your website to ever have a chance to rank in Google search, you will need to regularly create and post content.

This content must be unique and aim to help the reader first and foremost.

To create a blog post go to the menu on the left once again and click Post > Add New.

Then, type in the blog title you want in the “Blog Title” box.

Then type in the body of the post, this is where your article is written and created.

When you are finished, click the “Save Draft” button on the right-hand side menu.

Finally, when you have completed your blog post and are done editing, click the “Publish” button also located on the right-hand side menu.

This will make your article live and searchable on the internet.

Congratulations, you’ve created your first blog post on the internet and can share and reach to whoever is interested in your ideas and promotions.

How To Get Traffic To Your Website

There are only 2 ways to get traffic to your website, free and paid.

Some examples of free traffic are SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Facebook group marketing, Pinterest, YouTube, and Forum Posts.

Some examples of Paid traffic are Facebook ads, Google Adwords, YouTube Ads, Solo Ads, and building an email list.

With paid ads, you bid on keywords that relate to your niche and pay for traffic that is sent to your website articles or videos.

However, I believe building your email list is one of the best ways to pay for traffic.

You own the list and can often make $1 to $5 per month per person who is on your list.

This can be one of the best returns on investment you can make in your online business when creating your blog.

Free Traffic Methods

Facebook Group Marketing – Join Facebook groups and add value by answering questions people ask. Then link to one of your articles or YouTube videos.

However, don’t spam your affiliate links, add value.

Pinterest – Create an article. Then create an infographic that links back to your article and upload it to Pinterest.

Infographics are shared at an incredible rate and can add serious traffic back to your blog.

YouTube – Create YouTube videos that relate to your niche topic. Then add your article link, website link, or affiliate link in the description of the video.

Forum Posts – Answer questions on forum websites like Quora and Reddit. Then, link out to your YouTube video or article that adds more value.

People will visit your videos and articles, increasing your traffic.

Paid Traffic Methods

Facebook Ads – Bid on keywords and advertise on the Facebook ads platform to send traffic to your site.

Google Adwords – Advertise through Google’s paid ads platform to get people to click on your links in Google search.

YouTube Ads – Create video ads and buy ad space on the YouTube platform which will promote your video ad on related videos.

Solo Ads – This traffic source allows you to buy link clicks from other marketers’ email lists.

You send your email with links that you want to be promoted to the marketer and they send your email to their list.

Build An Email List – One of the best ways to make money with your blog. Furthermore, list building has a relatively low cost to start and can be easily scaled.

Simply get visitors to your website and offer them a free ebook or short video course in exchange for their email address.

Promote high-value products to your list weekly. Just make sure to add value first before asking for a sale.

SEO Optimize Your Blog Articles

As I previously stated, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

This is the process of giving Google, Bing, or any other search engine as much information about your website and article as possible

This will, in theory, help rank your article higher on the search page as long as you also provide huge value to your website visitors.

Google considers users’ experience the number one ranking factor for your website or article.

Types Of SEO Optimization

Technical SEO – Website name, permalinks, mobile-friendliness, mobile responsiveness, and site speed are all examples of technical SEO.

Anything that has to do with your website’s performance falls under this category.

On-Page SEO – Keywords, paragraph headings, internal and external linking, and readability score are all examples of on-page SEO.

Anything that has to do with how the article is presented to Google will fall under this category.

However, if you make the web user experience your number 1 priority, you will gain a lot of trust with Google.

Gone are the days where you could cheat the search engines by keyword stuffing your article.

Plus, rankings are never guaranteed. Most websites and their content won’t even rank on page 10.

Nevertheless, by making great and unique content regularly, you will greatly improve your odds of ranking.

Furthermore,  SEO optimization is still crucial to your website’s ranking health and should be taken seriously.

Just don’t overdo it as this will send up red flags to Google in the long run.

Monetize Your Website

Once you have created a sufficient amount of content on your website, I recommend at least 60 blog posts, you might want to consider monetizing your site.

You will need to have a minimum amount of traffic to your website to start making money.

There are several ways to make money blogging and if done correctly can easily replace your full-time job in profits.

Here Are Some Monetization Ideas

Affiliate Marketing – Promote other people’s products on your website and receive a commission for every sale made through your affiliate link.

What is affiliate marketing you ask? Click here to read our full article on the topic.

Google Display Ads – Google will be you to place ads on your website.

You make a small commission every time someone clicks on one of the ads displayed on your website.

Create and Sell Your Teaching Course – This one takes work and experience, however, you can make a significant amount of money teaching others with your course.

Create and Sell Your Own Digital or Physical Product – This also takes lots of work and knowledge.

However, this monetization method is one of the best ways to 10x your profits.

Promote To Your Emil List – The money is in the list, or more importantly, how you treat your list is the deciding factor of if you make money or go broke.

Don’t spam your list with useless products, add value.

No matter how you make money from your website, just be sure to not get discouraged if you don’t have enough traffic to your website.

I highly recommend you try and upload a piece of content every day.

It doesn’t always have to be an article, it can be a video on YouTube that links to your website.

As far as written blog articles are concerned, Recommend that you try and get at least 60 to 100 quality posts up on your site.

This will increase the chance of some of your article’s ranking.

The more content you put out to the world the more people have a chance to see what your articles are all about.

Thus, increasing traffic, hopefully.

Reinvest The Profits

Once your site begins making money, you should consider reinvesting the profits back into your website if at all possible.

For instance, maybe you couldn’t afford to create an email list with an autoresponder before.

However, you could invest in one now which could dramatically increase your monthly affiliate sales.

Another example would be to eventually hire writers to continue building content for your blog.

This can eventually be scaled the more money you make.

Finally, once your website is established as an authority site, you can create a second website.

Which can eventually earn you a second monthly income stream.

Start A Blog – Conclusion

Starting a blog won’t be easy, it will take a lot of time and effort.

However, if you stick with it and can find a topic you enjoy writing about it can easily become a long-term replacement for your current 9-5 job.

The 3 Most Important Steps Are…

If you begin with these steps in mind and implement them, your chances of success are compounded.

First of all, just getting started is a feat in itself.

So many people don’t even start, then complain that they don’t progress in their lives. Don’t be that person, set yourself up for success.

Next, make sure you choose a topic that you can write at est 60 articles about.

There is no point in taking the time and money to create a blog, only to give up because you fall asleep writing each post.

Finally, if your website is not receiving the traffic you had hoped for, give it time.

Don’t quit. It is completely normal to not receive any traffic in the first 6-months that your website is online.

Remember you’re in this for the long haul, to play the long game. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme or a license to print money.

It takes work, but it’s worth it.

With that said, I would like to thank you for reading my article on how to start a blog.

I hope this information can help you get started and hopefully change your life.

Thanks again, good luck and have a great day!