How To Start a Blog and Make Money in 2021

If you want to improve the quality of your life, grow as a specialist or boost your incomes, then you are lucky to have found my blog. 

I have created this blog, Vladkhvatov.com, to prove that in 2021 you can still make decent money on blogging without investing huge funds. 

Now let me show you real proofs. 

You might think it's impossible or way too complicated, but all you need are the right business tactics and a simple step-by-step guide. 

That is why you are lucky to have found me ― I will be that guy to show you how to start a blog and make money, using established tips and strategies. 

Use These Steps For a Fast Start

Want to get started ASAP?

I got you.

First, come up with an idea and name for your blog. We will explore these in more detail, don’t worry. We are going to do a lot of work, but for now I just want to show you that starting takes just a few steps. 

So, what should you do after you have an idea and a name? 

Choose a hosting provider, because you can't start a blog without one. Go to Bluehost and choose Basic Shared Hosting Plan. It's only $3.95 per month if you buy three years at a time. This is the best deal you can get for this money and it includes a free domain name.

Then follow the simple instructions to set up your account.

P. S. Skip all the package extras except for domain privacy + protection. The extra privacy is worth the investment. You won’t need any of the other things. 

Complete your account registration and you’re done! .

Congrats!

This is the base from which we’ll always start when creating a blog. Now let’s move to the even more interesting parts! 

Here are the most important steps: 

1. Install WordPress (it's the best blogging platform)
2. Choose and install a good theme
3. Customize your theme
4. Write and publish your first blog post
5. Come up with a content plan for future posts

And the most important thing:

Start getting traffic to your site. 

Only when you get your first visitor can you start thinking about how you want to make your first dollar.

Now let’s go through the whole process of creating a site in detail.

1. How To Find Your Blogging Niche

The more you know about your topic, the better your writing will be. It will be easy to choose topics and write articles, and people will sense your excitement and look forward to reading your posts. 

But if you haven’t yet decided on a niche, don’t worry. This is absolutely normal. 

Let’s learn what a niche is and how to define it.

In simple terms, a niche is the main topic of your blog.

Your niche can be as narrow as you like. For example, a broad niche is fitness, and you can occupy a place in the home gym niche.

How To Find a Topic You Care About

You are very lucky if you already have a topic you’re passionate about.

If you don’t, here's what you need to do:

You should try different things and find out what you like best and, most importantly, what you do well.

Things I recommend looking for when choosing a niche:

1. What you do well
2. What you like to do and learn about
3. Your favorite topics when browsing the Internet
4. What you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t had enough time for
5. What you want to know
6. What topics you like to discuss with friends

It is important to think about yourself first.

Imagine that on your blog, you are talking to yourself. Imagine that you’re 30 years old and are trying to teach your 18-year-old self. 

What would you like to teach yourself?

Another important factor is your specificity.

The more specific you are, the bigger the audience you can reach.

If you want to gain muscle mass, you will naturally search for blogs on this topic. To reach people with these specific interests, you can start a body building blog instead of a general fitness blog.

Or maybe you can do something with your hands. Do you sew or make pottery? Do you have your own techniques and designs? Blog about it, show the creative process. Even a hobby can be turned into your own niche.

Once you decide on a niche, choose your domain name.

2. Let's Find The Perfect Domain

What is a domain name?

A domain is not just the name of your blog.

It’s the URL of your site, the address people type in to find you on the Internet.

For example, my domain is vladkhvatov.com.

How To Choose a Domain Name

Here are some tips to help you make the right choice.

I will go through these tips using our fitness example, namely the weight loss niche.

1. Pick the words that most closely relate to your blog's niche.
   Fitness, Health, Excess weight, Slimming, Diet.
2. Add descriptive adjectives.
   Healthy, Beautiful, Happy.
3. Try adding your first or last name.
   Example: KhvatovFitness.

Using Your Name as Your Domain

If this is your first blog and you aren’t sure about what you’ll be writing about, I highly recommend using your name.

Lots of bloggers change their niche and content over time. Personal name domains are much more flexible. If you want to change categories after a few months of blogging, you won't have to start all over again and register a new domain.

Also, using a personal brand domain leads to more user trust and therefore more visitors and income.

3. Choose a Hosting Provider and Register Your Domain

Your blog needs to be hosted somewhere.

This requires a hosting service.

What is hosting?

In simple terms, a website host is a server or computer that you can access. It gives you the right to be online.

Hosting can be paid or free. Which option is better?

Free vs Paid Hosting Plans

It may seem tempting to start running a website with free hosting, but remember one rule:

Free hosting is just a cover to charge you money in other ways.

After all, every company needs some profit, and free hosting isn’t profitable. 

Free hosting services do exist, but they come with a number of problems like:

1. Lots of unwanted ads

Many free hosting providers willdisplay ads on your website, which can be very annoying to your audience. But the hosting services need to make money somehow, don't they?

2. Limited features

These sites don’t give you access to really important features like serious customization, control, and support. If you want these features, you’ll have to pay or might not be able to get them at all.

3. Limited bandwidth and speed

When your audience starts to grow, your site might not be fast enough to catch up. You’ll have to switch to a paid plan.

4. You will not own the domain name

Your domain name will include .blogspot or .wordpress, which isn’t very professional. 

5. Poor customer support

If you run into problems, you are unlikely to receive first-class service or a quick response from tech support.

Free hosting is for people who want to create a blog just for themselves, to keep a personal diary or something like that. Paid hosting is ideal for making money because it includes:

• Higher website speed
• Excellent customer service
• Customizability control
• No unwanted ads
• Owning your domain name
• Reaching a larger audience
• Many other nice features

Paid hosting is the only good option if you want to run your blog like a business and make money from it.

Why Bluehost Is The Best Hosting For Beginners

Here are some reasons why Bluehost is a great hosting service for budding bloggers:

• Free domain name with hosting package
• Easy to customize
• 24/7 support
• One-click WordPress installation
• Easy configuration of domain email addresses

But the main benefit is that Bluehost is one of the most affordable hosting providers.

How To Get Your Blog Online

Follow my step-by-step guide to make your blog live.

I will also explain how to register your own domain name.

Step 1. Visit bluehost.com

Click “Get Started”.

Step 2. Choose The Best Plan For You

You will see 4 shared hosting plans.

I recommend choosing the Basic plan. It has everything you need if you are an aspiring blogger.

Step 3. Enter Your Domain Name

Next you have the opportunity to register a domain name.

If you haven’t decided on one yet, choose "I'll create my domain later".

Step 4. Enter Your Details

Here, just enter your details. Alternatively, sign in with your Google account.

After that, scroll down and select a term for your plan. You’ll get the best deal and lock in the lowest price with a 36-month registration

You can also choose a 24-month or 12-month agreement if you’d rather spend less right now.

Step 5. Add Extras

After selecting your package information, scroll down to the section on package extras.

I recommend you only choose "Domain Privacy + Protection". This will hide your personal information from the public, replacing it with Bluehost business information.

Step 6. Pick Your Payment Option

Now all you have to do is add your card details, check that you’ve read the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and hit the “submit” button.

That’s all it takes to sign up!

4. Installing and Getting To Know WordPress

You're probably wondering:

Why WordPress?

The answer is simple:

It’s user-friendly, free, and powerful.

Also, over 90% of blogs in the US use WordPress.

If you decide to blog with a different system than WordPress, it will be much more expensive.

Plus, WordPress offers a lot of free plugins that let you do whatever you want with your website and customize it to your liking.

Even if you don't have technical skills, you can install WordPress in just a few clicks.

Here’s how.

How To Install WordPress (Step-By-Step)

After you create an account, you’ll be greeted with a theme selection window for WordPress.

There are many attractive, free WordPress themes to choose from.

But skip this selection, because I'll show you the really good products later. First, we need to get more familiar with WordPress.

Just click "Skip this step" at the bottom of the page.

Ok, it's done.

Our WordPress website is up and ready to go.

Now click on the blue "Start Building" button.

Getting To Know WordPress

Learning WordPress can seem daunting at first, butI’ll show that this is not at all the case if you take time to study it.You can learn new information step by step, and soon WordPress will be quite clear to you.

I will explain everything as simply as possible, so you will get comfortable very quickly. Get ready for a stream of new knowledge! 

To start, I have highlighted the main areas you will be working with:

Here's a basic overview of these features:

Posts

Your posts are just blog posts or articles. This is where the bulk of your content will be stored, and you can return to it and edit it at any time.

Blog posts are usually organized by category so people can easily find content that interests them.

You can have as many categories as you want on your blog.

Media Library

The Media Library is where all the images that you upload to your blog are stored to visually accompany your articles.

You can add images directly to the Media Library, or you can add them to blog posts and they will be automatically added to the library.

Pages

Pages are similar to Posts in that they look the same in WordPress and have the same editors.

But they differ in that they are intended for content that is not updated frequently, for example:

• Contact page: usually has a form or email address where people can contact you
• About Me page: about you and your blog

Comments

Here, you can see the comments people leave on your blog posts and reply to them.

Appearance

Here, you can customize your blog by changing themes (we'll talk about this below).

Plugins

A plugin is additional software that you can install on your blog to add additional customizations that go beyond your theme's capabilities.

There are both free and paid plugins, and they can help you:

• Change your site’s appearance
• Speed up your website
• Add social share buttons on your blog
• Help with blog security
• And so much more!

We will also talk about which plugins are best a little later.

Users

Here, you can change your email address and password or add other users if you wish.

You probably won't need this feature, but if you ever hire a web developer or someone else to help you design or make changes to your website, you can create new users to give them access to your blog.

Settings

This is where your general blog settings are located, including how certain things are configured and displayed.

In the settings area, you can edit the following:

• Site tagline
• E-mail address
• Time zone and date settings
• Home page and blog display settings
• Comment settings

And much more.

I'll tell you about the most important settings that will directly affect your site: 

General Settings

Site Title: Type the name of your site because this is how it will be displayed to other users.

WordPress Address (URL) & Site Address (URL): Make sure they are the same and contain https. If your site doesn’t have SSL installed, users will be shown that it is insecure, and this is critical. 

When you buy a domain through Bluehost, SSL is automatically installed, but problems may arise when transferring or changing domains. Be careful—make sure your site shows https (secure), not http (insecure).

Reading Settings

Your homepage displays: Select the static page and the page you want to display. It’s important that your home page isn’t a carousel of recent posts; no one likes this.

But do not forget about the Posts page—this is exactly where your recent posts will be displayed.

Permalink Settings

Make sure “Post name” is selected. This is the best structure for SEO optimization because the URL will be easy to read. No one likes super long URLs!

5. Installing the Best WordPress Theme for Your Blog

After figuring out the main features of WordPress, it is time to customize the design of your blog.

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance, then Themes.

Then click the "Add New Theme" button.

You will find a large number of free themes here, but I recommend choosing a paid theme. 

Why?

I'll explain. 

But let's get down to the basics.

What is a WordPress theme?

It’s a collection of pre-written code files that allows you to customize your website.

If you are not proficient in website coding, you need to choose a great theme that will guide you through all aspects of your design.

Before you make a decision, it is important to remember that each theme has different capabilities and settings.

Here are some of the main abilities you might want:

1. To upload your logo
2. To change menu color
3. To add a header image
4. To display your blog posts on your home page

Before we start talking about styling your website with themes, it's important to understand what you shouldn't do at this stage.

Free vs. Paid Themes

Just like with hosting services, paying for a theme gives you more customization options and better features.

It's okay to start a blog with a free theme, but it's worth knowing the constraints of a free theme before you make a choice.

If you are at a loss with choosing a theme, I’ve prepared a list of themes recommended by many experts. These themes will definitely help you set up the perfect blog:

GeneratePress

GeneratePress is the #1 theme on the market for beginners because it's incredibly customizable and very user-friendly.

It's also what I use for my projects in their beginning stages.

There’s a no-questions-asked, 30-day money-back guarantee, so there is absolutely no risk to try this theme!

You can check out GeneratePress here.

Astra

Astra is one of the best freemium themes I've found and allows you a fair bit of customization.

There’s also a paid version if you want to upgrade for more features, but you can design a pretty great-looking blog with the free version.

You can try Astra here.

Remember not to spend too much time choosing a theme.

You will have to work on more interesting and important aspects of your blog.

After choosing a hosting service, a domain name, and a theme, it’s time to think about some questions:

What should I write about?

How do I get people to read what I write about?

I’ll answer these and many others that you are probably interested in.

6. Writing Content for Your Blog

Before we talk about what type of content to write, let's talk about who you are trying to attract with this content.

Consider the following: 

• Do they like to watch videos?
• Do they prefer written content?
• Why should they visit your blog?

Each social network and search platform has a different demographic. You should keep this in mind when creating content and promoting it.

Thinking about your target audience and their preferences can help you come up with ideas for content and to start driving traffic to your blog.

What To Write About

You have a blank white page. Now what?

I have some tips that will definitely help you write great content.

1. Write about topics people are searching for.

51% of all traffic to websites comes from search engines. This means that in order for a blog to be successful, you need to write about the topics that people are searcing for. After all, if they are looking for content, they want to read it.

The question is, how do you find these topics?

The answer is simple: Use a keyword analysis tool.

When creating content, you should devote time to keyword-based topics so you can get traffic from Google.

2. Write about popular and trending topics.

Posting content about the upcoming holidays or high-profile news stories is a great way to get more attention.

3. Share your own story.

Write content based on your experiences of solving specific problems or overcoming obstacles. Other people with similar problems and obstacles will definitely want to read your posts.

4. Create original content.

Everything about your content should be original, from the headline to the keywords to the writing itself.

If you're out of ideas, stop for a while, read a few articles online, sit back and ponder what you’ve read, and start writing again with fresh new ideas for great, quality content.

Don't forget that people love to read what is well written—develop your grammar skills and vocabulary. The best way to get better at writing isn’t by reading grammar rules, it’s by gaining experience. Read other articles so your brain will remember how to write correctly and so you can learn how to move from a passive vocabulary to an active one. And practice, practice, practice writing! 

5. Craft catchy headlines.

A good headline sparks interest, making readers want to know the full story.

So make sure you have good headlines that will entice your readers. Do not be afraid to spend time on your headlines—the success of your content depends on them.

6. Use stunning visuals.

90% of the information that is transmitted to our brain is visual.

So add catchy, relevant graphics to further increase your readership.

Use pictures, videos, and even diagrams to illustrate your points and help your audience understand what you’re saying.

7. Write expert content.

There is nothing better than reading a short article filled with information, so focus less on reaching a high word count than on content and on quality writing.

Remember, when you learn to blog, you don't have to be perfect. A blog is a document that can be easily updated over time.

So don't try to make your content perfect—just do the best you can, publish without fear, and update later if you need to.

It’s Time To Write Your First Blog Post

First go to Posts and then click Add New from the WordPress dashboard menu on the left.

Let's start with the title.

You can easily replace it at any time, so don't worry about getting the title 100% perfect.

Once you've written a title, click on the block below the heading to start writing your content.

I started with a simple welcome message and introduced myself.

Next, click on the plus sign in the upper left corner to see the blocks that allow you to add titles, multimedia, quotes and many other features to your blog.

The rest of your content in this first blog post should be about you and why you started your blog.

Here are some helpful questions you can answer in your first post:

• What got you interested in your blog topic and what made you finally start a blog about it?
• What do you want to help others with?
• Do you have a mission or core belief regarding your blog topic that you can share with your audience?

Feel free to include any photographs or ideas that you think might be helpful or relevant.

Finally, conclude your post by thanking your reader for being here and asking them to leave a comment below the article if they liked the post or have any questions for you.

This is a great way to get early feedback on your blog and start building relationships with your readers.

Publish Your WordPress Post

Your blog post stays in draft mode while you write it. This means that the draft is saved in WordPress and no one can view it until you decide to publish it.

To publish your blog post, simply click the Publish button in the upper right corner of the page:

After publishing a blog post, you can share the link to your Facebook page or other social media accounts, or send the link to family members or friends if you want to share it.

7. Getting Visitors To Your Blog

After publishing a blog post, you want your target audience to find it.

Running a blog is not as easy as running a Facebook or Instagram page where you just share content and wait for followers to come to you.

Getting traffic to your blog takes time and effort.

How can you get this traffic? Social media platforms and search engines are the best solution.

Facebook is very widely used. Ads are scalable, but they have a very diverse audience and are very expensive.

Using SEO for search engines is a great source of traffic, but it takes a lot of time to implement. It is also very competitive.

Instagram is great for building trust with your audience and showcasing your personal life.

YouTube is a great option to diversify your content and build readers' trust, as they’ll see your face. 

Pinterest is great for driving traffic to blog posts but might not be the best option if your audience is male, as 80% of Pinterest users are female.

All methods have their pros and cons, but you don't have to work on all platforms at once.

You Need To Focus

Your time as a new blogger is very valuable and is already scattered across different areas. Don't scatter it even further when it comes to gaining website traffic.

It is better to be a valuable contributor on one platform than to be mediocre on several different ones.

Determine what the best traffic source will be for your blog, content, and audience.

I will briefly analyze each of them for you.

Pinterest

Pinterest is one of the best traffic sources because:

1. It’s a search engine

Over time, if you take the right steps, your content will start ranking for certain keywords.

2. Users spend money

Pinterest's main demographic is middle-class people with money to spend. 50% of Pinterest users make over $50,000 a year, and 87% have bought something from the platform.

3. There’s less competition

Most bloggers and other website owners don't know about Pinterest, don't understand it, or give up on it. 

You have a great chance to use this platform first.

Getting organic search traffic on Pinterest is much less competitive than on Google, and ads are cheaper than on other, more widely used platforms.

Facebook

Facebook provides excellent opportunities for promoting your blog.

This platform is the leader in the number of users with higher education and traditionally brings together well-paid professionals: marketers, journalists, IT specialists, and the like.

If this is your target audience, you just need to reach out to it.

The main promotion tool on Facebook is a business page.

This page can be used as a business card for your site.

Pages can be used to sell products and services, promote a personal brand, organize events, and gather like-minded people around interesting ideas.

Twitter

Twitter has a huge number of users. It’s not just a social network but a new generation of media.

What are its main advantages?

1. Wide coverage

Twitter is one of the few social networks that can practically guarantee you a large audience reach.

2. Communication

On Twitter, you can get real-time notification of any mention of your brand or a hashtag associated with you or your company.

3. Ability to attract traffic

Developing a Twitter following can also attract an audience to your main site. Given that the length of a single tweet is very limited, it will not be possible to share any lengthy material via Twitter, but you can share links to your site and to longer blog posts.

4. Increased sales.

Companies that develop a following on Twitter have more sales than companies that bypass this social network. It’s just a fact. 

Instagram

Millions of people visit Instagram every day, so it can be a real game-changer for your blog.

Currently, most businesses actively use Instagram to develop and promote themselves.

Its main feature is the ability to publish photos and short videos about any topic.

It also has other useful features. You can:

1. Send messages to communicate with your audience or connect with influencers.
2. Use special effects that make your content more colorful and attractive.
3. Create polls to learn what your audience likes best.

And much more.

This service can turn a simple user into a popular influencer.

YouTube

Video content is hugely popular and has great potential for budding bloggers. And YouTube is the largest video-sharing platform in the world.

Many business owners lose a lot of money by not using YouTube.

YouTube is not only a video hosting platform, it is the second largest search engine after Google.

This means that you need to use its capabilities to attract new readers and customers.

Google SEO

Search engine optimization means taking into account the requirements of a search engine while developing and promoting your site.

Why your blog needs SEO:

1. To increase search traffic

Despite the popularity of social networks and instant messengers, Google is the most important platform in terms of traffic.

Search engines remain the key sources of traffic to any site. 

The share of search traffic is usually even higher for corporate blogs, mass media, and information sites that earn money from advertising. You can verify this using SimilarWeb.

2. To improve user experience

The main task of a search engine is to give a high-quality answer to a user's query. That is, a search engine should choose the most relevant, convenient, informative, and authoritative sites for any query.

When you do smart SEO optimization, you not only increase traffic to you rsite but also improve the user experience.

Convenience and informational content give your visitors a reason to stay on your site longer and to come back again and again. This also helps your site’s SEO ranking.

Email Marketing

The main task of email newsletters is to grow a permanent audience.

Simply put, email marketing is best suited to driving repeat sales.

As a rule, those who have subscribed to your newsletter and those who have already bought something are included in your contact database. With the help of an email newsletter, you can remind your subscribers about yourself, your goods and services, and your promotions and discounts.

Since email distribution is very cheap compared to other marketing channels, it is very effective.

Email marketing automation can save you even more time and money. Just come up with a newsletter strategy, automate the emails, and you’ll get new sales on autopilot. 

8. How To Make Money Blogging

Making money is definitely an important goal of blogging, but please try not to focus too much on it.

To profit from your blog, you must invest a lot of time and money.

You also need traffic and to grow your target audience. This is where you should focus your attention.

How Exactly Do Bloggers Make Money?

Bloggers make money via many different methods. Each method differs in the level of work and amount of time it requires.

And remember that blogging income may not be regular, so you should be prepared for this.

Our goal is to create a passive income stream.

Below are the most common ways to monetize your blog:

1. Revenue from ad impressions

You can make a small amount of money simply by placing ads on your site. This method is really not bad, but be careful not to annoy visitors with too many ads.

2. Sponsored posts

In advertising posts, you may be paid for mentioning a company in your copy. Examples of sponsored content include product reviews or recommendations.

3. Services

You can use your blog to promote services such as freelancing, coaching, personal speaking, and the like. 

4. Affiliate marketing

You can receive a percentage of the sales of other companies’ goods or services if you market and promote these goods and services. This can significantly boost your income and help you build great relationships with other companies.

5. Selling your own products

If you have an accurate understanding of your niche, the market, your audience, and your audience’s needs, providing your audience with a helpful product is the best way to boost your income.

Where To Begin

It’s important to understand that you can’t start earning money if you do not collect a good target audience.

Many budding bloggers think there is no point in attracting new readers if they don't have anything to sell.

This is fundamentally wrong.

Once you have an audience, you can test new ideas, get feedback, and more.

Therefore, the best thing you can do now is start building up your target audience.

This requires you to regularly provide your readers with interesting and informative content and then use your site to collect email addresses from your loyal fans. As long as you post helpful content, your readers will be likely to subscribe. This is the first step to making money from your blog.