Are you looking forward to venturing into blogging or starting a blog this year?
Perhaps to make some money or make a living out of it?
You’ve made the right decision.
People sometimes say “There’s a lot of blogs out there already”, they think there won’t be a space for a new blog to thrive. But that’s not the case; there are billions of people searching for information daily on the internet.
Google search engine alone receives more than 3 billion queries daily and that’s a lot.
And the search engine isn’t the only place people are going to see your blog; there are other ways to let people see your blog.
Getting a blog you want all depends on your effort as surely there is a wide room to accommodate a lot more thousands of blogs.
This step-by-step guide to starting a blog will show you how to start a blog from the basics and then you learn more and grow. Blogging is an awesome income source if done right. Of course, it requires a lot of work which surely brings benefits and I must say, it requires a lot of patience before the desired results start coming. You don’t want to quit your job with the hope of starting a blog and start earning from it.
Let’s talk about misconceptions about blogging.
There are so many misconceptions out there that are misleading. For example, you see information portraying blogs as an easy source of income, one that requires little effort to make money.
At other places, emphasis could be led on things that aren’t even necessary at the start making a new blogger overwhelmed and may quit.
I’m going to do more than showing how to go about starting a blog the right way, I’ll also do my best in putting things in the right order. As you may have come to know now, It doesn’t take much to set up a blog.
Blogging should be seen as a long term venture. If you want quick money then blogging isn’t for you.
See blogging as a business one starts. Before starting a business you need capital, you need to learn about the business and you also know it takes time to grow your business to whatever extent that you desire.
With that said, let’s know whether it’s worth starting a blog.
Should you even start a blog?
Starting a blog isn’t difficult but will it be worth it in 2020 and beyond? The answer is YES. As far as there is a need to use search engines, take businesses to the internet, inform people and make money blogs will always be relevant.
In fact, businesses with a blog which talks about their services in details have been found to perform better bring higher conversion rate and an increasing number of followers.
So, whether you’re a stay at home mum, a student, a dad or a nomad (lol) it doesn’t matter you can start a blog. Remember, the main purpose of starting a blog is sharing knowledge, information or telling a story. You must have something to pass to the public.
Now back to starting a blog.
In this blogging journey, setting up a blog is probably the easiest on the list of what you will do. One thing you will find challenging is getting content that you should. It is probably the most time-consuming task which you’ll never stop. And then there is marketing which comes gradually as time passes.
Let’s start by knowing the basics of blogging.
What is a Blog?
A blog is a website that is primarily meant to share content to a certain audience. Unlike static websites, content on blogs are being updated.
Blogs make it easy to share information that is constantly changing or that needs an update from time to time.
That’s it with what a blog is. Now let’s see what is required to start a blog.
What You Need to Start a Blog
For any blog or Website, 2 things are necessary: the domain name and the host. The domain name is the name of your blog to which users input to a browser and they are taken to your blog e.g abc.com or google.com.
The hosting is where all your content is stored on the internet.
Usually, this is gotten from a hosting company that offers a space on a server to store your files so it could be accessed via the internet. Note, this guide is on starting a blog on a paid platform using wordpress.org.
Let’s look at the overall step in starting a blog below…
5 Steps to Starting Your First Blog
1) Choose a name: Pick a name that’s unique. 2) Pick a Platform: A free platform or a paid one. 3) Put your blog online: Buy a domain name and a hosting plan. 4) Get a theme: Choose from numerous WordPress template. 5) Develop content: Write your blog post and make other content.
These 5 steps are what anyone needs to put up a blog. Let’s discuss the steps.
1) Choose Your Blog’s Name: After finally deciding to start a blog the next thing is the name. The process of choosing a blog’s name is important as it affects your blog’s growth on so many fronts.
You should choose a name that depicts what your blog is about. Go for a short name and avoid numbers.
2) Put your Blog Online: You’re sure of the name at this point now it’s time to put your blog on the internet. To do this you need a web hosting company which you’ll need to buy your domain name and your hosting plan.
The domain name consist of your blog name and extension ( e.g of extension is .com, .com.ng, .org etc.
However, there are things you should look out for when choosing a domain registrar and a hosting company.
• High Uptime: Anytime your blog/website is not accessible by visitors you’re likely to lose money. You also lose an audience which can seriously affect your website’s growth.
Your web hosting company is tasked with keeping your blog accessible at all times possible. Even though this is not possible at all times due to periodic maintenance it shouldn’t take long for everything to return to normal. That’s why you need to go for a web hosting that promises 99.9% uptime.
• Options Available: As you start your blog, you don’t need a lot of server resources at the moment but as time passes it is likely that you will need more disk space on the storage and other server resources.
That’s why you should look at a hosting company with bigger hosting plans that will be able to house your blog in the future when it gets bigger.
• Reliable Customer Service: In any service you wish to purchase over the internet, there is a strong need to make sure they have a reliable customer service.
Customer service is not only helpful when something goes they are also meant to give assistance.
If you’re setting up your first blog it becomes even more important to use a web hosting company with good support.
• Right Prices: Web hosting is necessary if you need a blog but yet it doesn’t have to cost too much. There are some web hosting companies with monthly and yearly plans.
If you’re just starting a basic plan should be able to proffer for your blog’s needs and this should cost somewhat between 3$ to 5$ monthly.
• Good Interface: The web hosting interface should be one you can easily navigate, it should be easy to learn while managing important components of your host.
• Strong Security: Website site security is a big concern in today’s internet as hackers pose a threat. Leaving a hole to you can result in loss of your website or confidential data.
So, before choosing a host it’s important you know how they take care of security issues you can read about their security reputation.
What you should also look at is the availability of firewalls, SSL certificate, and some other security software.
• General Reputation: Every business that has existed for some time has a reputation and it’s either good or bad one. Reputations hardly lie, people who have made use of the service or product comment and these comments are there to guide an intending user on which path to follow.
Every web hosting company has a reputation. if they don’t then they are probably too new and you shouldn’t use them.
3) Get a Theme: A theme is responsible for the look of your blog. There are many free WordPress themes out there you can use. There are also other paid themes you can use which offers support and more features.
When you’re starting out you may not have enough funds to go for a premium theme you can start with the free themes. Some really good free themes are Astra, OceanWP, and GeneratePress.
4) Develop Content: In this business, content is king! You should be ready to put in a reasonable time into making content. Not just content but quality content which will ensure you thrive in a niche you choose. You can also outsource writing post but you still need to have a good knowledge of the type of content you want.
Content isn’t only readable post, it also comprises of photos, videos, audio, and ebook. It surely takes time to create content but you don’t need to be in a haste to create lots of content as this is not a game of quantity but that of quality.
So, how do you go about creating content?
You start by doing keyword research (more on keywords later). After having a list of keywords your audience is interesting in it’s time to create content.
You should always try to answer your audiences’ questions as comprehensively as possible.
Give a total guide when necessary.
Most part of what we have so far concentrated on starting a blog with a paid plan, what if you want to start a free blog.
It’s totally possible to start free and make money from it.
So, how do you start a free blog?
There are numerous platforms that allow for a free blog to be started on them. You don’t pay for the domain name and neither do you pay for hosting. Interesting!
Examples of these platforms are blogger.com and wordpress.com and more.
You can simply go to any of these platforms and create a blog and in no time start creating content.
But why does every one of us doesn’t use a free blogging platform? The simple reason is, it comes with a lot of limitations. It starts with the domain name; you’re not going to use a custom domain name if you don’t buy.
Another major setback is its appearance. It is likely not going to appear professional. Then the most important thing is customization.
As you stay in the blogging business, sooner or later you’ll have the need to do a lot of changes from time to time to make your blog better suit its purpose. This is not possible if you are using a free blogging platform like blogger.com and wordpress.org. To take full control of your blog, you need to be on a self-hosted blogging platform that will enable you to install the WordPress script.
And then the monetization, some free blogging platforms are hard to be monetized and surely you don’t want this.
Obviously, blogging on a paid platform is by far the better option.
You can go ahead and create your blog on any platform you wish.
Now you have a blog, then what?
Content creation is continuous as you will never stop creating content for your blog. But as you keep creating content you also need to be concerned with other things.
The main two things you should be concerned are: • Traffic • Monetization
Let’s discuss how to get traffic to your blog and also how to monetize your blog traffic
Traffic: The number of visitors that visits your blog for a given time is called Traffic. All the content you create is or should be for your visitors. Your content should answer your visitors’ questions or inform them.
It is safe to say that without traffic a blog is like a fun park with no visitors and without visitors, the park makes no money.
A lot is put into building a park and also a park is built to make it worthwhile for visitors so they come back next time. And after building a park a lot is put into telling the public that there is a fun park there, just come and see it.
So, now you should be concerned with knowing what your visitors want and how to create content that attracts visitors. And also how to tell the public that looks, there is something you might be interested in.
This is where keyword research comes in. A keyword is a word or words people input to search engines to find information. Keyword research is the process of looking for such a word or phrase. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) starts.
To go further with your content and answer your expected audience’s queries you must do proper keyword research.
Monetization: This for most of us is the most important part and turning your blog to a substantial source of income doesn’t just happen. A lot of work has to be put into it before one can see real income coming from your content.
There so many ways you can monetize your blog: through ad networks like Google AdSense and Propeller ads, through affiliate marketing works that work better with niche blogs, through selling a personal product, rendering services, through the sponsored post, etc.
You should know that blog monetization largely depends on the amount of traffic. The bigger the amount of traffic the more revenue your blog is likely to generate.
That’s it with starting a blog.
Last Word…
Blogging over the years has evolved a lot, it goes beyond creating content or advertising your blog on social media platforms.
To succeed you have to learn from successful bloggers and that’s a lot of learning. Make sure to join groups while following like minds and also be patient.
Go for quality at any time over quantity and lastly don’t quit your day job until you start earning a sustainable income from your blog.
Let us know through the comment section if you have any questions or difficulty always willing to help.
Founded in 1994 by Jezz Bezos, Amazon first started as an online market for the sale of books. With time, the company introduced other products like toys, furniture, electronics, video games, software e.t.c.
To make money from Amazon, its either you simply become an Amazon associate/affiliate or you have your own product to sale.
In this article, you will get to know everything about Amazon affiliate program, how to make money from the program, requirements, pro’s and con’s, payment methods and lots more.
How to Make Money With Amazon Affiliate Program
Its quite simple. As an Amazon affiliate or Associate, you have a unique affiliate link and you make money when someone makes a purchase through your affiliate link.
For every purchase by a customer through your affiliate link, there is a percentage commission
One important thing you have to bear in mind is that the referral fee of Amazon products is not fixed, so different product categories have their different set commissions.
So don’t fail to know the commission fee of any product before deciding to promote it.
But before you start considering becoming an Amazon affiliate, you must either have a website, a blog or a mobile app. If you have any of this, you are good to go.
However, note this; If you don’t make any sale within 180 days, your account will be closed. But you can always reapply again.
Pros of Amazon Affiliate program
It is very easy to join as far as you have a website or blog with valuable content
Amazon is a brand highly reputable and trusted brand
You can promote product in any niche e.g tech, eCommerce, relationship, entertainment or fashion.
Cons of Amazon Affiliate program
Low commission rate of 5% or less for majority of the products.
24 hours cookie. This means that If you refer a customer who ends up not buying a product on the first instance of visiting the website and comes back after 24 hours to make a purchase, you won’t be paid for that referral.
One interesting benefit of being an amazon affiliate is that you can still earn some commission even if a customer dosen’t buy a product within 24 hours of visiting the Amazon website through your link.
How?
If they added the product to cart.
That’s is why I recommend you go through every product well enough and find out those that offer such benefits just stated above.
How Much Can you Make With Amazon Affiliate Program
As an Amazon affiliate, you can earn as much as you like. Some sites that earn over $500 – $2000 monthly, while there are others who can’t even make up to $100 in a single month.
So the honest truth is; It’s not quite easy to make money on Amazon Associates.
To be successful as an Amazon affiliate require a good knowledge of the right content and the right product that will attract your audience interests.
First, your content should be convincing enough to make customers click on your affiliate link to buy a product they need on Amazon.
Amazon Affiliate Program Payment Methods
Amazon associates have fewer payment options which are are direct deposit, Amazon gift card and check. There is no option for PayPal payment.
For direct deposit and gift card, the minimum payout is $10.
For check, the minimum payout is $100.
Amazon Affiliate Program Terms and Conditions
Well, another important fact to have in mind about Amazon is that they are strict with their affiliate policies. There are do’s and don’ts every affiliate must adhere to. If you fail to abide by their terms and conditions, Amazon will quickly ban you without prior warning.
So it is advisable to really understand the terms and condition involved in being an Amazon Associate.
How to Get Started With Amazon Affiliate Program
As a mentioned earlier, its quite simple to get started with Amazon Affiliate program. If you already own a blog, a website or a mobile app, enter the Amazon Associates website to apply as an affiliate.
When it comes to getting approved, the only tough step is phone number verification.
Amazon supports phone number verification for US numbers only. This means you must have a US phone number in order to verify your account.
So if you don’t have a US number, there is still a solution to that. You can use the Telos app to get a US phone number. Download the app and purchase a US phone number.
When you have acquired your US number, follow the rest of the procedures in the signup page to get an approved Amazon Associates account.
Conclusion
Becoming an Amazon affiliate is quite easy.
However, to earn as an affiliate requires good content, great product and the right audience, especially if you are a beginner in affiliate marketing.
The duration for approval is 180 days after which you are expected to make up to 3 sales in order to remain an Amazon affiliate.
Failure to meet up with making those 3 sales and that’s it; you account will be closed and you will have yo decide whether to reapply again or not.
If you’re a blogger who blogs on wordpress, you’re gonna love this post.
Why?
Because you’re a few moments away from learning about 10 proven ways to make money online blogging with WordPress, the largest publishing platform on the planet.
Infact, thenextweb reports that over 30% of all websites you find on the internet today is powered by WordPress.
So while using WordPress as your blogging platform, you can also make some extra money online doing so. It doesn’t matter if you’re working from home, or using your leisure time or your niche.
So…
Let’s dive right into the detailed guide of 20 “proven” ways to make money online blogging with WordPress.
But First, you should bear this in mind: following these steps is not a guarantee that you will make thousands or millions overnight. If you are desperate for quick and fast ways to make money online, then this article isn’t for you.
Also, if you want to really want to start making money using these methods, you will have to invest some time and/or money. It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 50, as long as you’re willing to do this.
So the first and foremost step is having your own self-hosted blog either .com, .co, .net, whatever extension you decide to choose as long as it isn’t hosted on a free blogging platform like .wordpress.com or blogspot.com.
Incase you don’t know how to own your own self-hosted blog, the video below shows you a step by step guide on how to start a WordPress blog for beginners.
Once you have set up your blog, then you are ready to follow this guide.
10 “Proven” Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
1. Google AdSense
For a lot of bloggers who are newbies or just started blogging, displaying Google AdSense Ads is one of the first options to make money online blogging with wordpress.
It’s quite simple. All you need to do is apply to Google, you will get a script code which you will apply to your website to start displaying ads.
And this is how it works. For every time a user clicks on the ad, you will get paid. These kinds of ads are called CPC ads.
CPC stands for “cost per click.” So this means that when you display CPC ads with Google Adsense, you get a set commission every time a visitor clicks on an ad.
However, Google adsense isn’t the only ad network for every blogger. There are quite a number of Google AdSense alternatives like Media.net.
2. Affiliate Marketing
WordPress Blogs can make money online using affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is simply when you earn a referral commission every time you recommend a product or service to your audience that leads to a sale. If the person buys after clicking your link, then you’ve made a sale and earned an income.
There are a number of affiliate programs that you can join and you can easily find one that relates to your niche or one that has products or services that your blog readers might be interested in.
You can join and promote a lot of products to promote from:
When you have decided on the products to promote, install and activate a WordPress plugin called “PrettyLinks” to manage your affiliate links.
Pretty link enables you to create branded links, easily insert links into posts, auto-replace keywords into links, and lastly see how each affiliate link is performing on your site.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money because when you promote a product and someone buys through your link, you earn a commission. Imagine promoting a product that gives you $5 to your audience and 100 persons buys through your link, that gives you a whopping $100 income. Isn’t that awesome? It sure is.
3. Sponsored Blog Posts
Sponsored blog post is another great way to make money from your wordpress blog.
A sponsored blog post is simply a blog post which you are paid to publish on your blog. It may be written by you or by the advertisers who paid you for it.
It’s quite simple to understand. A company can approach you or send you an email asking you to publish some information about their product, and promote it to your audience.
Also, You don’t have to wait or expect a company or advertiser to approach you for a sponsorship deal, you can as well approach or send emails to companies to negotiate a sponsorship deal.
But first, before reaching out to any company, it will be best and more professional if you put together a one-page media kit or page on your blog that details your traffic stats, social media following, audience demographics, and any other data that will make advertisers willing to agree to a sponsorship deal.
Lastly, ensure you disclose whenever a post is sponsored. Adding a sponsored post prefix to your post title in WordPress will do the trick.
4. Sell banner ad space directly on your website
Directly selling banner ad space on your website is another profitable option to monetize your WordPress blog. It’s even more beneficial to you because you will have full control over pricing and be able to negotiate with advertisers.
One thing I love about selling banner ad space is all revenue generated is yours since there is no third-party company involved.
So, to start selling ad space on your website, you can use the WordPress ad management plugin called AdSanity which makes the process easier a lot easier.
5. Writing paid reviews
You can make money writing paid reviews.
A paid review is like a sponsored post, where you write about a product and people check it out because of your review..
You blog must not entirely be a review site with affiliate links before you make money writing paid reviews, instead, you can try out products related to your niche for free, and then get paid for writing a review.
Just like reaching out to companies and big brands for sponsored posts, you can also do the same for paid reviews. But you have to be sure you’re reviewing products that are relevant to your niche so your audience would be interested in.
PayPerPost is a website that can help to connect you with businesses who may be interested in paid reviews.
6. Flipping Websites
If you know how to build a WordPress website, then you can create a website, drive traffic to it and build it up to be an authority, then sell it. There are a lot of brands and people who will be interested in buying established websites that they can use to start or build up their own businesses online.
Before you rush into creating and building up websites, you have to be aware of the types of websites in demand, and how to price and sell them.
Flippa is a platform for buying and selling online businesses.
7. Sell Ebooks on WordPress
EBook are multiple digital “pages” that people can navigate through, and are often packaged as a PDF document so they can easily be sent from one user to another.
You can write or combine old blog posts on a particular topic into an ebook. Once you have the information complete and detailed in your Google Docs (which I recommend), you can convert it to pdf and use canva to design a cover and sell it as an eBook.
The video below explains the whole process better
There are a handful of plugins that makes it easier to sell digital products on your WordPress blog. If you want to create an online store for your ebooks or digital products you sell, we recommend Easy Digital Downloads plugin.
8. Sell Online Courses
If you can create an online course, then you can make good money online selling them on your WordPress blog.
In creating a detailed course, you’ll need to create lessons for it, and include supporting materials such as downloads, slides, checklists, templates, etc.
In selling your courses, you can do it in two ways . You can create two different tiers with different price options; a basic version without support, and a premium version with email support.
You can use a learning management system (LMS) plugin called LearnDash to promote the course to your audience when your course is ready.
9. Offer Freelance Services
You can offer various freelance services as a blogger once you’re become an expert on your niche. You can offer your skills and services as a freelancer and get paid for it.
For example, if you are a competent content writer, you can reach out to your audience or other websites to write for them and get paid to do so. Of course, your blog can also be a reference if samples of your previous works are needed..
Once you start freelancing, use the plugin called “FreshBooks”, to invoice and collect payments from your clients
10. Become a public speaker
Public speaking can result in a lot of publicity to you if you’re an expert and influencer in your niche.
Especially if you have a popular blogger with a good number of audience and networks.
So when people see you as an expert in what you do, it makes it easier to get some public speaking jobs and get paid for it.
At the same time, you get to promote your blog and services or whatever it is you do best.
But bear in mind; if you want to really be successful as a public speaker and get paid for it, you have to be a total expert in your niche. If you aren’t an expert yet, work towards it consistently and keep improving yourself in what you do.
Also, note everyone will know you’re open to accept public speaking gigs. So you can also let people know that you are available. You can announce on your blog, social media handles or privately reach out to event organizers.
Conclusion
And that’s it. 10 “Proven” Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
I’m confident any or all of these ways will work for you, but you have to be willing to put the work into it.
If you’ve been blogging with WordPress and making little or no money online, then don’t waste time in implementing these steps.
Within a little time and consistent effort, you’ll see a nice increase in your income as a WordPress blogger.
