Getting started blogging for money

But…how the heck do you get started? Who do you listen to? I used to be a blogging newbie too. I had the same problems. I started my blog BloggingBasics Before we dive in though, I really want to talk about WHY you should build a blog. If you already have a solid idea of the whys, then skip this and go right ahead with the guide.

Creating your own blog can take a little while, probably up to 30 minutes. This guide to starting your own blog contains some affiliate links. If you purchase a service through one of these links I may earn a small commission, this is at no extra cost to you.

So, we made it. Better late than never! Choosing where you want to build blog is pretty much the first thing you have to do. Even though WordPress is bigger and probably better than those two, here are my reasons why you should still go with WordPress:.

How to Choose a Blogging Platform — updated for Whoa, slow down there! You need to decide whether to pay for your blog or grab a free one. WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger all offer free blogs for anyone. But it does have downsides:. There are some limits to free blogs. They have done so in the past, and keep doing it in the future. Which means all your hard work on your blog, all those countless hours of writing blog posts might be vanished within seconds.

On the other hand, with a self-hosted blog on your own domain name — you are the REAL owner of your blog. You can end it with. Add to that unlimited bandwidth for videos, images and content plus the free themes and you have a winning combo.

So how much is hosting and a domain name? Big smiles for that! That button will automatically install WordPress on your blog. Did I say it was simple or what?

All you need to do is sign up with iPage or your chosen provider , choose your hosting plan and a domain name and look for the one-click WordPress install button on the admin panel.

I have a more in-depth tutorial on building a blog with iPage here. Start a Blog with iPage today and get an exclusive discount plus a free domain name. Once WordPress is installed on your website, all you have to do to start blogging is go to your WP-Admin page usually www.

At the start, the layout looks confusing, but it gets very understandable quickly. I usually choose something that looks professional and pretty easy to customise. WordPress also has this awesome feature that allows you to change themes with just a few clicks. So if you start getting tired of your current blog template, you can just switch to another one without losing any precious content or images.

On top of that, it should be easy to navigate if you want people to stick around. Design is a subjective art; meaning everyone likes different things. But no one likes ugly websites, and they especially hate websites that need a university degree to navigate. Make it easy for them. Feel free to check them through. These articles may help you avoid some of the growing pains when it comes to your first blog — enjoy!:.

If you are having any problems installing WordPress on iPage then this guide may help. If by some unfortunate circumstance you get stuck or have any questions for me about how to create a blog, just get in touch with me or leave a comment below.

If someone want fame so must be an unique brand. Afternoon, First great ideas. However I have my up and running and I am having a hard time getting followers or readers. Thank you so much for making it so simple. Wow I just loved your article on the beginners guide to starting a blog. I want to start one and I am now pretty clear after reading this post. This was very helpful for me and I am definitely going to mention you in my blog as soon as I start it.

Thanks you so much. Be sure to send me a link to your blog once you are all set-up I love seeing what people who have followed my guide go on to do!

Hi there, very informative but just to be clear I do have my own website and domain names so do I just have to install word press and crack on from there. Thanks for the Advise and data. Finally I choose WordPress self hosted as per your recommendation. Thank you so much for your insight. Starting a blog, writing and sharing information is something about which I have been thoughtful for a while.

Reading this was such a breath of fresh air. Thanks for this article. By the way, would it be okay if I start blogging with a free account and decide later on hosting the blog? Will the transition be easy enough to migrate from a free account to a paid one? Hope you could shed light on the query. Just drop me a line once you want to do that. Hi Jessica, I am seriously considering moving from free to self-hosted.

Will I lose all of my old posts? It is quite easy to move from WordPress. As a newbie, I mean a real newbie, I so appreciate your information. Can we shift from free hosting to self hosting?

Like will all the content be lost or it can be transferred. If you go with WordPress. Hi i am looking into starting a blog.

I am based in England so would there be extra costs added onto monthly fee? Thank you so much. Finally a short and straightforward tutorial that helped me through this process. This is exactly what I needed! I signed up with iPage, acquired my domain, benbrookcottage. I cannot find a one click install button for WordPress on the cPanel. If I want to do the self hosting and custom domain, I start with iPage…and then still end up using WordPress to create my page, right?

If you have any other questions, send me an email to info bloggingbasics I am wondering if you start off with the free wordpress version, can you later switch it to the paid version? If you are serious about blogging, I suggest you to go with self-hosted option right away.

This is very useful information for me as a beginner blogger. I figured to try blogging as a project while working on my MBA program online this year.

Still checking out some tips and advice prior to publishing. A bit nervous but after reading other new bloggers helps build my confidence. Hopefully I get the nerves to publish by end of January. As you mentioned, I ended up using WordPress. Is there ways to change things like your blog name or domain name?

I m considering starting a blog but I am not sure what I want to do it on just yet. You can change your blog any time you want. I have a question.. When signing up for a wordpress blog account, a user has the option to self-host.. Do I choose this or do I go to ipage to start up my domain and blog? I suggest you to install WordPress via iPage because if you decide to go self-hosted directly from WordPress. I am very new to all of this and was wondering if you could explain to me how the money is earned?

Thanks for the question. Thank you for this information and responding to the comments. This has been incredibly helpful! This is the most helpful and simple guide to blogging i have come across. I am very new to blogging and also very curious about how to earn money from blogging.

I am looking forward to your post about this. In June my now ex wife became pregenant with our second child but the previous month she introduced me to Facebook. That was the beginning of the end. To make a long story short my ex wife and a woman I met on Facebook both gave birth to my 2 daughters 51 days apart. The blog I want to start will hopefully help other men not be as self destructive as myself. This guide to making a blog has been really helpful and we will now be starting a blog for them.

Yes, you can do that if you got a free WordPress. Useful info for me. My problem is how to promote my blog. Is it possible to link my blog to social media so all blog posts are automatically posted on my social media pages?

Your write-up has been so helpful as a journalist just wading into blogging it is my Bible. Really great information, Jessica. Can you sell ad space on a self-hosted WordPress blog? If not, which route would you suggest to go for someone who would be interested in selling ad space on their blog? You can definitely sell ad space on your self-hosted WordPress blog — many people are doing it.

You can try buysellads. I have to agree with ThemeForest.. I am a real newbie, 72 years old, I though your info was great,and will take all your teaching in, are you allowed to copy and paste stuff you see on the subject you interested in? No, copy pasting will help you in no way.

Avoid copy pasting at all costs because it seems like it is your content when all you do is copy paste, and if you want to refer to some other blog post, copy paste the content and give them proper credit by adding their blog post link in the end. It was interesting to see the diagram wheel picture in tip one with all the different domains that are used.

Self-hosted WordPress seems to be the most popular. Do you think it has to do with how you can customize it the way you want the most compared to the other domains? I sincerely appreciate all of these additional ideas to get my blog started! When I try to install WordPress, I am told that my files will be overwritten. What exactly does this mean?

Will WordPress code simply be inserted into my code html , leaving the code otherwise intact so that my pages will be displayed as before but now with blogging capability? Or is there more to it?

So basically, you just need to overwrite it. Thank you for your informative post. You can use your own domain name on a platform such as Tumblr for free but as you are on their platform you will be restricted to the types of content you can produce, the types of advertisements you can host and it is difficult to move to a self hosted WordPress environment later down the line. Thank you for the information it was very helpful but I have a question on how do you earn money from it?

Can you please elaborate on that. Hi you may want to read my article on monetizing a blog. Thanks for the good tips. There are settings to make your posts password protected in WordPress. Alternatively you can block search engines from finding your blog in WordPress too,. This article was super helpful and on point, thank you so much. I was going to give up on trying to set up a blog but now I am inspired and full of hope that I can do it!!

Can I just say, thank-you for posting this. The information you have provided is so important, not to mention interesting. Finally able to set up my blog! This was super easy, understandable and best of all it WORKED!

Hello Jessica, besides paying for the domain and hosting service from ipage, am i going to pay for the WordPress blog? Hi, thanks for this very helpful post! Basically just ensuring that you get the domain name that you want if possible. One suggestion or caution with Godaddy though…Godaddy has a product called WordPress Hosting. I signed up for it, and all was fine until I installed a plugin which had a special requirement that needed to be set up by the webhost.

Only on their individual hosting plans would that have been possible. This is a rare event, but worth keeping in mind. When you go for your own hosting you have more flexibility. This sounds a bit similar to my experience, however with a better ending. I wanted the full cPanel version. I called them up and they very graciously switched me at no charge.

And, I can still do WordPress on my account.

WordPress is the best option for anyone thinking about starting a blog. You need a self hosted WordPress to start a good blog. It will give you a strong base to do anything with your blog. So anyone wanna start a new blog… forget about blogspot, tumblr etc just go with self hosted wordpress.

It will cost you some money but not very much. I had no idea where to even begin and this had essentially laid out my first steps. Thank you for the helpful information! Hi Jessica, thanks for great post, its really simple way! And also I love how you write, easy-to-read and lots of information! Very good tips after starting my blog I read a few articles on layout and have found this has increased my page views and also has helped take my demographic into other countries I would not have thought to target.

Hello, I am curious about starting blogs and want to get into it to make money if possible. How does one make money through blogs? Hi Jessica, thanks for the advice! I have been setting up my blog over the last few days and written a few posts already.

Did you wait until you had a good amount of material on your blog before publicizing it or did you start with one article and got more traffic as more material was added? I started out with just a blog post and an about me page. It is entirely up to you but it can often be a good idea to have a few posts when you start your blog so people can learn more about you and the topics you are covering.

Before you start a blog, make sure you have some ideas what to write about. If you dont have any think about your hobbies or things youre passionate about. When you purchase your domain through ipage do you have to add the WordPress Essentials to be able to install wordpress on it? Thanks so much for the information. I have been thinking about blogging for a while now.

How to make money blogging - 30 Day Blog Challenge

This has made it seem so much more simpler than I thought it would be. I just realized last week that I created a blog through WordPress. But I think WordPress is more sophisticated. I really want to start my own blog and earn money from it. And everyone I know just recommended me to use WordPress. I know WordPress is a good one, but I heard Google Adsense wont work with it.

Adsense works just fine with a self hosted WordPress blog. There should be no issues running a blog monetized by Adsense. Thank you Jessica for your wonderful article!

You make it sound very simple. I am looking forward to setting up a self-hosting blog with iPage. You really inspired me! This is a very good read. Been writing on tumblr but I wanted my very own domain. Im currently interested on starting a blog and Im wondering if it is possible to blog on a smartphone? Since I cant always carry a laptop around and most of the time ideas and inspirations just pop-up from unexpected places and I dont want to waste the feelings and emotions that I wanted to express on my writings just because I cant conveniently start from where I am.

Hey, thanks for the great post. When it comes to free blogging platforms, some they will allow you to use your domain.

The problem is that some they will not allow you to monetize your blog and they can delete your blog without any valid reason. Hi Jessica I found your tips really helpful but I have one question I live in the UK I would love to start blogging but is it possible to open blog in the UK and able to convert the language and menus in to polish? Or do I have to open it the polish language?

WordPress is multi-lingual so no issues there. As for opening a blog in the UK as long as you have a credit card and UK address then you can sign up with iPage. Thank you Jessica for the information. You made it easy right from the start and as I was thinking of questions they were being answered as I read a little more. This is very helpful. Or is there any other idea to capture the original data.

How to make money writing a blog - Our story from $0 to 10k per month!

It is very easy to transfer from Blogger to WordPress, it can be done by exporting your posts and importing them into WordPress. There are dozens of articles online and on WordPress. I am a little bit confused on the actual action i need to take. Do I go to the wordpress website to set up my blog? Or do I go to the Ipage website? Please follow my guide… there is no need to visit WordPress at all this process is conducted with iPage. I would like an response anyone, preferably from the author.

I used to write a Blog and would like to start again. My previous Blog was hosted by WordPress. I was paying about I tried contacting WordPress about this unexplained huge increase, but they chose not to respond. WordPress is free open source software — you are referring to your web hosting company. Web hosts will inform you of any charges in advance and it is very easy to move to a new host.

Some web hosts offer free transfers if you sign up for a contract of 12 months or more. The other thing to do to avoid sudden price hikes is pay for 36 months rather than Thanks guys, Feel like I can start a blog with ease.

The way it was broke down made it seem so simple! I have already got a blog set up and I have just got it how I want it on blogger.

However, I would like to take it further and maybe gain a higher following. Thankyou so much X. I read this and it has inspired me! I am a fashion minor in college and am really looking forward to starting my own fashion blog thank you! However you will need to make some efforts to backup and protect your blog, however there are dozens of free plugins these days.

Hi thanks for all your help! So I have a question. I want to make a blog but I want it be self hosted. Do I make it on WordPress first then get into iPage or do I sign up with iPage and then connect it to WordPress? I was a little confused when you was talking about that. I always encourage my friends to look at WPengine for hosting, its a bit more pricey but is really stable and reliable, plus they include tons of goodies that are usually considered a premium service and they all work without a struggle.

Thinks like a CDN, Backups, Offload to S3. All these things can really help the quality and consistency of your site and are definitely something to think about whether you are a beginner or an advanced blogger. This is way out of the reach of most of my readers. This is a lot of great information. I was a bit overwhelmed about all the different ways in which to start a blog but am feeling more confident now. Looking forward to starting my blog soon. Been blogging online myself since I know all too well of how powerful blogging is for branding and monetization.

Will it be possible to set up a blog where comments cannot be posted and emails cannot be sent to me? My only interest in blogging at this time is for a limited number of friends and family.

Just wanted to tell you that my wife and I went with your advice and signed up with ipage. Thanks in advance and have a nice day! You can transfer the domain away from WordPress. This is the post every new blogger needs to go through first. You have thoroughly explained the basics of blogging. Hi, I live in Germany and will like to start blogging career.

My question is can i use iPage as web host or do i have to use anyone from Germany. This start a blog tutorial highlights iPage as I find they are very cheap for complete beginners to test the water with.

I have to agree with you and also put some emphasis on uniqueness. The most successful blogs today are definitely those that have an individual personal twist. People love new content and the more unique the likelihood that it will be shared more and draw in more people. Absolutely agree with you Gary. Be Unique, be yourself — I often find it easier when I sit down to blog to think about writing for one person.

Sometimes that can be a reader who has sent me a question, other times I might think of a friend or family member who needs some help. Now I know how to rank well for as many relevant keywords as possible and it did miracles to by blog. The tool calls SERPstat and the guy were awesome.

Thanks for this post. And huge thanks for the guys who helped me. I agree to your thoughts and also think that the personal touch in a blog is an essential factor and that comes when the blog owner is really passionate about providing content and helping others. I am a beginning blogger and not well stocked with images.

I do not want to plagiarize any photos. Where can I find free images to use? Where can I purchase images at reasonable prices? There are lots of stock photo sites that offer royalty free images under a creative commons license. Hi Sue, Try pixabay. Great article, yes I do agree that WordPress. It has darn near become industry standard. Heck, you have major corporations transferring their sites over to WordPress.

The reputation, flexibility, capability, tools and ease-of-use that it offers makes it a winner! This helped me a lot. I recently hit my 5 year anniversary at my current job it got me thinking about what I actually want to be doing with my life. You mentioned that not only is blogging a great way to communicate, it can also help you to become a better person and a better writer.

I love a good opportunity to better myself, and I think I might have to give it a try! You explained blogging about as well as anyone that I have read thus far. Good stuff and Thanks! I love to write! I usually write my thoughts in a journal or I doodle to entertain myself at any time. I just recently Retired from my job and I think it would be fun to start my own blog!

I guess I would say it is on the top of my Bucket List! This is great post. I am glad that I found out this post. I will apply these things and share with other was well. SO, that can start blog as well. Thanks for the in-depth guide, Jessica. The journey has been great thus far. What do you recommend for monetization apart from Adsesne.

I think the best thing is to think about what works for you and your audience. If you are happy to invest the time then coaching and your own info products can be highly lucrative. As can affiliate marketing. Hi Jessica, this article gives me hope that I can start a blog. I felt it would be great to track all of this with pictures, videos and articles. When I actually sit down to start, I will likely have questions to ask.

Great article about blogging. I have been blogging about fashion for my Apparel Search website for many years, but have not received much traction for the efforts. Hopefully your suggestions will be of help. After several years, I have people reading the blogs, but no followers and not many people posting comments.

Rather frustrating, but I will continue my efforts. Anyway, thank you for your post and hopefully it helps me and others improve our blogging. Great post, blogging is hard. We run a travel blog and I think the most important thing we tell people is to travel with a purpose, Do not just wander around the world aimlessly. Like ours is to experience and document the Top Travel Adventures So many travel blogs do not really have a purpose or a niche.

Niche is key and many miss out on that because they want to cover and do it all. Do not just start a blog because you think you will get rich quick and be able to travel the world. It takes a lot of work and lots of time. Your email address will not be published.

Blogging Basics Jessica Knapp How To Start a Blog Blogging Resources Contact Me. Blogging has quickly become one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news.

You become a better person and a better writer. You can make money doing it! One very last thing before we get started: How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps: Choose your preferred blog platform Choose web hosting for your blog Setting up a blog on your own domain Design your blog Useful resources for blogging So, we made it.

Step 1 — Choose your preferred blogging platform Choosing where you want to build blog is pretty much the first thing you have to do. There are other alternatives however, and they are listed below: Blogger — Definitely the next best thing to WordPress. Tumblr — Half social network, half blog.

Interesting, and very simple to use. Even though WordPress is bigger and probably better than those two, here are my reasons why you should still go with WordPress: People can interact with you easily. Your content can be shared, commented on, and so on.

Step 2 — Self-hosting or a free alternative? But it does have downsides: Sad… On the other hand, with a self-hosted blog on your own domain name — you are the REAL owner of your blog. Should I Choose a Hosted or Non-hosted Blogging Platform?

The domain is basically the URL of your website. Hosting is basically the company that puts your website up on the internet so everyone else can see it. Everything will be saved on there. Think of it as a computer hard-drive on the internet where your blog will be saved. Step 4 — Designing your WordPress blog Now, the fun bit. Keep It Clutter Free and User Friendly Advice for Blog Design and Blog Goals Is there any software I can use to make my own graphics, button, and banner?

These articles may help you avoid some of the growing pains when it comes to your first blog — enjoy!: Enjoy your new blog! This is really helpful. I hope it is easy. Cant wait to start this weekend. Hey Mansi, Be sure to send me a link to your blog once you are all set-up I love seeing what people who have followed my guide go on to do!

This is really helpful hope this will help me to create my own blog. Seriously Thank you very much!! I just began my own blog so this was very helpful to me. Thank you for sharing! I will definitely use your tips when I set up my blog soon!! Hi Nancy It is quite easy to move from WordPress. This guide would definitely help me through. Hi Mary, You can change your blog any time you want. Hi Lauren, Great question! Can I have a blog with multiple and diverse topics?

Sort of varying chapters of interest. Just make separate categories for them.

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Hi Keri, Thanks for the question. Hi Jean, Yes, you can do that if you got a free WordPress. Yes there are number of free online tools for this such as ifttt. Hi Nathi, You can definitely sell ad space on your self-hosted WordPress blog — many people are doing it. Hello Jessica I am a real newbie, 72 years old, I though your info was great,and will take all your teaching in, are you allowed to copy and paste stuff you see on the subject you interested in?

I think the WordPress is phenomenal for 3 reasons: Hello Jessica, Thank you for the info on blogging. I would like to apply it to my website and have a question. Hi Gretchen You can use your own domain name on a platform such as Tumblr for free but as you are on their platform you will be restricted to the types of content you can produce, the types of advertisements you can host and it is difficult to move to a self hosted WordPress environment later down the line.

All the best and welcome to the blogging community Jess. Now I am more encouraged to start my own blog, Thanks.. So anyone wanna start a new blog… forget about blogspot, tumblr etc just go with self hosted wordpress It will cost you some money but not very much. That is great to hear. Enjoy your blogging journey -Jess. Hi Aure, If you dig in to my old posts I have covered lots of articles on starting and monetizing a blog.

Hi Kelsey, I started out with just a blog post and an about me page. Congratulations on taking the first steps! Awesome guide, by the way.

Hi Gus WordPress essentials are not necessary. Just follow the exact steps in my guide -Jess. This was so super helpful! Good luck with starting your blogging adventure — Jess. Hi Jessica, Im currently interested on starting a blog and Im wondering if it is possible to blog on a smartphone?

Since I cant always carry a laptop around and most of the time ideas and inspirations just pop-up from unexpected places and I dont want to waste the feelings and emotions that I wanted to express on my writings just because I cant conveniently start from where I am Regards, Angel. Hi Angel Absolutely there are apps for managing WordPress blogs on phones and tablets. Hey Magda WordPress is multi-lingual so no issues there. Hi Magdalena WordPress is multilingual so it is very easy to adjust these settings.

How To Make Money Blogging for

Hi Heidi Please follow my guide… there is no need to visit WordPress at all this process is conducted with iPage Jess. Hi Larson WordPress is free open source software — you are referring to your web hosting company. Hey Hannah transferring your blog posts from Blogger Blogspot to WordPress is super easy! Hi Jess, What are your thoughts on adding the ipage site protection?

Is it absolutely necessary? Sign up with iPage 2. Install WordPress for free 3. Hey, Love this post. Hey Jess, Just wanted to tell you that my wife and I went with your advice and signed up with ipage. Hey Jon Congratulations on taking the first steps with your blog. Good luck with it! Hi Paz You can transfer the domain away from WordPress. Once this is done you will be free to host your blog anywhere. Hey Michael, You can use any hosting company you want as long as they offer PHP or WordPress hosting.

What an amazing and well written article. I am choosing WordPress for my blog. What great insights you have given us—thank you Jessica!! Thank you for your encouragement and help!! Great info on starting a blog…Your resource page is helpful as well Jessica.

Great blogging tips for beginners, Jessica. Hi Jessica Very useful and well written. This helped me a lot in my new motivational blog. Hi Luca I think the best thing is to think about what works for you and your audience. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.