Disclosure: Please Note that different tools or products that I mention here contain affiliate links. This means that I may receive a commission if you buy them through my links. I personally use some of these tools and they bring me satisfaction. I’m also convinced that they can help you be successful. Please read my disclosure for more info.

If you’re new to blogging and making money online: Please read the following lines to open your eyes on how to create a blog and how to become a blogger.

Want to create your own blog?

Would you like to get into the affiliate marketing industry and perhaps earn money on the internet but you don’t know where to start?

On this page, you will find some useful tips to get started.

This article is quite long but I recommend you to read it till the end.

It’s a complete Step By Step Guide where I show you how you can start your own money-making blog in just 15 minutes.

Want to start a blog fast and easy?

The Blog by Number course, taken by thousands of happy students, is a step by step method to help you create a professional blog quickly without breaking the bank.

If you’re not a newbie in creating a blog, you can check this online course from Suzi Whitford to learn how you can take your blog to the next level as fast as humanly possible.

Thus, in order to help people who are new to blogging to get a good start, and after having thought it would be a good thing to implement on joseblogger.com a section called ” HOW TO CREATE A BLOG.”

This section aims to bring you the most important elements to consider when you choose to create your own blog.

In order to create a successful blog, you must first know exactly why you want to do it.

Some people choose to create a blog just to make money online, promote an event or a service. Other people do it to make themselves known as an expert in a specific area or to talk about their passions.

Whatever are the reasons that motivate you to get started in blogging, here are, in my opinion, some of the most important parameters you need to consider for a good start.

To start a blog and make money blogging, you basically just need 6 things:

1. A blog: (If you don’t have your own blog yet you can sign up with Bluehost here and start your blog within the next 15 minutes)

2. Great content: (You must provide great content that solves the problems of your readers)

3. An Email List: (I recommend you go with Kartra or Convertkit)

4. Something to sell: (This can be your own product or someone else’s product)

5. Traffic: (The more people visit your blog the more money you can make blogging)

6. Passion: (Be passionate about blogging and never quit.)

But at this point, maybe you tell yourself that starting a blog today is too late. That you don’t have time to blog or maybe that nobody is going to be interested in what you have to say.

If you thought about these things, let me tell you that you are wrong!

It’s not too late at all to start your own blog. On the contrary, I would even say that today is the best time to finally start your blog.

When I started my first blog a few years ago, I too thought that it was too late to start a blog, that I was not ready yet, or that my blog was not going to interest anyone.

But I was so wrong!

And finally, today I am happy to have taken the plunge since a year later, not only my blog interested a lot of people in my niche but in addition, it allowed me to start making money online.

Today, thanks to this first blog, I earn money passively. That means that when I sleep, my blog earns me money. When I’m on vacation or when I spend time with my family, this blog that I hardly touch any more continues to earn me money.

Do you want the same thing to happen to you? I know you do!

You too can start your own blog today and you too can make money blogging as long as you’re willing to put in the time and effort to grow your blog.

So, if you are really determined to create your blog and if you are ready to give your all to get it off the ground, in this tutorial, I will show you step by step everything you need to know to start your blog and get results with it pretty quickly.

But before we get into the practical part of blogging, you may still be asking yourself :

“Can you really make money with a blog?”

The simple answer is “Yes!”

I cannot guarantee that you will make money with your blog as it will all depend on your investment, your knowledge, and the work you are willing to do.

But just to give you an idea of ​​the results that can be achieved with a blog, here are some examples of some bloggers who started from scratch and who today manage to earn thousands of dollars a month with their blog:

• Anastasia from anastasiablogger.com: up to $10.000 per month.

• Jessica Autumn from jessicautumn.com: $2300 in her 7th-month blogging.

• Michelle from makingsenseofcents.com: up to $100.000 per month blogging.

• Alex and Lauren from createandgo.com: up to $100.000 per month.

• Me myself, up to $5000 my first year with bloglovemeeting.com (my first blog which is in French)

Disclosure: These results are not typical and will vary.

Related content :

17 Reasons you should start a blog this year

So with that being said, are you finally ready to get started?

Okay! Let’s go with the first step…

1. choosE the topic of your blog

Choosing the topic of your blog is absolutely critical to the success of the latter. However, many beginners neglect this step and began blogging without really knowing where they are going.

As a result, it is a certain failure in the end simply because either these people know virtually nothing about the field in which they are blogging and will never impose themselves as an expert, or it is a sector unprofitable and they give up because the results they get will not match their efforts.

Choosing to create a blog it’s first of all choosing to share his experience with his readers in order to give them tips that can help them in a specific area or solutions to solve a given problem. There is, therefore, in this process, a notion of supply and demand.

So before you even create your blog, you must take the time to think ahead to see if the topic you want to treat actually corresponds to your areas of expertise.

Your blog is your brand. A bit like a business, it must be your image and should, whenever possible, be a vector between you and your audience. In sum, this is a channel that conveys your ideas.

To choose the topic of your blog, you should start by asking yourself a number of questions in relation to the area in which you want to launch yourself such as :

• Why do I want to create my blog?
  • Who this blog will be for?
  • What am I going to talk about?
  • Am I qualified enough to talk about the topic I’ve chosen?
  • How will I go about creating, week after week, quality content?
  • What are my motivations? : Money? Recognition? Passion?
  • Financially, that’s going to bring this blog?
  • How much will it cost me to start my own blog? (In money but also in time?)

• Will I be able to monetize my blog and make money in my niche?

Once you’ve found your favorite subject, then you can choose a platform for creating your blog and getting started. In my case, I’m working with WordPress.org, a blogging platform that provides you all the tools needed to create a killer blog while having fun and making money.

2. choose the right platform for your blog

The evolution of the Web and the introduction of new tools today gives everyone the ability to create a free blog. In this area, there are many blogging platforms that can perfectly meet your expectations.

But to get to the point, I’m not going to present to you all the platforms here because there are too many in the market. You can easily find them on the Internet and try to see and choose the one that suits you best.

Personally, almost all my blogs run under WordPress. No matter what you read here and there, I recommend you create your blog with WordPress because :

• Most of the sites and popular blogs are built with WordPress.

• WordPress is 100% FREE and you have endless options to customize it at your will and really give it your own identity.

• WordPress comes with thousands of FREE plugins and thousands of beautiful themes you can use to take your blog to the next level.

• WordPress has a huge community of users all over the world, which means there is a lot of support to help you with your blog.

• And much more…

WordPress is in my opinion, and this opinion is shared by many bloggers around the world, the best tool for creating blogs.

This CMS, which came first in the competition for the best Open Source CMS organized in 2009 by the British company Packt (source Wikipedia), is both a blogging engine and a content management system that permits you freely create and manage all kinds of dynamic websites.

It has thousands of totally free plugins and gives a professional look to your blog.

3. choose the right domain name and a web hosting

Your domain name is the address of your blog. It is thanks to your domain name that your future visitors or customers will easily find you and visit your blog. So you need to choose it carefully. Your domain name should be made in the style of mysite.com.

Whatever your budget, you can find on the internet hosting services that offer you high-quality solutions at very affordable prices.

Simply contact them, check the availability of your domain name and then book it after you’ve paid your subscription fees, which you will not forget to renew each year.

If you are looking for a host for your blog or site, you can have a look at Hostgator, GoDaddy, or 1and 1. They are fairly well known

For less than $3,59 per month with Bluehost for instance, you can afford a good domain name and a hosting service.

At this point, if you don’t have your own blog yet and would like to start one as soon as today, go here to start your blog with Bluehost.

Many successful bloggers use Bluehost and it’s considered one of The Best Web Hosting.

with them you’ll get a:

• FREE Domain Name for 1st Year

• FREE SSL Certificate Included

• 1-Click WordPress Install

• 24/7 Support

It’s the exact hosting provider I use to run this very blog you’re reading right now.

There is no “good domain name” or “bad domain name”. It will all depend on your niche and the audience you are targeting. However, try to keep your domain name as short as possible so that people can easily remember it.

You can use either your own name; for example johndow.com, the name of your company; for example mybusiness.com, or a generic name.

For my domain name, I chose joseblogger.com because I help bloggers and entrepreneurs to start their online business through their blogs.

So, depending on your goals, just take a few minutes to think about the perfect domain name for your blog then move on to the next step: the registration of your domain name.

To get started, use this responsive domain name checker to see if your favorite domain name is still available :

Is your domain name available? Great!

Now that you've made up your mind and that you have your domain name, just click on the green “Get Started Now” button as shown below.

3.1. In the next screen, you will be asked to select your hosting plan. Go ahead and do it.

As you will see, Bluehost has 4 plans you can choose from Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro.

As a blogger, the basic plan is more than enough to get started.

So if you’re ok with that, choose the basic plan for now. As your online business will GROW, you’ll still be able to upgrade and go for Plus or even Pro plan.

If you’ve followed the instructions I gave you earlier on how to choose a domain name, by now you should have your domain name already.

If that’s the case, it’s time to SIGN UP and let Bluehost know what your domain name is. Just type it into the box “Create a new domain” and go to the next step. Otherwise, use the other box.

3.2. Create your account

Give them your contact info and create an account.

Wow! If you’ve come so far, this means that you’re doing great. But you’re not done yet. In the next section ” Package information”, you will be given the choice to choose a plan for your account.

I highly recommend you select the 36 months plan because this option offers you the best monthly payment. This simply means that you will be charged for 36 months upfront but do not worry about it tough.

If you decide to give up their services before the 36 months were fully used, Bluehost has a refund policy and they will refund you for the remaining months.

One of the advantages of going with the 36 months plan right away is that you won’t need to worry about renewing your domain for the next 3 coming years.

On the other hand, if you go with the 12 months plan, you will have to pay for your domain at the end of each billing period.

If you forget to pay or if for some reason your credit card expires without you knowing it, your blog can go offline and your hosting company can even delete it permanently. So it’s better to play it safe.

Before you complete your payment, there’s one more step they will want you to take. The form will offer you additional services and options in the “Package Extras”.

But from my own experience, I really believe that you don’t need most of them for the moment.

So don’t focus too much on them because they will always be available in your Bluehost account and you’ll still be able to pick them later own. If you are not sure whether you need these options or not, just uncheck them all for now.

3.4. Provide your Payment information

To finish this process, simply provide your payment information, agree with Bluehost’s Terms of Service and Cancellation Policy then click on the green “Submit” button at the bottom of the page.

Congratulations! You’ve done it! I’m really happy for you because if you reached this step, it means that you just created your Bluehost user account. To protect your account from HACKERS though, now you need to set up your password for it.

So go and choose a strong and secure password for your WordPress blog. Of course, don’t forget it and keep it safe.

3.5. Log into your account

4. install WordPress on Bluehost

Now that you’ve created a strong and secure password, it’s time to get a little busier and dive both feet into the technical part of creating your WordPress blog. But once again, don’t worry.

Setting up a WordPress blog with Bluehost is very easy. In fact, you don’t even need to have any technical experience to do it because the good news is that Bluehost does it for you automatically!

Simply follow the easy steps and you’ll be done in under 3 minutes.

5. Install a WordPress theme for your blog

Before your blog goes live online so that the entire world can see it, you will need to give it an appearance first. That appearance is the visual identity of your blog.

And to do so, you will need to use what we call a “THEME”. It’s what determines the looks of your site.

Once you’re done with installing WordPress, Bluehost is going to allow you to use one of their cute and beautiful themes for free.

For the moment, just go ahead and pick whichever theme that appeals to you. You will always be able to change it and buy a PREMIUM THEME later.

If you don’t like the free themes that Bluehost provides you, it’s not a big problem because WordPress got you covered!

They provide you with hundreds of extra free themes you can choose from. To find the theme that will best suit your needs, just go to the back office of your WordPress Dashboard and search for a free theme there.

You can also follow this link to find all the free themes WordPress has to offer: yourblog.com/wp-admin/themes.php

5.1. Why it’s important to invest in a Premium Theme

Remember when I told you that Bluehost can provide you a free theme for your blog? Well, it’s true! But listen to me carefully!

While FREE Themes can also be great, if you’re really serious with your blogging business and if you really want to make money with your blog, you should seriously consider investing in a premium theme because:

• The Internet loves speed. Premium themes load faster than Free themes.

• This aspect alone will give you a huge advantage on your competitors

• Premium themes look more professional, which is an important aspect if you really want to build trust with your audience

• Premium WordPress themes are designed to make you money and bring you income

• Premium themes are SEO Ready: Google prefers sites on premium themes

• Premium themes are Mobile-friendly (responsive design)

• You don’t need a lot of experience or special skills to create a pro-looking blog

• Premium themes are more solid and more secure than free themes

• Support of theme developer and community

For my blog Joseblogger.com for instance, I’m currently using Divi Theme. But I’m thinking of using a premium theme from Bluchic.com because I really love the appearance of some of their themes. If you too would like to try Bluchic.com don’t hesitate to visit their website to see if there’s a theme you like.

You can also visit themeforest.com since they have great premium themes, plugins and templates for WordPress at a very affordable price.

For $47-$97, you can have a premium theme that will make your site stand out from the mass so why bother wasting your time with free themes?

6. Launch your blog!

Once you reach this step, you can finally tell yourself “YES! I DID IT!” Congratulations, your site has been launched! You can be proud of yourself. Now that your blog is online, it will be seen by people from all around the globe.

You will finally be able to share your passion with the world and build yourself an audience you will be able to monetize with time.

Success will certainly not come overnight since you still have a lot to do to grow your blog. But at least you have accomplished the first step.

After you’ve launched your blog, you will need to customize it and fine-tune your theme, your pages and the entire look of your blog with your color choices, font styles, and special elements that will help you to give it your own identity.

To do so, don’t hesitate to watch tutorials on YouTube or just login to your Dashboard and start playing a little bit with all the features to get used to them. Don’t worry! This part is fun too.

7. Learn, learn and learn again as you go

This small detail may seem insignificant at first glance, however, it has crucial importance for the success of your online project.

Once again, most bloggers completely neglect this step. Many beginners prefer to put the cart before the horse just because they believe they know everything about blogging and making money online.

You can have the best idea of all time, but if you do not know how to let the world know about it, it does not make sense.

So do not hesitate to invest in yourself. This simply means that if you really want to succeed, you must learn from those who have already succeeded.

You will find many free tutorials on the net explaining how to create a successful blog and make money online.

You can decide to learn everything by yourself and it’s totally okay!

But in my humble opinion, if you choose to learn by yourself just because you don’t want to spend money and invest in your own education, you’re making a big mistake that may cost you more in terms of time and money.

So if you really want to take your blogging business to the next level and start getting real results as fast as humanly possible, you should consider investing in blogging education and learn from those who were there before you.

That being said, if you’re ready to invest in your own education, you can check “The Pro Blogger Bundle; a discounted bundle of Alex and Lauren from Createandgo.com 3 best-selling blogging courses”.

Alex and Lauren went from $0 blogging to making over $100,000 per month from their blogs… in less than two years. And they want to teach you how they did it.

8. How to choose the right promotional tools

Creating a blog is good. But attracting thousands of visitors every day and making money out of it, is even better. And yet, this is where things get complicated.

Once your blog is online, you need to invest a lot of time, effort, and even money to promote it and let the entire planet know what you’re doing.

There are many free tools that will help you promote your blog. But once again, do not hesitate to invest a little money to get the very best on the market.

For example, a few times ago I did not hesitate to pay $29 per month to use Vidnami; a powerful video creator software that helps me create stunning videos with human voice-overs to promote my blog or affiliate products on YouTube without me being on camera.

I also invested in ConvertKit; a well know and professional email marketing company I use to collect email addresses of my prospects and keep in touch with my visitors.

Put together, these tools contribute greatly to generate thousands of visitors to my blogs and give me more visibility online.

As with any business, if you want to make money with your blog, you’ll need TRAFFIC. And lots of it. To get traffic, you have many options, among which social media and YouTube for example.

Just choose the right traffic source for you and master it. To drive traffic to my own blog, I use Instagram where I have 40.000 followers but also Pinterest.

But if you really want to get massive traffic to your blog and make money online without relying on paid ads, I recommend you invest in Pinterest Traffic Avalanche; a course that helps you to drive laser targeted traffic to your online business and make money the easy way.

9. How to mAKE MONEY BLOGGING?

This is certainly the most asked question in the blogosphere. Although people who choose to create their blog do so for various reasons, the majority of people do it anyway for money.

Keeping a blog is above all a passion, but you should not be ashamed of wanting to make money with it. This is simply what we can call “combining business with pleasure.” Thus, there are many ways to monetize your blog.

You can, for example, start making money with Google AdSense. To do so, you register for free on Google AdSense, you display ads in relation to your topic on your blog and you get paid every time someone clicks on your links. It’s one of the easiest ways to generate passive income and anyone can do it.

When your blog has a little more authority and you have more visitors, you can register on platforms such as Clickbank, Amazon Associates or Jvzoo to monetize it with affiliate products. That’s exactly how I started monetizing my own blogs.

But if you can, you can also create your own products or write an ebook that you can sell on your blog or give away for free to collect leads in return. Creating my own product and writing my own book is exactly what I did.

To monetize my Instagram audience where I have more than 40.000 followers, last year I wrote the book “Instagram Marketing Excellence” to teach my followers how to use Instagram for marketing. (By the way if you want to grow your Instagram account, make sure to check SocialMeep to see how they can help you start getting more real followers fast.)

Almost 2 years after, this book alone keeps bringing me some nice passive income. You can check it out on Amazon but unfortunately, the book is only available in French for now.

9.1. Monetize your blog with an email list

As a blogger, you have probably heard the phrase “money is in the list”.

Neglecting to build your email list early on is probably another big mistake new bloggers make.

Yes! believe me.

I see so many people who make the huge mistake of not starting building an email list right after they started their blog.

Just in case you’re wondering why starting an email list is so important, here’s what you need to know: ” No matter how great, beautiful and fancy your blog is, if you really want to make money online with your blog, you need a list.” Period!

Why?

Because your email list is for sure one of your best tools for making money online through affiliate marketing and selling digital products, for instance.

But if you haven’t started building your email list yet, don’t worry! It’s not too late.

You can still fix that. To do so and fix this mistake, just decide to start a list today. Don’t keep on procrastinating. Even if you feel like you’re not ready yet, do it today.

All you have to do is to choose a good email service and start building your list.

Depending on your budget, there are so many email service providers out there such as Aweber, GetResponse and so on and so forth that finding a good one will not be an issue.

The one I recommend is ConvertKit because it’s a tool that was built by marketers for marketers. I read so many positive reviews about this tool and I think that you’re going to love it too.

10. Be patient and determined

Patient! This word does mean what it means. Once you have created your blog, do not expect it to be known overnight.

To be honest with you from the outset, most of the beginners who start a blog abandon within six months due to a lack of results. Don’t be like them. Just be patient.

If you want to create a blog that hits, you have to wait. Building a blog, having the confidence of people and earning its first dollars online takes time.

So do not get discouraged if after three months there are still no comments on your blog.

Commit to publish as regularly as possible quality products and work your SEO to give more exposure to your blog.

Always remember that Rome was not created in a day.

11. Be passionate

To be successful with your blog and make people want to read what you’re publishing day after day, you must first start by loving yourself what you are doing.

Be passionate about your blog. This is the only way to avoid it becoming a constraint for you to run.

Start blogging today!

There are still many things to say about starting a blog but I think you understood what I wanted to tell you. If you have arrived at the end of this article as I have suggested above, then it shows your determination.

In this case, enough “blablabla.”

You have proven to me that you’re ready to create your own blog. So stop thinking and start blogging!

Good luck

To your success