How to Make Money Blogging (And How to Start a Blog in Less Than 15 Minutes)
I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world being able to work on my blog everyday, help save people money, teach others ways to make extra money online, share my recipes, have a flexible working environment and be with my kiddos and husband as much as possible. Wait, but did you know that you can do what I do, too? If you have a passion, there are people that would love to hear about it.
When people ask what I do they are instantly intrigued and wonder (and sometimes even ask) how do you make money doing that?
The truth is that Coupon Cravings provides our family a great income. The blog makes money using several outlets including advertising, sponsorships and even some affiliate income. Although everything on my blog does not bring in income, some things do and that’s how I am able to keep the blog updated every single day. There are many times that I will shout from the rooftops about a product I love or service I have used without making a penny from it, but that’s what it means to help people save money and/or make money.
See my post on 4 ways to make extra money from home
These are all of the reasons why if you have a hobby or a story to tell I would strongly consider starting your own blog. Once you have loyal readers and a following, you will begin making money on advertising, sponsorships and more as well. And, you may even turn your hobby into a full time business!
I am going to give you step by step directions on how to get a blog started and hope that you, too can share your passion with others.
For starters, the great (and possibly best news to you right now) is that you can start a money-making blog for just a few dollars a month!
**Are you ready? Bluehost is waiting for you and will give you a FREE domain!
When you start off, please be sure that you choose a self hosted Wordpress blog. This will be important in monetizing your blog in the coming months. I recommend Bluehost to get started with. Until you start getting much traffic it’s a great place to start, will only cost you a few dollars a month and you’ll also receive a free domain name when you start your blog.
Bluehost is also the only hosting service officially recommended by WordPress – especially for new bloggers and has been the number-one recommended hosting service for their platform for almost 10 years, making it a great place to start as well. There are many reasons why Bluehost is so highly recommended, but here are just a few:
- Premium customer service, reliability and usability that you will need getting started
- Easy-to-use control panel
- One-click WordPress install provided by MOJO Marketplace
- Expert, in-house technical support provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Unlimited websites, email accounts, and domains – all on one account at an affordable price
- No gimmicks, no contracts – You’ll enjoy the comfort of a 30-day money back guarantee and the option to cancel at any time.
And, like I mentioned, when you sign up for your hosting here then you will get your domain for free if you purchase a 12 month or longer hosting plan (a $15 value). I highly recommend signing up for the 12 month hosting plan through Bluehost as you don’t want to forget to renew. It’s affordable and you can save a lot of money by signing up for at least 12 months. Plus, there are no contracts and you can get a refund anytime, even after 11 months!
On a side note, you may have heard that you can start on Blogger for a little less money… my best advice is not to do that. If you are interested in ever making money off your blog, freelancing on the side or turning it into a business, paying for your own hosting is a must. Through self hosting you can run any of your own advertisements, offer affiliate links, etc. with a blog ran on Bluehost.
Here are the step by step directions to be on your way to sharing your passion.
To get started, go to Bluehost’s home page here and click “Get Started Now.”
If you haven’t already, you will want to choose a domain name for your site. I recommend making the name relevant to what you’re planning on blogging about. Whether it’s appetizers, or ponies, make a name that rolls off the tongue and speaks to the majority of what your blog will be about.
If you already own a domain name, you can enter it in the transfer domain box at this point and you will go through a few extra steps to make sure you get your DNS pointed to Bluehost. If you don’t already have a domain name, you can purchase one from right in the sign up process in the new domain box, and the best part is, it comes free with your new WordPress hosting account purchase. (Isn’t that awesome!)
Once you’ve chosen your domain name, simply fill out your mailing address and contact information.
Next you’ll choose which hosting package you want. Normal, shared hosting is priced at 12, 24 and 36-month terms. To help save you money, the longer term you purchase, the lower the monthly rate will be. By choosing a 36-month hosting term, you will get the lowest price and can get the great introductory rate of $3.95/month. At this point I recommend that you select basic as your package and the 12 month term as that will be plenty right now and you’ll get your free domain, saving a few bucks there, too. You can always change later and just pay the difference. There are other offers as you make your way through the hosting packages, none that are super important at this point.
Once you complete payment information you’ll create an account. Be sure to store your password somewhere safe.
Next, you’re going to be moving on to getting set up with Wordpress. You’re well on your way!
How to Install WordPress
Bluehost has worked hard to make this one of the easiest things for you to do by using the new MOJO Marketplace for installing WordPress and other applications.
Log into your cPanel and scroll to the section titled “MOJO Marketplace”. Choose the “One-Click Installs” button. This will take you to a page inside MOJO Marketplace called Scripts and Platforms. The blog section is at the very top, so all you have to do here is click on the WordPress icon.
This will open the installation window where you will click on the green “Start” button that will start the WordPress installation process, which has a few easy steps that you’ll be able to get through pretty quickly.
1. Choose where you want to install WordPress. Next, click on “Check Domain,” which will make sure the domain is assigned and pointing to your account. You may get a warning that you are overwriting files, but as long as you don’t have another website built yet, you can check the box and continue.
This is mostly to make sure that you really want to install in that location. If you do have other sites built, you will want to make sure you’re not overwriting something important. Bluehost can assist you with this.
2: Show Advanced Options. This section allows you to set up your own username and password for signing into your WordPress account. Choose a different username than “admin” and a very strong password. Make sure that the “Automatically create a new database for this installation” box is checked, unless you have a database already set up that you want to use.
3: Once you’ve read the terms and conditions: tick the box indicating that you’ve accomplished that and then click “Install Now.”
On the progress page you’ll see how the installation is coming along. Once WordPress is fully installed, it will provide you with your site URL, the admin login URL, your username, and password. Although you will get a copy of this information in your email, please keep it in a handy, safe spot.
Well, hello, you blogger, you! 😀
Now you can log into your WordPress site by going to the admin login URL that was sent to you. Enter your username and password, then click “Log In.” This will take you to your WordPress dashboard where you’ll enter your username and password. From here, start creating pages, writing posts, and sharing your passion!
Remember, sign up HERE to get your special offer of shared hosting at $3.95/month for 36 months, as well as a free domain name for a year!
See my post on 10 Awesome Ways to Make Money Filling Out Surveys from Home
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