HOW TO START A BLOG TO MAKE MONEY
Avoid common mistakes and download this today
Have you always wanted to start a blog to earn money online but not sure where to get started? Have you started a blog but not sure how to drive traffic or earn money from it? Have you heard of terms like SEO but have no clue what it means? Are you scared you will not be able to create a blog because you do not know coding or any technical knowledge? If you answered yes to any of above questions then this book is for you.
How to start a Blog or website
This is one of the most frequently asked question. So let us start with it.
Before starting a blog, please understand why you want to start a blog.
- If it is for fun and sharing your thoughts – start a free blog from WordPress.com.
- If you are interested in making your blog an income generating channel then please get a domain and self hosted blog.
Here's what you'll Need to start a blog or website
DOMAIN NAME
Domain name is a name of your website. For e.g. name of my website is bloggingmadeeasier.com. Choose a domain name related to what you are going to write about or related to your readers.
hosting
Hosting is where your website is stored. In simple language consider it a special computer that stores your website and provides services such that your website will be visible on the internet
Check my recommended hosting providers here
THEME
Theme is how your website looks like. I mostly use WordPress as a software to build websites so choose a good WordPress theme. You can read this guide on how to choose a good theme
Frequently asked questions
In very simple words – when you buy own hosting from hosting service providers then you have a self hosted blog.
You can buy domain from any of the domain name providers. My suggestion is buy a domain while you are buying hosting as many service providers like chemicloud provide domain free.
Avoid Godaddy and Bluehost. They give good affiliate commission thus online reviews are good. Siteground is good but they have increased pricing last year. Currently my recommended hosting provider is Chemicloud
Most of good hosting providers have money back policy. So if you do not like you can always cancel and get your money back
What it means is you are using WordPress software for building your blog. You currently are using a subdomain xyz.wordpress.com and you are currently using hosting provided by WordPress.com
If you are interested in making your blog or website an income generating channel and take blogging as a profession then move to self hosting and buy a domain. If you writing as a hobby a free wordpress.com is perfect 🙂
No. This is a sub domain of domain WordPress.com. You will need to buy your own domain name
No do not buy paid plans from WordPress.com. Instead you can get domain and hosting from external providers and move your website.
HOW TO START A WEBSITE OR BLOG
1. Pick a Blog Name
2. Buy Hosting
3. Install SSL
4. Install WordPress
5. Log in to your new website
6. Set up your website correctly (settings)
7. Set up your website theme
8. Create categories
9. Set up your website menu
10. Set up your website widgets
11. Set up essential plugins
12. Create MUST have pages on your website
#1 PICK A BLOG NAME
You can buy a domain name from namecheap.com and then proceed as below for buying hosting.
Or you can buy domain along with hosting from chemicloud (as explained in step 2)
#2 Buy hosting
Where can you buy Hosting from
Based on my experience and hosting providers I have personally used – I can recommend below hosting providers to you. My first preference is Chemicloud so you can go for them.
$2.95
/month
Ionic Plan
1 Website
5 GB SSD S
2 X 7 CHAT SUPPORT (EXCELLENT)
FREE SSL AND HTTPS
FREE EMAIL ACCOUNTS
FREE WEBSITE TRANSFER EVEN ON BASIC PLAN
45 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
$6.95
/month
START UP PLAN
1 WEBSITE
10 GB SPACE
24 X 7 CHAT SUPPORT
FREE SSL AND HTTPS
FREE EMAIL ACCOUNTS
WEBSITE TRANSFER FREE (WITH GROW BIG PLAN) SITEGROUD MIGRATOR IS GOOD OPTION
30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
$3.95
/month
BASIC PLAN
1 WEBSITE
50 GB SPACE
24 X 7 CHAT SUPPORT
FREE SSL AND HTTPS
5 FREE EMAIL ACCOUNTS
WEBSITE TRANSFER NOT FREE, AVAILABLE ON EXTRA CHARGE
30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
You can click here to buy domain and hosting from Chemicloud. Once you click on this link you would see multiple types of hosting.
We need to click on “Learn more” in WordPress Hosting
Now Opt for 3 years of hosting in WordPress Starter Plan and click on Order now
Select whether you already have a domain or you want to register a new domain. When we are starting a new website or blog – we would choose “Register a new domain”
**If you are moving hosting from another hosting provider select “I already have a domain”
This would take you to Configure page. You can change your server location based on where you are located
**We do not need to buy any additional service.
No additional Addons are needed so click on Continue (if there is any coupon you would need to add Explicitly)
And make the payment
Congratulations. You now have a domain name and hosting space for your website
#3 Install SSL
Once you have bought hosting from Chemicloud. Chat with the support to install SSL.
SSL in very simple terms is https:// in front of your url or website
#4 INSTALL WORDPRESS
Chat with the support and request them to install WordPress on your website. Or you can use the tutorial below
1) Login into your cPanel.
2) Scroll down to the Softaculous Apps Installer section and click on the WordPress logo.
3) Click on Install button
You can also refer to this tutorial on Chemicloud site
#5 Log in to your new website
Congratulations you now have domain, hosting and WordPress installed on your website. Now it is time for you to log in and start setting up your website.
One of the frequently asked question is How do you login to your new site. Type below in your browser and you are ready to start.
<Yoursitename>/wp-admin e.g. – http://www.newdomainname.com/wp-admin
How to transfer existing data from WordPress.com
If you already have a Blog on WordPress.com the first step you would need to do is transfer your data from Free WordPress to your new WordPress installation.
- Log in to your WordPress.com account.
- Export data and
- Then login to your new website and you would see one of the tools as Import data. So import existing data on your new website
How to point your existing domain to new hosting
This is an extra Step for those who have already have a domain.
You would need to change your DNS name servers to point to new hosting.
Now we have to set up your new website.
#6 HOW TO SET UP YOUR WEBSITE CORRECTLY
Login to your website.
And then on the Dashboard go to left hand side and find settings and work our way towards – General settings, writing settings, Reading settings, Discussion settings, Media and Permalinks.
In General settings
1. Change Site Title – Your website name
2. Tagline – if you have any tagline associated with your website add here
In Reading settings
You can change whether you want your home page to display Static page or your latest posts. For most new bloggers it would be Latest posts.
With time I would suggest that you move to Static home page but that is a topic for more advanced courses.
You can choose how many posts show at most on your Blog page and syndication feed. I usually set it up as number 6.
For each post in a feed – include Full
text or summary. I usually choose summary.
Change your permalink to remove date from your url
Go to Settings -> Permalink settings and choose radio button next to post name. This is helpful for SEO
Change Default “Admin” username
For security you can change default “Admin” username and keep something more secure.
#7 SET UP YOUR WEBSITE THEME
I think one of the most difficult decision for me when starting a website was what theme to choose for my website. And honestly – I have made enough mistakes in choosing themes.
First things first – Don’t spend months in choosing a theme for your site. It is something that can be changed later as well.
I mean give due consideration; and invest on a good theme but don’t delay launching your website for months just because you are not able to decide on a theme.
You may find this article useful on – How to choose a WordPress theme. It also has details of my inputs on best Free and paid WordPress themes.
I personally am using this theme for my website.
#8 CREATE CATEGORIES FOR YOUR WEBSITE
Decide what categories you are going to write about. Do not set up too many categories. Mainly divide main buckets you want to write about and set them up as categories.
Categories are important from SEO perspective as I have explained in my SEO Simplified e-book for beginners
#9 SET UP YOUR WEBSITE MENU
Menu is what comes at the beginning of your website. Setting a menu is very important as it helps a reader browse your site.
Once a reader is on your site then your menu can help him/her read more related topics and subjects and thus that means more page views (traffic) for you.
Different themes will have menu at different locations. But all of them will have a primary menu and the way to set it up would be same
#10 SET UP YOUR WIDGETS
First let us talk about what are widgets
A WordPress widget is a small block that performs a specific function.
These widgets can be added to sidebar and footer area of your site.
How we can set up widgets is to go to Appearance – > Widgets and then we can drag and drop widgets to widget ready area of our WordPress website
#11 SET UP ESSENTIAL PLUGINS
Plugins are a piece of code or software that you can add to your website or blog to add a functionality to your blog. For e.g. if you want your website to have frequent backups. You can add a Backup plugin and set it up.
If you want to be able to stop spam comments on your site – you go with Antispam plugin. And so on.
Please NOTE the less the number of plugins on your site – the better it is.
I had read blogs from some top shots in blogging business and had 40 plugins at a point of time. Well that advice was wrong advice. Stick to minimum number of plugins.
#12 SET UP THESE MUST HAVE PAGES ON YOUR WEBSITE
Below are the few must have pages that you need to have on your site
- Home page
- About Page
- Services, shop or Sales page
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Disclosure
- Opt-In Landing page/ Free Resource page
Moreover, once the site reaches a particular stage, making these changes gets more and more difficult to bring it up to speed and catch up with things we have not done correctly.
Hence it is imperative to start RIGHT.
I have covered above steps in details in my How to start a blog e-book. If you have not downloaded yet do check out here on Amazon.in. It is available on Amazon.com here.
MUST READ FOR NEW BLOGGERS
HOW TO USE AMAZON FOR EARNING MONEY
Here is a step by step tutorial on how to get started with Amazon affiliate marketing
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HOW TO WRITE CATCHY TITLES
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