How to Start a Blog in 2021 to Make Money

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If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering how to start a blog in 2021 to make money from home.

One of the big reasons to start a blog is to make money.

But can you really make money blogging?

The answer is yes! But it’s going to be a lot of work and you have to be 100% committed.

I’ll warn you, blogging can be a lot harder than it seems, but it’s definitely worth it.

There are some bloggers out there making $100,000+ a month, like Michelle Schroeder-Gardner from Making Sense of Cents, who made $131,448.35 in one month from blogging.

How crazy is that?!

Let’s get into the steps to starting a blog for beginners to make money!

Don’t forget to save this to Pinterest for later!

How to Start a Blog in 2021

Pick a Blog Niche

The first thing you’ll want to do is pick a blog niche.

I highly recommend “niching down.” If you focus on one topic, you become an expert in that topic according to Google and social media. This makes it a lot easier to know what your target audience wants and how to deliver that.

If you’re like me and you like writing about pretty much everything, you should try focusing on 2-4 categories. As you can see in my navigation bar, I talk about personal growth, blogging, and money.

These things are kind of related because these are all tips that can make people a little happier, which is my goal.

Your blog niche depends on what your goal is. Are you blogging for fun? If so, write about the things you enjoy.

If you’re blogging for money, there are certain blog niches that make more money.

Some of common blog niches are:

Lifestyle
Parenting
Personal development
Food
Travel
Finance

These are just general topics, but you can niche down even more. For example, within finance, you can focus on making money for stay at home moms.

When you’re choosing your blog niche, think about who you want your audience to be.

Are you writing to moms? College students? People who are in debt?

Figuring out your audience can help you narrow down your niche.

Pick a Blog Name

The next step to starting a blog in 2021 is picking a blog name. For me, this is one of the hardest parts.

For SEO purposes (we’ll get to what SEO means later), you should include a part of your niche or audience in the name. This way if someone searches one of those terms, your blog name could come up.

Plus, people will know what they’re going to get when they click on your blog.

For example, if you want to blog about being a mom, your blog name should include something related to that.

The downside to starting a blog in 2021 is that there are so many names already taken, which makes picking a niche-driven blog name hard.

Another good idea for your blog niche is to pick something that’s catchy that people will remember.

Making Sense of Cents is a good example of this. It’s catchy and I didn’t forget it the first time I heard it.

What I did to pick my blog name is I wrote down a bunch of words that I liked or made sense for my niche. Then I started pairing the words to see how they sounded. As you can probably see, I ended up with Thriving Wonders.

Before you make the big decision on your blog name, you should go to social media and Google to make sure it’s not taken.

You can use the tool below to see if the domain name is taken.

Buy Self-Hosting

I could go on and on about why you should buy self hosting. To put it simply, I didn’t buy hosting for my last blog, and that’s the reason it failed.

If you don’t buy self hosting, you can’t customize the website the way you want and it’s not really yours.

You cannot monetize your blog if you don’t have self hosting. If you want to make money blogging, you have to buy self hosting.

I use Bluehost because it’s the cheapest option and it works great for beginner bloggers.

It’s been over a year, and I’m still satisfied with it for a few different reasons.

It’s the lowest priced hosting starting at just $3.95/month
FREE Domain Name for 1st Year
FREE SSL Certificate Included
1-Click WordPress Install
24/7 Support

Your next step is to go to Bluehost and get signed up!

If you use my link, you can get Bluehost for only $3.95 here!

Set-up Hosting and WordPress

You’ve bought hosting. Now what?

First, I should add that for your platform, you should choose WordPress.org. This integrates nicely with Bluehost.

Choose your Bluehost plan

I have the basic plan. It covers the basis, but it also has everything I need.

Choose your free domain name

You can create a domain name or choose one you already have.

how to start a blog for beginners in 2021

Fill out your account, package, and payment information.

Again, the basic plan is perfect for beginner bloggers.

Choose a password.

Install WordPress

When you log in, it will ask you to choose a theme. You can use Astra to start with or you can skip this step. On the next page you come to, you can click start building.

Fill out your site title and site description

Now that getting set up is out of the way, let’s actually get into how to start a blog in 2021 to make money.

Pick a Theme

You may have done this in the last step, but now it’s time to change or pick a theme. This is another stressful part because there are so many themes to choose from.

Astra is a great free theme to start with.

I started off with this free theme, and when I learned more about blogging and what I wanted my blog to look like, I bought a theme from Etsy.

Once you’ve picked your theme, you can start customizing it.

Here is a list of things to customize on your new blog!

Design your Brand

If you want to start a blog in 2021 to make money, you have to start thinking of yourself like a business.

This means you need to design your brand. Pick a set of 2-3 colors to use on your blog.Create a header image and logo to go on your blog and in your social media.Use pictures that align with your brand.

Set up your Layout

Next, you’ll want to set up your layout. What do you want your homepage to look like? You can add pictures and categories or keep it simple and just set up your homepage to be your new posts.

Here is a great guide to setting up your homepage.

You’ll also want to think about a sidebar and navigation bar. Some bloggers opt to not have a sidebar next to their blog posts, but I like to have one.

If you’re blogging for money, it’s important to keep people on your blog. If someone sees something interesting in your sidebar, they’re more likely to click on it and stay on your website.

Some things I like to put in my sidebar are

Sign up for newsletter
Popular posts
Search
Social media share buttons
Ads
Archives

You’ll also want to create a navigation menu with the pages you plan to create.

Add some Plugins

After you set up your layout, it’s time to add some plugins. Some of the plugins I use are

Yoast SEO
Monster Insights
Wpforms
Simple Social Icons
GDPR Cookie Consent

Create Pages

The next step to starting a blog in 2021 is creating pages. This is going to be where you categorize where your blog posts and other information go.

Here is a list of blog pages you should have

Category pages
About me
Contact
Disclaimer
Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
Disclosure

If you have a few different blog topics like me, I suggest creating a page for each topic you cover (2-4 pages).

For example, I have a page for personal growth, blogging, and money.

You can also do subpages within each category. For example, if one of your topics is personal development, you can have subpages with self care and goal setting.

You should also have an about me and contact page.

If you want to make money from home blogging, you need to have legal pages as well, like a disclaimer, terms and conditions, etc.

You can read about the legal pages you should have here.

If you don’t have these legal pages and you’re making money blogging, you could get into some trouble.

You can also have other pages like

Shop
Resources
Start here
Custom 404

Write Blog Posts

Before you publish your blog, you should have at minimum 2-3 posts per page. You don’t want any empty pages.

If you don’t have anything to look at yet on your blog, there’s really no point in publishing it yet.

With that being said, it’s time to start writing blog posts!

Here are some general tips for writing blog posts

Choose a topic and do keyword research (go to Get Blog Traffic for more info)
Determine the type of post (list, how to, roundup, etc.)
Create an outline
Choose a compelling title with power words
Write an intro, and if you have affiliate links, put your disclaimer at the beginning
Write in short paragraphs
Finish with a call to action
Add images

Publish your Blog

You made it!

Now that you’ve written some blog posts, it’s time to PUBLISH YOUR BLOG!

This whole time you’ve been working on your blog, it hasn’t been live.

To launch your blog on Bluehost just hit publish in the Bluehost builder editor.

Get Blog Traffic

Now that you’ve learned how to start a blog in 2021, it’s time to get some blog traffic.

You have to be patient with this process because it’ll take a while. The timing is different for everyone.

Grow Blog Traffic using SEO

The first way to get blog traffic is through SEO (search engine optimization). I’ll just go over the very basics because it can get a little complicated.

One of the biggest parts of SEO is doing keyword research.

When I come up with a blog post idea, I always go to Google’s keyword planner to find keyword ideas. I try to use long-tail keywords because they’re usually lower competition.

Long-tail keywords are essentially phrases instead of just a word or two.

I find the keywords that have a decent amount of traffic, but are also low competition.

As a beginner blogger, you won’t be able to compete for keywords that millions of others have used, which is where long-tailed keywords come in.

Here is a picture of how I did keyword research for this post you’re reading.

Keep in mind, you’ll need google ads to use the keyword planner tool.

It’ll take a while to get accepted to Google ads, so here are some other places to do keyword research.

Grow Blog Traffic using Social Media

Another way to get blog traffic in the beginning is to use social media. You can’t just start a blog and expect people to come flocking to it. Keep in mind, no one knows your blog exists.

You have to make them know, and you can do that by promoting your blog on social media.

You can use Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, and many more places to get blog traffic, but my favorite way to get blog traffic is from Pinterest.

I highly recommend you to get a cheap Pinterest course to get you started.

I used Pinterest with Ell to grow my Pinterest monthly followers to over 1 million.

Pinterest with Ell is affordable and gives you everything you need to grow blog traffic using Pinterest.

Most courses are over $200, but you can get Pinterest with Ell for only $39 here.

Make Money from your Blog

The last step to starting a blog in 2021 to make money from home is to actually start making money.

This is not a get rich quick scheme.

Blogging takes a lot of time and patience.

Make Making Blogging with Ads

One way to make money blogging is through ads. When you place ads on your website, you can get paid if people click on your ads, see your ads, or buy something through your ad depending on your ad network.

For beginners, I recommend using Google ads. There is not a monthly visitor requirement, but you should wait at least 6 months and have a lot of content or you might get rejected.

Other ad networks for higher monthly traffic are

Make Money Blogging with Affiliate Marketing

Another way to make money from home blogging is through affiliate links. If you put an affiliate link in a blog post, someone can click on that link and you make a commission if someone buys the product.

Here are some of the best affiliate networks for beginner bloggers.

Make Money Blogging with Sponsorships

The last way to make money from home blogging is through sponsorships. Once you get more blog traffic, companies can reach out to you (or you reach out to them) and ask you to promote their product.

You can make a blog post promoting that product and get paid for it.

How to Start a Blog in 2021 Final Thoughts

After all of this information, I’m sure you’re overwhelmed. There are so many reasons to start a blog in 2021 though, so you should just go for it!

What’s important is that you’re consistent. Don’t write 3 blog posts and then not write again for 2 months. If you want to grow your blog, you need to make a schedule and stick to it.

Good luck and happy blogging!

Hello! I'm Mia.

How to Start a Blog in 2021 to Make Money