How to Make Money with a WordPress Blog: Step-by-Step Instructions

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How to Make Money With A WordPress Blog

If you’re looking how to make money with a WordPress blog, then read on. One of the most important things you can do before you start a blog is to determine what you will write about (Duh, right?). If you aren’t sure what the main focus of your blog is before you start writing, your blog will lack focus.

Already know what you’re going to blog about? Then Click Here to start your blog on WordPress now!

Step 1 – Finding Your Blog Topic

Most people who want to make money with a blog are interested in either supplementing their income or replacing their income from a day job altogether. Making money with a WordPress blog is very possible but your chance of success occurs before you even buy your domain name or set up hosting for your blog. You need a clear idea of what you will write about, and who you’ll be writing for before you even start.  What I’m talking about is finding a subject that makes you happy, that you can’t wait to sit down in front of your computer to write. It goes without saying that the more content you create, the more traffic and leads your blog will produce (Source: Hubspot).

When I started My Mocha Money in 2008, I wanted a creative outlet where I could tell others about the different ways I made money from home while taking care of my kids. I wrote a blog post almost every day at first (Businesses that blog  ≥ 20 times/month get  5x more traffic than those who blog ≤ 4 times/month. Source: Hubspot). I was so excited to get up out of bed every morning to write. It didn’t even matter if I got very little sleep the night before. I knew exactly what I was going to write.

What Will Your Blog Be About?

Finding my blog topic came easily to me. Maybe it will be for you too, but this is where a lot of people get stuck. Everyone has more than one interest they can write about, but choosing the “right” one can seem overwhelming and a little scary. This is where people freeze and do nothing.

How to Decide on Your Blog Topic

So how do you decide on your blog topic? You definitely want to pick a subject that you have a lot of knowledge and are passionate about, or writing on your blog will seem like work (once you write 21-54 blog posts, blog traffic generation increases by up to 30%. Source: TrafficGenerationCafe).

• What are your hobbies?
• How do you spend your free time?
• Do you talk a lot about a particular subject?
• What do you enjoy doing or reading about?
• Are your friends always ask your advice about a specific topic?
• Does something come naturally to you?
• What classes did you enjoy in college?
• If you could do anything at all, even if you didn’t get paid, what would that be?

Picking a Niche

You also want to pick a niche where other people are searching for information on the topic you choose. A simple Google search will determine if your subject matter is popular or not.

However, you don’t want to choose too broad of a topic where you are the “johnny come lately” blog that no one will ever find because of the number of big, kick-butt blogs out there already covering your topic.

For example, maybe you love dogs and are very knowledgeable about them. You wouldn’t be able to start a successful blog that revolves only around “dogs.” You probably would even have a difficult time being successful with a blog about a specific breed. However, what if your blog was about a specific breed AND being a “senior” dog? Hmmm…let’s check this out…

Search Google For Blog Topic Ideas

Try this…go to Google and type “senior golden retrievers” into the search bar and then after that phrase just put in the letter “a.” What search phrases pop up? I just did it and came up with “senior golden retrievers and cancer,” “senior golden retrievers and cats,” and “senior golden retrievers as pets.”

People are looking for information about senior golden retrievers. Now try it with other letters of the alphabet after the phrase “senior golden retrievers.” Try adding two letters after the phrase. Just by doing this, you will come up with so many great blog post ideas for your potential blog topic. Not only that, I see a lot of potential in making money with affiliate products from a blog like this–after all, 61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog (Source: BlogHer).

Step 2 – Buying Your Domain and Hosting

Now that you figured out what you’re going to write about and you’re excited to get started, it’s time to secure your domain name and hosting package. You can get this done in one shot with Bluehost.com where you can get both (if you already have your domain name and just need hosting, you can follow the instructions Bluehost gives you).

Right now they are running a special where you can get your website hosted for as little as $2.95/month which includes a free domain name. You pay the whole year (or years) upfront. Looking at the visual below, the basic package will probably be sufficient for your needs. If not, you can investigate their pricier options such as the “Plus” or “Choice Plus” option. Just getting started in blogging or are switching from a free blogging platform? Then the Basic plan should be sufficient for you.

Why Your Blog Should be Self-Hosted

At this point, it’s important to address why your blog should be self-hosted instead of using a free blogging platform. If you already know that you want to start a WordPress blog (the self-hosted WordPress–Wordpress.org, not the free, limited version of WordPress–Wordpress.com), then you can skip this part.

A self-hosted blog gives you a more professional appearance and gives you full control over your blog including its layout, search engine optimization, advertising revenue, additional functions, and more. In addition, you can install your own theme and make the blog look exactly like you want by having access to backend files (Source: BloggingBasics101). WordPress makes this all very simple. You will have to pay for a self-hosted blog, but the small investment is worth having complete control over your blog.

With a free blogging platform, you have less control and you look less professional. You will have a domain name with a free blogging platform name, such as Blogspot, attached to your domain name. For instance, your domain name would look like this: www.domainname.blogspot.com. In addition, there are limits on your bandwidth and advertising options. If you aren’t really serious about making money from your blog, then you may want to blog on a free blogging platform such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com.

Step 3 – Installing WordPress on Bluehost-Step by Step

Installing WordPress (it’s free) on your blog is simple when you follow these easy steps:

1. Go to the Bluehost website and click on the “Get Started” button. Again, choose a hosting plan that suits your needs, and then create an account by entering your personal and billing information.
2. Choose a domain name: If you don’t already have a domain name, you can purchase one through Bluehost during the sign-up process. Alternatively, you can use an existing domain name by pointing it to your Bluehost account.
3. Login to your Bluehost account: Once you have signed up for Bluehost, login to your account using your username and password.
4. Install WordPress: Once you’re logged in, you’ll see a dashboard. Look for the “Website” section and click on the “Install WordPress” button.
5. Choose the domain name and directory: Bluehost will prompt you to select the domain name you want to install WordPress on. Choose the domain name you want to use, and then decide if you want to install WordPress in the root directory or in a subdirectory. If you want to install it in the root directory, leave the “Directory” field blank.
6. Create a WordPress username and password: You will be prompted to create a WordPress username and password. This will be used to log in to your WordPress dashboard, so make sure you choose a secure password.
7. Wait for the installation to complete: Bluehost will take a few minutes to install WordPress. Once it’s finished, you’ll be taken to a page that confirms that WordPress has been installed.
8. Login to your WordPress dashboard: Now that WordPress is installed, you can login to your WordPress dashboard by going to http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/ (replace “yourdomain.com” with your actual domain name). Enter the username and password you created in step 6, and you’ll be taken to your WordPress dashboard.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed WordPress on Bluehost. From here, you can start customizing your site and creating content.

Step 4 – Monetizing Your WordPress Blog

Once you narrowed down your blog topic and have ideas for blog posts, you want to look for ways to make money with your WordPress blog that make sense for the blog topic you chose. For instance, if you write a post about senior golden retrievers and natural supplements, you could find a reputable source of natural supplements for dogs where you become an affiliate of that company.

You can become an Amazon and/or eBay affiliate and recommend different products as they relate to the posts you write. If you’re talking about the best bed option for senior golden retrievers, then add your affiliate link to your product suggestions. There are so many different types of products, especially on Amazon, that you can link to from your blog posts.

Consider adding ads from Google Adsense to your WordPress website. There’s an easy tutorial you can follow here.

In addition, you can sell display advertising to companies as your blog starts to gain momentum. A blog with a steady stream of traffic and the right target market is a great option for a company to advertise its products or services.

Best Way to Make Money With a WordPress Blog

If you are serious about making money with your WordPress blog, consider writing a very thorough tutorial or step-by-step guide that provides a mega-amount of information for your readers. An industry study by Backlinko.com found that longer content tends to rank significantly higher on Google’s first page. In this tutorial or guide, you would include affiliate products, physical products, or digital products that you believe would help your readers.

Don’t suggest products just because you make money from them. It’s best if you have experience with the product(s), or if there are a lot of positive reviews on a product where you feel comfortable suggesting it.

Make sure your search engine optimizes your post and includes photos that are also optimized (articles with images get 90% more views (Source: Jeff Bullas). Have no idea what I’m talking about and/or how to do this? Check out this great On-page SEO post by Brian Dean. Also, read this post on How to Optimize Images for SEO.

You will also want to promote this post as well as your post photos on social media. I would also suggest adding a link to the article on your sidebar.

I hope you found this make money with a WordPress blog guide useful. You are now on your way to becoming a successful, money-making WordPress blogger!

The above post contains affiliate links.

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