Learn how to start a money making blog using WordPress

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a commission at no cost to you.

Now that I’ve taken the plunge into the blogging world, I wanted to help show others how easy it is to set up their WordPress blog using Bluehost! This is my second blog that I’ve created, and I’ve used Bluehost for both. I set up my first blog a couple of years ago, and was so relieved to see how easy it was to start. Bluehost completely guides you through the simple steps, so I wasn’t left confused or on my own at all while learning how to set-up my blog.

Setting up your new blog is super easy, and just takes 5-10 minutes to get everything going.

Click here to start a WordPress blog when you’re ready, and then just follow along with the step-by-step instructions below to go through the simple and quick process.

Why Should You Start a Blog?

If you’ve thought about starting a blog but feel like it’s too difficult, I definitely know how you’re feeling. I was never taught anything computer related in school, and this whole tech world definitely didn’t come natural to me. Everything that I know is from learning from other people online, and If I can figure out how to start four blogs – you definitely can!

It’s 100% possible to start from scratch and turn your beginner blog into a profitable money maker, and it only takes a few simple steps to get started.

There are so many reasons why you should be starting a blog, and the biggest one is money.

I started my first blog after using StumbleUpon (remember that one?) and coming across a blog post from a blogger talking about how they make thousands of dollars every month from blogging. I couldn’t believe what I was reading, and ended up completely devouring just about every blog post they had on their website. I was hooked.

After doing more and more research, I decided to take the plunge myself. I’ve always felt a strong pull towards entrepreneurship, and I wanted to find a way to make money for myself online so that I could finally quit my day job that I absolutely hated.

Each of the four blogs that I’ve had grew at different paces, and a lot of that has to do with the niche it was in and my passion about that niche. To help you get started and reach any of the goals that you’ve set for yourself, I’ve created these step-by-step instructions on how to start your blog so that you can begin growing it to make money online too!

Before you set up your blog

What do you want to blog about?

How to pick a niche to write in

I’m a huge believer in writing about something that you are genuinely interested in.

I’ve been a serial entrepreneur for several years now, and I’ve had multiple successful and unsuccessful businesses and ideas (both online and offline). The common factor of the successful businesses is that I was always truly interested in them, knew a fair bit about them, and knew that I would still be interested in it several months down the line.

If you’re starting your blog in a niche that you don’t genuinely care for or know much about, you’ll end up burning out quickly and will likely end up abandoning it before you can reach success.

The key is to pick something you know you’ll love enough to turn it into a business!

A few questions to ask yourself:

• What are your passions, skills, and interests?
• What do you do in your free time when you get to choose what you’re doing?
• What is something you could write about for a full year or more and not get tired of it?

Niche ideas

Once you’ve thought about those questions, start a little list of different topics that you think you’d be interested in blogging about. A few to consider are:

• Lifestyle
• Food
• Travel
• Fashion
• College
• Health & fitness
• Personal Finance
• DIY crafts

There are endless topic ideas for you to choose from, you just have to decide which one you like best!

If you write about something that you don’t care about, it’s also not likely to resonate with your readers. Everyone wins when you write about something you care about!

Once you figure out your blog niche, you’re ready to start!

Step 1: Getting started with Bluehost

Bluehost is the hosting website that you’ll be running your WordPress blog on. Below are the reasons that I use and recommend Bluehost:

• One-click WordPress installer
• You’ll be self-hosted, so everything is yours
• You get a free domain name
• You get a free SSL certificate
• 24/7 support
• 30 day money back guarantee
• 2 million use it and it is highly recommended by the best

Click here to open Bluehost in a new tab and get the discount

To start, click the green Get Started button shown above in the new window you just opened.

And then just follow the simple step-by-step instructions below that will guide you through the 5-10 minute set-up process.

2. Selecting the best plan

This is where you pick which plan will be best for your hosting. All you’ll truly need right now is the $3.95 Basic package – it includes more than you’ll need especially starting out (it’s what I currently use!).

3. Picking your domain name

Here is where you’ll choose your website name. There are no additional charges for this since Bluehost gives it to you for free!

If you are having trouble coming up with a domain name, think of word combinations that represent what you will be blogging about. Start a list of words that you want your blog to be focused on, and then look up synonyms for them to get the brainstorming process started with even more ideas.

I chose Killer Finance because I wanted a name that clearly showed what I would be blogging about – finance, and I chose killer because I wanted to have a strong word to drive home exactly how amazing/mighty finance can be – killer!

It’s important not to overthink this because it’s easy to spend way too long brainstorming, and you will burn yourself out before you’ve even started!

Remember that your goal is to create content so that you can start growing your blog asap. If you decide later that you really don’t like the name you chose, you can always change it.

I also recommend going with a ‘.com’ instead of any other endings since it’s easier for people to remember and looks more authoritative.

If you select the 36-month plan and decide to cancel your account after 12 months, Bluehost will refund you for the 24 months you haven’t used. Canceling is also extremely easy, and their customer service is very helpful too!

You can uncheck the extra services shown above, and if you decide later that you’d like to have them, you can always add them on at a later date.

After choosing your plan, enter your payment information and click submit.

Create a password, and that’s it! You can now access your Bluehost account which will automatically take you to the One-click WordPress installation.

Congratulations! You’re now officially a happy member of the Bluehost community with your own domain name and web hosting plan!

Next, let’s walk through the final steps of the WordPress installation so that you can start your WordPress blog on Bluehost right away!

Step 4: Log in to your Bluehost.com account and setup your WordPress blog

Lucky for us, Bluehost now installs WordPress automatically on your account during the signup process. So there’s really not much left to do!

Once you complete your payment, you’ll see a welcome message from Bluehost.

You will now see a bunch of free WordPress themes that Bluehost provides that you can choose from. You will see a link under these themes that says ‘skip this step’.

Feel free to either skip this, or choose any theme. There are lots of free WordPress themes to choose from right in the WordPress dashboard, and you can change it anytime you want (I have recommended paid themes linked below if that’s what you’re looking for!).

After you either skip this step or choose a theme, a page will pop up that says you’re all done and prompts you to start building. Click the start building button to go to the WordPress dashboard where you can start creating your blog.

You are now in the WordPress dashboard where they’ll ask you a few questions to help guide you through. Feel free to answer them or select that you don’t need help.

And you’re in! Congratulations, you now have a WordPress blog run on Bluehost!

If you are looking to buy a pre-designed blog theme layout, I HIGHLY recommend 17th Avenue Designs. That’s where I bought this theme that you see on my blog right now, and I couldn’t be more in love with it.

I use the Vivienne theme, and a couple of other themes that are absolutely gorgeous are Amelia and Mia.

The theme comes with literally everything you need to make your blog look professional and beautiful, and they also include step by step, pages upon pages, of set-up instructions and detailed support articles in case you run into any issues or questions.

I didn’t buy a paid theme until almost a year into my blogging career, and I honestly regret not getting one sooner. If you’re intending on buying a theme, I definitely recommend doing it from the beginning so that you don’t have to switch anything over along the way. If you’re never intending on buying a theme, then the free ones will be great!

If you’re looking to spend a bit less on a theme, I recommend the themes on Etsy! They have countless beautiful themes that you can browse directly!

Once you’re in your dashboard, here are some tips for how to navigate around WordPress:

• When you want to create new posts, click on “Posts” on the left-hand side bar
• If you want to add an image to your blog/posts, click on “Media” on the left-hand side bar
• To pick/change your Theme, go to “Appearance”, then “Themes” on the left-hand side bar
• To customize your theme, go to “Appearance”, then “Customize” on the left-hand side bar. WordPress makes it easy for you to play around with your layout, so don’t be afraid to click around!

I hope this guide was helpful in getting you started on Bluehost, and I wish you all of the success in starting your blog! I know that getting started can be overwhelming, but once you begin creating blog posts and publishing your content, you’ll be able to play around with your blog layout even more and will become comfortable with how everything works even more quickly!

Click here to get started on Bluehost for only $2.95!

Related:

• The Best Affiliate Programs To Join For New Bloggers
• How I Made Money In My First Month Blogging
• How To Become An Etsy Affiliate Marketer