How to Start a Blog and Make Money: Best Guide for New Bloggers - 2023 | Tutorial step-by-step

Creating a blog is a great way to create a parallel business to your job (the so-called side business) and eventually make it a real job.

With about 4 million posts published every day, the question arises: does it still make sense to create a blog? Or is the market already saturated? And how is it possible to earn money with a blog?

In this guide I explain step by step how to create a blog nowadays, from the preliminary analysis to the creation of the site, to get to the promotion and monetization.

These are not things that I simply read here and there, as many new marketing gurus do, but they are the same techniques and strategies that I use on my own blogs and on those of my clients.

They're also those same strategies that allowed me to quit my job (11 hours a day underpaid, Ed) to devote myself full-time to blogging and I'll show you some real results directly from my blogs.

It's a 9,500+ word guide that's always being updated. Every marketer out there would charge you for content like this. But I'm of the opinion that the world really needs new bloggers and these insights need to stay in the public domain.

So save this guide to your browser favorites so you can have it handy whenever you want. So How to create a blog? The main steps you need to follow to create a successful blog are:

1 - Find your Why

2 - Choose your niche

3 - Buy the domain and hosting

4 - The design and structure of the blog

5 - Create the main pages of your blog

6 - Keyword research

7 - Write your first article

8 - Optimize SEO.

Once you've completed these steps, it's time to start monetizing. We'll see how to do this in detail throughout this article.

You will also receive a free email course where I will follow you step by step through all the stages of creating and developing your new online business.

What is a blog? A blog is exactly what you're reading right now: a website with content that is updated regularly that has the dual purpose of attracting new readers and generating income online.

There are numerous ways through which you can earn money with a blog - we'll look at them later.

Why should I create a blog?

Creating a blog is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to start your own business and become a web writer, earning directly online.

Everyone can do it, the important thing is to study the basics of blogging in order to be able to write effective articles, able to attract readers, and position themselves on search engines.

However, these are skills that can be learned along the way: the right time to start is today!

Does it take technical knowledge to start a blog from scratch?

No. There are many tools to help you create a blog without you being a developer or copywriter, and I'll explain everything step-by-step right in the course of this article.

Any additional skills you want to learn, you can learn over time.

Find your "Why" Even before you start a blog, even before you start writing, even before you think about how to monetize it, there's a fundamental step you need to take: find your why.

But what does that mean?

Before you create your blog, you need to deeply understand why you're doing it. What are your goals? What are the values you want to convey? What is the message you want to bring to the world?

According to Blog Tyrant, about 60% of blogs that are created are also abandoned. This is generally because blogs that fail to generate stable revenue.

On the other hand, other blogs are able to earn as much as 100,000 or 200,000 a month.

So what is the difference between a successful blog and a blog that will be abandoned?

One of the elements of the success of a blog is undoubtedly to find your own Why, a deep inner analysis that can make a real difference. Choose your niche

Once you're clear on your why, and why you're doing what you're doing, then it's really time to start preparing a plan of action. The first step is usually to choose your niche and analyze your target audience.

But what is meant by a niche?

A niche is a subject area that you will cover in your blog, such as travel, cooking, fashion, technology, fitness, or DIY. Niches can tend to be endless. The more specific the niche, the greater the chances that you will fit into that niche.

In fact, it's important not to make the mistake of targeting "everyone," but only a particular niche that shares your same interests and values.

Let me explain better.

If I want to position myself in the food sector -therefore in the food niche- the competition is really high. It's very difficult to stand out unless you have a truly revolutionary idea and a lot of money to invest in it.

If this is the case, then go for it, and good luck! But if you're a more normal person, you'll understand that in order to monetize a blog we need to find a more profitable niche. And that translates to a specific niche.

So let's go back to the food example. If you verticalize on a sub-niche of food, such as recipes with almonds, then here is that the competition is lowered exponentially and you will have more opportunities to position yourself.

What you are going to do, then, is to attract all the people who are interested in almonds: the history of almonds, their cultivation, and recipes with almonds. All those who are interested in almonds will no longer turn to generic food sites, but they will become passionate about your blog.

But how to choose your niche?

Many marketers will tell you to follow your passions. Monetize your passions. Create a business on your passions. But you know what? This is only partially true because if we follow our passions exclusively, we miss out on a practical and fundamental component: monetization.

Look closely, I'm not saying passion isn't important. The important thing, however, is to figure out how to monetize that passion (and if there's any possibility of monetization).

Creating a blog, constantly writing new content, following up on social, comments, emails... it's a real full-time job. If this work doesn't bring financial results, soon your blog will end up among the 60% of abandoned blogs around the world.

And this is exactly the reason why 95% of blogs don't have stable economic income: because you think of blogging as a passion and not as a business.

This is the real secret to a successful blog: treat it like a company, as a business. Put the economic revenue first, optimize what brings monetary results, and eliminate the superfluous.

This doesn't mean we can't create a blog and run it if it doesn't deal with a passion of ours. Blogging, for example, is a deep passion of mine, and I think I'm able to demonstrate that by writing guides like this one, which has almost 10,000 words and I had a lot of fun writing it. But it's also true that if it didn't bring me income, I wouldn't invest 90% of my time creating content like this.

That's the difference you need to learn right away: the mindset. You don't open a blog for passion but for business (always if you want to make money). If the topic is about your passion, then the chances of success are definitely higher.

So I suggest you develop a plan of goals that you want to achieve with your blog. They can be traffic goals (e.g. 1,000 monthly readers within 3 months), monetization goals (e.g. € 1,000 monthly within 3 months), and so on.

The important thing is that the goals are S.M.A.R.T., that is:

Specific

Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound. So we come to the crucial question: how do you choose a niche that is profitable? A profitable niche has 4 characteristics: - Has a good number of people interested in the topic - It deals with a topic that you know well - People are willing to spend money - You have something to sell in that niche. If you have all of these 4 points, then the niche can be profitable and is worth giving a try. And now let's move on to the practical test: based on the characteristics I've explained, which of these seems like a profitable niche to you? - people interested in turtle shells with wheels - people interested in yoga. Bravo, you passed the test!? One last important note before we move on to the next paragraph: when are people willing to spend money? The answer is very simple: when you help them solve a problem. Think hard about every time you've made a purchase. You've done it to solve a problem, knowingly or unknowingly. Find your niche, figure out what their problem is, and offer a solution. Trust me: it's as simple as it is profitable. You've found your why, you've selected your niche. Now what? Now it's time to take action! The first thing to do is to find a name for your blog. Opt for a simple name that is well remembered and can encapsulate all the core of your business. If your goal is to develop your personal branding, then the blog can be called your first and last name. A simple and very effective solution! Once you have chosen the name, you have to buy the domain, which is the physical address of the blog. This domain will then need to be placed on a server that you purchase through a hosting plan. To understand the concept better, think of your blog as a house. The domain will be the address of the house while the hosting will be the land on which it is built. But how do you buy domain and hosting? There are many solutions. The one I recommend is to buy both the domain and hosting on Siteground. How much does it cost? The domain costs 12.95 € per year and hosting plans start at 5.99 € per month (if you want an even cheaper one then try Bluehost). WordPress If you want to create a blog, one of the most complete and used platforms you can use is WordPress. This is a free and very functional CMS (Content Management System) that can be customized through the use of plugins developed by third parties as well as thanks to the many themes available. If you want to create a blog with WordPress for free, you can take advantage of the free hosting space offered by WordPress.com. Of course, since it is a space offered at no cost, there are some limitations (such as the inability to place advertisements on the blog). In any case, if you have no special needs and it is the first time you open a blog, creating a blog with WordPress is one of the best choices. The domain of your blog created with WordPress.com will be [name you choose].wordpress.com. If, on the other hand, you already know the basics of WordPress and would like to have your own domain, you can purchase hosting space from wordpress.com. Prices for the purchase of hosting with the domain included varying depending on your needs: they start from 2.99 € per month up to 24.99 € per month, with annual billing. Blogger

If you want to create a blog and have extremely basic needs, instead of using a CMS, you can choose to turn to a proprietary service. One of the most popular and simple ones is Google's Blogger. The main feature of Blogger is, in fact, its ease of use, but it is also noteworthy its direct integration with all the services of the Mountain View giant. It is in fact a free space in which everyone can create their own blog and publish it in an extremely easy and fast, without having to know programming languages or having to buy hosting on the Web. Unlike WordPress, Blogger can not be used in self-hosted mode (so you can not install on a webspace purchased separately, although you can buy a custom domain and use it as a "bridge" to your blog created with Blogger), also is not possible to use plugins for advanced customization of the blog. On the other hand, Blogger allows users to monetize their content and thus earn money with a blog, thanks to the use of AdSense banners, Google's online advertising service. To create a blog on Blogger you have to go to the official website and create or link a Google account that will be henceforth associated with your blog. Once you're done registering, click the Create Your Blog button to proceed with creating your blog on Blogger. You will then be able to create your blog on Blogger completely free of charge, you can insert advertising banners and customize the aesthetics through the installation of themes. At this point, if you have correctly performed all the steps that I have indicated, you should be in the administration panel of Blogger. Then press the New Blog button, type the title and address you want to assign to your site (the final address will be [name].blogspot.com), choose the graphic theme you want to use on its pages, and click the Create Blog button to complete the operation. Mission accomplished! Now you have a blog on Blogger and you can start posting your content online. How? Simply by entering the administration panel of the service and click on the New Post button that is at the top of the left sidebar. The other options in the same menu are those that allow you to manage pages, comments, advertising campaigns, page layouts, etc... Connect your blog to Google Analytics and Google Search Console Finally, to track your site traffic and the behavior of your blog visitors, you'll need to connect your site to Google Analytics. To do this, you just need to go to Google Analytics and create a new property with your blog's URL. You can also install the MonsterInsight plugin on WordPress and connect your Google Analytics account to it, so you always have all the up-to-date data statistics at your fingertips and continuously optimize your inbound traffic. Finally, create an account on Google Search Console, a free tool from Google that will help you optimize and monitor some important aspects of your blog, submit your sitemap and much more. Create the main pages of your blog The main pages that make up a website, excluding the blog, are: Homepage, which is the first page of the site About Page, where you explain who you are or who you are Contact Page, which is the contact page. As for the homepage, initially, you can also show the latest blog articles. To choose this option go to the WordPress menu and select Appearance > Customize and in the menu that opens Homepage Settings > Your homepage show > select "the latest articles". If you select "A static page" instead, it will ask you which page you want to show. Choose the page you've already created or create a new one. To do so, simply go back to the WordPress main menu and select Pages > Add Page. If you have Elementor installed, now click on Edit with Elementor and create your new homepage. Don't forget to go back to Appearance > Customize and select the new page as your homepage. About page and Contact page The About page is a very important page because it will become your business card. It will be on this page that readers will discover who you are, what is your story, what is your why. Why should people listen to you? What problem can you solve for them? How can they contact you? So explain on your About page who you are, your story or the story of your company, what services you offer but also what are your values, your goals and the message you want to convey in the world. You can also add for example your jobs, a link to your social and a contact form through which they can write to you quickly. Alternatively, you can create a separate Contact page where you can explain how people can reach you, physically, by phone or by email. Try to be genuine on your About page. People need to see real truths and achievements, defeats and failures and how they were overcome instead of (rented) apartments in Dubai and (rented) Ferraris in the garage. Nowadays, the real differentiator is authenticity. Prepare your keyword research Your website is now officially ready. Now you can really start creating content. All good, lots of charges, much enthusiasm. But...what do we need to write about? What should we talk about? To your aid comes keyword research, or keyword research. The starting point for keyword research is your niche. Let's take the example of the blog on recipes with almonds. Try to do the first research on forums, such as Quora, Facebook groups, on other blogs that deal with recipes with almonds, and try to understand what are the most frequently asked questions. They could be for example: How do you shell almonds? How do you prepare almond paste? Where do you buy almonds? Obviously, these are questions I'm asking totally at random, but by looking at what I've mentioned you're sure to find ideas you hadn't thought of. Now, write down 5-10 of these ideas and questions, including your own ideas and the topics you'd like to cover. This will be the basis for your keyword research. Keyword research is then keyword research that is done through some tools to understand if and how much demand there is actually for this topic on the web and then target the keywords that can bring you the most traffic. There are numerous ways to find new ideas for your blog articles. One of the tools I use very often is as simple as it is powerful: Answer the Public. Once we have identified the topics to be covered, we move on to the numbers: we need to check the search volumes, i.e. how much a given keyword is actually searched for. The best keywords for a newborn blog are those that have a search volume between 200 and 700. If they have fewer searches, in fact, you risk not getting enough traffic. On the other hand, if it's more than that, you'll be up against very large, well-positioned blogs and it will be very hard to climb to the top. There are numerous tools that allow you to check the number of monthly searches. My absolute favorite is Semrush because it has an incredible variety of features and allows you to analyze hundreds of factors in order to best position your articles. ( ✅ IMPORTANT TIP: Create a free account on Semrush now because it will be one of the best allies you can count on to grow your blog. I also recommend that you take the 7-day free trial that Semrush provides. This will give you access to all the premium features for a week. If you don't want to pay for the subscription, download all the data you've found and cancel the free trial before the end of the 7 days. You'll have material available for at least a year's work and you won't be charged for it. And of course, you can continue to use Semrush for free in its limited version). But back to us. These, for example, are the search results for the keyword "create a blog". Especially if you're just starting out, I recommend opting for keywords that have a lower Keyword Difficulty because in this way you'll have a better chance of ranking better on Google. Also because I assure you that it is frustrating to write dozens and dozens of articles that no one will ever read. In this case, then, how to choose a keyword that has a lower Keyword Difficulty? The answer is simple: opt for medium and long-tail keywords. But what are longtail keywords? Longtail keywords are longer keywords, actual phrases, that have lower search volumes but also lower competition. In fact, according to Hubspot, 50% of search queries are composed of four words or more. This means that over half of the search queries are about something specific. Still, to stay on the keyword "create a blog" (also called Short Tail Keyword), longtail keywords could be for example: - how to create a successful blog in 2023 - how to create a cooking blog with WordPress - how to create a fashion blog. Semrush offers you many solutions for longtail keywords to use, showing you how they are used by your competitors, what are the search volumes and how you should structure your article in order to have a better chance to climb the Google SERP. There are also other tools you can use for this job, starting with the Google Keyword Planner, which can help you, especially in case you want to sponsor your articles on Google. The tools that I regularly use for keyword research are: - Semrush - Answer the Public - Wordtracker - Ahrefs - Google Trends - Keyword Surfer SEO (Chrome extension). Promote your blog! Many marketers make it simple: create a blog + write valuable content = $$$ Eheheh, I wish it was that simple! 😅 It's not enough to start a blog, write articles and optimize them a bit to see substantial transfers arrive in your bank account. What many people forget to explain is instead a fundamental step for the growth of a blog: promotion. The sponsorship of posts through advertising is certainly the fastest way but also the most expensive. Actually, it's possible to promote your own content on a total freeway. It is a process maybe a little slower but still very functional. So let's see on which channels you can promote your content. Social media The first place where you can share your blog content is undoubtedly social media, such as: - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - LinkedIn - Pinterest - Reddit - Snapchat - TikTok - Quora. Of course, you won't have to share your articles everywhere. I recommend testing by trying different content on different platforms until you find what works for your business. Be wary of people who tell you that Facebook is only for old people or that Instagram and TikTok are channels that increase the visibility and authority of each brand. There are channels that work for one project, and others that work for another. Each social network should also have different content since they also have different users. No links to your new article everywhere, then, but it is important to use the right communication for each social. Any examples? Here are some tips that tend to work well: On Facebook, videos and educational content work well. On Instagram, high-quality photos, Stories (in which the company is investing a lot in recent times), and post-citations are appreciated On Twitter, news, blog articles, and GIFs get more engagement On LinkedIn, only professional content and work news are appreciated On Pinterest, infographics, photo tutorials, and visual content are the way to go On Quora, you can increase your authority by answering questions from users in your niche On Reddit, you can find very specific conversations from virtually every niche. Conclusion We have reached the end of this long guide on how to create a blog, launch it on the market and start earning money. The information you've read is really a lot and maybe initially it will still seem a bit confusing. Don't worry, this is normal when learning new information. You don't know how many times, at the beginning of my web-writing journey, I thought about quitting before I even started because I thought to myself, "What is this stuff? I'll never understand it! I only know how to write, not set up software or create blogs!" Thankfully, I was wrong? Save this guide as a bookmark and come back periodically as you follow the steps to creating a blog. You'll see that with practice, everything will become clearer. A little advice before we say goodbye. From experience, I can tell you that initially creating a blog gives you an incredible charge and energy and makes you produce content on content. But this is not enough to make your blog a successful business. Only a fraction of the blogs that are created manages to get going and bring in regular and consistent earnings. And do you know why many blogs fail? Because they aren't started with the right mindset, with the right techniques, with the right organization. If you want your blog to be a hobby, treat it like a hobby. If you want your blog to be a business, treat it like a business. Give people a concrete reason to follow you and read what you write. Be interested in them, build relationships, and be present. Respond to comments and emails they send you. This is the first step. The traffic, the earnings, and everything else will come as a result. Creating a blog was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life and when I'm working on my own projects and those of my clients, I feel really happy to be doing work that I love and that brings me unimaginable successes. Now, with this guide, you really do have everything you need in hand to create a blog of your own. So all you have to do is get to work. Let me know below in the comments if you have any questions, or curiosities, or need further insight. I'll be happy to answer all your questions.

Here's to your success! Happy blogging.