I’ve been blogging for seven years now, and it is something that has completely changed my life.

Not only have I developed new skills that I have applied to every job I’ve ever had, but I made pretty good Money for my blog.

This article contains referral links, and we will be compensated for any purchase made by clicking on them.

Last year I made $49,000 from my blog. You can read my post here on how I make money with an online magazine. I’ve also had some pretty cool life experiences with my blog.

I got to interview Miss USA 2015 right after she won, I did a sponsorship for a company that paid for my trip to go to California, and I’ve got some pretty awesome products over the years from printers to books, and two mattresses. Blogging has definitely become a lifestyle for me.

Blogging is so much fun and can bring in substantial income, but you have to know the steps to be successful. And you have to know how to get started.

For many people, the first step in creating a blog is setting up your website. Even if you do not have a lot of technical knowledge or experience, setting up a blog is relatively easy to do.

And it’s going to be even easier because today I’m going to walk you through the steps on how to set up your Wordpress blog on Bluehost.

Why Bluehost?

Now full disclosure, I am an Affiliate for Bluehost, which means I will be compensated if you decide to use them. Despite this, I can genuinely say that I am not only currently using Bluehost as my hosting provider, but I LOVE using them. Here are a couple of the reasons why

Reason 1: They make setting up your blog pretty darn easy. And you are going to find that out for yourself today. But it is so simple. They do not use a lot of technical jargon and give clear instructions on what to do each step of the way.

Reason 2: They have 24/7 telephone support which is very important when you have a blog. Not all hosting providers have this service. So if it’s your first time creating a blog, I highly recommend going with a hosting provider has telephone support so you can call them anytime you have an issue on your blog.

There are other reasons why I like using Bluehost such as them having speedy sites for a fraction of the cost at other hosting providers and for having WordPress specific plans that make setting up a blog even more simple than it already is. But I digress. Let me show you how to do this.

1. Create an Account

The first thing you want to do is go to Bluehost.com and create an account. When on the homepage you want to click on the box that says “WordPress made easy.” Now the reason why you choose this is because if you go with a WordPress plan initially, it will automatically install WordPress for you on your new site. So choosing this option is the way to go! It will take you to another page that will give you a special offer for WordPress Users. Click on the green “Get Started Now” button.

Choose Your Hosting

Next, you have to choose your hosting plan. When I first started M3, I had a hosting plan for only $3.95 per month, and you could do the same! Choose the plan that works best for you depending on your needs. I will say that you most definitely want to have domain privacy. What happens is when you register a domain under your name, there are online rosters that keep track of who owns which domains. And if you do not have domain privacy, anyone can see your name, email, phone number, and physical address online. So, pick a plan that offers that security for you.

Pick a Domain

Once you choose your hosting plan, it is time to choose a domain name that fits your blog. I like the ways that Bluehost does this because it checks to see if the domain is available to take before you can buy it. And if not, it allows you to search for other domains until you have a domain that is available. If you already have a domain name you want your blog hosting to reside on, just add it to the section that reads “I have a domain name.”

Complete Your Account Information

Now that you have your domain name, now you can complete the rest of your information. This part is pretty simple since it is just putting in your personal info. This page also shows you how much you would be paying today in order to get your massive monthly discount. Once you complete all of your info the next step is adding your payment information. If you do a payment plan, this will be the card you use to make payments for your hosting. The last step to setting up your account is to set up a password. Make sure it is secure as you do not want anyone hacking into your site.  Once that is finished, you are now the proud owner of a new blog. HOORAY!!! But now it is time to get to business. Hit the blue button that says login to get started.

2. Set Up WordPress

Once you complete the payment form its time to get into the fun stuff! Once you create your hosting account, it is time to pick a WordPress theme. There are many themes out there. There are paid themes, and there are free themes. Bluehost will give you a nice variety of free themes to choose from. Just pick a style and make it your own. As you start growing, I highly recommend you go with a paid theme that fits more with your brand, but I started with free themes and did great!

Once you pick your theme, it’s time to start building! Hit the blue “Start building” button to be taken to your WordPress Dashboard.

Once you make it to your dashboard, take a look around, as this is going to be your home for your website. If you want to get to your Dashboard after today simply type in your yourdomain.com/wp-login.php. Once you put in your login information, you will make it back to this page. To get started from here, select whether your blog is business or personal.

Now you are in! There are a number of things you can do to get started on your blog. You can create pages, develop blog posts, and even start an online store. You can edit your “coming soon” page to say whatever you want while you are getting your content up and running. When you are ready for people to see your content, hit the blue “Launch” button.

You can add your site’s name and description once you are ready to launch then hit next step. And you are LIVE!

And there you have it all the steps needed to set up your Bluehost or account with WordPress. Now it’s time to making money with it. 

3. Make Money

There is no reason why you can’t start making money with your blog right away. While it does take some work, you can start making money quickly on your blog. Once you develop some content on your site and launch your blog, you can start making money. Below are the six most important things you can do to start making money with your blog.

1.Start Tracking

Once you create your website, you have to set up tracking on your site to be able to know how many people are going to it. This is important for many reasons. 1: so you can know what is happening on your site. 2: So you can continue to grow your website traffic and report your traffic to different places who need to know your stats in order to work with you. I like using Google Analytics since it is free to use and pretty easy to set up. You can create a free a free account on analytics.google.com.

2. Drive Traffic with Pinterest

The next thing you are going to want to do is to drive traffic to your website. And one of the best ways to drive traffic to your site is with Pinterest. Start by creating Pinterest images for each blog post you created and add it to each post so it can be shared on Pinterest. The next thing you want to do is share your pins on your own Pinterest account.

I like using Tailwind to share my pins since you can schedule them and you can use Tailwind tribes to have other people help you share your pins. I have a tribe called Millennial Lifestyle you can join here.

3. Put Ads on it

So you are tracking traffic to your site, and now you are sending traffic to it, now it is time to start monetizing from that traffic. While there are plenty of ways to make money from your blog, one of the easiest ways is with ads. While you are still developing your traffic on your blog, you may not be able to sign up for some of the highest paying ad networks like Mediavine.

But, you will be able to put ads on your site from the start with Google Adsense. The ads are pretty easy to implement on your site, even if you do not have much experience with coding. It is free to use, and once it is installed, you just sit back, relax, and watch the money roll in as your traffic grows!

4. Collect Emails

Although it may seem early, something you want to start doing from day one is collecting emails. Even if you do not have anything to say to people yet, start getting emails so once you are ready to start emailing them, you are ready. For many bloggers, they make a good portion of their income by selling affiliate products and their own products to their email list, hence the phrase “The money is in the list.” Building your email list is one of the most essential assets in your business, so begin building it from day 1!

I personally use ConvertKit which is a tool that not only securely stores your list of emails, but makes it easy to create email automation, schedule emails, creating landing pages, and even test subject lines to your email list. But I like them mostly because they are an email marketing platform for bloggers! You can sign up for a free trial for Convertkit here.

5. Sign Up for Influencer Networks

Making money with influencer networks are my favorite! The way it works is a brand pays me to write a blog post featuring a product of theirs. I like it because its a great way to get creative with your content all while building a portfolio for yourself. To get brands to work with you, you need to sign up for a few affiliate networks.

A few I am a part of includes:

IZEA

Clever Network

Blog Meets Brand

6. Sign Up for Affiliate Networks

Affiliate marketing is a wonderful way to make money as a blogger. If you do not want to make your own product, but still want to be paid, affiliate marketing is for you. How it works is you promote a product, created by someone else and if your audience buys, you get a percentage. Simple right? Start by joining a few affiliate sites then signing up for brands you know and want to promote.

A few affiliate networks I am a part include:

Affiliate Window

Commission Junction

Shareasale

Linkshare

Pepperjam Network

Join them all since they do not cost you anything to do so. There are so many strategies to being successful at affiliate marketing, but it does take time and effort to discover what works and what doesn’t. If you need some tips on getting started in affiliate marketing, I highly recommend Tasha Agruso’s Free Quick-Start Guide to Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers. She makes over $16,000 per month in affiliate sales and knows her stuff!

You should now have a brand new site and tips on making it profitable. Below are more blog posts that I’ve created in building a successful blog. I highly recommend you check them out.

• 6 Blog Courses That Will Put You in the Money-Making Fastlane
• 10 Books All Serious Bloggers Should Read
• How To Make Money with An Online Magazine

If you need more help getting started, check out my course, Owning Your Side Hustle: Turn Your Passion into Cash in 30 days where I show you how to start making money in your side hustle from idea to income in 30 days.

The post How to Start a WordPress Blog on BlueHost That Makes Money appeared first on Miss Millennia Magazine - Big Sister Advice for Millennials.