Face Your Fear: How to Start a Blog and Make Money

Just as with any new career, starting a blog can seem like a scary (and sometimes impossible) task. A significant difference between a blog and a typical job, though, is your income potential. A blog can give you the ability to make unlimited amounts of money, so consider that when you think of how nervous you are to put yourself out there. The payoff is usually worth it. Knowing that it’s time to face that fear, learn how to start a blog, and make some money. 

Related post: Don't Let Your Fear of Starting a Business Stop You

Choose a Niche

A blog niche is fundamental. A niche is essentially a category your blog will fall into. For example, this blog is all about finance related to moms. Other blogs talk about fashion, lifestyle choices, and specific career tracks. While most people have a topic in mind when they start their blog, some have no idea. If you’re in the second category, you should choose a niche that you are passionate about. 

While appealing to a broader audience may seem like a good idea at the start, it can be harder to get traffic and advertise when you do not have a specific topic. Pick something you enjoy now – you can always change it later.

Choose a Name

What’s in a name? Honestly, a lot when you’re starting a blog. One of the essential parts of learning how to start a blog and make money is choosing the right name. Once you decide on a name and invest in that domain, you’re stuck with it. Choose something you like, something catchy, and something that will remain relevant.

Note: Keep in mind that you are hoping your blog will grow long-term into a business that will support you and your family (at least to some degree), so whatever name you choose should be able to stand the test of time.

Hosting Options 

When you’re just getting started, it may seem like a better choice to go with a free blogging site, such as Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace. While it’s not the worst choice, if you plan on monetizing (making money from) your blog or even tracking analytics, you’ll want to go with something self-hosted. That means you’ll need to embrace a hosting site such as Bluehost or Siteground.

After trying a few different options, I switched to Kajabi and absolutely love it! It has made monetization very easy. While you may not need all the features of a self-hosted site right at this moment, it’s much easier to start your blog on one platform and keep it there. Don’t even get me started about the expense and frustration of changing platforms!

Create Content 

Blogs rely on content – as in writing. You must have relevant content to whatever niche you chose. When you first start out, my recommendation is to have four completed blog posts to “launch” your blog with. It might seem like a lot at first, but you want your new reader to show up on your site and stay awhile…they won’t do that if you only have one article to read.

There are no hard and fast rules for how often you should publish content, but it’s a good idea to have a regular schedule. Make sure that you are publishing consistently. If you are only going to post once per month, that’s fine, but make sure you do so each month. In the beginning, I’d recommend posting once per week or once every other week until you’ve built up a sizeable amount of content on your site.

Income Stream Choices 

Once you have your blog up and running, you probably want to know how to make money from it. The truth – there are many revenue streams you can pursue, and we’re only going to discuss a few.

Note: if you are going to make money from your blog, it’s a great idea to set up your business banking accounts now. Without them, you run the risk of mixing your business income with your personal income and making it an accounting nightmare for the future. 

Ads

One of the most popular options for making money on your blog is with advertisements. You’ve likely seen them on all major websites, and the cool thing is that you can have them on yours as well. The thing about advertisements is they require traffic (i.e., visitors to your site) to produce revenue. (Google Adsense and Mediavine are two of the preferred options.) This traffic can be challenging to build up to, but it makes sense if you plan on getting a lot of visitors. Honestly, if you don’t mind having the ads on your site, you’ll make a little money here and there no matter how many visitors you have.

Keep in mind that most bloggers use advertisements in addition to other revenue streams. 

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are another way to make money. You can choose those that have many different products, such as Amazon, or others that have a specific product that’s relevant to your niche. You may also be able to become an affiliate for services. Paid reviews are similar and rely on your writing (good and bad) reviews for specific products or companies.

One of the best ways to find affiliate programs is to determine products and services you like to use and then Google “Service/Product + Affiliate program.” Trust me. You’ll come up with plenty of opportunities.

Your Products and Services

The most lucrative way of making money from your blog is by offering your own product or service for sale. Whether you choose an eBook, downloads, courses, other virtual content, or something you can physically send to your site visitors will depend on your niche (and your ability to create/produce whatever it is you intend to sell). Kajabi makes it especially easy to sell digital products from your blog.

It can be challenging to launch a product at the same time as your blog, but the income potential increases when you go from advertising products for others to advertising for yourself.

Related post: Don't Let Your Fear of Starting a Business Stop You

Stay Consistent 

One of the most significant barriers to making money with your blog is the ability to stay consistent. It’s the one area that separates hobby bloggers who make little to no money from career bloggers who have replaced six-figure incomes with their blog. While it can be difficult to stay consistent, choosing a topic you are passionate about will help. The key is to remember that no business starts and makes money overnight. It takes time and a lot of sweat hours to build something that will have a lasting effect.

Some suggestions to remain consistent:

• Carve time out each day for your blog - a few hours or an entire day depending on how serious you are about making money. 
• Always have content planned out ahead of time. Create a blogging calendar and continue to add topics to it – even months in advance.
• Use a scheduling program to help with social media posts, shares, and more. (Or, invest in your new business by hiring someone that can help you manage the details).
• When you think of a relevant topic, put time aside to write about it – the sooner, the better. The more fired up you are about the subject, the easier it’ll be to translate that into content your readers will be excited about.  

Your Turn 

Have you considered starting a blog? If so, let us know in the comments below which topics you plan to write about and then – get out there and get it done!

If you have a blog that you want to share with our readers, join us in the Moms Managing Money Facebook Group for #FollowMeFriday. We love to support other mompreneurs.

Other posts from our series on facing financial fears:

How to Talk to Your Spouse About Money Problems

Afraid Money is Destroying Your Friendship? Here are 10 Do's & Don'ts

Facing Your Fear: How to Ask for a Raise When You're Underpaid

Don't Let Your Fear of Starting a Business Stop You