Cultivating Community on YouTube and Beyond

Step one on your journey to passive income paradise? Building your tribe. Think of platforms like YouTube as your virtual playground, where you can connect with kindred spirits and share your wisdom. Even if you’ve only got a few spare hours a week, consistency is key, darling. Show up, be authentic, and watch your community flourish.

But wait, there’s more! Transitioning your followers into email subscribers is where the real magic happens. Yes, email is still queen in the realm of online engagement. Sarah’s got over 25,000 subscribers eagerly awaiting her every word, with a jaw-dropping 30% open rate. Talk about girl power!

The Art of Creating Irresistible Digital Products

Now, onto the pièce de résistance: crafting your digital products. Think of it as curating a fabulous collection tailored to your tribe’s needs. Surveys and coaching calls are your secret weapons for uncovering their deepest desires and pain points. Whether it’s an empowering ebook or a transformative workshop, the key is to solve their problems with a sprinkle of your unique sparkle.

And voilà! With empathy, passion, and a touch of digital wizardry, you’re well on your way to a life of abundant passive income. So, gorgeous, what are you waiting for? It’s time to unleash your inner boss babe and create the business of your dreams, one digital product at a time.

Remember, the only limit is your imagination. So grab your laptop, pour yourself a glass of bubbly, and let’s make those dreams a reality. Here’s to you, unstoppable entrepreneur! Cheers to your journey towards success and abundance.

Narrow Down Your Niche And Define Your Goals

It’s important that you understand what your goals and who your target audience is for your blog.

If you want to monetize your blog and make money make sure you provide value to your target audience who are wanting to buy what you are selling.

So how do you know who you’re targeting? and Who is your “target audience”?

You need learn everything about your ideal customer so that you can give them what they need. Download the free worksheet below to help you build your ideal customer for your target market.

Download the free worksheet below to help you find your target audience.

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5 ways to monetize your blog

1. Affiliate Marketing

This is one of the easiest ways to start making money as a new blogger in any niche. When you promote a product on your blog you will earn a commission every time someone makes a purchase through your unique affiliate link. It is a good way to start as a new blogger.

2. Advertising

Advertising is a great way to make money blogging however it is not the easiest way to start. Ad networks place ads on your blog and pay you based on how many people view them through their ads placed on your site.  ShareASale is a good one to start with as a new blogger, they have numerous merchant to choose from.

3. Digital Products

Many bloggers create their own products to sell online. This is personally one of my favorite way to make money a a blogger. it’s a great way to start monetizing your blog right away.

You can create products to sell to your audience such as:

• eBooks
• Worksheets
• Workbooks
• Printables
• Templates
• Stock Photos
• Online Courses
• Swipe Files
• Patterns

4. Sponsored Post

Sponsored post is when a person or a company pays you to write about their products in hopes that your readers will buy their products. Bloggers work with brands on sponsored blog posts and sponsored social media posts.

Sponsored posts are common in blogging niches like travel, fashion, beauty, parenting and many more you can find opportunities in any blogging niche you wish.

5. Sell Physical Products

You can create an ecommerce website where you sell physical goods to your target audience.

Although in selling physical products it will require a lot of work on your end, you will need to acquire inventory, ship out products and deal with returns. 

Recap

As you can see, there are many ways to make money from your blog from the start and you don’t need to just implement one. 

You can implement many of the money-making strategies at the same time however Just ensure that you are offering value to your audience.

Start making money with your blog!

Check out some of my most popular blogging related posts:

• How To Start A Blog And Make Money Blogging
• 10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins For Your Blog
• What Is A Blog And How Does It Work?

Why Start A Blog?

If you want to start a blog, you’re not alone, many people start blogs hoping to be able to earn money on the side, bring more feet into the door of their bricks and mortar business, or even replace their employment.

Blogging can also be a good business idea to start on the side while you keep your day job.

However, blogging can also be a daunting task especially not knowing where to start!

Don’t be scared to start a blog as it can be exciting and rewarding, that’s why I’m writing this post to show you exactly where to start and what steps you need to take to be successful.

Define Your Goals

It’s important that you understand what your goals are for the blog.

Some potential goals are to teach, to get the word out about your services and/or products, or to create a niche blog that earns money through the promotion of products.

What are your goals?

They should be written down and well defined. If you have a real goal to reach you’ll be able to get there easier if you can name it.

Don’t be scared to start a blog as it can be exciting and rewarding.

1. Choose Your Profitable Blog Niche

What Is A Niche?

A niche is simply a way to describe the topics that you blog about.

It’s the overall content of your website which is in line with the topic of what you are blogging about for your target audience.

People are looking for a solution to a specific problem. By narrowing down your niche, you are solving a problem for your readers.

Your site will start to gain authority overtime in that particular niche, resulting in more targeted visits to your website.

Choose your niche carefully and then build your site around it. Make sure you can make money from it by choosing the right product and services.

You must give value to build trust with your audience.

Remember you are in this for the long haul.

Here are some examples of some topics:

Fitness

Cooking

Finance

Health

Travel

Budgeting

Fashion

Crafts

2. Define Your Target Audience

It’s very important that you know exactly who your audience is. You should be able to actually create a profile of an audience member.

Who are they, what do they do for a job, how much money do they make, what do they like to do in their free time? You should be able to really understand what gets them going.

Remember your blog is a tool for solving a specific problem for a specific group of people.

It has to be something that people are willing to pay money to make their lives easier and better.

It has to achieve a goal by either saving them time and money.

Your blog should not be about you otherwise you will not make any money from it as you are not helping them but yourself.

It’s very important that your blog content is focused on helping others solve their problems.

Define your ideal customer and write your blog posts to them directly.

So how do you know who you’re targeting? Who is your “target audience”?

Here are a few ways to do this:

• Create a profile of your ideal customer. Find out as much information as you can about your ideal customer and use it as your guide to help you narrow down your niche.
• Research where your ideal customer hangs out online and listen in on their conversation.
• Conduct a survey asking your ideal customer what they are struggling with and write your blog posts about the answers to their questions.

Want my Free Course: How to Start a Profitable Blog in 7 Days?

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3. Pick Your Domain Name

It’s time to choose your domain name, I know choosing a domain name can be the hardest thing to do!

You should choose a domain name that is very relevant to your blog niche.

Your name domain name should be memorable, easy to spell & catchy.

To see if your desired name is available, use this domain name checker below

At this point, you can now go ahead and purchase your domain name and web hosting.

Be sure to refer to my blog post on how to start a blog guide for the step-by-step instructions on how to get your blog set up!

Note: You can get your domain name for free and a discounted hosting for just $3.95 a month if you sign up with my link for web hosting through Bluehost.

4. Create A Blog Monetization Strategy

Once you get a good amount of content on your blog it’s time to think about how you will monetize it.

Stick to just a few products and don’t overwhelm your viewers with too many advertisements. A nice mix of affiliate products and your own products usually works well.

Ensure that each of your product is very focused on your niche.

Now it’s time to develop the plan for how you will implement that money-generating sources to your blog.

Remember in order to make money from your blog, you need to treat it like a business from the start.

So what does it mean to monetize your blog?

Basically to monetize your blog simply means various types of ways of money-making sources to your blog so that you can start earning an income from your blog.

There are SO many ways to make money online with your blog, but I am going to talk about just a few of the most popular ways to help you decide for your blog type.

However, for your new blog try and stick with a mix of affiliate products and your own products.

Advertising: Advertising is a great way to get started because you set them up although you have to have high traffic.

You also don’t have to do anything else because the ads will be working for you. Sit back and collect income, although it is not the most profitable.

Affiliates: Affiliate marketing is where you promote a product on your blog!

Also, you earn a commission when someone clicks and buys the item through your affiliate link.

Always use your affiliate link on your blog for any product you are recommending so that you can earn commission through your affiliate link.

Almost all online products and services offer affiliate programs.

Sponsored Posts: Sponsored posts are where you write a blog post review related to a product similar to your niche for companies.

They pay you to embed their link in the blog post review, this can be one of the best ways you can make a healthy income.

The sponsor company will either pay you for your blog post review or send you a free product.

It can be a great way to supplement your income while you are growing your blog.

Products: You can increase your blog income by creating your own products to sell, as a result, this can be very profitable.

Provide your readers with something of value that you have created and sell it to them, therefore you should create things like:

• Ebooks
• Printables
• Courses
• Templates

5. Your Blog Traffic

After you have set up your profitable blog, you will need to grow your blog traffic. If you don’t have a consistent flow of blog traffic then you won’t have a consistent flow of income.

Basically, in order to make any money from blogging, you need traffic.

You don’t need a ton of it, but you do need to have some form of traffic if you want to earn any amount of money from the blog monetization strategies listed above.

How Do I Grow My Blog Traffic?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be used to grow your blog traffic. SEO is optimizing your blog posts with the relevant keywords that will rank you at the top of Google’s search results for queries from readers.

The higher your blog ranks the more traffic you will get.

Pinterest is the fastest growing social media platform, it is an image-based search engine platform. Customers are telling you exactly what they what which makes it easier to create targeted content.

It’s a great way to get traffic to your blog, and the results from Pinterest are often faster than SEO.

Make sure you master Pinterest and SEO. From my experience, these are the BEST two strategies to focus on.

Over to you now..Ready to start your blog?

Head over to my post How to Start a Blog and Make Money Blogging and start your own blog now. It’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up your blog, set up web hosting, choose your domain name and theme for your blog.

Recap

You now know the 5 things to do before starting a blog.

Check out some of my most popular blogging related posts:

• How To Start A Blog And Make Money Blogging
• 10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins For Your Blog
• What Is A Blog And How Does It Work?

What are WordPress plugins?

WordPress plugins are needed to help your blog function properly! I will give you my 10 must have WordPress Plugins I use on my blog and best of all it’s free.

You can dramatically improve the functionality and style of your blog with the right plugin installed.

I like to think of plugins as mini apps for my blog, they can protect your site from hackers, backups, create galleries and share your post on social media. Basically, there’s a plugin for everything!

Above all, are you thinking of starting a blog? I also have an in-depth guide on How To Start A Blog from absolute scratch where I walk you through step-by-step on setting up your blog.

What are the best free WordPress plugins?

The best free WordPress plugins installed on my websites are listed below.  They offer SEO, design, social share buttons and many more.

1.Yoast SEO

This is honestly a game changer for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEO is basically what will help your website rank better for Google search results. Yoast SEO will optimize your post title, meta description and analyze keywords so that you can rank higher in search engines.

2. Askimet Anti-spam

Spam comments are always found on blogs, so using a spam blocker like Akismet will protect you from them. It filters out the garbage, it is a MUST have for your blog.

3. W3 Total Cache

This caching plugin will help improve the speed and performance of your website basically it makes your site load faster.

4. Classic Editor

WordPress launched a block-based editor after 5.0 update, this allows you to restore the familiar WordPress editor.

5. Google Analytics Dashboard by MonsterInsights

This plugin is an absolute must-have to help you track your blog’s growth, it will help you learn about your audience and their behavior on your website. I like this plugin because you have all your Google Analytics data right in your WordPress dashboard.

6. SpeedProd

SeedProd is the best coming soon page plugin out there! While you are working on your website, it’s a good idea to have a ‘coming soon’ page, it helps you to collect leads and grow your followers while you are building your blog.

7. UpdraftPlus

UpdraftPlus is the MUST have plugin for backups, it is the most popular WordPress backup plugin on the market. It allows you to set up automatic backups and store them on your Google Drive, Dropbox or it can even be emailed to you. How great is that?

8. Social Warfare

Social warfare is the plugin you need to make social media options available for your blog. Make sure you have sharing buttons for Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

9. Pretty Links

Pretty Links enables you to shorten links using your own domain name. It’s a link management plugin, it tracks each hit on your URL and provides a full detailed report of where the hits came from. It is the perfect tool for affiliate marketers.

10. Grammarly

Grammarly is a very popular browser-based plugin grammar checker tool. It’s available as an add-on for web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. It checks for spelling and grammar errors as you write your posts.

Related Post: Best Tools And Resources to Help Your Blog And Business Grow

What Is The Purpose Of A Blog?

The purpose of a blog is for a blog to be informative to a reader, it should provide a solution to a question for people interested in learning more about certain topics they are searching for.

A well-written post (Content Rich) that solves a problem for readers will drive a ton of traffic to your blog repeatedly.

Content-rich is:

• Valuable
• Engaging
• Helpful
• Shareable

It’s also very important that you know what you what to blog about so that you have a strategic blogging plan and proceed with it.

What Is A Blog Post?

A blog post is just an article (like the one that you are reading right now!) that is published on a blog. I like to think that blog posts are friendly because you can link another post to them, this is what we call on-site SEO.

Most bloggers organize their blogs with their most recent blog posts appearing at the top of their homepage so that is it easy to be found by their readers.

Most bloggers publish new blog posts either on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Blogging For Beginners

You cannot start blogging without a strategic long-term plan in your mind. Understand this, blogging success doesn’t happen overnight but it’s achievable with hard work, consistency, and disciple. Your mindset and your drive will determine the path of your blog.

Blogging can become a part-time or full-time income depending on your choice, however many bloggers have made a full-time income by monetizing their blogs so with time, dedication and consistency you can too!

Tips On Blogging For Beginners

Research Other Blogs In Your Niche – See what other blogs are doing, study and learn from them.

Decide On Your Niche – The most successful blogs are the ones that target a specific audience and provide helpful detailed information about a certain topic.

Decide On A Blog Name – Once you know what you’re going to blog about, it’s time to choose a domain name. Your domain name is your blog’s address on the web.

Check below to see if your Domain Name is available

Decide To Go Self-Hosted – Self-hosted WordPress sites are highly great for customization you will have the freedom & the flexibility to have full control of your website and free will to monetize it.

Plugins are available to add almost any feature or functionality for your blog or website. See my 10 must have free plugins for your blog

Create Your Blog – Set-up your hosting and install WordPress with Bluehost

Email List – Start your email subscriber list from day one using Convertkit

Create A Schedule – You will need to manage your time with your blogging.  Create a schedule and stick to it.  Consistency is key! Download your free editorial calendar below to help you create a consistent schedule to grow your new blog.

Examples Of A Blog

I love reading and learning from other bloggers. It’s always a good idea to see and study other blogs from time to time.

Making Sense of Cents

A personal finance blog focusing on living frugally and traveling the world. The success of Making Sense of Cents has allowed her and her husband to spend time traveling the world.

Clever Girl Finance

A financial blog aimed at providing women with financial guidance that will inspire them to pursue and achieve their dreams of financial independence.

Popular Blogs

Here are a few more examples of popular blogs you can get ideas from of what blogs look like and what kind of content bloggers write:

Deliciously Ella – A food blog focusing solely on eating plant-based foods
Mommy on Purpose – A parenting blog for moms
Traveling Well for Less – A budget travel blog
Clever Girl Finance – A personal finance blog

How Do Beginner Blogs Make Money?

Is it possible to make money blogging? Well, yes, it’s absolutely possible to make money from your blog. You can monetize your blog in different ways.

Here are the most common ways to make money blogging:

Advertising –  You can join an advertising network, Google Adsense is easier to join.  This is simply putting ads on your blog by Google AdSense.

Affiliate Marketing – This is one of the easiest ways to start making money as a new blogger. You promote a product that you have recommended on your blog and earn a commission every time someone makes a purchase through your unique affiliate link.

The company whose product it is gives you a commission for referring the sale.

Digital Products – We’re simply talking about selling your own products and services. Many bloggers create their own digital products to sell such as eBooks and online courses.

Sponsored Posts – This is where bloggers include sponsored posts on their blog. Bloggers work with brands on sponsored blog posts and the brand will pay the blogger for promoting the brand’s products.

How To Start A Blog

Now that you understand a bit more about what is a blog and how it works, let’s show you how it’s done!. Starting a blog is really not as hard as it may seem. You can get one started in under an hour!

If you’re ready, check out my post on how to start a blog and make money blogging, It’s a step-by-step tutorial that walks you through simple steps of the entire process of starting your own blog in under an hour! Click here to get started.

Here are a few other blog posts you may want to read about starting a blog:

5 Things to Do Before Starting a Blog
10 Must Have WordPress Plugins For Your Blog

Did this post on what is a blog help you? Any questions about blogging or starting a blog?

Do you want to learn how to start a blog?

Want my Free Course: How to Start a Profitable Blog in 7 Days?

Enter your name and email address below to get instant access to my course sent directly to your inbox!

How To Start A Blog And Make Money Blogging – The Ultimate Starter Guide

This ultimate guide will help you start your own blog TODAY, it is the ultimate step-by-step free beginners guide to build that blog you have always dreamed of and make money blogging too. All these questions below will be answered in this guide!

• How do I start a blog?
• How do I start a blog and make money?
• How do beginner blogs make money?

How To Start A Blog

Starting a blog is not that difficult, you can have your blog up and running in under an hour. These are the exact steps I took to start my blog and started earning some money in 3 months, I started blogging as a carer with the goal of earning $1,000 a month so I wouldn’t need another job.

These are 3 things required to start a blog:

• Domain Name: The URL address of your website e.g yourdomainname.com
• Web Hosting: The web hosting provider that will host your website.
• Blog Theme: A web theme that will make your website look professional.

Very low investment is needed to start a money-making blog, it costs just $3.95 a month for a domain name and web hosting, I recommend a self-hosted WordPress blog hosted with Bluehost.

I also recommend bookmarking this guide so that you can come back to it and pick up where you left off at any time.

If you take 30 seconds right now to sign up for 60% off your domain name and hosting with Bluehost you’ll be able to take action every step of this tutorial guide.

How To Start A Blog And Make Money

Here’s what I’ll cover in this step-by-step guide:

1. Name your blog
2. Setup web hosting with Bluehost
3. Choose your Domain Name
4. Install WordPress
5. Choose a WordPress Theme
6. How to make money blogging

If you are new to the blogging world, I recommend reading 5 Things To Do Before Starting A Blog first and then come back to this tutorial!

Bluehost has generously offered a hosting package starting at just $3.95 a month for readers of Create A Blog Easy along with a FREE domain name.

To get this special pricing, just be sure to use any Bluehost link in this post!

Step 1. Name your blog

Naming your blog could be one of the hardest things to do! however, once you have decided on what to blog about, it is now time to name your blog. Your domain name is your blog’s address on the web.

Here are a few tips to help you choose a domain name:

• Choose a name that is easy to spell and easy to remember
• Choose a name that is related to your niche
• Make sure that your chosen name is available

You can use the domain checker tool from Bluehost to see if the domain name you want is available to register:

Some bloggers prefer to keep their domain name separate from their hosting company, however, you do get a free domain with Bluehost.

If you decide to keep your domain name separate then you can purchase your domain name at namecheap.com at a discount price.

Step 2. Setup Web Hosting With Bluehost

Click here to go to Bluehost and click the green “Get Started Now” button. This page will remain open, for you to continue with the instructions.

Select a plan

Choose a plan by clicking one of the “Select” buttons.

You can start with the basic plan which is OK, however, if your budget allows you then I would recommend the Choice Plus plan as it has more unlimited features which include domain privacy.

Domain Privacy is highly recommended as it hides your personal information such as your name, phone number, and address from the public.

If you choose the Basic or Plus plan, you’ll have the option to add domain privacy later.

Step 3. Choose Your Domain Name

Next, register your domain name! Enter your choice of name and Bluehost will let you know if it’s available. for example, createablogeasy.com is my domain name, this will be your brand and what people will remember you by.

If you already have a domain registered somewhere else, enter it in the “I have a domain name” box and click “Next” to continue.

Enter your account information

On the next page, Bluehost will ask you to fill out your billing information.

Select your package

To get the best price, select the 36-month plan. You will pay for your hosting all at once as opposed to a month to month basis.

Click to agree to the terms and click next

Now you will be taken to the sign-up successful page where you will create your password. Please keep this password safe.

Step 4. Install WordPress

Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you.

What is WordPress? It’s a free Content Management System (CMS) platform where your blog will run.

Your WordPress dashboard is where you will go to change the look and feel of your blog, you will be able to install your theme, install free plugins, write blog posts, blog pages, upload images, etc.

WordPress is the most powerful blogging platform used today, it gives users the ability to create beautiful websites without knowing how to code.

WordPress is now installed, you will be able to log in by clicking ‘My Sites’ and then login.

Once logged in to WordPress, you will be in your WordPress dashboard.

Step 5. Choose a WordPress Theme

Your new blog needs a theme so choosing the right theme is crucial. The look and feel of your brand will be the first impression your visitors will see when they come to your blog.

Within a matter of seconds, they can decide to stay or leave. Investing in a quality professional premium WordPress theme is always a good idea because most premium themes are free from bugs and most importantly you get updates.

Divi Theme is my #1 recommendation theme for beginners. as I use it. It’s one of the most popular premium WordPress themes on the market by Elegant Themes, it gives you access to over 80 different themes to choose from.

Reasons to use the Divi Theme

• The theme is customizable
• Free Theme support
• Free updates
• Bug-free and up-to-date with WordPress version
• It’s Responsive

Here is an additional resource to help you to start exploring your Divi Theme.

Divi Theme Documentation

Install Plugins

Now that you have WordPress installed, your site will be very basic. You need to add some plugins to your website to make it function properly.

One of the many great things about blogging with WordPress is that you have access to so many great plugins. Plugins are like apps, used to improve its functions.

Must-Have Free Plugins

These are the free WordPress plugins that I use and recommend to anyone starting a blog.

Yoast SEO
Askimet Anti-Spam
W3 Total Cache
Classic Editor
Google Analytics Dashboard by MonsterInsights
SpeedProd
UpdraftPlus
Social Warfare
Pretty Links
Grammarly

Learn more about recommended free plugins here.

Step 6. How to Make Money Blogging

How do beginner bloggers make money? Well, there are 4 main ways to make money blogging.

1. Ads
2. Affiliates
3. Sponsored Posts
4. Products

How Do Beginner Bloggers Make Money?

Ads

Ads are a great way to get started because you set them up. You also don’t have to do anything else because the ads will be working for you. Sit back and collect income, although it is not the most profitable.

Affiliates

Affiliate marketing is where you promote a product on your blog! Also, you earn a commission when someone clicks and buys the item through your affiliate link.

Always use your affiliate link on your blog for any product you are recommending so that you can earn commission through your affiliate link.

Almost all online products and services offer affiliate programs.

Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are where you write a blog post review related to a product similar to your niche for companies.

They pay you to embed their link in the blog post review, this can be one of the best ways you can make a healthy income.

The sponsor company will either pay you for your blog post review or send you a free product. It can be a great way to supplement your income while you are growing your blog.

Products

You can increase your blog income by creating your own products to sell, as a result, this can be very profitable. Provide your readers with something of value that you have created and sell it to them, therefore you should create things like:

• Ebooks
• Printables
• Courses
• Templates

You can use Canva to create some of the above examples because it’s a free graphic design tool and pretty easy to use too.

Recap

So this is it, the low down on starting a blog from scratch for beginners and how to make money blogging!

Remember, follow these steps and you can’t go wrong:

1. Name your blog
2. Set up web hosting ( I recommend Bluehost)
3. choose your domain name
4. Install WordPress
5. Choose a WordPress Theme (Work on the design and feel of your blog, I recommend Divi Theme)
6. How to make money blogging (Start making money with monetizing your blog)

Check out some of my most popular blogging related posts:

• 5 Things To Do Before Starting A Blog
• 10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins For Your Blog
• What Is A Blog And How Does It Work?