How to Start a Blog in 2023 (and Make Money)

Hi, I’m Mikke!

I’ve started a number of blogs and websites from scratch in the past years and learned valuable lessons from each of them.

In fact, I build websites and WordPress blogs for a living. I’ve been a freelance WordPress web designer since 2017.

I’ve come across tons of problems and issues new bloggers have to face. I know you want to maximize your chances of becoming a successful blogger.

And that’s why I’m here to share with you everything I’ve learned so far!

How to start a WordPress Blog the right way

Starting a blog may sound intimidating, especially if you have zero technical knowledge.

But the thing is:

Launching a profitable, successful blog is a lot easier than you may think. 

The best part?

Once you have everything set up on the technical side, you can focus on the fun stuff:

• Creating content
• Marketing and growing your blog
• Monetizing your blog traffic

Following this guide will help you setup up your blog the RIGHT way from the beginning.

I’ll show you the best way to start a successful blog, so that you can save time and focus on what matters the most: blogging and creating awesome content for your readers!

With that said, there’s no need to make things harder than they are. That’s why this beginners’ guide is foolproof and quick and easy to follow. I’ve designed it for complete blogging beginners with no website experience or coding skills.

Are you ready? Follow along!

The first step for starting a blog is to choose your topic and picking a name for your blog.

Not quite sure what to blog about yet? No problem! There are a couple of easy and quick ways to find a good blog topic. Let’s take a look:

What to blog about? How to find the best blog topic?

You can blog about pretty much anything you like. Here are a few helpful ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

#1: Hobby

One of the best topics you can write about is a hobby close to your heart. You will never run our of ideas or feel like you don’t know enough about the topic.

Gardening, baking, travel, novels, fashion, cooking, you name it! Writing a blog about your hobby is a great way to connect with like-minded people around the world.

#2: Passion

If you feel genuinely passionate about a certain topic, why not blog about it? We all have different interests and passions – for some it might be coffee, yoga, or politics, while others prefer tea, running, or green energy.

Whatever your passion is, it will help you stay motivated writing for your blog for years to come.

#3: Yourself

We all have different views and experience regarding the most diverse topics possible. You can start a blog about yourself living your life and sharing your thoughts with the world.

If you have a strong personality (not to the point of upsetting others), blogging about yourself can attract tons of readers and fire up discussions that will help your blog gain even more momentum.

#4: Family

We all come from different families with different backgrounds. There is something about reading someone else’s family story that sparks up our interest and attention. Of course, you don’t have to go into too much detail and share private stories.

In fact, one of the most popular family topics for blogging is pregnancy and everyday life. When the baby arrives, it’s so easy for other moms and dads to relate to blog posts about how everything changes with the new family member.

#5: Life experience

We all have learned a bunch of lessons throughout our lives, good and bad. Blogging about what you’ve learned so far can help others deal with similar issues or hurdles, wherever they are reading your blog.

Sometimes the most simple of advice can help someone struggling with a difficult time in their life more than you can imagine. But a life experience can be something as simple as writing about how it is to be an expat in a foreign country, or how your life has been since you decided to get married.

#6: Lifestyle

Last but not least, writing a lifestyle blog is probably the most popular topic out there. Fashion, makeup, interior design, travel, shopping, fitness… The list is long!

Lifestyle blogs can become incredibly successful in terms of attracting readers and making money by blogging if done correctly.

Combine your blog with powerful marketing tools like social media and you can become a full-on online superstar. If lifestyle topics are your thing, tag along and let’s start your blog right away!

How to choose a name for your blog?

Once you’ve found the perfect blog topic, it’s time to choose a name for your blog.

And even though this might seem like a big step to take, don’t worry. Most often the best name is the first one you’re thinking of – just listen to your gut here.

If you’re not quite sure where to start with this, just keep in mind that a good blog name should be:

• Descriptive: The name of your blog should tell your readers what it’s about.
• Concise: Keep your blog name as short as possible.
• Easy to spell: Avoid difficult words that are prone to spelling mistakes.

Think about the name from your readers’ perspective: can they instantly tell what your blog is about just by reading the name?

I’d recommend coming up with 3 to 5 name ideas at this point.

Once you have a few blog name ideas figured out, you need to choose a domain name extension. The most preferred domain extension is “.com”. Also, “.org” and “.net” are popular.

If you wish to write for readers in a specific country, consider choosing a country or language specific domain extension like “.fr” for a French blog or “.de” for a blog in German.

Once you’ve gathered a few ideas for your blog name, it’s time to get your blog online.

Now, I know this next step might seem a bit technical or intimidating to many new blogging enthusiasts like you. And that’s why I’m here to help.

The step-by-step guide below will walk you through every step to make sure that you don’t have to worry about anything going wrong. I know anyone can do this, including you!

It’s easier than you think, trust me!

To start a blog, you will need three things:

1. Domain Name
2. Hosting Plan
3. Blogging Platform

Let’s see what these are…

1: What is a domain name?

To get your WordPress blog online, you will need to register a domain name for it.

In short: your domain name is what people type into their browser to find and visit your blog:

2: What is blog hosting?

Your WordPress blog consists of files and data stored on a web server. This server is like a home for your blog, where all the files live.

Your blog hosting provider is like the landlord for your blog, renting web server space for you and making your website accessible.

Without a domain name, your website visitors won’t have a memorable way to get to your website.

And without a hosting account, there won’t be a website to go to.

So, you must have a domain and a hosting account in order to create your blog.

Finally, you will need a blogging platform or software to write your blog:

3: How to choose the right blogging platform?

Before you can start writing awesome content for your blog, you’ll need a blogging platform.

It is simply the application running on your hosting account that allows you to create and manage your blog posts and other content.

That’s why blogging platforms are often called Content Management Systems (CMS).

There are many good blogging platforms to choose from:

• WordPress
• Blogger
• Tumblr etc.

However, my recommendation is always WordPress regardless of your blog topic. I use WordPress to build all of my own blogs and websites, too.

Here’s why WordPress is the best blogging platform for you:

1: It’s FREE for everyone to use.
You can run your blog on WordPress 100% FREE (including design templates and themes, layouts, and powerful add-ons).

2: It’s incredibly easy for you to set up by yourself.
I’ll show you how in a minute…

3: It’s HIGHLY customizable.
WordPress has a 64% market share among all blogging CMS software.

This huge community has thousands of free themes and add-ons to offer, so that you can improve your blog’s functionalities and performance.

4: It’s safe and stable.
Being the world’s most popular blogging platform, WordPress has a big community of developers who monitor security and release automatic security updates for you.

Hence, you can focus on creating content instead of worrying about your blog getting hacked or attacked.

WordPress is simply the best choice for you as a beginner blogger. It’s super easy to set up and configure, especially if you are not familiar with the technical aspects of starting a website or blog from scratch.

The best part?

Most hosting providers let you install WordPress with just 1 click.

Where should I get my domain and hosting?

I hope you’re still with me!

So far, we’ve covered the most important preparations you should do before you get your blog online.

Next, let’s look at what practical steps you need to take to create and setup your blog using the WordPress blogging software we just discussed.

When it comes to blog hosting, there are three things you will need:

1. Easy but solid technical setup: You don’t want to spend hours with complex setups on your hosting – you’re here for blogging, not for troubleshooting!
2. Realiability with uptime: Your blog needs to be up and running 100% of every month, day, and hour.
3. Fast page loading speed: The average amount of time it takes for your blog page to load needs to be as fast as possible.

There are hundreds if not thousands of different blog hosting providers to choose from. It gets overwhelming for any beginner, I know.

But I’ve done the research for you already so that you can start your first blog without having to worry about anything going wrong.

I’ve made a bunch of mistakes trying to find the perfect hosting for my blogs and websites. Needless to say, I don’t want you to make the same mistakes just to lose your sleep at night.

To spare you from repeating my mistakes and spending hours and hours after a crash to get your blog back online with no help from your hosting provider, here’s what I recommend…

I use and recommend Bluehost for domains and blog hosting. 

You can start a blog on Bluehost in just 10 minutes even if you’re totally new to blogging.

They install the WordPress blogging software automatically for you. You literally just need to sign up and you can start blogging right away.

Why I recommend Bluehost for starting your blog:

Ok, so why Bluehost?

Here’s the deal:

Choosing a blog hosting provider is all about finding the right balance between simplicity and top performance.

You don’t want to overcomplicate things by spending days and weeks tweaking technical settings that are way too complex to understand in the first place.

Instead, you want a provider that allows you to start your blog without any unnecessary hocus-pocus, right?

Your blog hosting should be easy to set up but still offer top-notch performance and reliability. And that’s where Bluehost steps in.

I use Bluehost for my web projects (including this one) for a bunch of reasons.

Here are a few benefits you will love:

• Free domain name for your blog – Register your blog domain name for free – and save money.
• Exclusive deal for my readers starting at $2.95/month – The cheapest plan is more than enough to start a profitable blog on a shoestring budget.
• Easy and quick sign-up – I’ll show you how it works in just a second.
• No hidden costs – 100% transparent pricing.
• Free, automatic WordPress installation – WordPress is the blogging software you will use. It’s easy to use, and you can start blogging right away.
• Free SSL certificate for your blog – Encrypts your blog traffic, increasing trust and credibility with your blog visitors and with Google.
• Fast and friendly 24/7 support – I’ve waited 1.5 seconds on average for a support agent to join the helpdesk chat.
• 30-day money-back guarantee – No questions asked if you choose to cancel your account for any reason.

With Bluehost, there really is no risk.

That said, let’s get you to Bluehost to start your blog right away:

Start a WordPress blog in 2023 Beginner’s tutorial: How to start a blog in 10 minutes on Bluehost

Step #1: How to create a Bluehost blog hosting account

First, click here to get to Bluehost.

The page will look like this:

Next, click that beautiful button that says “Get Started”.

On the next page, you’ll see the following web hosting plan options to choose from:

When you are just starting out with your first blog, it’s perfectly OK to pick the Basic plan.

Especially if you’re on a budget and you’re not expecting to earn that much with your blog. You can always upgrade later in the future.

When I first started building my online business, the initial investment in web hosting and domains felt like a big buck.

However, this is a small price to pay for the potential you will unleash with an online presence. It’s simply a necessary investment, allowing you to make that money back with your blog or business soon.

Once you’ve chosen a web hosting plan (Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, or Pro), click “Select” and you’ll land on the next page, where you can choose your domain name.

Step #2: Register a free domain name for your blog

On the next page, you can choose the domain name for your blog:

Type in the name of the domain name that you’d like to have for your blog. Mine is bloggingexplorer.com. Use the field under “Create a new domain” and click “Next”.

If your domain name isn’t available, you can either try another idea you have or (what I suggest) skip this step and choose your domain name later.

Click “I’ll create my domain later” at the bottom. You can brainstorm new ideas after your account is set up.

After creating your domain name or choosing to select it later, you’ll be taken to the final page for creating your account, finishing up the Bluehost signup process.

(I told you this would be easy!)

Step #3: Finish your signup and registration

Fill in your account information

First, fill in your account information like name, email address (use your primary email address, because that is where your login details will be sent) and address:

Choose the right hosting package

Second, choose the right hosting plan based on which price you want to secure and how far in advance you want to pay:

Which pricing plan is best to start a blog?

I recommend picking one of the longer plans if you want to lock in the lowest price for your blog hosting. I started with the 36-month option. It gives you the blog hosting at the lowest possible rate for the next 3 years.

Keep in mind that the low pricing only applies to new customers and the first payment you make.

If you choose a shorter plan, your pricing may go up after the first year.

Of course, it’s up to you to choose a plan that suits your budget. However, if you’re serious about starting a blog to make money, it’s a good idea to opt for a long-term package.

Select package extras (you only need one)

Thirdly, you can choose some additional services for your blog under Package Extras:

Now, if you ask me, you don’t necessarily need any of them.

However, I highly recommend selecting the Domain Privacy Protection. It keeps all of your personal contact information private.

If you chose the Basic or Plus plan, you can add Domain Privacy Protection to your order for $1 per month. In case you picked the Choice Plus plan on the previous page, your Domain Privacy Protection will be included in your plan as a free extra.

The total price you see is the amount you’ll pay now. But keep in mind: you won’t have to pay again for 1 to 5 years, depending on the plan you chose.

Also, Bluehost offers a full 30-day money back guarantee in case you’re not happy with them.

Enter your payment information

Finally, enter your payment information, read and accept the terms and hit “Submit”:

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

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

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

Bluehost installs WordPress automatically on your account during the signup process. So there’s not much left to do here, really.

Once you’ve completed your payment process, you’ll see a warm welcome message from Bluehost:

To get started with your WordPress blog, click on the bright green button that says “Create your password”.

You will be taken to a page where you set your password for your Bluehost hosting account:

Type in the password you’d like, make sure you write it down somewhere, and click “Next”.

You know what? You’re done!

That’s right – your WordPress blog has now been installed in the background and you can start creating content right away!

On the next page, though, you can choose a WordPress theme for your blog if you want to (feel free to skip this step, I’ll show you how to choose a theme for your WordPress blog in a bit):

If you’re not quite sure about it yet, skip this step at the bottom of the screen.

If you’re new to WordPress, visit my article with the best WordPress themes and templates for bloggers to learn more about how WordPress themes work and how to choose the right theme for your blog.

Finally, you will land in your Bluehost account dashboard. Here you can manage your blog website, domain name, and settings:

You see your WordPress blog right there in the center of the screen. To start blogging, simply click “Log in to WordPress” to get going with your awesome new WordPress blog!

Alternatively, you can access your WordPress website by typing in your domain name into your web browser using your personal URL and adding “/wp-admin” to it. So, if your domain is “myawesomeblog.com”, simply type

http://myawesomeblog.com/wp-admin

into your browser’s address bar.

Hit Enter and you’ll be taken to the login screen of your WordPress blog:

Simply enter your login details, click “Log In”, and there you go!

How to find your Bluehost username and password

If you’re not sure about your login name or password, check the email that you just received from Bluehost.

You’ll find your login credentials for accessing your hosting account at the bottom of the email:

You are now ready to start designing and customizing on your WordPress blog to conquer the world. Follow along to the next section!

You’ve almost made it!

This is the last step before you can start creating awesome content and posts for you new WordPress blog!

Let’s go through each step of changing your blog’s design next. Your WordPress blog comes with a standard design, so you don’t necessarily have to change the design just yet.

If you can’t wait any longer to start writing your first blog post, feel free to skip to Step 4 of this blog setup tutorial.

To change the design of your WordPress blog, you need to have installed WordPress on your hosting.

To do this first, make sure to click here to create a hosting account on Bluehost and follow the step-by-step guide for setting up your hosting and domain in the previous part of this guide.

How to change the design and look of your WordPress blog

You probably have some idea about how you wish your WordPress blog to look to your readers. Every blogger has slightly different preferences and a beautiful design is often just as important as great content.

Therefore, feel free to find a design that you feel comfortable with. Remember: you will be working with it a lot.

In WordPress, the templates that determine how your blog will look like are called “Themes”.

Thus, a WordPress Theme controls the entire design and layout of your blog.

Luckily, you can easily choose a theme you like from thousands of beautiful options.

Whether you choose to buy a theme or use a free theme is totally up to you. There are plenty of awesome themes available that are 100% free.

Option 1: Use free WordPress themes

Free WordPress themes are a great way to start if you are a beginner blogger. They usually work well, but they lack some of the tools that paid themes give you.

If you have an extra $50–90 you can invest in your blog business, use a paid premium theme. The money will pay itself back.

If it feels like a big buck at this point, I totally understand.

Just use a free theme for a few weeks and learn your way around WordPress that way.

Using one of the pre-installed themes that come with WordPress is perfectly fine at first. You can find them under “Appearance > Themes” in your WordPress Dashboard. I’ll show you this in more detail in just a minute.

Option 2: Save time and create a professional design with a paid theme

If you can invest in a paid theme, you should pick one that’s both extremely user-friendly and powerful.

Having built dozens of blogs and websites, I’ve come across a myriad of paid themes.

Here are two of the best I recommend:

1: Divi Theme (this is what I use)

Divi is an incredibly powerful, beginner-friendly WordPress theme.

I have been using Divi for all my website projects since 2017. I really can’t recommend it enough.

Divi is easy to learn even for beginners because it is so intuitive. You can customize any part of your blog with just a few clicks.

And to make things even easier, you can move elements around in a visual building mode, so you can see what you are doing in real time.

Also, Divi comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. There is no risk in trying it out.

When you purchase a licence for Divi, you can also access the entire Elegant Themes selection of over 70 further themes and plugins, too.

Needless to say, countless professional bloggers use Divi, and it’s quickly on its way to become the best WordPress theme for beginner bloggers, too.

2: Avada Theme

Avada Theme was my first paid WordPress theme I used and loved and I still use it for a few projects where I don’t need all the features Divi has.

Avada has heaps of customization options and it’s a bit cheaper than Divi Theme.

Therefore, Avada is my second recommendation for beginner bloggers – a great theme to get started with!

When you start your blog and choose a theme, don’t overthink it! It’s easy and quick to change your theme if you’re not happy with the one you’ve chosen.

So, just pick one and use it for some time. Learn how it works and be aware of the things you like and the ones you don’t like at all.

Ok, let’s take a closer look at how you can find, install, and activate a WordPress theme next.

I’ll walk you through each step, so this is going to be easier than you think.

How to find a WordPress theme for your blog

To start off, log in to your WordPress blog using the login details from your web hosting provider.

You can open the login screen by typing the following URL into your web browser – remember to replace “yourblog.com” with your own domain name:

www.yourblog.com/wp-admin/

Simply enter your username and password into the fields and click the “Log In” button:

Once logged in, you will see your WordPress Dashboard. This is the basic starting point for everything you do for your blog:

On the left-hand side, you see a dark, vertical menu.

That is where you can access all the content on your WordPress blog, upload media, review comments, and change the design of your blog.

Go ahead and click on “Appearance”. This will take you to the Themes overview, where the active theme is the first one on the list (in my case the “Divi” theme):

Every WordPress blog comes with a couple of default themes installed for you: they’re called Twenty-Twenty, Twenty-Seventeen etc.

They all are easy-to-use, professional-looking themes that do a great job for any type of blog out there.

In case you just wish to start writing, I recommend using one of these default themes at first.

My theme is a premium WordPress theme called Divi, which I mentioned above. I use it for almost every WordPress blog and website I create.

Divi an incredibly powerful and user-friendly WordPress theme for both total beginners and professional web designers, too. For more details on Divi, check out the Divi website at Elegant Themes.

If you want to create and establish a successful blog to earn money by blogging, I can fully recommend using Divi. It’s my #1 recommended premium WordPress theme for all of my website and blog clients.

Click here to get Divi and gain access to 70+ other themes for free with Elegant Themes.

How to install a new WordPress theme

To install a new WordPress theme for your blog, click on “WordPress.org Themes” on the Themes overview page:

(In case you’re using another web hosting provider than Bluehost, the button might simply say “Add new”.)

This will take you to the themes directory with thousands of themes to choose from:

If you hover over a theme with your mouse, you will see an “Install” button.

You’re almost done here already! If you see a theme you like, simply install it with one click.

Furthermore, on the top you can see a “Feature Filter” option as highlighted in the screenshot above. It allows you to filter through all these themes with criteria you can define yourself:

Choose your filters (in this case, I’ve only chosen to see themes suitable for creating a blog) and click the “Apply Filters” button at the bottom. This will take you back to the themes overview, where you can find one that you like and install it like you saw in the screenshots above.

How to activate a new WordPress theme for your blog

Once you’ve found a theme you like and clicked “Install”, you see a button for activating the new theme with just one click:

Go ahead and activate your new theme once you find one.

And that, my friend, is how you install a WordPress theme for your new blog!

Finally, don’t forget to admire the results of your work – take a look at the new design of your WordPress blog that you just installed and activated. Simply hover your mouse over the name of your blog in the upper left corner of the screen and click “Visit site” to see the newly-designed start page of your blog:

Congratulations! You just changed the design of your WordPress blog like a pro!

I hope you’re still with me! If you have any trouble going through with the steps above, let me know and I’ll help you through it.

And you know what? You’re all set to start creating content for your WordPress blog now!

You’ve come a long way already, good job!

By now you should have a WordPress blog on your very own domain name.

Also, you should have a custom WordPress theme to create a design that supports and fits together with your blog’s topic.

Again, congrats!

You have set up everything you need for a solid foundation for your future success as a blogger!

In the next step on how to start a WordPress blog, I’ll show you how to write your very first blog post. Posts are the main type of content you will create as a blogger, so in this section you’ll learn:

• How to write a post in WordPress
• How to format and edit text and headings
• How to add and manage images and links to your blog post
• How to create great, engaging content for your readers

Alright, let’s get to it!

Click here for Step 4: Start Blogging – Write Your First Blog Post

Step 5: Promote your blog and get more readers

We all know that it takes a great amount of determination, time, and effort to produce enough content to make it in the blogging world.

Once you’ve written a bunch of great blog posts to share with your readers, you really need to get your blog out there for the world to see!

So how do you stand out from the masses? How can you make sure that the right visitors find their way to your blog and not the others on the same topic?

It’s all about marketing, baby!

Marketing is the #1 essential part of blogging many bloggers fail to succeed. There’s so much awesome, valuable content out there to be discovered by readers, but if they can’t find their way there, that content is lost and practically obsolete.

To make things easier for you, I’ve put together this final step of my guide to help you find useful ideas and helpful information to grow your blog with:

Click here for Step 5: Grow Your Blog – Generate More Traffic

Here are a few beginner-level guide to drive traffic to your blog fast:

• 7 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Blog Traffic Fast (The Smart Way)
• How I Grew My Bog Traffic by 100%+ In 6 Weeks With Pinterest
• Pinterest SEO: How to Explode Your Blog Traffic (100% Free)
• What Is Search Engine Optimization: SEO for Bloggers
• How to Start an Email List for FREE: 7 Easy Steps

Here’s to growing your traffic and getting ready to monetize your blog!

Step 6: Make money from your blog

You made it this far, congratulations! That’s awesome!

You’ve come all the way from laying the very first foundation for your blog to creating amazing content and promoting your blog to grow it.

You’ve hopefully found useful tips and information along the way, giving you something to apply to your blog for a long time.

If you followed each step of my guide carefully, you should be well on your way to building a successful blog for yourself. What you do next, is totally up to you – the world is your oyster, really!

How to make money blogging

Choose the best monetization methods for your blog

Alright, time to talk about blog monetization.

Here are a few massive articles to help you get started:

1. How to Make Money Blogging for Beginners (How I Make $3,718/Month)
2. 5 Powerful Monetization Methods for Beginner Bloggers
3. Affiliate Marketing for Dummies: Make Money Blogging Fast
4. How to Make Money With Ads on Your Blog
5. How Do People Make Money Blogging?

These blog posts should give you heaps of ideas for monetizing your blog content and traffic.

And while it may take a while to build enough blog traffic to start earning substantial income, just keep doing what you’re doing.

Keep your eyes on the prize! Because once the ball starts rolling, your blog income will start increasing faster and faster.

Happy blogging!
– Mikke