How To Start A Blog In 2024 & Make Money Blogging

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Are you sick of your 9-5 job and want to learn how to start a blog, make money online, and travel full-time?

Blogging is one of the best ways to earn an income from anywhere in the world, all you need is a laptop, WiFi connection, and you’re good to go!

There are plenty of bloggers out there earning massively from their blogs, and YOU CAN TOO.

Keep reading to discover exactly how to start a blog and make money blogging in 13 easy steps!

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How To Start A Blog – What To Consider Before You Start

Knowing how to start a blog is only the beginning of the journey.

Before jumping into the main topic, let me tell you a few things to consider before you start a blog.

Blogging Takes Time

Before starting a blog, it’s important to consider the amount of time and effort that goes into blogging – dedication and consistency are key elements.

It takes time to create content, manage a website, and promote your posts.

In addition to writing new content every week or month, you will also have to dedicate time to moderating comments, responding to emails, and engaging with other bloggers.

In short, blogging can be an incredibly rewarding experience, but it does require commitment and hard work.

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To Make Money Blogging, You Must Learn SEO

If you plan to start a blog, chances are you want to make money out of it.

And if you want to make money blogging, it is essential to understand and implement search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is a key factor in determining how visible your blog is to potential readers online.

Knowing SEO basics when writing blog posts, optimizing titles, creating keyword-rich content, and building backlinks can help increase traffic and generate income from your blog.

Learning SEO is a process, so be sure to set aside time in your schedule to become familiar with SEO.

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Yes, You Can Become Financially Independent

Everyone wants to work remotely and earn money online nowadays, and you’re probably here for this reason.

And blogging is the answer to this – you can eventually work online from anywhere and replace the income you are making in your normal job, which is amazing!

However, don’t expect to make thousands of dollars from your blog in the first 6 months.

It takes time to grow your online presence, a loyal audience, monthly page views, and domain authority, but with the right systems in place from the start, you can start to generate income from your blog in no time.

LEARN FROM ME: HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING – FREE MASTERCLASS

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What About A Travel Blog?

As you may already know, my blog is all about travel, and while it’s a specific niche, it doesn’t change anything in terms of process.

Can You Make Money With A Travel Blog?

Definitely! A travel blog, just like an e-commerce platform, food blog, or any other niche, can generate substantial revenue.

The more content you publish, and the more energy you put into it, you can and will make money blogging.

jonny melon, jonny melon adventure travel blog, jonny melon travel blog, jonny melon blog, support the site

How To Start A Blog

We finally get to the main segment of this guide – starting a blog.

I have put together this step-by-step guide on how to start a blog so you can ditch the 9-5 and begin your journey to achieving location and financial freedom!

Establishing Your Why

When establishing “your why” these are the questions you should be asking yourself:

  • What is the reason you want to start blogging?
  • Where do you see this journey taking you?
  • Do you simply just want to create content that entertains others?
  • Do you want to have a blog on the side that generates some income?
  • Do you want to build your blog up enough to earn a full-time income and quit your 9-5?

For me, before even thinking about how to grow a blog, it began with my passion for travel, photography, and journal writing.

I then decided to start a travel blog to share my experiences on the road in the form of detailed travel guides for anyone who was searching on Google for things to do and places to visit.

My blog is the ultimate travel resource that helps people plan their trips and even follow the same route throughout the countries that I have visited.

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Define Your Target Audience

Taking the time to define your target audience upfront will make it easier for you to create your content, from the tone of voice to the media you use, and everything in between.

If you are targeting a broad audience, use language that’s easy to understand so anyone can get value out of it.

If you are trying to appeal to a more niche group, make sure your writing caters to their specific interests or needs.

Getting clear ahead of time on who your blog is intended for will help keep you focused as you create content and also ensure that it resonates with the people who read it.

How To Define A Target Audience?

As you understood, defining a target audience for your blog is an essential step in creating successful content.

Knowing who you are writing for enables you to provide important information on on certain topics, what kind of voice to use, and even how to structure the posts.

A great place to start is by taking a look at your existing followers’ demographics. Identify who they are and consider such aspects as age group, gender, interests, language, etc.

You can see your readers’ demographics on Google Analytics, which is a tool that allows you to check your traffic, your readers’ location, your top pages, and much more.

When done correctly, targeting a specific audience for your blog will actually help reach a wider group of readers and grow your blog.

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Choose A Name For Your Blog

Choose a name for your blog that suits your personality, and your niche, and that will stand the test of time.

For example, if you chose a name that has something to do with a trend, or your age, or the year, it’s going to change in the future and then you’ll be stuck with a name that is no longer relevant.

For me, I chose to self-title my blog (www.jonnymelon.com) as I wanted to keep it personal and for people to know my blog by my name and not something like ‘nomadtraveller .com’ or ‘wanderlust .com’ for example.

Make sure you are 100% certain about the name of your blog as you can only choose it once.

Be unique, be creative, and come up with a name that people will remember you by.

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Register Your Name On All Social Media Platforms

If possible, you want the name of your blog to be the same across your social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc.

This is not mandatory but keep in mind that you are creating a brand name that needs to be cohesive and that no one will forget.

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Choose A Web Hosting Service

Basically, for your blog to reside on the internet, you need to sign up with a hosting service, choose a domain name, and purchase your own little space on the web.

Now don’t freak out just yet, the cost of setting up your blog is very affordable! There are dozens of hosting services out there though I highly recommend using SiteGround.

Why SiteGround?

  1. It’s proven to load websites faster.
  2. It’s guaranteed to keep your site safe.
  3. It has 24/7 excellent support whenever you need it.

Click Here to receive a one-time-only discount when signing up for SiteGround Web Hosting

Once you are on the home page of SiteGround, in the top bar you will see WordPress Services, click on the tab, select WordPress Hosting, and then choose your plan.

I would recommend selecting the “StartUp” plan to begin with which costs as little as the price of a coffee for only $3.99 per month.

You can always update your plan down the track when your website grows.

The difference between the different plans is essentially the server, which is shared with other blogs on the StartUp and GrowBig, which only increases speed, and storage.

Of course, most features are enhanced when choosing more expensive plans, but this is not worth the cost when just starting out with a blog.

SiteGround prices
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What Is A Web Host? And What Is A Domain?

A web host is a service that allows your blog to exist online – like a house for your website.

Web hosting companies provide the hardware, software, and bandwidth needed for businesses, individuals, or organizations to host websites.

A hosting company provides the infrastructure necessary for websites to be accessible on the internet. They provide space on their servers for your files (content, posts, media, etc) to be stored and shown to your readers when they visit your site.

Hosting companies also offer support services such as managing security, backups, and technical help.

A domain name is the address of your website – in my case, www.jonnymelon.com.

Your domain name should be as easy as possible for readers to find your blog and remember your brand.

Ideally, you will want your domain name to be about 2 to 3 words.

What Web Hosting Service To Choose For A Travel Blog?

Site speed is one of the most important things to consider when it comes to SEO and being able to rank on the first page of Google search results.

For this reason, I recommend choosing a web hosting service such as SiteGround, one of the fastest web hosts on the market for travel bloggers.

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Choose A Domain Name

As mentioned above, your domain name is your brand name or niche where people can find you on the internet.

During the sign-up process with SiteGround, you will be prompted to register a new domain name.

There are also other websites where you can register a domain name and then integrate it with SiteGround.

Some sites that I recommend are GoDaddy and Namecheap.

Tip: Keep your domain name simple so it’s easier for your readers to find you on the web!

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Review & Complete

Check all your details are correct and you will receive a confirmation email once you have made your purchase.

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Download & Install WordPress

WordPress is an online, open-source website creation tool written in PHP.

But in non-geek speak, it’s probably the easiest and most powerful blogging and website content management system in existence today.

You can download and install WordPress for free from within the user’s area on SiteGround.

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Learn How To Use WordPress

Your new site will now be created and you can access the WordPress Dashboard to start designing your blog.

If you are not redirected to the WordPress Dashboard open a new tab and type in your new domain into the URL and then add /wp-admin at the end. ( www.example.com/wp-admin )

WordPress can be overwhelming at first but once you familiarise yourself with the WordPress Dashboard you will learn how to add menus, categories, images, posts, pages, etc.

If you want to skip all the guesswork, inside Jonny Melon’s Blogging Academy I will teach you step-by-step how to use WordPress, how to find high-quality keywords, and how to write SEO-optimized posts that will drive a ton of traffic to your blog which ultimately generates income!

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Choose A Theme

You then want to choose a theme for your blog in the appearances tab on the left-hand side of your WordPress Dashboard.

There are many free blogging themes to choose from and once you decide on the one you like, activate it, and you can then start to design your site.

If you don’t like the look of the free themes that WordPress has to offer, I can personally recommend GeneratePress themes which cost around $60.

If you decide to purchase a GeneratePress theme, you will receive an email with the new theme in a file.

From here, head to your WordPress Dashboard, select appearance > themes > add new theme > upload theme.

Once you have uploaded the file with your new theme select ‘activate’ and you’re good to go!

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Customize Your Theme

Once you have installed a theme such as GeneratePress, you should find a template that you like and represent the brand and website you have in mind.

From changing the colors and layout to adding widgets and specific functionality, there are endless possibilities that you can explore until your blog looks unique and professional.

For help customizing your theme, check out these easy-to-follow GeneratePress Theme Tutorials.

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Install Some Plug-Ins

Plug-ins are great little customization tools containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website.

They can extend functionality or add new features to your website. You can search and download plugins directly from the WordPress dashboard.

Recommended plugins:

Akismet – Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from spam. Your site is fully configured and protected, even while you sleep.

Rank Math SEO A Search Engine Optimization plugin that makes it easy for you to optimize your content with built-in suggestions based on widely-accepted best practices.

WP Rocket The best caching plugin to optimize the speed performance of your blog.

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Create Some Pages

Creating pages for your blog is a must.

To start with, you’re going to want to create an about page, so people can read a little bit more about you and your story.

Next, you’ll want to create a contact page so people can get in touch with you if they have any questions beyond what information you have provided in your articles, and for potential clients who want to discuss business opportunities.

I then recommend adding a destinations page (if your niche is travel) to categorize your blog posts into all the destinations you have been to.

This makes it easier for your readers to navigate to a specific destination that they are looking for.

Continuing on, you can create multiple landing pages for all the different categories within your niche.

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Get Social

Get yourself set up with as many social media platforms as you can. The biggest ones out there are Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest.

Be as active as you can on these platforms to get your name out there, engage with other users, and direct people back to your blog.

The platform I use the most is Instagram. This is where I get to share my best photos and videos, my daily adventures, and promote my blog posts to my audience on IG.

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How To Make Money With Blogging

Some of the best ways to make money with your blog are through affiliate marketing, page advertisements, sponsored posts, and online stores.

Do your research, make sure to stick true to your niche, and consistently produce high-quality content for your readers to keep longing for more!

How To Make Money With A Travel Blog?

Generating income through your travel blog involves both getting audiences to read it and finding ways to monetize your content.

To attract readers, update your content regularly and focus on topics that are interesting, relevant, and helpful to others.

Once you have developed an audience and get some stable and steady traffic, sign up for affiliate programs like Get Your Guide, Booking .com, Amazon, and Viator, to name a few in the travel niche.

Affiliate programs provide links that you can publish in your content and you receive a commission for each sale you make on their behalf.

For example, if you advertise a tour from Get Your Guide and sell one to one of your readers for $100, you will receive $8 from Get Your Guide as they offer 8% commission on every booking.

$8 doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you have 100 people reading you blog post per day and booking a tour through your affiliate link, that’s $800 in commissions!

Apart from that, I recommend joining an ad network and displaying ads on your website, which will generate additional revenue.

The best networks are Google Adsense and Ezoic, and they accept websites with only a few thousand page views per month, which is great for beginners.

Once you are getting decent amount traffic to your blog (50,000 monthly page views), I recommend applying for Mediavine.

Lastly, travel bloggers also sell their own products and services, such as personalized Instagram filters, online courses, or even consultancy.

If you’re interested to learn the fastest way to monetize a blog, be sure to sign up for my FREE MASTERCLASS: How To Make Money Blogging!

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Final Thoughts – Make Money Blogging

This was everything you needed to know about starting a blog and how to start a travel blog.

A blog is a great way to share your creative content with the world and eventually make money out of it.

Blogging should be enjoyable for both you and your readers, and the sooner you start, the faster you’ll see the results!

In conclusion, head over to SiteGround and get started today!

I hope you found this article useful and if you have any questions, please leave me a comment below this post and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

For a quicker response, be sure to join Jonny Melon’s Travel Tribe on Facebook and post your questions or recommendations to our awesome community.

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THANKS FOR READING

Hey friend, thanks for reading this guide!

Please know this post may contain affiliate links. When making a purchase through one of my links, I earn a small kickback at no extra cost to you and it’s a big help to keep the site up and running. Rest assured, I only promote products and services that I personally use and recommend.

Click here to find out how you can support the site organically.

Many thanks!

10 thoughts on “How To Start A Blog In 2024 & Make Money Blogging”

  1. Thank you for your blog, It is awesome! Can I ask you, if I want to buy pipdig theme, should I have my own hosting? Because they have note there that I must have wordpress.org not wordpress.com what means have my own hosting, not siteground. Am I right? Thanks

    Reply
  2. Nice tips mate! I’m going to take all my knowledge and make a travel blog out of it!
    For now you can find me on @satherstromphoto on Instagram.

    Reply

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