The Ridiculously Simple Way To Start A Blog And Earn Money – The Definitive Step By Step Tutorial

In this step-by-step tutorial described by Yahoo Finance as ‘the most valuable guide for startup bloggers’, we show you how to start a professional blog in less than 15 minutes. As an added bonus, we also show you how to make money blogging in 5 easy steps!

You agree, don’t you ? I’m sure you agree with me when I say that starting a blog is the easiest way to build an online platform, develop your brand and make money online.

And in this step-by-step tutorial, I will show you how to start a blog and earn money. You will learn how to set up a professional blog in less than 15 minutes. As an added bonus, I will also show you how to make money blogging.

But first…

I do not recommend running your blog on a free platform like Blogger.com or WordPress.com. Don’t get me wrong – those platforms are okay if all you care about is writing your thoughts and sharing ideas.

However, here is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

A free platform is never a good place to host your blog if you wish to make money. There are way too many limitations and disadvantages on a free platform.

For instance, Blogger.com does not allow its users to post non-Google ads. WordPress.com, on the other hand, does not allow image ads and imposes various limitations on sponsored posts and affiliate marketing.

We Recommend Self Hosted WordPress

Instead, I recommend you go with self hosted WordPress.

Here is what I mean.

Self hosted WordPress is what all pro bloggers use. It is what we use here at Astute Copy Blogging and at Pet Connection.

With self hosted WordPress, you can have:

• Customisable designs
• SEO friendly
• Responsive mobile sites
• High performance
• Manage on the go
• High security
• Powerful media management
• Easy and accessible

Furthermore, you can extend and customize your self hosted WordPress blog with over 55,000 plugins. These plugins are there to help your website meet your needs.

To have self hosted WordPress, you need a web hosting company.

Choosing a Web hosting account

And as you can imagine, your choice of web host is very important.

That’s because your web hosting account is where your blog will be “housed” in a server somewhere in a remote computer.

And here at Astute Copy Blogging, we recommend Bluehost for beginners.

7 Reasons why we recommend Bluehost

Here are the reasons why we recommend Bluehost:

• A well established and reliable brand. Bluehost is a well-established and world-renowned brand. And they currently over 2 million websites worldwide.
• Great support. With Bluehost you can enjoy powerful website management tools, and 24/7 expert support all at a price that fits any budget.
• Built with you in mind. Bluehost is designed with you in mind. It provides everything you need to create and manage a WordPress website.
• Quick and easy to use. Bluehost provides an automatic WordPress installation, with one click install. With Bluehost, you can build a website in minutes with an automatic WordPress installation. It is easy, super simple and quick!
• Bluehost is recommended by WordPress. Did you know that WordPress officially recommends only three web hosting services? Yes, and Bluehost is number one. That’s right – WordPress has recommended Bluehost since 2005.
• Bluehost is super affordable. There are 3 price plans starting low as $3.95 a month. Each price plan gives you:
  • Access to hundreds of WordPress themes to help you create websites that are unique to you;
  • Free SSL certificate (the SSL certificate is a requirement to rank on Google);
  • A domain name for your first year absolutely FREE
• Money back guarantee. Bluehost gives you a rock-solid 30-day money back guarantee with no questions asked. Also included is the the option to cancel at any time.

If you’re still with me, let’s keep going.

5 Quick and Easy Steps – How to Start a Blog and Earn Money

Now to the fun part.

Let’s learn how to start a blog and earn money in 5 amazingly easy and quick steps.

Ready? Awesome!

Start the clock and let’s get started.

Step #1: Setup Your Web Hosting Account

Your web hosting account is where your blog will be “housed” in a server somewhere in a remote computer. Thanks to technological innovation, web hosting has become very very affordable.

If you agree to use Bluehost to host your new website, then you can follow this practical step-by-step guide to get up and running.

#1. Get this special price offer for our readers

To get started, click this link to go Bluehost’s home page. Once there, click the “get started” black button, as you can see in the image below:

#2. Choose a price plan.

Next, you will will be taken to the image below, where you will need to choose a price plan:

#3. Enter your domain

Now enter your domain name into the box similar to the image below. If you are using a new domain, enter it in boxes 1 and 2, and click Next (box 3).

If the domain name is not available, you will be prompted to change it. However, if the domain name is available, you will be able to proceed to register it.

As you can see from the image below, I entered smartbloggingadvice.com into the box and clicked “Next”.

The domain name is available for registration, and Bluehost informs me as you can see below:

 #4. Select your package and enter your billing info

Choose your package, and everything else you want:

Now enter your personal details into the account info form:

Now enter your credit card info, confirm that you agree with the terms (box 3) and click “Enter” (box 4).

Bluehost will next ask you to “Select the Upgrades that Best Suit Your Needs.” My suggestion is to skip all of these. Just click “Submit” at the bottom of the page. It may take a minute or more, so be patient.

You should now see the screen that says “Welcome to Bluehost”. There should also be a “Congratulations” message. You’ll then be asked to create a password for your account.

You can always use the Password Generator to create a password that’s strong and secure. Alternatively, you can create a password yourself. Whatever you do, make sure your password is strong enough to protect your account.

Warning: You may get an error message here. Sometimes takes a few minutes for the Bluehost system to create your account. If necessary you can always call the BlueHost Support team toll free at +1 801-765-9400. You can also chat with them by clicking here.

Now that you are all signed up and are able to log into your account, you can get started installing WordPress!

Step #2: Install WordPress

This may seem like the most complicated step, but Bluehost has worked hard to make this one of the easiest things for you to do by using the new MOJO Marketplace for installing WordPress and other applications. In your cPanel, scroll to the section titled “MOJO Marketplace” and choose the “One-Click Installs” button. This will take you to a page inside MOJO Marketplace called Scripts and Platforms. The blog section is at the very top, so all you have to do here is click on the WordPress icon.

Once this is finished you’ll be taken to a screen with your Blog URL, Login URL, username, and password. You will also receive an email from Bluehost with this information, but I suggest writing it down as a backup. You can also take a screenshot or clip it to Evernote. You’ll need your password in the next step, so copy it to your clipboard so you can easily paste.

This will open the installation window. Click on the green “Start” button that will start the WordPress installation process, which has a few easy steps.

Step 1: Choose where you want to install WordPress. This can be any domain on your account, or a subdomain or a folder for one of your domains. Next, click on “Check Domain,” which will make sure the domain is assigned and pointing to your account. You may get a warning that you are overwriting files, but as long as you don’t have another website built yet, you can check the box and continue. This is mostly to make sure that you really want to install it in that location. If you do have other sites built, you will want to make sure you’re not overwriting something important.

Step 2: Show Advanced Options. This section allows you to set up your own username and password for your WordPress install. IT is recommended to use a different username than “admin” and a very strong password. Make sure that the “Automatically create a new database for this installation” box is checked unless you have a database already set up that you want to use.

Step 3: After you’ve read the terms and conditions, check the box indicating that you’ve done so, then click “Install Now.”

Install WordPress

Now you’ll see the progress page, which will show you how far along the installation is. Once WordPress is fully installed, it will provide you with your site URL, the admin login URL, your username, and password. You will get a copy of this information, except your password, in your email as well. Make sure to keep it in a safe place.

Step #3: Log into WordPress

Click on the “Admin URL” link. This will take you to the WordPress login page.

Now enter your username and password. (Remember, you wrote these down in Step 2. You also copied the password to the clipboard.) Click on the “Remember Me” checkbox and then click on the Log In button.

You should now be looking at the WordPress “Dashboard.”

Sometimes, bloggers refer to this as the WordPress “back-end.” The front-end is what your readers see—your normal blog site. The back-end is what you see—how you control what appears on the front-end.

Step #4: Write Your First Post

Click on the Posts | Add New option in the left-hand side menu. You should now see the New Post screen.

Enter the title of your post, perhaps something like, “Welcome to My WordPress Blog!” (I know, genius, right?)

Now write your first post in the field directly below the title. Perhaps you could explain why you are starting your blog, the topics you plan to write about, and how often you intend to post. (Tip: under-promise and over deliver.)