How to Make Money Blogging: A Beginner’s Guide to WordPress

Blogging has evolved from a personal hobby to an excellent way to make money online. Nowadays, with the right approach and tools, anyone can turn a blog into a profitable business.

Among the many blogging platforms available, WordPress is favoured for its versatility and robust features, making it the go-to choice for beginners and professionals alike.

In this guide, we’ll dive deep into how to make money blogging using WordPress. Let’s get started.

Creating Your WordPress Blog

Before we get into the specifics of making money blogging, let’s go over how to set up a WordPress website.

1. Choosing Your WordPress Hosting

Your choice of hosting can have a profound impact on the success of your blog. A good hosting provider ensures your blog is always accessible, loads quickly, and remains secure from threats. 

So when selecting a host, consider factors like its uptime guarantee, customer support, and whether it provides instant WordPress installations. 

We recommend Hostinger for its reliable performance and affordability, particularly for beginners.

Hostinger’s managed WordPress hosting stands out with its one-click WordPress installer and AI tools, which ensure a quick, painless setup. We’ll cover more about Hostinger’s top features in the following sections.

There are three pricing plans to choose from, ranging from ₹149 and up to ₹699 per month. Check the following table for a quick comparison of each plan.

We recommend the Business plan, which offers the best value for money. Use our coupon code EXPRESS7 during checkout to enjoy a 7% discount.

2. Installing and Setting Up Your Blog

Hostinger provides guided instructions on how to create your blog. After making the payment, you’ll be able to choose your website type and its theme. You can choose either a pre-built or standard theme.

Whichever option you select, you can always change it later. If you’re choosing a theme from WordPress’ directory, prioritise one that is optimised for mobile devices and SEO-friendly.

Alternatively, you can apply one of the themes built with Hostinger, which are all well-optimised and ready to use.

Installing essential plugins is the next step. Hostinger gives you the option to automatically add essential plugins such as WPForms, AIOSEO, and MonsterInsights. 

Once the setup process is complete, WordPress will be installed and ready to use. Then, you can go to the WordPress admin panel and start blogging.

3. Creating Engaging Content

Before crafting content, you need to identify your target audience and what type of content they like. This can be done through market research, surveys, or analysing your website’s analytics.

Once you’ve found the right content type for your target audience, it’s time to create the content. This can be in the form of blog posts, videos, infographics, or even interactive quizzes.

Quality content is important for engaging your audience and keeping them on your site – ultimately making the monetisation process simpler. Make sure your content is visually appealing and easy to read on both desktop and mobile devices. 

To help create your content, use Hostinger’s AI Writer tool – which is available on the Business and Cloud Startup plans. The tool can generate written content based on your prompts.

4. Optimising the Blog for Search Engines

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is crucial for increasing your blog’s visibility and attracting more visitors. WordPress already offers a strong foundation for SEO, but there are additional steps you can take to enhance your blog further:

• Use SEO Plugins: Plugins like Yoast SEO or All in One SEO Pack can help you improve your site’s on-page SEO factors, such as meta tags, titles, and keywords.

• Optimise Your Content: Naturally include relevant keywords in your posts, add alt text for images, and write compelling meta descriptions. Valuable, well-optimised long-form content tends to rank higher in search engine results.

• Improve Site Speed: A blog that loads quickly not only provides a better user experience but also improves search engine rankings. To make your site more lightweight, use caching plugins, optimise images, and remove unnecessary plugins and themes from your site.

• Responsive Design: A significant number of web traffic comes from mobile devices, so it’s important to make sure your blog is mobile-friendly. Most WordPress themes are responsive, but you should always double-check and adjust it if necessary.

If you go with Hostinger’s WordPress hosting, you don’t have to worry about SEO plugins and site speed. All websites created with Hostinger are automatically optimised for performance and SEO.

5. Publish Your Blog

Once your blog is set up and optimised for search engines, it’s time to go live.

Before publishing, do a final review of your content to ensure its accuracy, coherence, and readability. Correct any grammatical errors and ensure all links are functioning properly.

Consider launching your blog with several posts, not just one. This gives first-time visitors more content to explore, reducing bounce rates.

Use social media, email newsletters, and other digital marketing strategies to promote your blog. Announce your website launch to your network and consider running promotions and giveaways to attract more visitors.

6. Growing and Retaining Your Audience

To create a profitable blog, you should publish high-quality content and have a strong following. One way to gain more followers is to apply off-page SEO strategies on top of on-page SEO tactics. 

You can do this by reaching out to other bloggers and websites in your niche to generate backlinks and improve your website’s authority in search engines. Guest posting and collaborating on projects are effective strategies – we’ll cover more about these topics in the monetisation part of this article.

Additionally, be active on social media platforms and share content that adds value beyond just promoting your blog. Email marketing also remains a powerful tool for gaining direct access to your audience. You can send out regular newsletters that inform and entertain your readers. 

Lastly, foster an engaging community by encouraging interaction on your blog and social media channels. This two-way communication can forge connections that will help you gain a loyal following.

7. Analysing and Optimising Your Blog’s Performance

Regularly check your blog’s analytics to understand what works and what doesn’t. 

Tools like Google Analytics offer insights into your traffic, page views, and user engagement. Use the data you collect from the tool to refine your content strategy, focusing more on what your audience prefers.

Regular A/B testing of different layouts and content types can also improve user engagement and increase monetisation opportunities.

Monetising Your WordPress Blog

Here are several ways to make money with your WordPress blog:

1. Display Ads on Your Blog

Displaying ads is one of the simplest and most direct ways to earn revenue from your blog. By collaborating with ad networks, you can host advertisements that are relevant to your audience directly on your site.

Tools such as Google AdSense allow you to integrate ads into your blog easily, and advertisers can bid for ad space on your site. The more traffic and engagement your blog receives, the higher the bids you may receive from advertisers.

The primary revenue model used in this method is pay-per-click (PPC), where you earn money each time a visitor clicks on an ad displayed on your blog. 

PPC can be especially profitable if you have high traffic, as more visitors increase the potential for clicks and, in turn, your ad earnings.

2. Start Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing lets you monetise your blog by promoting other companies’ products through affiliate links. When a visitor uses these links to take an action like purchasing a product, you will earn a commission.

This is an effective approach for generating passive income from your blog. Once your affiliate links are incorporated within your content, they can continuously earn you money, even without active promotion.

To start affiliate marketing for your blog, research companies or products that resonate with your blog’s niche and audience. You should choose products or services that you genuinely believe in and can endorse confidently to avoid damaging the trust of your readers.

Then, apply for their affiliate program and secure your unique affiliate links. Some examples include Amazon Associates, Awin, and Flipkart Affiliate.

To maintain transparency, always disclose to your audience when you have affiliate links in your content.

With dedication and strategic promotion, affiliate marketing can be a profitable revenue stream for your blog.

3. Write Sponsored Blog Articles

Sponsored content represents a strategic partnership between bloggers and brands, where bloggers are compensated for crafting content that promotes a brand’s products or services. 

To increase your chances of getting these partnership deals, you must have a library of high-quality content that has already been published. Brands look for bloggers who can deliver posts that are not only engaging and informative but also resonate well with their audience. 

You should also maintain your content quality once you’ve scored a partnership. When your sponsored posts perform well, brands are more likely to work with you again.

To enhance the effectiveness of sponsored posts, conduct thorough keyword research to optimise for search engines and use tools like Google Analytics to monitor the content’s performance.

4. Sell Products or Services

Your expertise in your blogging niche can also translate into digital products like tutorials, ebooks, or online courses. 

If you have specialised knowledge, consider offering consulting services. These direct sales can significantly boost your income beyond what ads and affiliates provide.

5. Crowdfunding and Donations

For bloggers who prefer not to have ads on their websites, crowdfunding platforms like Patreon, Kickstarter, or Buy Me a Coffee let you earn income from dedicated followers. 

Adding a PayPal donation button is also an effective way to receive support from readers. 

All you have to do is create a PayPal business account and create your donation button through PayPal’s Seller Tools menu. Choose a button, customise your button’s settings, and then PayPal will generate an HTML code for it. 

To add the button to your WordPress site, simply copy the HTML code and paste it into your preferred location on the blog. Before publishing the changes, make sure the button directs users to the proper payment page.

6. Collaborate with Other Bloggers

Collaborating with other bloggers can dramatically expand your blog’s reach and enhance its credibility. 

For example, guest posting allows you to tap into each other’s audiences, benefiting from mutual exposure and valuable backlinks that boost SEO. You can also consider partnering with other creators to make co-authored content, webinars, or courses. 

Social media also plays a crucial role. By sharing each other’s content, you increase visibility and attract a wider audience.

7. Offer Exclusive Content

Offering exclusive content is an excellent strategy to monetise your blog and provide added value to your audience. 

Creating a membership program that grants access to premium content can generate a steady income, as members will regularly pay in exchange for exclusive insights. However, make sure to price your content reasonably.

You can also compile your content into ebooks and detailed guides and sell them. Selling online courses, on the other hand, allows you to dive deep into specific topics of expertise. 

These methods not only boost your blog’s profitability – they also establish your reputation as a credible source in your niche and foster a community of engaged and loyal readers.

Conclusion

Starting a blog on WordPress is just the beginning. With persistence and dedication, you can grow your blog into a profitable business. 

This article has covered the essential steps on how to create a WordPress blog and earn money from it, from choosing Hostinger as your hosting solution to continually optimising your monetisation efforts. Among various blog monetisation methods, here are our top picks:

• Display ads on your blog.

• Start affiliate marketing.

• Write sponsored blog articles.

• Sell products and services.

• Crowdfunding and donations.

• Collaborate with other bloggers.

• Offer exclusive content.

You now have the knowledge to turn your passion for blogging into profit. Start creating your blog today and good luck!

Disclaimer: This content is part of a marketing initiative. No TNIE Group journalists were involved in the creation of this content.