How to become a professional blogger

Blogging does not seem to have a cap on how much it can grow.

Everyone is starting a blog to share their ideas and stories, but some want to use blogging as more than a journal.

Some people want to use their blog as a second (or even primary) source of income, but how do you do that?

Do you want to become a professional blogger?

Becoming a professional blogger requires a lot of time and work before you’ll start seeing any money from it, but starting a blog is easy.

If you want to be a professional blogger, you should know a few easy set-up tips.

The topic

You first need to decide what your blog will be about.

It needs to be something that you fully understand (or want to understand) and something that you can monetize.

The possibility of your blog is almost limitless.

Anything you have a passion for, you can create a blog for.

After you’ve decided what you want to write about, you’ll need a name/domain.

This can be one of the longest parts of starting your blogging journey.

Finding the perfect name for your blog can take hours or even days, don’t rush the process.

Hosting your blog

Now that you’ve decided what you want your blog’s domain to be, you need a place to host it.

There are hundreds of different places to host your blog, but not all of them are created equally or offer the same value.

One of the best values for hosting your domain is BlueHost.

Bluehost is easy to use and will walk you through the whole process.

The site offers hosting services and tools for only $3.95 a month (the cost of one drink at Starbucks).

If you’ve never hosted a site or blog before, don’t worry, the process is easy.

If you’re still overwhelmed by the idea of hosting, there are plenty of step-by-step guides to help you along.

While there are dozens of sites you can make a blog on for free, having things like “YourBrand.wordpress.org” at the end of your URL doesn’t look as professional as having “YourBrand.com”, and you want to look professional, right?

Creating your blog

Now that you’ve picked your domain and hosting site, it’s time to create your blog and link it to the hosting site.

Sounds scary, right?

It doesn’t have to be!

Most hosting sites make this incredibly simple.

For example, BlueHost makes creating a WordPress blog through its site straightforward and quick.

Login to your BlueHost account and go to the dashboard.

You’ll see a button on this page that says, “Install Wordpress.”

After that, you’ll have to enter basic information to officially create your blog.

Making your blog look good

Congratulations!

You now have a blog, but here comes the fun part, picking a beautiful theme!

We live in a visual world, if your blog doesn’t look its best, your readers won’t want to come back.

The good news is that WordPress offers dozens of different themes for free.

The bad news is that most of these themes offer VERY little customization.

This means that if you aren’t 100% happy with the look, there is almost nothing you can do.

If you’re looking for more control over the look of your blog, you should consider purchasing a premium WordPress theme.

Most of these themes cost around $100, but it’s an excellent investment if you plan to be a professional blog.

One of the best places to get visually appealing and easy-to-install themes is at StudioPress.

They have dozens of themes that will give you the “pop” your blog needs.

Get Social

Your most friendly audience will be friends and family.

You will want to connect your blog to your social media accounts.

On top of that, creating a branded Facebook page, Twitter account, Pinterest board, etc.

will allow people to connect to your new brand and start identifying your blog as a real resource.

The content

Now that you’ve picked your domain name and found the perfect theme, it’s time to write blog posts.

This is the whole reason that you started this journey, remember?

Go to your new shiny WordPress blog and start typing your way to becoming a professional blogger!

Ways to make money on your blog

Because there are endless possibilities for your blog, there are hundreds of ways you can make money on your blog, but some are more popular than others.

The easiest way is to use a program like Google AdSense that will display ads based on the content on your blog.

You can also affiliate with companies that will pay you to drive traffic to their website or buy their product or services.

If you get enough traffic every month, you can start selling advertising space on your site.

You can also make a product to sell on your site.

This could be a book, or a fun craft kind of item.

These aren’t the only ways to make money, but they are the most popular, maybe you can find your unique way to make some spending money on your blog.

Get Started

Now that you have all the steps in front of you, the best thing you can do is to get started.

Even if everything isn’t perfect, you will not build an audience and bring people in by just toying around with the appearance.

Get started and publish great content that people want to read.

Paul Moyer

Paul Moyer is a personal finance coach, financial blogger and founder of SavingFreak.com. He is a devoted husband and father of three energetic children. Paul motivates people to manage their finances better and spend less on the things they need so they can focus their spending on what they want to accomplish.