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If you’re looking for a quick and simple checklist to help you start your blog, then you have landed on the right place!
This post, starting a blog checklist, will provide you with a list of things you need to go through to start your money-making blog.
If you are new and you haven’t started your blog yet and you’re wondering about the costs, you can check out this post that will explain how much it costs for beginners to start a blog. It’s actually really affordable and considered a very low-cost money-making hobby or business idea!
Before you read on, don’t forget to download a FREE copy of your Start A Blog Checklist PDF printable here made by me!
You can always refer back to this nicely organized checklist to start and launch your blog. When you click on each box in this PDF printable, it will direct you to the appropriate page to help you complete your checklist. 🙂
I also have my FREE 7-day e-mail course that will teach total beginners, like you, how to start a profitable blog and use Pinterest to gain tons of readers and followers. This is the course I wish I had when I started using Pinterest for my blog.
I am very excited for you to start your blog and I can’t wait to see you start yours once you go through this simple 10-step blog launch checklist!
Alright, let’s jump right into it! 🙂
Step 1: Determine why you want to start a blog
It could be that you want to start a hobby blog for fun with no intention of monetizing, or perhaps you have the intention to turn your hobby blog into something that is profitable in the long run. Assuming you’re aware that making money with a blog is possible, you also need to take a step by and ask yourself the “deeper” question of WHY you want to start your blog, and by doing so, how will starting a blog change your life?
I know you’ve read stories about how bloggers are earning over six figures every year with their blogs.
Fascinated by the amount of money they earn, you are inspired to start one yourself too.
However, without determining or understanding why you really want to start a blog (other than the fact that it could help you earn a full-time income), you will most likely set yourself up for failure.
Step 2: Determine your interests and what you want to blog about
Once you’ve determined your why and what motivates you, it’s time to think about what you want to blog about.
There are so many things you are passionate about and you want to write about. However, thinking about all the possibilities of what you can write about becomes overwhelming, so I recommend you go through this blog post that will guide you on what to write about by determining your passions that will help your readers.
READ ALSO: Within step 2, I also highly recommend going through my comprehensive guide on how to choose a profitable blog niche. You should read it alongside my other post, what you should blog about.
Step 3: Choose a blog name
Now that you know your passions and what you want to write about, it’s time to choose a blog name that will reflect you, your brand, and your personality. This article here will show you exactly how to come up with a perfect blog name (AKA domain name).
Step 4: Start Your Blog with a Self-Hosted Plan
After completing steps 1 through 3, it’s time to start your blog with Bluehost using this step-by-step tutorial here.
I know some of you may be tempted to sign up for a free blog like Blogger, but I never recommend going the free route especially if you are serious about making money with your blog. I don’t know anyone who is actually earning a great income using a free blog.
When you start your blog by investing just a few dollars a month with a self-hosted plan, advertisers, affiliates, and partners will take you more seriously and work with you to monetize your blog. If they see that your blog is hosted on a free platform, they will not be interested in partnering up with you because they may see you as someone who is not serious.
I personally started my blog using Bluehost. I went self-hosted on a very low and affordable plan and was able to generate a healthy six-figure income. By going self-hosted, my income took off and I am now earning over $20,000 per month blogging!
Having that said, I highly recommend you reading what “self-hosted” really means and starting your blog here.
Step 5: Install a Blog theme
Once you have purchased a web hosting plan from step 4, it is time for you to install a Blog theme that you like.
There are both free and paid themes that you can choose from. When you are a beginner with a tight budget, you can always start off with a free theme and play around with it before investing in a more premium theme.
I personally used a free theme called Olsen Light to learn how to build my blog before I invested in the Foodie Pro Theme (you can check out my review) for two of my blogs.
Step 6: Build Your Blog!
This is the meat of building and launching your blog – it is the juiciest part!
There are a lot of steps to building a successful blog, from installing a free Google Analytics account to track your traffic, securing your website, downloading plugins (or apps) on your website, creating a blog logo, and fiddling around with your blog theme to making sure your blog posts and pages are properly “optimized” so you will show up on Google searches. Trust me, this part is not rocket science and it’s not hard to implement – it’s just a matter of someone telling you about it and how to do it.
Your Treasure Map To Blogging Success In Just 30 Days!
The Treasure Map To Blogging Success In Just 30 Days
I truly understand the overwhelm with WordPress and the list of administrative things to do as a beginner.
When I was new to this blogging world, NO ONE was willing to help me on this part and it’s the most important part to get right the first time. It is SO important to build a solid foundation for your blog before moving onto the next steps such as getting traffic and making money.
Everyone kept touting how much money you can make with a blog and they were throwing me their courses on how to make money before I’d even had my blog theme set up properly and my first blog post published!
There was no one simple resource that would help me build my blog from scratch BEFORE even learning how to get traffic or make money with a blog.
After receiving numerous emails from my readers going through my similar struggle as a beginner, and asking for a simple resource to help them follow my footsteps to building a successful blog, I created this affordable ebook, The Treasure Map to Blogging Success in 30 Days, for beginners who are looking to start and build a successful blog from scratch with no experience.
I jam-packed this step-by-step ebook with a TON of valuable information and GOLDEN nuggets for beginners who are NOT tech-savvy and have no clue what to do after starting their blog.
Step 7: Write and Publish Your First Blog Post
Once you’re done with all the administrative stuff outlined in my 180+ pages ebook, Treasure Map To Blogging Success, you can finally write your first blog post!
In my ebook for new bloggers, I also go through a tutorial on how to draft your first blog post and the ONE important thing you MUST do before you hit publish!
I also have an article here on how to write your first blog post to give you tips and tricks on how to outline and structure your posts. This also includes where to find images for your blog posts.
Step 8: Generate more blog posts for your readers
Once you get the hang of writing your first few blog posts, you’re going to want to add more to your collection. I have a list of blog post ideas here for you to write about so you’ll never run out of ideas:
- Blog post ideas for beginners
- Blog post ideas for lifestyle bloggers
- Blog post ideas for beauty bloggers
Step 9: Learn how to get traffic to your blog
While you are building your blog with enough content, you can get started with Social media and platforms where you can promote your blog and get traffic.
The two traffic sources I rely on are Pinterest and Google. For new bloggers, I recommend getting started with platforms like Pinterest. I am currently building an archive here where you can find Pinterest tips for beginners. It is the source I use to get over 100,000 monthly page views to my personal finance blog and lifestyle blog.
I also recommend learning one traffic source at a time. It is very hard to manage when you stretch yourself too thin by being on every social media platform like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, YouTube, etc.
Once you familiarize yourself with a traffic source and you are getting results from it, you can move on to the next one for better diversification so that you don’t have to rely on one source.
As I always say, less is more!
Step 10: Make money blogging!
After you have started your blog, have set it up properly, and are getting some traffic, you can start learning how to monetize your blog. I have an article here that explains how bloggers get paid and make money with a blog.
Wrap Up on Starting Your Blog Checklist
That is it, my folks!
10 simple steps to follow when you are looking for a checklist to start and launch your blog!
Starting a blog and making it successful will not happen overnight. However with hard work, motivation and consistency, I am very confident that you’ll be able to start your blog and build it to success!
You can follow my blogging journey here where I documented how I earned my first income with my first blog! I went from $0 to earning an extra $500+ per month within my first 6-7 months of starting my blog. And within my first year, I was making over $5,000 per month.
18 months in, my income took off and I was earning over $10,000 per month with my small and personal blog. I couldn’t imagine it being where it is today earning over $20,000 every month!
As always, you can feel free to leave a comment below and let me know if you have any questions about starting your blog. I am always happy to help!
Until then, happy blogging!
I hope you found this starting a blog checklist blog article helpful!
Don’t forget to follow me on my brand new Pinterest account @blogsavvypanda here so you can stay up to date with my blogging and Pinterest tips!
Also, follow my other Pinterest account @finsavvypanda here.
Firstly, to say the ebook is helping is an understatement! Your eBook has tons of valuable information and resources for a new blogger like myself.
The steps are clear and detailed enough for one to follow and implement. This is the kind of guidance I have been looking for for years and I have to be honest with you, if it was not for your eBook I probably wouldn’t have started my blog because I just didn’t know where to start!
Would you also please visit my blog for feedback http://bankingyourbuck.com/
To greener pastures,
Lebz
Hi Lebo!
It’s an honor to hear that you found my ebook packed with tons of valuable information and that this is all an understatement. I’m so happy to hear this has helped you!!
Overall, your blog looks great so far. It actually reminds me of my blog when I first started haha. I don’t have too much feedback for you since it looks like you are following along nicely, plus your first 5 blog posts are a good length! Congratulations on getting your first 5 done!! Woo-hoo!!
Here’s my feedback for you!
About Me Side bar: I recommend adding a link that goes to your full about me page by inserting a blurb “you can learn more about me HERE”.
Affiliate linking: I can see that you placed a lot of text that says either “make money online” or “make extra money” and they all link back to some affiliate link I am assuming. I don’t recommend linking aff links like that. You should link those back to your blog posts that explain what make money online is or what make extra money is.
Your URL: I see problems with a few of your posts. your links looklikethiswherewordsaretogether. Should instead, look-like-this. You should review this in Chapter 7 where I talk about things you need to do before publishing.
Your first blog post: Did you back date this all the way back to 2016 on purpose? You should have that set to a more recent date to avoid looking dated.
Font size: increase your font size. It’s hard to read via mobile and most people are on smartphones nowadays. You can review this in chapter 2 of my ebook where I talk about typography and font size.
One more thing, continue writing and adding more content to your blog!!!
I hope you find this helpful! I really look forward to seeing you implementing these tips and I can’t wait to see your blog grow!! 😀
Thank you so much for this blog post, it really helped me create my new cooking blog. I discovered you through Pinterest (my fave pass time!) and also bought your Treasure Map to Blogging E-book. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is starting a blog, it really does walk you through the process step by step and is definitely worth the money.
Now that I am on my way to becoming a successful blogger, I would for you to take a look at my website and give me some feedback about what you think I can improve 🙂 Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
http://www.boldlifecreative.com
Thank you so much,
Carly
Hi Carly!
I am so happy to hear that you launch your new cooking blog! So far, I love your logo! Your overall site is easy to navigate and there aren’t any lags. It looks beautiful and light (loving your choice in color scheme) and your effort shows, so congratulations on the launch!
I’m also glad you found a lot of value in my Treasure Map To Blogging Success In 30 days Ebook!
I took a look at your website and here is my honest feedback to help you excel and become successful in no time!
About Me on side bar: I love that you have a beautiful profile picture of yourself. This makes you appear more personable and welcoming! You may also want to add a link on your blurb “Go to my About Me page here to learn more” and direct them to your full about me page for more info about your blog.
About Me page: I can tell that you worked hard and put in a lot of effort in your about me page which is fantastic. I like that you are personable with your voice! The one thing I recommend is also focusing on your reader and how you are going to add value to their lives.
For Example:
My name is Carly, a longtime creative and passionate self-taught cook. Through this blog, I want to share my experiences in the areas of creating new recipes as well as my experiments with growing my own food, canning, and making natural products. (Add something here that focuses on YOUR reader. Think about your readers’ struggles, pain points, or any challenges, and briefly mention what types of information you’re going to share on your blog to HELP THEM make THEIR lives easier. Also, don’t be afraid to include some links to the blog posts that will help them especially with these problems).
I’m transitioning into a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle I’m a huge fan of making things and a good DIY project like painting, making jewelry, and organizing small spaces. (Again, how will this help your reader? What about eco-friendly lifestyle? And what about good DIY projects? Tell them why should they care? Think about the perspective of how this will all benefit them. I also recommend adding some blog post links to pages that will give them inspiration to these ideas).
Overall, you want your reader to feel that your about me page is actually about them and how you are going to inspire and change their lives to something better!
Social share plugin: I recommend you going into your Shareaholic plugin and disabling the ads. The first thing I see is an ad pop-up at the bottom of your blog. There is no incentive for you to have those ads turned on because you don’t get paid, and if anything, that distracts your readers and they may click on those ads and end up leaving your page, which you don’t want! Turning off the ads by Shareaholic will require you to log in and switch them off. So, alternatively, you can quickly disable Shareaholic from your WordPress and just download/activate another social share plugin called “grow social” by Mediavine. They have a free version available and it’s what I use on this blog too.
Blog Images: I checked some of your blog posts and noticed that some of the images you uploaded aren’t 100% optimized including the name of your files.
For example, I checked: https://boldlifecreative.com/how-to-organize-your-fridge/
I recommend you review Chapter 9 in the ebook for this. It’s okay, you can slowly make the changes.
Recipe posts: I see that you write recipes on your blog. You can look into adding a recipe plugin on your blog like WP Recipe Maker and learn how to use it. This will structure your blog post much better if it’s a recipe post. Along with that, it is good for Google searches too.
Mention your other blog posts: I clicked through many of your blog posts and notice you don’t really mention your other posts that are related to the blog posts. You have posts related to each other (like your food and recipe posts) and you can easily link them naturally. I go into the details about interlinking, both external and internal, along with the importance of them, in Chapter 10 of my Treasure Map to Blogging Success ebook, so make sure to review and follow that section thoroughly when you are drafting your blog posts. By doing that, it increases the chances of your readers staying on your page and giving you more page views which translates to higher traffic.
You are doing really great so far! I encourage you to keep up the good work! I’m really excited for you and can’t wait to see you get traffic back to your site! 🙂
Hi Ling!
I am currently on the first day of week 3 on your 4-week agenda on how to build your blog from Treasure Map To Blogging Success ebook. Your ebook is really helping me a lot and I can’t imagine what I would have done without it.
I just had to take it slow because I want to understand what I am doing. I have to admit that I am a bit confused and still do not know exactly what to write on my blog but I am trying to figure it out. I am super busy with my job currently and do not have much time to learn and work on my writing. But that will NOT stop me from starting to write my first posts!! 😊😊
I am also loving the Grammarly program that you suggested installing, it really is a lifesaver. 😍
I am super excited about all this and cannot wait to launch.
Thanks a lot for your support!!
Hi Edis!
That’s great that you’re following through with my agenda and learning from my ebook! I’m so happy to hear this!
I encourage you to take your time and not rush through it. When I was working a full-time job starting my blog, I took things really slowly at the very beginning too. The beginning is always the hardest part because you’re totally new and foreign to it, but I promise it gets SO much better months down the road once you start understanding it more and more.
I love your positivity and determination – this is exactly what you need in order to succeed. You have to believe that you are UNSTOPPABLE and nothing will get in your way of building a successful blog!!!
If you are stuck on blog post ideas, I have this article here that will help you. It includes a variety of different niches and topics:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/lifestyle-blog-post-ideas/
I am super excited for you too and can’t wait to see you launch!! Feel free to keep me posted with your progress! 🙂
Hi Ling!
I finally launched a couple of days ago…
I’ve been really stressing out because of the lack of time to actually sit down and work, but your Treasure Map To Blogging Success e-book helped me a lot!
I am still reading it and trying to learn and memorize as many things as possible in order to make things right.
If you could give me your opinion about what I have done so far would be great for me. I will try and improve myself and fix my mistakes.
Honestly, without your support, I wouldn’t have done NOTHING so far.
Thanks for being there!
the link to my blog is https://livingmadness.com/
Hi Edis!
I’m glad you found my ebook helpful!!!
I love your brand new blog – it looks so clean, organized, and well put together especially for someone like you who just started! This is so great to see!
By the looks of it, you are heading in the right direction with building your blog. I recommend writing more blog posts for now, so you can get more content out to promote. The more blog posts you have upfront, the higher the chances you’ll get traffic down the road as long as you have an idea of who your audience is along with what types of blog posts to write. I believe your blog theme is all about time management and being efficient for busy people, so make sure everything you write about ties back to solving that problem. Make sure you focus on writing content that is only related to your current categories: 1. cooking (more focused on meal prepping ideas for time management) and 2. cleaning (related to the organization) for now and don’t dive off into different topics. The more related and focused your blog, the better.
I think it’s a good time for you to start learning the basics of Google SEO and how to get your content found on searches. That way, you can be more intentional with writing your content and targeting a specific audience. This is a really helpful page for you to get started as a beginner and I highly recommend you read this beginner-friendly SEO guide:
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
So far you are doing great! Keep me posted on how everything goes! 🙂
Hi Ling!
Hope you are having a good day!
I just want to share that the idea of creating a blog started when I stumbled upon your blog post. And your blog posts are very helpful, and I can really feel how genuine you are in helping your readers. So, I decided to buy your Treasure Map To Blogging Success Ebook and start my blogging journey.
I just launched my website recently, and your ebook really helped me go through the technicalities of starting my blog in WordPress. The instructions are so simple and easy to follow. The ebook is really ideal for people who want to start a blog. Plus with all the tips and tools you share on the ebook also help ease the struggle on what to do next with my blog.
My favorite part of your ebook is chapter 16 “How to Make Money Blogging for Beginners”. I was really interested and excited getting into this chapter though I know it’s not easy. This chapter of your ebook taught me the different ways to earn money through display advertising and affiliate marketing. And I never thought that there were actually many companies who do display advertising (I only knew Google Adsense 😁). I am really excited about getting this part of my blogging career.
Since I am still new to blogging, Ling I would also like you to take a look at my blog for feedback. Your feedback/suggestions would be highly appreciated.
Thank You!
https://thriftytherapist.com
– Mariel
Hi Mariel,
I am so glad to hear that my ebook helped make the process easier for you to build your blog! 🙂
I took a look at your website and it looks really good! Especially for a beginner with no prior experience in the blogging world, this is fantastic!
You are actually doing a really great job with your side and I am very impressed. The choice of your blog posts along with the backend stuff you’re doing is looking good!! Along with that, you are doing proper linking throughout your posts, so good job on that!
I also see that you are using the Astra theme which is an excellent choice. It is minimal, easy to use, and doesn’t take too much effort to load your page.
You are definitely off to an excellent start with your blog as a beginner!
You won’t hear too much feedback from me because you’re doing a really good job with your sight so far. But here is what I have to say:
Social Share: I recommend you going into your Shareaholic plugin and disabling the ads. The first thing I see is an ad link at the bottom of your blog. There is no incentive for you to have those ads turned on because you don’t get paid, and if anything, that distracts your readers and they may click on those ads and end up leaving your page, which you don’t want! Turning off the ads by Shareaholic will require you to log in and switch them off. So, alternatively, you can quickly disable Shareaholic from your WordPress and just download/activate another social share plugin called “grow social” by Mediavine. They have a free version available and it’s what I use on this blog too.
Post length: So, there is no rule of thumb on how long your blog post should be, but I recommend you aim for at least 1,000 words. You are still new so you may not have to worry too much about this for now since you can always go back and add more content and change things up. I recommend trying your best to create more content at the beginning so that you will have more posts to promote on social media and Pinterest. Again, I understand that writing a lot of content is not easy at the beginning (I faced the same challenge, and still do!!), so don’t stress too much about it. This is just a feedback from me.
Recent posts: You don’t necessarily have to put your most recent posts on the widget on your right-hand side. You could, but people generally put the posts that they want their readers to go to. You can do that by adding an image and linking that back to your post, which I mention in the widgets chapter of my ebook.
About me on the sidebar: I recommend you move this to the top before anything else.
Overall, you are doing a really good job and I am very happy to see you make progress. I am also very happy that you are following the tips in my ebook to set up your blog correctly.
When I landed on your blog and looked at the backend stuff, I can see that you are off to a great start with building a solid foundation for your blog. Most beginners don’t realize that it’s NOT about how pretty-looking your blog is, but it’s more about what you’re doing behind the scenes, and I see that you are doing that!
Definitely continue writing more blog posts so that you can promote them – this is the only real advice I can give you. I would also recommend you fiddling around with your widgets and deciding what to put on that space.
I hope this helps!
This is so flattering! This coudn’t be made without your ebook. Thank you so much Ling for your feedback 😊. And I will apply all your suggestions. 😊
Hi, Ling
I know a lot of people have more work piled up than me, but I’m struggling to start a blog as I’m a first-year college student and have assignments piled weekly, how do I find the time to do this? Also, I’m quite scared and hesitant to start, I want to start a fashion blog since I’m interested and passionate about it, do you have any more advice for me, if you don’t mind sharing,
Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!
Hi Krisha
I totally understand how it feels to run life with a busy schedule. When I first started my blog, I was working at a full-time job AND it was even harder because finding time for cooking, exercising, and self-care became a challenge for me. BUT I still made it happen because I prioritized starting a blog by fitting it into my daily schedule. Even as little as 1 hour a day made a HUGE and I mean HUGE difference to my progress during those REALLY busy times!
I created a printable blogging binder for myself and I wrote down, realistically, what I could do for 1 hour a day each day for my blog. Even as small as writing the first paragraph for my first blog post, or learning how to insert images on my blog post was considered a small win for me. Those little things add up and by the time you know it, you’ll have a blog that is ready to go!
The most important part is following through with your daily agenda and completing that one task you assigned yourself no matter how small it is. It was those small wins that got me to where I am now! You also have to rewire your mindset and tell yourself that this is important for you and that you will do it.
On top of that, starting a blog on a topic that you’re passionate about (in your case, fashion), or really interested in learning about, will make the progress so much easier because it’s enjoyable! You’ll find yourself naturally doing things when you enjoy it.
I hope this advice helps!
P.S. I’ve spoken to so many college students (including people with full-time jobs) who have actually started their blogs too and they are determined to follow through with their 30-minutes to 1-hour a day blogging schedule that works for them! They said this advice has really helped them focus and stay on track!
Hi Ling,
I found your finsavvy panda blog through Pinterest. When I check your blog, I was quite surprised you can make a lot of money from a simple blog layout > <. Since I was curious about your journey, then I decided to purchase your ebook Treasure Map to Blogging Success. The ebook really helps me to answer all my confusing parts as a new blogger. I like the guide in the ebook, which elaborates every step one by one. I like the way you explain everything in the ebook about how to use the WordPress menu, plugin tips, and how to craft our blog post. A really helpful book for me. 😊
I would also love you to take a look at my blog for feedback so I can know which part I can improve my blog. Here is my blog: https://ebizstrategic.com/
Thank you again for being so helpful and kind, really appreciate your time 😊
Hey Juherianto
I am glad to hear that you found my ebook helpful in answering a lot of your questions!
I took a look at your blog and it looks like you are heading the right direction for sure. I can immediately see your passion when you write your posts.
I don’t think you’ll hear a lot of feedback from me because you’re already doing well, but here is what I have to say:
Content: The length of your posts is good! It is long enough for people to stay on and for Google to not consider it thin content. Great job on this! From what I am seeing, you can technically niche down and just talk about affiliate marketing. Your blog can answer all the questions about affiliate marketing as you are learning about this topic
About Me page: I recommend you make your about me page a little longer and explain what you will be discussing to help your readers on your audience. I also recommend you following my chapter about interlinking, and finding the right posts or pages to link your articles naturally.
Content ideas: I mentioned that you would be a good fit for a site that is more narrowed down as I can see you focused on affiliate marketing so you may want to consider taking an SEO course to learn how to find long tail keywords within your niche.
I recommend writing more content and building upon that as you’re still at the beginning stages of blogging. The more content you have, the easier it will be for you to promote them as you move forward. As you have more content in your collection, you will find that you don’t have to write as often later on. 🙂
I hope you find this feedback helpful!
P.S. In response to your comment, “I found your finsavvy panda blog through Pinterest. When I check your blog, I was quite surprised you can make a lot of money from a simple blog layout”…
Yes, this is true. You don’t have to make your blog look fancy in order to “make money”. I honestly wish I could make my blog better in terms of layout and design, but I lack the technical skills, and right now, I don’t have time to look for a professional designer because I am just taking it easy with my blog, and spending the time to scale the business. But I may hire one once I have more time later on. BTW, I know SO many other blogs that are SO simple with their layout (even more simple than mine) and you would have never guessed that they earn that sort of income. On the reverse, there are some blogs that look perfect and well designed but don’t earn any money. What I learned is it’s not always about its appearance – that’s why I didn’t dwell too much about my theme or design when I first started my blog. 😉
I am a veterinarian but have always loved interior design. I am in the process of creating a blog about all things pets and homes. I plan to discuss things from pet health advice to helping pet parents find functional products that work for their pets but also look great in their homes!
I am planning on doing the blog as a side job. I love my job as a veterinarian but have always missed my creative outlet and home decor. However, I do hope to make enough money with the blog to pay off my student loans and eventually open my own veterinary clinic.
I have found your resources extremely helpful! I would not be nearly as far along without them. So far I am on Chapter 5 of your e-book. So I have created my site and purchased and installed a theme with studio press. I am currently working on my about me page content and writing more blog posts (so far I have 1 mostly completed haha).
My goals are to fully set up my website, have 3-5 posts written and ready to go, learn how to get more traffic through Pinterest, and set up google Adsense before going live and making my first post. I am hoping that doing it this way will set me up for the best success and opportunity to start making money with the blog.
I would love any advice or tips that you have for my specific situation. I am a pretty determined person, so when I set my mind to something I tend to make it happen! I am really hoping that I can make somewhere between $1-5k per month from my blog within the first 3-6 months. I don’t plan on ever doing this full time (at least not for many years) because I love my job as a veterinarian, so I don’t expect to reach 20k a month like you. (But I guess never say never).
Hi Katie,
That’s excellent that you are able to define your niche revolving around pets!
Once you start creating content, you may notice there will be an audience who is more interested in one section compared to another (e.g. pet health vs pet products for home), and that will allow you to narrow down even more and refine your focus. What you are doing now is a great start and I’d love to see how this turns out!
One thing you can also do is use your blog as a medium to promote your pet veterinary clinic in the future, and your blog will be entirely focused on your clients and those who are interested in your content, products, and services!
It’s not impossible to earn $1k per month within your first 6 months if you put in a lot of upfront effort and time into your blog. I have to admit it is rare to make this happen quickly right off the bat especially for those who are new to the blogging space. But like you say, never say never as anything is possible – I never knew it was possible to make money online with a blog when I first started! Lol!
Realistically though, it does take at least 6 months for most to start seeing your first earned income depending on your niche and how well you implement your monetizing strategy. Do keep in mind it takes time, and once you start seeing that income roll in, it’s important to maintain and nurture your blog in the long-term to ensure the income continues to come in and grow. This is where investing in automated tools can help make it feel more passive later down the road.
I really excited for you and I can’t wait to see you start your blog!! 🙂
P.S. glad to hear you are using my ebook to set up your blog!
Hi Ling. I LOVE the checklist and it has helped me a lot through starting my own blog.
I have a question tho.
Can I make and sell my stickers using Canva? It could be pictures I take from the internet (mostly celebrities) or from Canva itself.
Or is there any copyright issue behind doing so?
Any help would be useful. Thank you!
Hi Amal
I’m glad you enjoyed this checklist and that you found it helpful and starting your blog!
Yes, selling printables and stickers using Canva is a popular thing to do today. I know many bloggers who earn an income selling both printables and stickers.
I haven’t tried making stickers using Canva but I have created printables like my budget binder and blogging binder which generates an income every month from my blog.
When you create a canvas account, I recommend you review their license agreements. Canva is what I personally use to create my own printables to sell. I also use them to create my Pinterest pins to promote my blog posts. It’s what drives a lot of my traffic! 🙂
I hope this advice helps!
Hey Ling,
Hope you’re keeping safe.
I finally launch my blog and I feel great! It took me much longer than anticipated but I’m happy I got this far. I have to say that your ebook The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in Just 30 Days was very resourceful and easy to follow! As a new beginner and someone who is not well versed with technology, it was indeed a true treasure map as it detailed step by step how to build a blog. The wordings were easy to follow as well as there were no technical words that can be intimidating.
I am still in the very early stage of my blog and I’m grateful for this easy-to-follow ebook. I would be grateful if you could have a look at my blog and give your feedback: https://livehealthynaturally.net/
Thank you!
Hi Mona!
I am so glad that you enjoyed and found my ebook helpful and getting your blog ready and set up!
One thing that you are doing right is naturally linking other articles throughout your blog posts, which is excellent! I like how you are doing that!
For a new blog, you are doing an excellent job! Keep up the great work!
I just checked out your website and here is my honest feedback.
Categories – I would get rid of the “uncategorized” category from your blog. You don’t want something that has been categorized on your blog. You want to assign a category to all your articles.
About Me page – I think you’re about me page is great so far. It describes who you are and what your blog is all about which is healthy living and natural living. Love it! I recommend making this a little longer by giving them your story and inspiration along with explaining further how you will help your readers. While you do that, I also recommend you linking to your top blog post or the blog post that you want your readers to click. This gives you a good opportunity to get readers staying on your page and browsing around. I recommend you are reviewing chapter 5 where I talked about the about me page along with chapter 10 where I talk more about naturally introducing and linking your other articles throughout your blog so that you can optimize it.
Logo – I see that you don’t have a profile pic of yourself which is okay. I recommend you creating a logo and putting that in your about me page. At least they have a logo or some sort of image that is tied to your brand, so your readers can see that you are a real person or company that exists. I talked about how to create your logo for free in chapter 10 of my ebook. I recommend reviewing it and implementing that on to your blog.
Blog roll – This is similar to Brianna’s feedback that I gave her here. It looks like your current blogroll is showing the full blog post, which you don’t want. It’s much better if the reader clicks in to read the full blog post. You can shorten this in the appearance >> customize >> theme setting >> content archive of your WordPress dashboard – play around with those settings. You can enter 300 for limit characters.
Images – I’m not sure if you selected the small size within WordPress when you uploaded it. You can select medium or full size to make it appear bigger on the website. Right now, it is a little too small. This can easily be fixed by selecting the “full size” in the drop down when you edit the settings of your images within the blog post.
Find Us – I see at the bottom of your page you have a section called “find us” and I’m going to assume this was set by default. You may want to look into getting rid of that.
The New UMoMA Opens its Doors – I see a link that has this name but I’m not sure where it is leading me. It looks like this is not related to your blog. You might want to take a look and consider removing this?
Widgets – I recommend you adding a few things to your sidebar on the right hand side. This is a great space for you to promote either your posts or your products. I also recommend you place an About Me section here along with your image or logo and summarize what your blog is about in a very quick and concise form with around 100 words or less. And then you can link them to your actual about me page where are you elaborate more about you and your blog. You can review this section in chapter 12 of my ebook, The Treasure Map to Blogging Success In 30 Days.
Blog theme – This is just a personal preference and it is entirely up to you. Your current theme is good and there’s no problem with it. I do usually recommend a white page because it’s easier for your readers to read but again that is a personal preference. One of the best free themes I recommend is called Astra. It is really simple and very easy to use. It is one of the most recommended free themes, so you can consider looking into that if you’d like!
Social media share buttons – I also recommend you not inserting your social share buttons on either the left or right side of your blog because when readers are scrolling down, it follows along with the page and it is not user-friendly. From my experience, a lot of readers get really frustrated when they see social buttons on the left side or right side. Instead, I recommend you placing it like how I do in the blog you’re reading now.
Overall, I am happy to see you start your blog and make progress. You can go ahead and make the changes based on my recommendations – it’s going to make a big difference! Feel free to let me know how it goes!
I hope to see your blog progress months and years ahead, Mona! 🙂
Hi Ling,
Thanks for taking the time to view my blog and giving your honest feedback. I will work on all the areas you mentioned and keep you posted. You are truly an inspiration and I appreciate you for all your support.
Regards,
Mona.
You’re welcome, Mona! ❤️
I am making my blog but I have no post yet. I am working on it. Thanks for your guidelines on how and where to start my blog!
Hi Mariyam – sounds great to hear that you are making your blog. Let me know if you have any specific questions. 🙂