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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 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.
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.
Could you do a post on where to find beautiful images for your blog? Even free photos and how copyright works with online images etc.
Hey Kwa
If you’re looking for free stock photos, I recommend unsplash and pexels. You can also purchase higher quality images via stock deposit. I also have a subscription with Canva pro for paid photos too.
Be sure to go through their license page for more info.
Thanks for your recommendation. I may write a post regarding this once I find time. I’ll definitely let you know! In the meantime, I hope you find this helpful. 🙂
Hi ling
You mentioned to write only 5-10 polish posts. How much posts should be there on my blog for the end of 1st year. And what should be the average wordcount per post. Because most of the blogging guru’s tells that write more content, at least publish 200 posts in 6 months then only you’ll get good traffic and you’ll start earning money. So just guide me through above points. Thanks!
Hey Onkar
I would say a reasonable amount of blog posts to have within your first year is at least 50-60 so 1 post per week if you are a beginner and not fast at writing.
Of course the more helpful articles you have the better but I personally didn’t have more than 50 in my first year because I’m not a fast writer. I still made a full-time income each month without a substantial amount of posts in that first year.
You can check out this article for a better answer about word count because there’s no one right answer to this:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/first-blog-post/
Btw, 200 blog post in 6 months is a lot!! That’s like 23 posts a week which sounds crazy. It also depends on quality of those articles… are they detailed and helpful?
It is very likely these online gurus you’re hearing from have experience running their websites as a business so they outsource writers and put up an upfront a high investment cost since they know the exact steps to take to run a successful online biz. This is likely NOT for beginners who are starting from scratch and are just learning. Unless you are a pro blogger and know how to run a successful blog based on experience, I don’t recommend total beginners taking that route of hiring and outsourcing writers until they start their first blog and learn how to actually make money with it on their own.
You can check out this article on how to start a profitable blog on a budget for total beginners:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-start-a-blog/
I hope this helps! 🙂
Ling!
I came across you, which led me to your blog and your amazing information. I really want to thank you for giving me the mental push that I need to go through with creating my own blog.
So I have decided that I am worth more than my current job, and I have so many skills that I don’t get to use in my daily life.
One thing that I have always wanted to do is run my own business, and being able to travel whenever I want would also be the dream.
I have a degree in fashion design and I am having a hard time landing a job in the fashion industry, especially with the pandemic. Honestly, starting a blog was always on the back of my mind since I was in high school, but I never had a reason to believe that I could do it and be successful.
Right now I am currently stressing out about not making enough money to pay back my student loans, and I don’t think I am going anywhere where I’m at with my job.
I’ve tried a few things like transcribing, and online surveys, but they are not it for me. And this is how I came to the conclusion that I have a lot of knowledge about a lot of things, and I need to share it with as many people as I can.
I already own a domain from my portfolio website that I had for college, so setting up a website is not the hard part. I do have a few questions about having a legal blog, and where really to put the most of my energy.
I have a website I purchased because I plan on also selling products as well as writing. I am going back and forth if this was the right thing to do, and if I am able to monetize this with affiliates and ads.
When it comes to writing the actual post, I think my biggest issue is finding the right place for headings and adding in photos. And the photos are confusing me because I like to do everything myself and only use photos that I’ve taken, which I’m guessing is going to take a lot of my time if I’m worried about it being genuine.
Eventually, I would love for a blog to be able to replace my income and I can work from wherever I want. I know this is not always fast-moving, but I want to do the most I can to shorten the time frame of being successful.
One big question I have is how can you sign up to be an affiliate if you don’t have an established name/brand?
When it comes to Pinterest, and having monthly views, does this come from someone actually going to my Pinterest page, or just clicking on a Pin that I created?
I think this is all I have to say right now, and I appreciate that you care enough to help other people become successful.
Thank you so much! I look forward to hearing back from you!
Gabby
Hi Gaby
Thanks for taking the time and sharing your story! It’s amazing to hear you’ve started your blog/website and I agree that you definitely deserve more in life!
In terms of affiliates, I recommend writing great content first and focusing on helping your readers before promoting affiliate products right away. This is a better long term strategy and once you become successful in the online space, you’ll thank yourself for doing that.
Always give value and good content before you look into promoting affiliates. Plus, without traffic it would be impossible to make and money so you’ll need to learn how to get traffic too.
For Pinterest, make sure you are looking at the analytics tab to see how you’re doing. When you look at your pin performance, pay attention to the outbound clicks as those are more important because it indicates whether people are actually visiting your site. If your pins are getting impressions, which is good, be sure to do a lot of pin testing to see how you can increase the outbound clicks (aka actually visiting your blog posts’ pages).
I hope this helps, Gabby! I am excited to see your blog and business grow!!!