Recently I wrote a extensive post on “how to blog successfully and make your blog popular” , and I received a quite a few questions from new bloggers, who are just getting into the blogging game asking me “How do they make money and start with blogging“. [updated 28 March 2019]
The short story is, that you will need a “Australian WordPress hosting” account and a good “WordPress Design Theme” to truly blog with freedom attract your audience and grow your traffic to your blog.
Making Money from blogging
Making money from blogs is not easy today, it used to be easy at one part of time but now everybody and their dog 
is in the game.
Today the blogging world is kinda saturated with mom bloggers, business bloggers, fashion bloggers, travel bloggers and all sorta bloggers ( my dog is a princess bloggers).
So you pick any damn niche and you already got competition.
It’s a struggle to survive – if your already in the game
What google says about what a blog is – “A blog is a website, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis” – I really like this simple and to the point definition.
Look and search everywhere, but there is no magic mantra or magic bullet for a Sucessful Blog.
In addition, google keeps changing the goal posts with annoying algorithm updates that keep bugging SEO’s and bloggers.
Every year there is something new with google requirements to be popular in their search engine , like now you need a https website for security, your website design needs to be responsive, you need amp and what not.
Its harder and costlier to make money every year.
What you should do to become popular online ?
You should definitely get your blog a USP (Unique Selling Point) to stay on top of your competition.
If you get this right you will get blog viewers, likes and sharing of your content, which will surely get your blog traffic coming back to you on a regular basis.
This will also encourage your viewers to subscribe to your email list and also people to comment on your blog, which all creates a buzz around your blog.
These all work together in your favour and also help you #rank in google search
Trust me people commenting on your posts or on the blog and contacting you via your contact me button is a sure sign of you becoming more popular (or in some cases unpopular) in your blogging journey.
When you write quality interesting content better than most other blogs, have a professional looking designed website and you share your top written content in the right social media channels and forums – Your blog will soon get noticed and be on its way to being successful.
If all of this happens a lot (people interacting , commenting , likes on facebook, sharing your posts) and it happens more often, then your on your weay to becoming a blogging superstar so to speak and you don’t have to chase money, but the money will chase you sooner or later.
This shows people are listening(reading) to you, want to interact with you and you have become bit of a influencer, and companies and brands love that.
This is a sure sign of achieving success and if you get all these above tips/hints correct and implement it, you will be lucky and will surely succeed. If your luckier than most other bloggers/instagrammer’s then brands will also approach you.
Success surely involves one important thing in these times and that is making authoritative and quality content and getting the word spread about that “Epic Content” you just created to the blogosphere.
You do this by getting it shared on social media ( Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linked in) and also getting mentioned by popular people of note in your blog niche.
Today many people do outreach to amplify their best content and get it shared online and this can work for you as well. Its not hard to do, outreach can be done by yourself or then you can hire an agency to do it.
Influencer’s are kinda getting big right now on the Instagram platform. Some popular infleuncers get paid quite well if they have a huge following and can earn even more than a full time job.
However Blogging aint getting any easier, so don’t expect the great Matt Mullenweg of wordpress or Matt cutts of google to help you out with this. This job will have to be done by you – by doing the hard yards.
There is another option to speed things up, I would recommend learning from a experienced blogger who is already earning income online. I have got an online tutorial if you want to get started today atleast getting your blog online as a start.
In relation to making money online, I would recommend Rosalind Gardner who is a super affiliate and has helped many into their online affiliate marketing careers, she has an in-depth affiliate guide called – “Super Affiliate: How I Made $436,797 In One Year which covers how to start Your Own Home-based Affiliate Marketing Business.
These guides will surely teach you how to go about and start earning with affiliate marketing or increase your existing blog income
Keeping on top of competition, also involves churning out regular awesome content, sharing it on social media, doing proper SEO so that the content shines, promoting the blog and updating it regularly to match what google search engine needs(SEO) to keep it ranked high on their search engines.
My Post of
“The 3 Steps to Setting Up a Popular and Successful Blog”
just got published at dailyblogtips.com, so you might wanna check out this extensive post to get some tips on – How to get a successful blog going!
For People Looking to Start a blog
Luckily there are quite a few free platforms that help you start out on blogging totally free and so you can start your blog without spending money.
Free Blog Platforms is not my recommended way of starting a blog if your really serious about blogging, but if your cash strapped then you can surely take advantage of this method and get started.
Most successful bloggers would have used these free bloggin services at some part of time or maybe even when they started their new bogging journey. WordPress.com offers free as well as paid options for a website, but if your after self hosted which is most suitable for making money with affiliate offers then the below offer might be more useful.
But, if you can afford a reasonable >> $3.49 hosting a month for a brand new self hosted wordpress blog. I would recommend this as a preferred starting platform. Not only you will have 100 % ownership of your own blog , you dont have the risk of ban or deletion of your website by google / tumblr /wordpress.com (whichever platform you decide to go with)
My recommended service for a self hosted blog is the wordpress software and the recommended service provider is Bluehost hosting. Below is a link to my blog post
With Bluehost WebHosting you get both Hosting and domain name , plus a 1 click install option to get your wordpress blog installed quickly.
The WordPress CMS is recommended, because it is one of the most versatile website software which give you 100 % flexibility in design. It also has awesome flexibility in functionality which can be added if needed with heaps of plugins , WP themes and tutorials available online. Your website can be designed with easy install themes to make it look , just like any professional website. It is also one of the easiest to use blog/website software.
Bluehost hosting , I recommend because I have had blogs on their servers for ages, besides they also have a 1 click install which is so easy to install a website or blog in minutes, just by following their install prompts.
Below is a current deal for you from my blog as I am an affiliate partner with them
Special Promotion Offer for 2019 from Digital Grog + (BLUEHOST)
Special Feb/March bonus, My readers can enjoy the ultimate steal of
$7.99$3.95/mo on the shared hosting plan (this promo is for a limited time! – Get it here )
+ offer, $3.49/mo for 36 months (link here) on the Basic Plan.
A self hosted wordpress blog is a website that your run on your purchased hosting account and have full freedom over this website.
Most hosting companies provide a 1 click install nowadays to get your self hosted blog set up easily.
Getting a self hosted wordpress blog will also avoid the hassle of moving your blog later on which every free blogger does eventually.
Because for sure, if you sign up with a free service like blogspot or tumblr or wordpress.com, you will move sooner or later to a self hosted wordpress blog like most professional bloggers do.
This normally happens when they realise the constraints and limitations of using a free blog service or getting a blog deleted for a policy violation.
However, choosing what blog service you want to start with is totally upto you and so are below are some free blogging hosts listed for you.
- WordPress.com (or from wordpress.org)
WordPress.org is one of the largest self-hosted blogging tool and software in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day. You can check out their features here and get a free or Premium blog at wordpress.com
Get a free or paid wordpress blog here
- Blogger.com ( from Google)
Blogger is free blogging platform by google.com with a host of features to make blogging as simple and effective as possible. You will need a google account or gmail account or then just create one for free when registering with blogger.com
- Tumblr.com
Tumblr is a mini blogging or micro blogging service and lets you effortlessly share anything, Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos from your browser, phone, desktop, email.
These three services are free to use and if you get real popular fast you will have the option of breaking out or branching out from their services to transfer your blog to a paid server.
Most people when it is time to upgrade, move to self hosted wordpress platform with their own custom domain name and webhosting.
As I said before , if you don’t want the hassle of moving hosts and your blog later when you get more traffic on your blog and start to earn some revenue, then I would recommend for you to sign up with Self hosted blog choosing a hosting company with 1 click install to get your blog started. Here are some price comparisons for hosting companies.
Intro – Digital Grog Blog Video
Review of website –> Hosting 2019 ( Best WordPress Host Providers)
Website Hosting 2019 Australia
However, just starting a blog is not sufficient to make money and the best way to ensure you are doing this the right way is to get the right training right from the start. This ensures that you dont have to waste time figuring things out and can start earning money quicker.
There are not many brick and mortar university courses that teach you how to earn money on-line and the online courses that are available are for specific niches like social media marketing, web design and on-line marketing.
The on-line marketing course available in these universities go though the traditional approach and basic concepts of on-line marketing, but is often outdated as this subject matter changes rapidly.
It is best to take a course from a on-line marketing agency that is currently practising this in the market and that is why I recommend Rosalind Gardner who is a super affiliate and has helped many into their online affiliate marketing careers, she has an indepth affiliate guide called – “Super Affiliate: How I Made $436,797 In One Year which covers how to start Your Own Home-based Affiliate Marketing Business.
There is also Affilorama By Mark ling and click bank university .
Clickbank is one of the largest marketplace for digital products and has made many millionaires.
These courses, not only provide you training to earn money on-line as a affiliate (selling other peoples products through your blog/website) but also trains you for making and launching your own product and promoting it.
Some more Useful internet marketing courses
Step by step Instructions to start a WordPress blog
If you don’t have a blog yet and you are ready to get started today with a wordpress website, then you might want to check my tutorial post with step by step instructions on starting a website over here – https://www.digitalgrog.com.au/australia/starting-a-tech-blog-in-six-easy-steps/. This post will give you a step by step break down of how to start your own WordPress blog today with bluehost webhosting.
You can start by choosing a good domain name with our domain checker tool below
More tools : Bluehost Domain Checker
How to make money with a wordpress blog
No one is going to give away all their secrets for this one. But i can atleast point you int he right direction. Here are some tried and tested methods to make money with your website.
Google Adsense
This is one method whihc needs the least effort to make some money, but will also pay peanuts if you dont have much traffic to your blog or if your blog is in a niche where you cant earn much.
Affiliate Income
This is where many blogs earn top dollar, by promoting products in the niche they are bloggin about to their audience.
Fashion bloggers can earn thousands of dollars promoting the right brands. Technology bloggers can earn thousands of dollars promoting technology and gadgets. Food bloggers can earn hundreds of dollars promoting products in their niche.
I have seen many people in all of these mentioned niches doing anywhere from $2,000 to $40,000 a month in revenue.
Ecommerce shop
This is a new trend where people are creating their own products and selling on platforms like shopify – online shops.
They are many people not stock/products on hand, but selling stuff online and getting it shipped directly to customers from vendors in china, while making a nice commission with no inventory, this is also called drop shipping.
Amazon Niche Websites (Amazon affiliate)
This income stream has taken off in the last couple of years. They are bloggers who write articles on certain niches. example fishing lures.
The bloggers then have links to fishing products from amazon on their website. when a viewer purchase a product from amazon, they earn a commission for advertising that product on their website and making a sale.
While all these methods are good, there is one basic thing they need to make money – Qualified leads or targeted traffic to your website.
If you are getting the right people coming to your website who are interested in your products, you will be making sales.
Targeted Traffic with Advertising
One way to get quick targeted traffic is online advertising with the search engines themselves. I suggest Bing adwords as they are cheaper and more flexible with their ads. Here are some free started coupons worth $50 to get you started.
With search engine advertising you can make unlimited money if you get your advertising right.
New Business and website customers in the following markets receive free search adverting credits to help them get started:
- US – $50 in Bing Ads credit –
- Canada (English and French)- $50 in Bing Ads credit –
- UK – £50 in Bing Ads credit –
- France – €50 in Bing Ads credit
- Germany – €50 in Bing Ads credit
- Brazil – R$60 in Bing Ads credit
- Australia – $40 in Bing Ads credit –
- New Zealand – $40 in Bing Ads credit –
- India – Rs1000 in Bing Ads credit –
- Spain – €50 in Bing Ads credit ( New market!) –
- Italy – €50 in Bing Ads credit (New market!) –
Other methods for targeted traffic is as I have said before – SEO for your website, awesome content on your site/shop or blog, promotion on social media by you or a hired agency – which will get you on your road to success.
If all this is not your cup of tea and you would just rather doe something quick and earn money , then maybe you need to check these survey websites out here “Make money surveys – Australia” or iSurveyWorld Surveys (Australia) and just fill out surveys and make some money online.
Good luck!
