Have you been wanting to start a blog for years but wonder if there’s still room for you in the online world? Let me tell you – there ABSOLUTELY is space for you to start a blog in 2020!
Although people are reading blogs differently than they used to, the average person is still landing on blog pages every single day. 10 years ago people were much more dedicated to following their favourite bloggers life. Now people are searching for content that serves them or answers a questions for them. Everytime you search for content like “paleo chocolate cake” or “how to start a vegetable garden” it lands you on someone’s blog!
Even if your goal is to build a profitable blog that could potentially replace your full-time income, there is room for you!
In this post I’m going to explain how you can start a blog in 2020, and set up and plan your blog to be successful. These tips won’t necessarily get you traffic to your blog, but will ensure you are set up to monetize in the future.
If you’re looking for tips on how to drive traffic to your blog, I have a post about how I gained 100k viewers to my blog in one month!
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TODAY
HOW TO PICK A HOSTING PLATFORM
NAMING YOUR BLOG
DESIGNING YOUR BLOG
TIPS FOR NICHING DOWN
SET UP KEY PAGES
ADDING PLUG-INS
SHARE YOUR BLOG WITH THE WORLD!
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?
HOW DO YOU MAKE MONEY?
I hope you’re ready because this post is LONG!
PICK A HOSTING PLATFORM
Maybe you’re very much a beginner and you’re thinking “what the heck is a hosting platform”? Basically a platform is the company that is going to make your blog public to the world.
There are free ways to host your blog but then it will look like www.torystender.wordpress.com or www.torystender.wix.com.
If your goal is to make money from your blog – you have to have a self-hosted website!
I used Bluehost for the first several years of blogging (way before I was even taking blogging seriously) and had no complaints. I recently upgraded because my traffic exceeded Bluehost’s capacity ( a good problem to have 🎉 )
Paying to self-host your blog gives on Bluehost you several benefits:
- That professional and memorable .com website name (or .org .ca, etc)
- You actually own your blog
- Faster website speed
- Better SEO – meaning a better chance of being found on Google
- Full control over customization
- 60 day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 customer support
Hosting with bluehost allows you to edit your blog through wordpress.org which makes it easy to find answers to any question that comes up as there are endless tutorials and videos about wordpress.org!
WordPress.com and wordpress.org are NOT the same. I made this mistake when I first started blogging and paid for an entire year with wordpress.com. If you know your goal is to monetize your blog, specifically through ads on your site, most ad networks require or prefer your site to operate on wordpress.org.
If you have an existing free blog, or have already purchased a domain from another site, it’s very simple to switch to Bluehost. You can go through this step by step process to move your blog over to wordpress.org.
As of September 2020, I am hosting my website with Lyrical Host. It’s significantly more expensive than Bluehost, but as your blog + traffic grow that’s inevitable.
If you’re receiving over 25k+ pageviews per month and/or making an income from your blog, I HIGHLY recommend Lyrical Host. They took care of the entire mitigation process which was amazinggggg and I noticed a huge increase in page speed.
Their customer service has been incredible so far, and I couldn’t be happier.
You can use code TORY10 for 10% off!
I HIGHLY recommend this investment into your blog. For just a few dollars a month you can have a professional blog that YOU own.
Disclaimer: Some links on this page are affiliate links meaning should you click them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I appreciate you supporting my business in this way!
NAMING YOUR BLOG
Obviously I chose my name for my blog. I’m terrible at coming up with clever names, and I just like the simplicity of being known by my name. There are many reasons people chose not to use their name for their blog such as for security reasons, to help with SEO, to be clever or memorable, etc.
Whatever route you decide to take, I recommend thinking long and hard before naming your blog. While it can be changed later down the road, it is a lot of work to reroute links, change social media, or anything else associated with the blog.
I also recommend being consistent with the name of your blog, your IG account, Pinterest, etc. They should all be the same as you don’t want to make people remember several different names!
DESIGNING YOUR BLOG
There are a million ways to design your blog to fit your personality and aesthetic. I don’t think there’s any right or wrong way. In fact, as you start a blog in 2020 I’d encourage you to stay true to what YOU love and create a brand around that. Don’t try to make your blog look like everyone else’s.
I purchased a 17th Avenue WordPress theme which simplified the process of designing my blog – and I’m obsessed with it.
I HIGHLY recommend the website Skillshare when it comes to designing your blog. Instead of spending weeks or even months trying to figure out the basics of customizing my website, the Skillshare course “WordPress for Beginners” walked me through the ENTIRE process in just a few hours.
There are of course free videos on Youtube to assist with this process. But the step by step of everything from customizing the colour of the font, to adding my social media plug-ins was all presented simply and in the order that made sense with Skillshare. Your first 2 months are free!
DON’T WAIT UNTIL IT’S PERFECT
Many bloggers spend MONTHS trying to perfect the layout, fonts, photos, etc on their blog. While I do believe it’s important to have a blog that is both attractive and functional, perfection will be your downfall!
When I first launched my blog, I used a simple and free theme. Instead of focusing all my energy on what my blog looked like, I focused on creating lots of content!
It actually wasn’t until several months later (when I actually had traffic coming in!) that I purchased a custom theme, and made modifications to the appearance of my site!
IF YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE DOING
I’ve been dabbling in the blogging world for nearly a decade (unsuccesfully and inconsistently until 2019!). I’ve always loved social media, photo editing, graphic design, etc. The technical side of blogging probably comes more naturally to me than it does to others.
I’m also the personality type to research things and figure them out for myself! I can’t tell you how many hours of Youtube I’ve watched trying to set up my blog.
EVERYTHING you need to know about blogging is available for you for FREE on the internet. I promise.
If you want to speed up the process and have someone to hold your hand and walk you through, I’ve heard incredible things about Lisa’s Create Your Blog Dream Course! Although I never took this course myself, I know people who have and who have loved it!
One day WAY in the future I’d love to put together a course that goes over everything I’ve done to get to this point!
TIPS FOR NICHING DOWN
Everyone in the blogging industry is talking about niching down. What the heck is a niche and should you do it or not?
Your niche is essentially the category that your blog fits into. Examples of niches are: food, health, home decor.
When I say “niching down” I am referring to the process of refining your niche and making it very specific. So instead of having a food blog you could niche down to meal prep for weight loss.
MY OPINION AND WHAT I’VE EXPERIENCED WITH NICHING DOWN
If there’s ONE super specific thing that you love talking about and could talk about every day for the rest of your life, blog about that ONE thing. Pinterest, readers and search engines LOVE websites that are super niched down.
I can tell you with 100% confidence that if I dedicated my blog 100% to decluttering tips it would grow exponentially.
The problem is that I don’t want to do that and I don’t have enough to say about that ONE topic.
For myself, and many others there isn’t just one thing that we want to talk about. So instead I chose 3 topics that I felt were related: minimalism, simple living and living a holistic lifestyle.
I don’t recommend talking about any more than 3 topics if you start a blog in 2020. I know that lots of successful bloggers talk about everything from exercise, to fashion, to home decor but they most likely grew their blogs years ago when it was easier to do it that way!
HOW DO I CHOOSE MY NICHE?
In terms of actually choosing your niche, it should be something you love and can talk about for hours. Don’t start a paleo baking blog because you saw someone else successfully do that, if that’s not your passion!
Whatever your niche is, it needs to be something people are searching. You need to provide value to people and answer questions that they may have.
If you want to start a blog in 2020, you likely won’t have much success sharing photos of what your kids did over the weekend.
People don’t care about what you’re doing, they care about themselves (Harsh, but true!). Instead of writing a post about what your kids did this weekend, reconstruct it in a way that helps the reader such as “how to entertain your kids on a rainy day” or “10 toddler activities to do indoors”.
DO MORE OF WHAT WORKS
Later in this post I’ll talk about how to actually get traffic you your blog. But in terms of niching down, it’s important to remember to create more of what people want to see.
Every time I post a blog post about decluttering, it nearly goes viral. But when I share a recipe post, it flops.
First of all, THAT’S OK.
Sometimes blog posts flop. You need to experiment to find out what will work and what won’t.
Second, now you know what content to focus your time and energy on.
Does that mean I’ll never write another recipe post again? Nope! My blog is also for my own enjoyment, so I’ll post what I want ☺️
But considering this is my business, it only makes sense to pay attention to what people are enjoying and to do more of that!
SET UP KEY PAGES
There are certain pages that every blog needs including a legal disclaimer page, an about me, a work with me page (if you provide any services).
ABOUT ME
I have both an About Me page and an About Me section on the side of my blog!
Your About Me can be in whatever format you want, but I think it’s important to have a space where your readers can learn a bit more about you if they wish!
Even if your blog isn’t about YOU or your life, it gives people an opportunity to learn more about the person behind the blog!
If your business has multiple employees, I’d encourage you to share a little bit about each of them.
LEGAL PAGE
Many people don’t know but there are actually legalities to owning a blog. I am not a lawyer and cannot give you legal advice for your blog, but would encourage you to do some research on this yourself.
I am currently in the process of updating my legal information and will update this when I have more to share!
DISCLAIMER PAGE
This may or may not be included in your legal page.
If you plan on working with brands or as an affiliate (more about that later!), you have to provide a disclaimer explaining that to people.
You are legally required to have a disclaimer page AND provide a written disclaimer on each blog post that includes relevant links.
WORK WITH ME
Many bloggers provide services as part of their business. This can range from providing education services, one-on-one coaching, reviewing product, hosting giveaways, becoming an affiliate, promoting a product on your social media, or so much more!
You want a place on your blog where perspective customers or partnerships can find your information to work with you!
My Work With Me page tells brands how a partnership can be mutually beneficial.
You’ll want to include a list of the services you provide and an email where they can contact you. I also chose to include my Media Kit with examples of previous brand partnerships I’ve done, as well as my social media stats.
ADDING PLUG-INS
Plug-ins are tools that allow your blog to perform specific tasks. If you’re proficient in website coding, these may be unnecessary, but I am not!
Plug-ins are incredible tools, but downloading dozens of them can slow down your website! So be strategic when you’re choosing which plug-ins to use.
MY FAVOURITE PLUG-INS
Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights: Tracks and presents your monthly blog views & sessions
Simple Social Icons: Allows you to display the Social Media Icons so readers can find you in other places
Smash Balloon Instagram Feed: Displays the recent photos from your IG feed on your blog
WP Latest Posts: Automatically displays related posts at the bottom of a new blog post.
Yoast SEO: Analyses your blog post for SEO (search engine optimization) to help it rank on Google.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?
The big question – how long will it take to grow & monetize a blog in 2020?
It depends on lots of factors – your niche (some niches just grow faster than others), your prior experience, and how much time you are able to devote to start your blog in 2020!
If you start your blog today, and commit to work on it EVERY day for 6 months, you will absolutely see HUGE momentum and likely even a paycheck.
I was making a paycheck from my blog within six months. And by one year this blog was making enough to cover our mortgage! 🎉
SHARE YOUR BLOG WITH THE WORLD!
So maybe you’ve launched your blog, picked a niche and written awesome content. Now what? You have to invite people to come!
Of course, you can share it with friends & family, or post in on your social media feeds.
But unless you have thousands of engaged followers, that’s not going to bring in a ton of traffic!
That’s where Pinterest comes in!
PINTEREST MARKETING
You likely already have a Pinterest account but never thought about it as a business tool. This post goes into detail about how to get traffic to your blog using Pinterest!
Pinterest isn’t a social media, it’s a search engine. Meaning, if you follow the rules you can have your posts found by THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.
This e-book covers everything you’ll need to know about setting up your Pinterest and getting people to your blog!
This was the first and best thing I invested in when I made the decision to grow my blog! It’s under $50 and will save months and months of trying to figure this out on your own.
Truly, if you take anything from this post – let it be this e-book. I attribute it to basically all of my success blogging the past year! It’s a game-changer!
HOW DO YOU MAKE MONEY?
There are a few key ways bloggers are able to monetize their websites in 2020!
ADS
Ads seem to be controversial. People think they are tacky and sometimes get in the way of the content. And while I don’t necessarily disagree with that…ads are a huge part of how bloggers make money!
You would never go to the grocery store, load your groceries on the belt and expect the cashier to ring them up FOR FREE. So why do we expect bloggers to work for free for us?
The least you can do is deal with a few small ads on the page in exchange for FREE CONTENT.
AD NETWORKS
There are many ad networks you can apply to. I am currently in the process of working with Mediavine, which is popular amongst successful bloggers.
Mediavine requires that your blog has 25k sessions in 30 days (this can be tracked through Google Analytics).
Most bloggers report making up to 10x more income with Mediavine than with Google Adsense!
AFFILIATE MARKETING
Affiliate marketing is a form of marketing when you make a commission from a sale when you refer soeone to a product or service.
If you scroll up on this page, there are affiliate links to Bluehost and Skillshare. That means if you click on those links and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission (and do a happy dance!).
Affiliate marketing is beneficial to everyone – the customer learns about a product that they may want/need, the affiliate gets rewarded for their referral and the company makes a sale!
PRODUCT SALES
Bloggers can make money by selling their own physical or digital products. Maybe you want to write an e-book on easy dinner recipes, or teach a course on how to launch a blog! Maybe you sell artwork or t-shirts.
All of that would be income through selling your own personal products.
I launched my first paid product earlier this year!
BLOGGERS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME
There are so many bloggers who are making a full-time income AND sharing how they’re doing it.
I used to see posts on Pinterest like “How I made 20k in one month with my blog” and just roll my eyes and scroll past them.
Now I believe that it’s totally possible to do that!
Here are a few bloggers who regularly share how they’ve built their blogs and even how much money they currently make through blogging! If you don’t believe me, read through their posts on how to start a blog in 2020!
Carly from Momming On Purpose
Ashley from Joyfully Growing
Lisa from Farmhouse On Boone
Amanda from The Ginger Home
I hope you’re feeling inspired to finally start a blog in 2020! It is absolutely still possible to make a full-time income doing so, even if you’re just starting today.
