So how much money can you make blogging?

While some experienced bloggers are able to constantly pull in $30k/month, $100k/month, and even $145k/month, it’s still pretty easy to make an extra $500 – $3,000 per month blogging within the first few months. And from there, you can quickly scale your content and traffic and then earn $10k + per month in blogging revenue. Glassdoor reports that the average blogger salary is over $40k per year.

While not knowing very much at first, I was still able to pull in $1k within just a few weeks of blogging.

You can get started with Bluehost for $3.95/month (57% off) with my link.

Even though blogs exist since the dawn of time (or practically)… It’s still the Blogging Wild West.

Blogging is a great way to make passive income online if you’re just starting your online journey. It’s also a great way to build a strong following without having to fear from being cancelled on social.

And if you’re smart you could also leverage your blog to get more effortless passive inbounds leads for your coaching offer, agency services, or SAAS.

So how do you make money with a blog?

Top 4 Ways To Make Money Blogging And How To Get Started

Affiliate Marketing

Promoting products and earning a commission when someones makes a purchase through your unique affiliate link. Affiliate marketing is my favorite way to make money from blogging.

Digital Products

Many bloggers create products such as ebooks, online courses, templates, printables, etc. and sell them on their blog.

Advertising

Displaying ads on your blog through an ad network such as Google AdSense, Monumetric, or Mediavine.

Services

Offering services such as coaching, freelance writing, social media management, etc. through your blog.

Now that you know that you can make a nice income blogging, how do you get started?

GREAT question! 😉

Blogging Fundamentals

Choose The Right Niche

You probably already know what a niche is and why you need one. Whether it’s fitness, carnivore, marketing, cooking, CrossFit exercises, vegan, etc, there is an endless amount of things to blog about.

Most bloggers will tell you to start with something that you’re passionate about because it will help you “maintain a consistent writing schedule and push through the hard times when things get difficult.” 

They’ll also tell you to choose a niche at the intersection of passion, skills, and experience:

However, this model is flawed because it’s missing one major component: MONEY.

You’re reading this guide to make money, right? So what good is there to invest all those hours writing content if you’ve got no chance of getting paid one day?

So the trick is to find a niche that:

1. Makes money 
2. You know something about 
3. Don’t mind writing about for a long time

What niches do make money? 

Just like you don’t want to reinvent the wheel when looking for a profitable product… You don’t need to waste time “discovering” a “Might Be Profitable Niche But I Don’t Know Yet”. 

Focus on the Big 3: Wealth, Health, and Relationship.

These are the big categories that are proven to pay very well.

After all… “You can never be too fit, too rich, and too sexy”.

And within these broad categories there are several sub-categories you can build your website around. For example…

Wealth

Personal finance, Internet marketing, Bitcoin trading, Forex trading, Credit repair, Online jobs, job interviews, Taxes, Millionaire mind, Real estate, and so on.

Health

Weight loss, Keto, Vegan, Carnivore, Yoga, Meditation, Strength training, Muscle growth, Fasting, Detox, Diabetes, Posture, Detox, and so on.

Relationship

Men’s dating advice, Marriage, Getting pregnant,  Raising kids, Sex, Online dating, Get your ex back, Sex performance, and so on.

In the end, if you want to make money with your website, you need to solve a pain point that an audience is willing to spend money on. 

As a blogger, you need to understand your audience’s challenges deeply so that you can offer them exactly what they want.

Understanding your audience is the first step.

The second (and equally important) step is to understand how much your audience is willing to spend to solve their pain points.

This is your audience revenue potential.

In other words, you need to understand your audience AND how much they’re willing to spend to solve their pain points.

Source: successunscrambled.com

For example, let’s say you’re planning to start a blog in the home design niche.

Your blog topics may pull in different readers, including professional interior designers, college design students, and even stay-at-home moms who want the latest home decor inspiration.

To monetize a blog in this niche, you can then create a sales funnel like this one:

• You write new content to attract an audience online
• Next, you build a home design lead magnet to get email opt-ins
• Third, you place affiliate links to promote home decor brands
• Finally, you offer a $300 online course titled 10 Expert Interior Designers Share Tips for the Perfect Home

If you want to make even more money you can do so by changing only one thing in the list above. By changing just one word in your potential niche, you increase your blog’s income potential by 100x.

All you do is change home design to commercial design.

Let me explain.

By adding a B2B component to your blog, you shift part of your audience from individuals to businesses.

Businesses have larger bank accounts and are more likely to pay you without hesitation. Whereas a founder might be more frugal with the business’s account, a middle manager with a budget to spend will not.

The beautiful thing about this approach is that your blog launch and marketing funnel are almost exactly the same for both the “home design” and “commercial design” niches. 

However, with the B2B niche, you don’t just stop at a $300 course. You get to add the final component of 5-figure online consulting.

Set Up Your Blog

The Best Foundation to Start Your Website – Fast

In order to get your website up and running, there are 3 things you need to get started.

You need:

1. A domain name
2. Hosting (here’s a link to save 51%)
3. A way to add articles to your new website

Once you have these three things, you’re launched!

Step #1- Choose A Domain Name

First, it’s time to pick a name for your new website.

We’ll also select the blogging platform and web hosting you’ll be using and in order to get your website online.

The combination of blogging platform & web hosting I personally use (and that most other bloggers use) is a WordPress blog, hosted by Bluehost. 

WordPress is a publishing platform that’s been around since 2003 and now powers more than 60% of all blogs on the Internet.

And Bluehost is one of the longest established companies in the blog hosting industry. This combination is what we’ll be using to start blogging with in this guide.

So, let’s get started with choosing your blog’s name.

Your domain name is the name of your website.

Choose a domain name and try not to overthink it. You don’t want to get stuck in this phase because without a domain you really can’t start. 

It took me about 15 seconds to decide on my website’s name (FreedomSeeker.co). Haters will say it shows (and they’re probably right) but the thing is you should not waste a lot of time thinking about this step.

Here are some things to keep in mind when buying a domain name:

• Make it something that’s easy for people to pronounce
• Don’t make it too long [ImSoAwesomeYouShouldBuyMyStuff.com]
• Make sure there aren’t any weird phrases or words hidden in your domain name ex. speed of art – speedofart.com or experts exchange – expertsexchange.com

Step #2 – Hosting

After either choosing your domain name OR opting to select it later, you’ll be taken to the final step in the sign up process—creating your account.

Create your Bluehost account

—> Click here to head over to Bluehost and hit the green “Get Started Now” button

Start by filling in your account details like your name, email address (it’s super important to use an up-to-date email address because this is where your login details and account information will be sent) and address.

If you don’t want to enter your information manually, you can connect your Bluehost account with your Google account. Either works!

Select the right hosting package.

This is where you’ll choose an account plan based on the price you want to lock in and how far in advance you’ll pay.

Choosing the right package extras (skip all but one)

I highly recommend keeping the Domain Privacy Protection extra, but you can get away with skipping the rest. 

If you chose a Basic or Plus Plan, then you’ll want to check the box to add Domain Privacy Protection to your order for around $1/mo.

Plus, there’s a 30-day money back guarantee in case things don’t go as planned with your blog.

Next enter your billing information.

Now you’ll input your billing information, check the box that you agree to Bluehost’s Terms of Service and then hit the green “Submit” button!

Great! You did it!

You’ve officially completed the first major step of how to create your website.

With the initial signup process complete, it’s time to move into the next stage of getting your blog fully setup and optimized.

On the next page, you’ll be guided step-by-step through the process of getting WordPress installed on your blog through Bluehost.

Step #3 – Choose A Blogging Platform

If you want to open a restaurant, you need a kitchen to prepare food. If you want to start a blog, you need a blogging platform  to prepare words.

There are many blogging platforms to choose from. WordPress, Blogger, Squarespace, Wix and Weebly are a few.

All have pros and cons, but WordPress is by far the most popular (source) , and for good reason. It’s flexible, functional, has a large community of users and works great if you want to make money.

I use and recommend WordPress. Most bloggers do.

Get Started With WordPress

At this point, you should have two sets of login information (sent via email): 

1. WordPress, where you write your posts and manage your blog.
2. Bluehost, where you manage your hosting account and pay your hosting bill.

From this point, we’ll spend most of our time in WordPress.

Welcome to the WordPress Dashboard. You’ll spend a lot of time in the Dashboard, publishing posts and managing all aspects of your WordPress blog. It’s the nerve center of your blog.

The black column on the left is a good indicator that you are in the WordPress Dashboard. The rest of the screen might look different. Not to worry. The key is the black column! Black column = WordPress Dashboard.

Alright, let’s get important settings in order first.

Check your permalink structure. 

In the black column, go to Settings > Permalinks. Make sure “Post name” is selected. If it’s not, read What Are Permalinks and How Do You Choose Them?

Check your username to make sure it’s not admin.

​In the black column, go to Users > All Users. Make sure your Username is not “admin” like it is here:

If it is “admin” like the image above, read these instructions to change it.

If it’s something other than “admin” you’re good to go. Read on!

Install important plugins. 

There is one plugin I always install right away: Yoast SEO. It is widely recognized as the SEO plugin. (What is SEO?)

To install a plugin:

• Go to Plugins > Add New.
• In the search bar up top, enter the name of the plugin you’re looking for. Find it in the list and click Install Now.
• Once it’s installed, you have to Activate a plugin before it will start working. Otherwise, it lies dormant on your site in its deactivated state, which is not ideal. Either activate or delete a plugin. To activate, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and click Activate under the plugin name.
• Once installed and activated, you will be able to access its features as you write your posts (like Yoast SEO), unless it’s a plugin that runs in the background (like Antispam Bee).
• Also once activated, configure a plugin’s settings if needed. You can often tell if there are settings for a particular plugin by going to Plugins > Installed Plugins and looking for a Settings link under the plugin name. You might also see a plugin listed in the black left column of your Dashboard. Yoast SEO is accessible this way. Most plugins come with a default configuration which is fine to start with. If you want to dive into configuration, Yoast has a Configuration Wizard you can find under SEO > General. Antispam Bee has a settings link under Plugins > Installed Plugins.
• If you ever search for a plugin but it doesn’t appear as an option, no worries

Delete unnecessary plugins. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins. I delete all of them except the Bluehost and WPForms Lite plugins.

A plugin must be deactivated before it can be deleted, so if you hover over a plugin you may have to choose Deactivate, then hover again to see the Delete link. Plugins can always be added back later if you want.

Edit some general settings. Go to Settings > General.

• Site title and tagline. Your site title doesn’t have to match your domain but it likely will. Your tagline is a short phrase that describes your site or mission well. Again, these can be changed any time.
• Email address. If your main email address is not entered here, go ahead and put yours in. Notifications will be sent to this address.
• Timezone. A wrong timezone won’t break anything, but scheduled posts get published according to this setting, so if it’s not set correctly, you’ll wonder why your posts aren’t going live at the times you expect.
• Don’t touch your site URLs! You may be wondering about those URLs. If you change them now, it will mess things up. Your blog starts on on a temporary domain. This is normal. Let’s talk about how it gets switched to your permanent domain…

Step # 4 – Complete Your Domain Setup

Did you enter a new domain? 

Activate it. 

Check your email inbox to find the domain activation email. Click the button inside to complete the activation process. Simple. Now just wait. Bluehost will automatically switch it for you.

Did you enter an existing domain? 

Point it. Edit the name servers where your domain is registered. Here are instructions by registrar. If you get stuck, call Bluehost and they’ll walk you through.

Did you click the link to choose your domain later?

​First, decide on a domain. Then, in the black column of your WordPress Dashboard, go to Bluehost > Back to Bluehost.

Click on Domains in the left column.

Then click the Register link (an option in the left column).

Hopefully your desired domain will be available. It should be at the top of the list.

Add the domain to your cart by clicking the cart button.

If you choose a plan  that came with a free domain, at checkout, the balance should be zero because the credit for a free domain was automatically applied to your account. Also at checkout, you can add domain privacy if you didn’t choose it before (which I definitely recommend).

Once you have the domain, go to Domains > Assign. Use a domain associated with your account. Choose it from the dropdown menu.

Wait a few hours for your domain to propagate. That’s a fancy way of saying it takes a while for your WordPress blog and your domain to find each other on the world wide web and solidify their connection. Once they do, anyone should be able to type your domain into a web browser and your blog will appear!

If you’re wondering if they’ve found each other, type your domain into your browser’s address bar (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) and see if your permanent domain sticks without forwarding to your temporary domain. If so, you’re set!

Sidenote: Your blog will look horrible at this point. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered there too. More on that below.

Add SSL (from HTTP to HTTPS). Once your permanent domain is working, make it secure. What this does is adds an S to the end of HTTP like so:

This gives visitors peace of mind. It also keeps your site on Google’s good side.

To complete this step, you’ll need to activate an SSL certificate or turn on your free Bluehost SSL certificate. Don’t be intimidated by the fancy term. It’s easy.

Again, how you proceed depends on what you chose back on the domain screen way back in Step 4.

Did you enter a new domain or choose one later? Follow these instructions.

Did you enter an existing domain? Contact the company where your domain is registered. Tell them you want to secure your site with an SSL certificate.

After adding SSL, give your domain a bit of time to catch up. Eventually, when you type your domain into a browser like Chrome, you’ll see a secure icon:

An insecure site will have an “i” with a circle around it like this in Chrome:

If your site doesn’t show the HTTPS after 24 hours, call Bluehost (for new or chosen later domains) or your domain registrar (existing domains) so they can find the problem.

Step #5 – Get It Ready To Launch It

This is where you take over and start making your blog your own. I recommend doing things in the following order.

Publish some pages and posts. 

Pages

When you use your website to sell affiliate products, you need to have some legal pages on. Here are the different types of legal pages you’ll need to have:

Privacy Policy. Terms of Service. Affiliate Disclosure. Disclaimers. 

You can find them on other blogs and get inspired by them. I’ve linked the pages above to my own website so you have an idea of what these look like.

Posts

We’ll go over how to write compelling articles that makes sales later in this guide.

Get your blog off the ground as soon as possible! 

Customize your design. 

If you’re like most, you’ll want to customize your design. A lot of new bloggers get really excited about all the design options available.

However, less is more.

The more fancy your theme, the more moving parts. The more moving parts, the more there is to break. 

What is the best free WordPress theme?

If you’re not ready to pay for a theme yet, Astra and GeneratePress are my favorite free themes.

What Is The Best Theme For Beginners And Pros?

If you want to start out right from the get go consider investing in ThriveThemes (That’s what I use on this blog and on that blog).

Psst ThriveThemes also allows you to build your email list (with opt-ins).

​It’s like a blogging multi-tools.​​

So once you’ve got your theme on and adjusted it to your needs, it’s time to remove the Coming Soon page. 

Bluehost automatically starts your blog with a Coming Soon page:

When your pages and posts are published, and your design is customized to your liking (it’s always changeable!), click the button at the top of your Dashboard and follow the prompts to remove the Coming Soon page:

Congratulations, your blog is live!

How To Create Create Highly-Valuable Content

I have a confession to make: my journey of earning an income online almost didn’t happen. I almost gave up on my dream of being an entrepreneur, of working on my own terms, and of building a successful, profitable blog. But I’m jumping ahead. Let’s take it from the top – As you know by now, in 2019 I left my job as an investment advisor to start my own blog. I had no idea what I was doing. I had a passion for self-sufficiency and wanted to help others to become more self-reliant. Once I narrowed down my business idea (it took a few failed attempts, but that’s a story for another time) I went headstrong into writing content for my new blog (in the survival niche). The plan: write killer content, drive traffic to the site, make money via ads and affiliate sales. I started cranking out killer content like crazy – 2k, 3k, 5k-word articles with the best self-sufficiency tips I could find. My heart skipped a beat every time I hit “Publish” on a new article thinking about the thousands of people whose lives it would soon forever change. There was just one problem. No one was reading them. But how could that be? I had worked so hard researching content ideas, coming up with clever blog post titles, and laying out our methods step by step for anyone to follow. This stuff was good. So why wasn’t anyone reading it?? The answer: I was answering the questions that no one was asking. Sure, many people on the Internet could probably use and benefit from self-sufficiency advice, but the ones who are looking for it already have some knowledge. To me, my content was genius. To the people who were finding out the website via social media, it was dry and boring. Know your audience. I sure didn’t — not when I started out. But eventually, I got wise and asked, “What do people want to know more about that I can teach?” That’s when we began to look at other successful blogs in my niche and what they were doing. SurvivaLife, SkilledSurvival, SHTFPreparedness, AskeAPrepper – all super popular personal survivalist/self-sufficiency blogs. And what do they have in common? Their content solves problems. Here’s a harsh truth I had to learn early on: people only want to read your content if it benefits them. So before you publish anything on your blog, ask yourself, “What’s in it for them?” What will they gain from having read your blog post? Does it solve a problem? Let’s practice. Say you have a fitness blog. Jane is an example of your target audience: Mark is a busy guy. He’s in his mid-20s and is climbing his way up the corporate ladder, which in his industry often comes with 50+ hour workweeks and weekends at the office; he can’t remember the last time he had fun with the boys. Mark wants to lead as healthy a lifestyle as possible, but there’s barely enough time to breathe, let alone go to the gym or cook food at home. Dinner usually consists of takeout with a side of BBQ-flavored potato chips. He’d like to lose at least twenty pounds of fats and get his abs back but doesn’t even know where to begin. What problems of Mark’s did you identify? He wants to lose weight but doesn’t know how. His work-life balance is a bit off and he’d like more time with the boys. He wants to eat healthier and work out but feels like there isn’t enough time. Examples of blog posts that might be helpful for Mark: – 10 Exercise To Get A Six-Pack In 30 days – How to Plan a Week’s Worth of Meals in Under 20 Minutes – 10 Quick Fat-Burning Workouts You Can Do at Home Each of those articles helps solve one or more of Mark’s problems, and the more details, the better. If you know your audience and the issues they face, you’ll never run out of material. Don’t underestimate the power of headlines. Writing stellar content for your blog is only half the battle. The other half is actually getting people to your site. And the first step to attracting readers is writing click-worthy headlines. I’m not talking about clickbait; there’s a difference between tricking your readers into clicking through to an article that doesn’t live up to its promise versus conveying the value of an article via an enticing headline. Do the latter.

How To Write Your First Affiliate Sales article With These 4 Templates

Now the real work begins. This is the work that will actually put the moolah into your bank account. If you screw this you’ll find it hard to make sales.

So now how do you write a persuasive article that motivates them to buy from you?

In this section, we’ll cover 4 different types of articles that are proven to work. But first I just want to temper your expectations a bit. Your article won’t be able to convert 100% or even 50% of the people who read it into customers. That just won’t happen. 

Ok so, what can you aim for as a conversion rate? If you can convert 1-2% of readers into clients, you’ll be well on your way to make good money. 

For example: If you sell a proven profitable product to a hungry crowd, and you get a commission of $25, and you can bring 100 people to read your persuasive article everyday. 

Then your profit potential is between $25-$50 EVERYDAY. Not a bad start, right? 

To help you get started writing your first profitable article, here’s an overview of four different types you can choose from.

1.Review

A review is probably the most common one. Here you simply state:

• What is the product
• Who is it for, and who it isn’t
• What can it do, and can’t
• The pros
• The cons
• Your conclusion

Let’s make an example with your “Make Money Podcasting”. And let’s say you want to write a review about the Blue Yeti Mic. Here’s a real review I’ve found on Google:

When you click on the link and you arrive at this article, the first thing you’ll see are the pros and cons. Here’s what it looks like. 

So as you can see, writing a review is very easy to do. You can also use Google Related Search Terms to help you figure out great  subjects to write about in your review. 

For example, when you search in Google “Blue Yeti Microphone Review”, Google suggests other related queries from people (your potential customers).

As you can see, you don’t need to be the next Hemingway in order to write a review of an affiliate product. In fact, you can probably write your first review in under 1-2h top.

2. List

Usually when people want to buy a new product, they do due diligence. So they look at the comparatives on the market. And this is exactly what you’re going to offer them.

You’ll take several similar products, put them into a list, and write a review of each. After each of the product reviews, you suggest to the reader that if this is the right one for him, then he can just click the link below and buy it from you.

Here’s an example from one of my websites:

This website offers knives, backpacks, and the like to a survival and preparedness niche.

These are all “List” types of articles. I took 15 best selling knives on Amazon. I’ve written about the pros and cons of each of them. And below each one of them I put a link to buy it directly from Amazon. From which I receive a commission anytime someone buys one.

It’s pretty straightforward to write a List article as you can see.

3. How To

A “How To” article is a very persuasive and “sneaky” way to sell affiliate products. 

Your clients just won’t even notice you’re selling them. You’ll be selling the tools of the trade. 

Just like in the Gold Rush era it wasn’t the one digging who made a fortune, but the one selling the shovels. Got it?

Here’s what I mean. 

Let’s take our podcasting niche example. So you want to sell Buzzsprout or Podbeans software to your audience. You could (and should) write a review about them.

But another way would be to show your audience…

How they can start their podcasting business from scratch and share with them the tools they are going to need.

“So you want to start your podcasting empire? Great! In this article I’m going to show you every step on the way and every tool you’ll need. The first thing you’ll need is a podcasting software so you can reach your audience, right? So simply click here to get started and I’ll show you how to set it up from beginning to end.”

That in a nutshell is a “How To” article.

If you want other examples of this, simply type in Google: “How To (Niche related thing)”.

Look what I found here for our podcasting niche.

More than a billion (with a B) results. So you got ample examples here to get inspired and learn from.

4. Story

The “Story” type is similar to the “How To”. But instead of telling your audience how to reach their goals of alleviating their pains, you simply tell your story of how you did it.

So instead of showing them how to start a podcasting empire, you tell your story of:

• How you got started
• What problems you encountered
• What you wish you knew from the get go
• How you succeeded

And along your story you insert any related affiliate link you can. For example:

“At first I used XYZ and it sucked, here’s why…. Then I found ABC, and boy did it change my life, here’s why…”

Or you can simply state the products you use.

“So here are the tools that I currently use and would advise anyone getting started…”

If you want other great examples, I’ll share with you a little known secret in the blogging world. 

Do you know which type of article is the most popular for bloggers, and which bring home the most bacon?

Income Reports

If you want to learn how to write compelling story articles so you can sell your affiliate products, I strongly suggest you learn from blogger’s income reports.

Why is it so powerful? 

People looking to start a blog are interested in how they can make money doing so, right? These income reports then simply state which tools they used to get there. 

And when you click on one of them and buy the product (because you want the same results) the blogger makes money from it.

So if you’ve succeeded in something other people want to succeed in, use it to your advantage.

For example:

You succeeded in losing weight → Share the tools or programs that helped you.

You succeeded in repairing your credit → Share the tools or programs that helped you.

You succeeded in making money from YT → Share the tools or programs that helped you.

Story sells. Use yours, and your audience will love you for this.

Why You Should Build An Email List

Like I said, if you write a compelling copy (a persuasive article) you can hope to convert about 1-2%. Meaning  98-99% of people who end up on your page won’t be buying NOW.

Some people need more information or more time to convince themselves to buy something. That’s why you need a way to continue and deepen your relationship with your audience.

That’s where email marketing comes in.

Once people opt in to receive your lead magnet (discounts, checklist, course, cheat sheet, etc) you can then continue to provide them more and more value.To build up trust and reciprocity. 

And when the time is right and you suggest some tools or course they should buy to reach their goals, it will appear as the most natural thing to do.

Ok fine but emails should you send them?

To fully grasp the power of email marketing and how to use it like a pro would need an entire course on its own. 

So in this guide I’m going to cover two email series you can use so you can make bank on autopilot, even while you’re sleeping.

Again I’ll show you some examples so you really understand how to use it for yourself.

When you head to your GetResponse account, and want to create an email, you basically have two choices:

You can either create a “Newsletter” or an “Autoresponder”.

Newsletter

You use a newsletter when you want to send  a timely email (ex: flash sale, promo, etc). 

Autoresponder

And you use an autoresponder when you want to automate an email series (email 1, email 2, email 3).

Both have their place in your marketing arsenal.

So the very first email you should send is something called a “Welcome Serie”.

Welcome Serie 

A Welcome Series is a type of autoresponder. It has only one goal and that is to deepen the relationship with your audience. 

Why? 

Because people will always prefer to buy from the ones they know, love, and trust.

And what better way to do so then to send your audience more value each day for several days (5-7days)? 

The absolute best Welcome series you can use is the SOS method. I found this method in DotCom Secrets from Russel Brunson (recommended read)

SOS or Soap Opera Email Sequences are  an incredibly effective series of 5 email messages used to “build trust” with your audience. The SOS message focuses on building a relationship with a new lead, creating trust and interest in you personally, along with your product.

What’s so special about a Soap Opera Sequence?

SOS email operates exactly the same way as thriller series and movies with all their cliffhangers. You get to hook up your audience to open all your emails like crack heads on cocaine. 

You’re the main character and by the end of the email sequence, your audience is going to be ready and waiting for what you have to offer them.

Here’s a closer look into each of the 5 emails in the sequence:

EMAIL 1: Set the stage

If the first scene of the show is boring, you change the channel, right? Well the same thought applies to the first email you send your list. It can’t be boring and it needs to form an immediate connection with your user.

One great way to get them hooked is to present a secret.

Let’s take an example from a fitness guru:

“I’ve been coaching people on how to lose weight for over a decade. But it’s only been in the last 5 years that I really mastered my craft and found little known (from the public at least) secrets of nutrition that I was really able to help my clients like no one else. By doing one type of exercise 5 minutes a day and by eating one kind of ingredient, I’ve seen clients drop 30 pounds of fat within 30 days with very little effort.

And do you want to know how I do it? I’ve got a secret and it works. Every. Single. Time. Watch for my next email and I’ll share it with you.”

EMAIL 2: High drama

Now you’ve got them hooked.

What is the mysterious ingredient and valuable exercise to quickly lose fat?

You’ve now got a very high chance that people will be waiting anxiously to open your next email. Good news, because this is exactly where the selling begins. 

So start with a backstory. In the case of the fitness guru above, the discussion could cover an obese client who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and feared to not see his children grow. 

Then he met you, followed your program and lost 100lbs and was able to safely manage his diabetes. 

But wait! Your audience is still waiting to hear that secret.

Here’s how to start the sales process: Add a P.S. and mention your product or service.

“And before I conclude, I realize it’s time to share my secret. Take a look at my website and check out how I’ve managed to help hundreds of clients to lose hundreds of pounds and finally find back their self-worth and self-pride.”

EMAIL 3: The epiphany

You’re now halfway through the soap opera. Your audience is hooked and want to know more.

They’ve been introduced to your product but more importantly, they like you.

They want you to win and they want to learn how your clients or you overcame your problem and accomplished so much. It is time for the Epiphany email. This email ties right into your business. 

The fitness guru can explain how they came to find little known exercise or supplements and help his clients lose weight like never before:

 “My epiphany was that I needed a simple way for my clients to lose weight and not have to work out 20+ hours a week or having to only eat ground beef and vegetables…”

Now your audience not only gets the value of your product but they also have an emotional connection to it. Good job!

EMAIL 4: The hidden benefits

The reader now realizes your product works. They’ve seen the hundreds of testimonials on your website.

But have they realized how it can work for them yet?

That’s where you must  list all of the ways your product can directly help your niche market. This is the email where your reader starts thinking, “This is what I’ve needed all along!” Go ahead and provide links for them to purchase.

EMAIL 5: The call to action (CTA)

How do we conclude the SOS?

This is the last email in the series, but it isn’t the last email they will receive from you (we’ll cover that right after). By now, your audience will know, like and trust you. And they also know that what you have to offer can really help them reach their goal. 

That’s the perfect time to include great offer and a sense of urgency. For example: 

“For the next 24 hours only, you get to save 67% on XYZ”

We’ve just covered one of the most compelling communication tools available in email marketing. Try it out! 

SOS email is a very useful tool for turning your product into the next “Must Have” on your audience’s list.

So what emails can you send after the SOS?

Daily Emails

More of the same! Your audience is now hooked to your story and your persona. Use anything that happens in your life or in your clients’ life to create stories you can send them.

The idea is to weave in your products into the stories.

You can use the same format as the SOS  to put them into each email.

So start your daily email with:
>High Drama: “I couldn’t  move my leg…” 

> Backstory: “This happened to me on October 25th 2017, since then…”

> Epiphany: “That’s when I realized, I really needed a…”

> Hidden Benefits: “Not only will it… but you’ll also…”

> CTA: “Normally sells for $197, but for the 6 hours, claim yours for only $37”

Get Blog Visitors and Build A Base Of Raving Fans

Ok so now you’ve got: 

• A profitable niche
• A great converting articles
• An email autoresponder to continue selling to your audience. 

Good job! You’ve made leaps today.

Now that you’ve got your selling machine (website + email series) in place, you’ve got to find ways to feed it. 

You need to find a reliable source of high quality traffic. And if you don’t want to wait 6+months to get organic traffic from Google, then you need to look somewhere else.

Like everything you’ve learned so far, no need to reinvent the wheel. Find what works for others. Find out how other affiliate marketers are driving traffic to their website.

Facebook Ads

If you’ve got money to spare ($1,000+) and test ads, then FB ads of IG ads can be your ideal way to bring massive traffic to your sales articles. Once you’ve figured it out, making money can be as simple as switching off and on the lights of your FB ads account.

There are several great Twitter accounts you can buy FB ads course from. Choose the one from someone you admire or trust.

Twitter

On the other end, if you’re a bit short on money for the time being, then I would suggest Twitter. Yes I don’t have a HUGE account, far from it actually, but I can recognize its power.

It’s not unusual to witness beginners who start from 0 followers ending up at 1000+ followers after 1-2 months. It took me about 30 days to get to 1000 followers.

Twitter is probably the hardest social media to master, but once you get the gist of it I believe it to be one the most profitable. This is the place where you can develop an engaging audience who clicks and buys whatever you post. Why? Because they like and trust you.

There are many great Twitter courses out there. I can easily vouch for the courses made by @JoseRosado and @CJ_Johnson17th. I’ve bought and tried them both and they’re great. 

If you prefer video to learn from, then I would suggest @CJ_Johnson17th’s one, and if you prefer learning by reading, then Jose’s best for you.

Pinterest

You’ve just started your blog and now you look for ways to drive traffic to it?

Have you thought about using Pinterest?

There’s power behind using Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog. 

Just take a look at these facts:

• A pin is 100 times more spreadable than your average tweet
• Each pin can drive up to 2 page visits and 6 pageviews
• Ecommerce sites benefit from pinning as each pin can generate 78 cents
• The life of a pin is one week! Compare that to 24 minutes for Twitter and 90 minutes for Facebook.

Is it really possible to get a good amount of traffic in a very short time using Pinterest?

Just have a look at my other blog.

After only 6 months of using it, I now average about 1500+ visitors everyday. That’s 1500 people reading my articles. That’s 1500 people that are asked either to buy or opt in to my email list.

When I first started my blog…

I had NO CLUE how SEO works and I wanted results… fast.

I wanted hundreds of daily visitors and just knew that SEO wasn’t the way to go.

So I looked for alternatives.

Turned out the (absolute) best alternative was Pinterest! 

So, how can you create more traction from Pinterest for YOUR blog?

Here are four tactics you can use to elevate your pinning strategy and bring on the traffic.

How To Use Pinterest To Get Maximum Traffic To Your Blog

Step 1. Sign up for a business account

First things first.

Go ahead and sign up for a free Pinterest for business account or convert your existing account.

When you sign up, you’ll have access to Pinterest analytics – important information about your pins’ behavior (you’ll know which pins work or don’t)

Then you should apply for Rich Pins, which are pins with more information than your standard pin. There are different types of Rich Pins, each with their own pin upgrades such as real-time pricing and a direct link to your site.

Blog post pins (a type of Rich Pins) are the most valuable for bloggers since you can promote your latest blog post with your logo, bigger headline and a link back to your site. 

Once you’ve switched to a business account and applied for Rich Pins…

Step 2. Focus on your description

Each pin has a description below it telling the reader what your pin is about.

Typically, if you pin your article, your blog title and a little description of your post should be enough.

But, that’s for your AVERAGE blogger.

To really MAXIMIZE your pin’s potential, you have to do more than that.

According to Pinterest’s data of over 10,000 pins, they discovered what makes a great pin.

Ready?

So for high engagement (repins, click, message) your pin needs to be:

• Helpful – make it easy for pinners to find your pin with a spot-on description. According to Pinterest, helpful pins receive 30% more engagement.
• Detailed – in a sentence or two explain what your pin is about. Give enough information to entice a pinner to click through to your blog.
• Interesting – draw on the emotions of the pinner by using sensory-related words and positive sentiments.
• Actionable – include a call-to-action in your description. Using phrases like, “check out…” or “click to find out more” can generate an 80% increase in engagement.

What it ends up looking like, is this:

For some niches you can add text to your image to get more engagement. 

In my survival & preparedness blog I found out that simple enticing images without text work best (like 10-100x better).

Got to test (Pin) a lot. More on that later.

Finally, remember to incorporate SEO-friendly keywords in your description and be as concise as possible.

How can you do that?

Pinterest has a VERY USEFUL search bar.

Let’s say you have an article about Digital Marketing Tips that you want to promote.

You’ll then type in your keyword (Digital Marketing Tips) and Pinterest will suggest the next MOST POPULAR inquiries for that keyword.

You then use these “related” keywords and use them in your description.

It’s been shown that pins with descriptions of 200 characters are the most repinnable.

It also doesn’t hurt to add relevant hashtags to your pin’s descriptions.

Step 3. Pin at the right time

Just like other Social Medias you really want to know what ARE the best time to promote (pin) your content.

This is all a numbers game.

Thousands of pins are shown on Pinterest every hour of every day.

How can you get your pins to outshine the others? What you want in your Pinterest marketing strategy is to have the most repins.

You want as many people as possible to repin your material so that it’s shown more frequently to new users.

The most successful strategy is to find the best time and day to pin. 

From analyzing the data, it looks like the best time to start pinning is on Saturday morning.  Then in the evening.

I get most of my traffic after 5pm EST.

And the worst time to pin is during normal working hours – which makes sense.

But, the BIG secret is this.

You got to pin a bunch.

You got to put in the numbers.

Each day I pin between 30-50 pins of my own content.

Almost 52% of people visit the site less than once a week. So, to reach most of your audience, you need to be pinning consistently.

It’s ALMOST impossible to overdo it.

Want another Pinterest Beginner’s Tip?

When you first start with Pinterest you have to build your following.

I got about 4k but still managed to have 4.5 MILLION monthly views and 1,500+ daily visitors, so…

You don’t need a HUGE one, but 500 followers is a good start.

And you build your audience like this.

Repin (the hell out of) OTHER PEOPLE’S content first (90% of your pins)

And pin 10% of your own content.

Until you get your first 100 followers.

Why? Two reasons.

Numero Uno: To get more EYEBALLS when you promote your own pins.

Numero Secondo: To really GRASP what your audience likes and repins.

Once you have your first 100 followers you can reverse the numbers (90% yours, 10% others).

Step 4. Create pin-worthy images

It’s not enough to have amazing images. The best images are optimized for maximum engagement.

So, what makes a pin-worth photo?

1. It has to be the right size

You know Pinterest favors vertical images. Since up to 80% of pinners view the Pinterest feeds on mobile devices, it just makes sense to use images that are more tall than wide.

So, what is the perfect size for a pin? Generally you want an aspect ratio of 2:3 or 4:5. 

Next steps

Pinterest growth is still going strong. It’s safe to say it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

For bloggers, it really is the absolute best (and easiest) traffic source.

• Want more visitors? Pin some more.
• Want to increase your email list? Pin some more.

To get started with Pinterest simply follow the steps:

1. Sign up for a business account
2. Pay attention to your description copy
3. Learn the right time and day to pin
4. Create sensational pin images

CONLUSION: How to Make Money Blogging

Is it possible?

Absolutely.

Can you start a blog even if you’re not a techie like me? Of Course!

BUT…

There’s always a “but”, right? only if you treat it like a blogging business.

Like anything worthwhile, it’s hard work getting there.

Blogging is a great way to make passive income online if you’re just starting your online journey. It’s also a great way to build a strong following without having to fear from being cancelled on social.

And if you’re smart you could also leverage your blog to get more effortless passive inbounds leads for your coaching offer, agency services, or SAAS.

It’s still pretty easy to make an extra $500 – $3,000 per month blogging within the first few months. And from there, you can quickly scale your content and traffic and then earn $10k + per month in blogging revenue. While not knowing as much as you now know…I was still able to pull in $1k within just a few weeks of blogging.

I hope this article helped you learn how to make money blogging. 

Recommended Resources on Freedomseeker.co: If you’re interested in learning more about blogging, check out this blog post and this one.

Got a question about blogging? Write it in the comment section box below. Looking forward to connect with you.

Is the upfront investment of starting a blog actually worth it in the end?

In this guide, we’re going to break down the exact costs you can expect to incur from starting a blog in 2021.

I’m also going to discuss the mindset you should have when starting. I started my first blog in the survival niche. It was focused on bugging out and off-grid living.

I was working full-time as a financial advisor to the wealthy. I worked nights and weekends on my new blog.

Just a few short months later, I quit my job to work on my blog full-time.

It was risky, but I wanted to give this thing everything I had.

Thankfully, I made about $4,000 in that first month I quit and never looked back ever since.

But I still made a lot of mistakes and a lot of bad investments in those first few months of blogging.

So, I’m here to tell you what you SHOULD be investing in so you can hopefully get the maximum rewards from the minimum investment! (Now it’s the financial guy in me talking!)

Before I talk about the actual costs, I want to talk briefly about the mindset that you should have before you begin your blogging journey.

Treat Your Blog Like a Business

If you want your blog to be more than just a hobby and if you wish your blog to make enough money so you can quit your 9-5 job, it’s important to treat it like a real business.

There is always a risk that you won’t ever make any money, although I’m the type of person who believes that if you really want it and don’t give up, you can’t fail and will ultimately succeed!

Word of warning though… Blogging is a lot of things but it’s definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme.

You can’t expect to start out spending almost zero time and zero money on your websites and make a bunch of money overnight. It won’t happen… I promise. 

And that’s a good thing if you ask me!

Why?

Less competition.

Most people are geared towards easiness and jump on the next new shiny objects every week. Hence achieving nothing in the process.

But, not us! We’re different.

We choose to zag when everybody else chooses to zig. We’re ready to pull up our sleeves and put in the work to ultimately get what we want.

We know we’ll face some hurdles along the way and we’re okay with this. Hurdles and difficulties are part of the journey. Difficulties forces us to grow and find out new solutions. That’s how we can grow as marketers.

If starting a blog and earning money with it was easy, everybody and their grandma would be doing it.

Fortunately, that’s not the case.

So I got to warn you about this. Yes… You WILL have to spend some money if you hope to make any money blogging, and it also requires a lot of time, focus, and dedication.

But you CAN make some serious income with a simple blog and without spending your life savings on it.

And NO, you CAN’T have the mindset of “I”ll spend money when I make money.”

That’s for the ‘scarcity mindset’ crowds. It’s not us!

We are the ‘abundance mindset’ crowds! Everything’s possible!

Don’t waste your time. Start the right way from the beginning and you’ll reach your goals much faster.

It’s important to begin your blogging journey with these things in mind so that you have the proper expectations of what it will take and what you will need to invest in your new business.

It will help you set the right expectations and intention for your new blog.

The Cons Of Free Blogging Software

We all know the “pros” of free blog software… it’s free, right?

But, what about the cons?

If you start on the cheap, you can expect to get cheap results.

It will be tempting to start with free hosting, free themes, and try to send emails to your subscribers for free, but you’re going to come up short in a lot of areas.

Free Blog Hosting

Many beginners wonder about free hosting.

Why would I pay for hosting when I can start out on a free platform like free WordPress?

Here are some free blogging sites’ limitations:

• Say goodbye to ads revenue (no ads allowed)
• Blog design (say goodbye to customizable, paid themes)
• What plugins you have access to
• Overall control of your site
• Bandwidth (how many visitors your site can hold)
• And more.

Free Blog Themes

Next, you’ll be tempted to try to use a free theme on your blog.

Free themes are also incredibly limited.

You might think you’re saving some money, but what about your the cost of your time?

If you spend 5 days trying out different free themes looking for one that allows you to design your blog the way you really want when you could have spent a couple of hours designing it with a very customizable (paid) theme.

You could have spent the rest of that 5 days thoughtful articles and getting ready to launch your blog.

Free Email Marketing Software

You’ll need to start building an email list right away if you want to propel your blog to success as quickly as possible.

Email is how you will deepen the relationship you’ve started with your audience.

Email is also how you’ll make most of your money blogging.

So when it comes to making money with an email marketing service, you don’t want to be too cheap about it. Free email services are very limited, especially with how you can monetize, and they are only free up to a certain amount of subscribers anyway.

So, you can start out with a free email marketing service, but when you’re ready to make money, you’ll have to switch to a paid service anyway.

How Much Does Blogging Cost

The following costs can be expected when you begin your blogging journey.

You’ll incur most of them in the first month or so.

Blog Hosting

Blog hosting is going to be your very first investment in starting your blog.

Your hosting provider is the company that basically takes your blog “online” so that it is visible to the rest of the world.

Bluehost is my #1 hosting platform recommendation.

Why?

Simply because Bluehost not only offer you web hosting but they also give you:

• A free domain
• Free SSL
•  1-click WordPress install,
• FTP
• 24/7 support

Their plans start at $7.99 $3.95/month (51% off), and they have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

You can sign up for a 12 to 36-month plan, but the catch is that it must be paid upfront.

BUT other hosting companies that allow you to pay on a monthly plan generally charge $12+/month. That’s about 4x the cost and so they are WAY more expensive over time.

And remember that this is the first investment you are making into your blog. It represents the commitment you’re making to your new business.

Check Discounted Hosting

Estimated Blog Hosting Costs: $110

Blog Theme

Blog themes are what allow you to customize the design of your blog, including changing fonts, colors, and the overall structure of the content on your blog.

A great and easily customizable blog theme will save you days of headaches of wasted hours, which ultimately ends up saving you money. This is why selecting the best blog theme you can is crucial to your blogging success.

My #1 recommended blog theme is Genesis+Authority Pro Theme.

It’s the most customizable and fast theme on the market and also what I recommend (That’s what I’m using for this blog!)

Genesis+Authority Theme does come in at a slightly higher price tag of $129,95.

Check out Genesis

Estimated Blog Theme Costs: $60-150

Email Marketing Software

Like I said earlier, no email marketing software is free in the long run.

For example, MailChimp is only free until your first 1,000 subscribers.

My #1 recommendation for email marketing software is GetResponse (What I use). And that link will also get you your first month FREE!

I’ve tried many others out there, including ActiveCampaign, and MailChimp.

I’ve now been with GetResponse for over a year, and I’m glad I did the switch.

GetResponse was designed specifically for bloggers and the simplicity of the platform saves you tons of time and helps you focus on what’s most important: content creation.

Get Your First Month FREE

Estimated Email Marketing Costs: $15/month (first month free)

Social Media Tools

Regardless of which social media platform you are driving traffic on, you will likely need to purchase software to help you schedule posts and drive traffic to your blog.

My recommendations include:

• Hypefury is awesome to schedule your tweets, maximize your presence and increase your revenue (what I use)
• Tailwind to help you schedule posts with Pinterest and use analytics and collaboration tools to increase your traffic

Free Trial

Estimated Social Media Related Costs: $10-30/month

Investment in Courses

Now, of course, this one is totally optional but I highly recommend it, and not just because I sell my own courses. You don’t have to buy mine.

Buy someone else’s if you find a better one. But this can make a HUGE impact on your new business.

You could probably find tons of free info on youtube, on other blogs, and on social media. But oftentimes, the info is outdated and very fragmented.

A good blogging course will give you a blueprint filled with actionable steps that’ll tell you exactly what you need to focus on. Now, compare that to sifting through articles on Google and youtube…

Blogging courses are generally priced anywhere from $47 – $1,000 or more. The more in-depth you get into the world of blogging, the more expensive they will be.

I currently have one blogging course. It’s called How To Build A 6-Figure Affiliate Website.

This course takes you through the entire process of building a blogging business:

• Setting up and designing your blog with WordPress and a theme
• Creating content for your blog and structuring your posts correctly
• Starting your email list and writing emails to your audience
• Getting visitors to your blog
• Monetizing through affiliate marketing, creating your own products, and more
• Our favorite plugins and blogging tools
• And so much more!

And if you aren’t sure yet, here’s my free blogging course for beginners.

Estimated Investment in Blogging Courses Costs: $47-1,000+

Total Estimated Cost to Start a Blog:

• First Month: $199
• 2-3 Months: $41
• Optional Blogging Courses: $300+

How Much Time Do You Need To Invest In Your Blog

If you currently have a soul-sucking 9-5 job, you may not think your time is worth a lot.

But when you’re a blogger, you do.

When your blog begins to gain traction and it starts making you some extra money, you’ll find that you’ll start bouncing out of bed in the morning because you’re so fired up and excited to get to “work”!

I’ve always been a morning person, but I was NEVER super pumped about commuting 1h to my job as a financial advisor every day.

But now, I purposely wake up around 6 am most mornings because I LOVE getting up to work on my blogs (aka my businesses)!

Summary of Costs to Start a Blog

Expected Costs in the First 1-3 Months of Blogging

• Blog Hosting: $110 (averages to $3.95/month with my Bluehost discount)
• Blog Theme: $60-150 (#1 recommendation: Genesis+Authority Theme)
• Email Marketing: $15/month (first month free)
• Social Media Tools: $10-30/month (Hypefury + Tailwind)
• Investment in Blogging Courses: $47+ (6-Figure Affiliate Websites is my blogging course)

Total Expected Costs in the First 1-3 Months of Blogging: $200 upfront + $25/month after that + optional blogging courses.

So you want to start a business blog and are looking to pick the best web hosting?

Thing is there are thousands of web hosting service providers to compare.

So how can you choose a good web hosting provider for your blog?

I’ve been in digital marketing for several years and have started many websites using many different web hosting provider.

And I don’t recall many bad ones, seriously. In 2021, most of the popular web hosting providers can be recommended for your future website.

Here is a review of the most popular web hosting provider you can find.

Ready?

Let’s get started.

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links that I receive a small commission for at no cost to you. However, these are merely the tools I fully recommend when it comes to hosting a website. You can read my full affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy in the footer.

What Is The Best Web Hosting

When I say “the best web hosting services”, I mean the one who provides the most:

• Reliable site speed
• Ease of use
• Security
• Intergrations

My top web hosting picks are Bluehost,  WP Engine, HostGator, Hostinger, and SiteGround.

Which ever you decide to choose after this review, you’ll quickly realise that most hosting companies make it easy to get started.

They all pretty much give you steep introductory discounts.

This hosting reviews will show you the ones that offer the biggest bang for your buck.

1. BLUEHOST

My personnal favorite best web hosting

Bluehost is my #1 hosting platform recommendation.

Why?

Simply because Bluehost not only offer you web hosting but they also give you:

• A free domain
• Free SSL
•  1-click WordPress install,
• FTP
• 24/7 support

Their plans start at $7.99$3.95/month (51% off), and they have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Bluehost is by far the most used web hosting service in the world. They power more than 2 million websites.

If you’re a blogger or want to build your website on WordPress, then you’ll be happy to learn that Bluehost is an all-encompassing platform tailor-made SPECIFICALLY for WordPress.

Bluehost has a very easy-to-use interface allowing you to:

1.  Sign in
2. Choose your domain
3. One-click install WordPress
4. Choose your themes
5. Create your site

Bluehost is one of the oldest “internet companies” having launch in 1996.

Ever arrived on a website and an error message appears telling your the website is down, come back later?

Well, with Bluehost you’re almost guaranteed to never let your visitors experienced this. In fact, Bluehost is such a reliable web hosting service provider that theyt have a 99.99% uptime.

This web hosting sevice also makes your website super fast to load with an average load time under half a seconde. That’s fast.

Finally, Bluehost is the ONLY “official” WordPress.org recommended web hosting service provider.

Here is a Bluehost review made by WordPress.org.

So here’s how you can get started:

1. Go to Bluehost.com and click the big green button written “Get Started”.
2. Choose the plan you want.
3. Enter a new domain name or select one you currently own.
4. Enter your account information, account plan, and billing information.
5. Click Submit and you’re ready to start creating your website!

I recommend you get started with their Basic Plan for $3.95/month, which is 51% off their regular price.

2. HOSTGATOR

That’s the cheapest option out there

This is another very well-known web hosting provider you can count on. HostGator hosts millions of domain names around the world.

HostGater is the cheapest web hosting on the market. They have plans starting as low as $2.75/month on 36-month plans and savings from 30-60%.

But please make sure you check their renewal rates. Because they are a bit pricier than their introductory rates.

As you can see in the image below, HostGator ranks up pretty well against GoDaddy and Squarespace:

So to get started, let’s have a look at some of HostGator features:

• Loading time comes in under one second (compare to about 0.5 sec for BlueHost)
• Uptime 99.98%. Not bad at all.

HostGator really makes building your website easy with their simple drag and drop functionality. You can also add as many domains as you want. So if you’re into building niche sites, HostGator might be what’s best for you.

If you already have a domain, HostGater will help you migrate it for free within the first 30 days of your sign-up.

HostGator just like BlueHost also offers 24/7 customer support through phone, live chat, and email. Their customer support has a reputation of having a fast respond time.

This web hosting service provider has  a 45-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with your purchase.

Overall, HostGator is one of the best web hosting on the market (right after BlueHost).

So here’s how to get started:

1. Go to HostGator.com and click the big Yellow Get Started button.
2. Choose a domain or add the one you already own.
3. Pick your plan.
4. Enter your billing info.
5. Click Checkout and you’re ready to go!

3. WP Engine

The Best Choice For Business Hosting

Our third web hosting is WP Engine. It’s a web hosting company based in Austin, TX.

They are particularly known for their:

• Speed
• Security
• Scalability

WP Engine is also specifically built for WordPress sites but comes at a higher price than Bluehost and HostGator. The reason? Because It’s not precisely hosting, but dedicated services to keep your WordPress site live.

WP Engine really shines when it comes down to it’s site speed.

While other web hosting service providers might include customized servers, you can still get bogged down by installing a lot of WordPress plugins.

That’s where WP Engine comes to the rescue. They have a network of servers with more developped caching than other hosting providers. As a matter of fact, you’re not dven allowed to install other caching plugins in WordPress because their caching is so personalized.

All in all WP Engine has:

•  Excellent uptime
• Reliable customer service
• High-end custom plans for the enterprise.

However, as you can see WP Engine might not be your best choice if you’re just starting out and your aren’t as advanced.

So how much does WP Engine cost?

Their startup plan starts at $31.50/month and includes:

• 25k visits/month
• 50GB of bandwidth
• CDN and SSLs

Along with some robust performance tools. And each program comes with a content delivery network (CDN) for faster load times and staging environments. That’s perfect if you want to test things out before going live with changes.

If you’re looking for one of the best best customised web hosting companies, give WP Engine a try and get 10% off your first payment.

4. Hostinger

Perfect For Micro And Large Business Blog

Fast and Affordable at $1.39/month

Hostinger is a great hosting company because of its speed and price. They’re currently offering a discount on paid plans with prices starting at 1.39/month. You could also get a free .COM domain and Free SSL with their $2.59/month plan. 

Using Hostinger is very simple and intuitive. Getting your website live is as simple as a click of a button. Everything you need – provided in a clear way.

Hostinger is excellent for beginners. Start your website with an automatic 1-click WordPress installation. The backend is powered by LiteSpeed caching and advanced optimization to ensure your websites are fast, reliable and secure.

They have a super knowledgeable 24/7 multilingual Customer Success Team and are known to pick up a live chat in less than two minutes.

Hostinger has a very friendly-user control panel that can be used even if you have little experience in website development. Their dashbord also include a wide variety of tools to satisfy advanced user and website developer needs.

The steps to get up and running with their services are easy:

1. Go to hostinger.com and click get started.
2. Choose your hosting plan
3. Enter your email and create a password.
4. Choose either WordPress or build your site.
5. Edit and publish your site.

If you want a powerful host on a budget with one of the fastest loading times, Hostinger definitely is a great option.

How to Save the Most: 

• Plan: Single Shared Hosting at $1.39/month
• Term: 48 months
• Total cost at checkout: $66.72
• Savings: $388

 5. SiteGround

The Best Choice For Client Satisfaction

SiteGround are hosting 2,000,000 domains while making website owners less stressed, more productive, and hopefully just a little happier. They’re proud to have kept their customer satisfaction rate at 98% and even increasing it every year for the past five years.

In addition to customer service, SiteGround allows you to easily manage your site built on the most popular Content Management Systems such as Joomla, WordPress, and more. You can get started with their friendly Site Tools, packed with tons of features that save you time and effort.

Basic plans start at $4.99/month which includes a free Let’s Encrypt SSL, daily auto backups, unmetered traffic, and up to 10,000 visitors/month.

If you’re stired of lousy customer service and want to work with the industry’s best customer support team, give SiteGround a try.

How to Save: 

• Plan: StartUp at $4.99/month
• Term: 12 months
• Total cost at checkout: $59.88
• Savings: $120

What Is The Best Web Hosting For Business Blogging

As a business owner who runs an ecommerce, a SaaS, or an Agency and want to start a business blog, your priorities when choosing the best hosting will be very different than that of hobby bloggers.

If you’re a bit like my and my clients, the last thing you want is to compromise on the reputation of the web hosting provider.

Choosing a less-than-reputable provider increases your risk that your site might go down, get hacked, or that you run into server issues. You don’t want to feel a real effect on your revenue and profit.

That’s why choosing the best web hosting provider for business blogging is important and should focus on three key areas: security, reliability, and price.

Here are my top picks for the best web hosting for business blogging.

1. Bluehost Plus Plan.

This is the best overall plan for business blogging because it’s a great package that works best with WordPress and is reliable, reasonably priced, and secure.

Obviously, when you’re just starting your business blog, you can choose their basic package and as your blog scales, you can later upgrade to their Plus plan.

This package gives you unlimited domains, SPAM support, and an SSL certificate all for $7.49/month.

Once your business blog will get 50,000+ visitors per month you might want to check their Managed WordPress plans. With these plans, you can have more storage, unlimited bandwidth, and faster load times.

2. HostGator Baby Plan.

With uptime guarantees of 99.9% and a Baby Plan that starts at $3.50/month, this plan is the runner-up for the best choice for business blogging. They have an easy control panel, are really reliable, and offer a money-back guarantee if they don’t meet their uptime benchmarks.

If you’re looking for the best web hosting option for your business  blog, have a look a their Business plan. This Business plan is $5.25/month (65% off) and gives you free SSL certificates, a dedicated IP address, and free SEO tools.

What About The Best Free Web Hosting

Since I focus on helping ecommerce, SaaS, and Agencies, I NEVER recommand them a free hosting option as you’ll lose out on performance (Speed and scale).

Ultimately, I recommend avoiding these free providers and going with a high-quality option like Bluehost with their 51% discount.

Here is an overview of the best free web hosting with the most popular platforms compared and reviewed.

1. 000webhost

000webhost is a the free version of Hostinger so you can easily trust them. They don’t force any ads on their users like some other services, and they also offer paid plans. Their free option allows you to build 1 website with a 3G bandwith, but doesn’t come with any 24/7 customer service,

One great upsite is their loading speed that is pretty fast for a free option. On the other, 000webhost requires one hour of downtime per day for your business blog, so your site will be up around 95.8% per day… That’s a bummer.

2. x10Hosting.com

x10Hosting are a 10-year veteran in the free hosting game so you can rest assured that they know how to provide a stable, high-performance web hosting service that isn’t going to close overnight.

x10Hosting also offers a complete hosting package that comes with the latest versions of PHP, MySQL, and cPanel. They also offer a one-click web software installation and an easy to use website builder!

They offer “unlimited” disk space and bandwidth.

Their downside? x10Hosting have a High Resource Usage Policy, which allows them to throttle or suspend sites that are taking up too many resources.

3. AwardSpace

AwardSpace.com just like 000webhost also offers both free and premium web hosting. They now serve over 2.5 million users. With their open plan, you get 100% ad-free hosting, one-click CMS, and 24/7 tech support. Their downside? The free plans only give you 1 GB of disk space and 5GB of bandwidth, forcing you to sign up for one of their premium plans.

Also, one of their major drawback is that AwardSpace has a pretty long load times of over 1,5 seconds… enough for your readers to leave your business blog without reading one word.

4. FreeHosting.com

FreeHosting.com is probably one of the best free web hosting services on the market right now. Why?  Because of their unmetered bandwidth.

While other free web hosting options gives you aroun 300MB of server space, FreeHosting gives you 10GB of server space, one free email account, one MySQL database, and one domain (that you must already own). They offer free subdomains too.

Another nice feature is that offer an easy-to-use drag and drop site builder that comes with over 170 pre-designed templates.

One big drawback to FreeHosting is their site speed that comes in at around two seconds on average. With site speed being both important for your readers and as a ranking factor on Google, you probably would want to pass on this one.

5. Google Cloud Web Hosting

Google offers free hosting for small businesses. They offer their users with a pay per use model, so you only start paying once your site is active.

Their performance is impressive and one worth looking into, although they’re not technically free and are a pay-per-use model.

Web Hosting Comparison

So when choosing a  hosting provider, you should focus on these key features:

• Reliability
• Security
• Speed
• Support

I hope this short web hosting review gave you some context around which hosting companies fit your exact needs.

If you’re looking for the best web hosting platform, as you know I recommend Bluehost and you can get started for just $3.95/month (51% off).

In the end, a web host company provides ease of use, security, speed, allowing you to focus on starting and scaling your online business.

Not dealing with issues, right?

To your success!