How To Start A Profitable Blog In 7 Steps: Taught By Award Winning Blogger Elaine Rau

2K Shares

Starting your own blog may seem a little daunting at first, but don’t worry!

The whole process should take less than 30 minutes.

By the end of this blog post, you’ll be publishing your very first post and sharing it with the world!

Why am I qualified to teach you how to blog?

A year after I, Elaine Rau, started LadyBossBlogger, I was interviewed by the Huffington Post due to the incredible success of my blog.
Since then in under 3 years, I have garnered 200,000+ followers worldwide and been featured in 300+ magazines, books, publications, and hundreds of prominent blogs.
I now speak at conferences all around the world about how to blog professionally!

Here are the 7 basic steps to starting a blog:

Find & Know Your Niche
Domains, Platforms & Hosts
Themes, Design & Plugins
Main Pages
Posts & Content Strategy
Spread The Love
Monetization Strategies

Before we begin, let me remind you of your goal: YOU WANT TO START A PROFITABLE BLOG.

Say this phrase below OUT LOUD (or even better TWEET IT for accountability)!

'I am starting my blog today because zero action produces zero results. I am not going to give in to my excuses. I will follow the blog post from start to finish and at the end, I will have STARTED MY FIRST BLOG.'Click To Tweet

Ready? Let’s power through this!

how to start a profitable blog ladybossblogger

1. Find & Know Your Niche

What you want to blog about is the NICHE and the main topic of your blog.

Most of us are interested in a lot of things, but I would suggest you focus on ONE OVERALL TOPIC for now, then expand to another topic later.

You can choose one from the list below if you’d like:

Take this quiz to see which niche fits you best.

OR read my viral post: 12 Most Profitable Niches For Making Money Online.

Your results will probably include a little of each niche, which is very common – my results are below.

Focus on the MAIN TOPIC that won over the rest.

Come up with ONE blog post title about that topic.

DO IT RIGHT NOW, DON’T PROCRASTINATE.

If you need help, read this: How To Write Irresistibly Clickable Headlines.

Or check out the image below. If it’s helpful, remember to pin it for later use.

If you can’t come up with a headline, the niche may not be the best fit.

Make sure there is plenty to write about on the topic you choose.

The more you write, the more you’ll learn what it is you like to write about and what your audience likes too!

For example, after 2 years of blogging, I noticed that my blog posts about making money online always performed the best, which is why I created 3 online courses to address all the questions that came into my mailbox every day.

You’ll create courses and digital products too later on, BUT FIRST, you need to write some blog posts to see what your audience responds to, but even before that, you need to write headlines that people will click on!

2. Domains, Platforms, & Hosts

Now that you’ve chosen your niche and written one blog post headline, you’re ready to start building the foundation of your blog.

For this step there are 3 things you will need to do:

1. Purchasing A Domain Name

Your domain name is the name of your blog. It’s important to purchase it because then YOU OWN IT.

If you start a free blog, such as www.ladybossblogger.wordpress.com, you won’t be able to monetize it because it’s not your property.

Going with a free blogging website is similar to moving into an apartment building with a controlling landlord.

You won’t always be allowed to design your apartment/blog how you’d like.
You won’t be able to have a personalized domain name that you own.
There always exists the possibility of being thrown out by your landlord!

You can either create a PERSONAL blog or a PROFESSIONAL blog or a COMBINATION of the two.

Personal Blog = your name (ex: ElaineRau.com) and you’re the main blogger
Professional Blog = your brand’s name (ex: LadyBossBlogger.com) and you may have guest bloggers
Combination Blog = your brand’s name but you are the main blogger and probably don’t have guest bloggers (ex: LadyBossInfluencer.com)

Most bloggers have a combination blog where they brand themselves by coming up with a name that suits their niche.

The benefit of NOT naming your blog your name is the ability to SCALE later on and your SEARCHABILITY is higher in Google.

Most people won’t search for your name before they know who you are, but they will search for what you write about or what you do.

For example: If someone was looking for “boss bloggers” on Google, my blog www.ladybossblogger.com would pop up before www.elainerau.com even if I had similar content posted on both.

HOWEVER, if you are unsure what niche you want or think you might switch topics later, it’s safer to go with your name because it’s more flexible if you want to pivot.

BLOG NAME GENERATOR

Create a list of words associated with your niche.
Run those words through thesaurus.com to come up with more words.
Think of some slang, made up words, and phrases around your niche.
Optional: Add your name in the mix.
Put the words together in various different combinations.

NOTE: It’s more important to start than to get stuck on what to name your blog.

Honestly, the NAME of your blog isn’t as important as the CONTENT on your blog.

If your content is good, your name is supplemental to it.

But first, you need to make sure that the domain name you want is still AVAILABLE.

Click the image below to find out if your domain name is still available on the internet!

2. Determine Your Platform

WordPress is the ONLY blogging platform that you should consider.
WordPress is what gives your website its blogging capabilities because not every website is automatically a blog!
95% of bloggers use WordPress and for good reason – because it’s the best.

3. Choosing A Host

A host is a company that lets you purchase space on their servers to store your blog.

For example, let’s say you want to build a house. You’ll need to purchase the land and buy the materials in order to do so, but you don’t have the money upfront.

Your host, for a small monthly fee, lets you move into their beautiful gated community where they give you both the structure and the space to design and build your very own house/blog for less than $3/month.

However, it’s important not to go with just any hosting company.

You need one that is:

Dependable
Been around a long time
Has fast website speeds
Has great customer service
And lots of happy clients

I partnered with a hosting company to create the Perfect Blogging Package for you guys, which includes everything you need to get started at the most affordable price.

This is what you get in the custom Beginner’s Blogging Package:

Super steep discount
FREE domain
FREE SSL certificate
WordPress capabilities
24/7 phone + chat support
30-day money-back guarantee

Click on the image below to access your special rates! ?

Let me walk you through how to navigate the 5 simple steps you’ll go through after you click on the green Get Started Now button above.

Don’t worry, I will explain all the “techy details” for you so you can make the best decisions.

STEP 1:

You’ll see the different packages available. I have explained what everything means below.

If something doesn’t make sense, email me directly at ladybossblogger@gmail.com and I can explain it to you.

Website – how many domain names you’re allowed under the host
Website space – unless you upload lots of large photo and video files, it is very rare to exceed 50GB
Bandwidth – they don’t put a limit on how fast your website loads
Performance – performs well like any website should with a good host
SSL certificate – this is what makes your website secure with https:// instead of http:// this is mandatory for every single website on the internet, if you were to purchase this separately, it can range anywhere from $50-100
Included domains – normally for a domain name it can range anywhere from $5-20 but you’re getting it for free
Parked domains – if you have another website that you want to point to your main website, it’s a parked domain because all it does it direct you to your main website
Sub domains – these are created to organize and navigate to different sections of your website, for example for my courses I have courses.ladybossblogger.com
Email accounts – you can create an info@yourdomain.com, you’ll need an email associated with your domain for certain monetization methods
Email storage – unless you’re sending large files all the time, 100MB is good enough
Marketing offers –

STEP 2:

Once you select a plan (you can always upgrade later), type in your desired domain name.

If you have already purchased a domain name, you can type it in the box on the right.

OR if you’re still unsure what domain name you want, you can always fill that in later.

Going through this process will simply help you claim your FREE DOMAIN NAME that you can name at a later time. ?

STEP 3:

Next, you’ll create your account and fill out your info.

STEP 4:

Scroll down and select your plan.

Your page might look a bit different depending on what you selected in regards to your domain name.

The main thing you’ll want to check is Domain Privacy Protection because you don’t want your information out there on the web. What BlueHost does is swap out your information for theirs so your info is kept private.

Also, check the FREE mailbox offer.

This is your investment towards your online business:

~$100 for the next 3 whole years
That’s ~$33/year
~$3/month which is cheaper than one cup of coffee!

NOTE: Remember to talk to your accountant or tax professional later about how you can claim this as a business expense. ?

And in case anything falls through, remember you have your 30-day money-back guarantee in place as well so it’s risk-free.

I bought everything separately… my domain, my web host, my SSL certificate, my email, which really added up, which is why we came up with this ALL INCLUSIVE PACKAGE for you so you don’t make the same mistake as I did!

STEP 5:

Scroll down, fill out your payment information, check the box, and hit submit!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! ???

You officially have the BASIC FOUNDATIONAL + STRUCTURAL components you need to create a profitable blog!