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  1. You’ve got some great advice here including some details that I think many people overlook including the difference your email address can make in how professional you look! Thank you for sharing.

  2. Love this post! I’ve been blogging for a few months now and reading A LOT about blogging, but found your article very helpful and a great overview about all that is needed to start a blog. Going to save this so I can come back to it when I start my new blog so I actually do everything right from the beginning this time:) I second the Genius Bloggers Toolkit. Just bought my second one and there’s so much great info in there!

    1. Thanks, Christina. That’s awesome! This is the first year that I bought the Genius Bloggers Toolkit and can’t believe the amount of information it contains. I’ve already used 4 of the tools inside. A must for every serious blogger. 🙂

  3. This is such a great resource for those who are starting out and even for someone who has been blogging for years now like me.  In fact, the most challenging, I guess, is the keyword research. And, as you mentioned, it’s close to impossible to compete in ranking against sites that have established themselves as the authorities on certain niches, especially if you don’t know the right keywords for your blog.  Good thing you included Neil’s blog post!

    Awesome article, Jade!  Keep it up!

  4. Three years ago, a friend told me his story how he’s able to send his two children to an exclusive school with the income he’s earning from blogging. Well, that was three years ago and I wonder if we can still make the same amount of money this 2019. So, I searched on Google and found this long article of yours about blogging. I am quite desperate to make money online but the way I see it with your blog post, it looks like a hard work. Can I just hire someone to do the blogging for me?

    1. Hi Gomer, that’s certainly an option though you might want to consider exactly what you’ll be outsourcing as I don’t think it’s possible to outsource the entire thing. Of course, what you can do is just buy a blog that’s already up and running. If you check out this post, it talks about blog flipping and you can certainly get one that’s already generating an income. 

      https://liveablissfullife.com/2019/07/top-10-ways-to-make-money-from-home/

      Mind you, a blog that already generates a full-time income can cost a pretty penny. Sometimes, more than 6-figures even! 

  5. Hey Jade,

    Thanks for an amazing post! Full of details on what to download, and what courses to attend. I love it! I want to do especially Pinterest and email marketing – and I’d love another fresh view on affiliate marketing. So, would you suggest taking these courses besides Wealthy Affiliate, or should I stick to Wealthy Affiliate trainings?

    Thanks!

    Marios

    1. Hi Marios, 

      Wealthy Affiliate does a great job of giving you all the tools you need to have a great go of affiliate marketing. However, they don’t focus so much on what you can do with things like Pinterest and email marketing. If those are things you wish to drastically improve, I highly recommend getting these two and implementing them alongside the WA training. Just an aside, Pinteresting Strategies require consistency for it to work. If you don’t have the time to pin every single day, then you might want to consider investing in a dedicated Pinterest scheduler. We’ll be writing more about that soon so we’ll keep you posted. 🙂

  6. This is a truly good post. If I was a newbie to the world of online marketing and I read your post, I would’ve joined wealthy affiliate instantly. Everything you have said here is accurate. From the support to all the tools and training. I have not seen any one write about blogging as comprehensive and accurate as this. This is a great post and I’ll definitely share it on my social media platforms. Best regards

  7. Hi Jade. I’m actually using Wealthy Affiliate and love the training here. I have set up my blog and started writing content, but my website isn’t making any money yet. Anyway, it’s not 6 months old yet, so many people told me all I have to do is to continue and wait, as things will get better after this time. I will definitely use your guide, as I wasn’t aware of all those courses and ebooks that are available. I’m mostly interested in those Pinterest strategies, as I want to get some traffic from social media pretty soon. From your experience, which is the social channel that can bring in most traffic? I heard the traffic from Pinterest is better than the one from Twitter or Facebook, but I want to hear another opinion.

    1. Hi Ashley, it totally depends on your niche but from what I can see, Pinterest is a game-changer for many but you do need to know how to leverage it. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is NOT social media. It is, in fact, a visual search engine. So, Pinterest = Google on visual steroids lol

      If you’re in the food, travel, parenting, teaching niches then you could find most of your traffic is coming from Pinterest – as long as you know how to use it. Pinteresting Strategies is highly recommend if you’re new to Pinterest because it’s manual, which means you don’t need to spend money yet again on another scheduler. Tailwind is awesome but in the beginning, you don’t really need it, you just need consistency.

      Good luck and let us know how you get on.

  8. Hi,

    This is a very insightful article, packed full of information for the budding online entrepreneur. It is well set out, easy to read and very straightforward. No one can be in any doubt as to what is required in order to build a successful blog. I like how you have set it all out. By the way your website looks very professional and inviting.

    Louise

  9. Excellent and detailed info, and it’s up-to-date! I love that you actually mentioned Pinterest because lots of articles about starting a blog mentions FB, Insta and Twitter, but always neglects Pinterest, which is actually one of the best (if not the best) ways to generate traffic to a blog, especially new blogs. 

    1. Hi Nate, yes! There are so many blogs that say Pinterest is their main traffic driver. Unfortunately, we’re not one of them. haha Our top spot goes to Quora and second goes to Facebook. Pinterest is a mere third place but it’s probably the lack of consistency on our part that causes that.

  10. The is truly a really great post here. I have just started my online blogging business and I feel this is going to further help me start making money from it. I doubt if this comprehensive post didn’t touch any part of setting up a blog and making money from it. I have bookmarked your post and I will make sure to use it for future reference. Thanks for sharing this awesome post.

    1. Thanks, Henderson. Yes, this post is designed to help the new blogger make effective choices. Do let us know if we can help you in setting up your blog and shoot us an email when it’s ready. We’d love to take a look.

  11. Hi, your post is unique and educating, I came across your post at the right time of my life. I am a new user in wealthy affiliate but I don’t have any knowledge about how to set up my blog to make money from it. I am grateful that some of the methods to grow my business was mentioned by my friend and you are the second.

    I will be sharing your post on my social media so that my friend and family can as well benefit from your post to boost their blogging business.

    1. Thank you for your comment.

      The internet is full of information and some of them contradict each other. No wonder beginners are confused. We’re happy that you found this particular post helpful and appreciate the shares. 

      If you need any help, do let us know. We believe online entrepreneurship depends heavily on collaboration and helping each other.

  12. Very professional, organized article and lots of helpful information. This is very well written and its nice to watch videos!  Wealthy Affiliate and my experience is that you are learning every second, get to met new people and the step by step guide is very unique. If you do what you love you will never work a day in your life and Wealthy Affiliate will help you reach your goals and do what you are passionate about. Your resources and information are very helpful thank you ! 

  13. Hello Jade!

    What a fantastic article you have written! It is so much comprehensive, I love to read about all the features Wealthy Affiliate offers and I have to say if I would not have been the member of Wealthy Affiliate, I would go for it after reading your post! I really appreciate other tips e.g.  WPEngine, this is something I have no clue about, thank you for this tip! As a member of the Wealthy Affiliate community, I have to support you, there is all in one. As a premium member, we have full-time service and it is even not so expensive! I am happy to be the part of WA family, did not regret a day to become a member!

    Thank you again for your great post, looking for another one and wish you all the best!

    Bye Renata

    1. Hi Renata,

      Thank you very much for sharing your experience. It’s much appreciated and really showcases how helpful WA has been. We’d be the first to say that it’s been a game-changer for us. 🙂

  14. This is a great roundup of resources for getting a blog setup in the best way to allow the writer to earn some money for all their hard work. I’m especially happy to see the Tasty Pins information, as I’ve been wondering how to incorporate the images I want for pinterest without always having to add them to the page. 

    The email marketing fiary is also a great resource! Thanks so much for sharing!!

  15. Great article loaded with all ingredient needed to set up a blog,setting up a website with steps to follow and Wealthy Affiliate offers the training even before upgrading to premium,your write-up really direct people the way out to own a blog in order to make or generate income,and for a website to get traffic, It’s almost impossible to get ranked unless you know what keywords to aim for,which is the key of SEO which must be done.Thanks for sharing this write-up.

  16. Thank you so much for all the information you provided here! This post in itself was a godsend for me; I can’t wait to dig through your site to see what other golden info nuggets await! 

    I am actually already a member of Wealthy Affiliate. I started going through their training about 3 months ago and I am simply astonished at everything I have learned and accomplished in this time. The old saying holds true though – the more you learn, the less you feel you know! 

    Long story short, with everything I’ve learned, I decided to take that accumulated knowledge and start from the beginning and completely rebuild and restructure my site and my business before I get so far along that doing so would become impossible. 

    Wealthy Affiliate has a ton to offer by way of training but I think I could benefit from some of the courses you have detailed here too. I’m especially interested in Pinteresting Strategies and The Email Marketing Fairy. Thanks a ton for all the pointers, MUCH appreciated!

    1. Hi Shannon, thanks for your comment and happy to know we were able to provide valuable information. 

      Those two courses are fab and I totally recommend them. Funny thing, the Carly (the author of Pinteresting Strategies) just recently discovered Kate Doster (the author of The Email Marketing Fairy) and she absolutely loves her.

      Let us know how you get on and we hope to see you on Wednesday when we kick off our Beyond The 9-5 Series, where we talk about the people who’ve escaped the daily grind. 🙂

  17. Overall, the list of resources provided in your article is really a fantastic one and will work well for any new or experienced blogger. I definitely like the idea of getting started with Wealthy Affiliate, since anyone new to blogging can get everything they need in one place; training, help and support, domain names, keyword tools etc. The step-by-step video training is easy to follow so getting started with Wealthy Affiliate is really a no-brainer for anyone looking to set up a blog to make money. Having all the resources in one place, makes it really convenient. For a newbie, what would you recommend from your list as the top five (5) things to focus on, to get started online? 

    1. Hi Vanessa, that’s an excellent question. 

      If I were starting over and had the knowledge I do now, I’d start with these five things (in order of importance): a Wealthy Affiliate subscription, a Genesis theme & the plugins, Jaaxy, Pinteresting Strategies and The Email Marketing Fairy. 🙂

  18. Hi Jade! It’s so nice I have come to your site. There is so much information online concerning how to start blogging that it’s a bit overwhelming. I’m glad to know that with this platform you have suggested, (called Wealthy Affiliate) many of the things we require are all included in one place. I have read about email marketing. And I also use Pinterest. I’m glad to read we can use these strategies to grow our site.

    1. Thank you for your comment, Henry, and we’re so happy that you found our post valuable. I agree that blogging can be quite overwhelming and you really do need to choose what’s most important. Let us know how things are going with you and what we can help you with. 

      Always happy to help. 🙂

  19. Thanks for the well explained article you have made available for many beginners out there looking to setup a website, wealthy affiliate does seem to be the best choice in making this happen as it comes with a whole lot of advantages and would be my best recommendation to anyone who want to have a successful online business setup.

  20. If it wasn’t for some help from my partner, I am not sure I would ever get my site up and running as I have very little if no background at all.

    That being said, I have learned thnigs along the way and your article is very well laid out, point by point so it easy to follow for someone like me.

    I am currently using Jaxxy and loving it – it is simple to use and with just a little research and Wealthy Affiliate, I am able to successfully perform keyword research before writing my posts.  It is really making a difference!

    1. I can completely relate. When you’re just starting out, you always get told by more experienced bloggers to just write quality content and your readers will come. Well actually, that’s not true. If you don’t know what keywords to use, you’d never get ranked and nobody will find you – unless, by some miracle, you go viral on a social media platform.

      When we found out about the importance of keyword research, we had to spend almost a month reworking all the posts we’ve already published. There weren’t even many – not even 20 yet at the time so imagine if you were blogging for a year and then found out about keyword research and how important it is.

      I could cry just thinking about it.

  21. First of all may I just say that you are SUCH an engaging writer!  I even ended up clicking on one of your links and reading it as well!  What you have to say is very informative and easy to follow.  I appreciate that you give different options.  Even a link to if you need money now since WA won’t get you rich quick!  So thoughtful!

    I notice that you have Smush listed twice under what you’ll learn so I figure you must think it quite important!  Do you find it better than Kraken?

    I had NO IDEA about the nofollow in Pretty Links so I definitely learned something from reading your blog.  Thank you so much for the highly detailed blog.  I can’t think of one thing you missed.  Not one!  Well done!

    1. Thank you very much for your kind words. Much appreciated. 🙂

      I personally didn’t even know until after I also started blogging how many people must have gone down the blogging route in a desperate attempt to earn money. That’s probably why the stats are abysmal – many bloggers quit by month 3. I reckon it’s because no money is coming in and they start wondering, what the heck?

      Unfortunately, blogging IS a business, which means you really need to factor in the set-up stage and how that stage rarely brings in income. 

      That’s why we added the link at the bottom (will probably edit it and link it up top so it’s easier for more people to access) because if you’re needing money now, blogging is not the way to go get it. 

      As for Smush, I would love to take credit for that foresight but unfortunately, that was just a typo, which I’ve just edited. lol

      That said, image compression and optimisation are extremely important. I didn’t realise exactly how important they are until my site slowed way down after I uploaded my 10th 3MB image. Thanks to a WA training, I now know much better. 🙂

  22. Hi Jade, 

    Thanks for the great article, I really love the detail nad information provided. If I were looking to get started with blog, I would be able to get started right away just by following the structure and system you have outlined here. I know that it takes time to learn apply and start seeing results when you are looking to monetize your blog, how long do you think it may takee for a complete Newbie to start seeing results and make money using these tips? Thnaks again for your work, I really enjoyed the read!

    Best regards, 

    Jefrey M. 

    1. Hi Jefrey,

      Thank you very much for your kind words and for taking the time to share your thoughts. We do love hearing from our readers. 

      Now, I’m going to give you an answer that is true but probably doesn’t provide you with the answer you require: it depends. It depends on the results you’re looking for, the budget you have, your niche, on how often you post, what you post, how often you market and promote your blog and where exactly you promote your blog.

      If you’re like most newbies (in other words, cautious, don’t want to spend money unnecessarily, working a full-time job and slightly strapped for cash), then you won’t have the time or the budget required to make an almost-overnight success of your blog. Unless you get lucky and get viral, you probably will have to fight tooth and nail to get those pageviews.

      And more pageviews means more ad income. 

      Boy, I can write so much about this that I’m going to have to publish an entire post

      I’ll tag you once it’s up. Thanks for giving me an idea. ðŸ™‚

  23. I use Pinterest often but haven’t used the Tasty Pins plug-in, so I might give that a go as some of my target audience may very well be hanging out on Pinterest. I love your other plug-in recommendations and I use all of the above. Pretty Links is king, I will say that; they allow such an easy way to place an affiliate link onto the blog without all the clutter, giving readers an enticing link rather than a chessboard! 

    Overall, you have an excellent outline here. 

    1. Thanks, Todd. 

      I kept hearing Pretty Links before and resisted for so long. When I finally gave in – sometime around month 3 or 4, I couldn’t believe how easy it was and how much more professional my links looked (especially for people like me, who liked to hover on the links before clicking just to make sure I’m not going to get redirected to somewhere iffy).

      Tasty Pins is a gamechanger if you rely on Pinterest for your traffic. Highly recommended 🙂

  24. Is there any part of blogging that this doesn’t talk about? I’m not sure. I am not sure that I’ve ever come across a post as this much detailed about making money through blogging and I’m appreciative of the fact that it is well detailed. I am just aspiring to take a dig into the world of blogging and this post has been of immense help to me on how to get started. Thanks so much for this

    1. Hi RoDarrick, thank you very much for your kind words. 

      Blogging is such a learning curve and I created this post for people who are just starting out and who were just as confused as I was in the beginning. When I first started, I was like a magpie – going after every single shiny new thing. And there were so many shiny new things!

      Eventually, after a good few months, I came up with this list and these are the only things that I’m using to make my blog a success. 🙂

      Give them a try and do let me know how you get on. Just remember to enjoy the process. It’s such fun!

  25. Thanks for taking time to share this important content to help those who desire to blog and earn along with it. It was few months ago I joined wealthy affiliate, and I’ve really made  massive progress. My friends who saw me start had to ask me how I did it; maybe this article will answer their several questions and also guide them (so I’m sharing this post right away). Wealthy affiliate is the real deal, free hosting (for multiple websites), tons of tutorials to help you grow, keyword research tools. What more can one ask for (lol!).

    Awesome writeup Jade.

    Regards

    1. Thanks for your comment, Jordan.

      I don’t know how you came across WA but I was already on my third month when it happened to me, purely by accident (I was researching another company and the first review that came up compared that company with WA). I can’t even imagine where I’d be right now if I hadn’t joined. Probably would’ve given up already.

      As it is, I’m 9 months in and still having the time of my life. 🙂

  26. This is a great website! So much information in just the right amount to inform us about how to make money on blogs. There are so many people like myself that want to get into this but have no idea where to start, who to trust, and what is entailed. I am glad I came across this. Thanks!

    1. Dear Jade,
      Truly a great blog! I just stumbled on it while searching for something else. It drew me in right away.
      What stood out, though, was your writing. It’s breezy and informal and CLEAR. Lately I’ve been reading blogs that are so badly written that I have to decipher what they mean.
      Thanks for a good read and for inspiring me to set up a blog. What topic it should cover, I don’t know. Now that’s an idea for a blog column!

      1. Thanks, Michelle. Your kind words made me smile. If you’re serious about setting up a blog, please do send me an email and perhaps I can help you brainstorm.

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