Start and make a money blog this year with these 15 resources!

Can we agree that we all love to make extra money?

Well, today I will show you how you can make a money blog this year that will make you money.

I won't lie and say that when you start a blog, you will automatically make money; however, with hard work and with these resources, you too can make a money blog this year and earn some extra cash in time.

As simple as starting a money blog sounds, it takes a lot of hard work; but this doesn't mean you can't make money. Starting a money blog requires planning and dedication.

I started this blog with no idea of what I was doing. It was when I wanted to start making extra cash from home that I decided to get serious and start earning money.

My goals were to make a few hundred dollars because I wanted to keep it realistic; and with kids and planning a wedding at the time, I knew I couldn't invest time to my blog then.

During my honeymoon, I read this book called How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul and it made sense to me, it spoke to me, and I started from there.

One thing that I had to do that I've never done before was:

To be honest and stop all excuses and execute.

OK, so maybe it was technically three things, but this book gave me the motivation I needed to turn my blog into a profitable one.

I knew I wanted to try and help people with finances, as well as create a new adventure at home! I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, leave my insecurities behind, and turn this blog into what I envisioned.

Keeping it real here:

I was so overwhelmed with all the blogging information out there; one way to stop the information overload was to ask fellow bloggers questions and get their advice.

I also learned that blogging groups and communities can be helpful, but can also set you back.

Most importantly, I also learned that I couldn't make a money blog successful alone; I needed support.

As my blog grew, the money grew; I decided that after taking Elite Blog Academy, I would show my readers my online income reports each month. I did this because I wanted to show my readers what course had helped me, and I also needed to hold myself accountable.

I also wanted small bloggers, like myself, to see that it is possible to make money, even if you have low pageviews.

One reason I have learned from blogging is that people love to follow the hype. I keep my income modest and achievable because that's my personal preference. I enjoy reading income reports because it gives me motivation.

How can you start a money blog this year and make it work?

Take a look below:

How to Make A Money Blog This Year

Research first

The truth is that there are tons of information when it comes to blogging. There are eBooks, courses, and even coaching services to help you achieve blog monetization.

I know I've read and taken courses that have helped me, but some courses aren't as helpful; and when you start reading every single book about blogging, you will find that many are just saying the same things.

The same can be said about blogging courses out there, you will probably want to buy every course because you want to succeed; but at the end of it, you will have wasted much of your time and money because you will realize that it is telling you the same information you have read before.

Now the real problem might not be the courses or the ebook, but YOU!

If you have taken one course then I suggest you give yourself plenty of time to implement what the course has taught you. Many new bloggers go chasing the fast way to grow pageviews and money that don't even implement what the course has taught them.

Blogging takes time!

A successful blogger takes even longer!

So how can you stop yourself from overspending your money on products to help your blog?

Remember when I mentioned blogging groups? Then you need to read what next because this is going to help you.

Researching on your own and not believing everything people tell you is important.

I learned the hard way that though blogging groups are very helpful, they can also be harmful. You see, many blogging groups are managed by bloggers themselves, though these bloggers are usually helpful, some of them are simply there to make money off other bloggers naiveness and eagerness to earn money online; mostly new bloggers.

You will hear this:

“Buy this course.”
“Learn ALL about SEO with this course.”
“Use this advertisement agency!”
“Don't use this hosting company, use the one I use!”

I'm sure you will hear these comments and much more and the truth is that they just want you to buy their products so they can make money, they could care less about you and your success.

Remember they are making money because they are selling you their products!

Again, some courses, coaching services, and eBooks are great; but just like real life, you have some bad apples out there.

For many reasons, you have to do your own research and not always go by hearsay from everyone you meet.

To help you get started, always ask a trusted blogging friend that is not trying to make money off me, someone who just simply wants to help you.

That being said, if that friend has an affiliate link, be a good blogging friend and use his or her link! 😉

Researching will be the most important thing you will do if you want to start a money blog. It is important that you do this first before you end up burnt out and wasting money.

Believe me, the time you do research will pay off in the future, and you want to start your blog off on the right foot!

Below are links to sites with free information regarding starting a money blog:

Elite Blog Academy Blog – Though I am so happy I decided to take this course I will say that the blog part of this site is full of amazing FREE information for those of you who are trying to take your blog to the next level.

I know this course is expensive but is worth it. The good news is that you can take advantage of the FREE resources, just click blog and start there.

How To Start a Blog – Beginner’s Guide for 2017 -This post is full of great information, all free of course!

ProBlogger – This site you will use heavily and continue to use because it is so resourceful for us bloggers.

YouTube – YouTube is a resource for almost anything in life! You can find helpful videos to help your blog.

Amy Lynn Andres – I have to say that this was one of the first sites I visited to help me start my money blog. Make sure you sign up for her weekly Useletters!

Smart Passive Income – Another site that has been around and is full of helpful information for all levels of blogging.

Reading is your friend!

If you don't like reading, then blogging might not be for you. When you research, you will find out that many of these sites will guide you to books that are very useful.

I, for instance, told you that I read How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul, but the truth is that there are so many helpful books out there; some are free, and some are very affordable.

If you are a Kindle Unlimited member, you will find some amazing eBooks to read at no cost to you. For $9.99 a month (OK, you have to pay a monthly fee, but you can get 30 days free), I am able to read some of the best blogging books around; and if you are a new blogger, maybe Kindle Unlimited will work for you.

If you don't want to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, you will be able to find some good free blogging eBooks that are very helpful for beginner bloggers.

Set up your blog

Setting up a blog is not as hard as you might think. The problem is that you are going to have a hard time deciding if you want to have a free no-hosting blog or a self-hosted blog.

This is followed by which is the best hosting company out there, and this is where it gets overwhelming sometimes. I started my money making blog with BlueHost, and if you ask other bloggers, they will say go with another one and so on and so on.

If you are looking to start your blog without spending any money, you might want to try Blogger.com, WordPress.com (not WordPress.org), or Weebly!

I started blogging using Blogger and WordPress.com, and look at me now! eh?!

These are absolutely free, but before you go ahead and use them, please find out all the pros and cons about them. You can learn more about Weebly pros and cons here.

For example, you can't add advertisements like ads when you use WordPress.com, however, you can with Blogger.com. I have not used Weebly personally, but they are limited with blog theme layouts. With Blogger.com you can pick themes, and you can place ads but your control of the blog is limited.

Blogger belongs to Google, and if you don't know anything about Google, I don't know what to tell you, but I can judge you! LOL! There have been rumors of Google shutting down blogs. On that note, I have never heard of this happening to anyone I know or to me. My old blog, as of right now, is still online.

Since I have used them both, I recommend always starting self-host site; but if you are trying to see how this blogging works, then try creating a blog for free. Now, personally, I recommend Blogger vs Free WordPress because you have more control. Yes, WordPress has nice themes, but Blogger is for beginners, hands down. You have more options and control.

Self-hosting is the way to go if you are planning on growing your blog and you want to earn a nice income. I started to make my money when I created this blog when I decided that self-hosting was the right way to grow my money blog.

Creating a blog name

Before you start your blog, free hosting or not, let's start thinking of a name for your blog. Now finding a domain company is not hard at all. As a rule, I tend to keep my domain and my hosting companies separate. I also use NameCheap for my domains and believe me, I have a few domains! NameCheap also has hosting packages that are affordable too, just in case you are looking for cheap hosting services.

Keep in mind that some people will try to sell you a hosting company to make money, and that is OK. For this reason, I always suggest and recommend that YOU do your own research (I sound like a broken record), call or contact web-hosting companies and find out every detail that you need before you make your purchase.

If you are going to create a site to sell products or to sell apps, or just a personal blog, you need to find out what hosting company and package is going to work for your blog and business. I started with BlueHost, and as I expanded my online business, I went with LiquidWeb. BlueHost is very affordable, but you have to pay up front, there is no monthly installment payment. Another popular hosting site is SiteGround, and they are very affordable and very helpful.

If you just want to start a mommy blog, there are so many free resources that will guide you to start. Below are FREE blogging resources to help you start your own blog:

Start A Blog 101 – This is a free step by step course to help you get your blog started! It is full of free printables and videos too!

Start A Money Blog – This is a post that contains a step by step guide if you are interested in hosting your site with BlueHost.

What to do next after setting your site up

It is time to start writing your content that will get you traffic. I am going to be honest here, you have to write good content, great content even, content that is going to drive people to come to your blog.

Just because your blog is now running, you are not going to become a millionaire overnight, this is where the hard work comes in.

I never said blogging is easy, and if you followed my journey, you know that it takes time and work to start making money.

This is when all your research and reading comes into play. You are going to implement what you have spent hours learning and researching, you are going to write great content and start growing your blog.

You are going to:

• pick topics that your readers are interested in.
• write great content
• add great images
• stay focused and on track
• inspire your readers to come back for more

Yes, you are going to do all of the above and use what you have learned from researching, reading, and you are going to make this blogging thing happen.

Your post content is going to have catchy titles that are going to stand out and drive people to your blog. Your visuals are going to be helpful and conversational to bring people in.

You will start your blog with the best content, the best photos, and the best layout so you don't go back and fix them later.

With the resources in this post, you will be able to find and learn what is best and what works, and what I mean when I said you will do better than just OK if you want to make a money blog this year!

Good resources to help you build good content:

• Grammarly – This is a very useful little app to use when you write.
• How to Write a Blog Post: A Simple Formula + 5 Free Blog Post Template –This post is full of great information to help you write great content.

Sites to create a great image:

• PicMonkey – Very popular with bloggers, you can create amazing images, printables, you name it!
• Pexel – Free professional images
• Canva – This site has some free images, and you can create the best images to help your blog.

Start building your email

This is something that I never did before, and now I am regretting it, I never thought of building my email subscribers.

This you will start doing now because I don't want you to make the same mistake I made years ago. To build your subscription rate, you need to subscribe to email companies, and there are plenty of them out there.

Since I love to start you off with free, I will tell you that opening an account with MailChimp will be the best thing to do.

Others will recommend ConvertKit and other companies, but since you are starting out, why do you want to pay for those services when you are not making any money?

I recommend you start with MailerLite, it's free up to 1000 subscribers. It's the company I use right now and it continues to grow.

**If email is another way you want to make money online check out Leadpages!

The smart thing to do is to start with an email company that is going to offer free services at first until you are ready to handle email marketing, or you reach the free limit of subscribers allowed. Also, some of these companies are not cheap either.

Check out this resource to learn how you to grow your email subscription:

The 2017 Guide For Growing Your Email List 1K in 30 Days

Continue to build trust with your audience

As you continue to write and grow your email subscriptions, you will start gaining readers' trust. Start by offering a freebie, not just any freebie, a useful freebie.

Now, this is where I'm going to sound crazy, but if you decided to make a blog because you just want money, your readers are going to know and not trust you.

You have to invest time to start making money on a blog. What I am giving you is the tools to start making a money blog.

Never on this post did I say you will start making money right away! A money blog is a business, and with the tools provided, you will start earning money at some point.

For this reason, it is important to start writing and start earning your readers' trust.

Using ads to earn money

If you want to add ads from companies such as Google Adsense and Media.net, you can, but this doesn't mean that you will start earning money.

Ad incomes start generating with blog growth; and to make a nice income, your pageviews must be high.

As time passes and your blog starts to grow, you can start joining other ad companies. Keep in mind that your blog must be at least 30 days old to sign up with these companies.

Again, I would continue to write and focus on email subscriptions and earning your readers trust before worrying about money.

Social Media

Social media plays a critical role in growing a blog; for this reason, you need to make sure you set it up,  but if you don't have great content, then you need to focus on that first.

Open a Facebook page, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Now, I'm not going to go into too many details about setting this up, but I will give you resources for social media growth.

This can be very overwhelming, and below you will find some courses and resources that are free and helpful when it comes to social media.

Build an Engaged Facebook Page from Scratch – This is a free course where you will learn how to set up a Facebook page and gives you a better understanding of Facebook and growing your page.

The Ultimate Guide On How To Use Pinterest For Marketing – This is a great post; of course, this is from a scheduling company which is a very good company, but I want you to focus on the information it gives regarding Pinterest.

Conclusion

I believe that this post is long enough and full of information, maybe too much.

But before I let you go to start your money blog, below is a list of more free resources available to help you grow your money blog with the option of purchasing.

Also, I want you to remember that there are always budget friendly options, which is what I am providing in this post.

But at some point, you are going to have to invest money in your blog, and this will pay itself back in the future. Think about this.

Free Blogging Resources

• A free training from Elite Blog Academy 3.0 first video will be available February 21 in you inbox. This is a limited time only, so please if you are interested, please head over here.
• Start A Blog 101 – This is a free step by step course to help you get your blog started! It is filled with free printables and videos too!
• Start A Money Blog – This is a post that contains a step by step guide if you are interested in hosting your site with BlueHost.

• Take a free assessment about your blog!
• Grab this free Blog Boost Income E-Book.
• Free Goal Setting Workbook for bloggers.
• Free Income Tracker to help you keep track of your income.

Good resources to help you build good content:

• Grammarly – This is a very useful little app to use when you write.
• How to Write a Blog Post: A Simple Formula + 5 Free Blog Post Template –This post is full of great information to help you write great content.

Sites to create great images:

• PicMonkey – Very popular with bloggers, you can create amazing images, printables, you name it!* As of 09/2017 this is no longer free.
• Pexel – Free professional images
• Canva – This site has some free images and you can create the best images to help your blog.