There is an amazing amount of bad information on the internet.  This post is not one of them.  I would like to share with you how to create a blog and make money.  I won’t be able to give you the entire solution in this post.  That takes an entire training platform.

I will give you the basic outline.  I will also direct you to the place that I learned how to create a website (blog) and how to learn for yourself. The steps required to do this are relatively easy but there is a right way and many wrong ways.

Understand How to Make Money with a Blog

In any niche, the process to make money is pretty much the same.

1. Choose an Interest
2. Build a Website
3. Get Rankings and Visitors
4. Earn Income by Recommending Products or Services

How to Find a Great Niche That You Can Blog About

The first thing you need to decide is what is it you want to share with the world.  This is called your niche.

A niche is an audience looking for stuff.

Wikipedia defines a Niche Market as the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused.

If you look around your house, you will see many niche markets.  Go to the kitchen, you will see appliances, countertops, cabinets.  Go to your living room, you will probably see furniture and a television.  Look in your bedroom, you will find more furniture of a different sort than the living area, bedding, clothing ( in my house it sometimes is even lying around on the floor).  Kids room?  OMG, look at all the toys!

How about a garage, Dad’s domain.  I bet there are tools of some kind.  Wrenches, maybe a table saw?  Is there a man cave in the basement?  I’m sure there might be some hunting and fishing gear or Sports stuff.

As you can see, there are niches everywhere.

You will get to understand that all around you there are niches that you can promote.  What you choose is up to you.  How you promote is the key.  You don’t want to sell, you want to provide good information that allows your readers to trust your opinion.  When you have trust, people will want to spend money with you.

The Secret to a Great Blog

The easiest thing for you to write about, and you will be writing often, is something you are passionate about.  Blogging becomes fun when it is something you already like.

Pick something that gets you excited.

When it comes to money, any niche can be good.  Pick something you are good at or want to be good at but are passionate about and we can work together to make it work for you.

I don’t know you yet, you don’t know me, but I’ve been living this online blogging lifestyle for 8 years now.  I can help you to get started.  I can help you choose the right thing for you.

Let me know what your passion is.

How to Get Started the Easy Way

Since you are probably new to all of this blogging stuff, you might want to start by creating a practice site.  Wealthy Affiliate makes it easy to do this with the tools they have available.

Right from the start, you will learn to set-up a website for blogging and be given 2 free websites to learn how to get a site online and start drawing readers.  The free sites can be transferred to a permanent site with a single click when you feel you are ready.

Creating your own website and getting yourself online can be hard with many other places.  Wealthy Affiliate makes it easy to get started.

While you are getting started, you will find that there is a caring community of other members that are learning right along with you.  There are thousands of members from all over the world that are learning to create their own websites.  A live chat is always available with other members that are ready and willing to help you get over any stumbling blocks.

Of course, you can always contact me on the site and I will help you over your rough spots as well.

Keywords Help Your Audience Find You

On your new site, you will be writing about your niche.  You will look for words or phrases that other people use to find the information that you are providing.  These are called keywords.  They are the key words that people use to find the information they are looking for.

When you have identified how people are searching, you can write your content to fit the way they are trying to find you.

This will maximize the number of visitors to your site.

Wealthy Affiliate has several resources for you that target keywords.  There is the Diamond Traffic Program, basically, an e-book that teaches you the ins and outs of keyword research.  Kyle also has a post about a technique that he calls the Alphabet Soup Technique that uses Google’s search recommendations to find keywords.

There are an amazing set of resources that teach about keywords but the most effective tool that Wealthy Affiliate provides is their Jaaxy keyword tool.  I have been using it since it was first released, it has gone through several changes and each one provides more and more market intelligence.

Jaaxy has several levels, Starter members get access to a limited Starter account that only provides keyword research.  Premium members of WA get access to the Jaaxy Lite level that gives you a bit more power.  Then you can purchase the Pro package or the Enterprise package that both have some excellent power to determine what people are searching.

If you are not a member of Wealthy Affiliate, Jaaxy is available as a paid keyword tool.

Take a Test Drive…Click, Learn, and Earn Free

The best way to learn to make money with a blog is to join Wealthy Affiliate.  A Starter membership is free and doesn’t expire.  You can work on the Starter Level for a long as you like.

When you choose your Screen Name during the sign-up, this will be your identity in WA.  Think about how you would like to present yourself.  Most people will add an image of themselves but there are a few stock images that you can choose if you would like to remain somewhat anonymous.

In my case, I chose the screen name Labman because I raise and train Labrador Retrievers.  Here are my current two, Elphie on the left and Gracie on the right.  Elphie is a Certified Therapy Dog and Gracie was training for Search and Rescue.  They are both enjoying their retirement as pets now.

I’d love for you to say hello when you come in.  You can type Labman into the center search box at the top of the page to find my profile page inside WA.

When you arrive at Wealthy Affiliate, you will see 3 columns on the page.  The Right side is a live chat that goes on all the time.  You will see people chatting and asking questions.  Sometimes the chat moves fast and is hard to keep up with. Other times it is much slower.

The center of the screen shows an activity feed of some of what is currently going on inside WA with other members.  You can read through this activity by clicking on any of the threads you see displayed.  There are some menus at the top that will give you a different view of the activity.

The most important part of the screen is on the left.  This is the WA menu.  To start on the right foot, you will want to click on the Green Bar that says Get Started Here

This will take you to the First Certification Course.  The first lesson is Get Rolling with Wealthy Affiliate and will walk you through setting up your account and getting oriented with the website.

You can join here, or read more about Wealthy Affiliate on my Review Page