If you are wanting to retire early and reach financial independence, then you need multiple passive income streams. In other posts, you may have heard me talk about my three favorite ways to retire early through passive income. These are through creating a business, investing in index funds, and buying and holding real estate rentals. Today I’m going to share with you how to start a blog as a way to create a passive income business. You’ll find a step-by-step guide detailing how to set up your own blog as well as tips to get you started.
What does it mean to have passive income?
Passive income is income you make through a business activity in which you the earner did not have to actively participate.
Generally rental income is one of the most popular ways people make passive income. I also consider niche blogging a form of passive income because once you invest your time into blogging, then you can pretty much sit back and watch the income roll in.
There are some things to maintain with these income sources, but overall, you will feel a sense of relief once they are in place and generating revenue for you. They will provide you with financial independence.
How I Got Started with Blogging
I’m all about creating things and doing things I’m passionate about. And blogging happens to be one of those things I stumbled upon years ago, and I just fell in love with it.
I love sharing information and having a place where I can store everything I learn. My two early blogs were created just because of a need I had to keep track of my recipes and to journal my spiritual quest. Later I created a whole new business online selling helium tank rentals and balloons and that business grew year by year, eventually making almost $100,000 a month all from home!
I never thought that someday these online businesses would be generating revenue and provide me with income.
I love blogging because I get to write about things I’m passionate about. It’s helped me connect with others who are passionate about the same things. I’ve also learned more about the topics I blog about as I share the information.
Why Start a Blog for Passive Income
Once I started adding more content to my blogs, I realized Google was sending me heaps of traffic. This happened because I kept my content focused on specific niches and loaded up my blog posts with keywords naturally. I wasn’t even trying that hard to make sure my site was search engine optimized. Heck I didn’t even know what SEO was back then!
The reason why niche blogging works so well is because you are focusing on a specific topic and approaching the topic from many different angles. The awesome thing about niche blogging is you pick topics you are interested in learning more about or already have expertise in.
Niche blogging is a great way to make passive income because all you have to do is spend a little time writing about a topic you love, link up some related products and services through affiliate links, and let the blog get picked up by Google. Once it gets noticed by Google, people who are interested in your topic will find your site and potentially click on the links in your site. When they do this, you receive a commission!
Start a Passive Income Blog by Picking the Right Niche
To start a passive income blog, choose a niche which isn’t over-saturated. For example, food sites and fitness sites are already very popular. It would be a greater challenge to break into these niches. It’s not impossible, especially if you are writing about a trending item in those niches.
Take some time to write a list of the things you are currently learning or have a passion for already. Then do a little research on Google to see if there are helpful articles dedicated to this topic. If there are helpful blog posts on the internet already, it doesn’t mean it’s a topic to avoid. You can bookmark those sites and then rewrite the helpful tips in your own voice.
You can also do some research on Google Trends to discover if your niche topic is gaining in popularity. For example, if you type in the keywords “paleo diet,” on Google Trends, you will see a downward trend for the last five years. However, if you type “keto diet,” it has grown in interest over the last five years.
Some key points to remember when picking the right niche for your blog:
- Choose a topic interesting to you- it will be hard to write a series of articles over a period of months if you hate the topic.
- Choose a niche which includes products that you can recommend- and more specifically, products that people are more likely to buy off of the internet. For example, if you feature home decor items on a DIY site, are the featured items unique, or are they things people would go to a local store to buy?
- Pick something that people want to know more about and allows you to share information- people type questions into Google all the time. Does your niche help answer those questions?
Step-by-Step Guide to Start a Passive Income Blog
I’ve compiled my best beginner blogging posts into a series of lessons detailing how to start a niche blog and make passive income. This free course will walk you through the basics step-by-step.
This is not a comprehensive blogging course meant to overwhelm you. There is so much to learn about blogging. I will include a list of my favorite resources below to help you take your blogging business even further.
Resources to get you started with blogging:
Some of the things I suggest you do to get your blog setup might be contrary to what others suggest. These are the steps I took to have success with my blogs. Everyone will be different, and it’s important to do what feels right for your own blog.
To start your blog, I recommend you get setup with Bluehost. Whenever I’ve had a bump in the road with technical problems, their customer service helps me right away.
A note about cost: When you purchase self-hosting there are many different plans to choose from (for getting started, we recommend the Basic or Pro plan). Think of this expense as a small price to pay to get your own business started. At tax time, it can be a write off for your new business (write offs are covered in the course). Having an online business is an investment that can pay off if you are willing to put in the work and stay dedicated.
The resources I recommend below are things I personally use. They have helped me on my journey as I have grown a full time income from my blogs. This mini course shows you the very basic steps to getting your blog set up. The Start Your Online Business Course goes into more detail about how to set up your blog for monetization (making money from your blog as a business!!!)
I want to wish you well on your blogging journey! It’s one of the best journey’s I’ve been on, and I hope it finds you much success as well!
You may want to Pin this post now, or bookmark it for later. This way you can easily come back and pick up where you left off! Before you get started, we also recommend you join our free Facebook group at Be Passionate and Prosper. It’s a great resource for information. You can also find us on Instagram to follow our financial freedom journey!
Part 1: Set Up and Start Your Niche Blog
In part one, we are going over some of the more technical details including where to go to set up your blog. You don’t want to just go anywhere! I held off for years researching proper hosting companies. I just started on a free platform and regretted this decision later down the road.
It’s best to start your blog Here on this host. This is where I host all of my blogs from (and under one account)!
Remember to bookmark this page so you can easily return to follow the lessons in the free blog mini course.
Lesson 1: How to Start a WordPress Blog on WordPress
Lesson 2: Starting Your Blog- How to Make Money Online
Lesson 3: How to Set Up a Niche Blog for Profit and Make Money from Home
Lesson 4: Getting Traffic from Google- Improve Your Google Search Ranking for Free
Lesson 5: 10 Tips for Writing Blog Posts Fast
More detailed lessons about how to work inside your dashboard, choose a theme, add plugins, add affiliate disclaimers and GDPR consent (legal stuff), setting up Google Analytics are all included in our Start Your Online Business Course! Head here to checkout the course details and sign up!
The Start Your Online Business Course completely details setting up an online business from start to finish. It takes you through how to choose a business that is perfect for you. It even includes pricing your offer and our top marketing tips for driving traffic to your site inexpensively. You get lifetime access when you purchase the course. We also now have an affiliate program for this course. So you can make a commission when you promote it and someone buys through your link!
Part 2: Making Passive Income With Your Blog
Now that you’ve set up a niche blog, you might be asking, “How do I make passive income?” Whether you have just started blogging or you are a seasoned blogger trying to make a living from your niche blog, check out the following posts for my best tips for making money with a blog.
Here are my favorite resources for making income with your blog:
Lesson 6- How I Make Extra Income with Affiliate Marketing
Lesson 7- How Much Money Can You Make Blogging
More Resources for Blogging Success
Courses and software which helped me on my blogging journey and made a huge difference…
Freelance Writer Course– to improve my content and writing style
Bluehost– for WordPress Setup
Foodie Theme– the theme I use for many of my websites
Tailwind– helps to schedule and automate Pinterest Pins
Mailchimp– my favorite email provider
PicMonkey– to design Pins and other social media items
Share-A-Sale– a great affiliate company to work with
Teachable– to design online courses to sell on your website
Sendowl– a great platform for selling your digital products you create
Affiliate Marketing Course– this course helped me understand how to make commissions off of other people’s products
Start Your Online Business Course– step-by-step guide to walk you through the process of creating your online course.
We wish you much success as you start your online business and create passive income for yourself.
What are your questions when it comes to blogging? We answer your questions monthly in our income reports and in the Facebook group lives! Let us know in the comments what you would like to learn about when it comes to starting your online business!
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