{"id":433,"date":"2020-03-30T19:20:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T19:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/?p=433"},"modified":"2020-11-20T23:55:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T23:55:17","slug":"profitable-wordpress-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/profitable-wordpress-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start a Profitable WordPress Blog after your Breakup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">This article contains affiliate links. If you buy a product, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. For more info, read my disclosure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">After my breakup, I started this very blog and it truly helped my moving on process. It made me reflect on my relationship, research best healing practices and made me feel good to help other women! Of course, your blog doesn&#8217;t have to be about relationships but having something to focus your energy on definitely distracts you from your broken heart. Let&#8217;s get started!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Starting a WordPress blog can be confusing, to say the least, especially if you don&#8217;t know where to start. That said, I have created this guide to help you get your own profitable WordPress blog up and running. This guide is for those who want to monetize their blog and look at it as a business rather than a hobby.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">This is going to be a lengthy post, s<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">o strap in folks! We are going for a ride!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Looking to start a <a href=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/8-online-side-hustles-that-anyone-can-start-and-the-skills-youll-need-to-be-successful\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">different online business<\/a> or just suffering from decision paralysis and <a href=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/5-steps-to-finally-spring-into-action-and-start-your-side-hustle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">taking action?<\/a> Check out those posts!<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>Blog Niche\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">First things first, you are going to have to pick a niche. A niche is just a fancy word for <strong><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\">a topic<\/span>.<\/strong> What is your blog\u2019s main focus? What is it going to be known for?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">There are so many different niches out there:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Travel\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Cooking<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Motocross<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Chicken Farming\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Fashion\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The examples above are very broad niches and you should try to niche down even further. I have found Pinterest to be a great way to find a more specific niche. Type in a general niche into the search bar and see what other keywords come up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">For instance, go to Pinterest and type in gardening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Instead of just having a general gardening blog, you can more specifically focus on garden design, container gardening, indoor gardening or herb gardening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;\">Determine your Audience<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">When choosing your niche, you should also think about the type of people that will be reading your blog. Who are you writing to?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Examples of audiences:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">College Students<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Stay at Home Moms<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Teachers<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Entrepreneurs\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Tennis Players\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">When you pick your niche make sure you can answer <span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong>YES<\/strong><\/span> to the following questions\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Do I genuinely like this topic and feel confident that I won\u2019t quickly lose interest in it?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Can I think of 20 potential blog posts about this topic?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Are there ways to monetize this topic?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Can you recommend products to your audience or sell information products\/courses?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Remember: If there is no way to monetize your blog, you have a hobby not a business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">If you can\u2019t answer YES to all the questions, go back to the drawing board and brainstorm new niches?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>Blog Name\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Yay! You have selected your niche and now you are ready to pick your domain name and get hosting!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Have some fun brainstorming blog names and get creative! Don\u2019t spend too much time picking the \u201cperfect blog name\u201d because you\u2019ll start going crazy. <strong>Picking a name should not take you any longer than a day.<\/strong> Hard limit on that because we want to keep moving forward!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Here are some general guidelines:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Less than 4 words. Preferably <\/span><b>2 or 3 words <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">long<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">No commonly misspelled words<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Try to use a <\/span><b>relevant keyword<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the name<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">I.e I chose breathehustleglow because I knew I wanted to talk about side hustles and working hard\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Avoid using numbers or hyphens<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Hosting<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Every domain name needs a place to live on the internet and that is where your host comes in!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I recommend 2 hosting providers: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ionos.com\/hosting\/web-hosting?ac=OM.US.USf11K357091T7073a&amp;kwk=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ionos<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/track\/breathehustle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bluehost<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">My blog is hosted on Ionos and I pay $8\/month to host unlimited websites.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You only pay <\/span><strong>$4\/month<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ionos.com\/hosting\/web-hosting?ac=OM.US.USf11K357091T7073a&amp;kwk=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ionos <\/a><\/strong>for\u00a0one website and you get your domain free for a year! It is a great deal.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ionos.com\/hosting\/web-hosting?ac=OM.US.USf11K357091T7073a&amp;kwk=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ionos<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> allows you to pay month-to-month while <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/track\/breathehustle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bluehost<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> requires you to pay for at least a year of hosting so it is a higher upfront cost.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">I did not want to pay the lump sum so I went with Ionos. I do not like that Ionos only provides one free SSL certificate. The SSL certificate is what gives your site the little lock next to it and makes it more secure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Ionos charges $20 for additional certificates but I found a workaround to get free certificates on other domains I have purchased. I will do an article on how soon but if you want to know ASAP shoot me an email!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have only heard <strong>good things about Bluehost<\/strong>\u2019s speed and reliability. They are also cheaper than Ionos with a 12-month basic plan costing only <\/span><b>$5.95\/month<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">I think that Bluehost provides Free SSL certificates for all domain names you purchase through them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click here to get your hosting through <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ionos.com\/hosting\/web-hosting?ac=OM.US.USf11K357091T7073a&amp;kwk=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ionos<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/track\/breathehustle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bluehost<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> today and let\u2019s keep the ball rolling!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>Install WordPress\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">It is simple to install WordPress on your domain with Ionos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Go to My Ionos<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Click on your domain then click \u201cedit website\u201d You will then be given an option to build your website with the \u201cMy Website\u201d website builder or with WordPress<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Select WordPress and then you will be prompted to name your site<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">You will be asked if you want Managed WordPress or regular, self-managed WordPress. I chose to manage WordPress myself to save the money!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">WordPress will be installed on your site.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out this step by step Ionos + WordPress picture tutorial <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.websiteplanet.com\/blog\/how-to-connect-a-domain-and-install-wordpress-on-11-ionos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out this step by step Bluehost + WordPress tutorial <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/websitesetup.org\/how-to-sign-up-with-bluehost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Install a WordPress Theme<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">After you install WordPress, you can install a free theme or a premium theme.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">I spent so much time picking my free time and was so confused when I finally installed it. My website looked nothing like it did in the theme preview!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Lol WordPress is a skill like anything else so take it easy on yourself and start watching some Youtube tutorials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">You have to pay for premium themes but they look better, come with more features and customer support.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My website went under a couple of different makeovers before I was finally happy with how it looked. I recommend you just spend the money on a premium theme you really like from the start to avoid future costs. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> first tried to do things really cheaply and paid a guy on Fiver $10 to make my website look nice. You get what you pay for though! The site looked super unprofessional and it was killing me inside! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People were also leaving my site within 10 seconds and I have a feeling its appearance had something to do with. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, my site runs on a theme I bought on Etsy and I also paid for the installation so I would have no headache. I should have just done this from the start. It was $50 very well spent!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be sure to <\/span><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><b>create a logo<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for your blog. You can design one yourself for free with Canva or spend $5-$10 getting a logo from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/track.fiverr.com\/visit\/?bta=87166&amp;brand=fiverrcpa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fiverr<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">If you go the Fiverr route, make sure you read the reviews and ask for examples of past work before you order.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Essential Plugins<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">WordPress plugins help your website run better or allow you to do more things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Smush<\/span><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Compresses images to optimize site speed\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Yoast<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Helps with site SEO<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Social Pug<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Adds social share buttons your site<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Lazy Load<\/span><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Improves site speed<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Wordfence<\/span><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Protect site from security attacks<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Broken Links Checker\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Hurts your SEO to have broken links on your site<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Google Analytics<\/span><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Track your site\u2019s growth<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To download these plugins, search them in the Plugins sections of WordPress. <\/span><b>Install<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> them and then make sure you <\/span><b>activate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> them,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>Create a Business Plan!\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-456 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"376\" height=\"376\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-100x100.png 100w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-480x480.png 480w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail.png 800w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 376px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 376\/376;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-456\" src=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"376\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-100x100.png 100w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail-480x480.png 480w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/fail-to-plan-plan-to-fail.png 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Failing to plan is planning to fail.<\/strong> It is easy to get overwhelmed by your blog, especially when you realize there are so many things to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Now that you have your blog up and running, it is important to organize yourself and prioritize\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">I brainstormed <strong>how I could actually make money <\/strong>with my blog.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Start from the very beginning with the mindset to monetize your blog.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Answer the following questions to figure out how you are going to make your blog an actual business. I filled out some of my own answers to help you guys!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>How are you going to monetize your blog?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Affiliate links, sponsored posts, selling your own products\/services, ad networks<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>What kind of products could I promote to my audience?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Learning courses, Amazon products, software<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>What digital products could I make to sell to my audience?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Ebooks, courses, Pinterest templates, workbooks, printables<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>What services could I sell to my audience?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Coaching, writing services, SEO services, business planning services<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #ff99cc;\"><b>How am I going to get traffic to my blog?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000;\">Paid Google ads, paid Facebook ads, Facebook groups, Pinterest, Instagram\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most bloggers get a large portion of their blog traffic by using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/breathehustleglow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pinterest<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Pinterest is basically a visual search engine. You can create pins using Canva and post them to Pinterest to drive traffic to your site.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am still learning Pinterest myself but this <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/summertannhauser.vipmembervault.com\/products\/units\/view\/38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free e-course <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I took taught me the basics of Pinterest Marketing.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">I have also bought the <a href=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/recommends\/pinterest-with-ell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pinterest with Ell<\/a> course but have not gone through it yet. I will update you guys when I do! Update: I went through her course and I have been implementing Ell&#8217;s strategies for about 3 weeks now. I have gone from 0 monthly views to 25k monthly viewers so that&#8217;s progress so I definitely <a href=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/recommends\/pinterest-with-ell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recommend<\/a> it!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was also super inspired by Adam Enfroy and his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adamenfroy.com\/guest-blogging\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">guest blogging<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> growth strategy! He reaches out to blogs in his niche asking if he can guest post on their blog.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When established blogs link out to your blog, you get <\/span><b>back-links<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and your site gains more authority in the eyes of Google.<\/span><em><b> More authority = better ranking = more traffic = more $$$\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">I was starting to feel so overwhelmed with all the different strategies I was learning about for upstarting a successful blog. I decided to try the Pinterest and guest blogging strategies for now so I can put all my energy into them.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">When you try to be great at everything, you end up being great at nothing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">In the beginning, you should focus on one social media platform (<strong>Pinterest<\/strong>!) and build a solid following.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;\">It\u2019s Alive!<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-447 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-300x200.png\" alt=\"you did it\" width=\"401\" height=\"267\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-600x400.png 600w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-2048x1365.png 2048w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-1080x720.png 1080w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-1280x853.png 1280w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-980x653.png 980w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-480x320.png 480w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 401px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 401\/267;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-447\" src=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-300x200.png\" alt=\"you did it\" width=\"401\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-600x400.png 600w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-2048x1365.png 2048w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-1080x720.png 1080w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-1280x853.png 1280w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-980x653.png 980w, https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/you-did-it-480x320.png 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #ff99cc;\"><b>Congratulations<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on making it all the way to the end! If you followed the steps, you should have your very own blog live on the world wide web.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The easy part is over now, believe it or not. Now, we have to <\/span><b>WRITE<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, stay <\/span><b>MOTIVATED<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <strong>LEARN<\/strong> all the best ways to get visitors to our site.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I put so much time into this post and I sincerely hope it helps someone! Of course, <\/span><b>reach out <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to me if you have any questions and I will help you the best I can.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">I\u2019m learning right here with you guys and will cover the next steps you should be taking in coming posts. <strong>We got this!\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Keep hustlin\u2019,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Kay ????<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article contains affiliate links. If you buy a product, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. For more info, read my disclosure.\u00a0 After my breakup, I started this very blog and it truly helped my moving on process. It made me reflect on my relationship, research best healing practices and made me feel good to help other women! Of course, your blog doesn&#8217;t have to be about relationships but having something to focus your energy on definitely distracts you from your broken heart. Let&#8217;s get started!\u00a0 Starting a WordPress blog can be confusing, to say the least, especially if you don&#8217;t know where to start. That said, I have created this guide to help you get your own profitable WordPress blog up and running. This guide is for those who want to monetize their blog and look at it as a business rather than a hobby.\u00a0 This is going to be a lengthy post, so strap in folks! We are going for a ride!\u00a0 Looking to start a different online business or just suffering from decision paralysis and taking action? Check out those posts! Blog Niche\u00a0 First things first, you are going to have to pick a niche. A niche is just a fancy word for a topic. What is your blog\u2019s main focus? What is it going to be known for?\u00a0 There are so many different niches out there: Travel\u00a0 Cooking Motocross Chicken Farming\u00a0 Fashion\u00a0 The examples above are very broad niches and you should try to niche down even further. I have found Pinterest to be a great way to find a more specific niche. Type in a general niche into the search bar and see what other keywords come up.\u00a0 For instance, go to Pinterest and type in gardening.\u00a0 Instead of just having a general gardening blog, you can more specifically focus on garden design, container gardening, indoor gardening or herb gardening.\u00a0 Determine your Audience When choosing your niche, you should also think about the type of people that will be reading your blog. Who are you writing to?\u00a0 Examples of audiences: College Students Stay at Home Moms Teachers Entrepreneurs\u00a0 Tennis Players\u00a0 When you pick your niche make sure you can answer YES to the following questions\u2026 Do I genuinely like this topic and feel confident that I won\u2019t quickly lose interest in it? Can I think of 20 potential blog posts about this topic?\u00a0 Are there ways to monetize this topic?\u00a0 Can you recommend products to your audience or sell information products\/courses? Remember: If there is no way to monetize your blog, you have a hobby not a business.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t answer YES to all the questions, go back to the drawing board and brainstorm new niches?\u00a0 Blog Name\u00a0 Yay! You have selected your niche and now you are ready to pick your domain name and get hosting!\u00a0 Have some fun brainstorming blog names and get creative! Don\u2019t spend too much time picking the \u201cperfect blog name\u201d because you\u2019ll start going crazy. Picking a name should not take you any longer than a day. Hard limit on that because we want to keep moving forward! Here are some general guidelines: Less than 4 words. Preferably 2 or 3 words long No commonly misspelled words Try to use a relevant keyword in the name I.e I chose breathehustleglow because I knew I wanted to talk about side hustles and working hard\u00a0 Avoid using numbers or hyphens Hosting Every domain name needs a place to live on the internet and that is where your host comes in!\u00a0 I recommend 2 hosting providers: Ionos and Bluehost\u00a0 My blog is hosted on Ionos and I pay $8\/month to host unlimited websites.\u00a0 You only pay $4\/month with Ionos for\u00a0one website and you get your domain free for a year! It is a great deal. Ionos allows you to pay month-to-month while Bluehost requires you to pay for at least a year of hosting so it is a higher upfront cost. I did not want to pay the lump sum so I went with Ionos. I do not like that Ionos only provides one free SSL certificate. The SSL certificate is what gives your site the little lock next to it and makes it more secure. Ionos charges $20 for additional certificates but I found a workaround to get free certificates on other domains I have purchased. I will do an article on how soon but if you want to know ASAP shoot me an email!\u00a0 I have only heard good things about Bluehost\u2019s speed and reliability. They are also cheaper than Ionos with a 12-month basic plan costing only $5.95\/month.\u00a0 I think that Bluehost provides Free SSL certificates for all domain names you purchase through them. Click here to get your hosting through Ionos or Bluehost today and let\u2019s keep the ball rolling!\u00a0 Install WordPress\u00a0 It is simple to install WordPress on your domain with Ionos.\u00a0 Go to My Ionos Click on your domain then click \u201cedit website\u201d You will then be given an option to build your website with the \u201cMy Website\u201d website builder or with WordPress Select WordPress and then you will be prompted to name your site You will be asked if you want Managed WordPress or regular, self-managed WordPress. I chose to manage WordPress myself to save the money! WordPress will be installed on your site.\u00a0 Check out this step by step Ionos + WordPress picture tutorial here. Check out this step by step Bluehost + WordPress tutorial here.\u00a0 Install a WordPress Theme After you install WordPress, you can install a free theme or a premium theme.\u00a0 I spent so much time picking my free time and was so confused when I finally installed it. My website looked nothing like it did in the theme preview!\u00a0 Lol WordPress is a skill like anything else so take it easy on yourself and start watching some Youtube tutorials. You have to pay for premium themes but they look better, come with more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[42,44,25,43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1694,"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/1694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathehustleglow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}