How To Start A Money Making Blog in 2025

Welcome to the Financial Samurai guide on how to start a money making blog in 2025 and beyond! If you're looking for an easy step-by-step tutorial on how to create a profitable blog, this is it. I too was once in your shoes wondering how in the world to get started. Once I got the basics down, I was hooked. Will you follow suit? Let's find out.

For starters, why should you take my advice? I've been a professional blogger for over 15 years now, am a national best-selling author of Buy This Not That, had a 13-year career in finance, and have been featured in all major publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, People, Market Watch, Business Insider, Fast Company and more. You can read my About page and Media mention page for more info if interested.

I've listed my resume highlights because I want you to understand why I'm qualified to teach you how to start a money making blog. Don’t just take advice from anybody. Now, let's get started.

5 Simple Steps to Kickstart a Profitable Blog

Here's a high level breakdown of the five key steps to start a money making blog. I'll go through each step in detail.

Launch Your Blog & Get It Live
Choose a Niche & Master Keyword Strategy
Design, Build, and Go Live with Your Blog
Craft Compelling Content for Your Audience
Turn Your Blog into a Money-Maker

Step 1: Get Your Blog Live

The very first thing you need to do when starting a profitable blog is pick a domain name and set up your website.

Pick a Domain Name

Choosing a website name might seem like a big decision, but it’s actually simpler than you think.

My top recommendation for how to start a money making blog in 2025 is simply to use a personal brand domain like yourname.com. Why? Instead of stressing about finding the “perfect” name, which may not even work long-term nor be available, you can build your own personal brand. Here’s why this approach is key:

It’s super adaptable. Your passions and interests will shift as you grow, even if you don't expect them to right now. Sticking with your name allows you to pivot easily if one content direction doesn’t take off.
It’s designed for growth. No matter what direction you take, you can always build and scale. You are your best niche.
People trust people. Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how we all search and interact online. Many niche blogs are slowly losing traction. But a personal brand is relatable and builds trust with your audience.

That said, you don’t need to plaster your face all over your blog or reveal your inner most secrets. Using your name—or something close to it, like samsguide.com or samsadvice.com—is the best way to get started. This sets you up for longevity, which is vital to producing a money making blog. It also gives you room to change and grow as your website evolves.

If you already have a perfect idea for a niche domain name that's not already taken, that’s great too. Just make sure not to spend too much time overthinking things. Dive in and get moving!

Open an Account with a Web Host

Now you're ready to open an account with a web host—a service that allows you to store your website's files and make them accessible on the internet. Here is my recommendation:

Best Web Host Provider: BlueHost
Best Blog Platform: WordPress

BlueHost is the most affordable web host for new bloggers. They offer the best pricing, 24/7 support, and a 30-day money back guarantee. They've been in business for twenty years and host over 2 million blogs and continue to grow.

To get access to BlueHost's best discounted rates, click on this link or the button below. Note: you must use my links to get the best pricing—the basic plan is available as low as just $1.99/mo for a limited time!

For further information, you can also check out my thorough Bluehost Review.

How To Setup Your Blog With A BlueHost Web Hosting Account

Once you're on BlueHost's homepage, follow these steps:

Click the Get Started Now button
Select either the Basic Plan or Choice Plus hosting plan. The Basic Plan is the best choice for brand new bloggers.
Enter your desired domain name and click the Search For Domain button. If you're unsure what to use, simply click “Choose Domain Later.”
Keep email and privacy enabled and Continue to Checkout.
Enter your contact info
Input your payment info and Submit Payment.
Then click Create Account.
Input a name for your site and a tagline (both can be changed later). Also, enable “Do you want a blog” and disable “Do you want an online store.”
In the BlueHost dashboard, navigate from My Sites to Manage Site

Step 2: Choose a Niche & Master Keyword Strategy

Congrats on starting your money making blog! Oftentimes starting is the hardest step, so great job taking initiative and going for it. The next step is figuring out what you’re going to write about.

What niche should you choose? There are literally endless possibilities—travel, food, money, home maintenance, parenting, or even very specific topics like the most popular varieties of mangoes. Here are my suggestions on how to pick a niche.

Choose a Niche You’re Passionate About

Pick something that excites you and that you could write about for the next year or two. Blogging requires consistency, so make sure it’s a subject you’ll still be interested in longterm.

Successful bloggers teach something valuable. Your content should help your audience learn, whether it's through guides, tutorials, or advice. Choose a niche where you can share your knowledge.

Focus on Keywords

To drive traffic, you need a solid keyword strategy. There are two main types to focus on:

Informational Keywords: These are searches where people want to learn something, like “how to start a blog” or “how to knit.” These types of posts help you grow your audience.
Transactional Keywords: These indicate people are looking to buy, such as “best travel credit cards” or “best gaming laptops.” These posts can help you earn money through affiliate links.

Aim for a list of roughly 20 keywords that you want to write about.

Use AI to Develop Your Niche and Keywords

To simplify this, use AI to help you find niche ideas and keywords:

Sign up for Claude AI (it’s a powerful tool).
Use the Niche Hunter prompt to discover niche ideas.
Select a sub-niche, and AI will suggest relevant keywords.

Once you have a set of keywords to focus on, you can start planning your content strategy. Use AI to help you compile a list of article topics for each of the keywords and pick a date you want to publish each one. The more organized you are, the easier it will be to stay focused and stick to a consistent publication schedule.

Step 3: Design, Build, and Go Live with Your Blog

Next, let's dive into designing and launching your blog. My biggest advice here is not to stress about perfecting your blog’s design at the start. Getting your content going is way more important.

Your blog will be a constantly evolving project. You can always change the design and improve on it later. Plus, most people won’t even pay much notice to the design in the beginning—it’s really all about the content and hooking your readers to want more.

Fortunately, thanks to AI tools, creating a great-looking blog is easier than ever. Here are the basics on how to design and build your blog.

Go to the WordPress dashboard and click on Appearance > Themes. Then, hit Add New Theme. There are countless themes to choose from. A fast and easy one you can try is called Kadence, which uses AI prompts.

After installing it, you’ll see Kadence appear on the left-hand menu. Click on Kadence > Starter Templates.

Start by entering your site info and industry. Click Next, then add a brief description of your blog so the AI knows what it’s about.

Kadence will then generate custom stock images and show you some design settings. From there, you can choose your favorite layout, colors, and style. And just like that, your blog is designed and ready to go live.

To publish your site, follow these steps:

Edit your Home Page and About Page under Pages.
Head to Settings > Reading, and uncheck “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.”
Install Google Analytics via a simple plugin.
Set up Google Search Console to let Google know your site exists.

Now have a fully functional website and a solid keyword strategy. Yeah, let's go!

Step 4: Create Compelling Content for Your Audience

Now it’s time to create your content. And here’s the thing—you don’t need to be a skilled writer. AI can once again do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

What matters is knowing how to structure your content in a way that Google loves. And let AI help you with the basics: generate a title, meta description, an intro, main headings, a conclusion, and even semantic keywords to include in your article. Once you’ve got that, it’s time to add your personal touch.

Here’s how to write and edit profitable money making blog content:

Fill in your main headings with relevant content.
Add your own experiences, stories, and insights to make it more personal.
Optimize for your target keyword: include it in the URL, title, one H2 heading, and a few times throughout the content. Don’t overthink it—just be natural.
Add internal links to other posts (once you’ve got more content).
Hit publish.

Blogging today isn’t about writing every word from scratch or spending weeks on one post. It’s about assembling content that can be monetized while including your unique perspectives.

Step 5: Turn Your Creations into a Money-Making Blog

There are five main ways to earn money from a blog.

Affiliate Marketing: Promote products and earn a commission.
Ads: Display ads on your blog.
Sponsors: Get paid to feature brands or be a brand ambassador
Selling Services: Consult or freelance for clients.
Selling Your Own Products: Create and sell digital products, like courses or downloadable art.

Start with Affiliate Marketing

When you’re just starting out, affiliate marketing is the best place to begin. Focus on emerging keywords that are less competitive. Think of it like pitching something new, like “best AI accounting software,” instead of something overdone like “best web hosting.” This gives you a better chance of ranking and making money.

Aim to make 20% of your posts focused on affiliate marketing—product reviews and comparisons.

Build Traffic with Informational Content

“How-to” articles won’t make much from affiliate links, but they’re great for ad revenue and growing your email list. Ads can be a good secondary income source once you hit 10,000 monthly visitors. So be patient when it comes to ads. Depending on what your niche is and how often you publish, it could take one or several years to get to that amount of traffice.

For example, a landscaping blog could offer a free “10 Must-Have Landscaping Tools” guide in exchange for email sign-ups, later selling a course.

Long-Term: Create Your Own Products

Once you build your audience, selling your own products like online courses is the most profitable way to go. Start with affiliate marketing and ads, then gradually build your list and launch your own products.

Stay Focused on One Niche

To stay successful, stick to one niche and balance content: “how-to” posts and “best of” product reviews. Whether it’s scuba diving or gluten free baking, this combination will help you monetize faster.

Get Your Money Making Blog Started Today

As mentioned before, using your personal brand as your domain name is the smartest move when choosing your own URL. Grab your name or a variation of it now before someone else does.

To kickstart your journey and begin your making money blog in 2025, the first step is to get it online. Use my exclusive discount to sign up for your own Bluehost account and start publishing your content today! My links get you access to the best pricing— just $1.99/mo for a limited time!

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