How to Start an Online Business and Make Money
Have you ever dreamed about waking up and seeing you made $200 overnight while you slept? Yup, me too! For years dreamed about how to start an online business – until I stopped dreaming and start doing it.
There are so many reasons to start your own online business. From launching a product, to helping others, to documenting a journey, to having a creative outlet, and yes, earning passive income.
Luckily, it’s easier than ever to start an online business – in under a day. I’m here to break down the exact process to get your online business up and running in under a day.
Truly, you could be a business owner by Monday.
What makes me the expert?
I’m the Head of Global Growth Marketing at a high tech company, leading a world-class marketing team. I have Marketing Management Degree, and about a dozen additional side marketing courses from places like Harvard, Cornell, and University of Toronto. I also run two successful online websites and provide strategic marketing consulting. All of that AND I’m a parent to three young kids (which, honestly, has forced me to develop some pretty kick ass time-management skills).
But most importantly?
I’m so passionate about using marketing to empower people.
Whether it’s a freelancing website, a creative business, a passion project, a personal portfolio, or even a travel blog – I can promise you that you have an incredible story to share with the world.
So let’s do this!
STEP 1 – PICK YOUR NICHE
The first step in figuring out how to start a blog and make money is to pick your niche. You may have heard this:
The riches are in the niches.
It means pick a very specific topic that will appeal to a very specific group.
I know this feels counterintuitive. You’re going to be tempted to appeal to the masses. It’s natural to think more people = more readers.
But consider how many websites are out there, and how much competition there will be in your category.
“Travel blog”, for example, has 9 Trillion Google hits. Yes, Trillion, with a T.
To pick your blog’s niche, consider what you’re passionate about + have experience in. What do you know even a little more than the average person? What are you looking at on social? And what could you write about every week for a year?
Then, go deeper. Say you want to start a travel website. Why would someone click on yours vs. the thousands of other, more well-established sites out there?
Well, what if yours was just about Hawaii? Or even niched further, it could be a Maui website – the best activities, eats, beaches, hotels, inside tips, etc. If someone was planning a Maui trip, your site stands a WAY better chance of showing up than if it was a generic travel site.
And guess what? The term “Maui blog” alone has 75 million Google hits. That sounds like a good enough potential following for me!
HOT TIP – don’t let indecision hold you off. Just start. You can always start off generic, figure out your style, and then niche down. Just starting is half the battle.
STEP 2 – REGISTER YOUR BUSINESS
The next step on how to start an online business is the fun part – actually registering it and making it official! You have lots of options when it comes to where to host your website, both free and paid.
You’ll be tempted to pick free: try to resist.
In doing so, you severely limit earning potential, storage space, and customization. You’d also be stuck with their template, with an unprofessional YourName.blogspot.com, or YourName.wordpress.com tagged onto the end.
The best paid one for beginners in my opinion, is WordPress.org. Don’t confuse it with the free WordPress.com which has way less to offer. WordPress.org is used by roughly 1/3 of ALL the world’s websites, including giants like NYTimes.com and Beyonce.com. If it’s good enough for Beyonce, it’s good enough for this gal!
And in order to help out my fellow bloggers-to-be, I hooked you up with a 50% off deal with WordPress.org. Just head over to Bluehost (their official domain hosting partner), and score a site starting from just $3.95/month.
HOT TIP: Pick the 3yr plan. It’s way cheaper, and you won’t have to stress about renewing.
Step 2A – Enter your domain name under “new domain” & click next.
Step 2B – pick your plan. I went with the basic plan, but you can choose the one that’s the best fit for you.
Step 2C – confirm your package. I selected no extras other than privacy protection.
I went with the 36mo plan as it’s the cheapest and wouldn’t worry about renewing.
Step 2D – Pick a free theme (you can change it at any time). Then click the “Log in to WordPress” button.
ALSO – BE SURE TO REGISTER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
Now that you’ve registered your domain (aka website address), you’ll want to claim your FREE custom email address.
Examples:
You can do this within Bluehost itself, meaning no additional platform and no additional cost. Just be sure to register a free email from another platform, like Gmail or Hotmail first.
STEP 3 – DESIGN YOUR WEBSITE
Time to decorate!
The next step on your journey how to start an online business is to design your site the way you want it to look and function. You can do this through the “Appearance” tab in the WordPress tool.
From here, you’ll want to customize the appearance of your site.
You can either pick a pre-made theme, or you can get a paid one. For Marketing Growth Lab, we used a paid theme purchased through HelloBlush.com. but the free ones are great as well.
Whether you choose a free or paid theme, you’ll want to customize things like:
- Which categories you’d like in your menu
- Which widgets you’d like to use
- Your color scheme d
- What will live in the side bar
- Etc.
This can be a fun stage, so explore, and enjoy setting it up. Don’t stress too much about picking the perfect theme. These are easy to change at any time. I sometimes switch mine over to a new theme, then revert back, just to see how it looks.
It can take a little while to set up all the various pieces. Don’t stress if you get confused in a few places. Even I have gotten caught up in building sites – but I always am able to figure it out.
Keep at it, and don’t give up. You have figured out harder things than this before!
STEP 4 – PLUGINS
Once you’re registered, you should download some plugins.
Plugins in WordPress are the tools that let you customize your site. Below are the 10 best options that are all 100% free (my style!).
Simply type them into the keyword bar in the image below, under the tab labelled “Plugin”.
- Instagram Feed – shows your IG feed on your website
- Monster Insights – allows you to connect Google Analytics, to see your website traffic
- Pinterest Pin It Button – allows users to pin directly from your website
- SEM Rush – allows you to do keyword research
- Social Media & Share Icons – allows people to share directly from your site
- Updraft Plus – performs backups of your website in case of a crash
- WP Forms – allows you to use forms, such as a Contact Form
- WP Super Chase – increases site speed & performance
- Woo Commerce – in the event you want to sell from your site
- Yoast SEO – gives you the best tips to improve SEO, which helps your site appear in Google searches
I’ll run through the ins and outs of each of these in subsequent posts, but for now just make sure the task of downloading them is done. You will need more plugins if you want to create email campaigns, etc., but these are the basics to get you started.
Click “Add New” under “Plugins” in the black bar to the left, then type the plugin name under “search plugins” in the top right
HOT TIP – claim your brand’s name on all social media accounts right away. Even if you don’t plan to use Twitter for example, you don’t want someone else swiping up your brand name.
STEP 5 – CREATE YOUR FIRST FIVE POSTS
The great thing about WordPress.org? Simply pick a theme (the pre-made site layout templates), and start writing!
Then, the next step of how to start an online business is to create amazing content.
Before you go live, you should have 5-10 posts on your site. It makes you look professional, helps you look like you know what you’re doing, and allows readers to click around and explore.
To create your post, click on “posts”, then “add new”, then get to work on creating that content!
When writing, remember that readers are lazy.
At best, people skim content, so help them out and make your posts compelling and easy to read. Some tips to keep eyeballs on the page:
- Cap paragraphs at 3 sentences maximum
- Use lists and bullet points
- Use pictures
- Add subheadings to break up big blocks of text
- Use day-to-day language: contractions, some slang, abbreviations
- Aim for 8th grade English. Studies show it’s what people prefer the most.
HOT TIP – Make sure you keep in mind SEO (search engine optimization) when writing your post. Check out the SEO post for all the details on how to tap into this amazing strategy!
Step 5B – OPTIMIZE FOR SEO
SEO is basically a way to teach Google what your content is about. For example, if your topic is about the “best beaches on Maui”, you’ll want to include that exact phrase in your title, your subheading, your first paragraph, and multiple times throughout your post.
The best news about SEO? Once you install the Yost plugin (from Step 2b above), a Yoast section appears at the bottom of each post you write, telling you which SEO rules you’re following or breaking, and tips to improve it. Simple!
STEP 6 – GET SOCIAL
A key element of how to start an online business is promotion. It’s time to take it to the people!
No website creation is complete without also claiming your social handles.
You worked hard to create your content, but if you don’t share it out to the world it’s like it never happened. Sharing it brings people back to your site where you can eventually make money from them.
When you’re starting off, do NOT post to every single social platform out there. You’ll burn yourself out quickly, and get way too distracted.
Simply pick the 2-3 that your ideal reader already uses, and start there. How to figure out which ones to use / who your target market is? Think about these questions:
- How old is your target audience?
- Where do they live?
- What do they spend their money on?
- Where do they go online?
- Are they single/dating/married? Any kids?
- What problems are they trying to solve?
- What do they want to learn how to do / what are they Googling?
These questions will help you determine which social platforms to pick and which content to write more of.
Once you’ve decided which ones are for you, go to those social media accounts and start sharing your first 5 posts (spread out over a few days or weeks). You can also pepper in some motivational quotes or photos if you need filler – just be intentional about how it will look and perform in your feed.
HOT TIP – Don’t forget about Pinterest. Think Pinterest is just for wedding boards? Think again! It’s a powerful marketing tool that when used correctly can get you 90%+ of your website traffic.
STEP 7 – CREATE A CONTENT PLAN
I’ll let you in on a secret: If you don’t have a content plan, you’re likely to burn out.
Waiting for inspiration to strike is a sure way to fail. At some point, blogging will get boring, and if you don’t have any ideas in the bank, it will be way too easy to throw on Netflix vs. open your computer. To consume instead of create.
Think beyond just how to start an online business – think about how you’ll be able to create quality content in the long term. THAT is the real key to generating income.
When I launched this website, I had roughly 40 blog post titles in a Word Doc ready to go (not written – only the titles). I scoured Pinterest, saw what appealed to me (and therefore, you, my readers), and threw it into a list.
That way, I never had to brainstorm what to post, and I had a strategy around what went up when.
Many people like to take it a step further and throw it into a content calendar including what will get posted when.
To each their own – if this level of organization excites you, rock on. If it stresses you out, just keep potential titles in a notepad.
Question: How often should I post?
Answer: I recommend going with one post a week. It’s not too overwhelming and it proves to your readers (and Google!) that you’re legit. If inspiration strikes and you’re feeling good, by all means post more. Google definitely rewards those websites that post more often. Just make sure that:
- You don’t skip posting for weeks at a time
- Each post has proper SEO
- For each post you create, you share it across 3 social media platforms
STEP 8 – MONETIZE!
Blogging for passion is great. Blogging for passion AND profits? That’s way, way better.
These are the 7 main ways to earn money online from your website:
- Ads – displaying advertisements on your site.
- Sponsorships – have people pay you to promote/discuss certain brands or products.
- Services – offer your time as paid services, whether that be consulting, freelancing, coaching, teaching, mentoring, or other.
- Affiliate marketing – post products on your site and when people purchase, you get a percentage of the profits.
- Digital Products – create an ebook, course, membership site, audiobook, worksheet, etc. Lots of upfront work, but low maintenance.
- Physical products – selling a physical product, like a book, mug, jewelry, clothing, etc.
- Social Media Marketing – implement the same strategies above across your social media accounts as well.
For more details on these, check out the 7 ways to earn money online from your website.
In my opinion, the easiest to get started with is affiliate marketing. It’s basically referral income: you mention a product on your site, and when a reader clicks through & purchases, you get a percentage of the profits.
One of the easiest and biggest out there is Amazon Associates. It’s easy to register, and they offer up to a 10% referral bonus. And the best part is that after someone clicks through, you get the bonus on any product they purchase within 24hrs, not just the product you recommended.
Promoting digital products is even better with higher percentages, but Amazon is a great one to start with.
And at the end of the day, if you’re recommending products you truly believe in, then you’re helping people and generating income at the same time.
Win-win!
STEP 9 – 1,000
Depending on how much time you have, there can be what feels like hundreds of other steps when figuring out how to start an online business. But I’m guessing you’re here because you want to get up and running fast, without spending a ton of money.
So don’t worry about mastering everything from the beginning.
Just START.
This time next week, you could be thanking yourself for getting your blog registered, having 5 posts up, being registered with Amazon Associates, getting your first 2 posts up on social media accounts up & running, and starting to get traffic to your site. Or, you could be sitting here wishing you had all of those things.
Instead of spending all day, every day figuring out how to start an online business, you have to spend your time wisely.
If I can give one piece of advice, it’s to just take the next small step forward.
Don’t get overwhelmed with all the blogging advice you see out there. Don’t face analysis paralysis. Just start.
Take the first step and you’ll end up somewhere amazing. You’ll be so glad you did.
See you online, friends!
