Can a WordPress Blog Make Money? 4 Proven Steps

Can a WordPress Blog make money? Yes, it can, and you can even grow it from a side hustle to a full-time job!

Blogging has become a big part of many people's lives. It's one of the few Internet-based careers that can be both profitable and enjoyable at the same time. 

A blog is a great way to build an extra income stream and can be done in your free time because it is the type of job where you can set your own hours. 

I will show you precisely what you need to give your first steps into blogging with WordPress.

What is WordPress

WordPress is the most popular and straightforward way to create your own website or blog. In fact, WordPress powers 43.0% of all the websites on the internet. That's over 1 in 4 sites you visit!

WordPress is an open-source content management system, which means that anyone can use or modify the WordPress software for free.

Basically, a CMS is a tool that can help take care of content and aspects of your website without the need for you to know what Code looks like.

The end result of WordPress is a website that can be quickly built by anyone – even people with 0 tech skills.

How to Make Money with a WordPress Blog

The money-making formula to be a successful blogger is not hard. All you need to do is HELP people by producing engaging and actionable content!

Starting a profitable blog is a four-step sequence where you need to:

1. Choose a niche
2. Build a WordPress website 
3. Attract visitors
4. Earn revenue

Building a niche website or blog will help you reach out to people that share the same passion/interest as you.

How to choose a profitable niche step by step

1- Think about what your hobbies and interests are. 

Which areas seem the most appealing to you? If you haven't, make a list of 10 topics/interests and circle 3-5 favorites.

You are pretty much like a business owner when you run a blog. Especially when starting out, you need to stay dedicated and give 110% to your work. 

There will be times when you feel like giving up. You need to stay focused and committed to your goals to succeed.

It's important to follow your passions and enjoy what you're doing. It may take more than just a suit and tie for some to feel satisfied. 

Those who can't find that passion within themselves might not stay committed and consistently put in the hours at work.

Choosing a niche that you are passionate about will help you create more quality content regularly. And the great thing about it is that it doesn't even feel like you are working!

If you're not sure what you're passionate about, ask yourself these questions:

• What are you looking forward to doing when you're not working? 
• How do you like to spend your time?
• What type of written content do you consume'?
• What topics are you most interested in learning about?
• Which organizations or clubs are you a part of?

2- Identify the problems you can solve for your audience

Now that you have your list of 5 ideas start narrowing them down.

To create a profitable business, start by finding out what problems your target customers face. Once you know what needs they have, it's time to find a way you can actually solve them.

Here are a few possible tricks to identify problems within a niche.

• To better understand the needs of the people you serve, it's important to ask lots of questions. Start by identifying their pain points, then find a conversation framework that helps you assess their needs.
  
• Spend some time browsing forums related to your niche. See what worries or concerns people raise in sites such as Quora or other niche-related forums.
  
• Explore different combinations of keywords on Google Trends and on Google's autosuggest. Combining your research with popular searches related to your pain points might help you uncover what users are actually looking for.

3- Keep an eye on your competitors.

The competition was never bad, especially if you realize it will show your niche market's profitability. 

However, this doesn't mean that there are no risks involved. To make wise decisions, you'll need to analyze your competitors in detail. 

Create a new spreadsheet and type in all competitor websites that called your attention to keep things simple.

Now is time to find out if you can rank for niche-related keywords and what you can provide to your readers to make you stand out?

Here are some tips and things to look for before building your first niche website.

• Look who's ranking on Google's top pages. Lots of content these days is not keeping up with the standards of audiences. It might be easier for you to outrank competitors in a niche with low competition, but in most cases, your audience will just need better & high relevant quality content. 
  
• Be transparent. Being successful online with a niche website is about building trust and solving problems. There is no room for faceless or over-corporate approaches. 
  
• If you find a niche-related high-volume keyword with little to no competition organically and or paid ads, it's a sign your website can have an impact on the market.

4- Get a clear understanding of your niche's profitability

Now that you have an idea of what topic area to focus on, it's time to get more specific.

It might not be clear which niche is the right one for you just yet, but narrowing down your list to a couple topics is a step forward.

It's crucial to figure out how much money you could make in your niche and monetize your website or blog. 

But first, you need to find out what's selling! A profitable niche should give you something that can be quickly sold.

One of the best ways to find a lucrative place is to see what's already selling and doing well in your chosen market.

Looking for the top products in your niche on Amazon is an excellent way to get good ideas for new products. 

Research what your customers would like to see. Look at the reviews and see what people are really into.

What are the top five items that sell well in your space?

For example, Clickbank is an excellent place to see what people search for in your industry. 

You can browse through search results and popular products there.

It's essential to find a niche market and appealing product that doesn't have a lot of competitors yet.

If you find a constant level of demand for a certain kind of content, but no one is willing to produce it, you've found yourself a profitable niche.

To get a clear idea of how to find great affiliate programs to monetize your blog, check my article on how to find affiliate programs that pay what you deserve.

Now it's time to build our new website!

Build a WordPress website

I could say time to get our hands dirty, but I would be lying... believe me, this is the easiest part of the whole process. You can get your WordPress website up and running under 60 seconds, literally! 

And better, with 0 tech skills, all you need to do is pick a domain name that fits your niche, and you are set to go!

Obviously, you still need to set up some stuff, but it's pretty much like creating a Facebook post or writing on word or notepad.

It's good to start our WordPress blog building our about me and legal pages.

About me page

The about me page should be like a detailed bio. Describe your journey and what makes you share the same passion or needs about your chosen niche. 

Where do you get the experiences? What did you have to overcome?

Remember what I said about faceless approaches? Having a profile picture is beneficial so people can relate your content to the person. 

The primary purpose of an about me page is to build trust!

Legal pages

To protect yourself as your business grows, you should build (and update) these pages right of the bat. Don't freak out just yet because there are some templates that you can use for each one of these legal pages.

Privacy Policy: Your website's legal page informs visitors on how you collect and use personal data.

It's essential to ensure you're compliant with the region-specific privacy laws that apply to you and your customers.

Affiliate Disclosure: Some affiliate programs such as Amazon require you to have an affiliate disclosure page informing your visitors that you have sponsored links to their websites.

Cookie Policy:  You need to inform your visitors that your website collects cookies. The cookie policy page is a detailed page telling your visitors how you manage and use cookies. More important is that you provide a way that visitors can remove all their data from your servers if they choose to.

Some WordPress plugins can help you make your website cookie compliant.

Awesome! Now that we sorted the legal stuff, we are ready to rumble!

How to attract visitors to your WordPress Blog

You can be an award-winning writer, but your blog will be lost on the web forever if you do not follow some basic guidelines.

Guess what, no visitors... no money 😉

That's why I strongly advise anyone who wants to start an online business, whether it is a service website, online shop, or niche blog, to learn a bit about SEO. At least the very basics.

Understanding the different types of keywords, what they are, and how to use them to your benefit can set the difference between success and failure.

Organic traffic

Organic traffic comes to your website naturally from searches on search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others.

This is the highest converting and the best type of traffic you can get. It's also FREE!

But not everything about organic traffic is great! 

Let's break organic traffic pros and cons:

Pros:

• It's free
• It's here to stay
• It can be highly converting
• More reliable

Cons:

• Takes time to build
• Prone to search engines algorithm changes

How to drive organic traffic to your website

You can drive organic traffic to your website or blog by creating relevant content and SEO techniques.

No matter if you have an online shop, service website, or portfolio. The best way to drive visitors to your website is to create and post relevant content about your niche or type of service.

TIP: Create content that helps/teaches your audience to achieve the desired outcome and then naturally pitch them the products/services they need from you to achieve that outcome.

Paid traffic

The most common ways to get paid traffic to your website are PPC campaigns from search engines and paid ads from social media.

Both require investment and a lot of A/B testing before being profitable. 

This is a good option for more seasoned marketers who rush to get results.

Social media traffic

As the name suggests, this is the type of traffic you get to your website from your social media platforms. 

Posting regularly on your social media platforms is a great way to build an audience and build your brand. Plus, you can link to your website every time you post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Youtube.

It's an easy way to get a couple more visitors to your website.

Again stay relevant! Make sure to make your post relevant to the link you send your audience to.

How Much Money Can You Really Make from Your Blog?

Now that you have a niche, a website, and traffic, it's time to explore the different ways you can monetize it.

1. Affiliate Marketing 

One of the best ways to earn money from blogging is affiliate marketing. You can use your blog to promote other people's products and services for a commission on any sales you generate.

The great thing about this method is that you don't need any upfront investment other than your time creating the content.

2. Sponsored Posts 

Another way to monetize your blog is by accepting sponsored posts from brands and companies who want to promote their products or services on your site.

As your website grows, companies will contact you to post on your website. They will provide you the content and pay you to get a link from your website to theirs... how awesome is that?

3. Selling Products

If you have a product or service that you want to sell online, it might be worth using your blog as a platform.

As your audience grows and you get more and more visitors, you can place ads/banners on your posts to your own products or services.

4. Selling Services

Once you establish authority within your niche, other companies will naturally contact you. You can be hired to share your knowledge in services, courses, or even as a keynote speaker.

Can a WordPress blog make money? Final words

If this was a yes or no question, my answer would be HELL YES!

This leads to another question, can anyone do it?

NO. 

No matter how much money you spend, how much time you spend consuming courses. 

To make money online, you need to be willing to take action and be capable of taking a couple of punches on your journey.

Do you think you have what it takes to make money online with a blog? Need to brainstorm some niche ideas, or is anything holding you back? Let me know in the comments down below!