How to start a profitable blog - step by step

So you’re thinking about starting a blog? Well, you’ve found the right place! This article is going to teach you how to start a profitable blog, step by step.

I’ve personally been blogging for over 15 years and can attest to the incredible power and benefits of blogging. It single handedly changed my life by helping me create the career of my dreams on my own terms.

Before you go any further, I would like to encourage you to listen to this episode… Is blogging right for you? 10 undeniable signs that you should start a blog:

✨ listen to this episode on the blissfully ambitious podcast ✨

Now, if you think you are ready for it, let’s get into why I love blogging and how blogging can change your life.

Reasons why YOU SHOULD START A BLOG:

1.Very minimal start up costs.

The cost of starting a blog can be way under $50 to get you up and running. You’ll need to pay for the domain, the hosting and that’s really it.

2. Your success is entirely dependent on you.

You have no one to answer to, no boss calling the shots. Your income potential will literally be determined by how much effort you want to put in.

3. You have the freedom to work from wherever.

This is one of my most favorite things about blogging, I have the ability to work from anywhere in the world, as long as I have my laptop and wifi.

4. A blog is a passive income portal.

You can create one piece of content one time and it will last on the internet forever. Meaning, if you have affiliate links and display ads on your blog, every time someone reads the blog, income will be coming in. So, just imagine if you had hundreds of blog posts. These are only 2 of the many ways that you can create an income from blogging.

5. Your blog is the best free marketing tool to grow your business.

With the right SEO strategy, you don’t even need a following to build awareness around your blog and business. You can use your blog to help inform your potential clients of why they must work with you.

You might find this post on

19 reasons why you should start a blog very helpful!
7 helpful tips to turn a hobby blog into a profitable business

SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW: Starting a profitable blog is actually hard work, this is NOT a get rich quick situation.

However, if you do choose put in the work, you can absolutely replace your 9-5 income with blogging.

It’s completely normal to start a blog with an extremely romanticized idea of what it will be like. During the first few months, you might even feel like it is a complete waste of time. However, if you do the steps outlined for you in the blogging course you WILL eventually get there.

In the first few months, I can almost guarantee that you will:

• Question your blog and your writing. You will be thinking to yourself that you must be doing something wrong.

• Feel frustrated by how much time it takes to put together a blog post and promote it to your bleak audience.

• Ask yourself why you are wasting your time doing this.

• Feel like quitting. Most people that start a blog quit at some point during the first year.

If you understand that a blog is a long term investment and can be a passive income machine for you if you do it correctly, you will replace your day job within the first year.

join my 5-day challenge, 5 steps to a follow-worthy blog here.

How CAN I start a blog?

(START HERE AND GO Step-by-step)

Step 1. ♥️ Choose a niche

When you first decide that you are ready to start a blog, you will want to get very clear on the niche you are going to choose. The reason for this is because if you want to start making money quickly on your blog, you will want to have a focused niche that you can start researching for content, data, ideas and keywords.

A simple 5 step formula for finding your profitable blog niche.

1. Passion/experience - It’s important that you choose a topic to talk about that you have experience in. You also want to enjoy talking about this topic for years to come, so choose something you have a strong interest in or passion for.

2. Solve a problem - Your blog should be focused on creating content that will help make other peoples lives a bit easier. You want to ultimately choose something that you enjoy figuring out, researching, continuing to learn about so that you can turn around and help others by your experience, expertise or perspective. Offering inspiration is also solving a problem

3. Interest - You want to make sure that people are actually interested in what you want to write about. I created a list of 10 of the most profitable blog niches for 2024, read it below.

4. Niche down. Get laser focused on a specific niche inside of a larger niche that really fits you well. For example: If your niche is Parenting, can you focus on moms of twins, boy moms, moms of children with disabilities. Or if your niche is fitness, can you focus on wellness for women over 40 or women who want to heal their gut issues. Or if your niche is home decor, you could focus on apartment dwellers, budget friendly decor or even dorm decorating.

5. Potential profit factor - Go to answerthepublic.com and see what questions people are asking in your niche. This may help you find easy problems to solve from questions that are the most popular questions asked online. You don’t want to create solutions that aren’t being asked on the internet, so do your research.

When you combine providing value with a popular public interest, you will find a niche for you.

10 of the most profitable blogging niches for 2026 according to experts:

1. Health and Wellness: This includes fitness, nutrition, mental health, wellness practices, and healthy lifestyle topics.

2. Personal Finance: Covering topics like budgeting, saving, investing, retirement planning, and financial advice.

3. Technology and Gadgets: Blogging about the latest tech trends, reviews of gadgets and devices, software guides, and how-tos.

4. Beauty and Fashion: Sharing makeup tutorials, beauty product reviews, fashion trends, style tips, and outfit inspiration.

5. Travel: Writing about travel experiences, destination guides, travel tips, and recommendations for accommodations and activities.

6. Lifestyle and Self-Improvement: Covering personal development, productivity, time management, self-care, and life hacks.

7. Food and Cooking: Sharing recipes, cooking techniques, food photography, and culinary tips.

8. Parenting: Sharing helpful finds, tips on baby hacks, advice for new moms, tips for moms of twins, helpful things to do with kids, etc. This niche is HIGHLY profitable.

9. Blogging and Business: This is one of the most profitable niches because everyone is online searching how to make more money online.

   2 really good blogs in this niche that inspired me:

   Melyssa Griffin (Made $283,680 in December 2016 of which net profit $191,146)

   Love Family Health

10. Home Decor and DIY: Focusing on home decor, organization, DIY projects, interior design, and home improvement tips.

    This is my absolute FAVORITE NICHE because everyone can relate to it. It also is very visual, and creative. It’s also a very profitable niche if you narrow down the topics. Home decor is a massive niche. You can write about small homes, first apartments, decorating on a budget, dorm decorating, bohemian interiors, best home decor DIY’s, plant hacks, cleaning hacks, etc. It is a fabulous niche.

    Some of my favorite blogs in this niche:

    • By Sophia Lee (made $43,225.37 in May 2020 on a blog started in 2017!)

    • Jojotastic

    • A Beautiful Mess

Remember that regardless of the niche you choose, providing valuable and high-quality content to your audience is crucial for building a loyal readership and potential profitability. Conduct thorough research, understand your target audience's needs, and adapt your content strategy accordingly. Additionally, diversifying your income sources, such as affiliate marketing, sponsored content, digital products, and online courses, can contribute to the profitability of your blog.

HOT TIP: As soon as you begin to create your niche, you want to work on your personal branding. Grab my FREE workbook on how to create yours right here.

Step 2. ♥️ Decide on a blogging host.

You will want to decide on where to create your blog. There are several to choose from:

Wordpress.org <—very popular

Squarespace <—what I use & have used for 10+ years

Wix <—easy to use and beautiful site builder

Substack <—this is a great way to blog and build an audience but I would NOT go this route if I was looking to use a display ad agency ( which should be your goal if you want to create passive income with blogging ).

Kajabi <—in my opinion this one is BEST for coaches and course creators

You will see a lot of bloggers preach the importance of using Wordpress.org to start a blog and using BlueHost as an affordable host. I personally used Wordpress for a year and hated it. I also used Blue Host ( which they ALL are making commissions from pushing this service ) and had too many issues with security and hacking my website, which cut into my ad revenue.

So, I moved over my blog to Squarespace.

I LOVE Squarespace because it is easy to use, the graphics are beautiful and I have full control over the design and back end of my blog. I did not want to hire someone else to be in control of the designs, the functions, etc. I want to be in full control.

Every year, Squarespace does an incredible job optimizing for SEO, E-commerce, email, memberships, etc. These are all incredible built in tools that I have personally used to grow my online empire which I dive more into here.

Step 3. ♥️ Pick a template.

As soon as you get signed up for your new site, you will be led to select a template.

The templates are gorgeous and so easy to navigate based on what you want your site to look like. They are so easy to implement and get started customizing your site.

I am a big fan of the Paloma layout for anyone wanting to create a gorgeous blog. The Paloma template comes with a very seamless layout to set things up for easy navigation.

Step 4. ♥️ Pick a blog/domain name.

Part one: You want to think long and hard about this because if you plan on blogging for years to come, which I hope you do, it’s going to stay with you.

My blog name process: Grab a journal and sit down and begin to brainstorm, this may take a few days. I did a brainstorm session using this tool. However, I always recommend to sleep on it.

Questions to ask yourself:

• What is your blog going to be about?

• Who are you writing this blog for?

• What will the reader get from reading your blog?

• What feeling with the reader walk away from your blog with? What will they do next?

If you are really struggling with this, you might want to pick something easy that is going to last with your forever and I highly suggest using your first and last name or even a nickname. Take my word for it, this will make things much easier when you plan on blogging a long time.

You can always add a tagline down the road which can more formally summarize the essence of your blog. Mine is Ashlina - Do less. Be more. live Blissfully and my domain name is Ashlinakaposta.com.

Part two: It is EXTREMELY important that you DO NOT use a blog name with a .squarespace or .wordpress. You MUST have a .com website name for your blog site to be primed for making money. I also suggest purchasing an email with your domain name at the end. For example: ashlina@ashlinakaposta.com

I suggest you use NameCheap for purchasing your domain. I love them because the customer service is top notch and they make it very easy to work with blogging!

Brainstorm several blog names that fits both your aesthetic and vibe. You want to do this just incase your ideal blog name is already taken. Think of a set of names that fit your personality that you can imagine having for years to come.

Most of the time, your first choice isn’t going to be available so brainstorm a few dozen backup names. Get creative!

Step 5. ♥️ Begin writing your blog content.

Now here is where it gets really fun. Based on the niche you selected, you can begin researching ideas you want to write about and do some research on the keywords that are most popular.

Here are some content ideas that usually work really well: 

• How-to posts

• How to train your baby to get to sleep

• How to organize your Fridge – The Home Edit Inspired

• List posts

• 7 Ways to get your front porch fall-ready

• The 10 best gluten free recipes of 2022

• Recipe posts

• The ultimate vegan chicken salad recipe 

• My deliciously juicy green smoothie recipe

• The perfect charcuterie layout

• Tutorials

• Step by step guide to turning your garage into a kick-ass home office

• My foolproof recipe for making the perfect grilled cheese sandwhich

• Reviews

• The ultimate iPad Pro review – The pros and the no’s

• Hulu vs. Youtube TV – What’s right for you

• Before and After post

• How I lost my baby weight – and kept it off

• Our kitchen renovation story – before and after

Step 6. ♥️ Create your pages.

The pages that you want to include on your blog, especially as a beginner are:

• About me

• Contact page

• A page for your products and/or services and Pricing (if you have that yet)

• Legal Pages

Your legal pages are extremely important. You will want to include the following at minimum:

Disclaimers-

• Your blog content is not to be taken as professional advice

• You accept no liability for your blog content or third party links

• There are no guarantees for success if someone follows your advice

• An affiliate disclosure (if you use affiliate links on your blog and don’t have a separate Affiliate Disclosure page)

Terms and conditions-

• Your intellectual property rights

• An explanation of your site visitors rights & obligations

• Your right to make changes to your site or to terminate anyone’s use of your site

• A limitation of liability

Step 6. ♥️ Spread your content all over the internet.

Here are 5 things I do after I create a blog post:

• I make Pinterest pinnable images in Canva to help promote my post on pinterest. I am obsessed with Pinterest for blogging.

• I link the new post to 2-3 other related blog posts, its called rich linking.

• I add the post url into the images inside the blog post.

• I request to index the post in the google console.

• I post the link to my Facebook page, Instagram stories, Linkedin, Twitter,etc. I spread it everywhere I can.

Pinterest has been my secret weapon for turning my blog into a passive income machine. You may also want to read these:

• 6 steps to using Pinterest to grow your traffic on your blog

• How my blog made over $2300 in one day from Pinterest traffic
  
  

Step 7. ♥️ Plan for passive income.

There are a few ways you can set yourself up for your blog being a passive income stream. I am going to share all the ways that my blog is set up for me to make money.

One. I started making money within weeks of first starting my blog by using an ad network. So that every single time someone views my blog, I get to make money from that with absolutely ZERO cost to the reader. It’s a win win.

Google Adsense was the very first ad network that I started with and it is a great idea to set it up along with Google Analytics. Google Analytics will help you track your traffic so you can begin to measure your progress.

Recently, I switched to She Media and I love this ad network for several reasons. First, they have great customer service and are incredibly helpful to get your ads set up. I also love women platforms, they give you helpful videos, content ideas, ways to increase traffic. They even help you land paid sponsored posts and brand deals. You an actually apply for She Media here.

Two. Set your self up with affiliate marketing programs so that you can add them into your blog posts. You make a small commission every time that someone purchases using your blog site/link, again at absolutely no cost to the customer. Which is very helpful for you if you are working hard to create great content.

My favorite affiliate programs are:

Share a sale.

Reward Style/LTK

Amazon Associates.

Hope this beginners guide to starting a profitable blog helps you.

If you want to learn more quickly, join my 5-day challenge, 5 steps to a follow-worthy blog here.

You may also like:

♥️ 10 lessons I learned from 10 years in blogging

♥️ 3 mindset shifts that will take your business to the next level

♥️ 4 strategic power moves for women entrepreneurs

How I Made $2,300+ in One Day Using Pinterest Traffic in 7 steps (Without Social Media)

Pinterest Income Strategy 2026: How I Made $2,300+ in One Day + Real Traffic Blueprint

Would you believe me if I told you that I made over $2300 in one day from the ad revenue on my lifestyle blog, all because of Pinterest?

No dancing, no DMs, no buying ads - just a powerful Pinterest profile doing its thing in the background.

And before you assume this was luck, let me say this clearly: it wasn’t.

I intentionally created really good, high quality blog posts that I knew would do well on Pinterest.

• It was focus and determination. I saw other women monetizing Pinterest and I had the internal self belief that if they could do it, I could do it too. So I set out to learn absolutely everything I could about Pinterest and I studied it fully.

In fact, once I got my strategy down, I built my Pinterest traffic to over 10 million views a month. I share my 6 steps for 10 million monthly views here.

• It was structure. I was determined to commit to Pinterest for 90 days. I focused on using intentional strategy instead of treating it like a side platform. This is where most people miss out.

Most importantly. I did not give up. I stuck with it. Even when I didn’t see immediate results, I kept going.

In this post, I’m going to walk you through how it actually works — why Pinterest has become one of the most underestimated traffic engines online, and how you can build your own high-converting Pinterest ecosystem that brings in leads, sales, and even premium clients… without being glued to your phone or performing 24/7.

Because Pinterest is not social media.

It’s infrastructure. It’s search-based visibility that compounds and creates traffic to your website.

The best part? Follower count doesn’t matter. Pinterest algorithm will push your content based on your content, keywords & how well you create your profile.

And when you build it properly, it fills your funnel in a way that feels steady instead of chaotic. One of the ways I make income from Pinterest is from the traffic I get to my blog, I make ad revenue based on the traffic. There are several other ways I bring in income, this is just one. And its one worth paying attention to.

Now, I’m not going to hand you every backend system I use — it would be too overwhelming all at one and it wouldn’t be fair to my students inside Pinterest Wealth Academy — but I am going to show you enough so you can see what’s possible and get started.

And if you’re the kind of woman who likes building assets instead of chasing attention on socials, you’re going to love this.

(Pssst… if you want the full step-by-step system — I break everything down inside my Pinterest To Profit Masterclass, a 120 minute masterclass teaching you how you can do this too)

My 7 step formula for making money on Pinterest

Step 1: I Treated Pinterest Like a Search Engine — Not Social Media

The biggest mistake people make is treating Pinterest like Instagram.

It’s not a place to “post and hope.” It’s a visual search engine.

People go to Pinterest to solve problems, find helpful tips and make purchases.

When someone types in:

• “how to grow blog traffic”

• “feminine energy habits”

• “How to throw a baby shower”

• “how to make money from home”

They are already in solution mode.

That means your job isn’t to entertain — it’s to match search intent.

Once I stopped thinking about followers and started thinking about search phrases and search engine optimization everything changed for me.

I now understand how to create content that gets readers to actually click through to my blog but to also keep them there by being a helpful resource.

Step 2: I Got Clear on My Ideal Reader & topics

You don’t need a restrictive niche, but you do need clarity on who you want to serve and attract.

Pinterest needs to understand who your content serves.

I refined my profile, bio, boards, and descriptions around:

• Home & Interior decorating

• Feminine energy & glow ups

• Blogging and digital passive income

• Manifesting & Spirituality

When people are searching on Pinterest, your main bio will appear for each keyword. Here is a snap of mine:

That clarity helped Pinterest categorize my account properly and it now know who to show my pins to.

Next, you want to create a beautiful Pinterest account so you can start amping up your profile by creating 10-15 boards on topics that you are interested in monetizing. Pin really good pins to those boards. They can be other peoples pins, you just want to start creating a visual story to your profile.

Here are a few of mine ( be sure to make specific titles for your boards so they populate around keyword searches):

Remember this: If your boards are scattered, your traffic will be scattered.

Clarifying your overall bio and boards will make your Pinterest profile really powerful

I created a very helpful guide here, 101 clever ways to make money on Pinterest. This might give you some ideas on what your big vision for monetizing Pinterest is. Download my free guide here.

Step 3: I Used Pinterest’s Built-In Keyword Research (Free)

Most people skip this.

Pinterest literally tells you what people are searching.

I use:

• The search bar auto-suggestions

• The colored related search bubbles

• Pinterest Trends dashboard ( https://trends.pinterest.com/ )

• Comprehensive keyword predictions tool

Before I create content, I look at what is already trending in my niche.

For example, if “floral wallpaper ideas” is trending upward, I don’t ignore that. I create content around it — in my voice, for my audience. I create posts to serve that audience and of course help answer questions + solve problems.

This removes guessing and sitting around not knowing what kind of content to create.

Inside Pinterest Wealth Academy, I teach how to cluster these keywords strategically so your boards and pins reinforce each other. But at minimum, you should never create blindly.

Search first. Then create.

Step 4: I Study Pinterest Trends Like It Is My Job

Pinterest Trends is free and wildly underused. Each year Pinterest will tell you what are going to be the overall trends for the year. Using these in your content will not only help you get found on Pinterest but also on Google.

I regularly check:

• Seasonal spikes

• Emerging phrases

• Search growth over time

If you understand when people are searching for something, you can position yourself ahead of the wave.

This is long-term thinking. Not “what do I feel like posting today?”

But:
“What is my ideal reader actively looking for right now?”

That question alone changes your results.

Step 5: I Designed Pins for Click-Through, Not Just Aesthetics

Beautiful matters. But clarity matters more.

My highest-performing pins always:

• Have bold, readable headlines

• Use searchable phrases

• Clearly communicate the outcome

• Match the blog post title exactly

Here are 2 pin styles that work really well:

Tip #1: Use large font so that your reader can see it.

Tip #2: Don’t copy what other people are doing, get creative and show Pinterest something brand new. Pinterest favors fresh ideas.

I also design multiple pins per post. Pinterest favors fresh creations.

When you study what is working and what isn’t working, double down on the ones that get a lot of engagement. Recreate those pins for all of your content.

I primarily focus on driving traffic to my blog because traffic turns into dollars for me. You can also drive traffic to your email list, affiliate links, digital products, service pages, etc. I will do an in depth post on all the ways I generate income from Pinterest but for now, blog traffic is what made that $2300 day.

Inside Pinterest Wealth Academy, I share the exact templates that have driven my highest traffic — including the pin structures that helped certain posts take off.

But here’s the key: if someone can’t read your headline in two seconds on mobile, it won’t perform.

Design for clarity. Always.

Step 6: I Used the Built-In Scheduler and Thought Long-Term

I don’t pin a bunch of pins at one time. I like to spread out my pins over the month. For example, If I publish a blog post, I may pin 3 related pins. Then, I will schedule out more pins that lead to that blog post over the next few weeks. I batch-create pins and use Pinterest’s built-in scheduler to map them out weeks in advance. This is such a helpful tool.

This does two things:

1. It keeps your account consistently active.

2. It removes emotional inconsistency from the equation.

You don’t need to log in daily. You need a system.

Pinterest rewards consistency over time, not bursts of activity.

The day I made $2,300 wasn’t because I “tried harder” that week. It was because of the compounding effect of months of structured pinning.

Step 7: I Continued to Expand and Refine My Boards Strategically

Boards are not just folders. They signal to Pinterest what your account is about and who will find your pins.

I organize my boards around what my ideal reader would actively search for — not just what sounded cute.

For example:
Instead of vague board names, I use keyword-aligned titles.

Instead of random categories, I create clusters that support my core topics.

This helps Pinterest understand:

• What your account specializes in

• Where to place your content

• Who to show it to

When your boards, keywords, and pins all align, you create momentum. And that momentum builds eyes on your profile and click through traffic to your website.

For example: Go into the Pinterest search bar and type “self care” then look at what the search terms that come up first. It may look something like:

• Self care for women with oily skin

• Self care rituals for the Winter

• Self care rituals for moms

This will help you understand what type of boards you can create to organize your content powerfully.

Why Most Women Think Pinterest Doesn’t Work

Because they:

• Post inconsistently
• Don’t understand keyword clustering or how to plan content properly
• Use aesthetic titles instead of searchable ones
• Never build a monetization funnel
• Quit after 30 days

Pinterest is slow at first.

It compounds.

And most people quit before compounding begins.

How Long Does It Actually Take?

This is where I want to be honest.

You may not see massive traffic in 2 weeks.

Most accounts see traction between:
• 30–90 days (early signals)
• 3–6 months (momentum phase, this is where traffic gets volume)
• 6–12 months (scaling phase)

But here’s the difference:

Pinterest traffic lasts.

Unlike Instagram posts that disappear in 24 hours, pins can bring traffic for years.

You’re building digital assets.

Not chasing algorithms.

The Real Risk Isn’t Starting Too Late

The real risk is:

Spending another year wondering if this could’ve worked.

Spending another year posting on social media with no compounding traffic.

Spending another year saying “I’ll figure it out eventually.”

Pinterest is not overnight. But it is powerful if leveraged properly. If you apply the right strategy that works with Pinterest, not against it.

If You Want the Full Blueprint

What I’ve shared here is the strategic overview. A few tips to get you started.

Inside Pinterest Wealth Academy, I walk you through:

• My exact keyword research system

• Board clustering strategy

• Pin design templates

• Traffic-to-email funnel setup

• Affiliate and course monetization structure

• A 90-day implementation roadmap

If you’re ready to build search-based traffic that works quietly in the background — without relying on social media performance — this is where we build it.

Pinterest isn’t about going viral.

It’s about building something that compounds over time. And with enough posts going viral on Pinterest, your website/ blog traffic could be generating a huge income for you.

And when you do it right, the results speak for themselves.

You may also like:

❤️ How I exploded my blog traffic with Pinterest

❤️ How to start a profitable blog step-by-step

❤️ How to start a lifestyle business & make money online

Please feel free to email me at ashlina@thedecorista.com if you have any questions!  I’m always happy to help with decorating, life advice or even picking out a specific perfume!  Have an amazing day!!

Also, check out my Amazon shop HERE to shop all my favorite things, tips and tricks. You can also download the free LIKETOKNOW.IT app and follow me HERE.

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As always, thank you so much for stopping by today, I truly appreciate all of you! xo, Ashlina

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