How to start a blog in Australia and make money from home

Are you wondering how to start a blog and make money from home in Australia?

Well you’ve come to the right place!

Starting a blog is fun and creative, and if you plan your blog well, you can can turn it into a successful online business.

In this blogging tutorial for beginners I will help you plan your blog for success, plus I’ll show you step by step how to start your blog the right way so you can monetise it in any way you want.

Excited much?

Let’s find out how to start a blog in Australia!

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I may earn a small commission for affiliate links in this post at no extra cost to you. Please read my disclaimer  for more information.

Is blogging still worth it?

Yes, blogging is totally worth it! As long as people search for stuff on Google, there is demand for content, and if there is demand, there is ways to monetise this content.

So don’t think blogging is dead. Blogging is still very much alive and a legit way to make money online.

How much do bloggers make in Australia?

On average a professional business blogger in Australia will make between 43k and 65k.

Will you be able to earn this much from your blog?

It’s possible, but not likely in your first year of blogging.

How much money you make from your blog depends entirely on your experience and your strategy or lack thereof.

You can make anywhere between $0 and $200.000 per month or even more, but like I said, you’ll need a strategy to successfully monetise your blog.

How to start a blog in Australia

1. Choosing a profitable blog topic
2. Planning your blog
3. Securing a domain name
4. Choosing a blogging platform
5. Setting up your blog
6. Designing your website
7. Writing your first blog post
8. Promoting your blog
9. Monetising your blog

1. Choosing a profitable blog topic

The first step to starting a successful blog is choosing a profitable blog topic or niche.

You need to choose a blogging niche that is popular and easy to monetise.

This is an important step because if you pick a blog topic that no one is searching for, you won’t be getting much blog traffic, and no blog traffic = no income…

That’s not what you want.

So to get lots of traffic you’ll need to write about topics that people are searching for, topics that are popular and in demand.

But how do you know what topics are in demand?

A general rule of thumb is, if other people are blogging about this topic, it is a profitable niche.

You might have some competition, but that’s ok, there is always demand for new content about popular topics.

Another way to find out if a blog topic is in demand is by using a tool like Ubersuggest. Simply type in a particular blog topic and it will give you the monthly search volume.

To help your blog stand out from the crowd it’s a good idea to narrow down to a very specific blog topic with a targeted audience.

For example; you could start a photography blog (quite a broad topic), or you could narrow it down to teaching product photography to female business owners .

As you can see this second niche is very specific and will attract a very targeted audience.

Knowing precisely who your audience is, will help you tremendously when creating content and when monetising your blog.

If you haven’t decided on a blog topic yet and you need some help figuring out which blog topics are in demand, make sure to sign up for my Free Blogging Course below in which I show you every step of starting a profitable blog:

2. Planning your blog

Once you’ve decided on your blog topic, you can start planning your blog.

Your blog plan should answer questions like:

• What are your blogging goals
• How will you promote your blog
• What ways can you monetise your blog
• How do you stand out from your competition
• etc

I’ve included a printable Blog Planner Workbook in my free course, so if you want to plan your blog for success make sure to sign up here or with the form above.

3. Buying a domain name

Now you know what your blog topic and your target audience is, you need to choose a blog name and buy a domain name.

A domain name is basically your blog name with an extension like .com or .co, examples of domain names are:

• google.com
• sassyboss.co
• pinterest.com

You can buy your domain name at Namecheap for anywhere between $10 and $100, or you can get it for free if you follow the steps below.

If you already have a blog name in mind, you should check to see if it’s available as a domain name as soon as possible. You can do this by typing it in the box below and click the green button. (Don’t buy it yet, I’ll show you how to get it for free in step 5.)

If you haven’t decided on a blog name yet, or your chosen name is not available, you can still set up your blog and choose your blog name later (just go to step 5 for instructions.)

When choosing a blog name, you want to make sure it is:

• Short
• Memorable
• Easy to spell
• Relevant to your blogging niche
• Available as domain name and social media handles

If you want 9 tips to make sure you pick a blog name you won’t regret, make sure to sign up to my free blogging course for beginners here.

4. Choosing A Blogging Platform

To set up your blog you need a blogging platform. There are several different blogging platforms available, but only a few of them are suitable for professional blogging.

You might be wondering if there are free blog sites you can use in Australia, or how to start a blog for free, but these free sites are only suitable for hobby blogs because they have loads of limitations.

With these free blogging sites you won’t be able to add all functionality you might need, and you’ll have limitations on how you can design and monetise your blog.

Plus if you want to add your own domain name to a free blogging platform, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan and this is more expensive than a self hosted blog…

So, if you’re serious about your blog as a money making business, you need to start your blog on WordPress.org.  WordPress.org is the most popular blogging platform for professional bloggers because it has no limitations on functionality, design or monetisation.

And the best thing?

You can host a blog for the price of one cup of coffee per month.

(Yes, blogging is one of the most affordable businesses to start!)

So what are you waiting for?

Let’s Setup Your Blog!

5. Setting Up Your WordPress Blog

To setup your self hosted WordPress blog, you need a website hosting provider.

A web host is basically where your blog “lives” on the world wide web.

A great affordable web host is Bluehost. Bluehost is one of the top recommended web hosts for WordPress and they make setting up your blog super easy.

They have a portal that guides you through your site setup and they even install WordPress for you.

Here’s a few reasons why I love Bluehost over other web hosts:

Bluehost:

• installs WordPress for you
• give you a free SSL certificate and installs it for you (other hosts let you figure this out yourself)
• gives you a free domain name and links it up for you (other hosts make you point your name servers yourself)
• offers friendly 24/7 customer support

So basically Bluehost does all the technical stuff for you so you can start blogging sooner.

Are you ready to set up your blog in 10 minutes flat?

CHECK OUT BLUEHOST’S AFFORDABLE PLANS HERE

And follow the steps below.

How To Setup Your Blog With Bluehost

Step 1: Go To Bluehost

Click here to go to the Bluehost WordPress hosting page.

This is the page you need so that Bluehost installs WordPress for you.

Step 2: Choose A Hosting Plan

Scroll down and select the Basic Plan if you want to host 1 website or the Plus Plan for multiple websites.

Step 3: Choose A Domain Name

Here you can claim your free domain name by typing it in the box: Create a new domain.

If you already have a domain name, type it in the box: Use a domain name you own.

If you haven’t decided on your domain name yet or your chosen domain name wasn’t available, you can skip this step and click on the link: I’ll create my domain later.

Step 4: Creating Your Account

Now you can create your account by filling out your personal details.

Step 5: Choose Your Package

Here you can choose how many years you want to buy hosting for.

Step 6: Choose Your Package Extras

Next you can choose some extras, but I recommend unticking these boxes because you can install free WordPress plugins for security and SEO.

Step 7: Adding Your Payment Information

Fill out your credit card details or click more payment options if you want to pay with PayPal.

Step 8: Create A Password

Last but not least you need to create a password. It is very important you create a long and hard to guess password to make sure your account doesn’t get hacked! Never use your own name or your blog name. I recommend coming up with a short sentence and use $ymbo1s and numbers and letters in lower and UPPER case.

Write it down somewhere safe, you’ll need it to login to your website.

6. Configuring WordPress

Congratulations, you’ve set up your first WordPress site!

Now it’s tine to configure the WordPress settings, add some plugins and install a theme.

After you set up your hosting, Bluehost will send you an email with a link to your site.

Click on this link and follow all the instructions. After this you’ll arrive in Bluehost portal where you can click a link that takes you to the back end of your WordPress website, the WordPress dashboard.

Here you can can configure your settings, add plugins, design your header, sidebar and footer, create pages and posts and much more.

If you’re not sure how to do any of this in WordPress, feel free to check out my course Wonderful WordPress.

7. Designing Your Website

The next step is to design your brand and website. I won’t go into branding in this post but if you want to design your own brand I have a complete branding tutorial here:

How To Design A Brand For Your Blog

Or click here for 1000+ Feminine Logo Design Ideas

Or check out these instant logo & branding templates by Lady Boss Studio.

The way your website looks depends a lot on the WordPress theme you install. I highly recommend installing a premium theme because they have way more functionality, are updated more regularly and they come with support.

A great theme to start with is Astra, because it has a free version that you can start with and if you need more functionality you can upgrade to the premium version at any time.

Check out all the beautiful Astra templates here.

If you want a more feminine look for your website, I recommend you check out Bluchic Themes or Blossom Themes. On these sites you’ll find beautifully designed WordPress themes that are perfect for female entrepreneurs, bloggers and coaches.

8. Writing your first blog post

Alright, you’ve finally got to the part where you get to write your first blog post!

How exciting!

But what should you write about in your first blog post?

To be honest, it doesn’t matter if it’s your first or your hundredth blog post, you always need to write about something that your audience is interested in.

Are you writing a blog for new mums? Give them tips to sooth a baby that won’t go to sleep.

Do you blog about gardening? Choose one specific problem most new gardeners struggle with and write an article about that.

Basically, every blog post you write, should help your audience solve one of their most common problems.

For more tips on writing your blog posts, post formatting and SEO, read:

How To Write A Killer Blog Post in 17 Steps

9. Promoting your blog

To make sure you get a good amount of blog traffic, you need to promote your blog.

There are several ways to promote your blog, I’ll mention the best ones here:

1. SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and it’s the techniques you use to get your blog posts to rank on the first page of search engines such as Google, Bing, Duck Duck Go etc.

With the use of keywords and phrases, link building and creating an online presence for your blog, you’ll be able to get your blog to show up higher in Google.

Search engine traffic is the best kind of traffic because it’s very targeted (people are looking for something specific) and you don’t have to keep promoting this content because once it ranks on the first page it is likely to stay there for a while.

To learn how to get started with SEO, read:

SEO for Beginners – The Essential Guide

2. Pinterest Marketing

Pinterest can be another great source of blog traffic especially if your blog niche is visual like home decor, craft, food etc, and if your target audience is female.

The main secret to successfully promoting your blog on Pinterest are:

1. creating beautiful pins
2. using keywords in the pin title and description
3. consistently pinning every day

You can easily create attractive Pinterest pin with online graphic design tool Canva.

Vertical images with a 2:3 ration work best, like this one here (make sure to pin it..)

And to help you stay consistent you can even use a Pinterest scheduler like Tailwind.

I use Tailwind and it saves me so much time, plus I love adding my pins to Tailwind Communities which gives your pins an extra boost.

You can sign up for Tailwind’s Free Plan here.

Other ways to promote your blog are:

• Starting a Facebook Group for your target audience
• Answering question on Quora and in Facebook groups
• Creating a GiveAway

For more ideas, read:

How To Promote Your Blog Like A Pro

10. Monetising your blog

Now you know how to start a blog in Australia, it’s time to find out how to monetise it! Let’s have a look at 6 different ways you can make money with your blog:

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money with a new blog. It doesn’t cost anything to set up and it’s easy to get started with.

So what exactly is affiliate marketing?

As an affiliate you promote the products/services/courses etc for another business. They give you a unique affiliate link and when your readers click on this link and make a purchase, you receive a commission.

Affiliate marketing is great for new bloggers because you don’t need tons of traffic, you just need the right kind of traffic.

If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing, make sure to read my beginner’s guide here: How To Start With Affiliate Marketing.

2. Ads

Once your blog gets more traffic, you could monetise it with advertisements. There are several ad networks you can join and they all have different requirements for blog traffic. One of the better ad networks is MediaVine, to get approved for this ad network you’ll need a minimum of 50k blog traffic sessions.

I don’t really like ads because they direct your website traffic away from your site, but for some high traffic blog niches ads can be a great way to make money.

3. Offering a Service

Another great way to monetise a brand new blog is by offering a service.

This will obviously only work if you have a service you can offer. One popular service to offer is VA which stands for Virtual Assistant, so if you have any skills like social media management, proof reading or book keeping, you could offer a combination of these skills as a VA.

Other services you could offer are:

• graphic design
• web design
• SEO optimisation
• App development
• Writing
• Translation
• Email marketing

4. Selling a Digital or Physical Product

Creating and selling digital products is also very popular amongst bloggers. Of course you could create a physical product as well, but digital products are very low risk because you have no up front production cost and you only invest your time to create the product.

Popular digital products to sell on your blog are:

• eBooks
• eCourses
• Templates
• Printables

I sell these types of products on my blog, feel free to check them out in my shop here.

5. Sponsored Content

Once your blog is a bit more established you might get requests for sponsored blog posts. Sometimes a company will approach you to write a review of their product or just to mention their product in one of your existing posts.

6. Coaching

If you have a skill that lends itself to starting a coaching program then this can be a lucrative addition to your blog. Coaching has become very popular over the last few years, some examples are:

• Business Coaching
• Wellness Coaching
• Fitness Coaching
• Life Coaching
• Relationship Coaching

These are some of the best ways to make money from a blog in Australia.

This Is How You Start A Blog In Australia

It doesn’t matter if you live in Australia or anywhere else in the world, starting a blog is a great online job that you can do from anywhere!

I hope you liked this tutorial and it helped you start your blog. If you have any questions, make sure to leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to help you out.

If you want more help with your blog, make sure to sign up for my free blogging course here:

Free Blogging Course For Beginners

In this free course I’ll show you how to:

• Find a money making niche
• Choose a blog name you won’t regret
• Set up your self hosted blog
• Make sure your blog is legal
• Design your blog
• Write your first blog post
• Tips for monetising & promoting

+ A BONUS BLOG PLANNER WORKBOOK