How to Start a Blog: A Beginner’s Ultimate Guide

Most guides on how to start a blog open with hosting.

Pick a name. Buy a domain. Install a theme. Write ten posts. Then, someday, figure out how to make money.

I followed that order. It cost me two years.

So this guide on how to start a blog for beginners goes in a different order. The order I wish someone had handed me in my aunt’s basement. Business first. Blog second. Always.

Before you read another word, grab my free courses. They walk you through what to sell first, step by step, so the blog you start actually has somewhere to send people.

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This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services I genuinely believe in and think will add value to you and your business. Thank you for supporting my blog. Your trust means the world to me!

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I started a blog the “right” way and made nothing

I started my first blog in late 2017. It was a lifestyle blog called Genasys Lifestyle.

I was living in my aunt’s basement, typing on a 2010 MacBook, picking up gig app work that hardly paid. College wasn’t for me. I knew I didn’t want a 9 to 5 for the rest of my life. So I searched Pinterest for ways to make money from home, and blogging came up.

I did everything the guides said. I posted. I pinned. I put ads on my site. They cluttered it, made almost nothing, and pushed my bounce rate way up. I made $50 on ShareASale once and never reached the $100 cash out. I made a planner and sent it to my email list.

It made $0.

Two years of that. Hoping every single day to see some income. Seeing nothing.

Then, in early 2020, right as Covid hit, I hired a blog coach with the last $200 in my bank account. In one session she moved me from “blog” to “business.” Not a lifestyle blog. A business blog, where I could sell services and coach.

That’s how Boss Lady Bloggers started. I didn’t know how to monetize yet. But I knew a ton about helping women start a blog, so that’s what I sold. In my first three to four months, I made about $4,000 selling blog coaching.

Two years of nothing. Four months of something. Same person, same hours, different order.

My writing didn’t change. My traffic didn’t suddenly jump. My order changed.

How to start a blog in the Business Ready Order

Here’s the truth almost nobody tells beginners. You do not start with traffic. You don’t even start with the blog.

As I tell every woman I coach, you do NOT need traffic first. Being business ready comes first.

So I built a name for the order I use with every client. I call it The Business Ready Order.

1. Research. Her actual words for her pains and desires.
2. Offer. The thing she pays you for, built from those words.
3. Messaging. So clear she knows what you sell, why, and what you stand for.
4. Copy. A journey on your site from landing to buying.
5. Brand and Site. The room she walks into. Love the vibe and stay, or feel icky and leave.

Then traffic. Then the posts and pins and videos that bring her in.

Notice where design sits. Last. And I’m a Showit website designer. I design websites, period. The designer puts design last, because a pretty site with nothing to sell is a pretty empty room.

Think about it this way. Would you set up a new clothing shop with no clothing items? Nobody would. But that’s what a traffic first blog is. The lights are on, the door is open, and there’s nothing on the racks.

Step 1: Research the woman before you write a word

Most beginners start a blog around a topic. Food. Faith. Motherhood. Money.

A topic doesn’t buy anything. A person does.

A niche is really the WHO. One specific woman. Your first job is to find her and listen to how she talks. Not how you’d describe her problem. How she describes it, at 10 p.m., typing into a search bar.

Try this.

1. Write down one real woman you’ve already helped, or who keeps asking you questions.
2. Ask five women like her what they’re stuck on right now, and write down their exact words.
3. Circle the phrases that show up more than once. That’s your language.

Those words become your headlines, your offer name, your post titles. You don’t have to invent copy when she already wrote it for you.

If picking a niche is where you’re stuck, read how to choose a blog niche that makes money. Short version, the problem you solve picks the niche.

Step 2: Build your first offer before your first post

This is the step every other start-a-blog guide puts at the end. I put it second, right after research, because the offer dictates everything. Your messaging, your copy, your website, your brand, your content. All of it.

“The offer I was selling needed to dictate every single thing.” That’s what I learned after two years of doing it backwards.

Your offer solves a problem she desires AND needs solved. Not just one. If she needs it but doesn’t want it, she won’t buy. If she wants it but doesn’t need it, she won’t stay.

Your first offer can be small. Here are a few beginner options.

• A digital product. A guide, template, planner or workbook that solves one specific problem.
• A service. You do the thing for her. Design, writing, planning, organizing.
• Coaching. You walk beside her while she does it.
• A course. You teach a process from start to finish.

Every client I’ve worked with was selling something of her own. Zero were affiliate blogs. That’s not an accident. Ads and affiliate links will take you to a plateau. Offers are what scale. (I wrote more about this in why your blog isn’t making money.)

Step 3: Write messaging she can repeat back to you

Messaging is how you say what you sell. If she can’t repeat it back after ten seconds on your site, it isn’t clear yet.

Here’s a simple test. Finish this sentence: “I help [one woman] get [one result] with [my offer].”

Read it out loud to a friend. If she says “oh, cool,” it’s not done. If she says “oh, so you help moms like me do X,” you’ve got it.

Your messaging also carries your story and your beliefs. A homepage that’s a list of posts has no person on it. She comes back for a person and a belief, not for information. The goal is a woman who believes it WITH you.

Step 4: Write copy that walks her from landing to buying

Copy is every word on your site. Think of it as a path. She lands, she reads, she trusts, she signs up, she buys.

Every beginner blog gets these pages first.

• Home page. Who you help, what you sell, and why you. The first line is your messaging sentence.
• About page. Your story, told to prove you get her. Not your résumé.
• Offer page. The sales page for the thing you built in Step 2.
• Freebie page. Where she trades her email for a quick win.
• Blog page. Where your posts live.
• Contact and privacy policy. The basics.

Every sentence has a job. It should WOW her, convict her, excite her or persuade her. If a sentence does none of those, cut it.

Step 5: Brand and site, the room she walks into

Now, finally, the fun part. Name, domain, colors, fonts and the site itself.

Your blog name. Keep it short, easy to say and easy to spell. Make it point at the woman or the result, not just at you. Grab the .com. Please use the .com.

Your brand. Pick two or three colors and one or two fonts that feel like the woman you’re serving. A simple brand board keeps you consistent.

Your platform. This is where most beginner guides tell you to start on WordPress.org and buy hosting. I believed that once too. Here’s what I tell my clients now. Your site has one job, to make her stay. Pick the build that lets you keep it beautiful and keep it updated.

Every client I design for gets a choice, and I do either one.

1. A custom site I hand design in Showit. For the woman who wants to change things by hand, drag and drop, no code.
2. A custom site I build fast with code. For the woman who’s happy to update her site by asking AI.

Either way, you still post like normal. My own site is the second kind. I coded Boss Lady Bloggers with AI and host it on Showit, with a WordPress blog behind it. Showit plus WordPress, best of both worlds.

If you want to try Showit yourself, you can start with Showit here. That’s my referral link.

A site that sells looks like a home, not a content farm. Content farms get read and left. A home makes her want to stay, hang out and come back. Pretty captures attention. Words make them stay and take action. The freebie makes them a forever fan.

For the full design walkthrough, read my blog design tips for beginners.

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Step 6: Set up a freebie and the emails that sell

Your blog is the marketing tool. Email is where you actually sell.

So before you write a single post, build one freebie that matches your offer. A checklist, a template, a short video lesson. Something she can use in ten minutes that solves a small slice of the problem your paid offer solves.

Then write two email sequences.

• A welcome sequence. Three to five emails that tell your story, share your belief and deliver a quick win.
• A sales sequence. A few emails that invite her into your offer, answer her objections and give her a clear yes or no.

I use Flodesk for mine. Connect the freebie to a signup form, and every new subscriber gets the welcome emails automatically.

The main goal of a blog post is to be SO good she signs up for the freebie. If you lose her, she forgets you.

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Step 7: Write your first posts to feed your offer

Now you write. And because you did Steps 1 through 6, you know exactly what to write.

Blogging for traffic means lots of how-to articles. Blogging for income means shifting beliefs, making her realize she has a problem, and delivering even more value inside a freebie.

Start with three posts.

1. The problem post. Name the problem she’s living in, in her words. Point her to your freebie.
2. The belief post. Take the belief that keeps her stuck and flip it. Tell your story.
3. The how-to post. Teach one piece of the solution. Your offer is the full version.

Every post gets one matched freebie near the top, a clear next step at the end, and a reason to come back. Need ideas? My list of lifestyle blog post ideas is built around offers, not just topics.

Step 8: Then, and only then, bring the traffic

Here’s the part you probably wanted first.

Blogging isn’t dead. It just doesn’t run on Google alone anymore. It runs on YouTube, podcasts and Pinterest. (More on that in is blogging dead.)

In my own business, the blog was a landing pad. Pinterest ads at $5 to $10 a day, plus my YouTube channel and podcast, sent women to posts with a matched freebie at the very top. They joined my list. My emails sold. My best and highest paying clients came from my podcast and YouTube.

Pick one or two places and stay long enough to see results. I’ll be honest. I couldn’t pin long enough to see results either, at first. Trying everything for a month is how nothing gets a fair shot.

“But Gen, I don’t even have an audience yet.”

Good. That’s the best time to do this.

You don’t need an audience to research one woman, build one offer and write one clear sentence. When the audience comes, she lands on a business instead of a diary.

“But Gen, what if I pick the wrong offer?”

Then you’ll learn faster than you would by picking nothing.

I’ve launched offers to crickets. I’ve reworked and renamed my own signature offer several times. That wasn’t failing. It was learning what not to do next time. Failure is inevitable. Pivoting is a must.

How to start a blog, in eight lines

• Research one woman and write down her words.
• Build an offer that solves a problem she wants and needs solved.
• Write one sentence she can repeat back to you.
• Write copy that walks her from landing to buying.
• Build the brand and site last, in Showit or code.
• Set up one matched freebie and your welcome and sales emails.
• Write three posts that feed the offer.
• Then bring the traffic, and stay with it.

I built this business around nap times, late nights and early mornings as a solo mom. A blog in the right order is how something of your own starts paying you back.

Your one thing this week? Write down one real woman and five things she’s said about her problem. In her words. That’s Step 1, and it’s the step most people skip.

If you want someone in your corner for the rest, that’s what I do inside Blog to Paid. We build your offer, your messaging, your copy and your website together, in either Showit or code. Book a free Fast Track call and we’ll map out your order together.

It’s not your writing. It’s your missing piece.

I believe in you more than you realize, because I was you.

Gen

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FAQ

How do I start a blog as a beginner?

Start with the woman, not the platform. Research one specific woman and her words, build an offer that solves her problem, write clear messaging and copy, then build your brand and site. After that, set up a freebie and emails, write posts that feed the offer, and bring traffic from YouTube, podcasts or Pinterest.

Do I need traffic before I start selling on my blog?

No. Being business ready comes first. A small, targeted audience can buy from a clear offer. A big audience can’t buy from a blog with nothing to sell.

Should I start my blog on WordPress or Showit?

Pick the build that lets you keep your site beautiful and updated. I’m a Showit website designer, and I build either a custom Showit site you change by hand or a custom coded site you update by asking AI. Both can run a WordPress blog so you post like normal.

How long does it take to start a blog that makes money?

It depends on your offer, not your post count. I blogged for two years with no offer and made nothing. After I started selling blog coaching in early 2020, I made about $4,000 in my first three to four months.