I remembered reading all the time how people were getting paid from their blogs, and I was getting paid about 4 cents a month from mine using Google Adsense. What the beans… right?!

I followed the advice of other bloggers and I’m so grateful I did. I remember when we received a deposit of $170 into our checking from my blog, & my husband came in and hugged me. Did we need that money to survive? No, but does it make things easier on our family? Absolutely!

I’ll be playing with my kids outside, & my phone will *ding* that about $150 (give or take about $15) was just deposited into my account…for posts I wrote MONTHS ago.

My best friend is starting her blog & asked the exact steps that I took to get mine started, & here is what I told her:

1. Buy a domain name

If you want BlueEyedMomma.com as your blog name, it’ll cost you about $10 per year, (depending on availability of course). I purchased mine through GoDaddy, & they have a free search system where you can see if your domain name is available.

2. Set up your hosting account

I use the FREE version of WordPress, which is WordPress.org, along with a hosting account.

A hosting service basically publishes your website to be online.

Bluehost costs only $3.95 per month & works really well with Word Press. This is the least expensive + best customer service hosting that I’ve found. Yesssss.

3. Set up WordPress.org

My favorite part about Word Press is that it is FREE. Something has to be right? It is very easy to edit your blog, add new features & “widgets,” and they even have a WordPress App where you can easily write & publish a post from your phone.

There are free blog themes within WordPress, this is the appearance & layout of your blog.

4. If you want your blog to look exactly how you want it…Purchase a Theme

I purchased my theme for $60 from Theme Forest & it was the best purchase for my blog. Within the theme that I purchased, I can make font edits, color edits, add photos and more by connecting it with WordPress.

Other sites like Wix that allow really specific customization for about $120 per year are great for businesses, but the fact that I don’t have to pay monthly fees just to edit the appearance of my blog is so helpful.

I’m currently making between $150-$200 regularly per month from my blog, and over the course of my first year I made a little over $1,000. That’s amazing! And you can EASILY do it too. If I didn’t customize my site to look professional, I might not be getting the traffic that I am.

5. How to Monetize Your Blog

Currently my largest affiliate payments come from Amazon Affiliates

1 Set up your website or blog. …

2 Go to Amazon Affiliates

3 Click “join for free.” …

4 Fill in the application fields. …

I wasn’t approved with Amazon Affiliates until I hit a certain number of traffic on my blog. I highly suggest writing 10-15 posts and promoting those before you set up Amazon Affiliates. OR…you can apply and just wait to get the approval email when you hit their mark.

I hope this helps you!

*There are affiliate links in this post that I could receive payment from