The dream of earning an income online while traveling the world is one many digital nomads and expats desire. Starting a blog is often seen seen as one of the most viable way’s to turn that dream into reality if they put the commitment into it.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the key steps to launch a blog that not only aligns with your passions but also serves as a potential source of income. As we have discussed in other articles such as ‘How Digital Nomads Earn Money Anywhere‘, a diversified income is key!
1. Treat Your Blog Like a Business
Starting a profitable blog isn’t just about sharing your thoughts or adventures as a hobby; it’s about building and treating it as a business.
Just like any entrepreneurial venture, a successful blog requires:
- Plan on it taking a Consistent effort over 6–12 months before you see meaningful results.
- Write down goals and targets for what you want to achieve for each month, both creatively and financially.
- Create content based on a Content Hub and technical metrics like Keyword Research, not ‘Whatever you feel like today’
- Have a crystal clear Niche and Target Audience
- Have a plan for monetization strategies (e.g., ads, affiliates, products).
2. Choose a Profitable Niche
The foundation of a successful blog is having well-defined niche, both so that Google and your readers know what the blog is about, but also form the basis of what content you will write.
- What excites you? Your niche should be something you’re passionate about and can talk about consistently for months or even years.
- Is there an audience? Research what people are searching for online. Use tools like Google Trends or Keyword Planner to validate demand.
- Does it solve a problem? Consider how your blog or site can provide value, whether it’s through advice, entertainment, or practical solutions like online tools.
Not all niches are the same when it comes to ranking on Google.
Certain topics, known as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) niches—such as medical, finance, legal, and safety are particularly challenging. These areas face strict E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) standards because they directly impact people’s well-being. They’re also highly competitive, dominated by established authorities such huge corporations.
If you’re starting a blog, consider targeting sub-niches or less saturated areas where you can still provide accurate, valuable, and trustworthy content while building your expertise.
3. Create High-Quality Content
To build authority and attract traffic, focus on creating valuable, engaging, and consistent content. Start by targeting keywords you can realistically rank for, particularly in sub-niches with less competition.
A great way to accelerate your ranking is by creating a content hub—a collection of related, interlinked articles that all address different aspects of the same topic, directly related to your niche. This strategy not only boosts SEO and sets the site structure, but also establishes your blog as an authority in your niche.
Tools like Answer Socrates can help identify low-competition keywords that you can rank on quickly.
Your content should:
- Solve a problem or answer a common question your audience has.
- Be optimized for SEO to attract organic traffic.
- Include pictures and where possible multimedia like videos to engage readers.
- Provide valuable resources which can be downloaded or linked to.
- Focus on quality over quantity! While AI is useful, don’t just paste regurgitated rubbish.
Posting frequency is another part of creating content. Use a content calendar to plan topics and maintain regular posting on a regular schedule (daily, weekly etc).
4. Find A Good Hosting Provider
When building and running a website or blog, find a decent affordable hosting and domain provider.
Register The Domain
A domain is your website’s unique address on the internet that you type into the browser, allowing users to find your site easily. It should be one of the first things you buy as it will form you’re brand name.
When choosing a domain, keep it short, memorable, and relevant to your niche, and consider opting for a .com extension instead of any other funky extensions, as it’s the most recognised and trusted by users.
A good place to find and register your domain is Porkbun which I’ve found has the largest range of domain extensions and lowest prices in the industry. It is worth noting that you can’t ‘buy’ the domain per say, but instead rent it for periods of time in 1 year increments.
Be very careful typing the domain into other providers, search engines or tools prior to registering the domain as you be ‘frontrun‘ with the domain being scalped to sell back to you at inflated prices.
You can have your domain and hosting in 2 different places to get the best deal!
Blogging Platform
To build the website and as blogging platform, just use WordPress. Yes it’s not perfect, but it does tick most of the important boxes, most people understand it and it’s relatively cheap to get started.
You DO NOT and it’s advised you don’t, get hosting through wordpress.com!
Web Hosting
To run a blog or website, you need web hosting, which is the service that stores your website’s files and makes them accessible online. It’s important to choose a reliable hosting provider to ensure good performance and uptime.
Avoid popular but overhyped options like BlueHost, Hostgator, or Hostinger, where affiliates often earn high commissions (upto 70%) at the cost of offering subpar services. Do your research and be sure to read the unbiased reviews!
100% unbiased and affiliate free point in the right direction, Interserver is who I first started hosting with many years ago and found them excellent value at $2.50/mo for basic web-hosting.
5. Monetisation
One of the most exciting parts of blogging is monetisation, once your blog starts attracting consistent traffic, the income possibilities multiply.
Some ways to monetise blogs and websites include:
- Affiliate Marketing: Earn commissions by recommending products or services you trust such as Amazon Products
- Sponsored Content: Partner with brands to create paid guest posts on your site or endorsements
- Digital Products: Sell eBooks, courses, or templates relevant to your niche.
- Advertising: Use ad networks like Google AdSense and Mediavine to generate passive income.
- Services: Offer freelance services like writing, consulting, or coaching through your blog.
Do not be surprised if it takes 6-12 months to start being able to start getting sufficient traffic to start earning revenue. As an example a 6 month old site I created with ~30 blog posts makes around 30-50 cents a month!
6. Build Your Online Presence
A blog doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Promote it actively:
- Social Media: Share posts on platforms and communities where your target audience hangs out.
- Youtube: Consider supporting your content with online videos to help capture your audience on another medium,
- Email Marketing: Build a mailing list from day one to engage your audience directly.
- Networking: Collaborate with other bloggers and influencers in your niche to expand your reach. Podcasts and link exchanges are a great way to build your site up.
Don’t Be Intimated By SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) can seem overwhelming and often talked about subject for a new blog, but breaking it down into key components makes it more manageable and something that can be done as a beginner on your own.
The core basics are:
- Keyword Research: A discussed above, its essential to identify the search terms people are actually looking for and those you have a good chance of ranking for it starting out.
- Backlinks & Internal Links: Backlinks (links from other websites) help build authority, while internal links (links within your own site) guide visitors and improve your site’s structure.
- Site Structure & On-Page SEO: Organize your website for easy navigation and ensure each page is optimised with relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and headers. These simple but often overlooked adjustments can make a big difference in your site’s search rankings. Plugins such as ‘The SEO Framework‘ greatly simplify this progress.
- Google Search Console & Google Analytics: Free tools help you track your website’s performance, monitor keyword rankings, identify issues, and gain insights into user behavior and submit your sites sitemap for faster crawling
Conclusion: Be Patient and Persistent
Earning a living from a blog doesn’t happen overnight and is far from easy guaranteed money. If it was everyone would be doing it!
The first few months and even year may feel like you’re working for free, but that’s normal. As you consistently publish content, refine your strategy, grow your audience and invest into the site, the income potential grows exponentially.
Good luck and Happy Blogging!
If you have any questions on blogging or the related topics, please leave a comment below