How to Start a Blog and Make Money in India – 2023 Guide

Do you wish to start a blog in India? Well, that sounds astonishing!

I was 20 when I started my blogging career (that was just for fun though). It took me around 3-4 days to learn how to start a blog and understand the basics of a blogging platform. Starting a blog is easy, you just need to understand the basics. Once you get an expert in it, you will reach hundreds and thousands of audiences.

When I started my blog, I was pursuing my studies (graduation) and I remember how I used to publish new posts for fun to call myself a blogger. After a few days, when I was just going through my dashboard (Amazon affiliate), I was surprised to see some amount (around Rs. 78) credited to my account. Even though it’s low, that was such a great happiness for me.

As I started believing in online income, I then began going through the tutorials on how to start a blog and make money from it. I’ve personally gone through small & big rocks throughout my blogging career. But believe me, you will learn when you make a mistake!

Kept working harder with new strategies & helpful content for about 2-3 months, and then I began to see my real online revenue which crossed over Rs. 3,000.

People either start their blogging career as a passion, to make their own brand, to help people solve their problems, or to earn make money through it. There are many bloggers who are making millions in a month and you can be one of them too.

As a blogger, I wish to see other people start blogging and understand how the platform works as well. That’s why I’m sharing the step-by-step process to start a blog in India and earn money from it.

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Start a Blog in India

Before we start discussing the steps on how to start a blog, let me tell you one thing. Blogging is the most effective and popular way to earn passive income online. But, this is possible only when we choose the right platform and post content at least 2 times a week on your blog.

I would highly recommend you go with WordPress, as it’s the most popular and widely used CMS (content management system) around the world. There are many free blogging platforms such as Blogger, Tumblr, & Wix but I would never recommend these if you are serious about starting a blog in India.

The reason why I never advise my users to go for free blogging platforms are:

• Your domain name will have the company’s name attached to it – It will be very hard to remember and honestly, you may not get recognized as a brand. For example, yourdomain.blogspot.com is pretty lengthy and users will be unable to remember it.
• You will have no control over the content you write – Yes! You may write & publish the content but the company controls it. They can even delete your blog without any notice if you go against their terms.
• You cannot customize your themes or plugins according to your requirements.

This sounds painful, isn’t it? This is why, I recommend starting with WordPress from scratch.

1. Find a Niche You Would Love to Write About

The very first step is to choose the niche/topic that you are interested in and would love to talk about.

Now you might be thinking about what a niche really is.

A Niche is nothing but a topic or subject that tells what the blog is about. A blog may contain multiple niches, for example: fashion tips, travel tips, and cooking tips. But, it’s recommended if a blog is particularly focused on one single topic.

The reason why I suggest you start with one single topic is, that you can focus & concentrate on that particular topic without being diverted.

However, if you have enough time to manage every single niche or have a team that can look at it, then you may start a blog with multiple niches.

You just need to ask yourself a few questions.

• Which topic do you love to talk about, write or discuss with people?
• On what topic do people love to listen from you?
• What is the topic that you always keep talking about?
• Do you have enough knowledge about that topic?
• How can you improvise this topic by adding a certain amount of value to it?
• Can you keep updating that blog with trending topics in India?

If you have the answer to all these questions, you’re ready to start a blog in India about that topic!

Do remember that this is the most crucial step of blogging. If you opted for a niche that you don’t have enough knowledge about, then I’m afraid you might not make your blogging career successful.

Even I’ve gone through worse experiences by opting for the wrong niche at first. But then, I understood the whole process and started focusing on one single niche.

Start with Google search & keyword planner.

Google Keyword Planner is a powerful tool that can tell you the complete details about a particular topic, such as finding the long-tail keywords, the number of searches per month, keyword PPC competition, etc. You can then choose your long-tail keyword that you’ve good knowledge of and are confident with writing an article on it.

Now as everything is clear, I hope you understood how to start a niche blog in India. Let’s move on to the next step.

2. Get a Domain Name & Hosting for Your Blog

Not sure what a domain name really is? Well, the domain name is the address (URL) that we type in the browser to visit a website. For example, if you type www.rankvidya.com, this website will open in the browser. I hope you got that!

Now you may raise a question like: why should I purchase a domain when I can register it for free on a free blogging platform? Well, that’s extremely important if you want people to know you with your blog name. A custom domain name speaks about your brand and spreads awareness around the world.

For example: If you register your domain name on a free blogging platform like Blogspot or wix. Then your domain will appear as:

yourblogname.blogspot.com (or) yourblogname.wix.com

Would you really like to prefer having a domain with the company’s name attached to it? Absolutely no, right? Moreover, if your blog has returning visitors, they would search your blog with yourblogname.com, and they wouldn’t remember that your blog had the company’s name attached to it.

So if you’re serious about building your own brand, it’s mandatory to purchase your own domain name.

You really don’t have to worry about the cost! It’s really cheap and anyone can afford it. You can get jaw-dropping discounts on both domain & hosting at Bluehost.

Why Bluehost?

Selecting a reliable web hosting service provider is extremely important for every blogger. I personally recommend Bluehost as it is the world’s most popular web host that offers great services at competitive prices.

Do you know why is Bluehost a worthy choice? Because they offer amazing 1-click WordPress install (which is super easy to install), FREE domain, FREE SSL certificate, and 24/7 customer support.

Click here to get all these amazing features at amazing discounts!

What does every blogger/website owner look into?

• Fast Performing
• Good Security
• Useful Features
• Good Customer Support
• Backup
• Business Email

Well, Bluehost has all these services and their hosting is used by millions of bloggers around the world. Trust me, choosing a reliable host provider is extremely necessary if you wish to start a blog in India. There are too many hosting companies that promise us to give proper services but they lack speed and customer support (which are indeed the most important).

Bluehost is recommended by a lot of people around the world and has received top ratings from reputed review websites.

Registering on Bluehost is very easy, you just need to follow the below steps.

1. Visit Bluehost

2. When you scroll down you’ll see 3 plans as shown in the above image. You can either select WordPress or Shared hosting by clicking on Learn More.

3. Next, you’ll reach the hosting page with various plans that you can choose from. Select India as the server location and 36 months package (the higher the months, the cheaper the price becomes). If you’re just focusing on learning how to blog, then you may select the Basic plan.

Refer to the image below for a better understanding.

4. The next step is to choose your domain name for your blog. Think twice before you choose a name.

As I said, you’ll be building your own brand with a custom domain name. In such cases, you need to research, think and decide on a domain name that can describe your blog’s content that can be easily remembered and easy to pronounce.

Please remember the below points before you register your own custom domain name at Bluehost.

• The name must be easy to remember and short
• The name must say what the blog is about
• It’s better if the name doesn’t contain the entire keyword
• Do not use more than 1 keyword in the domain name

Once you’ve chosen your domain name, you will be taken to the “create your account” page. All you need to do is to fill up your account information. Follow the below steps for a better understanding:

• The first step is to mention your personal details such as name, address, phone number, email ID, etc.
• In the second step, you need to select your package. If you signup for more months, you will save more! I would recommend the 36-month or 24-month package.
• The third step would be choosing the additional useful tools for your blog. This is not necessary as of now. Once your blog is all set & starts reaching out audience, you may prefer these tools!
• The last and final step is the payment process!
• Check the terms & conditions box and click on submit.
• That’s it! You will be receiving an email from Bluehost for the completion of registration. You need to confirm your Email ID.
• You will be then taken to the “welcome to Bluehost” page where you can set your password for your account.
• After setting up your password, you will see a different page where you can click on the “set up your website” icon.
• You can then use your login credentials & get access to your control panel.

5. Install WordPress Through cPanel

Once you are ready with your new domain & hosting, you’ll have your dashboard access and the page will look like this:

Click on Advanced from the left which will take you to the cPanel page.

Scroll down and click on WordPress or WordPress manager by Softaculous. You can simply search for these terms with the help of the keyboard Control + F.

That will open the WordPress manager page where you can install WordPress, create your login ID & password, name your blog, select a theme, etc.

6. How to Design Your Blog

WordPress has thousands of themes and can be accessed easily. In order to make your blog attractive with a decent layout and widgets, you will have to choose a proper theme (premium theme for a professional website).

Follow these steps to choose the right theme that can match your blog niche.

• Firstly, you need to log in to your WordPress account. You can do it by typing yourblogname.com/wp-admin/ in the browser.
• After logging in, you will see the Dashboard page of your blog.
• Navigator to the left menu & search for the “Appearance” tab.
• Now select “Themes” which is mentioned above in the Customize tab in the left sidebar.
• You will now see a page where you will find multiple WordPress themes. Select anyone of them and click on “Activate”. Before activating, you may click on “Live Preview” and see what your blog’s layout looks like once your blog is LIVE.
• If you didn’t like anyone of these themes, then simply click on “Add New” which takes you to a page where you can see various other themes or upload a premium theme if you are serious about blogging.
• Once you’ve chosen & installed your theme for your blog, click on “Activate”. That’s it! The uploading part of a new theme has been done!

As the basic part is done, you can start publishing your blog posts! But wait, there’s one most important step that needs to be followed, and that is your permalink structure.

Permalinks are nothing but the URL of your individual blog posts. In order to make user-friendly & search engine-friendly URLs for your blog posts, you need to select the right URL structure.

Steps to Enable Search Engine-Friendly Permalinks:

• Select the “Settings” tab from the left sidebar and click on “Permalinks”.
• You will be taken to the “common settings” with a list of different types of permalinks.
• Select the “Post Name” permalink structure and click on “Save Changes”. As this is the most recommended structure that keeps your URL clean and simple (this can even help your returning visitors to remember the URL).

Warning: Before you wish to change your blog’s permalink structure, back up your website. Any mistake can impact your search engine ranking badly.

7. Creating New Posts on Your Blog

As the blog/website is ready, let’s start creating new posts & publish them!

Creating new posts & pages is very easy; you just need to understand how it works! If you have a basic knowledge of MS WORD, your blogging journey will run smoothly (you’ll need to learn technical stuff though).

The 3 most important things you need to learn are: How to add content (including formatting), images, and links.

• Let’s start with adding a new post. In order to do this, you will need to select “Posts” from the left sidebar and click on “Add New”.
• You’ll see a text editor page where you can add content, image, and links, change the font color and implement formatting tags (do not worry if your text editor design is different than mine, that’s OK).

The first thing you need to do is enter a title for your blog. Do not let the title exceed more than 57 characters. As you’re learning how to start a blog in India, you will need to search for the keywords that are popular, in demand, and trending in India. It takes a few minutes or an hour to research the best keywords. Once you’ve got an idea on which topic you can create a blog post, insert that keyword in the title box.

For example: “how to make the cake at home” is a keyword. You need to insert this keyword in the title box & add the same in the content as well. Make sure the content is at least 500 words long.

Are you confused about where the content needs to be added? Well, that goes right into the big text box that is mentioned below.

Suppose you haven’t finished writing your content and want to stop it middle, you can simply click on “Save Draft” mentioned on the right side of the editor. It will be directly saved in your posts section and you can continue writing it later. You can even preview your content & images before publishing.

Adding Sub-Headings & Formatting to Your Content

Do you remember how you used to separate your paragraphs with sub-headings in your school? We do here the same way! Subheadings help users to understand what the paragraph is about.

Not just internet users who visit your blog, but they’re also helpful in terms of ranking. Attractive sub-headings along with good keyword insertion are one of the best Google ranking factors. If you’re targeting the long-tail keywords that are used in subheadings, image alt tags & content, then your chances are high to appear on the first page of Google.

Follow these steps to use the formatting tags.

• Can you see the tab below the “Add Media” button? Well, click on the “Paragraph” drop-down menu and select any heading tags from Heading 2 to Heading 6.
• Please avoid the Heading 1 tag as this is only used for the page title. H2 and H3 are the most used tags in the content.
• If you want to make your font “bold” or dark in color, you must select “B” and “I” for italic/slant text formatting.
• In case you want to align the text or image to the left, right, or center, you can use the lines icon.

You will understand the rest of the formatting tags when you test them practically. They’re similar to MS WORD and you’re familiar with it, right?

Adding Images to Your Content

Adding images to your content makes an article more attractive, meaningful, and easy to understand. A user who lands on your page will never read the entire content (unless he has time to read everything). What the users expect is helpful images and headlines that help them understand thoroughly.

Note: Make sure you compress the image first and then upload it on your blog. Also, make sure you add an Alt tag to each and every image.

I personally use Tinyjpg, a worthy FREE online tool that compresses the images without losing the clarity of the image.

Uploading Images on Your Blog

Adding an image to the blog is very easy. Follow the below steps to know how:

• Click on the “Add Media” button
• A pop-up window will appear. Select the “Upload Files” tab and click on the “Select Files” button.
• Now search for the image that you wish to insert in the article, select it, add the Alt text on the right side, and click on “Insert into post”. That’s it!
• Once the image inserts in your post, you can then customize the image size, and align it to the left or right.

Note: Before adding any image, make sure you put your cursor where the image needs to be inserted in the content.

Adding a Link

You can add a link to either text or Image. Just like an image, adding a link to the content is very easy.

Follow these steps to insert a link in your content.

• Do you see a chain-like icon in the image below? Well, just click on it.
• You will then see a pop-up window that asks you to enter the URL and link text.
• In the URL box, you need to enter the link that you wish to insert in the content text.

Once everything seems right, you can click on “Publish”. That’s it; you’ve published a new blog post!

This looks really simple, right?

8. Monetize Your Blog

Great job! I hope you’ve now covered all the basic steps and learned how to start a blog in India. Some people start a blog to share their knowledge & passion, whereas some people wish to make a living through it. There are tons of bloggers out there who are making millions from it. But this doesn’t mean you will start earning as soon as you start your blog. It takes time, based on your niche, competition, and how you would like to target your audience.

Some of the most trustworthy ways to start a blog and make money are:

• Affiliate marketing
• Google AdSense
• AdSense Alternatives
• Sell Digital Products
• Launch E-commerce Store
• Sell Digital Products
• Sell Courses
• Sell Your Own Product

Earnings purely depend on your blog content, number of visitors, and source of targeting the visitors. Organic visitors (i.e. from Google & other search engines) are the most targeted ones and are sure to generate money.

If your blog generates 30,000 visitors per month, then there are many other sources of income. Remember, you earn more when you generate more visitors. In order to learn how to start a blog in India for massive income, you need to follow some good optimization strategies that will help your website rank higher on Google searches. This way, you will generate more organic traffic from Google & other search engines.

I hope everything’s clear now. If you need any help with setting up your blog or website, you may WhatsApp me or contact me anytime. I’ll be helping you out with that.