How to Start a Personal Finance Blog and Make Money Blogging - Blogging Her Way (2024)

Note: Affiliate links may be used in this post. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you use my affiliate link. Full disclosure policy here.

How to Start a Personal Finance Blog

Do you want to learnhow to start a personal finance blog today?

This guide will show you how to start a personal finance blog in five simple steps!

If you are passionate about money and personal finance, then starting this type of blog is perfect for you. It’s a great way to help others and make money.

You don’t need to be a financial whiz to start a personal finance blog.

Many of the most successful personal finance bloggers started off as regular people blogging about ways to save money, pay off debt, stick to a budget, and live a frugal life. And now there are many personal finance bloggers who make six or even seven figures simply writing about financial topics and helping others!

Blogging has a very low investment (it costs just $2.95 a month for a domain name and hosting with Bluehost) but a high potential for profit.

If you’re ready to learn how to start a personal finance blog today and make money blogging, keep reading for an easy step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Define Your Niche

The first step to starting a personal finance blog is choosing your niche. Your niche is simply the topic or topics that you write about on your blog.

Personal finance is a broad niche, and you can either cover several personal finance topics on your blog or narrow your niche to a specific focus.

Some examples of sub-niches within personal finance include investing, paying off debt, budgeting, side hustles, frugal living, and early retirement.

When you have a defined niche for your blog, it can help you establish your authority on the subject and grow a more engaged audience.

However, it’s really up to you whether you want to cover multiple personal finance topics or stick to just one. You can always start off with several topics on our blog, then focus on just one as time goes on and you see what’s working best.

Related:What to Blog About: 150+ Profitable Blog Niche Ideas

Step 2: Choose a Domain Name

Once you’ve decided on your niche, it’s time to come up with a domain name.

Your domain name is simply your blog’s address on the Internet. It’s the first thing people will remember about your blog, so it’s important to choose a good one.

Related:Personal Finance Blog Names: Ideas and Examples

Here are some tips for choosing a domain name:

• Make your name easy to spell and say.Don’t use misspelled words, numbers, or hyphens in your domain name. All of these things will make your name a lot more confusing and harder for people to remember.
• Make sure that the .com of your chosen name is available. Try to avoid alternative domain name endings like .net or .co because they are less common, harder to remember, and less trustworthy.
• Make your name related to your niche.This way, people will instantly know what your blog is about. For example, some popular personal finance blogs have names like Making Sense of Cents and Millennial Money Man.
• Use your own name.If you can’t think of a catchy name for your blog, using your own name as your domain name is always a safe bet.
• Don’t overthink it.Try not to spend too much time on this step or worry about picking the “perfect” domain name. Chances are, whatever name you pick will grow on you and start to feel like a great fit.

Related: How to Choose a Blog Name

If you can’t decide on a name yet, that’s okay! You can come back and choose one later after you sign up for web hosting with Bluehost.

Step 3: Get Web Hosting

​If you want to make money as a blogger, you will need to have a self-hosted blog. This means that you own all of your content and your blog is totally yours, as opposed to using a hosted platform such as Blogger, Wix, WordPress.com, etc.

Even if you are not a very technical person, setting up web hosting is extremely simple and only takes a few minutes.

First, you will need to choose a web host.

The web hosting company I use and recommend is Bluehost.

Here are a few reasons why I like Bluehost:

• They have some of the most affordable web hosting plans out there.
• You can get your domain name for free with them (as opposed to paying $15 to $20 with an outside company.)
• Their service is reliable and robust, so you will never have to worry about your website going down or loading slowly.
• Many of the most successful bloggers I know use Bluehost.
• They have great customer support and I have always had my questions answered quickly whenever I needed help.

Bluehost has very generously offered hosting packages starting at just $2.95 a month for readers of Blogging Her Way, along with a FREE domain name.

To get this special pricing, just be sure to use anyBluehost linkin this article!

Here’s how to set up web hosting with Bluehost:

1. Click here and then click the “Get Started” button:

2. Select your hosting plan

Which plan should I choose? I recommend the Basic plan for new bloggers.

I’m personally on the Plus plan, but that’s only because I run multiple blogs.Otherwise I would probably choose the Basic plan!

3. Put in your domain name

This is where you’ll put in the domain name that you decided on earlier.

What if I haven’t decided on a name yet?If you haven’t decided on a domain name for your blog yet, click “I’ll create my domain later.” Or you can wait a couple seconds and this offer will pop up on the screen:

Select this option and you can go ahead and set up your blog now, then use the free credit to buy your domain name later.

4. Create your hosting account

5. Choose your package and pay

This is where you’ll select your hosting plan.

I recommend the 12-month plan for $2.95 a month, for a total cost of $35.40 for the year. But you can also choose a 24-month or 36-month plan.

What about package extras?You have the options to add on extra paid services like site backups, SEO tools, or site security.

I personally don’t recommend any of these paid extras, because there are free WordPress plugins you can install that do the same things.

6. Congrats, you’re done!

Now you’re all set! Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you.

What exactly is WordPress? WordPress is the content management platform that your blog will run on. Your WordPress dashboard is where you will go to edit the look of your blog, write blog posts, upload images, etc.

It’s extremely easy to use, even if you’re a total beginner.

Step 4: Design Your Blog

Now it’s time for the fun part – designing your blog!

When you log in to your WordPress dashboard for the first time, you will be prompted to go ahead and choose a theme for your blog:

You can pick one of these default themes if you want, but I don’t recommend it.

For one, the majority of these free default themes are not designed with bloggers in mind. Most are designed for business websites.

Additionally, choosing a premium theme over a default theme will make your blog look more professional right from the start.

Here are the benefits to choosing a paid theme for your blog:

1. They come with step-by-step set-up instructions
2. You will have access to customer support from the theme creator.
3. Paid themes come with crucial features like a mobile responsive design and customization options.
4. Your blog will look prettier and more professional.

Here are some themes I have personally used and loved:

• 17th Avenue
• Bluchic

Installing your WordPress theme

To install your theme, go to Appearance > Themes in the lefthand menu of the WordPress dashboard, which looks like this:

Then simply upload your theme file and install it.

Once you have installed your theme and are happy with the way everything looks, you can go ahead and launch your blog! Until you follow this step, your blog will just display a “Coming Soon” landing page.

To launch,go to the Bluehost menu on the top left of your WordPress dashboard:

All you have to do is fill in this info and you’re good to go:

Congrats! Your personal finance blog is now live.

Step 5: Start Blogging!

So you’ve started your blog – now what should you blog about?

I recommend getting at least 5 to 10 high-quality blog posts published right away. That way new visitors will have something to read on your blog!

I put together a big list of blog post ideas for personal finance bloggers to help you come up with topics to write about on your blog.

How Personal Finance Blogs Make Money

You might be wondering how personal finance bloggers actually make money.

There are so many ways you can make money as a blogger, but here are a few of the most popular ways to monetize your personal finance blog.

Related:How Do Bloggers Make Money? Top 5 Ways Explained

Display Ads

Display advertising is an amazing way to make money as a blogger because it is totally passive income. This is a great choice for personal finance bloggers because ad rates in this niche are typically very high.

Once your blog is receiving a consistent amount of traffic each month, you can apply to ad networks who will place display ads on your blog. Payment is determined by RPM (revenue per one thousand impressions.)

With enough traffic, you can easily earn anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars each month just from ads.

Two of the best ad networks for bloggers are Monumetric and Mediavine. Monumetric requires 10,000 monthly page views to apply, while Mediavine requires 50,000 monthly sessions to apply.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is an arrangement where brands pay affiliates commission on all sales that an affiliate generates through a unique affiliate link.

For personal finance bloggers, there are lots of high-paying finance affiliate programs out there. You can earn money by referring your readers to join financial platforms, sign up for credit cards, purchase budgeting software, or sign up for cashback websites. And these are just a few examples!

For more tips on affiliate marketing, read myguide to making money with affiliate marketing or sign up for my free list of affiliate programs for bloggers.

Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are where brands pay bloggers to share sponsored content on their blog or social media channels in exchange for payment.

Payment for sponsored posts can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the campaign and the size of your audience.

In order to find sponsored posts, you can either pitch brands directly or apply for opportunities through sponsored post networks. Networks are an easy option because they connect brands directly to bloggers for campaigns.

Some popular sponsored post networks you can join are Linqia, Izea, Real Clever, Aspire IQ, Cooperatize, and Blog Meets Brand.

Selling Products

Finally, another great way to make money blogging is by selling digital products. Many personal finance bloggers earn money by selling online courses, ebooks, printable personal finance planners, budgeting spreadsheets, and so on.

The opportunities with this are limitless and you can really get creative with digital products For more product ideas, be sure to read the best digital products to sell.

Personal Finance Blog Examples

Are you looking for more inspiration to start a personal finance blog?

Here are some examples of successful personal finance bloggers who share blog income reports and make a full-time income from their personal finance blogs.

You can check out even more blog income reports from personal finance bloggers on my list of 250+ blogger income reports. Here are a few examples:

• Single Moms Income: Earned $8,768 in one month
• The Money Ninja: Earned $12,516 in one month
• Believe in a Budget: Earned $18,128 in one month
• Club Thrifty: Earned $23,620 in one month
• The Savvy Couple: Earned $43,547 in one month
• Dollar Sprout: Earned $61,915 in one month
• Busy Budgeter: Earned $86,438 in one month
• Millennial Money Man: Earned $127,213 in one month
• Making Sense of Cents: Earned $145,319 in one month

As you can see, it’s possible to earn quite a bit from personal finance blogging!

How to Start a Personal Finance Blog Recap

So that’s how to start a personal finance blog and make money blogging!

As a recap, here are the steps you need to take to start your blog:

1. Decide on your niche.
2. Choose a domain name.
3. Register for web hosting from Bluehost.
4. Write 5 to 10 blog posts.

Once you have established your blog and started to build an audience, you can monetize your blog through affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and ads.

There are quite a few personal finance bloggers out there who are doing this as their career, and you can be one of them too if you follow these steps, commit to blogging, and give it your best! Good luck and happy blogging!