How To Start a Blog and Make Money Online – in 5 Easy Steps

Here are 5 EASY steps we’ll take together to help you start a blog and make money online.

Are you curious about how to make money online? Think that starting a blog is the way to go?

Great! Starting a blog can be a solid way to make long-term income – just for doing some writing on stuff you actually like and care about. But there’s a little more to it than that AND it may not be for everyone. This is not a get rich quick or plug and play business. If that’s what you’re looking for, this is not the place for you.

Yes, you can make a lot of money online but, like other traditional businesses, it’s not guaranteed. Anyone who tells you otherwise, is not being truthful.

Our goal is to help people who are really serious about building a real online business – because you can make a little, or a lot of money. That all depends on you…

Here’s the big difference between making money online and going to a job every day. If you do it right, the work you do today, this week, and this year – will continue making money for years to come. It’s an investment rather than trading your time for money.

So how does this work? Search engines find and cache the articles that you write, and over time each post is “worth more” to the search engines. That means you’ll get more web site traffic with every passing month as your site gains credibility. This does not happen overnight. It takes persistence and even some hard work – but you can do it if you’re serious and committed…

We did it (Dan and I both walked away from our corporate jobs and now do this full time), and so can you. The good news is that you get to take advantage of what we’ve learned over the last several years and avoid the sand traps that we had to dig our way out of.

So let’s get started – RIGHT NOW!

Decide to start today

TODAY. No, not tomorrow, not next week, and not next month. Tomorrow always feels “safe” because you’re not having to make a decision. The power of today is that you make that commitment to yourself. And that is the first step to success.

This step is the most critical one, and it’s where most people get stuck. Don’t dream about doing something. Just get up and do it.

“The best way to live the life of your dreams is to start living the life of your dreams Today, in every little way that you possibly can.”  – Mike Dooley

Step #1. Create Your New Blog

The first thing you need to do is find a home for your new blog. This is where your blog will live. It’s where you’ll write, publish, and manage your blog posts (or articles). It’s where you’ll decorate and personalize your blog.

Don’t make the critical mistake of confusing an old-school web host for a blog host. If you get a web host, that’s like buying the shell of a house – you’re going to have to build all the walls and install the plumbing yourself!

Be smart and go with a full service blog host where someone else manages all the techie stuff so that you can focus on blogging.

We highly recommend BlogPress blog hosting for this. It provides a “well-built and excellently maintained home” for your blog so that you can focus on blogging without having to worry about all the techie stuff that comes with managing servers and databases.

BlogPress is where we host all of our Dan & Jennifer Media Blogs that get millions of page views every month.

Here are just a few of the things we LOVE about BlogPress…

• It’s Simple – BlogPress handles all the techie details, so you can focus on what really matters.
• It’s Easy - If you can type, you can blog with BlogPress!
• It’s Fast - With the easy-to-use interface, your new blog will be up and running in just a few minutes.
• Newbies will love BlogPress because it’s so simple and easy to get your new blog set up.
• Experienced Bloggers will love BlogPress for all of the high end tools, speed, and reliability.
• Real Support. Real people. The BlogPress Team is at your service. Have a question? Need Help? Just ask.
• Easy Video Tutorials - Free, step by step video tutorials show you how to easily publish like a pro with your new blog.

Click Here To Start Your Blog Today For FREE!

Plus, when you host your blog with BlogPress, we will install and set up your BlogPress blog and map your domain name to your new blog at no additional cost to you.

Not only that, we will also install for FREE the following plugins to get you started in the right direction:

• Yoast WordPress SEO – the ultimate WordPress SEO plugin will help you rank higher in search engines.
• Google XML Sitemaps – will get your posts indexed quickly on Google.
• W3 Total Cache – will make your blog load a lot faster and able to handle more website visitors.
• After The Deadline – great spell and grammar checking built right into the WordPress editor.
• Google Analytics for WordPress – see who’s visiting your new blog with the best blog analytics tool of all.
• Akismet – great anti-spam plugin to automatically kill off spam comments.
• And many, many more…

What does all this mean to you?

We take care of all the techie stuff so you don’t have to. The last thing you want to do is worry about these 57 Things yourself!

We’ll get your blog set up and optimized so that you’re good to go – right out of the gates. You’ll have everything you need to start blogging getting traffic to your blog fast! We’re putting our years of experience to work for you so that you can skip over all the mistakes we made and get started on the right foot…

Click Here To Start Your Blog Today For FREE!

Step #2. - Install WordPress and Configure Important Plugins

This is where most people get stuck! Configuring WordPress gets very techie…

If you took our advice in Step 1, this has already been done for you!

If you decided to go it alone, here are the step by step details on how to install WordPress Yourself, check out “How to Start a Blog – Step 3: Install WordPress to Run your Blog”.

Step #3 – Make a Great First Impression With a Great Blog Theme

First impressions always matter. On the web, that’s even more important. A web visitor’s first impression about your site determines if he clicks away in the first 5 seconds, if he stays on to read what you have to say, and if he will ever come back again.

So it’s very important to put your best foot forward. Make your site interesting, distinctive, and engaging to your readers by using a great “theme”. WordPress themes are basically website designs that you can just download and enable for your WordPress account.

Start with a free theme and when you have the resources, consider having a custom theme made to enhance your brand even further. (BlogPress offers 100+ beautiful free themes for you to choose from.)

For more information and how to find great free themes for your blog, make sure to read “How to Start a Blog – Step 4: Make a Great First Impression with a Great Theme for your Blog”

Step #4 - Write Your First Blog Post

OK, at this point you’ve chosen THE best niche for you, you’ve become very familiar with that niche and it’s most popular sites, and you’re basically what could be considered an “authority” on your topic.

So now is the time for that all important first post

Off the top of your head, make a quick list of all the issues in your niche that people care about. What problems do they have, what questions do they have? What keeps them up at night?

Now pick ANY one of these and write a quick article on it. This “article” can be just a simple Top 10 list, with a supporting sentence of two for each bullet. That’s it!

Get feedback

Get this first article out there and see what people think. Email it to your family and friends, and ask them to help you make it better.

All the planning in the world is no substitute for Action. It’s time to go forth and do those good and powerful things.

For detailed steps on how to get started writing great content, read “How to Start a Blog – Step 5: Write your First Post”.

Step #5 – Top 5 Ways to Make Money With Your Blog

1. Affiliate Marketing 101: How To Find The Best Products To Promote
2. Make Money Online: How To Get Advertisers For Your Blog
3. Google AdSense: How To Make Money With Your Blog!
4. How To Self Publish An Ebook
5. Text-Link-Ads – Truly Passive Income

Ten Young African Millionaires To Watch

Written by Forbes writer - Mfonobong Nsehe

There’s no money like young money. While African millionaires and billionaires like Onsi Sawiris, Raymond Ackerman, and Aliko Dangote may have more money than most of us can ever dream of, there’s one thing they can never buy: Youth. Even money has its limits.

But there are a handful of young Africans in their 20s and 30s who have built businesses and amassed enviable million-dollar fortunes. Call them million-dollar babies.

See the top ten after the cut...




Jason Njoku, Nigerian
Age: 31
Founder & CEO Iroko TV
The maverick Nigerian Internet entrepreneur is founder of Iroko TV, the world’s largest digital distributor of African movies. Iroko TV has been dubbed the ‘Netflix of Africa’. Earlier this year, Iroko TV raised $8 million in venture capital from Tiger Global Management, a New York-based private equity and hedge fund run by billionaire Chase Coleman. IrokoTV enjoys lucrative content distribution deals with Dailymotion, iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo. Njoku is unwilling to divulge figures, but analysts believe IrokoTV could be worth as much as $30 million. Njoku is the company’s largest individual shareholder.

Mark Shuttleworth, South African
Age: 38
Founder, Knife Capital
When Shuttleworth was 22, he founded Thawte, a digital certificate and internet security company which he sold to VeriSign for $575 million in 1999, when he was 26. Shuttleworth used a fraction of his proceeds to start HBD Capital (now called Knife Capital), a Cape Town-based emerging markets investment fund. HBD has made a series of successful exits including Fundamo, a mobile financial services company which was acquired byVisa for $110 million in 2011; and csense, which was acquired by GE Intelligent Platforms the same year.  Shuttleworth also founded and funds Ubuntu, a computer operating system which he distributes as free open source software. Shuttleworth has a net worth north of $500 million.

Ashish Thakkar, Ugandan
Age: 29

Co-Founder and CEO, Mara Group
Thakkar, 29 is a co-founder and CEO of Mara Group – a Ugandan conglomerate with tentacles in financial services, hotels, renewable energy, technology and manufacturing. Annual revenues are approximately $100 million and the group has an active presence in 16 countries on four continents. Devoted philanthropist: Through his Mara Foundation, Thakkar provides mentorship and seed funding to young East African entrepreneurs. Also funds Next Generation Schools, an independent charity focused on improving education quality in disadvantaged secondary schools in Uganda. The Mara Group recently signed a $300 million deal with the Tanzanian government to develop a 3.5 million square foot state of the art mini-city.

Ladi Delano, Nigerian
Age: 30
Founder and CEO, Bakrie Delano Africa
The jet-setting Nigerian serial entrepreneur made his first millions as a liquor entrepreneur while living in China. In 2004, at age 22, he founded Solidarnosc Asia, a Chinese alcoholic beverage company that made Solid XS, a premium brand of vodka. Solid XS went on to achieve over 50% market share in China and was distributed across over 30 cities in China, and pulled in $20 million in annual revenue. Delano subsequently sold the company to a rival liquor company for over $15 million and ploughed his funds into his next venture-The Delano Reid Group, a real estate investment holding company focused on mainland China.  Today, Delano is the co-founder
and Chief Executive Officer of Bakrie Delano Africa(BDA) – a $1 billion joint venture with the $15 billion (market cap) Bakrie Group of Indonesia. Bakrie Delano Africa serves as the investment partner of the Bakrie Group in Nigeria. The Indonesian conglomerate has provided over $900 million worth of funds to invest in Nigeria and Bakrie Delano Africa is responsible for identifying investment opportunities in mining, agriculture and oil & gas and executing them.

Justin Stanford, South African
Age: 28
Founder & CEO, 4Di Group
South African-born Stanford is a software entrepreneur and venture capitalist. After dropping out off high school, Stanford set out to launch an internet security company which flopped.  When he came across ESET, a Slovakian anti-virus software package, he negotiated with its manufacturers and cornered the exclusive, lucrative Southern African distribution for the product. Today, Stanford’s ESET Southern Africa operates the ESET brand in the region and sells ESET’s range of internet security products in about 20 sub-Saharan countries, leveraging on an extremely successful internet business platform and digital distribution model for online software sales and service. Today, Stanford’s ESET brand records over $10 million in annual turnover and controls 5% of the anti-virus market in Southern Africa. Stanford is also the founding partner of 4Di Capital, a Cape Town-based venture capital fund. Stanford is also a co-founder of the Silicon Cape Initiative, a non-profit movement that aims to turn the Cape into Africa’s own Silicon Valley.

Magatte Wade, Senegalese
Age: 36
Founder, Adina World Beat Beverages & Tiossan
In 2004 Magatte Wade founded Adina World Beat Beverages, a San Franciscobeverage company that manufactures coffee, tea and fruit juices using traditional beverage recipes across Africa and organic ingredients sourced from smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia. Within five years of launching, Adina raised over $30 million in venture capital from institutional investors and the products began being sold by Whole Foods and United Natural Foods. Magatte stepped down from her position as CEO to grow her second company,Tiossan, a manufacturer of luxury skin care products based on indigenous Senegalese recipes.

Mike Macharia, Kenyan
Age: 36
Founder & CEO, Seven Seas Technologies
When he was 25, Macharia, a Kenyan national, founded Seven Seas Technology, now easily East Africa’s most reputable IT services firm.  The $50 million (annual sales) company is a leading provider of integrated business and technology solutions across Africa in the telecom, financial, Real Estate, service industry and government. Seven Seas is gearing up to get listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange next year.


Vinny Lingham, South African
Age: 33
Founder, Yola Inc
Lingham, a South African national, is the founder ofYola Inc, a San Francisco-based Web 2.0 outfit that provides free website building, publishing and hosting services to over 3 million active users across the globe. Yola has attracted over $30 million in venture capital financing from institutional investors such asColumbus Venture Capital, a subsidiary of South African billionaire Johann Rupert’s Richemont Group. Prior to Yola, Lingham foundedClick2Customers, a hugely successful search engine marketing company with offices in London, Cape Town, and Los Angeles.  Click2Customers rakes in about $100 million in annual revenues. Lingham is a co-founder of the Silicon Cape Initiative along with fellow South African entrepreneur Justin Stanford.

Kamal Budhabatti, Kenyan
Age: 36
CEO, Craft Silicon
Kamal is the founder and CEO of Craft Silicon, a $50 million (market value) Kenyan software company which provides software in core banking, microfinance, mobile, switch solutions and electronic payments for over 200 institutional clients in 40 countries spread across four continents.

Yolanda Cuba, South African
Age: 35
Executive Director, South African Breweries
When Yolanda Cuba was 29 she was appointed CEO of Mvelaphanda Holdings, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed investment holding company. She was awarded stock options worth over $10 million which she exercised before stepping down as CEO last year. She subsequently took up a job as an Executive Director at South African Breweries.  Cuba still serves on the boards of South African blue chips such as Steinhoff International Holdings and Absa Group.