As a professional turned SAHM, I know how important it is to invest in your well being and independence. You need something to keep the mind active, challenge creativity and remain social while you’re couped up with a new baby or a troop of toddlers. Making a little money from home would be nice too, eh?! This is how to start a successful mom blog.

*This post contains affiliate links. This means I may get a commission if you decide to purchase one of the products I link to. For more information, read my Privacy Policy*

I started Twin Pickle in 2016 and have since grown it to a successful mom blog which earns up to $3000 a month. It’s not a walk in the park to earn that money and how much I earn depends on how much time I have available. In 2018/2019 I was working about 20hrs a week on my blog and these days I’m more passive (as I went back to traditional work), so I just enjoy smaller regular payments from ads and affiliate links which is always welcomed. I hope to help other SAHM moms to make some money on the side, and  I’m sharing how you can get started by creating your own beautifully designed website.

It might seem daunting but it’s really quick and simple to set up, even for those who know nothing about web design. You are not expected to write any code or do anything technical, it’s easy peasy. I was writing my first post on twin pregnancy within 20minutes of starting the setup process. Get your mom blog up and running today!

How I Make Money From My Parenting Blog

I make money from a number of avenues including advertising and sales commission from products I link to. My main income comes from being sponsored by brands to share products with my readers. I’m compensated for my time to photograph a product in use and share my thoughts on how it fits into my lifestyle. Sometimes this is a food product which I incorporate into a family recipe or baby bath product I show off with fun pictures of my kids. 

I have worked with brands such as Goldfish, Baby Dove, OshKosh B’Gosh, Stonyfield Organic, Sherwin Williams Paint, Kleenex, Enfamil, just to name a few. I do even more work as a social influencer through my Instagram account and am often sent freebies to feature.

Once your site has been up and running for a few months you may find people start to contact you, but don’t feel shy about being proactive. I gain a lot of work through marketing platforms that act as a middleman to put brands in contact with mom bloggers such as myself. It does take a little while to get going, so focus on getting up and running and sharing on social media to get regular page views.

Starting a Website You Own

If you want to publish your blog to a professional-looking site, you’ll want to own your website and web address. Free blogging platforms like ‘Blogger’ are not owned by you and are limited in styling, functionality, and options for making money. The investment in your own website is more than worth it, it can cost as little as $3 a month!

In order to own your website, you need a hosting company. To summarize, the benefits of using a hosting company over a free site are:

• You have the choice of hundreds of styled themes which affect the overall look and function of your site. Your blog will look more professional, creative and unique.
• You get to pick a unique domain name without a generic ending. Your web address will be found at example.com instead of something like example.blogspot.com. Not only does it look more professional, but many brands will only work with bloggers on self-hosted (not free) websites.
• You are easily able to monetize your site and make an income online, without limitations on advertising and affiliate marketing.
• You will be compatible with hundreds of plug-ins which add functionality to your site such as pop-ups, banners, image collages, spam control, grammar and SEO checks.

Why I Recommend Bluehost to New Bloggers

I have run websites through four different hosting companies and I continue to recommend Bluehost. When I first started blogging, the set-up cost was extremely important to me – I didn’t know if I was going to fall in love with blogging, and I didn’t really know the viability of making money from it. Bluehost are one of the cheapest hostings around and continue to dominate the market for new bloggers wanting easy and simple set up.

Bluehost is the best platform for new bloggers because:

• Bluehost is one of the cheapest hosting on the market;
• They offer a FREE domain when you host your blog with them;
• WordPress is automatically installed, a feature unique to Bluehost;
• The WordPress software running on your Bluehost site is FREE;
• They have a fab 24/7 live online chat service if you need help;

Before you get started, you may want to check to see if your perfect domain is available:

How to Start a Successful Mom Blog in 20 Mins:

Step by Step Start-Up Guide for Bluehost

The best way to set up your Bluehost hosting is to open their website in a separate tab (this should happen automatically with the link below) while keeping open this guide for reference as you go:

–> Click Here to Get Started <–

The link above should open a page that looks similar to the image below. The site itself will prompt you through how to start a blog in 20 minutes but I elaborate below with screenshots to walk you through it.

Step 1: Select a Plan

Click the green ‘get started now’ button and you’ll be offered a number of different hosting plans. If you’re only planning on starting one new website, you’re good to choose the ‘Basic’ plan. The other, more expensive plans allow you to host multiple sites, and give you more web space to do so, with extra security and backup. This is particularly worthwhile for businesses such as online stores, but not necessarily crucial at the outset. You can upgrade at any point should you wish to.

Step 2: Register Your FREE Mom Blog Domain

Once you have selected a Bluehost plan, you will be asked for your domain name; this is your web address and should relate to the name and/or niche of your blog in some way. Remember, the internet is a busy place, and your first choice of web address may be taken. If this is the case, Bluehost will tell you, and even suggest some similar available names. If you don’t like any of the suggestions, try something else in the ‘new domain’ box below. Keep trying until you find something you’re happy with.

Step 3: Create an Account and Confirm Payment

You will now be asked for your name and contact details, followed by confirmation of your package choices and total cost. The best value package is the 36month package at the special discounted price of $2.95 (bargain!), but you will be charged for the whole lot upfront. If you want to keep start up costs down, I would recommend the Basic 12 Month Plan, which comes in at under $60 for the year (at time of writing this), including your domain… fantastic value!

There are all sorts of extras you can add, but it really depends what you want to spend. The site will encourage you to take out the domain privacy, it’s only $0.99 a month and will create a masked registration address for the site, reducing the chance of spam mail or calls. I did not pay for this in my first year and I received around one letter a month (usually a business credit card offer), and no calls that I can recall.

Step 4: Create a Password and Log In

Once you’ve made your payment, you will receive a confirmation email, with a title like ‘Welcome to Bluehost!‘. Following the link in the email will allow you to set a password for your Bluehost account.

Unlike other hosting companies, Bluehost automatically installs WordPress for you… one less thing to worry about! Once logged in you’ll be asked to choose a ‘theme’. This is the visual side of your blog and the theme will affect how it looks, where the menus sit and the color scheme. You can change your theme easily within WordPress at any time so don’t get too sucked into the styling at this point.

Follow the prompts and you will end up on a webpage called ‘example.com/wp-admin‘ (where example.com is your new domain). This is your WordPress dashboard, the control center for your own blog… congratulations!

Step 5: Publish Your First Post

The dashboard can do all sorts of magical things but don’t be overwhelmed, start with the basics. The menu on the left will navigate you to everything you need. To get started on that first blog post you can go to ‘Posts‘ on the left or the ‘+ New‘ button at the top.

Remember to break your post down into paragraphs and use subheadings. On the right-hand side of your screen, you can assign your post a category and a featured image. The featured image will show at the top of your post once published (depending on what theme you choose) and will be added to the link when people share on social media. It’s your key image for the post… the featured image for this post is the woman sat at her laptop seen at the top.

Once you’ve started your new post it will not appear on your site until you press the blue ‘Publish’ button. If you want some help on all the settings, the WordPress.org website has loads of helpful info and a forum too. Once published, your new site will be live and you are officially a blogger… whoop!

If in Doubt, Use the Bluehost Live Chat

Bluehost offer 24/7 support, so if you get stuck at any point along the way, I highly recommend having a technician talk you through it. They will stay on the live chat and talk you through the whole process. And f you have any questions about how to start an awesome blog in 20 minutes, do not hesitate to get in contact here. I love to help new bloggers get started, so send me an email!