How to Start a Homesteading Blog

Do you want to know how to start a homesteading blog? My first ever blog was a homesteading blog! I learned how to earn money online while chasing my homestead dreams – now it’s your turn! Use this tutorial to start your own homestead blog in just a few minutes.

I’ve blogged about many things over the last three years, but my first monetized blog was actually a homesteading blog.

I decided to learn how to start a homesteading blog after realizing that I was super interested in the homestead dream. I wanted to connect with other homestead dreamers, be a stay at home mom, make some extra cash online, and I hoped that some day my kids could truly experience the country life. Until then, I would work on my homestead skills and use my blog to document what I’d learned.

Since that time, I have had a few homesteading blogs.

But since I live in the city and want to be on the fast track to getting my beloved piece of land to really homestead on, I am waiting until then to start another homestead blog.

Homesteading is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, but I just don’t feel like I can live and breath that life right now. I am in a season of surviving young children and living in the suburbs, but you can bet that as soon as I am ready to purchase land, I’ll be homestead blogging once again!

Anyway, you’re here because you want to learn how to start your own homesteading blog, or are at least curious about what you could do with one.

Let me start by saying that no, you don’t have to have a piece of land to homestead. You can learn how to start a homestead blog at any time, no matter where you live. The idea of homesteading is different for everyone, and you can work on self-sustainability anywhere!

Blogging for Money & Success

In case you haven’t noticed, blogging is one of my favorite things. That’s part of why I came back to writing about motherhood and blogging, and running a business from home. I could talk about it all day.

I love to write, and I love to connect with others who have the similar interests to my own. Running a blog allows me to talk about all of the things I love! But aside from that, blogging is great because:

It allows me to earn money from home. I’ve earned close to $1,000 per month blogging so far!
It gives me purpose. I set blogging goals regularly and it makes me feel like I’m moving forward.
It allows me to set my own schedule and own a business (yes, this is a business).
It gives me something more to do as a mom. Right now I’m a stay-at-home mom and running a blog makes me feel like I’m doing something more important than just housework!
It gives me complete freedom. I write about what I want, when I want to!
You don’t have to have a big, fancy degree or any special experience to start a blog.
This particular blog helps me stay accountable and connect with others on my journey as a young mom.

I totally believe that there’s room for anyone and everyone in the blogging world. I love telling people about blogging because I think anyone can do it! Plus, if you start a blog, you can use it for accountability. I know that there are other people out there who want to learn how to start a homesteading blog to make their homestead dreams a reality, so that’s why I’ve written this post.

Stay true to your dreams!

Are you ready to learn how to start a homesteading blog?

In this post, I’d like to help those of you who want to learn how to start a homesteading blog. (However, this post can be used for any type of blog startup.) This tutorial is meant to take the guesswork out of the technical aspect of blog startup.

I remember just how confused I was when I was trying to start a blog for the first time, and it’s not so bad if you have some guidance.

By now I’ve had several blogs and learned how to grow and make money online – from time to time you’ll see info on that here on this blog. I’ll help you find the right things to share with readers. Anyway, let’s get the wheels turning!

Note: I only recommend things that I have used and love. This post helps you set up a blog with Siteground as your host. If you choose to make a purchase using my links, I may receive a commission. That doesn’t change your price.

Step 1: Choose a hosting plan.

In order to have a blog with money-making potential, you need your blog to be self-hosted. In simple terms, this just means that you own all of your own content and your site isn’t hosted by a free blog-making site. If you make a free site that’s hosted by a free blog-making site, you run the risk of owing that company money when you start to monetize your blog. Because of that, a lot of companies won’t work with bloggers who aren’t self-hosted.

So, you NEED to be self-hosted. In order to do this, you need a company to host your site (and all it’s files). I use and recommend Siteground for all types of blogs. So the first thing you’ll want to do is visit their site.

Next, click “Sign Up,” on the home page.

You’ll then be asked to choose from three hosting packages – Start Up, Grow Big, or Go Geek. Here’s a snapshot of that page:

Do note that the prices you see on this page assume that you purchase an annual package. You get a price break for buying a year in advance.

How do I choose a hosting plan?

If you only plan to have one site, you can choose the Start Up plan for now.

However, if you plan to focus on your blog a lot or have more than one site, you may want to consider choosing Grow Big or Go Geek.

The Start Up plan is best for blogs getting up to 10,000 visits per month, and if you are working on your blog consistently, it’s very possible that you reach this number in just a few months. You may even reach the Grow Big number of 25,000 monthly visits depending on how hard you are working on your blog. (I reached 30,000+ page views in three months with my last blog, so I know it’s possible!) Just remember that you can always upgrade!

Note: If you start a blog and later decide to stop using it, you can get reimbursed for the months you haven’t used, but you’ll still have your domain name until it expires.

Step 2: Choose a domain name.

Once you’ve chosen a hosting package, you’ll need to choose a domain name. This is essentially going to be your blog name or something very close to it.

This is free with the purchase of your first hosting package at Siteground.

Choose a domain name that fits well with the topics you’ll write about and pick something that you’ll not be embarrassed to tell people about. Since you’re starting a homesteading blog, I suggest that your name imply this in some way. My last homesteading blog was called The Northwest Homestead…because it was about homesteading in the Northwest. (Duh.) Your name is something that you should consider carefully. Remember that you’ll have this name for at least a year, if not longer!

It’s possible that someone will already own the domain name you want, so I recommend preparing a few ideas for this step. I also recommend that if possible, you include keywords in your domain name. That means that your domain name (which will be your blog name and part of your URL) tells people at least a little bit about your blog’s contents.

For example, my blog name is “SAHM Startup.” My domain name is ironwildfitness.com. My name suggests to readers that my site has something to do with being home and starting a business (because it does) and that’s useful in getting the right audience to my site. Get the idea?

Note: I recommend domain privacy if you can afford it. It will just protect your personal contact information. Update: I skipped domain privacy on my last domain purchase and am now receiving 10-20 marketing calls per day from people trying to sell me web design!!

Once you’ve chosen a domain name and finalize your payment, you own a blog! Congratulations!

Now that you’ve learned how to start a homesteading blog, you’re ready for all of the fun stuff (like filling it up with great content)! Don’t worry, I’ll help you with all of that, too!

If you’re ready to get started building your site and customizing it, check out this video for installing WordPress with your Siteground account.

This video should set you up so that you’re ready to start writing and editing your site. This is exciting stuff because now you can pick your colors for branding, make a logo, and customize everything else!

After that’s done, stay tuned for more info on what to put on your new blog.

Happy blogging!