There are a million and one blog posts, books, and courses out there, all on How to Start a Blog.
I’ve read thousands of them. Believe me, if it’s about how to start a blog or even, make money from it, then I’ve read it.
You’ve probably read a ton of them too; some were very helpful, and some, not so much.
They all seem to be preaching the same gospel: starting a blog is easy ya da ya da ya da.
If you’re like me, then the sheer amount of information out there is just too overwhelming for you.
It took me years from the day I read my first ‘How to start a blog’ article to the day I actually hit the publish button on my newly created website.
I’ve read a lot of books and taken a lot of courses along the way that have helped me immensely as a blogger.
In this blog post, I’ll be providing you with the best courses and books that will give you the best bang for your bucks.
This is a blueprint to help you sift through all the junk out there and get right to it; starting your blog and publishing your first 30 blog posts or so.
At the time of this writing, I’m still a relatively new blogger – it’s been three months since I started my blog – who’s got only 23 blog posts published on his website.
I’m yet to make my first buck from my blog and I still feel like I haven’t figured things out yet; so yeah, I’m just like everyone out there trying to make this blogging thing work.
I’ll keep this blog post updated as time goes on.
If you’re a newbie blogger or someone who’s considering starting a blog; this is for you.
If you’re a seasoned blogger then you’ll probably find a new course in the list below that will help take your blog to the next level.
I know how it feels to be stuck or overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information out there; it’s even harder when you have to figure things out on your own.
The courses below will push you to take action and show you the right way to start a blog.
1. Project 24 by Income School
This course – in my opinion – is the best material out there on learning how to start a blog.
The two guys who run the course – Jim and Ricky – are seasoned bloggers who know their stuff; they’ve built several successful niche websites, and are providing their knowledge and expertise in Project 24.
Their Promise: To help you earn a full-time income from your blog within 24 months with a simple 60 step process.
When I first came across this course, I was hooked by their promise; they didn’t promise to make me rich overnight, neither did they make blogging look easy.
These are honest hardworking folks who genuinely want to help others start a successful blog; they are honest about how long it’s going to take and how much work is required to succeed.
They provide you with the exact blueprint they used to succeed with all their blogs and walk you through each step of the process.
Without their blueprint, I’d be lost as a blogger; I would have probably quit blogging by now.
The plan was to post about 10 articles on my website and then leave it there, expecting traffic to flood in from google without my having to do a thing. (Ha! Such big dreams I had).
Project 24 is the real deal; if you’re serious about blogging you should definitely start with it.
The only thing I didn’t like about the course was that they focused more on using youtube to promote your blog and touched very little on Pinterest.
If you don’t like having your face on camera, promoting your blog through Pinterest is a great alternative.
All in all, the course was awesome.
P.S They update the course at regular intervals to keep the content fresh and in line with the best practices.
2. Pro Blogger Bundle By Alex and Lauren
Before I talk about this course, I just wanted to say I love Alex and Lauren. They inspire me every day that it’s possible to succeed as a blogger and make a full-time income from it.
What I love about them is how real they are – they share their entire story on their blog and in their courses. They quit their day-time jobs and decided to go into blogging full-time even before they had made any money from it.
They made their first few bucks from their first blog after 7 months of blogging consistently – 7 freaking long months! – and their income has skyrocketed since then.
Their story is not a fairy-tale; it’s a story about real people who risked it all for their dreams and it took them 7 months of consistent hard-work for them to see any results.
Most people would give up after 3 months of not seeing any results.
Alex and Lauren show that if you can be consistent with your blog for up to a year, you will definitely start to see results.
Blogging is a long term business – not some get-rich-quick scheme like most people perceive it to be.
Now to the course; their Pro Blogger course consists of three courses in one: Launch Your Blog Biz, Pinterest Traffic Avalanche, and Six-Figure Blogger.
Launch Your Blog deals with everything you need to know before you launch your blog. It covers all the things you have to do to successfully launch your blog; purchase your domain name and hosting, setting up your WordPress, choosing a theme for your site, what to write about, etc.
Launch Your Blog is ideal for you if you have no idea about blogging and want to start your blog without wasting a lot of time figuring things out on your own.
Pinterest Traffic Avalanche is about how to drive traffic to your website using Pinterest. In the course, Alex and Lauren teach you all the tips and tricks to driving insane traffic to your website consistently without depending on Google SEO from the beginning.
Google SEO is a long term strategy – too long if you ask me – which is not very suitable for you if you’re a newbie blogger.
Pinterest Traffic Avalanche is ideal for you if you want to start driving traffic to your website immediately and start seeing results without depending on Google SEO.
At the time of this writing, Alex and Lauren have almost 80 percent of all their traffic coming from Pinterest; they know what they are talking about when it comes to Pinterest traffic.
Six-Figure Blogger deals with everything you need to know about scaling your blog into a six-figure earning business. It covers all the options, from creating digital products to offering your services online.
Six-Figure Blogger is the next step for any established blogger who wants to take his blog to the next level.
The individual courses in the Pro Blogger course bundle can be purchased separately, though, but you save more when you buy them in a bundle.
3. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing By Michelle Schroeder-Gardner
This course is the best material out there on affiliate marketing – trust me, I’ve taken a lot of courses.
Michelle teaches you how to make money with affiliate marketing without selling your soul.
She outlines all the traps of affiliate marketing and then shows you the right way to do things.
She doesn’t pretend that it’s easy to succeed with affiliate marketing; instead, she convinces you that if you’re willing to put in the work there are great rewards to be reaped.
If you have any questions or doubts about affiliate marketing, Michelle answers all these questions and puts you at ease.
If you want to succeed with affiliate marketing, you ought to definitely take this course.
My only problem with the course is that it’s all written content; there’s no video content provided. But I did enjoy the reading nonetheless, Michelle’s writing is easy to read and understand. I finished the entire course in just two days.
4. Stupid Simple SEO by Mike Pearson
This course needs no explanation; it’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization) made stupidly simple.
This course will give you a clear picture of what it takes for a blog to succeed with Google SEO. And it’s not that hard.
By taking this course you’ll see what’s possible to achieve with SEO. It will give you the guidelines to achieve tremendous results from Google SEO.
This course is the most comprehensive I’ve seen on the topic; it covers everything you need to know.
After taking this course, there’s no way you’re going to go wrong with SEO.
5. Blog, Inc By Meg Mateo Ilasco
This book is one of the best books on blogging out there. I enjoyed this book very much and I dare say you will too.
What I love about this book is that it’s written by bloggers for bloggers. Throughout the book, the author interviews other bloggers and asks them to share their stories.
The interviews will give you an insider look into the life of bloggers, how and why they started their blog, and what helped them to succeed with their blog.
This book is full of great advice that will help you as a blogger. It will give you hope that you too can succeed just like everyone else interviewed in the book and it will help you not feel alone in your journey as a blogger.
The book was written in 2008 though, and I find some of the advice on blogging and its technicalities archaic and outdated.
I loved the book for its advice for bloggers and I recommend it to you wholeheartedly.
If anything, read the book for its candid advice for bloggers.
Becoming a successful blogger takes hard-work, focus and dedication but if you’re willing to put in the work the courses above will be the perfect place to start.
Most of the courses above are a bit on the steep end in terms of price; so if you can’t afford it just yet, don’t worry about it.
They have a lot of free content on their blogs and youtube channels which you can start with.
I hope you found this blog post helpful; if you did, kindly share it with friends and family.