MoneyAhoy.com is Five Years Old!

I cannot believe it – MoneyAhoy.com is now five years old!  Time flies when you’re having fun, no?  It has been a great ride over the past five years, and I still have a bit of blogging left in me .

Why Did I Start Blogging?

When I started MoneyAhoy.com back five years ago, I had a several goals:

1. To help other folks improve their personal finance situation (think money saving, emergency funds, and such)
2. Push myself to save more and be much more critical of our spending
3. Learn more about investing in the stock market and building a business

Over the past five years, I have been able to achieve these goals.  I have helped thousands of people start their own business, coached family and friend on ways to improve their personal financial situation, and invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the stock market with some nice returns.  I even wrote a FREE eBook on investing – Stock Market Investing for Newbies.

Reflecting Back on Five Years of Successful Blogging

As I have worked to help others expand their knowledge (and my own) in the realm of personal finance, this blog has grown and developed.  It has been fun over the past five years, and I am sure there is more fun yet to come.  As I reflect back over the past year’s ups and downs, is it always interesting to go back even further and check out the old Birthday posts – you can find them here:

1. Happy Birthday MoneyAhoy!
2. MoneyAhoy.com is Two Years Old!
3. MoneyAhoy.com is Three Years Old!
4. MoneyAhoy.com is Four Years Old!

Top Posts for MoneyAhoy.com – Year Five:

Here’s a listing of the top most popular posts that were written in the past year in terms of traffic:

Start and Setup an LLC on-line in Less than 6 Minutes! – This was an older post, but I continue to work on updating it to keep the information relevant.  So far, it has helped thousands of folks to start their own business online and save hundreds at the same time!  This post has been so helpful that I have “stickied” it to the front page.

How to Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost – I created this mega-post to help folks understand how easy it is to start their own blog to explore their passion.  This post has also been “stickied” because of how helpful it has been to readers.

Monthly Money Reports – These Monthly Money Reports bring readers back month over month to see how I am making, saving, and investing my money each month.  They are a fun way to learn about my opportunities and mistakes as I work to improve my personal finances.

Moving to Oregon – We had a huge life-changing decision that we made toward the end of 2017.  This was to move the family from Georgia to a brand-new company in Oregon!  The move was incredibly hectic and disruptive to our lives, but we are loving it in Oregon so far.  We aren’t 100% settled in yet after several months in our new home, but we are getting there.

Money Results Over the Past Five Years

One fun thing to explore during the Birthday recap is to look back and see how much money we’ve saved, made, and invested as a direct result of starting the blog.  It’s my favorite part of this post mostly because I’m a numbers guy .  It is pretty tough to calculate the exact amount of impacts, but I will do my best.

Money Saving

MoneyAhoy has helped us to save a considerable amount each year by having us focus on things we could easily eliminate from our routine and non-routine spending.  Here’s a quick summary by year:

• Year 1 Savings – $4,500
• Year 2 Savings – $13,000 ($17,400 total)
• Year 3 Savings – $15,500 ($33,000 total)
• Year 4 Savings – $17,800+ ($54,000+ total)
• Year 5 Savings – $19,000+ ($73,000+ total)

It is pretty incredible, but MoneyAhoy.com has helped our family to save over $73,000 in total over the past five years!!!  Insane!!

Money Making

I have made quite a bit of extra side money through side hustles over the years thanks mostly to MoneyAhoy.  I’ve chosen to invest much of this to help fuel our net worth growth.  Here’s a summary by year for side-hustle income:

• Year 1 side-hustle income: $2,005
• Year 2 side-hustle income: $7,050
• Year 3 side-hustle income: $9,900
• Year 4 side-hustle income: $12,400
• Year 5 side-hustle income: $24,980

MoneyAhoy.com has seen awesome growth year-over-year as you can see in the above.  I cannot believe year five basically doubled the amount of side-hustle income vs. year four!  I am not getting rich or anything, but the extra has seen some nice growth over the years as you can see.  I am not getting rich or anything, but the extra $56,000+ sure has helped with our investments!  Of course, lots of this was paid back to the government in taxes, but I digress…

Investing Money

I have lost my shirt “trading” in years prior to starting MoneyAhoy.com.  After starting the blog and educating myself on proper ways to invest, I have completely turned this around.  We took a brief hiatus investing in the markets as we moved across the country, started new jobs, and got situated.  This was mostly to ensure we had enough cash to plop down on a down-payment for a new home.  Now that this is behind us, our goal is to ramp back up our stock market investing.  So, for year 5 below, you will notice a major dip in stock market investing:

• Year 1 – $38,500 invested with $850 in dividends
• Year 2 – $139,000 invested with $2,900 in dividends
• Year 3 – $113,500 invested with $8,800 in dividends
• Year 4 – $104,000 invested with $12,200 in dividends
• Year 5 – $46,600 invested with $20,300 in dividends

We continue to reinvest all dividends into the stock market, and I continue to devote nearly all of my take-home pay to investing in the stock market (my wife’s paycheck mostly covers our bills).  I continue to remain the proudest of how MoneyAhoy.com has pushed us to continually invest for our long-term financial success.  Over the past five years, we have invested a total of $538,700 in the stock market and received over $45,000 in dividends!  This is through a combination of our IRAs, 401(k)s, and private investment accounts…  The coolest part is that our annual dividends will continue to grow and grow if we continually reinvest them to take advantage of compound interest!

How Much Has Blogging Improved My Life Financially?

As you can see from the above sections, MoneyAhoy.com has had an awesome effect on our personal financial lives.  It has helped us to increase our net worth by an EXTRA ~$174,000 over the past five years ($73K in money savings + $56 side-hustle income + $45K in dividends)!  This blog has helped to increase our personal finance discipline and help many others along the way as well.

Running a blog for five whole years is a lot of hard work!  It definitely takes time that could be devoted to other activities.  But, the trade-off has been super for me.  If you are interested in starting your own blog now for super cheap, then check out that link.  It is surprisingly easy to get started and makes for a great hobby if you are into writing and helping others.

What’s Next for MoneyAhoy in Year Six?

My goal for year five was to hit at least $1,000 of side-income each month (dividends + MoneyAhoy.com income).  This was enough to cover our old house payment each month.  We achieved this pretty easily all year, so now it is time for a new set of goals.  Let’s see how I did with my year five goals before we establish some new goals for year six!

• Convert my wife’s old 457b into her IRA.
  • FAILED – I did not get around to doing this L. We did convert my wife’s old 401(k) to an IRA, but I still need to get this old 457b converted over!
• Achieve annual investment dividend income > $15,000.
  • COMPLETE – we hit over $20K in dividends for year 5!
• Achieve 1,500+ subscribers on my MoneyAhoy YouTube channel.
  • COMPLETE – My YouTube subscriber count is over 1,900 right now.
• Achieve monthly average MoneyAhoy.com revenue of >$1,500.
  • COMPLETE – average monthly MoneyAhoy.com revenue stands at ~$2,080 per month!
• Really focus on putting out more quality YouTube videos with a goal of 4+ per month.
  • POOR PROGRESS – I really haven’t posted any new YouTube videos in months as we moved across the country. I definitely need to get back into the swing of things here!
• Get our routine monthly expenses down below $2,500 a month.
  • ALMOST – Our average monthly routine expenses for the past year are ~$2,565 per month. So close!  I am going to count this one as a win since we are like 99% of the way there…

Goals for Year Six of the MoneyAhoy.com Blog

So, I think we need fairly well on the goals for the past year.  Here are my new goals for the next year of the blog:

1. Convert my wife’s old 457b into her IRA (repeat from last year).
2. Achieve annual investment dividend income >$25,000.
3. Achieve 2,500+ YouTube subscribers on my MoneyAhoy.com channel.
4. Make it over $2,000 per month of MoneyAhoy.com side-income.
5. Work to get some contract writers to provide content for the blog to increase the number of articles I can publish each month.

Final Thoughts After Five Years

If you are a regular reader of MoneyAhoy.com – then thank you!  I hope you are getting as much out of this blog as I am.  As you can see, getting serious about your personal finances can have some tremendous positive effects on your net worth.  That’s the power of spending less than you earn, working hard, and putting compound interest to work for you!

Hopefully your personal financial situation has improved as a result of focusing more closely on your personal finances.  I look forward to many more years of blogging fun and excitement – and I hope you’ll be here to join me!

If you have any suggestions on how I can make MoneyAhoy.com even better, please leave a comment below or send me an email.

The post MoneyAhoy.com is Five Years Old! appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

How to Start a WordPress Blog for Cheap

When it comes to deciding how to start a WordPress Blog for cheap, you have several options.  There are dozens of hosting companies out there, each with their own special deal of the month.  The good news for you is that starting a WordPress Blog for cheap has never been easier, and well… cheaper!  This article is going to show you how to start a WordPress Blog for cheap using Hostinger. You can get your own website for as little as $2.15 a month!!!

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS.

Get Your Own Website for Cheap

Click here to start a WordPress Blog with Hostinger, then use the tutorial I have created below for the easy directions on how to setup your WordPress blog.

If you are ready to launch your WordPress Blog with Hostinger for cheap (literally a bit over $2 per month) then you have come to the right place.  Going with Hostinger is a great way to start your website for cheap and join us in the 21st century!  Here are a couple of the top features Hostinger offers:

1. Cheap hosting! – only $2.15/month for the basic hosting package.  They have a low-price guarantee, so you will be assured that you are always getting the lowest hosting price.
2. Affiliate club – Hostinger will pay you a small fee for every friend that you sign-up!  What better way to get your friends into blogging and make a couple extra bucks on the side?
3. 30-day risk free trial – you can get 100% of your money back if you are not completely satisfied.
4. Free domain – Hostinger gives you a free dot-com to get your website started.
5. Amazing Set of Tutorials – Hostinger has hundreds of amazing tutorials on how to run and setup your WordPress blog.  If you are just a beginner, this is a GOLD MINE!
6. Cheat Sheets – Don’t have a lot of time to fully review the tutorials?  Hostinger has tons of cheat sheets to get you up and started quickly!
7. Live support – If you ever run into trouble, tech support is standing by to help 24/7/365.
8. Trusted by millions – Hostinger is trusted by over 29 million people.  That has got to tell you that they are doing something right

In the following sections – we will take a deep dive into each of Hostinger’s features with a detailed review.

Hostinger Offers the Cheapest Hosting

Hostinger is most known for their cheap hosting plans.  A WordPress hosting plan can be purchased for as low as $2.15/month if you sign-up for a 36 year contract.

Prices on WordPress webhosting are always coming down, so I am hesitant to put together a pricing table since it will likely be obsolete the minute I post it.  Needless to say, Hostinger is by far the cheapest when compared to over 20 of the top web hosting companies.  If you are trying to find the cheapest webhosting possible, there simply is not a lower price than what Hostinger offers.

Hostinger Has an Awesome Affiliate Club

That’s right!  Hostinger has an awesome affiliate club to help you earn some extra side cash by inviting your friends and family to join Hostinger and start their own WordPress blogs.  If you’re new to becoming an affiliate, it’s easy – you can sign-up in less than five minutes and start earning.

If you don’t know where to get started, Hostinger also help with a number of useful affiliate how-to guides:

• 10 Tips For Becoming An Affiliate
• 3 Essentials of a Successful Website
• Bring Focus

Hostinger offers up to 100% commission for each new sign-up you register.  If you already own a website, you can also put up Hostinger banner ads to help your blog receive some additional income.  The Hostinger affiliate program is so easy, it can be explained in 4 simple steps:

1. Sign up for free
2. Get your unique affiliate link
3. Place banners on your WordPress blog
4. Get your commissions

To get started now with your affiliate program, click here then click “Earn with us” on the top right.

30-Day Risk Free Trial

One of the best features about Hostinger hosting is that they offer a risk-free trial.  That’s right – you can try now with their 100% no-risk guarantee program.  You are absolutely protected by their 100% no-risk guarantee if they somehow do not fully satisfy your needs.  If you do decide to cancel, they will offer you an instant refund with no questions asked.

Not all WordPress hosting companies are so confident of their service that they will offer this type of 100% guarantee.  The cancelation is also hassle-free.  If you do decide that Hostinger is not for you, they refund your money with no questions asked.

Hostinger Offers You a Free Domain

When it comes to getting the best value for your money, you will want to look for a WordPress hosting provided that offers a free domain when you sign-up for their services.  This will help you to save money, and will also make it much easier and hassle-free to get started.  With any Premium or Business web hosting plan from Hostinger, you will get a free domain name with any annual plan!

If you didn’t know, a domain name is basically the dot-com name of the website.  For instance, the domain of this blog is: “MoneyAhoy.com”.  Getting a free domain is a great feature, and one you will likely not want to pass up.  So, keep this in mind when registering for your WordPress blog – you may want to spend a bit more to upgrade to the premium web hosting and get that free domain!

Hostinger Offers an Amazing Set of Free Tutorials

One of the biggest concerns folks have that keeps them from starting their own WordPress blog is that they don’t know where to get started.  That’s where Hostinger comes to the rescue.  Hostinger has HUNDREDS of tutorials and how-to’s on their website to get you up to speed quickly.

These tutorials range from the most basic to the most complex.  A simple tutorial like this simple WordPress tutorial is great for newbies.  Highly complex like how to create a WordPress Plugin is more suited to highly advanced users.  The best part of all of these tutorials?  They are offered to everyone 100% free!

Free Cheat Sheets Offered by Hostinger

Some folks may find the tutorials to be so in-depth that they are a little intimidating.  That can be true for some – that’s why Hostinger made several dozen cheat sheets.  You can print these out and have them stationed by your computer for quick-use.

Here’s a link to some of the most helpful and universal cheat sheets that Hostinger offers: WordPress Cheat Sheets

Live 24/7 Support

As anyone who has ever run a WordPress Blog can tell you, the question is not if you will need tech support, but when and how often.  Encountering a problem with your WordPress blog can cause A LOT of stress!  It is paramount that any WordPress blog hosting have 24/7 live support to help get your blog out of trouble when the inevitable happens.

Hostinger has received some of the best marks for 24/7 support in the business!  Believe me when I say having good support is worth its weight in gold.  I shudder when I think about all the times I was stuck on support chat or calls with other hosting companies only to be told they could not fix my problem.

I guess that’s why Hostinger’s 24/7 support was top rated by HostAdvice.com.  Hostinger was rated a 8.8/10 stars and my other hosting company was only rated a 5.1/10 stars!  Makes total sense when I think through all the headaches I faced when my website was hacked.

Hostinger is Trusted by Millions

Hostinger is one of the largest WordPress blog hosting companies in the world!  They have over 29 millions users in 178 different countries.  Step back and consider how impressive that is.  Hostinger averages 15,000 new sign-ups ever day.  That’s one new client every 5 seconds!

Many of Hostinger’s new sign-ups come from recommendations of friends or family members to their service.  With numbers like this, you know the company has to be doing just about everything right to grow and maintain their active users.  So, what are you waiting for?  Sign up for Hostinger today!

Hostinger is the Perfect Way to Start a New WordPress Blog

We’ve gone through the top 8 reasons why you should choose Hostinger.  If you are still not convinced, check out this comparison between Hostinger and the other popular WordPress web hosting companies.  If you are still not convinced at the end of this section, then we seriously need to talk :-)!

Why Start a WordPress Blog with Hostinger?

The reviews are in – Hostinger blows many of the other WordPress hosting companies out of the water.  Check out this comparison with other popular hosing companies:

This comparison of the top WordPress hosting companies (from HostAdvice.com) shows that Hostinger is better, faster, and cheaper than the other options!  You can start your own blog with Hostiner for about $2 a month (this rock-bottom price is only through my link here)!  As an extra bonus, if you start your WordPress blog using my link and sign up for a premium account, you’ll receive a free domain – that’s a $15 value!

I highly recommend you sign up for the 36-month plan so that you will get the cheapest rate possible, but you can always just pick up a shorter plan and renew later.  If you are not completely satisfied, you can cancel within the first 30 days and get a full refund.  So, there is no risk to you!

Now is the Time to Get Started with a WordPress Blog Using Hostinger

I trust that this detailed review of Hostinger WordPress blog hosting services convinced you that Hostinger is the best choice for you.  It is the speediest, cheapest, and has the best customer service.

Starting a WordPress blog can be a great way to earn some extra side-income while you help others learn more about something you are passionate about.  I have been able to earn tens of thousands of dollars with WordPress blogging over the years, and I think just about anyone else can do the same.  For a couple more tips, check out my article on How to Make Money with a Blog.

So what are you waiting for?  I showed you How to Start a WordPress Blog for Cheap, so now it’s time for you to start your own WordPress blog with Hostinger and start blogging!!!

The post How to Start a WordPress Blog – Hostinger Review appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

5 Tips for Establishing Loyal E-Shoppers

We’ve all heard the idiom “the customer is always right.” However, this popular saying has less to do with the actual accuracy of shoppers and more to do with customer service. Even when the customer is dead wrong, a smart storekeeper knows that it’s in the best interest of themselves and the store to treat the customer with respect.

The same thing is true when it comes to online shoppers. While you might not get the same face-to-face interactions with consumers as you would in a brick and mortar, customers still expect (and deserve) an amicable experience. Especially as ecommerce begins to overtake physical stores.

Not to mention that online vendors are in hot competition as industry grows with both small-time digital merchants and enterprise giants. In fact, online sales are expected to reach $523 billion in the U.S. in 2020. The message is clear: making yourself and your business stand out from the crowd is essential for your success in such a crowded marketplace.

Below are a few tips for establishing a loyal customer base for your ecommerce site.

Sell Quality Products

This one should be obvious, but hosting higher quality items, even if they are more expensive, is a great way to keep customers happy. Sure, you might be able to get more customers in the short term by selling products made from cheaper materials, but do you think those same buyers will come back for more? Not likely.

Selling better merchandise will separate you from imitators, build a strong customer base and ensure that shoppers will spread the good word about your offerings.

Build a Website That Is Easy on the Eyes

Prospective customers are much more likely to buy from your site if it is attractive and simple to use. Just as selling high quality products is important, so to is building a high quality website.  Do your best to cut down on clutter and avoid grainy images, as these will only distract from your most important offerings. Remember to include an ‘about us’ page, a contact page and search bar. These should be readily accessible to anyone visiting your site, whether they are a return user or first-time customer. The best ecommerce site builders will offer various templates to make your job easier.

Get Social

In today’s world, it is absolutely vital that businesses establish a social media presence to engage with customer. Research shows that the majority of consumers value a brand’s Facebook page more than its website. There are a few reasons for this: Social pages update more often than webpages, they are regularly seen in feeds during normal browsing and they offer a way for customers to communicate with their favorite ecommerce sites.

So, start a Facebook page, a Twitter account or an Instagram profile today.

Host Promotions & Contests

Once you’ve created your social media strategy, consider sharing exclusive promotions or contests with your followers. Not only does this make shoppers feel special and appreciated, it also gives you an opportunity to find new customers.

For example, you could ask your fans to tag five friends for a chance to win special prizes, encourage followers to post images of themselves using or wearing your products, or have them join you in a virtual scavenger hunt for 50 percent off select items. What other ideas can you imagine?

Use Email Marketing (Sparingly)

Obviously social media marketing has its perks, but nothing is quiet as successful as email marketing. Believe it or not, email marketing has an impressive ROI — $38 for every $1 spent. And more than 44 percent of email recipients made a least one purchase as a consequence of targeted email marketing. That’s huge!

Push your customers to join your mailing list for updates on upcoming sales, new product releases and more. That being said, you can have too much of a good thing. Sending too many emails could annoy your subscribers, so use email marketing sparingly.

As you can see, building a robust customer base is all about finding shoppers where they are and giving them what they want. Experiment with the above techniques to find out what works best for your brand and your shoppers.

The post 5 Tips for Establishing Loyal E-Shoppers appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

How to Start a Blog and Save the Environment

Did you know that by the year 2020, the web hosting industry will create more environmental pollution than the airline industry?  It sounds crazy, but it’s true!  If you are interested in how to start a blog with WordPress to make some additional income, then read on to find out the environmentally responsible way to host your website.

How Bad is Traditional Web Hosting for the Environment?

Here are a couple of facts about the environmental impact of traditional web hosting for your website or blog:

• each web hosting server produces 1,390 pounds of CO2 a year.
• growth in web hosting services is predicted to grow 400% per year for the foreseeable future.
• By the year 2020, web hosting is predicted to surpass the airline industry and contribute over 3.5% toward global climate change.

You Have a Choice When Creating Your Blog

When researching how to start a blog with WordPress, there are a couple of main factors most folks are interested in:

1. great up time – you will want a guarantee that your website/blog will be up 99.9%+ of the time.
2. unlimited domains – this means that you can have as many websites/blogs as you want simultaneously for one low price.
3. free domain at signup – this is a great way to get your first .com domain for free when you sign up for hosting.
4. WordPress – the world’s #1 free blogging software.  This is a must!
5. low price – the going rate these days is about $3.95 / month if you signup for a 3-year contract.
6. Tech support – nothing is more frustrating than not getting help when you need it.
7. money-back guarantee – this is important with a web hosting provider.  If you’re not happy, you should be able to break the contract without much fuss.

The good news is that you really do have a choice when it comes to the selection of your web hosting provider when starting a blog.  Just about every web hosting provider provides these five features above, so why no choose the web hosting provider for your website or blog that is environmentally friendly?

Start Your Blog with GreenGeeks and Go Green!

When you start a blog with GreenGeeks, you are getting the whole package:

• great web hosting
• unlimited domains
• your choice of a free .com at signup
• one-click WordPress install
• a great low price
• 24/7/365 tech support
• and a 30-day money-back guarantee
• 300% renewable energy guarantee

All that is expected when you go to start a blog, but when you  start a blog with GreenGeeks you are also getting a 300% renewable energy commitment from the company.  GreenGeeks purchases all of their energy from wind power in California and returns 200% back to the grid!  How’s that for being environmentally friendly?!?

Start Your Blog and Make Money Today!

If you haven’t started your own website or blog, then what are you waiting for?  I am living proof that you can go from not knowing anything about blogging to making over $250 / hour blogging in your spare time.  How is that for some nice side income potential?  Many folks have even turned blogging into their full-time day job and earn tens of thousands of dollars a month!

If you are ready to give blogging a try, are concerned about the environment, have $4/month to risk, and a free 15 minutes of time, then signup for web hosting over at GreenGeeks now!

The post How to Start a Blog and Save the Environment appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

Social media has grown exponentially over the last decade. A decade ago, no one would have imagined that in 2017, there would be billions of people operating social media accounts globally. It became clear a long time ago that businesses could not ignore social media.

Your Social Media Success Roadmap: 8 Social Media Tips You Need to Know

But, many businesses are yet to fully harness the power of social media. Do you want to become a social media rockstar? In this article, I discuss ten ways to improve your social media marketing.

1) Know your audience

You have to define your audience. Your audience is not going to be the whole world. You need to define a specific audience that you’ll speak to. Identify their problems, needs, and goals. Next, ask yourself the following questions:

• Where does your audience spend their free time?
• What do they do for a living?
• Where do they work or are they self-employed?
• What is their education level?
• Do they have kids?
• What are their interests?
• Where do they vacation?

There are gazillion questions you can ask about your audience to help you understand them better and tap into a specific empathy. The more you know about your audience, the more you can provide real solutions. This is the first step to successful social media marketing.

2) Find your audience

Don’t just jump on to social media and start blasting out content. That’s the wrong way to do it. Don’t get onto every single social media platform just for the sake of it. Remember, your time, energy and budgets are limited and you can’t afford to be on every social media network out there. You have to be effective and use your time, energy, and resources in the right place. Figure out where your audience is and focus on that social network as a start.

3) Provide value

People on social media are looking for solutions to their problems and information that is of value. This is what you need to provide. You need to provide content that grabs their attention. Next, you need to make sure you don’t sound like you are selling. When you are providing value, you want to come across as being helpful. Avoid trying to sell on social media in order to build trust. This adds people into your sales funnel organically.

4) Strategize and plan

What’s your online marketing plan for this week, next week, next month and so forth? You need a social media calendar that well thought out and that guides your social media plan for the year. Your plan should take into account the different seasons and events that happen during the year. By having a plan, you can keep track of what’s working for you and what isn’t as well as hold yourself accountable. How you maintain this plan is entirely up to you. Just make sure you have something written down.

5) Consistency

This is the oldest secret of success. Overnight success is rare unless you win the lottery. You have to be consistent day after day with your strategy and plan. Don’t give up after a while, keep doing the right thing over and over again and eventually, you will find success.

6) Engage

One of biggest problems for social media marketers is improving engagement online. Consistency is one way to improve engagement. Another way to increase engagement is to participate in conversations that are already taking place at social media sites. Also, use a real human face on your profiles instead of avatars. People like to know that they are dealing with real human beings.

7) Vary content

You want to find the sweet spot with your content, maximize engagement and vary your content delivery. Variety is the spice of life goes an old saying. Have a lot of different content that’s wide enough but still within the same scope of your brand. Your content should also be delivered in form:  writing, images and video and for different types of devices as well.

8) Review

Go through your analytics at least every week and get to know how many visitors came to your website from your social media sites. Which pages did they visit and how long did they stay? How many people downloaded your lead magnets …your giveaways as a percentage of visitors? Which social media posts specifically drove the most likes and comments? The answers to these questions and more will help you tweak your plan every week so that you get the right mix.

Conclusion

There is a lot more that can be said about social media marketing but these eight tips will help you build a brand from scratch into a social media rockstar. Once you get the hang of the basics, it is also a good idea to invest in social media management tools.

The post Your Social Media Success Roadmap: 8 Social Media Tips You Need to Know appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

4 Essential Questions to Answer Before Starting an Online Business

There are many things that are required to start a successful business, and starting an online business is no different. Knowing what these things are and how they can be acquired will be critical in order for your site to avoid the quick failure that is the fate of so many startups. This means that you need to do an adequate amount of research regarding how to launch an online business. This is not something that you should jump into too quickly. Many people are so desperate to start making money that they do not devote the necessary time to their website. It is only a matter of time until their site is history. Here are a few of the most essential things that go into creating an online business that will stand the test of time.

1) What is the exact type of business that you want to be involved in?

You need to answer this question before you start to worry about the technical side of your online business. Deciding what your business will be is critical because some industries are much more difficult to be successful in. You need to be aware of this so you do not invest too much time and energy into an online business that has a very high rate of failure. There are a wide variety of products and services that you could offer. It would be beneficial to you if you could operate a business where you are very familiar with what you are selling. This will allow you to answer questions from customers.

2) Where will you get your inventory?

You will also need to figure out where your products will be coming from. Will you be flipping stuff on Amazon, Craigslist, or Ebay?  Will you be buying all of the products in your inventory from a wholesaler and reselling them for a profit? Will you be paying a factory to make your products especially for you? If this is the case, where will you have the items made? It will obviously be much cheaper to have the products made at a factory that is located overseas.

3) Will you hire a person to design your website for you?

Unless you have a lot of experience with designing a website, it is best left up to the professionals.  You should either try to secure the services of a skilled web designer or select a professional WordPress theme.  This will ensure that you receive an attractive design for your company’s website that functions perfectly. A designer will install a website shopping cart and all of the other things you need to operate a business online. If you use a theme, you’ll have to find a shopping cart plugin/code that will get the job done.

If you do decide to go the route of hiring a web designer, the importance of your web designer cannot be understated. Choosing the wrong person for this crucial role will be devastating for your new business venture. This is why you must take the hiring of this person very seriously. Interview many people and take a look at their previous work to make sure it is to your liking.

Since I had a fair amount of experience with HTML and websites, I decided to purchase a theme and make most of the modifications myself.  It led to many frustrating hours while I tried to get everything just right.  If I could do it over again, I would probably just fork over a bit of money and hire a professional WordPress web designer and be done with it.

4) Will you create a marketing campaign?

You need to tell the world that your new online business is up and running. You should figure out the best places to market your site in order to inform people in your target demographic about it.  A great place to start with this is Google Adsense.  You can create tailored advertising that will put you in front of your target demographic.

Another alternative is to try and build your traffic to you website in a grass-roots fashion by commenting on blogs and other websites/message boards.  This can be a cheaper approach, but it will take some time before you really begin to get the word out about your new business.  If you are a patient sort, this can be a good way to save money if you are running your new business on a shoestring budget.

4 Essential Questions to Answer Before Starting an Online Business – Final Thoughts

If you are venturing down the road to start you own LLC online or start your own blog with WordPress it can be a very exciting time!  It does pay to take your foot off of the accelerator a bit consider these 4 essential questions to answer before starting an online business.  Taking a bit of time to develop a good business plan will help to ensure you have thought things through and will reduce your chances of stumbling out of the gate.

The post 4 Essential Questions to Answer Before Starting an Online Business appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

How to Make Money with a Blog

The Definitive Guide to Making Money Blogging

If you want to learn how to make money with a blog, then this is the article for you.  I will walk you through step by step on how many folks make money with their blog and give you tips and tricks that I have learned along the way.

I started my blog in 2013, and over the past several years I have made tens of thousands of dollars blogging!

Back when I started my blog, I never really thought it would be possible to make so much money blogging in my free time.  My main motivation for starting a blog was to help others by sharing tips and tricks around money saving, money making, and investing.  I felt that I had a lot of ideas to share, and had done fairly well with money management over the years.

One cool thing about starting my blog was that it helped me to get even better at saving money.  While researching topics to write about, I was able to apply a lot of the concepts I learned to my own finances to become an even better money saver.  The same held true with stock market investing – I think I have read over 2,500 pages of investing material since starting this blog :-).

One awesome thing that I did not really anticipate happening was that my blog started to make quite a bit of money month to month.  Making money with my blog started out slow at first, but it has certainly picked up quite a bit of steam over the years.  The main point of the article is to share with you some of the  tips and tricks for making money with a blog so that you can increase your blog income.  Alternatively, if you are on the fence about starting your own WordPress blog, I hope to convince you that it is well worth your time to jump in and start blogging today!

Tips and Tricks – How to Make Money with a Blog:

Should my Blog be Self Hosted?

In one word, yes!  Your blog should definitely be self hosted so that you have complete control over revenue opportunities.  If you create a self hosted WordPress Blog with Bluehost (that link gives you a detailed tutorial on how to do this), you will have full control to place text, banner, and other sorts of advertisements that will bring in revenue for your blog.

I cannot mention this enough, but I highly recommend going self-hosted versus using sites like WordPress.com or Blogger.com.  Having your own self hosted blog will look MUCH more professional and bring in advertisers and companies that are interested in promoting their products and services on your blog.  Having a free blog can really impose a glass ceiling on your earnings potential.

I have also heard tales of folks with free blogs having their site deleted without warning or reason.  If you have put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into your blog, the last thing you want to have happen is for it to be deleted with no warning!  I cannot even imagine how upset I would be if this were to happen to me.  Just for this reason alone, it makes sense to self host your blog.

If you are interested in starting your own blog, I have created this awesome tutorial to guide you through the process.  This teaches you how to start a blog for cheap and only ends up costing about $3/month with my special link!  Set yourself up on the right foot to make money with a blog by going self hosted!

Do I Need a lot of Readers for my Blog to Make Money?

You do NOT need a lot of readers for your blog to start making some nice money.  Obviously, the more readers your blog has the better in terms of ad revenue and potential folks that may sign up for your affiliate offer.  BUT, you can make over $1,000 a month in your spare time blogging with only having 50-100 readers a day to your blog.  That’s right – you don’t have to have a cult following like Dave Ramsey does to make money with your blog!

Every blog is going to be different and appeal to different audiences.  If you can find your own voice and appeal to what readers are looking for, it will only be a matter of time before your blog begins to build a larger and larger audience.  It does take some work to build up your audience if you are going for a really large monthly blogging income of $10,000 or more a month.  None of this is difficult, it just takes time and effort :-).

Here are some of my top tips for increasing the audience size of your blog:

1) Create high quality blog content

This should go without saying, but no one will want to come to your blog over and over again if you content is boring or low quality.  If you can spend extra time and effort to ensure your blog posts are high quality, you will get some awesome audience build over time.  One of the best ways to ensure your posts have some “meaty” content is to plan for posts that are at least 750 words.  Typically, the higher word count blog posts get more views from Google and will convey more meaningful information to your audience.  Don’t go overboard though!  Posts that are over 5,000 words tend to get too long-winded and readers can frequently lose interest.

2) Post regularly on your blog

One of the best ways to increase your audience is to entice readers to return to your blog over and over again.  If you can get in a habit of posting regularly on your blog, readers will come back to your blog repeatedly to find your latest update.  I suggest trying to commit to a minimum of one blog post a week.  Once you get into the swing of things, this can be accomplished in about 30 minutes a week.  Would you be willing to work for 2 hours a month a make over $1,000 a month?  I thought so!

3) Comment on other blogs

One great way to get your blog’s name and brand out there is to comment on other blogs.  When you comment on other blogs, there is an option to enter a web address that will link back to your blog.  Blogs that share similar topics and information to your blog are the best place to focus your effort.  If you ensure your comments are high quality and value adding to the conversation, you are sure to pick up readers that will be interested in your blog and click your link.  This also helps to build your search engine optimization with Google (more on that below).

4) Improve your Blog’s SEO (search engine optimization)

This is something that is a bit tricky to cover in detail within this post as it would seem to go on forever.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with Google is of paramount importance.  To give you the short version, SEO is basically the skill and technique of organizing your blogs content and links so that Google will tend to favor it over competitors.  There are all sorts of tips and tricks to optimize the SEO for your blog.  Look for a future post from me with my best tips and tricks!

5) Create Great Blog Post Headlines

This one goes hand-in-hand with tip #4 above.  Which do you think readers would be more likely to click on and read about: “4 Reasons You Should Cut Up All Your Credit Cards Today” or “Credit Cards Are Bad“?  You have to gain reader’s attention, get them interested quickly, and call them to action by clicking on your post headline link.  There is a real art to creating headlines, and I am still on my journey to master this myself.

6) Network with Other Blog Owners

The idea here is to connect with other blog owners in your topic category.  Have a cooking blog?  Email other cooking blog owners and see if you can agree to a link swap or a guest post.

7) Write Guest Posts for Other Blogs

A guest post is when you write content for another owner’s blog.  In exchange, you are granted one or more links back to your blog.  This is a great win-win method to: make friends with another blog owner, introduce more readers to your blog, build up Google love, and generate some good will.  Make sure you start by working with other blogs in the same topic or category as your blog for maximum effect.  This can be one of the very best ways of reaching new readers.

8) Be Active on Pinterest and Other Social Media Sites

This is an area I really need to work on, but it has paid off big-time for other bloggers.  Pinterest is one of the largest sources of blog traffic for many a blogger.  If you are half-way decent at photo editing and creating appealing images, this is the tip for you!  If you aren’t so great at it, that’s OK.  Be sure you have a Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or other active presence and you are sure to build a nice following over time.

9) Ensure Your Blog Content can Be Shared Easily

Blog content that is easy to share gets more views on social media – period.  It’s as simple as that!  Make sure the content of your blog is simple to share by installing and enabling a plugin such as Simple Connect Widget.  There are tons of social connect widgets available for a WordPress blog, this just seems to be the best one that I have run across.

10) Help Others Solve Problems

Many of your potential blog posts will help readers solve a particular problem them might be having.  If that’s the case, search Google for websites where folks have posted questions for help.  Often message boards will be a great place to answer folk’s questions and provide links back to your blog where readers can learn even more ideas on how to solve their problems.

How Long Does it Take to Start Making Money Blogging?

If you are looking for a get rich quick scheme, then blogging is probably not a good fit for you.  If you check out some of my past income reports, you will see that when I started blogging I was just making a couple bucks a month.  It wasn’t until 8 months after starting the blog that I was able to make over $100 a month.

Some bloggers that really dig in and put in the work are able to make thousands of dollars in a short amount of time.  Many of these folks are well on their way to making six figures a month with their blog!  For others that don’t put in the time, their blogs never really seem to catch on and things end up fizzling out.

I think this blog is an indication that moderate success is possible without any special knowledge or contacts.  I will make over $10K in 2016 with this blog and probably put in 4-6 hours of work a month with it.  That’s a pretty good return on investment I think :-).

How is Blogging Income Generated?

I receive this question all the time with folks wondering how to make money with a blog.  Many folks are interested in blogging, but they don’t quite understand how blogging income in generated.  It is pretty simple to make money with a blog – here are just a couple of the ways you can earn blogging income (also called monetizing your blog):

• affiliate income – this is where some of the big blogging bucks can come from.  Affiliate income is when you promote a product or service on your blog.  There are tracking links setup that will give you credit if a reader purchases the promoted product or service.  If you are credited with a sale, then you earn a nice commission.  These affiliate income offers are a great win-win for you and your reader.  They don’t cost your readers any more than if they were just to Google the product or service and pay for it on their own and you receive a nice commission for the referral.  A few examples of affiliate income posts can be found here: how to start and setup an LLC online and how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  These affiliate products generate a couple hundred dollars a month in affiliate income for MoneyAhoy.
• advertising text or graphics – you are probably familiar with this one.  This is a simple way to make money with a blog.  Advertisers pay you to place text or graphic banners on the top, side, or bottom of your blog.  A blog is typically paid a monthly fee to host this advertisement.
• sponsored posts – sponsored posts are a great answer to the question “how to make money with a blog.”   This is where a company or advertiser will pay to directly to host an article on your blog with a link to their website.  Sponsored posts can be quite a lucrative form of blog income when you are just getting your blog up and running.  Check out my article here on how to get sponsored posts on your blog.
• Google AdSense – this is a simple way to start monetizing your blog today.  Sign up for a Google Adsense account here and throw up their ad on your blog.  Your blog will start generating income immediately for each viewer that comes by as well as anyone the clicks on your ad.

You will typically be paid through PayPal or direct deposit with your blog income.  There are thousands of companies that are looking to expand their online presence and will be willing to pay you as a blog owner to promote their products and services.

Can Someone New to Blogging Make Money?

New blogs can definitely make money – the market is far from crowded!  There are over 7 billion people on our planet, and more people are getting online all the time.  More and more businesses are also finding the need to advertise and conduct business over the internet.

As these trends continue, there will be more and more demand for advertising space on blogs.  There are several newcomer blogs that earn 50 times what my 3+ year old blog does.  There are also hundreds of different ways for your blog to make money.  You can experiment with your new blog and find the right combination that fits your personality and style.

For these reasons, I believe there is always going to be an incredible opportunity for new blogs to make money.

What Ways can a Person Start Making Money Blogging?

There are a bunch of ways that someone can make money blogging and writing online.  Some of these were highlighted above, but I go into more detail below and give more ideas:

• eBooks
• Affiliate income
• Display advertising
• Staff writing
• Blog sponsorships

Is Making Money from an eBook Realistic?

Yes – it is absolutely possible to make money writing your own eBook.  With the advent of online and just-in-time printing, it has never been easier to write your own eBook and sell it online through popular advertisers such as Amazon.

There are many bloggers that make $20K plus a month off of their eBook sales!  Check out my eBook guide here for more info on writing your own eBook.

What is Affiliate Income?

Affiliate marketing is an amazing way to make money with a blog.  This type of opportunity allows you to make money while you sleep, eat, and do the dishes!  The trick to this is that affiliate income is residual income – you can continue to earn money without doing additional work.  MoneyAhoy consistently earns several hundred dollars a month through affiliate income.  I am working to build this up as some bloggers are known to make over $50K a month in affiliate income!

As mentioned above, affiliate income is when you create a post which links out to a product or service that some company is selling.  You receive a reasonable commission for this referral.  The amazing thing about affiliate income is that it is a win-win for your readers.  They don’t pay a penny more (sometimes they actually receive a discount) and you earn money on the side for referring to your favorite products and services.

Affiliate income is also great because you can continue to earn revenue month after month on that post you created years ago.  That’s the power of passive income!  You basically get to set it and forget it :-).

There are dozens of different affiliate programs out there that you can incorporate into your blog.  Some of the top performing ones are:

• Amazon Associates – this allows you to link to Amazon products directly
• Commission Junction – tons of products and services that you can link to
• Flex Offers – pretty similar to Commission Junction

Here are some of my hard-earned tips for increasing your blogs affiliate income:

• Ask for a higher commission percentage – after you have been an affiliate for a while, there is nothing wrong with asking to be bumped to a higher payout percentage.  I have had great success with this.
• Create tutorials for how to use the product – many readers are curious on how to use a particular product or service.  If you can step readers through how to use it, there is a high chance you will build trust and they will click through your affiliate link.
• Create a resources or recommendations page – this is a catch-all page where you can serve up various affiliate products and services while you work on creating a more detailed post about it.
• Provide actual and honest reviews – no one likes fake reviews, and they are pretty easy to spot.  If you are posting reviews for terrible products and everything is great, you are going to lose trust with your readers.  The best way to increase your product or service affiliate income is to provide honest reviews.
• Don’t go crazy with affiliate links – just including 3-5 links throughout the post is the best way to boost your affiliate income.  Having 20+ links is just sleazy and will usually erode the reader’s trust in your brand and any products or services that you may be promoting.

What is Display Advertising?

Display advertising is when you place a text or image in the header, sidebar, below posts, or the footer of your blog.  Advertisers will pay you a set amount depending on the number of views that your blog receives.  The best way to make money with the display advertising method is to have a high number of visitors to your blog every day.

Display advertising is an easy way to make money blogging because you just setup the code once (copy and paste) and then you are done.  As you go on to create amazing content for your blog, your blog will continue to earn money on auto-pilot.

The most popular company that runs display advertising is Google.  Their product, Google Adsense, is the gold standard in display advertising.  There are many other companies that also run and host display advertising that you can utilize to make money with your blog.

Can Blogs Get Sponsored?

Yes – there are a number of ways that advertisers can sponsor your blog.  The most common method of blog sponsorship is through sponsored or guest posts.

Other methods include paying for links in your existing articles or paying for links on your recommendation/resource page.  You can also include advertiser’s text or banners as part of a blog sponsorship.

To gain a sponsorship for your blog, you can either actively seek one out by contacting companies.  Or, you can wait for companies to contact you as your blog increases in popularity.  The method that works the best for me is waiting for companies to contact me that would be interested in advertising on my blog.

What Are Sponsored Posts?

Sponsored posts and guest posts are when someone else writes and article for your blog.  They will then pay you to place this sponsored post on your blog for your readers.  Here is a link to my post on how to get sponsored posts on your blog.

There are two main methods to get sponsored posts on your blog:

1. Sign up with one or more ad agencies similar to Link Vehicle, Izea, or Seeding Up.  The companies will take your blog information and sell slots to advertisers.  Once a match is made, you will receive instructions for the post criteria and be paid at the end of the month!
2. Setup a contact page on your blog for advertisers to contact you directly.  Once your blog begins to see increasing traffic, it is not uncommon for dozens of advertisers to contact you each month requesting sponsored post placement.  It will be up to you which offers you choose to accept and which you will turn down.

Can I Make Money from Writing an eBook?

Yes – you can make quite a bit of money in this day and age writing an eBook.  With the advent of online publishing there are millions of people reading eBooks each and every month.

The eBook I wrote: Stock Market Investing for Newbies has sold hundreds of copies and has made a decent amount.

There are some eBook authors that make thousands of dollars a month with their eBook offerings! Making money from eBooks can be pretty lucrative if you can build a following of readers.

Can a Blogger Make Money Writing for Other Blogs?

If you are still wondering how to make money with a blog, then here is another idea for you.  Did you know that owners of other successful blogs are willing to pay for great writers?  It’s true!  This is a blog money making tip called staff writing.

The way it works is that other successful blog owners will pay for good content creators (like you) to create posts for their blogs relative to their niche.  The best way to land these types of awesome money making opportunities is to have good contacts in the blogging community.  This is best done by having an amazing blog yourself.  That’s your best business card or resume to get your foot in the door to make money blogging as a staff writer.

Can a Blogger Make Money Freelance Writing?

So this isn’t quite in the same category as how to make money with a blog, but it can very lucrative method of making money online.  The idea is that you leverage the professionalism and brand that you have created with your blog to launch into your freelance writing career.  Many bloggers will also freelance write each month to bring in a considerable about of additional side income.

The best way to start freelance writing is to join an online freelancing website such as UpWork.  With UpWork, you create a profile and then bid on jobs that you’d like to complete.  They have hundreds of different categories of work and thousands of jobs each day in popular categories such as writing.

There are folks like Danny Margulies that make over six-figures a year with UpWork and are willing to help others learn how to follow in their footsteps!

Ready to Start up Your Blog and Make Money?

Are you interested in making money blogging?  If so, then there has never been a better time than now to start blogging for money!  Hopefully this article has convinced you that there are dozens of ways to make money with a blog.

If you are ready to start making money blogging, I created a detailed tutorial that will help you start a WordPress blog on your own for cheap, at only ~$4 per month (this low price is only available through my link) for blog web hosting.  In addition to this amazing price, you will receive a free dot-com domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you register for at least 12 months of hosting.

Bonus Tip – Start Your Own Company

If you are ready to jump in with both feet and start to make money with a blog, you may want to consider forming your own LLC as well.  I created a detailed tutorial that will help you create your own LLC online in just a couple minutes.  Check that out if that sounds interesting to you.

The post How to Make Money with a Blog appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

How to Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost

Today, we are going to teach you all about creating a blog on your own with this tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  It is easy!  Blogging helped to change my life and has allowed me to make tens of thousands of dollars all while writing about what I love – making, saving, and investing money!

As you’ll read here, you can start a blog that will make you money for just a couple of dollars a month.  I have worked with Bluehost to offer discounted blog pricing.  This will allow you to start a WordPress blog for cheap.  You can also receive a free blog domain through my link as well.  If you haven’t heard about Bluehost, check this extensive Bluehost review on Hosting.review.

Make sure you act quick though, as I am not sure how long these great low prices will last for you to start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost for cheap.

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS.

Click here to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost, then use the tutorial I have created below for the easy directions on how to setup your WordPress blog.

If you are interested in how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost for cheap, then you have come to the right article for a informative tutorial!  Choosing Bluehost for your blog hosting needs may the the answer you are looking for.  I have been using Bluehost for more than four years, and they have been great.  I would highly recommend them, and they have always had great customer service.

Why Start a WordPress Blog?

Starting a blog has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.  You can tell from my monthly money reports, I make several thousands dollars a month from my blogging and investing activities.  Over the past several years we have benefited over $70,000 through blogging, and I am only expecting this to accelerate for 2016 and beyond!

Blogging is great choice to help build your income because it allows a person quite a bit of freedom.  You can work from home or travel the world – all while maintaining a very flexible schedule.  I cannot express in words how much blogging has helped to improve my life in just the past couple of years.

There are many potential reasons why YOU may want to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  Here are a few of the most popular reasons why folks start a WordPress blog:

• Love for writing – Many folks just love to write and express their thoughts and feelings.  If you have a great story or just great ideas to share, then starting a WordPress blog can be a great outlet to get your thoughts out there to readers.
• Write a book – Many authors find that they see a majority of their success from their dedicated followers.  What better way to begin to build an audience than to start a WordPress blog?  Many publishers will also find it much easier to take a chance on a writer if they already have an established fan base.
• Make money blogging while working from home – Many blogger make a full time income (and then some) while working on their blog from home.  If this interests you, then you need to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost today!  The sky is nearly the limit when it comes to monthly income you can generate from your successful WordPress blog.
• Get exposure for your existing business – We are seeing this trend more and more in the past couple of years.  Many businesses are starting blogs in efforts to reach out to their existing customer base and to help attract new customers to their business.  If you own a business already, then starting a WordPress blog can be your ticket to increased sales and finding additional customers.

The beautiful thing about blogging is that it can be so versatile depending on what you are looking for.  If you are blogging to make money, you will find that just about anyone can make money with a blog.  There are thousands of bloggers out there, but I have proven that you can still “show up late” to the party and make a ton of extra money while pursuing your passion.

New and successful WordPress blogs are cropping up all the time.  Why not make the next successful WordPress blog yours?  Blogging could even turn into your full-time job if you devote enough time and energy to it.

After I started my blog, I was able to make the money back that I paid for blog hosting very quickly.  It is definitely worth it to pay for blog hosting as you can start to monetize your blog immediately through various channels (we will get to that later).  I am sure you will be able to make your money back quickly quickly as I did once you start your blog.

The Six Simple Steps to Starting a Blog

There are six simple steps that you will need to be familiar with before you start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  What we will cover in this section is just to give you a high-level understanding for how you can create your successful WordPress blog.  We will cover these six tips before diving into the details of how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  Let’s get started.

1) Select What to Blog About

This can be the most important step of all when deciding how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  You will want to select a topic that you are passionate about, have some knowledge of, and also can build a lot of content for.  For me the choice of what to blog about was simple – money.  I love saving, making, and investing money and helping other people do the same.

The main thing to remember here is that you need to eventually be able to work your way up to an expert in whatever topic you select.  So make sure you pick a blogging topic that you can live with and love for the next several years

Of course if you are already part of a business, club, or organization, then the topic for your new WordPress blog is already defined for you.  Just make sure you can find ways to keep your posts interesting and fresh.

2) Choose a Blog Platform

We have already discussed this above, but when you set out to start a WordPress blog, you will need to decide to go one of two ways:

• Hosted – These blogs are typically free to sign-up with at sites such as Blogger, Tumblr, or Blogspot.  This can be a fun way to get started if you are just jumping into blogging as a hobby.  But, it really dampens the ability of your new WordPress blog to grow and look professional.
• Self-hosted – A self-hosted WordPress blog is what a majority of this post is devoted to.  This is what I recommend because it is cheap and a great way to create a professional blog that can bring in real income for you.

3) Find a Blog Host

When you go to start a WordPress blog, you will need to find a blog host.  A host (or hosting service) will provide you with server space to store all of your blog posts, pictures, and other media.  You need to have this or you literally cannot start a self-hosted blog!

This tutorial is created to show you how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  Bluehost is a blog hosting company that is second to none.  I have a ton of information below on why Bluehost is the way to go when setting up your new blog.

As a disclosure, I have been a paying customer of Bluehost for more than 4 years.  Bluehost has a great web hosting service and extremely great prices for their WordPress blog hosting.  Some of the links in this article are referral links to Bluehost.  This means that at no additional cost to you, I will make a commission if you make a purchase with them.  These referral links will actually give you a cheaper rate than if you just went straight to their site and signed up yourself, so it really is a win-win!

Ready to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost?  If so click here to get started!

4) Select a Domain Name

The next step to starting a blog is to select the domain name.  The domain name is the same thing as the web address.  For example, the domain name of my blog (and where you are right now) is MoneyAhoy.com.  I have a couple of tips and tricks for selecting a domain name below.  We will cover selecting a domain name for your blog in more detail when we actually get to that step as you setup your WordPress blog with Bluehost.

5) Install WordPress

This is another quick step to get your WordPress blog with Bluehost up and running.  This step is very similar to installing an app on your phone.  A couple of properly placed mouse clicks and you will be ready to go.

I believe 98% of all bloggers use WordPress as their blogging software.  WordPress is a simple set of tools to help setup the look and feel of your blog as well as help to organize all the posts you will be making.

6) Setup Your Blog Design and Start Blogging

Once you have WordPress installed for your Bluehost blog, you are ready to make a couple tweaks and customize your blog design to make it look a little nicer for your readers.  We will cover a couple blog design tips and tricks at the end of this how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  I will cover several helpful WordPress blog plugins and help you run through a couple startup tips before you start your first blog post.

Once you are complete with step #6, you are ready to start blogging!!  Now, let’s go into a little more detail as to why Bluehost is the company you should use when you start a WordPress blog.

Bluehost is the Way to Go When Starting a New WordPress Blog

This section will convince you why Bluehost really is the gold standard for blog web hosting and why you should start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  If you are still not convinced at the end of this section, then we seriously need to talk :-)!

Why Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost?

Bluehost is the top web hosting company in 2016 and you can start your own blog with Bluehost for about $3 a month (this rock-bottom price is through my link here only)!  As an extra bonus, if you create your blog using my link, then you will get your domain for free if you purchase a 12 month or longer hosting plan.  This is a $15 value that you should not pass up.

I highly recommend signing up for at least the 12 month hosting plan through Bluehost – I signed up for the 3 year plan, and that gives you an even larger savings!  Where else can you find a business that you can startup and run for less than $3 a month?!?!?  The great thing is that there are no contracts and you can request a refund from Bluehost at any time – even with only one month left to go in your hosting plan!  It is hard to beat this type of offer.

I am sure you are thinking to yourself “I can probably just go start a blog on Blogger, Tumblr, or Blogspot for a cheaper than $3/month to get started.”  DON’T FALL INTO THIS TRAP!  There are so many reasons why a Blogger/Tumblr/Blogspot blog is a really bad idea for you when you are just getting started with blogging.  It is very difficult to monetize one of these blogs, so you will already start the race blindfolded and with your legs tied together.  Starting a blog where you can start making money from it on day one really is the way to go and why you should elect to setup a WordPress blog with Bluehost.

How to Make Money When You Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost?

It is not too difficult to make money online when you start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.  One of the main factors to consider is that you set your blog up from the get-go to be self-hosted.  As mentioned above, this means you will need to avoid sites like Blogger, Tumblr, or Blogspot when creating your blog.  You will need to shell out just a bit of your own money to make this happen.  It takes money to make money, right :-)?

If there is even the slightest 1% chance you will be interested in making money off of your blog, starting your own online business, or doing freelancing work, then going with a self-hosted option through Bluehost and having that professionally looking domain like a “your-name-here.com” is DEFINITELY the way to go.  It is exceedingly cheap to go through Bluehost AND you get a free domain name as well.  With your own blog through Bluehost you have the following methods that you can use to make money for yourself:

• advertisements through Google
• banner ads
• affiliate links
• direct advertising
• sponsored posts
• and the list goes on and on….

Making money on Blogger/Tumblr/Blogspot is extremely difficult and almost never happens.  Many advertisers and companies will not even consider working with blogs on these platforms because they are not viewed as professional as the self-hosted WordPress blogs.  This is one more reason you should go with Bluehost.

If you check out my past monthly money reports, you can see that I started making enough to cover my Bluehost hosting expenses in the first month!  That’s big proof right there that jumping on the self-hosted bandwagon with WordPress is the way to go for your blog!

You can read much more about why you should pay for your blog hosting here.

Is Bluehost the Best WordPress Blog Hosting Company?

There are dozens of reasons why you should choose Bluehost for your WordPress blog.  As I mentioned earlier, Bluehost is one of the best web hosting providers that are out there.  Reasons to select Bluehost for hosting your new blog include:

• You new Bluehost blog will appear more professional to companies, readers, and advertisers versus a blog setup on Blogger/Tumblr/Blogspot.  This will mean more advertisement and opportunities to monetize your blog.
• Bluehost is affordable – Bluehost is highly affordable and they offer the cheap web hosting.  You can have a blog of your own and the only real expense you will need to pay is the cheap blog hosting which starts at about $3 per month.
• You get a FREE blog domain when you sign up for 12 or more months of hosting.
• Bluehost offers FREE technical support for all their Bluehost web hosting customers.
• WordPress through Bluehost is FREE.
• Bluehost is easy to use.  Anyone will find it easy to create a WordPress blog with my tutorial below.  Bluehost makes it very easy to create a WordPress blog on your own.
• Bluehost offers a money-back guarantee if you determine that it is not your cup of tea.  If you sign up for Bluehost and have questions or are confused for any reason (such as how to setup a blog, how to pick a blog plan, blog pricing, etc.), then just drop me an email and I will be glad to help you out in any way that I can.
• Setting up a blog with Bluehost will mean that you are self-hosted.  It will be very easy for you to monetize your blog if you select this option to setup your blog.

If you are ready to get started, then you will need to go to Bluehost and get setup.  There are many web hosting companies out there for you to choose from, but Bluehost is by far and away the best blog hosting company out there.  This is the main reason why bloggers keep coming back to Bluehost time and again for thier web hosting needs.

Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a WordPress Blog With Bluehost

If you are planning to start a blog and you are interested to learn how to start a blog on WordPress with Bluehost, then please continue below with my helpful guide on how to setup a blog on WordPress.  If you do decide to create a blog with Bluehost and you are confused for any number of reasons (pricing, picking a plan, how to setup your blog, etc.), then just drop me an email and I will be more than happy to help you out.  I am here to help you succeed, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you need help setting up your blog.

Click here to start your new blog.

1) Register Your Domain Name for Your Blog.

You can click here to create a blog and receive your free domain name.  After that, continue to follow the easy steps below.

The first step when you go to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost will be to determine what you want your domain name to be.  A domain name is simply the url that people will use to access your new blog such as “www.your-blog-name-here.com”.  As you can see, when you go to start a new blog with Bluehost, it is important to give this quite a bit of consideration.  It can be tough to come up with a good domain name in this day and age, but there are a couple tips I can offer.

It is best to take your time when brainstorming a domain name for your new WordPress blog.  I find that listing a bunch of names/topics in Excel helps quite a bit.  You can then try different combinations of two to three words to craft your final domain name.  This is how I came up with the domain names for the two blogs I operate: MoneyAhoy.com and HealthierDay.com.  Remember, when crafting a domain name as you setup your new WordPress blog, shorter names are easier to remember.  Also, avoid difficult to spell words or phrases if you can.

You can get your domain name quickly through Bluehost and make the process very easy for yourself.  This is exactly what I did when setting up my WordPress blog, and it worked great.  If you decide to go this route, you will get a FREE domain for year one as long as you sign up for 12 months (or more) worth of Bluehost web hosting.  That is a $15 – $20 value that is yours for free.  In my opinion, this makes is well worth it to sign up for at least 12 months of Bluehost hosting because you will be saving yourself a great deal of money.

In addition to the free domain, the more months you sign up for, the cheaper the monthly price you will receive.  It really is such a great deal – where else can you run a business for literally about $3 a month?  To me, the free domain through Bluehost is just the cherry on top.  If you do take the decision to get the free domain through Bluehost, please continue to the next step where you will see that you can purchase your hosting and get the free domain all in one step for your new blog.

How to Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost – Pricing Options

I selected the “plus” option when I decided to start a WordPress blog because I knew I would be hosting multiple blogs under the same WordPress blog hosting package with Bluehost.  You will likely be just fine if you go with the “basic” WordPress blog hosting package if you plan to run just one blog.  You can always upgrade at any point in time for the slightly increased price.  If you’re unsure – please just go with the “basic” package for now so that you can get started!

How to Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost – Basic Package Pricing

I would also recommend when starting a WordPress blog with Bluehost that you take advantage of the “domain privacy protection.”  Every domain needs to have a name and address associated with it.  Do you really want your home address and phone number out there for public access?  If not, then the domain privacy protection uses an intermediate company’s contact information that acts as a middleman between anyone trying to contact you about the domain.  It’s only an extra dollar a month, and it is well worth it in my opinion.

2) Buy Hosting for your WordPress Blog.

As mentioned, setting up a WordPress blog with Bluehost is quite simple.  First, let’s review the costs of blogging that you’ll encounter:

• If you are just getting started with blogging, then the “Basic” hosting plan is all you need to get started.  You can skip the “Plus” and “Prime” hosting packages altogether for now as they are more expensive and unnecessary if you are just running one blog.  Remember, you can always upgrade your WordPress blog hosting plan down the road if you’d like to select an upgraded plan.  You will just have to pay whatever the difference is.  There is no need to sign up for all those extras now.
• For you to get the cheapest price when you go to start a blog, choosing the “basic” plan with Bluehost is the was to go.  This will run you only about $3 per month with my link.  This is due upon signup and needs to be paid in full.
  • Of course, this is the lowest price if you can commit up front for the 36 month blog hosting plan.
  • If you elect to go with a 24 month hosting plan for your new WordPress blog through Bluehost, then the price is about $5 per month.
  • If you decide just to dip your toe in the water and sign up your new blog for a 12 month period, then the price per month is about $6.  $6 per month for quality WordPress blog web hosting is still and incredible deal and a great way to get started if you’re not ready to jump all they way into the 36 month deal.
  • If you are unsure about blogging and just want to test out the waters, I would sign up for the 12 month plan as this is still a nice price and extremely affordable.
  • If you do decide to commit to the 12 month plan, then the total upfront price is about $71 a year, which is still a fantastic price.
  • If you do decide to go all in and commit to the 36 month plan, your total price for WordPress blog hosting will be about $124.
  • Either option you select when you sign up for your new blog hosting will grant you that free domain (a $15 value), so you really cannot go wrong!
• As mentioned above, I would highly recommend you consider the “Domain Privacy Protection” when it comes to setting up your blog.  This is only an extra $1 a month, and will keep your personal contact information private.  This is a great way to avoid getting setup on call lists and spamming lists.
• You really do not need the other others that Bluehost offers such as: Site Backup Pro, Search Engine Jumpstart, Sitelock Security, and Comodo Positive SSL Bundle.  I recommend that you make sure you uncheck these extras unless you really feel that you need them.
• Remember that if you sign up to start your WordPress blog with Bluehost using my link, then you will receive your domain for free if you purchase a 12 month (or longer) WordPress blog hosting plan.

I really want to stress the benefits of signing up for a WordPress blog hosting plan that is at least 12 months.  Paying for your blog hosting month-to-month is expensive and really unnecessary.  I greatly recommend signing up for at least the 12 month hosting plan for a variety of beneficial reasons.  By choosing to sign up for at least 12 months of WordPress blog hosting you will have the following benefits:

• a FREE domain name (1 $15 – $20 value) for your WordPress blog with Bluehost
• eliminate the hassle of having to pay each month
• eliminate taking the risk that your WordPress blog may go down if you forget to pay each month
• you will get a lower monthly rate if you select a blog hosting plan of 12 months or more

As an example, let’s say that your startup WordPress blog begins to build some great traffic and monthly visitors.  Then your payment card expires and the monthly charges cannot go through from Bluehost.  If let uncorrected, your blog will go down and you risk losing business and income.  This is why paying month-to-month is generally a terrible idea.  If you really cannot scrape together the couple of bucks to invest in your new blog business, then how about heading over to the money saving section of this site and following a couple of those ideas?

You really only need to free up about $3 a month to get started!  Just remember, it is also much more expensive for you on the month-by-month basis if you decide to pay this way when you start your WordPress blog.  You will be basically paying twice the amount if you choose to go the month-to-month route.

If you are still on the fence as to whether or not you should start a WordPress blog with Bluehost now, then this should help to make up your mind.  By signing up for a new WordPress blog with Bluehost, you also have the option to cancel at any time and receive a pro-rated refund.  That’s just one more reason why you should sign up for at least 12 months when you start your new Bluehost blog.  The risk is virtually eliminated for you with this money-back option.

Many folks are under the misunderstanding that if they sign up for a yearly term with Bluehost they are locked into some sort of contract.  This is not true at all!  There are not any contracts with Bluehost and you will be refunded on a pro-rated basis if you should decide to cancel your WordPress blog hosting service.  It is a full 100% refund policy if you cancel in the first 30 days, and then it is a pro-rated refund after that if you are not happy for any reason with Bluehost’s hosting service.  There really is no risk to you to try it out.  You will get paid back in full for whatever hosting time you do not use!

Hosting your new WordPress blog with Bluehost will cost you around $41 a year on average if you go with the 36 month plan.  This will work out to be an up-front cost of about $124 for the total 36 months.  This is a really great deal and represents a great savings if you use my specially negotiated rate through this link to sign-up.

When you are ready to create your blog, follow the below steps to buy hosting for your new WordPress blog:

1. Go to the Bluehost website and click the “Get Started Now” button.
2. Click on the hosting package that will work best for you.  As mentioned earlier, I suggest the “Basic” package for most bloggers.
3. Input the domain name that you would like to use for your new WordPress blog.
4. Enter your payment and personal information.
5. Select the package information options that you are interested in: length of hosting (12+ months recommended), domain protection, etc.
6. Next you will need to enter a password.  Please ensure you use a very strong password as someone can hack your entire blog if you do not make your password very secure.

3) Connect Your Blog Domain to Your Hosting Service.

You can skip to section #4 below if you chose to buy your domain directly through Bluehost.  This section details how you can move your domain to be hosted by Bluehost servers.

If you buy your domain through popular sellers like 1&1 or GoDaddy (or others), then this section will apply to you.  You will need to go through the relatively simple process of telling the domain registrar you used that your website will be hosted using your Bluehost account.  This is a pretty simple process, but it does take a couple of minutes to get everything straight.  1&1 has a full help section for how to set your name servers for your purchased domains here.  Go Daddy has a full help section for how you can set your name servers for your purchased domains here.  A brief summary of the GoDaddy steps are below:

“When you register a domain name with us, we set it up on our parked name servers so a temporary page displays when visitors go to your website. After you determine which hosting provider to use, you can change your domain name’s nameservers to remove the parked page and activate your domain name.”

How to Modify your DNS Name Servers when you are using Go Daddy for your domain registrar and Bluehost for your hosting company:

1. Login to the GoDaddy.com account manager.
2. Select the “Manage Domains” option from the “domain names” drop down menu.  Alternatively you can select the “Manage Your Account” list.
3. Select the domain name you would like to change using the checkbox and the click “Set Name Servers.”
4. Here you will enter the updated name server information into the appropriate boxes under the “Name Servers” heading on the right side of your page.
5. You will need to enter the following name servers:  ns1.bluehost.com ;  ns2.bluehost.com
6. Click “Save Changes” at the bottom.
7. Then you will need to add the domain you purchased through GoDaddy as an “addon domain” to your Bluehost web hosting.
8. Go to Bluehost.com and login using your account and password.
9. Go to “Domains” when logged into your Bluehost hosting account.  Enter in the purchased domain and click on “assign.”

How to Modify your DNS Name Servers when you are using 1&1 for your domain registrar and Bluehost for your hosting company:

1. Login to the 1and1.com account manager.
2. Select the “package” that you previously purchased through 1&1.
3. Click on “Manage Domains” from the “Domains” panel.
4. Click the arrow icon next to the domain you would like to assign to Bluehost for hosting to bring up the options.
5. Select “Edit DNS Settings” from the “Domain Settings” section of the options menu.
6. Click the “Other name servers” radio button.
7. Enter the following name servers: ns1.bluehost.com into name server #1; and ns2.bluehost.com into name server #2
8. Click the “Save” button.
9. Then you will need to add the domain you purchased through 1&1 as an “addon domain” to your Bluehost web hosting.
10. Go to Bluehost.com and login using your account and password.
11. Go to “Domains” when logged into your Bluehost hosting account.  Enter in the purchased domain and click on “assign.”

If you follow these above steps (or similar if you did not purchase your domain through 1&1 or GoDaddy), then you should be all set.

If this seems a bit complicated to you, not to worry.  If you sign-up for WordPress blog hosting through Bluehost using this link, then your domain and blog hosting will all be setup and linked for you already through Bluehost.  If you select a 12+ month package, then you will get a free domain and you won’t have to step through all of these steps I have outlined above.

How to Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost – Installing WordPress

4) Install WordPress on Your Blog

We are now in the final stretch!  If you have made it this far, then your journey to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost is nearly complete!  Keep on reading to read about the final steps to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.

This final section is pretty simple to finalize your blog setup.  Bluehost has made it very simple to create a WordPress blog.  The best part?  WordPress is FREE with Bluehost!

Steps to Install WordPress on Your Bluehost Blog

1. Go to Bluehost.com and login using your account and password.
2. When you are at your cPanel (short for control panel), click on the image that says “One Click Installs” under the “website” section.  If you having difficulty logging into your Bluehost account, then refer to your link you received in your welcome email from Bluehost.
3. Click on the “WordPress” icon under the “Blogs and Website Builders” section.
4. Click on the large, green “Install” button.  This will begin the WordPress install on your Bluehost blog.
5. Once the installation process begins, you will need to decide which domain to install WordPress against.  Click the drop down menu and select the domain you will use for your WordPress blog.
6. We need to make a couple other quick changes before finalizing the WordPress installation.  Click the “Advanced Options” button.  This will allow you to choose a username and password for your WordPress blog.
7. Create a secure username and password.  Be sure not to use “Admin” for your username, or your are bound to get hacked!  There are hundreds of hackers from various countries that will try to break into your account on a weekly basis and install all sorts of nasty viruses and other nasty stuff.  “Admin” is the most commonly tried username, so please ensure you are not using it!  Also, please ensure you use a STRONG password for your WordPress installation.  There is nothing worse than having your blog hacked – trust me!
8. Check the box that says “Automatically create a new database for this installation” to ensure you get a fresh, clean install.
9. Click the “Install Now” button.

That’s it!  We are all done with how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost!  If you followed all of these steps, you should now have a new WordPress blog with Bluehost.  Now comes the fun part of customizing the look and feel of your new blog and creating exciting content for your new readers.  Best of luck to you!

5) Video of How to Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost

Ff you are having a bit of trouble getting WordPress installed on your Bluehost blog, then give this YouTube video I created a quick look.  It will step you through the process and show you how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost in less than 5 minutes!

Please remember, if you sign up for a WordPress blog with Bluehost and have any questions, then do not hesitate to reach out to me.  I have multiple blogs and have been blogging for several years.  I’ve encountered many problems and have had to work through them myself.  I will be more than happy to lend you a hand and help you navigate through any issues or questions that you may run into.  Please don’t be afraid to send me an email with questions if you do sign up for Bluehost.

Bonus tips for how to get the most out of WordPress

Now that I have taken you through all the steps of how to start a WordPress blog, here are some general tips that will be helpful for setting up and navigating WordPress:

• You will want to save the WordPress login info that you receive in your installation email.  I would recommend you print this out, but you will definitely want to keep it somewhere safe so that you don’t get locked out of your WordPress blog.  This is the installation email you will receive after you have installed WordPress (step #4 above).  This installation email will include your WordPress login URL, your username, and your password.
• I highly recommend MailPoet if you are interested in setting up an email list and sending out newsletters or bulk emails to subscribers.  It is free and pretty simple to use.  You can install this by clicking the “Plugins” button on the sidebar once you login to your WordPress blog.
• You can click on the “Appearance” button, then “Widgets” to add information or items to your header, footer, and sidebar on your WordPress blog.
• To adjust the look and feel of your blog, you will want to click the “Appearance” button, then “Themes” to select a theme.  There are hundreds of Free themes, or you can look at purchasing a professional theme like Genesis (that’s what this blog uses).
• It is time to create some content once you get the look and feel of your blog roughed in!  Click the “Posts” button, then “Add New” to start your very first blog post.  You can click the “Save Draft” button in the top right as you go so that you don’t accidentally lose your work if you get disconnected or your computer glitches.  Once you are happy with your post, click the blue “Publish” button – VOILA!  You very first post is now live on your WordPress blog!
• If you would like to add pictures to your post, click on the “Add Media” button in the top left and upload a picture from your computer.  This will insert the image directly into your WordPress blog post.

Here are additional blogging related posts that you should read:

• Setup a Blog for Fun or Profit
• How to Get Sponsored Posts on Your Blog
• Making Money with eBooks vs Blogs
• Selling a Blog or a Business – When is the Right Time?
• Setting up a Blog
• How to Make Money with a Blog
• 11 Super Helpful Blogging Tips for New Bloggers
• Review of Thrive Content Builder
• ClickFunnels Review

Do you run a blog?  Share your blogging victories and mistakes here!  I hope you really enjoyed my tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.

The post How to Start a WordPress Blog with Bluehost appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

MoneyAhoy Featured Article at DealSpotr.com!

Check out the shout out I received from Jason Feller over at DealSpotr.com:

https://dealspotr.com/articles/derek-chamberlain-details-experiences-as-founder-of-money-ahoy

It’s a general Q&A article that talks about me, blogging, and MoneyAhoy.  Enjoy!

The post MoneyAhoy Featured Article at DealSpotr.com! appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com

Back to the Future

If you haven’t noticed, things have been a little slow around here at MoneyAhoy.com for the past two months.  There are a couple of reasons for this:

• summer vacation
• moving from Virginia to Georgia
• having limited or no internet!

Back to the Future – Summer Vacation and Georgia

I have probably written enough by now on vacation and moving to Georgia that regular readers are sick of it, so I won’t belabor the point much.  But moving sucks!  I feel like I haven’t really had time to get into my normal routine for the past month.  Now that most of the dust has settled and we are 90% unpacked, I can breath a sigh of relief and get back to work making, saving, and investing money!

Back to the Future – The Internet

I can finally say that I have returned back to the future – we just got our high-speed cable internet hooked up yesterday.  As such, things will be picking up a little bit around here as I have several post ideas in the queue (my head) that are ready to come out.

One benefit of moving to a new location is we get to sign-up for a “new customer” internet deal.  One of the first MoneyAhoy.com posts I did was negotiating a better rate with your cable company.  In this post, I was able to get my monthly charge from $55 down to $35 through a little haggling.  Well, after the year was up, the jerks at Comcast cranked my monthly fee back up to $50 a month.  I tried calling four separate times to haggle, but could not get more than $10 off (the $60 price).  I was left with the choice of getting 1.5Mbps download speeds, or sucking it up and going with the higher price.

Down here in Georgia, we signed up with MediaCom with a sweet package.  It is $35 a month for the first year, then $45 a month for the second year.  For that you get 15Mbps download speeds (the guy actually upgraded me to 50Mbps for free supposedly).  Not too shabby!  The only bad thing is that there isn’t any competition outside of satellite internet, so that could be an issue down the road…

Back to the Future – Final Thoughts

For the third month in a row, my monthly money report is going to be coming out almost a month after the fact.  I still think it is a good practice to make myself go through the tracking of monthly saving, making, and investing.  I plan to be a little more early to the game with these reports going forward!

The post Back to the Future – Internet appeared first on MoneyAhoy.

For more saving money, making money, and investment ideas go to www.MoneyAhoy.com