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This is our first blog post on Digital Life Hack (DLH). It is fitting because it documents how we started this blog with less than $100. And we want to show you how to do the same!
Have you been wishing to start a blog, but low on startup capital? You’ve come to the right place! You will learn how to do this with less than $100. And of course, if you work hard at it, even before renewals are due, your blog will already be paying for itself.
Start With Why
While this is not a review of Simon Sinek’s bestseller, it is important you know your reasons for starting a blog. More often than not, for most people, the sole reason for starting a blog is to make money. While this should be one of the goals, to avoid doom, it is important not to make it the sole aim. The failproof formula for earning through a blog is simply to help people solve their problems or recommend solutions to their problems. Know your why.
For DLH, we yearned to fill a gap we observed. We discovered that although there were a plethora of fashion and lifestyle blogs, they were focusing mostly on celebrity gossips. But times have changed, accelerated by the 2020 pandemic that forced everyone into a digital lifestyle almost overnight. Many were caught unawares, causing friction in their professional and even personal life. With DLH, we hope to bridge that gap and help people adjust to the new normal while living their optimal digital life. This is our why.
Ideation
Creative people have a hyperactive mind which could be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. A blessing because there is usually an infinite stream of ideas flowing daily. For those entrepreneurially inclined, that means countless business ideas waiting to become profitable. A curse because it is easy to fall into the shiny object trap. What’s the shiny object trap you asked? It is when one is always jumping from one old idea to the next new idea which appears shiny compared to the old idea. There’s also the difficulty in deciding which idea to build on.
One way to solve this by doing the profitability litmus test. This test varies depending on what ideas you are having. However, the basics remain the same. How profitable will it be in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months? How large is the available market? Taking a pause to think about these questions can save you time and resources wasted on projects that go nowhere.
Plans and A Roadmap
I am an accidental entrepreneur. More on my story perhaps in the future. So, usually, when I have ideas flying in my head, most are ideas that have profitability potentials. This blog is the same! We want to share valuable content relevant to your digital lifestyle and at the same time earn enough to keep the blog running and support ourselves.
Execution
Phew, after months of procrastination, tight schedules, and other challenges, we actually got started! To give us a breather during launch, we ensured we had several articles written and scheduled. We advise you do the same, with at least ten articles written and then scheduled. But, that doesn’t mean you should delay your launch even if you do not have up to ten articles written down.
Picking a Name for Your Blog
Many get stuck at this stage because it is most likely that their desired choice name is not available. To check if your blog’s chosen name is available as a domain name, just enter it here. If peradventure, you find that your choice has already been taken, then you can add some modifiers. For example, modifiers like hub, group, today, smart, hack, etc can help you get past this stage with an available name.
Remember, try as much as possible to have a keyword in your blog’s niche in the domain name. This is not mandatory, but a good boost for SEO. Avoid domain names with numbers as people could get confused as to whether it is in words or figures. For example, is it 2cents.com or twocents.com? One last thing to avoid with domain names is using a dash (-). For example, two-cents.com. Once you have decided on a name, you can get it registered on NameCheap.
Domain and Hosting
If you plan to start a profitable blog, getting your own domain and self-hosting as opposed to a free WordPress or Blogger blog is the first step. The good news is that, for those low on budget, you can get both with less than $100 for your first year. You can always upgrade as you grow.
Setting Up Your Blog
Depending on your hosting service provider, once you have connected your domain name to a hosting plan, you will be able to install WordPress and then set things up yourself. There are usually tutorials and guides made available by the providers. You can also contact support when needed. This is exactly why I like NameCheap, their support is superb!
The majority of newbie bloggers start with WordPress, which I also recommend for various reasons. One, the WordPress community has an active support and community. You can be sure that there is someone out there who has had the same issue you have and sorted it. Two, even without any coding knowledge, WordPress is easy to navigate. Three, WordPress has one of the largest support for plugins that make blogging easier to manage and earn from.
But if all that still looks like Greek to you, then you can try this amazing website builder. At, this stage, I will like to mention the artificial intelligence assistant (AIWA) I used to build an online store and blog. The sweet thing about AIWA is that, when you buy the website builder, you get free lifetime hosting. And did I mention you only pay a one-time fee? In addition, you can leverage it to offer website-building services to your audience. Most bloggers offer this service on the side as a blog income. In fact, it is the fastest way to start earning from your blog from day one. You can purchase lifetime access to AIWA here. Your only additional expense would be getting your domain name.
What next?
Keep creating awesome content! But of course, not blindly. We will utilize keyword research to help us ferret out the top questions relating to digital lifestyles that you, our audience are searching for. Feel free to contact us if you want to see content on a specific topic.
