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How to Start a Home Decor Blog
Do you want to learn how to start a home decor blog and make money?
This guide will show you exactly how in five simple steps!
Do you love all things home decor and interior design? If so, starting a home decor blog might be the perfect thing for you. You’ll be able to share your passion for home decor with others, and you can make money from what you love!
Home decor is a very profitable topic for blogging because it’s something that people will always be interested in. And there’s so much room for creativity and putting your own personal spin and style on this niche.
Blogging has a very low investment (it costs just $2.95 a month for a domain name and hosting with Bluehost) but a high potential for profit.
Are you ready to learn how to start a home decor blog? Let’s do it!
Step 1: Choose a Niche
What exactly is a blog niche?
Simply put, it’s the topic that you blog about. Home decor is already a niche, but you might one to choose one of two specific sub-niches to focus on.
Here are some ideas for home decor niches:
- Small space living
- Farmhouse decor
- Coastal decor
- Holiday decorating
- DIY home decor
- Minimalist decor
- Boho decor
- Scandinavian decor
- First apartment
- Specific room (e.g. kitchen decor)
- Outdoor/garden decor
These are just some examples of sub-niches within home decor that you can focus on. Honing in on one style of design or a specific way of living is a great way to set yourself apart from the crowd and build your brand.
It helps if you are writing from personal experience, too. For example, are friends always wowed by your holiday decor? Do you get compliments on how well you maximize your small space living in a big city? Are you obsessed with a certain design trend, like coastal or farmhouse? If so, you can start a whole blog about it!
There are tons of different options here.
You don’t have to choose just one sub-topic to blog about either. You can always start with a broad home decor niche and find your focus as you go.
Related: What to Blog About: 150+ Profitable Blog Niche Ideas
Step 2: Choose a Name
Once you’ve settled on a niche, the next step is choosing a name for your home decor blog. Your domain name is your blog’s address on the Internet.
Choosing a good name is extremely important because this is the first impression your blog will make. It’s also a big hassle to change later.
Related: Home Decor Blog Names: Ideas & Examples
Here are some tips for choosing a home decor blog name:
- Make your name easy to spell and say. Don’t use misspelled words, numbers, or hyphens in your domain name. All of these things will make your name a lot more confusing and harder for people to remember.
- Make sure that the .com of your chosen name is available. Try to avoid alternative domain name endings like .net or .co because they are less common, harder to remember, and less trustworthy.
- Make it home decor-related. For example, The Inspired Room and Thrifty Decor Chick are both home decor blogs that make it obvious right away what kind of blog you’ll be reading based on the name.
- Incorporate your niche. If you are starting a home decor blog with a focused niche (such as just farmhouse decor), then use that in your blog name! This helps your target audience know exactly what your blog is about.
- Get creative with it. Since home decor is a very creative niche, you can choose a creative name. Some real-life examples of creative home decor blog names are Eye Swoon, Old Brand New, and Young House Love.
- Don’t overthink it. Try not to spend too much time on this step or worry about picking the “perfect” domain name. Chances are, whatever name you pick will grow on you and start to feel like a great fit.
Related: How to Choose a Blog Name
If you can’t decide on a name yet, that’s okay! You can come back and choose one later after you sign up for web hosting with Bluehost.
Step 3: Get Web Hosting
If you want to make money as a blogger, you will need to have a self-hosted blog. This means that you own all of your content and your blog is totally yours, as opposed to using a hosted platform such as Blogger, Wix, WordPress.com, etc.
Even if you are not a very technical person, setting up web hosting is extremely simple and only takes a few minutes.
First, you will need to choose a web host.
The web hosting company I use and recommend is Bluehost.
Here are a few reasons why I like Bluehost:
- They have some of the most affordable web hosting plans out there.
- You can get your domain name for free with them (as opposed to paying $15 to $20 with an outside company.)
- Their service is reliable and robust, so you will never have to worry about your website going down or loading slowly.
- Many of the most successful bloggers I know use Bluehost.
- They have great customer support and I have always had my questions answered quickly whenever I needed help.
Bluehost has very generously offered hosting packages starting at just $2.95 a month for readers of Blogging Her Way, along with a FREE domain name.
To get this special pricing, just be sure to use any Bluehost link in this article!
Here’s how to set up web hosting with Bluehost:
1. Click here and then click the “Get Started” button:
2. Select your hosting plan
3. Put in your domain name
Select this option and you can go ahead and set up your blog now, then use the free credit to buy your domain name later.
4. Create your hosting account
5. Choose your package and pay
I recommend the 12-month plan for $2.95 a month, for a total cost of $35.40 for the year. But you can also choose a 24-month or 36-month plan.
6. Congrats, you’re done!
Now you’re all set! Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you.
What exactly is WordPress? WordPress is the content management platform that your blog will run on. Your WordPress dashboard is where you will go to edit the look of your blog, write blog posts, upload images, etc.
It’s extremely easy to use, even if you’re a total beginner.
Step 4: Design Your Blog
Now it’s time for the fun part – designing your blog!
When you log in to your WordPress dashboard for the first time, you will be prompted to go ahead and choose a theme for your blog:
You can pick one of these default themes if you want, but I don’t recommend it.
For one, the majority of these free default themes are not designed with bloggers in mind. Most are designed for business websites.
Additionally, choosing a premium theme over a default theme will make your blog look more professional right from the start.
Here are the benefits to choosing a paid theme for your blog:
- They come with step-by-step set-up instructions
- You will have access to customer support from the theme creator.
- Paid themes come with crucial features like a mobile responsive design and customization options.
- Your blog will look prettier and more professional.
Here are some great themes that are perfect for home decor bloggers:
Installing your WordPress theme
To install your theme, go to Appearance > Themes in the lefthand menu of the WordPress dashboard, which looks like this:
Then simply upload your theme file and install it.
Once you have installed your theme and are happy with the way everything looks, you can go ahead and launch your blog! Until you follow this step, your blog will just display a “Coming Soon” landing page.
To launch, go to the Bluehost menu on the top left of your WordPress dashboard:
All you have to do is fill in this info and you’re good to go:
Congrats! Your home decor blog is now live.
Step 5: Start Blogging!
Once you have launched your blog, it’s time to write your first blog post.
There are a lot of things you can write about as a home decor blogger. Here are just a few simple blog post ideas to help you get started:
- DIY holiday decor (Christmas, Halloween, etc.)
- Top home decor trends of the season
- Minimalist home decor ideas
- Color scheme ideas
- Small space decor ideas
For more home decor blog post ideas, check out this giant list of blog post ideas for home decor bloggers to find plenty of inspiration.
How Home Decor Blogs Make Money
There are many ways to make money as a blogger. As a home decor blogger, here are a few of the most popular ways to make money blogging:
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money blogging. As an affiliate for a company, you earn a commission every time someone makes a purchase through your unique affiliate link. You can literally get paid for recommending products you already use and love to your readers!
For more tips on affiliate marketing, read my guide to making money with affiliate marketing or sign up for my free list of affiliate programs for bloggers.
As a home decor blogger, this is a great way to make money because furniture and decor affiliate programs can be very lucrative and are easy to promote.
Display Ads
Display ads are another popular way to make money as a blogger.
Once you are getting enough traffic to your blog, you can apply for an ad network like Monumetric (which requires 10,000 monthly page views) or Mediavine (which requires 50,000 monthly sessions.)
These networks will display ads on your site and pay you based on RPM (revenue per one thousand impressions.) Depending on traffic, many bloggers earn anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars from ads each month.
Sponsored Posts
Another way to make money as a home decor blogger is through sponsored posts. This is when you partner with a brand to create sponsored content.
Many furniture and home decor brands work with bloggers. You can get paid for these blog and social media collaborations, with the added perk of getting free furniture and decor from brands to use in your home.
Selling Products
Home decor bloggers can also make money selling their own products.
There are lots of digital products you can create as a home decor blogger. I personally love selling digital products because it’s easy and profitable.
As a home decor blogger, you could put together a digital guide or an online course sharing tips for home decor, such as maximizing a small space.
Home Decor Blog Examples
Are you looking for examples of home decor blogs?
Below I have listed some of the most successful home decor blogs based on blog income reports they have shared. Looking at these income reports is a great way to get an idea of how you can make money with your home decor blog.
Here are some well-monetized home decor blogs to check out:
- Neat House Sweet Home: $2,053
- Sunrise Valley Farm: $2,911
- Honeybear Lane: $3,505
- By Sophia Lee: $9,439
- The Shabby Creek Cottage: $25,319
These are all great examples of successful home decor blogs.
How to Start a Home Decor Blog Recap
We’ve now covered all the basics. Starting a home decor blog is super easy. It’s also a lot of fun with the potential to make money doing what you love.
As a recap, here are the steps to start your own home decor blog:
- Decide on your niche.
- Choose a domain name.
- Register for web hosting from Bluehost.
- Write 5 to 10 blog posts.
Good luck and happy blogging!