Starting a blog today feels both exciting and overwhelming. Everyone talks about passive income, freedom, and "quitting the 9-to-5," but very few people show you the actual path that still works in 2025. I've been blogging for almost eight years, and I'm going to share exactly how I turned a simple WordPress site into a full-time income — mostly through Google AdSense, smart SEO (or référencement, if you prefer the French term), and reliable WordPress hosting. No fluff, no "get-rich-tomorrow" promises — just what actually moves the needle.

Why WordPress Is Still the Best Choice in 2025

Every year someone declares that "WordPress is dead." Yet, more than 43% of all websites on the internet still run on it. Why? Because it's free, ridiculously flexible, and the ecosystem around plugins, themes, and hosting has matured into something incredibly powerful.

If you're serious about making argent (money) from blogging, you need a self-hosted WordPress.org site — not the limited WordPress.com version. Self-hosted gives you full control, the ability to install any plugin, and — most importantly — the right to display Google AdSense ads without restrictions.

I started my first profitable blog, zolateck-blog.com, on a cheap shared hosting plan. It worked, but once traffic grew, the site slowed down during peak hours and my earnings dropped because visitors bounced. That's when I realized that good WordPress hosting isn't an expense — it's an investment.

Choosing the Right WordPress Hosting (The Part Most People Get Wrong)

There are hundreds of hosting companies screaming "best WordPress hosting" at you. Here's the truth: speed, uptime, and server location matter more than unlimited bandwidth promises.

In 2025, Google's Core Web Vitals are stricter than ever. If your Largest Contentful Paint is above 2.5 seconds, you're losing SEO rankings — and therefore losing money. The fastest setups I've tested are LiteSpeed-based hosts with NVMe storage and built-in caching (Rocket.net, RunCloud + Hetzner, or even Cloudways on DigitalOcean). They're not always the cheapest, but they pay for themselves in higher RPMs from AdSense.

For beginners on a budget, SiteGround and Hostinger still deliver excellent performance under $10/month. Just avoid the big EIG brands that oversell their servers.

Setting Up Your Site the Smart Way

1. Buy a domain that's brandable (zolateck-blog.com cost me $12 and still ranks well).
2. Install WordPress with one-click from your host.
3. Choose a lightweight theme (Kadence, GeneratePress, or Blocksy — all free and blazing fast).
4. Install only the essential plugins:
   • Rank Math or SEOpress (French-made and excellent for référencement)
   • LiteSpeed Cache or WP Rocket
   • Ad Inserter (for precise Google AdSense placement)
   • WP Rocket if your host doesn't include premium caching

That's it. Too many plugins kill speed, and speed kills earnings.

Creating Content That Actually Ranks and Earns

SEO in 2025 isn't about keyword stuffing anymore. It's about topic clusters, E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), and answering search intent better than the top 10 results.

Here's my exact process that still works:

• Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or the free Ubersuggest to find keywords with decent search volume and low difficulty.
• Target "best", "how to", "review", and "vs" keywords — these convert best with AdSense.
• Write 2,000–3,500 word ultimate guides. Yes, long-form still wins.
• Add a detailed table of contents with jump links.
• Include FAQ schema, original images, and embed YouTube videos you own.
• Internally link older articles to new ones like a web.

My site zolateck-blog went from 0 to 10,000 monthly visitors in 11 months doing exactly this. Most of those visitors come from Google France and Canada, which is why I often write about référencement in French as well.

Getting Approved for Google AdSense (Still Possible in 2025)

A lot of new bloggers panic about AdSense approval. Here's the reality: if you have 20–25 high-quality articles, a proper About page, Contact page, Privacy Policy, and no copied content, you'll almost certainly get approved — even with a brand-new domain.

Tips that helped me and my students:

• Reach at least 1,000–2,000 words per article.
• Use original photos (even phone pictures are fine).
• Don't put any ads (affiliate links included) before approval.
• Apply from a European or North American country if possible — approval is faster.

Once approved, never violate policies. One account ban and you're done forever.

Placing Ads for Maximum Revenue Without Ruining User Experience

This is where most bloggers lose money. Too many ads = high bounce rate = lower SEO = less money. Too few ads = you leave cash on the table.

My current setup on zolateck-blog that earns the highest RPM:

• Auto-ads turned ON (let Google optimize)
• Additional manual placements:
  • One 300×250 in the first paragraph (after 150–200 words)
  • One 728×90 below the introduction
  • Two 300×250 units floating on the sides (desktop only)
  • Anchor and vignette ads enabled

In France and Canada, RPM is usually between €4 and €12 per 1,000 views depending on the niche. Tech, insurance, and finance pay the most.

Scaling Up: From $100/month to $5,000+/month

Once you hit $500–$1,000 per month, reinvest:

• Upgrade to premium hosting
• Outsource content to good writers (pay €50–€80 per 2,000-word article)
• Build email lists (I wish I had started sooner)
• Add affiliate marketing on top of AdSense (never instead of)

Today, zolateck-blog and my other sites make well over five figures per year — almost entirely passive. I spend maybe 10 hours per month maintaining everything.

Final Thoughts: Start Small, Stay Consistent

Making real argent with a WordPress blog in 2025 is absolutely possible, but it's not instant. The bloggers who succeed are the ones who treat it like a real business: invest in good WordPress hosting, focus obsessively on SEO and référencement, create content people actually want to read, and optimize Google AdSense placements without being greedy.

If I can do it starting with zero experience and a $50 budget, you definitely can. Pick a niche you won't hate writing about in two years, set up your site this weekend, publish your first article next week, and keep going.

The internet still rewards people who show up consistently. See you at the top of Google.