Nowadays, one of the most talked-about subjects is blogging. Everyone wants to start blogging, but few know how to get started. But first, the question is, what is blogging? According to britannica.com, “blog, in full Weblog or Weblog, online journal where an individual, group, or corporation presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs. Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links.”
In this article, we will talk in detail about how you can start your blog or how you can create your blog, for which what kind of skills are required, and what you need to learn to get that dream of yours realized. Blogs are ambitious and showcase one’s creativity; they are many hobbies, but you can easily monetize them. Blogs can be used as a hobby, to grow one’s business, or even to start a career in this field.
Blogging also has many positive aspects; here are a few research-based examples:
- Blogs related to small businesses have generated 125% more leads.
- It is also seen that people tend to trust blogs that advised
- Markets that use regular blogs have seen a 13 times more positive return on their investment.
The first step is always the simple one, regardless of your ambition behind starting blogging. Below we will discuss all the steps to creating a successful blog.
As long as you know how to use social media sites such as Facebook and Tumblr and have general confidence in your “web staff,” you can follow this guide. We promise!
Step 1: Focus on your interest
This is not a technical step; yes, it might sound cliché. But you cannot stress enough that your interest is one of the major driving forces behind your blog. You will be needed to write in many different ways on a vast array of topics related to your niche. And it is your love and interest that will truly reflect your thoughts on the subject. People love to read stuff that is well-written and well-crafted.
Your interest can be anything, from cooking to playing. It can be your hobby, pet, friends, love life, or even your favorite subject in your school or college. Try writing, write everything, and pen down your thoughts. Research those thoughts, and try to bring out both sides of that idea. Only then will you be able to retain your readers on your website?
Now that you have a niche and interest to write about let’s dive in on the other steps to start your blogging journey.
Step 2: Start with a website builder
You can learn to code and build your website, which is always better. But don’t worry if you are not interested in coding and stuff; there are many free and reliable websites for you to get started. Now, many websites are available online, with their strengths and weaknesses. Hence it takes some serious research before choosing a website to begin your journey. Please don’t skip this step or rush through it. When working on a blog, there will be different needs compared to someone working on another type of website.
Now, as a beginner, you must ask what features a blog owner must look for in a website builder. For starters, you should look for add-ons that can powerfully expand the blog’s functionality. Hence make sure that whatever website you use has a variety of useful apps and powerful add-ons which are blog specific. Some of the add-ons which are a must are:
- Social Media Integration
- Analytics app (google analytics)
- Comments and reply-focused apps
Apps for embedding other media.
Now, while building your website, make sure that the website is mobile-friendly. These days more people use mobile to read content than desktops. A recent study concluded that internet traffic from mobile devices has grown from 57% in 2016 to 63% in 2017.
And the last but not least important point is to ensure the website is a user-friendly content management system, which will help you write, edit or delete your blogs quickly.
For beginners, we suggest going for a free website builder like Wix.
Wix is a giant in the website-building industry. Wix is well known for its beautiful, customizable, and mobile-responsive templates. They have a large number of template libraries compared to other such websites. Wix also provides an expensive range of powerful add-ons, which makes Wix the first choice for most bloggers.
- Drag and drop feature.
A few of the features of Wix are:
Yep, you heard that suitable Wix comes with a drag-and-drop feature. As a blogger, your only focus should be creating content and getting it out to your audience. Wasting time on building a website is a waste. Hence this drag-and-drop feature will help essentially.
You can drag the functionality to the place you need, and that’s it. Wix provides built-in rules that ensure that you get the functionality right.
- Apps focused only on blogs.
Wix comes with an extensive range of easy-to-use and implemented functionality. But one of the significant positive sides is that its blog-focused apps like:
- Wix videos module
- Analytics module
- Forms
- Site search
- Content collection etc.
- SEO Capabilities
SEO is one of the essential skills you will need to learn while creating your blog. You might be making one of the best content, but you will need people to find it, then other related posts. Here comes SEO. And Wix comes with a pre-fitted SEO engine to improve your search compatibility on a search engine. It will help you to optimize your URL, meta description, etc.
- Mobile optimization layouts
Wix provides powerful mobile-friendly templates. One of the most important features is that the mobile-compatible site is automatically built as you create your desktop version.
I don’t find Wix interesting then, and there are many other free sites. Here are a few:
- Site 123
Site 123 speeds up the blog creation process. Site123 provides a ready-made layout, and one can use it in less than a minute. However, this site offers less flexibility for your usage.
- Simplicity
This site requires no technical knowledge; you can choose themes and start writing. It comes with a large set of e-commerce tools.
- Jimdo
Jimdo is similar to Wix, providing a fully customizable mobile responsive website. Simple drag and drop feature.
Step3: Getting a domain and hosting plan
Now that you got your website sorted, you will need a hosting platform and a domain name to put your work on the internet for the world to see. If you are building your site on Wix, then you can use Wix as your hosting platform for a small fee.
But you can choose any other site you want to. All will perform the same task; one additional detail to consider is that the site has a data center in your content, or there will be some latency.
Let’s look at it from the beginning and learn the know-how of getting a domain name. Getting a domain name is as easy as ordering a pizza online; yes, you heard it right. Here we will list how you can get your domain name and host.
Before buying a domain name, decide on a domain name that suits your blog. As domain names cannot have a dash or space in between. Think of different extensions if “.com” is taken try “.org” or “.net”. Use small words like “a,” “my,” best,” etc. Smaller names are the best. And make sure your blog name reflects your blog.
Now come back to the steps you will follow to get your domain.
1. Register a domain name
As discussed above, there are many websites that you could choose to register your domain name. It can take a few tries, so keeping a few words in mind help. Once you visit a good hosting site, you will realize that there are many options other than “.com.”
2. Host
Now, most of the domain site also provides hosting facilities. Why do you need hosting, you ask? The simple answer is that if you have created your website on a platform, it will store the file somewhere. Most of cases, it will be your hardware device. Now that you will be live on the internet as long as you are online, which is not feasible to keep the system hooked up to the internet 24×7; it will only give you a rise in the internet bill. Hence a hosting site. They are fast; they will provide storage facilities and also security added to it.
Now, there are many hosts available it will need some research to choose the best one, depending on your location and the bandwidth they are providing. Make sure the company you are choosing has data centers on multiple geo-locations.
3. Try out cloud options
Cloud hosting is the new trend. It is much faster, more flexible, and more secure than a wired data center. It is always better to upgrade with technology.
Step 4: Grow your audience base
Now that you are all set and have launched your site. It is time to engage your audience and make more people visit your site. One of the ways to do this is by creating original SEO-friendly content. Keep updating your content from time to time. Do some research on analytics and see what the target audience is.
Once the traffic starts to flow in, you can also use google add sense to monetize your work.
Now above, we have discussed how you can start your blog using drag-and-drop templates available online. However, there is another way to start with your blog, which is a word-press blog. WordPress is the more traditional way of creating a blog.
Starting with a word-press blog
WordPress also allows you to create your blog for free, and you can start from scratch or build upon pre-existing templates. It requires a little technical knowledge, but it is worth the try.
Here is the entire process step-by-step if you want to create a word-press blog:
- Buy a web hosting
- Decide on a domain name
- Install the free word-press software
- Log in and start with your first blog post
- Be creative, change your design, and choose a theme
- Start with marketing
Each of these steps is described in detail below, but for now, it is essential to know
that none of these steps require deep technical knowledge. Yes, you can find a way to set up your blog!
After launching and running a free WordPress blog, you probably need to start writing and tweaking its appearance/features (for example, completely changing the headers or redesigning your home page).
STEP 1. Starting with Hosting and Domain
If you already decided on your blog niche? Then, to make your free WordPress blog available to people all over the world or get ready for search engine optimization, you need two things:
- Hosting – This is the engine that powers your website. You never “see” it, but every website on the internet has a hosting provider running it.
- Domain – Domain is your website’s permanent address. For example, “ThisIsMyBlog.com.”
You can buy your blog hosting and domain simultaneously, so don’t worry too much about the essential details for now. But before that, you need to select a WordPress host. Due to the popularity of WordPress, there are many WordPress hosts.
We have personally tested the performance and reliability of many hosting companies. Given the results of all these experiments, we can recommend any hosting platform that provides the best price and a good bandwidth to start with, according to your budget. However, would suggest Bluehost to new bloggers with WordPress.
STEP 2: Getting started with WordPress software
Of course, if you want to create a WordPress blog, you must install WordPress software. This may sound a little scary, but you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to install WordPress.
If you completed the sign-up process in the previous steps, you should have received an email from Bluehost with details on how to sign up for the Bluehost member area.
Go ahead and sign in to Bluehost.
When you sign up for the first time, Bluehost provides a simple wizard to guide you through installing WordPress on your new site.
Does the setup wizard appear? Please do not worry. Installing WordPress using Bluehost is still very easy. Go to the My Websites section and click the Create Website button to start the wizard. You can then enter all the essential details of the website name and username/password used to manage your WordPress blog.
STEP 3: Write your first blog post
Now that you’ve learned how to create a WordPress blog, you may be excited to start a blog.
Learn how to change the look and behavior of your blog. But first, let’s talk about how easy it is to start a blog on a new website.
In the Dashboard section, look for Hover over Post, and Click Add new to write your first post.
STEP 4: Be creative and change the themes
One of the main benefits of creating a WordPress blog is that you can access a vast collection of WordPress themes and plugins.
When you create a WordPress blog, you already have an active theme. This is either the default WordPress theme or the theme you chose in the Bluehost Setup Wizard.
But in reality, WordPress sites have thousands of blog themes (many of which are open source like WordPress itself), and you’re never limited to the small choices Bluehost initially displays.
To download Themes in WordPress.
When choosing a WordPress theme, you must choose between a free and a premium article. There is no unique difference, but premium themes often include more detailed designs and features.
The best way to find a free theme is to search
the official WordPress.org theme directory.
STEP 5: Adding functionality to your blog
The theme is about appearance, but the plugin focuses on helping you add functionality to your free WordPress blog.
When you first create a WordPress blog, your only option is to write a blog post and create a page.
Now, the plugins are what allow one to add more advanced functionality like:
- Contact forms
- Social Networking tabs
- Backups
- SEO Search
- And many more.
If you can think of a feature, there is probably a plugin. The WordPress community offers thousands of premium plugins in addition to over 50,000 free plugins.
Finding WordPress plugins
As with themes, you can find both free and premium plugins.
The best place to look for free plugins to maintain similarity is the official WordPress.org plugins directory. For
Premium plugins, it’s usually best
to search Google for something like “the best X plugin” and buy from a known developer.
Many free plugins listed on WordPress.org also offer premium versions with more features.
You have created your WordPress blog; what’s next?
You have now created a WordPress blog, installed your theme, and added some functionality with your plugin.
Of course, you also need to know that there are other options for blogging in markets such as B. Wix or Squarespace, but these are less flexible or priced than WordPress, so WordPress is a perfect start for beginners.
What is it now?
Well, the world is your oyster! But like most people, you’ll want to find the following way.
Try to get more visitors
Start to make money from your blog
And if you’re a beginner, you might be interested in 45 things that our blogger team wants you to know before starting a good blog. You may also want to understand how to create a blog content strategy and develop ideas for new blog posts. Suppose you’re not interested in running a personal blog that shares random thoughts. In that case, it’s the most critical responsibility of a full-time professional blogger to pack quality blog topics into your site and conduct keyword research. It is one. Once you’ve made money on your blog or
website, you can create your newsletter to engage your audience by email marketing further, collecting email lists, or digging into forums. A good blog is also a perfect complement to product sales (even if it’s on an e-commerce marketplace such as Amazon or eBay).
At this point, everything you need is already set up, so get out there and put some hard work into your new content and turn your new WordPress site into a successful blog!
Now, there is another way to start your blogging career without all this. It’s as simple as writing an email. And that is Google’s Blogger.
Here is how you can start your blogger site
1. Go to www.blogger.com
2. Enter your Google email and password into the sign-in box
3. Complete the sign-in process. There is an option of a limited blogger profile if you don’t want your name on the profile.
4. Confirm and continue.