You might be an avid writer on a particular topic or subject and might have heard from others numerous times, “you should start a blog!” It might be time to take that seriously and devote your time, energy, and money to being a blogger. How to start a blog It may seem like a hard-core techie thing to do, especially if you do not know much about computers or the internet, but starting your own blog is really not big of a deal and is actually quite simple and easy – but really requires your effort and dedication.
Starting Your Own Blog
Starting your own blog means that your words, your thoughts, and your emotions can be accessible to a large variety of people out there. You can reach millions of people and you can simply write about anything. Whether it is a great recipe you tried or about your love for baking, or it can also be about your favorite pet or a newfound hobby. It should just be interesting and fun that would be able to catch the reader’s attention and keep them hooked on your profile. It can be funny and witty with humorous posts or may even be serious about issues that you feel passionate about like global warming or crime or terrorism. The ideas and the options are endless once you sit down and write. Please read the simple guide to creating your first blog if you find it difficult to comprehend how to create a blog from my post.
Why start a blog?
There are many reasons why people blog. Some do it for the money, while some do it solely out of passion. The best thing that you can get as a result of starting your blog, is the satisfaction you get. Moreover, you also become a better writer and gives you a great hobby – writing! It only gets better with time and with practice. It also helps to make you a better thinker as you have to contemplate when you are writing things. Furthermore, if you are blogging about serious topics or current affairs, then you get to know what is going on around you and in the world and it helps to keep you updated with world affairs. Blogging, as many people might think, is not something to be taken lightly, however. It requires time, effort, commitment, and dedication and all of these are good things for a person. It helps to bring discipline in life as it keeps a person in a routine and in the frame of “writing” since you need full concentration when writing your blog. Moreover, blogging also helps a person to meet new people and find new schools of thought. Many people read, comment, and share their views where they might choose to agree or disagree with you. This can lead to fruitful and healthy discussions and can lead you to even meet like-minded people. Lastly, blogging helps to make money. Although money might not be the main motivator for blogging for a lot of people, it is no doubt a big reason for writing for many others. Sometimes, people start off writing their blog and eventually start making money out of it, not intentionally but they might have so much traffic on their site or be so popular that businesses approach them and people end up making anything from $20 to $20,000 in a year. That is quite a good amount to be made from a hobby!
7 Steps for How To Start a Blog
Once you have decided on writing a blog, the rest is quite easy to follow. All you need to do is to follow the six basic steps and you are done!
- Choose what you want to blog about.
- Choose a blogging platform.
- Choose a blogging host.
- Choose a domain name for yourself.
- Start off with WordPress.
- Design your blog.
- Use your blog!
Choose what you want to blog about
This is the most important part of your blog, what your blog will be all about. You can write about anything you want and anything which you may feel passionate about. It is a place to pen your feelings and your emotions. The blog can also be about any particular type of product or service that you may be selling, or your company may be selling which you can promote through your blog. For example, skin care products are a good example to be sold through recommendations on the blog. Some tips on choosing a topic to blog about are mentioned below.
- You can blog about a topic that you are interested in and enjoy. If you are just choosing a topic someone else has suggested to you, it might be boring and you may end up having nothing to write after the first few blogs.
- Choose such a topic where there can be a lot to write about and to be discussed. Many topics are dead ends and you simply cannot have more information to discuss further, so always go for a topic that can be open for discussion and where you can write a lot about.
- Write about a particular niche topic. Most definitely somebody else must have written about the topic before you but it is up to you to make it more fun and interesting and keep the reader’s attention for a long. The goal of your blog should be to become a must-read page for the readers.
Choose a blogging platform
Just like for cooking you need to use a kitchen, the same way in order to start a blog, you need a platform for blogging. There are many blogging platforms available online, such as Weebly, WordPress, Squarespace, Blogger, Weebly, etc. They all have their advantages and their disadvantages but WordPress is usually the most popular one with most people. It is quite functional and flexible and has a large base of users who share their ideas and their information on their site. It is also quite user friendly and easy to get used to, especially for the first time users. WordPress can be hosted or self hosted. The hosted blogs on WordPress are free for the users, but if limit the chances of your potential to make income. While the self hosted one’s cost money but gives the user a lot more control and provides better potentials for earning income through their blogs. For the first timers, it is better to use the hosted one and get used to the idea of blogging. Once you have gotten used to writing and people have started appreciating your work, you can then switch to the other paid and self hosted version and start looking a better way of increasing the possibilities of earning through your blog.
Choose a blogging host
To get your blog online and accessible to a large number of people you need the blog to be online and available on the internet. For that, you are required server space. The server space is acquired through a host or a hosting company. WordPress is a platform that is more like simple software which you can download on your PC and then you can use as and when you like it. This means, using WordPress does not mean that your blog is up on the internet for the world to see. For this, you are required to use the services of a hosting company. Again, several hosting companies are available to use but the most recommended one is Siteground. This is a simple and easy-to-use hosting company that has been around for years and is ideal for first-time users as well. The hosting company requires you to choose a plan, where you have to make monthly payments. The more money you pay for the plan, the more options and more features you get. The cheapest options usually give you limited options while the more pricey ones give unlimited options as well as domain privacy. Most of them are not more than about $6 a month which is quite affordable and the cheapest range to about $2 a month with limited features. So, you can choose what suits you best with your requirements and budget.
Choose a domain name for your self
Next, you are required to choose a domain name that is a website address for the blog that you are starting. The domain name basically means it is your website address. If you cannot think of anything, you can use your own name or else you can stick to something short and easy to remember. You may use an existing domain if you have one already or can even register for a brand new one. In case you just want to go with a flow and have not decided what you are going to be blogging primarily about, you do have the option of choosing the domain name later, when you have decided on the topic and what you want your blog site to be all about.
Start off with WordPress
You can get started with WordPress as soon as you register yourself there. Like already mentioned, WordPress is quite easy and simple to use and all you need to do simply sign up and it will take you step by step with instructions.
Free themes option
It is suggested that you skip the free themes since these are not kept updated and the theme that is pre-installed is good for beginners when they are starting off. Once you are more familiar with how things work with WordPress and going on well with your blog, you can then consider the possible options of changing your theme.
Build your site
When you register, at first the site is a temporary domain as it takes about twenty-four hours for a domain to become completely registered. You can however, start working on your blog without worrying about it. Once the domain is ready it will be switched on for you automatically by Siteground. However, if you have chosen your existing domain and not registered for a new one, then you can simply contact the support team of Siteground for new customers or even look through the Help section, once you have decided that you are ready you can connect your existing domain to the Siteground server. If you still encounter anything that you cannot deal with or find no answers for, you can contact the technical support of Siteground and you can even call them and they can help you and guide on what you should do.
Design your blog
Now that you are done with making your domain and connected to the WordPress with the Siteground you can now consider designing your blog site. You can start with changing your permalinks and changing your user’s name to something that is more personal and secure, rather than Admin. Next, you may activate your domain or alternatively choose a domain name, if you have not already.
Use your blog
You blog site is all set and ready to be used now! By now, you have probably completed all the steps required and you are ready to start blogging. You can write all that you want, share your pictures, text or videos or whatever you want. If it is your first time, then you would still be learning over time and can keep on changing the theme or the settings to go with your blog.
Conclusion
It is quite easy to start off a blog and once you have started there is absolutely no looking back! It is so simple and easy that you can even learn by doing. Blogging gets better with time and practice and as you get used to it, you will eventually get better. At the end of the day, it gives quite a lot of satisfaction to have so many readers, from all over the world and having a blog that is open to all regardless of boundaries. It should however be kept in mind that you should not expect to get audience or readers over time and you would need to spread the word so that people can get to know about it.
