How To Start A Blog: The Ultimate Guide
Do you want to learn how to start a blog but don’t know where to begin? You’ve come to the right place! In this guide, we will walk you through the process of starting a blog from scratch. We will cover everything from registering a domain name to setting up your blog’s hosting account. You will have everything you need to start blogging like a pro by the end of this guide!
Believe me, when you complete this blog guide, you will have a beautiful blog ready to share with the world.
How to Start a Blog in 6 Exact Steps:
This free guide is all about blogging for beginners and will teach you how to become a blogger step by step with just the basic skills. Here are the steps to start a blog.
Step #1: Pick a Niche For Your Blog:
Step #2: Choose your blog platform:
Step #3: Choose a domain name:
Step #4: Get a blog Hosting:
Step #5: Start a blog by setting up a blog platform on the hosting:
Step #6: Designing Your Website & Customizing Blog Appearance:
Step #7: Write and publish blog content:-
Step #1: Pick a Niche For Your Blog:
This is the most crucial part of starting a blog because it decides how far you want to go in blogging. Many newbies are stuck at this point.
According to me, you should pick a topic that you’re very familiar with and related to what you do.
For example: If you’re already a social media manager, start a blog about writing great tweets! Maybe write about how to use Twitter for business reasons. Or, if you make homemade dog treats as a hobby, maybe talk on your blog about the best ways to train dogs or which recipe works best for certain types of dogs.
This step is really important because it will determine whether you continue blogging or quit after day two.
Picking a niche allows people who are interested in your same interests/passion to find your blog and makes it easier for them to read if they know what you’re talking about already. This also keeps you from writing about too many topics because you don’t have a lot of knowledge in certain areas.
Step #2: Choose your blog platform:
There are so many different blogging platforms it’s hard to choose which one works for your business. Check out Google Trends and see what other people are using and which ones get searched the most. Here is the list of the top three platforms that are best, and you can choose one of them.
1)WordPress
WordPress is the most widely used blogging platform on the internet. It’s also very easy to use! You can easily upload pictures, videos, etc. Although there are some more complicated design options for WordPress blogs, you don’t need to know CSS or HTML to be able to create it.
2) Tumblr
-It’s simple and easy
-You can share the news with your followers (and reblog other blogs posts)
-There are photo editing tools like Photoshop
This might not be the best option if you’re looking for something more professional since it feels homely. There isn’t as much flexibility when it comes to changing things up with Tumblr backgrounds/themes…But if you’re looking for something simple and easy, this is a perfect choice.
3) Blogger
-You can choose your template/layout
-Blogger blogs are connected with Google+, so you have a wider reach
-It’s free
If you want to be able to design your blog exactly how you want it, then go for blogger. It’s really great for business owners who are looking to gain followers on all social media platforms. There are different layouts that resemble other well-known blogging platforms like WordPress, but it also has its own unique look! It’s still pretty easy to use too! Plus, if you already have a Gmail account, it makes it easier since bloggers are connected to Google+. You can share things directly from your blog to your Google+ account!
Step #3: Choose a domain name :-
You need to choose a domain name for your blog. It needs to be easy to type and remember, but also something that identifies you or your business. This will make it easier when someone sees the address on paper or hears about it verbally because they’ll know what this is in relation to them! You can get creative here if you want by making up words that sound like real ones (examples: “Blogger” instead of “Blogging”). It’s up to how far out there you’re willing to go; just make sure people don’t confuse it with another website so they end up not clicking through at all!
There are lots of options like Namecheap, Bluehost, Hostinger, domain.com, and ..etc but Bluehost is recommended by many bloggers. Personally, I have purchased the domain from Bluehost and Hostinger.
Step #4: Get a blog Hosting:
This is the next step in setting up your blog! You need to find a host for your website. This is where you’ll be storing all of your pictures, posts, and other important files. It’s best if you do some research on which hosting company would work best for you and what their rates are like. Hosting can get expensive, but it’s definitely worth it in the long run!
Things to consider while selecting a hosting provider:-
1) Customer Support – You’ll want to look for a hosting provider that offers 24/7 support in case you need help. With hosting company, they offer live chat and email support too!
2) Disk Space – This refers to how much hard drive space (measured in GB) you get on your account. This doesn’t really matter too much for blogger blogs because the only things you can upload are pictures and videos, which don’t take up a lot of room… But if you plan on creating downloadable eBooks as I did at the beginning of my blogging journey (which does take up a lot of space), then you may need more than just free hosting.
3) Monthly Data Transfer- This is the amount of bandwidth (measured in GB) you get each month. It’s very unlikely that you’ll reach this monthly limit unless you have thousands of people visiting your blog on a daily basis! Most new bloggers won’t have to worry about this too much.
4) Platforms & Tools – You need to know what the hosting company offers platforms and tools. For example, It provides lots of different options for blogging platforms while Dreamhost doesn’t offer any, which means you can only use WordPress on their servers.
5) Backups – You should know how often backups are taken so that way if anything happens to your website, you can restore it back to working order easily.
6) Security – Your blog is an open book for the whole world to see. So you need to make sure your blog is secure with a hosting company like Bluehost, which offers lots of security features.
7) Ease Of Use- The last thing you want is unnecessary levels of difficulty when it comes to using your hosting account! (company name) was designed by bloggers, so they only offer enough features to make your blogging experience easier without overcomplicating things.
8) Price – Many people think price = quality, but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes spending more money up front can save you money in the long run if that company has better customer support or offers extra services that you might need further down the line.
9) Upsells – You might want to avoid hosting providers that offer lots of upsells unless you’re willing to pay $12/month for a WordPress blog!
10) Money Back Guarantee- This tells me that the company I’m using is confident in their services and doesn’t fear people canceling their account if they aren’t happy with it. Bluehost offers a 60-day money-back guarantee, so if anything goes wrong within 60 days of starting your blog, you can get your money back.
There are many hosting providers but what I have personally used the are following:
But personally, I recommend Bluehost for all new bloggers, and why I am saying this is because:
- They offer 24/7 customer service via phone or live chat.
- They offer a free domain with new hosting plans but the domain must be available.
- They offer a Free SSL Certificate including a free domain for 1 year.
- The good thing is that they have a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are unsatisfied for any reason.
- They offer a free, single-click automatic installation of the WordPress blogging software (which I show you how to use in this guide).
- They offer great up-time and currently host over 2 million blogs and websites.
Step #5: Start a blog by setting up a blog platform on the hosting:-
To start a blog, you need to have the right tools! These are all provided by the hosting provider when you set up your hosting account.
– You can pick which blogging platform you want at this stage. For new bloggers, I’d suggest using WordPress because it’s easy to use, and there are lots of free plugins available to help make things even easier
5 Steps to Install the WordPress :
-Now that you’ve got hosting, it’s time to install WordPress. Here’s how:
STEP #01: To start installing WordPress on your blog, log in to the hosting account and look for a button labeled “Install Now”. You can find this under the My Products tab of your cPanel (control panel) Clicking this button will take you through five steps that are required before installing WordPress onto their servers…
Step #02: Select Your Domain:- Choose which domain name is going to be used as an address for your website/blog. If you have multiple domains registered with them then they’ll prompt which one should host this installation?
Step #03: Choose Your Protocol:- Now you need to decide if you want to use the ‘wordpress.org’ or ‘wordpress.com’ version of WordPress. The first option is downloaded and installed on your own web server, while the second option uses a subdomain (yoursite.wordpress.com) provided by wordpress.com…
Step #04: Select Your Database:- This is where you’ll choose the name of your new database for your website/blog installation…
Step #05: Install WordPress- After entering all this information, click the “Install” button and WordPress will be set up on your blog! You’ll then see a success message and be able to log in with the username and password created for you automatically during installation.
Step #06: Customize Your Blog:- Once you have installed WordPress on your blog, it is time to make some changes. You can customize the look of your blog by going into “Settings” and then choosing a theme from the available options there or uploading one that you’ve already downloaded.
Step #6: Designing Your Website & Customizing Blog Appearance:
Now that your blog is ready to go, all you have left to do is design your website! This is an easy task if you’re just starting out. There are many ways in which to get free blog templates online but be careful not to download anything sketchy because Malware attacks can happen if you don’t check out the source of a website first
– You can either find some simple themes on WordPress or even go as far as hiring a custom designer from Fiverr to make your blog look unique and professional! For example, the hosting provider offers a free award-winning design service for new bloggers that want an easy way to create a beautiful website.
Step #7: Write and publish blog content:-
Now, You can start writing the posts that you want to post on the website.
Things that you should Primarily consider in your blog posts:
1) Engaging content – Your content needs to be well-written and original. Anybody can write a post about how to solve a problem, but it takes dedication and hard work to actually produce valuable content that people want to read! Remember… Google is looking for good quality content so you need to make sure your writing style is captivating.
2) Use keywords in the title – If you do a google search for “How To Start A Blog,” then the blog with the best mix of SEO (keywords) will usually appear at the top of the list. Search engines like Google use these keywords when ranking websites in its search engine rankings, so if you’re using relevant keywords, your website should rank better when someone searches for those terms.
3) Tags- Tags are a good way to add keywords to your blog post without making it too wordy. For example, if you’re writing a post about how to cook lasagna, then you would add tags such as “Italian Recipes”, “How To Make Lasagna”.
4) Create Internal Links – An internal link is a link to other posts on your own blog. It’s very important because it helps search engines like Google and Bing crawl and index your entire website, as well as improve user experience by allowing them to easily read more of your content.
5) Write Longer Content – I know that sounds obvious, but the truth is that you need to write longer informative content rather than short 1-line articles if you want people to actually find you through Google! People have short attention spans, so use this against them by adding paragraphs of helpful information so they’ll stay on your blog for longer periods of time.
6) Link out to reputable sources – This will help establish yourself as an expert in the industry. If you’re writing a post about how to make lasagna, include a link to an official recipe website. If you’re writing a post about fitness, then link out to reputable health and fitness websites that are authority sites in the industry.
7) Add images – Images aren’t just for decoration! They help break up your text which makes it easier for readers to read while adding more keywords to further establish your credibility as an expert in your field.
8) Create backlinks – Backlinks are links from other blogs or authority websites that point back to your blog or website. To get high-quality backlinks, try networking with people online who have their own blogs/websites through social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, etc… Just be careful not to be too spammy; you don’t want to force your links on other people; instead, try sharing their content with others, and eventually, they’ll start noticing you too.
9) Get Social – Don’t forget about social media! Promote your blog posts through Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.. It helps get the word out there fast, which can then improve SEO (search engine rankings). You can use services like Hootsuite or Bufferapp to manage multiple social networks at once, so you never have to worry about posting content manually.
10) Use keywords in the URL – The URL of your blog post is important because it contains keywords that search engines look for when indexing websites. So if you’re writing a post about “How To Make Lasagna”, the URL should be something like this: www.YourBlogDomainName.com/making-lasagna.
11) Make use of tags – The more tags you use, the better because it allows your blog to receive traffic from other related keywords that you didn’t originally think of. For example, if you write a post about how to make lasagna, but you only used “Italian Recipes” as one tag; what would happen if somebody searches for “How To Cook Lasagna”, they won’t find your article because people sometimes also use the word “cooking” instead of making Italian Recipes (tags include cooking, recipes, how to make lasagna ).
12) Use the right image names and alt tags – Use keywords in your image file names to help improve SEO. The same goes for your images’ “alt” tag, which should be a short description of what the picture is about.
13) Optimize descriptions for each link on your blog- If you use WordPress, you can easily optimize meta descriptions by scrolling to the bottom of any page and clicking edit under “Custom Fields”. If you want more information on how to do this, check out: https://www.seomofo.com/blog/how-to-optimize-meta-descriptions-wordpress/.
14) Get backlinks from other blogs – The best way to do this is to submit guest blog posts to other big blogs. To find these blogs, search Google for “submit a guest post,” and you’ll find a list of sites that accept guest blogging.
15) Write useful content – Nobody wants to read about how great your blog is; they want quality information. So make sure your writing is helpful and informative rather than selling hard because nobody likes aggressive marketing tactics.
16) Learn SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – SEO isn’t too hard, especially if you use WordPress; it has loads of free plugins which help improve search engine rankings through optimization such as All in One SEO Pack Yoast or WP Smush.
17) Use Social Bookmarking websites to drive traffic – Social Bookmarking websites like Reddit, Stumble Upon, and Digg are great ways to drive traffic because they allow people to decide what content is popular rather than SEO which can be manipulated. To see the most up-to-date list of Bookmarking websites, check out this article: http://www.seomofo.com/blog/ultimate-list-social-media-bookmarking-websites/.
18) Optimize site speed – Slow loading times lead to lower search rankings, especially on mobile devices where browsing speeds have become faster over time compared to desktops. There are many things you can do to improve website speed, such as using a caching plugin for WordPress, optimizing photos, etc… If you want more information on how to do this, check out: https://www.seomofo.com/blog/how-to-optimize-site-speed/
19) Pinterest your articles – A lot of people use Pinterest to find new content. So if you write a popular blog post, make sure to pin it on specific boards that are related to the topic and add an interesting image for more views
20) Track backlinks in Google Analytics – In order to see which pages on your website get the most referrals from other blogs, navigate to Acquisition & All Referrals in Google Analytics and click “backlinks” under the secondary dimension.
21) Submit a sitemap file in XML format – Search engines like Google look for a sitemap file in order to crawl your website and index your blog posts. To learn more about sitemaps, check out: https://www.seomofo.com/blog/how-to-create-a-sitemap-file/
22) Keep an eye on Broken Links – Since you’re not the only one who views your site, somebody might find a link that leads to a 404 error page which is bad for SEO since search engines look down upon broken links. You can easily fix this by installing a plugin such as WP No External Links or Xenu’s Link Sleuth & Broken Links Checker.
Reasons You Should Start a Blog:
1) Interest –
If you have a passion for writing, then blogging is your platform to show the world what you can do. Writers are able to earn money by participating in affiliate marketing programs that allow them to share products they truly believe in. They’re also able to connect with other people who love their style of writing and get ideas on how they could improve their craft.
3) Entertainment –
Blogging is a great way to express your sense of humor by writing blog posts that are entertaining for others. They’re also able to create polls that allow users to participate in their content rather than just read it so they can feel more involved.
4) Education –
If you find yourself constantly researching different topics, blogging may be the perfect platform for you since you’ll be required to do rigorous research before writing any articles. This will help improve your writing skills through constant practice and educate your readers at the same time.
5) Opportunity –
Although blogging isn’t as profitable as it once was back in the day, there’s still opportunity out there that many take advantage of. You don’t need thousands of visitors per day like other bloggers; you only need to create content consistently in order to be successful.
6) Therapy –
Some people blog as an outlet for their feelings since they find it therapeutic. Whether you’re interested in poetry or creating collages with pictures that inspire you, blogging can be a great way to express yourself.
7) Knowledge –
Out of all the reasons why you should start a blog, this is probably one of the most valuable yet underrated benefits. Blogging allows you to educate your readers about a certain topic that you’re passionate about and can hold their attention through interesting stories and examples.
8) Fun –
Although blogging isn’t as easy as it looks, it’s still fun to create content for others to read. It could be an interesting novel or a unique idea that nobody else has thought of yet; anything is possible when it comes down to creativity.
9) Profit –
One of the main reasons why many people are interested in starting a blog is because they want to earn money with content. There are affiliate marketing programs out there that allow bloggers to share products with their audience by using banners on the top of their page. They also have the opportunity to partner up with brands so they can create posts featuring new products as they come out.
10) Fame –
Although fame is a very small chance that you could achieve after blogging for a while, there are some bloggers that have used their platform to gain celebrity status. They’re able to meet new people and create memories that will last a lifetime through traveling and attending events, unlike anything they thought possible before.
11) Hobby –
If writing is something you’ve always wanted to do but never had the courage or time to try, then blogging might be your best bet since all of the work is self-driven. Many find it addicting once they start because it’s available from anywhere at any time.