Have you ever wished to capture your life through writing? You might want to write about your daily experiences or perhaps share details from your recent international travel. Maybe you’d like to pursue writing professionally rather than as a hobby to earn cash. In either case, you should know how to start a blog.
Starting a blog is an exciting way to share your thoughts, knowledge, and passions with the world. Whatever your desired niche, a blog can be a place to express yourself and meet people who share your interests.
If blogging is new to you, there may be some things you need to keep in mind. As a matter of fact, it can feel daunting. To help you, in this article, I will go over the five simple steps to starting a blog.
Define Your Blog
The first step in starting a blog is to define its purpose. What do you want to achieve with your blog? Is it to inform, entertain, inspire, or educate? Defining your blog would make it easier for you to formulate content that would resonate with your target audience. Hence, I suggest you pick a niche you have the greatest passion for. This is because you might not put your heart into your issue if you are not passionate about it. It can be difficult for you.
Generally, you can write about everything and anything you want to write about – as long as your purpose is clear. If you want to cater to aspiring travelers, you can start a travel blog and write tips, hacks, and itineraries about traveling. You can even write about traveling on a budget. If you want to share things about your exciting life, you can begin a personal blog. Turn it into a journal or diary. I am pretty sure you will be able to grab an audience by doing so. Sticking to a core niche would help you grow your audience better.
Personally, when I decided to start a blog, I already wanted its niche to be travel since I always loved exploring. But when work got the hold of me, I found less time to explore. When I redefined the niche of Meandering Mentor, I made it a point to include all my other interests as well – film, writing, and food! This made my list of topics more than just traveling, but still very true to my interests.
Choose a Platform and Get Your Domain Name
After defining the purpose of your blog, it is now time to pick a blogging platform and eventually register a domain name. Some popular options include WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Wix, and Medium. When picking platforms, consider factors such as ease of use, customization options, and the ability to monetize your blog. I personally use WordPress because of its professional customization options. However, I have also tried Wix and Blogger as well. It basically boils down to what your needs are.
If you have chosen a blogging platform, you may want to register with a web hosting app. Web hosting services store your blog’s files and make them available online. While many bloggers would refuse to register with a web hosting service, I believe that it would be essential in the long run, especially if you want to secure your content. Good website hosting matters because of the security from breaches, data backup & recovery, and reliable tech support should you have any problems running your account. Look for reliable hosting providers like Bluehost, SiteGround, or HostGator, and choose a plan that suits your needs.
After being accepted by a web hosting provider, you should choose a domain name for your blog. You have to make sure that your domain name should base on your niche. In addition, you should make sure that your domain name is catchy. This way, your target audience could easily grasp your blog. While specificity is the name of the game when you start a blog, always make room for growth. When you are too particular with your name, you end up with very few topics to write about.
Finally, consider a backup name should your desired domain name is taken.
Install and Customize Your Blog
If you use a web hosting service, you can install your blog with a few clicks using the control panel. Customize your blog’s appearance by selecting a theme that aligns with your brand and modifying it to your liking. The theme determines your blog’s layout and appearance. Any blogging platform provides a vast selection of both free and premium themes. When choosing a theme for your site, consider the niche and the look you desire. For personal blogs, keeping it simple is key. Ensure your blog is user-friendly and visually appealing. Content should be accessible enough so your readers will not be hard to find what to click on.
Every blog should have a few essential pages: an About Page where you would introduce yourself and your brand, a Contact Page where you provide a way for readers to communicate with you, and a Privacy Policy to ensure your readers that you handle information with the utmost confidentiality.
Finally, install important plugins on your account. These plugins improve your blog’s functionality. Some essential plugins include Yoast SEO (which I personally use to optimize my SEO), Akismet, and the contact form plugin. Remember to regularly update your theme, plugins, and platform version to ensure optimal security and performance.
Start Writing!
If you are done with installing and customizing your blog, it is now time to write down your first blog post. Begin creating high-quality, engaging content that provides value to your target readers. Plan your content strategy and brainstorm ideas. Incorporate different types of content, such as articles, images, and videos to keep your blog varied and interesting. Conform various SEO norms to ensure that you want your article to rank on search engines. Ensure that you always have inbound and outbound links. You should put the keyphrase in conspicuous yet crucial places. And make sure to always include photos. Pictures are important for SEO! However, always use original photos. If you are going to use photos from the internet (like what I did here), make sure that they are Royalty Free stock images. And remember to attribute them.
Also, be consistent with your writing. Plan a schedule and stick to it. You do not want to make your blog stale and waste your investment. Trust me, I was there at that point. Finally, always make sure that your content is original. Search engines do not like plagiarized content. Also, there is a chance that the original author would report your blog.
Grow Your Blog
Finally, ensure the growth of your blog. Be sure to continually strive to publish fresh, engaging material that is relevant to your niche. You not only enhance your writing, but you also grow your prospective audience as well. Keep up with the current trends in order to increase your search engine ranking.
Pay attention to your domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA). Having worked as a marketing executive before, we always had to make sure that these two do not decrease or else our online presence would diminish as well. Posting regularly and writing content for unexplored topics would help you increase your authority.
If possible, engage with other blogs and companies for a chance at affiliate blog post writing. It would significantly increase your blog’s reach while you also gain new blog friends. If you want to earn money along the way, you can monetize your blog. Using AdSense and Amazon affiliate programs can do the trick.
Wrapping Up
I hope that after reading through my quick guide on how to start a blog in five simple steps, you now have the knowledge necessary to launch your own blog. It turns out that it’s really not that difficult. Remember, building a successful blog takes time and effort. Stay consistent, continue to learn and improve, and enjoy the process of sharing your thoughts and expertise with the world.
