You are going to learn how to start a blog if that has been your dream for a while now.
Need to Start your own blog and share your passion with the world? If yes, you’ve taken the right decision.
Blogging isn’t anything out of the ordinary, to summarize it and put simply, it’s just a way of sharing information with the world.
It is about doing what you know how best to do and put all those brilliant ideas of yours in writing for the world to read and gain knowledge from. There are several types of blog, a blog is categorized based on the contents found on that blog.
You’ve probably seen and known one or two blogs that you visit mostly on a daily basis and you’ve had it in mind to start your own blog and hopefully make money from it.
That’s OK, but there are things you need to put into consideration. You need to plan every step and action you take, know the rules and secrets, and all you need to start your blog the right way.
How to Start a Blog
1. Decide What to Blog About
This is mostly where most fellas get it all wrong. They want to be into everything, well that is not gonna work, you’ll probably end up like Jack of all trades, master of none.
Blogging needs to be precise, it needs to be exact. It’s ok to be wanting to be into everything, we’ve all been there, but in time, you’ll see that the more precise your blog is, the more you’ll have a chance to focus on what blog as well as how to become good at it.
You can never be good at everything, and the same thing applies to blogging.
Pick what to blog about, pick at least 2 or 3 things to blog about but let them all be related in one way or the other.
Example is TipsOnblogging. Here on the blog I focus on providing quality blogging tips any newbie or pro can use to either grow or develop his blog.
So you should not be a jack of all trade but instead focus on one to two topics, you can write about.
Below are some niches you can tap into:
- Blogging Niche
- Technology Reviews
- Entreprenurship
- Make Money Online
- Entertainment
- Many Others
Most importantly, make sure you go with a niche that you can easily create contents for (One you have little knowledge on) so you don’t get to battle with Writers Block.
However, if you ever run into writers’ block, AI Copywriting should help you over come it easily and fast.
2. Choose a Name For Your Blog:
While you are deciding on what your blog’s going to be all about, you also have to choose a unique name for your blog while you’re at it.
Getting a domain can be really challenging, especially if you’ve taken a great deal of time and moment to figure out a name for your blog, only find out that the name is already taken.
Or it’s premium, which means it’s gonna cost a lot of money to purchase.
Note: You can either buy a Domain name from another registrar e.g. Godaddy and configure or you buy the domain name and hosting from the same webhosting company (Pretty Fast).
Whichever you choose no problems as am going to cover everything in this post.
3. Choose A Blogging Platform (WordPress Recommended)
There are several options you will have here and feel free to explore anyone of your choosing.
Blogging platforms are often called CMS (Content Management Systems), and they include
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Joomla!
- ExpressionEngine
- TextPattern
- Radiant CMS
- Cushy CMS.
- SilverStripe
- TinyCMS
and of course Google’s Blogger.
Each of these CMS has a unique feature that differentiates them from one another, but technically, all of them does the same work, which is content management.
You are going to be using WordPress. It’s the most recommended by billion of sites and users.
WordPress is one of the easiest platform for blogging and used by many popular blogs, used on this Blog of course.
4. Get a Wehosting Plan
A host is like your regular house rent with address, which you give out to people.
Buying a web host just means to purchase a space in the clouds, so that once you connect your blog name (Domain Name) to the host, people can use it to locate your blog from any part of the world.
There are several hosting companies you can use some are GoDaddy, BlueHost, HostGator etc.
The first webhosting platform I used to start this blog is Whogohost
My Recommended Web Hosting
- Bluehost
- Namecheap
- Hostgator
Bear in mind that there are thousands of hosting providers on the web, but using a company with an excellent reputation in hosting services increases your chances of creating and excellent and popular blog as a result of good up-time.
Using a poor hosting service reduce the chances of your blog ranking high and attracting more visitors.
Use any of below Discounts to get a webhosting Plan and save some bucks.
Once you’ve decided the webhosting to use. Go ahead and purchase any of the hosting plans that best suit your needs.
I recommend you always go for premium Plan so you don’t get to run out of bandwidth as time goes on.
Get a Domain in the Process (Much Easier) or Use a domain from another Registrar (Requires Little Config)
Now while you are in the process of choosing a plan you may be asked to input a domain name
Above is for Namecheap Hosting so you may not get exactly this text but something similar.
So if you already own a domain then choose the necessary one. You will learn how to Configure it later.
When you are done registering, your Hosting Details such as Cpanel and others would be sent to your Email.
Almost Done.
5. Install WordPress and Start Your Blog
This is where you start your blog, depending on the CMS you’ve decided to use, the procedure may slightly vary.
It’s always advisable you use the popular Content Managing System WordPress which is used and trusted by Million of Internet users and Webmasters.
Install WordPress via Cpanel
If your domain is with another registrar ask them to help you update the nameserver with your new webhost and follow next step.
Now you need to login to your Cpanel with the login details sent to you by your webhost.
Scroll down to where you see Softaculous Apps Installer and click on theWordPress Logo.
You’d be taken to the page where you can install WordPress in one click.
- Enter the correct details into the field. The Field for Directory should be left Empty.
- Choose a Good Password and Username you only can think of and remember easily
Finally just before you click on the final install, input your email if you would have to receive the installation details.
- Click Install
- Login or Visit your Brand New WordPress blog
A Couple of things to do after Installing WordPress
1. Design & Use Your Blog
Congratulations. You are already on the way and now is time to begin putting those beautiful and brilliant ideas of yours into writing and publish them for the world to read.
Firstly, Get a Good Theme
Your theme matters a lot. You really can’t use the default WordPress themes as they are not well equipped.
Make use of free wordpress themes or get a premium theme from mythemeshop and stay unique. Free is not always best but an alternative.
Install an SEO Plugin
You need to get your new blog noticed by search engines. Make use of the Yoast Seo plugin its free but also comes with a premium plan.
Anyone can make his or her blog search engine friendly using the free version of Yoast, you can always use the Paid Version Later on.
Checkout: Must have wordpress plugins for
Write your First Article
Yes, you need to get your content online. Now you should write your new blog post.
Yoast should guide you in formatting your contents to make its search engine friendly and one that can get picked by google easily.
Grammarly is a handful tool to help you write blog posts without errors. Here is a detailed post on getting Grammarly premium free account in case you are new to using it.
When done writing, Hit Publish and Holla
You just published your first post online and ready to be skimmed by millions of readers.
Now that your blog is up and running, you need to grow it and below are some tips to really help you grow it easier and Fast.
Above articles should really help you get started in growing your new blog.
Wrapping All Up
Now that your blog is up and running you have just some things on your part.
- Write Quality Contents
- Make it Known to the right people
- Promote other bloggers and get promoted in Return
- Keep Writing more Quality Posts
Never Run out of what to write, checkout 5 Unknown Ways To Get New Post Ideas Even When You Suck At Writing.
Finally, you can make money from your blog as time goes on but first make sure you grow your blog.
This simply is how to start a blog in grow it and Make Money.
Over to You
Have a any questions regarding this Post? Ask in the comment section.
Share with Friends on Social Media and have a nice day to your blogging success.
