Are you looking to get into blogging but have no idea about how to start a blog? Well, the idea might sound scary if you aren’t a tech savvy person. Yet, starting a blog could be much simpler than what you think, regardless of your skillset or lack of it.
There are several blogging platforms like WordPress, Wix, and Blogger that make blogging a much easier task than what it was, say 10-12 years ago.
In this blogpost, we will explain how to start a blog in six easy steps. You don’t need any prior knowledge for this, except the very basic computer skills. So, how to start blogging? Let’s learn it.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Choose a Name for Your Blog
If you have any idea about the name of your blog, you must check to ensure that it is available and no one else has registered it.
However, you must remember that you have to avoid any spaces or unnecessary punctuation marks, except dashes, in your domain name.
In case you find that the name you wanted is already registered by someone else, there are a few tweaks that may rescue you-
Try a different domain extension. The .com version is most likely to be already registered. So, you can try the less common extensions like .net or .org for the blog name.
Add small words. If the name for your blog is already taken, you can add up other small words to get your name registered. Words like “a”, “my”, “our”, “the”, etc. can rescue you. For example, if Footballer.com is taken, you can try TheFootballer.com.
Similarly, adding dashes between words might land you on an available blog name.
Step 2: Get Your Blog Online
Once you have got your blog name, you must try to get your blog live on the internet. This may sound technically complex and complicated, but a few easy steps can make the process simple and straightforward.
To get your blog online, you need two things- blog hosting (also known as web hosting) and blogging software.
A blog host is basically a company that gets all your blog files stored and provides them to the user on entering the blog name. As such you must have a blog host of you want to start a blog.
The blogging software, on the other hand, is needed for building the blog. Nowadays, the blog hosting and blogging software services come packaged in one deal.
Step 3: Customize Your Blog
Blogging is not just about the content that you provide in your blog, but also about the layout and design ideas that complement your content. Here, we provide a step by step guide on how to customize your blog.
Logging In
It is like logging in to any other application. All you need to remember is your domain name and the password that you had set up for your blogging software.
Changing Your Blog Design
After logging in to your blogging software, you must navigate to the dashboard. Here, you can make changes to your blog.
Everyone will have a different idea about how to design and lay out the blog. Most blogging softwares offer options to change your entire layout and use new designs without too many complications.
Unless you have something very specific in mind, the blogging softwares will offer enough options for you to choose from. In fact, the top bloggers choose one of the themes offered by the blogging softwares.
Changing your layout and design from the available options is the easiest way to customize your blog. And this is what makes blogging in 2023 a lot easier than what it was in 2013.
Step 4: Writing a New Blog Post & Publishing It
Once you have got your blog online, it is time to get started with actual blogging.
Navigate to the menu on your blogging software and choose “Posts”. Depending on your blogging software, you are likely to see a default post in this section. As such, you won’t need it and you canove it to ‘Trash”.
If you want to begin writing a new post, click the “Add New” option. This will redirect you to the post editor screen. Here, you can add the title of your post in the top box and simply begin writing the content of your blog post in the lower box.
Once you have written your blog, it is time to go public with it. You can again navigate to the dashboard of your blogging software and choose the “Launch” button to remove the placeholder page and publicize your blog.
Once you have mastered these steps, you would be ready to write and publish your own blogs.
Step 5: Promoting Your Blog
Designing your blog properly, using a proper layout and providing great content gives you a good start. Now, it is time to get some visitors flocking to your blog as well.
Just follow some of these tips to ensure that your blog gets promoted online:
Using Social Media
Most of the content gets redirected through the big social media outlets like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.
To promote your blog on social media, it helps to understand the audience profile that is following your content. Accordingly, you can choose the social media platform and social media content to promote your blog.
Comment on Other Blogs
It is always a good idea to build your blog content as a part of the niche community. Reply to the comments and questions on other blogs. You can also communicate with the authors of other blogs to build authenticity and authority for yourself.
Once you are able to build connections with other permanent bloggers and the audience, you will find yourself go up in the industry rather quickly.
Consistency
The audience doesn’t want a blogger who doesn’t keep them updated about regular updates in the industry.
A good blogger would ensure at least a blog per week to start off things and would gradually take it up to the level of regular posting depending upon industry needs and changes.
Step 6: Monetizing Your Blog
Once you have put in all the hard effort to build, write and customize a blog, it is time to make money out of it.
Blogs have the potential to be extremely lucrative, but it is not as if you will start making money in the first week itself. You need authenticity, followership, and dedication to be able to monetize your blog.
Once you are in a position to leverage your blog financially, you can use different means like selling the advertising space, selling affiliate products, marketing goods and services, selling membership subscriptions, and selling digital downloads to maximize your revenue.
I hope this guide has sufficiently solved all your queries on how to start a blog. Once you get into the industry, you will definitely find your own ways and tips on how to go about blogging. Yet, it is important to understand the basics of blogging. Once you get the basics and the step by step guide, you can work out the details and the nuances on your own.