How To Start Blogging – The Compete Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Benefits of Starting Your Own Blog

Blogging is a great way to share your thoughts and ideas with the world.

Blogging is a popular form of self-expression that can help you connect with your audience. You can blog about anything you want, from fashion, to food, to personal experiences.

You can use blogging as a platform for your business or product. You can also use it as an outlet for creativity and explore new interests. Starting a blog has many benefits that will help you grow as an individual and build your brand online.

Quick Tips on How To Start A Blog

Starting a blog is not as hard as it seems. If you know the basics, then you can start your own blog. Here are some tips on how to start a blog:

Find a topic that interests you and write about it
Create an account on WordPress.com or Blogger
Design your blog’s theme and layout
Find inspiration for content ideas by reading other blogs in your niche
Write about your personal experience with the topic of your blog
Promote your blog by sharing it on social media and through email
Protect your blog and measure your progress.

Step 1. Identify Your “Why”

The first step in starting a blog is to identify your “why.” What is the purpose of your blog? Is it for personal, professional, or both? Why do you want to start a blog? What are you hoping to get out of it?

A lot of people start blogging for the wrong reasons. They may think that they will make money off their blog or that they want to be a famous blogger. While these goals are not bad, they aren’t good enough reasons to start a blog. You need something more than just money or fame.

Find a topic that you truly love. Blogging requires a regular effort on a daily and weekly basis. If you do not love the topic you are writing about, it is very difficult to sustain the effort.

Step 2. Decide Where Your Blogging Content Will Live

The right platform for you to use will depend on the type of blog you want to create.

I recommend having your own web hosting account and using WordPress for ease of filing, navigation, and formatting. However, you can use some of the free blogging platforms that exist like WordPress-dot-com, Blogger, Tumblr, Medium, Squarespace, etc. You can even use LinkedIn or Quora to publish your blogs regularly.

If you are looking for a free blogging platform, WordPress is the best option. Most web hosts these days provide a one-click installation of WordPress. It is very easy to use and has many free templates that can be customized. Plus, it has a huge community of support and there are many plugins to help with your blog’s design and functionality.

If you are looking for an online community where people share their thoughts on different topics, Tumblr might be the right choice. This platform lets users post anything they want, so if your blog is about something unique, this might be the perfect place for you.

Step 3. Choose Your Blogging Niche or Subject Matter

Choosing the right niche can be a tough decision. It’s important to find something that you are passionate about and that you know a lot about.

When it comes to finding your niche, there are many things to consider. You will want to make sure that your blog is based on a topic that you can write about consistently over time. You will also want to make sure that the topic is in demand and not too competitive or saturated with other bloggers.

Step 4. Gather Content Ideas and Inspiration for Blogging

Content ideas are the backbone of any content strategy. It is important to have a list of topics that you are interested in or that interest your target audience. This is where content ideas list sites come in handy.

There are many different types of content ideas list sites, but the most popular ones are those that offer curated lists of articles on topics related to your interests or industry.

I have compiled a few popular content idea list sites for you to use when needed:

Step 5. Pick the Perfect Domain Name for Your Blog

The blog domain name is what people see first when they visit your site, and it can make a big difference in how many visitors you get. It’s important to pick a name that’s memorable and easy to pronounce.

You can register your domain through any one of the many domain registrars available online. I’m very happy with GoDaddy. I’ve been using it for over 10 years now.

However, if you don’t want to spend any money or if you want to start a blog for free, then there are many options available such as WordPress or Blogger that offer free domains and hosting services.

Step 6. Protect Your Blog

This won’t happen right away but as your blog starts to build traffic, say 1,000 visits a day, you will definitely be attacked by hackers who would like to take away the control of your blog. It’s just a fact of life on the Internet. I recommend protecting your blog from Day One by installing a good blog defender like Wordfence. It’s better to be prepared than sorry.

Step 7. Measure Your Progress

INstall a good blog analytics plugin like Monster Insights to see how many people are visiting your blog, how long they are staying on your blog, what your bounce rate is, etc. You’ll never know how successful you are until you measure your progress.

Step 8. Other Tips to Help You with Your Blogging Success

Blogging Images

For images, you can use free image resources like Unsplash-dot-com. Relevant images always draw more attention and readers. For SEO purposes, don’t forget to assign a keyword-rich tag to the HTML ALT attribute of your images when you publish them. If the image cannot be displayed for some reason, your ALT text will still show up in searches and will also help your readers understand the nature of the undisplayed image.

Keywords for Blogging

Decide on what your keywords will be to make sure your blog posts will be captured by search engines. Then use those keywords in the title of your blog posts, the first paragraph and in the body. Do not go over the board and exceed 10% of your total word count with keywords.

Lists for Your Blog

Start by simple posts like lists. Numbers in the titles are a good way name your posts. Examples: “7 Ways to Purchase an iPhone” “10 Secrets of Blocking Unwanted Numbers” “7 Tips to Purchase a Laptop” “8 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started to Learn Programming” etc.

Interviews

Interviews are another way to create blog posts easily. You can either interview people in person, over Skype, or send them the questions by email or some sort of messaging application like Whatapp and then publish the answers as a post. When doing that make sure of your intention to publish the answers and get written permission to do so.

Product reviews is another popular technical blog post. Try to be impartial in your reviews. If the reviewed service or product was provided to you free of charge, disclose the fact upfront: that’s the ethical way to do it. If you include any affiliate links, you should disclose them as well to build your online integrity and reputation as an honest reviewer.

Videos

You can also publish technical videos on YouTube and use each to create a new blog post. That way you can establish a mutually reinforcing relationship between your blog and your YouTube channel.

1,000 Visitors a Day

If you blog three times a week, you could start to build a following eventually. In my experience, the magic number seems to be 1,000 unique visitors a day. When you reach that number, you can start to monetize your technical blog by publishing display ads and affiliated products and services for income.