The Ultimate Guide in Starting a Blog

Blogging

The Ultimate Guide in Starting a Blog

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Have you ever considered starting a blog? What would be the things you need to consider on having one?

There are no restrictions in starting a blog, whether you are a student, single mom or dad, or whoever you are. You can work full-time or just part-time, depending on your schedule.

Blogging is a flexible job, especially for stay-at-home people. They can do their daily work at home while working to earn income for the family. Moreover, you can also work wherever you wish for.

Blogging is a great passion for people who love writing and sharing knowledge. You are giving accurate ideas and information to your audience about a particular topic you have. As a blogger, you can develop a sense of confidence in having the power to influence others with your knowledge and expertise. You will improve your writing skills and discover lots of skills along the way. In addition, It’s a flexible work that will help you earn money even in the comfort of your home or wherever you want. Starting a blog is relatively easy, but profitability depends on various factors such as niche, content quality, audience, and monetization strategy. Most bloggers generate money within 6 to 12 months after starting their blog.

How to set up your blog

1. Pick a niche

The first thing is to ask yourself, “why do you want to create a blog? Is this where you’re passionate or comfortable? After you answer that, you pick a specific topic you enjoy talking about. You can choose anything that you would love to share with others. It could be fashion, lifestyle, animals, travel, babies, and more. Make sure that your chosen niche is something you enjoy and are knowledgeable about. This will build your audience, monetize your blog and become profitable.

On the other hand, having a specific topic can guarantee many audiences. They won’t be confused about what your blog posts are all about because of multiple contents.

2. Download WordPress self-host

Download WordPress to start your official blog setup. You can download the WordPress software to your computer. To download, go to wordpress.org and click “Download WordPress.” You can be the only one who has access to quickly design and write your posts on the website. I recommend the WordPress self-hosted option because you can have full control over your own blog.

WordPress is popular among beginners and even long-term bloggers. It will be better for you since you will have more control over your blog, with so much more widgets, and the site loads way faster. In addition, the themes in WordPress are all free, and you can select any of them to get started. The fun part is, you may change it anytime you want.

I tried Wix before switching to WordPress since it loads faster, has more widgets, and is significantly less expensive.

Note: You can visit the WordPress.org site for the instructions for installing WordPress.

3. Pick a host

Picking a host is good in starting a blog. You will need a host to get your website live and viewable to the public. The host does all the background information.

There are tons of hosts available on the market, introducing these 3.

Namehero is a fast and easy web hosting for your blog. It can help you build and grow your website. I love the Starter cloud because it comes with unlimited email accounts and all the tools you need to build your first website. You will have complete control over your own hosting, where you can easily manage your website to fit your particular needs in a guru-free control panel. It also protects your business, reputation, and brand with its free unique security shield.

Bluehost is another popular web hosting for beginners. It is easy to use, and its customer service is good. They quickly give a response to help you with anything. They are surprisingly fast around the world and have high-performance servers. The security features are also excellent where you don’t have to worry. The price starts at $2.95/mon, but spending at least $5.95 gives you much more if you have a budget. They provide a buffet of benefits to those who avail, where WordPress-based builders are available. You also have the freedom of design, free domain name for 1st year, and expert 24/7 support.

Hostgator is one of the most trusted companies in the competing web hosting market. It is an affordable and flexible web hosting service. It will also be a good option because they offer a wide range of packages and website builders. Their customer service is good and the staff is ready to assist you anytime. If you are not satisfied, they have a 45-Day money-back guarantee. Hostgator starts at 2.75$/month for shared hosting. Furthermore, it offers WordPress, VPS, reseller, cloud, and dedicated hosting plans.

4. Pick the plan

There are many hosting plans for a beginner to choose from. You must be mindful of picking the web hosting plan that will benefit you.

NameHero is known for its very-fast speed and better uptime. It offers web hosting that starts at $3.58, reseller hosting at $11.23, and VPS hosting at $21.97 all per month. All plans have unlimited SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and LiteSpeed cache. It includes a no-cost security shield and SSL certificates. Superhero features are also provided, like accessible LiteSpeed webserver, free Cloudflare with Railgun, nightly backups, and much more.

As for me, I choose the basic one to start with Namehero. I recommend the 24 or 36 months, it’s way cheaper than paying monthly. The price goes up mostly when the plan renews. So, it is better to pay $2.69/month for 36 months instead of $8.95.

5. Pick a domain name

After picking the plan, you will now choose a domain name for your website. A domain address is what your audience will type into the search bar to get to your website.

An effective domain name must not be complicated and ensure that your reader will remember it. Choose the term that fits your niche. The one you put will become the name of your blog. Think about something easy to remember. I prefer domain name with .com or .ca (for Canada).

In addition, when you have the same name as others, the system will say “Unable to Continue.” It is also okay if you cannot think of any words yet. You will be able to choose it later. If you haven’t decided on a name already, put it in the “I have a domain name” box.

6. Enter hosting information

Ensure to put accurate information in entering hosting information. Be cautious, especially with your email. The password you set will notify your email, so it is necessary not to make mistakes. You will fill out everything it needs ( personal and billing information). You will put your username and security pin.

Below is your hosting package information; you can change it if you want. In the Billing Cycle option, the cost rate will be cheaper If you pay for several months in advance. You can select 36 months if you plan to have your blog for a few years. Moreover, you will have an option to choose monthly, 3, or 12 months but it will cost a little more than the 36-month option.

7. Design your website

Here is an exciting part of setting up your blog.

After you finish doing all the steps, you will choose themes for your website. It will be the first thing that your audience will see. Ensure a website that will look credible, pleasing, and professional.

There are many great websites for finding WordPress themes, but here are some of the most popular and reputable ones:

Bluchic

Bluchic is a dedicated online platform that offers a wide range of stylish and professionally WordPress themes made especially for bloggers. Bluchic provides bloggers a variety of stunning and user-friendly themes that improve their online presence and engage their audience with a focus on both aesthetics and functionality.

Whether you write about fashion, lifestyle, travel, or food, Bluchic has a wide range of themes that suit different niches and personal styles. Each theme is carefully designed to efficiently showcase content, with simple navigation, customizable layouts, and eye-catching features.

Bluchic understands the importance of a seamless user experience, and their themes are responsive, ensuring that your website looks great on any device. They also place a high priority on integrating essential blogging tools like newsletter sign-up forms, social media icons, and optimized layouts for displaying advertisements.

With Bluchic, you can take your blogging journey to the next level by creating a professional and visually stunning website that reflects your unique style. Their themes not only make it simple to create an engaging online presence, but they also give you the tools you need to expand your blog and engage with your audience successfully.

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is an awesome website where you can find a ton of website templates and themes! It’s actually one of the biggest and most complete marketplaces for WordPress themes, with over 50,000 themes and templates to choose from.

But that’s not all! ThemeForest also has themes for other popular content management systems, like Shopify, Joomla, Drupal, and Magento. So, if you’re thinking about building an online store with Shopify, you can take a look at the many Shopify themes available on ThemeForest.

By the way, I chose to build my blog using a theme I purchased on ThemeForest and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. There were so many great options to choose from, and I was able to find the perfect fit for my blog. I’m really happy with the theme I chose, and I definitely recommend checking out ThemeForest if you’re looking for a high-quality WordPress theme for your website.

Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes is really popular for its awesome themes that can fit any website, and also for its user-friendly website builder plugin, called Divi.

There’s a wide range of WordPress themes on Elegant Themes, from multi-purpose themes to niche-specific themes and e-commerce themes. They’re made with clean and valid code, so you can expect fast loading speeds and good search engine optimization (SEO). Plus, the themes are designed to be responsive, meaning that they can work on any device and screen size.

One of the coolest things about Elegant Themes is the Divi theme. This is a really popular product because it lets you create custom layouts without needing to know how to code. You can simply use its drag-and-drop feature to build the website of your dreams.

8. Grow Your Audience With Email Marketing

Building a blog audience requires effort, but it can be made easier with the help of MailerLite. MailerLite is an email marketing service that allows you to connect with your readers through newsletters and build a loyal following.

To get started, sign up for MailerLite and create a newsletter signup form for your blog. Strategically place the form on your blog, offering an incentive to encourage visitors to subscribe, such as a free ebook or exclusive content.

Once you have subscribers, you can send regular newsletters using MailerLite. These newsletters should provide valuable content, showcase your latest blog posts, share updates, and offer exclusive promotions. By keeping your newsletters informative, engaging, and visually appealing, you can capture your subscribers’ attention.

To make your email campaigns even more effective, segment your subscriber list based on their interests, demographics, or behavior. This allows you to send targeted emails that resonate with specific segments, increasing engagement and conversions.

With MailerLite’s automation features, you can also set up email sequences to save time and maintain consistent communication. For example, you can create a welcome email series for new subscribers or a drip campaign to nurture leads.

To optimize your email marketing strategy, analyze the performance of your campaigns through MailerLite’s analytics. This data will help you understand how well your emails are performing, allowing you to make improvements and achieve better results.

Overall, MailerLite simplifies the process of building and engaging with your blog audience through email marketing. By leveraging this powerful tool, you can foster connections with your readers, drive traffic to your blog, and nurture a community of loyal followers.

Congratulations! Now that you already know how to set up your blog, you can officially have one!

Others might find blogging a hard thing to do, but you will probably say it’s worth it. It can make you entertained and empowered by sharing great ideas and thoughts with your audience.

As a blogger, you will be able to make passive income, which means that money will come in when you’re sleeping, travelling, or relaxing with friends. You can make extra money to support your everyday needs. Blogging is one of the most profitable, reliable, and popular ways to make money online if you do it right.

Do you want to know more about how to start a blog?

Get my FREE copy of this step-by-step guide that will show you how to successfully start your own blog.