How to start a blog

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How To Start A Blog

But Isn’t Blogging Dead?

You may have wondered how to start a blog when you’ve visited other blogs before. Maybe you were of the opinion right there and then that there are far too many blogs that exist already and chances that YOUR blog would succeed are slim to nothing.

You may think also that blogging has become over-saturated or that there are just too many blogs out there already to even have a space for your blog.

Every day, individuals around the world decide to start a blog. These individuals decide to become part of the internet world, create their own, little corner on the internet.

And who knows, one day your blog might turn into a profitable 7-figure business. {There are lots of success stories by other big bloggers. I couldn’t believe it myself…}

If you’ve ever wondered why and how to start a blog, here are a few ideas as to why you should start a blog as well.

Why Should You Start A Blog At All?

There are many reasons why individuals start a blog:

To earn passive income. 💰
To earn money from home. 🏠
To inspire or motivate others. 🌟
Affordable business to get off the ground. 💼
Building online communities (tribes), connecting, sharing. 🤳
To be creative. 🎨
To escape the 9-5 rat race 🏃‍♀️
To connect with brands or people you find interesting. 🔗
To make a difference. 🎈
To become your own boss. 💗

By showing you how to start a blog on your own and getting started today, you might even create life-changing opportunities for yourself as well.

Now, you may have asked yourself how to start a blog before and perhaps were even a little intimidated by all the potential website coding.

How To REALLY Start A Blog?

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BLOG ABOUT?

You need to nail down your niche.

I cannot stress how important it is to pick a niche that is really really good. Once you pick a niche, try to niche down even more.

Once you have thought about a niche, ask yourself the following questions:

What is it that I am truly are interested in?
What are topics that I am very passionate about?
What do I talk about non-stop to my friends and family?
Could I see myself talking about this topic every day for the rest of my life?

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT HOSTING COMPANY AND BLOGGING PLATFORM

PICK THE RIGHT PLATFORM.

When I started doing my research, I wanted to know exactly how to start a blog the right way. This is why I looked at which hosting company and platforms other successful bloggers use.

What I found was that all of them started their blogs with the WordPress.org platform.

The reasons why every blogger uses the WordPress.org platform is because it is important that you self-host your website. If you ever want to monetize your website, WordPress.org let’s you do this without any problems.

It is also important that you own your domain and have full control over your hosting. Building a website on platforms such as blogger.com is not the right way to go if you are thinking of monetizing your website down the road.

Nevertheless, it is very important that when you are on WordPress.org, you will own your piece of internet real estate. Being on the right platform from the start when you are considering to start a blog is a crucial first step.

PICK THE RIGHT HOSTING COMPANY.

In order for your website to be “live”, it needs to be hosted. When I did my research on hosting companies, I found that there are many many to choose from.

You need to find the best hosting company for your website. Do a real good job of researching. A lot of these hosting companies promise the world, and then they let you hanging.

HOW DO YOU OPTIMIZE YOUR BLOG?

Now that we have the groundwork set up, it’s time to add a few plugins that will make your blogging life much easier.

In a nut shell, you will want to add a few important plugins, set up your theme with categories, add an image of yourself and fill in all the relevant pages: About me, legal pages (ask a professional!), Contact, etc.

You might also want to add some plugins that will make your life easier as a new blogger:

1. SEO PLUGIN

I recommend YOAST or Rank Math. SEO is important as you want your content to rank on search engines. SEO plugins can assist you with SEO.

2. WP AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE

Even though you might not start to monetize your blog right away, adding WP (WordPress) affiliate disclosures to each and every blog post automatically by means of a plugin is the way to go!

3. GOOGLE SITEMAP

This plugin needs to be connected with google search console. It allows google to index your website. What does this mean? It means more exposure. I suggest doing this from the beginning.

4. SOCIAL GROW (BY MEDIAVINE)

Social Grow is a plugin for sharing your content on social media. It is a great visual sharing widget that needs to be added to your blog posts from the very beginning. Sharing content gives you more exposure and social pug is used by all of the top bloggers who reach millions of readers.

5. SITE KIT BY Google

This dashboard is connected with Google’s search console and analytics. You can see everything from one dashboard. This plugin is great.

6. WP FORMS

You will need to add a WP form to your blog to capture your reader’s email addresses. This way you can build an audience and send special content to your audience.

Regarding Plugins….

Remember, to always back up your WordPress site to your computer before making any changes or updates. Sometimes, data can get deleted and the last thing you want is your blog getting messed up or worse, wiped. Always use plugins with caution and update where necessary (WordPress will usually let you know of any major updates.).

Please note, use plugins at your own risk and always update plugins when there is a notification on your dashboard to limit security risk.

That’s it for setting up your blog.

Congratulations. Now you can start writing content.

This is the only way to generate an income from your website: creating content consistently!

CONCLUSION: HOW TO START A BLOG IN 5 STEPS

Starting a blog is fun! It’s a great opportunity to be creative and build communities. If you find the right topic for you, you will see that a blog can really pay off.

Whether you are starting a blog out of pure fun or to build a business online, starting today, rather than postponing will make the difference in how successful your blog will be a year from now.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments. I’d love to share my knowledge of WordPress and building a website where I can.

I don’t claim to be an expert but I have been experimenting here and there, and have found different things over the years that have made blogging a lot easier for me, so I hope that this tutorial helped you in getting you started with your website.