Learn how to start your blog in far less than an hour. You can become a blogger today by following the steps we used to start our blog.
So grab a cup of coffee and get cozy, we’re going to review everything we’ve learned over the last 6 + years about the blog. Enjoy it!
How to start a successful blog – an overview.
Step#1: Deciding What to Blog About
It can be challenging to figure out what to blog about / choose a good subject for your blog.
Most of the people find it difficult.
First, there’s the challenge of just coming up with the new stuff you want to write about, which isn’t always the most straightforward thing in itself. But then there’s something else lurking in the dark … self-doubt.
Well, first off, do you have to be a great writer to start a blog?
The answer to this is no.
People read blogs for some reasons, and while being a skilled writer can help, it’s not a requirement.
Although some bloggers are actually reading because of their unique writing style, it’s just a fraction of the market.
To a certain extent, writing skills don’t matter in blogging.
If you can talk about it, you can blog.
Also, you don’t need to be a field expert (of your subject matter). It helps, but it’s not a requirement again.
Think about cooking blogs.
You don’t need to be Gordon Ramsay to be a successful blogger. What you need most of all are some tasty recipes that people enjoy and can replicate.
Now, with all that being said, let me share with you the most basic rule to pick a topic for your blog…
The key rule when you figure out what to blog about is to focus on something you’re interested in. And the keyword here is “interested.”
The benefits of choosing a blog concept that fits you:
- You can make a name for yourself, in a field that you care about.
- Connect with like-minded people.
- Learn or improve your skills, please.
- Possibly make money and start a career.
- It’s going to be easier to create content on a regular basis.
However, be specific to this. Don’t make your subject something like “cooking” or “cars” or something as wide as that. The more niche, the better it is.
Although it seems counter-intuitive (‘Broader means more readers, isn’t it?’), starting in a narrow niche is often better. Near niches give you a specialization, and possibly an instant audience, from day one.
It’s just one side of the coin to pick something that you’re comfortable blogging about. The other one is making sure people are interested to read it.
Here are some tips
- Are there blogs in the niche that already cater to similar audiences?
- Are there any popular Facebook pages on these or similar topics?
- Can you point out at least a handful of niche bloggers?
- Are any of these blogs popular enough with more than 5000 subscribers?
- Does anyone advertise in Google when you search for keywords for the niche’s main buyer?
- Are there any books on Amazon that cover the subject in some capacity and have more than a dozen reviews?
- Are there any people who are asking questions about the Quora?
If that’s a “yes” to all of the above, you’ve probably found yourself a good blog theme.
Step#2: Choose the Best Blogging Platform
Check out the stats – these are the most popular website and blog platforms.
Step#3: Setting Up a Domain Name, Hosting & Word Press
How to pick a domain name for your blog?
- It needs to be unique and capable of being a brand. It’s a good benchmark to imagine your domain name on the side of your office building.
Does that look good there?
- It’s got to be clear. No strange combination of characters. It is best to have a simple sequence of 1-3 words.
The best way to use your first name / last name is to grow your own personal brand on the website you are building.
- It’s got to be easy to memorize. It won’t be easy to memorize if you need to spell it out.
How to pick a good web host for a blog?
So without boring you with the details, we’ve invested a lot in researching the Word Press hosting market, testing different hosting companies out there, analyzing their performance in real-life settings, and even surveying users to find out what they think about their blog posts.
If you can’t be disturbed and just want me to recommend a platform to you, just use SiteGround.
Basically, no matter what kind of testing we do, and no matter what kind of questions we ask the community, it’s really hard to come across any negative reviews of SiteGround.
They just know what they’re doing when it comes to hosting a Word Press blog.
How to set up a blog: get a domain name, host, and install Word Press all in one.
To make this happen, go to the SiteGround Hosting Platform, which we recommend based on its positive reviews across the web and our own tests.
Once there, choose your hosting plan. In most cases, the cheapest option – Startup – is sufficient:
The next step is where you can register a domain name that you’ll use for your new blog:
If you already have a domain name that you would like to use, select “I already have a domain name” rather than creating a new one.
When you’re done, it’s time to have Word Press installed.
During the installation process, SiteGround will also let you choose a design/theme for your new blog and have everything set up for you.
Step#4: Coming Up With Blog Content Ideas That People Can’t Ignore.
There are two distinct schools of thought here:
- Find out what your audience wants to read
- Going competition-first going audience-first
The way you’re going to discover this is via keywords.
Keywords are what drives Google’s search, People are searching, using keywords. Your competition creates content that addresses keywords in the hope that their content will be displayed whenever someone searches for those keywords.
Step#5: Write a Good Blog Post:
You need to start with your main goal.
For example:
- Do you want to build a brand in your niche and make a name for yourself?
- You want to make money by referring people to products and earn commissions?
- Or you want to let people know about the latest goings-on within your company, or some events happening nearby?
- Do you want people to visit your brick and mortar business?
- Do you want to sell your own products?
- Or maybe there’s something entirely different that’s on your radar…
Pick the right keyword
Preferably, that keyword is something people are looking for a lot on Google, but there aren’t many other posts or sites that compete to provide answers.
- Come up with 5 alternative headlines
- Prepare the outline
- “Write → Edit → Proofread”
Make it in a three-step process:
- Write on day one.
- Edit on day two.
- Proofread on day three.
Post your blog &repeat this process for the next blog and enjoy
Thanks For Reading.
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