How to Start a Blog

by CJ McDaniel // August 4  

In today’s digital age, blogging has become more than just posting an online journal. It’s now a lucrative career, and a great way to share information with people across the world. But the question is, how can you start a blog?

There are literally millions of blogs online. And depending on your niche, it can be actually quite challenging to produce and maintain a blog that not only pops up on Google Search’s first page but also earns you money. 

That’s where we come in. 

If you’re starting a blog and looking for an easy-to-digest guide that is perfect for beginners, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’re going to talk about the nits and grits of how to make or start a blog, as well as tips on how to monetize your platform!

Are you ready? Let’s start!

What Should Your Blog Be About?

Before you even think of buying your own blog domain name, you should first have a general idea of what you want your blog to be about.

There are a lot of topics to cover, and you can literally blog about anything you want. But to create a blog that profits, you need to choose a popular niche that you are interested in as well.

Some people prefer blogging about their everyday lives, which is great if you just do blogging as a hobby. But if you’re serious about making a living with your blog, then your personal stories are not a good topic or niche for that. 

You may think that your personal stories or anecdotes are really fun and share-able, people who don’t know you that visit your blog don’t know that. People will quickly lose interest, causing a huge blow on blog traffic, and you will not be able to earn money. 

However, if you pick a niche that lots of people are into, then that’s when you rake in blog traffic, earn a decent living, and live your life on your own terms. But then again, making a successful blog takes hard work and perseverance.

Can You Really Earn Decent Money with Blogging?

Yes, you can! Blogging can be a full-time job that pays the bills if you have the focus and determination to succeed. It would be best if you also had patience, as creating a successful blog takes a lot of time and dedication. 

Blogging is one of those things that you have to work on and improve on, continuously explore, and never stop learning about until you see some real results. Not everyone likes a challenge, nor does anyone love working hard for a long time and not getting any return on their efforts. So, you have to really enjoy the process.

Beginner’s Guide to Making a Blog That Pays

Here’s a step by step guide on how to make and start a blog that pays. Before we start, you should know that there is little to no coding or any complicated technical steps included in this basic tutorial. 

Any beginner at blogging will be able to execute these steps. So let’s go! 

  1. Choose your blogging platform

There are a lot of blogging platforms on the web, but as a beginner, you want a platform that is not difficult to set up, but also complete with all the tools and plugins you need to complete the design and functionality of your blog.

On that note, we suggest that you choose WordPress as your blogging platform. It’s one of the most popular blogging platforms globally, with more than 82 million active users.

Here are some of the reasons why WordPress is the best choice for your blogging platform: 

  • It’s so easy for people to engage with you and your content. Your posts can be liked, shared, commented, etc. 
  • You have an array of options regarding the form and functionality of your blog. Your pages also load super fast!
  • WordPress’s support forum is enormous. If ever you get stuck on something, you can get assistance in a flash.
  • Lots of free themes and layouts. Picking your blog’s design is easy– NO CODING REQUIRED.
  • Even a kid can set up his own WordPress blog. And it’s totally free to use! 
  1. Set up your web hosting

The second thing you have to do is choose the web hosting company you want to get your blog online. Since you want a blog that lets you earn money, you have to shell out for a hosting plan that fits you and your blogging needs. 

You could choose a free alternative, but there are a lot of downsides to that one. Here are some of them: 

  • You can’t choose your own domain name

If you prefer a free blog, you cannot create your own web address or domain name. Having your own domain name is one of the most exciting parts of having a blog. It won’t look so appealing to your audience if your blogs URL looks like this:

  • yourblog.tumblr.com
  • yourblog.blogger.com
  • yourblog.wordpress.com

Ugly, right? 

  • There are a lot of limitations

Free blogs do have certain restrictions. You can’t completely digitize it, and you don’t have the option of uploading all the videos and photos that you want to show to everyone – it’s all restricted. Worse still, the free themes provided by WordPress won’t even be available.

  • You don’t really own your blog 

If you don’t set up a paid web hosting plan, you don’t completely own your blog. On a free alternative, your blog is hosted on another person’s property, and if they want to, they have the option to delete your blog.

There have been instances where this happened before, which means you have no assurance that this won’t happen to you. It would be such a waste to see all the work you did and all your posts be gone in just an instant.

That is the reason why we couldn’t stress out the importance of setting up your own web hosting plan enough. The advantages of this are endless, and you can even choose your preferred domain name!

Add the content, images, and videos to that unlimited bandwidth plus the free themes, and you have a killer combination. 

So how much do you need to shell out for a domain name and hosting plan? Luckily, not as much as you would think. Depending on your hosting service, it typically works out to around $5 to $10 a month.

  1. Start a blog on your domain

Now that you’ve chosen a self-hosted blog, you’ll need to get a domain name you prefer and select a hosting company that can host your blog as well.

  • Hosting – Essentially, hosting is the service that puts the website up on the internet so anyone can see it online. That’s where all your content will be saved, like an online hard drive inside a computer. 
  • Domain – Your domain is basically your website’s URL. 

There are a lot of web hosting companies to choose from, with an array of options you can browse depending on your needs. One of the most popular web hosting companies is Hostgator. It gets its hype from being one of the cheapest and extensive hosting providers out there today. 

You can get a hosting plan for less than $3 a month. You can also use your domain name for free for the first year! Another reason why many people love Hostgator is its “one-click” WordPress install solution. 

Basically, that feature enables bloggers to install WordPress on their blog with just one button. It’s a total game-changer and saves you a lot of time! 

Simply sign up with Histagrot, pick out your domain name and hosting plan, and see the “one-click” WordPress install button on the admin panel.

Once WordPress is fully connected with your blog, then that’s when you can have fun designing your blog or brainstorming your content. Just access the WP Admin page, and you’re almost good to go!

  1. Design the theme and layout of your blog

This is where you can tap on your creative side! Remember, your blog’s appearance is a critical factor to rake in lots of viewers and traffic (which turns into profit after some time). 

The good news is that there are many free themes and layouts you can choose from in WordPress, so you don’t have to worry about designing one from scratch. 

Click on Appearance > Themes to install a free WordPress theme. There are a lot of choices available, but if you can’t find a free one that you like, you can also visit a premium WordPress theme website and buy a design that you want.

With all the design possibilities you see, you might be stressed out with what theme you want for your blog. Don’t be! 

It’s actually smarter to go for a simple, aesthetic layout that looks professional and easily customizable. If you decide for a new look on your blog after some time, you can just switch to a new one without worrying about your content getting deleted or misplaced. 

Remember, your blog’s design should reflect both your own personality and yourself, but give your audience a clue on what niche your blog is about. There’s no sense in having a football-oriented theme if you have a tennis blog, right?   

Besides, if you want people to stick around, your blog should be easy to navigate. If moving around your website is tricky and complicated, don’t expect a lot of traffic coming in your blog.

  1. Install a few, useful plug-ins

Plugins are features that you can use on your WordPress blog to help it work and do different things in different ways. Others are required, and others aren’t. Others are free, while others are not. 

Do not get completely bonkers with plugins, because installing too many are going to slow down your blog. For starters, here are plugins that are perfect for new blogs:

  • Social Pug – This plugin shows you the social sharing buttons at the top of your pages and posts. 
  • WP Super Cache – This is incredibly useful when it comes to speeding up your page loading time. If you insert some changes to your blog and they’re not reflected instantly, you can use this plugin to clear your cache. 
  • WP-Optimize – This junks unnecessary space — posy revisions, spam comments, etc. 
  • Wordfence Security – At some point, someone will try and hack your blog. This plugin prevents it from happening. It tightens up your blog’s security measures and keeps hackers out.
  • Yoast – Your blog posts need SEO in order to gain traffic, and that’s when Yoast comes in. It tells you the areas you need to improve on regarding SEO for your blog posts to be more visible and effective! Yoast also comes with lots of extra features, such as an XML sitemap to help your site get indexed faster.
  • Broken Link Checker – This plugin helps with broken links on the pages of your blog. It notifies you when there is one so you can fix it right away. 

CONCLUSION

And that’s it! Are you now ready to start your blog? We hope this beginner-friendly guide aids you in creating your own monetized blog. These are all the basic steps on how to make or start a blog, one that you should follow closely!

Bloggers come to the arena with varying levels of online and social media expertise, but we all started at the bottom, and beginners are prone to a few newbie errors. There’s a lot of space for more development and learning, whether you’re a novice or expert blogger. 

Growing your own blog from scratch is a long and arduous process, but you’ll reap the rewards soon enough if you’re consistent! 

Just don’t be too hard on yourself if you make mistakes. And more importantly, don’t compare your growth with other bloggers. 

You can easily read helpful articles such as this one or enroll yourself in advance courses to further expand your blogging knowledge and learn more tricks up your sleeve. 

Do you know any more blog-making tips? If you have any other suggestions on how to start a blog, please share them with us in the comment section below!

About the Author

CJ grew up admiring books. His family owned a small bookstore throughout his early childhood, and he would spend weekends flipping through book after book, always sure to read the ones that looked the most interesting. Not much has changed since then, except now some of those interesting books he picks off the shelf were designed by his company!