How Do I Start a Blog?

In this tutorial, I’ll show you a step-by-step and easy-to-follow guide on how to start a blog.

Starting your own blog does not have to be problematic or expensive. Statistics showed that, more and more people are starting blogs every day. It seems that almost all businesses and brands have a blog today.

But if you are like most people, you may not know where to start. Starting a blog can be daunting if you don’t have the technical skills. And the number of options available for starting a blog can be confusing if you are not properly trained or guided.

The good news is that, the step-by-step guide in this post will eliminate any confusion in the process, and only require the most basic computer skills. Even if you are not a tech expert, with the help of this guide, you can have your blog ready to run in less than 20 minutes.

Why This Guide is the Best to Direct You?

My name is Sierra Morgan, and I will be your guide on this journey to creating a successful blog. I have been putting together blogs and websites all this while. Experientially, I discovered that becoming a successful blogger boils down to three things:

1. Set up Your Blog Correctly

I will show you exactly how to start a blog with the WordPress blogging platform, which can be accessed from any computer, tablet or Smartphone. In this step-by-step guide, I will show you precisely how to create a blog and configure WordPress so that you get the most out of it.

2. Have Passion for Your Specialty

What is a blog? In essence, it’s about sharing your knowledge with the world. Choosing a topic you are passionate about makes the process of starting and maintaining a successful blog much easier.

Easiest Ways to Set up a Profitable Niche Business

3. Learn From Others

I am not ashamed to admit that when I was just learning how to build a blog, I made a lot of mistakes, because, then I had no one to properly tutor and give me sound guidelines. You can benefit for more than a decade from my personal blogging experience to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes that I made.

Why Should You Start a Blog Today?

The Internet keeps growing day in day out. More people are making use of the internet on a daily basis for various purposes. This tremendous growth means more potential readers for your blog. To be precise, there is no better time than today to start your blog.

When you start a blog, you can expect the following benefits:

1. Income

Blogging can be a money-spinning venture if done correctly. The biggest bloggers in the world obviously earn a lot, but even a part-time blogger can expect to make a good profit if things are done appropriately.

2. Recognition

You probably won’t have paparazzi around you as a result of your last blog post. But a successful blog can give you great recognition in your respective field of interest. Many bloggers are known as experts just for their blogs.

3. It’s fun

In addition to the most perceptible benefits, such as curriculum vitae training, recognition, and income, blogging is a great way to share your ideas, beliefs with like-minded individuals.

Knowing the benefits of starting a blog and why you should start, we now proceed to, how to start a blog.

The Foolproof Method to Start Your Blog

Starting a blog does not have to be expensive and difficult. In fact, it all boils down to just following the step by step tutorials in this tutorial.

I’m going to accompany you through the process of creating a blog, from finding a good domain name to growing your blog and converting it into an income generating machine.

The whole process of putting together and preparing your blog should take only about 20 minutes. After that, your site will be online and ready for you to start posting!

Before you can start blogging, there are two things you need to do:

1. Choose a Domain Name

If you already have a registered domain, then you might well skip and Jump to #2. You must choose a name that is unique and descriptive of the niche you intend to blog about, so that your audience will know immediately what your blog is about.

Another option is to simply use your name. You can also add your middle name or second initial if you find that your name is already in use. Many of the best bloggers use their names as their domain name. This has the added benefit of preventing another person from registering your domain, which allows you to secure your “Virtual real estate”.

Once you have some options for names, you will have to choose a domain extension. Choosing a dot com domain extension is the gold standard, but .net and .org work just as well. I would suggest staying away from other extensions such as .us or .biz, since they are not as familiar to most people.

It is possible that the domain name you want is already in use. This happens to all of us. If you find that the name you want is already in use, you can try adding simple words like “la”, “a”, or “mi” to the beginning of the name, or you can try adding hyphens between words like virtual-blog.com.

Note: You cannot use any punctuation other than hyphens in a domain name.

2. Choose a Web Host

A web host is a company that stores all the files for your site and sends them to the users when they write your domain name. You must have a hosting provider to have a blog.

Choosing a bad hosting will condemn your site from the beginning. Users will be frustrated with the slow page load time and, often, you may find that your site simply does not work at all.

There are hundreds of different hosting companies that you can choose from, but one of my recommendations for your blog is Blue Host. In fact, Blue Host is the hosting platform most veteran bloggers love to use. I have got to know about Blue Host for many years now, and I recommend it for all new bloggers because:

• They offer a simple and free installation of all kinds of tools for blogs, including WordPress (which I recommend in this guide).
• They have been recommended by WordPress since 2005 and they currently host more than 2 million websites.
• They offer a leading customer service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, either by phone, email or web chat.
• They offer a money back guarantee in case you are not satisfied for some reasons.
• Blue Host is a higher quality host. It costs around $ 2.99 per month using their hosting service, and it comes with a free domain name.

After choosing your hosting company, the next step is to:

3. Build Your Blog

For the purpose of this training, we would use Bluehost as a case study.

1. Go to www.bluehost.com and select your plan. The basic plan is highly recommended for new bloggers. Click the “select” tab to choose your plan.
2. Enter your domain name in the box on the left and click the “continue” button to see if it is available.
3. If you already have a domain name and want to use it for your blog, type your existing domain in the box on the right-hand side and click on the “next” button. Only use the box on the right side if you have previously paid to register a domain!
4. If the domain is not available, you will be given a list of similar domain names that are available. You can choose one of the suggested domains or try writing another name.
5. Once you have found an available domain, you will be redirected to the registration page where you will indicate all your billing information.
6. You may even have to decide on your hosting package and choices. Using the Bluehost platform, with the 36-month package, you get the lowest monthly rate, while the 12-month package has a lower initial cost. Either is a good option.
7. Once your account is set up (usually in a few minutes), you can access it by going to the BlueHost homepage by clicking on the login tab at the top. Enter your domain name and the password you chose when registering.
8. Now that you are logged in to the control panel of your account, you can install WordPress, which is the software you will use for your blog. First, close all pop-up windows. Then, find under the “website” heading and click on the “Install WordPress” link.
9. You will now be automatically logged into the Mojo Marketplace and will be taken to the WordPress installation page. Click on the “Install” button to start. Pick your domain name and choose the “Check Domain” menu.
10. Check the “Show advanced options” tab. Now, you can enter your site name, username and password. They can be what you want and all of them, except that the username can be changed later. Be sure to write down your username and password so you don’t forget them! When ready, check the box to accept the terms and then click on the “Install now” button. WordPress is being installed!
11. Once the installation is complete, you can click on “View Credentials” at the top of the page to see your session’s information. This information is only available for twelve (12) hours, so be sure to write it down in a safe place! You will also receive an email with your registration information as soon as the installation is finished.

And I usually don’t advice people to go for free blogs when they decide to start a blog because of the following problems:

The Problem with Free Blogs

As a blogger, you have the option of creating a free blog through a variety of websites. This sounds like a great idea in theory, but there are some huge disadvantages to using a free blog site:

No. 1: “Free” is not free

Oddly enough, sites that offer free blogs exist to make money for the company that offers you the “free” blog. They don’t offer you a space for blogging because they actually like you. Instead, they make money over time and from the hard work you invested in writing your blog. This is done in a couple of ways:

• They sell your advertising space
• Free blog sites will put ads on your blog. You have absolutely no control over what is being advertised on your blog and you will not see a single penny of the money they receive for the sale of this advertising space.
• They sell you, the “improvements”.
• Registering for one of these services can be free, but you will quickly realize that to make any significant change to your blog, you will have to pay.

No. 2: Non-profit

The goal of free blog sites is to make money for the company that offers the blog space, not for you. This means that you are not allowed to sell products or services through your blog. In addition, the company that offers you the blog gets the full benefit from the sale of an advertising space on your blog.

The sale of advertising space is an important source of income for most blogs, and it is something that is simply not possible with a free blog.

No. 3: Without control

When you start your blog on a free website, you are basically renting your blog space. Because of this, the owner is the one who has all the power. If they decide to leave you out, for whatever reasons, then there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, since you are not really the owner of the blog.

To make matters worse, free blog sites do not give you access to the full range of features you need to become a successful blogger. Unfortunately, many of these things simply cannot be done on a free blog site.

No. 4: Little security

The reality of the Internet is that sometimes, sites are hacked. Yes, this happens even to new, smaller blogs. If this happens to you, and you are using a free blog provider, the hacker can steal your domain name, which means you will lose your entire site and can never recover it.

Simply put, I recommend that you stay far, far away from free blog sites. It’s just not worth the headache or risk, no matter what type of blog you are starting. The good news is that paying for your own blog can help avoid all these problems, and it’s not expensive. In fact, it is cheaper than a “free” blog because there are no hidden charges.

The next question might be how do I make money from owning a blog? I believe that questions must be running through your mind by now. Owning a successful blog with loads of traffic is a big time money-spinning venture and I would list some of the techniques through which you could make money off your blog

Ways to Generate Money through Your Blog

• Google AdSense program: Google pays you when there is an impression or lead on the adverts they place on your site.
• Advertisement: If your site generates a lot of traffic, you can start charging people or organizations a certain fee when they place their adverts on your blog.
• Promoting an affiliate link: You could make so much money from your blog when you promote affiliate links for organizations.
• Selling your own products etc.

Conclusion

Do you want an easier way to set up a blog and build it from 0 to $300,000 in monthly income? I strongly recommend Wealthy Affiliate which lets you enjoy a completely free hosting package that is worth beyond the 3rd party $250+ hosting package (monthly). If you want to enjoy the reading, don’t hesitate to read my review of the WA platform.