Anyone can reach and engage with their audience through blogging and enjoy its benefits, such as getting organic traffic from search engines, promotional content for social media, and recognition from a new audience you haven’t tapped.
This step-by-step guide on how to start a blog will help you find all the guidance and tools you’ll require to start a blog.
So, without any further ado, let’s start from the basics.
What is a Blog?
A blog can contain an entire website or be its section of a website, where you share content about a topic you’re passionate about. A blog includes written and visual elements published in an easy-to-read and skimmable format so that anyone can swiftly browse and find what they’re looking for. Once you’ve developed a readers community, the possibilities are truly limitless.
Now, you must be wondering why you should start a blog. So, to clear all your doubts, let’s move to the next section of how to start a blog guide.
Why Start a Blog?
There are many reasons for which people start blogging, some of which include:
- Share your ideas with the world. Sometimes you may want to be heard and get your ideas out into the world. This is where a blog can help you, as it’s your own space where you can express yourself openly. Here you can showcase your creativity and passion for forming a space customized as you like, and you can share your ideas, expertise, and experiences.
- Promote a product or service. Small business owners often start a blog for content marketing. Written content helps them to engage potential customers and make them feel more connected to a product or service you’re trying to sell.
- Earn Money. Blogging can become a lucrative source of income with time and continued effort. The best way to earn is to post quality content regularly that lures new readers and gets more traffic to your website. This will help your blog increase advertisers and raise your status as an online influencer, offering you new marketing opportunities such as affiliate marketing.
- Build an online community. Yes, you read it right. Blogging is a great way to build an online community, as those days are gone when people needed to live in the same city, state, or country to get in touch with each other. A blog allows you to share your story and ideas and start conversations with people globally who share mutual interests. A blog usually has a comments section where your readers can communicate directly, enabling you to engage and build relationships with them.
Now that you have understood the benefits of starting a blog, it’s time to learn how to start a blog from scratch.
Steps to Create a Successful Blog for Beginners
1) Understand your audience
This is the first and the most crucial step before starting your blog post. When you have a clear idea about your target audience’s requirements, you can deliver the best and engage your readers effectively.
Now, to understand your audience ask yourself questions like what would they like to read and how your content will resonate with them.
Now, to simplify the whole process it is recommended to create buyer personas. Think of what you know about your buyer personas and their interests while producing a topic for your blog post.
For instance, if your readers are beginners and want to start a business in that case, how-to guides will help them out. Therefore, make sure you publish content about the topics your audience wants and needs.
2) Check out your competition
Checking your competition is important to know what works for them and what can work for you.
It is recommended to look at popular, highly-reviewed blogs because their approach and execution are what got them to rise in credibility.
The idea behind checking out competitors is to copy their techniques and gain better insight into what readers admire in a quality blog.
There are numerous angles you should look at while doing a competitive analysis:
- Visuals: Look at the blog’s branding, color palette, and theme.
- Copy: Study the tone and writing style of the competition to see what readers respond well to.
- Topics: See what subject matter their readers enjoy interacting with.
3) Decide what topics you’ll cover
Deciding which topics you want to include before starting a blog will save you time. Start with a topic you’d like to write about for instance start with a generic topic to find your desired niche in blogging. Also, you can ask yourself a few questions like:
- Who do I want to write to?
- How well do I understand this topic?
- Is this topic relevant?
4) Recognize your unique angle
Perceptive matters. Therefore, what perspective you bring makes you stand out from the crowd. Perceptive acts as a key to determining your blog’s future course, and there are many routes to choose from in the process.
- What unique experience makes you a trusted expert or thought leader on the topic?
- What kind of problem will you solve for readers?
- Will you share your opinions on trending debates?
- Teach your readers how to do something.
- Compare or share original research?
It’s completely up to you to determine the unique angle you’ll take on topics.
5) Name your blog
Here is your chance to get creative and find a name that helps readers to know what to expect from your blog. There are a few tips you should keep in mind while choosing your blog name;
- Keep your blog name easy to read and spell.
- Make sure your blog name resonates with your brand message.
- Think of what your target audience is looking for.
Also, if you still don’t find the name, you can consider using a blog name generator. But don’t forget to check that the name you come up with isn’t already taken, as it could reduce your visibility and confuse readers looking for your content.
6) Create your blog domain
A domain is a part of the web address nomenclature someone would use to locate your website or a page of your website.
Your blog’s domain will look like this: www.yourblog.com. Now, it’s up to you to choose a unique domain name that doesn’t yet exist on the internet.
Here are five other popular web hosting services to choose from:
- GoDaddy
- HostGator
- DreamHost
- Bluehost
- WordPress
7) Choose a CMS and set up your blog.
A CMS (content management system) is a software application that lets users build and maintain a website without coding it from scrape. CMS platforms can handle domains (where you create your website) and subdomains (where you make a webpage that connects to an existing website).
A well-known option is a self-hosted WordPress website on a hosting site like WP Engine. Whether you build a domain or a subdomain to begin your blog, you’ll need to select a web hosting service after you pick a CMS.
8) Customize the look of your blog.
Once you set up your domain name, customize your blog appearance to reflect the content theme you choose while creating your brand.
Make sure you keep consistency throughout the website in appearance and subject matter. You can ensure this through.
- Logo: This can be your business’s name and logo — it will remind blog readers who publish the content. (How heavily you need to brand your blog, however, is up to you.)
- “About” Page: You might already have an “About” blurb conveying yourself or your business. Your blog’s “About” section is an extension of this higher-level statement. Consider it as your blog’s mission statement, which reinforces your company’s goals.
9) Write your first blog post
Once you set up your blog, the only thing missing is the content. While the structure and layout are fun and functionally crucial, the content will attract your readers and keep them coming back.
So how do you write one of these engaging and informational pieces? Here are a few quick blog writing tips for you.
- Research is required to convey your point.
- Make your content skimmable; break it into digestible chunks.
- Add interesting quotes or facts for emphasis on the subject.
- Paint a complete picture with images, graphics, or video.
- Use Grammarly to avoid mistakes.
- If you don’t know how to start, start by telling a story.
- Add references to social media posts.
- Each sentence should convey a single idea.
That’s all!
Follow all the above steps rigorously and start your own blog. We hope you find this guide on how to start a blog helpful.