If you are interested in blogging and happen to be a newbie on this field, then it’s essential that you understand a few things about what a blog is, how to start a blog and how does it generally work in the big scheme of things.
How to actually start a blog and make money?
How to allow your readers to read about the subject you are blogging about?
How to make money blogging as a new blogger with no clue?
How to make money from blogs to supplement or replace your income?
There are many ways on how to start a blog on the internet.
on a particular subject or issue using the web platform.
There is a difference between a blog and a website.
A blog requires more content to be updated frequently and to keep it fresh so the intended audience can come back for more inspiring information without losing interest.
A website, on the other hand, performs a specific function and tend to have static content that doesn’t require to be updated as frequently as a blog.
A blog offers more user engagement and tends to have specific elements, such as comments, categories, archives and authorship.
A bit similar to what I am offering with my blog here.
These topics are very close to my heart and wanted to share them with my readers in the hope they will get value out of it and will help them in their business’s journey just like how they have been helping me in mine.
Your topic of blogging may be completely different to mine.
It all depends on your interest, passion and what you really want to share with your audience.
This is related to choosing a suitable blog niche, business idea or topic for your blog.
We will touch a little bit more on this subject later on in the article.
First thing first, you have to start out by choosing a platform for your blog.
This is where you are going to host it.
You have a choice of hosting your blog for free or paying for it with a hosting account of your own.
There are some very distinct differences between using a free platform and one that comes with your hosting account.
Note: If you choose to go with a free blogging account you will have fewer options for customization, and you will not have or own a unique domain name which is highly recommended.
Now, if you are an internet marketer, blogger or entrepreneur, it is imperative that you understand the importance of owning your own domain name.
Partly, because it is a way to brand yourself and also a means for getting higher rankings in the search engines.
This can lead to more traffic, which translates to more money in your pocket.
Those that choose to spend a little bit of money on getting a hosting account can also get their own domain.
This is the best way to start blogging for beginners because it is not expensive and it will help you see more success from your blog.
You are free to choose whatever platform that takes your fancy, however, I strongly recommend you choose WordPress as your primary choice.
Feel free to share this table on your site just remember to kindly attribute it back to my article.
WordPress.org has so many benefits in comparisons to the free platforms.
As a business owner, you want to make sure you have full control of your site and the freedom to make important decisions to help grow your business with no limitations being placed upon you.
After you have selected your blogging platform, you will need to choose a niche for your blog.
The blog niches you select will provide a basis for writing articles that you are going to share and engage with your audience.
This will make it easier for you to fill your blog with content that your readership wants to read.
It is also always advisable to choose profitable blog niches or blog ideas that will make you money in the long run.
After all, you are investing valuable time, money and effort to some extent and will want to reap the rewards for your effort.
I am going to assume that your intention for starting your blog is for business purposes.
Where you intend to create awesome content to share with your audience as well as being able to monetize your site to grow your business and make a profit from it.
Choosing a Hosting company that will host your site to make sure it is fully functional, supported and operational 24 hours, 365 days with no problem.
There are tons of companies available in the marketplace to purchase your domain and web hosting.
Some are good and some are not so good.
Do your homework and read reviews on each company before deciding on your purchase.
Ensure the hosting plan you select offers the best solution for you, in terms of the services provided, the length of the contract and the ability to meet the needs of your business.
Depending on where you are in the world, you will find there are a lot of companies to choose from, offering different deals.
Choose the packages that are best suited to the needs of your business, affordable and come with a reliable service.
For this, I highly recommend Wealthy Affiliates. It is what I use to host a number of my sites.
Once you have chosen a domain and hosting, you will then create an account to be used in your WordPress site.
The next step you need to take is to install WordPress for your site.
Depending on the hosting company you select, you will follow the installation instructions as given.
The video below demonstrates how to install WordPress using SiteGround control panel.
A lot of pro bloggers use SiteGround and I hear a lot of positive vibe from the blogging community about it.
This can also be an option for you when considering to purchase a domain.
If you have chosen a free platform you will not have many choices for design, but if you go with WordPress.org you can download and install one of the many free or paid themes for your design.
This makes the design of your blog much more professional and you can get a theme that fits your niche much better as well.
You want to make sure you choose a design that is attractive, functional and offers a good user experience for your readers.
Your design should be lightweight, responsive and mobile-friendly.
It should also support an array of digital devices such as desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
After choosing a blog niche, you will need to create a brand for your blog.
Based on your chosen niche, blog idea, domain or business name.
Think about a blog name that you like.
Draft the design for your logo. This can be fun, that is if you like to experiment and don’t mind getting your hands dirty.
Tools like Canva are ideal, and come with pre-loaded templates ready for you to hit the ground running with no time.
If designing is not your thing, you can always hire someone else to do it for you.
Enlist the service of a freelancer from Fiverr.com or Upworks.com for few dollars depending on how fancy you want it to be.
Basic design can start from $5 or higher.
See what works for you and go for it.
You can always change your design at a later stage if you don’t like what you have got.
One of the final steps is to write and post quality content on your blog.
This may be one of the last things you do, but you will want to do it consistently for a long period of time.
This is how you will get traffic because your posts will hopefully get listed in the search results for any keyword phrases you are targeting.
There is a whole science to content creation.
Researching the article you are going to write about.
Quick tip: Before you start to write your article, ask yourself if this is something your readers would want to read and can benefit from it.
Will they learn any lessons from it?
Will it solve the problems they are having?
Will it answer the questions they are asking?
Will, it educate, inspire and inform them about the issues you are writing about?
Is there a point in writing the article in the first place?
Note: It is important to make sure you adopt certain checks before you hit the publish button such as Blogging and SEO as mentioned above.
This is so to make sure your article is in full compliance with blogging and SEO rules.
It will also help you avoid a lot of headaches down the road.
Watch this video from Data Driven Lab to see how you can create a new post using the new Gutenberg editor in WordPress 5.0.
The final piece of the puzzle is to promote and market your blog to the masses out there.
After all the hard work you put in, you want to make sure you share and showcase your creative writing to your intended audience.
There are many methods you can use to promote your blog.
However, since this is a gentle quick guide on how to start a blog for beginners.
I would say It is better to stick with writing articles and submitting them to article directories and posting them on your social media channels as frequently as you can.
This is known as article marketing.
When you use this method you will not have to spend any money on marketing per say, especially when you are starting out.
Keep you expenditure as low as much as you can, and only invest in tools or software when it becomes absolutely necessary.
Utilise all the available free strategies, before embarking on the paid methods as you try to experiment and honing your blogging skills.
If your primary purpose for creating a blog was for monitezation , then you will need to learn how to write your content strategically.
Equally allowing you to make money at the same time.
There are a number of things you can do to make money from your blog.
We will cover a little bit more on monetization techniques in our future articles.
Start building your email list as soon as possible.
This is the most crucial part of your business and blog which many new bloggers tend to leave out till the last minute.
You need to start capturing your target audience very early on in the funnel, partly because it is an effective way to communicate and engage with your subscribers and potential customers for life.
SEO and social media may come and go, but your email list will hopefully remain with you for a long time.
As long as your subscribers have freely agreed to opt into your email list, you will be able to give value, engage, sell and promote your offers to them over and over again.
You have many email services to choose from such as Aweber, MailChimp, GetResponse andConvertKit.
It is what I use to capture my emails for this blog.
I find it to be very easy to use and it’s ideal for bloggers.
It will allow you to create basic opt-in forms, integrate into your WordPress site, automate, tag and segment your emails.
Try out ConvertKit for a 30 day FREE trial using this Link.
Create an incentive offer to freely give it to your subscribers in exchange for signing up to your email list.
The free offer could be an email course, video or a PDF download that gives high value to your target audiences such as a workbook, cheet sheet or an e-book.
Display an-opt in form for the sign-ups in different locations on your blog.
Such as a pop-up that displays at set times when a visitor visits your site, on your sidebar, at the beginning, middle or end of your blog posts.
From my experience with this blog, I found pop-ups to have much higher conversions.
You can use ConvertKit forms or third-party ones.
Get a free basic version from SumoMe to get you started quickly without incurring any costs.
Later on, if you want to get more sophisticated opt-in forms, you can go for the paid versions from vendors such as Lead Pages, SumoMe, Click Funnels, Thrive Leads and OptinMonster among others.
If you feel, you are in a position to invest for a paid service then go for it otherwise, I will advise you to first try out the free version.
Note: Some of these vendors can be very expensive and you may have to pay a monthly subscription to use their services.
Once your subscribers have joined your list, you have to start communicating with them on a regular basis so they don’t forget that you exist.
Aim to give value as much as you can.
You can offer the latest updates, tips, news, quizzes, promotions, challenges, and inspiration based on your niche.
Learn how to sell to your target audience but don’t over do it.
Strike the balance between giving value and occasional selling.
After you have written your article, you need to inform your target audience of your new release.
Aim to get engagement and feedback from what you have written as soon as possible.
This is very important, do your best not to ignore it.
Doing so will help to confirm if your article and online content is helpful, resonating with your audience and there is an appetite for this sort of information.
If the response and engagement is well received, then this is a good indication that you are doing the right thing.
Lisa from Lisa J has explained this topic very well in her video featured below.
Based on the feedback you get back, you can then expand on the topic by producing another peace on a similar or related subject.
Alternatively, you could also consider creating another medium of the same material but present it in a form of a video, e-book, infographic or a guide.
The ideal scenario will be to eventually create a digital or physical product that you could sell to your target audience relating to the very topic you have written but with a more detailed in-depth helpful information.
If it is good enough, your readership will most likely not mind buying from you.
This is why it is very important to establish trust from the beginning.
Enhance your credibility by showing that you care and genuinely want the best for your readers.
Write an inviting email to your email list and tell them that you have just released a new post.
Leave a link pointing to your new post.
Create engaging social media posts and post to your social media channels as frequent as you can.
If you are in a position to invest in a tool that will do the posting automatically for you then this will be ideal.
Part of being a blogger requires you to engage and network with other bloggers.
Aim to build relationships and friendship by genuinely and sincerely offering value and support to your fellow bloggers and target audience.
You learn something from them and they learn something from you.
This will help form a basis of building great opportunities to collaborate on something together or do guest posting on each other’s blogs in the near future.
Develop a regular habit of visiting and commenting on other people’s blogs and social media posts.
Join social media groups and pages relating to your niche. Like and share their posts or leave comments.
If you are allowed to leave or promote your links do so but aim to engage and contribute to these online communities as well.
It is all about giving and taking, supporting each other so that everyone can succeed with their ventures.
There are many pitfalls that you must do your level best to avoid when you start blogging.
Similar to starting a new business or learning a new craft, you are more than likely to make mistakes along the way during your blogging journey.
If it happens, don’t worry too much about it. You will get better at it as times goes by.
We’ve all had to start from position zero.
Learning as we go along, perfecting our craft as we get more proficient, skillful and confident over time.
Know the purpose and mission of your blog, and what value you bring to the market place.
Figure out who your target audience is and where they hang out.
Always aim to be authentic, genuine, sincere and truthful.
Be your self and don’t try to be some one else.
Write from your heart, the juicy content will flow out of you naturally.
Give awesome value to your readers and write content your readership wants to read and can benefit from it.
Follow a cohesive consistent structure for your entire blog.
Build and maintain good relationships with other bloggers and like minded entrepreneurs in your industry.
Keep learning how to write and produce quality content. The more you write the quicker you will improve.
Write clickable interesting titles that will give you higher engagement and conversions.
Include a strong call to action at the end of your articles to guide your audience to the next stage in the sales funnel.
Such as to leave you a comment, sign up to your email list, contact you, follow you on your social networks, read articles you recommend, take a survey, watch a video, give feedback, buy something, etc.
Check the terms and conditions of each and every service you subscribed to.
Read the guidelines and ensure you do not violate the rights of the services.
This is to help you avoid your accounts being shut down or getting suspended.
For example, social media accounts, YouTube, Ads networks, other people’s images such as those downloaded from Google unless they have been specified as free.
I was alarmed to learn that this happens quite a lot.
Learn the basics of SEO and Keyword research and ensure you implement them in your articles by default.
Keep maintaining and promoting your blog posts.
Keep it fresh and up to date by updating old posts, headlines, landing pages, images, and videos.
When the time is right, start doing guest postings on yours and other people’s blogs.
Also, reach out to influencers who could help give you more exposure to your work.
Do not ignore your site, emails, landing pages and social media analytics. Use the stats to help improve your blog and online content.
Plan to release your own digital or physical products to sell.
Whilst affiliate marketing and other business models can make good money for you, you want to make sure you produce something that you can call your own.
This is so you can earn 100% profit from it and will be in full control, where the odds are not against you.
Keep learning and experimenting by honing and perfecting your blogging skills.
Always respond to comments even if it is just a one-liner. This is the perfect opportunity to engage and connect with your audience.
Use your own unique voice and style.
Don’t choose the wrong niche.
Don’t forget to send regular emails to your subscribers.
Don’t copy other people. It is also not professional.
You cannot call yourself a worthy blogger if your do that.
Get informed, inspired and empowered, but do not steal from other people’s hard work and effort.
There can only be one you.
Write your own take on something that has inspired you from someone else’s work and where due give credit or cite where you got the information from.
After all, we have all been gifted with our own talents, abilities, brain, and creative thinking.
It was a major shocking call when I discovered my work was being copied by other bloggers, in some cases word by word or sentence by sentence even by the so-called experienced bloggers.
The people who do this don’t realize that they are doing a de-service to themselves.
They don’t know my intentions nor my thinking or what I intend to do in the future on the pieces I have written.
When you are starting out you may not have all the skills, be rest assured you will learn and get better at it over time but never plagiarise.
You are destined for greater things ahead of you, therefore I urge you to start your blogging journey in the right way.
I hope this introductory guide has given you a feel for how you can start a blog, be it for business or a hobby of your choice.
However, I must emphasize that this is not a complete guide on how to start a blog for beginners.
You may have to fill in some of the blanks where necessary, but be assured that there are many great tutorials out there that will show you how to use WordPress in the correct way for free.
As times goes by I will be releasing more content on blogging tips and tricks to help you on your blogging journey.
Meanwhile, please refer to the following awesome site for further information on blogging.
If You Have Enjoyed Reading The Beginners’ Guide On How To Start a Blog, Sign Up Below To Download Your Copy Of Blogging Best Practices Checklist!
Have you started your blog yet or are you thinking to create one? I would be interested to hear your story on blogging. Please leave me a comment below.
Thank you for stopping by Kah Shawon. Hope you enjoyed reading the article and learned something useful from it. Please help us spread the word around by sharing our content with your friends. I very much appreciate your feedback. All the best to you and your work.
Thank you for stopping by. Hope you are well. Not sure which marketing tool you are referring to but if you mean our Wealthy Affiliates training program then you are not wrong there.
We have a fantastic deal coming up for Black Fridays when you can secure a great discount for the year and save for your self some good money. Please check it out, you will not be disappointed.
It’s a wonderful blogging guide.
Excellent article on how to start a blog. You have explained everything in detail. This will be very helpful for newbies. Nice post!
Thank you so much for your feedback Kavitha. I do hope it, will sure help newbies when starting out their blogging journey. We all need to be pointed in the right direction every now and then.