How to begin a blog in 6 steps (Platforms SEO, platforms, and more) |
Are you ready to know how to begin with a blog? This guide will help all of you. From hosting to SEO, take these steps to get your blog online and operating.
The fact is that blogging ought to make up a portion of your marketing strategy. It's an effective method to draw in new readers and to share your knowledge with the world.
Yet each time you get up and attempt to get started on your path to blogging excellence You are flooded with questions.
Which platform should I choose?
How much will it cost?
What should I write about?
How do I get people to read my posts?
What is SEO?
It's enough to make your head turn. That's why we put together this step-by-step guide for starting a blog.
Beginning a blog with success is difficult however the rewards both for your business and visitors are definitely worth it. With the proper information and the right tools at your side, you'll be able to develop a website that users and yourself will enjoy.
Let's get started How do you decide what to blog about?
One of the best methods to make money from your blog is by selling digital products. Get started selling your products for no cost right now!
Step 1: Choose the blog's topic.
One of the best aspects of blogging is that you can start a blog about pretty much any topic in the world.
Many people are in love withblogs. Seventy-seven percent of Internet users are avid readers of blogs. people who use the internet in the U.S. are spending 3 times more time on blogs than on email. Therefore, if you're a fan of a topic, chances are there's an readership that feels the same way and wants to read about the subject.
Here are just a few examples of blogs that have been successful as well as their respective niches:
Web developer Daniel Bogan's blog, Uses This This blog is dedicated to interviewing creators and designers of different kinds on the tools and methods they employ to create.
On her blog, Kaleigh Moore provides her expertise as a freelance writer on behalf of eCommerce & SaaS companies.
Scientist and neuroscientist Stefanie Faye Frank makes use of the blog of hers to "translate complicated concepts in science into a language that is used in everyday life".
One thing all of these blogs share the same thing? Specificity.
Instead of blogging about general freelancing, Kaleigh talks about writing in her niche. Rather than including travel tips for groups of any size, Queenie focuses on advice on solo travel for those who are like her.
To find your own specific niche, consider using this Passion/Profit Matrix.
The Passion Are you excited to get started on this? If you hate being a part of something, its profits aren't important, because you're more likely to quit before reaching the goal.
Profit potential:Do people already spend money to solve this problem? You can also imagine "profit" here as interest or search traffic. Have people been researching this topic?
( Download your own copy of the matrix for Passion/Profit .)
A good product ideaor a niche to your blog, falls in the upper-right quadrant. It is the nexus between enthusiasm and potential for profit.
When you have found that ideal sweet spot, content marketing consultant Ryan Robinson recommends you ask yourself the following questions to validate your idea:
Are you interested enough about this niche of blog? Choose a niche that you don't feel comfortable with just because it seems attractive.
Are there paying readers in this specific to this niche? Or, in other words, are there items or services that target the same audience? If you're looking to make income blogging, you'll need an income-generating audience.
Do you think this particular niche will remain in the years in the future? It isn't easy to make a popular blog, so choose a topic you can write about over the long term rather than a passing fad.
Once you choose what you want your blog to be, you'll need to decide which location you'll use to host it.
Step 2: Pick a blogging platform
Starting from Tumblr and Blogger up to Medium and Wix There are many blogging platforms on the market.
With around 70 million blog posts posted through the platform each month, WordPress is by far the most used alternative. More than 28 million sites use WordPress as opposed to 4 million on Squarespace.
But, Squarespace can be more accessible for novices, particularly when you do not have prior experience with coding.
This is how these two platforms stack up when comes to features, customization, and cost.
(A brief note (A quick note: The costs listed in this article are accurate at the time at the time of writing.)
Squarespace
For first-time website builders, Squarespace is an easy-to-use platform that does not require any programming skills. Its drag-and-drop interface has a more lenient training curve than WordPress.
The simple block interface comes at the cost of flexibility and customization options. Squarespace has fewer themes, plugins, and themes as WordPress as well as doesn't provide nearly as much dedicated blogging functionality.
In general, Squarespace is a website builder with simple blogging tools, rather than a platform that was designed for bloggers.
How much does Squarespace cost?
Along with a 14-day free trial, Squarespace offers four different pricing plans . Prices range from $23 to $65 per month, paid monthly, or $16 to $49 per month paid annually.
They come with unlimited storage as well as a free domain for the first year, and unless you require e-commerce capabilities, the lower two tiers should work just fine to run your blog.
WordPress
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) built to cater to bloggers. It comes with the built-in templates as well as tools for blogging. These include:
Post scheduling
Editing
Comments from the Managing Committee
Multi-author advantage & Multi-lingual setting
Technical SEO
WordPress also has a large selection of both free and paid blogger-specific plugins, as well as thousands of no-cost WordPress themes designed specifically for blog sites.
Then, what's the caveat?
If you're looking to build an individual blog and website, WordPress has a steeper education curve than Squarespace and makes it difficult to grasp the platform for novice bloggers. It doesn't have a drag-and-drop feature, and you'll need a basic HTML understanding to personalize your WordPress website.
Do not let this scare you away, though. Set up of a basic WordPress blog does not require any hacker technical expertise, and since WordPress is so well-known There are a lot of free resources out there to help you learn the basics of.
How much will WordPress cost?
WordPress can be used for free However, you will require a fee for hosting, custom domain name, themes, and plugins.
According to blogging expert Ryan Robinson , the starting investment for the creation of a WordPress website ranges from $140 to $200. The recurring cost with WordPress are likely to be less than with Squarespace.
Squarespace vs. WordPress: Which should you choose?
This is an comprehensive breakdown of the major differences between the two platforms:
Although the process of learning for WordPress is steeper The possibilities of customizing your blog are practically endless. Squarespace is a site builder. WordPress is a CMS initially designed for bloggers.
All of this in mind, WordPress is the better blog hosting choice for creators and bloggers seeking to develop, grow, and eventually make money from their blogs.
Next up, let's talk about how to start your blog with WordPress.
Step 3: Setup your blog
To get your WordPress blog running, you need two things:
Domain names
Web hosting plans
The domain name you choose is the address where your blog or website is located. If your blog serves as your website's home base then your domain name will be your web address.
Create your domain name your blog's name when it's in use. Don't add unnecessary confusion to your clients using a non-related URL.
But what is the best option if you don't own a blog orblog with a name?
Think of business mindset expert Becky Mollenkamp For instance. Becky's blog as well as her digital services concentrate on sharing her own experience with others in order to assist them succeed.
Becky Mollenkamp is her own brand name, therefore it's logical to choose beckymollenkamp.com as a business and domain name.
If you're stuck, consider using a domain name generator, such as Nameboy, Lean Domain Search or Nameboy . Input keywords, and then the generators will come up with a list of available names for domains.
Once you finally find the ideal name and you've decided to go ahead, register it with a website hosting company.
We recommend Bluehost . One of the largest web hosting providers in the world, Bluehost offers free domain registration for the first year with every hosting plan. Their most basic plan starts with $2.95/month.
If you're looking to invest an extra amount, Bluehost also offers managed hosting accounts for WordPress websites.
The managed hosting plans begin with $19.95/mo.
In addition for a replacement to Bluehost, Siteground is home to more than 2,000,000 domains. It is also known for having some of the best customer service in the industry. From $4.99/mo, Siteground is slightly more expensive than Bluehost's basic plans, but if you are concerned that you will require tech support frequently, they could be your best option.
When you've picked the hosting service you'll need to set up your blog in WordPress. This means setting up WordPress on your website selecting and setting up plugins, and finding the right theme and installing it.
If you think hiring a WordPress developer is out of your reach I would recommend these thorough instructions from WPBeginner , the largest Free WordPress resource:
What exactly is the definition of a WordPress plugin?
How to install the HTML0 theme on a WordPress theme
Be aware the fact that your WordPress blog doesn't need to feature the most luxurious premium themes or the shiniest plugins in order to make excellent blog content. It just has to work before you begin writing and publishing your posts.
Step 4: Start writing
It is possible to open an entire new document, then begin writing off the top of your head, and hope that it will be the most successful.
A few people do really work the best method.
I'm not one of those individuals. If you aren't either Let me introduce you to my blogger BFF: outlining.
The process of drafting your outline saves you time, allows you to stay well-organized, and allows you to organize your material so that it makes the most sense to the reader. You can jot your outline down by hand and then use Google Docs, Dropbox Paper, or Microsoft Word.
Here's the way that the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) suggests writers write their outline:
Think about it:List all the ideas that you'd like to put within your blog post.
Organise:Group related ideas together in sections.
Order:Arrange your ideas into subsections.
Tag:Add headings and subheadings to your blog post.
The team responsible for content utilizes this template to define each section of our blog posts:
[Header title]
The Main Theme:
Stats:
Case Study:
Examples:
When you've completed your outline, you're ready to start writing -- even if you may not have the confidence to do so.
Just start writing.
Don't pressure yourself to find exact words or to avoid spelling mistakes in all circumstances. There is always the option to revisit and revise your work later. The most important thing is to continue writing. Before you know it you'll be writing a post which is ready to be edited into a gorgeous blog article.
It's not that writing isn't the most efficient method, but.
A typical blog post can take nearly 4 hours to complete.
Amanda Nielsen of New Breed Marketing told Databox , "You can reap a wealth of SEO benefits by transcribing videos. If you have the bandwidth make a transcript written and a blog post for the purpose of promoting your video."
Don't have time to transcribe your own videos? Consider an on-demand provider like REV or an automatic transcription tool like Sonix .
When you've written your blog post -- whether starting from scratch or using a templatethen it's time to revise.
Coming back to your work after a few minutes of absence helps to bring you back to your perspective. This means that you're more likely to catch minor errors.
You can also use tools similar to Grammarly However, it shouldn't never replace an actual human editor -- even when you're self-editing.
Grammarly helps you identify spelling and grammar mistakes, provides synonyms for common terms, and gives a lot of tips and tricks for no cost.
Grammarly's AI sometimes misses errors (or discovers mistakes where there are none), so make sure that you read your documents carefully. You can also have someone else look over it for you.
Finally, you're ready to publish your very first blog post -- as well as plan a timetable to follow for the remainder.
The creation of a schedule for publishing helps you hold yourself accountable. I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to create a blog for my personal use I've written a post and never returned to publish another.
It's good to know that you don't need publish new blog posts every the day (or maybe even each week) to build a successful blog. In the case of blogging content, it's all about quality over quantity. The longer, deeper, and well-researched posts perform better.
HubSpot states that the optimal length for a blog post to rank for SEO is between 2100 and 2,400 words. A survey of Orbit Media found that the majority of bloggers who write 3000-word or more articles have "strong results".
According to Jay Baer of Convince and Convert explained to Orbit Media , "Blogging was once a newspaper on the internet that featured a variety of brief pieces, which were published regularly. Now, it's an online magazine: a few longer posts published less frequently."
5. Optimize your website for search (SEO)
Search engine optimization can mean the difference between a good blog with just a few viewers and an outstanding blog bringing in visitors by the thousands.
Content that is optimized will show up better on search results that include pertinent keywords and phrases. The more optimized your content, easier it will be for users to find it through search.
In addition, considering that Google's organic search accounts of five-thirds of the web traffic so grabbing one of the highest positions on the results page matters. The top five results on any Google search account for 67.6% of all clicks .
Plus, SEO can play a big role in how profitable your blog grows. Bloggers who have a salary of more than $50,000 per year consider organic, unpaid Google traffic as the most important marketing channel for their blogs.
SEO is also less expensive than traditional advertisements -- and is more efficient. A Databox study revealed 70% of marketers say they believe that SEO is more effective than pay-per click ads in generating sales. This is the reason nearly 64 percent of marketers are actively investing time into SEO.
It's a good thing the fact that launching a blog now puts you ahead of being ahead of the SEO game. Websites with blogs get an greater chance of 434% to perform well in the search results page (SERP).
Even better news: If you have your own WordPress blog and you are using the Yoast SEO plugin, Yoast SEO plugin can help you improve the content you publish right from your WordPress web editor.
Here's how it will work:
You enter the phrase or keyword you would like your blog post to rank for.
Yoast checks your text and informs you if you're using the keyword enough and in the right spots for example, headers.
Yoast allows you to look at how your blog post might appear on the Google search result page.
On the backend, Yoast generates and applies schema.org structures and organized data that "helps [search engines] discover what each element of your site means as well as who it belongs to, and how everything connects".
Additionally, you can employ keywords research tools, such as Ahrefs' Keyword Generator for a better understanding of the sort of content your reader seeks. They also tell you the difficulty of getting the content to be ranked for certain keywords, plus how many times a keyword is searched in a month.
This can help you get your ideal search term .
What does all of this search engine optimization look at in practice?
If I'm a busy parent that is struggling to keep my family's budget, then I might Google a phrase like "budgeting for moms who are busy".
The highlighted snippet from the search "budgeting for moms who are busy" shows the article from Simplified motherhood. It's a blog that helps busy moms stay organized.
When you optimize your blog with a keyword search and you are more likely to have the chance of showing up on the first page or a couple of results. The people you want to attract are more likely to discover your content, visit your blog, and, when they are confident in your knowledge to purchase your digital items.
For more SEO strategies and tips look at these websites:
All in all, SEO is a must-have for bloggers. But it's far from the only option to expand your following.
Step 6: Grow your audience
Blogging is a two-way street A blog's creation can help you grow your readership, while marketing to your readers could help to increase the number of visitors to your blog. Blogs that have a presence generate about 67 percent more leads over those who don't.
Below are three of our top methods to attract new email subscribers as well as blog readers.
1. Collect emails with opt-in form
Trainer and developer Reuven Lerner uses his blog to increase his email list by including an opt-in page on his blog.
Make sure you have a clear call-to-action (CTA). Offer a reason that they should subscribe to your list of email subscribers -for example "Teach me more Python!" from Reuven's example.
Set expectations. Let your customers know what you'll provide them with and when they'll be contacted by you.
One of the best method to turn blog users into readers is to offer the visitors something worth their time to exchange their contact information.
2. Incentivize subscribers to sign up with lead magnets
If they give you their email address, you give them useful information. It's a win-win situation.
Lead magnets show potential customers how they should feel confident in them. Lead magnets that are effective include actionable, informative information that is targeted towards your particular audience and their pain points.
To create a content upgrade:
Find the pages on your website that results in the most traffic.
Incorporate the information on the page that is relevant.
Turn more readers into subscribers.
If you're in need of a space to store your digital downloads -- whether they're digital products available for sale, or even free lead magnets, take an look at . Try it out for free right now.
Lead magnets and opt-in forms can be great methods to convert readers of your blog into customers. But beyond sharing your blog's posts on social media, how do you get these blog followers from the beginning? Our third and final tip has you covered.
3. Guest post on blogs of other bloggers
Guest posting is a great method to connect with a wider public, particularly when you post on a more popular blog.
Here are some of the most important advantages of blog guest posts :
Increase the number of backlinks.
Enhance Domain Authority (a search engine ranking score).
Bring traffic to your site.
Increase the visibility of your brand.
This is probably the reason 60% of bloggers write between one and five guest posts each month.
Before you are able to write a guest post it is necessary to pitch it. In order to present it to the world, you must to locate blogs within your field that allow guest post submissions.
These are a few websites to get you started:
The list includes 200+ websites and blogs currently accepting guest posts
List of 150+ sites to guest post
Most well-established blogs that accept guest post submissions usually provide writing and pitching guidelines that you must follow similar to these on Practical Wanderlust's site .
When your pitch is approved You write the post after which the blog posts the guest article. Then you can post the link on your social media followers and email list to give the post extra exposure and the possibility of referral traffic.
After you've increased your readership and you have a larger audience, you are able to monetize your blog. Learn more about commercialization to begin turning a profit:
The time is now to blog'
Starting a blog isn't always straightforward. If you're willing to put in the work and use the appropriate instruments and sources, blogging will assist you in reaching new audiences as well as share your experience as well as boost your profits.
To recap, here are the six steps to follow in order to begin your blog:
Pick a niche and topic to your blog. Discover something you and your audience love.
Pick a blogging platform. Squarespace and WordPress are the top two options, and in terms of customization and blogging features, WordPress is a clear winner.
Set up your blog. Select and sign up for a domain name and purchase a hosting plan.
Start writing your first post. Make an outline of your ideas for inspiration, then make a calendar of your publishing to hold yourself accountable.
Optimize your blog for search. SEO is the number one method that successful blogs gain traffic as well as lets the ideal audience locate you and your content.
Expand your reach with opt-in forms, lead magnets, and guest posts. When you have built up your readership and email list it is possible to make money off your blog.
With this fresh information about blogging now, you're on your path to becoming a successful blogger. Now get out there and write.