Want to start a blog, but not sure from where to start? Even when I wanted to pursue my career in blogging, I was clueless that from where to start blogging….
I used to read articles about blogging, SEO and marketing, but it was kind of tough to find an article which can explain me how to start blogging in simple and easy language…
There were many online services available at that time which could have help me build my blog, write articles for me, promote them but I don’t think it’s a good idea.
I wanted to make blogging my full-time career and keep learning new things, so I decided to setup my blog all by myself…..
I learned, failed and tried again. The best part is that I am still learning and now blogging is my passion, something which makes me happy.
So, buckle yourself up and check out these steps in order to set up your own blog.
8 Steps Follow to Starting a Blog For Your Business
#1. Pick Up Your Niche:
Blogging is all about sharing information about the topic you like. I always prefer to blog on a subject that I am passionate about like blogging tips, technology and internet marketing and this is my Niche for blogging.
Thus, if you are passionate about cricket, then go for
cricket niche or if you are passionate about cars, then start car niche.
Image source : Problogger
Blogging is a process where we keep learning new things and after learning, we think and share our opinions with others. We get into discussion via comments, social networks and forums but this is where we can only share our opinion if we are interested in that topic.
That’s why, selecting an interesting niche helps you to build community and learn lots of new stuff.
I always suggest people to go for a niche that they are passionate about, thus you never bore while learning and sharing new topics of your niche.
Selecting something which you are passionate about will keep you motivated going forward.
#2. Choose A Right Blogging Platform:
When I decided to start blogging, I was very sure that this is something I want to pursue as my career forever and if you are the one who also want to create a blog for long-term then it’s better to choose a blogging platform that is self-hosted like WordPress.
Image source : WordPress.org
There are many free blogging platforms like Blogger, WordPress.com, TypePad, Weebly, Blog.com and Tumblr. Where we can initiate to start a blog for our business.
If you are interested to invest money in blogging, then I would recommend going for self-hosted blogging platform like WordPress as It provides me lots of benefits over free blogging platform..
like customization option for better search engine optimization, plugins, modules, attractive designing options, and more advertisers.
But if you are not one who is planning to invest in own hosted blogging platform than go for free blogging portals and later you can transfer to your own blogging website.
If you are confused with which kind of blogging platform to start with then check out following basic pros and cons of both self-hosted blog and free blogging platforms.
>Self-hosted blogs:
Self-hosted blogs are the ones which are stored on your own hosting/server. There are many companies which help you to create and provide all benefits of your own blogging platform. But you need to pay for that and you need to maintain the blog\’s design, coding all by yourself.
Pros :
- You are the owner. No company is going to delete your data or you don\’t have to lose your blog, if your hosted company gets closed.
- You can customize your blog as you wish. Make it as attractive as you want, with many free and attractive themes/plugins.
- You can change the design codes according to your needs.
- SEO can be done on easily on these.
- You can earn more money on your personal blogging website than hosted blogs because advertisers are more attracted to such type of Portals.
Cons:
- It requires initial investment to have a self-hosted blogging platform (Website).
- If you are not aware of CSS/HTML coding then you might find bit confusing to build a blog. But it\’s not tough to learn.
- You need to take regular backup of your content, because there is risk of hacking or deleting files.
- You need to manage your blog all by yourself like solving errors, managing updates, designs, etc.
>Free-Hosted blogs:
Starting a blog on Free blogging portals like WordPress.org, blogger, TypePad, Tumblr etc avail you the option to evade the initial spending. Of course there are a few limitations with free ones, but still worth giving a shot, if you are a newbie to blogging world….
As, I mentioned earlier that once you plan to become a successful blogger, you can always transfer your blog to your own hosting/server. Here are a few pros and cons of free hosted blogging platforms.
Pros:
- No initial investment required.
- No need to learn coding.
- Easy to publish articles and navigate. Easy to learn.
- Can setup your blog just in a few minutes.
Cons:
- You don’t own your blog. Thus if company gets close, you lose your blog.
- Fewer customizable options can make your blog look unprofessional or unattractive.
- Not much plug-in available.
- SEO is restrictive.
- Limited size of page and articles.
#3. Pick a domain name:
Here comes the crucial part while starting blogging, which is choosing Domain name. Once you have decided which blogging platform to use and your Niche, next step is to decide which domain name you want.
While choosing a domain name you have to consider a few things like:
It should be relevant to your Niche. Like if it’s a tech blog then you can go for “Geektech” or if it’s about kids then you can go for “kidspot”.
- Easy to remember: Make sure you don’t use to hard words that people have to look into dictionary. Domain name should be easy to remember because it’s going to be your brand and people should get it easily. Try to use .com, .in, .org and avoid using special characters like hyphen, thus domain name should be unique and easy to remember.
- Use keywords: Using keywords in your domain name is beneficial for both SEO and your target readers. Your target readers will find it easy to visit and remember your blog if you have keywords in it and Search Engines do considers having keyword in domain name.
- Use Domain checker tool: Not sure if the domain name you like is available or not? Then confirm it with Domain checker tools, there are a lot of domain checker tools available online for free which will help you to check that domain name is available or not.
- They even give you suggestion for new available domain names.
#4. Select a Web hosting:
Once you are done with Domain name, next step is to choose for web hosting. Web-hosting help you to provide storage space and access for website. You must have a web hosting for your domain.
There are different kinds of web hosting available like shared, virtual, cloud and dedicated.
All of them are having different storage capacity, technology, speed and reliability.
If you are planning for self-hosted blog then you need to have detailed information about Web hosting companies, their price, features, renewal price and support.
I generally look for reliable web hosting companies which are providing freebies, so that it costs me minimum. There are a few web hosting companies which provide free domain name when you purchase web hosting.
Web hosting is a huge topic and it would be tough for me to provide all the details here. Maybe in my next article, I will come up with detailed tips for purchasing web-hosting.
#5. Design Your Blog:
This part is my favourite. I love doing all tweaks and tricks to my blogs and its total fun. Designing is all about creative work and design of your website should be attractive and easy to navigate.
I hate blogs where I just can’t get right path to move to next page/ info.
Keep your audience in mind and then design your blog in user-friendly way, so that your blog can be visited frequently by non-techy readers too.
If you think it’s quite tough to learn all CSS coding and designing part then you can hire website designer/developers to make your blog attractive and appealing to readers.
#6. Writing Blog posts:
Of course, we all know that blogging is all about writing and sharing your views. While writing an article, you need to be very clear what you to deliver and who your target readers are.
One thing I always tell to newbie is that never ever copy contents of another writer. It’s always better to have your own writing style and views because that’s how you attract readers and get success.
Writing perfect article might seem a challenge in beginning,
but if you keep practising by reading and writing then you will surely succeed…
When I started writing, I used to write small articles about something I love and that time I used to just write for myself and my small targeted readers not for search engines….
Another point to remember is maintain frequency for your blog post, like if you are publishing your articles everyday or once in a week then stick to this frequency otherwise you might drive away your readers.
Apply these tips and I am sure you will write wonderful articles.
#7. SEO (Search Engine Optimization):
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO makes your website easy to search by both readers and search engine robots and thus improve your search engine rankings. Many bloggers don\’t know how to optimize their blogs for Google and other search pages. So Try to learn Optimization tips or Join SEO training course in delhi before blogging.
If SEO is done properly with the help of right keywords, Meta tags, attributes then the chances to rank your website on top results of search engine increases.
Users, who look for information via search engines, generally look up on first page of search engine results and SEO helps your blog to get in top list.
In short, It is the best way to optimize your website to drive more targeted traffic. If you want to invest money in internet marketing services then there are many companies available online who can provide you with perfect SEO On Page and Off-Page solutions.
#8. Internet Marketing :
We all know that when you have to sell or provide services you need to have some marketing strategy for your business and it goes in same way with blogging.
When you have to make your blog popular, the best way to go is to do internet marketing so that you can target right readers for your blog.
But make sure you are aware who your right audience is and which platform is best for branding your blog. There are many ways to market your blog and drive traffic to your blog.
A few of them are like email marketing, content marketing, PPC Ads and social media marketing.
If you know about the internet marketing then it is very good either you can learn internet marketing.
These days we prefer to stay more active online rather spending time with friends and family.
So, in order to attract such audience, we need to target social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ , YouTube, Emails, guest articles on other blogs, banner advertisements etc…..
These social media platforms are the best way to drive traffic, gather new information and make connections.
If I am not writing any blog post then I prefer to stay connected with my social networking groups so that I can market my blogs and drive more traffic.
Internet marketing is not a few minutes or one day game. You need to be active on all social networking websites, frequency of guest’s posts, commenting and making connection to keep driving traffic to your blog.
But make sure you never ever do spamming because it’s a big no-no these days and it might drive away traffic and your online image too.
Above are a few things which are required to give a kick start to your blogging. I always keep patience when it comes to blogging and that’s how you should do.
Making money and driving traffic to your blog, both needs time and you need to work smartly to gain both.
Many bloggers quit blogging because of lack of patience and those who are positive and passionate about blogging get success, thus have patience and passion to pursue your dream.
Best of luck for your blogging career and do drop us comments about your views and experience about blogging basics.
