How to Start a Blog
Starting a blog can be difficult if you don’t know where to start. What’s hosting? What’s an affiliate link? How do you make money from a blog? There are so many questions that people have when they are first starting out in the online world. However, if you have made it this far and you’re reading about how to start a blog, chances are that you have done a bit of research. There is no wrong or right way to blog, and there’s no wrong or right way to make money from the blog. Even though the latter may take a few months or in some cases, years. Let’s talk about just getting off the ground.
Pick a Niche
What do you love to do? Do you love to travel? Do you love talking about your day-to-day life? Maybe you know some great recipes or coupon deals that you want to share with the world. Whatever the case may be, the first step in starting a blog is choosing a topic and becoming an expert in that area. If you know a lot about business you can write about starting businesses and offer resources for small business owners. If you like travelling you can choose to document your travels, whether it’s around the world or just in your local area. The point is this; pick a topic, and be genuine. You won’t gain any readers if you’re blogging about business and you don’t know the first thing about business! There are no limits to topics you can choose from. Just take a look around and read blogs that you like. Take what works well to you and capitalize on it. Take whatever you don’t like about that certain blog and ask yourself how you would do it differently and then do it!
Choose a Host
Just like topics, there are a ton of options when it comes to hosting your blog. There are free options, and paid options. If you’re just starting out and you don’t know how serious your blog will become you can always start with one of the free options and move your way up to a paid membership. A couple free platforms are WordPress, blogger, or even Tumblr. These allow you to mess around (with limited functionality of course) and see what works. This is the lowest risk possible when trying to see what kind of audience is out there for the particular niche you’ve chosen. If you want to get a little more serious then you can self host on a platform with the paid version of WordPress (just as an example). You’ll need to create a domain, mine is lifeinabreakdown.com. I own the domain and have it hosted with a different service. There are many easy options for this for beginners. Sites like Lyrical Host (affiliate link) have hosting + domain options and they are generally very straight forward. A quick Google search will bring you many options for hosting once you have a domain secured and hosting reviews such as this one can help you find the best service for your needs.
Start Writing and Have Fun!
Once you’ve figured out a niche, a domain, and a host, just start writing! Be genuine and don’t ever steal content! You’ll gain an audience slowly at first with a few loyal readers every week. A great piece of advice is to create a blogging schedule and stick to it. If your audience is expecting a post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, try to stick with that schedule. Have fun and interact with your readers. Of course, there are going to be a couple of negative people here and there but it’s usually best to just ignore them.
Starting a blog is an exciting experience and sharing your writing, life, or adventures with the world is extremely rewarding! You will meet so many people in the community and you’ll have a lot of fun. If you have any questions about starting a blog, feel free to reach out down in the comments and I’ll try to help you wherever I can. This community is a wonderful thing to be a part of and I’d love to hear about your journey! Thanks for reading!
Great blog and some great tips for starting a blog, I think it’s important to have a niche and write about things your passionate about so you can appeal to an audience with similar interests 🙂
Trouble is, I’m a perfectionist! My “waiting to go live” blog will probably never go live because every day I review it and change the few posts I’ve written.
Hi Sarah I remembered that I had seen you writing about starting a blog so came to you for some advice. I’ve learned a lot already from what you have written above, but have a question.
It is actually my teen daughter who is about to start a blog and we have been looking at getting her a domain name. She would like to remain anonymous. One of the options on registering a name is to pay extra for privacy? Apparently otherwise her name will be on a register somewhere online. I have followed yours and others blogs for some years and didn’t know of this.
Did you pay the money for protection or do you feel that is needless. I want to keep costs to a minimum for her. Go Daddy seem to be the cheapest at present, but for the privacy option.
Thanks x
Perfect tips for newbies. Very easy to understand. A lot would like to explore our world I hope it is really for the passion and not just to earn money.
Great tips for a newbie blogger, sometimes people ask me how they can start and what can they do and a million questions on how I started and why lol… I always answer their questions and give them tips on how they can start their own blog. Its nice to be supportive and help others with their dreams.
It is hard isn’t it, I sort of just did it and winged it when I started but hopefully this will help some people. x
Good tips! Your post helps new bloggers to start a blog 🙂 I’d refer this to my friends so they should come to read yours 🙂
Aw thank you so much – I really hope it helps them 🙂 x
These are great tips for newbies. I would love to share this with my mom who wants to start a blog now.
Ohh how exciting I hope she manages to set it up 🙂 x
I have a friend who always ask how to start blogging and I am tired of explaining always. I will give this link to her. You’re my hero. Lol. Thanks for the great tips.
This is such straightforward advice. I’m a novice blogger and looks like I’m not too far off the mark. The advice about scheduling is priceless – I’m so sporadic and I know that that is the next essential factor I must get to grips with!
Thanks
I’ve been blogging for over 5 years now and I still learn something new literally every single day. It’s a world that is always changing with the new apps, technology, and methods of marketing. I do love it and always support people who are new to the arena!
I am the same – I don’t think I will ever know “everything”. x
I like blogging. It’s fun, almost therapeutic. But I do get lost in product reviews because that brings me numbers. It was nice to blog from the heart, but no one came to visit, lol. 🙂
Such great tips in getting started in the blogging world!
I started my blog with nothing learn through blog reading. I just went with my instinct and gut to do it. My first blog post was nothing like a short paragraph haha!
These are great tips for beginners! Picking a niche to write about is definitely important in the beginning!
Sensible tips for bloggers on the wings, waiting to take off.
Blogging can be hard if you don’t know where to start. It’s great to have helpful advice from someone who has experience.
These are great! I had to learn with a lot of trial and error, lol! I am so glad that you are sharing this with the newer bloggers.
I was the same when I started – I had no idea what I was doing at all – was all a bit of a mess lol. x
I started my blog in feb but only really started blogging from april and you’re so right, it is an amazing community to be a part of. so supportive.
Great tips and well defined.
It is such a wonderful community – I have made amazing friends through it that is for sure. x
I love being in the blogging community and finding people with similar thoughts as me. Awesome article!
It is amazing isn’t it – you find so many people with similar thoughts as you. x
These are great tips! Picking a niche to write about is definitely important when you first start.
Yes – I have to admit it is one part that I probably failed on in many ways 😉 lol x
Great advise to any new blogger. It can seem daunting but it is very rewarding.
It realy can seem so over whelming at first can’t it – but so worth the time and effort. x