How to start a blog - Beginners Guide for 2018
- Jessica Knapp's Guide (updated March 19, 2018)
So, you want to start a blog huh? Great idea!
But ... how the hell do you start? There is so much information on the web, and everyone tells you to do different things. Who are you listening to? Where is the starting point?
Damn it, maybe you should forget it, it's too confusing!
Well, wait. I used to be a newbie in blogs too. I had the same problems. I started my blog (BloggingBasics101.com) in 2006, and I knew less than anything about blogs. In fact, it was only a week before I knew what a blog was.
Now I know a lot about them, and my blog is doing pretty well. I receive more than 300,000 unique visitors per month, which makes me consider myself someone who can be heard and learned when it comes to building your own blog. I'm not a type of guru, but I certainly know the basics.
I promise that it will be simple, relatively easy and definitely easy to understand (it's not stupid lingo). Sounds good?
Awesome, let's move on.
Why you should create a blog and join the blog community
Next, I will describe exactly what you must do to start and set up your own personal blog. However, before diving, I really want to talk about WHY you should build a blog.
Note: If you already have a solid idea of why, skip it and continue with the guide.
1. Blogs have quickly become one of the most popular forms of communication and dissemination of information and news. Literally there are millions of blogs online (do not worry, you can make yours stand out and be noticed!).
2. It's a great way to express yourself and also a fantastic way to share information with others.
3. You become a better person and a better writer.
4. The best reason? You can earn money by doing it!
I bet you already knew all that, but it's good to be reminded.
One last thing before starting:
Creating your own blog can take a little time, probably up to 30 minutes. So have a coffee or a juice (whatever you want) and let's work. If you need help during the configuration process, get in touch with me and I will help you as much as possible and answer any questions you may have. could have).
Disclosure: this guide to start your own blog contains some affiliate links. If you buy a service through one of these links, you may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
The steps covered in this blog guide
It is not as difficult as setting up a website from scratch (here very little technical skill is needed). In fact, there is no coding required by you. Good news, huh?
How to start a blog in 5 steps:
There are five main steps you must follow to start a blog. If you follow this guide exactly, you will have your own blog set up in 30 minutes or less.
1. Choose a great blog platform
2. Choose a web host for your blog
3. How to set up a blog in your own domain
4. Design your new blog
5. Useful resources for blogging
Then, we succeed. Phew. Better late than never! So, without further ado, let's go to step 1.
Step 1: choose your preferred blog platform
Choosing where you want to build the blog is practically the first thing you have to do. I'm going to take a leap and assume you've heard about WordPress, and this is the platform I defend. It is massive.
It is, by far, one of the largest blogging platforms in the world, with innumerable complements and complements and almost endless ways to design and design your blog.
There are more than 82 million active users of WordPress = a lot, basically.
However, there are other alternatives that are listed below:
• Blogger: definitely the best option for WordPress.
• Tumblr - Media social network, blog half. Interesting, and very simple to use.
Even though WordPress is bigger (and probably better) than those two, here are my reasons why you should still go with WordPress:
1. Super easy configuration and is free to use
2. Tons of themes and free designs (I'm not kidding, there are trillions).
3. There is a massive support forum in case you get stuck (it will not, but it's good to have it there if you need it).
4. Your blog will be incredibly fast and you will also see Functionality and form, perfect!
5. People can interact with you easily. Your content can be shared, commented, etc.
Here is an article about different blog platforms (including WordPress), read it:
How to choose a blog platform - (updated for 2018)
Now, step 2 (look, we're moving fast now!)
Step 2: Self-housing or a free alternative?
Whoa, stop there! This is the most important decision you will have to make before moving on. You must decide whether to pay for your blog or buy one for free.
WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger offer free blogs for anyone. Awesome, right? It's perfect for those of us who are not super serious about blogging. But it has disadvantages:
1) You will not be able to obtain your own domain name
In a free blog, the web address of your blog (your URL) will be ugly. Like, really ugly. In summary, create a free blog with any of the other free blog services above and it will look like this:
• yourblog.wordpress.com
• yourblog.blogspot.com
• yourblog.tumblr.com
I know, ugly, right?
2) Limits and more limits
There are some limits to free blogs. You can not completely monetize it, and you do not have the ability to upload all those videos and images that you want to show everyone: everything is limited. Worse yet, you will not even have access to the free themes offered by WordPress.
3) YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR OWN Blog
It may sound silly at first, but in reality you do not own your blog. It is hosted on another person's web property and can be deleted if they wish. They have done it in the past and continue to do so in the future. What all your hard work means in your blog, all those countless hours of blog posts can disappear in a matter of seconds. Sad…
On the other hand, with a blog hosted on your own domain name, you are the REAL owner of your blog. You can name your blog as you wish, for example, "YourName.com" or "YourAwesomeBlog.com". You can end it with .com, .co.uk, .net, .org or practically with any other web suffix. Add to that an unlimited bandwidth for videos, images and content plus free themes and you will have a winning combo.
So, how much is the hosting and a domain name? Not as much as you're thinking, fortunately. It usually runs between $ 5 and $ 10 per month, depending on your hosting provider, which is less than a couple of cafes.
If you still have questions, here is more information so you can see:
• Should I choose a hosted or non-hosted blog platform?
Step 3: Create a blog in your own domain (if you choose self-hosting and a custom domain)
I will go ahead with the premise that you have chosen WordPress, and if you have not done so, you should do it. Seriously, it's the best.
If you are still a bit confused by what a blog hosted on a server is, let me explain and how you can configure it for you.
You will have to find a domain name that you like and also choose a hosting company that can host your blog.
• Domain: the domain is basically the URL of your website. Examples: google.com (Google.com is the domain), Facebook.com (Facebook.com is the domain). See? Simple!
• Hosting: Hosting is basically the company that puts its website on the Internet so that everyone can see it. Everything will be stored there. Think of it as a computer hard drive on the Internet where your blog will be saved.
Personally, I use iPage (for the domain of my blog and my hosting), and I only have good things to say about it. It is probably one of the cheapest hosting providers (less than $ 2.50 per month) there is. A domain name will cost around $ 10-15 per year, but with iPage they release it for free :). Big smiles for that! They are the providers that I use for all my blogs, including the one that is reading at this moment.
If for some reason you do not want to go with iPage, you can choose your own hosting company. Most, if not all, should have a WordPress installation solution "with a single click" in their admin panel.
That button will automatically install WordPress on your blog. Did I say it was simple or what?
All you need to do is register with iPage (or your chosen provider), choose your hosting plan and a domain name and search for the WordPress installation button with a single click on the admin panel.
The essential elements of WordPress are often not necessary, but I would recommend the privacy of whois (which will keep all your personal data private) and definitely automated backup copies (this will save your website in case something goes wrong or goes away, so it does not you will lose any or very little of your blog).
I have a deeper tutorial on building a blog with iPage here.
Start a blog with iPage today and get an exclusive discount plus a free domain name
Once WordPress is installed on your website, all you have to do to start blogging is to go to your WP-Admin page generally www.yourblognamehere.com/wp-admin and start writing by adding a new publication.
At first, the design seems confusing, but it quickly becomes very comprehensible. Do not warry
Step 4 - Design your WordPress blog
Now, the fun part.
Let's make your blog look exactly as you want it. To choose a new theme, you can head to Appearance> Themes and install a free WordPress theme or you can head to a premium theme website like ThemeForest.net and buy a theme for around $ 40.
Usually, I choose something that looks professional and quite easy to customize. WordPress also has this amazing feature that allows you to change themes with just a few clicks. So, if you start getting tired of your current blog template, you can switch to another without losing any valuable content or images.
Remember, the design of your blog should reflect both you and your personality, but also what the blog is about. It does not make sense to have a soccer theme if your blog is about tennis, do you understand?
On top of that, it should be easy to navigate if you want people to stay. If it is complicated and difficult to move, people will not stay. Design is a subjective art; which means that everyone likes different things.
But nobody likes ugly websites, and they especially hate websites that need a college degree to navigate. Make it easy for them.
To read more, I have collected 3 blog posts about how to design your blog. Feel free to review them.
• Blog Design: Keep It Clutter Free and easy to use
• Advice for the design of blogs and blog objectives
• Is there any software that I can use to make my own graphics, buttons and banners?
Last step! Court!
Step 5 - Useful resources for beginners Bloggers
Bloggers come to the blog arena with varying degrees of online experience and social networks, but we've all made more than a few new mistakes: there's always room for more learning and improvement, whether you're a beginner or have been blogging for years.
These articles can help you avoid some of the growing pains when it comes to your first blog: enjoy!
• 5 initial blog errors that can be solved
• Choose a blogging niche
• How we communicate: Frequently asked questions for beginners in Bloggers
• 7 ways to increase your success as a blogger
And that is! I'm more than sure that your initial blog setup should be finished and ready to go, and all of that should have been really easy (unlike my first time, hopefully!). If you have problems installing WordPress on iPage, this guide can help.
If for some unfortunate circumstance you get stuck or have any questions about how to create a blog, just contact me or leave a comment below. I will help you with any problem.
Enjoy your new blog!
- Jessica Knapp's Guide (updated March 19, 2018)
So, you want to start a blog huh? Great idea!
But ... how the hell do you start? There is so much information on the web, and everyone tells you to do different things. Who are you listening to? Where is the starting point?
Damn it, maybe you should forget it, it's too confusing!
Well, wait. I used to be a newbie in blogs too. I had the same problems. I started my blog (BloggingBasics101.com) in 2006, and I knew less than anything about blogs. In fact, it was only a week before I knew what a blog was.
Now I know a lot about them, and my blog is doing pretty well. I receive more than 300,000 unique visitors per month, which makes me consider myself someone who can be heard and learned when it comes to building your own blog. I'm not a type of guru, but I certainly know the basics.
I promise that it will be simple, relatively easy and definitely easy to understand (it's not stupid lingo). Sounds good?
Awesome, let's move on.
Why you should create a blog and join the blog community
Next, I will describe exactly what you must do to start and set up your own personal blog. However, before diving, I really want to talk about WHY you should build a blog.
Note: If you already have a solid idea of why, skip it and continue with the guide.
1. Blogs have quickly become one of the most popular forms of communication and dissemination of information and news. Literally there are millions of blogs online (do not worry, you can make yours stand out and be noticed!).
2. It's a great way to express yourself and also a fantastic way to share information with others.
3. You become a better person and a better writer.
4. The best reason? You can earn money by doing it!
I bet you already knew all that, but it's good to be reminded.
One last thing before starting:
Creating your own blog can take a little time, probably up to 30 minutes. So have a coffee or a juice (whatever you want) and let's work. If you need help during the configuration process, get in touch with me and I will help you as much as possible and answer any questions you may have. could have).
Disclosure: this guide to start your own blog contains some affiliate links. If you buy a service through one of these links, you may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
The steps covered in this blog guide
It is not as difficult as setting up a website from scratch (here very little technical skill is needed). In fact, there is no coding required by you. Good news, huh?
How to start a blog in 5 steps:
There are five main steps you must follow to start a blog. If you follow this guide exactly, you will have your own blog set up in 30 minutes or less.
1. Choose a great blog platform
2. Choose a web host for your blog
3. How to set up a blog in your own domain
4. Design your new blog
5. Useful resources for blogging
Then, we succeed. Phew. Better late than never! So, without further ado, let's go to step 1.
Step 1: choose your preferred blog platform
Choosing where you want to build the blog is practically the first thing you have to do. I'm going to take a leap and assume you've heard about WordPress, and this is the platform I defend. It is massive.
It is, by far, one of the largest blogging platforms in the world, with innumerable complements and complements and almost endless ways to design and design your blog.
There are more than 82 million active users of WordPress = a lot, basically.
However, there are other alternatives that are listed below:
• Blogger: definitely the best option for WordPress.
• Tumblr - Media social network, blog half. Interesting, and very simple to use.
Even though WordPress is bigger (and probably better) than those two, here are my reasons why you should still go with WordPress:
1. Super easy configuration and is free to use
2. Tons of themes and free designs (I'm not kidding, there are trillions).
3. There is a massive support forum in case you get stuck (it will not, but it's good to have it there if you need it).
4. Your blog will be incredibly fast and you will also see Functionality and form, perfect!
5. People can interact with you easily. Your content can be shared, commented, etc.
Here is an article about different blog platforms (including WordPress), read it:
How to choose a blog platform - (updated for 2018)
Now, step 2 (look, we're moving fast now!)
Step 2: Self-housing or a free alternative?
Whoa, stop there! This is the most important decision you will have to make before moving on. You must decide whether to pay for your blog or buy one for free.
WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger offer free blogs for anyone. Awesome, right? It's perfect for those of us who are not super serious about blogging. But it has disadvantages:
1) You will not be able to obtain your own domain name
In a free blog, the web address of your blog (your URL) will be ugly. Like, really ugly. In summary, create a free blog with any of the other free blog services above and it will look like this:
• yourblog.wordpress.com
• yourblog.blogspot.com
• yourblog.tumblr.com
I know, ugly, right?
2) Limits and more limits
There are some limits to free blogs. You can not completely monetize it, and you do not have the ability to upload all those videos and images that you want to show everyone: everything is limited. Worse yet, you will not even have access to the free themes offered by WordPress.
3) YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR OWN Blog
It may sound silly at first, but in reality you do not own your blog. It is hosted on another person's web property and can be deleted if they wish. They have done it in the past and continue to do so in the future. What all your hard work means in your blog, all those countless hours of blog posts can disappear in a matter of seconds. Sad…
On the other hand, with a blog hosted on your own domain name, you are the REAL owner of your blog. You can name your blog as you wish, for example, "YourName.com" or "YourAwesomeBlog.com". You can end it with .com, .co.uk, .net, .org or practically with any other web suffix. Add to that an unlimited bandwidth for videos, images and content plus free themes and you will have a winning combo.
So, how much is the hosting and a domain name? Not as much as you're thinking, fortunately. It usually runs between $ 5 and $ 10 per month, depending on your hosting provider, which is less than a couple of cafes.
If you still have questions, here is more information so you can see:
• Should I choose a hosted or non-hosted blog platform?
Step 3: Create a blog in your own domain (if you choose self-hosting and a custom domain)
I will go ahead with the premise that you have chosen WordPress, and if you have not done so, you should do it. Seriously, it's the best.
If you are still a bit confused by what a blog hosted on a server is, let me explain and how you can configure it for you.
You will have to find a domain name that you like and also choose a hosting company that can host your blog.
• Domain: the domain is basically the URL of your website. Examples: google.com (Google.com is the domain), Facebook.com (Facebook.com is the domain). See? Simple!
• Hosting: Hosting is basically the company that puts its website on the Internet so that everyone can see it. Everything will be stored there. Think of it as a computer hard drive on the Internet where your blog will be saved.
Personally, I use iPage (for the domain of my blog and my hosting), and I only have good things to say about it. It is probably one of the cheapest hosting providers (less than $ 2.50 per month) there is. A domain name will cost around $ 10-15 per year, but with iPage they release it for free :). Big smiles for that! They are the providers that I use for all my blogs, including the one that is reading at this moment.
If for some reason you do not want to go with iPage, you can choose your own hosting company. Most, if not all, should have a WordPress installation solution "with a single click" in their admin panel.
That button will automatically install WordPress on your blog. Did I say it was simple or what?
All you need to do is register with iPage (or your chosen provider), choose your hosting plan and a domain name and search for the WordPress installation button with a single click on the admin panel.
The essential elements of WordPress are often not necessary, but I would recommend the privacy of whois (which will keep all your personal data private) and definitely automated backup copies (this will save your website in case something goes wrong or goes away, so it does not you will lose any or very little of your blog).
I have a deeper tutorial on building a blog with iPage here.
Start a blog with iPage today and get an exclusive discount plus a free domain name
Once WordPress is installed on your website, all you have to do to start blogging is to go to your WP-Admin page generally www.yourblognamehere.com/wp-admin and start writing by adding a new publication.
At first, the design seems confusing, but it quickly becomes very comprehensible. Do not warry
Step 4 - Design your WordPress blog
Now, the fun part.
Let's make your blog look exactly as you want it. To choose a new theme, you can head to Appearance> Themes and install a free WordPress theme or you can head to a premium theme website like ThemeForest.net and buy a theme for around $ 40.
Usually, I choose something that looks professional and quite easy to customize. WordPress also has this amazing feature that allows you to change themes with just a few clicks. So, if you start getting tired of your current blog template, you can switch to another without losing any valuable content or images.
Remember, the design of your blog should reflect both you and your personality, but also what the blog is about. It does not make sense to have a soccer theme if your blog is about tennis, do you understand?
On top of that, it should be easy to navigate if you want people to stay. If it is complicated and difficult to move, people will not stay. Design is a subjective art; which means that everyone likes different things.
But nobody likes ugly websites, and they especially hate websites that need a college degree to navigate. Make it easy for them.
To read more, I have collected 3 blog posts about how to design your blog. Feel free to review them.
• Blog Design: Keep It Clutter Free and easy to use
• Advice for the design of blogs and blog objectives
• Is there any software that I can use to make my own graphics, buttons and banners?
Last step! Court!
Step 5 - Useful resources for beginners Bloggers
Bloggers come to the blog arena with varying degrees of online experience and social networks, but we've all made more than a few new mistakes: there's always room for more learning and improvement, whether you're a beginner or have been blogging for years.
These articles can help you avoid some of the growing pains when it comes to your first blog: enjoy!
• 5 initial blog errors that can be solved
• Choose a blogging niche
• How we communicate: Frequently asked questions for beginners in Bloggers
• 7 ways to increase your success as a blogger
And that is! I'm more than sure that your initial blog setup should be finished and ready to go, and all of that should have been really easy (unlike my first time, hopefully!). If you have problems installing WordPress on iPage, this guide can help.
If for some unfortunate circumstance you get stuck or have any questions about how to create a blog, just contact me or leave a comment below. I will help you with any problem.
Enjoy your new blog!