Starting a blog is easy but getting it established can take a while. I officially started blogging on its own domain in 2007 but I had been on free-hosted blog for quite a while before I finally decided to get it hosted on its own domain, and monetized it. Here are the basic steps on how you can start:
(1) Choose your preferred blog platform. Choosing a platform where you want to build your blog is of course the first thing you need to do and have decided on. I assume you’ve already heard about WordPress and Blogger. The platform I am using is WordPress and I would say it is the most well-known platform worldwide.
It is user-friendly. You don’t have to be an expert to get it working especially that everything can now be searched online. There are tons of free themes available, and almost all the plugins that you need are also free to use.
(2) Decide whether you want it self-hosted or free-hosted. In a free-hosted blog, you won’t be able to get your preferred domain name e.g. www.mitchteryosa.com. However, in some cases, you can get www.mitchteryosa.wordpress.com for example, if it’s still available. Still, it doesn’t look personalized at all and if you plan to get it monetized, chances are very low as most of the advertisers prefer a self-hosted blog. There were cases that blog sites were suspended due to some issues, and simply because you do not own your blog. You can check www.godaddy.com for the domain names and hosting, or search on Google some other hosts that charge cheaper.
(3) Design your own blog. If you choose to work on WordPress, there are lots of free themes that you can download. Even the free hosted WordPress has but with a limited number of downloadable themes. I started with zero knowledge and gained a little basic know-how on HTML until such time that I can already tweak and design on my own.
(4) Think of your niche. “Niche” is a distinct segment of a market. Know who and what you want to target first. In my case, I started with Parenting since it was the most interesting topic that I can relate to that time. At the same time, I also gained knowledge of what to write about by researching facts and tips shared by fellow mommy bloggers. If you still aren’t sure what to focus on, write under the sun. Talk about just anything for as long it will have an engagement with your readers. Something that everyone can relate to until such time when you already discovered what you really want to blog about. Always remember “blog what you are passionate about” and it will be easier for you to come up on what to talk about.
(5) Join blog networks. During my time, like a decade ago when this blog was just born, we would join blog networks and really find the time, well, networking (not the MLM kind of networking). Visit each others’ blogs, leave comments, put a blogroll (this is a page on your blog where you list down all the URLs of the blogs that you frequently visit), etc. Now that Social Media has really found its way and place to/in the online world, everything got easier. You can start with creating a Facebook Page. Tease your readers/followers by posting an excerpt on your page and link it to the URL of your blog post. Below is a sample post on an FB Page. Accompany your post with a catchy photo that you own. Otherwise, give credits to whom and where the credits are due. Rule no. 1, do not claim what is not yours. Make it a habit to link or acknowledge the author of the article and owner of the photos that you have used for your blog.
When you are done with the above, the rest follows. Just remember two things if you are afraid to do it or even start doing it: (1) Google and (2) YouTube are there to help you. Trust me. I, myself, is not an expert. I learned everything by experience. If I did it and managed to blog for a decade now, I am certain you can, too.
When I first started my site in 2007, it was an HTML site I wrote from scratch. At that time I had no idea what blogging was and how I can just install cms and all the hard technical details are handled. These days its so much easier with WordPress and all its plugins/themes.
I believe we should blog what we are passionate about, as we can only blog long-term on something that we have interest in. For me, it’s health and nutrition.