You may wonder what it’s like to be a professional blogger, but the problem is that you don’t know how to start a blog. You can only think of the perks: setting your own hours, being your own boss, and being able to work at home in your pajamas. But the “how to” part of the equation still eludes a lot of people. Well, don’t fear.
Take the First Steps Today
Here are some helpful steps that you can follow to get your blog set up and get you on the path to an exciting career (or side job) on the Internet.
- Pick a field—First off, you can’t just decide, “I’m going to be a blogger” without some kind of game plan. You need to begin with a field that you are an expert in and that people might conceivably want to know more about. It’s hard to have credibility writing blogging advice if you have no practical experience. You wouldn’t want to read a relationship and parenting blog written by someone who has never been in a relationship or parented a child. So find what you know and stick with it.
- Choose a hosting service for your site—You need to choose a web hosting service early on because it can make some of the later steps much easier. A hosting service is a company that will put your website on their servers so it can be accessed by people on the Internet. There are multiple types of servers—including shared, virtual private servers, dedicated servers, and cloud hosting. Find the one that fits your needs and price range and be sure to do your research early on to be certain you are getting the best fit.
- Obtain a domain name/address—Next, you are going to need to find a place to park your website on the Internet. You want a domain that is descriptive and memorable. If a person has to type in a 300 character string of characters to find your website, they never will get there. Make it something that people can remember and that relates back to your field. Your hosting service should be able to help you obtain the domain name and address for your site when you set it up.
- Choose a platform and create your site—A Content Management Service (CMS) is the platform you use to create your website. Many of these are free with premium upgrades if you want to get fancy with your design. One of the most popular is WordPress, a free platform that many hosting services can help you with as they are used to working with this model. Once you choose your CMS, you should begin to design your page layout so that it is aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly.
- Make a publishing schedule and start creating content—The last step in how to start a blog is to figure out how often you are going to post and start creating content. The more you can create, the better off you will be. If your schedule only allows you to publish once or twice a month, be prepared to have a hard time bringing in readers. You should also make sure that your content is unique and interesting so that you can bring in more readers. A final component of this will be to promote your blog using social media. Choose one or two social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and promote yourself on these so that you can attract readers.
Using WordPress for your Blog
These are a few steps to know how to start a blog. It really is easier than ever and one of the best ways to do it is with the WordPress platform. If you follow these steps, they will set you on the path to blogging success.
