Blogging is very interesting and profitable but sometime people
feel it is difficult to start a blog, but I must tell you that starting a blog is
not difficult. In this article I will be talking about how to start a blog from
scratch, what to do before lunching it and what to do after you have lunched
your blog.
In as much as it is not difficult to create a blog, it won’t
take minute or hours as other guides may have written. There is a lot to plan
and prepare before starting a blog, but don’t be afraid this article has the
whole answers you need.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO BEFORE STARTING A BLOG
1. FIND OUT THE REASON FOR STARTING A BLOG
Are you blogging to gain exposure?
Or you want to be an expert in a particular niche?
Is it because you want blog as your business?
Or because you heard that blogging is a profitable
business/career?
You need to pick a very strong reason why you want to start
a blog. This will help you maintain consistency and focus. To successfully make
blogging a career, you need dedication, determination and patience.
2. PICK A TOPIC/NICHE
TO BLOG ABOUT
You have to think about which topic/niche you will be
writing about in your blog.
The question is; WHY DO YOU NEED TO PICK A TOPIC/NICHE?
Because if you write about fashion and the next blog post is
a recipe, your audience won’t know what to expect. And then, when it comes to
creating a paid service or product, a part of your audience won’t be interested
in it, because they are interested in another topic you write about.
Because it will help you maintain a consistence visit from
your audience. For instance if you talk about fashion in one post and the next
post talks about animals and another post about health, your visitors won’t
know what to expect. This will make them not to visit again.
RECOMENDED: How to find the best blog topic
As a new blogger, when choosing your topic, you should not
go too broad. For instance if you want to blog about health, you might choose
to focus on only part of health like body hygiene, exercise, mental health or
medicine review. Then when your blog stands out you will expand your topic.
The next question is: HOW TO PICK A NICE TOPIC/NICHE TO BLOG
ABOUT?
You need to pick a topic you are interested in because
blogging is a long term career so as not to give up on a certain spot.
You must not be an expert in your niche but you need some
knowledge on what you want to talk about. If it is a broad topic, pick a branch
of it and expertise on it.
Thou all topics are
profitable, some topics are more profitable than each other according to study.
Generally, topics that teach people how to make money are more profitable. But
according to Brandon Gaille blog income research, the following topics are more
profitable:
- Food
- Personal finance
- Lifestyle
- Travel
- Marketing
3. PEFORM A RESEARCH
ON YOUR COMPETITORS
Performing a research on your competitor’s blog is a very
important step to take when starting a blog. You need to have a complete
analysis of your competitors blog or the blog of successful bloggers in your
niche to find out how they structure there blogs, how they structure their
contents, their branding, their audience, how they drive there traffic and how their
social media is structured.
4. DEFINE YOUR TARGETED
AUDIENCE
This is a very important step that shouldn’t be skipped by
any blogger. As you are starting your new blog, you need to have in mind the
people you want to visit your site. Don’t say anybody because if you are
sharing your article in the place your audience are not, you will not get any
visitor to your blog.
So when starting you new blog, have your audience in mind
and start joining your niche related Facebook groups, forum and online
communities. Start now to add values to those communities so that when you
share your article you will have a massive traffic flowing to your blog.
5. PLAN YOUR BLOG STRUCTURE
In planning your blog structure, you need to have blog post
ideas in mind. Make a list of at least 45 blog post ideas so that you will
always have fresh and new content in your blog.
Also make use of categories. Once you finish writing blog
posts, you need to sort them into categories and sub-categories. But don’t
exceed ten categories to keep your blog neat and professional.
The next thing to do here is to create pages. There are important pages which a blog must have. They are homepage, about page, categories and contact page. Don’t forget to plan on how your articles will be interlinked. This will increase your traffic and SEO ranking.
6. PICK A NAME FOR
YOUR BLOG
Though your readers are more interested in your blog content
than its name, you should try to make your blog name look simple, easy to
spell, short and memorable. This will increase the rate of returning visitors.
7. CHOOSE A WEB HOSTING
AND A BLOGGING PLATFORM
You need to consider is if you want a self-hosted or a
hosted blog.
WHAT IS A SELF-HOSTED BLOG?
A self- hosted blog is when run your own blog which you set
up the server and network yourself.
You will need: Domain name, Web hosting and content
management system to self-host a blog.
A domain name is the address where users can access your
website. It’s also the name you have assigned to your blog.
A web hosting is what connects your website to the the
internet. It’s a paid service. There are a lot of them on the market. Ipage,
Namecheap, Hostgator, Hostinger, Netfirm, etc.
A content management system, or CMS, is what allows you to
publish posts/articles and pages on your blog, manage its appearance, and
perform any editing. The most well-known CMS is WordPress.org
For wordpress web hosting, I recommend Namecheap
I used Namecheap for purchasing my domain.
Namecheap prices start at $8.88 per year domain and as low
as $0.01 per month hosting. For wordpress hosting.
I also recommend Ipage as they offer free domain and a
hosting of $1.99 per month. HostGator, Hostinger and Netfirm is also a good
option.
WHAT IS A HOSTED BLOG?
A hosted blog is when you host and manage your content in
your hosting platform. This is not suitable for new blogger as it requires you
to have knowledge of web design/programing. So if want to set up your blog fast
and start making money, go for self-hosted option.
9. SET A GOAL
When starting your new blog, focus on the long-term goal
rather than short term. You need to foresee where you what your blog to be In
future. Most importantly set goals regarding your traffic, email subscriptions,
and income.
NOTE: Don’t expect massive results in your first few months
of blogging. It takes time to drive some quality traffic to your blog. Don’t be
discouraged and keep working hard!
10. MAKE A BUDGET FOR
YOUR BLOG
Before you start a blog, it’s good to have a set amount of
money and you’re willing to invest in your blog. Although you can start a
self-hosted blog with only a domain name and web hosting, you have to keep in
mind that down the road, you’ll have to invest in your blog.
Set a budget before you start a blog so as to know the
amount of money you are willing to invest in your blog. Even thou you can start
a self-hosted blog with only domain name and web hosting, you will equally need
some other services at a long run. The following are some paid services you may
need for your blog:
- Email service provider
- Good-quality theme
- Security plugin
CONCLUSION
This is the tip I have for on how to start a blog fromscratch. You can also go to Fiverr and get professional freelancer to create
and set your blog for you at a very low price. If you have any question, ask in
the comment.
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