How to start your blog in just 6 steps (Platforms SEO, platforms and much other) |
Are you ready to know how to create a blog? This guide is for all of you. From hosting to SEO, follow these steps to get your blog online and operating.
It's obvious that blogging must be a part of your overall marketing plan. It's an effective method to attract new customers and also share your experience with others.
But each time you get up and attempt to begin your journey towards blogging success You are flooded with questions.
Which platform should I choose?
What is the cost?
What topic should I write about?
How do I get people to click through my articles?
What what exactly is SEO?
It's enough to make your head turn. This is why we've created this step-bystep guide for setting up your blog.
Beginning a blog with success is difficult However, the results to your company and visitors are definitely worth it. With the proper research and tools on your side, you can develop a website that readers and you love.
Let's start at the beginning The question is: What do you want to write about?
One of the easiest ways to monetize your blog is through digital products. Get started selling your products for no cost now!
Step 1: Pick your blog topic
One of the great benefits of blogging is the fact that you are able to create a blog on pretty much any topic in the world.
The majority of people are in love withblogs. Seventy-seven percent of web users visit blogs and people who use the internet within the U.S. are spending 3 times more time with blogs than they do on emails. So if you're passionate about a subject, chances are there's an readership that shares your passion and wants to read about it.
Here are some examples of blogs that have been successful and the niches they serve:
Daniel Bogan's blog, a web developer's, Uses This , is dedicated to interviewing creators and designers of all kinds about the gear and techniques they use to make their work.
In her blog, Kaleigh Moore shares her expert insights as a writer-in-residence for eCommerce & SaaS companies.
The neuroscientist Stefanie Faye Frank uses this blog as a way to "translate complicated scientific ideas into everyday language".
What do all of the above blogs have the same thing? Specificity.
Instead of writing about freelance writing in general, Kaleigh talks about writing in her niche. Instead of providing travel advice for groups of any size, Queenie focuses on advice to solo travelers such as herself.
For determining your personal niche, consider using your Passion/Profit Matrix.
The Passion How excited are you to work on this? If you don't like working on something, its profits aren't important as you're much more likely to give up prior to reaching your goal.
Potential for profit:Do people already spend on this issue? Also, you can think of "profit" here as interest or search traffic. Do people already spend time looking into this issue?
( Download your own copy of the matrix for Passion/Profit .)
A good product ideaor niche you can use for your blog is in the upper-right quadrant: The nexus of enthusiasm and potential for profit.
When you have found that sweet spot, content marketing consultant Ryan Robinson recommends you ask yourself the following questions to verify your concept:
Are you attracted enough by this blog niche? Don't pick a topic that you don't feel comfortable with just because it's a profitable.
Is there a paying audience to this blog area? Or, in other words do you have products or services aimed at the same audience? If you want to make income blogging, you'll need an audience that is willing to pay.
Do you think this particular niche will remain in the many years in the future? It can take time to create an established blog and so, choose a subject that will keep you writing for a long time instead of a seasonal fad.
Once you choose what you want your blog to be about, it's time to figure out where you'll host it.
Step 2: Pick a blogging platform
Starting from Tumblr and Blogger up to Medium and Wix, there are countless blogging platforms on the market.
With about 70 million articles published through the platform each month, WordPress is by far the most well-known alternative. More than 28 million sites make use of WordPress in comparison to four million of Squarespace's users. Squarespace.
But, Squarespace can be more user-friendly for beginners, especially if you don't have any prior experience with coding.
Here's how the two platforms stack up when regards features, customisation, and cost.
(A brief note: All of the prices listed throughout this piece are current at the time at the time of writing.)
Squarespace
for those who are new to building websites, Squarespace is an easy-to-use platform that doesn't require any coding expertise. The drag-and-drop interface is less of a process of learning than WordPress.
But, the basic block-based interface does come at the price of customization and flexibility. Squarespace has fewer themes, plugins, and themes as WordPress and does not offer as many blogging functions.
In general, Squarespace is a website builder that includes simple blogging tools, rather than a platform built with bloggers front-of-mind.
How much does Squarespace cost?
In addition to an initial 14-day trial period, Squarespace offers four different pricing plans . Pricing ranges from $23 up to $65 monthly, which is paid in installments between $16 and $49 per month paid annually.
They come with unlimited storage as well as a free domain for the first year. Unless you require e-commerce capabilities The lower two levels are sufficient to run your blog.
WordPress
WordPress is an online content management system (CMS) built to cater to bloggers. This means that it has the built-in templates as well as tools for blogging, including:
Post scheduling
Editing
Comments from the Managing Committee
Multi-author advantage & Multi-lingual setting
Technical SEO
WordPress also has a large collection of free and paid blogger-specific plugins, as well as thousands of free WordPress themes specifically designed to be used by blogs.
What's the caveat?
When it comes to building an individual blog and website, WordPress has a steeper learning curve as compared to Squarespace which makes it more difficult to grasp the platform for novice bloggers. There's no drag-and-drop interface, and you'll need some basic HTML skills to completely customize your WordPress website.
Don't let that put you off, however. The process of setting up a simple WordPress blog does not require any hacker technical expertise, and since WordPress is so well-known There are a lot of no-cost resources available to teach you the ropes.
How much does WordPress cost?
WordPress can be used for free However, you will have to pay for hosting, a custom web address, themes and plug-ins.
According to blogger professional Ryan Robinson , the initial investment required to start the creation of a WordPress website ranges from $150 between $200 and $140. The recurring cost for a website using WordPress is likely to be lower than those that you pay for with Squarespace.
Squarespace and. WordPress: Which should you use?
This is a full overview of the most significant distinctions between these two platforms:
While the learning curve for WordPress is steeper The possibilities of creating a blog that is customized are limitless. Squarespace is a web-based builder. WordPress is an CMS originally developed by bloggers.
All of this with this in mind, WordPress is the better blogging platform for authors and bloggers seeking to develop as well as grow and ultimately make money from their blogs.
Next up, let's talk about how to create your own blog using WordPress.
Step 3: Set up your blog.
To get your WordPress blog up and running, you need two things:
Domain names
A Web Hosting Plan
The domain name you choose is the address where your blog or website is located. If your site is your home on the internet then your domain name will be the address you use online.
Choose your new domain's name as the name of your blog when it's in use. Do not create confusion for your visitors with a URL that isn't related to your blog.
What is the best option if you don't own a blog orblog with a name?
Think of business mindset expert Becky Mollenkamp as an example. Becky's blog and digital products focus on sharing her personal experience with others in order to assist her clients succeed.
Becky Mollenkamp is her own brand name, therefore it's logical to utilize beckymollenkamp.com as a company and domain name.
If you're stuck with a domain name, you might want to consider a name generator like the Lean Domain Search or Nameboy . Enter keywords and then the generators will come up with a selection of names to choose from.
When you have found the ideal name then you must register it with a website hosting service.
We highly recommend Bluehost . One of the most renowned web hosting companies in the world, Bluehost offers free domain registration in the initial year for each hosting plan. Bluehost's most basic plans start with $2.95/month.
If you're looking to invest a bit more, Bluehost also offers managed hosting accounts for WordPress sites.
The Managed Hosting plans start at $19.95/mo.
In addition in place of Bluehost, Siteground has more than 2 million domains and is known as having the most efficient customer support on the market. Starting at $4.99/mo, Siteground is slightly higher than Bluehost's standard plans, but if you feel like you may need to contact technical support often, Siteground might be the best choice for you.
After you've selected the hosting service you'll need to set up your blog in WordPress. This involves installing WordPress on your site selecting and setting up plugins, and finding and installing the perfect theme.
If the cost of hiring a developer seems beyond your means, I recommend these in-depth tutorials by WPBeginner , the largest Free WordPress source:
What exactly is the definition of a WordPress plugin?
How to install the HTML0 theme on a WordPress theme
Remember that your WordPress blog doesn't have to be the most elegant premium theme or the most shiny plugins to produce excellent blog content. The only thing you need is that it works before you begin making your content and then publishing it.
Step 4: Start writing
It is possible to open an entirely new document, begin creating a list of ideas off the surface of your mind, and hope that it will be the most successful.
Some people really do work best that method.
There are a lot of people. If you're not, let me introduce you to my blogging BFF: outlining.
It saves time, allows you to stay organized, and helps you arrange your content so that it makes the most sense for your readers. It is possible to write your outline on paper and then use Google Docs, Dropbox Paper, or Microsoft Word.
This is how the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) recommends writers write their outline:
Idea Brainstorming:List all the ideas that you'd like to put within your blog post.
Organise:Group related ideas together in sections.
Order:Arrange your ideas into sub-sections.
Tag:Add headings and subheadings to your post.
Our team of content writers utilizes this template to define every section of our blog post:
[Header title]
Main Point:
Stats:
Case Study:
Examples:
After you've created your outline, you're ready to write -- even though you might not be ready.
Start writing now.
Be careful not to force yourself into finding exactly the right words or to avoid spelling mistakes absolutely. There is always the option to revisit to edit and improve your writing in the future. Most important is to keep writing. Before you know it you'll have an article which is ready to be edited into a beautiful blog post.
That's not to say that writing is the fastest procedure, however.
The average blog post takes nearly 4 hours to write.
Amanda Nielsen of New Breed Marketing explained to Databox , "You can get tons of SEO benefit through transcribing video. If you're able to do so, create a written transcription and blog post to help promote this video."
Are you too busy to translate your own videos? Use an online service such as REV or an automated transcription tool such as Sonix .
After you write your blog post -whether you wrote it made from scratch or recycledyou're now ready to make edits.
Resuming your work after a few minutes or time off helps to bring you back to your perspective. This means that it's more likely that you'll spot minor errors.
It's also possible to use an application like Grammarly However, it shouldn't never fully replace a human editor -- even when you're self-editing.
Grammarly identifies spelling and grammar errors, offers synonyms to frequently used words and offers a wealth of tips and tricks for no cost.
Grammarly's AI occasionally misses mistakes (or detects errors when there's none) Therefore, it is important to go through your file carefully. Better yet, let someone else read it for you.
You're now ready to publish your very first blog post -- as well as plan a timetable to follow for the remainder.
Creating a publishing schedule helps to keep you accountable. I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to start a personal blog and written one article, but never published another.
It's good to know that you don't need to create new blog posts each the day (or even weekly) for a successful blog. If it's about blog content, it's about the quality of your content over the quantity. More in-depth, longer and well-researched posts perform better.
HubSpot reports that the best length for a blog post for SEO should be between 2,100 to 2,400 words. A survey of Orbit Media found that the majority of bloggers who write 3000-word or more articles have "strong performance".
According to Jay Baer of Convince and Convert explained to Orbit Media , "Blogging used to be a type of online newspaper: lots of short articles, published frequently. Now, it's an online magazine: a few longer pieces published less frequently."
5. Optimize your website to increase search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization could be the difference between having a great blog with a couple of readers and a stellar blog that attracts visitors in many hundreds of thousands.
Content that is optimized will show up better in search results for relevant keywords and phrases. If you can improve the quality of your content, the easier it is for new people to locate it via searches.
As Google's organic search accounts of the majority of the internet traffic , grabbing one of the highest positions on the results page matters. The top five results on any Google search are responsible for 67.6% of the clicks .
In addition, SEO can play a significant role in the success your blog grows. Bloggers who earn over $50,000 annually have a tendency to rate organic and unpaid Google website traffic to be the primary marketing channel for their blog.
SEO is also much cheaper than traditional advertising -- and is more efficient. An Databox survey revealed that 70% of marketers agree that SEO is better than pay-per-click ads for generating sales. It's the reason the reason why nearly 64 percent of marketers actively invest time in SEO.
It's a good thing having a blog in place already will help you get ahead in the SEO game. Blogs on websites are able to have a greater chance of 434% of achieving a high ranking in the search results page (SERP).
Even better news: If you have a WordPress blog and you are using the Yoast SEO plugin, Yoast SEO extension can help you improve the content you publish right from your WordPress site editor.
How it works:
Input the keyword or phrase that you would like your blog article to be ranked for.
Yoast examines your website web content to determine if you're using the keywords correctly and in the right spots, such as headers.
Yoast can also let you see how your article will look on the Google search results page.
On the front-end, Yoast generates and applies schema.org structures and structured data that "helps [search engines] determine what each part of your website is, who it belongs to and the way it connects".
It is also possible to employ keyword research tools, like Ahrefs' Keyword Generator for a better understanding of the type of content your audience wants. It also lets you know the difficulty of getting the content to be ranked for a certain keyword as well as how often a keyword is searched during a given month.
This will help you find your ideal search term .
What does all of the search engine optimization appear at in practice?
If I'm a mom with a full schedule trying to manage my family's budget, then I could search Google for phrases like "budgeting for moms who are busy".
The featured snippet for the search "budgeting for busy moms" is this post of Simplified Motherhood, a website designed to help busy mothers keep their lives organized.
When you optimize your blog for a search term and you are more likely to have the likelihood of appearing on the first page or two results. Your target audience is more likely to discover the content you post, go to your site, and after they have confidence in your skills and trust your expertise, purchase your digital goods.
For more SEO tips and techniques, check out these resources:
Overall SEO is an essential tool for bloggers. However, it's not the only way to grow your readership.
Step 6: Grow your audience
Blogs are a multi-directional process The first step is to start a blog. It can help you grow your readership, while marketing to your audience could help to grow your blog. Businesses with a blog generate about 67 percent more leads than those without one.
Below are three of our favorite strategies for bringing in new email subscribers and blog readers.
1. Collect emails with opt-in forms
Developer and trainer Reuven Lerner utilizes his blog to expand his email list by including an opt-in option on his blog.
Create a compelling call-to action (CTA). Offer a reason that they should subscribe to your list of email subscribers -such as "Teach me about Python!" from Reuven's example.
Set expectations. Inform your subscribers about the information you'll provide them with and how often they'll get updates from you.
One of the easiest ways to turn blog visitors into subscribers is to give them something valuable to exchange their email address.
2. Incentivize subscribers to sign up with lead magnets
They give you their email address, they receive useful material. It's a win-win situation.
Lead magnets let potential customers know why they should trust your brand. They should be actionable, informative and engaging content specifically targeted at your target audience and their needs.
To create a content upgrade:
Find the pages on your website that results in the most traffic.
Include the content on the page that is relevant.
Turn more readers into subscribers.
If you're in need of a space for your digital downloads, whether they're digital items to sell or lead magnets, take a look at . Try it out for free now.
Forms for opt-ins and lead magnets are excellent ways of turning blog visitors into subscribers. However, if you don't share your blog posts on social media What are the best ways to get these blog followers in the first place? Our final and third tip has you covered.
3. Guest posts on different blogs
Guest posting can be a wonderful way to reach a broader audience, especially when you are posting on an popular blog.
Here are a few of the top advantages from guest blogging :
Increase backlinks.
Enhance Domain Authority (a index of search engine rankings).
Get people to visit your web site.
Boost your brand awareness.
That's probably why 60 percent of bloggers publish anything from one to five guest posts per month.
Before you are able to publish a guest article You must present it to the world. Before you are able to make a pitch, you have to discover blogs within your niche that accept guest posts.
Here are some websites to help you get started:
List of 200+ websites and blogs currently accepting guest posts
List of 150+ web sites that will allow guest blog on.
Most well-established blogs that accept guest posts typically have writing and pitching guidelines that you must follow such as the ones from Practical Wanderlust's website. .
Once your pitch is accepted You write the post, and the blog publishes the guest article. You can then post the link on your social media fans as well as your email list, to give the post extra exposure and the possibility of referral traffic.
After you've increased your readership, you can monetize your blog. Check out these resources on commercialization to begin turning into a profit
Now is the time to start blogging'
Starting a blog isn't always easy. But when you put in the work and use the right tools and resources, blogging will help you reach new people as well as share your experience as well as boost your profits.
For a recap, here are the steps for starting your blog:
Select a subject and a niche to your blog. Discover something both you and your readers are passionate about.
Pick a blogging platform. Squarespace or WordPress are among the best two choices, but in terms of the ability to customize and features for blogging, WordPress is a clear winner.
Create your blog. Choose and register a domain name and buy a hosting plan.
Start writing your first post. Make an outline of your ideas for inspiration, then make a calendar of your publishing for yourself to be responsible.
Optimize your blog for search. SEO is the most effective method that successful blogs gain traffic as well as lets the ideal audience locate you and your content.
Increase your readership by utilizing leads magnets, opt-in forms, and guest posts. After you've built your subscriber base and list of email addresses, you can monetize your blog.
With this fresh blog knowledge under your belt now, you're on your way to becoming a successful blogger. Now get out there and begin writing.