How To Start A Blog
The Beginner's Guide
Posted By: Twenty Three & Ivy
-This post may contain affiliate links in which I would receive a small commission if you purchase through a link, at no cost to you-
Ready To Start Your Blogging Journey?
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably spent a great deal of spare time scrolling online, searching ‘how to make money online’. Maybe you’re working at a job that you can’t stand, hate having to commute to work, want to work remotely or just would love to be your own boss.
Creating a blog can solve so many problems that the 9-5 job creates for us. Everything is up to you!
You can decide what to blog about, when, where and how to blog. The internet is vast, and people are always looking for new information. The fact that there are tons of bloggers out there only proves that this is a possible career path, and the internet is not going away any time soon. The number of bloggers out there should be looked at as a positive thing and not as competition.
Think about how many different recipes for one thing you can find on Pinterest, it’s kind of like that. You don’t need a totally unique niche, you just need to be passionate about what you’re writing about to gain readers.
You might be thinking, yeah blogging sounds great…. But I don’t know the first thing about how to start. We’ve all been there.
Like any job you won’t know what you’re doing right from the start, you’ll need to learn as you go. The great thing about starting is you do not need to have any prior experience or knowledge of websites or blogging.
I didn’t know the first thing about blogging, completely did not realize all the links I read on Pinterest were all someone’s blog!
Sounds crazy but that’s the level of starting I was out. So if I can do it, so can you.
The best way to learn is just from other bloggers who have already figured this out. I spent countless hours on other blogs and Youtube to piece together all the information I needed to know to create my blog.
You will of course see all of those ‘How I make 10K a month blogging’ posts and instantly be drawn in… just to be overwhelmed with all the information.
So start small.
You might not make thousands your first couple of months (although you might) but start off with a small goal of making enough money from your blog to pay for gas, or weekly groceries. Think of any small amount of income as a payoff for starting a new source of income and you will be pleasantly surprised.
Free Blog Niche Guide + Over 300 Niche Ideas
Lets Dive Into The Steps
Choose Blog Niche
Your niche will be the overall theme of what your posts are about. For example some common ones are finance, health & fitness, travel, food or parenting to name just a few.
The most important thing is to not let picking a niche hold you back from starting a blog right now.
You can always change your niche, or once you gain traction with one niche you can add another to your blog.
Make sure to pick a topic that you’ll enjoy writing about because you’ll need to be able to create a lot of content on that subject. You also do not need to be an expert either, you can do research as you go and learn what you’ll be writing about.
The best way to choose a niche is to think about what you already search for online. If you’re searching for something, chances are there are plenty of other people as well.
The main goal is to think of an issue and provide a solution to that for others.
Related Article: Choosing A Blog Niche
Create Domain Name
A domain name is essentially the name of your blog.
This is a fun one! This is the starting point of your creativity for your blog. You can pick a title that directly represents your niche, or you can choose a more vague one that gives you the flexibility to change or expand your niche later (aka what I did with Twenty Three & Ivy).
You want to pick something that is catchy or easy to remember so people will think to come back to your blog for more information. This can actually be pretty tricky. I suggest writing down words or titles you like the sound of, then google synonyms to get more options. Then try different combinations until you find one you like.
Keep in mind a URL will not allow any spaces so make sure when combined in a URL your name doesn’t combine to form words you didn’t expect. Sounds straight forward but maybe have another person read your URL and give you their first impression just in case.
I probably spent a whole day messing around with domain name ideas before I came up with Twenty Three & Ivy. Nothing fancy but rolls off the tongue nicely I think.
I recommend typing domain names into a quick google search as you think of them to see what comes up. This will show you whether that domain name is already taken or if it leads to a google search you don’t want to be associated with.
You want to make sure if someone is googling your blog, they can find you easily without too many other closely named sites.
Following into the next step, you’ll be able to buy and own your specific domain name in the next step.
Essentially, you are creating a brand with your blog domain name, so make sure it’s one you love.
Sign Up For Hosting
Now, these next two steps kind of go hand in hand. Starting out, unless you’ve created a website before, this will sound totally foreign. That is totally fine. It’s easier than it seems.
To start, a web host is basically going to be your blog’s hard drive. It’s going to be the place that all of your data is stored.
If you plan on monetizing your blog then it is very important to set up a self-hosting blog. This basically means, make sure you purchase a hosting site instead of using a free blog.
As tempting as a free blog sounds, if you’re serious about making money you’ll need to opt for the self-hosted blog.
Now I started my blog being very doubtful if I could be successful, so I didn’t want to drop a lot of money on my newest rash idea. Luckily this turned out to be a great decision and for only $2.95 a month I was able to purchase my hosting website.
***Note: When I got hooked on the idea of starting a blog, I didn’t realize I’d need to pay upfront just to try to be successful. This was a hard pill for me to swallow. So to be transparent, a blog is not free. Purchasing your domain name and hosting site is a must. But it is a commitment that can encourage you not to give up and see your dream through since you’ve already committed to it financially***
The hosting site I first signed up for, continue to use, and highly recommend is Bluehost.
Bluehost is one of the most affordable hosting sites. This is also where you can purchase your domain name.
PS: The domain name comes free when you sign up for a Bluehost subscription.
Choose Blogging Platform
At this point you officially own your blog name and have a hosting site. Now you need to add on your blogging platform that will allow you to create your website.
Think of it as if you’re trying to write a paper on your computer, your hosting site is your laptop -holding all the data, and now you need Microsoft Word – to be able to format your text – this is your blogging platform.
I highly recommend WordPress.org.
WordPress is going to be your blogging platform you’ll install so you can do all the website formatting and editing. Every part of your blog will be created through WordPress.
This is an easy step, once you sign up for Bluehost you can instantly install WordPress for free.
Just make sure you’re using WordPress.org not .com. Wordpress.com is the free site that is not what you want to use if you’re looking to monetize your blog. If you’ve signed up for Bluehost though they will automatically install WordPress.org with a click of one button making it very simple.
Set Up Website & Install Theme
Congratulations! Your website finally exists!
You officially own your website name and URL. Now it’s time to actually create your website!
The first step is going to be to install a theme. This will be your basic website layout, default draft to start designing from.
When you install your theme, you’ll automatically get the template information for the draft website. You can go ahead and delete the fields you don’t want or edit the text to fit your blog right away.
There are many free themes you can choose from, you don’t need to pay for a fancy theme right at the beginning. Later down the road you can purchase a premium theme which will allow more customization for your blog.
Now when I first installed my theme I had no idea where to start. I didn’t know how to edit the text or change photos, nothing. WordPress is wonderful….. after playing around with it for a couple of times. Unless you’ve built a website from scratch before… I’m sorry but it is confusing!! That’s the truth.
That is okay though! And if you’re currently struggling through this step as well in your blogging journey know that it’s okay. This is something new you are learning. It does get easier!
I don’t know how it happened but one day it just clicked for me. Every time I went to edit my blog it became easier and easier and over all just so much more fun!
The best thing I can recommend is installing the Elementor plugin.
I’d be dead in the water without this wonderful add on.
A ‘plugin’ is going to be another software system that will enhance your blog. Kind of like adding an app to your phone. It will give you more functions to work with.
Elementor gives you a different version of an editing system for your blog. I found this much easier than the WordPress editor at first. You’ll still be able to edit through both systems. You’ll figure out when and where to use each one based on your preferences.
Write Blog Posts
Now before you go and want to spend all your time just making your blog website look cool and pretty, I highly highly recommend writing 5-10 blog posts before you do anything else.
It’s easy to get sucked into just setting up your blog layout and design, but essentially a blog cannot be a blog without blog posts! You can’t design your website unless you have some blog posts to link to and design around.
I started with about 5 blog posts and realized that I needed to write at least 5 more in order to have my blog look professional from the very start.
The more posts you have written, the easier it is to figure out how you want to format your website with photos and links between pages etc.
Design Website
Now that you have a theme, some blog posts and the Elementor plugin set up, you are ready to start designing your website!
If you’re a creative person this is the best part. You get to watch your blank website go from a empty template to your personal blog entirely designed by you, no restrictions.
Your blog doesn’t need to be perfect before you launch it and make it available to the internet world. You just want to make it look as professional as possible without forgetting your main goal.
The main goal being write blog posts and monetize that blog!
It’s important to have a nice looking website for sure, but you don’t want to waste all of your time designing a blog that isn’t currently set up to make any money.
You want to have people visiting your blog and reading your posts as soon as possible.
If you use Pinterest for traffic, people might just be visiting your blog for one singular post and then leaving. They’re not worried about what font you used on your home page. They just want that information you’re giving them in your blog posts.
Besides your blog posts, the most important blog page to have set up is going to be your Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms & Conditions page.
Privacy policies are legally required to let your readers know what information your website is collecting from them and how it is being used.
Your disclaimer is to let your readers know that you cannot be held legally responsible for any information you publish and that they should not rely solely on what they read on your blog. Basically you’re writing from your own perspective, not trying to pretend you’re a trained professional giving advice.
Terms & conditions is where you can disclose if you’re using any affiliate marketing and how your blog can be used. You can state how your information can be used while stating your copywrite agreement.
Once you have that legal page set up you can create the rest of your blog website as you please.
Monetize
These next two steps also go hand in hand. You need readers to make your blog monetizing strategies amount to anything, but ultimately you need to have those tactics laid out from the start to optimize your profits.
There are many ways to monetize a blog.
Using affiliate links can set you up with great passive income from the start. If you have great content and promote truly worthy affiliate links to your readers, then you can start making good money from a low number of readers.
Advertisements are another passive income strategy. It’ll take time to build up the traffic to your blog to see the perks of ads, but in the long run every little bit adds up when you’re trying to monetize.
You can also create ebooks and set up an email list to provide more personalized products and connections with your readers.
It’s important to try out different monetization strategies and see what works best for you and your blog. This will not be a one size fits all across all blogs.
If you search Blog Income Reports on Pinterest you can see other bloggers who are sharing their monetizing strategies and see what they’re making based on their number of page views/traffic.
While you shouldn’t expect to duplicate their results, it can be an encouraging way to know that it is possible to make money through blogging.
Related Article: How Do Blogs Make Money
Gain Traffic
Once you’ve got your website and blog posts all set up and your blog launched it’s time to bring in the readers. Afterall, traffic will inevitably mean more money. All your money making strategies will mean nothing unless you have readers clicking those links or buying those products.
You might have already noticed a few readers here and there stopping by. Nothing is hidden on the internet so it’s not uncommon to have people stumble upon your website before you’ve even tried to get eyes on the page.
I know seeing those first few readers made me highly motivated to step up my blogging game and get some real traffic flowing through.
Pinterest will become your new favorite website to promote on.
Pinterest makes it super easy to put up a nice cover photo and post a link to your blog gaining you plenty of readers in no time at all.
There are great tools to use with Pinterest such as Canva for free stock photos and Tailwind which will allow you to automate your pins being posted on Pinterest saving you some time.
I’m not personally on any social media platforms but if that’s something you are interested in it can be another easy way to get word out about your blog.
Don’t be shy, you created this wonderful new blog now get it out into the world!
It won’t be easy to learn and create all of this yourself right from the start. That is to be expected with anything new. Just do not give up! Break things down into small steps and slowly work through them.
Take Pride in the small accomplishments you make.
Do not be discouraged if you don’t have 100K visitors after one day/week/month, remember blogging is a long-term investment not a get-rich overnight scheme.
Keep putting in the work and watch all of your efforts snowball into the online business you’ve dreamed about.
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