For many people nowadays, blogging is the most wanted profession. A large number of successful bloggers are disrupting traditional job models. However, many people are unaware of how to properly create material for the internet. Blogs are more than just a piece of writing you post on Google; they have a variety of other features to consider. But before that, one needs to understand how to start a blog.
Before we get into the step-by-step instruction on how to establish a successful blog, it’s important to understand what blogging is all about. It is simply internet material in various genres. It is possible to build a fashion blog, a food blog, a beauty blog, a lifestyle blog, a science and information blog, and many other sorts of blogs. You’ll need a blogging platform, some catchy headlines and subheadings, a theme/template, and then you’re ready to start blogging.
How to Start a Blog
You’re wondering how to start a blog in 2022? Statistics say 4.57 billion people in the world are online. You can tap them just by appearing in search results by learning how to start a blog. Additionally, bloggers receive more traffic, increased sales, and a higher engagement level with their audience when they blog regularly. Learning how to start a blog is quick, easy, and simple. Also, you can even launch a blog in less than an hour! Thanks to the internet. Here’s a guide for beginners who are willing to start personal blogs.
Starting a blog needs a few steps. Before you start, choose a niche. The next thing you need is a proper blog platform. Get a custom domain (you can get a self-hosted domain). Then set a blog layout that suits your niche/topic of the blog, and start publishing your blog content. It is better to start with guest posts or personal blogs before you rush to professional blogging.
Following are the elaborated steps on how to start your blogs in 2022. Along with the steps, you will also know how to make your blog successful and make money out of your blog domains. Read this guide to know more.
Time needed: 2 minutes.
Here are the steps below. Read further into the page if you want the details, or click on every step to jump to your preferred part of the process.
1. Select the blog niche or topic of your blog
You need to decide on the central idea or theme of your whole blog. Ask yourself what you want to write about in this blog of yours.
2. Choose a name for your blog.
Decide on what you want to call your blog; how do you want it to be known.
3. Choose a hosting and domain name.
Decide on what will host your blog and what domain name to use.
4. Choose themes and plugins for your blog.
The theme would help you make your blog organized and unified. It also allows ease of access for your visitor, not to mention the attractive aesthetics that will keep your visitor hooked.
5. Write and Publish a blog.
Of course, you need to create your content.
6. Marketing the Blog
Promote your blog to get more visitors.
7. Earn From Blogging
You can set up your blog so you can earn from it.
Are you a fan of binge-watching but not binge-reading? Then here I am with a solution. If you are not a fan of reading then watch this detailed tutorial on how to start a blog that makes money. Do let us know how do you find the video helpful. Share your views with us in the comment section.
1. Select the Blog Niche or Topics of Your Blog
Writing blog posts is easy when you have specific topics to write on. If you know what content you will share with the world, it would be easy for you to continue. A successful blog depends on the knowledge and blog content you are sharing. So, choose a proper topic first.
People often get confused about which topic or niche they should write about. If you’re thinking of getting income via your blog, then choose the topic carefully. You can search for affiliate programs to get an idea of the topic.
- Your blog must have a direction or focus. Do not choose vast subjects to write on. Try to stick to a single topic or niche.
- It is not necessary that if you like something, others will like it too. Write about something that many people are passionate about. Not something only you are passionate about, and others are not.
- A successful blog must contain relevant articles, specific types such as cars, SEO, life hacks, etc., and have a proper name that reflects the blog type’s nature.
- Follow any popular blog and take help from that. Do not copy or steal the content. However, steal the idea of blogs they run and structure your blog functionality.
2. Choose a Name for Your Blog
know what type or niche of blog you are willing to start, it would be easier for you to set a name. The name or title will be the reflection of your blog. There is a straightforward rule to name your blog. Keep it short, simple, easy to remember, and relevant to the topics you are covering in your blog.
If your blog name is hard to remember or difficult to spell down, you wouldn’t be able to see a lot of traffic. However, some websites with unusual catchy names aren’t very descriptive, like ‘Google, ‘Yahoo,’ ‘Amazon,’ or ‘Bing,’ but you want your blog to be descriptive as a starter. Follow these steps to choosing the right name for your blog:
- Choose catchy names, can create a buzz, or are descriptive of your services.
- Try to run a competitor analysis and see what kind of names your peers use in the same market.
- You can also try using a ‘Blog Name Generator’ like GoDaddy by entering one or two keywords and getting many recommendations.
- Try mixing up words, using synonyms, or choosing a different combination of keywords to create a name.
- List down the 10 best names you think are appropriate and get feedback from your friends or family.
- Alternatively, you can also create a personal brand name for your blog using your existing company name or your own name.
- It might be a good idea to start an llc for your blog.
Blogging Strategy
Once you have decided on a name for your blog, you’d also need to define a blogging strategy to proceed further. The best way to learn how to blog is to proceed further with a strategy:
- Deciding what are the topics and niche that you are going to blog about
- Define your target audience very specifically
- Identify what the tone of the blog going to be (Casual/Professional) is
- Listing all the objectives that you want to achieve through blogging
- Making ‘Call of Actions’ in sync with the blogging objectives
3. Choose a Hosting and Domain Name
Domain and web hosting are essential steps when we talk about starting a blog. Specifically, a domain is a place you save on the internet for you. Custom domains are available with many service providers. To get the domain and web hosting, follow the steps.
Domain Names
Domain Name is the address where Internet users can access your website. For example, you are currently reading this article on ‘501words.net’, so the domain name here is 501 words. You can choose your domain name using many sites like NameCheap, where you’ll find several suitable domain names in no time. Make sure to choose a domain that is unique and suitable for your blog. It shouldn’t be irrelevant or unnecessary.
Choosing a Domain and Web Hosting
To buy your domain name and web hosting, many popular service providers like Godaddy.com, WP Engine, Ionos, and hundreds of others. But here we are mainly going to discuss using WP Engine because it provides a variety of benefits when you buy hosting from them:
- Site building & management
- Open Source flexibility
- Site speed, scale & security
- Site analytics
Web Hosting
Web Hosting or Blog Hosting is buying space on the Internet from a web host service provider to allow your website to be viewed on the internet. For example, when you want to start a physical office, you need to rent space. Similarly, this is renting space for your website on the internet.
Steps to Buying Hosting and Domain Using WP Engine:
- Visit ‘WP Engine‘
- Click on ‘Get Started’
- You’d be able to see various packages options like Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom with different pricing per month for plans of 12 months.
- Select the one which is most appropriate according to your needs.
- You’d now be able to see the option of entering your details along with Payment Information. WP Engine would automatically add some Package Extras like ‘2-months free service’. You can keep/remove all these as per your needs and proceed further with payment. Later, you’d then get a screen saying, ‘Congratulations! Welcome to WP Engine’
- Next, Install ‘WordPress’ after login.
- WP Engine will now provide several blog design options; select the option you like.
- You can start building your site immediately.
4. Choose Themes and Plugins for Your Blog
When it comes to choosing a theme, WordPress has thousands of themes available. You can choose any of them according to your domain name.
How to Write a Blog Using Free and Premium Themes
Blog themes make your blog a beautiful one. You can change the theme according to the blog topic and blog design. To change themes of your WordPress, go to Appearance, and select Themes. Then, there are many free themes that WordPress provides for free; you can select any one of them.
However, you can also choose to buy a Premium theme if you like from WPAstra and GeneratePress. They have reasonable basic plans. Now, to upload a theme that you have purchased:
Appearance -> Add theme –> Upload theme -> Import theme options
How to Write a Blog Using Plugins
- Yoast SEO: It helps you optimize your website by handling technical optimization, using keywords, meta title, and description along with a readability score.
- Login LockDown Plugin: Limits the number of login attempts from a given IP address
- Add social media plugin to connect your WordPress blog to other social network sites.
- Download any other plugin that might be needed by you and deactivate others
How to Activate Your SSL Certificate
SSL Certificate shows ‘HTTPS,’ and it shows that your website is secure so users can get confidence in using it. An SSL Certificate is important as it helps keep data secure, improves conversion rates, and shows higher Google rankings.
Use these steps to activate your free SSL Certificate:
WP Engine → My Sites → Manage Site → Security → SSL Certificate (enable)
5. Write and Publish a Blog
To write your first blog, follow the steps below:
- Log in WordPress and select ‘All Posts’
- Choose the ‘Create a New Post’ option
- Add title, content, and format the content of your blog
- Adjust the permalink (which is the customized URL for this specific blog) according to the blog’s title. Settings → Permalinks → Common Settings “Post Name” → (Save Changes)
- Using the Yoast SEO, add a keyword, Title, Meta Description, and look at the SEO Score and the readability score for your content.
- Check for grammatical mistakes. You can get the Grammarly Google Extension tool to rectify your grammatical mistakes.
- After you are done with fully editing the post, click ‘Publish.’
- Others will now be able to see your blog either using the link that you shared or through a google search when they input a search query similar to your keyword.
Before you start writing and publishing your blog, writers can get free training from Authority Hacker Pro. It provides a complete guide on how to build a website, marketing, and getting fruitful results.
6. Marketing the Blog
It is a must to promote your blog. For search engine optimization and social media optimization, one must market their blog. Gaining traffic from searches generates more leads.
Statista says that 97% of bloggers promoted their posts using social media! When you write a blog, you want people to read it, share it, and engage with the post. Therefore, you can choose to market the blog using the following options:
- Social Media – share your blog posts on leading social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Ask a friend to share your post on their Facebook and other profiles to market your blog.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – use keyword research tools to optimize your blog.
- E-mail marketing – Email marketing is another way to promote your blog. Make an email list and add the email addresses you want to send your blog posts to. Send them marketing emails every time you post an article.
- Influencer Outreach
- Paid Services
Apart from the options above, you can also go for guest posts. You have to go to other blogging platforms and write about your services and blog posts. In this way, readers will be redirected to your blog post through your guest post on other platforms.
7. Earn From Blogging
Money blogging is when you earn a chunk of money from your blog posts. Learning how to blog can earn you lots of money if done correctly. So, whether you will provide advertising space or charge commissions per ad, or sell products online, blogs can be monetized. Hence, we will discuss this in detail in the next step.
How to Make Money Using Your Blog Posts?
Many people choose blogs to earn a living. Their full-time income comes from blogging. There are many ways through which you can have full-time or passive income through blogging. Do you have a blog already and looking for income from it? Or are you planning to start a blog to earn some extra cash? To begin with, both of these are good options to earn using blogs.
Cost Per Click Ads
Google AdSense is an excellent program that lets you place a banner on your site and chooses which websites are relevant to you, and places ads using that algorithm. As a result, ads will be displayed on your blog, and these Cost Per Click (CPC) ads, so you will be paid every time someone clicks on them.
Furthermore, CPM (Cost Per Thousand) ads pay you a fixed amount of money based on how many people view your ad.
Sale of Private Ads
Using Google AdSense, Google acts as an intermediary in connecting you to the advertisers. Thus, they earn a commission on that. However, you may directly get in touch with advertisers, or advertisers can reach out to you to promote your site. Here you can set up your own rates, terms, and conditions of working with them instead of a fixed plan.
Use Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways of earning money on your blog—several websites running Affiliate programs today like ‘Amazon’ where you can register to be an affiliate.
As an affiliate, you can promote Amazon products on your blog. The affiliate links should be pasted with the product name in your article so that readers can get those affiliate links and buy products via your referral. As each unit of advertised products will be sold, you will receive commission money.
Make sure that the links appear prominently on your blog post. You can add a button that redirects to the product page.
Sale of Digital Products
If Affiliate marketing isn’t a good match for you, you can also consider selling your own e-books, music, podcasts, memberships, merchandise, etc., online to add a revenue source from your blogs.
Therefore, the above-mentioned are all how you can use your blogs to create money.
