Blogging has come a long way since just being a personal journal online, where bloggers have used the opportunity of having a space on the internet to better communicate information to their readers in a unique and interesting way. Blogging is used by large businesses, small businesses and individuals alike and covers a vast range of topics that I don’t even space to list out here. So let’s learn about getting started when creating your very own blog.
Table of Contents
Do You Want To Start a Blog?
More and more blogs are created every year as people want to find an outlet to talk about their interests and passions, but there’s so many different reasons for blogging. So… you want to start a blog? First, figure out your reasonings for wanting to start.Whether you want to use it as a journal, talk about your industry or turn it into a side hustle – it’s best to know beforehand so you have a clear aim and goal in mind.
Plus, figuring out how much time you want to put into the blog is key. Will you be blogging as a hobby next to your full time job? Is this part of your university years? Is this your dream career that you want to put everything into? You don’t need to commit to any of those questions just yet, but figuring out how much of your time per week you can put into your blog will help you when it comes to creating content.
If you’re reading this because you kind of want to but don’t know then I’ve got you. First up, I have a whole post on the benefits of blogging which is basically an ode of you should totally do this. There’s also details on how to get over blogging fears – jumping into a new project can be scary but it doesn’t have to be! Plus, I’ve detailed out some mistakes that bloggers make which you can and will avoid when you create yours. But for now… onto the good stuff.
How To Start a Blog
Find a Niche
The first thing you should do before starting a blog is figuring out what kind of content you want to make. This doesn’t have to be too constrictive, but choosing a niche that you enjoy and are passionate about really helps you to make better content. If you need help choosing, I created questions which help you choose a niche.
Name, Domain, and Platform
Once you’ve figured out what and why, you then need to figure out who and where. Choosing a name and domain name can be daunting but there’s questions you can ask yourself and tips to choose a great name in my domain name post. Choosing a name is something you would do almost simultaneously with picking a platform because some platforms encourage you to sign up with a name (and you often need to ensure the name is available then! Like on WordPress).
At this stage, you’d also figure out whether you want a free or paid for website. There’s a few different ways you can blog for free, but it does come with a few caveats which you should weigh up compared to your aims. Then there’s the paid for plans, which can be expensive and especially so if this is the start of a hobby you’re unsure of whether you’d be continuing long-term. Take some time reading through my platform posts to help inform you of all the different aspects of what platform you should use or whether you want to start with social media instead.
Blog Design
After creating a blog you then get to choose what it looks like. Blog design can be difficult, especially if you’re unsure of coding however depending on the platform you’ve chosen you can pick themes, plugins and widgets which give you easy control of design elements.
Create Content
After you have your blog set up and looking how you want it, then comes the fun part. Creating content is key for a blog and the best way to start is to just start writing. If you’re struggling there’s plenty of ways to get inspiration from other sources within your niche or even outside your niche! Remember that your content doesn’t just mean the body of your text though, you also need to work on creating titles, getting images and optimising your content for people to find it.
Promotion
After creating content you want to get people to see it! There’s so many different ways for blog promo,but the core one is social media. Depending on your niche and your content, the social media you choose may be different to another blog, but you should try to pick a platform you’re familiar with first. Then build up to new and different social media if you feel like you need to.
The next way to promote your content would be setting up a mailing list so you can contact your audience directly. Then you can get passive traffic through search engines and Pinterest by putting some effort in early on.
Branding
After you’ve got the basics of posting down, you can start working on your blog’s brand. Find your TOV, make a brand story and perfect your about me page. All of these little bits add up to make your presence online more memorable to your audience and to create a “brand”.
Community
Don’t forget to also get involved in the blogging community! Whether you create your own on your blog and socials, or you integrate into existing communities – having other people to talk to about blogging can help. Being supportive to other bloggers helps you to make friends and can help motivate you to work on your content too.
Blog Tools, Metrics, Tracking and Maintenance
Blogging can also be more complicated than just creating content, and there’s so many tools to help you up your blogging game. You can track and measure your blogging successes too, which helps you to replicate and improve on content that works well for you. Plus, some maintenance is always needed to ensure your blog is the best it can be.
Monetisation
Last but not least… (and maybe the most interesting part of blogging for some people…) you can set up your blog for monetisation.Just to note that on most free plans for blogs, you can’t monetise in the same ways due to the agreements in place with WordPress/Blogger etc.
Just create
At the end of the day, you just need to start creating. There’s no 20 step programme into how to start a blog and all those above are just suggestions and gentle nudges to get you on your way! Each blog can be very different and will need different steps, so work on what’s best for you when getting started. The key thing is to just put a pen to paper, or fingers to a keyboard (depending what kind of writer you are) and write some blog posts. You don’t have to post those first drafts, but if you don’t start somewhere you’ll never get anywhere.
What are some of your big questions about how to start blogging? Or if you’re already blogging – what’s the biggest tip you wish you had when you were getting started?
Want to learn more about Blogging? Don’t forget to check out The Blogger Group’s resources.
Comments
18 responses to “Blogging 101: Getting Started”
As a bloger I found it really interesting and inspiring- gave me a real kick start.
So glad you liked it Gemma!
The best piece of advice here is to just do it and know that you’ll probably make a few mistakes along the way. Sometimes it’s easy to overanalyze and try to figure EVERYTHING out before you get started, but that doesn’t really work all that well.
For sure! I think the main thing is to just start writing at some point! Or you’ll never get anywhere!
Great post! I think another piece of advice is don’t let anyone tell you can’t do something, if you enjoy it then do it. If it’s starting up a blog then stop thinking and saying you will and just do it, remember you’ll have ups and down, you’ll struggle to write posts sometimes and you’ll at first feel like you’ll never compare to all those other ‘better’ bloggers. No one is better than anyone – we’ve just had more practice usually and we still make mistakes, experience problems writing a post.
Like you said though, don’t copy the bloggers you look up to, take into account how they layout their blogs, and ensure you read other blogs to get a sense of how others do it. Then create your own style and voice. No one likes a copy cat 😉
I completely agree with you! I know so many people who are worried about what people will say! Or worried they can’t write/take photos etc!
I’ve been looking to start a blog and this post has been really helpful thank you! Will be looking through your other blogging posts now as well.
So glad I could help you start your blog! hope the rest of the blogging 101 series is just as helpful and feel free to reach out.
This is a really great post for new bloggers, appreciate your effort into making this series. You should keep it up forever! Best of luck.
I’d like to learn more about metrics and how to use them to improve my content. Do you have any advice?
You are amazing! Thank you!
I’ve been trying to support other bloggers as much as possible and it really helps to be friendly with others! Thanks for the good post
I like that your last point is just create!! It’s good that you giveadvice and not a strict how to
This is great for blogging beginners! Lots of good tips and easy to read too
I’ve been trying to promote my blog with twitter but don’t seem to be getting views – what can I do to get more traffic?
Neat blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
Hello Becky,
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So glad you liked it! Thanks for the linkback 😄