Starting a Blog Starts with Having a Goal
When you decide you are going to be starting a blog you have to have a purpose. This could be to make money or it could be to inform others about something you are very good at or are an expert at. You can even combine the two and have the purpose for your blog. If you plan to make money from your blog you may be starting more than one blog.
You need to figure out what your purpose is going to be and you need to figure out what the subject of your blog is going to be. This can be very narrow or it can be very general. If you were to put up a blog about golf you can separate it into many different categories that have to do with golf or you could put up a blog that is already very specific to one part of golf like teaching golf.
This is the first part of starting a blog and if you cannot figure out what you want to write your blog about, then you will never have a good and successful blog. You need to follow the steps below and you will be able to get a blog up and running that can serve your purpose very well.
The 9 Steps to Follow When Starting a Blog
1. Hosting
The first step in starting a blog is getting good blog hosting. This is probably the most important part of the entire plan because if you do not have the best blog host for your blog you are going to be in big trouble as you work through putting up your blog. Make sure you check the top ten hosting choices on this site to help you get an idea of what you can use as a good blog host.
Start by understanding that you do not want the cheapest website hosting and you also do not want a free host like the Google web host. These are both options that will not give you the best blog hosting and will not allow you to move forward with your plan for starting a blog.
2. Choose a Platform
Most of the blog hosts will offer you what is known as the Fantastico script. This gives you two great options in the WordPress hosting and the Joomla hosting. Both of these are great for your blog platform and you will need to make sure you choose a blog host that will offer you the Fantastico script.
Even though Joomla hosting is used by many it is not as easy to use or as popular as WordPress hosting. You will have to decide for yourself which one of these platforms you are going to use for your blog and when you are trying to start up a blog you are going to have to figure out which one of these you want to use.
3. Get a Domain Name
You want to have your own domain name and preferably a .com or .net. These are only about $15 a year so they are very affordable and you can get one very easily for free if you choose hosting from one of the hosts on the top web hosting list on this site. This is why you cannot use the Google web hosting option because they will not let you use your own domain name.
4. Transfer your Domain to your Hosting Account
Now you have to go into the registrar you used to get your domain name and change the nameservers. You can find these in the domain manager section and you will find the ones you need to use from your hosting control panel. Once you have these changes your domain name will be with your hosting company and you can use it there.
Now you have to create an add on domain with your hosting company, which is very easy. You can contact your support if you need help with this step, but it should not be very hard or time consuming to figure out and put together.
5. Install WordPress or Joomla
The next thing you have to is install either WordPress or Joomla. For this set of steps we are going to work with WordPress. Go into your Fantastico script and select the WordPress option. Then, follow the instructions that you will get with installing Worpdress through the Fantastico script.
6. Find a Theme
Now that you have your blog hosting, you have a domain name, and you are all set to use WordPress, you need to find and install a theme for your blog. Starting a blog is not hard to do, but it can be time consuming, at first. You want to make sure you find a theme you are happy with and install it on your blog through the appearance section in the WordPress dashboard.
7. Choose and Use Widgets
Widgets can allow you to customize your blog and when you are starting a blog you need to be able to customize it. You can use the WordPress widgets to help you put up a blog that has great menus and is monetized properly as well. You will want to play around with these and check them out until you find the design you like the most.
8. Research and use Plugins
Another thing you have to do when you are using WordPress blog hosting for starting a blog is research and choose the plugins you are going to use. There are plugins that help you with search engine optimization, integrating your blog with social media, monetizing your blog, and so much more. There are many that are free and they can help you out in many ways.
9. Start Posting
Now all you have to do is start posting to your blog. You have done everything you need to do to start a blog and you can start putting up as many posts as you want. Remember there is a scheduling feature you can use to spread your posts out and this will help you to get the search engines to you often and get your blog in the rankings faster.
What do you do After Starting a Blog?
After starting a blog you want to continue to build it up until it is making the amount of money you want to make. Then, you can move onto starting a blog about something else if you want to. This is very important decision to make and if you want to make money with blogging you are going to have to be ready for starting a blog and then another one until you get to where you want to be.
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