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HOW TO START A BLOG: Complete Guide for Beginners 2021!
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So, you want to find out how to start a blog? This is the perfect place to be. In this post, I will show you starting a blog in 2021 is a quick and easy thing to do and once you have one up and running, you can focus on putting effort into your blog posts, promotion and ultimately making it successful!
BLOGGING IS SO REWARDING!
Not only is it a creative outlet where you can share what you love and inspire others you can also make money blogging, work with brands and build an empire.
I live in the Bay Area and blogging is my full-time job – no matter where you are, it can be your hobby, your side hustle, or your dream career!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission if you use those links. I will always only recommend brands I trust and ones I think you’ll love too.
Why Do You Want To Start A Blog?
- Do you have a passion that you’d love to share your knowledge, thoughts, and ideas about?
- Dreaming of running your own business, working from home, and being your own boss?
- Do you already have a business and you want to start a blog/website to attract more customers?
- Would you love to get involved in all the perks of blogging? The PR packages, travel, working with brands?
No matter what your reason is for wanting to start a blog, the most important thing is to start now! There has never been a better time to start a blog, so I want to show you exactly how to do it and how you can make your blog more than just a blog!
Let’s set you up for success!
How To Start A Blog
Here are my easy step-by-step instructions on how to start a blog:
1. Decide what to blog about
2. Name your blog
3. Secure your username
4. Create your blog
5. Install a blog theme
6. Add your logo
7. Style your pages and sidebar
8. Start posting
9. Promote it
1. DECIDE WHAT TO BLOG ABOUT
The first thing to figure out when starting a blog is what type of blog you want to have. In other words, your ‘niche’. The more focused you are on your niche and the type of posts you’ll create to fit that niche, the more new followers you’ll gain.
If you create a new blog and the content is all over the place, people won’t be able to connect with it as much as if it focused on a particular category.
You need to go with a niche that excites you, one you’d love to create content for. If you want more than one niche like a fashion, beauty, and lifestyle blog. Niching down is kind of hard to do, I personally think Lifestyle is an umbrella topic, and I find myself wanting to expand my categories into social media, blogging, and even business. We’ll see what the future brings for Milove Of Life!
2. NAME YOUR BLOG
Next, you need to come up with a unique name for your blog. You can either use your full name or you can come up with a different creative name.
3. SECURE YOUR USERNAME
Once you have a name for your blog, I recommend starting accounts with the same name on all social media accounts. For example, if your blog is called Calming Decor, you need to try and get the username @calmingdecor on every social media account, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram.
If you can’t have the name exactly, try adding an underscore _ or a dash – in the middle of the words, or adding the word ‘blog’ at the end.
Having the same username on every social media platform will make it so easy for your readers to find and follow you.
4. CREATE YOUR BLOG
Now that you have your blog name sorted and you’re ready to get things happening, we need to create your blog!
The blogging platform I recommend most is: Self-Hosted WordPress
Head over to WordPress.org to get started! You might think, “Ok! So I need to go to WordPress.com and start a blog there?” No, self-hosted WordPress is different.
WordPress has its own platform at WordPress.com where you can create a blog, but they also have the ability for you to install their platform to your own hosting, and that’s what I mean by “self-hosted WordPress”. Why would you want the WordPress website to have control over your entire blog and content when you can control it yourself?
It does cost money to have a self-hosted WordPress blog, but it’s worth it; WordPress.com doesn’t allow you to use custom themes, like the ones you see on Etsy unless you pay for one of their most expensive plans, the Business plan.
Don’t pay for that plan! It’s too expensive. You can spend a whole lot less per month if you choose to start a self-hosted WordPress blog from the beginning.
Benefits of Self-Hosted WordPress
- You can create an inspiring website/blog.
- You can make money with your blog and run your very own online store.
- They are affordable. When you purchase hosting from Bluehost (instructions below) you can get your domain for free and it’s automatically added to your blog, with a lot of services included.
- Install beautiful custom WordPress themes.
- Have the option to install easy-to-use Plugins to your blog to add functionality rather than messing around with HTML.
- Easily boost your SEO and rank higher in Google.
- It’s the best platform if you’re working towards having a successful blog.
I highly recommend starting a self-hosted WordPress blog as you can make your blog a stunning website, rather than “just a blog”. You will be able to run your own business and make money with your blog. Milove Of Life is a self-hosted WordPress blog. It’s the best investment I’ve made and I now have a beautiful, interactive website and you can too!
Get Started With Bluehost
When you’re just starting there are some blogging terms that may seem a bit confusing, so I’ll try and make it easy for you:
DOMAIN – Your domain is your web address, your home on the internet. When people type your domain into the web address bar, they’ll land on your blog. The domain for Milove Of Life is miloveoflife.com, so your domain would be www.whateveryouwant.com
WordPress – WordPress is a web-creation platform that is installed on your hosting account. It’s where you go running your blog, just like opening a program on your computer. It allows you to create a blog, change the look of it, publish posts, pages and run an online store.
HOSTING – Web hosting is the service that makes your blog appear to live online at your domain. If you didn’t pay for web hosting and went straight to your domain, nothing would be showing there. All your website files (your theme, posts, images, content) that you upload to WordPress are pushed live by your hosting.
All three of the above are required to have your own online space, and the best thing is that you can organize all of them in one go.
You can get everything you need at Bluehost. This is the #1 recommended hosting website for WordPress blogs and websites and it’s so fast and easy to set up.
If you sign up for hosting with Bluehost, they’ll include your domain for free and connect it with your blog straight away – you don’t have to worry about purchasing your domain somewhere else and any other complicated technical steps. They also install WordPress for you as you’re signing up. Everything is done for you in one go!
Go to Bluehost and you will land on their home screen, where you’ll see this banner. Click on the blue get started button. Use my affiliate link to lock in an amazing deal here: BLUEHOST DEAL!
Choose Your Plan
Next, you need to select your plan. If you’re just starting, the first package has everything you need.
The basic plan includes:
- Your domain
- Make your blog look professional from the beginning with a web address (www.yourblogname.com) instead of yourblog.blogspot.com or yourblog.wix.com.
- Hosting
- Paying for the space to keep all your blog content safe.
- The perfect amount of hosting space.
- Lots of space to upload all your blog images, products, and content.
- 5 email accounts.
- So you can have you@yourblogname.com as a stylish email address, instead of a Gmail or Hotmail address.
Choose your Domain
Now you’ll need to choose your domain, www.yourownblog.com. This can take some time, trying to find one that hasn’t already been taken. Try and find the closest domain you can to your blog or business name. The shorter it is, the more memorable it will be.
Once you’ve clicked next, you’ll land on a page where you have to fill your info in. This is your main information for your Bluehost account. Make sure your email address is correct, as this will be the email Bluehost uses to contact you.
Confirm your plan & info
On the same page, you’ll need to confirm your plan and account information.
Next to Account Plan, choose exactly which one you’d like (I know, again!), and it will let you know next to ‘Hosting Price’ what the total for that package comes to.
The extra options with checkboxes underneath aren’t necessary, but it’s up to you. Read ‘more information’ beside each one to see if you want them. Otherwise, uncheck all.
At the bottom, you will see the total amount you’ll be paying to Bluehost depending on which account plan you’ve chosen.
Down the bottom of the same page, is the area where you fill in your payment details. Have a read of their Terms Of Service and Cancellation Policy, and then click Submit.
Create your password
Next, you will need to create your Bluehost password.
Get Into WordPress
After your password has been created, Bluehost automatically installs WordPress to your hosting account so you’re ready to go. You will be asked to select a theme – choose whichever one from their choices. You can easily change it later!
On the next page, click the blue ‘Start Building’ button to be taken straight to WordPress, ready to start blogging.
This is your WordPress dashboard, the site you’ll always go to if you want to edit your blog, write a post and read your comments. To get here from now on, log in to Bluehost.com and click the blue WordPress button.
You can see your menu on the left which has all the sections you need, including Posts (to publish blog posts), Pages (to create your About and Contact pages), and Appearance (to change your theme).
5. INSTALL A BLOG THEME
Now we’re at the fun part. Installing a blog theme changes the appearance and layout of your blog/website. It’s all the complicated coding done for you, in one file which you simply have to upload to your blog. You don’t need to hire a web developer to design it all for you if you install a theme.
There are so many different themes to choose from – some with a sidebar, some just a header and body section. When you preview themes, ignore what content is currently in the preview. Imagine your content (logo, posts, photos, writing) in there. A theme just organizes where your content is going to be displayed on your blog and gives a bit of style to it with color and fonts.
The best theme to start with is Astra. If you’re just getting into WordPress, you should want your blog to look professional yet be easy to run and change things yourself. Here is a list of some more pretty great FREE themes. I found some amazing, beautiful themes on Etsy, they have a broad price range to fit any budget. Just remember to buy ones created for WordPress, don’t get stuck with a theme you can’t use like I did in the beginning.
6. ADD YOUR LOGO
To make your blog memorable from the beginning, you will need a logo. This is your blog title in a fancy font, that you place at the top of your blog.
Your first logo doesn’t have to be your only one. You should stick with one, but if you’re ever not feeling it, you have the option to change it!
Upload your blog header image or logo to the top of your blog as soon as you can. If you don’t have a logo and you need one fast, try to use sites like Over & Picmonkey to make your own. Etsy sellers also offer logo design services.
7. STYLE YOUR PAGES AND SIDEBAR
You will need to add an About page, with a bit of info about yourself and a Contact page, so your visitors can contact you.
Spend some time styling your blog sidebar, adding a profile picture, social media icons, and social widgets for Instagram and Pinterest.
8. START POSTING
The sooner you start publishing blog posts, the better. They may not be perfect from the beginning, but the more you post the better you’ll get at it. Come up with a list of blog post ideas you’d like the create and work your way through it. If you need some ideas, check out Pinterest, there are tons of amazing bloggers with some great content ideas.
9. PROMOTE IT
If you want to get more blog traffic, you will need to promote your new posts and your blog on your social media channels. You can use Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and even sites like Bloglovin. If you don’t start talking about it, nobody will know it exists! Be proud of what you’ve done and start spreading the word.
I hope I’ve helped you understand how to start a blog! I’m so happy I took a leap of faith to create my own corner of the internet! Check out my resources page for more links. If you have any questions, please email me @ creator@miloveoflife.com or my contact page.
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