Firstly, lets start by knowing what is a blog. "A blog is a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style". It also give you the platform to express yourself and share your ideas, services, product and others to your world of contact.
It is very necessary that everyone should have a blog. You may ask why (?). Basically, from our above explanation of a blog you can find out that blogging deals in all field of specialization. Follow the steps below.
Want To Start A blog? Here, is Simple Tutorial on how to start a blog.
1. Decide What To Blog About
Blogging will not bring you millions overnight. Like any other business, it requires time, patience, and commitment, so pick a topic or niche you are passionate or knowledgeable about. Trust me, your audience can tell when you love discussing the topic in your blog posts and that will build credibility and loyalty.
Furthermore, a unique experience or perspective on a subject will help you stand out from other bloggers online, and encourage social media sharing from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. These mediums can provide exposure and drive huge amounts of traffic to your site.
2. Which Blogging Platform To Use
A majority of blogs on the internet are made using the free WordPress blogging platform. A blogging platform or CMS helps manage your content, images, and design. WordPress is the best in terms of being simple, reliable, and flexible. It is so easy to use that nearly 100 million websites use WordPress and hosting companies offer “1-Click Blog Installation” features specifically for new bloggers who want to install WordPress. Without any HTML or technical knowledge, you can build your own blog and customize it with different free themes (designs), layouts, plugins, and features.
- You can’t have your own domain. This site, Yahoo.com, Google.com and CNN.com have their own domains. With a self-hosted blog, you can pick any available domain name you want and register it. However, if you choose to start a blog on Blogger.com or Tumblr.com, your website’s URL will look like YourSite.Blogger.com or YourSite.Tumblr.com. Imagine if you had to go to Yahoo.Blogger.com – what would you think? Credible or easy to remember? Would you share that “blog” with your family and friends?
- You don’t really own your blog. Because your blog is hosted on their site, you aren’t even the “owner” of it. Your blog can be removed or deleted without warning. If you decide to move to your own domain and hosting later, you won’t be able to take your traffic or readership with you, either.
- There is no flexibility. When you make a blog using a free blogging service, you are limited to their infrastructure, design, and layout. The themes these platforms offer are limited and boring, and you can’t install any 3rd-party plugins.
- You can’t make money, or at least not as much. Many people make money blogging, from $100 a month to $1,000,000 per month. Unfortunately for you, most of these free blogging sites won’t allow you to, and if they do, the platform will take a percentage of your earnings.
For all these reasons and more, I highly recommend you buy your own domain (i.e. MyBlog.com or MyBlog.org) and use a cheap hosting company.
Cost of Starting A Self-Hosted Blog On Your Own Domain
The biggest advantage of starting a blog or business online is that it’s incredibly cheap. Here are the costs you may incur hosting your own blog using WordPress’s free blog software.
- Domain: $15 per year
- Hosting: $3 – $7 per month, or about $50 per year with a one-year discount.
The best part is there is no commitment. If after a month or two, you decide blogging isn’t for you, you can cancel and get a refund. Many hosting companies even offer a 30-Day or Anytime Money-Back Guarantee. You really have nothing to lose at this point. The tutorial below will walk you through how to create a blog.
3. Choose A Domain or Blog Name
Hopefully you’ve decided to self-host a blog on your own domain. Now comes the fun part – picking your blog name and domain.
Picking A Domain
Selecting a domain or blog name can be a challenge for some bloggers because it needs to be brandable, meaningful, short and easy to remember. If you are interested in blogging about healthy food and recipes, a domain like My-Favorite-Healthy-Food-Recipes.com or MyFavoriteFoodRecipes.com is not the way to go. Try a catchy, unique domain such as EatWell.com or HealthFanatic.com. Similarly, you can brand your domain after yourself by using your name.
Where To Buy A Domain
It is usually best for you to buy a domain and hosting package together, especially since the best hosting companies will give you the domain for free when you buy hosting, saving you both time and money. Although there are lots of registrars to buy domains from, it is always better to go with a reputable company.
4. Web Hosting
In my years building blogs, I’ve learned that BlueHost is one of the best WordPress hosting companies. BlueHost excels in the following categories:
- Reputation, Uptime, and Security
- Customer Service and Technical Support
- Price and Money Back Guarantee
- Features and Free Email Accounts
BlueHost’s shared hosting plans include a free domain, unlimited everything (space, bandwidth, email accounts, etc.), automated backups, 24/7 technical support via phone and chat, and an average up-time of 99.9% so you don’t have to deal with server crashes and network outages. BlueHost is also highly recommended for 1-click WordPress installs. Their extremely user-friendly control panel means you can start your blog in 15 minutes.
Overall, BlueHost offers powerful servers, fast connections, and unlimited bandwidth/disk space, all of which are critical to your future success making money blogging online.
Kindly, Share with your friends.
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