Don’t know how to get started with your blog? You have heard a lot about blogging & guys making money from blogs. You also would like to try your hands on it. You don’t have any clue where to start. Don’t panic. It’s not as difficult as it seems. Please read this post carefully & I am sure that by the time you will complete reading this post, you will get a better idea of blogging.
I start by assuming that you at least know
the meaning of a blog. Don’t worry. If you don’t know what is a blog
all about, you can read my post –What is a Blog and then get back to this post.
We will get to the technical part of setting
up a blog later. First, I would like you to be clear on what is your
objective behind starting a blog.
Deciding the Topic for a Blog
I don’t want you to just get a feel of
blogging by setting up a blog. If you are seriously interested in
blogging, you need to have a clear vision & idea of what you are going to
do with your blog. What is the main purpose of starting your blog?
There can be many reasons for you to start a blog. There are few people
who would blog for sheer interest & use the blog as their personal diary.
Some would do it to share their views & knowledge in the field of their
expertise. There are others who blog regularly to make money
online. There are even corporate blogs with the objective of interacting
with their customers & keeping them informed. There are also
educational blogs. The list is endless. When you start your own
blog, you should have a reason to start your blog. I started a blog with
an intention of sharing what I learn in the field of Blogging, Internet
Marketing, SEO, and Making Money Online. That’s what I am doing now.
It’s better to have a clear picture of the subject of your blog before starting
out.
Choosing a Blogging Platform
Once you are done with finalizing the topic
for your blog, it’s time now to set up your blog. There are many options
available for you to set up a blog. I would list them as follows:
Blogger.com:
This is the oldest blogging platform
available for free which is owned by Google. Getting started with
Blogger.com is really easy. You need to create an account or if you have
a Google Account, you can use it as well. The features of Blogger.com has been
listed below
Blogger.com is
hosted by Google.com and you are not required to pay for hosting your blog.
·
You can
choose the name of your blog (URL) which will show as
(nameofyourblog.blogspot.com) or you can use your own domain name
·
You don’t
have to install any software.
·
You can
upload your own photos or videos or embed it from Picasa or Youtube
·
You get a
wide choice of themes
·
You cannot
import your blog from another platform
·
1 GB
Storage Limit
WordPress.com:
WordPress.com is also a free
blogging platform that has more features compared to Blogger.com. The
list of features of WordPress.com follows:
WordPress.com is also a hosted service and there is no need to
pay any hosting charges.
·
You can choose the name of your blog which will show as
(nameofyourblog.wordpress.com) or you can use your own domain which will cost
you some bucks.
·
You don’t have to install any software.
·
You can upload your own photos or videos.
·
You get a wide choice of templates to choose from.
·
You get a built-in spam protector.
·
You can import your blog from another platform like Blogger,
TypePad, etc.
·
3 GB Storage Limit
I would prefer WordPress.com as
it offers flexibility and choice. You can customize your blog and there
are a lot of features available in WordPress.com which is not available with
Blogger. Moreover, you will have a choice to upgrade your blog to
self-hosted WordPress the benefits of which I will discuss next.
WordPress.org:
This is the platform I use. The
basic requirement to use this platform is to have your own domain name & a
web host. You will have to download the software from WordPress.org and
upload it on your web server. It’s better not to explain the whole
process here when there is a whole bible available at the site of WordPress.org which will
guide you through the entire process. I am sure you will praise me for
doing this. I would still like to list the features of WordPress.org as
follows:
WordPress.org is priceless (free).
You can do much more than you can imagine with WordPress and
much beyond Blogger and WordPress.com
WordPress is the best open source content management system for
blogging.
WordPress is outright SEO-friendly.
You have loads of choices for free & paid plugins to improve
your blog’s performance & features.
You can read more about its feature here – WordPress Features
We are done with discussing the blogging platforms. There are a lot of other blogging platforms
available but it’s better to limit ourselves to the best ones available online.
If you selected the first or second option,i.e. Blogger or WordPress.com, you don’t need to buy any domain
or hosting service.
If you wish to start a
full-fledged blog with WordPress.org, you will need to buy a domain and get a
web hosting service.
The domain is nothing but a website
address like “beingblogger.net” and
a web hosting service will enable you to host your website on the internet and
it will provide you with the infrastructure and space needed for hosting a
website.
If you don’t have any clue where
to buy a domain name, I would recommend you to buy it from Godaddy.com which
is the international registrar of domains.
For a Web Hosting Service, I
would recommend you to buy the service from HostGator.com which
is the world’s best Hosting Service Provider and I can vouch for it as I
use HostGator myself.
Okay. We are done with the
basic requirements of setting up a blog. Now, we come to the important
& real aspects of blogging which include content & promotion of your
blog.
Content
Based on the topic you have
chosen for your blog, it is time for you to start writing posts for your
blog. Please remember that writing for the web audience is different from
writing offline. Taking care of the following points will help you in
writing good posts:
Think of your audience & write for them.
Write in a conversational style. Remember you are not
writing articles.
Simplicity in your language will help your readers understand
you better.
Stay focused on the theme of your blog and don’t just write
anything.
Ensure that there is no spelling or grammar mistake.
Proofread thoroughly before publishing your post.
Do not copy content from other blogs or websites. It’s unethical
and will not yield you any benefit.
Keep your blog updated. Posting regularly on your blog
will keep visitors coming back to your blog more often.
Promotion of your Blog
It’s useless having a blog
without visitors. You need to attract traffic to your blog. There
are various ways of bringing traffic to your blog and the most cost-effective
way of doing it is through SEO. I would not like to elaborate on the process of
SEO as I have already written earlier about – What is SEO? Why is SEO Important? and How to SEO.
You can visit these posts to learn what is SEO and how you can use it to
promote your blog.
You can also bring paid traffic
to your blog by using PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising. If you wish to do
so, you can visit Google Adwords which
offers the best PPC Advertising Program online.
I hope you can now start your own
blog without much effort.