6 Steps to Starting a Blog

Do you have a blog idea brewing but don’t know where to begin?
Your blog doesn’t have to be perfect it just needs to start!

I encourage you to start the blog you have been thinking about creating.
It will be your piece of real-estate on the web! Your blog will grow with you.

Your efforts will produce results.
You can learn as you go.
It gets better over time.
Enjoy the blog starting process!

Later, you will discover that what seems so hard today has become easier.

In this post, I cover 6 steps that will help you accomplish starting your blog.

1. Find your voice. Discover Your Topic.

Some people set up a blog and seem to already know what they are going to talk about. For others, this can be and often is a very difficult part of the starting process.

Truthfully, many bloggers starting out don’t give enough attention to this step. You might be asking what does finding my voice have to do with starting a blog? It has a lot to do with it. In fact, it is one of the most important starting points for every blogger.

It is through the discovery of every blogger’s unique voice that the appropriate blog topic is found. Once you discover your voice you will have a blog that sustains not only your interest but your readers as well. If you haven’t done so already, I’d like to encourage you to take a bit of time to explore this part of starting a blog.

To help you do that, see the link below to a post by Jeff Goins, bestselling author, blogger, founder of the Tribe Writers and Intentional Blogging courses. Further Reading; What You Write About Doesn’t Matter as Much as You Think by Jeff Goins

2. Choose A Domain Name

Once you know your topic the next step is choosing a domain name for your site. A domain name is the web address or URL of your blog. If you don’t know much about domain names or how to choose one, you are not alone. This is not always an easy task even for the experienced blogger.

The blogging world has grown considerably in the last several years. Many domain names we first think of are already taken. Deciding on the right one can be difficult. To read more about how to choose a domain name, click the link below; Choosing Your Domain Name

3. Web-hosting

This point is for those using WordPress.org it doesn’t apply to WordPress.com. Not sure what the difference is between the two? See this video tutorial by Greg Narayan explaining What’s the difference between WordPress.com or .org?

If you choose to use WordPress.org you will need a web hosting company. There are many hosting companies available to choose from. However, it is very important to choose a good one.

3. Choose a Blogging Platform

There are many various blogging platforms to choose from. I highly recommend WordPress. I have found it to be the best place to start a blog. I also recommend using self hosted rather than the free .com version of WordPress.

Not sure what the difference is between the two?

See this video tutorial by Greg Narayan explaining the differences plus pros and cons of each.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Difference, Pros & Cons

If you choose to use WordPress.org you will need a web hosting company. There are many hosting companies available to choose from. However, it is very important to choose a good one.

While I strongly recommend WordPress – If you feel WordPress is not for you there are other popular blogging platforms;

3. Web-hosting

There are many hosting companies available to choose from. However, it is very important to choose a good one.
Popular choices are;

5. Choose a Theme

There are many WordPress free and premium themes available to choose from. It can seem daunting trying decide which one is best for your needs. Often feeling like your shopping in the wilderness among millions of themes to choose from. This is a step you want to take seriously as it isn’t a great idea to continually change themes once you’ve already gone live with your blog.

One suggestion I have in choosing a good theme is making sure it is responsive. This means it shows up nicely responsively on any device.
While I highly recommend premium themes and page builders there are many bloggers who do choose to go with free themes. This too is okay but the downside is you have less support with the free versions. That said, I have made many websites for clients with their chosen free WordPress themes.

There are great tutorials to help you starting out;

Check out the following You Tube Channels;

Greg Narayan
Darrel Wilson
Ferdy Korpershoek
WPCrafter

WordPress Help Facebook Group: Dear Blogger Coffee Chat – WordPress Help for Bloggers

6. Customize your theme

You’ve chosen your theme but now don’t know what to do with it. Whether free or premium all themes need to be customized to create the desired look and feel. Now it’s time to create a simple start blog design. Less is more starting out when it comes to customizing your blog. It just needs to be easy to navigate, simple design and customizations with the addition of your content.

A couple of blog posts and a great about page will be an awesome beginning! The most important thing is you started! Now with time you can grow as a blogger and watch your blog grow with you. As you connect with others and continue to learn all you can about blogging.

Congratulations if you’ve already started your blog!
What challenges have you faced beginning your blog?

Happy blogging as you begin to build your blogging dreams!