How do i Start Blogging?
Whether you plan to blog as a hobby or a business, there are several ways you can start a blog in 2023. You can also start for free, or even invest a little money for a name and a hosting package, which I will go into detail later in the guide.
If you know exactly what blogging is and want to see directly the steps for creating a new blog, then you will find your desired contents below in appropriate section of how can a beginner start blogging?. If you're just getting started with blogging though, then there are some basic things you need to know.
What are blogs and bloggers?
A blog, is an online diary or a website that is constantly updated with new content (articles, pages, tags, categories, multimedia, etc.) A blog can be managed by a or more people.
Blogging is the term we use to refer to how someone manages and writes on a blog. Most likely, he is equipped with a website that includes tools to write, publish, link, upload photos and more, online.
Bloggers (plural) or Blogger (singular) refers to someone who owns a blog and manages, maintains and updates it continuously. There are the professional bloggers (full-time job) and the amateur bloggers (they either do it as a hobby or want to turn it into a profession).
In what ways can I start a blog?
There are three main ways you can create a blog and then configure and manage its content. Each way appeals to different people and its process differs quite a bit.
- CMS Platforms: For novice users, CMS (Content Management Systems) platforms provide them with a friendly environment through which they can choose from ready-made templates, write, publish and manage their content, optimize it for search engines and everything else a blogger needs.
- Website Builders: These platforms allow you to easily create (often by dragging elements and objects from one place to another) different types of websites, but they are often aimed at small and large businesses rather than blogs. However, you can also use them as a blogger.
- Programming: For specialists who know the basic programming languages such as HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, among others, they have the possibility to set up their own blog either on a CMS platform or headless.
How to start a blog in 2023?
- Think about the topic (Niche) and the name of your new blog
- Select the right blogging platform for your Website
- Use the right SEO tools
- Create your first pages
- Write and publish your first article
- Register your blog in Search Console and Webmaster Tools
- Be consistent
- Sign up for Google AdSense and Adsterra
1st Step: Think about the topic (Niche) and the name of your new blog
If you are planning to start a personal blog exclusively for hobbies, then the topic and the name do not need to affect you much. You can choose anything that you think will properly express your content and writing style. You can either choose a unique and interesting name, or even use your first and last name, presenting a completely personal blog.
If you are interested in starting a blog and one of your goals is to make it profitable, then the name and topic will play a decisive role in how quickly it will go up and how much money it will be able to make.
There are several tips for choosing a name, and you will hear hundreds of others from those in the digital marketing space, but if I could give you a few basic tips for choosing a domain, they would be:
- The domain name should be short.
- Do not include symbols and numbers.
- Easy to write and even easier to offer.
- Try to be different and easy for someone to remember.
- Don't limit you if you want to expand the subject matter in the future.
- To be Brand worthy, which means to be able to attract businesses.
When I chose “Tutscoach” as my official company name, I knew that not only was it unique, but it would never be a problem if I decided to completely change the entire theme.
The name may not include specific keywords for blogging, vlogging and podcasting, which are the main themes of the blog to this day, but that did not stop it from becoming profitable.
Tip: Since everyone has the possibility to register a domain name in their name that is provided available, this means that you can never know if another owner once had it and in what way they used it. What you can do though is visit Archive.org, search for the domain name you wish to register and check if it existed before and what it included.
2nd Step: Find the right platform for your blog
There are several platforms that allow you to start a blog right now. However, depending on the blog you want to start, it is important to choose the right platform from the very beginning, otherwise you will find yourself in the short or far future wondering how to transfer all your content to a different platform.
Below I have created a list of some of the best platforms you can use if you are starting a new blog in 2023 these are the best blogging platform to make money now a days:
To start a blog, you'll need to use a web hosting provider for some blogging platforms. Here is a rundown of the best web hosts for starting a self-hosted WordPress blog:
- Hostinger
- BlueHost
- HostGator
A : Wordpress.com
- Go to WordPress.com and click the “Get Started” button.
- Create a new account with your email or Google / Apple account.
- Choose the domain name you want to register for your new blog. Since endings like .gr and .com cost, we will start for free with a .wordpress.com. so click on “Select” to select it.
- On the next page you will be able to choose one of the available subscription packages of the platform. Click on the “Start with a free site” link to get started for free.
- Choose what your goal is with your new blog and click "Continue".
- Choose to which category the topic of your new blog belongs and click on "Continue".
- Next, add a title and subtitle for your blog (which will also appear on search engines like Google and Bing).
- Finally, WordPress will show you a window with tips to start writing your first articles, watch video tutorials, or choose a design template. Click on “Skip to dashboard” to continue.
B : Wordpress.org
- Visit Hostinger and from the top menu, hover over “Hosting” and click “WordPress Hosting”.
- Scroll down to the available packages and choose the one that meets your needs. Since the second package also provides a free domain name, we will choose this one by clicking the "Add to cart" button.
- On the next page, fill in all your details and at the end choose how you want to complete the payment of the web hosting package. Since the name is provided for free, we will be able to choose it in the next steps. Enter the inkstory coupon to get 7% off your first purchase.
- Click on the “Claim domain” button to get your first domain name. If you can't find it, click on “Home” from the top menu.
- Add the name you want to register, choose from the right in which suffix you want to get it and then click on the "Check availability" button so that the system can check if it is available for purchase. If the domain is available for purchase, click the “Claim domain” button to acquire it.
- From the top menu click on the SSL option and then click on the “Setup” option. A pop-up window will appear, from which simply select your domain name and click "Install".
- Once the installation of the SSL Certificate is complete, go from the menu to "Hosting", click on the "Manage" button next to your domain name and then click on the "Dashboard" option. From there, make sure the “Force HTTPS” and “LiteSpeed” options are enabled.
- From the top menu, click on "Hosting" and then click on "Add Website". You can also find the same option by going to Hosting -> Dashboard -> Add Website.
- Once the pop-up window appears, first add the name your website will have (you can change it later). Next, add the email, username and password you will use to log in to your new WordPress site. Finally, make sure the domain name link is HTTPS and click “Next” to start the automatic installation.
- Once you have completed the process, simply add the domain name you purchased to the address bar of your browser and at the end put /wp-admin or /wp-login.php to be taken to the login page. For example, if you bought example.com, then to login you would put it as example.com/wp-admin. There, add the username and password you entered earlier to connect to the WordPress Dashboard.
C : Ghost Blogging Platform
- Visit Ghost.org and click the “Get Started – Free” button to get started.
- Choose one of the available free Ghost templates. Once you have selected a template, then click the “Start with …” button to select it and continue.
- On the next page, fill in the title and subtitle of your new blog and then choose its main color (you can customize them afterwards) and click "Continue" to continue.
- Ghost will ask you if you are a Creator (you create things on the internet), a Publisher (a professional columnist or journalist), or a Business. Select and click “Continue” to continue.
- Finally, fill in an email and a strong password to log in to your new account. Immediately after, you will need to choose from the available subscription packages of the platform in order to acquire your new domain and start managing your new blog.
More platforms to start a blog
- Squarespace: An excellent and modern platform that allows you to create landing pages, portfolios, online stores and blogs.
- Wix: A website builder to build any type of website, from simple blogs to online stores, portfolios, landing pages and websites for small businesses or local stores.
- Joomla: A CMS platform like WordPress that requires web hosting and a domain name, is aimed at more specialized users and allows you to create any type of website, from simple to complex and professional websites for large businesses.
- Blogger: Google's blogging platform that is completely free to everyone without restrictions and provides you with a sub-domain. It is a platform that was once one of the most well-known worldwide, while now it is a "ghost platform", with fewer and fewer users using it, having lagged far behind the rest of the field.
Step 3: Use the right tools - best blogging tools for beginners
- Notion: Notion is the ultimate tool to create editorial calendars, to-do lists, organize your blog content, jot down all your ideas, create strategic plans, prepare drafts of your videos or podcast episodes and many many more.
- Canva: Canva is the number one stop for creating logos, covers, social media posts, photos for your newsletters, banners and more. Even if you are thinking of creating an eBook for your blog, you can use the service to design it, format it, write it and then export it to PDF format.
- Microsoft 365: By choosing one of Microsoft's subscription packages, you will not only have access to the entire suite of Microsoft Office programs, but also 1TB of storage space on OneDrive to keep a backup of your blog, share files, provide files to download, to provide from there the Media Kit and the Press Kit of your blog, or even the eBooks you have written.
- Rank Math SEO Pro: Rank Math SEO is the number one stop for any blogger who has their WordPress blog. The plugin allows you to optimize your entire blog for search engines, link it to Google and Bing, and a tool that rates and provides suggestions for optimizing each article or page you've created.
- Broken Links Checker: A simple and practical WordPress plugin that notifies you whenever it finds a broken link to an external website. This will help you keep all links corrected, which helps an article rank in search results.
- FlyingPress & FlyingCDN: Do you want to optimize the speed of your WordPress blog, but you don't want to deal with technicalities at all and you want the whole process to take just a few minutes? If the answer is 'yes', then the FlyingPress plugin will take care of you by providing automatic speed optimization.
- Audacity: A free and open-source program to record your podcast episodes, or even record and provide audio for your articles. It can also be used to create Audiobooks.
- Unsplash, Pexels & Pixabay: These are the three most popular sites that provide free royalty-free photos that you can use either for personal or commercial purposes. The last two websites also provide free videos and music.
Step 4: Create the main pages and categories
- An "About" page with information about the owner of the blog, the topic, what it represents, or any information you consider important for someone visiting your blog for the first time to know.
- A "Contact" page so they can contact you. You can either provide information such as your email, or even enter a contact form for them to fill out.
- A "Privacy Policy" page and a "Terms of Use" where the basic regulations for the use of the website will be mentioned, how - and if - you store, maintain, process and forward to third parties each user's data. You can take mine and format them accordingly.
- You can also add a disclaimer page to your website.
5th Step: Write and publish your first articles
- How well the 100th article is optimized for search engines, and how well it provides an answer.
- How fast and properly set up is the centimeter website design.
- How many backlinks does the 100% domain name get from other external websites.
- What is the total time limit visitors sit on this article, the longer it is, the higher ranking it will receive.
- If there are comments or reactions to the article.
- Whether backlinking has been done properly (ie how many internal and external links an article has, and whether they lead to similar or unrelated articles).
- The total word count of the article (read more about long articles here).
6th Step: Register your blog in Search Console and Webmaster Tools
7th Step: Be consistent
8th Step: Sign up for Google AdSense and Adsterra
- Do not include adult-only content.
- Be over 18 years old.
- Have at least 25-30 unique published articles.
- Don't have an account with the same details as another email.
- Have the basic pages like About, Contact and Privacy Policy.