So you’d like to start a blog. You may have seen the possibilities through the success of other bloggers. However, be prepared, as the world of blogging is still growing and has become increasingly competitive. Starting a successful blog doesn’t have to be hard, there are only some key steps and factors to make sure you cover.
Domain and Hosting
Usually, the first thing to get started and make your blog go live is to register your domain. You can choose a hosting company that allows you to register your domain and set up your page, typically a content manager such as WordPress.
Theme
A good theme will give your blog the right look and feel for your visitors to enjoy. You should be able to design your blog the way you want it to look. Unless you’re a coder who can handle the design process in an advanced manner, choosing a theme can make the process much easier for you. Themes can be rather inexpensive, and once you purchase one, you own it for life. You may also have the option of choosing a free theme. There are two parts to a theme, the framework and the child theme.
Content
Arguably the bread & butter of a blog, you want to have good, engaging content. After all, you’d like to not only have visitors keep coming back but for new ones to keep coming too. To start, you want to have basics such as an about page and contact page. Then you want to make sure you get to writing new, engaging posts and posting them regularly. It’s good to establish a consistency for your readers. Blog posts can provide some very valuable information for readers, especially for specific niches and causes. One of the top forms of blog posts is the list. Many blogs have posts that feature lists, such as tips for back & neck health, for example.
Reasons You Should Not Blog
There are numerous reasons you should get into blogging, such as becoming a better writer and thinker and having a platform to share ideas. However, there are also some wrong reasons that people get into blogging, and they end up disappointed after their expectations are not fulfilled. The top 3 reasons you should not blog are money, traffic, and notoriety. This may be hard to grasp because of the stories of people who made a lot of money off of their blog and how their examples have shown how blogging can be lucrative for anyone. If your primary reason for blogging is to make enough money to quit your job, you should go ahead and forget about it. It’s best to do it for the love, fulfillment, or any other specific purpose and allow to become a secondary matter. There are successful bloggers such as The Minimalists who have built a following around their ideas/cause, making good use of the power of blogging and using a platform creatively.
