Blogging
Do you want to start a blog but are not sure what sort of content to write? Worry not! This guide will teach you tips and tricks to starting your own blog, making money, and getting traffic. You will learn to start a blog, monetize it and earn income working in your free time.
People have been struggling to start a blog for years out of fear. However, I’m here to make it easier than ever before. If you get tense whenever you try to put your thoughts into action – all will be eliminated today. You’ll be taught the ins and outs of starting up your own quick and easy blog today itself.
You may be surprised to find out how easy it can get to start a blog. In this guide, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about getting started. It’s quick, does not require any technical knowledge, and will have you up and running in no time.
You’ll be able to start and monetize a blog with our step-by-step guide. The process will be a lot faster if you had an idea of how WordPress work.
First of all, before we started anything else, let’s talk about why should you start a blog.
Why do I need to start a Blog?
Isn’t worth Asking yourself why you really need to start a blog before you begin your journey? From building your personal brand to boosting career prospects, starting a blog can have benefits you might not even realize!
Here are just some of the reasons why every enthusiast should consider why they should start a Blog:
Make Money Online
A blog doesn’t have to be all work! You can make money just by blogging. Sure, it might not come in one big batch at the end of every month like with a paycheck from an office job but there are many different ways for you to earn cash through your own personal internet business blog- including running ads or recommending other businesses on behalf of brands looking for bloggers who will promote them online using affiliate marketing programs (which cost nothing).
Maintaining this side hustle won’t take up much time outside what’s already taken care of during non-blog hours – plus if done right then even more income opportunities could open up down the line as people keep finding value in your posts
In other words, A blog has the potential to make money every month through various methods. You can earn a living by running ads, selling your own products and services, or recommending other businesses with affiliate marketing for example!
Building an audience
The best way to spread the word about your new product or book before launch is by blogging. A blog will help build an audience and generate buzz that may lead up to people buying what you have available, as well as others looking into launching their own products too!
Blogs are also a great way for people who have opinions on something they want to share with others, and it only takes minutes out of their day.
How to get targeted leads
There are many ways to get more leads for your business, but one of the best is through content marketing. Publishing fresh blog posts on a regular basis will help you attract targeted audiences that want what they see.
Express yourself as a writer
Blogging is a great way to express yourself and share your creativity with others. You can build strong relationships through blogging, as it allows you the freedom for self-expression without fear of judgment or criticism from others’ opinions.
It is an excellent way to improve your writing skills, share stories with people and build communities through blogging.
Can I Start a Blog for Free?
The short straight answer is Yes, it is possible to start blogging without spending any money at all. But, don’t let tempting offers from the so-called “free blogging platform” overwhelm you – there are plenty of downsides to choosing this route.
As tempting as it might sound, choosing the free option is not without its risks and limitations. So, Wills Blogger’s advice would be to steer clear of free blogging platforms like WordPress.com or Tumblr which are not good for your blog’s success!
If you want to start a blog as your hobby and don’t care about making money from it, the free option might be good for you.
However, if we are talking business or if intent on starting up in business, building your brand reputation, or adding more advanced features then this can become limiting when considering all available options with their limitations – including how many posts they allow per day.
Some disadvantages of Free Blogging Platforms
Before you start jumping ship, let me further explain why blogging with a free platform is not much advisable.
- First, there are a lot of restrictions such as features, limited storage capacity, and design customization.
- Secondly, you’ll hardly get any customer support. Customer support plays a pivotal role in running a website. The truth is, you know blogging is a technical thing, so you’ll always need the support of dedicated web hosting. I can’t count how many times I approach my support team, but as a paid host, any issue that aroused could be solved in minutes.
- Thirdly, your blog is in jeopardy if you violate their terms of service. Imagine, you lose all your hard work into putting up a blog just vanished because you violate one of their rules which you were not aware of.
- Since you host your website on a free platform, it’s under their authority. They can display their ads anywhere, which can be disrupting for your readers. Of course, it’s a good thing to have ads that can generate income if its yours. But, here, we are talking about their ads, not your ads nor Google Adsense which you apply to Google.
There are some free web hosting sites that do not display ads. You may find in my other article “Best Web Hosting Sites“. Signing up for a free blog is good for testing and learning things before you get into serious business, but if you really want to scale your blog then you’ll need a premium blogging site.
Recently, I discovered one digital marketing platform, called System.io. You can use this platform if you think you still need time to play around so that you gain confidence in building a website.
System.io is a freemium all-in-one digital marketing platform for bloggers. It’s easy to get started and you can get 2000 contacts, an autoresponder, and a funnel builder right away with the free plan. Use this platform to grow your online business, especially email marketing services free of charge.
Not sure about their features? See for yourself.
Blogging is simple and affordable compared to other forms of online marketing and also learning how to start a blog doesn’t have to be complicated or costly. Here’s how you get started for less than $4 a month. Follow the procedure step by step, and you become a blogger!
How to Start a Blog in 10 Steps
Ready to get started? Just follow along and we’ll walk you through it. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Pick a Blog Topic
What should you blog about?
When deciding what to blog about, there are two approaches that you could take: You can either pick a topic that you’re passionate about or one that a lot of people search for.
If you can find a topic that meets both criteria, that’s the best option, but if you only have to choose between one or the other, we recommend focusing on a topic that a lot of people search for.
A blog is a great way to get well-researched and useful information out to lots of people. If you pick a topic people are looking for, you’ll have a good chance of getting a lot of traffic to it. Once you start getting more traffic, you can monetize your blog to earn money using any number of strategies. For instance, by using Google AdSense. We’ll talk about that later in the post.
You don’t necessarily need to be an expert
From sharing your thoughts and opinions to showcasing a specific product or service, blogging is a great way to reach new customers and draw existing ones in.
Please don’t let a lack of expertise stop you from starting a blog. The truth is, there are a lot of people who wrongly assumed that one needs to be an expert to blog on the topic one has chosen. Believe me, that’s not necessarily true. There is no need to be an expert or have a degree in the topic.
What is required to become a professional blogger is that you need to have an honest interest in the topic you have chosen, whereupon you can learn about it as you go. Of course, it will help you up to a certain degree if you were a degree holder in the subject. There’s no denying that.
If you have a genuine interest in your niche, you’ve lots of time to do research about it. This is the era of information technology where you get any information right on your screen.
If you want to achieve success as a blogger, you have to be ready to work hard, and willing to put in the time, effort, and patience. Study industry leaders and patterns that made them successful. Practice daily with articles in the same niche. Get feedback from friends or mentors.
Is Your Blog Topic Popular?
First, you need to check the search volume for your topic on Google. You can also use keyword research tools like Keyword Planner, ahrefs, Similarweb, etc. They are very sophisticated software that can provide the number of search volumes per month.
There are several ways to find out whether your specific niche is worth blogging about by asking yourself whether there are people who blog in the same niche; any popular blogs that have more than 1k visitors per day; any popular books on your topic, etc.
You may also find out whether questions on your topic are asked on Quora or other forums. I can guarantee that you’re on the right track if the answers are yes to the question. What does this suggest? It tells you that there are lots of people who are interested in finding out answers to your niche.
Google Trends can also help you find the overall trend of your topic. What can you derive from the graph below?
The trend is going up at the end, right? It shows that the search term “Dybbuk movie” is going up. This simply means the movie has been searched a lot by people. In another word, if you write an article about the keyword “Dybbuk movie” you have the potential of bringing a lot of traffic to your website.
In case, you are still wondering about which specific niche to choose for your upcoming blog, below are some popular or trending topics for blogging:
| Trending topics | Trending topics | Trending topics |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Beauty | Travel Sports |
| Business and money | Health and Fitness | Food |
| Technology | Weddings | Fishing |
| Gaming | Lifestyle blog | Education |
List of General Blog Niche
Parenting niches, including the lives of moms and dads, or different parenting methods.
Health and wellness niches, such as weight loss, mental health, and healthy eating.
Personal finance niches, such as reducing expenses, investing, or cryptocurrencies.
Lifestyle blog niches, such as fashion, beauty and health, celebrities, etc.
Self-improvement niches, such as different philosophies or styles, methods, or ideas for different age groups or demographics, etc.
Building websites niches, such as designing a site theme, or how to build sites with Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, or others related to websites.
Following are more blog niches ideas that are sub-categorized to make it more specific.
Travel Blog Niches
- Traveling for work
- City guides
- Sports travel
- Travel tips
- Minimalist traveling
Food Blog Niches
- Exotic cuisines
- Baking for kids
- Sparkling wines and champagnes
- Craft beers
- Home-cooked meals
- Wines
Fitness and Sports
- Hiking
- Yoga for specific age groups
- Home cycle repair
- Crossfit training
- Running and marathons
- Cycling for beginners
Entertainment NichesFunny pet videos
- Stand-up comedy instruction
- Musical theater fans
- Upcoming events for a specific group, locale, or genre
- Opera and classical music fans
Gaming Blog Niches
- Card games and board games
- Game walkthroughs and tips
- Game reviews for specific platforms or genres
- Strategy games help
- Video game tutorials for beginners
Green Blog Niches
- Living more sustainably
- Living green with a family
- Eco-friendly homes
- Sewing your own clothes
Blog Niches for Hobbies
- How to draw anime
- Gardening for condo dwellers
- Sailing
- Drawing for newbies
- Makeup tutorials and help
Education and Career Blog Topics
- Career coaching
- Career advice for specific jobs or industries
- Starting a side-hustle
- Learning new skills to get a new job
- College planning for home-schoolers
- Study hacks for high school or college students
- Self-employment
Parenting & Family Blog Niches
- Weddings and marriage
- Blended families
- Life after divorce
Step 2: How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform
Which blogging platform should you choose? Choosing the right one for your business can be tricky. Do some research on which features matter most (and don’t forget image hosting!).
Don’t just pick because it says free or low cost – find something that has everything in stock without any hidden costs attached like monthly access fees.
There are a lot of factors that you need to take into consideration before making your decision. It’s important to choose the right platform that’s right for you and your needs, not just the one everyone says is the best.
So, what do you look for? How do you pick the best places to blog? Here are a few factors to look for:
Ease of use – If you’re a newbie, you’ll want to look for a platform that is easy to set up, has a low learning curve, and doesn’t require any coding skills.
Monetization options – Wondering which blogging platform is best for making money? If you want to monetize your blog, you would want to choose the one that offers customization, supports third-party plugins, and allows you to create your own ads to generate income.
Scalability – Another important factor you need to consider is to see whether the platform you have chosen is flexible enough to help you scale your blog and add more features as you grow.
Price – When you’re just getting started creating a blog, the cost is an important factor to consider. There are free platforms to consider, but you often get what you pay for.
Switching to a new blogging site can be a very daunting task. This makes it important that you choose the right one from the get-go.
Now that you know how to choose a blogging platform, we will now list down and analyze the best blogging sites for you to choose from.
Some Blogging Platforms Compared
The blogging platform you’re using to write your blog is important. Your blog’s platform will serve as the skeletal structure for all the content you want to publish and as a solid, reliable foundation for your readers.
A good blogging platform makes creating and publishing posts on your site easy. It also helps you keep us updated with any website changes like adding new images, updating your profile page, etc.
In this section, I will share my personal experience with some of the Website Builders who have been the blogging platform for many professional bloggers.
Here are some of the popular blogging platforms (freemium & Paid):
WordPress.org – the best self-hosted blog platform that’s awesome for those who want complete control. We’ll discuss this in detail below.
GetResponse – a free and easy website builder and blogging platform for beginners
Kadence WP – is a free WordPress theme that’s perfect for bloggers, small businesses, and anyone else looking to set up their own website.
It’s feature-rich and highly customizable—and it’s completely free to use!
You can customize your site to look exactly the way you want with the many options available in the Kadence WP customizer. You can also purchase premium add-ons for extra functionality, such as the WooCommerce integration kit.
Kadence WP is a great option for anyone who wants a simple way to create their own website without having to pay for expensive web hosting or design services.
Hostgator Website Builder – If you’re looking for a website builder that’s easy to use and doesn’t require any technical knowledge, Hostgator Website Builder is a great option. This tool has a simple drag-and-drop interface, so nontechnical users can create their first website quickly. You can start at as less as $2.75 a month.
This website builder is more of a hosted service. The upside is that you don’t have to mess around with domain names or hosting. Hostgator will handle everything for you right out of the gate. It will generate the best domain name for your site.
Medium – one of the best free blogging platforms for writers who just want to write without making money or getting into customizationSquarespace – Squarespace is a simple website builder for bloggers who prefer the hands-on approach. Their easy-to-learn platform makes it easier than ever to design and publish your own blog. Weebly – an eCommerce website builder for people who want a professionally designed blog to go along with their store.
Based on the description above, I hope you will somehow manage to decide which platform will suit your needs.
However, Wills Blogger has found one which may probably is the best for bloggers.
The most popular option out there is probably WordPress.org, which is also the easiest to use. WordPress was designed to be easy to use, and they’ve done a bang-up job at that. It’s really just a matter of signing up for an account and then choosing a plan and adding the domain. That’s it in a nutshell.
WordPress.org isn’t just one platform – it’s a community of developers and designers who work together on making WordPress the most admired blogging platform in the world.
With millions of users, this community releases new updates every single month to make WordPress even better. These updates are so useful, that they are rolled out to millions of websites across the world within minutes. WordPress powers 33.4% of the internet! That’s one-third of the internet itself.
It holds more than 60% of the market share and is being used by brands like BBC, Time Magazine, and the New York Post.
The internet is, after all, the world’s favorite entertainment medium, which is why blogging remains one of the most popular hobbies worldwide. And if there’s anything you need to succeed in blogging, it’s a quality blog.
Even though WordPress software is a free self-hosted platform you are required to pay for the hosting and domain name. You’ll learn more about hosting and domain name as we proceed.
Remember: WordPress.org is not the same as WordPress.com.
If you’re ready to get started with WordPress.org now, you can click here and follow along in the next step:
Now, we’re done with the 2nd step, time to move on to the next.
Step 3: Set Up Your WordPress Website
As we mentioned above, you can’t start your blog without hosting and a domain name.
What is hosting and domain name?
- Web hosting is where your website lives, like your website’s house on the internet. This is where all your website files are stored. Every website needs web hosting – without it, you won’t be able to take your blog live.
- A domain name is the address of your website. Users type it on their browsers to get to your website. For example, our domain name is willsblogger
For hosting and domain name registration together, we highly recommend Bluehost which in our opinion is the most preferable hosting site.
Bluehost makes it very easy to install WordPress, so you can do it with a click of a button. No technical expertise is required.
Why Bluehost?
Bluehost is the most popular hosting company on the market. It’s recommended by WordPress itself and has been in the industry since 1995, which makes it older than Google.
Bluehost hosts millions of websites and has been working with WordPress since 2005. Users opt for Bluehost because it is more reliable and easy to set up when compared with other hosting providers.
We have partnered up with Bluehost to get discounts for our readers. You get a free domain for a year which normally costs around $14.99 per year and also a free SSL certificate. Sign up for the shared hosting today and enjoy a 70% discount (i.e. $2.95 per month) You’ll pay $3.75 per month if you sign up from others.
Disclosure: If you sign up for a Bluehost hosting plan using the referral link above, we’ll get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Instead, by using our link you’ll save money as pointed out above.
How to Get Started With Bluehost
Once you have clicked on the link, you’ll be redirected to Bluehost Website. Once you are there, click on “get started”. As shown in the screenshot below.
You’ll then be taken to a page where you have to pick a pricing plan. Select the one that suits you best. Then you’ll be asked to “create a new domain” or “use a domain you own”
Note: make sure that you pick a unique domain name that is also brandable. If you want to wait and think about it, then you can click on “Choose free domain later”.
Next, you’ll have to enter your account information and select the account plan. If you want the best value, then select the 36-month price.
Note: You can also purchase extra add-ons if you like, but that’s entirely up to you. Since you’re just starting out, add-ons aren’t really important and you can skip them for now.
After you’re done, you’ll get an email with your login details to your web hosting control panel. Once you have logged in to your Bluehost account you can find your WordPress site under the “My Sites” tab.
Click on Log into WordPress and then enter your credentials. Once logged in, click on “Create New Site” on the upper right-hand side or as shown below if you already have created before.
The next step is to choose how you would like to start building your site with WordPress. Select the button that says “start building”.
After you click on the “start building” to continue, you’ll be asked to choose your own domain name from the drop-down menu.
If you haven’t purchased a domain yet, you can go to the Domains tab from the hosting dashboard.
After you have selected the domain, leave the directory blank and let Bluehost choose it for you.
The installer will also show you some essential plugins to install, you can add those to the installation process. It is highly recommended that you should use WPForms for your contact form which is also the best free WordPress form plugin.
Then click on the Next button to continue. This will start the installation and it will take a few minutes to install. After it’s done, you’ll see the success message with your website’s details.
You’ll also get an email confirmation, you can click on the link that will take you to the WordPress admin area.
And that is it, you have successfully installed WordPress on Bluehost and launched your blog! Now you can access your blog at the domain you chose (like www.example.com).
To log in to the dashboard of your WordPress site and start customizing it, you can just add /login/ or /admin/ to the end of your site URL.
For example, www.example.com/admin www.example.com/login
For more info, see this guide to finding your WordPress login link. You’ll notice that right now your blog looks very basic. That’s because we haven’t installed a theme or plugins to make look better. We’ll do all that in the next step.
If you want other options for WordPress hosting providers then check out our recommendations below.
| 1. Bluehost |
| 2. HostGator |
| Exclusive Discount |
Step 4: Customize Your Blog’s Design
Now that you have successfully taken your blog to live, the next step is to design your blog. After the installation, you must have noticed that your blog looks very basic. To make it more visually appealing, you’ll have to install a theme.
There are thousands of themes to choose from. You can either go for free themes or you can get premium themes with more advanced features. When you are deciding on which theme to pick, make sure that you go for simplicity.
It really helps when you have a clean design along with good blog content. If your blog doesn’t look good then your readers won’t bother reading your content, no matter how good it is.
You can take a look at these themes at WordPress A couple of our favorite WordPress themes are Themify Ultra (one of the lightest themes) and Elementor. They’re both free to start with, and you can upgrade to unlock even more features when your blog starts growing.
To install a theme, you need to go through the following steps from your WordPress dashboard:
Log in to your WordPress dashboard (remember this is at www.example.com/login – just change example.com to your domain). That’s it!
You can also see this roundup of the best WordPress themes for more options.
Step 5: Install Essential WordPress Plugins
Plugins are what make WordPress powerful. Plugins can get your site to perform effectively and efficiently. You can get the best features available out there if you pick the right plugins.
With the help of plugins, you can get any type of feature or function you want on your website. There are over 54,000 WordPress plugins available in the market for you to choose from.
They can help you with creating contact forms, generating leads, growing your traffic, and so much more.
In this section, we’re going to pick out the 7 must-have WordPress plugins for you and along with how to install them.
How to Install a Plugin on WordPress
From your WordPress dashboard, you can install a plugin by following these steps:
1st Step: On your WordPress left-hand menu, you’ll see a plugin and if you hover over the plugin, the “Add New” button will pop up. Just click on the button.
2nd Step: In the search bar (as shown in the screenshot below), type what plugin you want and hit enter, your desired plugin will appear instantly.
3rd Step: Then, click the “Install Now” button and click again to activate the plugin. (remember, it’s the same button which you’ll have to wait for 1 or 2 seconds. It’s done!
Now that you know how to install plugins, let’s talk about the essential plugins that you need to turn your blog into a powerhouse.
Must-Have WordPress Plugins
Why is it important? It helps you optimize your blog for search engines. Why would you need RankMath?
RankMath helps you to optimize your site for Google, which helps you to boost your search engine rankings and grow your blog traffic.
Even if you don’t know much about search engine optimization (SEO), you can still optimize the page by following the plugin’s recommendations.
How much does it cost? Rank Math basic version is free to use. However, they also have a premium version which you can use with even more features to grow your traffic.
I highly recommend it to you because Rank Math is the best SEO plugin. It also offers a much better feature than Yoast SEO which many consider the best of all.
2. Google Analytics for WordPress – MonsterInsights
Why is it important? It helps you configure Google Analytics on your WordPress site. Why do you need it? MonsterInsights gives you a detailed traffic analysis of your website, which helps in measuring the performance of your blog.
With analytics, you can figure out what content works best on your blog and give your audience what they’re looking for. With the help of MonsterInsights, implementing Google Analytics on your WordPress site has gotten easier. Read how to set up Google Analytics on WordPress for more details.
How much does it cost? You can get started with MonsterInsights for free, or get the premium version for more advanced features.
3. WPForms
Why is it important?
WPForms helps you create a contact form that helps your readers to get in touch with you. You’ll need this as WordPress doesn’t come with a default contact form.
Why do you need it?
As a successful blogger, you should always try to engage with your readers. A simple contact form will help your readers to get in touch with you, without having to expose your email to spammers.
How much does it cost?
It’s free, though you can get more features if you get the premium version.
4. Sucuri
Why is it important?
Sucuri helps you beef up your Site’s security.
Why do you need it?
It helps hackers stay away from your website. It scans your website regularly for any vulnerabilities and notifies you in case of any breach.
How much does cost?
It’s free to use.
5. UpdraftPlus
Why is it important?
UpdraftPlus will create regular backups of your website in case anything goes wrong.
Why do you need it?
Apart from getting hacked or being hit by malicious software, you are also vulnerable to losing all of your data. This can happen for many reasons, which is why you need to take regular backups of your data.
UpdraftPlus can easily do all this by scheduling regular backups. This makes it an essential plugin to have installed on your site.
What does it cost?
It’s free of cost, you have to pay for nothing unless you upgrade to get advanced features.
6. WP Rocket
WP Rocket is the best WordPress site optimizer, and with its help, you can get your blog optimized in no time.
For years people have been using wp-rocket to make their lives easier by getting rid of all that excess code from posts and pages which were taking up too much space on disk or slowing down page loads for visitors;
because WPRocket understands what juice will keep readers engaged, they’ve created this amazing plugin specially designed not only to optimize but also to cleanse old templates so any future updates won’t require such tedious work!
Unfortunately, it’s not a free plugin, however, it’s a one-time payment. There’s no substitute for this, currently. If you search for the best WordPress site optimizer, you’ll see WP Rocket in the top list. For image optimization, you need Imagify. Please read the review article I wrote about Imagify because you can’t ignore the image optimization plugin after your site is optimized.
Why is it important?
An alternative to WP Rocket, WP Super Cache speeds up your blog by making it load faster for your readers. You can choose this if you are on a budget. However, you can’t compare with WP Rocket in terms of functionality, efficiency, and performance.
Why do you need it?
No one likes to land on a blog that takes forever to load, that is an excellent way to drive your readers away. WP Super Cache optimizes your blog so that it loads faster, and makes the overall experience smoother.
What does it cost?
It’s free, but they do have a premium version that has more options. Looking for more WordPress plugins to add features to your site? Check out our roundup of the best WordPress plugins.
Now that we’ve installed these must-have plugins, we’re one more step closer to our goal of creating an awesome blog.
Step 6: Configure Your Basic Blog Setting
Before you start writing, it’s important to make sure all your blog settings are configured properly.
Set the Permalink Structure
When you first start a WordPress blog, your links will look like this by default:
http://www.example.com/?p=233
So, it’s important to change your permalink settings because it makes it easier for Google to understand the intent of the blog by crawling the URL. Then all you have to do is choose Post Name which is the best option from Google’s and the reader’s point of view.
Make Sure Your Blog Is Public
This part is important if you want to get any traffic! You need to make sure that your blog is visible to the search engines so that it can be ranked. To make sure that it’s visible, you need to do the following.
Go to Settings » Reading Uncheck the box. By the way, in most cases, it’s already unchecked by default. However, if it’s checked, please uncheck immediately as shown below:
Disable Pingbacks
Pingbacks notify you when other bloggers link to you. This isn’t helpful as it sounds. In fact, it opens your doors to spammers who will make your blog look unprofessional. It’s best to disable them and here is how you do it.
Go to Setting » Discussions.
Now that you have these settings in place, it’s time to move on to the next step, create your core pages.
How to Create a Page in WordPress
To add a new page in WordPress, just click on Pages » Add New. That’s it! You can name it based on categories such as the About page, Blog page, Privacy page, etc.
Step 7: Create Your Core Pages and Main Menu
Next, we’re going to list down some essential pages that you need to have, along with our recommendations on how to build them. WordPress lets you create two different types of content: posts and pages.
If you’re wondering what’s the difference, check out this detailed guide to posts vs. pages in WordPress. When first starting a blog, you’ll need to create these pages:
From here, you can add your page title and your content in the text editor. Check out these WordPress content editor tips for more details.
When you’re done, just click the Publish button and it will be live on your site. Let’s take a look at how to create these pages and what they should include.
- About Page
On your “About” page, you should introduce yourself to your readers and talk about what they can expect from your blog. Link out to your other social profiles so that your readers can stay in touch with you.
2. Contact Page
A contact page is essential if you want your readers to get in touch with you. You can create a contact form in less than 5 minutes with WPForms.
All you need to do is add some instructions and the plugin will take care of the rest. These pages should be enough to get you started.
If you want to create custom pages for your blog, we recommend using drag and drop page builders like Kadence WP (lightest theme), Themify Ultra, or SeedProd. It offers 100+ templates for email optin pages, sales pages, coming soon pages, and much more.
All of the templates are easy to customize; simply drag pre-made blocks like headings, buttons, images, video, contact forms, etc., and drop them onto your page.
Creating Your Main Menu
Now that your pages have been created, it’s time to add them to the main menu of your new blog.
To create a menu in WordPress, click on Appearance » Menus. Enter a name for your menu (I just named mine “Main Menu”) and click Create Menu.
Now you can add your new pages to the menu. On the left side under Pages, check the box next to the pages you want to add to your menu. Then click Save Menu.
To add the menu to your header, click on the Manage Locations tab at the top. Then select your menu in the location where you want it to appear.
Note that your menu locations will be different depending on your theme, but usually, there’s a primary, main, or header menu area for you to add your main menu.
Congrats! You’ve finally created your own blog… but what good is a blog if you don’t know how to come up with great content ideas and promote them to make money online? We’ll talk about all these in our final three steps. Keep reading.
Step 8: Generate Content Ideas and Write Your First Post
Alright, ready to get started with blogging? The first thing you should decide is how often you’ll write and publish a new blog post.
The best way to go about it is to make a content calendar. Decide on which days you’ll post your blog and then stick to it. I recommend starting with one blog post per week. This will give you plenty of time to learn the ins and outs of your new blog.
As a blogger, you’ll need to be as disciplined as possible. If you’re serious about scaling your blog into a full-time business, then make sure that you don’t miss the deadlines you set for yourself. Now that we have got that out of the way, let’s talk about how to generate content ideas.
How to Generate Blog Post Ideas
In order to come up with high-quality content ideas, you need to be listening to your audience. You should know their problems and then try to come up with solutions that help them.
But when you’re first getting started with a blog, you don’t have an audience yet! So how do you know what they want to read? There are two ways how you can find what your readers want to read.
1. Analyzing Your Competition
You can gain a lot of ideas if you go through other websites in your niche or industry, and see what they blog about.
In step 1 above, we talked about researching other blog posts to pick a niche for your blog. You can revisit those same sites to get ideas for new content. Just make sure to put your own pin on the topic and not copy the content itself. Your blog posts should be 100% original.
Think about how you can improve on your competitor’s posts and create something even better.
Researching the Communities Where Your Readers Are Most Active
There are a lot of communities and forums on the internet that can help you get more ideas. Our favorites are Reddit and Quora. People ask a lot of questions on Quora about different things. You can search your topic in the address bar and you’ll get a list of all the related questions on your topic.
Go through these questions and their answers. Compile the data you have gathered and write something that provides an answer. Start following related topics on Quora so that you get notified whenever the community asks a question related to your topic.
Following the same process for Reddit, you’ll be surprised by the number of ideas you get from these communities. Now that you know how to get content ideas, it is time to get to work. Add them to your content calendar and set a deadline for each topic.
Step 9: Grow Your Blog Traffic
When you’re first starting your blog, it can be tough to build your audience. How do you let the world know about your new blog and start growing your traffic?
My favorite method is using search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the strategy of increasing your visibility on search engines like Google.
This way, when people search for topics you write about on your blog, your blog posts will rank on the first page and you can attract lots of readers. Next, I’ll share some basic SEO tips to help you get started.
There are two aspects of SEO:
On-Page Optimization and Off-Page Optimization. Let’s take a look at how you can use these tactics to grow your blog traffic.
On-Page Optimization
On-Page optimization means the optimization and the tweaks you do on your website. On-page optimization includes the following:
- Speeding up your WordPress website
- Keyword research – discovering the phrases people are using to search for your blog topics
- Optimize your title and blog post to use your keywords the right way.
I know that this sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not hard to get started with the basics. To get you started, read the above blog post, you’ll know how to use the keywords you found in the right places.
You can use Google Keyword Planner to do your keyword research for free. You can either insert the URL of your competitor’s blog post or you can enter your topic idea to get a list of keywords. Pick the ones that have high volume, this will increase your chances of getting more traffic.
You can also try searching for your blog post topic in Google and look at the suggested searches at the bottom of the page for keyword ideas. Once you have your list of keywords, use the keywords in the following places:
- Blog post title
- URL of the page (called the permalink)
- H1 (The main heading)
- H2, H3 (The sub-headings)
- Image alt text
- Meta description
- In the blog post itself
If you have Rank Math installed on your site, it will make your life a lot easier. Rank Math will keep on reminding you about the placement of your keywords and even recommend areas of improvement.
The plugin grades your content on the basis of Basic SEO and Readability. Follow the suggestions to get a good SEO score like in the screenshot below.
Off-Page Optimization
Off-Page optimization is when you build links or reach out to influencers to promote your blog. Link building can be tricky, especially if you are doing it for the first time. To get you started, I’ll share some basic tips here.
First, it’s best if you join communities where your audience is located. Start participating on threads and add value to them.
It is highly advisable that you shouldn’t put your links in as soon as you join the community. Instead, you should get to know the users and find ways to sympathize with them, and only link to your website where it’s relevant.
Another easy method is to find fellow bloggers or influencers on Twitter. Start interacting with influencers and share their tweets and content. The goal here is to get on their radar and build a relationship so that they might be interested in accepting guest posting.
Once you have their attention you should introduce yourself and your blog and see if they would be open to sharing your content with their audience.
Ahrefs Content Explorer and BuzzSumo are our favorite tools for finding influencers online. SEO is an in-depth topic and to say that we have covered everything in this small section would be a lie.
Step 10: How to Make Money From Your Blog
Congrats, you’re blogging now! The next question that pops up in every blogger’s mind right after they launch their blog is, “how do I make money by blogging?”.
There are many ways through which you can monetize your blog. We have even compiled a guide on various ways through which you can find an Easy Way To Make Money Online. For now, we’ll be talking about some of our favorite methods we use to monetize our blogs.
1. Google Adsense
Google Adsense has been around for a long time and bloggers have been leveraging its service to earn a lot of money. Google Adsense is an advertising platform for bloggers and publishers.
Once you have Adsense enabled on your blog, your readers will start seeing ads on your blog. You get paid to show these ads and you get paid more when a visitor clicks on them.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is promoting other people’s products on your blog and getting paid whenever your referral buys their product or service.
Affiliate marketing is easy to get started with all you have to do is sign up for the affiliate programs of the product that you are using or would generally use.
They will give you your affiliate link which you can place on your blog. Every time a visitor clicks on that link, they will be taken to the product’s website that you are promoting.
You’ll get a commission if your referral makes a purchase. This is a great way to generate passive income because you can make money over and over again from the same link.
There are many products and platforms that offer affiliate partnerships. You can start with Amazon or Aliexpress’ affiliate program and start promoting the products they have listed on their site. We recommend getting started with the ThirstyAffiliates plugin to manage all your links.
You could also check to see if the product you are using offers affiliate partnerships. For example, we’re huge fans of GetResponse and we regularly promote them because they are just that good fortunately it’s now available for free. You can do the same.
See our Elementor Review: The Best WordPress Page Builder, and The Best New Website Builder from GetResponse to get started.
3. Create an Online Store
Bloggers make a lot of money by selling things from their blogs. All you need is an eCommerce plugin and when it comes to WordPress eCommerce plugins, there is none better than WooCommerce.
If you find maintaining inventories and managing shipments a hassle then we’d suggest that you look up drop shipping. It’s an awesome, hassle-free way to start selling online. Launching your blog is just the tip of the iceberg. You still need to practice and keep learning in order to become a great blogger.
Make sure you check back regularly for more blogging guides and tips. You can sign up for our email newsletter to stay informed. Before we wrap up, I’d like to share a cheat sheet of my favorite blogging tools to help you get to the next level.
Popular Blogging Tools
Here are some tools to help you along the way on your blogging journey.
Analytics and SEO Tools
Google Analytics – Google Analytics gives you insights into your traffic and visitor behavior so you can grow your blog. You can easily set up Google Analytics with MonsterInsights.
Google Search Console – This tool helps you understand how Google treats your site in search results. It also reports any errors that may require your attention.
IsItWP Website Speed Test Tool – See how quickly your website loads, and what you can do to speed it up.
For more, see our roundup of the 17 best Free SEO tools for Marketers.
Tools for Blog Promotion
- BuzzSumo – Find influencers in your niche and find popular topic ideas.
- GetResponse or Sender – Start sending a regular email newsletter to your audience.
- OptinMonster – Create popups and other campaigns to grow your email list.
- Buffer – Schedule your posts on social media to get more blog traffic.
See our list of Content Strategies for Marketers to keep growing their blogs.
Tools for Writing and Design
- Grammarly – Fix any grammatical mistakes you might have made.
- Canva – Create and edit beautiful images for your blog.
- Unsplash – Download free stock images.
How to Start a Blog – FAQs
Can I build a blog without hosting?
No, you can’t. All professional blogs need good web hosting. We always recommend Bluehost because we use it ourselves and we love it.
How do I compete in a competitive niche?
By being different and by being consistent. It doesn’t matter how competitive the niche is, if you are adding value then you’ll succeed.
Analyze your competition, what kind of content they cover, how good is their design, how often they post and do they have a social presence. Take all of that and create something better. Also, analyze the type of links they are getting and from where they are getting from.
Follow the 10x approach and make something better and then reach out to the people who are linking to your competitor. Chances are that they will replace their links with yours if you truly have something better to offer.
How do I get readers to read my blog?
By writing on topics that your readers want to read. In order to find what interests your reader, you’ll need to be active on the forums where your readers hang out the most.
Observe what they talk about and the kind of questions they ask. Then come up with a solution and write a blog post on it. Writing for your target audience will always bring in more readers.
There are many niches in which bloggers make a lot of money. You need to do your research on profitable niches and work on a niche that has an upward trend. That’s it!
You’re finally done creating your blog. I’ve tried to keep this tutorial as simple as possible, but if you find anything confusing, don’t hesitate in reaching out to us.
We’ll guide you to the best of our abilities. For now, go and enjoy your blog, tweak and tinker with it and see what works for you the most. And thank you for taking out the time to read our guide. We would love to get your feedback.
Happy blogging!
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