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So you’re thinking of starting a blog! That’s great!

But where do you begin? There are a million tips online and every blogger tells you to do something different. What’s right and what’s wrong?

I know, I’ve been there. You’re head is spinning and you wish someone would just sit you down and tell you step-by-step what you need to do.

And after two years of blogging and many mistakes and successes later, I am here to do the hand-holding you’ve been looking for!

But, before we get to how to start a blog, let’s get why you should start a blog!

Unless you already know all the great reasons why you should start. In that case, if you’re just interested in what it takes to start a blog, feel free to just skip this part!

WHY SHOULD YOU START A BLOG

There are so many reasons why you should start a blog!

• Make money working from home. Either as a side job or a full-time gig!
• Start as a hobby
• To share your story
• Because you love writing or teaching people

If you’re thinking about it, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet, check out this blog post here to convince yourself to start! Then you can jump back here and learn how to set it up!

One more thing before we start, this is going to be a long in-depth post so get comfy, grab your favorite drink and get ready to take some notes!

WHAT WE’RE GOING TO COVER:

1. Choosing a platform for your blog
2. Choosing a web host for your blog
3. Choosing a domain name
4. Installing WordPress
5. Choosing a theme
6. Writing your first post

This blog post is going to cover the more technical side of blogging. If you’d like to go more in-depth with everything that it takes to get started, I’ll be linking helpful posts throughout!

Now, finally, let’s get into starting a blog!

1. CHOOSING A PLATFORM FOR YOUR BLOG

Before you choose what platform you are going to use, you have to decide if you are going to be self-hosted or if you’re going to use a free blogging platform.

-WHAT DOES SELF-HOSTED MEAN?

Basically, that means that you pay a hosting company (I use Siteground) to host your blog on the internet, and then you download WordPress onto your hosting company to start your blog.

It’s pretty confusing, I know.

So, if you were to use WordPress.com, (a Freemuim site) you don’t have to do this. You can easily set up a blog through this service, but there are downfalls to doing this as well.

This guide here probably can explain it better to you than I can!

-CAN’T I JUST BLOG FOR FREE?

Yes, technically you can. However, I don’t recommend this way of blogging. Briefly, though, the reasons you don’t want to use a free blogging platform are:

• Lack of features
• Switching can be a hassle
• You don’t own your blog
• Limited money-making options

–WHERE CAN I START A BLOG?

There are a ton of blogging platforms out there like Wix, Blogger, and WordPress. The platform you will see recommended the most is WordPress (It’s the one I recommend as well!)

In fact, WordPress powers 35% of the internet in 2020, and over 400 million people visit WordPress sites each month! (Source)

So a good place to start would be WordPress!

There are two versions of WordPress, and this is where it can get confusing.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

–WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

WORDPRESS.COM

In short, WordPress .com is the “free” version with some paid upgrades available. And in my opinion, it’s just not worth it.

Trust me, I’ve had both the totally free version and upgraded to a business plan as well! It’s a waste of money if you’re looking to start your own blogging business!

WORDPRESS.ORG

This is the version I currently have and I LOVE IT! I didn’t realize how much I was missing and why my blog didn’t look like everyone else’s blog until I made the switch. It’s worth it just to start with this option.

2. WHERE TO HOST YOUR BLOG

To make it less confusing, I’m going to continue on this blog post like you’ve chosen WordPress.org (which you should!).

Next what you need to do is decide where to host your blog.

There are a lot of hosting companies out there, but the one that I most recommend is Siteground. I’ve used them for a few years and have!

This is generally what you want to look for in a hosting company

• Inexpensive hosting (depends on your budget of course!)
• Fast website load time
• Great customer service

3. CHOOSE A DOMAIN NAME

Okay, so you bought your hosting now you need to figure out what to call your blog? You can also check out this blog post here where I talk about how to pick out the perfect blog name!

I’ll give you the overview here though!

1. Take your time

You don’t want to rush and choose and name that you’ll later hate! Rebranding and changing your domain name will be a hassle!

2. Make it easy to remember!

You want people to remember your blog name. Make it catchy, not too long and not too hard to spell. You don’t want people struggling to type in your website link!

3. Avoid special characters and try to avoid numbers

This just makes your name hard to remember and numbers look unprofessional!

4. Use your name

If you have a lifestyle blog, you might consider using your own name or a nickname! Many people have done this and it’s worked out well!

5. Make sure your blog name is available!

This is the last step. No two websites are allowed to have the same URL, of course. When you sign up with Siteground, it will let you know if your name has been taken or not!

4. INSTALLING WORDPRESS

Most, if not all, hosting companies have one-click install for WordPress. (I know for sure Siteground has this option!)

If you have any trouble figuring this out, the support staff at your hosting company should be able to answer any questions you have!

Once WordPress is installed, you should be able to go to https://www.YOURDOMAINNAMEHERE.com/wp-admin/ to access the admin side of your site.

IMPORTANT: make sure to bookmark this page for easy access! You’ll be coming back to it often!

This is where you can write your first posts, approve comments, install plugins, change your theme and more!

5. CHOOSING A THEME

-WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU CHOOSE A THEME

It’s a good idea to have your niche and brand figured out before you decide on a theme.

Once that’s all done you have the choice between a free and paid theme. And of course, there are pros and cons to each.

Personally, I’ve tried both paid and free and I have to say paid is the way to go. But, we’ll look at the pros and cons and you can decide what’s best for you!

-FREE THEME

Pros

• It’s free. You don’t have to worry about wasting your money
• Easy to install. One-click and you’re done!
• There is a lot to choose from

Cons

• Less customizable
• You’ll likely end up changing a lot because it doesn’t fit your brand (I know I did!)
• They just don’t look as good. You’ll find yourself wanting to look like to other professional bloggers and you just can’t do that with a free theme!

PAID THEME

Pros

• Find one that perfectly represents your brand
• Won’t change the theme as often
  I find you look harder and think more about themes when you pay for them. Once there is something to lose you pay more attention to what you’re looking for!
  
• More professional look and feel
• More customization options
• The creator might be able to install it for you! I did that with my current theme. I had to pay for it, but it saved me a huge headache and I know it’s installed right!

Cons

• You have to pay for it. If you don’t like it, you have to buy it again!
• Harder to install. You have to follow the directions to creator gave you- no one-click install!

-WHERE TO BUY BLOG THEMES

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide if you want to buy a theme or not. If you do decide to buy a theme though, my favorite places to go are Etsy and Creative market!

When I bought my theme, the creator had an option to install it for me, which is a good thing to look for or ask about! I had to pay for it but it saved me so much time in the end!

6. BEGIN WRITING YOUR FIRST POSTS

 And that’s it! Your blog is up and running!

This is just a brief overview of just strictly the technical side of starting your blog, but after this, you can begin writing!

If you need any help writing blog posts, check out this post How to format your blog posts better

I hope this blog post has been helpful to you!