Abby B. Are you looking to build a blog to write for years? Unsure if what you’re currently doing is right for your new blogging business? Well, setting up a blog is actually a straightforward task once you get the hang of it. The large chunk of work remains to be building enough content to bring in passive income. That’s not our main focus today!
Everyone should start a blog on a topic they’re interested or experienced in. This allows for focus and creativity when researching to write content and helps avoid burnout. Choose one main niche and narrow it down to at least three sub-niches to start writing the blog’s content.
Before we get your blog up and running, I want you to think of blogging the way you would think about building a house (from the first brick to completion). For you to finally stay in a house, you’ll have to put in hours of work putting the bricks together. It goes the same with blogging. This is in no way intended to scare you because this mindset is a challenge for me as well.
I started blogging when I was unemployed and looking for ways to make passive income online. Like all things, my blogging journey wasn’t linear nor easy. It started off with troubles in finding the right blogging coach, taking up the wrong beginner courses and always feeling overwhelmed when writing content. So if you’re new, I hope you never give up!
*This post may contain affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission (at no cost to you) if you sign up for a program or make a purchase using my link!
Steps To Set Up Your Blog Today in 1 Hour
Creating your first website is pretty easy and I hope the steps I’ve listed below makes it easier.
1. Decide on your blog’s niche and think of a 2-word blog name
Before getting your own website, you’ll need to think of a name for it. By now, you probably already have a niche in mind to write about. So come up with your blog URL, ideally it’s a combination of 2 words (maximum 3) and easily spelled out for others to type. You can check the availability of the name using Bluehost, remember to register a (.com) as its the one widely used.
2. Register your blog’s domain on Bluehost with hosting
You can then head over to Bluehost to register for shared hosting and get a free domain together with it. Bluehost offers one of the cheapest hosting packages, perfect for newbies as they explore a new hobby and potentially a business in the long run.
The basic package should be enough for your first year as you’ll be focusing on building content instead of getting huge amounts of traffic in the first 12 months. This is an important step you should not skip to ensure your website is hosted.
3. Install WordPress immediately via Bluehost
Once you’re done registering the domain, install WordPress directly from your Bluehost dashboard. I only recommend WordPress as it is the easiest and most used website builder by pro bloggers and brand websites. There’s also a ton of WordPress dedicated resources you can find online should you face any difficulties when growing your blog in the future. You can view the video I’ve shared below for a step-by-step guide on installing WordPress via Bluehost.
4. Connect Google Analytics to your website
Although you’re still new and might not get much traffic for the next 12 months, I would still suggest you install Google Analytics to your site. This helps you get used to a dashboard with traffic data which is important once your site gains traffic. I believe Google also acknowledges your website better so also consider installing Search Console and submit your sitemaps for the best experience.
You can check out this article on how to do it – includes a video!
5. Install a lightweight theme suitable for your niche
You can now login to your WordPress dashboard and hover at the “Appearance” section then click on “Themes”. You can choose a theme from the list that is displayed or scroll to the bottom to “Add New Theme” to explore for more themes available on WordPress.
Decide on a theme that will be best in displaying information you share to your readers. If you’re in the fashion, beauty and food niche, you should have a picture-heavy theme to get the pictures displayed properly and beautifully. I recommend choosing minimalist themes as it will make your website tidier with less clutter. You’ll be having a lot of graphics on your own and advertisement banners will also occupy some space.
General tip: Along with your theme, decide on your blog’s branding by creating a logo using Canva and finding the right color palette to use throughout.
6. Install plugins to add features to your blog
This may be one of the important things you need to do when setting up a new blog. Without plugins, your blog is quite basic with no added features. Plugins help display information in different ways, optimize your data and make it easier for your readers to navigate. Professionals recommend at least having 5 types of plugins installed but this completely depends on you.
7. Furnish your About Me page to include necessary information
Have you decided if you’re blogging anonymously or otherwise? One way or another, setting up your “About Me” page is important. It tells the world and Google that there’s a real person behind a blog. This is the section for you to share more about yourself in a structured single page. Include pictures of yourself, a brief introduction of how you started your blog and talk about your experiences to further reaffirm you are credible to give advice (especially for YMYL niches).
Unsure how to curate your About Me page? Check mine out or follow this easy guide.
8. Create a simple Contact Me page for your readers to reach out
Your blog’s “Contact Me” page should just have clear directions on how your readers can contact you. I suggest placing a business email (create one for each blog) and perhaps place a contact form for people to fill up if they don’t prefer emailing. Any serious business should come in via email so always be on the lookout!
9. Create a page for disclaimers and legal policies for your online business
Every blog should have a legal page for any disclaimers and policies others would want to refer to. It can be a headache for most since we all aren’t lawyers so getting this blogger legal bundle can be time saving. The bundle was created by a lawyer blogger herself and widely used by a lot of pro bloggers I know.
You should also place an affiliate disclaimer on each blog post, at least after the first paragraph and before any affiliate links.
10. Start writing your first blog post using Google Docs
Now that you have a beautiful platform in place, you can begin writing your first blog post. You don’t need fancy tools to write as Google Docs is enough – you can insert links, check total word count, identify spelling and grammar errors.
Some tips when writing your posts:
- Write at least 2000 words per post
- Perform keyword research to see if you can rank for the topic
- Do some research about the topic and always credit the sources by linking them
- Place your main keyword a few times throughout the blog post
- Include images and videos – link to YouTube videos is good
A lot of people will go overboard with their content by writing in too many niches and topics they find convenient. Think of it as a business, don’t overcrowd your site and try to be an authority by focusing on one main niche at a time.
11. Use SEO tools to optimize your blog post to rank easier on Google
There are a couple of best practices to be done before you publish each blog post and they aim to SEO-optimize your articles for better ranking in the eyes of Google. You should first install Yoast SEO to provide marks for each post – use this as a general guideline. If you get a green light for both SEO and Readability, your post is better than the average ones out there.
This is one of the simplest articles explaining best practices for your blog’s SEO with today’s competition.
12. Do keyword search and make a list for your next 100 topics
I know you will not be getting enough sleep thinking about the 1001 topics you can write about given your personal experience. However, the key to creating great content online is by providing what others are looking for. This is something you can work on as you progress but it’s great to learn SEO and keyword research from the very beginning.
Advantages of keyword research?
- Validation of topics well before you start writing
- You won’t feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to start writing
- Able to plan your content for months in advance
- Blog posts ranks faster on Google, ahead of others that are not doing any keyword research
- Your blog will provide the best information for your audience’s needs
13. Get a blogging coach and join a support group
As a newbie, you’ll be feeling lost and unsure if you’re doing things right. I was in the same position as you when I started my first blog. You can watch hours of informational YouTube videos and still feel overwhelmed as it can be pretty unstructured. One of the things I’m glad I invested in was getting a real blogging coach to look up to. I also paid for online blogging courses and workshops to attend on weekends.
Your passion for blogging isn’t something you can talk about to your everyday family and friends – they don’t get it and they won’t understand your challenges. Having a listening ear is great but it won’t help you advance yourself. On the contrary, getting a blogging coach and joining a support group will help you immensely. You get to read challenges faced by others even before it happens to you and fix things faster when it does. They’re also a source of inspiration for you to believe in your journey – that’s the most important thing needed to succeed.
Can You Start A Blog For Free?
A blog is almost free to get started with. The only payment required to get started is for domain registration and website hosting, which is about the price of a cup of coffee per month. No other payments or purchase is needed to start building a successful blog with quality content from scratch.
How Do You Start A Blog and Make Money
Starting a blog to make money is achievable with quality SEO optimized blog posts. Traffic generated to these articles will bring in income from readers viewing advertisements and making purchases via affiliate links shared. Bloggers also sell merchandise and digital products to make more money from their blogs.
Advice To New Bloggers
- Start with the right blogging coach to get the right support
- Don’t be afraid to invest some money into a course that will put you months or years ahead
- Trust the process and don’t look for shortcuts
- Don’t accept guest posting especially if it includes payments
- Stay consistent by working on your blog at least an hour a day
- Only focus on publishing at least 2 articles per week for the next 1 year – you’ll achieve 104 articles in the first year of blogging
- Treat your blogging business as a business
- Avoid distraction of doing anything extra in the beginning as you need to build your content
- Diversify your traffic by learning Pinterest to promote your blog posts, you don’t need any other social media
Bottom Line
Building an online blogging business is easy as it’s almost free to do so. You don’t need any technical skills to make a great website with WordPress nor to write good content on the web. If you follow the exact steps above, you should have a fully functional website in under 1 hour to start working on. Remember, the most important part of blogging is creating content consistently.
Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels
