How To Start A Blog: A Basic Beginner’s Guide

Now that I have been successfully blogging for a while, I constantly have people asking me about how to start a blog.

It can be a really overwhelming task for someone who has never attempted it before. There is more than one way to get started.

This is my 9 step process to starting a blog. If you are just looking to do a little writing and are never going to be interested in an email list or making money, you can just use WordPress and start up a free site. The link will have a sub domain and you won’t really be able to monetize it.

If your goal is eventually to be able to monetize, check out my tips on how to monetize a blog.

How To Start A Blog: 9 Step Process

1. Decide On A Niche

First off you want to decide on what you want to write about when you start a blog.

You don’t want to be too general.

The more specific you are the better you will target your ideal reader. IE, the more specific you are the more readers and followers you will have. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but people want to learn from an expert.

2. Buy A Domain At GoDaddy

After you decide on a niche, think about what you want your domain to be.

Then use GoDaddy to see what is available that doesn’t cost a million dollars.

Once you find what’s right for you, purchase your domain to get started.

3. Get Hosting At Flywheel

There are plenty of other hosting sites out there. But I use FlyWheel and it is easy to use, so I recommend it for beginners.

FlyWheel is a hosting site specifically for WordPress. So you will start a FlyWheel account, link it to the domain you purchased and then your blog will be set up on WordPress.

4. Choose A Free Theme

Ashe or Parallax are really visually pleasing themes that don’t cost anything extra. You can totally pay for something else, but I want to get you set up as fast as possible for as little as possible.

So choose a free theme on WordPress and start editing the details to customize your site for your niche.

5. Learn The Basic Of SEO

What’s great about WordPress is that you can use plugins to assist you with endless tasks like data collection. Yoast is the most popular plugin that people use for SEO. I love it, because with minimal knowledge Yoast will critique your blog post and give you tons of pointers for SEO optimization (like title length, frequency of key words and readability.)

You can research keywords in different ways. Start with Google and see what populates in the search bar when you begin entering topics. If you plan to implement Pinterest for traffic (which… you definitely should) you can do your keyword research on the platform there.

6. Write Some Content

Now that your website is set up, you have to put some stuff on it to start your blog! Write 5-10 articles at first just to get everything started.

After that, it’s not a bad idea to have some kind of schedule for new content. One post a week is a good goal for generating new content on your site.

7. Get An Email Marketing Tool

You want to get an email marketing tool like ActiveCampaign or Mailerlite. This is a way for you to connect with your audience and build an email list.

Have a welcome email that you send to new subscribers and send your list an email now and then ao they remember who you are. Notify them of new posts to help generate traffic.

8. Create An Opt In

Now that you have a marketing tool, you need a way to start building your email list. The best way to do this is either with a free offer like a checklist, or a quiz that requires people to enter their email address.

I find popups to be the most effective way to generate opt ins. Make sure your free offer is specific to your niche, and that it is clear what they are receiving by giving you their email address.

9. Use Pinterest To Drive Traffic

A blog is great, but if no one is reading it it’s kind of a bummer. I’m sure you wanted to start a blog to share your thoughts with others, right?

So you need traffic, and Pinterest is the traffic king. Create pins for your blog posts and pin to personal and group boards to advertise your blog for free.

Summary On How To Start A Blog

I hope these tips helped clarify the process for you. In short, you need a domain, a hosting site, some content and then a way to get people to read it.

And this is not the only way to set up a blog. This is just a simple quick process that I use and have taught to many others. But there are other hosting sites, other themes, other ways to get a domain, other ways to advertise content. So if this does not resonate with you do some research.

Happy blogging!