How Do I Start A Blog? Best Guide For 2020

How do I start a blog? Scary thought isn’t it? Well, it doesn’t have to be. Especially when you have someone walk you through the process, step by step.

That’s why I’m here for you. To show you how to start your own blog, and build it up to earn you a stay-at-home income.

And not only that, I can help you start for free!

The great thing about today’s technology is that you don’t need any technical experience.

The tools you need, do the heavy lifting, and before you know it, you have your own website up and running. After that, building a solid foundation will give your blogging career

I’ve been blogging since 2011, and have learned so much since then. Having started on my own, and knowing nothing, I had my share of problems.

But after getting the proper training from people who knew what they were doing, my business finally took off.

This is what I want to share with you today. How to do this properly, and help you avoid the pitfalls of trying to do it on your own.

We’ll go through the basic steps to get you up and running, and then dive a little deeper to create your foundation OK?

But first, let’s take a brief look at what blogging is and why you should start your own…

If you’d like to read about who put me on the right path, take a look at this!

What Is A Blog?

You might already know this, but to refresh your memory, a blog is a type of website. Your website focuses on written content called blog posts. These you would publish frequently, and written as if you were talking to your best friend.

The article you’re reading now is a blog post!

I’m sure you’ve heard celebrity blogs, news blogs, etc. Those are just a few of the millions of types of blogs online. You can literally blog about any topic. It’s talking about something from your personal perspective, to connect with your readers.

A blog can be used to promote, educate, inform, and even sell things. There are many ways you can monetize your blog to create an income.

The best part about blogging is that you don’t need any credentials, education, or previous experience to start. All you need is a willingness to commit, time, and patience. And before you know it, you’ll have a business of your own you can be proud of, an income, and the freedom to work from home.

Please read “What’s A Mommy Blog” for more information.

Should You Start One?

I really think you should! It’s such a great way to start earning an income from home.

I know how hard it is today, to want to stay home with your children, but needing that second income. I watch my married children struggle with these decisions. It was so much easier to be a stay at home parent 30 years ago.

I started my business to help with our retirement, but my focus is to help young families build something to help with their financial freedom. And blogging is the easiest way I know how.

I’m not saying you’ll be rich overnight. It takes work upfront to get the awesome benefits later on. But it’s so worth it! And the possibilities are endless to how big you eventually want to scale it.

Each year, the internet gets bigger and bigger. There are more people than ever online, and your potential audience is huge. There’s never been a better time to start an online business.

You’re probably wondering why you just can’t use social media? Many people do!

Social media is something you add to your business, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you use. Sure, you see people have huge Pinterest or Instagram businesses. But what happens if those platforms disappear?

Or what happens when they change the way they allow you to do things? Remember Facebook’s big change to its platform recently. That killed a lot of businesses using it for free advertising. Now they need to pay large advertising fees to be seen.

Social media is still something you should use, but it’s your website that gives your blogging career longevity!

How Do I Start A Blog?

Here’s the fun part. I’ll break this down in 4 easy to follow steps, so you can get started today! And at the end of my blog, I’ll show you where you can go for expert training and help.

Step 1: Choose Your Niche

So what’s a niche? It’s simply the topic you want to talk about!

• Do you want to share your parenting experiences and share the things that are working for you? Any life experiences you wish to share would be helpful for others going through the same thing.

It doesn’t have to be a mommy blog. It could be about preparing for a wedding, or at the opposite end… going through a divorce. See what I mean? Anything you have experience within your lifetime.

• Do you have any passions or hobbies? Cooking is always popular, as well as gardening. You don’t need to be an expert. As you start to do some research for blogging, you’ll be surprised at how much you’ll learn.
• Do friends and family come to you for help with something you’re great at? Maybe this is something you can teach others to do as well?
• Do you have an interest in a topic you’d like to learn more about? The more you write about it, the more you’ll know. You can share your journey with your readers.

Blogging isn’t about being an expert at something. It’s about being a few steps ahead of your readers.

There will always be people who know less and are asking, to people who know more to teach you!

You really can’t choose a “wrong” niche, but if you’re stuck for ideas, but want a topic that’s easily monetized, you can choose something that’s “evergreen”. That means it’s a topic that has been and will always be sought after by people online.

1. Health – This niche includes fitness and weight loss, natural remedies, alternative medicines, medical marijuana and CBD oils, etc.
2. Wealth – This would include anything regarding saving, investing, spending or making money.
3. Relationships – People will always be searching for love, dating and relationships. And then there’s those who are struggling or going through a divorce.
4. Self Improvement – This is another huge niche ranging from self-esteem to self-help.
5. Pets – People love their pets. With over 180 million dogs & cats in the US alone, let alone every other kind of pet, people spend billions on pets each year.
6. Beauty – From skin to hair care, and anti-ageing… the sky’s the limit.
7. Technology – Who doesn’t have something in this category!

The niche you choose should be fairly narrow to start. The link I gave you above, to my other article, will help you with this.

The reason you want to start with a smaller niche is that the overall topic will be much too competitive.

You don’t want to start with “diets”, but rather “keto diets”, or “gluten-free diets for seniors” etc. Don’t worry, you can broaden out later on when your website has gained authority in Google’s eyes…

Trust me… it works!

My article on “Definition of a Niche” will also show you how to narrow down your niche and make sure there’s a big enough audience for your choice. No use blogging about something if no one else is interested, right? LOL

Step 2: Naming Your Blog

This step is finding the perfect domain name for your blog. You need a name for your business before you can build your website.

This can be fun! Maybe you’ve always dreamed of having a blog and already know your name. That’s great, but most likely you don’t have a clue yet, haha.

Don’t let this step bog you down. Your domain can be as simple as your name. Many personal bloggers use their name as their domain:

• Natalie’s Health – She is a health & wellness coach with a passion for wholesome food and helping others to live healthier lives.
• Denise Renae – A stay at home mom who loves marriage, parenthood and the outdoors.
• Danielle LaPorte – She has expanded her brand to be a one-woman show about self-realization.

There are a few things to consider for long-term sustainability like using a “.com”, keeping it short, no hyphens, etc.

This is all explained in the article “Creating A Domain Name“. I encourage you to read this so that you have the best chance of creating a great name you’ll want to keep.

I have some great tips and tricks to finding names there, too, if you get stuck!

Once you’ve come up with a name you like, it’s time to cross your fingers and see if it’s available. Because your domain name is one of a kind, it may have already been scooped up by someone else.

But don’t worry if it is! You can always use a different extension, like “.net”, or “.me”. Or simply adding “The” at the beginning of your name…

To find and register your domain name, you’ll be going to a domain registry. This is where you can look up your name for availability and grab it for yourself. Here are some reputable and popular services:

• BlueHost
• NameCheap
• DreamHost
• HostGator

These sites may offer you a discounted price for your first year’s cost of a domain or offer you a free first year if you choose their hosting services.

Either way, a domain should only cost you about an average of $15 per year.

Step 3: Finding Your Hosting Account

You will see that all these registries are also web hosting services. This means that they offer a place for you to “park” your website so it can be viewed online.

This is an important choice because it will determine the performance and security of your site.

Self-Hosted Services

I recommend you use a self-hosted service. This means that you are purchasing your domain name and you will own your own website. You should be able to export it if you need to and be able to design your website any way you wish.

Having great technical help is also important. I’ve had to have their help often, over the years. And you don’t want to have to wait a week for technical help. That affects your entire business.

The above-listed choices are all great for self-hosted sites.

There are others, but don’t be fooled by some great advertising from some little known service offering you a great deal. They are rarely what they claim to be.

The link to my hosting article will explain hosting in detail, and show you what to look for, like security certificates, privacy, email, technical support, etc.

The choices above are all reasonably priced for beginners. But keep reading… I have a better alternative for you to look at…

Free Hosting Services

There are bloggers would start on free platforms, rather than paying a small monthly fee. But there are many disadvantages to free platforms such as Blogspot or Tumblr:

1. Your URL is a sub-domain. This means that instead of a professional-looking name like “yourname.com” it would look like “yourname.tumblr.com”.
2. You don’t own your site!
3. You will have to manage your own security, backups, and email etc.
4. Limited storage capacity for your content.
5. Limited design changes to your website.
6. Can’t export your website to another hosting service.
7. Limited features, themes, and plugins.
8. You may have their logo displayed on your site.

For all the headaches you’ll encounter with a free blogging platform, it’s just not worth it…

Blogging Platform (CMS)

CMS stands for Content Management System and I highly recommend you start blogging using WordPress. This is the biggest and most highly used platform in the world.

Not only are there thousands of themes to choose from, but it also has countless plugins to cover any function you may need. It also offers the most design changes to create the layout you want for your blog.

If you start a WordPress blog on one hosting service and decide you want to move to another service down the road, WordPress is easily moved.

They just have to be services that host WordPress… :).

Choosing a service that only offers its own CMS can be very limiting. First of all, you can’t move it. And secondly, your design and add-on options are also significantly reduced.

OK, now brace yourself, lol. This isn’t meant to confuse you, only to caution you if you do more research…

Don’t use WordPress.com…

I don’t know why they had to use the same name but the “.com” site is very different from the “.org” site.

WordPress.com lets you create a basic blog for free, but:

• You don’t have full control of your website, which means you never really own your blog 100%.
• It’s hard to change your website design because you can’t access any WordPress plugins or themes unless you pay for an expensive business plan.
• They put some restrictions on how you can monetize your website.

Step 4: Building Your Website

This is the easiest part of your blogging journey. In the past, you’d have to know how to “code” to build a website. But now, the hosting services all have website builders integrated into their platforms.

All you need to do is enter some basic information, and with the click of a button, it’s created an online before you know it.

Take a look at how quickly websites can be built on the platform I use. This is one of our member’s videos…

Once your website is live, you can change the layout and images to whatever you like to represent your niche. It’s easy to do in the back office.

If you want to do more extensive changes, you can either get tutorials from the theme’s creator or ask their customer service to do it for you.

I’ve done this many times with my theme’s customer help, and it’s saved me loads of time!

Conclusion

I kept this blog short enough for you to get a general idea, knowing that there’s a perfect training platform for you to start on, for free.

Yup, free. Really!

You see, blogging isn’t just about choosing a niche and building a website. Those are just the basic necessities you need to start your blog.

Next Steps

Once these steps are done, you need to learn how to create content for your site, so you can get the attention you need to drive traffic to your site.

There are many ways to drive traffic, both free and paid. And as a beginner, it’s best you start with free traffic methods.

Not only is this important for your pocketbook, but for building up that solid foundation I was talking about.

When you write your blogs, you’re reaching out to that audience that you will one day market too. Learning how to write engaging and helpful content, using the best keywords, is how your content rises to the top.

And your content doesn’t have to be just written. Do you love making videos? That’s another popular way to attract an audience.

It’s important to learn the proper techniques for today’s SEO practices as well. If you don’t do it right, your content will stay at the bottom of the pile, and people won’t find you. You want to learn how to get to the top of the search results.

There are also many ways to promote your blog.  Email and social media are two of the more effective methods you can use.

I don’t say all these things to intimidate you. Actually just the opposite. And that’s because I know where you can learn all this.

It’s the platform I learned on and where I still run my business to this day.

They have everything you need under one roof:

• Excellent training that continually updated for today’s needs.
• A domain registry and website builder integrated into the platform
• A powerful and secure WordPress hosting service.
• A keyword research tool that’s needed for SEO.
• A large and active community for help and support.
• And so much more…

I’ve been there since 2011 because I know that any new changes required to keep my business successful will be presented, as well as saving a ton of money over the years using their tools.

And the owners keep adding new tools and services each year, with no added cost to me!

You can sign up for a free starter membership to test-drive the platform. And when you decide to sign up for the premium membership, it’s very affordable. You can get it for as low as $29 per month.

You won’t find all these tools for that price anywhere else online, I promise.

If you would like to read more about it, please click on the image below. And when you sign up, I’ll greet you on the inside and coach you as long as you need me to, OK?

I look forward to helping you start your new blogging adventure, and help you be able to stay home and make an income. Your family deserves it, and so do you!

Cheers,

Suzanne

P.S. Please share my blog with your friends and family!