A Simple Guide To Start A Blog In 2017 – Easy To Understand!

[Tweet “Launching a Blog is easy, running it is the challenge!”]

The above quote sums up what matters in blogging.

Most of the bloggers don’t make money from their blogs or make just too little.

But on the contrary, few bloggers make money in millions too :).

So it’s up to you to which side you want to be.

With the new year approaching, let’s make a career in blogging.

It doesn’t matter even if you don’t know a single thing about blogging.

This guide is going to be a Kick starter for you blogging career.

Blogging is a very broad term.

Once you started blogging you will come to know about many new things like On page SEO, Off Page SEO, Domain authority, Backlinks and much more.

After some time you will get familiar with these new terms as of now just focus on How to start.

So, If you wanted to start a new blog but confused how to start then, you must read this guide.

1) Get your Blog

There are a number of ways to get your blog, but I  am going to tell the best alternative.

Here is what you need to do:

A) Select your Niche

The most important part Before starting a blog and buying a domain name for that blog you have to decide your Niche.

Niche can be anything like if you are passionate about something you can make your blog on that particular niche or something else.

Always choose something you know about and love to write without caring about time and money.

Read: 5 Killer Ways To Select A Perfect Niche For Blogging!

B) Get a domain name

Now you know what niche you are working on.

So select a domain name that will describe your niche or related to it.

Choosing a domain name is not easy.

Get a custom domain for your blog (www.xyz.com).

Here name XYZ is your choice.

I suggest you go with TLD’s (Top level Domains) like .com or .net. EMD (exact match domain) domain is recommended if you are starting a micro niche site.

A domain name is the first impression of the type of content in your blog.

C) Get a Platform

Get a platform to host your website on the web.

For beginners, there are great options to choose from blogging platforms.

Some of the top rated Blogging Platforms are:

• WordPress
• Blogspot
• Tumbler
• Medium
• Squarespace and much more

2) Set up your Blog

There are three steps to set up your blog namely Installing WordPress, Choosing your theme and customizing.

Don’t worry the first two phases will be a cakewalk for you but the third one is the fun part where time spent on customization will depend on you.

A) Installing WordPress

Every hosting provider has a different platform and interface so setting up WordPress may vary.

To explain this, I will tell you how will you set up your WordPress in iPage Hosting

It is very easy, What you have to do is to log into your iPage CPanel and then go to:

• Install Central
• Scripting and Add-Ons
• Blogs
• WordPress
• Begin Installation
• That’s it, it will install WordPress.

B) Choosing Theme

Designing you blog is a creative and a fun task which begins with choosing a theme that suits your blog.

There are a lot of themes available on the Internet some of them are free, and some cost you some bucks (but they are worth every penny).

Important Note: There are a lot of websites on the internet that give you premium paid themes for free, but these themes are nulled.

I would suggest you never use a nulled theme for your blog.

It may help you now but may cost you too much loss in the long run.

I recommend you to buy themes from MyThemeShop or you can use my free theme which I’ve shared before “Born Blogger Pro“.

Once you are done with choosing a theme, now it’s the time to upload that theme to your blog.

If you decide from the premium themes, you’re going to buy directly from the developer’s website.

Then you have to download a zip file, and just upload it in your WordPress dashboard under:

• Appearance
• Themes
• Add New
• Upload Theme
• Your theme has been installed.

In case you choose from the free WordPress pre-installed themes, just Click “activate “ on the theme, and it will go live 🙂

C) Customizing your Blog

Now comes the part of customizing your WordPress theme.

Need some help?

These are some customization I would suggest to get started with your blog.

1. Site Title – Enter the name of your website and a catchphrase which would sum up what content you are going to provide, and this will decide your targeted audience.
2. Widgets – Widgets include the content in the sidebar, footer and sometimes in the header. Commonly they are used for ads, popular posts, or tag clouds.
3. Menus – Menus helps in setting the navigation of your website. You can set the menus based on the categories of content you are going to give to readers which would assist them to choose from content quickly.
4. Header and background – Change colors or upload images to your header or background.

3) Start Blogging

Finally, it is the time to start penning down your mind boggling ideas on your blog and share them with the world.

Here are some tips I would like to give you while writing blog posts:

A) Use catchy headlines

Headlines decide your click rate and are worth paying attention to. Catchy headlines can get your more click rates and better traffic thus a good income :).

B) Be Conversational

Don’t just keep on writing.

Write only for the purpose of having communication with your readers.

C) Write on topics you know

There are too rare chances of success if you write on subjects which you are just learning about.

With passion, you should also have proper knowledge of your niche which would make you stand out of the crowd.

D) Easy to read Format

Write short paragraphs, use bullet/numbered lists, sub-headings, bold and italics to point out the important.

E) Blog more often

I would suggest you blog more often which would help your readers to come and search engines to crawl your website more often.

Final Words

I hope you will like the article.

If you have any query and suggestion, do not forget to write it in the comments section below.

Do share this article on your favorite social medium along with your friends!

This article is written by: Gagan Kamboj