In this post, I’m going to provide some insight as to how I got started and created my blog. My goal is to help you understand how achievable this can be for you, but also to provide you with a guide for starting your blog today. I came across a quote the other day that goes “Just one big idea. One big idea, and we can change the world.” – Unknown. For me, this quote helps me to be consistent with blogging. Yes, one big idea can change the world, but I have to have action behind that idea, right? I also have to be consistently working towards that goal or idea. So, although I may be new to blogging, if there was a piece of advice I could give to anyone wanting to start a blog at this moment, it would be to believe in yourself. Kind of sounds a bit corny, but if you believe in myself, you will be more willing to put in the extra work. Which I believe, will be the driving force that will help you get started to become a successful blogger.
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What’s next?…
Ok, so I’ve gotten the blog started, the momentum is flowing, what’s next? Next, We’ll need an idea, a central idea in which all of our blog posts are related. Something that will hold your interest so that the work required to maintain this blog, won’t actually feel like work. In other words, We need a niche! My niche of choice? Art 🙂 Art holds a special place in my heart, more specifically, drawing. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I complete a sketch or drawing. I’m hoping that my passion for art will keep me dedicated to creating content for my blog. Once we determine our passion, that will help guide us with the decision of which niche our blog should be categorized into.
Now that we have an idea of what we want our blog to consist of, next we will need to get technical and actually build out our blog. So there are two major technical pieces to creating a blog. We will need a domain and a hosting provider. The domain is our web address, this is where potential readers will come to read our latest blog posts. Hosting is essentially our blog’s storage provider. It has all of the files needed to present our blog content to the world. Some companies may only provide domain services or only hosting services, and some companies provide both. I decided to choose a separate company for my domain service and a separate company for my hosting service. Maybe it will be more convenient for you to choose separate companies or even choose the same company for both services. It’s really just a matter of preference. Below is a list of hosting companies I’ve previously worked with, they offer hosting services, as well as, domain registration.
- Bluehost – https://www.bluehost.com
- Go Daddy – https://www.godaddy.com
- Host Gator – https://www.hostgator.com
Now that we have a location and storage for our blog, we simply need to install a platform onto our domain. Two of the most popular blogging platforms are:
- WordPress – https://wordpress.com
- Blogger – https://www.blogger.com
- Tumblr – https://www.tumblr.com
I have only used WordPress, but I wanted to provide you with a few other popular options. From my experience, my hosting service provided me with a plugin that allowed me to install my blogging platform. Once the blogging platform is installed, we can start getting creative and building out our blog’s layout. Here’s where the magic happens! From creating and designing a logo, to posting our blog posts.
Yay! We have created our blog 🙂
Now that the blog is up and running it’s time to start putting in the work. I’m actually still struggling with this part. So I’m creating a detailed content calendar that will help me mange my blog and share valuable information. If you have any suggestions you would like to offer, please feel free to provide some feedback in the comments below.
Are you new to blogging? did you find the above information helpful? if not, what questions do you still have, please comment below?
