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How to Start Your Own Blogging Website  

Blogging

People blog for numerous reasons.

Some are keen on sharing their passion with the world, some write to teach others, some want to get recognized, and some just do it for the sake of releasing stress. Let’s not forget to mention those who blog to earn cash or promote their brands.

Whatever the reason is, this we gotta say as a West Palm Beach SEO agency: Blogging comes with tons of benefits.

From improving your writing skills and connecting you with like-minded people to learning new things that are unfamiliar to you, getting proclaimed an expert in your niche, and even keeping your mental health in check, the perks of blogging are just something you wouldn’t wanna miss.

But, the question is, how do you start a blogging website? You don’t exactly have the know-how and all the right tools. Well, good thing you found us!

In this post, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide on how beginners such as yourself can create a blog quickly and easily. It’s not that complicated, really. You only need three things: Laptop, good internet, and commitment.

Ready to begin? Let’s!

Step 1: Choose the Perfect Niche

blog-writing-concept-man-holding-pencil

First things first, make sure to commit to a niche that you’re most passionate and knowledgeable about. It should also have enough audience, such as topics that usually fascinate people.

If you’re finding it hard to come up with ideas, ask yourself these questions:

  • What do I love writing about?
  • What passion or hobby can I easily share?
  • What do I want to learn more about?
  • What do most people want to learn more about?
  • What’s one expertise can I focus on?

For instance, if you’re into gardening, your topics should revolve around plant care and cultivation. Again, see to it that your niche is something that many people enjoy reading about.

Step 2: Find the Right Blogging Platform

Once you’re satisfied with your chosen niche, it’s time to look at the blogging platforms available out there and figure out which works best for you.

Most seasoned and successful bloggers would agree that WordPress is the best choice. As a matter of fact, the software has a 93% market share in the country, making it the most popular technology by far.

Here are four reasons why:

  • It’s free (unless you upgrade to premium)
  • It’s super flexible with thousands of themes and plugins
  • It gives you full control over your blogs
  • It has a huge developer community that is regularly updated and enhanced

Regardless of the advantages, you’ll get from WordPress, it’s still important to know about your other options.

There are actually two types of blogging platforms: Self-hosted and free blog.

As the name implies, a free blog is one that you can create for free using hosted platforms like Tumblr.com or Blogger.com. What you should know is that the term “free” in this aspect always comes with limitations.

The catch is, your blog name will be set as a subdomain (ex. yourblog.blogpsot.com). Plus, you have to play by their rules and restrictions, which means you don’t really have the freedom to do things your way.

Self-hosted platforms, on the other hand, allow you to set up your blog and run it using your own domain and web hosting. In other words, you’re fully in charge of your blog.

Sure, a self-hosted blog may require you to pay, but it’s worth every penny. Besides, it’ll only cost around a few dollars per month for the hosting account and about $10 per year for the domain. You’ll spend nothing on the actual blogging software!

Is WordPress self-hosted? You bet it is!

Between the two, the self-hosted option is perfect if you’re really serious about blogging. If you’re only blogging for fun, opting for a free platform like Tumblr makes sense.

Step 3: Decide on a Domain Name

Next, brainstorm domain names for your blog. If you’re not familiar, your domain name is the name you’ll be known on the World Wide Web. It’s your blog’s address on the Internet. Yes, you could say that it’s your URL.

What do you want to call your blog? Would you prefer to keep it as simple as yournameandniche.com? Or perhaps something that’s catchy that makes it easy for people to remember?

If you’re having trouble finding a domain name you like, you can enlist the help of GoDaddy, Google, or Bluehost. Any of these tools will give you enough time to think your name through before you can finally start your blog.

Or, if you really want to come up with your own blog name, here are some proven tricks to consider:

  • Use alliteration and assonance. Alliteration refers to the use of similar consonants at the beginning of words in a row, whereas assonance is using similar-sounding vowels one after the other. American Apparel and Dunkin’ Donuts are some of the best examples.
  • Use puns. People can’t get enough of clever one-liners these days. If you have a knack for puns, this might be one of the perfect times to use it.
  • Insert specific keywords. Incorporating a certain keyword in your blog name not only lets your audience know what your site’s all about, but it can also boost your search engine rankings, making it possible for you to dominate Google Search.
  • Study your competitors. Looking at the names of successful blogs in your niche can give you an idea of the types of names you need to look into. You can use their names as inspiration.

Step 4: Set Up Your Blog

computer-with-blogging-activity

Ask any experienced blogger what the best web hosting platform is and Bluehost is most likely the first thing to come out of their mouth.

Using Bluehost, you get:

  • Your custom domain name (with an SSL certificate) for free for the first year
  • Simple, one-click install for WordPress
  • Website hosting from $2.75 a month
  • Free email accounts

If you’re thinking of choosing something else besides Bluehost, be sure that it comes with one-click installs for blogging platforms to simplify your setup process.

Step 5: Configure Your WordPress Blog

As soon as you’ve set up your admin account for WordPress, you can start working on your new dashboard. Proceed to the admin page and input the access details for your admin account.

Keep in mind that despite WordPress already being fully operational, you’ll still need to go through some settings to customize your blog. Don’t forget to press the “Save Changes” button whenever you change the settings.

General Settings

The General Settings section is where you can set your site title, which is the first thing your audience sees, and your tagline, a short description of your blog. You can change them any time you wish to.

It’s also in this section where you can check if your URL is correct, choose your preferred language, and set your timezone.

Reading

The Reading section allows you to select what you want your visitors to see as they land on your blog site. It can be a static page or you can show your latest articles.

This section also helps you make sure that search engines like Google can find your new blog. To do that, simply leave the “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” unchecked.

Discussion

You can use the Discussion section to customize the settings related to the comment section. What’s great about this section is that it does not just let your readers interact with you, but you can also gain valuable feedback from it.

Media

The Media section gives you the option to crop settings for your visual assets. It’s up to you to decide whether you leave them to default sizes, or you adjust them to specific width and height.

It’s important to note that uploading an image to WordPress will automatically create medium- or large-size files. Your images will be set to medium if you’re using grid mode, while large images are normally featured in certain themes.

Permalinks

A permalink, short for permanent link, is the full URL you use for any post or content on your site. Setting permalinks in WordPress is very fast and simple. Just head over to the Settings tab on the left and under it, you will see Permalinks.

But, why’s there a need to set permalinks? Well, it’s actually the most optimal setting and the one preferred by search engines.  

Step 6: Customize Your Blog

Now it’s time to design your blog website based on your needs and goals.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a skilled designer at all. WordPress offers thousands of themes that you can get for free. And, you can customize them easily with zero skills in coding.

Depending on the theme you’re currently using, you will have various options in the sidebar menu. The most common ones are the following:

  • Site identity (blog title, logo image, and favicon)
  • Header
  • Background
  • Colors
  • Navigation menu
  • Widget

Useful Tips to Remember

Now that you’re equipped with the technical details of starting a blogging website, allow us to share with you several ideas to start your first post.

1. Follow the 3-Step Approach

These three steps will help you create quality content of any type:

  • Point: State the main topic idea you’re writing about.
  • Prove: Provide an example of it
  • Perform: Give a simple way to execute it.

2. Quality, Not Quantity

When it comes to blogging, quality always beats quantity.

First, users prefer reading solid posts that provide value. Second, Google knows quality content when it sees one, and if it does, it will reward that site by ranking it high.  

Below are some of the most effective tips:

  • Use short paragraphs for readability
  • Use bullets and numbers when making a list
  • Use headers and sub-headers for organized content
  • Break up text with visual elements
  • Bold, underline or italicize to emphasize important information

3. Optimize Your Blog for SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of driving more organic traffic to your web pages. Implementing the right SEO strategy helps your site get higher rankings on search engines, which means more visibility.

As a blogger, you can optimize your website using these tactics:

  • Do keyword research to learn exactly what your target audience are looking for. Be sure to use those keywords throughout your post, including your title, headings and subheadings, intro, anchor text, title tags, and meta descriptions. SEMRush and Google AdWords Keyword Tool allow you to find keywords related to your topics and even spy on your competition.
  • Write a compelling title so it makes your article more relevant to the search query, encouraging users to actually click on your post when they see it in search results.  Adding your focus keyword can make it even more SEO-friendly.
  • Take advantage of internal linking to direct new readers to your older posts they might find relevant.
  • Add photos and videos to keep your readers engaged. See to it that all images are of high quality and have alt text so that Google bots will be able to index them. As for videos, you can use your blog posts as inspiration. For example, if your blog covers travel tips, you can make a vlog on things like the do’s and don’ts of traveling alone.
  • Optimize for local search, especially if you’re blogging for your business, so that people looking for the products or services you offer can find you easily.

Don’t hesitate to hire a West Palm Beach SEO company if you’re struggling in this area.

4. Be Active within Your Niche

Being active in blogger communities is one of the best ways to meet and connect with other bloggers in your niche. You can build friendships and help promote one another. Who knows, you might even collaborate soon.

Post comments on other relevant blogs to get noticed. You might also want to consider writing guest blog posts for other websites that are directly related to your niche. Not only does it help establish relationships with fellow bloggers, but it can boost your online presence, too.

5. Add Value to Your Blog Posts

There’s no better way to keep your readers coming back to your site than by posting valuable blogs. People read blogs not out of boredom, but because they’re interested to learn and expand their knowledge.

You’re All Set!

three-hands-thumbsing-up

There you have it! Looks like starting your own blogging website isn’t as difficult as you thought it would be, huh?

Once you’ve posted your first blog, keep going. Just because you’re not seeing results in the first few weeks doesn’t mean that you should give up right away. Consistency is key.

Oh, and one more thing, make it a habit to check your blog analytics to track results and see which areas need improvement.

Need Professional Assistance with SEO?

You’re already aware that SEO plays a critical role in boosting the visibility of your blog website, so why not enlist the help of our highly skilled SEO specialists here at Digital Resource?

As one of the leading West Palm Beach SEO companies, we’ve been working with hundreds of companies across America. So far, we can proudly say that we’ve been doing a pretty decent job helping them reach their goals.

If you want to be our next success story, give us a ring at 561-429-2585 or book a consultation here!

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