How to Start a Blog in 2019 #BlogBetterMondays

So, you want to start a blog? Cool, you’ve come to the right place at the right time. Here’s a super easy guide which will help you learn how to start a blog in 2019.

How to Start a Blog in 2019

Blogging Niche: When you plan to begin a blog, you should have some idea as to what you’ll be writing about. It should be something which you are passionate about so that you can easily come up with the first 4-5 blog post ideas. Do you like to travel? Write about your experiences in different countries and their culture. Love reading books? Share your views in the form of book reviews. Love everything gadget-y and electronics? Begin a tech blog. Once you figure out where your interests lie, you are all set to start a blog

Domain Name: Always remember that your domain name will be the name by which you’ll be known online. For eg: Ours is a tribe or community of bloggers and thus, writetribe.com is our domain name. But don’t fret over it. I know of many bloggers who use their names as their blog domain name. After all, it is unique!

Once you decide on the domain name, simply head over to any web hosting site like GoDaddy or Bluehost, type in your domain name to see if it is available. If you want to own your domain, you’ll have to pay an annual fee of 10-15 dollars.

Free or Self-hosted: The next most important thing is to figure out if you should go for a free blogging platform or a self-hosted one. Free blogging platform simply means you are letting the blogging platform own your blog and name by keeping it free. There are several free blogging platforms, popular ones including WordPress, Blogger and Tumbler. Here, you will get your domain name as ‘yourblogname.wordpress.com’ and not ‘yourblogname.com’. It looks ugly, don’t you think? Also, you can’t fully monetize your blog or design it according to your sense of style. The downside also includes your clients and readers not taking you seriously enough to be an authority of your area of expertise.

On the other hand, opting for a self-hosted blog means having your own domain name, and being the true owner of your blog. You decide whether you want your domain to be yourblogname.com , ‘.in’, ‘.net’ or even ‘.blog’ instead of yourblogname.blogspot.in. You also have access to unlimited bandwidth for your images and videos and have free access to designing your blog.

Web Hosting: Hosting is referred to as the company that hosts your blog. You’re almost fully in charge of your blog and its content. You can choose between the popular web hosting providers like BlueHost, SiteGround or GoDaddy, according to your budget. Each of these hosting providers gives you the option of choosing a package between a basic or standard plan and a professional or prime membership. You can choose a basic plan for starters and as your blog grows with respect to page views, traffic, media, and content, you can opt for a higher plan. Most of these hosting providers have 24/7 customer support as well.

Design: One of the most important aspects of your blog will be your blog design. Because this is what the whole world will see and it reflects your personality and style. It should have a clean and clear layout with easy navigation options. There are many free WordPress themes available. However, I prefer investing in a good SEO-friendly theme. Most of these paid themes have in-built plugins making the blog designing task pretty easy.

Installing Plugins: There are a few important plugins that a blog should always have. Always make sure that you install only those plugins that are popular and have high ratings. The paid version of plugins has better benefits though.

a. Akismet: You are going to get a lot of spam comments on your blog and Askimet does a good job in protecting your blog from spam.

b. Yoast SEO: SEO helps in indexing your blog on Google, that it helps your blog in better ranking and thus throwing it as a search result when someone browses for a topic in your niche. This plugin is easy to use and helps in gaining lots of blog traffic.

c. Updraft Plus: This plugin helps in taking backup of your blog. You can schedule your backup daily/weekly/monthly and get it saved on your Google Drive. Thus, in case of any issues, you can always restore your blog.

d. Social Media Icons: You know you want your content to be shared across various social media platforms. The best way is to include plugins on your sidebar and blog posts that help your reader to share your post in just a simple click of the button. Most of these plugins are easily customizable and you can configure your social media handles.

CPages: There are a few pages that should be available on any blog irrespective of your niche. Have an About Me page so that your readers will get to know who is behind the posts you publish. Always have a Contact Me page with your social media handles and email address so that your readers as well as clients can reach you. A Disclosure Policy and Privacy Policy pages are also mandatory for GDPR compliance.

That’s all folks! Voila! Your blog is now set up!