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Save this page for later! Here is a step by step guide on how to start a blog for beginners, ways you can monetize your blog, SEO, blog structure, various tips, and more!
The Basics (Get Your Blog Online)
First, decide on a blogging niche. It should either be something you are passionate about or you know a lot about, or want to write a lot about. Some popular blog niches include: personal finance, health and wellness, travel, food and recipes, lifestyle, beauty and fashion, and home and DIY. Next, here is how to create a blog on WordPress in a few steps! These are the basics to get your blog up and running!
- Hosting: Bluehost is a popular hosting company and is great for beginners. It has a 99.99% uptime, 24/7 customer support, affordable prices, and has been in business since 2003.
- Domain Name: Choose a good domain name. This is the web address where your blog can be found online, such as: createagreatblog.com. Bluehost offers a free domain name once you sign up for hosting (this can be done later, but check to see when it expires). Use a top-level domain name with an extension such as com, org or net (com is the most popular).
- Install WordPress: It can be downloaded through the Bluehost platform. WordPress.org is for self hosting. You purchase hosting (Bluehost) to host your website and use WordPress software (from WordPress.org) to run your website. WordPress.com hosts your website and uses WordPress software and gives you a domain name ending in wordpress.com.
- Theme: Choose a WordPress theme. There are free themes that you can use from WordPress.org/themes (Astra, OceanWP, and GeneratePress are all popular free themes) or you can purchase a theme. Code + Coconut, 17th Avenue, Pix and Hue, and Bluchic are all good examples of feminine themes that you can purchase. Set up and configure your theme. Most theme developers also have an option to pay for installation. This is not necessary as most themes come with step by step instructions on how to set up your theme. If is your first time setting up a theme it will look unfamiliar, but it is doable. After you set your first theme up, the next one should go faster and you will gain WordPress skills by setting it up. Make sure your blog is well organized and aesthetically pleasing, so that readers will stay on your blog longer. Although, the most important thing is the content of your blog.
Next Steps
- Submit your site map to the Google Search Console to index your site to make sure it is on Google.
- Install Google Analytics on your blog so that you know how many pages views you are getting. Most Ad Networks only want Google Analytics to track views.
- Set up necessary main and legal pages such as About, Contact, Privacy Policy, Terms, Disclaimer, Copyright, etc. A Self Guru explains this.
- Create your logo (Create A Great Blog is only text with a font and colors).
- Add your blog title, meta description, and favicon.
- Choose your blog fonts and colors (under the Resources page of this site for color tools).
- Create your sidebar (it is popular to use your logo or photo of yourself along with a text description of you or your blog).
- Set up your email list form so that your audience can subscribe. Your email list is something that you own, and it is so important because you can then sell over and over to those same customers.
- Create one digital freebie that you can offer in exchange for someone to sign up for your email list. This could be a printable such as a poster, checklist, coloring book page, template, etc,.
- Regularly back up your blog and your email list (such as once a week) Here is an example of how to do it manually.
Blog Post Structure
Use your basic headers: H2, H3, H4 etc. Along with introduction and conclusion paragraphs, middle paragraphs, and lists (bullets and numbers). Make sure you have clear and organized blog posts. Always include at least one photo.
Add links (outgoing links to other websites), internal links (link going to another page on your website), and backlinks (a link from another website to your website such as putting your website in your Pinterest profile). These things can boost SEO.
Add “related links” at the end of your blog posts. This could look like “Related” or “You Might Also Like,” followed by other related blog posts that a reader might like. This can help readers find other helpful articles as well as stay on your blog longer.
SEO
Use SEO (search engine optimization) to rank for keywords that your audience is already searching for. Use SEO tools such as Ahrefs (paid), KW Finder (free), or Wordstream (free) to find long-tail keywords with low search volume per month (such as 200-1000 searches per month) and low competition. Use Google Autocomplete to search for keywords as well as understand search intent. Also, look at the words that Google bolds when you make a search. Include one or two long-tail keywords in a blog post.
You can include keywords in your post titles, meta description, keywords that you want to rank for (when using a plugin), first 150 words of the article, photo titles, photo alt tags, etc. Make sure to give Google as much information as you can about your blog post so that it can rank it.
It is also important to optimize your images. This can include: using relevant image titles, alt text, compressing files, resizing images for readability, adding keywords, using captions, and more.
Use Multimedia
Always include at least one photo in your blog post. And set it to a featured image so that it shows up next to your title and description when a reader is scrolling through your blog posts (you don’t want to only have text). Blog posts with photos are more likely to get clicked ones that do not have one.
“A picture is worth 1,000 words.” Fred Barnard.
Here are a bunch of sites and ideas on where to get free multimedia from for your blog:
- Stock Photos: Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash
- Graphics: Canva, CLEAN PNG, png tree, Vecteezy, rawpixel
- Charts / Graphs / Tables: TablePress plugin, wpDataTables plugin
- Icons: Flaticon, Free Icons, Freepik, Icons8, Google Icons, The Noun Project
- Videos: YouTube (you can embed videos, YouTube wants you to share videos), Pexels, Pixabay, Stockio, Videvo
- Screenshots: take your own screenshots or use a tool such as GREENSHOT, screenshots are great for social proof
You can take your own photos and videos and edit stock photos. You can use a tool such as tinyPNG to compress your images to help your site run faster.
Tools
- Graphic Design Software: Canva, Photopea (I use these the most to create social media posts and images for blog posts)
- Photo Compression Software: tinyPNG, Compressor.io, Squoosh, Batch Compress
- Grammar Checker Tools: Grammarly (free and premium), GrammarCheck (free)
- SEO: KW Finder (free), Wordstream (free), Semrush (premium), Ahrefs (premium)
- Blog Posts Design: Thrive Suite (use this to create pretty blog layout designs such as the ones you see on food blogs)
- Email: ConvertKit
- Landing Pages: Leadpages
Plugins
In general, plugins will slow down your site. You only want to use the plugins that you absolutely need. If you are not using a plugin, you can deactivate and delete it. There is usually a manual way to do something if you don’t use a plugin. Plugins are nice if you are not tech oriented and do not want to figure out how to solve a tech issue.
Here are a few that I use (when you are in WordPress search in “plugins” to add new plugins):
- Site Security: Wordfence plugin
- Site Speed: W3 Total Cache plugin
- Add Code: WPCode Lite plugin (allows you to to insert a piece a code into your website such as a header)
- SEO: Yoast SEO plugin (this helps you to create a sitemap to submit it to the Google Search Console, and add your keywords, meta description, and more!)
Market Your Blog
Guest post on other blogs, build an email list, and network with other niche bloggers. Consistent promotion is key to growing your audience. Use the social media platforms that your audience uses to share your blog posts such as:
- Instagram (reels can be great)
- Google (use SEO)
- Pinterest (this is great if you have a female audience, decor, self help, fashion and beauty all do great)
- Reddit (put the link of your blog in your profile, you can also create a sub)
- TikTok
- Youtube (create videos around your blog posts)
- Quora (answer questions related to your blog posts, put your blog link the your bio)
Monetize Your Blog
Here are a bunch of ways that you can monetize your blog:
- Display Ads: Google AdSense is very beginner friendly and usually the first way new bloggers monetize their blog with ads. Most bloggers aim to get into an Ad Agency where they pay a lot more. Mediavine Journey requires 10,000 page views in the last 30 days, and the regular Mediavine requires 50,000 pages views in the last 30 days to apply. Raptive requires 100,000 page views in the last 30 days. Also, a requirement of most Ad Agency’s to get in is good standing with Google AdSense.
- Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is linking a product or a service with a unique link and every time someone makes a purchase you get a commission. Popular affiliate networks include: Amazon Associates, Awin, Impact, and ShareASale. Also, if you could go directly to the company website and see if they have an affiliate program. Look for relevant affiliate products in your niche.
- Sponsorships: Get paid from a company to write about a product or service.
- Advertising Placement: Sell a space on your blog to advertisers.
- Physical / Digital Products: Digital products such as templates, printable’s, courses, or ebooks.
- Subscriptions: Maybe your blog niche is arts and crafts, and you teach people how to create tumbler wraps, printable’s, etc. You could also create and sell digital products using a subscription based model.
- Consulting / Coaching: Do you know a lot about something? SEO, Personal Fitness? You could turn this into a service that you sell.
Tips
- Look at popular blogs’ income reports to get an idea of how they make their money and which affiliate companies they are making most of their money from.
- Use the Wayback Machine to look at popular blogs when they just started. Every blog has a beginning. Compare your first blog posts to theirs.
- There is no one way to blog, but rather many ways. Some bloggers have extremely short blog posts, with little text and the rest photos, and they use Pinterest to drive traffic. Other bloggers focus on creating extremely detailed and long blog post with 2,000+ words and focus on Google SEO for their traffic. Others rely 50% on Google traffic and 50% from Pinterest. It is important to use trial and error, learn from successful bloggers, and choose the strategies that are most aligned with your blog.
- Create useful, valuable, and detailed blog posts that your reader wants to read. Usually, the blog posts that make it to Google’s front page of search results are longer articles (2,000+ words). Also, often times, the really long detailed blog posts get shared the most.
- Include social media sharing buttons on your blog posts such as Pinterest. Ask your readers to share the article if they found it helpful, or share it with someone who might like it. Ask them to subscribe to your newsletter too.
- One really cool thing about blogging is that it is editable. You can edit and update your blog posts so that they are always fresh and current. This is different from video affiliate marketing, because don’t normally take a video down, edit it and re-upload it. Many bloggers do this. They might have a total of 200-400 blog posts on their blog, but the blog posts are long, detailed, and routinely updated.
- Do you need tech skills or need to know how to code to start a WordPress blog? No! WordPress is basically drag and drop, it might look unfamiliar at first, but once you get the hang of it you will be able to navigate it pretty quickly. You can always Google a question. The only HTML code I regularly use is anchor tags (<a href=””></a> to create a clickable link).
Examples
- Hip2Save (this is a popular coupon and deal blog, one of my favorites!)
- Our Oily House (so many fun soap and candle recipes)
- Sally’s Baking Addiction (I always make her pizza dough and cinnamon roll dough recipes!)
- The Make Your Own Zen Zone (love her practical DIY tips for making spices and homemade alternatives)
- Umami Girl (her Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookies are the best!)
As you can see, all of these blogs use Pinterest as part of their marketing strategy to drive traffic to their blogs. They are also monetized in various ways such as: affiliate marketing, ad networks such as Raptive, or selling products.
Set Goals
- Set clear short term and long term goals.
- Continuously learn and improve. Stay up do date on SEO best practices, social media algorithms, monetization strategies, and trends.
- Consider attending webinars, reading industry blogs, and networking with other bloggers to stay ahead of the curve.
Track Progress
Use a calendar / planner to plan your content in advance and maintain consistency. Set goals such as writing one or two really good blog posts per week and posting on social media. Other goals can include: earning your first affiliate commission, creating your first digital product, traffic targets or content milestones. Using Google Analytics, pay attention to the following to refine your content strategy and improve your blog over time.
- Page views and unique visitors
- Time spent on site
- Bounce rate
- Top-performing content
That’s A Wrap
Remember, it takes time to build something great, these are just some tips to get you started. And again, blogging is very editable! You can edit and update blog posts and photos to make them better and keep them current! A really great blog post can live on for years!
“Done is better than perfect.” Sheryl Sandberg
One small favor, if you found this article helpful, do you think you could share it? Thank you 🙂
Happy Blogging!
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