Creating Your First Blog Step-by-Step

So you want to join the exciting world of blogging – welcome! If you want to start a blog but have no idea where to start, you’ve come to the right place. Creating a blog is actually really simple and can even be fun! To help you along the way, I’ve come up with a step-by-step instructional process for getting your new blog up and running. So, here are a few easy steps on how to setting up your new blog:

Pick a Subject

First things first: pick a topic that you’ll be blogging about. Some people call this a blog niche. The possibilities are endless! There are specific subjects like blogging about food or music, or maybe you’re creating a lifestyle blog in which you’ll be blogging about a bunch of different things. If you aren’t quite sure what you want to blog about, take a few minutes to think about some of your hobbies and interests. It is important to write about something you love because it will make writing fun and exciting.

Choose a Blog Name

Now that you have a subject you can choose a blog name. Many people pick names that are related to the subject of their blog in some way. Others choose to simply use their own name (this works best if you’re going to have a lifestyle blog). Choose carefully during this step because your blog name will become your “brand” and can be hard to change once you have accompanying social media names that match your blog name.

Choose a Host

Now that you’ve done the preliminary steps of picking a topic and a name, it’s time to get down to business. When choosing a host there are two routes you can go: free or paid. let’s look at both options:

Free blogging:

Free blogging means that you will host your blog on a website that provides a free platform for your blog. Also, your blog name will be attached to a free blogging service URL. For example if you were using Blogger your url would be [blogname].blogspot.com (often you will have the option to upgrade to a .com address for your blog for a yearly fee).

Free blogging hosts are very convenient for beginner bloggers because the hosting interface is usually very intuitive to use and is set up to make blogging a very simple process. Some possible blogging services include Blogspot, Wix, Tumblr, and Weebly.

Having experienced each of these I would recommend tumblr for a less-professional blog (something fun and personal), Blogspot if you want the option to get into deep personalizations via html, Wix if you have no experience at all and would prefer a “drag and drop” set up for your layout, and Weebly if plan on having a store connected to your website.

Paid bloggin:

Paid blogging involves paying for a hosting service and then for a dedicated URL. A blog with paid service usually has its own URL such as [blogname].com. This option can be more difficult because the set up can be more complicated and less intuitive if you don’t have a background in setting up websites.

The major advantage is, of course, having your own URL but also means that you might have to do some extra learning to get used to a more advanced interface. The most popular paid blogging service is through WordPress (it’s what this blog is hosted on!).

Install a Layout

Both free and paid blogging services include simple layouts and templates, which makes it super easy to start blogging right away. Feel free to start out using a free and simple layout while you get comfortable to blogging.

Once you develop your blogging style, writing voice, and online persona you can update your blog’s layout to match those qualities. If you want to make your blog stand out more and match your unique style, you can do that with more complicated layouts. This process will vary depending on what service or host you are using for your blog. If you want a specific layout but aren’t sure how to install it or get started, there are many services online that will provide installation services or even free tutorials that will provide steps for specific layouts.

Create Pages

So now you have a blog name, a writing niche, and have set up a blog on either free or paid hosting. Now, you can set up your blog with pages. The main page of a blog is dedicated to the blog itself, where the posts you write will appear. Other pages that you can create could be an about page, a contact page, and a categories page. On the about page, you can write a little about yourself so visitors can learn more about you. A contact page usually includes an embedded contact box where visitors can enter their contact info and send you a message [check out this sites contact page for an example]. Finally a category page could include links to help visitors see the different types of posts that are on your blog. Once you have hundreds of posts, this will help visitors find specific posts.

Start Blogging

Congratulations! You have successfully set up your new blog. Now, all that is left to do is start writing! If you aren’t sure how to come up with content for your blog, no worries. Check out this blog post about starting the writing aspect of your blog.