Blogging is the new trend these days. With internet being more accessible every day, more blogs are being created than ever before. If you want to get into blogging, here are the steps on how you can do that.
1) Select the Perfect Topic
The first stage of blogging is selecting a topic for your blog.
- First – Make sure you pick a topic in which you are interested in.
- Second – Make sure your topic has enough audience i.e. the topic should be such that many people search for it.
These two things will help you obtain a clear idea about selection of the perfect topic for your blog.
2) Select a Blogging Platform
The next thing you should do is select a blogging platform. There are many blogging platforms out there. Some of them are – WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Ghost and more. By far, the most popular blogging platform is WordPress (which can be seen from the graph below).
Let’s look at the top three options:
Self-Hosted Solutions (Example – WordPress) – This is a self-hosted solution which means hosting has to be handled by you. But, as you can see from the graph above, there are not many self-hosted solutions available. The most popular self-hosted blogging platform is WordPress. Self-hosted platforms allow you to have complete control over your blog. It will cost a few dollars/month for web hosting and domain. The blogging software is free.
Hosted Solutions (Example – Blogger and Tumblr) – Many new bloggers might get tempted to start with a free hosted platform such as Blogger or Tumblr. However, one must always keep in mind that anything free comes with some limitations.
- Firstly, your blog address will be on a subdomain (example – blogname.blogspot.com or blogname.tumblr.com).
- Secondly, there will me many restrictions on the platform.
Free options are only good for testing purposes and for occasional bloggers. For serious bloggers, I would recommend to start with WordPress and a custom domain.
Cost of Starting a Blog
Here is the cost of a 1-year basic plan of Bluehost with a custom domain name. Other services also have a similar cost.
| Blog hosting service | $2.75 per month (billed for 3 years) $4.95 per month (billed for 1 year) |
| Domain registration | First-year free (after $17.99 per year) |
| Custom email | Free Web-Based E-mails/ Forwarding |
| SSL Certificate | Free SSL certificates |
| Storage space | 50 GB |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited |
| Total price | $99.00 (for a 3-year plan) $59.40 (for a 1-year plan) |
3) Select a Domain
The domain you select will be the identity of your blog. Users will visit your blog by putting your domain name into the URL bar. If you cannot find your preferred domain name in .com, don’t worry, you can select anything from .net, .org, .in etc.
4) Pick a Web Host
Picking a reliable hosting is really important. This will determine the uptime and the speed of your blog. Also, most hosting companies will throw in a free domain for the first year of service.
Based on my research, I will recommend the following hosts:
- SiteGround
- WP Engine
- Kinsta
If you are on a budget, then you can go with the following hosts:
- Namecheap
- A2 Hosting
5) Start Your Blog!
Start blogging with the help of your WordPress blog. Change themes according to your needs. Add extra plugins to add extra features to your blog. Add content and share them on social media. Do SEO so that your blog gets more visibility in search engines.
I hope this post was helpful. If you have any queries or suggestions, then please let me know in the comments down below.
