Start a blog (Blogging Guide For Beginners)

Want to start a blog and make a career as a blogger?

below I have written down the step-by-step guide for starting a blog from scratch, if you follow each step carefully at the end of the article you will learn what is blogging, blogging platforms, and how to start blogging.

Let’s start with the first step for blogging.

Step 1: Purpose

According to me be clear about why you want to start blogging.

This is a very important question as blogging will fulfill your goals if you are clear with it.

People start blogging for many reasons, and some of the most popular ones are:

Learn and share new things.
Document your thoughts.
Passive income and making money.
Free gadgets and stuff for review.
Free travel.

Or any other.

Your could be one of the above, or some other reasons, either way, blogging could help you achieve your goal.

once you decide why you want to start blogging then it’s time to choose the right platform for blogging.

Step 2: Select the Blogging Platform

The first answer you should have is, where should you create your blog?

There are many blogging platforms but the two most popular are Blogger & WordPress.

Blogger is a platform offered by Google and WordPress is offered by WordPress Foundation. both platforms are free to use and both have their pros and cons.

you can read a comparison between Blogger vs WordPress for more information.

I suggest WordPress for better control & ease of use.

WordPress is popular because it’s easy to use.

Here is an interesting fact: 37% of the websites in the world are powered by WordPress.

Once you have crossed the testing period, you are ready to do something more meaningful. Get a WordPress blog, and don’t confuse yourself with WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress -blog.

A self-hosted WordPress blog (WordPress.org) is what you need.

once you finalized the platform for blogging next step is to finalize the name and domain name for your blog.

Step 3: What your blog is about? (Niche)

The very first thing you need to do is find the niche of your blog. By niche, I mean finding a topic that your blog is going to be about.

I hope you don’t plan to blog about every random thing and make money. This doesn’t work in 2023 and your chances of success are better when you blog on a single topic.

You might be a jack of all trades and want to start a blog on multiple topics, but it will not be fruitful, as people like to subscribe to a blog, which is an authority on a particular topic.

Moreover, Google which is the biggest search engine prefers a website that is built on a single topic. For example, Jadhvweb’s topic is “blogging and technology” and that’s how you found us.

Now, the big question is

how do find the topic of your blog?

Here are a few tips that will help you get started:

Find a topic that you know better than anyone else. It doesn’t have to be the job you are doing, and it could be anything. Try to think about the topic that you most like to talk about, and you can comfortably talk about it for hours.
The good idea is to pick a topic that you usually read about. The topic which you read about all the time is something that interests you.
Also, make sure you have a keen interest in a particular topic, and that you can add value with your insight.
For newbies, I always recommend taking the help of a pen-paper and writing down the topics in different columns that you like. Forex: Motivation, Fashion, Technology, Finance, Photography, Scientific research, baby care, health care, and so on. Now, try to write 5 post ideas for those different columns. When you are writing the post title, think about what you can write without taking references. By the end of the 5th article, it will help you to find the topic (Niche) that you like the most.

This is a critical step before starting a blog, as it will help you to pick a topic that you are most passionate about.

This will ensure that you will not burn out when your blog goes live.

If you are picking a topic that you like to talk about and write about, it will ensure that your burnout period will never come. So, I assume you have selected the niche for your blog which can make some money for you.

Conclusion- Selecting the appropriate niche is the first and the most important step in starting a new blog.

Step 4: Pick a Blog name & domain name for your blog

Domain Name:

selection of a name depends upon the type of niche in which you want to write.

The name of your domain.

Maybe Helpful: How to select Domain Extension for your website

Note: You can always change your domain name in the future if you like.

In this guide, you will find answers to all these questions and will be able to start a blog.

Here are the steps to start a blog:

There are 4 rules that I usually follow when picking a domain name:

Easy to remember
Easy to type
Easy to pronounce.
Easy to brandable

A domain name is the URL of a blog that a visitor will use to open a blog.

For example; www.jadhavweb.com

A custom domain name is like www.jadhavweb.com, for which we need to pay ₹1400/year approx. However, I have shared a trick below which will help you save this ₹1400 on a domain purchase.

Now, there are a few rules which will help you to pick the best name for your new blog. Here are some of the tips from my experience:

Prefer the .com domain name above everything else.
Your domain name should be easy to pronounce and easy to type.
Make sure your domain name should not be confusing to the listener.

You can use the Bluehost domain suggestion feature to check if your domain name is available or not. Simply enter any word that you have picked for your blog and it will also show you available domain name suggestions.

The name of your blog is very crucial in my opinion. You can also have a domain name under your name, and it’s great for a personal portfolio or if you planning to make yourself a brand.

However, I prefer having a generic name so that in the future I could have people running it, and I could enjoy the benefit of solopreneurship.

My suggestion is to be creative and follow the four rules I shared above. Here are a few things you should not do when selecting the domain name for your new blog:

Don’t use a too-long domain name. Try to keep it lower than 12 characters. Ex: Jadhavweb
Don’t use domain extensions like .info, .net, and so on, because they tend to rank badly in Search engines. I always prefer and suggest to use a domain name extension like .com or .org.

Step 5: Picking the hosting to start the blog:

Now, let us build our blog on hosting.

Web hosting is where WordPress will be installed. This is a server that stays online 24*7 and all your future blog images, your blog design and everything will be stored on this server (hosting).

That is how your website will be up and running 24*7.

The good thing is, the hostings are cheap.

There are plenty of hosting service providers but for your blog:

Bluehost is the idlest choice as it offers everything you need to create a blog. Features like:

Free SSL
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited storage
Free domain name (Saving of $12/year)
Easy to use cPanel.
Live chat support
30 days money back guarantee

And the best part, it only cost $2.95/month

Grab Bluehost hosting for a special price

Here is how to buy it:

Select the Basic plan if you want to start one blog or the Plus plan if you want to start more than one blog.

On the next page, you can claim your free domain name. If you are yet not ready with your domain name, you can click on Choose later.

On the next page, fill up your contact information. Pay special attention to package extras as you can skip a few things to save some money.

Apart from Domain Privacy Protection, uncheck everything.

Under the payment information, you can pay via credit/debit card or if you want to pay via PayPal, you can click on More payment options.

Once you have made the payment, Bluehost will also create your blog in the next 10 minutes. This will be done automatically and saves a lot of hassles for beginners who just want a ready-made blog.

If you like to learn by watching videos, here are two videos that will help:

Now, watch the below video to learn about buying hosting and domain names:

Here is the cool part:

Once you are done buying hosting + domain name, Bluehost will automatically install the WordPress software on your domain name.

That means your blog is installed and now comes the cool stuff which is something every beginner blogger enjoys.

But, before we get there, have a look at this quick video to understand how you should be using the Bluehost dashboard:

Step 6: Set up your blog

The best thing about Bluehost (as you see in the above video) is, it will automatically install the blog for you. However, you are not done, as you need to complete a few things before you write your first blog post

To start setting up your blog for branding and make it perfect, I have shared some guides that you can refer to get started:

Learn how to set up a WordPress blog for the first time.

Step 7: Design of your blog

Blogging platform? Check!

Blog niche? Check!

Domain name? Check!

“The first impression is the last impression”, that’s the mantra we follow for a blog.

Blog design is the most important aspect of your blog because a good design will ensure that your visitors will love your blog. That is how your readers will remember your blog. Imagine your blog design as you with a nice outfit.

In WordPress, there is a concept called “WordPress themes”. These are ready-made designs that are available for all types of blogs.

There are many Free and premium WordPress themes out there. I always recommend going for a premium theme because you will get all the support and starter guides, and you will have a quality design for your blog.

Here are easy-to-use modern theme clubs which I would recommend you to start with.

Astra theme: This is a lightweight theme that offers the template for all kinds of blogs. Once you install this theme, you can pick from the ready-made template and your blog design will be ready within 30-45 minutes. This is a perfect companion for any new WordPress blog. You can read Astra’s review to learn everything about this versatile theme.
Genesis: This is one of the best theme frameworks out there. I use this for ShoutMeLoud. You need to buy the theme, and skin to make it suitable for you.

Read: How to Install a WordPress theme

There are many more premium WordPress theme clubs out there, but I recommend any of the above two for a professional start.

Step 8: WordPress plugins

There are thousands of WordPress plugins out there. Below I have mentioned only those plugins that you should install from day one.

Read this tutorial to learn how to install a WordPress plugin.

Here are the plugins that you should have on your newly created WordPress blog:

Yoast SEO
ShortPixels
Jetpack by WordPress.com

You can find a list of the best WordPress plugins here.

There are many more plugins, but the above plugins will ensure that you have all the basic plugins installed on your blog.

If you have followed, all the steps until now, your blog is up and ready.

Now, comes the part which you should be doing over the period and that is adding new content.

Step 9: Plan your content

Before you start writing your first blog post, you should make a content plan.

You can use Excel or use a Trello board. Here is a free Trello content planning board that you could use.

This Trello board also comes with a checklist to help you write the perfect article. Click on more on the right sidebar and click on the copy board.

In the article ideas, write down all the content that you could write. You can also create an outline of the content if you like.

It’s a good idea to do this in one sitting and next time you can start writing your content (one at a time).

Step 10: Writing your first Blog post

Now, this is where the real fun begins, writing your first article.

Here are the guidelines to help you decide what your first blog post should be about.

I will share some of the article’s links below to get you started, but here are a few tips that will ensure you don’t make mistakes a newbie usually makes:

When you are writing your content, imagine a person sitting next to you, and you are talking to the person. Write in the first person tone, because there is a single person who is reading your blog. For example, you are reading this blog post alone. That is why you might notice, my tone is “I” and “You”.
Your content should cover all the aspects of the topic you are writing about. Feel free to write 1000+ words.
Do not copy images from Google. Rather use these sites to download free-to-use images.
You can also embed videos from YouTube. Here is a tutorial on how to do that.

If you wanna skip the general crowd and level up your blogging game, then read my guide on SEO copywriting. This will ensure whatever you write will help you drive great traffic from search engines.

Step 11: Add important pages to your blog

Here are some of the important pages, which you should have on your blog. You can add them over the next few weeks…

About page: Contains detail about your blog, and you.
Contact page: A page with a contact form. You can use the free contact form 7 or the Jetpack contact form feature to create a contact form on WordPress.
Media kit page: You don’t need it now, but you should know about it. This page is where you will write about your blog traffic and available advertising options.
Privacy policy page
Disclaimer page
Disclosure page
Terms and conditions

Step 12: Driving traffic to your Blog

So, you have got everything covered and your first blog post is live.

Now, the next step is to drive traffic.

Follow the steps mentioned here and that will help your blog to be visible in Google search.

Now, there are many techniques that you can use to get traffic to your newly created blog.

How To Promote Your Blog (12+ Actionable Blog Promotion Techniques).

Step 13: Getting social

Once you have established your blog, make your blog social so that your readers can join your community.

You just need to get started and no need to stress, as again I’m here to guide you with the best resources.

To get social with your blog, you need a Facebook page, Instagram account, and Twitter account.

Step 14: Make money from blogging

There are many ways by which your blog can earn passive income for you.

Here are some of the most popular ways:

Google AdSense
SetupAd
Affiliate marketing
Sponsored content (Get paid for writing about others)
Amazon affiliate program
Direct ad sales
Own digital products like eBooks, Online Courses

I have covered all these aspects of blogging money in this exclusive article: How to make money blogging

Step 15: Reach the next level of Blogging:

Learn SEO to drive free traffic

SEO is an advanced topic and it’s hard to complete it in a single article. Many newbies try not to concentrate on search engine Optimization, and it’s a big mistake.

Search engine optimization helps you to drive targeted traffic from organic search, which in turn makes more money for you. There are three core parts of SEO:

On-page SEO: Your content quality, Keyword placement, and other factors.
On-Site SEO: Crawling, and indexing of your website.
Off-Site SEO: Backlinks from other sites.

With the evolution of SEO, I would also like to add two more here:

Social signals: Social media plays a great role in improving your blog ranking. Google Plus is proven to be the best social networking site to improve ranking.
User experience: New Search engine optimization is all about giving a great user experience. Some of the key aspects of a good user experience are navigation, site loading, website design, readability, and so on.

Here are a couple of articles, which you should read to learn about SEO:

Getting traffic to your blog

If you have done everything as mentioned above, you will start getting organic traffic from social media sites. Now, here I’m sharing some of the selected posts to help you drive more traffic to your website. Do remember, that targeted traffic makes more money.

Readership and improving your blog

One major difference between a normal blog and a good blog is the detailing.

An A-list blogger usually takes care of every tiny detail to ensure that users subscribe to his blog, and love to be a part of it. This is what we call turning one-time visitors into readers. Here are some of the advanced and less talked about techniques to take your blog to the next level:

In the world of blogging, we always wish that there was someone who could guide us right from scratch when we start a new blog.

While that may not be possible there are plenty of resources available. Join the group and forums related to blogging and put up your doubts, there are thousands of people out there to help you out.