Congratulations on deciding to start a blog! Before you get started, it’s important to consider what you hope to achieve with the site. Do you want to be the next big name in your industry? Are you hoping for a creative outlet that can help others heal? Whatever your goal, it’s good to have an idea of what success looks like—and how you’ll know when you’ve achieved it. With that in mind, here are a few steps that will set the stage for creating and monetizing your new blog:
Make it personal
- Make it personal.
- Write about things you’re passionate about.
- Write about your experiences and expertise.
Make it professional
Choose a domain name that’s easy to remember and spell https://athenahost.com/domains
Use a professional email address, such as hello@yourblog.com or yourname@yourblog.com
Use a profile photo that matches your brand. You can find free stock photos on sites like Shutterstock or Unsplash, or you can use your own photo if it looks good.
Add a header image at the top of your blog page with text and/or logos in it so that readers know what this blog is about when they visit the homepage (and so they’ll want to stay awhile). There are plenty of tutorials online showing how to make one using Canva, Photoshop or PicMonkey. Make sure there are no spelling mistakes in any part of your site—especially important since Google penalizes poorly written content! If possible, try hiring someone who knows English well enough to proofread everything before posting it on your blog. Fiverr.com is a great place to find copywriters and other talent as well.
Make it focused
- Focus on one topic.
- Focus on one audience.
- Focus on one type of content.
- Focus on one type of writing style.
- Focus on one type of tone, if you want to share your opinion or just give facts and let others decide what to think about them.
Narrow your target audience
Narrowing your focus is one of the most important steps in starting a blog. You will have to define your niche and create content that appeals to that specific audience.
While it may seem like an easy task, this can be difficult for many people because they don’t know where to start. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:
- Who is my target audience?
- What do they want?
- What do I want?
If you’re planning on making money off of your blog, then it’s important that you find out who will be paying for products or services related to what you’re selling or offering before moving forward with any type of advertising plan (or any other form of monetization).
The topics to write about on your blog
In order to get the most out of blogging, it’s important to know what you’re going to write about. Here are some ideas:
- Share your expertise
- Share your knowledge
- Share your opinions
- Share your creativity
Get inspired by other bloggers in your niche
The easiest way to get started is by finding a blog that already exists in your niche and taking a look at their site. What content do they feature? What’s their design like? Are they using photos or videos? You’ll want to find one that fits your style, but looking at other sites can give you some ideas as well.
If you have trouble deciding what type of blog to start, think about what kind of information would be helpful for people in your niche. For example, if you’re interested in decorating an office space for work or school, consider starting an interior design blog where readers can learn about different colors and patterns that go well together without being too overwhelming with details. One thing I did when I started blogging was ask myself these questions:
- What do I want my blog to provide? Am I going to focus on recipes or tutorials instead? This will help narrow down the scope of topics so it doesn’t get overwhelming later on down the road when there are more posts than ever before!
- How often should this blog post new content each week/monthly basis etc..
Put a distinct face to your blog
The next step is to give your blog a distinct face. You’ve chosen a domain name, now it’s time to pick a name for your blog, as well as its logo and template.
- Name: The name of your site goes in the “title” tag at the top of each post. It should be easy to recognize and remember, so choose one that fits with what you’re trying to accomplish with your content. One strategy is choosing something similar to an existing popular blog (e.g., if there’s already a Lifehacker , maybe go with “Lifehackr”). Another option is creating something unique that still communicates what kind of content readers can expect from you—something like “[Your Name]’s Guide To [Topic].”
- Domain Name: The domain refers more broadly than just what appears in search results on Google; it also encompasses social media sites like Facebook and Twitter where people might discover or share links back to your site.* Logo: This is simply an image file (typically a JPEG) associated with each page/post where you want people who visit those pages/posts
Choose a name for the blog and domain name
- Choose a name for your blog that is unique and easy to remember.
- Your domain name should be short and easy to type, so it’s easier for people to find you on the web.
- Make sure the name of your blog isn’t already taken by checking out https://athenahost.com/domains/ first!
Set up a blog site using WordPress
- Set up your WordPress blog with a few simple steps
- Use WordPress as a blog or website
- athenahost.com is the best hosting provider for all of your sites, including WordPress blogs and websites
- Set up the blog
Setup the blog with the domain name you want to use (i.e., https://yourblognamehere.com that fits your style and add content to it from within WordPress or hire someone on Fiverr.com
Start writing killer content for your new blog.
Once you’ve chosen the name and theme of your blog, it’s time to start writing. This can be the hardest part, but it doesn’t have to be so if you’re passionate about the topic. If you are interested in something, try writing about that thing!
- Write about things you’re passionate about: If you love cooking or fashion or photography or travel—go ahead and write about those things! Your readers are more likely to enjoy reading your blog if they know what it’s all about.
- Write on topics that matter to your readers: The name of your blog should reflect what kind of content is going to be featured on it. For example, if someone searches for “How To Start A Blog” then they will probably want some tips on how exactly this works (and maybe some inspiration).
Creating a blog is one of the most popular ways to share information with a wider audience. If you have an idea for a blog, you should start writing and publishing your posts right away! This article has given some tips on how to create an effective website using WordPress which will help you get started in minutes. We hope this helps!