Starting a blog is very simple, anyone can setup a blog but making it successful is a whole different topic. However, i am going to be teaching you the methods with which i have been making money online using my blogging skills.
So let’s get started! What To Blog About:
- Select a topic that you would like to write about:
There are millions of blogs on the internet already and if you want to succeed your blog must be different from all the other blogs,if you want to engage with the visitors and readers you have to first build authority and credibility you can do that by writing about a topic that interests you the most because if you are passionate about Video Games, Golf,Movies or perhaps Politics you should stick to it don’t just blog about anything.
- Free Blog Vs Self-Hosted Blog:
Don’t be alarmed, you can start a free blog on Blogger.com or WordPress.com or use any other good free blogging platform but if you need a flexible blog that you can customize and modify then i would suggest that you should setup a self-hosted blog.
- Free Blogging Platforms:
In case you start a blog at any free blogging platform (WordPress,Blogger,Tumblr,Typead), you will not get your own custom domain (.com/.net/.org) you will get a sub-domain similar to this: myfirstblog.blogspot.com or myfirstblog.wordpress.com and if you want to upgrade to a custom domain name it is going to cost you some money, that is why i always prefer using a self-hosted blogging platform like wordpress.org, but if you don’t want to spend money right now you can migrate your blog to a custom domain and on a self-hosted account later on but i don’t recommend it because not only it’ll be very hectic and also you can lose your readers.
I always recommend this to my readers, because not only it is extremely flexibile and you have full control over your website and you can do whatever you want to do with it!
You will have a custom domain name, like timothyblog.com,myblog.com,mydailylog.com. A domain name normally cost you $10-$30 per year and a good web hosting package would cost you around 7.95$ every month or if you need a cheap hosting account you can get it for $50 per year.
However, if you want to try out free blogging platforms, here’s the list of top blogging services that i have compiled.
And if in case you have decided to start a self-hosted blog i would suggest that you should start searching for a domain name, finding a domain name is really easy but first you have to think of a topic or theme of your blog and come up with a name related to the topic. I would recommend Namecheap for registering your domain because not only they offer good prices but they also provide you with a wide range of other features.
How To Register A Domain Name:
- Web Hosting For Self-Hosted Blog:
Now let’s find a good web hosting company,i would recommend that you should sign up for a hosting company that offers cPanel and “1 click installer”, which will automatically install wordpress or any other CMS or forum script on your domain with a click of a button. If you want to start with a single wordpress blog then i would recommend WP Engine but it is very costly as compared to other web hosting companies, i am using Hostgator as well which is by far the best web hosting company and i am using Hatching package which costs $7.95 per month and you can host unlimited domains in this package. FatCow is also a decent option ($60/year + free domain) but the interface is little complicated as compared to Hostgator or BlueHost or any other cPanel web hosting company.
For wordpress installation using cPanel your can read these posts: How to Install WordPress Using cPanel and How to Install WordPress Manually.
Download a WordPress theme for your blog: You can easily find a free wordpress theme for your blog, there are millions of themes to choose from and if you need a unique and custom theme you can find some good themes at StudioPress or you can also design a custom theme using Catalyst Theme or Thesis Theme framework for wordpress.