You’re here because you want to start a blog, am I right?
Blogging has become such a fun hobby of mine. Not only that, but it was super easy to start a blog and I am actually starting to see monthly income from it.
I even have a section on my blog called, Income Reports where I talk about how much income I make a month from blogging.
Did you know you could make money blogging?
For the longest time, I didn’t know you could make a side income or even a full income from blogging. That was until I stumbled along with some income reports on Pinterest.
Step By Step Instructions on How to Start a Blog:
- Choose what you want to blog about
- Pick a blogging platform
- Choose your hosting plan
- Come up with a domain name
- Create your account
- Design your website
Being a working professional, a wife, a homeowner and a mommy doesn’t leave me with a whole lot of time for myself, let alone blogging.
However, I love coming up with ideas to share and especially enjoy being able to spend time with others while putting my creative mind to work!
If you are ready to start your blogging journey, LET’S GO!
Step 1: Choose What You Want to Blog About
This can be the easiest part of blogging or the hardest!
My blog is focused more on lifestyle blogging. Meaning, I talk about a lot of different things from wellness/healthy living, to recipes, family life, money-saving tips and tricks, and more!
Some blogs have one main focus or “niche”. For example, Pinch of Yum is all food-related.
Once you figure out what you want to blog about, we move to step 2.
|RELATED POST: BLOGGING RESOURCES|
Step 2: Pick a Blogging Platform
This post is focused on setting up a self-hosted blog on WordPress. I love them and highly recommend that platform.
WordPress is a blogging software and is great for beginners.
It has a ton of free themes and plugins, and it is a very common platform among bloggers.
(Be sure you sign up with a wordpress.org blog not .com.)
Why? Because, even though you have to pay for this type of platform, you actually OWN it as well (“self-host”).
You control everything with the site and unlike WordPress.com, you do not need to worry about it being shut down at any time.
Another good thing about owning your site is you can pretty much put whatever you want on it, makes you look like a more professional blogger and you can make an actual income from your blog.
Step 3: Choose Your Hosting Plan
Hosting is also known as “renting” an area on the web for your blog space.
It helps your website become a live site and viewable to the public. Being one of the largest web hosting services out there, I chose SiteGround.
Why SiteGround?
- Website loads very quickly
- They have THE BEST 24/7 customer service. Anytime I have an issue they respond right away.
Click on WordPress Hosting (if using a WordPress site, which I highly recommend).
Then, select your plan!
If SiteGround is a bit expensive to start out with, Bluehost is a great second hosting plan! It is the one I used prior to SiteGround. I currently use the GrowBig plan.
Step 4: Come Up with a Domain Name
A domain name is your website name and ultimately, your blog name.
It kind of feels like naming your child… sometimes you just know and sometimes it takes a while to see what fits.
Tips When Coming Up with a Domain Name:
- Come up with a list of words you like and see what sticks
- Make it easy to spell and read
- Be sure you LOVE the name because you will be stuck with it
- Make it catchy
- Most importantly, check to see if the domain name is available, not only on SiteGround but also on social networks like Pinterest, Instagram, etc… If it’s taken, you can try to alter it slightly to see if it is available!
After you select your plan, input your new domain name. If you already have a domain name you can sign up with your existing domain and hit “proceed.”
Step 5: Create Your Account
Fill out all of your account information.
This is the last step!
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have just officially created your blog and are ready to use WordPress.
Step 6: WordPress Themes
It’s time to pick out your theme.
Although WordPress has a lot of themes, they are not the most professional or unique looking so I suggest taking some time to search for the right one.
17th Avenue Designs is where I got my theme from. They have a ton of beautiful, professional, and organized themes. I’ve used Restored 316 Themes in the past and love them too!
I ended up going with the “Mia” theme and can I say, I am obsessed.
The theme matched my overall look and feel of the blog.
Once you pick your theme you go to “Appearance > Theme” and Install your theme.
This is also a theme of Genesis.
Genesis is the framework I am using with Lifestyle with Leah and the “Mia” theme is the child theme.
Genesis can be hard to explain so I found a good blog post to break it down for you.
I hope you enjoyed this guide on how to start your own blog!
Remember… things take time and the best thing to do for your blog is to put up valuable content.
Content that the reader will gain value from. This will help grow your subscriber list and page viewers and in turn, make some income!
Please leave a comment below with your new blog as I would love to check it out!
