How to Start a Blog in 2019 [That Actually Makes $MONEY$]
- June 21, 2019
Whether you’re trying to build a freelance business, start your own personal brand, are looking to start earning passive income, or are just passionate and want to write about a certain topic, 2019 is the year to start a blog.
Starting a blog is a great way to share your expertise on a topic that you have an aptitude for or are simply passionate about. With a blog you can connect with people online and help them solve their problems and bring value to their lives, while also gaining the financial freedom to earn money doing something you love—from anywhere and on your own schedule!
- Pick Your Blog’s Name and Domain
- Find Your Niche and Decide What to Blog About
- find a Hosting Provider
- Choose a Blogging Platform
- Choose a Theme and Design Your Blog
- Create Your Essential Pages
- Develop Your Content Strategy
- Commit to a Regular Publishing Schedule
- Post, Promote, Drive Traffic
- Monetize Your Blog
How To Start A Blog In 2019
1) Pick Your Blog’s Name and Domain
The first step (and one of the most important steps) in starting your blog is to choose a name for your blog. You want to choose a name that reflects your niche, your brand, and even your personality. Keep in mind that the name is one of the first things that readers see in search results, so you also want it to reflect what it is and for whom it is written.
You also need to choose a domain. Keep in mind that if you want readers to be able to easily find your blog through internet searches, you must purchase a unique domain name that reflects your niche.
2) Find Your Niche and Decide What to Blog About
Picking a niche is also an essential step in creating your blog—equally as important, if not more important, as choosing your blog name. You niche will define the audience you are trying to attract and how you will plan your content, blog design, and where and how to market your blog.
Whatever your hobbies, interests, or hobbies, there is a niche that will suit you. Make sure it is something that you have either knowledge or an interest in, as you want to be able to position yourself as an expert. It does not have to be your passion, but it MUST be of interest to you otherwise your content may not resonate with your target audience.
3) Find a Hosting Provider
- Speed
- Features
- Security
- Support
- Track record
4) Choose a Blogging Platform
Blogs are built on a Content Management System (CMS), and there are many options to look at when choosing a platform for your blog. WordPress is the most popular for a couple of reasons. It is the most sustainable, long-term option if you are considering starting a blog to make money.
WordPress is also affordable, easy to install, and fully customizable. However, if you’re looking to monetize your blog you have to choose WordPress.org, which is self-hosted and can be monetized and used as a business blog, whereas WordPress.com does not offer those options. Other examples of CMS blogging platforms are Wix, Squarespace, and Ghost.
5) Choose a Theme and Design Your Blog
Once you’ve chosen your platform you then have to get designing the look of your blog. If you chose WordPress, you will have access to 1000+ of both free and premium themes to design the look and feel of your blog. An added bonus is that you don’t need to have any coding knowledge in order to build a stylish, professional-looking blog.
Typically, free blogging platforms are limited on design options, so keep that in mind when you’re choosing your CMS. The best themes are simple, SEO friendly, responsive, support plugins, optimized for different browsers, and have a high customer rating.
Remember: good design builds trust. It tells people that you care enough about your blog to make it look nice, so this is an aspect of your blog that you do not want to skimp on.
6) Create Your Essential Pages
Now that your blog looks nice, you have to put in the essential navigational pages and information that you want your audience to know. Do this by putting together your blog’s essential pages. These pages have standard information that every blog needs to have, for example the About Me, Contact Us, Hire Us page.
7) Develop Your Content Strategy
Now it’s time to get to the meat of your blog by developing your content strategy. Your content should revolve around how you can solve your readers’ most pressing challenges. Developing and planning out a long-term strategy will also help you stay motivated, especially if you don’t know what to write about.
Best content strategy will define the blog’s goals and will help get you more in tune with your readers. This process will also help you will topic creation.
8) Commit to a Regular Publishing Schedule
One of the keys to growing an audience is consistency. Your readers to know to that they can rely on you for quality content that will be published according to a set schedule.
This means you need to publish on a consistent basis. Readers will know when new content will be published and it keeps you accountable. You should also make sure you have at least 5 articles ready to post before publicly launching your blog. This way your readers can get a good feel for the blog and it will make them want to wait for more.
9) Post, Promote, Drive Traffic
- Interviewing people in your niche
- Networking other bloggers
- Talking to people about your work