Simple Steps I Took To Start My Blog

You may be thinking, is there really money in blogging? And the answer is, yes!

With the right mindset and strategy, you can make money online without being a famous influencer or travel blogger. Don’t let limiting beliefs or fears stop you from crafting your own amazing blog and the life you want. Blogging and social media are still growing and I read that over 400 million people read blog posts each MONTH.

Is this the right journey for you?

I am going to give you the hard truth about blogging. Most bloggers are NOT instantly successful and the ones who are marketing making thousands in their first month are in the minority of bloggers. I have read that about 90% of people who start a blog give up (my first blog experience).

Since you are still here, it’s telling me that you are ready to get a blog going and want to give it a shot. Here are the exact steps I used two weeks ago, to launch this blog. And no, you do not have to be a technology wizard to start a blog.

1. Make the decision to start.
   While most ‘how to start a blog’ posts start with their first step being ‘choose a niche’ I believe the first step is to just start the process. Many see those lists and immediately shut down when they can’t choose a niche or feel like they don’t have a niche. When we are trying to move outside of our comfort zone, the biggest hurdle is our mind. The limiting beliefs we set and the self-deprecating comments we say to ourselves. Raise your hand if, when you are reading other posts about choosing a niche you have thought something along these lines:
   “I don’t have a niche”
   “I can’t do this”
   “Why do I need a niche”
   “I will never get started because I don’t know my niche”
   “how do people just know what to write about”
   This is why my first step is to JUST START. Make the decision that you are going to start on this journey, get your computer out, and start putting things into action.
   
2. Choose a Blog Niche.
   A niche is the specialized content you will be writing and posting about. Don’t let step 1 make you feel stuck, there are several broader blog niches, like lifestyle blogs, that may be the choice for you! You can always change your niche once you get started.
   
   If you need a little help or want to brainstorm what niche you identify with, take out a piece of paper and write these things down:
   
   Your Expertise– everyone is an expert at something. Whether you’re an expert mother, baker, etc. You don’t need a degree in these things but you want to choose a topic you are knowledgeable in and can provide value.
   
   Solve a problem- can you solve a problem for someone. The main point of a blog post is to provide value for your consumers. They will keep coming back and will ultimately pay for a solution to their problem.
   
   Interest– A little bit of research goes a long way. Are there people interested in your idea. Can you get to know your consumers and what problems they need solved are? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and its used to optimize a website’s technical configuration, relevance, and link popularity so your audience can easily find what it is looking for, become more relevant. They’re vital to success of your blog.
   
   Product Opportunities– providing value is key, we want to create a product for your audience that will make their life easier.
   
   Again, DO NOT get stuck here, you can always circle back. Just get the process started.
   
3. Choose a name.
   This can be one of the harder parts of starting a blog. Which is why mine is my name. When choosing your blog name, if you already have your niche, think of descriptive words from your niche. For example, The Frugal Mom, obviously talks about saving money.
   
   And of course, another good option is to do a self-named blog and build your personal brand around yourself. www.yourname.com
   You will need to check the availability of your blog name and you can do that at godaddy.com
   
4. Buy a domain name and hosting.
   After you have your name and it is available, you want to get your hosting site. Hosting is a network that provides your blog the space it needs in the internet. Like your wax lady who rents a booth at her salon. She is self-employed but the salon gives her the spot to do her work. There are several options for this, but the easiest for me to understand and start was the one I chose to use.
   
   Bluehost is who I recommend using because of how easy it was to use. There are video tutorials for, literally, everything. They also offer a FREE domain name with their service, so you don’t need to purchase one separately. You can start creating your blog for $3 a month!
   
   One thing to note is that you must pay for one year of hosting up front, but for me, it was easier to pay for it and forget about it. It is probably a better deal to pay for it for multiple years, but I wanted the flexibility in case I want to upgrade my service.
   
5. Install WordPress. This is where you will customize and build your website. There are several out there and the site builder I used is Gutenberg. I get into the details of this here: Why I chose to pay for a website.
   
6. Install a Theme. Just like when you go to a store and look for the brands you like, you want your audience to recognize your brand. The branding theme you utilize will ensure your audience enjoys your site enough to stick around. I read that 90% of consumers have left a site due to it’s design.
   
7. CANVA– create your logo. I LOVE Canva. For all of the inner creatives waiting to break out- this site makes it super easy to digitally design a logo. If reading that gave you anxiety, then take a deep breath, because they have plenty of pre-made templates that you can utilize! This step should not be intimidating. As a reminder, we want to get started and keep moving forward. Nothing is permanent and you can always change it later if you need too.
   
8. Write some blog content!This should be pretty self-explanatory. What is not as easy, is writing in a way that keeps people reading and is easily consumable for your audience. Even if your first thought is, ‘I am not a writer’, just like with anything else, writing takes practice. The more you write, the better you will get. Remember, this should be the fun and exciting part!
   
9. Set up google analytics to track your blogs traffic. Google analytics is what you will use to keep track of information like, how many page views your blog is getting, where your readers are coming from, and what content is most popular. This will be your guide and help you understand who you are writing for and what your audience likes.
   
10. Finally, LAUNCH! Click the launch button and go live!
    
11. Build traffic- I utilize Pinterest for this. Remember to remain consistent with your content. My rule of thumb is ‘quality over quantity’. I would rather write one really great post that I can get good mileage out of, versus writing four posts that are full of nonsense.You want to give yourself time to build traffic and get enough content so you can apply for an ad network to get AdSense on your site. You can also apply to be an amazon affiliate. Pinterest has over 91 million users! The traffic you get from Pinterest can make or break your blog. This can be a simple strategy of repining a couple of things every day, but the key is to be active daily. No one is magically going to see your blog, trust me, I know this from experience with my first blog.

After working through these 11 steps, you can officially call yourself a blogger! Congrats! You have officially started your blogging journey!