The 7 Step Blog or Website Startup Guide For Beginner
Most budding writers or may I say, writer-entrepreneurs, who wish to earn through blogging begin by asking this question – “How do I build a successful blog?” With all the tips available on the internet, new bloggers rarely get the search results that they need, because if they’re not obsolete, blog lessons and modules online are totally pointless.
If earning through blogging is your primary goal, you’re in luck, because this post is all about helping you experience how it feels to get money inside your pocket without cracking a single drop of sweat. So, read the following steps slowly, try to digest each step completely, and see how a successful blog will SKYROCKET YOUR INCOME passively.
This guide will show you how to blog from scratch. Through these quick and easy steps, you will be able to map out your journey through a flourishing blogging career. Of course, I will start with the blogging basics, and step by step, I will be revealing to you the secrets on “How to Start a Blog That Matters?” Throughout this blogging guide, I will be highlighting the following topics:
- Why you should decide and start blogging now
- How to find the perfect niche
- Selecting and paying for a valuable domain name
- Deciding on a suitable blog platform
- Finding a hosting provider that is both credible and reasonably priced
- Creating a blog design that will enhance the flexibility of your brand
- Installing your very own blog
Now, to formally venture into your profitable blogging journey, let us begin!
Factoid: After taking you through the list of topics included in my post, I would first like to introduce to you a blogging alternative that will also allow you to bring in the same amount of profits, and you know, this might even be faster and easier for you. Try buying a ready-made website, and you can begin earning money instantly!
If you prefer this more expedient way of earning money online, click on this link: How to buy a website. Then again, just to explore your options more thoroughly, reading through this blogging post is also highly recommended. Hopefully, by the end of the post, you’ll be able to see how quick and simple it is to start blogging from scratch. Plus, here and there, I have included excellent blogging tips and tricks on how to find your perfect niche, choosing a suitable domain name, and many more! Ultimately, this will help you decide which option (whether you want to buy a website or start a blog), suits your interests, expertise and personality better…
1. How To Start A Blog That Matters? – Make That Decision, And Start Blogging NOW!
Most of those who had just started blogging tend to be too technical, thinking too much about the “whats,” “whys,” “whens,” and especially the “hows” instead of finally putting their ideas into action— and this is what dwindles their blogging ideas down the drain. They spend their time “thinking” rather than actively setting their blogs into motion.
Just like everything else we do in life, sometimes ideas are more flourishing than our actions. We decide to “want” something all too much. Maybe we’re able to start on some of the things that we’ve finally decided on. But, RARELY do we follow through. Basically, the only reason why people are not able to build a successful blog is that they don’t start building one AT ALL.
That is why, at this point, you have to promise that you will commit to this task completely. Promise that you won’t just “think” about blogging, but you’d actually start setting your blog in motion TODAY. And, today means NOW, not the next day nor the next week, and certainly not the next month! I know delaying your decision feels somewhat “safe” because you’d be spared from the pressures of making that decision right now. Then again, you’d be surprised of what the “power of now” can bring you. So, make a deep, heartfelt and sincere commitment to yourself. Just think about it, if you start your blog today, then you’d also be able start earning—TODAY!
So, to finally kick your way in, the first thing you should as ask yourself is, “How do I build a successful blog?”
2. How To Start A Blog That Matters? – Finding The Perfect Niche
This is probably the most difficult part of starting a personal blog—finding a perfect niche that works for YOU. There are too many topics and themes to choose from, and right now, I’m telling you, the KEY is INDIVIDUALITY. If you are serious about succeeding in this line of work, you must concentrate on a focused group of topics.
Defining your niche or single area of expertise will benefit your blog in three ways:
- Your brand will be easier to remember.
- You will be able to establish yourself as an expert in your chosen niche.
- It would be easier for you to lure in advertisers.
Use the following questions to guide you in choosing a niche that will work for you:
Would you prefer To have a “Broad” Niche or “Sub” Niche?
Broad Niche:
If you choose a broad niche, here are some of the things you should keep in mind. Broad niches allow you to cover a larger scope and showcase a variety of content for your blog. As such, with broad niches, your blogs are more versatile and you’d have more topics to explore.
Then again, with all those topics to write about, you might not have enough resources to cover them comprehensively, and because it touches on multiple topics, you might also have more competition. So, with broad niches, it might be more difficult to get top ranks for your blog.
Sub Niches:
Sub niches, on the other hand, have a narrower and more focused area of interest. In this industry, the rule is, the more focused your niche is, the lesser the competition, and the easier it would be for you to get your blog on the top. This is exactly what makes sub niches quite popular. Apart from serving as stepping stones, it can also be used to improve branding and serve as leverage towards creating a niche with a larger scope.
The main issue with sub niches is that topics can get too narrow. Some may end up having blogs that are monotonous without that much depth. This decreases traffic, and thus, income.
Can Your Niche Keep YOU Interested?
Choosing a niche, which you have no interest in would be like carrying a boulder on your shoulder. Updating your blog would feel too cumbersome as supposed to maintaining a niche that you are passionate about. When you’re interested in your niche, blogging would come effortlessly.
However, if for some reason you want to pursue a niche, which you have no interest in or a niche that you want but you can’t write about, you may opt to subcontract blogs and all the content to freelancers on outsourcing sites like oDesk or Elance.
Regardless of how you ultimately choose to generate content for your blog, you have to keep an open mind about the possibility of outsourcing content and other related tasks to contractors. Because, you might just see all your hard work go down with your blog—SIMPLY because you have neither the ENERGY nor the INTEREST to maintain it.
That is why finding a niche that you’re passionate about, and you’re interested in pursuing is an excellent way to start a successful blog!
Can You Fill Your Blog With Valuable Content?
When starting a blog, and in order to succeed in blogging—that is, being able to generate lots of web traffic and start earning income passively, you must think about filling your blog with valuable content. Stay away from fluffy, pointless and needless blogs. You must make each edition to your blog meaningful and useful to readers.
“Valuable content” does not necessarily mean that you should create blogs that are 100% different from other blogs. Valuable content could simply refer to content that is more straightforward and easier to understand or blogs that contain the most recent updates for a particular niche.
Another great way of creating a unique posts and producing content with real value is by writing based on personal experiences, and because real experiences touch on real emotions and real issues, it is more likely that your readers will respond to your post as well. Consider “reality TV shows” for example. They have become very popular over the past half a decade, and still remain very popular today. Real and genuine write-ups are the most effective methods of attracting people’s attention.
If you’re concerned on whether you are capable of producing valuable content for your chosen niche, try to answer these questions:
- Will you be able to generate content for your niche effortlessly?
- Can you give your readers useful and relevant content?
- Will you be able to provide information that is unique enough for your area of interest?
- Can you provide your readers with a fresh perspective?
- Would you be able to maintain the interest of your readers?
Well, that is just about it for finding a suitable niche! By now, you should be able to find a right niche for your blog. Here’s what you should do:
Task No. 1: Brainstorm and make a list of all your topics of interest. Look through your list, and before proceeding with the next section of this post, decide on your niche. Do it now!
3. How To Start A Blog That Matters? – Selecting And Paying For A Valuable Domain Name
Domain names are those you type on the address bar followed by “.com” in order to be directed to the site page. Passiveincomediary.com, for example, is the domain name of my blog.
Remember that your domain name is more than just the address of your blog. It can easily turn into your blog’s brand. The reason why a lot of people take extra time to research and even walk the extra mile on paying for their domain names. So, choose wisely.
Keep these tips in mind when selecting a domain name that is of great value:
a. The Shorter, The Better…
For example, if your keyword niche involves “Chocolate,” the best domain name would be “Chocolate.com.” Because they gain top ranks on search engines, single-word domain names are either unavailable or unbelievably expensive. So, you’d be forced into more creative domain names that have the closest “profitability” i.e. its ability to top the ranks and increase your income, as those of single-word domain names. You can have OurChocolate.com, or OurBestChocolate.com, and maybe even consider having OurBestChocolateOnline.com but remember, the more letters you add to your main keyword, which is “Chocolate,” the more it decreases its value, the less likely people are going to remember your brand, and earn income for you.
To illustrate how domain keyword density depreciates more clearly, consider this example…
If you were lucky enough to get the domain name “Chocolate.com,” your domain keyword density would be an outstanding 100%. All 9 letters (C-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e) included in your domain name are included in your keyword, creating excellent domain value.
However, when this domain name turns out to be unavailable, as it would most likely be, you then choose eChocolate.com as a good alternative. But, this time instead of having all the letters, only 9 out of 10 letters are part of your keyword niche. So, it instantly drops the value of your domain name to 90%.
If by some twist of unlucky fate, “eChocolate.com” turns to be unavailable as well, you then turn your attention to the domain name, “OnlineChocolate.com.” This time, only 9 out of all 15 letters of your domain name are part of the keyword, further dropping your domain name keyword density to 60%. This keyword depreciation continues as you add more letters to your main keyword niche.
So, by now, if you were made to choose between “Chocolate.com,” “OurChocolate.com,” “OurBestChocolate.com,” and “OurBestChocolateOnline.com,” you know exactly which one to choose, right?
Today, long-tail keyword phrases such as “How to Start a Blog That Matters” have become quite popular and have acquired the same level of profitability as single-word domain names.
So, having a blog with a domain name of HowToBlogSuccessfully.com may also earn your a better income.
b. Make It Memorable
So, as a web browser, notice that you RARELY, if you even EVER bookmark the websites you visit. The same is true for everyone else. People simply browse through the internet, opening one page after another. Then, after opening numerous web pages, they only find their way back to your page, depending on how much they remember from your domain name.
If your domain name is something like, “thelongestlistoflongdomainnames.com,” there’s no way people will be able to remember how to back to your page.
Take look at “Google.com” or “Apple.com,” these domains are incredibly successful because you wouldn’t need a bookmark to get to these sites. So, choose a domain name that is EASY on people’s memory
c. Make It Easy To Spell
As we all know there are a number of English words that have double, and sometimes even have a hundred different meanings. So, be careful not to choose a domain name that can easily confuse your readers.
Take this domain name for example: “penisland.net.” Those of you with a green mind will definitely get a kick from this domain name… J
Try typing it on your address bar, and see what you’ll find. Go ahead, and type it!
So…, what did you find?
Those of you who were good sports and actually copied and pasted the site address on their browsers, unfortunately for you—you didn’t find what your green mind thought you’d find. It’s actually a site dedicated for customized pens, hence the name, “Pen Island.”
If you don’t want these malicious thoughts to accompany your domain name, phrase your domain name carefully. Avoid misspelled or weirdly spelled domain names like “txmstrs.com” because they will give you nothing more than useless and unsolicited web traffic.
d. As Much As Possible, End It With A “.com”
Domains that end with a “.com” fair better and rank higher than all other types of domain extensions. This is one of the most common mistakes people make when finding domain names. Those who are too eager to get their sites up, resort to “.net” or “.org” extensions when they find that the “.com” extension is not available. They will soon regret their hasty decision when they realize that a great majority of customers actually default into sites ending with a “.com.”
So, if you decide on having a domain name “EZwebs.com” and the “.com” extension is unavailable. It would be more advantageous to modify your domain name, and choose something like “IZWebs.com” rather than adopting the “EZwebs.org” version.
However, if you do need to stick with your domain name, try to opt for “.net” or “.org” extensions rather than “.info” ones. These “.info” extensions are insanely cheap, and I can give a hundred different reasons why. So, by all means stay away from them.
e. Choose One That Is Relevant To Your Niche
Unfortunately, you can’t just choose random or cool-sounding domain names for your blogs. Your domain name has to be relevant with your niche. By typing your domain name on the address bar, your readers should be able to relate that with what they expect to find on your pages.
The domain name “penisland.com” would have been good, had it not caused that green-minded confusion. Including their keyword niche “Pen” on their domain name is an excellent idea. But, a better alternative would have been something like “CustomPen.com.”
It is ideal to include your keyword niche on your domain name. Then again, with the sheer vastness of the competition online, you might have difficulty doing just that for your blog. So, try to be creative and resourceful when finding a suitable domain name
f. NEVER Use Domains That Have Copyrights
What new bloggers don’t know is that some domain names come with copyrights. This means that you cannot include them as part of your domain name. Or else, you will be facing serious legal issues.
Companies or software names that are registered, having this symbol ®, or are trademarked, with this symbol ™, must not be used as part of your domain names.
“Photoshop,” “CorelDraw” and “Illustrator” have all been registered. So, do not place a domain name like “ILovePhotoshop.com” or “CorelDrawExpert.com” because you are bound to spend a lot on penalties. You may also ask for permission from the companies so you can use their brand legally. Then again, this would probably cost just much as the penalties… J
So, there you have it. I have squeezed as much as I can so I can give you the most comprehensive information about finding domain names. What I’ve given may not be ALL that you need to know, but I’m sure it’s a big help. Now, YOU know what you can and what you can’t do when it comes to domain names.
Task No. 2. Depending on the niche that you’ve chosen from Task 1, use your best judgement to create a domain name that works for your niche. Then, go to a reliable domain register like GoDaddy, and buy it.
4. How To Start A Blog That Matters? – Deciding On A Suitable Blog Platform
In order to survive, blogs need a “blogging software” or any platform that is able to maintain blogs, and a hosting provider to support it, and as far as I know, you only have two options in this case: Hosted Blogs and Self-Hosted Blogs.
Hosted Blogs
As the name suggests, hosted blogs are hosted on services like Blogger.com or WordPress.com. These blogging platforms allow you to sign up and start your blog for free, and will let you run your blog on their web servers, and the best thing about these free blog services is that while you are hosting your blog on their servers, you can still pay for your personal domain name on domain registrars as those like GoDaddy.
Now, isn’t that perfect?! If you get these servers to host your blog for FREE, your ONLY start up cost would the domain name registration fee, which is only $10, helping you save you as much 60 to 70 bucks each year!
So, here are some of the reasons why you would want to opt for a hosted blog:
+ Setting it up is easy, and takes only a few minutes to complete.
+ What could be a better reason than, FREE.
+ No hosting fees to pay for.
+ You’d be spared from all the troubles of site maintenance, including software updates or installing security options.
In order to give you an even-handed perspective, here are its disadvantages:
– You need to pay extra if you want a personalized domain name.
– You’re confined to blog design presets of the blog serve.
– It’s not possible to include other components of websites, just like discussion forums.
– Sometimes, your income possibilities are limited as well, because some servers do not allow advertisements.
Self-Hosted Blogs
With self-hosted blogs, blogging platforms as those downloaded from WordPress.org (take note of the “.org” domain name extension). Then, you’d have to install it on a web server space that you have to buy on web hosting providers like HostGator.
Some benefits you will be able to enjoy from self-hosted blogs include:
+ You can personalize your domain name, making it possible for you to establish your own brand
+ Endless customization possibilities, using either free or paid themes and plug-ins
+ You can include unlimited website components, adding discussion forums, platforms for e-commerce, newsletters, and so much more
+ You can advertise and monetize your blog as much as you want. There are no restrictions.
Here are some disadvantages, which you might want to consider:
– You will have to personally set-up your blog. However, this can be less of a hassled when you do it via automatic install scripts.
– There are minimal domain fees involved such as domain registration fees as well as the annual web hosting fees.
I would personally suggest for you to purchase web hosting and opt for having a self-hosted blog. It allows better control, more versatility, absolute design freedom, and as such, will help you exhaust all possible options to generate income for your blog.
5. How To Start A Blog That Matters? – Finding A Hosting Provider That Is Both Credible And Reasonably Priced
Rather than telling how to find a good hosting provider, I think it would be best to direct you straight into the one I know, and I believe is the best hosting provider in the industry. If you try to search online, you will be able to choose from an endless number of hosting providers. Even if I give you detailed and focused tips, I am sure you’d still have a hard time finding the right one. So, why should I let you go through all that trouble when I could just tell you which one I think is best?! It is actually the one I am using now… J
Hostgator is my best bet when it comes to hosting providers. I must say that this hosting provider has served me quite well over the years. In my opinion, their customer services are fantastic, and are really what you should look for when finding a suitable hosting provider. Good customer service never becomes unnecessary, especially for newbies who are not familiar with the different tweaks and site adjustments for blogging.
Online customer support is available whenever you need it, and is prompt on solving your blogging problems 24/7, and I know this because I have tried and tested several different hosting providers on the net, and it seems only Hostgator is able to satisfactorily serve my blogging needs.
I know you’re not sure on whether you should just take my word for this one. If not, well, you can try googling some high ranking web hosting providers online, read through the each one, and weigh which one is able to give you the best value for how much you pay them. Then again, it would be harder to take their word for it because its their site. Chances are all web host providers will hide everything negative, and magnify all the positives of their services. So, you don’t really know anything about the quality of their customer services, their loading speeds, or if they can guarantee proper blogging services.
So, make a smart decision, and rather making that mistake yourself, learn from others’ experiences, especially those who have been through different types of hosting providers on the web.
Hostgator gives serves excellent Shared, Retailer, and Committed web hosting solutions. Hosting services have been tailored specifically to fit the needs of bloggers, regardless of their level of expertise. As such they have included shared hosting plans such as 99.9% website uptime assurance, customer and technical services available 24/7, and to make your decision completely RISK-FREE, they offer a money-back guarantee within 45 days. I’m telling you, in this industry, it doesn’t get better than that!
I could say that shared hosting would be enough to support your blog’s hosting needs. Hostgator has also designed three hosting plans for bloggers. They are: Hatchling, Baby and Business. Among these three, I would suggest that you get your eye on their “
“Baby” plan as it gives bloggers the opportunity to host multiple domains.
Task No. 3 Avail of a Hostgator Hosting Package today. To make your purchase even sweeter, use this coupon: 25OFFGATORPID, and get a generous 25% discount from Hostgator!
6. How To Start A Blog That Matters? – Creating A Blog Design That Will Enhance The Flexibility Of Your Brand
When a reader happens to pass through your site, you literally have mere seconds to CATCH his or her attention, and make him or her your avid reader or follower.
Unfortunately, no matter how excellent your blog is, if it’s NOT visually appealing, they will not stay on your site for another second. Bloggers and most experts will agree that the only way to spark your reader’s interest is by making your blog look like a million bucks! Get an eye-catching blog design for your blog, and you’ll see how much this will improve your web traffic.
The good news is, when designing WordPress blogs, you don’t really have to be an expert on codes or a graphic artist to make your blog look appealing enough. Nowadays, everything can be subcontracted, bought online at a bargain price, or even better—downloaded somewhere on the internet free of cost!
I highly recommend these WordPress Blog Themes for your Blogs:
- Genesis Theme,
- Thesis Theme,
- Woo Themes, and finally, saving the best for last are
- Headway Themes, and these last ones are my personal favorites!
Why are Headway Themes my Favorite?
Among all the themes available for WordPress, Headway themes are, by far, the most versatile and are the most user-friendly. I have been using them on my blogs without much difficulty, and I possess ZERO coding or graphic design knowledge. All that you need to know is how to “drag and drop” files and images. Yes, seriously!
You will have preset design templates to choose from or you may also draw-out your site, depending on your preference. If you think a content box looks better in the middle of your page, you can just draw a box in the middle, as you would on word documents. You can even draw-out a rotating image slider on the sidebar. Just explore your options, and gradually learn how to use it more efficiently to suit your style and preferences. Pretty soon, designing your page would come easy and naturally for you. It would be safe to say that right now, there is nothing else online that allows you to do that with your blogs. That is why,
Task No. 4: Think about your blog design, and get blog theme NOW! I suggest using premium themes, which have been tailor-made by professionals who recognize what it takes to start a blog that is both profitable and valuable.
7. How To Start A Blog That Matters? – Installing Your Very Own Blog
Fortunately, we no longer need to hire experts to start using WordPress. Thanks to Fantastico De Luxe, a web hosting provider that offers automatic installation scripts, anyone, even newbies like us, can install our own blogs.
Take a look at this easy-to-follow step-by-step guide in installing and activating your very own WordPress Blog on your web hosting server account:
Step 1: After downloading the program on WordPress.org, Launch your CPanel, and Open Fantastico De Luxe
Step 2: Select “WordPress,” Followed by “New Installation”
Step 3: Type in all information related to your blog, Then hit “Install WordPress”
Step 4: Complete the installation process by Clicking on “Finish Installation”
Congratulations! I have finally ushered you into the world of blogging and passive income. I hope that by citing specific examples and describing detailed steps, you will be able to start our own blog effortlessly.
Do you think this guide helped you? I am interested in knowing your thoughts. Share your comments, suggestions or any information that you might want to add on how to start a blog. I’d like to hear it…