Starting a blog can be a great way to share your thoughts and ideas with the world, build your personal brand, or even earn some extra income. While the basics of starting a blog haven’t changed much in recent years, there are some trends and best practices you should keep in mind if you’re planning to start a blog in 2023.
Here are the steps you need to follow:
1. Choose a Niche for Your Blog and a Name for your website
Before you start a blog, you need to decide what it’s going to be about. Choosing a niche that you’re passionate about and that has an audience is key to building a successful blog.
In 2023, some popular blog niches include sustainability, mental health, personal finance, and travel.
If you’re not sure what to blog about here are a few suggestions
- Write a list of 5 topics you enjoy
- Write a list of 5 topics you are good at
- Write a list of 5 things you want to explore and learn more about
2. Setup your Domain and Webpage Hosting
This is the step where you setup your webpage domain name and web hosting. The domain is the easy-to-remember name that you give your website so that when someone wants to visit your website directly, they can simply type in yourdomain.com. The key here is to find something that is memorable and easy to type in for the visitor. You also will need to find something that is unused.
The host I recommend for starting out is A2 Hosting. Their service and servers are solid and the process is very simple to get started.
So go ahead and get your hosting and domain name setup by clicking this link.
Once you open the page, It will look like the one below.
Once you scroll down you will see various options. The Startup plan will work perfect for starting out and is all you need to begin.
Now you will get a screen that asks you if you already have a domain or if you wish to register a new domain name.
- If you already have a domain name. Type in the domain name and A2Hosting will assist you in connecting the domain with your new hosting and webpage.
- If you need a new domain name, you can type in the name here and register.
If you are building a personal brand, something like yourname.com is a great option. It’s also a great time to secure it before anyone else registers it. If the name is taken you can always use a variation of your name such as johnallenwalker.com which is a combination of a first name, middle name, and last name.
Select a Duration for your hosting
Generally the 3 year option will be the best value, but they do run specials from time to time, so use that drop-down to find the best value, today.
If you are on an extreme budget…
They do offer a 1-month option.
But note…
At that monthly price, you will end up paying more in 1 year than you would for purchasing 3 years of hosting in one shot, today…
So make the right decision for you based on your personal finances and your budget for your blog.
Next, you will want to customize your blog hosting account a little, too…
You don’t need either of the upgrades…
So keep scrolling down for server location and SSL options.
There are 2 options you should consider, the server location and the offsite backups shown with red arrows, here:
Don’t forget to write down your administrative username and password which is included on this page as well. It will not be emailed to you but it can be recovered through support if necessary.
3. Customizing your blog and theme
After successfully installing WordPress, the next step is to customize your blog by selecting and installing a preferred theme. The design of a blog is a significant factor in its success as it serves as the visual communication of the blog.
There are numerous free WordPress themes available for selection. Although lacking in some features and support, they are free. As you grow your blog you can always change to a more premium theme in the future with minimal effort.
To find a WordPress do that just go to Appearance > Themes > Add New
On this page, you can explore the featured, popular, and latest themes by hovering over them for a live preview or to install and activate them.
Once you have done that you can go to Appearance > Customize to tweak things like colors & fonts easily.
4. Customizing your blog and theme
Writing & publishing your first blog post might seem scary but I’m going to guide you through the process.
First of all login to your WordPress admin dashboard (yourdomain.com/wp-admin) and then go to Posts > Add New.
You will be presented with a screen similar to this one:
Writing & publishing your first blog post might seem scary but I’m going to guide you through the process.
First of all login to your WordPress admin dashboard (yourdomain.com/wp-admin) and then go to Posts > Add New.
You will be presented with a screen like this-
As you become familiar with the WordPress system and its features, feel free to write your first blog post on any topic of your choice.
Congratulations! You have your first blog setup and ready for visitors.
