How To Start A Blog For Free
Starting a diary to make money needs a touch lot of setup and designing than beginning a diary as a hobby. This tutorial shows you ways to line up your diary, style it with an issue, optimize your website, and write your initial diary post.
Starting a diary was one of the simplest choices I ever created.
Before beginning my diary, I used to be burned out, operating 60+ hours every week at employment I did not like wherever I felt unrealized (and was definitely underpaid).
I did not have time for myself, coupled with my family, friends, or any semblance of social life.
By the time the workday was all over, I had used to be thus drained that each one I needed to try to was zone come in front of the TV for a handful of hours so bed head.
A platitude, because it sounds, like blogging modified my life. It is allowed the American state to figure from home (or anyplace I want), take days without work whenever I want to (no permission required), and make money even once I am not operating. If that is not the dream, I do not understand what is.
Before You Begin
Blogging is undoubtedly a realistic way to make money online. But that does not mean it is for everyone. Here is what you should consider before getting started.
How To Start A Blog And Make Money
One of the most common reasons new bloggers start is because they want to make money and it is true, you can make a lot of money from blogging. If you do it right, you can make thousands of dollars per month while doing a part-time job.
But even if that is where you end up, it is not where you start. It takes a lot of research, learning new skills, and long hours of work to get to that point. It is possible, but you have to be willing to put in the work to get there.
How To Become A Writer
One of the most obvious, but simultaneously overlooked, benefits of starting a blog is that you will naturally improve your writing skills. The more you practice anything, the better you become.
This is especially true if you are intentional about improving your writing and providing an excellent experience for your readers.
Building Your Personal Brand
If you want to become well-known or recognized for something, there are a few ways as effective as writing about it online for the entire world to see.
I have a friend who landed a job at a major tech company just by writing nerdy blog posts on his personal website about some obscure programming language. Crazy, I know.
You will also develop your own unique voice, style, and opinions the more you write about your subject.
How To Start A Blog
Starting a blog is not hard. You can set up your hosting and have your website in the world in minutes. But you are not just here to start any blog. You are here to make money with a blog. And that requires a bit more setup and planning.
This is why we have included not just how to start your blog, but also how to design your blog using a theme, how to optimize your new blog with free plugins, and how to decide what blog posts to write first.
Choose A Name and Host
Your first step in starting a blog is to choose your niche (if you have not already), blog name, and hosting provider.
Find A Profitable Niche
Your niche is just the overall market category of your blog. Some profitable blog niches include:
- Personal Finance
- Health and Fitness
- Beauty and fashion
- Business
- Personal development
Ideally, Your Niche Should Be A Topic That
- You know well and/or
- Are interested in AND
- Something that other people care about
If you can capture all three, you have found a profitable niche.
Select A Domain Name
Once you have your overall niche, the next step is to choose your blog name (AKA domain name/URL). Your domain name is an important part of your blog for three reasons:
Your First Impression
When a user sees your content on social media or comes to your website, one of the first things they will notice is your URL. It should give them a general idea of what you can help them with.
Brand
A good domain name can help you stand out from competitors in your niche and make your brand more memorable. It can also showcase your personality and let users know what to expect from your content.
SEO
It is not necessary, but it can help to have a relevant keyword or two in your domain. For example, if you are starting a fitness blog, then you might consider having “fitness” in your domain name. This helps search engines better understand what your site is about.
Here are some tips for choosing a good domain name
Use .com if possible. It is the most memorable and most common extension. If the .com version is not available, choose a different domain name.
Avoid punctuation (like hyphens) and numbers. Your domain should be easy to spell, pronounce, and remember.
Keep it short. A good rule of thumb is to aim for 12 characters or less. The shorter it is, the easier people will remember.
Use free domain name generators if you get stuck. There are lots of good tools out there. Wordoid helps you generate unique, made-up words. Domain Wheeland Name Mesh finds available domains in your niche.
Choose Your Hosting Service and Plan
When you are ready to start your blog and launch your site, you have a few different options. The main two platforms are WordPress.com (free) and WordPress.org (paid).
Free may seem like the way to go when you are first starting out, but if your goal is to make money, you will want to choose WordPress.org with paid hosting (which you can get for a couple of dollars per month). WordPress.org gives you more freedom over your site, including your design, your content, and how you make money.
