How to Create a Blog: Beginner’s Guide

This is NOT another Bluehost sales pitch. If you want to know how to create a blog, you’ve probably read tons of articles on Bluehost.

The company can be great for some but not everyone. If you want another process to follow, read on.

But first, this post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy to learn more.

Decide on a Niche or Topic

First, you should decide on the niche of your blog. This is the overarching topic you’ll cover on the site. All of your blog posts will revolve around it.

For example, the niche for this blog is blogging. There are some lifestyle bloggers who cover every topic under the sun. But it can be much harder to be successful at that strategy.

Keep the following in mind as you choose your blog niche.

Make It Something You Know

A lot of people will start with the profit potential when choosing a niche. And sure, that can help you determine if your blog will be able to make money.

However, if you know nothing about a topic, making money will be much harder. You’ll have to spend more time learning about the topic and researching specifics to write your posts.

On the other hand, writing about what you know doesn’t require as much research. It can also be more enjoyable, which is vital before your blog starts making money.

Consider the Profitability

A lot of people start blogs because they want to make money from it. I think this can be great, but you can’t expect to make a profit in the first year.

Still, it’s worth researching the potential money you can make. Blogs can earn money in a variety of ways. The easier options include display ads and affiliate marketing. So think about how much you could earn from those avenues.

Do this for all of the topics that interest you. When you find the one with the best profitability, choose that for your blog.

Research Website Hosts

I’d recommend using WordPress for your blog. Some people use Wix or Squarespace, and those platforms are easier. However, they also have some limitations.

For example, you can’t export all of your content from Wix. So if you decide to move your site to a new platform, you have to copy and paste each page individually.

WordPress is easy to transfer from one host to another. But you do need to find a host that isn’t WordPress itself. WordPress.com has the same limits as Wix or Squarespace.

You Get What You Pay For

As you compare website hosts, keep in mind that you get what you pay for. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars at first. But you should also avoid free hosts and super cheap hosts.

I’d also avoid any host that requires a multi-year contract to get their lowest rate. Hosts like Bluehost will do that to get you to pay more upfront.

However, those cheaper services aren’t going to offer the best service. Your blog could go down a lot, and the customer support team might not be that helpful.

Consider Customer Support

Speaking of customer support, look at that department with every host you consider. You can deal with poor support for some things, but your website host isn’t one of those.

If your site does go down or if you have an error, you need to contact someone quickly for help. I had to contact my host Siteground a few years ago when I messed up something on the backend of my site.

They were very quick to help and get my site back up. So I can’t recommend them enough.

Read Reviews

Another thing you may want to do is to read reviews for a host. You can find reviews through Google. Some reviews will be full blog posts, while others will appear on review sites.

Read both positive and negative reviews. This is especially important for blog articles. A lot of bloggers will focus more on the positives so that they can get an affiliate commission.

Bluehost affiliates are particularly guilty of this. The program pays very well, so people may paint it in the best light. But there are a lot of problems with Bluehost that you should consider before you sign up.

Install WordPress

After you choose a website host and create an account, you’ll need to set up your site. A lot of hosts have a one-click WordPress installation option.

That way, you don’t have to download the files from WordPress.org and upload them to your hosting account. Siteground is one of the hosts that will install WordPress quickly for you.

Then, you can set up your WordPress admin account to access the dashboard and edit your site.

Buy and Connect a Domain

You’ll also want to purchase a domain for your new blog. Consider the niche you chose, and find a name that works with that. If you don’t know the specific niche you’ll cover, you can use your name.

I’d recommend buying your domain from a domain registrar. A lot of hosts sell domains, which is convenient. But if you ever move hosts in the future, it could cause more hiccups.

Domain registrars, like Google Domains or GoDaddy, are great. They’re also very cheap. And I don’t know about GoDaddy, but Google includes domain privacy at no extra charge, which you need to avoid spam calls and emails.

Brainstorm Post Titles

Now, you should take some time to come up with a few blog posts you want to write. Think about your niche, and start with some posts that answer basic questions about your topic.

Make a list on paper or on your computer. Then, you can reference that list when you’re ready to write a post. I’d suggest keeping a running list of posts so that you always have an idea ready to go.

Having a list is also great if you get an idea later on. You can write it down before you forget the idea.

If you want to implement SEO, you should do some keyword research. That way, you can make sure people are searching for the topic you want to cover.

Research the Keywords

When it comes to keyword research, you should use a tool. You can use something free, like Google Keyword Planner. It will tell you how competitive a term is to rank for.

You can also figure out how many people search for that topic on average per month. Use those results to help choose the blog posts to write about.

If you don’t know where to start, use Google and input your niche. Look at the autocomplete suggestions. Then, go to your keyword tool and view more stats about those terms.

Draft the Content

After you research keywords, go through your list of post ideas. Choose one that you want to write. You’ll probably eventually write most of the ideas you have.

However, take things one post at a time. That way, you won’t overwhelm yourself and think you have to do everything right away.

Take your time to learn how to write a blog post. Here are a couple of things I’d suggest doing to help.

Start With an Outline

Before I write a blog post, I write an outline for it. This helps me get an idea of how long the post will be. I can also make sure to answer any questions people have on the topic.

An outline is also helpful if you can’t write a blog post all at once. You can create the outline in one sitting. Then, you’ll have a plan ready to go if you need a break in the middle of writing.

I make all of my outlines on Trello cards. Each blog post gets its own card, and I write the outline as a comment. As I write, I can refer back to the outline to know what to write next.

Consider Outsourcing

If you want to publish a lot of content, you probably can’t do it all on your own. You might be able to if you don’t have client work or another job.

However, if you have obligations, you have to limit yourself. That means to publish more, you may need to hire writers.

You can give them a byline or ask that they be ghostwriters. Then, you can get more content to publish on your blog. But you won’t have to spend all of your time writing.

Optimize for SEO

I briefly touched on SEO, but you can optimize your entire blog. That can help you get search traffic sooner.

You can install some SEO plugins that will guide you as you write. Or you can use SEO best practices without a plugin.

Either option can work, and there are free plugins to try. But don’t force yourself to do everything a plugin says. They may not always have the most up-to-date information to help you rank in search.

No matter what you do, avoid black hat SEO. This is a term for tactics that can do more harm than good. They used to work well, but search engines have adapted.

Things like keyword stuffing are no longer effective for SEO. Be sure you check the algorithm updates to learn what you should avoid.

Add Plugins

As you decide how to create a blog, you should add plugins. These are pieces of code that you don’t have to write. However, they will add more functions to your blog.

You can add plugins for analytics, eCommerce, and more. Think about what you want your blog to do. Then, you can look for plugins that offer what you need.

If you want to sell products on your blog, you can install WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads. That way, you can add product listings.

You can also keep your blog simple for now. As your blog grows, you can add new plugins.

Publish the Posts

Next up in how to create a blog, you can publish your first few posts. You can launch with as few as 0 posts or as many as you want. I’d recommend launching with at least some posts.

That way, your first few visitors will have something to read. But you can also launch with nothing and publish a lot in the first month.

If you want to launch a few posts at the same time, you can publish them all. Otherwise, you may want to schedule the posts. That will make them go public at a time you select later on.

Do what works for you.

Launch Your Blog

It can be tempting to wait until your blog is perfect to launch. But your blog will probably never be perfect.

Launch it after you have a few posts ready to go. Then, you can share the link to your blog with your friends or social media followers.

At this point, you may want to develop a marketing plan. That can help you get the word out. Even if you use SEO, it can take time for your blog to get traffic from search.

Is It Hard to Create a Blog?

Learning how to create a blog can be hard. However, it can also be relatively easy once you know the basics.

This is the third blog I’ve created, and it was easier than the last. But my first blog took a while to start and grow, and that’s okay.

Is It Expensive to Create a Blog?

You can create a blog for free or for thousands of dollars. I’d recommend spending about $10 or $12 on a domain.

A good host starts at around $50 for the first year. So you can start a professional blog for like $60.

Do You Understand How to Create a Blog?

Learning how to create a blog can take time. But it’s essential if you want to start sharing content with the world.

If you don’t have time to do the work, contact me. I can help you get set up and even write a few posts for you.