The Complete, Step-By-Step Guide To Creating A Blog

This guide will take you through the entire process of creating a successful blog. Think of it less as a blog post and more as an entire class, because I’m pulling out all the stops here.

How to Start a Blog in 6 Steps

Learn how to create a blog in about 20 minutes following these steps:

1. Pick a blog name. Choose something descriptive.
2. Get your blog online. Register your blog and get hosting.
3. Customize your blog. Choose a free template and tweak it.
4. Write & publish your first post. The fun part!
5. Promote your blog. Get more people to read your blog.
6. Make money blogging. Choose from several options to monetize your blog.

Let’s start your blog!

Step 1: Pick a blog name

The first step to finding a good blog name is choosing your topic.

If you’re not sure what to blog about, there are a few ways to find a good blog topic:

• Hobbies & passions. Hobbies or other interests you are passionate about are a great place to start. Cooking, travel, fashion, sports, and cars are all classic examples. But even blogs about more obscure hobbies can be successful, since the your audience is literally anyone in the world with the internet.
• Life experiences. Everyone has lessons they have learned through life experience. Sharing this knowledge can be incredibly helpful to others in similar situations. For example, I recently helped a woman start her blog about being a fireman’s wife. She has a lot of experience and knowledge to share with others about this topic, and it has helped her connect with others in similar situations.Think about the things you have experienced in life. This could be related to your family (example: a blog about being a stay at home mom), work (a blog about experiences dealing with clients), or other life experiences (a blog about dealing with a troubling time such as a disease or divorce, or about a happy time such as preparing for a wedding or a birth of a child).
• A personal blog. A personal blog is a blog all about you. This will include a variety of topics, from things you do on a daily basis, to random thoughts and musings. This is a great way to share you thoughts with the world without having to stick to just one topic.

Once you have a topic it’s time to choose your blog name.

A good blog name should be descriptive so that potential readers can instantly tell what your blog is about just from the name.

If you are blogging about one specific topic then you will definitely want to include that in some way in your blog name. Try not to get hung-up on just one word though. For example, a cooking blog doesn’t necessarily have to have the word “cooking” in it. The words “food”, “recipes”, and “meals” would also let people know that your blog is about cooking.

If you are planning to create a personal blog where you discuss a variety of topics then I recommend using your name, or some variation of it, since your blog is all about you. For example, I own the blog starger360.com. You can also add your middle name or middle initial if you find your name is already taken. Or you could use a variation like “Scott Chow Blog” or “Blogging with Scott”.

Once you have some blog name ideas you will need to choose a domain extension.
A .com domain extension is the most preferred, but .net or .org work as well. It is also important to note that for the purposes of a blog domain you cannot have any spaces between words. So “Ebony Sports Tips” becomes ebonysportstips.com

Now that you’ve got your name and have picked an extension it’s time to make sure that no one else has already registered the same name:

Note: You cannot use any spaces or punctuation other than dashes in a domain name.

If you find that the name you wanted is already taken there are a few things you can do:

• Try a different domain extension. If the .com version is already registered you may still be able to get the .net or .org version of your blog name.
• Add small words. Words like “a”, “my”, or “the”. For example, this site is called TheBlogStarter.com instead of BlogStarter.com.
• Add dashes between words. For example, Starger-Montana.com

Step 2: Get your blog online

Now that you’ve got a name picked out it’s time to get your blog online. This might sound hard or technical, but the steps below will walk you right through and make the process easy.

To get your blog up and running you need two things: blog hosting and blogging software. The good news is that these typically come packaged together.

A blog host is a company that stores all of the files for your blog and delivers them to the user when they type in your blog name. You must have a blog host in order to have a blog.

You also need to have the software to build your blog. In this guide I will be showing you how to build a blog using the WordPress blogging software, because it is the most popular, customizable, and easiest to use.

The blog host I recommend, and the one I show you how to use in this guide, is GoDaddy, I personally use GoDaddy and I recommend them for all new bloggers because:

• They will register your blog name for you for free, making sure no one else can take it.
• They offer a free, simple installation of the WordPress blogging software (which I show you how to use in this guide).
• They have been recommended by WordPress since 2005 and currently host over 2 million blogs and websites.
• They have helpful 24/7 customer service via phone or web chat.
• They have a money-back guarantee if you are unsatisfied for any reason.

Use any GoDaddy on this site to make sure you get the special discount price.