Starting my blog – Fashion and Style Police, was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It all started with wanting to share my ideas and thoughts with people. I saw it as a medium through which I could express myself. Little did I know that a profitable business would be born from it too.
Fast forward to where I am right now, blogging has seriously helped elevate my life as a freelancer. It has given me the opportunity to not only be able to help a lot of people but it has also helped me provide for my family and be there for them whenever they need me.
Just like me there has been a great increase in the number of people who want to also start a blog. When I started my blog, it involved a lot of trial and error. So I thought I’d create this simple guide to help you set up your own blog.
Step #1 Get a hosting plan and domain name
This is the most important set when you want to set up your blog. A hosting panel will is like a space where your blog will be kept. All the information from your blog will be held by the hosting company so as to give you and your readers access to your blog.
A domain name is the name of your blog. It forms the URL of your blog. For example, when you want to come to my blog, Fashion and Style Police, you have to type in “www.fashionandstylepolice.com”. That link is the domain name of my blog. So, whenever anyone want to come to your blog, they will have to type in the domain name. Once they type in the domain name, the hosting company grants them access to your blog.
Getting a domain name and hosting requires that you pay a monthly or yearly fee. That’s not much of a problem as domain names and hosting come at really low and affordable prices.
Step #2 Go for WordPress
Once you have your domain name and hosting sorted out, you need to install the blog platform that will actually enable you to start blogging. Although there are a lot of blogging platforms out there, I recommend you use WordPress. WordPress is easy to use and most hosting services have the one-click-install-Wordpress option.
Step #3 Install and customize a theme
The next thing is to select a theme for your blog. The theme is what gives your blog an appealing look. Themes are easily customizable. You can change the colour, rearrange the elements on your blog and completely tweak the design of your blog. I got my theme for £99 about 2 years ago, and it is one of the best £99 I have ever spent!
Step #4 Install plugins
To get your blog to do more you can install plugins. Plugins help you to add some really cool functionalities to your blog like allow you to track the number of people who come to view your blog through Google analytics.
Plugins like Yoast SEO help you make sure that your blog is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) friendly. Plugins like Akismet make sure that you don’t get spam or bots writing comments and make sure that you only get real humans commenting.
Step #5 Add content
This is the best part. Now that you’ve got your blog up the next thing is to add content. You can now start creating the content you would like to share with your audience. Feel free to add images and even videos to help enhance your content.
I hope someone out there finds this How to set up a blog post very useful. Feel free to add any tips that may have helped you in your blogging journey in the comments section below. You can also ask me any blogging question. I promise to respond or find you the answer. You can also read more blogging tips in my ebook, available on Amazon.
Happy blogging.
Great info!
Thanks.
Thank you for these tips. I am new in the blogosphere so I am always looking for improving my blog and learn new things.
Thanks for stopping by.
This is really helpful, thanks for sharing. If I start with a free WordPress.com, must I get my domain from WordPress or can I just use any web hosting platform with free domain name instead? Am confused about this.
I would advise you to get your domain as soon as you can. It saves the trouble of getting in future when your blog is more established. You can use any web hosting platform.
Thanks so much for this.
Thanks so much for this, I really appreciate it.
You are very welcome x
You make it sound all so very easy, lol! Great tips for anyone thinking of setting up a blog of their own, these.
Thanks Elizabeth.
Great tips for people starting a new blog. I’m a big fan of the Yoast plugin, too.
I absolutely loved this and I wish I would’ve found this before I set up my blog. However, I will definitely use this when I’m ready to re-vamp my page!
Glad you do. Thanks.
Oh my God this is such a lovely piece. Many spend hours of their life on social media helping others make money its such a good idea to learn how to blog and make money for yourself if you are in a habit of spending time on social media. Well like you say you really have to have content though. Nice one
Thanks Tonto. I agree.
Great post
X
Thanking you xx
Great tips for anyone wanting to start out as a blogger.
Thank you.
Great tips for new bloggers. I am lucky that I have a computer whiz for a partner so he helps with all the technical side 🙂
You are so lucky..
Thank you for sharing! I am starting my first ever blog and I am aiming for it to be more of a hobby (at least for now). Would you advise someone looking to blog as a hobby to do these same things? Just curious. Thanks again!!!
Thanks for reading. Yea I would advise you to do the same if you have the time to put towards your blog.