Hello beautiful people! and welcome or welcome back to my blog. My name is Sarah Yinka and If you have stumbled across this post you are probably looking to start your own blog. or maybe you just want to grow your blog and just return to the basics. Whatever the reason may be, I am here today to help you start and grow your own blog. I will be giving you tips to help you along the way so if you’re ready, let’s get started.
1, why are you starting a blog?
The first tip that we need to address is why you’re starting a blog. This tip is very important because it will help you decide your niche and your target audience. It will also help you decide whether you want to make money from your blog or just for a hobby. (don’t worry you can start it as a hobby and then progressed to a full-time job). Also addressing why you are starting a blog can be a motivation especially if you want to progress into a job as a blogger. things can get hard and you definitely need a motivation that is bigger than money to get you by.
2, What is your blog name and what is it about?
The next thing we need to worry about is your niche and your name. I feel like these two come together as once you figure out your niche, it can really help you with your blog name. For example, if your blog is going to be about baking you would probably want a name that aligns with baking. Figure out your niche which by the way can be about anything you want it to be about from DIY to skincare, cooking or reading pretty much anything you like so reach for the stars!
keep in mind that if you are going to create a specific niche it is really important that you stick to it. Going back to the example about baking, if your whole blog is about baking and then out of nowhere you post a makeup to tutorial it would be quite confusing to your frequent readers and brands that want to work with you so make sure your niche is something that you can stick to for the future and you won’t get bored of.
3, So where should I start my blog?
The next thing is where exactly should you create your blog. There are many good sites to create a blog on and I recommend doing research for which one will be best suited for you. the top ones are wordpress.com, blogger.com, and wix.com. Now if you would like to have your own domain, I would first recommend signing up to your desired sites for your blog, and going with the free option then we can discuss being self-hosted.
4, Should I be hosted or Self-hosted?
Now moving onto the actual creating of your blog. One thing you need to ask yourself which is really important is: is my blog going to be hosted or self-hosted? Now if you do not know what this means, it is basically when your blog is hosted by the blog site that you decided to create your blog on. For example, WordPress or Blogspot. they are technically the owner of your blog. how to know if your blog is hosted is in your search bar does it say www.blogname.WordPress.com or whatever site you are creating your site on if so, then your blog is hosted.
To become self-hosted you usually need to pay for the site that you’re on or for another site to host your blog. This part can be quite confusing and there are many videos on the Internet to explain more about being self-hosted and not being self-hosted. If you do decide to be self-hosted and you just started your blog, I would definitely recommend Bluehost they are in my opinion one of the best hosting websites for beginners.
A lot of bloggers who are very successful in the blogging field recommend Bluehost to start they are very cheap and start from 2.99 per month (do keep in mind that they charge per year) so check them out!
5, How should my blog look?
Now for the fun part is picking a theme and customizing your blog. if you are using WordPress they have a lot of themes if you have paid for their premium plan. I would recommend either using the free themes that they give you on your desired site or paying for a theme on Etsy. I recommend Etsy as the prices start from about €10 to €200. Believe it or not, I paid for the theme for my blog for about €10 and I love it! so definitely look into it.
There are many videos on the Internet and posts online about customizing your own website on WordPress so make sure to learn as much information as you can and utilize the fact that you have YouTube and Google as a source because it answers 98% of your questions about blogging.
Finally, we have come to the end now just start posting….like actually start blogging. Your first year of blogging will definitely be interesting with a lot of highs and a lot of Lows and can I say that I am so excited for you and your new phase and I hope that you succeed in everything that you plan. I’m proud of you!