Step 1: Pick a blog name
- Hobbies & passions
- Life experiences
- A personal blog. (A personal blog is a blog all about you. )
Step 2: Get your blog online
Step 3: Customize your blog
- Site identity – Upload your logo, change site title and tagline, and upload site icon.
- Colors – Change your blog’s background color, header and footer colors, and customize primary color.
- Theme options – Select if you want to show a search icon in the header of your blog and show an author bio for your posts.
- Cover template – Make additional changes to the page template such as the overlay background color, overlay text color, and overlay opacity.
- Background image – Upload any custom background image you want to use for your blog.
- Menus – Customize your blog’s menu, social media menu links, and change locations where they are displayed.
- Widgets – Customize your footer content, add a blog description and how to find you if you have a physical location.
- Homepage settings – Choose what’s displayed on the homepage of your blog. It can be your latest posts (classic blog), or a static page.
- Additional CSS – Add your own CSS code to customize the appearance and layout of your blog (advanced option).
Add Plugins
List of recommended plugins for bloggers
To save you time, I’ve selected some important plugins (free) for your immediate blogging needs:
- MonsterInsights – Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, to monitor and analyze your website traffic.
- Yoast SEO – A comprehensive SEO plugin for your blog, to optimize your content for search engines.
- WP Super Cache – Helps with the load time of your WordPress blog and delivers content to your readers faster.
- Akismet – Protects your comments and contact form from spam and prevents your site from publishing malicious content.
- Contact Form 7 – A contact form with flexible email options. It supports CAPTCHA and Akismet spam filtering.
- Disqus – An alternative to the basic WordPress comment system with advanced administrative and comment capabilities.
- YARPP – Creates a related posts list at the end of each of your posts automatically to encourage people to continue browsing your site.
Step 4: Learn how to write a blog post & publish it
Three things your content should do
Your content will be the bait that draws your online crowd. Truthfully, few will come just to see your new site. Without great content, even the most well-designed, tightly-structured blogs will ultimately fail.
- Your content should speak to a specific audience and provide value to them in a significant way. If this sounds suspiciously like our Commandments, you are correct. Drill the idea into your mind and never forget it: It’s not about you; it’s about them.
- Your content should be easily accessible and attractively presented. Your presentation must equal the quality of your content. Don’t cut corners on low-quality graphics or designs. Everything about your blog must attract your visitors and encourage them to interact with your content.
- Your content may be commercially purposed, but should never be commercially focused. Never greet your visitors with pop-up ads and giant banner ads. Greet them with content and reasons to engage with that content. Let them know you are there to help them, not to use them.
Step 5: Make money blogging
Monetization is the process of translating your blog activity into earnings. You should keep in mind that blogging isn’t just about making money. Blogging is about creating useful content that will attract readers and make them come back for more.
After producing great content for some time and by engaging with your niche market, you will become a recognized expert who will be able to build a significant list of followers and visitors to your blog. In the meantime, you could consider adding content that will generate income.
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