There are many reasons people want to start a blog. Even when there an underlying goal for monetisation, it is the pursuit of creativity and a strong passion that drive most people towards blogging. Launching and setting up a blog can be a confusing task if you don’t know about the steps involved. This guide introduces you to the basic steps and the most important steps you should be taking to start your blog.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Basic Steps

The basic steps to creating a blog are as follows:

• Choose a blog name
• Get the blog online by registering and getting it hosted
• Create your blog. Usually, you will be using a template
• Write and publish your blog posts
• Monetise your blog

While there are many steps in between, there are 3 important areas that are extremely important to address. These areas can be addressed by using the following 3 steps:

1. Choose the Blog Name

When choosing your blog name, you should start by choosing the right topic. Consider these points to come up with the topic:

• Your Experience: Whether it’s your professional or life experience, you can create a blog around those experiences. The blog name can be focused on your experience and sharing your knowledge can be helpful to others.
• Personal Blog: You may create a blog that is focused on you and your daily experiences.
• Hobbies & Interests: If you are passionate about an interest such as traveling, cooking, sports or other things, you can name your blog accordingly.

When you have determined the topic of your blog, it will become easier to choose the blog name. When creating the blog name, you should make it descriptive so that it is easy to understand what the blog is about. It is also recommended to include the topic name in the blog name. When it comes to a personal blog, you can use your own name or a variation of it. When you purchase the hosting for your blog we will also show you how to purchase your blog name below.

2. Host Your Blog Online

It will be required to get your blog online and this may seem to be a more technical aspect. However, the process has become simpler than ever before. A web hosting service will usually provide both blog hosting service and the blogging program within the same package. Major hosting services provide the following benefits:

• Your blog name will be registered to ensure that you will own it
• A simple and free installation of the blogging software, usually WordPress
• Customer service and technical support that is available around the clock

I recommend you purchase your domain name and hosting through Site ground- http://thomaswebdesigns.com.au/siteground Pick the basic web hosting which is normally $4.95 per month to start, also obtain your domain name through here. Besides your domain registration, I would avoid worrying about their extra add on services at this stage unless you want to. Once your domain name and hosting is installed and you are logged in to your siteground account you can go ahead and install WordPress, a free theme and start designing your website.

3. Monetisation

Even if you have created your blog for your interests or for sharing your knowledge, monetising it can help you sustain it. Once your blog starts generating lots of traffic, it will become easier to monetise it. And there are many ways in which you can do so.

Some of the popular methods include the following:

• Google AdSense
• Product reviews
• Selling products/services
• Affiliate marketing
• Sponsored posts

You can also allow your followers to make donations to support your blog. You can use a combination of these strategies to monetise your blog. Another way to generate income is to have paid placements that involve selling space on your site. Plus you can offer products or services you want to sell online that you make, you purchase at a wholesale rate or you can dropship items.

You can join our FREE Community group https://thomaswebdesigns.com.au/my-community/  to get more help and support with your new blog post.

I’m Jacinta Thomas, also known as your humble wordpress web design tech whiz and online marketing consultant.

I’m a reserved yet highly motivated and adaptable digital marketing expert ready to use my online marketing knowledge to help your business be seen online and ramp up your sales. I love horses, dogs, cats, country music, chocolate and most of all helping people.

I help family focused entrepreneurs build top ranking, self-managed websites, help work through any wordpress tech issues and get set up with hosting, blogging, SEO and social media, so they can earn more money and live their dream life.

If you’re ready to get your business online, and seen on social media and all search engines then check out my blog, biz resources, jump into my free Facebook group and of course contact me at any time.