I recently got asked, should I start a blog from scratch? And why?
I have already written a step by step detailed guide on starting a blog HERE. It’s very simple and you will love it.
But today I want to share a little bit more than just a guide. I am not ashamed to admit that I have made a ton of mistakes while blogging and wasted a lot of time, but I don’t want this to happen to you.
If you are one of those people who want to start a blog but don’t know how to start a blog, and also not sure if making a website is a good idea or not, then this post is for you all!
There is so much information on the internet about creating a blog website from scratch and how to make it a success that this all information is so overwhelming. You don’t know which strategy to follow, which post to save, which guide to share!
So let’s start from the beginning, shall we? Stay with me ?
What is a blog? Nowadays everyone calls their social media profiles as their blogs, which is entirely wrong. A blog is a website that has written content, images, and what we call blog posts. You can make your blog about anything. Literally, just pick the topic and you will be surprised to see the diversity of blogs all around the world. Making a website is not so hard as it seems. Every new step is hard, remember?
What do bloggers do? Bloggers write that content. They create a personal trust with their audience who reads them, follows them, and trusts them. Creating trust is the basis of a successful blog. Without your audience, you are nothing but just a writer.
This loyalty and trust of your readers and followers is the way to earn money from blogging. I hope you are getting my point here ?
So when you think about, should you start a blog or not?
There are so many things that may come in your mind.
What if I am not successful!
What if nobody reads my blog!
What if I fail?
What if I am not a good writer!
What if I am wasting my time!
And a lot more, I know and I understand because once I was at your position too. a lot of things, misconceptions, fears, and what not! But trust me, there is only one thing that’s needed if you want to start a blog from scratch.
That is your PASSION.
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Choose a topic, a niche that you love. Something that you like to talk about. It may be fashion, or styling, or cooking, or makeup, or anything else. You just need to pick a niche. Because you don’t want to write about something that’s not your passion and one day you will lose all interest.
If you want to add more than one topic to your blog, you can do that too. I do that all the time. I love talking about parenting, lifestyle, shopping, beauty, and personal inspiration.
Why you should start a blog?
Now I am going to tell you exactly WHY people start blogging. If you find something relevant, that hits you and you feel like, oh that’s me! That’s your clue. Remember that.
Make money from blogging while sitting at home
A lot of bloggers are earning millions of dollars every month just by blogging. Of course, it’s going to take time, but nothing is impossible. If done correctly, blogging will earn you more than your full-time job. Creating a blog for beginners is overwhelming I know but once you get the hang of it, you will see how many ways are there to make money.
To help your business and skills
Another reason you should be making a website is to help your business. Nowadays everything is online. People shop online all the time so if you have a business or a skill, having an online blog means more customers and more sales.
Here are the basic steps to start a blog from scratch.
- Choose a niche for your blog
- Pick a domain name
- Choose your blogging platform
- Get a web hosting service
- Select a theme for your blog
- Start writing and promoting
- Build your email list
- Monetize your blog
Choose a niche for your blog
Before starting your blog, choosing a niche is the main step. If you want to start a blog that you love later, pick something that you love. Your niche is something that you write about the most. You can write about skincare, beauty, marketing, pets, kids, parenting, anything. Options are unlimited.
Pick a domain name
Your domain name is the name that you will write between “www” and “com” like my domain name is www.asupertiredmom.com, simple. Domain names usually cost around 10$ yearly. You can get your domain name after you plan to start a blog from anywhere. I have a detailed guide about choosing a blog name HERE. Here are some of the options:
You can also pick extensions like .com, or .net, .me, .uk as you like.
Choose your blogging platform
The next step is to choose a blogging platform. I suggest WordPress as its easy and I love it. But there are others too, you can choose whatever you like. There are paid ones and free ones. Free ones don’t let you customize much so go for paid ones I suggest. But if you are not sure and you don’t want to start making money right away, maybe get the free one. Here are some of the blogging platforms:
WordPress.com (free)
WordPress.org (paid)
Get a web hosting account
After you are done with domain name and blogging platform, you have to pick a web hosting service. Your blog would be dependent on the quality of your web hosting service. The hosting companies manage your website and give you technical assistance. Pick a right hosting service that suits you well. Here are some of the options:
Bluehost
Wix
Hostgator
Select a theme for your blog
The next thing is picking a right theme for your blog. Now let me clear that there are many themes out there that you can pick for your blog. But before choose one, make sure it’s mobile responsive. That’s the most important part. The blog theme is like a home, you decorate it, you set it as you need it to be. If you have a personal blog, you can pick from thousands of options out there. If you have a magazine type blog, you can get a magazine theme.
Your hosting service providers may offer you some free themes that will come with the hosting plan. You can get paid ones online from many theme makers like:
Start writing and promoting
Alright so now its time to write and promote. Your blog is all set up, you are ready to enter the world of blogging and now you have to start writing blogposts. If your content is good, you will get readers no matter what. Provide them something of value. Solve their problems. Talk about the stuff they want to read. Write for your audience. And while you are writing, promote your blog posts too.
Promoting your blog should be done right after you set it up. Use pinterest, facebook, Instagram, reddit and quora for that. Promote as much as you can.
Build your email list
Building an email list for your blog is also very important. Write this down in your strategy of how to start a blog from scratch that you have to build a list of subscribers. Get the email addresses and stay connected. These subscribers are what you need to make your blog earn money for you. Offer freebies, ebooks or anything that you think your readers will love.
You can use these email services to build a list:
Monetize your blog
After working so hard, you deserve to get paid, right! So when your traffic is steady and people are reading your blog, its time to monetize your blog. You can monetize your blog in these ways:
Advertisements
You must have seen websites with so many ads running on them. They make money out of these ads.
Affiliate marketing
This is one of the popular ways to make money from blogging. Affiliate marketing means working with brands online. You display their products on your website or write about them and when people click and buy from your links, you make a commission out of it.
Sponsorships
Sponsored posts are a great way to make money online. Brands look for bloggers within their niches and offer them sponsored posts. The bloggers earn a fixed amount from them in exchange for a review or a post. They earn somewhere between 100$ to more than 1000$.
So that’s it. A detailed guide about starting a blog from scratch. If you like it, plz share with your friends. Come back again for more blogposts and subscribe to my blog so that you don’t miss a post.
Feel free to ask any questions if you want to ? comment below. I will get back to you. ?
Saima Nadeem
Loved ur content.. very nicely explained
Thanks Ashiya
I want to start blogging as well. Ur post has been quite helpful. I was thinking along the lines of relationships, dos and don’ts to be specific. Mother in laws, daughter in laws, sister in laws, so on and so forth.