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How to Start a Blog The Beginners Guide
LITERATURE: HOW AND WHY? (ELL1013F)
University of Cape Town
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How to Start a Blog
The Beginner’s Guide to Successful Blogging
By Ogi Djuraskovic, Krisi Hines & the FirstSiteGuide Team
Table of Content
- Chapter 1 ...............................................................................
- Welcome to The Blogger World .....................................
- What is a “blog” and “blogging”? ........................................
- The most popular styles and types of blogs ......................
- Why people blog? ..............................................................
- The biggest benefits of blogging ........................................
- Become a better writer and thinker ...................................
- Establish yourself as an expert ...........................................
- Increase your self-confidence ..............................................
- Make friends and have fun ..................................................
- Make money from your blog ...............................................
- How to choose a perfect niche ......................................
- Brainstorm your topic ..........................................................
- Blog success validation ........................................................
- Potential niche size ...............................................................
- Potential competition
- Potential monetization
- What readers want from the blog
- Readers are looking for information
- Important things to understand about blogging
- Choosing a blogging platform
- Readers are looking for solutions
- Readers are looking to be entertained
- Key take-aways
- Chapter
- How to Set Up a Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog
- What is a domain name?
- Types of domain names
- How to select a blog name
- 11 tips for choosing the right domain name
- Premium domain names
- What is web hosting?
- How to choose a web hosting provider
- A 11-point checklist for better web host selection
- Complete instructions for setting up a blog
- Action steps
- Get a domain & hosting
- Install Wordpress CMS
- Your own blog is live
- you start your blogging journey Final words of wisdom before
- Make sure your blog topic is viable
- Don’t be afraid of technology
- You don’t have to be a coder or designer
- Be patient and give it time
- Owning your blog
- Conclusion
- Chapter
- Learn How to Use Wordpress
- The Wordpress front and back ends
- Navigating the dashboard
- A closer look at each area of a dashboard
- Updates
- Posts
- Media
- Posts vs. pages
- Pages
- Comments
- Appearance
- More on themes (blog design and layout)
- Free, premium, and custom themes
- Examples of good themes
- Free themes.........................................................................
- Premium themes
- Advanced customizations
- Plugins
- List of recommended plugins for new bloggers
- Additional menu options
- Users
- Tools
- Settings
- Conclusion
- Chapter
- How to Write and Create Great Blog Content
- P ages content......................................................................
- Sidebar content
- Blog post content basics
About this guide
Have you been curious or interested in staring a blog? Many suc- cessful bloggers gain knowledge, friendships, support and conidence by hosing a blog. And some are able to turn blogging into a lucraive business. Staring a blog is not as dauning as many people think. In fact, by following the step-by-step instrucions in our Beginner’s Guide to Successful Blogging, you will be able to create and grow your own blog, avoiding pifalls and missteps that hinder some novices.
Contribution from expert bloggers
Top bloggers have contributed their knowledge to help make this guide a valuable source of informaion. Their contribuions to this guide and our experise will help you build an online presence and thriving brand.
Aaron Lee Postplanner/blog
Angelique Toschi Angeliquetoschi
Dan Miller 48Days
Adam Connell Bloggingwizard
Alexis Grant Alexisgrant
Benny Hsu Getbusylivingblog
Ali Luke Aliventures
C.C cc-chapman
Andrea Vahl AndreaVahl
Charles Hugh Smith Otwominds
Barry Feldman Feldmancreaive/blog
Ann Smarty myblogu
Dave Taylor GoFatherhood
Dave Delaney Davedelaney
David Jackson Davidjackson
Daniel Lewis TheAudacitytoPodcast
David Airey Davidairey
Jaime Tardy eventualmillionaire
Jef Bullas jebullas
Derek Sivers Sivers
Sophie Lizard Beafreelanceblogger
Henneke Duistermaat Enchaningmarkeing
Jon Morrow jebullas
Liz Strauss Successful-blog
Demian Farnworth Thecopybot
Karen Lee Drkarenslee
Dino Dogan dinodogan
Stephanie Gordon Stephgordon
Laura Simms Createasfolk
Greg Hickman Mobilemixed
Susanne Lakin Livewritethrive
Tyler Tervooren Riskology
Ian Cleary Razorsocial
Manda Aufochs Gillespie Thegreenmama
The steps to launch a successful blog:
Select a comprehensive niche Choose a plaform (self-hosted recommended) Decide on a domain name Get a hosing plan and install sotware Customize and design the blog Add content (text, photos and graphics) Promote a blog and its content
The most popular styles and types of blogs ......................
While these are the most popular types of blogs, there are many more to discover. There are also community blogs, nonproit blogs, live-webcam blogs, live-gaming screencast blogs, device-type blogs, podcast blogs, various video blogs and many, many others. But most important, you need to learn the diference between the blog and a staic website. We always recommend to web newbies to start a blog, in order to learn the basics of the online presence but if someone is looking to promote his/her business online (or to start a new one) then it’s beter to learn how to make a website instead.
or nTo bot to bloglog
Personal blogs Personal blogs share thoughts, original art, poems, wriing or photography. Some sell custom crats, art or products. If you just want to make a statement, show your DIY (do it yourself) skills, have fun or blog for therapy, a personal blog is perfect for your needs.
Business blogs are created in the voice of the company, as a crucial component of markeing. They can funcion as a direct-sales tool and are outstanding for both messaging and two-way communicaion as part of a company’s public relaions eforts. Blogs are efecive and cost-eicient vehicles for small organizaions that need to publish in- formaion for their customers or members.
Niche/topical blogs focus on a paricular interest. They can be about health, gardening, educaion, sports, fashion or or lifestyle. Name your special interest and you can blog about it. If you’re a collector of aniques, a true-mystery fan, a travel addict or just love cooking, there may be a blog in your future. Niche blogs easily atract loyal followers, which contributes to the fun of blogging.
Media-type blogs are deined by their content. If you enjoy vid- eo blogging, then you’re a vlogger. If you curate content from other websites, you have a linklog. If you post photos or art sketches on your blog, you’re hosing a photoblog or artblog.
Reverse blogs are a unique but popular type of blog. Instead of the owner creaing content, the content is supplied by the public. A reverse blog has a team who moderate posts, pre- vent unpleasant interacions and promote slow topics for greater interacivity.
Why people blog? ..............................................................
Think about why are you staring a blog and why people should be interested in following you. Jef Bullas created a poll and asked people, “Why do you blog?”. The answers vary, but top answers were, “Wriing about the passion” and “To share with others”. If you want to learn more about phenomenon of blogging, read Why do people blog?.
The biggest benefits of blogging ........................................
Become a better writer and thinker ...................................
Once you start blogging, you’ll ind yourself becoming a beter writer and thinker. Mastering content takes creaive thought. When you become im- mersed in creaing great pieces of content for your blog, your wriing, thinking and research skills improve in the process.
Establish yourself as an expert ...........................................
Blogs are wonderful tools to help people establish themselves as experts in a ield or niche. We all have some kind of interest and experise to share with others. If you’re able to produce great content on your blog and/or have a unique point of view on the topic, then be assured that your future audience will recognize it and reward you for it. Today, the Web has diferent experts and diferent opinions for almost every topic you can dream up. With a bit of efort, you too can become an authority in the area of your interest.
Increase your self-confidence ..............................................
The more involved you become with blogging, the more your creaive juices will low. That’s one reason why blogging is so popular. As you gain knowledge about your topic, the conidence you’ll build in your followers and most im- portantly, in yourself, will soar. All of this leads to increased creaivity. Accord- ing to the New York Times, 81 percent of Americans believe they have a book inside of them to share with the world. In essence, you will be wriing a book, piece by piece, on your blog. Keep an open mind and enjoy your new-found conidence in your own abiliies!
Brainstorm your topic ..........................................................
Following is a process that can help you determine which niche is best for you:
Make a list of your interests or hobbies. Which topics fascinate you? List them all, for instance: golf, ishing, yoga, playing games or cooking.
Next, list accomplishments you are proud of, such as musical tal- ent, arisic talent or sports achievements.
Now, list diiculies you have overcome or de- feated, such as: losing a signiicant amount of weight, recovering from a inancial setback or managing a disease.
During the course of this exercise, you will get a beter feeling for the topics that resonate with you. The ones that you are most passion- ate about are the best candidates for your niche.
Blog success validation ........................................................
Whether you want to blog for presige, income, fun or connecions, you’ll want to research the niche you choose and make sure the topic is viable. The following “blog suc- cess validaion” exercise will help you determine whether your blog has real potenial. It will also help you understand why most blogs fail.
Potential niche size ...............................................................
Even if you believe you have a brilliant blog idea, you will like- ly struggle to succeed unless you ind a niche market that atracts enough people or one with litle compeiion. You don’t want your niche to be too small or too big. Example: The size of “golf” niche is, on average, more than 2 mil- lion monthly searches. This niche might be too big and broad. However if you pursue a niche that is very narrow, such as “plane golf swing drills” (average 4,000 searches month- ly), the volume of searches would be too small. One way to drill down from “golf” would be “golf ips” (average 350,000 total monthly searches) or even deeper down “golf ips for beginners” (average 250,000 total monthly searches).
Check the size of your niche:
Check the top ive keywords for your niche market. Look for at least 10 thousand monthly searches combined for the ive keywords. You can use Google Keyword Planner (free), Market Samurai (paid) or WordTracker (parially free) to check for the volume of searches and get keywords ideas. You want to be certain there is a large enough audience looking for the kind of informaion you will provide, but not so large that you will get lost in the crowd.
Use the Google Keyword Planner tool to get top keyword ideas and search volume:
Select the “Search for new keyword and group ideas” tab. Enter your main keyword (see examples in our “golf ips”) and get ideas by looking at the list of suggested keywords. Select the top ive keywords that it the niche market you chose. Check the search volume for each keyword and add them together.
For example: Applying this search process to our ive golf-ip keywords, yielded the following search results:
“golf ips” 9, “golf swing ips” 8, “golf puing ips” 1, “golf ips for beginners” 880 “golf ips driving” 480
With these ive keywords, we have a litle over 20,000 average monthly searches. This niche market (“golf ips”) has enough volume and would be a good choice for a blog.
Potential competition
It’s a good sign if you have compeiion. It means others are talking about your niche and acively pursuing it. It’s also im- portant to note that bloggers in your niche are not always your compeiion.
To make sure your niche is moneizable, research the following:
What readers want from the blog
What content should you start creaing? You can write about any- thing and everything, but you have to really understand what your readers want to see or read. While there may be other exising blogs dedicated to your area of experise, they are not YOURS! If you have a unique perspecive, people will want to read about it. There’s nev- er enough informaion for the voracious appeites of collectors and enthusiasts. They desire more and with pracice, you can give them that.
Is anyone selling informaion or products related to your niche? The easiest way to determine this is to see what your compeitors are promoing.
Are well-known adverisers in your niche? These could be the big brands or e-commerce sites.
Are there ailiate ofers in your niche? Here is how to ind ailiate ofers:
Check ailiate networks (Clickbank, CJ and ShareSale and Amazon Ailiate).
Do a Google search for “[your keyword] ailiate” or “[your keyword] ailiate program.”
These points can help you determine if you can establish a blog in the niche of your choice that helps you generate income.
Readers are looking for information
People who visit your blog want to be informed. They want to learn more or stay up to date on speciic topics. You would be surprised what people are searching for online. For example, some people want news that doesn’t ap- pear in mainstream media. You can be the one to give it to them.
Readers are looking for solutions
Blogs solve a lot of problems in the world. Those problems might include dieing, health concerns or how to replace the bumper on a 1957 Chevy. The Internet has become the world’s largest library. What can you add to the In- ternet? Your knowledge and insights can help others.
Readers are looking to be entertained
The Internet is not all work! People want to connect, laugh and share with others. Your blog can quickly become popular for your brand of humor com- bined with the subject you choose. There’s always fun informaion you can share with others that will help atract visitors to your blog.
Choosing a blogging platform
At this stage, you’ll need to determine the blog-management plat- form/tool you want to use. We recommend that you set up your blog on one of the self-hosted plaforms. But before you make the deci- sion, let us describe each opion below in more detail and talk about the pros and cons. For in-depth reviews of diferent blogging plaforms visit this page. When it comes to staring your blog you have the following op- ions: free, freemium and self-hosted plaforms (recommended).
Important things to understand about blogging
blogging
As you coninue to put ime and energy into your blog, you will begin to see bigger returns on your investment. Depending on how you’re planning to manage your blog, you’ll need to consider the amount of ime the work will require. Perhaps your blog is your online journal and you’ll write a few paragraphs or aricles a week. Or you might be gung-ho and update your content on a daily basis. But re- member: It will take ime to establish your Web presence. Be paient, keep up the good work and be consistent with your blogging.
Key take-aways
Whatever your involvement, you should follow a few simple rules for success:
1 2 3 Choose your niche wisely and validate it before you move forward.
Think about content you can create to difereniate your blog from others.
Select your blogging plaform and get ready to launch your blog.
Throughout this guide, we’ll be showing you how to start, manage, customize and work with the WordPress CMS. By using our guide, you will be able to create your blog quickly and learn how to manage it in short order. We’ll show you how to set up and go live with your WordPress blog in Chapter 2.
Chapter
How to Set Up a Self-Hosted
Wordpress Blog
Summary: In this chapter, you will learn the nuts and bolts of cre- aing your blog, including ips for choosing a domain name and web hosing opions. We also provide a handy deiniion of terms. In Chapter 1, you learned that a self-hosted WordPress blog is the best choice for most bloggers. To get your new self-hosted blog start- ed, you need to decide on two important things: a domain name and a web hosing provider.
Domain name. Your domain name represents you, your blog, your business and your brand. Make it recognizable, easy to remember and a proud representaion of you and your blog. Examples of strong domain names are: amazon, apple and change.
Web hosing. Ater choosing a domain name, selecing reliable hosing services will be one of the most important decisions you make. To a great extent, the funcionality and performance of your blog will depend on your hosing provider. The host makes sure your blog is available 24/7 to potenial readers and it’s where your iles are stored online.
What is a domain name?
Your domain name will be the name by which you will be known online, no mater what niche you choose. It’s the unique address of your blog on the Internet. Your domain will be yours as long as you coninue paying the annual fee ($10 - $15 for .com domain). Users who know your domain/URL (uniform resource locator) can simply type it in their browser’s address bar. Others will be able to discover your blog through search engines such as Google and Bing, so you deinitely need to ind a unique moniker. Make sure you love your original domain name—you’ll face a number of challenges if you decide to change it down the road.
Types of domain names
Just as you and your business have a physical address, your domain name needs one too. It may be the highly popular “dot com” or it may be country or niche speciic. From .us (United Sates) to .co (United Kingdom) and from .guru (yes, for life coaches) to .sport (for sports related domains), these top level domains (TLDs) are added to any domain name in order to point to their locaion. The general rule is to go for a “dot com” domain, but some of the other extensions can work. For example “dot net” or “dot me.” In the end, it’s about being memorable, so if a diferent extension or country code helps you be memorable, then break the rules!
How to Set Up a Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog
Remember the anxiety of naming your irst pet? It’s the same with naming your blog. It’s a name directly ied to you. You’ll be admired, teased or forgoten because of it, so choose wisely. The ips we’ve menioned previously, as well as those listed below, will give you some great ideas on how to formulate the perfect domain name.
11 tips for choosing the right domain name
Pick at least ive main words or phrases that describe your blog topic. Write them down, then mix and match these words to in- vent domain names. Choose the one that sounds good and will be
Start by brainstorming
Most hosing companies also ofer domain registraion services. Some people keep their domain name with the registrar company, separate from the hosing account. We recommend keeping it all under your hosing account for hassle-free management and maintenance.
Once you’ve chosen your top choices for your blog name, you have to make sure you’re not violaing anyone’s trademarks. To check with- in United States, visit uspto/trademarks and do the search before you register the name. This problem is not that common for bloggers, but it’s always good to check now, because this could kill a great blog and business down the road. Also, if you are going to create a blog about a big-name product, such as WordPress or Facebook, review their terms and condiions. Most will not allow you to use their name in any part of your domain (sorry—no wordpresshacker site al- lowed).
Numbers and hyphens (especially hyphens) cause confusion. Avoid them at all cost. Even something as clever as the number1blogger. com will cause confusion. Make the name speak for itself.
It’s not always good to follow new trends. Anything that deals with something trendy will, like the trend, fade away. Sick with a classic name that will span the decades and not be ied down to a trend or fad.
You have to be 100-percent certain that you love your domain name. Once it’s set, you’ll be wedded to it for years to come. If you decide later to rename it, then you will lose ime, money, brand equi- ty and rankings. We do not recommend changing your domain once your blog has been live long enough to have gained a following.
Before you register your desired domain name, it’s always a good idea to check social networks to see if the same name is being used. To keep your blog name constant and to build your brand, you want a name that is readily available. For example: check facebook/ yourdomain, twiter/yourdomain and secure them as well. KnowEm is a great tool to use to see if certain names are already branded on social plaforms.
Premium domain names
You might ind a domain name that’s already taken, but not neces- sarily in use. These are usually referred to as premium domain names. They are domains registered by someone else and ofered for sale. There’s no way of telling how much a domain is worth on the market, especially if you’re ater a niche domain. To buy a registered domain, check one of the aucion sites: Godaddy Aucion, Sedo, NameJet or SnapNames. If it’s not for sale through aucions, you can contact the domain owner to see if you can make an ofer to buy it. You can use Whois Tool to ind the domain owner’s contact informaion. Even if
Avoid trademark problems
No numbers and hyphens
Marry your domain name
Check social networks
It’s not always good to follow new trends
the owner’s name is protected or private, you can send an email to the provided email address and ulimately reach the domain owner.
What is web hosting?
Next, you will need to choose a web hosing company to register the domain name with and sign up for the hosing account to host your new blog online. A web hosing company provides you with space on a server to store your blog iles. It’s similar to your personal computer iles at home, except your blog iles are available online where visitors can access them at all imes by entering your domain name or by discov- ering your blog in a search engine. You can use free blogging plat- forms (as described in Chapter 1) and live with the restricions, or take the leap and launch your own self-hosted blog, which 90 percent of top bloggers recommend.
How to choose a perfect niche ......................................
The wrong web host can cause many problems with your blog. Just imagine choosing a mobile company that has no recepion. Your web host is a major piece of the puzzle to maintaining a successful blog, therefore, it’s crucial that you choose a reliable provider. Oten, when people are asked what services most important to look for in a good web host, they cite things like 24/7 phone and chat support, reliability and reputaion. Good hosing providers ofer ad- diional features such as database support, back ups and free email. Most hosing companies ofer similar opions and features and as a beginning blogger, you won’t have to go deeply into technical details to use them.
A 11-point checklist for better web host selection
web host selection
Good reputaion - The rule of thumb is to check the website of the service provider for signs that indicate credibility such as a physical address, phone number, general company informaion and tesimo- nials. Ask yourself the quesion “Would I trust and give this company my personal informaion?”. Also check if the company is listed with Beter Business Bureau (for North America); if they’re listed, what’s their raing?
How to Start a Blog The Beginners Guide
Course: LITERATURE: HOW AND WHY? (ELL1013F)
University: University of Cape Town
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