2015-10-08

Hey there, This guide is going to be one of the best guides that you can follow to start blogging. We are going to talk about each and everything that is going to support you in the process of start blogging or the process of starting a blog. We will focus on, “How to Start a blog?”, But not just this. We are going to learn much more than starting a blog as we are going to learn most of the common things related to starting a blog or we can say related to starting blogging.

This is a 4600+ Words Guide and the longest blog post I have ever written, so have a sit and read enjoyingly.



How to Start a Blog? Complete Guide to Blogging

It would be better to understand the things if I sort the contents of this blog post step-wise. So what all we are going learn could be classified as following points.

Things you need to Know about Blogging before getting started:

What Blogging is all about?

Purpose of Blogging

What things do you need to Qualify to start Blogging?

Examples and Inspirations to Study Blogging more gratefully

What all you need to get started with Blogging?

Tips to follow before starting a Blog

How to Start a Blog?

Making a Plan to Start blogging or to start a blog

Requirements to build a Blog

How to Create a Blog? Or How to Make a Blog?

How to design a blog or How to customize your blog for your blogging style?

Blogging Tips and Tricks – Tips to Get success in Blogging

Let’s get started with our Complete Guide to Starting Blogging or Complete Guide to Start a Blog. Now we are going to learn and understand each and everything mentioned above in the form of points in Detail.

What Blogging is all about?

Usually, running and maintaining a blog is called as Blogging. But blogging is much more than it. Blogging includes your each and every activity that you do for your blog. When somebody comes to know about blogging, they treat it something as usual and easy. But when they get into it, they come to know the real meaning of blogging. Even blogging affects your lifestyle also. Now, if the lifestyle is affected then so many other things are affected. For now, let we treat blogging as a hobby of writing and publishing blog posts on a website called as “blog.”

What can we say about a blog and a website? Every blog can be call as a website, but not every website can be call as a blog. Want to know more about What blogging is all about? Read my these blog posts:

What is Blogging? Basics of Blogging for Beginners

Blogging For Beginners – Infographic

It is even not necessary that you must have a blog to become a blogger. You can be a blogger even without having your blog. But how? You can be a blogger if you write blog posts for other blogs like as a Guest Blogger. To know about guest blogging in detail read my blog post:

Guest Blogging – A Beginner’s Guide

Freelancing is nowadays one of the best ways to earn online. If you are a writer and can write blog posts as a freelancer for others, even then you can be treated as a blogger. Maybe many other things can support a person to be call as a blogger.

Therefore, we can conclude that Blogging is all about a lot of things involved in it. It is good to know more about blogging, what are the various activities involved in blogging that one can do except writing and publishing blog posts.

Purpose of Blogging

Why people like blogging? There may be a lot of answers to this questions. But most of the people opt to blog for

various uses. These purposes have their solo benefits. Before getting into blogging, it is good if you decide what should be your purpose of blogging. Here below I have listed a few goals that why people like blogging and start

blogging.

Simply to share you ideas or views, knowledge, tips, etc. with others.

To get fame or to become famous online.

To earn money.

To just enjoy it as a part time hobby.

For some particular purpose.

And many more.

Earning money from blogging is one of the major reasons why people like blogging. It’s true that Blogging is one of the best ways to make money online, but it’s good to focus on blogging joy instead of making money. Maybe whatever the purpose of your blogging, blogging is just incredible!

What things do you need to Qualify to start Blogging?

So what skills and education you exactly required to get into blogging or start blogging. The answer is not defined. You can initiate a blog like a highly qualified person or even as an ordinary person. Blogging doesn’t require any special skills. Anybody can start blogging and enjoying it.

Many professional bloggers have shared their experiences, and many of them have learned all of the skills they have right now during their blogging journey period. Let me give you my experience. What I know today about Blogging and all the skills that I have now, are crammed by me during my blogging period.

Blogging has double benefits. You just not write, you learn everything new every day. I learn much more that what I write on my blog. So, it’s easy to write and publish all that you have learned. As a blogger, I am learning as well as teaching.

Therefore, you can start blogging without having any skills or specialized knowledge. You can learn a lot of things aside of blogging.

Examples and Inspirations to Study Blogging more gratefully

Inspirational Quotes or some kind of inspirations given by great people or famous people sometimes help us to do more. There are many success stories of professional bloggers; who started as an ordinary people but now has become the most popular bloggers.

Here I am giving you the example of two most popular bloggers from India, who have started their journey of blogging with free blogging platform Blogger, but now has become the greatest professional bloggers.

Amit Agrawal who runs labnol.org

Harsh Agrawal who runs shoutmeloud.com

Both of these bloggers inspired me a lot to be a professional blogger. Amit Agrawal is also known as the father of Indian Blogging. As, I got my inspiration to be a blogger from them; you can also get such inspirations. Inspirations are the best things that can inspire you to do more. There are many success stories of such bloggers, who started their blogging journey from zero but now blogging has changed their life.

You can always get new ideas for blogging from many such bloggers. In the past few years, many people like me have inspired from bloggers like Harsh and Amit.

Would you like reading my this blog post?

101 Inspirational Quotes to Inspire Everyone

What all you need to get started with Blogging?

This is what every newbie wants to know before anything else that what they required to create a blog or to start blogging? Basically, you required nothing special. Now here I want to clear a few things. As I said, blogging can be done even without having a blog, as a freelance writer also where we required nothing special, but normally by starting blogging we mean to create a blog.

But there are a few things that you must need to get into blogging if you want to be a successful blogger. As there are not any definite quality or qualification needs to get into blogging and also you even do not need to pass an entrance to start blogging. Let we know what all you need to start blogging to be a successful blogger.

The very first this is you need determination and plans. You should not take blogging just as a side hobby but also one of the important things that matter to you. Many newbies start blogging with big hopes but soon leave it after a few weeks or a few months. The most common reason for why most of the new bloggers quit blogging is they are not able to drive sufficient traffic to their blog.

The bloggers get stick with blogging for a long time with strong determination and creativeness always get success. Therefore the first thing you must keep in mind to be positive and determined. Success can not be achieved without hard work.

The next thing that you need is plans or ideas. If you start blogging with pre-decided plans or ideas, you can achieve your targets more quickly. Here I want to share a bonus tip with you.

Many professional bloggers started micro-niche blogs for various purposes. They share on their blogs that how they drive massive traffic in just a few months or even in a single month by following some tips-tricks and plans along with determination.

As a newbie blogger, it may be difficult for you to drive such amount of massive traffic to your blog but you can try with various plans. Although, professional bloggers have a lot of tips that they have learned from their long time experience.

It may be a little bit difficult for a new blogger to keep stick with blogging, but we must never lose hope. That’s why I advise not to leave blogging just due to small failures because, keep hopes… because…..

Where there is a Will, there is a Way

Now, one another important question that needs to be answered here.

Are there any financial requirements to start blogging? If yes, then how much?

One of the biggest reasons to start blogging is that you can start it even without making an investment. There are free blogging platforms like Blogger where you can create free blogs to just start blogging or to have a try. Many professional bloggers began their journey on the free blogging platforms.

Free platforms are good to be tried in the initial months of blogging journey. Later on you can move on to professional standard to grow. If you are serious about blogging and want to make a blog for a serious purpose, then you may need to spend also. For example, you may need to buy web hosting, domain name, different kind of services, etc.

I also started my blogging journey on Blogger blogging platform, but now I feel I have enough skills to be a professional blogger, that’s why I moved on to professional blogging platform and created a self-hosted WordPress blog.

So, these are a few things you really need to start your blogging journey. You may read my related guide to this topic:

How to get started with Blogging?

Tips to follow before Starting a Blog

So, you have decided to start blogging? It would be better if you learn a few tips that may be very useful for you from the first day of blogging. It’s good to start blogging and learning new things side by side. But few tips can even help you better in you blogging journey if you understand them before starting blogging. So, here are the tips:

Know your Interests and passions or discover yourself

On what you can write the best? What things you like to study and examine? Have a proper research on before

you choose topics for you blog.

Read other popular and reputed blogs. Personally, before I started blogging, I read hundreds of blog posts on other blogs that helped me a lot during blogging and comfort my blogging journey.

Start making plans and ideas.

Follow other professional bloggers.

Start researching about new terms and things that you are going to face during blogging.

Try learning skills that can help to enhance your blogging life.

Try these tips, these will help you a lot to start blogging.

Now, let’s come on to the guide to starting a blog or to the guide to start a blog.

Once, you understand all the basics of blogging, it’s your turn to make a blog. As similar to tips that you need to know before making a blog, there are some tips and tips that you need to know while creating or making a blog. As, this guide focus on how to start a blog, I have added the things that you need to know before starting blogging, on the starting of blogging and also those ones which you need to know during blogging. So, from the paragraph below this, we will learn to create a blog with a few tips and tricks.

Making a Plan to Start blogging or to start a blog

As, I already said a good plan is something that can help you a lot in Blogging. Therefore before starting a blog make a proper scheme. What type of plan?

Good question. You need to make a plan for the growth of your blog. Blog’s growth plan, before creating it? Yes, it’s the necessary as it is one of the building blocks for the success of your blog. I have a few ideas for what to include in this plan that are given below in the form of points:

Decide the blog niche. Select the topics and your blog’s content theme. In others words, you must determine

what type of blog you are going to create. You can start a blog almost on every topic around you. But you must choose a topic that suits you best. For example, you must choose a topic on which you have good information and knowledge, on which you can easily write content, on which you can suggest you can expand your ideas and on which you can inspire others etc. You can create a technology blog, a cooking or a food blog, a nature blog, a blog about blogging, social community blog, school blog, education blog, language blog, history blog, travel blog and any else…..

Choose your needs. Various types of blog required various things such as different kinds of tools, themes, plugins, etc. If you have researched well before going to start blogging, you can easily distinguish between the various needs of different blogs. Thus, you will be able to build a good plan for your blog requirements. And remember the selection of tools for your blog is one of the greatest factors that is going to affect your blogging at every step.

Blogging Platform. One of the biggest decision. A Blogging platform is where you can manage your blog. As I said, as a newbie blogger it is good to start on a free blogging platform like Blogger (Blogspot) but for professional blogging my recommendation is to create a self-hosted WordPress.org blog. Free blogging platforms are quite useful for getting started with the journey of blogging. I personally, used Blogger for a few moths and then moved to WordPress. To know more about Blogging platforms, read my this blog post: Blogging Platforms – A Beginner’s Guide

Make Content Strategy. Content is called as the King. The first thing you need to do after creating a blog is publishing content on it. You can attract more and more organic traffic towards your blog even in the first month if you would have a proper content strategy. Decide what type of content you will publish and on what intervals. Post new content regularly. Publishing content regularly is one of the secrets to getting quick success in blogging. Publish more and more content initially so that you new blog can be noticed by the search engines and other visitors.

Make Promotion Strategy. There is no use of content if you don’t promote it. Here by promotion I mean, by simple sharing of content. Share you content that you regularly publish,  on social networking sites such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Build up a good status on these social networking sites. Social Networking Sites are quite useful in getting traffic as well as for the promotion of your blog content.

Join Blogging Community. Blogging Communities are one of the best sources to drive traffic to new blogs. Blogging communities have thousands of active bloggers. According to my personal experience, blogging communities are really very helpful in getting traffic, in buildings blog;s reputation and increasing its popularity. Blogging communities helps you to establish good relations with other bloggers also. You can share your regular content on these sites for active promotion.

Requirements to Create a Blog

If you are going to create a free blog on a free blogging platform like Blogger, then you need nothing special to get started. But if you are going to create your very own self-hosted blog then you would need a few things to set up a blog.

Let me take the example of requirements to make a self-hosted WordPress blog. The most common things that you required are given below:

Web Hosting. To store you blog’s data and to make your blog live to the world, you need a web host, or we can say that you need a web hosting service. There are different types of web hosting plans available for various types of websites. To know more about Web hosting. Read my this blog post:

What is Web Hosting? Types of Web Hosting – A Beginner’s Guide

There are many web hosting companies that provide particular or special plans for WordPress blog. For example, for the hosting of my current blog Flymyblog, I am using Godaddy’s Managed WordPress hosting. There are many other famous web hosting companies whose plans you can choose to host your blog. For example, Hostgator, Bluehost, Siteground, Godaddy and may more.

Domain Name. Simply the address for your visitors to reach up to your blog. Know more about domain names here in my this blog post:

Domain Name Selection Guide and Tips for Bloggers

Blog Theme or Template. The thing that you need to add or customize once you just created your blog. You can use a free theme or template as well as premium theme. Many professional bloggers use premium themes for better user experience and features. To know more about Theme or Template or Blog Design, read my this blog post:

Blog Design Tips for Every Blogger

How to Create a Blog? Or How to Make a Blog?

So, let us finally learn how to create a blog. Making a blog is very easy. If you are going to create a free blog on a free blogging platform, you do not need any special guide. Here below, I am going to give you the example of creating a blog with Blogger platform and creating a self-hosting blog on WordPress platform.

Before this, I recommend you reading mine this guide:

How to Create a Blog – Step by Step Guide for Beginners

Guide to Create a free blog on Blogger (Blogspot) platform:

The five simple steps to create a free blog on Blogger platform are given below:

Go to Blogger.com and log in with you Google Account.

It will ask you to setup a profile for your Blogger account, you can use a simple Blogger profile or your Google+ profile.

Now you will be redirected to Blogger’s Home Screen. There you can see a button, “New Blog” in the top left of the window. Click on it to create a blog.

Now a window will be opened in which you will have to choose a domain name and title for your blog. Blogger has so many users so it may be difficult to find a perfect domain name for you. So, think differently and choose a domain name for your blog. This domain name will be a subdomain, “.blogspot.com”

That’s all you need to create a blog on Blogger platform. Now, you have created a blog; it’s time to customize it and to start blogging!

Here is my guide related to Blogger platform:

12 Best SEO Tips for Blogger Blog

Guide to Create a Self-hosted WordPress Blog:

The three simple steps you need to follow to create a WordPress blog are:

Get Domain and Hosting.

Install WordPress on Your Hosting Service.

Login Into your WordPress dashboard and start blogging!

But here I have a detailed guide on, “How to Create a WordPress Blog?” in which I have discussed in detail each and every step you need to follow to Install WordPress on your web hosting. I have given the example of installing WordPress on Godaddy Managed WordPress hosting.

How to Create a WordPress Blog?

Now, you know how you can create a blog. But it’s nothing special in creating a blog until you get success from it. There are hundreds of blogs created every day. Only a few bloggers get their dreams fulfill. These are those bloggers who work hard on their blog.

How to design a blog or How to customize your blog for your blogging style?

Once, you successfully created a blog; the next step is to customize it according to your plans. You may have surf over hundreds of blogs, one important thing you may have noticed is their uniqueness. Every blog is different in itself due to its unique identity. Now unique identity comes from your customizations, editing and all other such as content, visual look, etc.

So, it’s very important for a blogger to design or redesign a blog according to the circumstances and plans. Here below, I am going to list all the important things of which customizations, addition, or editing you’ll need after creating a blog:

Blog’s Theme or Template or Blog’s Design:

Your Blog’s Theme or template is the body of your blog. Your blog depends on a template or them. There are a lot of factors where Blog Theme or Template matter. In this article, I am not going to detail about those factors and what we can do for their improvements. Just read my this blog post to know about all the necessary customizations and additions that your blog need related to theme or design. Here is the article: Blog Design Tips for Every Blogger

Here are a few pro tips for the blog’s design or template:

The theme or template should be neat and cleanly coded.

The theme or template should not have any errors.

The theme should have fast page loading time.

Include all the important elements, such as important widgets, plugins, images, social engagement tools in theme or blog’s template.

The design of theme should be good looking.

The navigation of your blog should be easy.

Your theme should be compatible with most of the tools you required.

Choose a theme that supports multiple features according to your blog’s content and niche. For example, your blog is a technology blog, is your theme supports quotes or programming code, etc. plugins?

You blog’s homepage should describe your blog. Link you all relevant content from the homepage.

Include a good looking logo for your blog and featured images for the blog posts.

Many free blogging platforms such as Blogger provides you free basic themes for your blog that you customize easily. These themes are good for a start. You can also upload your themes or templates also. If we talk about professional blogging platforms such as WordPress, there are also many free themes available. You can also buy a premium theme for your blog. Premium themes are good if you want more features and support. But as a beginner, free themes are very good to start blogging.

Necessary Settings and Additions:

There are a few setting that need to do for your blog in the blogging platform. These settings may be different for the requirements of various types of blogs. If you are using a free blogging platform, like Blogger, you can make the following settings:

You can edit basic information like title and meta information, privacy settings, blog authors, etc.

You can edit Posts related and Commenting related settings.

You can select Language and formatting related setting such as Blog’s language, time zone settings, time format display settings, etc.

You can edit a few other settings such as Search settings, template settings, widget, and layout settings etc.

If you are using a platform like WordPress, you can make the following settings:

You can all the basic setting in WordPress that you can do in free blogging platforms. In additions, you have a lot of other options to customize.

You can change the permalink structure of your blog.

You can edit reading and writing options. (All commenting settings, post settings)

You can edit ping list.

You can install many plugins to include more and more customizations and features.

And many more setting that you can edit according to your blog’s content and plan.

So, these are a few important settings that you need to make in your blog; there are also a few additions that you can make as soon as you create a blog. Such as creating all necessary pages (about, contact, etc.), adding the contact form, creating categories and tags, the addition of plugins and widgets, etc.

In WordPress, you can install many plugins to the most out of it. It is suggested that you install all the important plugins that you required such as SEO plugin.

Blogging Tips and Tricks – Tips to Get Success in Blogging

To get successful in blogging, you must keep on your research for your blog. Hard work always takes us to success. Here I have some pro tips, or you can say bonus tips for you which I have learned from my blogging experience.

Blogging Tips and Tricks:

The Top 10 Blogging Tips and Tricks to have success are:

Keep a Good Blog Design.

Write Useful Content. Write you own and unique content.

Publish new content regularly. Avoid laziness and update your blog regularly.

Focus on Blog and blog posts promotion, SEO, and other such factors.

Try something new. Learn and research every day.

Grow you blog’s community such as by getting more subscribers to your blog.

Use necessary widgets and plugins on your blog.

Choose a good hosting and domain name.

Focus on quality of your blog than earning money from it.

Help your visitors and reading by replying to their comments. Thus, establish good relations with other bloggers also.

Here below I have given links to my Blog Posts which can help you in Blogging so much:

A Collection of Top 10 Tips for New Bloggers who have just started a blog or are new to Blogging: 10 Tips for New Bloggers – A Beginner’s Guide

Want to get high organic traffic from the Search Engines? Here is the list of 15 SEO (Search Engine Optimization Tips for You: 15 SEO Tips – A Beginner’s Guide

Blogging on Blogger Platform? Here are the 12 SEO tips just for you: 12 Best SEO Tips for Blogger Blogs

There are few important things in SEO that you can know in my this article: Important Things in SEO That You Must Know

Want to write your blog awesomely? Then these tips are especially for you: 10 Tips To Write An Awesome Blog

Keep your blog continuously growing by learning these tips: 5 Tips That Will Keep Your Blog Growing

An Awesome guide for Best writing tips for your blog: How to Write a Blog? 6 Blog Posts Writing Tips

A Quick Guide of 4 Tips to Get Huge Organic Traffic: 4 Tips To Get Organic Traffic To Your Blog

So, this is my guide to Start Blogging. Hope you like reading this guide.

Please feel free to ask me any questions via comments. At least leave one comment what are your reviews about my this Complete Blogging Guide.

Do share this guide with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Other Sites. It took me 15+ hours to complete this guide for you, would you please give your two seconds to share this?

Images by, Pixabay

Thanks for reading this post.

The post How to Start a Blog? – Beginner’s Blogging Guide appeared first on Flymyblog.

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