6 Secrets To Starting A Blog Successfully

Setting up a blog isn't as hard as what most people tend to believe, because a blog is basically a means of self expression. In fact, it's a fairly straightforward process. The following secrets will help any aspiring blogger launch their own online presence.

1. Get Some Hosting:

Many bloggers who start out usually don't have enough resources to purchase a dedicated domain for their work. Now if you are one of these aspiring online writers who lack the dough, you can always resort to using free blogging platforms such as Weebly or Tumblr. I don't really recommend this course of action though, as such websites reserve the right to remove your content at any time and all that hard work you put into your blog might just go to waste. So if you have plans to monetize your blog, your best course of action would be to invest in your own hosting and URL name.

2. Purchase a Domain Name:

You will have to shell out some money to do this, as you'll be paying the costs for services your registry will provide as well as claim ownership for the whatever site name you come up with. Of course, you have to pick a URL names that's topic relevant; otherwise, you'll only end up having a site that isn't as optimized as you want it to be (especially if you want to monetize your blog). Although you've most likely heard that your site's name has to be an 'exact match' to your target keyword/keyphrase, it really isn't necessary. Having a name that describes your blog's general topic will suffice.

3. Connect the Hosting and the Domain:

This is the part that often confuses most people. To put it simply, your placeholder in the Internet is your URL and you have to have it 'pointed' towards a server that stores your blog's files and content as well as your website in general. Now domains can be pointed to their servers through the use of a 'Domain Name Server' (DNS). Does it sound too technical for you? Well, don't worry, because doing this actually rather easy. This is since upon signing up for hosting, you'll receive an email that contains information on Name Servers. From there, you just log in to wherever your URL is registered and fill up your appropriate spot.

4. Decide on a Topic:

Making the decision to blog is easy, but choosing what to blog about usually isn't. Say, do you like to blog about something general? Or maybe you simply want to post your raves or rants? Or perhaps you'd like to blog on cat training because you love cats that much? You see, identifying your topic is key because it's going to be the basis for your keyword research so that you can identify what keywords or keyphrases you'll be targeting. Moreover, your topic is going to be the basis of your site's name.

5. Set-Up WordPress:

So you're almost there, and it's just a matter of time before you get to create content for your blog. However, you need to install WordPress first. If you're not sure how to work it yet, there are plenty of free online videos that offer tutorials on how to do so, most of which can be found on YouTube. In fact, you'd be surprised at the sheer amount of instructional videos found in YouTube alone, notwithstanding other sites. Or you can always ask WP support for assistance. Besides, it's fairly easy to use WP for most hosting since with a simple click of button, a script can do the work for you.

6. Start Blogging:

After your URL name, hosting, and platform are ready, it's time you start creating content and posting them! For the meantime, you can utilize the default template of your chosen CMS. You'll eventually find an even better template shortly, but all you have to do for now is just focus on making the posts. Of course, you also have to make sure that you're posts are grammatically correct - nothing quite turns off readers as much as weak command of the English language. Even if you do have excellent writing skills, it is advisable to have someone else proofread your work, as the writer often gets a blind eye to mistakes when editing his or her own write-ups.