Have you ever thought about starting a blog, but there just seems to be so many different options out there? When I started, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of tutorials and different things that I felt that I needed to get started. So I created a blog post telling you exactly how I got started.
If you have spent any more than one second on Pinterest, you have probably landed yourself onto a blog or a million. Blogs have become one of the best sources of information as well as income for people who wish to work from home or even just provide a supplement income to their full time job. They are also so much fun to read the personality of the blogger! You have probably wondered how people do it. If you are anything like me, you question whether this is even a possibility because you have no computer experience what so ever.
I love my blog because it is a great creative outlet. It has also kept me accountable throughout my debt free journey. I would say that blogging is the number one reason why I have paid off $13,200 in 11 months on my own and not because of the income from it. Becoming debt free is not an easy journey, but it has definitely allowed me experiences that I would have never had if I hadn’t even started the journey. Blogging has slowly become an income source for me. It also has become an outlet for a few of my frustrated days. Posts like “Why You Should Not Start Your Debt Free Journey” was a great outlet for me on a day that I just wanted to cry at how stressed I was over this life changing journey.
Whether you want to start a blog for fun, a creative outlet, or as a potential income for the future, there are a million tutorials out there to help you gain the knowledge along the way. I believe that every person should have a blog of their own, if only to document their life and the feelings that go with it. Being able to look back next year and see the posts that I wrote and the struggles that I went through will be such an amazing thing.
Here are 7 Super Simple Steps to help you start your blog:
1) Stop worrying about every detail and do it.
You don’t have to decide what every blog post is going to say. You don’t have to decide who is going to read your blog. There is no reason to stress about every detail right now. You just have to decide to start. It may always seem like there is going to be a better time to start something, but I promise the best time to start something you want to do is right now! Jumping into it is sometimes the best way to figure out what you want to write about.
“A journey of a thousand miles still starts with the first step.”
The first step is exactly what you have to do here. Deciding to start a blog is the first step.
2) You need a place to host your blog.
I am not a computer person what so ever. I have almost no tech skills. Having a place to host your blog is like a little piece of the internet that your rent out. The company that you decide to rent through is who takes care of the backside maintenance. They are also the people to call when you decide to try to code something and completely mess something up. These are the tech people that non-tech people need in their life.
I personally go through Bluehost and I have had absolutely no problems with them. If you know absolutely nothing about coding or the internet, then using Bluehost is great. They make it seemless to get your blog set up with WordPress.
Bluehost is still by far one of the cheapest hosting sites out there!
For less than $4 a month, you can jump on in! You can always upgrade, but I have been blogging for a while and I still don’t need more than the Basic. Bluehost made the process so easy to get it set up.
It is so important to make sure that you go through a hosting site if you are ever planning to monetize your blog. You can’t put up ads, use affiliate links, or do most things with a blog that isn’t self-hosted. It is way easier to start with a hosting site than to try to switch it over. You don’t own your content and if you use a free site, they blog site can take it down with no warning and no reason. Start with Bluehost today!
3) You need a domain.
This is how people find your website on the internet. For example, my domain is “www.TheSavvySagittarius.com.” I used Savvy in the terms of Financially Savvy and I am a true Sagittarius at heart. I love horoscopes and fun stuff like that. This fit me because I think that my horoscope truly fits my personality to a T.
This is something to put a little thought into because you can’t change it without a little bit of work after you decide. Fun ideas are a play on words of your name and what you want to write about. It could be as simple as your name. You can make it fun or I also know a lot of bloggers who simply go by their name.
This is a time to put some thought into what you want to write about. If you want to share all of your favorite recipes, a play on the words food, chef/cook, “In the kitchen with..” Something simple like “Cooking with Charlie” is also a great one. In the past, I had a travel blog with the domain “Elyse I Travel” as a play on words of “At Least I Travel.” You want something original, so avoid plays on other companies that are already out there. I did a quick google search of “The Savvy Sagittarius” to see if there was anything similar out there. It doesn’t have to be super creative, but it does need to be something you love and that vaguely represents what you want to write about.
After you find an available domain, you complete the purchase with your account information and you now have a place to host your blog. Now it’s time to get your blog all set up! You can get this all set up with Bluehost!
4) Connect WordPress with your new domain
After you make the purchase, you can log into your account to make the edits. Bluehost made it absolutely seamless for me to set up a FREE WordPress account to get my blog started. Bluehost is like renting a place on the internet, WordPress is the main way that you make edits and changes to that place. When you set up your site, it should give you the options to set up WordPress automatically. This gives you all of the editing tools to be able to post blog posts and set up your website pretty easily.
For this part, you should not have to pay any more for WordPress. The free version works just fine, so be careful with that. I learned that the hard way when setting mine up originally.
5) Customize your blog with a theme!
There are a billion and ten themes to choose from. This is one of my favorite parts of blogging. I love making it mine and creating something pretty. I personally like the white and black minimalist themes. Right now I have Omega installed on my blog.
Don’t compare to others with this. Do what you love. Start with a theme and keeping playing around with other features under “Customize.” Have fun with this part! This part can get you lost in the fun for hours, so enjoy it. You don’t have to love it the first time because you can always change it after playing around with it. You never know what is going to work for you until you get some content up on your blog!
6) You are now ready to write!
On your dashboard, you can start writing! This is the whole reason you started blogging, so have fun with it! Take your first month to build your content and just enjoy writing. I personally wouldn’t worry about building a huge following or making money in your first few weeks, because no one wants to follow someone with one article.
Starting with a great About Me page is the best way to hook your audience. If they relate to your content, they are more likely to follow you on social media pages and keep coming back to your blog!
Content is king when it comes to blogging. The more time you spend on it, the more everything else will come naturally. Your dashboard will look something similar to this, without the stats and drafts of course! You can write your first blog post. I actually write all of my posts in Microsoft Word and then copy them over to WordPress.
7) Social Media accounts and Tools
I recommend starting a social media account specifically for your blog instead of trying to change your personal account. I would start a Pinterest, Facebook “page”, and a gmail account where everything for your social media can go to. Pinterest and Instagram are my two big traffic sources. Instagram is the most fun. Find what works for you, start small and build as you go. I can not stress enough to have fun with your blog. If you love it, you will most likely have more success!
You will probably find a billion different recommendations on tools to use for your blog. I have created a resource list of my favorite blogging tools to help you skip the searching. These 8 Resources are things that I could not run my blog without. They are all things that I have been using for more than a few months and that I absolutely love. Most of them cost a little money, but they are all “The Savvy Sagittarius” money spending approved. As a finance blogger, I definitely would NOT recommend things that cost money if they weren’t 150% worth it!
Good Luck!
I hope this was helpful in getting your blog started. I know it can be stressful and overwhelming, especially if you have no technology skills whatsoever (Like me!) Thank god for the internet that makes a tutorial for pretty much anything.
Throughout my 4 year(ish) of blogging, I have learned a lot. The biggest thing I have learned is patience. It isn’t always about the numbers as it is the process. The more you learn in the first few months, the farther ahead you will be! If you are curious how to make money blogging, check out my tutorial right here!
If you start a blog, I would love for you to drop your new one in the comments. I want to support you!
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