What is blogging and how can I start my own blog?

So you want to start a blog too? Let me guess why...

Perhaps you are bursting with ideas and stories to share with the world. Or maybe you see blogging as a pathway to internet fame and riches.

Many dream of quitting their job to blog full-time or travel the world as a digital nomad. Others simply yearn for an outlet for creative expression.

Whatever your motivation, I applaud you for seeking your place among over 600 million blogs already online! Yup - blogging has grown from a niche pastime into a pillar of modern digital media since the late 1990s.

And today starting one is easier than ever thanks to powerful publishing platforms like WordPress. Nearly anyone can launch a professional blog for zero dollars if they set their mind to it. But with great ease comes fierce competition in the crowded blogosphere. Building a readership and income is far from guaranteed!

The harsh reality is over 90% of blogs stagnate in obscurity due to poor preparation, promotion, or monetization planning. They sadly wither and then die after the initial burst of enthusiasm fades.

I don't want that to happen to you!

So if you’re serious about blogging success, buckle up because I’ll be your guide across the complex landscape ahead.

What Exactly is a Blog?

Let's start with the basics - what is a blog?

A blog is an online journal or informational website that consists mainly of written content published in chronological order. The word "blog" comes from "weblog" which means logging updates to a website.

Blog posts can range from a couple of sentences to long essay-style content. Most blogs focus on a particular topic or niche and new articles (called blog posts) are frequently published. This distinguishes a blog from a typical static website.

People blog for all kinds of reasons:

• To share knowledge or expertise on a topic

• To promote a business or service

• To document life events and musings

• To influence others or promote a cause

• To make money online

And with over 600 million blogs worldwide, it's clearly a popular pastime!

So in essence, a blog gives you an online platform to share your thoughts with the world in an easily updatable format.

And starting one is much simpler than you might think...

How to Start a Blog For Free

The great news is that you can start a professional blog for the low cost of zero dollars! Here are the basic steps:

Choose a Perfect Blog Niche

Your blog needs a narrowly focused theme in order to attract the right readers. Deciding on an appealing, profitable blog niche is one of the most important decisions you’ll make.

Aim to blend your interests, knowledge, and skills with topics people actively search for online. We'll dig deeper into selecting a niche later on.

Find a Reliable Blogging Platform

You’ll need to choose blogging software to build and host your site. Some of the most popular blogging platforms include:

• WordPress - The world's most popular CMS powers over 43% of all sites. Extremely versatile and easy to use even for beginners. Offers both free and paid options.

• Blogger - Google's fully free blogging platform. Super simple to set up if you want a no-frills option.

• Medium - Free publishing platform focused on building community around ideas and stories. Easy readability and distribution.

• Wix - Freemium website builder with 500+ designer templates. Very user-friendly drag-and-drop editor.

• Squarespace - Paid all-in-one solution for websites, blogs, stores, and more. Emphasis on aesthetics and style.

I personally recommend WordPress for several reasons covered later in this post.

Customize the Design & Layout

Once set up, you can customize your blog's appearance by tweaking the theme, fonts, colors, and layout. Most blogging platforms make this step simple even without coding skills.

Start Creating & Publishing Content

It's finally time to begin sharing your knowledge!

Consistently create and publish high-quality blog posts based on your chosen niche to inform and attract readers. This is the fun part!

See - starting a blog really is quite straightforward. With just those four steps, your site is ready to start reaching the world.

But naturally, there’s a lot more to discuss when it comes to growing a successful blog...

Let’s dive deeper into each step:

Choosing the Best Blog Niche for You

Your niche is the foundation your entire blog will be built around. So you’ll want to pick a topic that inspires you and captures your audience's interests.

Here are my top tips for finding an ideal blog niche:

Focus on Your Passions & Expertise

The very best niche blogs are centered around the blogger's innate interests, hobbies, or areas of expertise. There's a direct correlation between passion and success!

If you already possess in-depth knowledge or hard-won skills in a particular field, a niche revolving around teaching others is perfect.

For example, experienced chefs, woodworkers, or financial analysts can readily share their expertise through how-to style blogging.

Look For Underserved Niches

Trendy niches like fashion, fitness, or food are hugely competitive. It takes exceptional skill, promotion, and production value to stand out from the pack.

Instead, identify niches that lack strong voices despite decent audience interest. Your blog can uniquely own and define an underserved niche.

For example, few amateur blogs effectively target narrow hobbies like orchid care or classical guitar. Yet tight-knit communities exist around such topics meaning focused content fills a need.

Research Profit Potential

While passion matters most, your niche still needs to offer reasonable money making potential to attract advertisers or product sponsors.

Google's free Keyword Planner is invaluable for assessing a niche's estimated traffic and commercial viability.

Input candidate topics and examine metrics like monthly searches and advertiser competition levels. High numbers suggest commercial demand for quality content.

Also browse Amazon for related products you could review or recommend as an income stream.

Evaluate Personal Factors

Along with audience demand, ensure your shortlisted niches make practical sense for you on factors like:

• Time: How much time can you realistically invest in content creation? Pick narrower niches if time is limited.

• Access: Do you need physical products, locations, or exclusive information to create authoritative content? If not easily obtainable, cross it off.

• Costs: Are initial equipment investments or ongoing access fees required that don't align with monetization forecasts?

• Competition: Can your skills, resources, and promotion outmatch established niche sites? If unlikely, keep brainstorming.

Carefully weighing niche options against your own constraints prevents frustration down the road.

How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform

Once your niche is confirmed, next up is selecting blogging software to create and manage your site's content and presentation.

The platform you choose impacts everything from design flexibility and SEO to ease of use, scalability, and ultimately - profitability.

Let's compare the best blogging platforms against critical decision factors:

WordPress

As the world's most popular CMS, WordPress offers maximum versatility & control for bloggers.

With WordPress powering over 43% of all sites globally, it must be doing something right!

Pros:

• 100% free open-source software

• Easy drag & drop site-building

• Massive template & plugin ecosystem

• Great for SEO with customization options

• Scales to enterprise-level sites

• Strong monetization features & support

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve than simple blog sites

• Manual software & security management required

• Hosting costs apply after the first year

Overall, I firmly believe WordPress is the best blogging platform available today due to its unparalleled functionality balanced with ease of use.

While beginners may find it overwhelming initially, the long-term payoff makes WordPress well worth learning.

Blogger

Owned by Google since 2003, Blogger focuses exclusively on casual blogging rather than full websites.

Pros:

• Completely free & ad-supported

• Extremely simple publishing

• Built-in reader base via Google

• Decent templates & customization

Cons:

• Limited features & monetization

• Some dated designs

• Less control over growth & revenue

With superb ease of use and total freedom, Blogger reduces blogging to its fundamentals. It’s a great totally free way for new bloggers to get started.

But beware - you sacrifice substantial design flexibility and long-term revenue potential compared to advanced platforms like WordPress.

Medium

Founded in 2012, Medium shook up traditional blogging by focusing entirely around ideas, stories, and community.

Rather than personally owned sites, Medium hosts all content on their central platform.

Pros

• Highly engaging reader experience

• Strong writer community & feedback

• Excellent distribution & visibility

• Very readable typography

Cons

• You don’t own your blog’s brand

• Minimal design control

• Restrictive content rules

• No ads or way to directly monetize

Medium offers an appealing way for bloggers to grow an audience around topical posts without managing an independent site. But their closed ecosystem gives little incentive for long-term business-minded bloggers to commit fully.

Wix

Wix has risen to become a top freemium website builder with over 200 million sites built on their proprietary drag and drop editor.

Along with general sites, Wix powers many content-focused blogs.

Pros

• Extremely intuitive visual builder

• 500+ professional templates

• Built-in image editor & media libraries

• Decent ecommerce & member functionality

Cons

• Numerous premium upgrades required

• Some bloatware apps & features

• Scalability not on par with WordPress

• SEO requires technical workaround

For bloggers who value aesthetics and ease of use over long-term flexibility, Wix is appealing. But limitations emerge should you ever outgrow starter packages.

Squarespace

With a strong design-centric focus, Squarespace attracts creative bloggers looking for visual impact over intricate functionality.

Their predefined elegant templates and integrated image editing nicely hide away complex site management.

Pros

• Gorgeous modern templates

• Emphasis on visuals & aesthetics

• Easy built-in ecommerce

• Decent built-in SEO

Cons

• Locked into premade designs

• Costly monthly plans

• Limited growth capabilities

• App ecosystem not on par with WordPress

For bloggers who never expect to grow beyond a personal site, Squarespace provides an aesthetically pleasing environment without needing tech skills.

But should success arrive, you’ll likely outgrow their rigid ecosystem’s constraints.

And the Best Platform is...

After comparing the pros and cons, WordPress remains my #1 recommendation for bloggers serious about long-term success.

No other platform matches its flexibility, customization range, scalability, and monetization capabilities... plus over 44% market share!

WordPress lets you fully own your brand, design, and data while equipping your blog for sustainable income growth. Together with low-cost shared hosting starting under $3 monthly, new bloggers simply can’t do better.

Yes - WordPress has a steeper initial learning curve compared to simple blogging-only tools. But by investing effort upfront into learning WordPress properly, you greatly expand what’s possible down the road.

If willing to master WordPress fundamentals like:

• Setting up web hosting

• Managing domains

• Installing themes & plugins

• Crafting content for SEO

• Building an email list

• Enabling ads or affiliates

... you gain an incredibly capable platform limited only by your ambitions.

While other blogging platforms hide complexities underneath, WordPress keeps the hood open for those wanting full control. And as you’ll discover, control means profit.

Let's next explore how to translate your vision into an actual living, breathing blog...

How to Set Up Your Blog On WordPress

Once niche and platform decisions are made, it's time to get your hands dirty!

Based on everything shared already, I'll assume you sensibly chose WordPress. Let's walk through exactly how to bring your WP blog online:

Choose Web Hosting

To run WordPress, your blog needs web hosting connected to a domain name.

Many excellent and affordable WordPress hosting options exist like:

• Bluehost - One of the world's most popular WP hosts due to low pricing & great support. Their starter plan is just $2.75 monthly!

• SiteGround - A bit pricier but stellar performance & speeds for growing blogs.

• WP Engine - Optimized WordPress hosting but costlier at $25+ monthly. Best for high-traffic blogs.

• DreamHost - Reliable hosting with unlimited sites. Plans start around $10 monthly.

• HostGator - Budget hosting for blogs & websites. The standard plan runs $2.99 monthly.

I suggest reputable companies like Bluehost or HostGator for starting out. Shared hosting packs all the WordPress essentials at low rates.

And with domain registrations often bundled in for one year free, you gain a permanent blog URL like YourBlogName.com on a single bill.

Later on, more advanced infrastructure becomes worthwhile as traffic and revenue grows.

Install WordPress Software

Next, use your hosting account to deploy fresh WordPress installation files. This fully open-source CMS software will empower your blog for free.

I won’t cover the tech details, but most hosts make installing WordPress a 1-click cinch. This immediately sets up:

• The MySQL database that stores your posts & media

• The PHP scripts providing content management UI

• Basic .htaccess configs and wp-config files

Afterward, simply log into your blog's /wp-admin/ area to start using the powerful Dashboard back-end.

This is where you’ll manage everything from posts, pages, and plugins to themes, SEO, and monetization.

But we've still got a ways to go before that...

Install a Theme

Raw installed WordPress looks pretty bland. So start customizing your blog's visual design through Themes.

These pre-packaged template sets control color schemes, layouts, fonts, and more sitewide elements.

Browse the WordPress Theme Directory or commercial marketplaces like Envato for right-fit options.

Install your chosen theme with a single click - no coding needed.

Most quality themes also let you customize:

• Colors

• Font selections

• Header images

• Widget locations

• Page layout formats

• And more

Without any development skills, you can achieve beautiful professional designs!

Add Essential Plugins

While themes handle presentation and layouts, WordPress plugins enable functional features from contact forms to SEO to security.

Quality plugins are absolutely vital for optimizing WordPress blogs far beyond vanilla installs.

I highly suggest these free plugins for all new WordPress blogs:

Yoast SEO - Powerful search optimization toolkit essential for traffic growth

Akismet - Stops comment spam saving you headaches

Smush - Compresses images for faster load times

BackUpWordPress - Automatically backs up your site

MonsterInsights - Integrates Google Analytics for tracking

WPForms Lite - Creates forms, surveys, and more

And many, many other plugins exist for everything imaginable - commerce, memberships, social sharing, sliders, calendars, etc.

Browse the WordPress Plugin Directory and experiment to enhance your capabilities over time.

Write Your First Blog Post!

With hosting set up and software configured, finally satisfy that itch and write your very first blog post!

Simply navigate to Posts > Add New within your WP dashboard.

Give your post a title and start typing content into the editor. Use the formatting options to style text, embed media, and more.

Once your brilliant words are ready, officially publish it and share your blog with the world!

Congrats - you're now a blogger! Let the traffic and accolades commence!

...Or more likely you've still got some work ahead. Let's talk realistically about attracting readers next.

How to Promote a Blog and Grow Traffic

Having a blog is one thing. Getting people to actually read it is another matter entirely!

Driving engaged visitors to your content allows monetizing through ads, affiliates, memberships, books, and beyond. So traffic equals money.

Unfortunately, the brutal truth is if nobody knows your blog exists, you won't make a dime. So relentless promotion is mandatory, especially when starting out.

Here are my most effective tactics for getting found:

Optimize On-Page SEO

You MUST learn basic search engine optimization principles to get content found organically by users.

Start by optimizing page elements Google values like:

🔎 Titles & Headings - Include primary keywords so scans reveal relevance

🔎 Content Length - Shoot for 2000+ words minimum per post

🔎 Image Alt Text - Manually describe images for improved context

🔎 Internal Links - Interlink related content to highlight associations

🔎 Outbound Links - Cite quality external sources to build trust

🔎 Keyword Density - Use target phrases reasonably often without over-stuffing

🔎 Page Speed - Compress media and enable caching for fast load times

🔎 Schema Markup - Use schema.org tags for richer search snippets

Plus utilize powerful SEO plugins like Yoast to further optimize your blog's search visibility.

Getting these on-page factors right improves discoverability and traffic as Google comes to trust your content.

Distribute on Social Media

While SEO aims at new visitors searching for topics, social media marketing engages those already following you.

Actively share your latest blog posts across networks like:

• Facebook Groups

• Twitter

• Pinterest

• LinkedIn

• Reddit

Encourage readers to like, comment, pin, or upvote content to their own feeds for wider broadcast.

This leverages existing social audiences to prominently showcase content instead of relying solely on search traffic.

And be sure to showcase vivid visual media like photos, infographics, or videos since those drive the most reactions.

Guest Post on Niche Sites

Contact established sites in your industry to contribute relevant guest posts with backlinks pointing back to your blog.

By publishing on 3rd party domains with existing readership, you enjoy immediate new eyeballs on useful content that raises your credibility.

But ensure guest posts offer genuine value vs spammy sales pitches. Focus on serving the host site's audience rather than selfish aims.

For example, a guitar blog could guest post vintage guitar reviews on a popular vintage gear site. This builds relations through reader value.

Interact With Influencers

Research social media influencers, experts, and enthusiasts aligned with your niche. Follow them online and engage regularly by:

• Commenting on posts

• Sharing their content

• Answering their questions

• Thanking them for insights

Tastefully establish your niche presence and knowledge without aggressively selling. Finding

ways to provide value earns you attention naturally.

And influencers with impressed audiences often share or host content from those giving them value - working to your advantage!

Also read: How good is a career in digital marketing in 2024?

Turn Readers Into Revenue With These Monetization Tips

Driving engaged traffic is the vital first milestone. But ultimately blogging must make money to justify itself as a business.

So once you’ve built initial readership momentum, implementing income streams is crucial for long-term profitability.

Here are my favorite ways for bloggers to monetize content:

Join Affiliate Programs

Affiliate marketing allows monetizing traffic without actually selling any product yourself.

Instead, you earn commissions by promoting 3rd party merchant products that align with your niche and audience interests.

For example:

• A beer brewing blog can endorse grain mills or fermentation gear from Amazon Associates or select retailers

• A SaaS blog can recommend related tools, books, or online services offering affiliate incentives

• A fashion site can feature relevant apparel brands offering sales kickbacks

When readers click your affiliate links and buy stuff, you receive up to a 10% sales cut for facilitating.

Top affiliate platforms include:

• Amazon Associates - Broad consumer products. Up to 10% commission

• ShareASale - Thousands of digital and physical affiliate programs. Average 8% commission

• Rakuten - Large retailer network with robust dashboard. Average 4% commission

• ImpactRadius - Leading premium CPS affiliate network. Offers tiered commissions

Just ensure transparency by visibly disclosing affiliate partnerships so readers understand commercial angles. Ethics matter to sustain long-term reader trust!

Sell Your Own Physical/Digital Products

Once you’ve won a loyal audience, create premium products catering specifically to their needs for maximum appeal.

These could be:

• Special reports/guides in ebook format

• Video training courses

• Tools or templates

• Exclusive membership sites

• Coaching or consulting services

• Conferences and events

...And more. Anything valuable you can dream up and promote to readers!

For digital goods, online store/membership platforms like Gumroad, Teachable, or Podia simplify end-to-end sales and delivery logistics immensely.

While physical products require storage, shipping, and handling via ecommerce stores like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Squarespace.

Just ensure premium offerings clearly communicate unique value justifying their pricing. Figure out exactly what your audience struggles with or wants to master then craft products fulfilling those needs.

Run Advertisements

Displaying paid ads allows monetizing visitors without needing them to actively purchase anything themselves.

So once you've built sizable traffic, joining advertising networks makes sense to profit from sheer audience size & engagement.

Top options are:

• Google AdSense - World's largest digital ad network uses data to target readers contextually.

• BuySellAds - Specializes in advertising across blogs/publishers. Higher earnings than AdSense.

• Amazon Associates - Alongside affiliate commissions they offer ad units to insert natively.

• Media.net - Strong payouts for niche contextual ads via CPM/CPC models.

• Infolinks - Unobtrusive rotated ads good for minimalist sites.

Ad placement matters - Avoid intrusive units ruining user experience or they may uninstall your blog from their lives!

Instead feature text/image ads seamlessly in line with content for better acceptance. And implement polite frequency capping so visitors see ads but not bombardingly.

When used sensitively and matched contextually, advertising earns income from traffic already arriving through other means like SEO or social channels. That's the beauty!

While requiring substantial effort upfront, blogging done right stands incredibly rewarding over the long run - both financially and in personal fulfillment.

I sincerely hope this guide gave you clarity plus motivation to finally start a blog!

Remember blogging success simply comes down to advancing step-by-step while fixing mistakes along the way. If you fail, that's perfectly normal!

Read next: Guide to Ranking Websites Through On-Page and Off-Page SEO