How to Start a Blog
- Where To Start and How to Follow This Plan
- Step 1: Pick a Niche
- 6 Keys To Picking The Right Niche:
- Action Step:
- Step 2: Name Your Blog
- Domain Name Tools
- Step 3: Set Up Web Hosting
- Step 4: Set Up & Design Your WordPress Site
- Step 5: Keyword Research
- Step 6: Write Your First Blog Post
- Step 7: Promote Your Blog
- Step 8: Write Blog Posts 2-10
In 2019, I stumbled upon a couple named Lindsey and Bjork Ostrom.
Lindsey started a food blog called Pinch of Yum and in 2011, they started posting the results of their “food blog money-making experiment”.
In the first month of reporting earnings, they booked a profit of $21.97.
A year after their first income report, they were making over $5,000/month.
By the time they stopped posting income reports at the end of 2016, they had both quit their jobs and were making a profit of over $60,000/month.
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Bjork started a sister site called Food Blogger Pro where they teach others how to start a food blogging business.
Before I learned about the Ostroms and Pinch of Yum, I had no clue you could make this kind of living on the internet. I was all in.
The possibility is real. But a lot of hard work, diligence, and consistency are required before building something like that.
If you are reading this, I’m guessing you are thinking the same thing I was thinking then:
“How do I do it and where do I start?”
The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is now.
Where To Start and How to Follow This Plan
Each of the 8 steps in this guide includes action steps. Follow the action steps and do them as quickly as you can.
Fight the urge to spend a lot of time making each decision. People who take action succeed. People who get bogged down or overthink fail.
You can always go back and make edits later. Keep the ball moving down the field.
You will also feel like reading this entire guide in one sitting and skipping steps. My recommendation is to skim the headings in the guide, get a look at the process, and then quickly come back to Step 1, Action Step 1.
Get started.
Step 1: Pick a Niche
Most successful blogs focus in on a single topic. You will need to pick a niche to focus on.
Lindsey Ostrom’s niche was cooking. She loved making great food, taking pretty pictures, and sharing her recipes online.
6 Keys To Picking The Right Niche:
- Choose a niche you truly love. What do you find yourself daydreaming about?
- Choose a niche in which you have either: Knowledge, Expertise, Experience, or Passion. You do not have to be an expert. You do need to be able to write about the topic easily.
- Avoid the MOST competitive niches: Personal Finance, Health & Fitness, Technology, Food, Digital Marketing, Fashion, and Personal Development. These topics are all broad and very competitive. Standing out is difficult but not impossible. If you your passion falls within one of these niches, narrow the topic down to a more specific audience. Ex: Fitness for women over 40 (Health & Fitness). Keto Cooking (Food). Financial planning for Teachers (Personal Finance).
- Pick a Niche that has enough available content. Avoid getting so specific that you would run out of things to write about.
- Choose a niche that has some flexibility. Leave room to branch out into other topics (important when choosing a name in the next step).
- Above all else, go with your passion. Don't pick a niche, just because it follows the advice above. Pick a niche because it is something you love and can easily write about.
I have tried to start blogs in niches I did not care about just because I thought they were good niches. Those blogs have not worked out.
Stick to something you know, love, and can easily write about.
Action Step:
Set a timer for: 20 Minutes
Write down: 3-5 possible niches
Choose the niche you are most passionate about before the timer runs out.
Step 2: Name Your Blog
You don't have to find the perfect name for your business today. You aren't naming your business today, just choosing a domain name for your blog.
This step can easily turn into 4 days of thinking if you let it. It is important to make these decisions without getting too bogged down and getting to what matters most:
Creating content.
You want to make this decision quickly, but you also want to do it right. Here are 6 things you need to consider when choosing your domain name:
7 Tips For Choosing The Perfect Domain Name
- Keep it short and simple
- One word domains are hard to come by
- Two word domain names are better than three
- Use .com when possible
- Avoid hyphens and numbers
- Easy to say and spell
- Avoid trademarks
- You shouldn't use other brand names in your domain (ex: )
- Use a keyword in your domain name
- Google likes when it knows what your site is about
- Don't be too specific
- Let Google know what your site is about but leave room for expansion
Starting with a blank canvas is no good. Now that you have some ideas for how to choose a proper domain name, let's look at some tools for generating ideas.
Domain Name Tools
Step 3: Set Up Web Hosting
This is the part that can start to overwhelm you but just follow the steps and it will be easy.
