Last updated on August 1st, 2018 at 07:01 pm
Creating a blog from scratch can be a scary experience, especially, if you have no prior experience or knowledge. Learn how to start a blog from scratch even if you have no prior experience with blogging.
The most important thing to remember is that everyone starts from scratch. In this post, I am going to give you some tips to help you create your blog the right way.
[postgopher name=”creating a blog from scratch” pid=”3127″]Click To Download This Post as a PDF [/postgopher]
But first I want to help you realize that blogging takes time. It’s important to realize that growing a blog is not an overnight possibility.
Yes, some people seem to have quicker success than others. Maybe they wrote a blog post that went viral on Pinterest? Maybe they already had a huge social media following and they weren’t starting from scratch.
The truth is that most of us start from zero and it’s going to take time to grow our blogs.
When you start your blog with the right mentality, it will be much easier to stick with it when you are not getting the instant results you want.
Creating a Blog From Scratch
We all start from scratch, no one starts their blog and has hundreds of followers. Well, some people may be lucky enough to, I know that I wasn’t one of those people.
Nope, I’ve had to work hard at building up this blog. In fact, most people who start a blog start with no following and no knowledge of how to get started.
You’re Not Alone
When you first get started with your blog, you probably feel all alone. You don’t know anyone and you are not getting any comments or no one is sharing your posts.
I know, it sucks. I mean you didn’t wake up one day and decide that you just wanted to start a blog. Maybe you read an income report online that made you feel like “hey if they can do this, so can I.”
However, what that income report didn’t tell you is that it’s going to take a lot of work and effort to grow your blog.
Think of Blogging As A Long-Term Strategy
One of the biggest mistakes that most new bloggers make is that they think if they get a blog up and running today, tomorrow they will start seeing the money.
The truth is that it takes a long time to grow a blog. This doesn’t mean that you can’t grow your blog. In fact, I am willing to bet that if you want it bad enough, you will be able to see the benefits of having a blog.
If you are really ready to roll up your sleeves and do whatever it takes to grow your blog. These tips will help you that you are starting your blog the right way.
Start On A Self-Hosted Platform
Most new bloggers who want to start are scared to spend money on their blogging venture. I have had people reach out to me and ask me the following questions.
how can I start my blog if I don’t have money?
For now, I don’t have much money in order to start a self-hosted blog and I want to learn instead of earning, so What should I do?
To tell you the truth, I don’t know how to respond to these types of questions. These types of questions make me realize that these people are not actually ready to start their own blog.
It Doesn’t Cost Much
Starting the only business model that you can start for less than $100. I’ve started a few other ventures in the past and have spent much more money with very little results.
If you are a brand new blogger, you don’t need to invest in a ton of courses, plugins, themes or anything else. I recommend just starting with the very basics.
Invest in web hosting and your own domain. I also recommend investing in a premium theme if you want your blog to look professional. If you do not have the money for a paid theme, then you can use a free one until you get the money to invest a premium one.
Once you get your domain and hosting you are ready to start blogging. I’ve written a great tutorial on how to start a successful blog.
Choose Your Domain Name
Choosing a domain name can be a complicated process. Do you use a keyword rich domain name? Do I blog under my own name?
The truth is that you can choose to use whatever you want. For instance, if you wanted to start a blog in the Blogging niche like mine, and your name is Mindy Smith, you could choose a domain like:
- MindySmith.com
- MindySmithMarketing.com
- MarketingWithMindySmith.com
There are several different ways you could come up with a domain using your own name. If you do not want to blog under your own name, you could brainstorm other domain name ideas using some of these domain name generators.
You are going to have to live with your domain name, so make sure that you choose correctly.
Install WordPress
I still remember when I installed my very first WordPress blog. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done. They didn’t have the one-click installs like they do today.
Unfortunately, I had to learn how to install WordPress manually. This meant that I had to go download the software. Then I had to upload it to my server.
Next, I had to unpack it and make sure it was in the right directory. I know that sounds confusing, that’s why I wanted to write a step-by-step tutorial on how to install WordPress.
If you want to learn how to install it manually you can do that. Of course, if you want to use the one-click install, you can do that as well.
No matter how you install WordPress, the important thing to remember is that you only have to do it once. As a new blogger, there will be maintenance tasks you’ll need to do to maintain your blog.
But once you get WordPress installed, you can start blogging that same day!
Don’t Let Your Fear Hold You Back
Many people let their fear hold them back from actually getting started. It’s so easy to freak ourselves out and let that fear hold us back from actually starting.
Blogging can be scary. After all, you are putting your thoughts, opinions, and voice online. That can be scary and can draw negativity or other people’s opinions that are different from yours.
The great thing about using a self-hosted WordPress blog is you can moderate your comments. If someone leaves an ugly comment on your blog, do not approve it.
It’s your blog and you get to decide which comments you want to approve and which ones you do not.
Quick Story
When I started my very first blog back in the day, I thought that I had to approve everyone’s comment. I felt that if someone took the time to comment, I had the obligation to approve it.
Today, I have a comment policy in place. If people’s comment does not follow my policy, then their comment will not be approved.
This is my blog and at the time of this writing, I have been blogging for a year and 2 months. During this time, I have worked my butt off to grow it.
The last thing I want is my comments filled up with a bunch of negative comments. That’s why I took the time to create a comment policy. (even though not everyone reads it.)
Remember, if someone stops by and leaves a nasty comment, don’t approve it.
Install Yoast SEO
One of the biggest struggles of a new blogger is traffic. At one point, every new blogger will go to Google and type in “how can I get more blog traffic.”
I know because even I have done it. No one wants to continue working hard on their blog and not see visitors and page views. Without traffic, you might as well just be blogging as a hobby.
Chances are you started your blog because you want to eventually earn money from your blog. You might want to use affiliate marketing, sell your own products or services from your blog.
The great thing is that there are several different ways to monetize a blog. Before you can start making money from your blog, you are first going to have to learn how to get traffic.
Enter Yoast SEO Plugin
This plugin will help you properly SEO optimize your blog posts. Overtime as your blog starts to grow, you will start to see your organic traffic from the search engines.
When you properly optimize your blog posts using the right keywords that people are looking for. You will be surprised at how nice it is to see traffic coming to your blog from posts that you’ve written 6 months ago.
Yes, it takes time to get organic traffic to your blog. That’s why I recommend you read this article on how to get started with SEO.
Start Blogging
The only way that you are going to get people to come to your blog and share your posts is to start blogging. Create a blog schedule and stick to it.
There is so much to learn when it comes to blogging. You won’t know everything from day one. This does not mean that you can not get started.
You will continue learning as your blog continues to grow. If you want to know how to set up your blog the right way, I recommend picking up my JumpStart WordPress guide.
Get to Know Your Audience
When you start your blog, you may not know who your exact audience is. However, as you continue to blog you will start to realize who your targetted audience is.
As your blog starts to grow, you will want to cater your content to speak to your audience. The best way to do this is to create an avatar of the type of person that your blog is meant for.
I personally created an avatar that I speak to whenever I sit down to write a blog post. This makes it much easier to write content for my blog.
Your Blog Isn’t For Everyone
One of the mistakes that most bloggers make is they think that their blog is meant for everyone. The truth is that your blog is only meant to help your targetted audience.
Yes, you will probably get followers who aren’t your targetted audience. This can be confusing and you might find yourself trying to cater your content to help those people.
Don’t do that. Keep writing your content that speaks to your avatar. Write content to help attract the people that you want to attract.
It may take time to understand how to write this type of content. The great thing is that you will get better at doing this just by taking the time to actually write content for your blog.
Give It Time
Remember that blogging is the long-term strategy. It could take several months or years to start seeing the money roll in. This is the main reason that you shouldn’t focus 100% on the money when you are just starting.
Focus on providing the most valuable content that you know how. The more people that you can help over time it will help you become the go-to blogger in your niche.
As people start trusting you, they will start purchasing your products, services and affiliate offers.
Building trust doesn’t happen overnight. Ask any successful blogger and they will tell you that it took them years to create their blog empire.
Hand Picked Articles for You
- How to Grow A Blog What I’m Focusing On My Second year
- 42 Ways of Coming Up With Blogging Ideas to Last You All Year
- I Bought A Domain Now What Do I Do? 3 Things You Can Do
Creating a successful blog is hard work. I truly believe anyone can do it as long as they are willing to stick with it even at the very beginning.
You have a voice and you can share it with the world.
Now let’s get to it! Have you started your blog? Let me know how you got started and what you experienced at the very beginning, I’d love to know.
Loving this tutorial Susan. You cover all bases, it is so smart and hey, those points on fear and your blog not being for everyone are freaking spot on! So few bloggers write about these topics.
1 day after I bought my domain and hosting – a little over 10 years ago – I recall wanting to quit. I panicked. Who was I to think I could blog? I was so afraid. Kelli talked me off the ledge. Fear gripped me early on, and thru certain points during my career, but ya gotta feel the fear and do it anyway.
I know my blog is not for everyone, nor is anybody’s blog. If your blog even has close to mass appeal your subject matter and audience will be so broad that you will literally lose readers after minutes, not seconds. Jack of all trade types vanish so fast, and specialists who persist become online icons.
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
Glad that you were able to get over the fear. You’re right, sometimes we just gotta look fear in straight in the eye and do it anyway.
You’re right our blogs are not for everyone, but that’s okay. The people who need our blogs will be attracted to us.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day ๐
Susan
Susan, great tutorial! I must share with my niece is who starting a blog this year as she is writing a book. I love YOAST Seo plugin, I went pro last year and it really helps me in writing posts now.
It does take time and I would also add to have a techie help you out. I have one that I pay and rely on often. I could not imagine my blog without him.
There are so many things to be done besides writing posts as you know. Promotion takes a lot of time and when technical things come up if you need to learn how it can take hours if not days to fix yourself.
Sometimes we have to hire others to help along the way.
Thanks for sharing this one Susan as I’ll be emailing her it today ๐
Have a wonderful weekend ahead.
Hi Lisa,
Great to hear that your niece is starting writing a book and starting a blog. That’s awesome!
You’re right, there is always so much to do when running a blog. It seems like there is not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day ๐
Susan
Hello Susan,
I have read so many blogs about “How to start a wordpress blog” but this one really stands out. Actually even I had done a series on those, but I will definitely recommend this article if anyone asks me ๐
Nice to be here and hope to be back soon.
Hi Praveen,
Thanks that really means a lot to me. I try to share everything that I know about WordPress to help people who have never used the platform.
Definitely nice to hear that my blog stands out.
Have a great day ๐
Susan