How to start a blog in 2014

http://dharmenderseoexperts.blogspot.in/search/label/what%20is%20search%20engine%20optimization

One of my younger brother asked me this question 2 days ago ‘ how can i start a blog’; I explained and helped him on how to start one; this tutorial is a guideline to so many people that have been thinking on starting a blog.

Starting a blog is not a rocket science, anybody can do it and have it running; there are lay down rules, principles, tools to use and know before starting one.

Where you are right now is an example of a blog, this is my personal and business blog where I teach people and business owners the ‘ SEO tips and guidelines on how to grow their website’. I am sure you are thinking of either running a blog for your business, career, church, mosque, political campaigns, e.t.c. Having said that, it is important to ask yourself the following questions;

how can i start a blog- What niche should I chose and start from?

For instance, my wife is into fashion, make up artistry, beauty-make up e.t.c, so starting a blog on this niche was easy. She wanted to use her blog to teach people what she knows and at the same time make money by offering services to clients. Before you start a blog, you need to be crystal clear and goal specific on the niche you want to blog about. You might be a lover of cars, so starting a blog about different aspects of cars can be a good start ( e.g. the specifications, how to buy a good car, getting loans to buy a car e.t.c.) Are you thinking about sport, motivational, politics, academia, law, engineering niches e.t.c.; you need to be clear about what you want because it indirectly affect the name and topic you will b e choosing for the blog.

Be clear of your purpose

For those of us running and maintaining a blog, we can tell you that its both fun running a blog and at the same, its challenging. This is where your purpose comes in. If your purpose is not clear, you will soon discover that you will lose interest fast and give up blogging pretty fast. Ask yourself the following questions first

Are you setting up a blog for professional services and/or consulting task
Do I just want to set up a blog for monetary purpose
Are you interested in teaching or educating people
Are you just starting a blog just to be heard or trying to be an advocate for something
Or simply enjoying your passion

Your purpose determines the type of blogging platform that is good for you, it will also determine your long term success with it. For example, my own purpose of setting this blog was explained above, and that is why the name of my blog is bloggingconsult, and my topics of discussion are centered around this!!

Chose a name and pick a blogging platform

Choosing a name or topic for your blog matters to the overall branding strategy and long term success of it, so chose carefully. After you are done with this, the next step to take is choosing a blogging platform. Now, there are two options; free and paid!!

Should I use a free or paid blogging platform?

Being a businessman, I firmly believe that investing in your start up project is a sure sign of commitment and seriousness. While there are many free blogging platform out there, I highly recommend you go for a paid platform where you have your name (Niche or name of your business, product or services, just like this blog (blogging consult).

Examples of free platforms are:

Blogger, owned by Google; in this case, your blog address will look like this: bloggingconsult.blogspot.com, myname.blogspot.com e.t.c
wordpress.com; in this case, your blog will look like: bloggingconsult.wordpress.com, myname.wordpress.com
Tumblr; this free blogging platform is owned by Yahoo; in this case, your blog will look like: bloggingconsult.tumblr.com or myname.tumblr.com

I will not go into details here on free platforms as there are many disadvantages, chief among the disadvantages includes

You don’t have control over the blog
You are limited with design options and overall layout,
You are limited in adding pictures, images, videos and an engaging commenting system;

To start a blog in today’s competitive and time consuming period is a must. Research shows that online shopping, surfing and online business has increased exponentially over the last period of years with mobile internet browsing poised to take it to an even greater height.

Thinking of starting a website or blog in your field of expertise, niche or business, the below guidelines are exactly what you need to get started.

Guideline to set up and start a blog in 5 minutes

Basically, what you need and the four steps to actually get started are explained below:

A domain name
A hosting account for the domain name
WordPress platform and its installation
Choosing a design that fits your niche

Lets get started!!

1# Domain Name

For example, my domain name is bloggingconsult.org; so depending on your niche or business model, you can chose a name that reflects your brand or personality. Think of a name and then you need to check first if its available, to do that go to bluehost, if its available, buy it immediately. The screenshot will be of help;

click get started now

check for the domain name and choose whether it should be .org.net e.t.c

whois privacy is important

Ready, buy and register your domain name now AT BLUEHOST

2# Host the newly registered domain name

Hosting a blog simply means you are looking for a space on the web that will accommodate your blog and its content. This is virtual in nature. A web server connects a blog to the internet. So, for you to be able to type in www.yournewdomainname.com into a browser and the page opening like this blog means that it is on a web server that will connect it to the internet.

Cost: 4.95USD per month: CLICK HERE TO SIGNUP FOR BLUEHOST.COM

My preferred web host company is still bluehost, why?

Bluehost remains one of the cheapest and most affordable web hosting company in the world with as little as $4.5 USD per month of hosting
They have 24/7 customer support services; infact, they are the best in this, other webhost will simply ask you to open ticket. So, if you are having problem, simply call them
They keep to their integrity; they offer 30 days money back guarantee, trust me, Michael hyatt used their service, and when he complained on a particular issue and requested for his money to be refunded, they willingly obliged
They handle the installation with their one-click installation guidelines
They are generous, they offer you a $75USD adwords advertising campaign for your business
They power more than 2 million websites and blogs; this means they are highly experienced in this business

With as little as $3.95 /month, you can get started, ready, go to bluehost and sign up NOW

3# WordPress Platform and its Installation

Congratulations for registering the site and the hosting services. Now to get your site up and running, you need to install on wordpress platform. Just follow the below guidelines:

login in to bluehost; www.bluehost.com
On the home page ( and if not on the home page, just look for the home link at the top left hand corner of the page, click on it)
Scroll down and locate the bluehost button ( under it, there is ‘install wordpress’ inscription), click on it
On the next page that will appear, click the start button and follow the screen shot below for more understanding

On the next page, simply overwrite existing file

Please, keep your password secure, but change it later

Please note that your site URL is the address of your blog, just click on it and it will be launched on any browser; your login URL is the address from which if you login with the provided username and password, you will be able to write and publish post, add images and configure the settings.

NB: The bluehost team can help you set up your blog, and if you don’t mind, I can also be of help, just contact me!!

After the blog had gone live ( seen the screen below), the following needs to be done

Congratulations on the successful launch of your blog; if you try to open your address now on the browser, it will open but will not look fine or professional and that is why we need to read the final guideline; and secondly, if you need to write or post article, just copy and paste the login URL ( in my case, it will be ‘ http://dharmenderseoexperts.blogspot.in/, press enter, what will be shown is displayed below.

For the username; your default is admin, and type in your password

3# Choosing a design that fits your niche

WordPress themes are the skins or designs that determines how your blog looks like. For example on this blog, I have chosen the nineteen six pro wordpress theme from Genesis, people have been asking and commenting on the design of my blog ( it cost me 99USD, you can check it out on the studiopress marketplace).

so, depending on what you want to do with your blog e.g. fashion, eatery, consulting business, law firm e.t.c., you need a design that will reflect such

Recommend themes/blog designs include:

Genesis Themes from Studiopress

Thinking of a magazine design, law, sport, school e.t.c. just check out their vast arrays of themes

Elegant Themes

Themeforest

An example of a food blog design; choosing a design that reflects your business and niche is important

If you are thinking of running magazine, sport, celebrity corner, financial blog e.t.c.; professional customized template designs are available which you can use to set up the layout and beauty of the blog. Recommend wordpress design themes can be obtained from: