1.Buy your domain name.
There are several different places where you can purchase your domain name including domain.com and namecheap.com. Where you buy your domain name doesn’t really matter, as you will be pointing it to your hosting later on.
When choosing a name, pick something that is short (about three or four words), sounds catchy, and is related to what you want to write about.
Unless you are 100% sure you will write about cats, I would not choose a domain like allaboutcats.com. Decide on the slogan for your blog before purchasing your domain name, because you want them to go well together.
3. Buy Hosting
This is where a lot of people mess up. It is tempting to go for the free hosting, but remember that you have very little control over your site then.
If you want to add products, ads, and affiliate links later on, then buy hosting that can support that. I started with GoDaddy website builder, and after a couple of months, completely switched to Siteground.
I was not able to add any plug-ins to my site, and could not make any changes to the backend.
For beginner bloggers, I recommend Siteground or Lyrical. These are great for beginners. Both have good customer service, so if you need any help message them.
After you have over 100K visitors to your site, then I would switch to BigScoots. Recommended by the top bloggers, Big Scoots significantly speeds up your website.
3. Choose A Theme.
There are so many different themes that it can be hard to choose one. This is one where you need to remember: KISS. Keep it simple silly.
Themes can make your site load slowly, and decrease user-friendliness. I currently have Astra, but Kadence is also one that people recommend.
Don’t spend a lot of time here at first. It is easy to get lost in a loophole of learning. Set up your theme. Then do the next step.
4. Publish A Post.
Just do it. Don’t wait for five posts to be ready. Very few people will be seeing your first post anyway. Write it and hit publish. You want google to start recognizing that you have a website. This can take time.
3. Install Plugins
Plugins are tools that help with certain tasks on your site. A word of caution: it is easy to overload your website with plugins which makes your site slower. Try not to have more than 12-14 plugins.
Plugins I have on my site are:
Updraftplus
Convertkit
Grow Social
Cookie Notice and Compliance for GDRP
Insert Headers and Footers
Wordfence Security
WP Optimize
5. Install Google Analytics
6. Join Blogging Facebook Groups.
I love Blogging Like You Mean It Facebook group. You can ask all your blogging questions, and they are super helpful. Also, Kingdom Bloggers is a group dedicated to Christian Bloggers.
7.Learn SEO.
Learning to write in a way that search engines prefer is what will help get visitors to your site. On-Page SEO, written by Debbie Garter is a fantastic Ebook, that will give you tips and tricks on writing a good blog post.
IF you want free info, check out Allison Lindstrom on Youtube. She has some very helpful videos explaining all things blogging.
8. Learn Keyword Research.
In order for your posts to be found in google, you need to include keywords that your audience uses, in your post.
I bought Keywords Everywhere for $14 (should last me a year), and it has been so helpful. When you know what people are searching for, and the competition for those keywords are, you can make an informed decision on what to write about.
9. Write 25-50 posts.
After you know how to write a proper blog post, write! You need content in order for people to find you.
It takes google six months before it will start showing your posts, so put your energy into writing and writing well.
Don’t worry, you’ll get better with practice.
10. Start collecting emails.
I use ConvertKit. They have a free program now, for the first 1000 subscribers? I think…You can also use mailerlite, but I prefer the way emails look from convertkit.
Emails that are hard for me to read because of small letters, often go into my junk pile.
You can sign up for ConvertKit here.
Create a FREEBIE, to entice people to sign up for your email list.
11. Learn Pinterest Marketing
If your people are on Pinterest, this can be a great traffic source for your blog. At the moment, Pinterest brings in the majority of my traffic.
Pinteresting Strategies by Carly Campbell is a helpful course that I took a couple months into blogging, that really helped me get traffic.
She also has a Pinterest Mastermind group that people are loving, where you get Pinterest Templates sent to your email every month. This is a paid group, however. On my “one-day” list.
12. Write another 50 posts.
Well-written content is what will help your website grow. Write, write, and write some more. The more you write, the better you’ll get. My biggest struggle is finding the time for this step!
13. Keep Learning.
Blogging is always growing and changing. Keep up to date with changes that are happening, and implement as you go and as you can.