How to start a blog in 2022: guide for beginners?

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Do you want to start a blog and make money from blogging?

If so, it would be an excellent decision for you but have you asked yourself why you want to start a blog? if so, you might get the below answers.

  • You want to earn money from the blog.
  • You are passionate about blogging and want to make blogging a full-time job.
  • You are a business and want to start a business site.

There could be other reasons as well, but the above three are the most common. Blogging would not be difficult if you are passionate about it.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the entire process of starting a blog from scratch. It would be quite a long article, but I will make sure you will not get bored while reading it. So keep a cup of coffee with you.

Choose profitable Blog Topic

The first step to start a blog is to choose the right blog topic. In blogging terms, we call it a blog niche.

choose a blog niche

How to choose a blog niche?

There is no rocket science for choosing the blog niche, but let me ask you a few questions, and when you answer it, you will get your blog niche.

  • Which pages, groups you liked or followed most on social media?
  • When you open YouTube, then what types of videos do you watch?
  • On what topics do you want to have a long discussion?

If you answer all the above questions, you will get one common category. You can also call it your interest area.

I wanted to know about your passion and what you like most. Always choose a blog niche in which you are interested or passionate.

Why so?

I think you know the answer, but let me share my opinion on it.

If you do the things which you love, then you would not feel like you are working. You will do it with passion and dedication, also the result would be awesome. The most important thing is you will never get bored of it.

On the other hand, if you want to make money from your blog, the niche should be profitable.

What is a profitable niche?

The niche where you will get many products and services for promoting has more commission rates. So, the chances of earning money from a profitable niche are more.

Keep in mind that every niche is not profitable. So you will have to choose it wisely to get more benefits.

Got confused?

Now, if you will have to choose a niche in which you are interested. And it should be profitable. This would not happen every time.

In this case, you will have two choices: start a blog in which you are interested or start a blog by choosing a profitable niche. Of course, both sides have pros and cons.

When you choose a niche in which you are interested, you will never get bored of writing what you like and are passionate about. However, if it is not profitable, then you will have to find out the different ways to monetize it.

When you choose the profitable niche, then you have already won the jackpot. You need to pour your skills and pull the money out of it.

Another important thing about blog niche is that as a beginner I would recommend you to choose a micro-niche or single niche. Don’t try to put all the content from different categories in one blog. It is quite difficult to get a ranking for the new multi-niche blog.

If you want to get faster results or a better ranking, then choose a micro-niche.

What is a Micro niche?

Suppose you have selected blogging as a niche then what types of content you will write? Let me break down blogging into multiple sub-topics.

  • Blogging
    • Affiliate Marketing
      • Specific Affiliate program(Bluehost, Hostgator, GeneratePress)
    • Web Hosting
      • Specific web hosting(Bluehost, Hostgator)
    • Blogging Tips
      • Start a blog, Skills
    • WordPress/Blogger
      • WordPress plugins
    • Make Money Online
      • Adsense, Advertise

Blogging is a top-level niche, we can break it into different types of micro-niche. The low-level niche is called the micro niche.

Finally, we came to a solution.

Choose a niche in which you are interested, and it should be profitable(if you want to earn money from the blog). I would recommend you don’t start a multi-niche blog. It would be difficult for a beginner to rank a multi-niche blog.

Here are a few blog niche ideas for your reference.

  • Health
  • Finance
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Sports
  • Blogging
  • Gadgets Review
  • Mobiles
  • Laptops

Purchase Domain Name

I assume you are ready with your blog niche. It is better to start a blog on your domain. It’s time to purchase a good domain name for your blog.

purchase a domain name

Here are a few things which you should remember before buying a domain name.

  • Keep your domain name simple, short.
  • You can use domain name generator tools to get better domain ideas.
  • Choose dot com domain name.
  • Don’t include trademarked words.

I have published a detailed article about things to be remembered while purchasing a domain name. You can go through it.

You have to choose a unique, simple, and classy domain name. If you don’t get a domain name idea, you can use the domain name generator tools to understand it better.

Where should you buy a domain name?

There are many domain name registrar available like GoDaddy, Google Domain, NameCheap, BigRock, etc. All these registrars are trusted, and millions of users using their products.

You will get a domain name starting from 1$ per year. The pricing for all the registrars is almost the same.

Keep in mind that the domain name will be your identity. Choose it wisely. You will use it everywhere on the internet.

Again, there is no rocket science for purchasing a domain name, open the registrar site, and buy it.

Choose blogging platform

You have selected blog topics, domain names, and now you want a blogging platform to start your blog.

choose a blogging platform

Few blogging platforms are popular, like WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, etc.

The blogger is an entirely free blogging platform. If you want to know what blogging is, you can start a blog on blogger and learn the basic concepts.

WordPress has two versions, WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

WordPress.com is a free blogging platform, and it has a paid version also. You can upgrade it to get more features like a pro.

WordPress.org is a self-hosted blogging platform where you will have to buy web hosting and install WordPress.

I would recommend you to start your blog with self-hosted WordPress.

I have published one article on Blogger and WordPress blogging platforms. If you are confused, then you can read it to get a better understanding of the differences.

All the newbie bloggers get confused while choosing a blogging platform. Let me solve this mystery here. Let me ask you a straightforward question.

Are you blogging for money or pursuing your passion for blogging?

If you are blogging for money and want to make blogging a full-time job, you can go for self-hosted WordPress.

If you choose a self-hosted WordPress, you will have to purchase the right web hosting. In addition, you have to invest a small amount in starting a blog.

Choose Web Hosting

So far, you have made significant progress. You have selected a blog topic, purchased a domain name, and also selected the blogging platform.

choose a right web hosting

Now, it’s time to purchase the best web hosting for your self-hosted WordPress blog.

There are several web hosting providers available on the internet. You have to choose the best one which gives you better performance.

How one can choose the right web hosting?

 Before that, let me tell you the types of web hosting.

  • Managed Web Hosting
  • Unmanaged Web Hosting

Let’s know the meaning of it.

Managed Web Hosting

In this type of web hosting, the hosting provider will manage your server and provide you with priority support if you require it. Also, you will get a CPanel to manage all your hosting stuff.

Unmanaged Web Hosting

In this hosting, you will get a server only with root access and everything you have to manage yourself. This is something like Linux or Unix administrator work. If you are not aware of Linux, then it would be difficult for you.

Which is suitable for you?

I would recommend you go for the Managed Web Hosting because we are a blogger, and we have to focus on the blog only, not the server like Linux Administrator.

The price for managed web hosting is slightly more than the unmanaged, but you will get many features like free email addresses, unlimited space, database, and most important, CPanel access.

Which is the best web hosting provider?

BluehostHostgator are the top managed web hosting providers. You can choose anyone, but I would recommend you to go for Hostgator.

The SiteGround is excellent, but for beginner, the pricing of it is high, if you can afford, then go for SiteGround.

If you know how to manage the server, you can go for Unmanaged web hosting like Vultr, Digital Ocean, Linode. It will provide you with the server instance, and you have to manually install the WordPress on it.

I have used Bluehost, DreamHost, Digital Ocean, Vultr for my blogs.

All clear so far.

Install WordPress

When you purchased web hosting, it’s time to install WordPress on it.

install wordpress

All the managed web hosting provides a one-click WordPress installation option, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Also, every web hosting has a different dashboard. The process is the same, install WordPress and login to WordPress and design your blog.

If you are stuck anywhere, you can contact the support team, and they will resolve your issue quickly.

I have written an article on how to install WordPress on Bluehost and Hostgator.

The above two articles will help you to install WordPress on any web hosting. Once you installed WordPress, there are few settings that you have to take care of. You can read the below article for the same.

Install WordPress Plugins

Once you complete the WordPress installation process, install the necessary plugins. There are a few WordPress plugins that are important to have.

Here is the plugin list that I am using for my blogs.

  • Akismet Anti-Spam– This plugin will block all spam comments.
  • Broken Link Checker– This plugin will find out the broken links in your blog.
  • OneSignal Push Notifications– If you want to send a push notification, this plugin will help you.
  • Redirection– This plugin will help you to redirect the URL to another.
  • Smush– Image compression plugin.
  • ThirstyAffiliates– This plugin will cloak your affiliate links and make them short and simple.
  • WPS Hide Login– This plugin hides the WordPress default login URL.
  • Yoast SEO– This is a must-have plugin that manages all SEO tasks.
  • Code Snippets– This will help you to add the code, no need to edit your theme’s functions.php file again.

Choose the right theme

Nothing is free in this world.

If you want to do blogging seriously, then you should purchase a premium WordPress theme. It will cost you around 50$ or sometimes less but it’s worth it.

choose a right blog theme

Theme selection depends on the blog niche. Here is the list of themes which I like.

  • GeneratePress– This is one of the fastest WordPress themes. If you want to load your blog quickly, then I would recommend you to use this theme.
  • Astra– This is another alternative to GeneratePress. Astra has excellent performance and has many features.

I use GeneratePress for all my blogs because this is one of the fastest themes available in the WordPress store. In addition, it has many features that allow you to customize your theme without any page builder and coding.

If you want to create custom pages for the blog, then you can purchase any page builder. GeneratePress will work like a champ with a page builder.

Elementor and Thrive Architect are the best page builder who works great with GeneratePress.

I am using GeneratePress with Thrive Architect.

I think you got my point. You will choose the best WordPress theme for your blog.

Write Your first blog post.

Now, you have set up your blog. It’s time to publish articles on it.

write your first blog post

Before writing any posts, I suggest you create an about, contact, privacy policy page for your blog. Then, your blog will look professional.

Now, you know your blog niche. You just have to find out the suitable topics for your article.

Don’t write the content which is easily available on the internet. You can find out what others are missing and try to write articles on it. You can use Grammarly to write error-free articles.

In this way, the chances for ranking your article are more. Also, you can write an article about your practical experience.

If you want to drive traffic from Google, you have to do proper keyword research and optimize your blog posts.

Keyword Research is a very vast topic, I will not discuss it here, but I will try to write a detailed blog post on Keyword Research.

Here are a few articles which will help you to write blog posts.

Start Monetizing

You did it. You have created your first blog.

make money from blog

Now, it’s time to earn money from your blog. There are different ways to make money online.

  • Google AdSense- You can apply for Google AdSense and place Google Ads on your blog. You will get paid for Pay Per Click(PPC).
  • Affiliate Marketing- This is the best way to earn money by promoting the products of others on our blog.

If you want to know more about Google AdSense and Affiliate Marketing, then read the below articles.

There are many ways to earn money. I have written a detailed article about making money blogging. You can read it.

You can earn more money if your blog has more traffic. Your blogging income is directly proportional to the blog traffic.

If you don’t believe that we can earn money from our blog, you can check out my income report with proof.

What Next?

Let me congratulate you on starting a brand new blog.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Blogging is a never-ending process. You can write new articles, update the old ones, share them on social networking sites, etc. There are many things that you have to do to make your blog successful.

There are lots of stuff that needs to be done after creating a blog. You should be up to date in blogging.

Do some daily activities on your blog and try to be different from other bloggers. You will get succeeded. Everything depends on the CONTENT.

If you need any help with your blog, then you can connect with me at scrollbucks@gmail.com.

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