HOW TO START BLOGGING IN 2022

5 Steps to Starting a Successful Blog

1. Select a blog name and sign up for blog hosting.

2.WordPress is a good place to start if you want to start a blog.

3. To personalize your blog, use a basic theme.

4. To identify your readers and track your data, install two essential blogging plugins.

5. Create a blog that your viewers will enjoy by writing intriguing material.

While alternative blogging systems such as Blogger.com and Tumblr.com exist, almost every professional blogger prefers to utilize a self-hosted WordPress site due to its creative freedom and flexibility.

WordPress is used by THE YOUR PRODUCTION because it provides us more creative control over the design and feel of our blog than any other platform. Oh, and WordPress is also completely free!

Choose a name for your site and sign up for blog hosting.

When we originally started our blog, the first thing we did was go to Bluehost and register our domain, which comes with hosting for free. We'll get into hosting later, but first, let's speak about your domain name.

Select a domain name.

Because it is the name of your blog, your domain name is a crucial aspect of your blog because it gives the first impression. Your domain, often known as your URL, is your online address. For example, www.theminimalists.com is our domain name.

So, what do you want your blog to be called? It might be YourName.com. It may be YourBusinessName.com. Maybe it's a clever brand name you came up with. If you're having trouble coming up with a suitable domain name, consider Wordoid, a fantastic naming tool that will provide you with a plethora of alternatives. Just make sure you don't purchase a domain from them because Bluehost will provide you with one for free.

Create a blog hosting account.

You'll need to set up hosting for your blog once you've chosen a domain name. While WordPress is free (see Step 2), you'll need dependable hosting service for your WordPress blog (your blog needs to be on a server somewhere on the Internet).

We suggest Bluehost for hosting for various reasons:

Bluehost is what we use.

The Minimalists is hosted by Bluehost, which we use. You should be willing to utilize a company's product if you promote it. We also utilize them to host a few of our other websites.

Excellent customer service.

Bluehost's customer care is entirely situated in the United States. With typical hold times of less than 30 seconds and 100% in-house, on-site employees at their Texas headquarters, you can be confident that the individual assisting you with your site understands what they're doing. In other words, they will assist you during the entire setup procedure if you have any questions.

Excellent value for money. 

TheMinimalists.com is a Bluehost associate partner, which means we get paid for introducing new clients in addition to utilizing their service. To be honest, we've been using Bluehost for a long time and would continue to do so even if we weren't an affiliate. As a result, we don't suggest Bluehost because we're affiliates (every hosting business has an affiliate scheme), but because they're the best, most dependable alternative. Plus, as a partner, Bluehost gives a 50% discount to The Minimalists subscribers for the first year: only $2.75 per month.

The domain is available for free. 

Bluehost will provide you with a free domain name when you sign up for hosting, allowing you to save the upfront and ongoing costs of buying a domain on your own. Don't worry if you already own a domain name; you can still utilize it with Bluehost (it'll just take a little longer).

Guaranteed Money-Back

 There's no danger if you change your mind since Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Reliability. 

The services provided by Bluehost are of the highest quality. They have a 20,000-square-foot data center constructed specifically for them, with enough backup generators to run a metropolis.

Family and friends.

 Bluehost is also used by many of our friends and family to host their blogs. When you're ready, go to Bluehost and select the Get Started Now option.

The next step is to select a hosting package.

Prices vary based on whether you choose a simple, single-blog hosting package or a more powerful one that allows you to build many blogs.

Bluehost provides a unique discount for The Minimalists readers because we're an associate partner: just $2.75 per month for the first year. That's a substantial saving.

After you've decided on a plan, you'll need to choose or input a domain name.

If you don't already have a domain name, just type it into the New Domain box.

Simply type your domain name into the I have a domain name box if you already have one.

Next should be selected.

Finally, you'll need to create a blogging account.

To finish your blog hosting setup, click Create your password.

  You're on your way to becoming a blogger!

Add WordPress to your blog to get started.

The next step is to download and install WordPress, which is completely free. However, don't be put off by the phrase "install." It's a lot easy than it seems, and Bluehost takes care of everything.

To get started, simply click Log In.

Bluehost offers various blog design options, but you can skip this step by scrolling to the bottom (you'll understand why later).

WordPress is now up and running. To get through your new blogging dashboard, simply click Start Building and go to Step 3.

To personalize your blog, use a basic theme.

A theme allows you to choose a design for your blog without having to know anything about coding or design. To put it another way, a decent theme aids you in designing your site precisely as you want it to appear. If you're not a developer (and I'm not), a theme will make your design job a million times simpler.

BYLT, a platform established by our excellent colleagues at SPYR, designed our blog. They offer several lovely, basic WordPress themes to select from, and you can even buy the same theme we use if you like.

Simply go to BYLT and look for the minimalist WordPress theme that best matches your taste. Their themes are feature-rich, and if you purchase one, you will be supported by the same team that we trust to maintain ours.

You'll be able to download your WordPress theme (a.zip file) from your BYLT Dashboard once you've purchased it. You'll need to save this file to your desktop since you'll be uploading it to WordPress shortly.

Do you recall how simple it was to set up WordPress? Installing your blog theme, on the other hand, is just as straightforward.

Return to the WordPress Dashboard first.

You should already be logged in, but if you aren't, go to my.bluehost.com and sign in with your new domain name (or username), password, and submit.

Go to My Sites and select login to WordPress from the drop-down menu.

Then click to Appearance > Themes on your WordPress dashboard.

Then press the Upload button.

Then, after clicking the Upload Theme button, select a file using the Choose File button.

To install your new basic blog design, locate the.zip file you obtained from your BYLT Dashboard (this is your theme file) and click Install Now.

Finally, click Activate to activate your blog theme.

To identify your readers and track your data, install two essential blogging plugins.

Plugins are third-party add-ons that extend the capabilities of your blog.

Because too many plugins—as well as faulty plugins—can slow down your site, it's ideal to reduce your number of blog plugins to a minimum and install just the finest ones. At The Minimalists, we only utilize a few plugins.

The following free plugins will be installed and activated in this section:

Yoast SEO is the de facto standard WordPress SEO plugin. Yoast's Definitive SEO Guide contains all the information you'll ever need about WordPress SEO.

MonsterInsights' Google Analytics for WordPress makes it simple to measure your blog's traffic and provides a wealth of useful information, including overall traffic, traffic sources, views per author and category, and automated tracking of outbound clicks and pageviews.

Go to Plugins > Add New on your WordPress dashboard.

Yoast SEO is what you're looking for.

Then select Install Now, then Activate, and your blog's SEO will increase immediately. Then look for MonsterInsights.

Then select Install Now, then Activate.

After that, click Start the Wizard! Now complete the MonsterInsights setup by following the procedures.

Finally, we created a free Feedburner account so that individuals may get our blog entries by email. Constant Contact is a more feature-rich email subscription service that we suggest (affiliate link). (By the way, you can subscribe to The Minimalists' blog by email here if you haven't already.)

Create a blog that your viewers will enjoy by writing intriguing material.

Congratulations! It's time to start blogging now that you've launched a blog. This is where the good times begin.

Now that you have your blog, you may personalize it and put your ideas into reality.

Content.

Create an About Page, Contact Page, Start Here Page, and any other page you like in the header of your new site and start creating and producing material for them.

Photo

. Add a photo of yourself (pro tip: start with a well-lit selfie, but if you have the opportunity, get some professional images shot; they're well worth the money because people associate more with other people than with brands).

Logo.

 Build a simple logo with software like InDesign, Photoshop, or a text editor (note: despite our lack of design abilities, we were able to create our simple logo with Apple's Pages application after obtaining some free vector graphics and selecting the typeface that best matched our aesthetic). You may also hire a professional logo designer from sites like 99designs or SPYR.

Images.

Use high-quality stock photographs and images from Paul Jarvis (free), Unsplash (free), Library of Congress (free), iStock (fee-based), and Shutterstock to spice up your blog entries (fee-based).

Comments.

Decide whether or not you want comments on your blog; they're a great way to get feedback and interact with your readers directly.

Social.

Create a Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram account to promote your business (or all three).

Publish. Begin writing fresh blog entries. Publish at least once a week, especially when you're initially getting started with a blog, to create a following. In the How to Blog section, you'll also find 20 blogging suggestions to help you improve your writing, as well as 15 reasons to start a blog and 3 reasons not to start a blog.

    We hope you have a lot of fun on your new blog expressing yourself. We're confident that the following months will be a wonderful learning experience for you. You are now a full-fledged blogger. Make the most of your travel, no matter where you're heading.