As seasoned bloggers and Internet Marketers, we can often take so much for granted when it comes to practical application of marketing online.
Unlike offline marketing, there are a number of technical elements to learn and once we’ve moved away from the “getting started” phase, we assume everyone else is with us.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
There is an army of people out there waiting for someone to show or tell and preferably, show and tell them how to get started.
And it’s the basics that cause so many to turn around and give up. They don’t know how or where to purchase a domain name, whether to use free hosting or whether they should just host their blog on a free platform such as WordPress.com and not worry about hosting at all.
For these reasons, I’ve dug this article out from my old archives, cleaned it up, and added to it just for those who are looking to start a blog but don’t know how to.
So What Is A Blog?
If you are new to blogging and you’re anything like I was when I started out, you have an idea what a blog is and why have one, but you don’t know how to get started.
Your research gives you too many options … use Six, SquareSpace or WordPress.com to set up a free blog hosting account, use Facebook, Instagram or one of the other social networking sites to set up your blog or, create your own blog using your own hosting account and domain name.
Which one is best?
If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you’ll know I’m definately not a fan of free hosted solution blogs like wordpress.com simply because I believe you need to own your site. Anything less than this as a business owner is preparation for commercial sucide. You do anything to violate the terms and services of the free hosting providers and with just one click of the mouse, your site is removed and your online business destroyed in a millisecond.
My personal preference for starting a blog is to use WordPress because it’s the most popular blog software right now, is now a powerful Content Management System and has a myriad of plugins you can use to give your site more functionality.
Note that when I say WordPress, I mean going to WordPress.org (and not WordPress.com), downloading the free software and then upload it to your own server. Or, better still, buy your hosting from someone like Bluehost which uses what is called “C-Panel Hosting” and use their automated WordPress installation script which will get you up and running with your first (though very basic) WordPress site in minutes.
In the long-term, you’ll be pleased you chose to own your blog at the outset because moving from one blog platform to another can be done, but it’s not always plain sailing and no one wants to build up traffic and credibility and then have to start again on another blog platform.
My motto is “start right and it will save you fixing later.”
Using WordPress – The Bigger Picture
If you’re a big picture thinker like me, you’ll probably want to know what initial costs may be involved and the basic requirements for getting started. So, I’m going to give you the low-down on this too:
-
- You will need a domain name and my suggestion is that you go to GoDaddy.com (about $10) – and please, just take it from me, stick to buying the domain name from them, NOT the hosting provider. Remember to make your domain name relevant to the business you’ll be in, easy to remember and, easy to spell.
- You’ll need a hosting account and as I suggested earlier, my preference is Bluehost which costs about $4 per month.
- You need your blog up and running. Whether you upload it yourself or, hire someone, you just need at least the basic blog since this will help you get a feel of what you want your site to look like. It’s also important that even if you do hire someone to build your blog that you continue to create content during the site design phase so you have content to add to the site once completed. In terms of WordPress themes, currently, I use Thrive Themes for most of my blogs. The initial build cost is free if you build your blog yourself or to hire someone it will cost you between $50 to $4,500. The higher end of the scale will either come with consulting and training or a will involve a taylor made solution. If you want someone to build you a blog on a budget, try Elance.com.
- If you want to capture names and email address so that you can keep your readers updated or promote your products and services later on, you’ll need some kind of email capture form on your site, and you have several choices for doing this. One is to use a paid service such as Aweber which is currently $19 per month (my prefered choice), or you can use MailChimp which has a free starter option. Just like moving your blog, moving your emails from one service to another isn’t plain sailing and so think before you choose which service to run with.
There are other plugins that can be added to the blog later on, but for now, these are your main considerations and for less than $20 you can at least get started with your blog today.
To Your Online Success,
