Blogging 101 | How to Start a Blog

19/05/2016


Hey guys,

Starting a blog can be very overwhelming and it can be difficult to know where to start. But don't fear, I am here to help you. In this post I am going to outline the key things you need to do to start your very own blog. There are many ways, and tools, available to start a blog but I am just going to share with you the ones that I use or know about.

Scalloped Elegance

1. Find your Niche

Your niche is the topic that you write and care about. Of course you can have more than one niche but it is necessary to establish your niche before creating your actual blog. For example my niche is fashion and beauty, however I also post lifestyle and occasionally other things, but generally fashion or beauty.


2. Choose your platform

The first step of actually setting up your blog is choosing your platform. Your platform is the website or program that you use to create your blog and write posts. I use Blogger which is a free blogging platform. However, there is also Wordpress which is a paid for platform. Wordpress has a few more options for you to make your blog more personalized. If you have never had a blog before I suggest using Blogger so you can get the idea of how to run a blog and see if you like blogging. When you start to build a following and have a stable readership most people transition to Wordpress. If you are in this situation there are many tutorials out there to help you, one being The Wonder Forests tutorial.

3. Designing your template

The third thing is a really fun one, designing your blog. Blogger makes this very easy by guiding you step by step. You can edit colours, fonts, measurements, widgets and more. If the template you create isn't quite what you have in mind, there is another option. Unless you are very good at coding it can be difficult to create a professional looking blog. Luckily you can purchase pre-made templates for most blogging sites. I purchased my template from Pipdig, but I also know of beautiful ones from Envye.

4. Social Media 

Social media will be your biggest asset when starting and growing your blog. Social media lets you share your content, promote and grow your blog and connect with followers and fans. The hardest part of using social media is keeping up with all the activity. I have so many social media accounts that it can be hard to keep track of them all. That's where a program like Hootsuite really comes in handy. It allows you to manage multiple accounts all in one space. Different social medias have different strengths. For example, Pinterest is great for sharing content and promoting individual posts, whereas Instagram is a good tool for promoting photography, in fact you can even make an Instagram blog where you only post on Instagram. Once you've set up all the social medias that you think will benefit your blog (comment below if you need help with that) you are ready to move on. 

5. Scheduling 

Pretty in Pink
A major part of being a successful blogger is having a schedule and sticking to it. This is quite self explanatory but I will explain it a bit anyway. I use a monthly blog editorial calendar and plan all my posts a month in advance so when the time comes I'm well prepared. I don't always post at the same time, that depends on how busy I am. I also have a book of post ideas, outfit ideas, locations etc that I frequently write in and turn to for help. However, we can't always meet deadlines and stay organised so sometimes I will be writing a post the night before its due, so remember, its better to post a little late than post bad content on time. 

I hope you enjoyed the second post from Blogging 101. Also leave me the links of your blogs on the Disqus chat here.

Lots of love,
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1 comment

  1. Thanks for share your information. However, you also can see this: Become Success Blogger

    ReplyDelete

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