How to Start a Blog
In just 10 short minutes you will know how to start a blog, be it a personal diary or a professional business blog. For this tutorial I assume that you have no or little knowledge of working with websites, setting up a server or, perhaps, even registering your own domain. Have no fear, I’m with you. I will walk you through every step of the way and help launching your own blog.
Believe it or not, starting a blog is easy. Very soon you will be offering your help to your friends that will want to have a blog just like yours. But first, let’s try to figure out which setup will be most suitable for you.
Which Blog is Right for Me?
Generally there are two types of setups for web blogs – hosted and self-hosted.
HOSTED BLOG
“Hosted blog” means that the developing party, a company or an organization that created a particular blogging platform, keeps or, as we say, hosts their software on their own server. In most cases they will allow you to create a paid or free account to use their software. They will give you some options to change the look and customize functionality, but you will be pretty limited as for the things you can do with their software.
As a rule your blog will have a web address similar to this YourBlogName.theirservername.com and getting your unique domain, such as MyDomain.com, may not be an option.
“So, when should I go with with a free hosted blog?”
If one or all of the following applies to you, then you may go with a hosted, free solution:
I’m not trying to turn my blog into a business
I don’t care about branding
I don’t have money to pay for hosting and/or domain
I’m just trying things out and I’m not sure if blogging is for me
“But what if… “
My blog is business/service oriented?
I’m trying to establish a brand?
I’m an expert on… and I want to get my name out there?
Then read on.
SELF-HOSTED BLOG
To be successful online you will have to be UNIQUE. And the word unique has many facets in this context:
- You want to have a unique, recognizable and easy to remember name (domain name)
- You need to have a unique look to stand out from millions of competitors and lame blogs
- You must create unique and attractive content, that will be well structured and pretty easy to navigate through
With hosted blogs it is hard or often impossible to achieve all that “uniqueness” due to the usability restrictions. Therefore let’s look at what self-hosted blogs are and why they might be a better choice for your.
“Self-hosted blog” means that you rent a spot on a server from a hosting company and keep (or host) your own copy of blogging software on this server. When we hear the word “software”, we usually think “expensive”. Relax! When it comes to blogging, it doesn’t have to be.
- It just appears that one of the best and easy-to-use blogging platforms – WordPress – is FREE.
- In addition you have thousands of FREE themes (a.k.a. templates) to change the way your blog will look.
- You also have thousands of FREE and commercial plugins or modules that can be added to your blog to customize its functionality with just one click. You want an image gallery? You’ve got it! You want a banner rotators? Article slider? You’ve got it! You want a custom contact form? No, problem! That’s right, it is as easy as it sounds.
“But I don’t know how to setup a server, install WordPress or register a domain…”
Not a problem. The following is a list of hand-picked hosting companies that will give you a 1-click blog setup, hosting and domain registration for as little as $3.96 a month:
Host Gator – reliable and flexible shared hosting environment. Current deal:
GoDaddy – fast, secure and flexible. Register for a unique domain name and hosting in one place.
