Part 1: “The Who, What, When, Where, and Why’s of Blogging.”

Remember how I mentioned in my post “So, Your Wife’s a Blogger” about how I intended on starting a series called “The Who, What, When, Where, and Why’s of Blogging?” Well this is part one to our series! Before we get into the who, what, when, where, and why’s I want to explain the HOW TO’s so you can start out on the RIGHT FOOT.

I started off on the wrong foot and it took about a month before I knew what I was doing. Very frustrating! This post is designed for anybody who’s looking to start their own blog.

First Thing’s First

If you go to anybody’s blog claiming that they know how to write a successful blog, I have found that they all have one thing in common, and that is to “find your niche.”  A niche is what’s going to be the MAIN topic of your blog. I say main, because it’s okay to write about more than just one thing. Most bloggers have one primary niche and around two-five other things they write about. For example, my main niche is “Lifestyle” meaning I write about my life. My other niches include, travel, saving money, fitness and meal planning. The reason why you want to have a niche is so that you’re not all over the place. People like consistency.

Why Should I Use a Web Hosting Site?

If you’re just going to have a blog for personal use and you don’t plan on expanding, gaining followers, or making money from your blog, then ignore this section.

If you do want to make money, watch your blog grow, and gain followers, then you HAVE to invest in a web hosting site. Such as BlueHost, GoDaddy, or HostGator (that’s just a few of them.).  Web hosting is when you pay a company (such as BlueHost) to have your blog online. Basically when somebody searches for your blog through a search engine, it will not be available to see on any search engine until you have your website hosted through an eligible company.

Why BlueHost?

I did a lot of research and to my best reasoning, I decided on BlueHost for my web hosting because of how easy it is to use, it’s cheaper, and very self explainable. Also, they have a 24/7 support system which is great because sometimes I couldn’t get to my blog until midnight or later and there was ALWAYS someone available to help me or walk me through problems.  Right now they have a half off deal! $3.49 a month. You can’t beat that!

Why WordPress?

Again, I did a LOT of research before starting my blog and I must say WordPress was THE way to go. I made the mistake of starting out on Blogger, but that only lasted for a day as it was way too simple for me. So I started blogging on WordPress, well after about a month I wanted to move my blog to a web hosting company so I could share my blog with other people.

Words of advice: DO NOT start your blog until you’ve purchased a web hosting site. I made that mistake and it took days before I was officially transferred from WordPress.com (simple way to go) to WordPress.org. (recommended to use if you want to add plugins and widgets) If you start out with a hosting site, you can download WordPress straight from BlueHost and get started blogging right away. It’s a pain in the neck transferring your blog to the right platform, but thank goodness BlueHost was there to walk me through it.

There’s a lot of website platforms out there and I wish I could give you the pros and cons of each one, but I cannot do that as I have only tried one website builder: WordPress. It’s easy to use, has tons of unique themes to choose from, great widgets and plugins, and most are free! There’s a lot of benefits that come with WordPress, but naturally other websites have their benefits too. So, I encourage you to do your  own research and figure out what’s going to work best for you.

Picking Your Website Name!

Have your niche down? GREAT.

Here’s a fun part, picking your website name! My advice to you is to pick something that’s going to go best with your niche. Something easy to remember and catchy. Take some time to think about what you want (I took a week to think about my name) because it’s going to be your brand. You cannot change it. I mean you could, but that’s just going to confuse people.

Have a website name you like? GREAT. Check to see if it’s available!

Seeing as how I’m still learning, I’m sure I’ll be updating this post as I go. If you guys have ANY questions, don’t be afraid to ask! There’s a lot more to this series so stay tuned!

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Note: This post contains an affiliated link. This means if you decide to purchase BlueHost from my link, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your consideration in supporting my blog. ?