– Guide by Jessica Knapp (updated January 9 th 2019) So, you want to start a blog huh? Buthow the heck do you get started? There’s so much info out there on the web, and everyone’s telling you to do different things. Who do you listen to? Where’s the starting point? Damnit, maybe you should just forget it – it’s too confusing! Well, hold up.

Free to start, with room to grow. Whether it’s a website, online store, portfolio, or blog, our plans scale with your dreams. All you need is an idea and an internet connection.

I used to be a blogging newbie too. I had the same problems. I started my blog ( BloggingBasics101.com) way back in 2006, and I knew less than nothing about blogging. In fact, it was only the week before I’d learned what a blog was. Now I know a ton about them, and my blog’s doing pretty well – I receive more than 300,000 unique visitors per month which makes me consider myself someone you could listen to and learn from when it comes to building your own blog.

I’m not some sort of Guru, but I certainly do know the basics. I promise it’ll be simple, relatively easy, and definitely easy to understand (no stupid jargon).

Awesome, let’s move on. Why you should create a blog and join the blogging community So below, I’m going to outline exactly what you need to do to get started and set up your own personal blog. Before we dive in though, I really want to talk about WHY you should build a blog. Note: If you already have a solid idea of the whys, then skip this and go right ahead with the guide. • Blogging has quickly become one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news. There are literally millions of blogs online (don’t worry, you can make yours stand out and get noticed!).

• It’s a great way to express yourself and also a fantastic way to share information with others. • You become a better person and a better writer. • The best reason? You can make money doing it!

I bet you already knew all of that, but it’s nice to be reminded. One very last thing before we get started: Creating your own blog can take a little while, probably up to 30 minutes. So grab yourself a coffee or juice (whatever you fancy) and let’s get stuck in. If you need any help during the set-up process, get and I’ll help as best I can and answer any questions you might have). Disclosure: This guide to starting your own blog contains some affiliate links. If you purchase any service through one of these links I may earn a small commission, this is at no extra cost to you.

The Steps Covered In This Blogging Guide It’s nowhere near as difficult as setting up a website from scratch (there’s very little technical ability needed here). In fact, there’s no coding required by you. Good news, huh? How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps: There are five main steps you need to do in order to start a blog. If you follow this guide exactly, you’ll have your own blog set up in 30 minutes or less. • Choose a great blog platform • Choose a web host for your blog • How to Set up a blog on your own domain • Design your new blog • Useful resources for blogging So, we made it.

Better late than never! So, without further ado, let’s jump into step 1. Step 1 – Choose your preferred blogging platform Choosing where you want to build blog is pretty much the first thing you have to do. I’m going to take a leap and assume you’ve heard of WordPress, and this is the platform I advocate. It’s massive. It’s by far one of the biggest blogging platforms in the world, with countless plugins and add-ons and almost infinite ways to design and layout your blog. There are more than 82 million active users of WordPress = a lot, basically.

There are other alternatives, however, and they are listed below: • – Definitely the next best thing to WordPress. • – Half social network, half blog. Interesting, and very simple to use. Even though WordPress is bigger (and probably better) than those two, here are my reasons why you should still go with WordPress: • Super easy set-up and is free to use • Tons of free themes and layouts (I’m not kidding, there are gazillions). • There’s a massive support forum in case you get stuck (you won’t, but it’s nice to have it there if you need it). • Your blog will be insanely fast and it’ll also look Functionality and form – perfect! • People can interact with you easily.