How to start a blog - in just 7 simple steps

 

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What is a blog - definition

A blog (also known as a weblog) is originally a public diary or journal that is kept on a website. One person, the blogger - there can also be several - publishes thoughts, opinions, facts, etc. in the form of posts or articles on various topics. The activity of writing in a blog is called blogging.

In business and in the modern corporate world, a blog is used as part of the content marketing strategy. In this way, the company addresses informative and topical issues to interested readers and thereby establishes itself as an expert and authority in a subject area.

With a blog, you open up an ideal channel to provide regular and structured content on your website and to your prospective customers. There are significant advantages if you dedicate yourself to blogging and write regularly for your readers. At our search engine optimisation agency in Vienna, we run numerous blogs for our clients.

Some of the benefits are:

• You establish yourself as an expert (expert status)
• build trust
• increase your visibility on the internet
• even as a small company, you have a good chance against the competition
• Blog posts are particularly suitable for sharing on social media

 

What's stopping you from starting blogging right now?

Often your own perfectionism and doubts get in the way and you hesitate to finally get started. Or. Blogs started with enthusiasm are simply abandoned after a while. The articles are forgotten.

In most cases, the reason for this is that the beginner or inexperienced blogger has underestimated the effort required to create a successful blog. This in turn is due to the fact that the necessary basic knowledge about how to run a blog is very often lacking.

We're putting that right today. The following tips are for beginners and newcomers. I'll show you point by point what you need and what you need to bear in mind. Blogging is not rocket science. It can be learnt. You already know why you should start a blog. Let's take a look at the next step together.

As this article is aimed at beginners and not yet very experienced bloggers, we'll start at the very beginning.

 

What challenges do beginners face?

Bloggers who are just starting out have a few hurdles to overcome. Whether you want to earn money from blogging as a business or just want to run a blog for fun, it doesn't matter. The rules are the same for everyone.

You need to know

• what you want to blog about
• who your readers should be
• what content you want to deliver to your readers
• what technical requirements you need for blogging
• should it be a WordPress blog or maybe Joomla?
• which plugins do you need?
• what do you need to pay attention to when writing your content?
• and much more

 

If you want to become a successful blogger, you have to face up to the challenges. You need to think about every single point and gain clarity. Otherwise, you won't get past the beginner stage.

So let's look at each individual question. Let's start with the topic of your future blog.

 

1. What topic should my blog have?

When choosing the topic of your future blog, you need to take your time. After all, running a blog is a decision to enter into a long-term partnership. But - as sometimes happens in partnerships - there is a danger that after the initial euphoria, the fire will be out after a while.

To avoid this, choose a topic that really interests you. Otherwise, like many beginners, you will soon stop blogging again due to the intensive effort involved. Running a blog is hard work. It means sitting down every day and doing something about it. Sometimes it also means forcing yourself to do it and overcoming your inner bastard.

For this reason, it is advisable to blog about something that really interests you. Something you are prepared to invest time in, to educate yourself and to keep learning.

Moritz Bauer asks the following questions on his blog blogaufbau.de:

• Do I still want to be writing about this blog topic in 3 to 5 years?
• Will I still be able to write about this blog topic in 3 to 5 years?
• Will the blog topic still be relevant in a few years' time?
• Does the blog topic offer enough potential?
• Can I achieve my goals with the blog topic?

I add another important question to these questions:

• Can I provide relevant, helpful and informative content on the topic for readers over a long period of time?

With a company blog, the topic is to a certain extent predetermined. Nevertheless, it would be good if you can answer the questions with a clear YES.

 

Analyse the potential of the blog topic

The topic of your blog must interest readers. They have to be looking for it. Otherwise you are writing for yourself.

Research will give you the information you need. Here is the simplest method. Just search for it on Google and see if there are already other blogs and pages about it. The search volume - the results found - should be high. This shows you that your topic is interesting, as there is a lot of content on it.

This is obvious for some topics.

 

The topic of online marketing has around 31.5 millionentries on google.at. Readers are interested in the topic.

 

Others are more niche topics.

 

For the topic Suiseki there are only 612,000 results. Perhaps another interesting topicfor a niche blog.

 

As a guideline, I would say that the number of search results on Google should not be less than 1 million. But be careful: it shouldn't be too high either. Otherwise the competition is too high and the chance of ranking well on Google is very low.

If you are an entrepreneur who wants to blog about one of the big topics - online marketing, for example - then you can do so. Break your content down into sub-topics and sub-areas and write about them. But this topic would go too far for this post as it is aimed at beginners.

 

 

2. What do I want to achieve with my blog?

The next question is: What is your goal with your blog?

Are you a company and want to generate new customers and earn money through blogging or do you want to use the blog for private purposes to develop creatively?

Do you want to use it:

• Earn money?
• Establish yourself as a brand or expert?
• Generate traffic for your company website?
• Blog just for fun?
  
  

Why is the answer to this question important?

1. It sets the direction of your future content marketing strategy.
2. It helps you stay on the ball.

 

If you're blogging just for fun, set up a blog (I'll explain how), write your blog posts and share them with your friends on Facebook. Write for as long as you enjoy it. But don't be surprised if you lose your passion one day - it will inevitably happen. It doesn't matter, you're only blogging for fun.

If you want to earn money as a blogger or promote your company, it's a completely different story. You need a well-thought-out content marketing strategy and you need to know that you will have to overcome, force and torture yourself once the initial fire has gone out. That's why it's good to know your goal and keep reminding yourself of it.

 

 

3. The target audience - who am I writing for?

The aim of your articles should always be to inform other people, to solve their problems, to support them - to provide benefits and added value.

Your target group has problems. You have the solution. Your target group doesn't know how something works. You do. And you make this knowledge available free of charge.

You are faced with the challenge of addressing your information and solutions to the people you want to reach and who need it.

To reach these people, you need to know them. You need to know your target group as well as you know your partner, your child or your dog.

Create a persona (a fictitious representative of your target group) and do some research.

What does the reader of your newly launched blog look like? Is it male or female? Under 30 or 50+? What hobbies, worries or wishes does your blog reader have? Follow them, track them, spy on them, crawl into their brain - get to know them. Where? On Facebook, Twitter, question and answer portals, forums, etc.

The more specifically you can describe him or her, the more concretely and efficiently you can blog for that person!

And only when you know your target group exactly and know that you can solve their problems is the time ripe for further steps to start your own blog.

 

 

4. Which blog software is the right one?

You now know the goal of your blog and you know your target audience. Now it's time to think about the technical implementation.

You can run a blog with your own domain or use free providers.

You will opt for the "own domain" option if you want to integrate the blog into your company website. But also if you want to have the greatest possible influence on the visual and functional design of your blog.

The best-known software solutions for blogs are WordPress, Joomla, Drupal.

Free blog providers: Blogger, WordPress com, Tumblr, etc.

WordPress is the clear favourite of blog operators.

 

WordPress is by far the most widely used blog solution. Source: W3Tech

 

Due to the fact that most bloggers use WordPress, I will show you how to set up and configure your blog using the example of a WordPress installation hosted on your own domain.

 

5. Setting up a WordPress blog

Before you get started with the installation, you need to think about a few things. Firstly, you need to choose a suitable domain or blog name and secondly, the choice of hosting provider is extremely important.

 

Choosing the right domain/blog name

The domain name is important for a number of reasons.

If you want to establish yourself as a brand, you should choose your name or the name of your company as the domain name.

To market your product or service, it is advisable to research the right keyword and include it in the blog name.

This is important because you want your blog and posts to rank well in search results on Google and other search engines. In most cases, this is also the main reason for running a blog.

Landing pages, service pages, product descriptions, etc. can often only be ranked well with considerable effort. The competition is simply too big and powerful in many areas. However, with well-written and optimised texts in blog articles, there is still a chance of a top ranking in the search results. Even for newcomers and beginners.

If you write on your blog "just for fun" and don't care about a Google ranking, you can be creative with your blog name.

 

The right web host

I don't want to advertise a hosting provider, so I'll just tell you what you need to look out for when choosing your hoster.

• Reliable server availability 24/7
• High server speed
• Sufficient data transfer and traffic
• Excellent service
• Fair costs
• And not forgetting an SSL certificate

 

These are the minimum requirements. With these you are well served for now. Most hosters offer different hosting packages. Don't go for the cheapest one out of misunderstood thriftiness. Choose one that meets your requirements. Whether you pay 2.90 or 4.90 a month for hosting doesn't matter for your wallet. But it can make a world of difference to your blog's performance.

 

 

Install blog software

Most hosters offer the option of installing web shops, blogs or other software in the hosting control panel. This can be found under Software Centre or a similar name. This also includes WordPress. Your WordPress blog can be installed with just a few clicks.

If you don't have this option, this video shows you how to install WordPress via FTP.

 

Video: Install WordPress German 2018 **Super easy**

 

What basic settings are required?

Have you installed WordPress and want to get started right away? Hold on. Make sure you make some important basic settings first to ensure the success of your blog.

Log into the admin area of your WordPress installation and click on Settings.

 

There you will find the following setting options:

 

Which theme should I use?

There are thousands of free and paid WordPress themes (WordPress designs).

Since you want to get started with your blog, I would advise you not to waste too much time choosing your theme at this stage.

Don't get me wrong. You will need a suitable theme sooner or later, but there will be time for that later.

You can have a look around ThemeForest . ThemeForest has lots of good WordPress themes from € 19

After installing WordPress, your blog will look like this or something similar.

 

 

You can already work quite well with it. More important than the optimal design is that you write a few articles and get them out there.

If you don't like the default theme at all, you can easily change it. Log in to the administration area. To do this, you must log in with the user name and password you set during installation.

 

 

In the administration area, you will find "Design" on the left-hand side. If you click on it, the submenu with the menu item Design will appear. Click on it and you will see something like this:

 

 

If you click on "Add new theme", you will be taken to the selection area. If you click on "Filter by functions", you can select the functions you would like to have. It could look like this, for example.

 

 

Once you have selected your desired functions, click on "Apply filter" at the bottom. You will then be shown a selection of free WordPress themes to choose from.

 

 

If you now click on one of the thumbnails, a new window will open with a preview of the theme.

 

 

This way you can find the blog design to your liking. If you like it, click on "Install" at the top left and then on "Activate". That's all there is to it. Your new WordPress blog design is installed.

 

Which plugins do I need?

As with WordPress themes, there are thousands of plugins. Many of them are nice-to-haves, some are must-haves. Don't overdo it at the beginning. Install the most important ones. These are the ones that serve the security of your blog and the search engine optimisation of your content. The following video shows you a good selection of them.

 

Video: 10 essential & free plugins for your blog

 

Let's take a look at the "Yoast" plugin mentioned in the video to see how to install plugins.

To do this, go back to the admin area and select Plugins.

 

You will then be taken to the following view:

 

 

Enter "Yoast SEO" in the search field and confirm with Enter. You should then see something like this:

 

 

Now click on Install for the Yoast SEO plugin and then on Activate.

 

 

If necessary, update the plugin straight away. To do this, click on "Update now".

 

 

With this last step, you have installed Yoast on your blog and can use it to optimise your blog content for search engines.

You can find out how to do this and how to set up Yoast perfectly in our article Yoast SEO - tutorial and video guide.

 

 

Now nothing stands in the way of your first blog article.

 

6. The first blog article

You're probably eager to finally write your first blog post. You can get started right away. Let me just briefly explain what you should pay attention to when blogging.

 

What to look out for when writing blog articles?

If I could only give you one tip, it would be this: Write your articles for the reader - for your target audience. Forget about search engine optimisation for a moment. No matter what you've heard about it. While writing, think about nothing else but providing your readers with the best information and help with their problems.

You'll find out how to optimise your text with Yoast in a moment. But first, let's write freely. Siegfried also explains very well how to write SEO texts in his blog article. And he also says: Write your texts for the reader.

You can find out how to create great articles in our guide: Writing blog articles - 10 x better and twice as fast.

And if you don't know what to blog about, read our article on blog ideas. After that, you'll never have problems finding a topic again.

A little tip from me: Don't always write the same type of article format. Vary the formats - you don't want to eat schnitzel every day either.

 

What types of article formats are there?

You can choose from a variety of article formats so that your blog doesn't get boring right from the start. Here are a few examples:

• Promotional articles
• News articles
• Lists
• Tutorials
• Case studies
• Link lists
• Article series
• Product reviews
• and much more.

You can find a detailed list and corresponding explanations at blogprojekt.de

 

One more thing is important for me to mention. Namely the frequency with which you publish on your blog.

 

How often should I blog?

Continuity is more important than frequency of publication. At the beginning, you can write a little more frequently. Over time, it will usually become less frequent all by itself. You will spend more time marketing and promoting your blog content and therefore have less time to write articles. If your blog is full, that's no big deal.

But you should settle into a good rhythm. Regularly published articles are the secret to blog success. Your loyal readers rely on hearing from you at regular intervals. Almost like a good TV series.

Whether you fill your blog with news every week, every fortnight or once a month is irrelevant. There are bloggers, such as Walter Epp from schreibsuchti.de, who only publish once a month and are highly successful.

 

Search engine optimisation with Yoast SEO

To ensure that your blog is found in search engines in the long term, you should optimise your texts for SEO. In WordPress, this is pretty easy with the Yoast SEO plugin.

I could now artificially lengthen this article and explain to you once again what Marcus has already wonderfully explained in his blog post about the plugin. I won't do that, but recommend that you read the article "Yoast SEO".

 

 

7. After publication

If you think that writing the blog article is the end of the story, I have to disappoint you. This is when it starts to get really exciting.

Blogging is not just about writing blog posts. Who is going to read your information and solutions to problems until they can be found in Google search results? Blogging means writing and promoting. And in a ratio of at least 50:50. 3 hours of writing means 3-6 hours of promotion. This rule of thumb has proven itself many times over.

 

Promote your blog post

After you have published your information on your blog, share it on the appropriate social media channels. Let people, your target audience, know that you and your new blog exist.

Show them what you can do. Build up a fan base step by step - a community. Provide valuable content on your blog, copy your URL and distribute it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and co.

 

Which social media channel is the right one?

You know your target group. At least you should know them. You should know where they hang out.

I would suggest you publish five good (very good) blog articles on your blog very quickly. After that, it makes sense to start social sharing.

And speaking of social. Remember toreply to the comments on your posts.

 

 

How to build a loyal readership with your blog

I'm going to assume that you don't just want to run your blog for fun, but are pursuing a lucrative purpose with it. In this case, it's a good idea to start newsletter marketing alongside your blog. Blogs and newsletters are made for each other.

To generate newsletter subscribers with your blog, you need to provide a so-called freebie and integrate a contact form for subscribing to the newsletter list into your blog. You can find out how to do this in our blog about newsletters.

 

2019 can be your year! - It's best to start your blog today!

If you're still at the beginning of your blogging career, it's important to get started. Whether as a clearly defined business or for private purposes. Starting right away is particularly important.

You should say goodbye to the following doubts and thoughts. Especially when starting a blog:

1. I'm not yet 100% sure whether the topic is right
2. I don't want to publish just blah blah either
3. The research is simply too intensive
4. I could blog about it, but it probably won't interest anyone
5. I simply don't have the time
6. I don't know what I should blog about specifically
7. I've already run out of topics
8. Hasn't the topic already been covered?
9. I buy or copy most of the texts, that's quicker
10. Nobody reads texts over 300 words anyway

 

Have you already recognised yourself in one or two of these excuses? Forget it.

Start as soon aspossible. Quality is important and essential in the long term to stand out from the competition - but it's poison at the beginning.

Are you motivated to start your blog, create your first blog post and publish it tomorrow?

Still have doubts? Then take a minute out and think about whether a blog would give you what you need for yourself or your company. Perhaps this article has helped you to shed some light on the subject.

Or perhaps the following examples will convince you - all of them highly successful.

 

Blog examples - to encourage you

 

 

 

 

The examples listed here should encourage you to start blogging. Every single one of them started small.

A little tip at the end. Whether you start your blog out of personal interest or as a business case, give people everything you can and deliver value like no other.

Video: 7 blogging tips to make your blog successful, from one of the most successful bloggers, Neil Patel:

 

You now know how to start a blog. Now it's up to you to take the first step. If you need help with this, get in touch with us on +43 1 353 2 353 or via our contact form. We will be happy to advise you on all areas of content marketing.

PS: You're probably also interested in how to get visitors to your blog after you've launched it. Then read 23 surefire tips for more visitors to your blog. The article will help you generate traffic right from the start.

Good luck with your blogging.