Start your own blog in just 8 steps

Hey friends,

Today I want to give you a step by step guide on how to start your blog!

A blog or personal website is essential for your small business and personal brand.
You can express all your ideas, advert your business and take people into your world.

I started this blog back in January 2022 and honestly it took me quite some time to start because I just didn't know how.

Like what's the first step? Where? What to write and just How??

How to write and start a blog?

On google you find many tutorials, but in my opinion some are too professional and others are kinda too complicated and not transparent enough.

I didn't find anything easy and straight forward.
Something like I just want to write with no other special skills required.

That's why I think it's time to break it down and show you HOW EASY it can be.

Alright, enough introduction let's go!

Quick info upfront: Step 2 and 3 are a lil bit techincal, but the rest is just a creative process. Don't worry: I'll explain everything in detail and you got this! Promise :)

1 Find A Topic

The very step is to find a topic. Find something you could talk about all day and all night. Something you like to read, watch and deal with all the time.

Ask yourself:

What do you like?
What are you passionate about?
What's the thing you watch the most on YouTube?
What do you want to tell the world?

These questions should help you if you haven't found your topic yet.

It could be:

Sports
Art
Fashion
Food
Tech
or your study subject.

These topics are so broad that one can talk about for hours and people have different opinions on.

In my case it's business. More specifically it's solopreneurship and side hustles.

2 Secure A Domain

What's a domain? The domain is basically the name of your website.

Example: www.yourwebsitename.com

How do you want to call your blog / website?
It can be your name or something made up. There are no limits or rules, it should just fit the topic you are going to write about.

In my case I focus on building a personal brand that's why I just called my blog www.sahilnayar.com

Once you defined your name you need to secure the domain. It means to register your website. On google you find many provider where you can register it.

Just search on google: "Secure a domain" and you will get the options. You can also use "Google Domains" directly.

Type in your chosen name and see if it's free and available.
If yes, congratulations: You just secured your name!

Usually it costs around 10 $ for a year.

It depends in which country you are and which provider you choose. Here in Germany you can secure a domain for only 1$ a year. Google Domains charges 7$ yearly.

3 Choose A Platform

Ok. Now you got your topic and registered your website name. Great!

It's time to choose a platform on which your are going to write your blog.
There are multiple options to choose from and I'd like to present the one I use for this blog. It's called "ghost.org" and suits perfectly for my purpose. Other ones I know are "substack" or "wordpress". Wordpress is famous but it takes a lot of configuration and adjustments with plug-ins and all that stuff. For a beginner like me I didn't like it and substack came with too many options I didn't understand.

I wanted something straight forward and easy that's why chose ghost.

Just go to ghost.org and register yourself. The setup is super simple and easy.
The annual fee is 108$.

Once registered you are ready to start and publish. It's a matter of a couple of minutes. Nothing to install or further setup. It can't be easier! Trust me :)

4 Define A Posting Schedule

Amazing! You got your website. Wasn't that difficult, right?

Now the creative process can start. I recommend to define a minimum and a maximum number of articles you can publish in a month.

This will help you to stay committed and disciplined. To grow and get readers you must stay consistent. A posting schedule will make sure you do your work.

In my case it's 1 minimum and 2 maximum.

5 Brainstorm Ideas

To make sure that you don't run out of inspiration I recommend to have a list with blog ideas.

Create a list with all possible articles you want to write. This way you can always come back when you're stuck.

Extra Tip: To ensure to cover articles people like to read and want use quora.com

Go to quora and type in your keyword -your topic what your blog is about and filter the results by questions. With this way you find out what people are searching and looking for so you can write about their pain points.

6 Start Writing

Just start. Don't think about writing the perfect article. Since a perfect article doesn't exist anyway it's now important to get going and practice writing as such.

Spoiler: No one is going to read your first articles.

Find your writing style. Just practice and write out of your head without doing much research. You don't need to write a bachelor thesis. You want to write easy and comfortable.

I say this because I know you want to do a great job, but at the same time this can block you from creating. Get going, stay in your posting schedule and improve on the way.

Let your blog writing be a natural process.

7 Promote Your Blog

Ok. Now you got your blog. An own website. You are writing and publishing like a real blogger. You are reading your own articles and feel proud of your work. I remember how happy I was when I published my first article - I love the feeling haha. I wish you get the same experience soon!

Aiight, back to topic: Now it's time to attract readers.

Show the world your work!

Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook.
Depending on your topic choose any of those platforms and start posting about your blog. Make people aware that you wrote an article about xyz.

In my case I write about business and I always create a post on LinkedIn and post the link.

Also I have an Instagram account on which I promote my blog via stories.

The key is consistency. Whenever you've published an article make a post.

Of course you can also tell your friends and family about it too :)

8 Patience

Well Done! You now have successfully started your blog. Congratulations!

Being patient and enjoying the process will show where you'll end up with your blog.

Will you be featured in a magazine?
Will you monetize your blog with an affiliate program?
Will you use your blog as a personal website?
Will you start charging for a membership?
Will you start a newsletter?

These are all options which you can work on once you're in the game of blogging.

Extra Tip: Connect your blog with "Google Analytics" to analyze all stats, data and numbers. This will help you to grow and improve the quality of your blog.
I will write another article about it soon. Let's keep this one simple and easy!

Alright. This was my tutorial on how to start your own blog.
I hope I could help you to get a better understanding where and how to start.

Thanks for reading!

Ah and if you have any questions or something is still unclear, then don't hesitate to contact me!

Just comment below or hit me up on Instagram. I'd be happy to help!

Enjoy life and bless up!

Sahil :)