Blogging for Beginners

People often ask me how they can start blogging. So many of you are interested in starting a blog, but you just don’t know how to go about it. I get it, I’ve been there! This post is going to help you get started, with information about blogging for beginners.

I’ve blogged on and off for years until I found my true “blogging home” here at Simple Life of a Frugal Wife. before you start blogging it can feel overwhelming. But I have found blogging to be totally worth it. Blogging can give you a creative outlet, where you can connect with like-minded people, while at the same time sharing your life or knowledge with a whole bunch of people.

Blogging for Beginners

Your first order of business is deciding if you want to blog just for fun, or if you are hoping to make some money from it. If you are blogging just for fun, you will most likely want to use a free host. A host is the company that stores your blog on their server.

Two main free host sites you are more than likely familiar with are blogpost.com and wordpress.com. There are lesser known ones that people use as well, such as Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly. These free hosts are more than adequate for a personal blog, but the services are limited.

Should you pay for a host?

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If, however, you decide you want to make money from blogging, you will want to use a host you pay for. Why, you ask? Because when you sign up for free hosting you don’t really own your content, and technically the free host could close down your site.

By paying for your host you own your content, and you have more control over it. The most common host for beginners is BLUEHOST. I use Bluehost and have been quite happy with my service.

Though you pay for the year upfront, it works out to $3.95 a month.  Not bad for this frugally minded woman! When you sign up for your host, you still need to sign up for your site on wordpress.org. THIS is different than wordpress.com. WordPress.org is self-hosted (which is why you need to pay for hosting) but wordpress.com offers free hosting.

With wordpress.org, you will actually download the software to use with your hosting. It is free to download. You can do this after you buy your hosting at Bluehost.

But what if you don’t know if you want to write a blog just for fun or to make money from it down the line? If that is the case I suggest you pay for hosting. While you can transfer your blog from blogspot to wordpress.org, or wordpress.com to wordpress.org, it is a big pain.

Picking a Domain Name

You will also need to buy a domain. What is a domain? It is the address of your site. So, for this site, the domain is www.simplelifeofafrugalwife.com. If you go with free hosting, you don’t need to buy a domain, but your domain name will end with wordpress or blogspot on the name. So, for example, if I had free hosting without a purchased domain, my address might be something like this: www.simplelifeofafrugalwife.wordpress.com.

If you buy a domain you may be wondering what your domain name should be. You will want to first decide what your niche will be. What do you want to write about? Thrifty living? Parenting? Fashion? Spirituality?

There are so many options out there and the sky is the limit when deciding. For me, I wanted to write posts that answered questions I had years ago. What would my 25 year old self want to know?

What kinds of things was I researching 5-10 years ago that I now know the answers to and am experienced in explaining? Thrifty living has been something I have always done but have improved on over the years, and it is a subject I am passionate about, so it was easy for me to decide to write about that.

I also love to create and cook, so it made sense to add that into my blog as well. But you want your domain name to tell your visitors what your site is about. Make sure it relates to what your content will be.

I purchased my domain from GoDaddy but Bluehost sells domains as well. If I was doing it over again I would just buy my domain from Bluehost to make it easier since that is where my hosting is.

Learning to use your Platform

Okay, so you’ve chosen your domain, decided whether you want to have free hosting or paid hosting. But what next? The first thing you want to do is get familiar with your blogging platform.

At first it can feel overwhelming to learn how to use wordpress or blogspot. Don’t feel discouraged. Just like anything, it just takes time to learn. I remember the first time I used Facebook it seemed so foreign and complicated to me.

I laugh when I think about that as it is so easy for me to use now! And just like learning how to use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter had a learning curve, so will blogging. Just keep at it and you will get it.

When you start blogging, you will want to spend some time designing it. Take some time to find the right theme for yourself, but make sure you don’t get stuck there and never start blogging! You can always go back and tweak your design.

Add an “About Me” page to your blog so people know the face behind the writing! For an example, you can read mine HERE.

Start Blogging

After that, just start blogging! Don’t overthink it. Just write. You can always go back and change things if you want. Sometimes we have a hard time putting our work out there unless we feel it’s perfect.

The problem that comes with that is that we hold ourselves back and don’t post at all because we feel it’s not good enough. It’s really hard to have a blog without blog posts! So write, and post, write and post, write and post! And don’t forget to add pictures. Blog posts do much better when there are pictures involved.

Don’t worry if at first you feel like your posts and pictures aren’t the greatest. Most bloggers look back at their early posts and can’t believe the difference in the quality. But isn’t that like anything we jump into? We can only get better by practicing, and in the blog world, practicing means continuing to write!

So, remember:

Buy a domain.

Set up hosting over at BLUEHOST.

Sign up for a wordpress.org account

Start writing!

Starting a blog can be fun, and it can be profitable, if you so choose to go that way and treat it as a business. It is by no means a “get-rich-quick” scheme, but if you are willing to put in some serious hard work and effort, you can make some money from it.

You may just want to blog for fun, and that is okay too. Blogging can be a great hobby, and you are on no time schedule. You are able to blog whenever you feel like it, and your friends and family will most likely love being able to keep up with what is going on in your life. Use this blogging for beginners post to get you started!