Welcome to my “How To Start A Blog” article 🙂
When I started following all the great blogs about Financial Freedom in 2018 I was quite sure that someday I am going to have my own blog. It was just amazing how easy it looked to earn a little passive income with it and how great it would be to have a diary of the journey towards his own goal. This doesn’t mean necessarily only in relation about money, but in general. I’ve imagined to tell my friends someday “hey, I have already written about this topic on my blog, check it out!”.
Finally I’ve started my blog in 2019 after winning against my weaker self. At the beginning I was afraid of what could go wrong. On one day I was like “I can do it, it will take time and hard work, but i will start now”, but on another bad day I thought “What if I receive bad feedback and all the work is for nothing?”.
I am still figuring things out and I am for sure not there yet, but I struggled with many areas at the beginning and with this post I want to give everyone the “Step-by-Step Guide How to start a Blog”! With this Beginner Guide I hope you will be successful in making money with your blog and avoid the mistakes I did.
The Beginning of your own Journey!
1. Set your Goals!
Your very first thoughts about blogging should be dedicated to some of the following questions to help you figure out your sense for your own blog.
Take out a piece of paper (A4) and start making notes. Take your time.
- Why you want to start blogging?
- What will be your niche?
- Who will be your target audience?
- What value your posts will bring to your audience?
- How will you measure success? (Users per day, etc.)
- How many times will you create content? Daily? Weekly?
If you get a first feeling about those questions, it will be easier for you to start working on your blog. It will also help you in writing your first posts and designing your content. Always try to remember why you are doing it and it will help you to stay motivated! The journey to your touchdown can begin!
2. Think about your Expectations!
Your expectations should always be high! The goal you are following is important to you and that’s how it should be. You should be aware that it can take a lot of time and hard work before you see your first results. The success you could have with your blog also depends on how much time you can spend on it per week. One would say that your chances of faster success raise with the time you put into your blog.
I am full-time employed and I still having troubles spending enough time on MrFinancialFreedom.com. What helps me going is a schedule. Try to work on your blog on a specific evening (or two) in the week and stick to it. A routine will help your motivation after hard days at work and will also help you with your partner’s time.
3. Choose a good Blog Domain Name & Hosting Package!
There are two ways of creating your blog. Either you use one of many free provider who allows you to start your own free blog or you choose your own Domain Name with your own Webhosting package.
You can find many of the free blogging sites like Tumblr here. The benefit is that you don’t need to spend money to start a blog!
On the other hand, having your own Domain Name is motivating and there are many pages to verify what Domain Names are more worth than the others and which keywords are in trend.
If you are implementing a good keyword in your Domain Name, it will affect your Google Ranking and it stays in the mind of your readers. If you look at MrFinancialFreedom.com, the keyword “financial freedom” is showing a high rate on Google Trends.
The prices for a Webhosting package with Domain are not that bad.
I personally bought my Domain at 1&1 IONOS. The package includes a free email address which you can create with your own domain name and 2 GB of mail space. I like to have a dedicated email address with my domain, because it looks more serious than using a gmail or other email provider addresses.
If you want to have a look, check it out at 1&1 IONOS (*affiliate link).
I am very happy with IONOS.
4. Choose your Blogging Platform!
Once you’ve decided for your Webhosting package, it is time to understand which blogging platform you want to use for your blog.
I recommend you to use WordPress! It is free to use and is also perfect for Beginner! WordPress can be installed in less than 5-minutes. A lot of hosting companies offer the “1-click to install” option.
This and thousands of other blogs are based on WordPress. It is very easy to use and offers a very big community around the globe. Every question and issue you have is probably already answered and is an easy google search away. In addition it offers many plugins to integrate and also free themes for designing your page. You can find the WordPress Documentation here! The plugin overview you can find here!
Other blogging platforms are Joomla, Drupal and many others. Personally I have never used any other platform than WordPress. The content creation for pages and posts are perfect for Beginners with WordPress.
5. Choose your Blog Theme / Design!
Now it is time to give your blog the right style. After you finished the setup for your WordPress Installation, you should start to think about your blog design. There are many templates available which are called “Themes”.
There are Free and Premium Themes. Themes are provided by different developers which helps Beginners to use a template to start in an easy way.
As I am recommending WordPress as your Blogging Platform, I suggest you to start checking out the WordPress Theme Page.
Premium Themes have some more benefits than using a free Theme. Usually it provides you with a service where you can ask your questions and ask for special consultancy. In addition Premium Themes are designed for being responsive and offering a good structure. The only problem is that you have to pay a little money for these kind of themes.
In my opinion there are many good free Themes out there and there is no need to pay money for one. Start scrolling through the list of Themes and check them out on your blog. It is easy to install a new WordPress Theme and delete it again in case you don’t like it. You won’t loose any content on your posts, etc..
6. Create a good Page Structure!
You are almost ready to write your first blog post! Before you publish your blog on the Internet, you should give some thoughts to the structure of your page and make sure to include some important parts.
An “About you” page helps your readers to understand your story and to trust your content. You don’t need to go in personal details, but if they find your posts helpful, they also like to hear more from you.
If you want your audience to get directly into your best posts, a “Start here” page will help to get started. If someone reachs your blog for the first time, they can easily understand your best posts in your categories.
In the bottom of your blog (Footer), try to write a short description what your blog is about. Google does not put priority on it, but a short description will help you to tell everyone what this page stands for.
7. Write your first Post!
You choosed a good Domain Name and you have setup your WordPress Installation. You have decided for a great design for your blog and your structure is in place.
Now it is time to write your first Blog Post!
Probably you have already an idea about your first post. Before you start writing I suggest to install the SEO Yoast Plugin. This plugin will support you in how to structure your post in a good way. It will tell you how good you are doing in a kind of traffic light system about readability and SEO.
The better your posts are about readability and SEO, the more traffic you will have on your blog, the more money you will make.
It is important to write good content. Following tips will help you:
- Write catchy headlines. Your readers will click on your link, if they like your headline. They search for solutions for their problems. Include numbers (e.g. “22 Tips How to Start a Blog”).
- Try to limit your paragraphs to 3-4 sentences.
- Take your time for each blog post!
Write and make breaks.
Correct, write and make breaks.
Repeat.
This post took about 30 hours. If you have a partner, let them read your post to be sure you did not make mistakes. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes is very helpful. - Imagine you are the reader. Do you like the content? Would you recommend it to someone else?
- Try to implement High Quality Pictures. Canva helps you to create your pictures in a good quality and it offers a wide range of customizations.
- Implement pictures. You can find free stock photos at Pexels.
8. Create a List of 50 Blog Post Ideas!
It is a bad feeling when you published your first posts and suddenly you have no ideas anymore what to write about. For that reason it makes sense to take some days and create a list of ideas about the topics you want to write about.
If you create a list of 50 Ideas, you have articles to cover a full year. Even more, if you don’t plan to write a new post every week.
9. Start Monetizing your Blog!
If your main goal is to earn Passive Income, you should create your strategy how to monetize your blog.
The most popular platform to earn money is Google Adsense. With Google Adsense you create specific ad banners on your pages.
The more people visit your blog, the more money you can earn.
I’ve found a recent published article about some tips and tricks with Google Adsense.
Another way of making money is Affliate Marketing. A good example is the Amazon Partnernet. For example, if you recommend valued books to your readers, they can buy the book directly on Amazon through your link. Amazon will pay you a little provision.
10. Frequently Asked Questions
How to be sure your Posts are doing good related to SEO?
You get a first feeling if your are doing good with SEO by using the SEO Yoast Plugin.
How do you measure the success of your Blog?
The best method to measure the success of your blog is to understand how many people reading your articles. How many visitors you have per day / week. You can start with connecting your blog to Google Analytics.
Which WordPress Plugins do you use?
Do you need an “Impressum” (legal notice) in Germany?
Yes, it is mandatory to have an Impressum page in your blog. It doesn’t have to be highlighted at the top of your blog, but one needs to find it easily. I like to have it at a secondary menu at the bottom of the page. In the Impressum page you have to include the private address and contact details. If you want to monetize your blog, you need to mention also your tax identification number (Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer).
You can read more about the Impressum here. I also used this Impressum generator, which helps you to generate the page in html format.
How to get a Tax Identification Number (Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer) in Germany?
To get your personal tax identification number you need to request a trade license (Gewerbeschein) at your closest city town hall. The costs for the license will be around 20-30 euro. Check out this page to get more information on it.
If you have still questions not answered in this article, please write a comment and I will come back to you.
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Mr. Financial Freedom
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