How To Create A Blog In 2017: A Beginner's Guide
Why should you create a blog?
Blogs have quickly become one of the most popular ways to communicate, share information and spread news. And while there are literally millions of online blogs from almost every subject, you can make yours stand out, and what is even better, you can monetize it and make it your main source of income.
How to create a blog in 5 steps
Here's how to create a blog in 5 steps. If you follow this guide exactly, you will have your own blog set up in about 30 minutes.
- Choose Platform
- Choose the web hosting
- Set up the blog in your own domain
- Design your blog
- Useful blogging resources
Step 1. Choose your favorite blogging platform
The first logical step to create a blog is to choose the platform on which you are going to build it. If we assume that you have taken some time to read our articles and you trust our criteria, chances are that you are choosing for WordPress .
There are other equally powerful CMSs in the market such as Drupal, Joomla, Blogger or Tumblr. But the first two are not suitable for beginners and the last two can be a bit short in terms of design and functionality.
WordPress is the most used CMS in the world since, among other things, it has a very simple configuration and its use is free.
It has tons of themes and plugins both free and paid with which you can customize your blog easily. And, in case you have any doubts, there are lots of blogs with information about WordPress, in addition to a support forum on its official page.
Your blog with Worpdress will be very fast and you will look professional. Your users will be able to interact with you and share your content easily.
Step 2. Blog platform hosted or free?
This is the second decision you'll have to take before you start creating and designing your blog.
All the CMS that we have talked about in the previous point are free to use. You will not have to pay for anything except if you want a custom domain and a professional hosting service. The free option is perfect if what you want to create is a personal blog.
But if you want to create a blog for your company or you want your blog to become your business, you must pay for a domain name and a hosting. Here are some of the disadvantages of the free version:
1) You will not be able to have your own domain name
In a free blog, the web address of your blog (your URL) will not be very attractive. Example: YourName.wordpress.com, YourName.blogspot.com
2) Limits and more limits
There are some limits on free blogs. You can not fully capitalize on it and you do not have the ability to upload all the videos and images you would like. Or worse yet, you will not even have access to the free themes offered by WordPress.
3) You are not the owner of your blog
Your blog will be hosted on someone else's web property and you can remove it if you wish. They have done so in the past, and can continue to do so in the future. Which means that all the work and effort you put into your blog could disappear in a matter of seconds.
On the other hand, with a blog self-hosted in your own domain name you are the real owner of your blog. You can put the name you want and choose a .com, net, .org, .es or any other extension. If you add to this combo the unlimited bandwidth for videos, images and content, besides the free WordPress themes, you already have the winning option.
And how much does a hosting and a domain name cost? Fortunately not as much as you think. It depends on the hosting provider of your choice, but it will be between € 5 and € 10 a month.
your blog in your own domain (if you chose auto-hosting and custom domain)
This step is one of the easiest. Now that you have decided that you are going to create your blog in WordPress and that you are going to pay for a hosting and a domain, it is time to configure it.
Most web hosting services offer a one-click installation for WordPress websites. The only "difficult" will be to choose the hosting company and the most suitable plan for you. You can start with the most basic and if you see that you are falling short you are always in time to expand it.
Step 4. Design your WordPress blog
Now comes the fun part. Let your blog look exactly as you want it.
To choose a new theme, you can go to Appearance> Themes and install a free WordPress theme. Or you can go to a premium theme website like ThemeForest or ElegantThemes and buy one for about 40 €.
There are lots of professional templates that are easy to customize. And if you ever get tired of your design you can always switch to another theme without losing your content and images.
No comments:
Post a Comment