How do I blog? 6 easy steps to get started

It’s actually pretty simple…. JUST DO IT! Gotta love Nike for that awesome tagline. So let me explain.

The web is truly an endless deep hole of information. Some of which is useful, some not. I literally one day saw a video about this huge jumping spider on Facebook. I then went to Google and started Googling spiders. I looked at all kinds of photos. Mind you, I hate spiders. Those images, took me to YouTube where I went down another rabbit hole of camel spider videos. I think I spent at least 2 hours reading and watching useless information about spiders. Did I say I hated them?

Whats’s my point? People like to read and they like to read online. And they like to read just about anything as long as it interests them at the time.

You still haven’t answered how do I blog?

Write about what you love and what you know. Here are 6 easy steps to get the ball rolling:

1. What do you have a passion for? It doesn’t really matter what you write about. The key is writing about what you love. When you do that, you can’t go wrong. If you enjoy a topic or subject, it really becomes easy.
2. Brainstorm ideas for topics: Let’s say you have a passion for food. Well right there you have a huge opportunity and have now narrowed down what you will write on. Think about it. You can start off sharing some of your favorite recipes. Then maybe you expand to writing reviews about restaurants you visited. Oh man, now you’re cooking. Cooking, get it. What about the history of certain foods? See what I mean: an endless rabbit hole of information.
3. Plan out your posts: Next step is plan out your posts. And this can be very informal. Take a notepad and scribble down some topics in more detail. Topics sometime come to me randomly and I just whip out my Notes on my iPhone and jot them down. Once you get some ideas, plan out how often you want to write. Take in consideration your schedule. The key is be consistent. As you get folks who have an interest, they’ll expect some consistent blogs – and there’s no right or wrong answer. If you only get 1 out a month, then you get it out. If you can find you can do it more often, then great. You just don’t want to go stagnant.
4. Find a platform: You’re going to need a platform to post all your great ideas on. WordPress is ideal for blogging. It originated as a blogging platform and has progressed to a great web design tool. Matter of fact, it’s the primary CMS I use when I do design and development for my clients. You could use WordPress.com and set one up there, but I recommend hosting your own version of WordPress. You’ll get a lot more benefit from doing that like SEO options and a unique URL. Most hosts out there now when you sign up, have a WordPress managed hosting which literally can cost under $5 a month. SiteGround offers managed wordpress hosting starting out at $3.95 a month which is excellent for the everyday blogger. When you sign up, they’ll offer to do an install for you. Once it’s done, you can browser through all the free themes and load one up and just starting writing. WordPress is easy and simple to use. You can’t go wrong if you use it for your blogs. If you’ve got a little more flexibility in your budget, WP Engine is another great choice. They offer a lot of great features including on-the-fly backups. I generally will use this for mid-large size websites but they also have a $29 a month for personal bloggers. In then end, you might pay a bit more but peace of mind to me is always more important. I will cover this more in a later blog post on finding the right host and why it’s important.
5. Start writing: Yep, start putting your words to paper or computer rather. Be as casual or formal as you’d like. Again, there’s no wrong or right way to do it. I’m a pretty casual person and that is reflected in my writing but I find I’m more comfortable writing in that style. But if you feel like your blog is going to be very business focused, you might consider the tone before you publish it. The point is start writing. The great thing about WordPress is you can put everything in a “draft” status until you’re ready to make it public. That way you can keep coming back and fine-tuning the content.
6. Share. Share. Share. Once you’ve written your first blog, share it with everyone! Post a link to your blog on your Facebook page and Twitter. Got Instagram or Pinterest? Use an interesting photo to post to those accounts and point people to your site. A picture is worth a thousand words. Be creative with hashtags to draw interest from people that want to know more about your AWESOME TOPIC! Your friends are going to be your biggest advocate. So using them to get the word out is going to increase traffic as well as interest.

I hope these 6 steps on how to blog helps steer you in the right direction. Write about what you love and HAVE FUN doing it!