How to Start a Blog

The first thing you need to know when starting a blog is what you plan to blog about. What is your passion? If you don't know what your passion is, that would be the first thing to figure out.

Think about what you liked to do as a child. I loved riding my bike, swinging, drawing flowers, and coloring. Somehow, the flower drawing and coloring has worked into my blogs. I love color, blogs bursting with color, and I love flowers. When I visit blogs of white, shades of white, and shades of grey, my eyes feel strained. Too much white for me, often small letters in a shade of grey. Classy, beautiful, but not practical for my eyes.

You may love the stark beauty of a white and grey blog. That's okay if you do. The world would be a boring place if we all liked exactly the same color and style. Then we would have no need to look up "boards" and "pins" on Pinterest to get ideas and inspiration.

What To Blog About

Make a list of ten things you are interested in blogging about. Out of those ten, make another list of five things you're interested in, then narrow it down to the one thing that you favor. If you blog about the least thing you're interested in, you won't stay consistent with the blog after awhile.

Choosing Your Brand and Domain

A brand is what you are known as, how people recognize your blog. That's a good way to figure out what to use as a domain. Some people use their names. Others use a word related to what their blog is about. Search the web, and see what others are using for a brand and domain. Again, make a list of ten, then five, then choose your best one. You'll then need to find a hosting service to see if your domain is available.

Type of Hosting Service

Decide whether you want a free or paid hosting service. I know people who like free blogs through Blogger.com and others who prefer a self-hosted blog that you pay a fee for like Hostgator or Typepad. I started out with a free blog through WordPress.com and then others through Blogger.com. One of my favorites is a community blog network, www.highdesertblogging.com that I have hosted through Hostgator.

Web hosting companies provide many services, and it's a good idea to research hosting companies and what they offer. Look at the article on quackit.com to understand further about services offered by hosting companies. One of the services you'll need is the search of a domain name that is available.

What to blog about, choosing your brand and domain, and deciding on the type of hosting service you should use are necessary to get your blog set up. Once you do that, then you can start blogging. Join a blog network or a blog meetup group hosted through www.meetup.com to connect with like-minded bloggers. Networking, connecting to other bloggers, is also important. We will save that for another blog post. Until then, come up with your own brand and domain, and start a blog.