One of the most common questions I receive is: How do I become a blogger?
This post is the first in a series about becoming a “star blogger,” and it covers how to start a blog from scratch. I will take you through the entire blog universe, so you will learn,
Tools & Courses I Use:
Here’s where I would start if I were starting today – in terms of the best marketing tools.
- MorningScore (a must for SEO analysis & topics).
- Dashthis (data overview for beginners).
- Kinsta (server hosting).
- Justin Welsh course for personal branding
How to start a blog from scratch, how to write, how to build an audience, and how to ultimately make a living from it—it is indeed possible, and you can actually live very well from it!
1. What should you write about?
When aiming for success in blogging, the first thing you need to figure out is what you want to write about.
You might think, “my life isn’t that exciting to share”—and that might be true. But others might find your hobby, education, or daily routines interesting.
Love for cars? Share car tips
Love for fitness? Share motivation, fitness, and nutrition tips
I’m sure you’ve already caught my point! You don’t need a Master’s in philosophy or your own TV show to blog. The only thing you really need is passion!
In other words, you should not start a blog based on what other people want to hear.
You need to be passionate about what you write about—otherwise, you’ll give up your blog long before it becomes popular.
2. Finding the Right Blog Platform
One of the biggest challenges when starting a blog is the technical aspect. It can seem very complicated to build a blog from scratch—so there are several alternatives you should explore before diving into blogging.
Free platforms
- Bloggersdelight – offers to host your blog on their platform
- Blogger.com – owned by Google (large blog platform)
- Tumblr – a huge mini-blog site, very popular abroad
- WordPress – offers both hosting and a wordpress.com blog
Pros/Cons
The biggest advantage of choosing an external hosting platform is that you avoid the technical hassle. You enter an already established framework with limited access to change the appearance and style. Additionally, you don’t have to worry about domains, server hosting, coding, etc.
In my opinion, the biggest disadvantage of free platforms is that you don’t have control over your own content—you are, in other words, contributing to that site to increase their traffic.
Even though the alternatives I mentioned earlier have become quite good today, I still believe that a proper blog deserves an independent domain and platform. It takes a bit more time to build a blog on an independent domain, but you also have the opportunity to change everything—and thus shape the site as you wish in terms of design and style.
Self-Hosted Blog
I always use WordPress when creating new blogs, and the same goes for my own blog. It is super quick to set up a blog on WordPress, and the platform offers a lot of free tools (plugins) that you can install without having to pay for an expensive developer.
When you start making money, you can, as I have done, expand your site with a developer’s expertise to make it more tailored.
- My own blog, which you are currently reading.
- Aarhus Osteopati – Denmark’s largest health blog
- Peter Bendtsen – Denmark’s best personal trainer
- Helsebixen.dk/magasin – Denmark’s largest health blog
I have also helped build several websites on the platform, including Sorry Mom, Tattoodo, SlikhaarTV, and many more. Even if you have a larger webshop, you can certainly utilize the potential in WordPress.
Domain Name
One of the first things is to find a domain name. Once you’ve found the right name, you can really start your blogging adventure.
When choosing a domain, remember that the name should be easy to remember and not too difficult to spell.
Yes—the very good domains like “recipes.dk” are taken, but that shouldn’t stop your search for a good domain.
If you’re starting your own business, I recommend Brandroot.com, as it offers the opportunity to buy some expensive but good names. If you just want to start your own personal blog, there are several paths you can take.
If your name is Laura, and you love blogging about cake recipes, for example, you could go for a domain name like “lauraskagehus.dk” or “lauraskager.dk”. Alternatively, you could choose your full name, as I have done, if you want people to know you—but I would only recommend this if your name is a bit unique.
Setting Up in WordPress
WordPress is the most used blog platform in the world. To be precise, about 10% of all websites in the world are built on the WordPress platform—and with good reason: it’s super easy for everyone.
When you buy your domain, most web hosts have a WordPress installation in the back-end, so all you need to do is click on “install”—but if this is not the case, you can read this full guide on installing WordPress.
Both One.com and Unoeuro.com have the simple 1-click installation of WordPress. Here’s an example of an installation on Unoeuro.com.
After that, you just need to choose which domain you want to install it on.
When you’re done installing your website, you’ll be able to log in to what’s called the “backend”—where you can write posts, edit pages, and much more.
When you install WordPress, your site will automatically have a standard theme (appearance)—but you can change this once you get started—this way, you can also get to know the system better—it’s pretty intuitive!
Tip: Having your own domain may cost around 300 kroner per year, but it’s 100% worth it because you “own” your own content, and it’s much easier to start on your own domain than to “move” a blog to a new web address—trust me! And an email without Hotmail or Gmail is much more professional!
WordPress Themes
When you’ve installed your WordPress platform, you’ve come a long way! You should now be able to see a blank page on your domain—this is your standard page.
And now, the fun part begins. Once you’ve installed WordPress, as mentioned, you’ll be able to see a standard theme on your URL, which you can keep, but you can also create your own unique theme—that’s the cool thing about WordPress—and I definitely recommend you do so.
If you want your website to look fancy, and if you’re interested in building your own site, check out Themeforest.com!
Themeforest is a marketplace for WordPress themes—some of them are quite expensive but also very impressive.
Make sure to purchase some of the most downloaded themes if you want to be sure to have a good back-end to work with. (The back-end is where you create your blog posts and customize almost everything. Some themes are associated with difficult systems and options, so stick to those with good recommendations).
I highly recommend Enfold, Total, Petit.
A good example is the blog of Seth Godin. His blog is not the most beautiful in the world, but it’s probably among the most read in my field—and in marketing in general.
Mobile Friendliness is Key!
Later in this post, you’ll get a preview of how the right marketing can help you attract more readers to your blog: spoiler alert, we’ll be diving into social media.
That said, it’s important to mention that users access the vast majority of social media platforms via their mobile devices.
When promoting your blog on various social media, it’s crucial that your blog also looks good on a mobile device.
Here we’re talking about responsive design.
But in short, it’s about ensuring that your blog looks sharp no matter what type of screen your readers are using: mobile, tablet, or computer.
A responsive design allows your blog to adapt to the respective screen when it comes to text elements, image format, CTAs, etc.
All in all, it contributes to a significantly better user experience for your blog and increased accessibility.
3. Plan Your Content
Writing good content doesn’t come easily, and you won’t become a star blogger from day one. To become a good blogger, you need to plan your content in advance. Make an agreement with yourself about how many blog posts you want to write each month, and then set aside time to write them.
Of course, creativity comes when we least expect it, so make sure to take notes, and don’t rely on your memory!
Proper preparation is key to your success. You can easily take notes using the app, “Todoist“—a free to-do app that’s super easy to use.
Planning your content doesn’t mean you have to write 4-5 blog posts in advance: That’s too difficult in the beginning. Instead, try planning your headlines.
Good content takes time to build—that’s just how it is. This blog post took me “only” one day to write, but it took me 4 years to know all of this.
Nurture your mind, invest in books, read blogs, and constantly challenge your knowledge—that way, you’ll also create interesting content for your users. This will ultimately increase the quality of your blog posts. Since this is your hobby, it shouldn’t feel like a challenge—it should be fun.
That’s how I feel when I read about marketing or when I write these posts.
Likewise, I hope that you and others will get a lot out of reading my tips!
Need inspiration for new books? Read about the books that have changed my life here.
4. Distribute Your Content
This post is just the beginning. In the next blog post in this series, I will share my secrets on how you can build an audience and get over 100,000+ readers by distributing your content the right way.
For those who can’t wait to get these content distribution tips, here are a few pointers.
- Make sure your content can be read on smartphones, iPads, etc.
- Ensure you have installed social media buttons on your website
- Vary your content and combine videos, graphics, and text
- Get your family and friends to read what you’ve written
- Engage in conversations on online forums or blogs within your niche
- Mention experts in your blog. Just like I mentioned Seth Godin
- Ask your readers to comment and discuss. Or create a poll that involves your audience—it creates loyal readers because they feel they’re part of your universe.
- Almost all viral blogs start small. The same goes for your blog. If your content is really good, you will attract more and more readers. It takes time to learn how to create viral content. When you see things in your news feed, on TV, or maybe hear something on the radio—try to see if any of the principles you see or hear can be used to build your blog and make it more interesting.
5. Don’t Give Up
In today’s society, we constantly hear the phrase: “Don’t give up,” and when it comes to blogging, this is no exception—you must NOT give up. A large percentage of Danish bloggers quit within 1-2 months—why? They forget the percentage rule mentioned above.
Creating more content does not create more readers!
So What Does Marketing Mean?
- Ask other bloggers or use social media to promote your content
- Try Facebook ads and test your content (coming in the next post)
- Contribute valuable comments to other blogs (link back to your blog)
- Start accounts on social media. It’s often easier to gain followers than readers. Therefore, you can use social media to build a network of followers, and then introduce them to your content on the blog. I actually used this strategy with Tattoodo.com. First, we built up their Facebook page, so we had 1,000,000 fans, and then we systematically started creating blog posts. Suddenly, we had over 4,000,000 monthly visitors.
- Write guest blog posts for other, larger blogs and link back to your own blog. For example, I also write for Trendsonline—you don’t have to go after the biggest websites like TechCrunch, but instead aim for smaller blogs. They are often looking for good content—and this is where you can contribute.
- The hard part of being a blogger is attracting readers. Sharing your blog posts with your friends on Facebook or Twitter doesn’t count as marketing. You need to dig deeper. Neil Patel is among the most successful bloggers who has cracked the code here. Read more about how he and other bloggers market their blogs here. If you can’t wait for my next blog post on the subject, I suggest you read the guide and soak up the information!
Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for my next blog post, which will cover how you can distribute your content—you should have something to look forward to, and I don’t want to bore you with a long-winded explanation all at once.
My name is Micky Weis, and I know your time is valuable—so thank you for taking the time to read this post. It means a lot to me.
If you found any of the ideas or tips useful or just want to share some social karma, I would be deeply grateful if you share, like, or comment on this post.
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