How to Start a Blog in 2021 [Detailed Guide]

You don’t need to learn coding to start your blog or need a professional for the job.

According to Optinmonster, 77% of internet users read blogs; in fact, Companies who write blogs convert their readers into customers.

The good news is that you can start your blog under 100$, No matter if you’re blogging for your business or personal.

Let’s walk through the 7 Dead-Easy Steps to get your blog kick off!

• Step #1 Pick a Niche
• Step #2 Choose a Blogging Platform
• Step #3 Select a Domain Name
• Step #4 Get a Web Hosting
• Step #5 Setting up WordPress
• Step #6 Writing off your first draft
• Step #7 Optimize blog for SEO

Step #1 Pick a Niche: 

The goal is to start a blog about an idea that can help many people. There are tons of ideas, but the real challenge comes when trying to figure out what will work best for you and your reader’s needs.

Here are the easy 3 steps to find a perfect niche for your blog:

Follow Your Passion:

We all have something which we are very passionate about. No matter how easy or hard it is, we love doing that, so find out what you’re crazily passionate about, and on the other side, if you’re excellent at something, then help with your expertise!

Step #2 Choosing a Blogging Platform:

Blogging platforms are nothing but a type of content management system where you organize not only your blog design but also Content and Media.

A blogging platform is a place where you not only store or organize your content, media but also help you to customize your blog.

Here is the top content Management Software by Market Share.

(Beautifully designed chart goes here: CMS market share analysis November 2020 • joost.blog)

Self-hosted v.s Free Hosting Platform?

Self-hosted platforms are easy to build, design, and provide the ability to Connect your own choice of a domain name; that means the whole Control is under you! But it costs you a few dollars.

On the other hand, Hosting Blogging Solutions like Blogger or Tumblr does not allow you to fully customize your blog or use your domain name and Hosting, which is entirely free.

The blog which you are reading is a self-hosted site running on WordPress.

Here is a detailed Comparision:

(Beautifully crafted Comparison Chart goes here)

Step #3 Selecting a Domain Name:

Now, Choosing a Domain is very important. Why?

A domain name is an identity to your blog, just like people call you by name because this is how they know you.

The same applies to your blog. A domain name looks like this:

(IMAGE: Concept of Domain Name)

You must have seen most of the websites ends with .com, but tons of other ending is available, called extensions or TLDs. (like dot Net, Dot Info, Etc.)

According to stats, 52% of Domain names registered are .com, but you can choose other extensions. 

Here is the Checklist for Crafting a Perfect Domain name for your blog:

1. Short Domain Name (Under 11 Characters)
2. Avoid Hyphens Domain Name
3. Avoid Misspelled Domain Names
4. Easy to Pronounce
5. Check for Trademark before finalizing Domain Name

You can read this guide for choosing an excellent name.

You can skip finding a domain name now. Take your time to find a perfect domain name.

Domain Name Generators

If you’re not able to find any domains by brainstorming? No problem.
So here come Domain Name Generators in the picture.

Head over to Leandomainsearch.com and add keywords that represent what you would like to do on this site, such as “golfing” or “gardening.” Hit search, and now all of these domains will be available for purchase online at GoDaddy.

It’s effortless because they have filters by length, language preference (English/French), word type (domain only vs sub-folders), so there is something out there just waiting for you!

Let’s get to the hosting part, and You can always get your free .com with hosting later.

Step #4 Get a Web Hosting:

According to Kinsta, 41% of WordPress attacks are caused by a vulnerability on the hosting platform, so selecting a hack-proof hosting is super essential.

Signup to payment process in Bluehost

• Open the official website of Bluehost: – On any browser search for the Bluehost.com website and click on the “Get Started” option available on the homepage.

• Create an Account with Bluehost: – Find the login option and click on the “create an account” option present below it. You can also choose to sign in with a Google account. 

• Select a hosting plan: – After registering, go to the homepage where you can find different plans available. Select a plan which best suits your requirements and is completely favorable for your blogging site. 

• Package extras: – Review the package extras that come along with the chosen plan. Go through all of them and make sure whether it is favorable for your needs.

• Create or select a domain name: – After choosing a plan, you will be directed to a page where you can either create a free domain name or use the existing one. Once done, click on the next button provided below.

• Payment information: – Fill in the details of your credit card number followed by the CVV and expiration date. Click on submit and you are just one step away to start your blog.

Step #5 Setting up WordPress:

Now, In this step, we will optimize our blog for Search Engines.

It’s crucial because in a Study by BrightEdge, They found that 51% of Website traffic comes from organic channels.

Don’t worry! It’s an easy task!

1. Install RankMath SEO Plugin on your blog

RankMath is an SEO plugin for WordPress that helps optimize your content, customize SEO settings and make it easily crawled by search engines like Google or Bing. All of which help you bring traffic to your site!

Here are some quick features of Rankmath SEO and How it helps you.

2. Permalink Structure

Optimizing your permalinks will help you increase click-through rates for higher rankings and make search engines understand the page’s topic.

Here is an example of a Bad V/S Good Permalink Structure.

(Beautiful Images Goes here)

3. Image Optimization Plugin

Image optimization is a simple process of reducing image size without losing its quality so that way your blog loads fast and the images don’t compromise in any aspect.

Thankfully, Shortpixel has made this easy for you by creating plugins that automatically optimize all images as they’re uploaded to your blog without having to do any work whatsoever!

Simply install it from Plugins-> Add New in WordPress -> ShortPixel Image Optimizer

4. Spam Control, Security and Backup

When you’re running a blog, managing spam comments and security threats are hectic tasks.
I know that any experienced blogger will agree with me on this!

Before you fall into these problems, it’s better to install these two plugins…

Forget Spam Plugin:

Forget Spam is a plug-and-play WordPress plugin that makes it easy to fight spam comments on your blog in one click.

Here’s how a typical spam comment look like:

Simply install it from Plugins-> Add New in WordPress -> Forget Spam Plugin

Wordfence Plugin:

Wordfence Plugin takes WordPress security to the next level! 

You must have heard about a website getting hacked these days. 

A survey by Patchstack found that 70% of digital agencies and freelancers are worried about website security.

So, you can consider it as an essential plugin to use.

In short, It protects your website against malicious traffic, does a Malware scanner, including core files and provides features like two-factor authentication (2FA).

Simply install it from Plugins-> Add New in WordPress -> Wordfence Plugin

Updraft Plus Plugin:

Updraft is a very easy-to-use backup plugin that atomically creates a backup and sends it to any external storage like Google Drive or Dropbox.

In 2007, more than 500 websites hosted by Dream Host started to disappear from the web. One of their routers having an issue would cause sites to go down without notice or warning.

So for some reason, if your site runs into some problem, you can quickly restore your old backup.

Simply install it from Plugins-> Add New in WordPress -> Updraft Plugin