I would never have considered myself a writer ten years ago. I hadn’t written anything since college essays, and writing wasn’t a part of my job. But I had a lot to say, and I wanted to express myself, whether or not anyone was listening. So I started my first blog.
Nowadays, blogging is something I do in my spare time, more for myself than for anyone else. It has become so routine for me that I create new blogs at a whim. If I have been buying a lot of makeup, I start a makeup blog to chronicle my experience with different brands. If I’ve been traveling, I start blogging about travel. I have a number of blogs in various states of use/disuse. Some are successful; others serve as a kind of diary.
Not everyone is so easy-going when it comes to starting a blog. For many, it seems difficult and time-consuming. To help you get going, here is what you need to consider if you want to start a blog.
Choose Your Hosting
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If you’re starting a simple diary-like blog or just want a space to record your thoughts, using the basic hosting provided by Wordpress or Wix shouldn’t be a problem. But if you want a blog that sets you up with the potential for growth and even financial success, you should put more thought into hosting.
Hosting provides the “space” for your blog online. Most people don’t think much about it. But if you look at the answers to the question “Is Bluehost a scam?” you’ll see that many people have been burnt by bad hosting. Hence you can visit this site and make an informed decision about choosing the right hosting company that suites your needs.
Read reviews to make sure you find the best hosting for your needs before settling on a provider.
Get up-to-date with SEO
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Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to methods which make your blog more likely to feature on Google’s first page. It is crucial if you want to draw visitors to your blog and get results. However, a lot of so-called experts have outdated views of SEO. For example, they may believe that stuffing keywords into a page will make Google more likely to find it.
The reality is that search engines have vastly improved in the past couple of decades. SEO has evolved with them, adapting to changing algorithms which are smarter and more intuitive. Today, the amount of keywords you have is not as important as backlinks and quality content. Do some reading to get up-to-date with the latest SEO best practices.
Focus on your content
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Ultimately, however, the best thing you can do for your blog is to focus on making your quality as good as possible. SEO relies on high-quality content, but that shouldn’t be your main motivation. It is all-too-easy to get hung up on views and shares, but you’re probably starting a blog because you have something to say, and not just to be popular.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t focus on marketing your blog. However, remember that your priority is to express yourself as best you can, sharing what you have to offer to the world.
