How to Start a Blog

 Blogging is, without a doubt, the most challenging, exciting, and rewarding thing I've ever done. I'll never forget the day I decided to do it - opening up my laptop, YouTube, and typing in "how to start a blog".

It makes writing this post just a little surreal. I've spent the last year and a half GRINDING, learning, and growing as both a blogger and a human, and while I'm so grateful for every step of that journey, there is so much that I wish I had known before I started. 

I don't know it all, but my experience and relationships with other bloggers have taught me a LOT.  I'm SO stoked to bring you this post on How to Start a Successful blog in 2021.

This post is jam packed with all of the must-dos, must-knows, and hard truths you'll need to know to make it in this industry. 

Be sure to also check out this post here with my FAVOURITE Blogging Resources - the ultimate compilation of what's worth investing in.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to make a purchase through these links, I will make a small commission. Please note that ALL opinions are mine, and I've used and loved every single thing I'm recommending here. 

how to start a blog

1. Know your why. 

If you want to start a successful blog, you need to start with knowing your why. I know, I know -- it sounds cheesy, but it's actually an important business practice. Why do you want to start a blog? 

Maybe you love writing and want to try your hand at blog posts, or perhaps you're really passionate about a particular subject and you want to share your knowledge and experience.

It could be building a career you can do from anywhere, giving you the freedom to travel the world, stay home with your kids, volunteer more, or whatever else is on your heart. 

Blogging is an absolute blast, but it's also really hard sometimes. You're gonna put in a lot of long hours and have to wait for the results you want. I honestly think every blogger ever has at least one moment of staring at their analytics, wishing they saw different results,  and wondering if they should give up.

And honestly, a lot of people do. But the bloggers that you see doing it successfully, running careers, businesses, and lives based around this opportunity are the ones who didn't. That's why you need a why. 

You need a driving force behind what you're doing. A reason to keep pushing, fighting, and working for the life that you want that's bigger than just having fun. (Unless you're a hobby blogger -- in that case, pressure's off, do whatever you're feeling!!) 

I don't want to scare you, because starting a blog is actually really fun, and I absolutely LOVE blogging (remember when I said it was the most rewarding thing I've ever done?!). But I want you to succeed, and in order to do that, you need to understand why you're doing what you're doing. 

2. Know Your Niche

Your niche is what you write about. It's the category you fit into -- and in a saturated industry, the more specific you are, the better.

For example, my niche is intentional living. Everything that I write falls under that category. When people come to my blog, they know they're reading content that's designed to help them create the life they want and live out of the priorities they already think they have.

This is a hard thing to hear, but if you're entering the blogging world assuming that it's easy to "make it" based on a modgepodge of posts, topics, and conversations... you may be in for a reality check. That content typically performs better on an Instagram account than a website. 

You're going to want to optimize your website for search engines, and you'll need a clear focus for it. Growing a following is hard under normal circumstances, but when your content is scattered and all over the place, it's almost impossible.

Both for your audience and for yourself, you NEED to know your why. Your purpose behind a post, article, and website altogether. This will keep you working when you don't want to. It'll build trust with your audience, and help them to start seeing you as a kind of authority.  

I hated hearing that I needed to choose a niche over and over, but honestly, it's just the truth. You can expand down the road, but for right now, you need to find your voice and narrow it down to one area.

Knowing your niche will help you pick a name for your blog, too. Honestly, I'd recommend choosing something other than your name - I started out using mine (anikagreen.com) and it was really for building an audience in MY specific niche. If you're a fashion/lifestyle blogger, there's a bit more wiggle room. Ultimately, do whatever feels right to you.

Do some research within your niche and make sure to follow some other similar bloggers. Building those relationships and learning from people in your industry will be HUGE for you down the line.

2. Pick a platform & sign up for hosting

If you want to be taken seriously as a blogger, you need a custom domain. For example, my URL is outofthehabit.com, not outofthehabit.wordpress.com.

Without a custom domain, you will have a very difficult time building traffic, getting brand deals, and getting accepted into affiliate networks. It's just an industry reality that most people want to see that you've invested into yourself before they do.

I did NOT have extra money when I started blogging, and in fact, I needed blogging to become an income source quickly for me. Keeping costs low while investing in a quality platform was key -- so I've learned a couple tricks I can share with you. 

I chose to go with WordPress, because they're an exceptional platform and the industry standard.

For hosting, I found that every single blogger I knew recommended Bluehost. As a beginner blogger, you literally cannot find better. Bluehost costs $3 a month, which is basically nothing, and they're nothing short of exceptional. I've been using them since I started and would recommend them to anyone looking to start a blog in 2021.

I also purchased my custom domain through them for only $15, which is DIRT CHEAP.

Their customer service is uNPARALLELED, and for an overthinker with a lot of questions, that's been pretty valuable. They're super helpful and involved, and honestly really want you to succeed. Blogging, while an incredible opportunity, can be really lonely, and finding points of connection with people who have your back is just a really cool thing.

 3. SET UP YOUR WEBSITE

Time for the fun stuff. Setting up my website was probably one of the most exciting parts for me. I used a free WordPress theme for the first year or so of blogging, but honestly, if you have a little bit of extra $$, it's worth looking into grabbing a cute theme on Etsy. 

You do NOT need to get a custom one, or an expensive one at all, (the one I'm currently using was THIRTY DOLLARS). I'd recommend just finding something clean, cheap, and easy to use. Your content is what will keep people coming, not just the aesthetics.

Once you've picked a theme, start building base pages for your website. You probably want an About page, a Contact page, and a Blog page. Take or find images to make your website beautiful.

BE CAREFUL not to use any images that you don't have the rights to. For example -- that cute photo you saw on Pinterest? Not yours. Not only will using someone else's content work against you in gaining traffic, you can have legal issues come up and it's just bad and messy.

As much as you can, take your own photos or have someone take them for you! Original content is always best, but if you can't take enough, I've been using Deposit Photos for months now and had great success. They have a huge selection of stock photos that are quite affordable and perform really well for me.

4. start writing

All right, now that you know how to start a blog, it's time to get writing. If you're not sure what to write about,  check out Pinterest as a source for inspiration. You can usually get a good idea of what people are searching for based on the keywords at the top, and you should be able to find some ideas that way. 

Follow other people in similar niches, and consume their content to figure out what's out there and what pain points need to be met that haven't been yet. Look for chances to bring your unique voice to the conversation, whether you're creating a fashion roundup post, inspirational life lesson, or list of productivity hacks.

Do NOT copy off of other people's work or imitate what they've written - use inspiration only, and make it your own. The blogging world is a community, but it's also competitive. You need to be your own person, have your own voice, and write the stories that you want to share. 

Aim for your posts to be 900-1500 words. The longer, the better. You'll rank better (show up closer to the top of search results), be taken more seriously by search engines, and deliver more value to your audience. Make sure that you're packing real, valuable content into what you're writing.

5. market your content

Time to share your work with the world. As you're writing posts, you want to get them up on platforms like Pinterest ASAP to start driving traffic to your blog.

If you're a new blogger, do not, I repeat, do NOT try to join every platform possible. It might seem like a good idea, but it will probably result in overwhelm, chaos, and a lot of stress. My advice is to pick one other platform (I'd suggest Pinterest) to market your content on to start, and slowly add more as your traffic grows. 

Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint, and exhausting yourself early on is a bad idea. Pinterest is the #1 source of traffic for me, and has been throughout my blogging journey. There's far less social politics than platforms like Instagram, and it's easy to reach a wide audience quickly. 

If you're really serious about making blogging a career, I would highly recommend taking this Pinterest course.

I've taken several myself that I didn't love, but Perfecting Pinterest gave me the tools to implement a strategy that wasn't insanely time-consuming but also brought me results. It's VERY affordable in the grand scheme of things, and much cheaper than what else is out there.  

And.... You're officially a blogger! Woohoo! Welcome to the gang - I'm so glad that you're here. I know I talked a lot about how starting a blog is hard and it takes time, but I really do want to stress how wonderful it is too.

Blogging is so fulfilling, and I honestly could NOT see myself doing anything else. I really feel like I've found my purpose in life. I'm so freaking proud of you for being here, and I absolutely cannot wait to see you crush it.  

You know how to start a blog now - it's time to go get it done! 

Let me know what blogging tips you'd like to hear next in the comments or shoot me a DM over on Instagram - I'm happy to help however I can!