First of all, what is Blog?
According to google blog is a short term for “weblog,” which refers to an online journal. Blogs began as personal mini sites that people used to record their opinions, stories, and other writings as well as photos and videos. As the web has grown and changed, blogs have gained more recognition and merit.
If you have loads of ideas about anything under the sun that you would like to share to the world blogging is the ultimate platform where you can easily reach out to people and share it with them. Before, blogging is just a hobby; but nowadays it is one of the highest sources of income.
There are millions of blog posts that you can find on the internet tackling about on how to start your own blog. They are totally informative and will guide you all through-out your journey, but those will never tell you the precise experience on how it works and how it should be done. In here, I am going to show you and tell you my honest opinion and the exact experience that I have encountered.
Here are the following materials that I used on how I started my blog:
1. Research, Research, Research …
Before putting up your own blogging site it is essential to be well equipped; by doing your own research. Pinterest is my bread and butter through out this journey, most of the successful bloggers are using this platform. They will teach you through their blog posts and if ever you have a question; you can directly message them and for sure they will absolutely be delighted to help you. You only need your pen and a writing pad (I still prefer writing, I’m so old school I know 😊) or your phone. Take down all the information that you will gather to help you get started.
(“Research: The distance between an idea and its realization” – David Sarnoff-)
2. Determination & Focus
To tell you guys honestly, I never had any strategy on how my blog is going to look like. I only have my determination with me to put up my own, that’s my goal just to have my own site first; then everything will follow. And according to many blog posts that I have read, the primary thing that you need to ponder on putting up your blog is your concepts. Meaning you should know already what are the niches that you are going to tackle in your blog. But then I never really have measured it. My only focus is to get it done, design it and just lay my ideas during the process. Because once you are on the actual scenario all the concepts are pouring and you’ll visualize how it is going to be.
(“If you really want to something you can figure it out how to make it happen” -Cher-)
3. Hosting
There are hundreds of hosting sites on the internet that will support you to get started. To name a few bluehost, godaddy, wix.com and many more. But I have preferred Hostinger, most of the sites that I have cited they entail at least 1-year payment. Since I am just starting my blog what I have acquired is for 1 month hosting only, I sought to test the water first. Then later I just added additional months. I never distinguish what’s going to transpire in my blog and just bought what I think is inexpensive at the moment. Besides, I can continuously renew it. Once I am settled, I will purchase the 1 year. Hostinger has a 24/7 customer service, if you have any question, they definitely answer you back immediately. It takes a few minutes only to get your blog hosted. You can visit their site at https://www.hostinger.com/.
4. Domain
Once you have settled, you can choose the domain that you love in this site https://www.hostinger.com/domain-checker. Most of the people are having tough time in picking their domain name. In my case, since I dearly love my name very much (thanks to my mom 😊) I have used it as my domain khainarochel.com. You will definitely value your domain, because this will be yours and no one can copy it. Just pick a modest yet interesting domain name. You must pay separately for the domain of your choice, I have paid around $ 9.20 for my domain and that is for 1 year. You must renew the domain name yearly.
5. Themes
After you have figured it out, it is time for you to create your theme. Honestly this is my real struggle, I stressed out plainly in putting-up my ideas on how my site is going to look like. It takes a lot of time in finalizing your own theme. Until now, I am still not gratified on the appearance of my site, but anyhow once you are into it you will be challenged, and you will strive more in doing it accurately. Since I am not a techy person, I had lots of trouble in connecting the pieces. Initially, I have tried creating my own site it went O-K but then I was literally doing it from graze even while posting my posts. I never associated the theme that I have created to wordpress.com, and I think that’s the reason why my problems piled up. So after that, I went back on my research again and find alternative solutions. Then I bumped into Olsen Theme Pro for wordpress.com and purchased it from www.cssigniter.com. When I acquired it, I thought that it will make my life easier because I truly love the sample of theme that they have publicised. I purchased it for $63.20 and that’s for one year. Having said that, I thought that it will make my life easier, but then while trying to tweak it I had lots of distress. The video that they have is not comprehensive. This is as per my own opinion and maybe the skirmish that I have come across is due to my absence of knowledge when it comes to the technicality of the themes. Finger cross, I hope and pray that this will be successful in the future.
6. Posts
Now that you have established the technical side of your blog site, it is time for you to post your blog. All your ideas that you wanted to be read and wanted to be shared to the world will be released. It is time for you to articulate your thoughts and published it in your own site. Might it be about fashion, lifestyle, blogging and many more.
I am just new in blogging and still learning a lot. What ever comes in my way I will definitely share it with you.