A-Z Guide on How To Write a Good Blog
Do you know one of the simplest skills to learn is blog writing?
Have you been thinking about creating one?
Stop stressing yourself! All the help you need in creating a blog has been researched, compiled and incorporated into this article.
On reading this article, you are going to learn the top secrets of blog creation, designing and blog writing. After reading this guide, you will be able to boast of professional knowledge in blog creation.
Before settling for blog writing, one ought to know what a blog is and how the online concept emanated.
The First Question – What Is a Blog?
A blog is an acronym for web log. In summary, a blog is a kind of website, which focuses majorly on providing written content, which is posted in the form of blog posts. In the early 1990s, the idea of blogs was celebrated as an online journal that allows individuals to publish their thoughts, philosophies, beliefs and stories on their own websites. Blogs served as free platforms where people can share their blog posts with other internet users without facing the troubles of getting editors to approve their posts.
Back in the 90s, the modus operandi or popular culture was to write about personal issues, which mattered most but that is no longer the case, as many blogs are now created for impersonal, business and other reasons. The most popular blogs back then were news blogs or celebrity blog sites, but in this guide, you will be trained to start a successful blog on any topic you desire.
Brief History Of Blogs
Globally, the foremost blog was links.net, a blog that was created by a person many refer to as the father of blogging, Justin Hall. Justin created links.net while he was a student at Swarthmore College in 1994.
He tagged links.net as a personal homepage and it was not until 17th of December, 1997 that the terminology “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger.
The term blog was later coined by the owner of Peterme.com on May 1999, out of mere joviality.
With our knowledge of blog definition and brief history, it would have occurred to us that the emanation of the blogging came with a purpose and if you cannot seize this opportunity to fashion out a vision or purpose for your future blog, it is needless to learn about blog creation.
Discover Your Purpose For Writing a Blog
A great man, Myles Munroe once opined that if the purpose of a thing is not known, its abuse is inevitable. The basic aim for the birth of blogging is to give everyone a voice. However, as time went by, different purposes started sprouting in response to different human needs. Nowadays, the purpose could be promotional, for information dissemination, writing display or for various humanitarian and governmental campaigns.
So before you venture into blogging, it is wise to ask yourself these three questions:
What Am I Passionate About?
Sincerely, it’s not an easy task to maintain a blog. If you are ever going to last as a blogger, you need an inclination or energy force that will keep pushing your blogging career. This energy force is what many call passion. Your passion is that thing that you love talking or writing about. It may be sports, health, fashion, politics, and lifestyle and travel blog or business blog.
Who Are Those Who Share My Views?
For you to reach your greatest heights as a blogger, you need support from fans and followers. A point would come when the only thing that will keep you going is the people you’ve built connections with. Brainstorm on those, who should be interested in your school of thought(s). These selected few, as far as the human population is concerned, are the same persons that will constitute your followers, sponsors and team members in the nearest future. To be sincere these set of individuals should be your target because of the similarity in ideology, beliefs and culture(s).
What Do I Plan To Achieve By Creating A Blog?
Your goals are the sole determinants of how far you are going to get as a blogger. Goals are defined targets or rather detailed aims. Do you aim changing the world or making money from businesses? Define your goals and you are almost ready for the blogging challenge.
After searching your soul for your blog passion, audience and goals, your next shot is creating a blog. Blog writing cannot be realized without blog creation. So let’s venture into the skill of blog creation.
How to Write an About Me Section for a Blog
The about me section is one which contains a combination of your philosophy, values, short history, the reason(s) you created the platform and your goal for the platform. For organizations, it can be termed of About Us instead of About Me. However, if you choose to put your company’s name immediately after the word About:
- For example, you can write About Avon If Avon.com is your domain name.
Follow these five rules whenever you want to write an about me section:
- Understand; although its tagged About Me, its majorly about your audience: When writing this section, note that honesty is good but honesty without caution is repulsive. Do not include your odd value; make sure this section serve as a bank of your good qualities and experiences, which are similar to the purpose of your blog.
- Make it catchy: Do not write a boring “blog bio” content even if your personal lifestyle is not so exciting.
- Include your past achievements or positions: No one wants to take advice from an inexperienced person. Before people give you their time and attention, they must be convinced to do so.
- Include your picture: Since its an ‘about me’ page, people would want to have a clear picture of you. If it is your organization, put the logo or a picture of your headquarters.
– Make sure your content is emotional: Your choice of words should arouse their feelings and get them emotionally attached.
How To Create A Good And Technical Blog?
Invent A Suitable And Precise Name For Your Blog
The first in professional blog creation task is to pick a blog title, which aligns with your passion or field of study. For example, picking a name like www.healthyrecipes.com for someone, who has passion or is skilled on food-health issues, is a very good idea. The reason for picking a passion inclined or skill related name is to guide potential followers on what your blog is all about. As the popular adage goes, first impression matters most and, if your potential viewers are not attracted by your name that can jeopardize their willingness to click on your link.
So the very first step you have to take to is to come up with your blog name. You must choose your suitable blog title, which should be simple and catchy enough to arouse blog clicks and views. Also, this blog name has to be used as your domain name, which could take the www.blogname.com.
The only two clauses or exception is when your blog is personal or organizational. If that is the case then, you can input your name or organization’s name, whichever is the case. For example, www.hangoutswithfrank.com and www.doterra.com are good examples of a personal and organizational name respectively.
Also, it is very important to note that excessively long blog names are boring and frustrating. I mean no one wants to read blogs like www.chillingoutsidethebeacheverymorning.com. Anyone who sees that will feel irritated by the excessive length, confusion and indecisiveness of the blog name. So make sure your passionate blog name is also brief and precise.
The www before the blog name is an acronym of World Wide Web. Although some people remove it on registering their blog name but it is the conventional initial for most blog links. However the .com at the end is not compulsory. You have the option of choosing a vast range of other suffixes/extensions for example, .net, .org, .info and so on can be used but most of these have their own different uses and restriction depending on the choice and aims of the user. However, the most used is .com, which of course is the most expensive extension to get.
Check If The Name(s) Is Still Available
Since you’ve determined which name you want to adopt, it is necessary to check whether such name is still available. For example, the freelancing platform, Fiverr.com chose the “double r” at the end of their own blog name because someone already chose the name fiver.com, which has a “single r”. In order to secure your name, you can buy yourblogname.com, yourblogname.org, yourblogname.net and yourblogname.info so as to make sure no other person uses that name other a different extension.
Note: Do not use any spaces or punctuation other than dashes in a domain name.
Peradventure your proposed blog name is already used by someone, there are still a few options left for you:
Adopt a different domain extension. Probably, if the .com version is already taken and other versions are available, you can anyway get the .net or .org version of your blog name.
You could add small words like “the” “a”, or “my”. For example, you can add mylove.com if love.com has already been taken.
Also, you can include dashes between words but do not do so excessively. For example, kill-rats.com, usually a dash is okay.
Register Your Domain Name
Now that you have got a blog name, it’s time to actually present your blog online. In order to get your blog set and working you have to make sure these two things are in place: blog host and blogging software.
You also need some specific software to construct your blog. In this guide you will be shown the best way to build the WordPress software designed for blogging; since it’s the most popular, very easy to customize to your needs and to use to use but you can also sign up with content management systems. A CMS helps you with the creation of website domains, where blog posts are published.
You can get a domain from blog hosts like GoDaddy, HostGator, DreamHost, Bluehost and iPage. A blog host is any company, which stores your blog files and delivers them to your users when they click on your blog link. The various services rendered by these hosting services are not free because of the cost of blog maintenance.
Benefits of using a blog hosting company
Your domain name will be registered with them
You will be given an affordable and simple installation of the WordPress blogging software.
They provide undaunted 24/7 customer services
They have a monetary give-back guarantee if you change your mind after buying your blog domain.
How To Register A Domain And Blog Host
Click www.bluehost.com or www.hostinger.com, and click “get started now”.
Select your plan whether it is free of paid plan. We recommend that new bloggers get the basic plan. Click “Select” to choose your plan.
Input in your domain name into the left box at the side bar and click “next” to initiate the registration process.
Peradventure you already have a domain name and want to use it for your blog, just type your existing domain in the right box and click “enter”.
Fill in your bank/billing details on the registration page.
Then, you have to select your hosting package and the options which you need.
Note: Longer month packages are oftentimes cheaper than shorter ones.
You should come up with a suitable password for your account. Immediately after you do that, you will be able to choose a basic design template to design the style of your blog.
Go into the install section on the website and install WordPress. After the install is complete, click “Start Building” to be logged-in to your blog.
Then, you will receive an email with your blog log-in details, which will give you certain guides and links to sections on your blog.
Design Your Blog
Login into your blog and proceed to http://www.yourblogname.com/wp-admin (insert “yourblog.com” with your domain name).
Immediately check in the WordPress administrator area, you can make any changes you want to your blog. This is best done by installing blog layouts, which are technically known as Themes. A blog theme dictates the entire design of your blog. In order to change your theme, click on the “Appearance” tab on the left menu.
Note: your blog theme determines the types of features your blog can accommodate. The best set of blog themes come at a price.
You can now activate your desired theme on your blog.
Write And Publish Your First Post!
Since your blog is alive, literarily, you can go ahead to write your first blog post and also, create various pages for your great blog posts and guest blog posts.
Go to the left menu and click on “Posts”.
Delete the default post on your new blog, by clicking “Trash” under the post.
Click the “Add New” link to start writing a new post,.
On the post editor screen, enter the title of your post in the top box and start articulating your post in the lower box.
You can also, add a picture to your post by clicking on the “Add Media” button and click “Select Files” to upload a picture from your computer.
Once you have finished your post just click the “Publish” button on the right side of the screen to publish first blog article.
