How to start a blog in 2023 {Beginner’s Guide} – Awareshala

Are you wondering how to start a blog in 2023? Then you have come to the right place.

In this article, I have provided a complete beginner’s guide to starting a blog in 2023 and how you can create your blog with simple steps.

Before moving ahead with this article, let’s discuss some common myths that revolve around the minds of beginners.

Myths about starting a blog

1. It is too late to start a blog in 2023.

Do you think like that? If so, please think about it again because it’s never too late to start a blog.

Blogging is an evergreen revenue-generating source. As the usage and dependency on the Internet are increasing daily, the demand for blogging is also rising simultaneously.

2. Blogging is saturated

Like the first one, it is also a misconception. The potential of blogging increases by the day and never be off-market as the usage of online services rises.

Although blogging is the focus of online income sources nowadays due to competition becoming high, if you have a good marketing strategy and high content to deliver, you can quickly excel in it.

If you are afraid of competition, let me know – competition is present in every field, even daily. Thousands of new blogs have started, but the fact is only a few of them are your competition.

3. Blogging required a high investment to start:

Who says that? No, not. You can even start blogging for free.

And in the case of the paid channel, you only have to pay $3-$5 per month. Is it expensive? I know it’s not. You can buy it by skipping just one weekend outdoors. Isn’t it?

4. To write a blog, you have to have a Master in English Writing Skills:

No, no. Another myth. Minimum writing skills to express your thoughts and knowledge are enough to write a blog.

And if this statement were true, only native English-speaking countries would publish blogs.

Not only is it not mandatory to write a blog in the English Language only, but you can also write in whatever language you are comfortable with.

In blogging, people mostly care about your content, hardly your grammar, writing style or language skills.

And for your information, several apps are present online, like Grammarly; by using it, you can easily neglect your grammatical mistakes and improve your writing skills if you want.

5. You have to be excellent in technology:

Programming skills like coding, web development, programming languages, etc, become minimal, linking with blogging as readymade websites are cheaply available in the market.

Just a basic or zero knowledge of computers can make you an excellent blogger.

6. Blogging takes a very long time to grow:

Look, nothing good happened overnight; all you need is hard work and time to grow. The same theory applies to blogging.

Blogging requires at least six months to rank in search engines. And that implies 6months of hard work without worrying about its small return.

But once you are ranked in the search engine, you enter the log phase, which means exponential growth, both in your popularity and income.

And in these six months of your growth time, you can use it to brand your blog.

Mistakes that beginner bloggers make

Before starting a blog in 2020, there is something to put forward.

Have you got confused about it? Don’t worry; let me clear it up.

Mistakes that beginner bloggers make and you should avoid are:

1. Right Mindset

This is the first step to your success online, and you should take it seriously. 

You have to treat your blog as a startup or business rather than just thinking it is just a hustle or part-time work.

If you take it lightly, then for sure, after not getting results in a few months, you will get demotivated and leave this blogging path.

You have to invest well and work smart rather than only hard work. Investment means money, time, connecting like-minded people, etc.

2. What is the motive behind starting the blog?

The motive behind starting a blog is also one of the biggest mistakes many bloggers repeat in their initial journey.

They can’t decide why they are starting a blog.

Even if you are stuck with this question, let me help you decide.

For what you are starting a blog in 2023:

• Passion: If you are passionate about doing something online and spending on different kinds of stuff online, Then it’s the best fit for you.
• Solely for money: You might suffer if you start a profitable blog exclusively for cash.
• By looking at someone: If you want to start a blog by looking at someone’s earning proof and getting motivated, it’s dangerous if you are not following your passion.
• Sharing your knowledge with others: If you are good at sharing your knowledge with others, then you should start a blog in 2020.

So before starting a blog, you should be clear-cut with the right mindset and have to be clear with the motive behind starting it.

Otherwise, you will get demotivated after not getting the results as per your expectations, and as a result, you will leave it.

Benefits of starting a blog in 2023

Now, let’s discuss the benefits of starting a blog in 2023:

• Be the boss: Work on your blog or website and make it as profitable as you want and scale up without worrying about 9-5 jobs working under someone. 
• Share your knowledge: Share the knowledge you have expertise in and make your online presence.
• Get connected to like-minded people: get a chance to connect and work with like-minded people in your niche.
• Make money online: Apart from all, sharing your knowledge can lead you to make money online, which has lots of potential.
• Make yourself a brand: Your online presence on different social media and your loyal audience can be your biggest asset.

So now I think you have all the points, and you are ready to launch your first online blog.

Let’s dive into it.

Roadmap to start a blog in 2023 – Beginner’s guide

Starting a very good blogging channel takes just 20-30 minutes if you know the process.

So here I provide you with a complete guide on How to start a blog. So, without much chitchat, check it out.

Step 1: Choose your blog niche

I think you heard about the word “Niche”. So basically, it is the topic on which you want to proceed with your writing on your blog.

A particular niche is very important for your growth as a blogger. Your topics defined your channel and your content.

If you choose multiple topics in one blog, it will be very haphazard. And it will be difficult for you to find out the target audience. So, my recommendation is to find a specific niche to move forward.

Do you have any ideas if you are worried about your niche? – every topic on which you can express your thoughts, imagination, and knowledge is a niche.

It can be your daily routine political discussion, anything whatever you like.

So you may ask, how can I find the right niche on which I can work?

So the straightforward answer to you is, pick a pen and paper and note down these things:

• Your hobbies
• Your passion
• Your interest

Passion is necessary because if you love reading novels and have a passion for books, then talking about cameras and lenses through blogs will be next to impossible. You have to answer these questions.

• Are you interested in working on that niche?
• Can you share the article on that niche?
• Can you solve other problems with your writing in that niche?

Now you can select 3-4 niches in which you can work based upon your interests, skills and passion.

Your ideal niche is the combination of all these three things.

Want some examples? Like-

• Finance niche, like our blog.

• You can launch a fashion blog if you like fashion, glamour, and makeup.
• I love cooking and then started a food-cooking blog.
• Know about Yoga, meditation, and workouts? Share it in your lifestyle blog.
• I love to read and write stories, and I want to share your book review and your own story in the blog.

Let me clarify further about niches by giving some website names.

91mobiles: This website is made specifically for mobiles, and all the articles published on their website are about mobile phones.

They compare the mobiles, write reviews and provide a top listing of mobiles under the specific price.

Entrepreneur: This website is all about entrepreneurship and business-related. The content published here targets finance, startups, business tips, and more.

So, all content revolves around business and entrepreneurship, in short.

Shoutmeloud: This website was started by famous Indian SEO scientist and affiliate marketer Harsh Aggarwal, where he shares content related to WordPress, SEO, blogging and affiliate marketing.

You can take my example; one of my blogs is in the book niche. And I earn a decent amount from Amazon affiliates as well as some paid listings.

And my first income was 515$ from that single website.

So you can see there are millions of options for choosing a niche.

My advice is to choose the topics in which you love to write not because of their monetizing capacity but because if you do this, you very quickly fade up with your blogging.

Step 2: Choose a domain for your blog

Your blog name defines your niche. So, choose a domain name that goes with your niche.

Once you select your niche and have a special name for the channel, search for its availability.

We prefer to buy TLDs (Level domains) like .com, .co, .net etc, but you can buy your regional domains like .in (for India), .us (for USA), .pk (for Pakistan)

NOTE: Do try to buy .com or any other top-level domains, if you want to target a global audience from all around the world, like the US, UK, Australia, India etc.

Follow these steps in selecting the right domain name for your blog:

• Easy to remember: you have to take or search for a domain that is easy to remember, and it should be short and straightforward.
• Use keywords: if you can add a keyword in the domain, then it’s a good practice to the SEO point. e,g allaboutcats.com contain a cat in the domain
• Get TLDs: as discussed earlier, you have to prefer and get top-level domains only.
• Exclude numbers and hyphens: Try to get rid of numbers and hyphens in your domain name. This will not be a good practice as per SEO reference.

Suggestion: I would suggest you buy hosting from Bluehost, and you will get a free domain otherwise, you have to pay an extra $10.

If your channel name is available, that case is awesome; if not, search for other names.

Step 3: Buy hosting for your blog

There are several paid hosts present in the marketing but I recommend Bluehost.com as your best hosting service.

Here is the step-by-step guide to building a blog by using Bluehost.com:

1. Click On the special discount Button above to visit the Bluehost homepage.

On the homepage, you will see, the “Get Started” button to see plans and pricing.

You can see various types of plans, but for beginners, “Basic Plan” is enough, and the best part is you can go to any higher plan anytime you want.

So choose a Basic plan and click Select.

It will take you to the domain page, where you have to put your domain name by clicking “Create a new domain“

Put your desired domain name and click on Next. If it is available, then it will show as available. If not available, then try another name.

Kindly fill in your account information.

Now you will see package information. Under Package Extra, uncheck all boxes present except “Domain Privacy + Protection“

Provide your card details. You can choose other payment options like PayPal.

Then, complete your payment on “Payment Information” and accept the terms and agreements.

At last, press “Submit “

After completing this step, set a password and log into your account. So, your domain and hosting services are active now.

Congratulations! Your blog is set up now.

Step 4: Start a blog by installing WordPress

After purchase, you have to install WordPress on your blog.

Bluehost will automatically do all your installation of WordPress and the necessary setup.

Just log in and click on Skip this step. Now WordPress is installed. Just start building.

Step 5: Select a Theme for your Blog

When you end up with a login by using your password, you have to choose a theme for the blog.

You can log in by visiting yourdomain/wp-admin.

Now you have two choices- either you can choose a free template or a paid one.

You can also find thousands of attractive themes for free, which are more than enough for decorating your channel. You can find it left in the dashboard by clicking on Appearance >> Theme.

But if you want to give your channel a professional look, you can buy premium themes.

The theme you see on this website uses a premium Astra theme. After purchase, you can use it on your unlimited sites.

Once you are done with your theme, you are on the edge to launch your channel.

Oh, drum roll, your blog is ready. Congratulations!

Step 6: Setup necessary settings

It’s great to know that you have installed WordPress on your site. You might be thinking, what next after installing WordPress? 

So, let me guide you with some essential settings to be done after installing WordPress.

1. General settings 

General settings must be configured, including site title, tagline, timezone, favicon, etc. 

Login to the WordPress dashboard, and from the left side, navigate to Go to Settings> General option.

Change the site title and tagline as per your niche; it is very important because this will show in Google search results.

Scroll further below and set up Timezone, to your local time. This will help in scheduling posts as per your preferred time.

After configuring all these settings, just hit the save button available below.

2. Configure permalinks structure

Permalinks refer to the URLs of your posts and pages that you will publish after writing content. 

WordPress, by default, puts the permalink structure something like this, which doesn’t look good at all.

So to make it good-looking and search engine friendly, Go to Settings> Permalinks, select Post name format of URL and save changes.

Step 7: Install some important plugins

What is a plugin? –  it is software that provides you with some additional features for your channel.

The plugin is very important to make your blog more professional. So you have to install it if you want to complete every step to start a blog and give a neck-to-neck competition with other bloggers.

Although the word ‘plugin’ looks very mysterious, it is very easy to install, so don’t worry.

Install your plugin by clicking “Plugin >> Add new” on the left menu of the dashboard. Search the plugin with the name provided below.

Then click on Install and Activate.

• Rank Math SEO: It will optimise the blog post according to the search algorithm.
• Akismet Anti Spam: save from spam.
• Google Analytics Dashboard by Monster Insights: Check the traffic on your dashboard.
• Contact Form 7: build an easy connection form.
• W3 Total Cache: increase the site speed. The best is WP Rocket, which will reduce site speed to under 1 sec.
• Social warfare: provide social media share switches on the page.
• UpdraftPlus Backup: Give automatic backup.

For help setting up, you can see some YouTube tutorials.

Step 8: Create Stunning Content

Your page is completely ready, so now time to write your article. Share your knowledge, story, or information whatever you have with the world.

Write articles in simple words in a friendly manner.

If you are not good at grammar, then you can use Grammarly to proofread and reduce grammatical mistakes.

Engage your followers with your content, because only good content is the way to attract people to your post.

Bonus# Ways To Earn from your blog

Let’s discuss different monetisation methods:

1. Adsense or other media networks

In this method, google provides to their publisher with a unique way to monetise website visitors where ads will show to the visitors, and if they click on any ads showing, the publisher will get revenue for that.

2. Affiliate marketing

This is my favourite method out of all the available techniques. And many pro bloggers earn millions of money through affiliate marketing like Adam Enfroy and Pat Flynn.

If you don’t know about affiliate marketing, then do let me elaborate briefly.

Suppose company A (merchant) has a specific product or service and wants to make more sales. So, they look for a target audience for their products/services. 

Now, you will work as an affiliate. If you have some targeted audience coming on, your website or blog matches what company A is looking for.

Now, here comes the deal. You, as an affiliate, will join the company, and the company will provide you with a unique tracking link.

You will now promote their product/services on your website, and if any visitors buy using your unique tracking link, then the company will pay you a commission as per their rules.

You can clearly understand it from the pictures shown above.

This is what actually affiliate marketing is.

You can join platforms like Shareasale, Clickbank, Jvzoo, and Amazon to start your affiliate marketing journey.

3. Sell your course/ebooks

Pro bloggers use this, and it contributes a lot to their revenue.

If you are good at something and have already built your brand or authority, you can easily sell your course or ebook to your audience.

4. Sponsorship

For one of my blogs, this is the primary source of income. I usually charge between $150-500 per sponsorship post published on my business blog.

For a fun fact, I have monetised my business blog with Adsense, and I didn’t even reach the threshold of $100 but made $515 just by publishing a single sponsorship post.

This is the potential of your authority or brand.

FAQs on how to start a blog in 2023 – beginner’s guide

Final Words on how to start a blog:

I hope you have gone through well on how to start a blog in 2023. Now it’s time for action. Don’t hesitate too much; you never regret opening a blog.

Guide my recommended path thoroughly to start a blog and write good quality content, you can see the results on your own.

But I want to warn you, keep patience, and don’t get bored by just writing 1-2 articles.

Blogging takes time, but if you dedicate yourself to it and follow the smart strategy, you will earn thousands of dollars from it.