How to Start a Blog 101: A Beginner Friendly Guide

1. Brainstorm Ideas for a Blog Name

The name can be random or sentimental or whatever you choose!

Coming up with a blog name can be super simple for some people and for others maybe not so much. Maybe you’ve already had a name on your mind for years or maybe you just thought of something on a whim.

I came up with Yellow Daisy Home in a random way. Yellow is my favourite color. Daisy is the flower for my son’s birth month and then I added home at the end because I knew that my content would mainly be geared towards the home. Things like recipes, home renovations and projects, and motherhood anecdotes and experiences. This name was a good fit for me so I ran with it.

After I chose the name I did a quick google search to see if someone else was already using the same name. Google came up all clear so that was the confirmation I needed to carry on to the next step.

2. Brainstorm Ideas for your Niche

Now it’s time to find your passion – what do you want to write about?

After you pick a name, the next step is to find your niche. This is the area where you want to insert yourself. The thing that excites you or comes easily to you. You want to write about something that brings you joy.

I started this blog about motherhood because it truly brings me so much joy to talk about it. I wasn’t about to start a blog about vehicles because writing about the newest SUV would be really boring and hard for me.

So the point here is find your passion and your voice.

You might be interested in any of the following categories or you might be a mix between a few of them:

1. Personal Finance and Money
2. Health and Wellness
3. Parenting and Family
4. Lifestyle
5. Food and Recipes
6. DIY, Crafts and Home Decor
7. Travel
8. Beauty and Fashion
9. Technology and Online Business
10. Education and Personal Development

3. Come Up With a Handful of Blog Post Ideas

Write a short list of 5-10 blog ideas that you would love to write about.

After I had decided that I was going to try out blogging I immediately started thinking of everything that I could write about. I opened up a note on my phone and jotted down all of my ideas.

You don’t need to actually write all of these blogs in one sitting. This is just to get the creative juices flowing and it gives you an idea of which direction your blog will go.

The list is super helpful so when you sit down to start writing you just pick one of your ideas and take it away.

Once you get your blog all set up you can create drafts for blog posts. I currently have a ton of drafts sitting there waiting to be written. I start a new draft any time I think of an idea to write about.

4. Create a Blog Account with Bluehost

This is where it gets real!

Ok, so this is where your blog becomes a real thing! Let me walk you through what to do next.

Bluehost is a web hosting and domain registration company that provides services to help users put their websites online.

Bluehost allows you to own your own blog. If you choose to sign up for a free blogging service it will limit what you can do with your blog in the future.

I highly recommend signing up through them. You can sign up for as little as $4.99/month CAD for a 12 month plan or even less if you want to commit to a longer time period. You can sign up through my special link right here. Your domain is included for free in that price!

I would recommend just starting out with the Starter Plan. It should have everything you need to get your blog off the ground. You can always choose to opt into the other features further down the road.

5. Register Your Domain Name

Time to make that name you picked out legit!

Type your name into the search bar and choose the ending that you want. The ending meaning .com, .ca, .org etc. Now hit search to see if the name is free. Since we did a soft check already in step 1 you should likely be in the clear.

If it so happens that the name you picked is already chosen you may have to come up with an alternate spelling or choose a new domain name. Bluehost will give you a list of suggestions if your preferred domain name is already taken.

If there happens to be an absurd price next to a name it means that it is already taken and the user is willing to sell it for the price next to it. I would recommend just picking one of the free options.

6. Complete Account Setup on Bluehost

Time to do all of the backend account essentials.

Time to get all of your personal details into place such as your address, phone number, email and payment info etc. This part is fairly straight-forward. Just follow the prompts on the screen.

You will be asked for your payment info at this time as well so choose the option that suits you best. And that’s it! Your Bluehost account is all set up!

7. Install WordPress on Bluehost

WordPress is where you will write and edit your blog.

You are so close to writing that first blog! WordPress is where you will do that.

It is your content management system that builds your website for you so you don’t need to know how to write code.

It’s a very user-friendly interface that makes your blog writing dream become a reality.

8. Choose a Theme and Start Building

Dark and moody? Light and airy? The choice is yours.

Now that WordPress is installed, you are going to want to pick a theme. I would recommend starting out with a free one for now. You can always choose to upgrade to a paid theme later down the road.

Choosing a theme can be a little overwhelming. There are so many to choose from! I think I picked 5 different ones before finally settling on the one I have right now. I decided that I just needed to pick one and roll with it otherwise I would probably still be searching for the perfect theme months later.

The theme that I am using right now is called Minimalistix. A runner up that I liked was called Olsen Light.

Pick something that you like enough to get started and that will be cohesive with your content you are going to write.

9. Install a Few Plugins

This will help things run a little smoother.

If you are like me you might not have any idea what a plugin is. I honestly still don’t know if I can tell you exactly what one is even after months of using them. I can tell you though that they help you out with your blogging experience and help things run a little smoother.

Here are a few plugins that I would recommend installing:

Yoast SEO: I use the non-paid version and it works great for where my blog is at. It helps me optimize my posts for SEO (search engine optimization). It gives me recommendations of things I should incorporate into my posts.

WP Fastest Cache: This one just helps your blog run faster.

Shareaholic or Social Media Share: This makes your posts easily sharable. It essentially creates a button for the viewer to click on and share your post to their social media account. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be signed up for that social account.

10. Happy Blogging!

Time to run free and start creating!

Time to do a happy dance!

The time has finally come! You have successfully set up your blog and now you are ready to start writing! Congratulations on this achievement!

You can choose to keep your website private for a while until you get a few posts written or you can make it public right away. The choice is yours.

I kept my blog private until I had a handful of posts written and had the basic layout of my blog setup.

Now go grab a cup of coffee and get to work writing out one of your many blog post ideas! Have fun!