A Comprehensive Tutorial On How to Start A Blog for Beginners in 2020

Starting a blog can be quite a cumbersome task especially for beginners. And most probably, everyone has thought that there are thousands if not millions of successful blogs out there, so why add another one? Well, this is not further from the truth. The blogging space is a red ocean. And a red ocean is bloody. Everybody’s fighting for a small piece of the pie. It’s insanely competitive.

But is it too late to start a blog? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Don’t let the success of others discourage you from starting your own journey. Your voice is unique and there’s always an untapped niche. As more people are switching their businesses online to cater to the digital-heavy dependent lifestyle of the Gen Z’s, you can expect more demand for reviews, opinions, and blogs targeting their demographic.

So how does one start building a successful blog as a beginner? Well, to sum it up. There is no magic formula to it. Absolutely no shortcuts. No b.s. Of course this post is not meant to discourage you. But all I’m saying is that it requires (just plain and simple) hard work, perseverance and consistency.

So, let’s get on with our tutorial on how to start a successful blog in 2020.

1. FIND A NICHE

In my opinion, this is one of the most important steps before starting a blog. Finding a niche means that you have a TARGET MARKET or a target demographic in mind. No target market = no readers. RIP your blog.

You need to have a HYPER-FOCUS. A topic that you are passionate about and something that you know really well. In order to dominate the space, your readers should think that you are an expert in your field. You have to have credibility in order to gain trust. Without trust, you’re replaceable in a sea of crowded blogs. Trust makes your readers come back to you. Trust will help you become an authority, which should be the goal of starting a blog.

Important Questions to Ask When Finding your Niche

Self-reflection (as the owner of the blog):

Target demographic (for your audiences):

• Determine the size of the niche / target market
  
  To estimate the market size of a niche, you should look for the search volume of a keyword. A keyword is a phrase about a specific topic in your blog (e.g. ‘how to make dalgona coffee’, ‘how to lose weight in just a week’, ‘gluten free recipes’). Search volume tells us the traffic potential and demand for your niche. 75% of your traffic is going to come from huge engine websites like Google search. One of the most important things to take note is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or basically just how your visitors are going to find you organically by searching on google.
  
  One easy way to see the search volume of a keyword is by using Google Keyword Planner. It is free and all you need is a google adsense account to be able to access it.
  
  Google Keyword Planner gives you an idea into how often keywords are searched and whether those keywords have high competition or low competition. You can also check the searches for a specific country.
  

Here’s a Simple Tutorial on How to Use Google Keyword Planner in 2020

Once you’ve logged into your Google Adsense account. Click on Tools & Settings > Keyword Planner

Select “Get Search Volumes and Forecasts”

Type in your keyword(s) and select Get Started. In the Historical Metrics tab you’ll be able to see your keyword, the Average Monthly Searches and the Competition (whether it’s High or Low)

Of course, if your keyword has a low search volume, it means that not a lot of people are searching about it. This might be because it’s seasonal or because the target demographic is very low. Competition, on the other hand, gauges just how difficult it is to rank on google search compared to other websites. The higher the competition is, the more difficult it is to rank or to land on the first page of google. Try to put yourself on the POV of a reader, we’re most likely to click on links located on the first page of google. The second page, not so much. Third or fourth page, well aren’t you desperate.

Most likely, ranking for high–competition keywords is a very difficult feat. Most bloggers end up losing their readers to these big established sites. That’s why the alternative solution for beginners is to find LONG TAIL KEYWORDS.

Long Tail Keywords consists of three or more phrases that are highly focused on a specific topic.

Make a bullet list of some keywords that are specific to your topic. Check the competition for each keyword and choose the ones with low competition but with a high potential for conversion.

2. CHOOSE A DOMAIN NAME AND HOSTING

Your domain name is your BRAND. One of the most common mistakes that amateur bloggers make is NOT treating their website as a brand. A brand is your unique identity and it’s something that would DIFFERENTIATE you from your competitors. It’s more than just the name, or the logo or the colors, or the tagline and its symbols but it’s the overall perception of your readers or customers regarding your site. It should be memorable.

Check out or post on How to Choose a Unique Brand Name for your Business

How do you pick the perfect domain?

A lot of beginners make the mistake of wasting an incredible amount of time choosing the perfect domain wherein fact they should be allotting that time creating content and marketing.

To make things easier for you:

Here are some of the guidelines to follow in choosing a domain

• Your domain should be short, concise and easy to spell
  
  The shorter the name, the easier to remember. The shorter it is, the easier it is for your readers to type it in google search without the risk of misspelling it and redirecting your visitor to a malicious website. In order to STAND OUT from your competition, your website should come first in the memorability factor.

• Make sure that your domain name isn’t trademarked
  
  Imagine this scenario where you’ve already amassed millions of visitors every month. Your readers have grown accustomed to your name, your brand, your identity then BAMM, a giant slams you in the face with a lawsuit for using their trademarked name or logo. In order for you to save yourself from future hassles of dealing with legalities, always make sure that the domain that you chose isn’t trademarked. Please check about the trademark and copyright laws in your respective countries and exert due diligence.

• Domain name should be coherent with niche and content
  
  There’s no such thing as a “perfect” domain because sometimes catchy name might not be applicable to your niche. But you’d want to pick a domain that represents the content and the purpose of your website. It should be in line with everything so that your readers will always ASSOCIATE your content with your name.

• A .com domain is always preferred
  
  Most online users were accustomed to Generic Top-level extensions like .com websites. When it comes to popularity and trustworthiness, .com websites are more preferred.
  
  But it’s not to say that you should shy away from other extensions such as .org, or .net or .io as they are still top-level extensions. It just depends on your niche and your content. For example, if it’s a tech blog for a startup or a software development company a .io website is very much appropriate. If you run an organization or a government website, then you can use a .org extension. If you’re running a website or a blog for an educational institution, then .edu is also appropriate.
  
  On the other hand, there are country specific top-level extensions like .ph for Philippines, .ca for Canada, .nl for Netherlands, .kr for Korea, .jp for Japan. If your target demographic is country specific, then you could opt to choose an extension for it; however, it is important to check if there are restrictions.

After you’ve finally chosen a domain name, go to GoDaddy.com and check its availability. You can buy .com domains for as low as $5 or 250 pesos. How cheap is that!

Hosting

Hosting allows you to publish your website to the internet. Before you could put anything on the internet, you need a web hosting service provider to connect you to servers so you could upload your content through your internet browser.

How do you pick the best web hosting service for your website?

Choosing the best web hosting service depends on the size of your business, the amount of traffic you expect on your website, reliability, customer service and of course the speed of the connection.

Beginners can opt for shared servers because they are cheap. As the name implies, shared servers just means that other users are also using that particular server. On the other hand, dedicated servers are for those established sites that have millions of traffic so safety is of the utmost importance.

There are several tried and tested/ popular web hosting service providers:

Hostgator

I personally chose Hostgator.com because it’s fast, cheap, reliable and the customer support is outstanding. You can start building your own website fast for as low as $2.75 per month (or 140 pesos per month). They also offer free domains for the first year. For beginners, installing wordpress is super easy but if you’re having a hard time, they offer 24/7 customer service support.

Bluehost

Another popular web hosting service provider is Bluehost. It hosts over 2 million websites worldwide. Similarly with Hostgator, you’ll be able to make your website in minutes and it’s relatively cheap and easy to use. You can start building for as low as $3.95 a month or (200 pesos a month).

Other notable web hosting service providers:

• GoDaddy
• Wix
• Hostinger
• InMotion Hosting
• DreamHost
• GreenGeeks

3. INSTALL WORDPRESS

WordPress for beginners

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that allows you to publish content, images, videos and media on your website. It is the most trusted and the most popular open-source CMS system in the world. Even if you’re a beginner, you’ll be able to create a professional looking blog or even a full-fledged e-commerce site through its easy to use interface and thousands of themes to choose from!

But don’t get confused with WordPress.com vs WordPress.org!

What is the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org?

Do not confuse WordPress.com and WordPress.org as they are two different Content Management Systems.

WordPress.com is a free platform where starters can create their own blogs. The caveat is that people won’t be able to use their own preferred .com domain. Instead, you’ll be stuck with www.yourdomain.wordpress.com. The monetization possibilities are very limited too as you’re not allowed to sell ads on your website. Aside from that, custom themes are not allowed and you won’t be able to upload plug-ins especially if you’re looking into building E-commerce websites.

Needless to say, WordPress.com is fit for beginners and for hobbyists not looking to spend money on branding and monetizing their own content.

WordPress.org, on the other hand, is a self-hosted CMS which means that as the owner of the domain and the host, you’ll have total control of your website. The possibilities are endless. It allows for flexibility when it comes to e-commerce integration, plug-ins, theme selections… you’ll be able to tweak your website to your whim!

There are thousands of themes and plug-ins to choose from but first, let’s look into how to install wordpress!

As I’ve said above, I personally chose Hostgator as my web hosting service provider so I’m going to show you how to easily install WordPress after purchasing a Hostgator plan. It’s pretty simple!

Here’s a Step by Step Guide on How to Install Wordress on Hostgator for Beginners

Once you’ve purchased a plan, Hostgator will send you an Payment Notification Email and another email about your account information. In the latter, they’ll give you a link to your Control Panel where you can log-in with your username and password indicated in the email as well.

The control panel will look like this:

After logging in you’ll be redirected to your Hostgator Dashboard. Click on Software > Quick Install.

Click on WordPress

Type in your domain and click Next.

Type in your Blog Title, Admin User, First and Last Name and Admin Email. Click Install.

Once the installation is complete, it will look like the image below. Please remember your username and password as you will use it to log in into your wordpress account.

Open a new tab in your browser (Cmd+ T for Chrome) and type in your domain and add /wp-admin.

http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin

It should look like this:

Type in the username and password. Click Log in.

Now that you’ve successfully installed WordPress, it’s time to customize your themes!

4. CHOOSE A WORDPRESS THEME

Themes are the visuals and the aesthetics of your website. The color scheme, the fonts, all that comprise the overall look. The best part about WordPress is that there’s thousands of themes that you could choose from. This vary from fashion to sports to cooking to news themes. There’s always a theme for a niche that you could possibly think of. This can be quite overwhelming to some, and beginners sometimes make the mistake of purchasing a premium theme right off the bat.

I highly recommend familiarizing yourself first with FREE themes especially as a starter. There are thousands of highly customizable free themes out there. So how do you choose which themes to use for your website?

Several factors to take into account when choosing a WordPress Theme

• Responsiveness and Speed– if your site takes forever to load, of course your visitors will just close your site and there goes all your hard work. No matter how good your content is, if it doesn’t load fast then there goes your visitor.
  
  Responsiveness also pertains to its ability to adjust depending on the device your visitor is accessing your website from. Whether they’re accessing it from their computer, or from their cellphones or tablets, your website should look coherent and fluid, and it should be able to load smoothly.

• SEO Optimization– Is your theme SEO Optimized? Regardless of your stellar content, regardless of long-tail keywords, it would be futile because google finds your theme confusing. So it’s important to check if the theme you chose is SEO friendly. Check the description, reviews, and the developer of the theme before downloading it.

A Simple Tutorial on How to Change your WordPress Theme: for Beginners

In WordPress, Click on Appearace > Themes

There are tons of free and premium themes to choose from. Simply browse through the Latest, or Popular, or Featured themes.

If you have a premium theme, you’ll be provided with a .zip file. Click on Upload Theme and Install Now.

Once you’ve chosen a theme, you can click on Live Preview get a glimpse of what your website would look like. Then click on Activate to actually install it.

Your theme is now installed!

5. INSTALL PLUGINS

What are WordPress Plugins?

Plugins add extra functionality to your site. Depending on your needs, plugins offer several features. It could work to increase conversions, or they can help grow your subscribers, or they can turn your site into a full-fledged e-commerce site or a social network or a community-based forum! Similarly with themes, the good thing about WordPress is that there are thousands of plugins to choose from!

How do you choose WordPress Plugins?

• Research on legit plugins from trustworthy developers only- WordPress.org has tons of free plugins available. Code Canyon is also a reputable directory where one can download their desired plugins.
  
  Downloading a malicious plugin from shady third-party websites can potentially make your site vulnerable to hacking and malicious attacks.

• Check plugin compatibility with your site. You might unknowingly download some plugins that can cause an error later on. So it’s best to read on reviews before installing it.

• Check if the plugin has been recently updated. Un-updated plugins can cause compatibility errors and they might slow down your website.

Best FREE Must-Have Plugins to Install in WordPress 2020

• Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights
  
  Google Analytics by MonsterInsights is one of the best free plugins for WordPress out there because it helps you track your website traffic and at the same time you’ll be able to gather important user data like sessions, demographics, country, bounce rate, device used, etc. Tracking user behaviour will help you strategize more effective revenue generating ads and ways on how to optimize your content.

• Yoast SEO
  
  If you’re looking to optimize your website and want to rank through organic search engine traffic, Yoast SEO is the best plugin for you. It’s one of the most popular SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plugins, as the name implies.

• Ninja Forms
  
  Ninja Forms is a super easy drag and drop form-builder that anyone regardless of coding experience can use. It is one of the most trustworthy plugins for wordpress as it has more than 1 million users. With Ninja Forms, the sky is the limit when it comes to the type of forms that you want to create- from signup forms, to payment forms, file upload forms, etc.

• MailChimp
  
  MailChimp is a free marketing plugin that is perfect even for small businesses who are looking to grow their email subscribers list. Aside from organic SEO’s, email campaigns and email follow ups help boost conversions and increase customer reach.

• AddToAnyShare Buttons
  
  AddToAnyShare Buttons is the perfect plugin to increase customer engagement and to increase traffic. Users will be able to easily share any links to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Email, Reddit, etc.

How to Install Plugins on WordPress for Newbies

It’s pretty easy to install plugins on wordpress. On the side of your wordpress dashboard, click on Plugins. You’ll be able to search different plugins from Featured, Popular, Recommended, Favorites and Premium. You could also search for the name of the plugin. If you have a .zip file of the plugin, you could install it by clicking on Upload Plugin.

Choose File > Select .zip File > Install Now.

And there you have it! You’ve already installed your plugin!

6. WRITE AND POST CONTENT

Now that you’ve got your wordpress installed, your themes and plugins all set-up, it’s time to do the most important part of all- writing and posting your content! This is what your readers came here for. The value of your website lies in your content.

Here are some important guidelines when posting content on WordPress

• Make sure that your content is CONGRUENT and COHERENT with your niche
  
  One very common mistake that i’ve noticed that most beginner bloggers commit is that their blog is all over the place. Don’t just write about anything that randomly pops in your mind. In order to become an authority site, you should be able to establish a certain “specialization” about a niche before branching out to other subtopics. This way, your blog will be the credible to-go to website that your visitors will always go back to. Having repeat visitors will help you save a ton in marketing costs and you won’t have to rely solely on google rankings. Of course, it takes a certain amount of time and focus to achieve specialization, but once you’ve established yourself as an authority with a solid community, it’ll be easier to introduce new topics gradually (which of course should be somewhat related to your niche).

• Always add your long tail keywords to your content
  
  In step #1 FIND YOUR NICHE, we’ve talked about the importance of long tail keywords in search engine optimization. Once you’ve created a list of long tail keywords, you should be able to include them in your paragraphs smoothly. But don’t just add them for the sake of adding them. Include them in the body of your post in such a way that it wouldn’t come off as an in-your-face keyword that doesn’t fit in.

• Always post CONSISTENTLY
  
  It’s hard to allot time for blogging when you’re also juggling other priorities like a 9-5 job, your personal life, your social life. But setting a fixed regular schedule just for writing for your blogs will help you massively in succeeding. Not only does it give you the momentum to keep on going, but most importantly, you’d be able to rank easily. Most algorithms reward websites that update regularly and those websites also fair better in search engines. Consistency is key to long term success.

• Always make sure that all your content are ORIGINAL
  
  Never copy-paste any content from other websites. Always make sure that your content is original because if you post copy-pasted content, google will penalize you and you risk not being able to monetize your blog. It will not rank anyway and what’s worse is that you might get a lawsuit from the original owner.
  
  Content is so much more than just the text that comprise your blog; it’s also the images, the videos and the media that you post. There’s a plethora of media available from google images and youtube videos that you thought you could use for your blog, but the thing is, you’re not allowed to just pick something and post it as your own in your website. So how do you find media and content for your blog?

Here’s a list of Royalty FREE, No Copyright, No Attribution Websites for High Quality Pictures and Videos

A Simple Tutorial on How to Post New Content on WordPress

In your WordPress dashboard click on Posts > Add New

Once you see this screen below, you can click on the + button to add a block. Blocks are elements that are used to separate content like headings from paragraphs or images or videos, etc. Headings are usually for titles. Paragraphs are for the body.

As you can see, “Welcome to wordpress” is a paragraph block. If you wish to insert another element. Just click on the + button again.

If you want to insert an image just click on Image and upload the file.

In the block section, you can edit text and color settings

You can always save your draft, preview or publish your post. If you want to change your visibility settings, click on Documents and under Status & Visibility, change Public to Private.

Permalink is basically just the “permanent link” of that particular post and that is used to link that post to anywhere you’d like. You could also categorize your post under Categories.

There you have it. You’ve finally created your very first post!

7. MONETIZE YOUR BLOG

For some, writing a blog is just a hobby. While for others, they start blogs to be able to earn passive income. But no matter what your motivation in starting a blog is, it’s nice to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Unbeknownst to a lot of people, if you treat it like an asset like a BRAND that could grow, there’s a huge potential for your blog to afford you the equivalent of a monthly income from a regular job. In fact, you could earn so much more!

But hey! Before you start dreaming of lambos and mansions. Always keep your expectations in check. Write a goal. Keep tab of your weekly or monthly progress. Almost 75% of bloggers dont earn money from the first 4 months of blogging. Some earn as low as 10 cents, while others earn nothing! But one thing’s for sure, if you write consistently and always post quality content, you’ll be able to grow your subscribers and readers and the money will surely follow!

Easiest Ways to Monetize your Blogs in 2020

• GOOGLE ADSENSE
  
  Google Adsense is the most popular advertising network that most bloggers trust. By pasting a code that they’ll provide once your account and website got approved, you will be able to place their ads on a space in your website.
  
  However, before you get your feet wet and jump into it immediately, RESEARCH AND READ all their rules and guidelines as they implement strict policies. A lot of people got their accounts banned because of copyright issues, or from purposely clicking on Google ads themselves. Once they’ve banned your account, you’ll no longer be able to apply for another adsense account.

• AFFILIATE MARKETING
  
  Affiliate marketing is a commission based monetization strategy. Simply promote other companies’ products or services to your readers or subscribers and you’ll be able to earn money from it. Most companies offer affiliate links that are unique per product and once a customer clicks on that link and buys it, you’ll be able to track your sale and commission.
  
  Some of the best affiliate companies that are paying high commission even for beginners are:
  
  Amazon, Ebay, Hostgator, Bluehost, ShareASale, TripAdvisor, Expedia, etc.
  
  Check out our list of Legit Affiliate Marketing Programs in the Philippines in 2020.
  
  How do you choose the right affiliate companies?
  
  a. Coherence with your niche- always make sure that the products offered by your affiliate company is also in line with your NICHE. Remember what we said about COHERENCE AND CONGRUENCE? You shouldn’t be promoting products that are far from the topic of your blog.
  
  b. Check country restrictions – some affiliate companies only offer affiliate programs to certain countries. You won’t be able to get paid if your country is not included in their list.
  
  c. Check the legitimacy of the company, their commission rates & payout policies- when looking for products, in my experience, it’s always better to choose the products with HIGH COMMISSION RATES. But it’s not to say that you should just promote for the sake of earning; you should promote products that you think are GOOD for your customers. Always think about what the customer would actually want and need.

• SELL AD SPACE
  
  The concept of selling ad space is pretty much the same with Google Adsense but the main difference is that instead of partnering up with google, you’ll be the one to find businesses that are eager to put their ads on your website. With Google Adsense you get paid every time someone clicks on your ads, but with this method, you are responsible in negotiating and charging a weekly or monthly or yearly flat rate for the business you partnered up with.

• SELL AN EBOOK
  
  This is one of the most popular ways where bloggers can earn their money from. If you’ve established yourself as a credible source of information for a particular niche, then you can write more comprehensive and more valuable content and package them in an Ebook form. You can expound on subtopics not discussed in your blogs, or write tutorials.

• SELL MERCHANDISE
  
  In my opinion, selling your own merchandise has the highest income earning potential out of all the other monetization methods. Leveraging your website as a BRAND can help you extend your blog from a merely content producing machine into a full-fledged BUSINESS. If you sell your own merchandise, of course you have total control of the profit margin. This is another beast in itself, however, as it might take away your time from just simply writing content to fulfilling customer orders, to learning supply chain management to handling logistics and delivery. The good part is that you’ve already got marketing advantage as you started your blog from scratch and grew it into a BRAND with a solid customer base. It helps to survey your site visitors and your most loyal readers beforehand about the products that you want to introduce to your website.

• ACCEPT DONATIONS
  
  You can accept donations by creating a form and adding it on your website. Just don’t be too pushy and don’t ask for it. Be authentic. Be sincere. Just provide solid and valuable content and your most loyal subscribers will appreciate your hard work.

Through this comprehensive post, we hope that we were able to help you set up your first blog! Feel free to leave a comment!