Important Aspects to Consider When Starting a Blog

Before delving into the realms of blogging there are a few important aspects you need to consider. Countless numbers of people start blogging because they have read easily it can bring them huge riches, or great exposure in their bid to become a superstar. This is true, it can certainly give you all these things, that’s only if you have the correct fundamentals.

Love your subject

One of the prime reasons for starting a blog should be because of your love for the blogs topic. There is no point in starting a blog about what you think people want to hear, you should start one to express what you think people need to hear. You need to blog about what you love doing, this way you will stay interested and keep the blog regularly updated which is a key factor in keeping regular followers. If you wish to blog about an array of topics I suggest having separate blogs, you don’t want your users getting lost in a sea of content.

Quality Content

Have a dictionary at hand while you write, your grammar and spelling needs to be perfect so you can produce high quality articles. This way people are much more likely to keep coming back to check up on what you have to say.

Hosting and Domain names

There are 2 options when it comes to how you want your blog to look on the internet, you can either pay or have a freely hosted blog. Lets have a look at the differences:
Free, this is when you go to blogger or wordpress and setup a free blogging account. This will give you a free platform to setup a blog and add posts, great if you want to test out blogging. It will however limit you to a blogger or wordpress domain name which is long, hard to remember and harder to rank in search engines. Another limitation is the fact you have very limited customisation, you get set themes which can barely be changed.

Paid Hosting and Domains, this is where you pay for a domain name unique to your blog. Domain registration is found at places like godaddy and namecheap. Domain names are the names you see in the URL bar of your browser, and are usually related to the content of the web page. So in this case you need to find a domain name that relates to the topic of your blog. Once you have registered your domain you need hosting, this is an online space where your files and posts will be kept. I recommend hostgator, they are an American company but still offer outstanding worldwide support.

Once there is a domain name and hosting plan, you need to install wordpress. WordPress is the standard platform used by thousands or bloggers. This can be done by going to quick install on your control panel and selecting install wordpress. WordPress gives you the ability to customise your website via different themes, and manage users easily. A paid blog on average for just hosting and domain name will cost around $8/£5 a month to run, quite reasonable.

Layout

They way you lay your site out is crucial in giving your readers the best interface in which to read your content. For instance you don’t want a blog about photography and art being swamped with text, and you don’t want a blog on literature being swamped with pictures etc. With wordpress you need to find a theme that suits your needs, you can find a huge amount of free themes or pay for premium themes, that make your site stand out that little bit more. It’s a hassle changing the theme at a later date so find a theme and stick with it.

Another important aspect when setting up your blog is NOT to swamp it with advertisements. You want to show off the quality of your content, adverts can bring this down and you will lose readers.
I hope this post has given you a slight insight into what you need to consider when starting a blog. Please leave any questions in the comment below thanks.