Welcome to Part 1 of 2-week-long blog series for newbie bloggers – “Blog Your Heart Away”

You have made a wise decision today. I appreciate your decision on starting your blog today and to learn blogging hacks from this blog series.

When I started my blog way back in 2014, I just started as a hobby. And my intention was to write my heart out and to reach many people through my blog. You can read my post on how I transformed from a Professor to Blogger and to a Top Indian Blogger to know my complete blogging journey.

And my blog went self-hosted during 2015. After self-hosting my blog, everything changed for good. I was supposed to learn that the blogger has to wear so many hats to grow his/her blog. And I learned all the blogging skills, tips, tricks and hacks from veteran bloggers and fellow blogger friends. The huge investment I made to learn all these are my time, effort and dedication.

But you don’t have to. You can have me as your blog buddy to start and grow your blog at ease. And I am here to help and guide you in your blogging journey. Let us dig this further …

Blog Your Heart Away Blog Series Part 1: How To Start A Blog For Free In 5 Easy Steps

Decide The Blog Name And Niche

Choosing your blog name is the first step. You write down all the names you think are right for your blog. Try some classic and some different names. My first blog name when I started in 2014 was vivekvasantha. Yes, it’s my name actually.

Also, you think over what do you like to write about in your blog. Those are the blog topics you are going to write. List down all the topics you are passionate about, the topics you like to become an expert, the topics you like to help others and so on. 

Take some time and churn out all the topics you have listed. Eliminate some of them on good brainstorming whether you would still be interested to write on that topic after 10 years. Do you feel you might have enough things to write on that topic for years together? Now you have shortlisted to two or three topics. And that is your niche.

Blog Niche: Blog niche is the main and subtopics of your blog. Writing blog posts around those main and related subtopics.

My Sweet Nothings‘s niches are Blogging, Mindfulness and Parenting. All my blog posts are related to these three topics only. Some of the best performing niches are:

• Food
• Fashion
• Beauty
• Parenting
• Blogging
• Sports
• Lifestyle

So the blog name can be anything if you are blogging as a hobby or fun. But if you would like to earn and make money from your blog, then do check these tips beforehand:

Tips To Choose Your Blog Name

• Select the name base on your passion and the niche.
• Simple and meaningful names are most preferable.
• Never use any special characters in your blog name.
• It should stand out in the crowd yet easy to spell.
• Your name could be your blog name too. It will be really unique and earns you an authority.
• Don’t use numbers in your blog name.
• The blog name can also be descriptive about your intension like blogging simplified, learn to blog with Vivi.
• Make sure whether the selected name is available.

Register For Free Blogging Platform

You can start your blog for free. Yes, truly. There are many free blogging platforms to start with.

Blogging Platform: A blogging platform is a software or an application or a platform that allows you to create web pages for the contents of your blog.

8 Popular Free Blogging Platforms

1. Tumblr
2. Wix
3. Blogger
4. Medium
5. Weebly
6. WordPress – Most Preferred Platform
7. Squarespace
8. Ghost

Steps To Register Your WordPress Blog For Free

• Sign up for free in wordpress.com
• Type your blog name and select the free plan
• Validate your email address.
• Update your blog’s homepage
• Launch your blog

Free WordPress blog will have the extension as yourblobname.wordpress.com. Eg: vivekvasantha.wordpress.com.

Customize Your Blog

Now is the time to customize or personalize your blog. You can select the theme, colors, widgets, plugins, and menus.

Theme: Theme is a collection of templates and features that defines the appearance and display of your blog.

Colors: Colors represent your brand or blog colors for background, text, and links.

Widget: Widget helps to customize the areas on the blog like sidebar, the footer for some specific purpose.

Menu: Helps to navigate your blog for reading.

There are many free WordPress themes available for use. My favorite ones are Twenty Twenty, Nisarg, and Astra.

Create 3 Most Essential Pages

The three most essential pages are:

About Me page

The purpose of the “About Me” page is to tell who you are, what you blog about, what skills you have, how you help your readers, your services and your products. It’s actually more about what your readers can expect from you.

Contact page

The purpose of the Contact page is direct. The page provides all the details for your readers to contact you and get connected with you.

Privacy Policy page

The purpose of the Privacy Policy page is to inform your readers about the data you collect on your blog and how you are using that data. 

Publish Your First Blog Post

Now your blog is up. You have also customized your blog. The next step is to publish your first blog post. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to your WordPress blog.
2. Select Posts> Add New from the left side menu in the dashboard.
3. Use the WordPress editor to type your blog.
4. Once done, check for typo errors or grammatical mistakes.
5. Publish your first post.

Summary

This is a self-explanatory guide on how to start a blog for free. So don’t wait. Go and start your free blog today.

5 Easy Steps To Start Your Blog For Free:

1. Decide The Blog Name And Niche
2. Register For Free Blogging Platform
3. Customize Your Blog
4. Create 3 Most Essential Pages
5. Publish Your First Blog Post

Pin This For Later Read

Don’t miss to read my next post “Blog Your Heart Away Part 2: How To Structure A Blog Post

Feel free to help your friends to read this blog series!

Read the previous posts in BYHA series:

1. Blog Your Heart Away (BYHA)