Earlier this week I wrote a post arguing points showing why blogging isn’t dead. You can read that post HERE. And then, I completely neglected to share any details on how to start and grow a blog if I persuaded you to start one. So, let me fix that in this post. Let me start right off the bat by saying I started my blog in 2009, so the online landscape is very different now than it was then. I started out on the Blogger platform which was free and very easy to use. I knew so little about blogs that I didn’t even know I already had one on the WordPress platform where my website was built. Despite that fact, I started on Blogger and eventually moved over to WordPress when my blog was making enough money to hire someone to help me with that process.
I want to share that so you know my advice is coming from someone who started a blog before Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok. Before Facebook had any algorithms and when YouTube was just a baby. And before the word “influencer” was in our vocabulary as a profession. So, my advice is coming from that place.
How to start a blog in 2024
Let’s start with the very basics of how to start a blog. What is a blog? A blog is simply regularly published content on a website. Most of the pages on my site are relatively static. We might make some updates as the seasons or information changes, but I add a new post to my blog several times a week. It makes a site dynamic, which, in turn, makes people want to visit it regularly to see what’s new. It’s a place to share your journey, adventures, what you’re making, business updates, etc. You can share as often or as little as you want and, as I shared in the post earlier this week, a blog post can be as long or as brief as you want it to be and it can be about any topic you want to share. It can be all words, all pictures, videos, GIFs, or a combination of everything. I hope this gives you a lot of creative freedom to know that your blog can be whatever you want it to be.
As far as logistically starting a blog, I would suggest three initial steps. Number one, create a name for your blog. It can be your name, the name of your business, something that describes what your blog is about, or something unique and meaningful to you. The key is that it needs to be a name that no one else is using for a blog (or something similar like an entertainment website, magazine, etc.) in order to avoid Trademark issues down the road. You might not have any plans beyond sharing a few things with a circle of family and friends, but I would encourage you to look long-term, do your future self a favor, and don’t cause a headache if the blog becomes a source of income or an important part of your business.
Number two, buy the domain. Buying a domain is usually cheap. $15 or so to secure the .com URL for a year. Go to godaddy.com and search for the URL you’re interested in owning. If the domain is already taken, try a variation of the name or go back to the drawing board. I would encourage you to get a .com address and not another alternative. It’s the most widely used website ending and using another one can cause confusion. If the .com isn’t available, it means someone else is using that name anyway, making it one you have to or should avoid. When you’re sharing online as a part of your business, it’s ideal if people can find you doing a Google search. If you Google Miss Mustard Seed, you will find me.
Number three, choose a platform and start your blog. There are a lot of platforms out there for bloggers, but the two I am most familiar with are WIX and Squarespace. (You can find an article HERE on the main blogging platforms in 2024 along with their perks. Both WIX and Squarespace are free or inexpensive for new bloggers. Both are user-friendly and offer a wide range of plug-and-play design options. Most computer-literate people will be able to start one without the help of a designer. If you already have a website and someone who designed it, ask them about adding a blog function. It might already be there and you just haven’t used it, yet. My blog and website (which are really one big thing) are on WordPress, but I do have to pay for the technical management, hosting, and design upkeep of it. I wouldn’t suggest it for those starting out, but it’s easy to use if you already have a WordPress website. (As a side note, with WIX or Squarespace, I know you can connect the URL address you bought to your new site instead of using a default free address.)
How to get traffic to your blog
How to start a blog is one thing, but once you do that, how do you get people to read it? Of course, with all of the websites and blogs on the internet, you are going to have to go out and get traffic. When I first started my blog, the DIY/Home blogging world was a community and we helped each other grow. In the absence of social media platforms, we would have link parties (where people could share links to their blog posts around a theme), would invite other bloggers to write guest posts for our blog and we would do the same for theirs. We would also work together to create “blog hops” of home tours, seasonal projects, recipes, etc. We were essentially creating “suggested for you” links on our blogs that would lead to other blogs. Most of my traffic in the early days came from referrals from other bloggers.
These days, the bulk of a blogger’s pageviews will come from direct traffic (people coming to your site who subscribe or already know about you), internet searches (like Google and Yahoo), social media (links posted on Facebook, Instagram, etc.), and Pinterest. So, unfortunately, having a blog doesn’t mean you don’t have to have social media channels. Especially when you’re just starting, you need to find your audience and the best way to do that is to go to the places they digitally hang out. Pin photos on pictures that lead back to your blog. Share links to your blog posts on Instagram and Facebook. Make it a part of posting. Post, pin, share, share, share, done. Also, let followers on those platforms know you have a blog and ask them to check it out and subscribe if they like it. I would suggest having at least a few posts up first, but you have to let people know about it.
I would also encourage you to think of ways to get people to come to your website for something other than reading your blog. Maybe it’s a product launch, a free class, an in-demand tutorial,
The internet is very crowded and people are busy. You will likely have far more followers on your favorite social media platform than you’ll have subscribers to your blog. There are millions and millions online, though, and even a small fraction of those is enough to make a good blog following. And, trust me, you just want your people following, anyway. You don’t want people who don’t like you or what you share because they will let you know it.
The other piece to getting traffic to your blog is consistency. That doesn’t mean you have to post daily, but you have to post with some reliability, whether weekly, twice a month, or monthly. Just commit to posting it regularly even if no one is reading it. You’re building up a library of content, you’re learning, and you’re creating something to share.
How to monetize your blog
Your blog is up and running, you’ve been posting consistently and growing your traffic and subscribers. Now, how do you make money off of it? First of all, I want to make sure the expectation is set. For the average person who starts a blog, making money from that blog is a very long game. If you need money next week, a blog is not going to do it. If you want to grow an income over a couple of years, blogging is a viable option. For this reason, if blogging is a part of your business, I would make sure you have other income streams, like selling products and services, while your blog gains some traction.
You can make money off of a blog in a few different ways. The three primary ways to earn money directly from a blog are having ads posted on your blog, working with blog post/content sponsors who pay you to create dedicated content, affiliate links (bonuses for referring customers to a website), and requiring subscribers to pay for access (typically this subscription-based form of revenue is free from other forms of advertising.) Making money from a blog is an entire series with a lot of nitty-gritty information and I wrote about it in my Business of Blogging Series. If you want to get into the monetizing weeds, you can check out that series HERE.
I hope this blog post covers the things I totally dropped the ball on earlier this week! Let me know if you have any other questions about how to start a blog.