How to Start a Blog in 2024: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Are you curious to know how to start a blog in 2024?

Great,

Are you a beginner? Shake hand. Everyone was a beginner once.

Do you want to make a handsome amount of money while sleeping?

Here is the deal – start a blog and make money on autopilot. Certainly, starting a blog is one of the best decisions of my life.

2024 is almost there and believe me, starting a blog has never been so easy. But all you need is proper guidance, which will help you to start a blog in 2024.

So in this post, I will be sharing an easy step-by-step guide on how to start a profitable blog along with some proven strategies to make money online.

Sounds good? Let’s get started!

But before that, you need to understand what are the essentials to start a blog. So here we go!

Essentials to Start a Blog

To start a blog, you need two things;

1. Domain Name

The very first thing you need to start a blog is the domain name.

A domain name is the address of your blog that people type in the browser address bar to visit your blog.

In layman’s language, let’s say your blog is your online home then your domain name will be your home address.

For example https://bloggingbeats.com

Here,

HTTPS is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol
BloggingBeats is a Domain Name
.Com is Top Level Domain (TLD)

A domain name is the first and last thing that you and your audience are going to use for a lifetime. So, try your level best to register for an easy-to-remember and brandable domain name.

It’s good to do some brainstorming, come up with 4-5 names, check for their availability, and go for the one.

Tips for Choosing a Domain Name

Keep your domain name short and simple
Don’t include numbers unless required
Include words (keywords) respective to your specific topic (blogging niche). Like my blog covers blogging concepts, so I chose bloggingbeats.com as my domain name
Use an appropriate extension. I opted for .com, which is the most recognizable extension worldwide

2. Web Hosting

Web hosting is the storage space for your blog.

All the files like images, videos, tables, and everything related to your blog will be stored on web hosting.

Moreover, your blog speed also depends on web hosting. So grab a good one for you.

For example: Bluehost

Tips for choosing Bluehost

Go for WordPress Shared Hosting (optimized especially for WordPress) to invest less as a beginner
Choose Basic Plan, You can change accordingly as your blog grows
Select 1 Year account to save huge

Now, I am pretty sure that you have got enough knowledge about these two basic yet important things you need to start a blog.

So without further ado, let’s start making your blog.

Step 1: Choosing the Right Blogging Niche

This is a very crucial step to start a successful blog.

Now you must be wondering what is a blog niche all about and how to choose a blogging niche for your blog.

You know blogging is all about publishing and sharing your knowledge that satisfies the user’s intent.

To become a successful blogger you need to have the right mindset.

What do you want to blog about?
What is the aim of starting a blog?

The 3 measure factors that can help you to choose a profitable blogging niche are.

Passion
Knowledge, and
Profitability

Once you are clear enough about the blogging niche the next step is to get a domain name and web hosting for you.

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Step 2: Register a Domain and Web Hosting

As you have sufficient knowledge about the Domain Name and Web Hosting. Here, I will show you how to register for a domain name and WordPress web hosting.

But before that, let me tell you quickly, What is WordPress?

WordPress is a free and priceless platform that lets you create beautiful yet powerful websites, blogs, and apps.

Though you can start with one of these best web hosting providers, I opted for Bluehost.

You know what? A great website starts with great web hosting.

And Bluehost is one of the best web hosting providers and is officially recommended by WordPress.org itself.

So let’s start the process.

1. Click on this exclusive link to open the Bluehost website and choose a plan for you.

2. Plan Selection

Though, Bluehost offers 4 different plans for its shared hosting. But I would recommend you start with the basic plan.

1. Basic ($2.95/mo): In this plan, you can host 1 website along with 10 GB of SSD storage.

2. Plus ($5.45/mo): This plan will allow you to host unlimited websites with 20 GB SSD storage and spam expert.

3. Choice Plus ($5.45/mo): In this plan, you will get 40 GB SSD storage, Domain Privacy & Protection, and CodeGuard Basic Site Backup additionally.

4. Pro (13.95/mo): This plan comes with 100 GB SSD storage and is comprised of dedicated IP and spam experts.

Also Read:

Which Bluehost Plan is Best for Beginners in 2024

Bluehost offers a free domain name (.com included) on its shared hosting plans.

So, register your domain for free along with your hosting plan. In my case, I entered bloggingbeats.com. If the domain name you have entered is available, you will get a screen showing that the domain name is available.

Next, you need to provide a few basic details along with your email address where you will get the order receipt.

After that, select an account plan, and go with the 12-month plan which will cost you $35.40 only. Uncheck package extras, as a beginner, you don’t need these services.

4. Enter Payment Details

Finally, provide payment details, and use your credit card or PayPal wallet for payment.

Once you have entered your card details, confirm that you have read all the terms and proceed. On successful payment, you will get a confirmation mail having a payment receipt on your registered email address.

Hooray, you have done it.

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Step 3: Installing WordPress and Start your First Blog

Now you have your domain registered and space allocated to it.

The next step is to install WordPress.

To install WordPress you have to create an account on your hosting service provider i.e. Bluehost, install WordPress and start blogging.

1. Create Bluehost Account

Input your domain name and choose a strong password.
Confirm that you have read and agree with all the terms and proceed.

2. Log in to your Bluehost Account

Login to your account by using the password you created above
Enter your Blog Name and Tag Line
Select your Goals, and Continue
WordPress will be installed automatically and you will be navigated to the Bluehost Control Panel

By clicking on “Log in to WordPress”, you will be redirected to your WordPress login screen.

To be more precise, you can also open your website by typing your domain name followed by /wp-admin.

For Example, if my domain name is bloggingbeats.com, I would go to bloggingbeats.com/wp-admin. It will navigate you to your blog login screen.

Enter your login details and start blogging.

Bravo, give a pat on your back.

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Step 4: Setting up Your Blog Like a Pro

When you log in to your WordPress account, you will be welcomed by WordPress with your website’s elegant Dashboard.

I am sure you are getting good vibes by looking at the dashboard only.

Imagine how would be the journey further. Fantastic, right?

You and I together will make it memorable for sure.

• Save

So, your home is ready now, it’s time to do some decoration so that you and your guest live happily there forever.

Before you start, here are some pro tips.

Delete Sample Post: This is the first thing you need to start with. When you log in for the first time, there will be a sample post, just delete it as you don’t need it.
Remove Default Page: Then check for default pages, you will find the default page as well, so remove them.
Delete Unnecessary Plugins: Next, you will see several Plugins installed already, delete unnecessary plugins.

Let’s start setting up your blog like a pro.

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Choose Attention-Grabbing Theme

• Save

Start with choosing an attention-grabbing intense theme to give a warm welcome to your audience and overall the best performance of your blog.

You can easily add new themes by selecting Themes under the Appearance section.

There are a lot of free and paid themes available. Choose one theme which you feel is best for you.

I have chosen the GeneratePress theme for BloggingBeats.

GeneratePress is a very lightweight mobile and tablet responsive theme developed with a focus on speed and usability.

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Update Blog Title and Tagline

Enter your blog name and an amazing Tagline for your Blog.

This is the information that will be displayed on your blog home page.

So choose your blog title and tagline precisely.

Example:

SEO Title: BloggingBeats

Tagline: Learn Blogging, SEO, and Affiliate Marketing

Choose Customize option under the Appearance menu.
Select Site Identity, here you can change your site’s Title, Tagline, Logo, and Site Icon as well.

Recommended Read: How to write effective blog descriptions?

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Create Pages

Next, you need to create some basic yet most important pages for your blog like About, Contact Us, Privacy policy, Disclaimer, etc.

1. About us

This is the most important page for your blog’s success.

It must include important information about you and your blog.

Anyone visiting your blog for the very first time should be clear about who you are and what your blog is all about.

How this blog is beneficial for them and how it would add some value to their lives.

2. Contact Us

This is another important page for your blog audience.

Anyone who is visiting your blog might have any queries, feedback, or business proposal.

So there must be a way, they can contact you hassle-free.

You can add your email address, social profile links, mobile number, etc to make them contact you easily.

3. Privacy Policy

Include a privacy policy page to ensure every visitor that whatever information they are giving on your blog is safe.

4. Disclaimer

You can also add a disclaimer page stating disclaimers regarding responsibilities, non-responsibilities, opinions, views, earnings, copyright, etc.

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Create Custom Menus

Next, you need to create a user-friendly custom menu so that users can easily navigate your site.

Go to the Menu option under Appearance to create custom menus.

Here you can easily create and edit menus, customize Header (Primary Menu), Footer Menu, which menu to show, and where to show, with Live Preview.

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Install Plugins

A WordPress blog is incomplete without essential plugins.

So, if you want to start a blog like a pro, install WordPress plugins to take your blog to the next level.

Plugins are built-in software that helps you to blog better in an easy way.

They are ready-to-use functions so that you don’t need to write even a single piece of code.

There is a hell lot of plugins (free and paid) available.

Go to the plugins section and check for installed plugins. Here you will see a list of pre-installed plugins.

Add New plugins that are required.

Some of the most important Hand-picked plugins are listed below.

1. Akismet Anti-Spam: This will protect your blog from spam in the best way.

2. Rank Math SEO: Probably the best SEO solution for WordPress.

3. Easy Affiliate link: Managing all your affiliate links is a cakewalk now.

4. ShortPixel Image Optimizer: Automatically optimize the images while maintaining the quality of images.

5. TablePress: Include fully featured tables in your posts and pages without writing code lines.

6. Table of Content Plus: It will automatically create a table of contents.

7. Social Snap: It will add an easy panel to increase shares and drive more traffic to your website.

8. WP Rocket: The leading plugin to speed up your WordPress websites.

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Install SSL Certificate

The Next step is to install the SSL certificate.

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer.

Installing the SSL certificate activates the HTTPS protocol and padlock that ensures data transfer is safe on your site.

SSL on Bluehost is free; you can easily add a security layer to your blog.

• Save

To enable SSL on Bluehost, follow these steps.

Login to your Bluehost account
Select the Security tab under My Sites
Turn On the Free SSL certificate

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Create a Custom Email Address

The next step is to create a custom email address (your name followed by your domain name) to stand out from the crowd.

Example: amit@bloggingbeats.com

With the Bluehost Basic plan, you can create 5 email accounts for free.

Follow these below-mentioned steps to create a custom email account.

• Save

Login to your Bluehost account
Select Email & office
Click on the CREATE button, enter your preferred email address, and choose a strong password

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Step 5: Writing and Publishing Your First Stunning Post

• Save

The next step is to write a good blog post and make it accessible worldwide.

Click on the Add New option under Posts and you will see a workspace where you can start writing your post.

Start with an eye-catching headline, as this is the first thing everyone will notice.

So make sure your headline is good enough to make every visitor read your complete post.

Start writing your post in detail.

Once you are done with the writing part, hit on the publish button.

Tips for writing good blog posts

Make Compelling Headlines
Use Subheadings to make a better structure
Use Shorter Paragraphs
Make Bullet Points
Add Media files to make your post more interactive
Write SEO-friendly Post
Write in-depth to cover each aspect of the topic
Create a draft first, then optimize the content
Check live preview using Permalink
Publish your post
Keep updating your older post

You may also opt for AI Writing tools like Jasper as a writing assistant to end writer’s block and speed up the writing process.

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Step 6: Promotions

Once you are done with publishing your first post, you need to focus on increasing your website traffic and this can be achieved by doing on-page SEO (organic traffic) and off-page SEO.

Promotions come under off-page SEO and play a very crucial role in your blog’s success.

Even if you are creating valuable content, if you are not promoting it well, you are not going to survive for a long time.

Creating valuable content and making it reach the target audience, both have their own importance.

Imagine you have written a new post that will surely add some value to the target audience, but if you are not following a proper promotion strategy, no one will even see it.

So, to maintain engagement with your audience you should publish valuable content consistently followed by good promotional strategies.

Tips for promoting your blog

Make Social Media Handles for your Blog
Do Guest Blogging
Join Related Groups on Facebook
Start Engaging on Quora
Use Paid Ads

Remember that, consistency and quality content are the keys to your blog’s success.

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Step 7: Traffic Analysis

It’s time to analyze traffic on your blog.

If you want to make money from your blog, traffic is a must.

You can use some popular tools to measure your blog traffic and overall performance.

Setup Google Search Console

Google Search Console is the simplest way to track your website traffic.

All you need to open Google Search Console, enter your domain name, and get verified.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a completely free tool developed by Google.

By using Google Analytics you can easily track real-time active users, your blog behavior, bounce rate, and so on.

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a complete package of SEO tools by Neil Patel.

This is a freemium tool, some of the best features are mentioned below.

Keywords and Content ideas
Analyze Traffic
Site Audit
Backlinks

Alternatively, you can take advantage of Semrush free trial which is the #1 SEO tool trusted by 7M marketing professionals.

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Step 8: Make Money Online

Previously, most bloggers used to rely on Google Adsense to make money from their blogs. But now there are several ways to make money blogging.

Let’s explore some of the best ways to make money from your blog.

Affiliate marketing is one of the hottest ways to make money from your blog.

All you need to start recommending relevant products on your blog, and if any visitor buys these products by using your affiliate link you will get the affiliate commission.

Take a brief glance at our most recent affiliate earnings, a handsome $3500, from just one affiliate network.

Impressive, isn’t it?

Google AdSense is the most common way to monetize your blog by placing ads on your blog.

One can sign up for Google AdSense for free just by following their rules. And when your blog is getting decent traffic, you will be paid based on views and clicks on the ads.

In case, you find any limitations with Google AdSense, you may go with Google AdSense alternatives to earn money from your website.

The E-Book is a great way to earn money from your blog.

Whatever your niche is, you can make an e-book and sell it online.

With the invention of devices like the Kindle E-reader, most people prefer e-books these days.

You can also launch your online courses and earn huge amounts of money.

Next, you can start selling your own products.

Let’s say your niche is Health. You can start selling health-related products to make money from your blog.

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FAQs About How to Start a Blog in 2024

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about starting a blog that may find helpful.

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Also Read:

Top 16 Blogging Mistakes To Avoid in 2024 (For Amateur Bloggers)
Managed Hosting vs Shared Hosting: Which is the Right Fit?
How To Install WordPress in Hostinger (2024 Version)
Hostinger Coupon Code 2024 – Up to 90% OFF
Link Whisper Discount Code 2024: FLAT $15 OFF
Elementor Pro Discount Code 2024: Live Offer
Passion.io Free Trial 2024: Get 14-Day Exclusive Access
Best AppSumo Lifetime Deals
Benefits of Blogging: 9 Reasons You Should Have a Blog in 2024
The Future of Blogging in 2024: Trends and Predictions

Final Thoughts on Starting a Blog in 2024

Bravo! You Have Just Created Your First Blog in 2024.

What Next?

I’ve explained to you how to start a blog step by step along with an overview of choosing the right blogging niche, blog post writing, publishing, promotions, traffic analysis, and how to make money online.

But, there are many other things you will have to learn like on-page SEO, off-page SEO, marketing strategies, and so on.

Remember, this is just the beginning, you have to put a lot of effort into becoming a successful blogger.

But if you keep following your passion, slowly and steadily you will become a pro for sure.

Finally, comment below if you have any questions or feedback, I’ll do my best to help you out as soon as possible.

Till then, Happy Blogging!