Blogging is becoming an increasingly popular way of spending time on the Internet. Someone writes on blogs for the sake of earning money, someone covers current events, and someone maintains humorous pages. The list goes on. Increasingly, bloggers are using blogs as a personal diary, preferring to hide them from prying eyes. If you want to start a personal blog, it won't be a big deal for you.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Choosing a Blog
Step 1. Choose a blog hosting
Hosting is the web platform that you will use to run your blog. With the development of the Internet, dozens of blog hosting sites are becoming more famous and popular, and many of them are quite easy to use, even for those who are quite poorly versed in computers. There are both free hosting services and those offering paid services. Here are some examples:
- Free blog hosting:
- Wordpress Network
- Blogger
- Posterous
- Tumblr
- Paid blog hosting:
- Godaddy
- Bluehost
- HostGator
- Hostmonster
Step 2. Determine how important your blog URL is to you
If you are using a free platform, your blog URL will look something like this:
www.myblog.wordpress.com/
If you are planning to start a personal blog and do not intend to develop your own brand or interact with other bloggers, free hosting is fine for you. If you are looking to present your blog to the general public one day, a paid blogging service will allow you to create a blog with a custom URL. In this case, your blog address will look something like this:
www.alittlebitofblog.com
Step 3. Explore the differences between free and paid services
As a rule, paid hosting offers the user more flexible settings for the appearance of the site, as well as a wider set of web tools for personalizing a blog - plugins, widgets, buttons, and more. Since an amateur blogger is unlikely to need paid blogging services, it will be useful for him to know what a free blogging platform can and cannot:
- As a rule, free hosting sites offer a limited set of blog design templates. The paid service provides the user with a wider choice of appearance settings, as well as the ability to independently develop the design of their own blog from scratch.
- Some plugins are only available through paid hosting services. A plugin is a tool with which you can customize your blog. For example, Rotating Tabs is a great plugin that allows blog visitors to see more content on rotating tabbed panels. Paid hosting providers offer an endless number of other plugins and tools.
- To summarize the above: If you want to create a diary to record your own thoughts, then all these gadgets will be superfluous. But if the design of your blog is important to you, you plan to one day attract readers to your page and want to create some useful tools for their convenience, a wider set of plugins and functions will undoubtedly come in handy for you.
Step 4. Become familiar with all the features and functions of the platform you choose
How do you want headings to stand out? How will you design external links to other sites? These are the questions that will arise when you start creating your own blog. While you will, of course, master the capabilities of the selected service while working with it, it is very important to study as many of its functions as possible in advance. The only way to learn them is to put them to the test.
Some blog hosting providers offer interactive video tutorials or slideshows for new users. If your platform of choice provides guides like these, be sure to check them out. They will offer you a lot of useful tips and tricks and help you quickly master the functionality of the platform
Method 2 of 3: Getting Started
Step 1. Create your blog design
Your blog design should inspire your writing every time you visit your page. Some people prefer a simple background that mimics a blank notebook or landscape page. Others are inspired by intricate Scottish designs. How would you like to see your page?
- Choose a simple background over a defiant and cocky one, but choose what you like. Here are some options for the background design of the page:
- Photos with you and your family on vacation
- A simple unobtrusive ornament that will liven up the page, but will not distract attention from the words
- Geographic map image
- Writing supplies such as a fountain pen, typewriter, or stack of sheets of paper
- Uniform background of your favorite color
Step 2. Look for the "Blog Visibility" option in the settings
If you want your blog to be purely personal, not appear in search results, and so that only you have access to it, check this option. Many blogging platforms offer password protection for your blog. If you want to keep your thoughts a secret from strangers, look for these settings.
Step 3. Make navigation around your blog easy
If you create categories for your posts, organize them in order of popularity. You shouldn't place a rarely visited post at the top of the list, and the most popular one at the bottom. When designing your page, keep in mind the ease of navigation.
- Avoid clutter. If you have the ability to use dozens of plugins and widgets, you don't have to apply them all at once. If the blog is about you and your thoughts, let it be they attract attention, not extraneous gadgets.
Step 4. Create your first blog post
If you plan on blogging openly, in the first post, tell us a little about yourself, who you are (something to keep secret) and why you decided to blog. This will be a kind of introduction. If you're starting a personal blog, you don't have to follow these formalities.
- Write about what prompted you to start a blog. This can inspire you to create new records. It often also helps you relax and feel more confident. Just start writing.
- Tell us what you are planning to write about on your blog. Go straight to the point. Your blog can become a personal diary, or a place where you collect interesting articles from the Internet and comment on them. Perhaps you will be combining both options. Write about whatever you like.
Method 3 of 3: Blogging
Step 1. Try to publish new posts every day
Even if nothing remarkable happened, take some time to your blog. It can be difficult to get used to this regime, but pretty soon it will become natural for you. Just like your first day of school, at first everything seems new and strange, but gradually you make new friends, and you start to feel more comfortable in a new environment.
Set aside separate days of the week for different topics. Let's say you schedule Crazy Mondays, and every Monday write about people whose crazy ideas have turned the world upside down. This will help you structure your content and keep your writing rhythm even when you're out of ideas for new articles
Step 2. Keep your notes short
If you're an inexperienced writer, write short posts. A blog post doesn't have to look like a diary entry, an incriminating article, or a news story. It should be easy to understand and offer the reader a concise and clear description of related facts. When starting to write posts, keep the following three conditions in mind:
- A blog can be a place to read. Use short sketches instead of extended sketches. The phrase "Hey, look at this" may be more appropriate in the blog than "And these are the reasons for my superiority over you."
- Use links. Post links to third-party resources containing interesting content in your posts. First, it will help you keep the interests of the sites discovered while surfing the web. Secondly, this way you do not have to retell what is happening in your own words, unless that is your goal!
- Revisit old topics. No need to throw old records into a dusty corner. You can describe your current perception of the old article in a new essay.
Step 3. To maintain anonymity, use capital letters instead of personal names
For example: "Today E pissed me off. I can no longer stand his selfishness." This way you won't hurt the feelings of other people who visit your blog.
Step 4. Be truthful
Feelings do not always have meaning! Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way. It is only the emotions that you can convey in writing through the blog that matter, not the emotions that you pour out on other people. Remember, your blog is meant to be an outlet for you. You don't have to worry about pleasing other people if you don't want to.
You will often find that writing about a topic helps you understand it better. So, even if you are not very well versed in some issue, sincere interest will help you comprehend it. Writing is an act of self-discovery. If you write sincerely, you can learn things about yourself that you didn’t know before
Step 5. Learn from your old records
Some time after opening your blog, go back to your earlier posts and revisit them. Have you been able to identify the sources of stress in your life? Are you able to find hot topics? Is a particular person harming your emotional health?
Step 6. Keep in touch with your community of readers and commentators
Even if you blog anonymously, it doesn't hurt its popularity among readers and commentators. Often they will leave questions or comments expressing opinions or approvals under your posts. Successful bloggers understand that engaging with your readers is critical to keeping your audience engaged.
- Respond to most comments, but not all. Sometimes readers will leave comments encouraging you to continue your creative work. Simple "Thank you! Appreciate your attention!" may be the best answer. Sometimes people will argue about extraneous topics and express conflicting opinions. You don't have to reply to every comment if you don't want to.
- Add a call to action at the end of the post, if desired. Of course, unless you plan on making your blog available to the public, this is not necessary. But if you like the idea of influencing readers' opinions, include something like "What was your favorite New Year's gift in your post on the relevant topic?" or "What do you think about government instruments of influence on the population?"
Step 7. Share your notes with close friends and family
The closest people care about your thoughts and feelings. Even if you've started a personal blog as a repository of your own thoughts and emotions, sometimes you want to share them with other people. A blog post can be a reason to start a dialogue, and a dialogue can be very interesting, instructive, and inspiring.
Let's say you've been diagnosed with cancer and decided to open a blog to document the events that followed in your life. You didn't plan on showing it to other people. But gradually you come to understand that the expression of your deepest fears and desires has brought you closer to the people around you, you have become more human. If you share this understanding with your close friends, you will feel tremendous relief
Advice
- Do not publish your most intimate entries and do not offend the feelings of other people!
- If you want to give your blog an original look, search the internet for free templates.
- If you decide to make your blog available to the general public, carefully double-check your entries and remove names or facts that might offend other people.
- Write about what interests you, and don't worry about other people's opinions. Remember, this is your blog and you can do whatever you want with it. Enjoy your magnification!
- Turn on the music, pour yourself a glass of wine - prepare an environment that will help spark your creativity.