How to start a blog

If you want to start a blog, the first thing you’ll need is a website! Once you have an easy-to-use website, you just need to select your topic and start writing! There are many reasons people might want to start a blog, but the most important thing is that you have something to say. You must also know your topic inside and out. Google, and other search engines, can tell when you don’t really know your topic and they won’t show your website to people who are searching for your content topic.

Let’s walk you through the process a little more in-depth!

Selecting the right type of website for you

Not all websites are created equally! Some websites cost $100,000 to build, while others might cost $30/month. It’s important to understand some of the differences before you start your blog so that you don’t have issues in the future. We’ll try to break down the different grades of websites out there for you:

  • Drag & Drop Editor (Wix, GoDaddy Site Builder, Shopify)
  • WordPress Template
  • Non-Wordpress CMS (HubSpot, Joomla, Drupal)
  • Non-CMS Website
  • Custom WordPress
  • Agency Design & Development
  • Informational Website vs E-Commerce Website

What is a CMS (Content Management System) in Website Design

A CMS or Content Management System is a software or application that is used to organize a website. There are a lot of components to a website, like code files, pages of content, images, videos, and more that all need to be organized in a user-friendly way so that you don’t need to get a Masters’s degree in Website Development to post your first blog. The CMS helps to reduce the amount of effort it takes for you to save your content online for the world to see! A good CMS will also help Google and other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo to easily read and index your website’s content. This allows you to become a trustworthy and authoritative source that will be shown to those searching for the topics you’re covering on your website.

Drag & Drop Editors and why we advise against them

If you’re starting out and have no money to invest in your website design, then this might be the best option for you. A drag-and-drop editor allows someone with no coding experience to build a website that looks nice. Sometimes, you’ll be lucky enough to build a website like this that actually allows you to achieve your goals, whether that be posting blogs or selling products online.

A word of caution: These types of websites are often very difficult to make changes to. So if you want to change the look of the website in the future, maybe add featured blog posts to the homepage or update an image, it could cause a lot of frustration for you! Also, website developers aren’t typically able to work with these types of platforms with any more success than you. This is because the code on the backend of these WYSIWYGs (What You See Is What You Get, pronounced “Wizzy Wig”) is a total rat’s nest of code. Lastly, these websites are bad for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because they don’t allow you to properly tell the search engines, like Google, Who you are, What you Do, Where you’re located, and Where you do it! That’s how Google connects you to those browsing the internet.

There is no shame in starting with a Drag & Drop editor, as long as you know that you’ll likely need to fork over some cash to build a brand new website in the future if you decide to get a web developer and other helpers involved (SEO Experts, Content Writers, etc.).

WordPress Template Websites (Better for Bloggers!)

A WordPress Template Website is a step in the right direction. They’re slightly more challenging to set up and customize for a newbie, but they are typically much easier to use on the backend due to them having a better CMS that’s more user-friendly. WordPress is especially recommended for those that are building a website with the intent of blogging!! Why is that? It’s because WordPress was originally developed to serve bloggers, so the backend website structure is inherently set up perfectly for blogging. You can create easy to format posts with an editor that feels much like a word processor like Microsoft Word and Google Docs

Non-CMS Website

This is not for the faint of heart! If you’re new to managing a website and you aren’t fluent in writing multiple code languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc), then you won’t be able to use a website without a CMS for blogging. This is because there is no user interface for you to simply write your content and post. You would have code every post you want to make from scratch, much like an early 1970s personal computer.

Custom WordPress Development – Keystone Heights, Middleburg, Gainesville, Jacksonville, FL

Developing custom WordPress websites is our bread and butter! If you work with us on website design & development, this is what you’ll get. The reason we build our websites custom is so that we can build them with an SEO First mindset. What that means is that the websites we build are VERY easy to do SEO on so that your business can be found at the top of the search results for your products and services.

While every WordPress website technically runs on templates, we build out templates from scratch. By doing this, we can strip out all of the code that doesn’t need to be in the website, creating an easy-to-manage website that is fast to load on mobile, tablets, and desktops! Google and other search engines love fast websites because they provide a good user experience.

Perhaps the best thing about a custom WordPress website is that we can make it look and feel exactly how you want! We’re not constrained by some prefabricated template or theme that doesn’t allow for customization where you need it. This allows us to better convey the feeling you want to convey when someone lands on your website. Maybe we’re biased, but we don’t see any situation where a drag & drop editor or a prefabricated template is the appropriate long-term solution for someone who is serious about growing their online presence with their blog or their business.

Agency Level Website Design & Development

Get ready to take out a second mortgage on your house for this option! Agencies charge an insane amount of money to design and develop websites. So, unless your blog is already getting massive attention from millions of people across the globe, this likely isn’t the option for you. Agency level website design and Development oftentimes costs north of 6-figures! Yes, that’s $100,000 USD and up!! Unless you’re very serious about blogging, your brand, and have already “made it,” this isn’t likely the option for you.

Informational Website vs E-Commerce Website

For blogging, you’re more than likely going to want an informational website. That’s because you’ll simply be looking to communicate information out to the public. This is typically a more basic website and costs less than an e-commerce website. E-commerce websites are websites that are used to transact goods and services online. They typically have a shopping cart and allow people to purchase products and/or services online.

Why start a blog in Middleburg, Gainesville, or Jacksonville, FL?

There are a lot of reasons someone might want to start a blog. Some people want to make money from ads, others would like to sell products using their blogs to generate traffic to their website, while others might just be interested in getting their opinion out for the world to hear. Whatever your reason for starting a blog, there are a few tips and tricks that you should follow.

  • Make Money from Ads
  • Get people to visit your online store
  • Provide information to others

Selecting your topic for your blog

Selecting your topic might be the most important thing you ever do! That’s because Google relies heavily on written content to understand your website. If you don’t have a topic that you are consistently writing and posting about, then Google will likely not help your website get found by those who might be searching for it. It’s important that your content is unique and that you make sure it exudes Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Authoritativeness (EAT). This will help you get your blog topics featured in top search results and will get people to your website.

Write Regularly! Blog Writing in Keystone Heights, Middleburg, Gainesville, and Jacksonville, FL

Many blogs start out strong and eventually taper off into the great abyss known as the 2nd (and further) pages of Google. If your website isn’t on the first page of Google for your most important search terms, then you’re not likely to get the traction you’re looking for. The best way to go about posting content frequently. Whether that’s daily, weekly, or monthly, it needs to be written and posted.

Hire a Blog Writer | Keystone Heights, Middleburg, Gainesville, and Jacksonville, FL

The content on your website doesn’t necessarily need to be written by you. You can always hire someone to write and post the blogs and other content for you. Keystone Heights Marketing actually specializes in writing, posting, and optimizing blog content on a regular basis for our clients. So if all of this sounds like a lot of work to you, simply hire it out. If you’re a business owner or a professional pursuing a side income, the chance that blog writing is your highest and best use of time is very unlikely. Get in touch with us today to discuss your blogging needs so we can get you up and running!