Have you ever thought about starting something new and jumped right into it? Probably. If you’re anything like me. But more likely, you conducted some research on the topic to help you get started. Similarly, when starting on your blogging journey, you should research how to start a blog. When you decide you want to start blogging, you may have a rough idea of how to go about it. You may know of Blogger or Tumblr or some other ready-to-use blogging site and jump straight to creating an account. But if you’re looking to be somewhat serious with your blog, you should probably look around and do some research before jumping in.
Six Resources on How to Start A Blog
Researching how to blog can be pretty simple. A quick Google search on “how to start a blog” will give you a giant list of websites you can read. But there are other avenues to learn how to start a blog.
Books on Blogging
Before the internet and Google, reading related books was how you learned how to do something. These days it seems, no one ever turns to a book to learn something new. I’m guilty of this as well. But reading a book on blogging can be helpful, especially when you’re first starting out. A book isn’t as overwhelming as the internet where you’ll likely encounter information overload Also, many of the sites on the internet have an agenda – they’re trying to sell you a service. So it’s hard to tell if you’re getting good advice or not. A good book will take you through the steps for blogging in a logical manner and provide tips and tricks, all within its 200 or so pages. This can be a lot more manageable when you first get started. Also, most books don’t have an agenda of trying to sell you something. You’ve already bought the product – the book! And if you’ve got access to a library, you can read these books for free. I’ve loaned out the following books from my library:
- Blog Inc.
- Blog for Bucks
- So You Want to Start a Blog
- Born to Blog
None of these books so far have anything earth-shattering to say about blogging that you won’t find online. But they’re a quick way to get the lay of the land of what blogging is about and how to start without all the other distractions you find on the internet.
“How to Blog” Sites
Surprisingly, while researching how-to-blog sites for this post, I found a serious lack of sites that were devoted exclusively to the new blogger. There seem to be a mlillion pages on “Start a blog in X steps” or “Start a blog in less than y minutes” or “Z things to know before starting a blog”, but not many comprehensive, well-organized sites devoted to starting your blogging journey for the relative beginner. I was able to find the following (let me know if you find any more): Blogging Basics 101, though it seems not to have been updated frequently since 2016 The Blog Starter. On a quick skim, there doesn’t seem to be much content, but if you scroll down, you’ll find a link to the blog in the footer. A blogging #fail, if you ask me. The Blogging Wizard. The content seems well organized and not too overwhelming. Though the specific articles on getting started were specific to a particular domain registrar and hosting service. This Hubspot article from 2017 lists 10 amazing blogging websites, but again, while they deal with blogging as a subset, they’re not devoted to just blogging and so can be overwhelming Ultimately, if you turn to websites, you’re left to curating the required information and connecting the dots as you go through your journey. There aren’t many “step-by-step” website options on how to start a blog. (Hmmm, maybe this blog has found its niche..)
Blogging Courses
What better way to learn a new skill than to get someone to teach it to you. And blogging is like any other skill in that sense. If you’re serious about creating a blog that will make you money, one of the best ways is to invest in yourself and take a course. Disclaimer: I haven’t taken any courses, and don’t plan to anytime soon. But if by some miracle this blog becomes my main source of income, I’d invest in a course to help me expand the business. Here are some of the courses I found: Dreamer to Blogger by She Dreams All Day – I found her on Youtube, I like her energy. Her niche is introverts and blogging. Perfecting Blogging, by Sophia Lee. Sophia built her blogging empire while still a college student. She’s young, and her main business is blogging about interior decor and such, not helping bloggers learn. This course is mainly based on the strategies she used to build her blog. Elite Blogging Academy. This is the course you want to take if you are really serious about your blogging business. It is on a subscription service and relatively expensive compared to the other courses. While I was there, I grabbed the EBA Blogging Toolkit and there is a tonne of information in this. It can seem quite overwhelming. Again, this course is if you’re really serious about putting in the work and growing your business. Blogging Masterclass. This is a short 2-3 hour course. From the syllabus, it looks pretty basic. It outlines the steps for blogging – getting started, setting up your blog, driving traffic and monetization. Given how short it is, I’m skeptical as to how much more value it provides compare to what you can get by doing your own free research. Like I said, I haven’t taken a course and don’t plan to. But if I got to the point where I wanted to take my blogging business seriously Elite Blogging Academy is likely the one I’d choose. I need external accountability and the ongoing format and month-by-month planning would help keep me on track. That’s just me.
Youtube
Ah,Youtube. Over the last few months I’ve fallen in love with the medium. Which is strange considering I’m not a big fan of video for consuming information. (I’m more of a written-word kinda person). But If you’ve read my story, you’ll see that it’s Youtube that planted the seed that eventually grew into this blog. And while my initial subscription list included productiving gurus, I’ve added some of these bloggers to my mix: Mia Brox – Owner of She Dreams All Day blog, she is fairly new to Youtube and has some great videos on starting a blog. She’s also the creator of the Dreamer to Blogger course above. By Sohpia Lee Blogging – She has a few videos on Youtube, her original blog is a lifestyle blog and vlogging about blogging is new to her. But she has a super successful blog, so why not learn from her. Johanna Aquino Lebouef – A blogging coach. She has some great tips as well to offer. You’ll notice that these bloggers have relatively small playlists. The topic of blogging does not seem to be as popular on Youtube, but that may be a good thing. Sometimes less is more, and it’s a breath of fresh air to not be bombarded with too much content when you’re just getting started.
Pinterest was a surprise to me. I’m not a Pinterest user and always considered it a social media for products and recipes. But in my research I found that many bloggers attribute their success to Pinterest. (With major changes to how Pinterest works in early 2021, Pinterest’s ongoing effectiveness may be debatable. But that’s the subject of another post). If you do a search on Pinterest for blogging, you’ll find a tonne of pins related to blogging for beginners, and almost as many boards. Granted, most of these are pins by businesses who are trying to drive traffic to their sites. (I will admit, I’m exploring this to do the same.), but this is a pleasing visual way to look for ideas and tips on blogging. Here’s a sample of what a search result for blogtips looks like: 
And here’s what the boards look like: 
I haven’t been a big fan of Pinterest, but looking at how aesthetically pleasing these results are, I might just use Pinterest more in my learning journey. So there you have it – six resources you may not have thought of learning from before starting your blogging journey. Once you’ve used some of these, you’ll feel a little more confident in starting that blog.