Start a Blog for Free (How To)

Some of you have asked me privately how to get started blogging. If you asked about how to do this, this article is for you. If you already have a blog, some of this may be too basic for you.

Over the next few days, I’ll be writing about the basics of blogging, from getting started to writing your first few articles, to finding images that work for your blog and even some more advanced things that I’ve found useful.

How to Start a Blog for Free

1. Go to http://wordpress.com or http://blogger.com and sign up for a free blog. Make the userID your name or something close to your name, or choose your mantra. I started out with MakeItGreat.Blogspot.com (no longer in service). WordPress.com wasn’t around when I got started writing my blog, or I just didn’t know about it. I would use WordPress.com now if I wanted to start a free blog, though Blogger.com is good too.
2. Set up 3 pages: About You, About Your Specialty/ Service/Company, and Contact You.
   1. About You – Write about yourself in a way that’s comfortable for you. Write in the first person or the third person. Use a conversational tone or a formal tone. Use the words you want people to know you by in the about you section. Just be consistent in what you write. Example: About Phil Gerbyshak
   2. About Your Specialty/Service/Company – Share what you’re good at or why you’re writing or what your company does or sells, in a way that focuses on what’s in it for your visitors. Use testimonials if you have them. Example: 10 Ways to Make It Great!
   3. Contact – Make it easy for folks to contact you. Some say to put this in your sidebar, I say put it on it’s own page and make it clear folks can contact you in a variety of ways. Don’t worry about putting a phone number on it. TRUST ME: Nobody is going to call you! Create a contact form if you can, otherwise include your email address, your phone number, and a mailing address, in the order you wish to be reached. Example: Contact Phil Gerbyshak.
3. Choose a Theme – Pick any theme that looks good on screen. White backgrounds are better than dark backgrounds for most people’s eyes. Bigger fonts are better than smaller fonts. Don’t worry too much about this with one exception: Don’t pick a busy background and write on top of that. While you may like pink and purple polka dots, most people don’t.  Most of the time that is super hard to read, though if you’re writing a teen blog, maybe you can break this rule.
4. Write your first article – Write an article that focuses on 1 key thing in your specialty. You may even want to start with an article about why you started this blog.

Congratulations! If you were following along with me, you’ve now got a free blog setup with 1 article.

Next up: all you have to do is write some articles.

What should you write about?

Stay tuned and I’ll share that in tomorrow’s article.

Photo credit

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Tagged as: basics, blogging, getting started