Many people realize how profitable a blog can be. With so many online tools, it’s now possible to easily create one. It doesn’t matter if you have the technological know how or not; you don’t even need to have coding skills. All you need to do is leverage resources on online platforms, and in less than 30 minutes, you could have your blog up and running. WordPress provides one of these platforms. If you want to explore the potential of blogs, read on to learn more about starting the process. Our article will help you in Digital Marketing Services in Lahore avoid some common mistakes by giving you the right steps to follow.
Advantages of Blogging:
For some people, blogs provide an outlet for their creativity; for others, it’s a money-making company. You can monetize your website and earn passive revenue, while doing what you love, which is writing great content.
- You will find many benefits for blogs, including:
- The opportunity to develop your writing skills
- It’s an excellent source of passive income
- It’ll look great on your resume.
- You can share your knowledge with your audience
- It will help you establish networks and build excellent connections
- Blogging is an excellent time spent
Creating a WordPress Blog Page:
Starting a blog in WordPress is not a complicated process as long as you follow the right steps. Some of the things you’ll need are a domain name, a web hosting account, and time. Here are some things you’ll have to do.
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Choose The Right Platform:
One mistake many beginners make is not choosing the right blogging platform. You have the option of WordPress.com and WordPress.org. While both offer great functionality and multiple themes and plugin, it is better to work with WordPress.org, which is expressly configured for blogging purposes.
It is also self-hosting that will allow you to have full control of your website. Therefore, you can customize according to your needs by installing the plugin and relevant themes. You also have the option to monetize the site by publishing ads, selling e-books, marketing affiliates, among others, giving you passive income.
The WordPress platform is free to use, and all you need to do is get the correct domain name and web hosting provider. Use online tools to create names for your domain.
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Find a Web Hosting Provider:
You need a fast-loading website, and WordPress recommends Bluehost as a hosting provider. You receive an SSL certificate that will help keep visitor information secure. Anyone on your site will also get the guarantee that you take your security seriously, which will be positive for you. When you decide the domain name and web host provider, you finish the registration process and you’ll be on your way to starting the blogs. Make sure that the password you choose is strong so that it does not give hackers easy access to your information. Avoid cliched passwords like your names, child’s names, among others because it doesn’t take much to find out what they are.
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Install WordPress:
If you choose to use the Bluehost web provider, the setup process is simple. When you finish the registration process, you will see a welcome to the WordPress message which means your blog is ready. One of the first things you should do is make sure you are visible. Click the settings icon, and then add the name of the slogan and blog.
Your site address must also be the same as the domain name, adding your email address at this stage will allow you to reset the password at a later date if you wish.
Click the “Coming Soon Active” button and then launch the site.
If you are using WordPress.org, you will need to take control of most aspects of installation. Decide on the plugin as well as the themes. You’ll find thousands of these in the WordPress store; some are free, while you will have to pay for others. Follow the direct directions, and you will be able to change the appearance of your website at the click of a button.
We strongly recommend simplicity when thinking about your topics. A clean website will give you a better user experience, and your visitors are likely to keep coming back. The theme activation will install it on your site. You can also preview the themes before choosing the one you like the most.
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Blog Content Management:
You can easily add blog content in WordPress. In the Go to Publications pane, and then click Add New. Beginners may have difficulty using WordPress editors, they therefore choose to write the content elsewhere, for example, in Word, then copy and paste it into WordPress.
The only problem is that you will have to reformat your content because it does not export well. You’ll spend a lot of time editing; the time you’d spend with content. The Gutenberg editor that allows you to add content blocks using the add block icon. WordPress editors are easy to use, and most features are self-explanatory.
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Using Images:
Consider using images to split text and make content visually more appealing. When there is too much text, people can shy away from reading your blog. You will find a lot of free stock photos online on sites like unsplash.com and pixabay.com.
Under no conditions should you use images that do not belong to you. You should also cite the source of the images, even if you are using the free stock images. Adding images is easy to click on the featured image box, upload and then save. Be careful how big the images are because it will slow down your website. A good tip is to compress the images, because resizing can pixilar the image. Just click the publish button once you’re satisfied with the layout and quality of your content.
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Plugin and Other Customization:
Plugins allow you to add features to your website such as galleries, sliders, contact forms, and more. You have the option to use the third-party 3s or those on the WordPress platform. With over 55000 plugins to choose from, you will find that there is virtually no task you cannot accomplish.
There are many other plugins to consider for your website. Install the right plugin as UpdraftPlus to protect against losing your content to hackers or a system malfunction. You also need to add additional levels of security, and WordPress has security plugins like Sucuri. You can also speed up your website by installing WPSuper Cache.
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Improve Navigation With a Menu:
A visitor to your site should have an easy time browsing through your blog. You’ll get return visitors because they’ll enjoy the experience of being on your website. A menu will help with this functionality, and it’s easy to create in WordPress.
In the pane, click Appearance, menu, and then create. You can then add the title and select the pages that you want to appear in the new menu. Arrange the page by dragging the labels up or down. If you want to display it in the main header, select the Primary location check box in the menu settings, and then click Save.
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Choose Your Desired Look:
You can customize your WordPress blog by choosing the font you want. Just do is download the right plugin as easy Google fonts. You also have the option to change the colors, menu and settings of the home page, among others.
You have full control over the design of your website, and you need to learn how to use the customize to make the changes as you want.
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Share Content on Social Networks
A safe way to create traffic for your website is to put a link that uploads your articles to your social media platforms. It’s as simple as installing the right plugin; you can bypass this by typing ‘social share’ when you are looking in the plugin directory.
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Custom Email Account:
A webhost platform like Bluehost will allow you to create a custom email account from your domain. The advantage is that you get a more professional looking website. When you sign in to Bluehost, click the following: email and office, basic email, view options, and then create your account.
Now click Email Accounts > Access Web Mail. Once you confirm your credentials, you can now use your new account to send and receive messages. Add your email account information on your “About” page so that any email you receive on your site goes directly to your new account.
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Creating a Contact Form:
You will need a contact form on your WordPress site, which your visitors will use to contact you. Unfortunately, this is not a feature built into WordPress, and therefore you will need a plugin to load it on your site. You can use wordpress Form Builder to achieve this functionality.
If you’re looking for a free one, consider using the WPForms Lite plugin. The process is as simple as clicking on the plugin, adding new, searching for WPForms, installing and then activating. Next, you’ll need to add a new page in the WPForms to create your first contact form. Put a name, click on the simple contact form, which WPforms will generate for you.
You have the option to change the fields or add new ones. Remember to save before you leave.
Now go back to the under pages pane, click Add New and assign it ‘contact’. On the screen, click the Add Form button and select the form that you created earlier. When you click Add Form, you get a short code on your page, and then save and publish. Use a browser to see what your contact form looks like.
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Set up Google Analytics:
You should carefully monitor the activities on your website. You need to know how many people visit your blog, where they are, what they do once they’re on your website, among others. By installing Google Analytics, you will be able to keep track of everything you want to keep an eye on.
The best time to install it is at first; you will need a Gmail account to access the Google Analytics website. The tool is free, but you will need a website URL. You’ll get a tracking code, which you can then transfer to your site using a plugin like Monster insights. Be sure to configure your settings so you can enjoy using Google Analytics.
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Optimize for SEO:
SEO optimization is vital to make it easy for search engines to see you. Visibility will give you more traffic on your site. You need to optimize SEO from the beginning. One of the popular plugins for SEO in WordPress is Yoast.
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Monetize Gives up Your WordPress Blog:
You can make money by monetizing your blog. You can show ads on your website, set up an e-commerce store, and more. Use online resources to give you more tips.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, a complete guide on how to start a blog in WordPress. Familiarize yourself with the platform to avoid any errors that may affect your blogs. With so many plugins, there’s very little you won’t be able to accomplish in WordPress. Best of all, the platform is free, as are many of the plugins.
For more detail about business SEO contact our Digital Media Trend team.
