This article is meant for the newbies or beginners who would like to know how to get started on blogging. Once you have figured out a general idea of what kind of topics you are going to focus on your blog, the next step is to set up a website where you can write articles about your chosen topic.
Depending on your capability or if you are on a limited budget, you could get started on free blogging platforms like WordPress.com or Blogger. However, the problem with free platforms like Blogger is that, they also come with some restrictions. For example, you cannot set up a review blog or an affiliate blog with Blogger as it it against their terms of use.
So, unless your financial situation is really bad, I would not advise you to start anything on a free Blogging platform. It much better to spend something small to acquire your own domain and a hosting, especially if you are looking forward to starting a long term business online.
Buying a Domain Name
Buying a domain name is one of the most convenient way to get started since you are now in full control of your blog. This will cost you around Kshs. 1000 per year. There are several websites where you can purchase a domain name, like GoDaddy, depending on what type of domain name you want to purchase.
If you just want to buy a domain name to target local audience, I would recommend you to purchase a domain ending with suffix co.ke, or anything with .ke at the end or a Kenyan domain since it will be easy for it to rank.
However, if you also plan to target international audience, then it is wiser to go for domain with suffix com, net, org. Avoid going for biz and other domain with uncommon suffixes since it can be hard to sell them later on.
Once you have your domain name, the next step is to look for a hosting company, you can select a local hosting company or use international hosting company like Hostgator, which I use for all my blogs.
I would recommend you to go for a Hostgator Baby Plan since it allow you to host unlimited domains, incase you will have more than one domain in the future. Hostgator Baby plan will cost you around Kshs. 1000 per month.
However, if you do not plan to start other websites, you could simply start with Hostgator Hatchlign plan that allow you to host only one domain. This will cost you around Kshs. 400 per month.
The next step is to install WordPress on your new domain. Setting up a WordPress blog is very easy and you do it straight from your Hostgator Panel by installing it via Quick Install. Hostgator also provide free videos showing you how to go about doing it, if you are not so good technical wise.
Once you are through the installation process, the next step is to fill up your website with contents. If you are very familiar with the topics you are writing about, you will find that, it very easy to write two or three articles in a day. However, for topics that you are not very familiar with, it can be sometimes tiring since you will have to research first before writing.
This is why it is important to focus on your expertise or what you are really passionate writing about. Otherwise, if you write about unfamiliar topics, you will find yourself getting stuck along the way with nothing to write about.
If you got some cash to spare, you could also outsource the content writing jobs, which will save you alot of time. You do not have to spend alot of money to hire writers, you can hire one with as low as Kshs 500 per 500 words article on articles writing websites like iWriter,
Finally, once you have the contents ready, the last step is to drive traffic to your website. There are various ways to generate traffic, such as through social networks, SEO and much more. You can learn more about how to generate traffic to your website by reading through traffic articles here.
