Several friends have asked me recently about starting a blog and the process. Today I’d like to share from my experience.
I’m not an expert but I found those who are experts in this area. I will share their links at the end.
Before I officially started my blog I researched and asked lots of questions, probably too much. After a while I realized I was focusing too much on blog mechanics, rather than writing.
If I had to do it over I would start with Google’s blog option called BlogSpot. BlogSpot is easy to use and a good start for someone unfamiliar with blogging. Try it first, even for a month or so to get familiar with blogging and writing.
There is so much to learn in the blog world; from having your own domain name to maintaining your blog. I bought Blogging for Dummies, which I found very helpful. There are many websites to help you. Just Google a question like, “how do I start a blog” and you’ll see what I mean.
WordPress seems to be the most popular, at least with my blogger friends and blogs I follow. With a WordPress blog/website, you have a choice between the .com and .org versions. I started with the .com version then switched 14 months later to .org. Some of my reasons are because of customizations, self-hosted, no ads, and the option to earn an income from my blog. Customizations such as themes and plugins are not available on .com version. I didn’t like the ads displaying when reading my blog. Some ads were not what I represent.
Here are the links I would start with:
Debi Stangeland Bright Ideas for Small Bloggers
WordPress .com vs WordPress .org
If you are interested in online writing training I highly recommend:
Compel training with Proverbs 31 Ministries.
And Hope*Writers is fantastic! I belong to this group currently and they are a wonderful bunch to learn from.
I use PicMonkey for making most of my images and editing my photos. They have a paid option but I use the free option.
That’s a good start and I don’t want to overwhelm you. Please feel free to ask questions and I will try my best to help.
If this has been helpful, please let me know and I may continue writing posts like this. I enjoy sharing what I have learned to help others.
Thank you girl!! Very interesting and as always enjoy reading your blog, you are very talented and detail oriented to teach us step by step. Thanks so much!! Keep up the wonderful work you do and are gifted with. Miss you my walking buddy ??
You are always so positive and encouraging! Thank you for reading my words. I miss you too my friend, my shopping buddy. xo