How I Started My Blog – A Beginner’s Perspective

This is Post 6 of my 7 blogs posts in 7 days challenge.

Starting a blog is actually pretty simple. Before I set up mine, I must admit the whole Idea seemed daunting. To begin with, I had free blogs on websites like Blogger (formerly Blogspot) and WordPress. Mostly, because I didn’t want to spend money on web hosting – Or rather I was suspicious of the whole thing. Anytime I am asked for money on the internet I am extremely cautious – which I think is fair.

But the truth is, my fear was due to lack of understanding. So, I set out to educate myself – on the internet. The problem was this was so overwhelming. There were host providers advertising to me. Bloggers with affiliate links – who seemed like they were out to make money, rather than give objective advice. Others without affiliate links giving conflicting advice – use webflow, don’t use bluehost, etc. My head was spinning.

I nearly gave up at that point.

But I realised that all this research was never going to agree. There is no perfect solution. Sometimes the only way to learn is to take a risk and give it a try!

So I followed this guide, by YouTuber Thomas Frank. He seems like a trustworthy guy and I have followed him for years.

So I bought a domain name on hostgator and set up a wordpress website. Job done…. right.

Well yes and no. Theoretically, that is all I needed for starting a blog on my own website. But like anything we learn about, the rabbit hole always goes deeper.

SEO, Google Analytics, Google Adsense? I Am Still Learning.

SEO. Google Analytics, Google Adsense are things that you may come across when researching your own website or blog. And, depending on the source, these may be unnecessary or vital.

Once again I am overwhelmed.

I don’t know where to start or who to believe. But, bit by bit I am piecing things together. They may end up being unnecessary, but I think it’s still important to understand them and their place. I have found Nat Elison to be very useful on this stuff. I recommend checking out his 1 hour SEO For Bloggers Youtube Series. For now, my attention will be on improving my writing, but I am going to keep learning about these things.

No doubt I will start to feel comfortable again and, after that, I will probably discover something new and get totally overwhelmed. But that’s the nature of learning. You have to stretch yourself in order to grow.