Why Should You Start a Blog in 2021
Introduction to Blogging for Beginners
Individuals, and sometimes businesses, turn to blogs to share information, experiences, stories, or content, sort of like if they were writing in an online journal. What is so great about blogs is that they offer endless writing possibilities, and are used to discuss all kinds of topics, and interact with a community.
“Typically, newest blog posts pop up at the top of the blog’s front page, thus letting the readers know that a new post has been published.”
Here is an example of a few popular blogs that I view on a daily basis for News, Inspiration, and/or Ideas.
- Food: https://smittenkitchen.com
- Fashion: https://sincerelyjules.co
- Interior Design:https://www.apartmenttherapy.com
- Fitness:https://blog.myfitnesspal.com
- Travel:https://www.heleninwonderlust.co.uk
- Affiliate Marketing:https://fivefunnel.com
- Gaming Blogs: Kotaku (www.kotaku.com)
People are starting blogs every day. As of late, there are approximately 152 million blogs on the internet, and still growing. I started my own blog in 2001 to showcase food and recipes. Later, I jumped into affiliate marketing and created unique blogs for that purpose. But there are limitless blogs you can create.
How do you start, you may ask? The internet contains too much information, with every expert giving out different advice. So, who do you pay attention to? How do you start?
If you’re wondering this, you are not alone. I was exactly where you are a few years ago. And so, I would like to make this easier for you.
I promise it will be easy to understand. Sounds good? Let us dive in.
The answer is YES! You Should Start a Blog
- Maybe you want to start your blog, but keep putting off the idea. Here are four solid reasons to start your blog today:
- It is one of the most popular methods to share news and information. Although millions of blogs exist, yours can still stand out.
- It is a fantastic way to share information with other people.
- Blogging makes you a better person and an excellent writer.
- Best of all, you can make money blogging!
Types of Blogs
A blog can provide content on nearly anything. But, to get and retain readers, you want to publish content that brings value to your audience. That means your content should be valuable, actionable, engaging, and exciting.
To set up the right type of blog for yourself, you should first know what your options are. Here are the main types of blogs to help you pick the one that best fits your needs.
Personal Blog
This type of blog is all about the individual who runs it. Thus, it displays the person’s experiences, beliefs, and opinions. It could be about the blogger’s travel experiences, recipes, fashion, and more.
Typically, the aim of a personal blog is not monetization. But that doesn’t mean such blogs can’t make money.
In fact, most personal blogs leverage their traffic to make money through affiliate links and advertising.
Business Blog
A business blog has focused content on a particular area of specialty, with the goal of attracting potential customers’ attention.
The blog owner makes income by offering services and products to their readers. For instance, to attract more traffic, and thus, clients, a real estate company could publish content related to buying and selling homes.
If you would like to display your professional skills and expertise online, then you may want to consider a business blog. It is also a good fit if you have a service or product to offer, or are an expert on a specific topic.
Affiliate Marketing Blog
This kind of blog contains content that promotes other services or products. The blogger usually writes tutorials or reviews and includes a link, so that the reader can purchase the service or product.
The links are known as affiliate links. This means that when readers click and buy something through the blogger’s link, the blogger gets a commission.
When done well, an affiliate blog can generate great income for its owner.
Niche Specific Blog
Such blogs focus on a small section of a bigger category. For example, a weight loss blog that focuses on the paleo diet, or a gardening blog that specializes in cold climate gardening.
Niche bloggers solve a specific problem and focus on a particular audience.
Setting up a niche blog is an effective way to blog, and can help you get a loyal following fast.
News or Media Blog
News blogs are among the most expensive and intensive blogs to run. A successful news blog requires tons of content, meaning that it should share several posts a day.
Besides, the audience of a news blog looks for a higher level of accuracy and professionalism. These blogs are typically more formal than other blogs and require a huge budget and a team to run them.
There are endless blogs you can create. It is like having a blank canvas and you are free to paint anything you like. If you like a photoblog of cats, go for it. If you want a video page of your day-to-day then you can create it. The possibilities are limitless!
Choosing the Right Blogging Platform
The first step on your blogging journey is to choosing a Blogging Platform. I will start by recommending one of the most popular platforms out there – WordPress.
WordPress is the most popular blogging platform across the world. It offers countless add-ons and plugins, with numerous options for designing a blog.
Here are the main reasons why you may want to blog on WordPress:
- It’s free and easy to set up
- It comes with tons of free layouts and themes
- There is a support forum to run to if you ever get stuck
- You can easily interact with your audience through comments, share your content on social media, and more
- Your blog will be fast and eye-catching thanks to the many responsive and fast-loading WordPress themes
In addition to being easy to set up, WordPress is also easy to customize and provides many resources to make your blog look awesome and unique.
Free or Self-Hosting?
WordPress, Tumblr, and Blogger all come with free blogging alternatives for everyone. Perfect, right? Well, these free options are good, but not without their own downsides.
Here’s why free hosting is NOT good and why you should always choose Self Hosting
1 – You cannot create your own domain name
A free blog will not let you customize your web address. So, for the most part, you’ll end up with something like: (wordpress.com, tumblr.com, blogspot.com)
2 – It isn’t limitless
Free blogs set tons of limits. For example, you will not have the freedom to add all those photos and videos you wish to show your audience. Besides, you will not have access to some of the best WordPress themes and plugins.
3 – You do not own the blog
The truth is your blog is hosted on a platform that belongs to someone else, and they could delete it any day if they wanted to. That means your years of work could vanish in seconds.
Benefits of Self-Hosting (The Best Option)
- You own the blog
- You can monetize your blog
- You can customize your blog to your preferences
- You can build an email list
- You better for the search engines – SEO optimized
- Looks more Professional
With a self-hosted domain name, you own the blog, and you can name it however you like, such as yourname.com, or even yourcoolblog.com. But you are not limited to the.COM There are many domain extensions with include:
.COM – commerce – most popular
.NET – network
.ORG – organization”
.INFO – information”
Examples By Country
.EU (European Union)
.CA (Canada)
.CO.UK (United Kingdom)
If you want more information about domains and extensions visit CBBC, they are a company that goes into this topic in detail.
In 2021 the importance of a.COM isn’t necessarily needed. It is the quality of the information/content you provide. If you really like a domain name and the.COM isn’t available then it’s ok to go with the alternatives. Remember it’s your website and you can make it anyway your like.
Another BENEFIT of Self Hosting is that you are not limited to the amount of information you can create. If you have lots of photos and videos then self-hosting can provide unlimited bandwidth for images, videos, other content, as well as the free themes and plugins to enhance the look and functionality of your blog.