There are many reasons to create a blog site. Maybe you have a lot of free time and have a passion you want to explore and a blog site will help you stay on track while connecting you with people of similar interests, it can also be used as a way to generate passive income. Done right, as your blog grows you will have the opportunity to place either ads, some affiliate links or even sell some of your own content.

What you need to create blog site

Get Hosting and Domain

Your site will need an address of sorts on the internet; that is somewhere where your intended audience can find your content. The domain is that address you put inside your web browser. For example the domain of the very popular google website is www.google.com.Domains are broken up into hierarchies such as .com, .net, .org, .us and the list goes on and on. It is important to note that not all domains are created equal as the .com, .org and .net are considered top level domains.  Domains can also be further  broken down into what are called subdomains  for example .blgspot.com, which is found on the free blogger platform or the .siterubix.com which is the free subdomain provided at Wealthy Affiliate. For our purposes a domain is important in terms of the branding of your site; in that, it is most likely a name closely related to the niche your blog is based on followed by .com .net etc. for example www.”yourcreativedomainnamehere”.com.

With the site having an address now you need what i like to call the land or space on which the site is built. This is the hosting and it is the space online that your site takes up. Many companies rent out their server space to customers to host their domains for site creation. Common ones include Hostgator and Ipage with free hosting provided by blogger, WordPress and Wealthy Affiliate(also has premium hosting free for premium members)

Site Framework

Your site needs a container or platform, a framework if you will, to which you will add the content. Blogger, WordPress and tumblr or joomla (for more advanced) users are some common ones out there. Seeing that I created this site with WordPress and for me it is the easiest and most versatile of the platforms out there with over 74.5 million websites using the platform at the time of writing.  It will be the main focus in this article. WordPress is highly customizable with thousands of themes, plugins and  widgets which you can use to create a beautiful and unique blog site with little coding experience to no coding experience needed.

Adding Content

This is the meat and bones on your site and it’s what will keep your audience coming back to or visiting your site in the first place. Content can be in the form of written articles, images or video. The key where content is concerned is to create engaging and unique content that your audience will be able to relate to and find helpful. Seeing that you are blogging, your content will be based around an interest you are truly passionate about and will be able to connect with your audience through your own expertise or the learning process you are also going through in the particular niche you wish to create your blog site around.

Driving traffic

Traffic is the actual visitors to your site, there is no point creating some awesome blog content and no one is seeing it! Many people would say: why put traffic in what is needed to create a blog site? In my experience the lack of traffic is a major killer of blogs so I think it should be considered from the very foundations of the site creation. Look into cheap and easy ways that you think you will be able to use to drive traffic to your site. Are there forums,active social discussions or do you have a social network you are active on that you can leverage to get some traffic going to your blog? Finding a ready source of traffic before relying on the search engines to send some your way is a great way to start.

How much experience do I need to create a site

Do I Need Training?

If you are totally new to blogging, some training is recommended just to get the basics of how to set up pages and posts, how to write good quality content. Luckily, it is not like before where you need some fancy programmer to build out your site and you would have to be calling him/her at odd hours of the morning to add some content or make minor changes to your site.  Training is not hard to find from tutorials on youtube and the resource I used which is the Wealthy Affiliate community to get going. In today’s world I don’t think it is necessary to spend a fortune in terms of time and money to get up and running.

Putting it all Together

Getting the pieces of the puzzle mentioned above can be done at various places such as you can get you domain name from Godaddy or Namecheap, get hosting from Hostgator or ipage then installing your content platform from there or you can get all you need in one place from the domain to the hosting and platforms in one place such as Wealthy Affiliate which has a free and premium option or a totally free options in the form of blogger from google. In terms of a step by step chronological order it would be as follows:

1)Get domain name: something catchy and closely related to your niche idea.

2) Get hosting: you can buy hosting from Hostagator for as little as 5 dollars per month.

3) Install content platform: I highly suggest wordpress on most hosting platforms this is done in what is called the c- panel. Choose your theme which is the look and layout of your site.

4) Add content in the form of pages and blog posts to your site, be sure to be unique and let your style/personality shine through while still helping and giving value to your visitors.

5) Get traffic going to the site: leverage social networks to get some initial traffic while improving your standings in the search engines such as google who will over time send you what is called organic traffic from their search results.

How much does it cost?

Creating a site these days is not very expensive you can get domains for typically 15 dollars per year, hosting in the region of 5 dollars per month and can find some good tutorials on youtube for free or get top quality premium step by step training from my no.1 training resource which is a one stop for all you need to create a profitable blog site.There is also the option of getting both domains and hosting for free at blogger, Wealthy Affiliate or WordPress but the downside being you have less control over your site and you are given a subdomain which in the long run will be harder to get ranked in the search engines and get you that precious organic search traffic from search engines such as Google.However it is a way to get your feet wet if you are strapped for cash or skeptical and just want to do a “try before you buy” kind of thing.

Anyone can create a blog and I highly encourage everyone to start one to develop their hobbies and expand their horizons with the added benefit of 1 day being able to earn a little revenue as you develop a following. If  there is anything you would like to add to the conversation please leave your comments or tips below!