How to Start a Successful Blog in 2021

Do you enjoy writing, and do you feel like you have some important things to say about a specific topic? If so, you might be the perfect person to start a blog on whichever topic happens to interest you the most.

At the moment, there are hundreds of millions of active blogs scattered all across the internet. They touch on everything from food and sports to cars and technology. But there is always room for one more, especially one on a topic that hasn’t been covered to death just yet.

Learning how to start a successful blog is the first step you should take if you’re considering launching your own blog. It’ll help you put your blog in a position to succeed right away.

Let’s take a closer look at what you’ll need to do to get your blog off the ground and to build up your audience for it.

Figure Out What Your Blog Is Going to Be About

What is your new blog going to be about? That’s the first question you should ask yourself when you’re trying to figure out how to start a successful blog.

The more specific that you can get with it, the better when it comes to choosing a topic for your blog. Your ultimate goal should be to find a topic that isn’t the same topic being used by hundreds or even thousands of other blogs at this time.

If you want to start a blog about, say, weight loss, that’s a great topic to choose. The weight loss industry is worth more than $70 billion these days, which shows how interested people are in it.

But there are so many weight loss blogs out there already. This means that yours is likely going to get lost in the shuffle if you make it too general.

Instead, how about starting a weight loss blog specifically for college students who want to avoid the Freshman 15 or working parents who don’t have the time or patience to work out and eat right every day?

Aim your blog at a very specific audience for best results. You’re more likely to generate interest in your blog by taking this approach.

Check Out Existing Blogs That Fall Into Your New Blog’s Niche

It’s going to be almost impossible to find a blog topic that hasn’t been covered at all on other blogs. You’re likely going to face at least a little bit of competition out there.

But you shouldn’t let that stop you from starting a blog that covers a topic you’re passionate about. You just need to do your homework and find out what you can do to set your blog apart from other blogs like it.

To do this, check out some of the existing blogs that fall into your new blog’s niche and see what they have to offer. More importantly, see what they’re not offering to their audience and vow to offer it to yours.

You can separate yourself from the pack by doing this. You’ll be able to provide something different from everyone else with your blog.

Choose a Domain Name for Your Blog

Once you know what your blog is going to be about and what kinds of things you’re going to cover on it, go ahead and pick out a domain name for it. The domain name should be something that people will remember as well as something that will help explain what people can expect from your blog.

In some cases, you might get a great idea for a name right from the start. In other instances, you’ll have to spend a ton of time brainstorming ideas with family members and friends before landing on a name you love.

Whatever you do, don’t rush through this part of the process. It’s important for you to land on a name for your blog that you love. It’s also important for you to find a domain name for your blog that isn’t already taken.

Once you’ve done this, you should buy the domain name for your blog so that you can start setting it up.

Select a Blogging Platform That You Feel Comfortable With

There are a number of different blogging platforms that you can use to create content for your blog. You should do some research on your options when you’re working your way through the process of setting up your blog.

WordPress has turned into the most popular blogging platform for most bloggers. While it’s not necessarily the easiest platform to use, it’s simple enough to learn how to start a successful blog while using WordPress by poking around online.

Whether you decide to go with WordPress or something else, you should find the blogging platform that you like the most. You’re obviously going to spend a lot of time using it, so you want to feel very comfortable with it.

Find a Hosting Service for Your Blog

In addition to selecting a blogging platform for your blog, you’ll also need to utilize a hosting service that’s capable of hosting your blog for you. A hosting service will be responsible for hosting all the files that you use to keep your blog up and running.

Just like with blogging platforms, there is a whole host of hosting services out there for bloggers to choose from. From HostGator to A2 Web Hosting, you’ll have no shortage of options.

Read up on the different hosting services and see which one fits your needs. It’s usually best to go with a well-known hosting service that has experience working with new bloggers.

Pick Out the Right Theme for Your Blog

When you reach this point, you’ll almost be ready to launch your blog and start adding content to it. But before you can do that, you’ll need to choose a theme for your blog.

Some of the more experienced bloggers hire web designers to come up with custom themes for their blogs. But your hosting service should have basic themes that you can use at the start.

The theme that you go with should set the right tone for your blog. If, for example, you’re going to be starting a serious blog that touches on legal topics, a bright and colorful blog might not be in your best interest. At the same time, a simple and straightforward theme with very few decorative touches might not be the best choice for a blog that covers arts and crafts.

Browse through as many themes as you can and choose the one that best represents your blog.

Come Up With a Long List of Possible Blog Topics

Do you have any ideas as far as what your first few blog topics are going to be about? If not, now is the time to come up with a long list of possible blog topics.

As soon as you launch your blog, it’s going to be your job to fill your blog with as much content as you can. And it’s obviously going to be difficult for you to do that if you’re struggling to come up with topics that you can cover.

It’s a good idea to create an initial list of blog topics and to add to it all the time. Even if you don’t end up blogging about every single topic on your list, it’s better to have too many ideas than not enough ideas to go around.

Start Putting Up Posts on Your Blog and Update It Regularly

After you have a long list of blog topics ready, start working your way through them one at a time. Do your best to explore each topic thoroughly so that you’re able to provide people with useful information in the blogs that you write.

When writing blog posts, you should keep search engine optimization, or SEO, in mind. By including certain keywords and links in the content you write for your blog, you can improve your blog’s Google rankings and bring in more traffic to it.

Updating your blog on a regular basis is another way to give your blog’s SEO a big boost. It’s why you need to be prepared to update your blog early and often once you get it up and going.

Look for Creative Ways to Drum Up Interest in Your Blog

When you make a push to improve your blog’s SEO, it’ll work wonders for your blog’s traffic. But you shouldn’t stop there when it comes to trying to drum up interest in your blog. There are also other things that you can do to popularize your blog.

For instance, you can:

  • Write guest blogs for other websites and include links back to your blog in them
  • Start up social media pages for your blog and post links to your blogs on them
  • Make appearances on podcasts and discuss your blog on them

You might also want to create videos that touch on some of the topics you discuss on your blog and post them right on your blog. This SugarBearHair video is a great example of the kind of video you could create if you were starting a fashion blog and looking to get some extra eyes on it.

Finding different ways to market your blog will be of the utmost importance. Don’t pass up on the chance to market it as often as you can.

Become the Best Blogger Possible by Learning How to Start a Successful Blog

As you can see, starting a blog is going to require a lot of hard work. It doesn’t matter if you’re interested in creating a travel blog or a blog on something else. You’re going to have to devote a ton of time to do it.

But by learning how to start a successful blog and following the steps laid out here, you can set up a great blog that you’re proud to show off. You’ll wonder why you didn’t ask yourself, “Should I start a blog?”, so much sooner.

Find out more about starting a blog from scratch by reading through our other blog-related articles.