Starting a Blog – Making the Right Decisions

Nowadays, many people take up blogging as a way to make money. It has become quite a tradition, because everyone thinks it is easy. Their logic behind it is: “Well, everyone seems to be able to do it, which means I can do it, as well.” This is something that cannot be more false. While it may look like anyone can run one, a blog is something that requires a lot of attention and, especially, a lot of creativity. Here are a few things that you need to pay attention to, if you are to succeed.

Make a plan

Anyone who has ever started doing something without a plan has pretty soon realized that it was a bad idea. You cannot get anywhere, in any line of business, without having some kind of a plan. The same goes for blogging.

In order to start something that will be influential and that might go viral (which should be your primary goal as a blogger), you need to make a plan first and have an idea as to what you will do. Making a plan means that you need to sort out what you will be writing about, how you will approach that topic and where you plan to get with it. It is quite simple: if you pretend that you are an expert in everything, no one will believe you. On the other hand, if you find a topic that really interests you (regardless of whether or not you are an expert in that particular field), it will push you to go the distance and find interesting things about it that you will, later on, present to your readers. Also, you absolutely have to think about what you wish to achieve with your blog. Will your goal be to change the minds of the readers or to earn some money off of the blog? Nowadays, most people choose to make money, because influencing people through a blog can be a bit hard.

Choosing the right hosting solution

If this is your first time starting a blog, then there are some technicalities that you need to be aware of. One of these is, certainly, choosing the right hosting solution, because, in the online world, much depends on hosting.

There are a few options available for anyone who wishes to put up any kind of website, be it a personal website, a company website or a blog. While I’m not going to talk about all of them, I will mention a few that should be mentioned.

First of all, there is always the possibility of getting free web hosting. This solution is for those people who do not plan on getting big in the blogging world or simply do not have the money to pay for a better hosting solution yet. With this hosting you get your domain for no money, but the quality of the service is really poor. Since it is free, you get no security for your website, you have limited access to the server, you cannot choose the OS that you are working with, and basically, nothing is in your hands. However, if you are still unsure about the terms like ‘server security’, ‘OS’ and such, then, for the time being, this might be the best option for you.

Another possibility is to go for Virtual Server Hosting (VPS). VPS is a type of hosting in which you get to share a server with a few other websites. However, unlike with free hosting, you get to have your portion of the server that no one else can access. This way, you get much better security. Since it is shared, the costs are reduced and you will pay next to nothing for a quality service.

If you are looking for low-cost hosting solutions, read more about it here.

How to make money

The number one way of making money off of a blog is the ads that you allow to be placed on the blog itself. However, in order for this to work, you have to attract the attention of readers and to make your blog popular. Once you do, you will be able to receive money on a monthly basis just by letting people put up ads. The only thing that you have to be careful about here is to not overdo it. I have seen many blogs fail and lose readers simply because they have put up too many ads. I know that earning more money may lure you, but have your readers in mind and think about how annoyed will they be. If you lose the readers, you will lose the money-making potential, it is as simple as that.

So, to sum it up, when starting a new blog, it is important to plan things ahead. Planning ahead includes not only choosing what you will write about, but also how and where will you host and how do you plan to earn money from a blog. Go through this, think about it well, and, soon enough, you will be up and running.