You have a domain name and a web hosting account. Congrats! Now you can create a professional website to share your thoughts and ideas with the world. You can use your new site to post articles, sell and display products, capture email subscribers, and more. But there is more than one way to skin a cat. You need to consider what you will use the site for, who will see it, and how you want to make money from it.
The Purpose Of Your Blog
There is more than one purpose for a blog. Your blog could be for personal content or for sharing knowledge and information with others. When you decide what you want your blog to be used for, it becomes easier to decide what features and tools you will use to make it stand out. For example, if your goal is to inspire and help other business owners achieve success, you might want to use tools that make your blog easier to manage, like WYSIWYG editors for content creation or a money-making plug-in like a membership plugin for monetization. If you want to create a digital asset, like a sales page or product showcase, you might want to use tools that make these tasks simple and straightforward, like a drag and drop image optimizer or a fully customizable shopping cart. Regardless of your reasons for starting a blog, you should choose a WordPress platform because it is simple to use, has a large community, and is incredibly flexible.
Features You Need To Have
When choosing a personal content blog platform, you have some control over the features included, but you should know that a lot of the essential features are already built in. For example, you get basic blog functionality like creating and publishing posts, storing images, and handling comments. The only thing you need to do is connect your Twitter account to the site. Once you do that, you can start using the platform to create your blog.
Besides those basics, you need to choose a theme that is easy to manage. If you are doing this as a hobby or for fun, you might want to go with a free option like Blogger or WordPress.com. These platforms make it simple to create a basic blog with no frills, no distractions, and no unnecessary options.
Themes & Demographics
Blogs with a free option like Blogger or WordPress.com come with a basic design that is often very bland and boring. Fortunately, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of ready-made themes and customization options that you can use to spice up your blog. Additionally, the demographics that read your blog are important to consider. Free blogs typically attract younger audiences who are more likely to be familiar with the latest trends and technologies. If your target audience is more traditional, you might want to consider paying for a premium theme or using a tool like AWeber to connect with your readers.
SSL & Email
Even though your blog is now live, this does not mean that your website is now secure. Once you post an article, any one can visit it and potentially steal your content. To stop this from happening, you need to use an SSL certificate and set up a secure email for communication with your customers. The simplest and most efficient way to do this is with a plug-in like AWeber or MailChimp.
Credentials
If you want to truly stand out above the rest, you need to use your blog to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. To do this, you need to prove that you are, in fact, an expert by making your blog as credible as possible. This means using only reputable sources for content, paying attention to grammar and style, and committing to long-form writing. If you have a specific subject matter expertise, like legal advice, you can use that expertise to build credibility by consistently delivering high-quality content that is easy to understand and memorable.
Monetization
If you want to make money from your blog, you need to choose a monetization strategy and implement it as soon as you can. The sooner you can monetize, the sooner you can start making money from your blog. After your blog reaches a certain size and level of engagement, you can consider implementing display ads, affiliate marketing, or both. The key is to start monetizing as soon as possible because the sooner you start, the sooner you can begin raking in the cash. Don’t put it off because you “might” want to monetize one day.” You should be thinking about monetizing now!
Mobile
If you are planning on doing most of your blogging from a mobile device, like an iPad or a smartphone, you need to take this into consideration. Not only will your blog look different on a small screen than on a large one, but so will the way your audience interacts with it. If you have a small audience on mobile, you might want to consider doing all of your content delivery via a mobile-friendly website like WordPress.com or Square Space.
Security & Backup
Even though you are now the proud owner of a functional website, you still need to take security and data backup into consideration. AWeber and MailChimp have built-in security features that protect your blog from unauthorized access, hackers, and other malicious code. Additionally, some hosting plans include a web-based dashboard that makes it easy to monitor your website’s security and backup status. If you are doing this as a hobby or side project, you can use a free option like WordPress.com or Square Space, which offer basic security and backup features. However, if you are looking for a professional-looking website with all the bells and whistles, you should choose a premium hosting plan that offers additional security features and regular backups.