What is a Blog and How to Create a Blog? [2019]

WHAT IS A BLOG?

Howdy Friends! Do you know what is a blog?

If you don’t know, Don’t worry I will tell you everything about what is a blog?

Sounds Good?

Above all, let me introduce myself quickly! Hello and Welcome to my site.

I’m Shahzaib Irfan, I’m a blogger and this is my first blog post.

Let’s start!

You might be thinking that what is a blog?

Let me tell you that a blog is an informational website that is published on the World Wide Web. It is like a personal diary that people shared online.

You can understand this term by this following example:

You have written an article on [TOP MOBILE PHONES IN 2019] and published on your blog site. Then, the people around the globe who are searching for [TOP MOBILE PHONES IN 2019] will visit your blog and read the article you’ve posted. Remember that what people are reading is called a blog.

However, in this online world, People discovered an amazing way of communicating and sharing information in a new way.

Have you got it?

That’s great.

Let’s move on.

DEFINITION OF BLOG:

A weblog (short form “blog”) is an informational website displaying posts in the reverse chronological order. However, in order to show the most recent post at the top of the web page.

Before 2010, blogs were usually handled by a single person and often covered a single topic.

But, In the 2010s, “Multi-author blogs” (MAB’s) were introduced in which multiple authors write an article and post in a professional way.

HISTORY:

On 17 December 1997, the term weblog was introduced by John Barger. In 1999, Peter Merholz broke the word weblog into “we-blog”. Later on, Evan Williams used “blog” as a noun & verb and devised the term “blogger”.

Due to the growing number of web pages in the world of blogging, several tools were made which made it easier for users to create online journals and blogs because these tools helped the non-technical user to access the blogging technology easily and have played a great role to popularize blogging.

One of the biggest innovations in the history of blogging had taken place in the year 1999-2005. Starting from 1999, Blogger.com was introduced which is a popular blogging platform, which was later equipped by Google in 2003. The fact is that the article that you are reading right now is also made on Blogger.com.

Therefore, in the same year, WordPress was also launched with its first version as a blogging platform in May 2003. WordPress is the world’s most popular blogging platform powering over 30% websites on the internet.

In other words, WordPress is such a powerful tool for blogging and for creating websites. Therefore, the best and the cool thing about WordPress is that you don’t need to learn to code. It’s consists of a complete drag and drops feature.

According to Wikipedia:

What Is Blog - Wikipedia

According to Google:

What Is Blog - Google

STRUCTURE:

The appearance of blogs has been changing from time to time. Therefore, nowadays blogs include different items but however, most blogs includes some standard features and structure. Here are all the common features that a typical blog will include:

Header with the Menu/Navigation Bar.
The main content area with highlighted or latest posts.
Sidebar with social profiles, favorite content, or call-to-action
Footer with relevant links like a disclaimer, privacy policy, contact page, terms, and condition, about us page.

Blog Structure

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BLOG AND WEBSITE?

Many people can’t tell and understand the difference between a blog and a website because they are not taught in the right way.

Let me tell you that a blog is a type of website. However, there is one real difference between a blog and a website is that blogs are regularly updated with new content or post. Therefore, it is displayed in reverse chronological order. In other words, the recent post comes on top of the web page. Blogs are dynamic in nature and are usually updated regularly.

However, some bloggers publish multiple posts per day. Whereas websites are static in nature where all the content is organized in specific pages and they are not updated frequently.

It is part of many businesses and large websites. Many business websites have a blog section in which they communicate to inform and educate their customers by regularly posting content.

One of the best ways to create a blog or a website is by using WordPress because WordPress has the most powerful features and is recommended by almost everyone.

The simplest lines to understand the difference between blog and website is that every blog is a website but every website is not a blog.

Sounds perfect?

Now, you might be thinking that which one is better? Blog or Website.

WHICH ONE IS BETTER? BLOG OR WEBSITE

To be honest, it completely depends on your goal whether you need a blog or a website. One of the best business marketing strategies is to make a separate blog section on your website to get more traffic from search engines because many businesses have applied this strategy to grow their business worldwide and had become successful.

I know, I know you’ve understood all about blogs and you might be thinking why people blog?

Right?

WHY DO PEOPLE BLOG?

Each person who is blogging has its own motivation for blogging. Therefore, the most common reasons for blogging are:

Money
Fame
Hobby
Advertising and branding
To help others
To gain knowledge
Build personal brands
Networking

These are the top reason why people blog. I will make a comprehensive article on these top 8 reasons why people blog if you want.

Just like the article, share and comment “Yes, I want it.”

Finally, the wait is over, the time has come to teach you how to create a blog in 7 steps because you've almost understood all about the blog.

HOW TO CREATE A BLOG?

In this guide, you will learn how to create a blog in 7 steps. I know you might have many questions in your mind before starting a blog.

Therefore, the questions you're thinking might be the following:

Which platform should you choose?
What should be your niche?
What should be your domain name and how to buy the domain name?
How to buy the hosting for your domain name?
Design of your blog etc.
Writing your first blog post?
How do I know these question that is in your mind?

Because I have gone through these stages but don't worry I will guide you completely start to end.

So grab a cup of coffee and let's start your journey towards the world of blogging without wasting any time.

Here are the steps to follow if you want to create a blog:

PAGE CONTENT:

Selecting domain name and hosting for your site

Install WordPress on the blog (Tutorial is given below)

Setup the design of the blog

Install the best WordPress plugins

Write your first blog post

Picking the blog topic

Select the blogging platform

Wait a minute, Just note that:

I've made it just one-click easier for you to take action. Therefore, I’m suggesting only those options in terms of platform, hosting which are working for everyone.

So let's begin:

1. PICKING THE BLOG TOPIC

Above all, the very first thing you need to do is to find the niche for your blog. I mean to say to find a topic on which you are going to write about.

If you are thinking to blog on any random topic and make money then hold on my friend, then blogging is not for you. Seriously, this doesn't work in 2019 because visitor like to subscribe to those blogs which are based on a particular topic.

However, Google which is the biggest search engine recommends those sites which are based on a particular topic. You can say that it's a ranking factor recommended by Google.

But, how to find the topic or niche?

You are thinking that?

Right?

Don't Worry I'll give you some tips on how to find that:

TIPS:

Explore that topic that you know better than anyone else.

Therefore, It could be anything. Try to find the topic that you always like to talk about and you can talk for hours on that topic.

The topic that interests you every time you heard about that.

However, at last, but not the least, make sure you have a high-level interest in that particular topic, and you can add values with your own insight.

If you are choosing a topic that you always like to talk about, it will ensure that your burn out period will never come. However, I'm sure you have selected that topic in which you are good than anyone else and make some money.

2. SELECTING THE BLOGGING PLATFORM

Don't know where you should create your blog?

There are many blogging platforms and every people has a different opinion about each of them.

But I'll tell you the most easy-to-use platform which is WordPress.

Now, you might be thinking that why this man is recommending WordPress instead of Blogger.com as he is also using Blogger.com. Seriously I'm a poor guy and I don't have the money but I'll use WordPress later on.

WordPress is the most powerful blogging platform powering over 30% of the websites in the world. However, WordPress is popular because it is easy-to-use and however, the best thing about WordPress is a beautifuly designed Drag & Drop tool.

I mean to say no need to learn to code.

But, remember that most people don't see the difference between (WordPress.com) and (WordPress.org). I recommend you to start your blog on (WordPress.org) because it's a self-hosted blogging platform. So don't confuse yourself with (WordPress.com) and (WordPress.org).

The main difference is that Wordpress.com gives you the domain name(URL) like e.g. (www.example.wordpress.com). Whereas, in WordPress.org your domain name will be (www.example.com).

This process is very simple & easy. However, you will know how to do that in a further section.

3. PICKING DOMAIN AND HOSTING

BUYING DOMAIN

First of all, when choosing a domain name for your blog to remember three following golden rules:

Easy to write

Easy to speak

Easy to remember

However, Domain name is the URL of your site which a user will use to visit your blog.

Whenever you start a blog on BlogSpot or WordPress.com blogging platform, you get an address like www.example.blogspot.com and www.example.WordPress.com.

Try to buy a custom domain like www.example.com but if you have a low budget then you can use BlogSpot or WordPress.com

As I told you above about how to choose the domain name. Therefore, I've written the rules for buying a domain:

Prefer the domains which end with .com above anything else.
Make sure your domain name should not be confusing to the visitor.

You can visit and use Bluehost |https://www.bluehost.com/domains|domain suggestion feature to check the domain name is available or not that you've found. Therefore, here are some quick tips that you should not do when selecting the domain name for your new site:

Try to keep it lower than 12 characters.
Don’t use domain extension like .info, .net, etc. Because the search engines do not give good ranking to those sites or blogs.

Now, it's time to buy hosting.

BUYING HOSTING

Hosting is the server which stays active 24/7 and all your file of your are stored on this server.

Therefore, the type of files are the following:

Images
Posts
And Design and other data of your blog/site.

It is Web-hosting where WordPress is installed.

There are many hosting service providers for your site which offers different packages and plans.

Some of them are the following:

GoDaddy
Bluehost
Hostgator etc.

Make sure you choose according to your budget and goals.

INSTALLING WORDPRESS THEME ON BLOGS

Hey, stop first see what we have learned till now.

You've learned the following:
Picking blog niche
Selecting a Blogging platform
Picking a Domain name and hosting
Installing WordPress on your site.

Now, It's time to install a theme on your blog.

Remember the rule while installing a theme is: "The first impression is the last impression". If you have a good looking site that attracts an upcoming visitor will increase your viewers and will lead to more conversions.

The design of your blog is the most important part of your blog because a good-looking design will ensure that your visitors will love your blog and will remember your site. Imagine that the design of your blog is you with a nice outfit.

There are ready-made designs called theme for your blog on WordPress. There are many free and premium themes in the market.

I recommend you to buy a premium theme. However, it gives an extra feature than free themes and gives and online support and starting guide.

According to me Astra theme is the best theme on WordPress that you've to have to install because it gives many features to transform your blog design. Therefore, It is also very useful in the free version but it's extra-ordinary on the premium version.

Astra Theme

INSTALL THE BEST WORDPRESS PLUGINS

There are more than thousand's of the plugin in the market. However, Plugins are also a powerful feature of WordPress, Therefore plugins are used to add some extra functionality to your site.

While selecting plugins remember that to check the following three things:

Is the plugin compatible with your device?
When was it updated
How many active installations of those plugins are.

Here are a few plugins that are useful and I recommend it to you:

WRITING YOUR FIRST BLOG POST

Writing your first article isn't difficult because I'm giving you the most common guidelines to write an article.

Below I've mentioned the key-points to write an article:

Remember that whenever you are writing the article think like you are talking to a person sitting next to you.
Write in the first person tone because only one person is reading your post.
The best example I can give you is about yours and mine. Have you noticed that you are reading this blog post alone and that's why my tone is “I” and “You”.
Whatever you are writing describe it completely and write about more than 1000's words. You can count your words in WordCounter.
Don't be a copy-cat, be creative and use images as it is also a ranking factor for SEO of your website.
Don't copy images from Google, use the following links to download free-copyright images:

Gratisography

Gratisography

Pixabay

Pixabay

Stocksnap

Stocksnap

Pexels

Pexels

Unsplash

Unsplash

It's also very important for you to have some of the important pages on your site like we have About us page, Contact us page, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and Terms and conditions.

CONCLUSION

I've tried to cover as much as I can do for a newbie to get started but if you are still having a problem and have any question in your mind before starting your new blog on WordPress, feel free to tell me via comment.

Do share this start a blog guide with others who wanted to create a blog for some time.

❤️LOVE YOU ALL❤️

What is a Blog and How to Create a Blog? [2019]