Lots of people wonder about starting a blog, but don’t take the initiative because they think it is something technical. The truth is that you can actually have a blog set up within 20 minutes and it doesn’t require you to have any knowledge of coding, graphic design or any sort of programming. Blogging is undeniably one of the most popular and best outlets of communication and can be used for sharing ideas, information and spreading audience to people all over the globe. You can even make money with your blog, but only if you know what you are doing.

Listed below are some great tips for starting a blog that every beginner will find useful:

Tip 1: Why do you want to set up a blog?

Finding your direction is easier when you know the destination. It is best for you to know why you want to blog. There are a variety of reasons behind setting up a blog such as improving your writing, making a difference, getting published, making money, making your voice heard or promoting your business. Kevin Ocasio writes some interesting information in this regard on his blog.

Tip 2: What will be your blog’s focus?

You have to settle on a niche for your blog such as romance, travel, marketing, writing, fashion, political or photography. You need to select a niche around which you will publish blog posts. It is best to pick one you are passionate about and have knowledge of as you have to do write about it in the long term.

Tip 3: What blogging platform you want to go with?

There are a number of blogging platforms you can find these days such as blogger and tumblr, but the fastest growing and most popular one of them is WordPress. That’s mostly because even for a beginner, WordPress is easy to use and offers plenty of functionality. It offers both free and self-hosted services, but the latter option is better as it gives you more control and freedom over your blog whereas the former comes with lots of restrictions.

Tip 4: What web host are you going to use?

Hosting services are important because they make your websites and blogs visible on the internet. Therefore, their choice is immensely important because the wrong choice could mean downtime for your blog and that’s not something you want. You also want a host that can offer you technical support and assistance in case there is a problem to ensure your website stays up and provides you with scalability, bandwidth and appropriate storage.

Tip 5: Have you registered your domain name?

Your domain name is essentially a representative of your brand because that’s what your visitors are going to use to come see your blog. This means you have to be very cautious when selecting and registering your domain name as you want something that can be easily memorized and is also a unique representation of your blog.

Once all this is done, you can use the one-click installation process offered by your host and complete the process of setting up your blog. It is ready for you to customize and start publishing your blog posts.