Day 1 – Start your blog
In today’s lesson we’re going to get a free domain name and start a blog using HostGator and WordPress, create a logo using Canva, design our blog using Astra and Elementor, and write our first blog post with the help of Grammarly.
4-day action plan
In this 4-day blogging bootcamp, I’m going to give you an overview of my process for starting a profitable blog from scratch.
Here’s the action plan for the next 4 days:
Day 1: Choose a niche and launch your blog
Day 2: Start an email list and build your tribe
Day 3: Get and grow an audience for free
Day 4: Set up your blog to start making money
Ready to get started? Let’s do this!
Step 1. Pick a profitable niche
This first step is critical to your future success. Choose the wrong niche and making money will always be an uphill battle.
There are two types of blogs that are profitable. I’ll call them “money blogs” and “traffic blogs”.
Money blogs make money by selling something or recommending products to buy.
Traffic blogs make money by displaying ads like a magazine would.
If you want to start a “money blog”, rather than thinking of what to sell, think of what transformation you can offer.
If you want to start a money blog, these niches work well for transformations:
– Personal finance (credit, debt, investing)
– Marketing (blogging, social media, email marketing)
– Fitness (home workouts, building muscle)
– Health (diet, yoga, meal planning, weight loss)
– Learn a new skill (hobby, skill, language, pass a test)
– Personal development (business coach, life coach)
If you want to start a traffic blog, these niches work best:
– Food (recipes)
– Travel
– Parenting
– Lifestyle
– Fashion
– Beauty
When deciding on a topic to blog about, gather ideas from your own life experiences, skills, knowledge, talents, passions, or even hobbies.
Step 2. Get a domain name and hosting
Now let’s choose a domain name for your new blog!
You want to choose a dot com name that’s easy to say, catchy, and without dashes or numbers.
I recommend getting your domain name and hosting with HostGator.
Once you’re in, install WordPress to set up your blog.
Step 3. Celebrate!
Once you’ve got your blog all set up, it’s time to…
Do a little happy-dance, it’s alright!
99% of people never make it this far. Most people are either afraid to try something new or get stuck in analysis paralysis mode – both of which are horrible to the success of any business.
So take the time to celebrate what you’ve just done, this is a MAJOR first step.
Step 4. Log in to WordPress
Now we’ll start exploring WordPress.
WordPress can be a bit daunting at first. But once you get the hang of it it’ll be a breeze. What you’ll notice on the left panel is a section for Posts, Pages, Comments, Media Library, Appearance, Plugins, Users, and Settings.
Click around and get used to using WordPress. Don’t worry, you can’t mess anything up.
Plugins
I like to start with a clean slate, so the first thing I do is go to Plugins to deactivate and delete them.
Posts
There should be a post that says “Hello World!” you also want to delete.
Pages
Delete the Sample Page (you can keep the Privacy Policy page).
Comments
And there is a comment there to delete as well
Settings
Go to Settings > General to add or update your Site Title and Tagline
Go to Settings > Permalinks and make sure it’s set to “Post Name”
Note: One of the reasons I’m having you go all over WordPress at the beginning is to get you used to using the platform. You’re going to spend A LOT of time here, so it’s important to get used to it.
Step 5. Choose a blog theme
Now we’re going to move on to designing your [currently empty] blog.
Go to Appearance > Themes
The blog theme I recommend starting with is Astra.
Click here to open a new tab and see what you can do with Astra.
If you want to start with the free version of Astra, go to:
Appearance > Themes > Add new and search for Astra.
Then click Install and Activate to complete the setup.
Astra comes with starter templates so you can have ready-made sites in just a few clicks.
You can see the list of ready-to-import websites right here.
To install the free starter templates, go to:
Plugins > Add new and search for “Starter Templates”. Install and activate the plugin.
To use the starter templates you will also need what’s called a Page Builder.
We’re going to use a page builder to visually design our blog, because ain’t nobody got time to learn how to code!
The default WordPress installation comes with the Gutenberg page builder, but I recommend using Elementor instead.
Click here see how easy it is to design a blog with Elementor.
Elementor is a drag-and-drop visual builder that is perfect for designing the blog of your dreams.
To install the free version of Elementor, go to Plugins > Add new and search for Elementor.
With the Astra and Elementor, you now have all the tools you need to design the perfect blog!
You can use Elementor to design your homepage, about page, blog page, and even your blog posts.
Step 6. Design a logo
Even if you don’t have one design bone in your body, we’re going to design an awesome logo in the next 5 minutes.
Ready to do this? Giddy up!
First, use this free logo maker from Canva.
Note: You’ll need to create a free account with Canva to continue.
Once you’re in, simply choose a template, make your desired changes, and save the file.
To add the logo to your blog, go to Appearance > Astra Options > Upload Logo
Step 7. Publish your first blog post
Now it’s time to write and publish your first blog post.
I recommend using the free Grammarly browser extension to help write your blog content.
Before you go spending all day doing this, keep in mind that nobody is reading your blog. The main goal here is to get this post published just to get the ball rolling on your new blog.
Go to Posts > Add new
