So the great news is: You've decided you want to start blogging.

It sounds like it could be fun. You get to share your thoughts with the world. Maybe even make a little bit of money from your efforts.

But then reality sets in.

You have no clue where to start.

We got you.

Starting a blog is relatively simple, but by no means is it easy to make it successful.

Following the steps below will at least get you started off on the right foot.

Start With The Basics

First thing you have to figure out is: What are you going to blog about?

You have to choose a niche. Preferably it is a subject you are passionate about, that also has space for your voice.

The more specific your niche, the better.

Once you've decided on a topic, you have to decide on a name. The name of your blog should be memorable.

So you have a topic and a name. Next you have to start dealing with the technical stuff. (yay)

Intermediate Concerns

First you have to decide on the platform you want to use.

Wordpress.org is the most commonly used platform, powering over 25% of websites. While it is extremely customizable and scalable, it also has a bit of a learning curve.

When starting out with WordPress, you will need to purchase your domain name, as well as your hosting. Think of a domain name as a digital address (which it is), and your hosting as the building your website will live in.

There are sites that can teach you about all things WordPress, such as WPBeginner.com and ProBlogger.com.

There are also other platforms that may be more user friendly. SquareSpace, Weebly and WIX all use what is known as a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface. All that means is that they are drag and drop platforms.

Each offers a free trial, though of different lengths. Feel free to try them out before you commit fully to one.

Blogging Tools

Once you've decided on your niche, name and platform, you are going to need a host of tools to help you to build and grow your blog.

One of the very first accounts to sign up for needs to be a GMail email account for your blog. This will allow you to separate your blogging emails (you will be getting a lot of them shortly) from your personal concerns, and also to access Google's suite of tools to grow your blog.

After setting up your GMail account, you will need to set up an AdWords account. Google AdWords is it's advertising too, and how it makes a bulk of it's revenue. But you won't be setting up any ads just yet. You are signing up so that you can access the Keyword Planner tool.

The Keyword Planner provides you with exact terms that you can optimize your blog for, the approximate search traffic for those terms, and how much each of those terms would be worth to bid on.

Focus on high value, low competition keywords to help you focus your blog's message.

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Author: Daniel Williams

It took me a lot longer than I would have liked, but I finally figured it out: Time is the Ultimate Currency. Learn the tips, tricks and obstacles I encounter on my journey to escape from the rat race.

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