The Ultimate Guide On Starting A Blog Now

Obviously I'm no big success, I don't have 1000s of readers, but the main thing is that I enjoy what I do. As someone who has learnt a lot in the two years of blogging, I really wanted to make my mark on the click baity subject of creating a perfect blog. True to the title, it's so so easy to sign up in a matter of seconds. But it takes more than that to perfect your niche and gain readers. So, here's a post to make your blogging dreams easier from what I've managed to do so far...

001: Decide your platform and name:
You can use anything from tumblr, blogger and Wordpress. I do prefer blogger as it's the go to platform and I don't have to worry about buying a domain name. (And I feel it's easier to customise and manage - Wordpress people, feel free to judge) Also, your blog name should define you and be something you'll look forward to being known by. My first name was so cringey but with my current one, I couldn't be happier. If you want to take time to create the perfect name then do!

002: Finding the perfect theme and style:
Once you've got the first two things down, it's all about presentation from here on out. Do you want simple minimal, cutesy and chic or rather luxurious. You can either buy a theme if you're ready to commit, or try a one for free to get to know what you love. One amazing website is gooyabitemplates.com, and I got my theme from there, and from there you can customise it by using basic html like colours and widgets. Victoria's series here and here , and Sinead's premade blog themes here are great ones for beginners.

003: Planning posts, photos and a schedule:
The most important part is deciding what to write. Hopefully you've now got your layout, bio, pages and tags sorted, the next step is to start filling your blog with your personality! I feel my blog is very diverse with posts about beauty, lifestyle, baking and music. You could stick to one topic or write down what you love (like products and activities) and blog about it. I find it's best to look at what other bloggers like writing about, so you can either decide to stand out from them or get inspiration.

Also, using a device to take photos is important. You can use your iPhone and a simple free editing app like VSCOCam to make clean photos - and email them to yourself to put on your blog. Or if you have a DSLR, you can use that and then use a program like Photoshop to edit those.

Lastly, sticking to a schedule is important. Being consistent brings readers back if you decide to blog every day or three days a week. Readers can rely on you to deliver and that also makes it feel more rewarding rather than a chore in the long run.

004: Extra tips and tricks:

• Sign up to Bloglovin' as soon as you make your blog so readers can follow you and like posts as they wish. It's the best platform to also read other blogs.
• Use Photoshop or other editing progams to make your logo. Dafont.com is amazing for free unique fonts to help make an amazing first impression - and if you want to add cute transparents to your header, weheartit.com is also really good.
• Integrate your blog photos to promote posts to your Instagram and create a twitter or Facebook page as this helps to expose your blog more. Or even save your photos as pins to Pinterest!
• If you use Blogger, on each post you can write a brief summary of your post in the 'Search Description' and this helps to get more views on your post.