Everything You Need to Start a Blog!

Starting a blog can seem really overwhelming. On top of generating content for your newly launched endeavour, the launch checklist of things you need to set up before you begin is exhaustive. In most cases, people will launch before they have completed everything. Personally, I believe the jury is still out on whether that is a good strategy. So, even if you have already launched a blog, this checklist can help ensure that you have everything covered with your brand!

Technical Set Up

Domain Registrar: Before you begin, you need to purchase a domain name (i.e. www.lindsayhumes.com). Your domain name and social media profiles should be the same, ideally. It’s tough though. For my personal brand, I couldn’t get “lindsayhumes” on any social media profiles, so I opted for StudioLMH. For Brand Soirée, Jordan and I were able to get the same domain name and social media handles.

When you purchase your domain, you also want to purchase domain privacy. Domain privacy ensures that your address and email are not publically available online. Most companies will offer it for $10/year extra. However, NameCheap includes it in the initial year purchase.

When purchasing your domain, you want to consider purchasing variants. For example, we have both thebrandsoiree.com and brandsoiree.com. This prevents anyone from purchasing a variation of our name. We redirect thebrandsoiree.com to brandsoiree.com. I recommend NameCheap for any domain purchases!

Web Hosting: Most hosting companies include a domain with the purchase of a hosting service. The advantage is your domain and hosting are both in the same place. However, as your brand grows, you might outgrow your host. It’s completely up to personal preference.

As host is the computer server where your website lives. If you are launching a blog, you should definitely use WordPress. There are several different options out there, but for WordPress blogging I recommend SiteGround. You can read more about WordPress Hosting options here. If you are just starting out, SiteGround is your best bet for service/cost.

Brand Assets

Once you purchase a domain name and hosting, you will need to start creating the visual identity for your brand. Readers will identify you with your brand visuals. For beginning bloggers, I always recommend premade visual design solutions. Often bloggers have not completed the brand strategy and research that most business owners do. Thus, a premade design solution is the best approach for beta testing their idea.

Visual design elements and brand assets include your logo, business cards, media kit, and brand templates. You can read more about selecting the right design choices for your brand here.

Blog Design

Theme: Every WordPress site requires a theme. A theme is a template for the design of your site. It includes specific functionality features as well as defines the overall style (fonts and colors of your brand). Free, premium, and custom options are available. However, for new bloggers, I always recommend premade options.

WordPress Specific Plugins: Over the years, my go-to plugins have evolved. Most functionality is addressed in the theme, but I use plugins to ensure my site protection. These plugins are one’s I recommend to all of my clients as a way to protect their site:

• Akismet is a comment spam filtering service; in most installs, it comes pre-installed. You should always have this plugin activated as it can prevent spam comments.

• Caching plugin helps with site speed and load times. My two favorites include WP Super Cache and Comet Cache.

• Security plugin helps you monitor the interactions visitors have with your site and prevents hackers from getting into your website. I recommend either Sucuri or Wordfence.

• Vaultpress completes a complete backup of your site, a huge and necessary requirement to successfully protecting your site. Vaultpress backups everything. I’ve found that other free plugins do not. It’s by the same people who make WordPress.com and Akismet!

Search Engine Optimization

Google Analytics tracks information about your visitors to your site. Google Analytics is the benchmark in website analytics. WordPress.com has a tracking system built in, but it is not as accurate as Google Analytics.

Google Search Console is a free service that allows you to check how your site is indexed by the different browsers, and it also allows you to optimize your the visibility of your blog. I can’t emphasize the importance of registering your site with Google Webmasters.

Yoast SEO Plugin is one of the best tools to help you optimize your plugin. It gives you feedback on how to write more SEO-friendly posts, but it allows you to set an SEO rich title and meta description for all of your posts, pages, and taxonomy terms.

Digital Marketing

Social Media is becoming the new blog platform. Regardless, it is extremely important that you establish individual profiles for your blog on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. Create profiles with the same name, and complete all the bios and images using the same description for each profile.

Running social media for your brand is not your full-time job. In fact, it is often an afterthought. Fortunately, there are a plethora of tools that can help you schedule social media posts. I’ve narrowed my personal favorites down to three that I use regularly – Coschedule (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), Planoly(Instagram), and Tailwind (Pinterest). Sometimes I use Coschedule for Instagram, but I tend to prefer the grid of Planoly.

For any online business, it is imperative that you collect email addresses. It more effective way to market your blog than social media. For all beginning blogs, I recommend MailChimp because it is free up to 2000 subscribers. You can segment your list and set up funnels (despite what you read online). If you want to build your email list, I strongly suggest you read the MailChimp blog and check out their resource center! Setting up a simple RSS Campaign is a great way to engage with your audience.

Monetization

You want to monetize your blog from day one. This approach allows you to test how viable certain monetization strategies are with your audience and your niche. I recommend that clients check out the following affiliate networks that are free to join: Google Adsense, Amazon Associates, ShopSense, and CJ Affiliate. You don’t need to be a member of all of them. Find one that works best for your brand!

What other questions do you have about launching your blog?

You might also like My Writing Blog Post Process and Writing A Blogging Business Plan. Want more Blogging tips? Check out these posts! If you have any questions, leave a comment below. This post was originally written on January 27, 2015, and was updated in 2018.

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