6 Things You Need to Start Your Own Blog

Hands typing on a keyboard

by E. L. Lane and Stehli Krause

 When I first entertained the thought of blogging, I put off starting for months. I felt overwhelmed and didn’t know where to begin. But, now, that I’ve been blogging for a little over two years, I’ve realized just how little you need to get your blog off the ground.

Here are the five things you need to start your very own blog:

1. A platform.

First and foremost, you need a website or blogging platform to put your content in a format that’s pleasant to look at, and easy to understand and navigate.

The most popular at the moment is WordPress. WordPress allows you to create a website/blog for free. WordPress does offer paid self-hosting for your website, but that’s nothing you need to concern yourself with right now. You can do free hosting with WordPress to start, then, later on, set up paid self-hosting and fully own your website.

Another option is Blogger. Like WordPress, it makes creating a blog quick and easy. The main difference between Wordpress and Blogger is that Wordpress allows you to make a variety of different websites, while Blogger is specifically for creating blogs. Another difference between Blogger and WordPress is that you can’t get self-hosting through Blogger. If you want to own your site one day, it is best to start your blog on WordPress, that way it’ll be easier for you to self-host your blog in the future.

Now that you know that Wordpress is probably the best way to go, let me tell you why I chose to start my blog on Blogger. I chose Blogger because I found it more user-friendly than Wordpress, and, honestly, I didn’t know if this whole blogging thing would pan out for me. I chose Blogger because if I didn’t start a blog the easiest way I could possibly find, I knew I would probably give up on it. But after pouring over two years of work into blogging, I’m finally ready to do just a little more work to get a self-hosted WordPress site so all of my beloved content can be under my full control.

So my advice to you is, start blogging now! Because if you keep putting it off until you learn WordPress; until you learn to write better; until your kids are grown; etc., you may never do it at all.

2. Equipment.

The equipment list for a newbie blogger is very short and sweet. You need a camera and a computer/smart device.

When you’re starting out, and even as a seasoned blogger, all you really need is the camera on your smartphone.

You’ll also need a device on which to log on to your blogging platform to write and post. You can usually do this from a smart device (e.g., a phone or a tablet), desktop computer, or laptop.

Bonus Equipment: I strongly recommend getting an extra battery or portable battery pack for your camera/smartphone, because bloggers take a lot of pictures, and you don’t want to run out of battery while you’re documenting your next blog post.

You can read the rest of this post at ellanewriter.com.

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