How to Start a Blog

I've been getting email requests and queries for some tips for a successful blog. The gauge to being successful is subjective, though. I consider my blog successful in my own way, but I'm really no expert when it comes to blogging. So I just decided to share how I started my blog, hoping that you might pick up a thing or two which you can apply when starting yours. :p

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I guess the main driving point would be doing what you're passionate about and sticking to your purpose, apart from the blogging essentials, of course. The rest will all eventually follow. But let's first start with the basics. I'd have to warn you though, this post is a little lengthy, so I hope you can stick around till the end. :D

Work on the essentials.

Of course, a blog won't be a blog if you don't have these essentials. Again, I'm no expert so I'll just be sharing what actually worked for me. You'll have to have your blog identity—blogging platform, blog title, and domain.

You should identify the blogging platform you want to use. Some might argue that you must choose a blogging platform which your readers are most likely to be using, but if you are just starting, it's of course reasonable to choose what's easy for you to use. Some of them are Blogger, Wordpress, Wix, Tumblr, etc.

Next, have a blog title. You should carefully think of this as this will be your blog's 'brand'. Mine is Sweet Nothings—words of affection exchanged by lovers; the act of whispering into the ear of a loved one. I'm the silent type so this blog is my outlet in expressing my rather timid self. I love all things pleasant, I adore my family and Mark, and I aim to share happy vibes and in one way or another help and become an inspiration to people. So ruling out the sensual meaning of Sweet Nothings, I think it's the perfect title for my blog. :D

Domain and hosting. A domain is the URL where your blog can be accessed.  As much as possible, it should be the same with your blog title. It should also be as short and simple as possible so it can have a good recall. Unfortunately, sweetnothings.com is already taken when I decided to buy a domain, so I opted to use my name instead—kriskamarie.com.  You can either buy a domain or use free ones like blospot.com, wordpress.com, etc. There's also the domain and hosting providers like Godaddy, Hostgator, and One.com, to name a few. You'll sure find one that will suit your budget and domain and hosting needs. ;)

When you're done with the essentials, you're all set to get down to the nitty-gritty of blogging.

Decide on what blog design you wish to have.

Mine is just a reflection of my personality, I guess. I love pink and I just love anything simple. I've had several blog designs, and most of them are in pink with white background, until I finally settled with my current design. It's just a sort of a minimalist design with a few touches of pink. As much as possible it should be clean and pleasing. Admittedly, mine is a bit cluttered and I'm actually planning on doing a revamp! Hopefully I'll find time.

Know and set your blogging niche.

They say you need to have a blogging niche—a focus on topics that you wish to tackle in your blog, topics that you wish to be identified with. But I really love sharing anything under the sun and I still do that up to now. My blog may seem to be focused more on food and cooking, but every once in a while I also have posts about travels, family, and lifestyle especially here in Dubai. You own your blog so it's really up to you to decide what you wish to share.

Work on the SEO and blog content.

You should also try working on the SEO of your blog, which I'm not really an expert at, but I'm still trying to learn. :p Blogging also takes a lot of time and effort. You'll most probably spend time editing your photos, drafting a blog post, and all, so you'll have to brace yourself. I don't really follow a number of post per week, because I had always believed in quality over quantity. I also just use my mobile phone for the photos, but I at least make sure that my photos are decent and my thoughts are well translated in my posts. I also have contributors to my blog, Mark being the main man for health and fitness related topics.

Share your blog on social media.

When you've finally completed your blog, you can also setup your social media accounts and even an email account, so people can reach you based on their preferred channels. Some prefer to have separate accounts for their personal account and blog, but it's totally all up to you. As for me, I just have them combined. I just have a separate Facebook Page for my blog, but the rest (Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) are all under my name—@kriskamarie.

Now on to the real world dilemmas in blogging. :p

Do what you're passionate about, learn from others, and know that you can't please everyone.

I really love to write! I remember being thrilled every time we were tasked to write compositions for our English class. I was also an editor in our school paper during my high school years and I also got to represent our school in formal theme writing competitions. I've been wanting to have a blog when I was in college, but I never got to do it because of my busy schedule. It was when I got to work that I was able to finally start to blog. :)

I never really got hooked into blogging because I can't seem to find the right things to blog about until I got to know of Je's Anatomy. I enjoy reading her blog a lot especially her posts about her gastronomic adventures, which actually was my inspiration when I posted my very first official blog entry at Sweet Nothings. And since then, I have been blogging about food, life, family, love, adventures, collections, and a lot of sweet nothings about me.

My love for writing continued up to now that I'm here in Dubai and I have now made a couple of blogger friends here too! :D

So far and luckily, my blog has been spared from all the negativities ever since I started. But who knows, maybe I'm just not aware, or maybe I just don't have any readers? Haha! But yeah, it's still always good to keep in mind that you can't please everyone. You may make mistakes, that's inevitable, just learn from them. People may bring you down, just keep on doing what you love. For as long as you're not causing harm to anyone, believe me, you're doing perfectly fine. Keep on blogging!

Stick to your purpose!

And last but definitely not the least, don't ever deviate from your purpose. Don't forget why you started a blog. I started mine because I wanted to continue my love for writing by documenting my experiences and sharing it to everyone who are interested, and hopefully helping them in my own little way.

And as I've mentioned earlier, the gauge to a successful blog is subjective. I may not have a huge following but I consider my blog successful in my own way. I don't base the success of my blog solely on the number of readers, invites, sponsors, or even freebies that I get.

I would be a hypocrite, though, if I say that I don't enjoy the extra income, invites, and freebies that I get every once in a while because of this blog, but if those are what you're only after, then you're definitely blogging for the wrong purpose. Even if I only have a handful of readers, the fact that I get to help, serve, and somehow touch other people's lives through my humble blog won't be replaced by any invites, sponsors, freebies, or followers! :D

So, there. I don't think I covered everything, though, but feel free to point it out in the comments section below. I'd also love to learn from you! :)

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This post is not sponsored and is in no way influenced, and as always, all opinions are my own.