How to Start a Blog and Resources to Help

 

I’ve recently had some great conversations with people who want to start their own blogs. I’m so excited for them and want to cheer them on! So, this post is for them ~ and for you, if you, too are wanting to venture into the community of blogging.

Come on. Take my hand and I’ll show you how!

How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps:

HOW TO START A HOME DECOR BLOG

1. Define your blog purpose, audience, name, & tagline.

I know. This sounds so boring, doesn’t it? But, before you start thinking about pretty pictures and what fonts you’re going to have on your site, you need to think through the details of what you’re going to write about, why, and to whom.  Take some time to figure out what you want to accomplish with your site. Do you want readers to buy a product you’re selling? Come to courses you’re going to teach? Inspire them to do something specifically?

This is a giant step. It’s truly the core step in the process. Every decision to follow flows out of the answers to these two questions: Who is my target audience? What can I provide for them that they want?

The name of your site is very, very important. It’s your brand and you want it to reflect you and your services well.

If you want some help in this part of the process, I found a great (and free!) branding minicourse, brand statement worksheets , and even a whole website on designing your own lovely blog. There is a plethora of information online now on how to start and brand a blogging business, so google away until you find the answers to your specific questions.

Once you have those hard questions answered, go ahead and get that site set up to go! I used this tutorial with my friend to help with the specific steps of purchasing a host site, getting a domain, and downloading WordPress. {Tip: Make sure you write down your login name & password for your new site}

HOW TO START A HOME DECOR BLOG

2. Determine Logo & Graphic Design Images

I’ve always loved the “pretty” parts of blogging ~ the logos, colors, fonts, images, and buttons. The possibilities are endless! I’ve normally done most of it the diy way~ which obviously helps with the cost of money, but is also a huge cost of time.

If you can swing it financially, I would recommend you hire someone to help you with the graphic design. There are lots of resources online for a whole variety of prices. I even found some blog designer options on Etsy.com. When you hire a graphic designer, you’ll need to describe your vision for your site. In order to help with this,  I pinned favorite images and colors on my “Blog Rebrand” pinboard, put together a mood board using a free template, and wrote out a story describing the purpose and goals of my blog.

 

HOW TO START A HOME DECOR BLOG

3. Choose a blog theme template.

Once you download WordPress, there are a variety of  free themes you can choose from. If you want to keep things simple to start with, just pick one of those free themes available and start blogging now. (If you choose this option, skip the rest of this paragraph and proceed to step 4 now.;))

After experimenting with a bunch of options, I eventually chose a  WordPress Genesis framework. The framework is like the foundation of your site ~ the “bones” of it.  It’s what makes it function the way it does. Once a Genesis framework is installed, you can then add a “Child Theme” to it ~ which is the pretty elements that are designed for you in a template.

My friend referred to it as the “pretty dress” for your site. That is a perfect description for a child theme.  I found these 3 sites which have beautiful, feminine WordPress themes:

Pretty Darn Cute, HelloYou Designs, and Restored 316 Themes.

(My  site is the  “Market” Restored 316 theme)  In order to save some money, I installed it myself. But, honestly, if budget wasn’t a factor, I would have loved to have had someone install it for me.  The instructions are well done, though, and I made it through by following them step by step. It took me days, though, and someone knowledgeable in these things could probably do it much quicker.

HOW TO START A HOME DECOR BLOG

4. Start Writing!!

Once you have your site up and running, it’s time to get your first pages and posts up. The “pages” are located in the navigation menu at the top of the site (like the “About me” and “Contact & Media Kit” on my site). Posts are the blog posts you read ~ like this one. A good video tutorial on how to write a blog post in WordPress is here. I have my navigation bar to include my categories on the bottom (Home decor, crafts & diy, recipes, fashion, faith & family.)

It’s good to keep in mind as you write, that you want no more than 5 categories on your site. You will put each one of your posts into a category, and came further describe them with tags as well.

{Tip: I recommend that you write your “About me” page and 3 blog posts right away. You may want to draft the writing portions of those things in Word before you even sign up fora site. Then you can just copy & paste and get going right away!}

HOW TO START A HOME DECOR BLOG

5. Find communities to encourage you

Over the years, I’ve discovered amazing communities on Facebook to encourage & network with. My favorite community for new bloggers is Debi’s  Big Ideas Bloggers.

 

And one more for the road ~  a few more resources that may be of help to you: All the photos used in this post are free stock photos from Haute Chocolate and Kaboompics. If you are worried about photo editing, canva.com and picmonkey.com are easy to use (and free!) options.

How to start a home decor blog

SIMPLE STEPS TIP: Building & branding a blog can seem daunting and overwhelming. Write down actionable steps and do each one in bite-sized pieces. You can do it!

Please let me know if you start a blog. I would really love to hop over to your site and see what you’re doing. I’m cheering you on!!:)

 

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