It is thrilling and potentially rewarding to start a blog in 2024 from India, but it requires substantial preparation to compete in a highly competitive environment. Below is a comprehensive guide that will help you to start a blog:
1. Select a Niche
The first step of starting a blog is to identify the subject that you will explore in your blog. It is recommended to select a niche that you are passionate about but also ensure that the subject has an audience. Most people choose a techie, personal finance, healthcare, lifestyle, or travel niche. It is also a good idea to narrow down the focus of your blog by selecting a micro-niche. For example, instead of creating a blog that will focus on general technology, you can concentrate on writing reviews of smartphones or the best Indian fintech startups.
2. Choose a Domain Name
Your domain name is your blog’s address on the web, for example, www.howtoyoublog.com. It should be short, catchy, and relevant to your niche. A.com domain is ideal for targeting an international audience, but. in is also good if your audience is Indian. Panabee or Name Station are online domain name generator tools to help you decide. Pick a domain name that’s easy to remember and type. Try to make it sound cool and unique.
3. Get a Hosting Service Provider
You need a reliable web hosting provider to make your blog live. Popular suggestions for beginners include Bluehost, Hostinger, and Hostgator as they are pretty cheap and user-friendly. For instance, Bluehost gives a free domain name for the first year, which is helpful for reducing the initial cost for Indian bloggers.
4. Install WordPress
When you have a domain and hosting, install WordPress, the most popular platform for bloggers. One of the reasons it is a popular choice is because of how easy it is to use. Also, you will get thousands of themes and plugins to customize your blog. Most of the hosting platforms provide one-click-install for WordPress users.
5. Customize Your Blog’s Design
Select a Theme
You will probably want your blog to stand out on the Internet. To make this possible, you must choose the right theme. WordPress offers both free and premium themes, so here are the best examples of customization, and free high-quality themes. I recommend considering the Clean Blog theme, as it has a clean and professional appearance and is easy to customize.
Avoid clutter
Moreover, no one likes clutter now, so keep your blog clean. Accordingly, leave only those items that are really important. For example, these could include your contacts, the best posts, etc.
Your site should be mobile-friendly!
In addition, keep in mind that now most people use mobile devices to surf. It means that your blog must have a responsive design.
6. Set up Important Pages
Homepage
An ideal home page for your blog should give users the best overview and direct their attention to your content.
About page
The About page should be an opportunity to tell others about your achievements. Also, describe what exactly you write in your blog various interesting material about movies, fashion, etc.
Contact Page
This is indeed important — now the users who have read the material, for example, may want to write to you personally. So, be sure to specify the contact details.
Privacy Policy / Terms of Use
In general, you need to create both pages to legally use your blog. For example, if you are going to collect any information from site visitors, and you will post any ads on your blog, you need these pages.
7. Plan Your Content Successful
blogs require quality content written on a regular basis. First, you need to do keyword research for your blog topic. To do this, use Semrush or Google Keyword Planner to find out what people are searching for in your niche. Plan not only titles but also content based on these keywords.
8. Write Your First Blog Post
You can use general or niche blogs. In any case, the first post is like the face of a blog and sets the expectations of the following content. It must be not only interesting and useful but also optimized. Use the Yoast SEO plugin to specify a meta description, title, and keywords for the search engine in your post. It’s also better to add an alt attribute to each image that will also promoted via search engines.
9. Promote Your Blog
When your first article goes live, promote it and share it on Facebook, Instagram, and even LinkedIn. Do guest blogging, email newsletters, and hang out where your audience does.
10. How to Make Money from the Blog
- Affiliate marketing – promote services/products related to your target audience; advertisers will pay you a commission from every sale.
- Google AdSense – blog owners receive money per click or per impression of the ads they have on their site.
- Sponsored Posts – write for another brand, creating a post that mentions their products.
- Selling own digital products, such as eBooks, courses, or digital downloads.
11. Monitoring the Blog’s Performance
- Use Google Analytics to track your traffic and understand how site visitors use your blog.
- Use Google Search Console to ensure that Google crawls and includes your site in the search results. Regularly monitor messages to identify and address search issues.
Do you have or are you planning to have a blog? How would share your content-finding project with a reader who wants to create a blog?
Conclusion
It is easier than ever to start a blog in 2024 from India with the appropriate tools and strategies. Therefore, it is vital not to be distracted from creating value for interested subscribers by making efforts to confidently promote your blog by creating a content plan, being precise, and, most importantly, being patient as it will take some time to achieve significant traffic and monetization results. Taking into account the available resources and analytical results, I am sure that with determination and regular efforts, my blog will become a successful platform.
For more insights and detailed tutorials, you can explore the following resources by Semrush. Also, you can look through blogging advice from BloggersPassion and many other blogging experts to help you refine your strategies in a more efficient way.