To start a blog is much easier than you think. With the right tools, anyone can start a blog, whether it’s to grow their personal brand or share an opinion with friends and family. But how do you start?

Here are 7 easy steps to get you started.

Step #1: Choose a Web Hosting Company

The first step is an easy one because there are only two types of web hosting companies. There are paid ones and free ones. Free web hosts will mostly put more ads on their page than you’d like them to have or just spam your blog with ads no matter what options you choose in the control panel. Paid hostings generally don’t do that unless you blog about something they disagree with.

Step #2: Get Your Domain Name

After choosing a host, it’s time to get your domain name. This is a crucial step because it will be the main identifier of you and your blog, so choose wisely! There are millions of domains out there, so if you don’t have a good idea on a name, just type in random things into Google until something feels right.

Make sure that you check all available extensions, though (.com) is the best, but if, for example, you type in “funny jokes” then all variations such as funnyjokes or funny-jokes might be taken already. If you want one straight from a dictionary, go for (.org) or (.net), etc., but don’t get too exotic since most people won’t know what they mean.

Step #3: Get a Blogging Platform

Now that you have chosen your domain and web host, it’s time to choose the blogging platform since all the work will be done here. Again, there are thousands out there, so make sure you pick a hosting partner that works best for you.

Step #4: Simplify RSS Feeds

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, one of the first steps when starting a new blog is getting traffic from other peoples’ blogs. This can be achieved by hand-adding every site you want to read regularly into your reader manually, but that would take forever, so it’s best just to subscribe to all of them for free. The only downside is that these sites will then be notified every time you make a new post and might cause some confusion if your posts are too similar on the same day.

Step #5: Keep It Minimal

Now that you’re ready with your domain name/web hosting company and have chosen a blogging platform, it’s time to make the blog itself. Always aim for simplicity whenever you design websites and blogs since that makes them more effective without hover effects and stuff going on. Keep your content clear, easy to read, and free from clutter unless you have a very good reason not to do so. Remember that it’s about quality, not quantity!

Step #6: Social Media Integration

This is an often-forgotten step but can be really powerful if done right. Many places allow sharing your posts automatically on Facebook, Twitter, etc., so don’t forget to activate those buttons wherever possible because most people will prefer seeing something straight from their friends than visiting yet another website.

Step #7: Guest Posts

Making guest posts on other blogs is a great way to get your name out there. If you have a good idea for an article, just mail or message the author of that blog requesting a spot, and they might be open to the idea if you have something good up your sleeves. But don’t go overboard with it since having too many guest posts can also do some damage to your own blog, so only ask people who write similar articles to yours or just contact bloggers in a related field.