Editorials

A Beginner’s Guide to Blogging

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1 February 2017

By Lauren H

Having a blog can be a lot of fun, and it can certainly expand your horizons. If you’re wanting to get into journalism or go into a career in the media, it can even give you a great head start by showing off what you can do. However, with so many different websites to choose from, and even more possibilities to discuss, it can be hard to know where to start.

So, here’s a quick guide to get you going.

  • Do a bit of research and choose your preferred platform to start blogging. There’s a lot out there, so it’s important to find the right one for you.
    • WordPress – This is often the most popular option, and it’s the one we would suggest too. It’s easy to work, and everything you need is in one place. Plus, there are plenty of tips online if you want to get that little bit more creative.
    • Blogger – Blogger is another great site to get started on, but some of its features aren’t developed as WordPress. Though, it does have its benefits, so it’s important to take a look and see what you think.
    • Wix – This is a great site for anyone who wants a particularly aesthetically pleasing blog. However, it’s slightly more difficult to get the hang of so you might not want to give it a go quite yet.
  • Pick a domain name
    • If you’re using a free site to blog, unfortunately it’ll look a bit like this: yourname.wordpress.com, or yourname.blogger.com. If you’re not using your blog for professional reasons, and it’s more of an outlet for your thoughts and feelings, this isn’t anything to worry about.
      • However, if you want your blog to be available to future employers, or you want to get more views, you’re probably better off paying for your own domain name. You can do this in a number of different ways, either through the website you’ve set your blog up on or through external sites, such as at GoDaddy.
  • Select a template, and make your blog look amazing.
    • This is the fun part. To get going, take a look through the themes offered by the website you’re using and see if there are any you like. If not, and you want to be a bit more creative, you can download a theme online and integrate it into your blog. This is a bit more difficult, but it’s certainly possible! Here are some tips.
  • Get writing!
    • Start working on your first blog post, and see what happens.
    • You never know, soon you could be getting thousands of views!

Good luck! If you have any tips for new bloggers, let us know down below.

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