4 Key things to know before setting up a blog.

One of the questions young freelancers usually ask is, “How do I set up a blog?”

Recall an earlier article I wrote on “Understanding the terms ‘Blog,’ ‘Blogging,’ and ‘Bloggers’ and their relevance,” where I defined the terms Blog, Bloggers, and Blogging. In that article, I also covered the origin of blogs and their significance.

It is assumed that we all know what a blog is. In case you are not familiar with the terms “Blog,” “Blogging,” or “Bloggers,” you can refer to that article.

What does it take to own a blog?

You probably think you have to be a computer wizard to own or run a successful blog. I couldn’t agree less. When I first started, I knew very little about coding and web development. All I had was passion, a few computer skills, and a strong will to write.

I never knew how to code or set up a website or blog when I first started. My first blog was created by a friend. Along the line, I gain more experience learning from online videos and research from other blogs.

I read articles, just like the one you are reading now. I also visited other blogs and contributed by guest posting, and asking questions. You can never be a successful blogger without learning from other web developers, just as you can never have traffic on your blog if you don’t visit other blogs and contribute.

In a future post, I will write about the step-by-step procedure for setting up your first blog for free. I will show you how to create a blog using Blogger and WordPress.

4 Key Things to Know before setting up a blog

1. Make up your mind on the platform you want to run your blog: either Blogger or WordPress

Before you get started with creating a blog, it’s important to know which platform you want to use. Most young bloggers usually use “Blogger” because it is easy to use and free. “Blogger” is a platform owned by Google and is easy to use compared to WordPress, which is more complex and requires some experience.

I started blogging using “Blogger” before moving to WordPress. I must confess, my experience using “Blogger” made switching to WordPress a piece of cake. I will also write in a subsequent article on how to move your blog from Blogger to WordPress.

There are other platforms you can use in setting up your blog, like Wix, Squarespace, and others. However, Blogger and WordPress are more popular.

WordPress is versatile; unlike “Blogger,” it allows you to tweak your site with thousands of plugins. You can configure your site to look however you want with thousands of themes available for download. If you are new to WordPress, you probably don’t know what plugins and themes are. Not to worry, I will do an article on “how to work with plugins and themes on WordPress.”

As you can see there are so many differences between “Blogger and WordPress.” So if you are looking at setting up a simple blog, you can use Blogger, but if you’re looking at setting up a blog with many features, then you should consider using WordPress.

It’s advisable if you’re just starting to use “Blogger”; you can always move to WordPress when you gain more experienced.

2. Domain Name

A domain name refers to the address of your website or blog. Just like this website where www.abelwealth.net is the address you visit to have access to the site. You have to choose a short, unique domain name that is easy for people to remember. For example, www.toktok9ja.com looks easy to remember, unlike www.abelwealth.toktok9ja.com, which is long and may be hard to remember. People will visit your site more often if they can remember your domain name at a glance. Also, you’ll need to buy a domain name, and I will be showing you how to do this in a subsequent article.

3. Host

A host is the server to which your domain name is connected. Consider it as the house where all the information about your website is stored. So when you visit www.toktok9ja.com, it takes you to the host server (house) where all the information and data of this website are stored. To set up a WordPress blog, you need to have a host company. The host companies are responsible for storing all your data on their server. They are also called ISPs (Internet Service Providers).

4. Email Address

Email has become a necessity for our everyday life. You need emails to set up virtually everything online. You also need an email for creating blogs either with Blogger or WordPress. This should be the first thing you have before setting up a blog.

I hope this article was useful to you, and that you learned one or two things. You can subscribe to this blog using the red bell notification icon. Thanks for reading.