How to Become a Lifestyle Blogger (Part 2 of 10): How To Start A Lifestyle Blog

Welcome to part 2 of 10 in my “How to Become a Lifestyle Blogger” Series: Starting A Blog! Yesterday we discussed why you need a blog, now we’re getting into the meat of the issue – just exactly how to do it.

There are a few different things to consider in starting a blog and while this list isn’t exhaustive, it definitely highlights the 7 main points of consideration to get you from not having a blog at all, to setting up a successful one that gets results.

Decide on your overall theme

Staring a “lifestyle” blog doesn’t mean that you have to share every detail of your life. In most cases, lifestyle bloggers will choose a particular theme or topic to concentrate the majority of their posts on. This helps visitors distinguish the overall content of your blog and will help you stay focused as you create content. Come up with some ideas that interest you the most. Some examples could be beauty, fashion, art, tech, family life, or cooking. It’s not absolutely necessary to come up with a blog theme, but it will definitely help to attract like-minded people!

Choose a name and (optional) tagline.

When starting a blog, you need to select a name that will be reflective of what your blog will be about while your tagline can expand on that. If you’re stumped, Google similar topics and see what’s out there or try a name generator. Keep in mind the title should be relatively short, easy to say and spell and if possible, a little clever.
I’m often asked by clients if they should title their website based on their personal name. Blogs that are named after a specific person aren’t necessarily the best choice – what if you brand grows to encompass more than just you? Try to come up with something that has room for growth. It isn’t impossible to change your blog name later, but it will entail some serious re-branding maneuvers which can be timely and expensive.

Choose your platform.

There are a few leaders out there in the blog world and here are my top 3 choices:

1. Tumblr: Great for image sharing and very short posts. Think of this like the Twitter of blog platforms – it’s meant to be fast and micro in length. If you don’t have a ton of time to devote to a blog and/or aren’t willing to hire someone to do it for you, this might be a good option. That being said, it doesn’t allow for a lot of room to evolve content wise. Personally, I think if you’re willing to go the Tumblr route, you might as well just get on Instagram. Or Twitter. Neither of which, by the way, are a substitute for a good blog.

2. Blogger: This platform is very blogger-esque and is a starting point for a lot of bloggers. It’s simple, straight forward and really very much like a plug-and-play kind of platform. It will look like a blog, it will function like a blog, and it will be a blog. But that’s it. There isn’t a lot of room for customization or control which is something you may want in the future. And then you have to worry about moving it over to a larger, more personalized platform. Which again, can be timely and expensive.

3. WordPress: Choosing where you want to build blog is pretty much the first thing you have to do. I’m going to take a leap and assume you’ve heard of WordPress, and this is the platform I advocate. It’s massive. It’s by far one of the biggest blogging platforms in the world, with countless plugins and add-ons and almost infinite ways to design and layout your blog.. There are 2 WordPress’. WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is akin to Blogger – it’s simple, straightforward and unfortunately, has even less customizability than Blogger. WordPress.org, however, is all about making your blog or blog based website yours. It’s not as easy to set up as Blogger but hiring someone to do that for you (or taking the time to learn yourself) will save you time, money and effort later on. Posting is a cinch and there are literally thousands of ways to set up the site and control and track your content and traffic. If you’re serious at all about branding and SEO (search engine optimization), this is where you want to be.

Choose your hosting (if applicable).

If you decide to go with WordPress.org, you’ll have to pay for hosting. This is relatively cheap (around $4.00 – $10.00 a month) and you pay for the full year up front. I recommend BlueHost. For all that is good and holy, stay away from GoDaddy – they’re cheap for a reason. BlueHost has incredible support both via phone and online chat and they will walk you through setting up your WordPress blog. Again, if you want to make this incredibly easy on yourself, hire someone.

Choose your domain name.

There are occasions when a website or blogger produces a successful website while still maintaining the “companyname.blogspot.com” or “companyname.wordpress.com”, but more often than not, it will up your street cred to buy your own domain name. Again, BlueHost is my provider of choice. Besides, you want to promote your brand, not the company providing your website platform.

Design.

Think of your blog like an extension of your store front – what do you want people to think and feel when they walk in? It’s key to reflect your brand but also to stay abreast of design trends. If you think you want a lot of flashy animated gifs or that all your images should have drop shadows, it’s probably time to hirea professional. You want to be in vogue but still reflect who and what your brand is. Things to remember: cleaner and leaner, clear navigation, justify your text and make sure your contact info, and social media accounts are very easy to find. Remember, your blog’s design should reflect both you and your personality, but also what the blog is about. There’s no point having a football-orientated theme if your blog is about tennis, understand?

On top of that, it should be easy to navigate if you want people to stick around. If it’s tricky and difficult to move around it, people won’t stay. Design is a subjective art; meaning everyone likes different things.

But no one likes ugly websites, and they especially hate websites that need a university degree to navigate. Make it easy for them. More on this later…

Content!

Your site is set up; it’s ready for viewing, write your first post. Do so in a way that conveys passion, confidence and authority but also speaks with your audience, not at them. Include them in the conversation the way you would if you were talking in the same room with them. And of course, add value and create great content by providing information or a perspective that isn’t on every other website in your niche already.

What do you think? Do you have some ideas about starting a blog that I haven’t covered here? A joyful (or unfortunate) experience starting your blog? Lessons you’ve learned as a blogger? Questions about what we’ve discussed above? Share it with us below!