If your Facebook account became too skimpy for your lively daily insights or amazing snapshot of your hamster, perhaps it is time to consider the launch of your own blog.
Starting the blog doesn’t have to be complicated. However, if you’re one of those who can’t even pronounce the word “HTML” fluently, our web-hosting-expert Hamster is here to provide the easy guide how to start a blog without any technical knowledge. The can’t-miss tips are included, too.
“It’s your survival kit in blog launching jungles!”, as our Hamster would say.
1st STEP: DOMAIN NAME
DON’T BE NAIVE. BE CREATIVE. BE AWESOME
The domain name of your blog is one of the decisions you’ll have to live with for a quite long time. So, it is a good idea to choose it responsibly. Be creative, keep it simple but don’t be naive, because plenty of good domain names such as hamster.com, diamond.com, lol.com, or beer.com are already taken a long long time ago. It means you have to be 100% unique or simply try to use the domain name generator.
Basically, domain is the foundation of your brand or personality, so if you want to stand out from the competitors, it is always better to avoid too generic domain names. On the other hand, it is necessary to keep it simple and intuitive, too. So, to make it right we suggest you keep your domain name under 15 characters.
Finally, as there are hundreds of domain registrars at the market today, choose the service provider carefully as it can be difficult to move your domain later on.
Your survival kit:
- Brandable over generic
- Easy to remember
- Short enough
- Simple to type
- Keywords-friendly
2nd STEP: HOSTING PROVIDER
FIRSTLY SEARCH, THEN READ CAREFULLY
As there are thousands of web hosting companies today, try to revive your analytical skills. It means that don’t press the “confirm” button too fast. It’s crucial to choose a reliable and customer-oriented company to ensure the safety and longevity of your website. Also, be careful about providers that love to mislead its customers by manipulating and teasing with “unlimited offers”, “unlimited storage”, “unmetered bandwidth”, “free domain” and similar stuff used for marketing purposes only.
Despite the fact, there are many tips and tricks how to choose the right hosting provider on the Internet today, less experienced customers can be not able to fully understand provided offers. Therefore, as users are not fully informed, in the end, all this turned against them. So, we advise you to search for the best price and later read all the conditions carefully.
Also, due to the extremely competitive market, lower price doesn’t mean worse service. So, if you want to launch your first website ever, don’t hook up with the top all-inclusive and huge plans which cost “a million”.
Your survival kit:
- Google it
- Trust social media
- Ask your friend
- Find out the hidden stuff
- Good reputation and active communication is a must
- Avoid one-size-fits-all
- Avoid extra-ordinary-all-inclusive and expensive plans
3rd STEP: TYPE OF HOSTING PLANS
JUST TRY TO PUZZLE OUT YOUR HOSTING NEEDS
As you begin shopping for a web hosting plan, the key elements which have to be considered are: provider’s reliability, bandwidth, storage, support, and the reasonable price of course. So, making the decision on which hosting plan to choose can be tough. Although, at the end of the day it all depends on how well you’ve done your homework. Yeah, it means how well you are familiar with hosting world.
Therefore, as there are few types of services, in order to avoid the lost in translation feeling as well as choose the most suitable plan, we provide you with the short and very simple glossary:
– Shared hosting is a type of web hosting service that allows multiple websites to securely share a physical web server and its resources. It means that the maintenance costs are divided across many parties, too. Basically, it is the most economical option for hosting your website.
From the client perspective, shared hosting is a perfect solution for small businesses or individuals who want to launch their photography blog, for instance.
– Virtual private server (VPS) is a single physical server which is split up among the limited number of users. Comparing it with shared hosting, VPS accounts have fewer users per box. It means that these users have more control over their section of the server. Also, users have their own operating system, disc space, and bandwidth. Basically, the virtual private server gives you an ability to install and configure any programs you want (software installation, Apache configurations, etc.). Therefore, since you’re in control of the server, you are also responsible for all installation, security issues, and updates.
– Linux Service is a server powered by the open source operating system (OS) Linux. It is one of the most common OS used for shared and VPS hosting business.
– Bandwidth is a sum of uploaded and downloaded data in and out from the server in specific period of time. Sometimes it is being referred as traffic limit.
– Disk Space represent the storage space. Basically, the more it has, the more files, pages or another kind of data you are able to put on your server.
– SSL is an abbreviation for “Secure Socket Layer”. SSL allows sensitive information (for example, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.). Basically, SSL is a security protocol, used by plenty of websites in order to protect their online transactions with their customers.
Your survival kit:
- Evaluate your technical skills
- Learn a bit
- Determine your needs
- Study web hosting options
- Think about your potential growth
- Compare plans
- Consult with the providers
4th STEP: BLOGGING PLATFORM & THEME
WHAT TO WEAR TODAY? AND TOMORROW… AND THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW…
Before you proceed, check this guide on how to choose a blogging platform →
Talking about selecting your blogging platform, this process is like choosing your outfit every morning. The main different is the fact that you will probably change your outfit next morning while your blog will look like the same for a while. However, as there are plenty ready-made website templates today, you don’t even have to be an expert to create a professional-looking blog. So, if you’re not thinking about individual programming solution, we advise you to consider already prepared themes. Therefore, it is probably the easiest and the most powerful way to manage your website.
There are plenty of open source website creation tools (for example, WordPress) with thousands free and paid website theme options. Choosing a template to design your website we advise you to search among only these themes which are categorized under your industry type – it will make easier to find the most suitable option. And remember do not rush things, take your time to do research. As many developers offer their templates on the Internet, make sure your template is created by a reputable and trustworthy supplier. Finally, pay attention how easily it is set up.
Your survival kit:
- Keep calm and think what to wear (design)
- Keep calm and think about the comfortableness (CMS)
- Consider free or paid
- Pay attention to security & performance of the theme
- Readability and SEO friendliness is a must
THE BOTTOM LINE
From our point of view, the good content is a must, but surely it’s not enough. In order to make it successful, you have to survive in these blog launching jungles by managing these first steps. If you just need more comments on that, don’t hesitate to contact us.