I have always wanted to create a list of blogs that I love to read, share and link to because I think it'd be nice to see them in a listicle rather than just adding them to Feedly (my favorite RSS reader). Moreover, I didn't want to add tons of blogs to my RSS reader as I hate to see hundreds of unread items.
And hey, you should also have a list of your favorite blogs. You know why? Because if you are a blogger, or marketer, or whatever you are supposed to stay updated about what's happening in your industry. The idea is to stay focused all the time.
By the way, you DO NOT have to follow hundreds of blogs in your niche. Just a dozen of them is pretty enough. Because you will see yourself landing on more and more related blogs and blog posts as you go.
For instance, it's been a month since I checked my Feedly feeds and now it's got over 600 unread items (and counting). The problem is I was reading less and less all these days and weeks as I already had enough research stuff in my Evernote and saved for later articles in my Pocket.
And yet, I was landing on a lot of interesting blogs and blog posts and whatnot. In fact, that's what inspired me to write this very blog post.
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So you want to start a blog? That’s fantastic! Blogging is simple and fun but not easy. Definitely not easy. Even though you can set up a WordPress blog in less than 10 minutes, it takes countless hours of focus and patience to make things look the way you want. So my aim is to help you set up a blog from scratch on the world’s most awesome blogging platform – WordPress.org.
First things first.
Why WordPress?
Because it's a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination and tech chops.
If you have already started a WordPress blog in the past then you have some edge, and if you are also willing to spend some money on marketing and promotion then you are even better placed to start a WordPress blog than another beginner.
Just a friendly reminder, as a newbie blogger no one will be aware of your blog, no one might read your blog posts. It will be just another blog. Well, it’s a start. A beginning. And yes, in time, you can make all the difference.
So let's get started!
You CAN'T start a WordPress blog in 10 minutes. And you can’t start a blog in 10 hours either. You know why? Because it takes countless hours to customize WordPress and make things look the way you want (unless you are a WordPress geek). And hey, I didn’t even count the actual time required to actually create content. That’s the real purpose of a blog, right?
I have noticed several times that whenever I start a WordPress blog, I end up doing the same things over and over and over. So below are the steps that I personally follow when I start a new WordPress site. And no, it’s NOT another start a WordPress blog in 5 minutes kind of guide or video. Yes, I (and probably you) have seen a gazillion "How To Start A WordPress Blog In 5 Minutes" videos and tutorials.
But the reality is that it doesn't work that way. Why? Because they’re all basically about how to buy a domain name (that is, a .com), web hosting plan (that is, your own server space where you can upload files), and install blogging software (that is, WordPress). Yes, that's all you can do in 5 minutes or even 10 minutes and it's far away from a perfect blog as there are a lot of other things that you must know and do.
It’s true, every blogger would have a list of their