So, do you love reading blogs and are constantly thinking to yourself, “I could do this, maybe even better”? Well, then GO FOR IT! I started my personal blog, DefiningDanie.com this past June and it is the one of the best things that I have ever done for myself. I thought about creating a blog for a long time, I was super nervous about it though!
What pushed me to finally go ahead and create my blog? In late May I went to a beauty convention called BeautyCon. BeautyCon is held in NYC and LA and they bring a panel of guests to talk about what is going on in the world of beauty and fashion! At this past BeautyCon, they had a lot of Youtubers, makeup artists and they even had Whitney Port and Mr. Joe Zee, the director of Elle Magazine. This panel was super encouraging about starting your own blog.
Something that I was always worried about was people not liking my blog, which is a natural thought of course. But, at BeautyCon, especially the Youtubers, they talked about how you can’t let the “haters” put you down! So, I was feeling extremely pumped up after that. I was very inspired from them!
Is this is how you’re feeling too? I encourage everyone who is feeling this way to go out and just TRY it!
What are the steps to creating a blog?
1. Decide what you want to blog aboutYes, there are a lot of fashion/beauty/crafting/food bloggers, so that is why it is SO important to bring your true self into your blog. No one wants to read the same article in different blogs 12 times, most people can only read “How to apply red lipstick” so many times. So, try to be a little different!
2. Decide where you want to publish your blogHow do you decide? I personally use WordPress. But, there are a lot of writers who love Blogger! The both do require some getting used to, but that’s a common thing for most people!
WordPress and Blogger both have free options, but you would have to use the “.Wordpress.com” in your domain. If you are willing to spend some money once you get your blog going, then you can always just have the “.com” that you want! But, if you know that you really want this blog, and you can afford it I personally would say go ahead and get the “.com”! It is shorter, and it’s easier for people who want to read your blog.
I know a lot of bloggers who use Tumblr too! Tumblr is great for very new bloggers. It has a lot of great templates that you can use to make your blog everything that you want it to be! Tumblr is also free!
3. Thinking of a name for your blogMake it catchy, fun and something that is not too hard to spell! I personally love cute blog names. I used alliteration in my blog name so people would remember it—DefiningDanie! I would avoid using words that people do not know how to spell without spell check (even if you think they are easy to spell, I guarantee there are people who do not know how to spell that long word you want to use!)
4. Designing your blogI personally had to have a lot of help in this area. I had to have two of my friends help me, and they are constantly helping me when I want to redesign certain things! If you are good at coding, then you will not have an issue. Soon, I am going to be learning more about coding.What is coding you ask? Coding is a way that you set up your website. It’s like formulas you use to help place the picture you want in a certain place… or the way you can center your posts on your page. But, if that all gets too fancy for you to start out with, just use one of the templates that the website of your choice offers you!
I know this all sounds so intimidating but, I promise you, if I can start a successful blog, you can too! This past week I just became apart of the Her Campus Blogger Network, which is a way for bloggers to connect with one another! There are so many cool things that your blog will open the door for you to! I hope this helps anyone who has been thinking about starting their very own blog!