Starting a Blog - How to Decide, & then Make the Big Plunge.
Getting started doesn’t have to be such a struggle, read on! | Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Do you journal or enjoy writing?
Have your friends or family ever suggested you write your own book?
Or are you already self-publishing short stories or full novels but aren’t reaching as many individuals as you’d like?
Chances are that you have considered at least starting a blog (your web search lead you here, I hope), and now you’re searching for further confirmation: should I blog, how do I go about this, and which blogging platform do I use.
After going through this process myself, it seemed most appropriate that my first blog post should be a ‘how to’ on this matter.
Should I blog?
Let’s first address this possible mental block: if you love to write, then you absolutely should start your own blog.
“What could I possibly write about? There are so many blogs out there, what could I contribute, how would I stand out? My writing isn’t even very good, no one would read it.”
If these inner monologues sound familiar, you’re not alone - but it’s worth putting them on mute for a moment.
I have journaled consistently since the age of 8 and, nearly three decades later, I continue to enjoy this form of expression. I use journaling as a form of reflection, appreciation, and therapy when things get tough.
I’d write up an inspiring or comical recollection of real life happenings and post it to Facebook. I’ve been blessed with dear friends who show their appreciation by suggesting that I basically write own book.
But I had many reservations, including the desire to remain as anonymous in life as possible (online life comes with its risks, frustrations, and downright scary occurrences). The good news is that there are ways to safeguard your privacy.
There are also matters of personal confidence and sensitivity that I’ve had to work through - what if a viewpoint that I write strongly about turns out to be incredibly short-sighted and insensitive; what if my writing ends up being preachy.
The possibility of blogging has been marinating in my mind for many years. It reverberated in the moments I wanted to post something thoughtful on Instagram, or while listening to Elizabeth Gilbert’s voice via her audio book “Big Magic.” I also have to credit my partner for consistently encouraging me to pursue this creative outlet.
I finally sat down recently to do some research.
“If you’re a writer, you should be blogging… It doesn’t matter what you blog about. Whatever interests you, whatever is interesting about you, whatever you’re good at, whatever you want to be good at. You’ll find people who care about those things, too.” - Shaunta Grimes
I highly recommend reading Shaunta Grimes’ post. While she addresses fiction writers like herself, I really believe that this applies to anyone who enjoys writing, especially if you also happen to enjoy sharing your insights with others. Her straightforward, thoughtful points really drove a lot of ideas home for me and helped get me excited about starting.
How should I go about this?
The most practical thing I did for myself, which was not a suggestion I found anywhere, was to visit the websites of people that I follow on social media. You’ve heard of emulating the person you admire until you do your own thing? Well, I have several powerful ladies that I admire on Instagram and YouTube, so I proceeded to click the link in their bio.
I first noticed that many of them use Linktree to help their audience filter directly to the information or service of interest. Once I had my one Chrome window full of tabs, I looked through the setup of each website’s homepage. I wanted to gauge the styles, the presence or absence of ads, pop-ups used. Finally I’d get to the bottom of the page to see who powered the site.
Surprisingly, with the exception of two ladies who use Squarespace, no two seemed to use the same platform. This exercise helped me see that there are many more options available besides the three that I knew of, and that “the best” truly depends on what you’re looking to do with your site.
Choosing a platform
But since we’re talking about starting a blog, a quick web search will yield countless articles ranking various blog platforms, like this post.
It soon became clear to me that the best platform will come down to two things - what your intent is and where you’re at on your journey. Here is an example of how I kept these two things in mind while I shifted through so many comparisons:
My intent is to write about the things that inspire me (varying topics, i.e. no niche yet); the insights into my struggles and self-discovery (personal stories); to create a community through self-empowering information around food and relationships (how-to’s and discussions); and eventually to sell some of my homemade goods online (ecommerce).
I am not coding savvy nor do I want to invest much time and energy in learning all the technicalities; I have a very small following on personal Instagram and nothing much on my gardening page; I have some income to spare to spend on basic website services but not enough yet to pay a professional to make my website look a certain way or act in a robust manner.
Medium is a place for bloggers, with plenty of readers who are ready to enjoy both short and long entries - so far so good. But pay attention to the topics they push in their “Discover/Explore Topics” section. For me, a big part of my focus in my blog will be about gardening, and the lifestyle that is naturally born out of growing your own food.
I noticed that nothing really related to gardening was singled out as a topic of interest in their Discover section. I had to type in this topic in their search myself, I used “food forest.” I was surprised to find a considerable number of related posts, as well as ‘tags’ for gardening, climate change, and permaculture - but it was disheartening that gardening related topics aren’t presented in the same way that so many other topics are.
There is significant potential for growing your audience on Medium, I’m not writing if off completely. You can create a domain with them, and there are ways to make money using their site. Just be mindful of the effort you might be putting somewhere that isn’t pushing some of your topics as much as others.
Now, if you didn’t know, there is a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.org is very robust, but it’s best to be very tech savvy in order to get the most out of it. Wordpress.com has free options, is not tech intensive, and it’s what I used years ago to get my feet wet. This time around, the malleability of WordPress.org for my plans was very appealing.
When my search came down to Squarespace vs. WordPress (as in WordPress.org), what I liked most is that Squarespace takes care of so many technicalities that I never considered (like finding your own host) and yet don’t have to think about (like SEO tools) because they’ve got me covered.
Squarespace has given me the ease of starting off with a functional, professional website - and when I get more traffic and want to expand to more robust capabilities, I learned that it’s possible to transfer my domain out of Squarespace. I came across a good deal on a domain on WordPress, so I considered starting there first. Had I done it that way, I basically could have transferred my WordPress domain over to Squarespace whenever I was ready to.
While there was a lot to learn (which I somehow did in one caffeinated sitting), it really felt great to understand that I didn’t have to stay stuck on the first option I picked. Down the line, if this turns into a business where I might even get to higher a team, I can absolutely make these big changes without losing everything. That fact was very freeing.
For a final comparison, if you were wondering how these two highly advertised website builders compared, this article comparing Wix & Squarespace helped me to solidify my choice with Squarespace.
After all things considered, the one caveat that I’d like for you to take away most is this - you have to start wherever you’re at, and you can always change course later as your hobby or business evolves.
For me, it came down to Squarespace or Wordpress.org. For what I’m looking to do now - just start putting my writing out there, and build an audience - Squarespace made the most sense for me. I have an attractive looking website up with ease of use, my own domain name, and features working for me in the background that I don’t have to worry about for now. If I’m blessed with content that reaches folks to the point that I’d like to offer something more unique or make international transactions available, etc., then I can make that step when the time comes and move my content to Wordpress.org. As I hope you’ve picked up from some of the resources I’ve linked to, it’s technically doable.
Get started.
