While the world is becoming more and more visual, blogging remains a solid constant for today’s entrepreneurs and companies looking to develop relevant and timely content that increases website traffic. As attention span continues to get shorter and shorter, especially with the advent of short-form videos like TikTok posts and Instagram Reels dominating social media, people are not as keen about consuming long detailed posts. To address these changes, today’s most effective blog articles are around 1200 words.
As of 2019, there were over 600 million blogs on the internet, mainly hosted on Tumblr or WordPress. While the internet is already inundated with blogs, there is always room for a new blog that offers a unique perspective on the world. So, if you feel that you have something important to say – and can put a bit of a different spin on things – the world is waiting.
It all starts with the right hosting service
Before we get to the fun stuff, it all starts with nailing down the best web hosting service for your needs. The right web hosting service provider for us can vary dramatically according to goals, budget, experience, and expertise. While shared hosting is the most affordable choice, it might not be the best option for a more content-heavy blog page.
Ultimately, the ideal hosting service is a personal decision that benefits from a lot of research to get it right. Since this can be overwhelming, especially for someone who is not overly technical, we’re here to help!
Here’s a look at 5 of our favorite web hosting service solutions as we break down the pros and cons to set you on the right track from the get-go.
1. Hostinger
Hostinger is a dirt-cheap provider that offers solid and dependable plans on a budget. For only $0.99 per month, Hostinger delivers the basics for businesses that do not necessarily need anything super fancy when first establishing a presence online.
Advantages:
- Powerful, secure, reliable, and affordable
- Extremely cost-effective
- Fairly strong uptime
- Good page load time
- Enhanced privacy and security
- Money-back guarantee if not satisfied
- Comprehensive support team
Disadvantages:
- No free site migration
- Pricing is confusing
2. InMotion
InMotion is one of the first names that come to mind in the web hosting realm. From start-ups to world-renowned companies alike, InMotion offers a range of premium services with 99.99% uptime. Pricing starts at an affordable cost of only $5.99 per month.
4 Easy Tips to Record Better Quality Screen Recording VideosAdvantages:
- Best value for money
- Outstanding customer service
- No bandwidth limitation
Disadvantages:
- Each backup costs money
- Some advanced features are missing
- Speed is an issue (slower than other options that cost around the same amount of money)
3. Dreamhost
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Dreamhost is the ultimate choice for web hosting and cloud storage on WordPress. This award winner offers a wide range of plans suitable for many different types of businesses.
Advantages:
- Considered to offer top-of-the-line customer service
- Best choice for media-heavy websites
- The intuitive platform even for beginners
- Extensive backup features
- Good server performance and zero downtime
- Hosting of unlimited domains
- 97-day money-back guarantee
- Free domain name for life
Disadvantages:
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- The pricing structure can be confusing
- No customer support is available on the phone
- Live chat is only available during American business hours
- It isn’t as intuitive as other platforms
4. Hostgator
Hostgator is a household name when it comes to secure and affordable web hosting solutions. Whether you are looking to host an intuitive blog or a website with complex architecture, Hostgator has the tools needed to get the ball rolling.
Advantages:
- The best option for uptime
- Trusted and simple interface
- Unlimited desk space and bandwidth
- Potential to host unlimited domains
- Unlimited MySQL databases
- 45-day money-back guarantee
Disadvantages:
- Slow customer service response time
- Subpar site performance
- More expensive than its competitors
5. Bluehost
Bluehost is a trusted resource for millions of websites with its one-stop-shop services that extend far beyond traditional web hosting.
Advantages:
- Cost-effective website bundles for WordPress
- Reasonable uptime
- Generous storage options
- Unlimited storage options
- Unlimited data transfer
- Unlimited domain hosting
- Responsive live chat support
Disadvantages:
- Constant upsells
- Relatively low speed
- Storage limitations
Choose your niche
When breaking into the blogging world, start out by thinking about where your expertise lies. What is your skill set? What type of content not only interests you but do you know a lot about?
The idea of blogging has been around since the late 1990s. While there are many blogs on the web today, many of them have not been updated for a long time or receive very little traction. Needless to say, it is no longer easy to break into this niche. The online world is inundated with bloggers and influencers that represent many different areas of interest – but don’t fret. There are still some areas where you can stand out, including the domains of finance and investment, personal development, marketing, environmentalism, and technical topics (for instance, a blog that is primarily focused on up-and-coming technologies or the world of AI).
Once you have determined the best niche that represents your expertise and interests well – and will appeal to your audience – we recommend organizing or creating content in advance. Trello is a well-known productivity tool where boards and streams are created to brainstorm, plan and organize upcoming blog content.
The most effective blog posts are actionable, informative, and easy to skim. They should be separated by powerful and informative headers and photos that tell a story. Not to mention, bullet points, numbers, and short paragraphs have the power to segment content effectively.
Let’s get visual: determine your theme
It can take days to skim through thousands of available themes and lower it down to the choice that represents your business… especially if you are an indecisive person.
If you are feeling stuck, we would recommend considering mood boards to zone in on a few ideas that would represent your new blog well. This is especially helpful when we have not solidified our branding identity yet. The best thing about mood boards is that they communicate and clarify our concepts and visual ideas effectively.
The best mood boards contain an array of content, including but not limited to images, video, physical materials, pieces of text, colors, and fonts that we feel represent us well. These mood boards can be expressed either physically or digitally. Once you start to pull together ideas that you and your team love, it will be so much easier to visualize the right theme for your blog.
Mood boards are especially effective when a blog has multiple contributors but still needs to reel in its overall vision and bring a sense of harmony to several perspectives. PosterMyWall offers over 630 free customizable mood board templates that can be designed, downloaded, saved, and shared with other contributors right on the platform, easily bringing your vision to life. Its color picker tool makes it easy as pie to choose the appropriate colors for the company.
While your mood board can be easily accessed on PosterMyWall, you can also upload it onto a private Pinterest branding board where you and your team can consistently source and pin other relevant content that speaks to you and represents your company well. Otherwise, a good old Google Drive folder ensures that branding is easy to access for everyone in marketing.
Make search engine optimization (SEO) a priority
As a new blog, getting your content in front of your intended target audience can be a process. First, keyword research will help you to understand the words that are effective to reach your intended readers. There are many tools that will also help you to find out what keywords are being used by your competitors so that you can use those, too.
If you are not too familiar with SEO, most of the best copywriters consider how to effectively implement these practices into their writing without overpowering the message. Since this is an area that is moving rapidly and changing all of the time, hiring a professional that specializes in writing for SEO purposes can quickly transform your website. Soon enough, your website will be displayed on the first page of Google as a result of using those all-important keywords that define who you are well.
Track analytics regularly
While opinions can vary widely here, never underestimate the importance of measuring analytics regularly. How often results are tracked can depend on a variety of factors, mainly how often you are posting. From reviewing results on a daily basis to tracking data in a monthly progress report, we need to measure data effectively to see if we are reaching or exceeding the goals that we establish for posting.
We would recommend reviewing both the backend of your blog’s website for built-in analytics and Google Analytics to obtain more sophisticated and in-depth reports from each unique blog article.
So, how do I get started?
There are still plenty of opportunities to create a stand-out blog if you do it right. Setting yourself up for success with the right web host provider determines the reliability of your website. Then comes the fun stuff. Consider the area of interest that you would like to focus on, but ensure that it isn’t a topic that is discussed repeatedly. For new bloggers, it is best to consider a niche that isn’t already inundated with content. Then, strong branding is the backbone of how people will get to know your business.
Once you have all of that down pat, plan ahead to create consistent content that your audience can rely on. Don’t forget to measure your blog’s performance against the goals that you have set to ensure that you are heading on the right track. Good luck and most importantly, have fun!
