Create a WordPress Blog: 7 steps to the goal

A blog is a simple and effective way to write about a specific topic and present your interests to your readers. In this article, I’ll show you how to create your own WordPress blog in just seven steps. From finding a topic to content strategy.

The term blog is short for weblog and is made up of the two English words “web” and “log”. Literally translated, it is a web diary. The topics that users write about on their blogs vary greatly – they can be recipes, finances or fashion. Or you can write about your ideas, services and products.

The content management system (CMS) WordPress is particularly popular because of its simple and quick installation, the large selection of themes (designs for how the blog should look) and plugins (technical extension of the functions). It is also popular because of the large WordPress community, which you can participate in and which also helps you.

In the following, I’ll show you the seven most important steps to your own blog with WordPress.

Step 1: Find the right topic

Before you start with the actual creation of your blog, you should determine the topic. As a general rule, the more specific your topic, the better it is. Not only does it set you apart from other blogs, but it also automatically builds your expert status. And that is one of the crucial points of your blog: Your readers perceive you as an expert.

Many private individuals therefore use their personal interests as the theme of the WordPress blog. It is important that you know what you are writing about. See the food blog “Die Frau am Grill” as a good example. In addition to their main website, companies now also often maintain a blog in which products and services are explained in more detail, thus strengthening their positions as experts.

Anja Würfl at work for her food blog

In this first step, it is also useful to already determine the type of content. For example, do you want to create a classic blog where the focus is on the text? Or would you prefer a photo or video blog that is more about the visuals than the text itself? See the post Creating videos on a small budget. Depending on the type of content you want to create on your blog in the future, you will have different requirements for the design of your WordPress blog.

Step 2: Choose the blog system

As soon as you have found the theme for your blog, it’s time for the actual creation. To do this, you start by choosing the content management system or blogging software. You have the option of choosing a service such as ghost.org. These services are easy and intuitive to use, but the individual design options are limited. In addition, you make yourself dependent on an external provider for whom you do not know how long it – and thus your blog – will exist.

As we explain in this article how to create your WordPress blog, we recommend the WordPress content management system. It is an open source software that is basically available to everyone free of charge. The advantage is that you can design your blog with WordPress exactly as you want it. The large community is also constantly developing the content management system.

Step 3: The right WordPress hosting

If you are starting your WordPress blog from scratch, you will need a suitable hosting package. WordPress hosting is mainly there to provide you with the storage space for your blog.

If you want to get the most out of your WordPress blog, it makes sense to choose a hostthat specialises in WordPress – like Raidboxes. Here you not only get the hosting of your blog, but also an infrastructure optimised for the CMS and support to help you with specific questions. See the posts13 Advantages of Managed WordPress Hosting and WordPress Hosting Comparison and Test.

In addition to the hosting package, you also need a domain, i.e. the digital address under which your readers will find you in the future. For the domain name, it makes sense to use a term that is related to your topic. Companies usually choose their own name or brand for the domain. If your desired domain is still available, you should register it.

An SSL certificate is also important for your blog. The certificate ensures that communication between your blog and your readers is encrypted. At the same time, it enables secure connections from a web server to a browser. You and your readers will recognise the SSL certificate by the URL, which will always start with “https”. Raidboxes takes care of all these points for you. Depending on the size of your project, you can choose different packages.

Easy start with WordPress

Installing WordPress doesn’t take much time. Create your WordPress website with Raidboxes in no time and don’t worry about your WordPress hosting. We take care of backups, updates and more – for you. Start now for free or get advice from our WordPress experts.

Step 4: Determine the design of your blog

The next step is to design your blog so that it looks the way you want it to. You can choose from various WordPress themes for your WordPress blog.

Themes are programmed design templates that already provide you with a basic structure. The advantage of WordPress: You have a very large selection of different designs, which are usually still individually customisable.

Themes at wordpress.org

You can choose between free and paid themes, see our article The best free WordPress themes. The paid themes usually have more functions and support than the free design templates. Once you have decided on a suitable theme, you can install it in the WordPress Dashboard with one click.

Choose a themethat suits you and your blog. Your readers will quickly decide whether they like your blog and want to learn more. That’s why you’ll find design templates for a wide range of topics, from cooking blogs to photography blogs to fashion blogs.

Step 5: Add blog functions with plugins

The basic structure of your WordPress blog is always the same after installation. However, depending on the theme or special content, you may need different functions. For this purpose, WordPress offers numerous extensions (plugins).

Plugins are modules that you can use to extend your blog with various functions. Since WordPress is an open source system, there are no limits to your extensions. For example, if you want to offer your readers your own products for sale, you canextend your blog with anonline shop using WooCommerce .

Many blog owners also use plugins to improve security, speed and blog SEO (search engine optimisation). The installation is as easy as with the themes in the WordPress backend. Theoretically, you can try out many of the plugins. However, please note that if they are not suitable for your blog, you should delete them.

Select and test WordPress plugins

The rule of thumb is: as many plug-ins as necessary, as few plug-ins as possible. Because they can slow down your system or even pose a security risk. See our tips for choosing good WordPress plugins.

Otherwise, this can have negative effects on the performance and also on the security of your blog. On the one hand, there are numerous free plug-ins available to you at site, but on the other hand, there are also many paid extensions available at site.

Step 6: The targeted content strategy

You have chosen your topic, your content management system, the hosting and a domain, the design and the functions of your blog – so the basic structure is in place. The next step is to work on your content and your content strategy so that your content is well received by Google and potential readers.

What exactly you write about is basically already determined by your topic. If you have chosen as specific a topic as possible, it will be easier for you not to deviate from the actual topic in your content strategy.

The goal of your content strategy should be to make postsas unique and interesting as possible. Be authentic and stay true to your style, so you will be able to convince new readers of you and your content. Also, make sure to publish useful content for your readers. This will automatically increase your status as an expert over time. Regularity also plays an important role.

content marketing

What is content marketing and how can you turn it into a strategy? Why is it so important to plan your content in advance? Read more in our e-book on content marketing and content ideas.

Another option is to create a content plan that covers the most important keywords, either alone with an SEO tool or together with SEO experts. This makes sense especially in a professional environment, if you want to win new customers or orders via your blog.

A topic and editorial plan is also useful. In it, you record which topics you want to publish, sort them according to relevance and determine when you want to produce the content. The editorial plan helps you not to get confused. It offers a simple way to clearly present the upcoming topics. By the way, this makes particular sense if you do not run your blog alone, but several people are involved in the project.

Step 7: Fill the blog with content

The last step is to fill your blog and find new readers. This takes a lot of time in the first phase. Take your time until you have found your own routine and publish content regularly. But that alone is usually not enough to attract new readers.

Focus on well-written, unique and relevant articles, but also pay attention to search engine optimisation. See the following posts:

Through optimisation, you increase the chance that your articles will be found by readers via search engines. You also have other marketing options at your disposal, such as social media and YouTube SEO, to make your blog better known.

Especially if you run your blog alone or with a small team, it can be important not to use all social media platforms at once, but rather to concentrate on one or two platforms. Here you should consider which platforms are best suited for your topic. Visual topics, such as cooking, fashion or DIY, do well on Instagram, YouTube or Pinterest. Finance, business and B2B topics, on the other hand, are more likely to be on LinkedInXing and Facebook (especially Facebook groups).

Also note that your WordPress blog needs to be maintained regularly. This means carrying out necessary updates, deleting unused plugins or modernising theme. The user experience, which includes, for example, a fast loading time of your postsor a modern design, should always play a major role for you. This increases the chance that readers will come back to your blog again and again.

Conclusion: Creating a WordPress blog is not a science

You see, you can create your own WordPress blog in just seven steps. With the right theme, interesting and unique posts, and the right WordPress hosting, creating a blog is not rocket science, nor is it a challenge for beginners. A WordPress blog is ideal for anyone who wants to create articles about their own interests. It is also ideal for companies that want to inform their customers about their products or services in more detail and expand their expert status.

Your questions about creating a WordPress blog

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