A lot goes into preparing any type of business. The same applies to creating a blog. Some of the preparations are universal to both, while others are specific to blogging. Here are a few of the main considerations to help get you started:
You need to name your blog with marketing and branding in mind. In most cases, it will be fairly hard to match your blog name with its domain name. Choose a name for your blog that can at least work with or complement your domain name. When deciding on a blog name, consider what the blog is going to be about and who the target market is. A good blog name should be descriptive so readers can easily identify with it. Once you’ve made these decisions, then a domain name can be similar.
You should be fairly familiar with keyword research if you have taken AWDD208. Suffice it to say, keyword research is a major part of blogging. If you research your keywords correctly, you will make your blog far more profitable than if you are just blindly choosing articles. Most people don't just type one keyword into search engines, they use phrases. Your focus keyword should be a phrase. This will be discussed later, but the WordPress SEO by Yoast or the WP All in One SEO are considered to be the most popular SEO plug-ins that help you optimize your WordPress website for search engines.
You’ll want to buy a domain with a name that people can tell their friends about. A shorter, easier-to-share domain name will facilitate the implementation of social promotion strategies. Pick a domain name that naturally fits the information, service, or product you will be sharing on the site.
These tips can help you when deciding on a domain name:
Try not to stuff your domain name with too many keywords. Stuffing your domain with keywords could give you an initial ranking boost, but it is a really short-sighted gain in the grand scheme of things. What’s the point of choosing a relatively long, convoluted, hard-to-pass around domain name just because it has some keywords in it? Domain names should be catchy and have viral potential.
Try to also choose a domain extension related to your blog type:
Domain names cannot have any spaces between the words. If you must have a space, please use a dash instead.
Hosting is another decision you will have to make. There are various hosting options:
This site [2] provides a list of the top 7 best web hosting companies of 2023. Near the bottom of that web page, you will find a list of 21 web hosts they reviewed for performance, pricing, and features. For your convenience, here is the direct link to that Web Hosting Reviews [3] page.
Though many of these companies claim you get unlimited bandwidth, this is often far from the actual case. Their fine print includes legal loopholes that ensure you can only use X percent of their total server space. So, think carefully about this alternative. If your blog gets really big or gets sudden exposure, you could suddenly receive a bandwidth bill that’s through the roof.
With a self-hosted blog on a shared server, you have almost unlimited customization. Self-hosting on a shared server is a good option for the intermediate user.
Competition analysis is essential as part of establishing your niche. Read Pages 21 and 22 of your e-book to learn about some of the important aspects to consider.
Log in to Moodle [5] and tell me about the blog you want to create. Be sure to cover each of the following points: