Creating First Blog

Introduction

During my teenage years, blogging was a popular thing that I was interested in.

I had a dream of documenting my life through blog posts, with the intention of revisiting them in my old age.

However, the responsibilities and demands of adulthood have taken a toll on me, leaving me with limited free time to jot down my thoughts.

I often question whether it is worth sacrificing sleep for blogging.

Is Blogging Dead?

Well, if you are still able to read this post, the answer is a resounding "NO".

In 2022, there are over 600 million blogs out of 1.9 billion websites worldwide. Also, more than 6 million posts go live every day, on average.
Nonetheless, blogging has declined in popularity in recent years due to the rise of social media and video content as well as the saturation of the blogosphere.

Also, stop day-dreaming that you can start to have some huge AdSense earnings after only a few months of blogging.

The reality is many efforts in writing may go unnoticed.
To illustrate, less than 10% barely generate some revenue.

Hence, it is better if you start blogging based on passion to share, rather than fame or money.

To attract a consistent readership, a blog must provide value (or benefit) to its audience.

That is why successful bloggers are also probably professional writers in a particular niche.
On top of that, it is vital to maintain a consistent output (for example, publishing a new post every 2-3 days).

WordPress or Blogger

WordPress and Blogger are the two most popular options for beginners, including myself. While both platforms are easy to set up and do not require advanced coding skills, it is very important to weigh the pros and cons of the two platforms.

WordPress offers more theme design templates, flexibility and widgets than Blogger.
WordPress offers the option to buy a hosting plan and domain name.
Site monetization is available with a premium plan (starting USD 8 per month) in WordPress, but you can have AdSense option with Blogger free plan.
A thing that keeps bloggers concerned is that how long will Blogger be supported. Never to forget that Google has a history of abandoning products that do not make financial sense for them.

As a kind reminder, there are few critical limitations with WordPress FREE plan.

No Google Analytics integration
No plugins support - the main advantages of choosing WordPress over Blogger
Presence of WordPress advertisement

NOTE: There are also other free blogging websites available such as Medium, Wix and tumblr.

Personal Recommendations

If you are just writing blog for fun or unsure that you will continue blogging for long, you may first start with the free plans available, because it is not easy to think of new ideas every 2-3 days.

At this stage, you should start exploring a niche that you are knowledgeable and passionate about, as well as has enough audience demand and monetization potential.

If you are 100% serious in opening and maintaining the website, then you are encouraged to purchase domain name at the start (an annual payment).

The reasoning behind is that although you will be able to export the blog content later, moving your site (changing domain) will lose SEO rankings that you have built for years.
Also, a unique and professional domain name can help establish brand identity and credibility, hence improving click-through rate.

To cover the basics, the annual WordPress subscription cost is as below:

Hosting: Personal plan of USD 48 per year or Premium plan of USD 96 per year
Annual domain price of USD 18-25 (free for first year).

Search This Blog

Rx Note