On the one hand, when creating a blog, many beginners make mistakes that cost them a lot of money and nerves. On the other hand, if you keep in mind a couple of basic rules, avoiding problems will be a piece of cake.
And it is not as complicated as it may seems. In this article I will explain everything you need to know to create your own blog that works as you expect.
What problems may arise and how to avoid them
Nowadays you have endless options to create your blog. Surely you are wondering which of them you should choose. To be able to make the right decision, you need to know what the potential problems are and how to deal with them.
Problem #1: Limitations of your blogging platform
Imagine that you want:
- Change the design of your blog according to your requirements …but you can not.
- Make money with banners …but you can not.
- Add new features …but you can not.
- Monetize your blog in one of the ways I talk about in this blog …but you can not.
This list of possible limitations of the blogging platforms is just the tip of the iceberg. A full list would suffice for the longest article of this blog.
How to solve the problem
Create your blog with WordPress. It is the most popular CMS in the world. It would be a pretty tough job to find a successful blogger who would not use WordPress for his blog.
WordPress offers thousands of free themes and plugins. The themes will serve you to change the design and plugins to add new features to your blog. In this way you will have 100% under your control its appearance and its functionalities. And do you know what’s best about it? All this you can get without previous experience – just install the theme/plugin, you do not need to know anything about programming.
You can install WordPress on your web hosting. Also, as I will explain later, you can let your web hosting provider do it automatically for you. So if you get scared when you hear words like install, this way of creating the blog will be the most appropriate for you.
Problem #2: Your blog has disappeared from the internet
Let’s say that you have posted on your blog for several weeks, months or even years. Do you think that your blog cannot simply disappear from the internet one day? Unfortunately, it can. Fortunately, there is a simple solution.
How can your blog suddenly disappear from the internet
This usually occurs for one of the following reasons:
- Your web hosting provider shuts down.
- You have created your blog on a free platform. Since you have not paid them, they can delete it for any reason (usually for the violation of their terms and conditions). If the compliance with the terms and conditions is monitored by a robot, you can lose your blog for any mistake made by the robot.
How to solve the problem
Never host your blog on free platforms. Sign up for a web hosting that lets you use your own domain. If a problem arises some day, you can easily change hosting without losing your blog and, thanks to your own domain, keep using the same URL.
Problem #3: You work, others benefit from your effort
It is a typical problem of free platforms. I believe you are not so naive to think that the owners of these platforms invest their money in expensive servers just to let you create a free blog.
Yes, they want to earn money too. How do they do that? One of the ways is to put ads on your blog. Some do it from the first day, others wait some time, until your blog has more visitors. Anyway, you work and they earn thanks to your effort.
Others offer a very limited service. For a blogger without experience it may seem enough, but as your blog grows, you need more and more features. When this moment comes, you have no choice but to pay for them. And if you think that in the long term it usually costs a lot more than a quality hosting, you are right. So you work to be able to pay to your blog provider an exaggerated fee. Wouldn’t it be better to keep this money?
How to solve the problem
Sign up for a professional web hosting. In the long term, it will save you not only money, but also nerves.
Problem #4: WordPress does not work on your web hosting
How can this happen? WordPress has some technical requirements with which the hosting has to comply. For example, the PHP and MySQL version.
How to solve the problem
Before choosing a web hosting company, make sure that it meets the technical requirements. You can find the current requirements on the official WordPress website.
Problem #5: Your blog works, but it’s very slow
The super cheap web hostings have no choice but to host many clients on a single server. Therefore, a lot of websites use the limited resources of the server. If you use one of these web hosts, this is probably the reason why your blog loads so slowly and sometimes is even inaccessible.
Why is this happening? A server is not cheap. If the hosting company does not charge its customers an adequate amount, they cannot afford to assign to your blog as many resources as professional web hostings do.
Why is the loading speed of your blog so important?
- Many studies have shown that users often leave websites that load very slowly.
- Google penalizes slow websites.
How to solve the problem
Avoid the super cheap hostings. The savings do not justify the economic losses that occur when visitors leave your blog because of its long load time.
How to create your blog and avoid all these problems
I was always looking for the perfect way to avoid all these problems. Since I was not able to find it, I came up with my own solution.
In 2005 I started my own web hosting company – MarbleHost.com. Thanks to that, since then thousands of people like you have taken the opportunity to host their websites or blogs without having to worry about the problems mentioned in this article.
As I have the quality of the service under control, I can guarantee that your blog will work as you expect.
The easiest way to create your blog
Not sure if you would be able to install WordPress on your own? So don’t do it 🙂
Simply use the automatic installer in the control panel, which you will have access to after filling out the MarbleHost signup form.
What type of hosting is right for your blog
When visiting MarbleHost.com you will find four types of hosting:
- Web hosting
- VPS
- Semi-dedicated servers
- Dedicated servers
The most suitable options for a blog are web hosting or a VPS.
When to choose a VPS
- If you want to save money. You can share the VPS (and the expenses) with your friends.
- If you prefer monthly payments (web hosting is paid annually).
When to choose web hosting
- If you do not want to share your space on the server with anyone.
- If you prefer to pay annually.
- If you want to get the first month of web hosting for free. You will only need a domain to take advantage of this offer. If you already have one, you can use it, if not, you can register it with MarbleHost for a very good price.
I prefer a VPS, what options do I have?
The resources offered by OVZ VPS 1 are sufficient for more than 99% of blogs. It allows to host an unlimited number of domains.
Unless you already have a very popular blog with thousands of daily visitors, investing $14.99 per month in OVZ VPS 1 will be a perfect option for you.
I prefer web hosting, what options do I have?
You can choose from 4 web hosting plans:
- Ultimate plan – allows you to host an unlimited number of domains. It also offers some features for advanced developers. It costs only $12.99 per month.
- Advanced plan – this is the plan that most bloggers choose. It also allows you to host an unlimited number of domains, but does not include the features for advanced developers (they are not necessary for your blog). For the investment of $9.99 a month it offers the best relation between the price and the number of allowed domains.
- Standard plan – investing $6.49 a month you can host up to 5 domains.
- Basic plan – the most economical solution lets you host 1 domain with the investment of only $4.99 per month.
How to choose a domain name
What is a domain and what is it good for? It is a unique name that allows your visitors to access your blog. When writing the name of your domain in the address bar of the browser the main page of your blog will appear. For example, the domain of my blog is moneytoplist.com.
How to choose the domain name? Most bloggers follow one of these methods:
- They use their name, for example, JohnSmith.com. Ideal for building your personal brand. It also offers the possibility to create email accounts such as john@johnsmith.com.
- Others use words that have something to do with the niche of their blog. Moneytoplist.com is an example of this strategy.
At http://www.marblehost.com/order/ you can check if your domain name is still available. If you have a good idea for your domain name, you can register it there along with a hosting plan. Do not forget that anyone can register any domain name. So register it before someone else does.
Final summary
- Visit http://www.marblehost.com/order/
- Choose a web hosting plan or a VPS and your domain name.
- Fill in the rest of the registration form and follow the instructions on the screen.
- Enjoy your blog 🙂
and learn well explained strategies that will help you
make a living with your own blog or website.
This is absolutely informative and I am happy that you are willing to share your expertise with the world. I was retrenched from my work after 35years in 2014 . Since then I have been trying any and everything on the internet. Most to no success. I even lost a hefty amount of my hard earned dollars. This was all to not practicing due diligence. But I am glad for your course and hopefully to be successful as a blogger
Hi Liz,
I am sure you will be successful 🙂 Just keep studying, trying new strategies and creating good content and the results will come.
thanks for your newsletter very help full how can you help someone like me without experience
Thank you, For helping people who are new and with no experience. Although, I read the post I could not understand all of it. I will improve through time and study.
Anthony Dev.
Hi Anthony,
Thank you for your feedback!
Feel free to let me another comment and tell me what exactly you don’t understand. I may explain it in my future posts.
Have a nice day!
Hi Anthony,
Thank you for your feedback!
Feel free to write another comment and let me know what exactly you don’t understand. I may explain it in my future posts.
Have a nice day!