If you have enjoyed reading the posts on Parent Slate, you may feel a burst of creativity and want to set up your own unique parenting blog. We wholeheartedly would say that you should go for it. However, if you want to have a successful blog or at least one that gets regular visitors and readers who aren’t just members of your family and social circle, there are some things you need to have to make it as good a blog as you can.
In the following post we will touch on some of these, but please remember not to feel too intimidated as there is nothing really scary or tricky and a blog can be as simple and hassle-free as you want/need it to be.
Hosting
It is likely even if you are a complete internet novice that you will have heard the term hosting mentioned. There are lots of different options when it comes to setting up your own blog, but if you want more freedom as regards the content you upload it is better to avoid the one-stop-shop websites that provide everything you need for a blog/website and invest in a reasonably priced hosting package.
Writer
Although you may have good intentions when setting up your parenting blog you are going to be the main administrator, manager, and content provider for it. However, in reality, this might not be possible all the time. There is no shame in hiring a ghostwriter or guest writer for your blog from time to time or as often as you need to because you need to make sure content is regularly added to climb up the search engine results pages. There are plenty of avenues you can use to get experienced and reliable writers either from sites such as www.textbroker.co.uk www.iwriter.com and www.zerys.com to name a few where you can post jobs for writers directly to work on and then choose whether to approve and accept the articles. You only need to pay for what you approve and accept.
There are also a few websites where you find and advertise jobs for freelance workers of all kinds including writers such as www.elance.com www.odesk.com and www.freelancer.com
Camera / Smartphone with Camera
If you are an avid reader of blogs and websites, you will know that no one likes to look at a page made up of 100% text and that pictures are very important to adding and enhancing written content. Obviously, most smartphones nowadays come with decent cameras, but if yours doesn’t and you don’t currently have a good camera, it may be worth investing in one to ensure that the pictures on your site are the best quality they can be.
If you don’t want to fork out the cash for a camera just yet, there are also plenty of sites out there that offer free-of-charge, royalty-free images. Royalty-free means that you don’t have to pay any commission to the photographer for using their images.
WordPress
WordPress is another word you have probably heard and seen online. It refers to one of the most popular, easiest-to-use software platforms for creating blogs and websites. The interface can initially look pretty daunting and intimidating, however, there are plenty of “How to” sites and YouTube videos that offer tutorials and step-by-step guides on how to do everything from the most simplest of tasks to the most complicated.
A Domain
The domain name of your website would be the actual website name. Hence, this blog is called Parent Slate and the domain is www.parentslate.com. Domains although they might sound like they cost a fortune, are relatively cheap to purchase and you can get these from places like www.namecheap.com and www.godaddy.com
Have we missed anything? If you are a budding blogger and think our list is incomplete, tell us your tips and advice in the comments section!
The most important thing to remember though when blogging is to have fun!