After sorting through thousands of websites on how to start a blog under your own domain name, don’t you wish that someone would just show you how to start a blog the easy way? I am going to give it to you straight this Start a Blog How To. Starting a blog with your own domain isn’t that hard if you know a few basic things:

1. What you are going to write about

Are you interested in dogs?  Cats?  Horses?  Stock Car Racing?  Model Trains?  Monster Trucks?  Hillbillies?  The stock market?  Healthcare?  UFOs?  Sex?  Politics?  Religion?  With a blog, the world is your oyster.

If you already know for sure what you want to blog about, it might help to do some keyword research so that you can pick out a good name for your blog… and get a feel for how popular your blog could eventually be.  You will find a lot of keyword research tools out there, but the best free tool is still Google’s own Keyword Research Tool.

Most people have an idea of what they want to say to the world through a blog.  It’s usually something that you are passionate about.  However, so people are passionate about a lot of things.  Some people will be very passionate about a topic, learn everything they can about it and then move on to something else.  Personally, I’m one of these people.

So if you are like me, and are not sure what you want to blog about right now, don’t get too hung up on your domain name or keyword research.

Just register your own personal name as your domain name.  Be sure to do it before someone else does! Please don’t get too freaked out about identity theft.  Professional authors register their own name as their domain all the time, and there are probably a few hundred people with the exact same name as you already.

2. Where to host your site

If this is your first blog, you want something easy.  The easiest place that I have found to both register a domain name and post a blog (all within a matter of 5 minutes) is Startlogic.com.  I’ve used StartLogic with a dozens of my clients and I’ve been very happy with the experience every time.  It’s easy to setup, the users never have problems.  It’s great.

[When I was first starting out, I used to use Powweb.com quite a bit.  In fact the website you are currently on is hosted by Powweb (if you don't believe me, check the whois database).  Powweb was replaced as my favorite when I found StartLogic, but I've been too lazy to move my site over to StartLogic].

The nice thing about StartLogic is the ease in which you can start a blog.  With just a few clicks, you can have your own blog up in running.  As I said before, it’s a process that takes less than 5 minutes, without having to know anything about uploading files, FTP, running scripts, PHP5, or any of that nonsense.  Plus, you get a free domain name and lots of other goodies when you sign up too.

3. How much time you have to post to your blog

You should probably take an honest look at your life, your obligations, your family’s needs and then determine how much time you really have to commit to starting and maintaining a blog.  If you can commit 2 hours per week to your blog, maybe you should start with 1 post per week to be safe.  If you can commit 3 hours per week to your blog perhaps two posts per week is a safe bet.

Why think about this ahead of time?  Why estimate on the safe side?

People will want to see a certain level of consistency in your posts.  If you start out with a post to your blog every day, and then two months later you are only posting to your blog once every two weeks, people are going to become upset.  If you post less frequently at first, but your post frequency rises over time… that is more acceptable.

Also, blogging is supposed to be a cathartic experience, or a feel-good activity of passing on your knowledge.  It’s supposed to make you feel good!  But, if you over obligate yourself by setting your blog post frequency too high, blogging will become a chore.  You will be stressed when you miss deadline after deadline, and then you will quit altogether.

Do yourself a favor and set a nice easy goal of one blog post per week, and work up from there.

4. Your writing skills will improve

If you already like to write, great!  If you don’t like to write, don’t worry.  Most people feel this way because they haven’t had enough practice, or somehow feel that their writing skills are substandard.  Don’t worry.  Your writing will get better the more you do it.  Professional writers rewrite their own books and articles MANY times before submitting them to an editor.

Not only that, but most blog don’t even have readers for the first few months.  Yep, it’s true.  So, you’ll have plenty of time to write, rewrite, and edit.

5. Readers will not come right away, but they will come

As I said above, for the first few months, you may not have any readers at all.  That’s okay.  Readers aren’t coming yet because it takes a while for the search engines to find your new site.  Many new bloggers just starting their new blog enjoy the fact that no one is reading their site at first.  It gives time to hone your skills a little.

But, don’t be discouraged by this.  The best  advice every given to me on blogging was to blog for yourself, not for the reader.  A blog is short for web log… and a log is like a journal.  So, just write your blog as though are keeping a history of your thoughts, feelings and opinions on a certain subject.  But, remember other people will eventually find your blog and read what you write, so please don’t put your deepest darkest secrets in your blog.  Save those for your offline journal.

Summary

If you have just chosen to start a blog, it can be an amazing experience.  It can be rewarding both mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Just remember to manage your self-expectations and you’ll be fine.

Good luck!