Become a blogger - that's how it works with your own blog

Would you like to become a blogger but don't know how to start the blog? We show you the first steps and also tell you what to look for.

Become a blogger: The idea and theme of your blog

Whether your blog will be well received or not depends heavily on its topic. Before you even think about the technical implementation, you should consider the following points:

• What do you want to achieve with the blog? Depending on the purpose, you will set up your blog differently. For example, if you want to make money with the blog, you should do something different than if you publish short texts and photos from your vacation for your family and friends.
• Do you have enough content? You have to consider whether you could write numerous articles on the chosen topic. For example, if you start a blog on a specific event, you can assume that you have nothing new to report shortly after the end of that event. Your blog will therefore only be of interest to readers for a short time.
• Why should someone read the blog? Especially when you choose a topic that a lot of other bloggers are already writing about, be sure to ask yourself what you could do better than the other bloggers. Why should someone visit your blog when there are hundreds of articles on the same topic online?
• Do you love this topic? If you start as a blogger, you should be enthusiastic about the topic of the blog and at best be an expert. Even if another topic is perhaps more popular: if you are not familiar with it, you better let it be.

Choose the right blog platform

There are numerous platforms you could choose for the blog. Think carefully which would be the most suitable - in particular whether you use a free, hosted platform or prefer to host yourself and want to use a content management system (CMS).

• Hosted platforms : Wordpress, Blogger, Blogspot, Tumblr etc.
• Content management systems for self-hosted blogs : Wordpress (download), Joomla (download), Drupal (download), TYPO3 (download)
• What is better? We recommend that you host yourself, even if it involves costs. Even if you want to use the blog as a presentation page (e.g. as a photographer), it looks much more professional if you host the page yourself.
• For free, hosted platforms, the link also contains the name of the platform (e.g. xyz.blogspot.com). If you might want to sell your blog later, it may be a problem for potential customers.
• In addition, there are only limited design options on free platforms. And: Not all of them are GDPR compliant.

Find name, domain and hosting

You have defined the topic of your blog and also know which platform you want to use. The next step is to find a name, buy a domain and choose a hosting provider.

• Name : The name of the blog should best be simple, readers should be able to quickly recognize which topic you are addressing here. Also check whether there are other blogs, websites or brands that have the same name. If you want to use your own name, consider here: Do you want to sell the blog later? Then you should choose a different name.
• Domain : If you already run a website, you could set up your blog as a subdomain. If you don't have a website yet and blog in German, a .de domain would be suitable. Check whether the desired domain is still available and whether you are infringing trademark rights if you use this domain.
• Hosting : As a host, you can use the same provider as for the domain - or another one. In any case, compare prices and not just offers for 1-3 months, but the amount that you would pay in the long term. Also read customer reviews and information on how often providers experience downtimes.
• Also think about how much storage space you need (e.g. whether you will upload a lot of photos and videos). Also important: Does the host also offer SSL certificates?
• In the event that you also want to set up social media pages: Check whether vanity URLs with the desired name would be available (example: facebook.com/CHIP).

Set up blog

Name, domain and host are fixed - now you can finally create the blog.

• Install the desired CMS (Wordpress, Joomla, etc.). Reading tip for WordPress: WordPress 5: The comprehensive manual. From entry level to advanced topics: WordPress themes, plug-ins, SEO, security and much more
• Set up the page : Choose a theme (for Wordpress bloggers: install Wordpress theme), the color of the page, the font, the header photo, etc.
• Create a page with the imprint . In Germany, the imprint obligation applies. Even if you only blog privately and don't make any money with it, you should create a page with the imprint.
• According to the law, exceptions only apply to blogs "that serve exclusively private or family purposes and that have no impact on the market." If in doubt, you should assume that the provider identification obligation exists.

Legal: You should note that

If you run a blog, you should pay attention to the following points, which are required by law:

• Imprint : As already mentioned above, German websites must have an imprint. This also applies to blogs. Even if you only run the blog privately, you should have an imprint to be on the safe side.
• Data protection regulation (GDPR) : Make sure that your blog is GDPR compliant. Please read our article GDPR: Bloggers must take this into account.
• Copyright : For many, of course, but we would like to mention that you have to create the content yourself. You can't just copy and publish articles from other sites, books, etc. The same applies to photos and videos: in most cases, even if you can find them on the Internet, you cannot simply take them over. You can also download the Copyright Act (UrhG) from us.

This way you as a blogger get more readers

Your blog is online and you have already been busy posting articles - but hardly anyone reads them. This helps reach more readers for your blog:

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• Google and other search engines: Be sure to deal with the topic of SEO to improve your Google ranking.
• Social networks like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc.
• Friends and family: You could advertise the blog among your friends and, for example, share posts on Facebook & Co.
• Advertising in newspapers, radio, TV and other channels
• Newsletter
• Partnership with other bloggers or an influencer
• Links from other websites to your blog (forums, etc.)

Additional information

The following articles may be interesting for you:

• Domain : Find free domain names - register the best tips and domain for free: options and providers
• Hosting : Free hosting: Overview of web space providers
• Wordpress : Wordpress.com or wordpress.org - what's the difference?
• GDPR (here at Wordpress): Wordpress GDPR: How to implement the new data protection regulation