Let’s he has made a new web page but there are no chances that the new audience will visit his site until he builds relationships with other online marketers.

To make this thing possible and give exposure about the business to the audience, one has to make relations with the people already in the field.

These people can be proven a stair of success if one builds a good relationship with them.

But the question in everyone’s mind is that how this thing will impact a new business and why one will give his customers to a new person.

So, here we will discuss this in detail and talk about the guest blogging that can help to rank a website.

What is guest blogging and why is it important?

In short words, we can define guest blogging as publishing your post on someone’s website or page.

Here the blogger will send his article to the website owner and he will publish the article on his website.

This thing helps to build relations with the owner who is publishing the post on his website and also gives exposure to the guest post.

When the reader visits the website and sees the post related to his need, he will check the post that will help to increase the traffic on your new page.

So, the traffic from that website to your website through a blog post will create a good impact that can help to rank your new website and increase its revenue.

8 Tips for the Beginners

For a blogger who is new to the field and has no idea about guest posting, here are 8 best tips for him.

These tips can help him in making his post published and get good reviews over a small period.

Define your niche

The first and foremost task that one has to do is define his niche in which he has to publish the article. Because it could decide the future success (or failure) of your blog.

By doing this, one can easily find the websites to which he has to target for his guest post. Some bloggers simply pick any keyword and write about whatever pops into their minds. It is the worst strategy for long-term success. Decide whether you will pick a narrow niche or a broad niche.

Also, he can write the content on a specific point that can help to engage the audience there.

Set the Goals

Setting realistic and achievable goals is very important if you want to grow your blog. Pen down your goals and intentions before publishing the article. You must know that how you will target the audience.

If you are going to sell a bed for example, then go and search for the furniture article and make your plans according to it.

This thing will help to find the right website that can help you to bring traffic to your page and generate revenue.

See how other work

If you are new to the blog posting then try to take help from the bloggers who are old in this field. There’s a lot you can analyze and learn from your competitors. You learn their success or losses.

Look at their posts that how they are presenting their content and which websites are they targeting to get the audience. Find out where your nearest competitors may be lacking and grab that opportunity to fill in the gap.

This factor can help to give you a proper guide and give you a track where you can estimate the demand of the readers.

Use the S.M.A.R.T. way

To enter the market and compete with the big guns already sitting there and attracting the traffic you have to be smart.

After being smart, you have to work S.M.A.R.T. That means you have to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-oriented to achieve the goals.

The topic one is going to publish should be related to the website. It should be relevant to the other topics.

So, the user can get relevant answers on a single page. These common factors can make the post more attractive and ranked.

Find relevant pages

After selecting the niche and setting the goals, the most important thing is to find the relevant pages. Blogging is absolutely still relevant in 2021 and beyond.

To find the relevant pages, one has to visit the web pages, social apps and look for the other source lists that match his niche. This means if you want to start guest posting on the travel niche, then find blogs that are publishing travel relates posts.

This thing will provide an idea to the blogger and he can easily filter the best websites and pages from this research. It can also maintain your marketing strategy and define the structure of your relevant content.

These can help him to go for the best pages where he can rank his blog and get the traffic.

Check DA PA of pages

Getting all the best websites, check the domain and page authority of each page. Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) are the metrics that provide some insight into how strong your site’s SEO.

This is the main key factor. To get more traffic, get a page that has good domain authority. It’s quite simple to check the DA and PA of a website. You can either use Moz’s LinkExplorer or any other third-party tool for this.

This will cause a positive impact on the blog as it got a backlink from a website with a good reputation.

One can use a tool like Prepostseo that can give you the domain and page authority of the page and make it easy to select the best website.

Send email to the bloggers

After getting the main website that one is going to target the next thing is to negotiate with the bloggers. Struggling to get email instant responses from other bloggers? It’s no surprise that most emails sent to guest bloggers every day are getting ignored.

You can use outreach tools to make the design process effective. Send the emails to different website owners and ask for their demands for a post. Select the best blogger from there and make a deal with him.

Provide quality work

To leave a good impact on the website and get traffic through them, try to give quality content in the post.

The content used in the blog post should be fully optimized. Quality work is a necessary point that everyone wants.

Try to give the content that has no plagiarism in it. For it, one can use any tool to check plagiarism.

Quality content on an average website is far better than bad content on an authoritative website. You should focus on quality rather than quantity.

Google crawler will simply give negative points to both websites and can cause a to de-rank them.

Conclusion

For beginners who have just started their websites, they can increase their traffic and domain authority through guest blogging. Guest blogging is one of the key factors that can help to get success to any website. The only thing that a person has to focus on is making quality content and publish it on an authoritative website.

The post Guest Blogging – A Beginner Guide for Bloggers appeared first on KnowTechToday.

So you need to learn SEO from the beginning. I don’t know how much you know about this, but you would find some new things daily in the world of SEO.

To learn SEO, there are some eBooks worth downloading.

You might ask me why SEO eBooks where hundreds of blogs are already there? Yes, you are right. But nothing can replace an eBook. You can download it and read it anytime and anywhere.

Here’s the list of some of the recommended free SEO eBooks.

1 – SEO 101: Learn Basics of Search Engine Optimization

By Search Engine Journal

Number of pages – 324

Search Engine Journal is one of the big players in the SEO space. This eBook contains many basic things about SEO. Some of the topics like the history of SEO, the basics of search engine optimization, key ranking factors, etc.

This eBook is written by many world’s best SEO experts like Benj Arriola, Dave Davies, Loren Baker, Danny Goodwin, Anna Crowe, Stoney deGeyter, Tylor Hermanson, etc.

Download eBook

2 – The Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization

By Web Savvy Marketing

Number of pages – 27

As the name suggests, this eBook is for complete beginners. This is written in very easy to understand languages without any learning curves.

In this book, you would get topics like Search Engine Result Page (SERP), SEO case studies, common SEO mistakes, etc.

Download eBook

3 – Link Building for SEO – The Definitive Guide

By Backlinko

Number of Pages – 90

Backlinko is known for its world-famous Skyscraper Technique. In addition to that one can get in-depth guides on various topics of SEO.

This book is the PDF form of their link building blog post. Backlinks are the most important ranking factor of Google now. So you find a log of case studies and techniques to build your backlink profile.

Download eBook

4 – Ecommerce SEO – The Definitive Guide

By Backlinko

Number of Pages – 153

If you are selling products online through your eCommerce store, then this eBook would be very helpful for you. In fact, Backlinko clams that this is the most comprehensive guide to eCommerce SEO.

In this definitive guide, you would find a lot of custom images and graphics demonstrating various stats. This guide covers, topics like eCommerce keyword research, On-page SEO for eCommerce sites, technical SEO, content marketing, etc.

Download eBook

5 – A Complete Guide to SEO: What You Need to Know in 2020

By Search Engine Journal

Number of pages – 264

This is another book from Search Engine Journal. This book provides an extensive overview of everything you need to know about search engine optimization.

In this eBook, you would get topics like SEO fundamentals, how to track Google Algorithm updates, top 7 ranking signals, local SEO, mobile SEO, etc.

Download eBook

6 – SEO Tutorial For Beginners in 2020

By Hobo Web

Number of pages – 646

This is the most comprehensive free SEO eBook on the web. Hobo Web is a popular SEO blog having hundreds of regular readers. This book is written by Shaun Anderson, another popular name in this space.

This book starts with a very basic topic like what is SEO and ends with the core and advanced part of SEO. They have covered almost every part of SEO in a nice way.

Download eBook

7 – DIY SEO – A Beginner’s Guide to Ecommerce Website Optimization

By Volusion

Number of pages – 21

This is another beginner’s guide for Ecommerce SEO. If you are running an eCommerce site or have some projects from the client, then this guide would be helpful for you.

This eBook you would get various topics like keyword research, on-page optimization, data analysis, etc.

Download eBook

8 – Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

By Google

Number of the page – 32

Do you know that there is an eBook by Google for SEO? Unbelievable but true. This is a beginner’s guide contains search engine optimization methods.

It contains topics like SEO basics, site navigation, site structure, mobile SEO, etc.

Download eBook

9 – The SEO Survival Guide

By Weidert

Number of pages – 20

This is another beginner’s guide to the latest SEO techniques and up to date information.

In this guide, you would get topics like most important Google updates, on-page SEO techniques, link building strategies, etc.

Download eBook

10 – Advanced Technical SEO: A Complete Guide

By Search Engine Journal

Number of pages – 385

Technical SEO is often neglected but very important when it comes to ranking. This free eBook from the Search Engine Journal is a helpful guide to lean the technical SEO.

You would get various topics like XML sitemap, page speed, mobile-first indexing, SEO-friendly paginations, etc.

Download eBook

Conclusion

So these are some of the best free SEO eBooks if you want to learn various parts of SEO. The above books are written by SEO experts and you would get vast information about this.

Which one is your favorite in this list? Do you know any other useful book that is not listed above? Then Feel free to reply and let us know.

The post 10 Free SEO eBooks You Should Download Now (PDF) appeared first on KnowTechToday.

Building authoritative niche sites take a lot of time and patience. Whereas micro niche sites take less time to scale if done with perfect strategy.

Latest Google Algorithm changes supporting micro niche sites and they are doing well.

The best thing, you can create a new micro niche blog today after reading this post.

If you want to walk with me, in this post I will show you all the things required to build a micro niche blog. In addition to that, I will also show you how you can earn money from this blog.

Let’s dive into it.

What is a micro niche blog?

Micro niche blogs are very specific and target micro topics. These type of blogs gets less amount of traffic as compared to niche blogs.

But micro niche blogs earn more. Because the traffic comes to this blog is very targeted and focused.

Why start a micro niche blog?

Now you might be thinking about why to start a micro niche blog.

Well, there are several reasons for this.

First of all, Google’s latest algorithm changes boosting the micro niche sites in search results that non-targeted sites.

If you can create a high-quality micro niche blog, then you can rank on the Google search easily than an existing authority website.

In authority websites, you need to publish content on a regular basis and also have to update them on regular intervals.

But in a micro niche blog, you need to publish limited posts. It would start driving traffic and money.

Micro niche sites example

Let’s see some micro niche site examples.

Let’s say you are creating a site on gadgets. You can pick hundreds of items in it. So It would be called as broad niche sites or authority site on Gadgets.

If you want to make a blog on drones only, then we can say it as a niche site. There are various types of drones. I wanted to make a site on agricultural drones only. Then this is the best example of micro niche blog.

Other micro niche blogs examples can be:

• Men’s beard oil
• Microwave oven

On the next step, I will show you how to find hundreds of micro niche ideas to create a blog.

How to find micro niche site ideas?

There are several ways to find micro niche blog ideas. Let’s discuss it.

Google Autosuggest

You have been using Google search and know about the Google autosuggest feature. This is the best way to get micro niche ideas.

Type any search term in the Google search bar and give space after typing. Google will automatically suggest some long-tail variations of that keyword.

If you have entered a head term then you would get subtopic ideas from the suggested keywords.

You can do the same with Bing search. Repeat the same process as you have done in the Google search.

Quora

Quora is the largest question-answer site in the world. It is also the goldmine of hundreds of topics.

People are asking questing on almost everything under the sun. You can pick one topic from it. And the best thing is, you would also get many topic ideas.

I just wanted to search for the term “Insurance”. In the top search bar type the topic name. I got this result.

As you can see, I got many sub-topic ideas. You can also enter the subtopics to get more specific topics.

Reddit

Reddit is also a crowded place where people discuss every topic under the sun. This is also a great way to find niche ideas.

Search for a topic or keyword on the top search bar. Then you would get various sub-niche ideas.

Reddit has sub-topics under subreddit. You can explore more topics by joining various discussions on Reddit.

Amazon website

Amazon’s website has a huge collection of products categorized in various categories.

I just wanted to explore niches inside the Amazon website. So I visited their website and choose the Garden & Outdoor categories.

Just scroll down and you would find hundreds of products categorized in many subtopics. Or hover over the category and it would show you the list of many subcategories.

Check this image

You can even dig deeper and explore more micro niche ideas.

Keyword research

After finding a good niche, now its time to find keywords. You would target these keywords in your blog.

Once you find a niche then it would be easier to get various keywords around it. If you do this manually, it would take a lot of time.

I use KWFinder to do keyword research. This is a very advance and budget-friendly tool that anyone can use.

Quick note: You can use this exclusive link to get a 10 days free trial with 4 other SEO tools which are worth $79.95 and this offer is valid only for a limited time, so grab it before the deal ends.

The user interface of KWFinder looks like this

For example, I searched for a keyword “best microwave oven”. Here’s how KWFinder shows me the stats and other related keywords.

Based on your niche and topic, you can search accordingly.

Buy a domain name matching to the blog niche

A domain name is the address of your website on the web. Once you find a niche, then it would easier to find a domain name.

You should read this article where I have described how to choose an awesome domain name for your blog.

For micro niche blogs, it is recommended to use matching domains. You can also add your main keyword in the domain name.

Make sure that the domain name should not look spammy and keyword stuffed.

You can use words like “Guide”, “Journal” “Users”, “Reviews” & so on.

If you are making a blog on the painting niche, then you can pick a domain name like PaintingGuide.com or PaintingJournal.com.

How to start a micro niche blog using A2 Hosting?

Do you want to start a micro niche blog? Then you need to sign up for hosting.

This hosting will store all your blog files and helps to keep running your blog.

There are a lot of hosting companies. One can easily get distracted by the wrong one.

I like A2 Hosting and have been using it for more than 2 years.

I highly recommend you give a try to A2 Hosting as it is one of the best hosting service providers.

Check the below steps to know how to sign up for a hosting plan from A2 Hosting step by step.

First, visit A2 Hosting’s website

Click on the Shared Hosting option in the top navigation menu

On the next screen, there would be 3 hosting plans.

In A2 Hosting Shared Hosting plans, you can choose the Lite plan. This would be sufficient for your micro niche blog. You may choose the Swift Plan as well.

So click on Get Lite option.

On the next step, you need to enter the domain name of your blog. I assume that you have followed me and already purchased the domain name.

If you have not purchased your domain name yet then buy it now. If you have already purchased a domain, then choose the option “I will my existing domain and update my nameservers”.

Enter your domain name and the extension on the appropriate field. Then click on Use.

On the next screen, you would be inside the cart. By default, they set the plan for 36 months.

Click on the dropdown list and choose 12 months plan.

If you click on the below link, you would get a flat 51% discount (offer is for a limited time).

Get Flat 51% OFF Now

Check the Customize Your Hosting option. Double-check and make sure that there shouldn’t be any extra service added in the cart expect, hosting plan.

Then click on the Continue button.

On the next step, review your plan and click on the Checkout button.

On the next screen, you need to enter your personal details and billing information to checkout. In the Account Security field, enter the password and security questions. You would use this password when login to your A2 dashboard after sign up.

Once you fill all the required information, check the “I have read and agree to the Terms of Service” option.

Then click on Complete Order.

Now you have successfully signed up for the hosting.

You will get a confirmation email with all the necessary details.

Note – A2 Hosting provides a 100% money back guaranty. That means if you don’t like their service, then you can cancel it anytime and get a refund. I have been using their service for a long time. I have not faced any issues.

Setup your blog

Once you sign up for hosting, you would get nameservers from A2 Hosting.

Go to your domain registrar control panel and find the option to change DNS. Change the default name servers of your domain and replace them with A2 Hosting’s nameservers.

Then log in to your cPanel and install WordPress. Install a theme to give your blog an attractive look. Then add some essential plugins to enhance the functionalities of your blog. Add some essential pages like Contact Us, About Us, etc.

Then submit your site to Google Search Console. It would help you Google to show your posts and pages in search results.

How to build backlinks for micro niche sites?

Building backlinks is one of the most important things you need to do with your micro niche site. Google doesn’t push new sites as they don’t have authority and trust.

Backlinks from other websites help to increase authority. This can boost your ranking and traffic.

Build a relationship with other bloggers and share your thoughts. You may contribute to their blog and put a link to your micro niche blog.

Another way is through guest posting. Reach out to similar sites in your niche and ask them for publishing the guest posts. You can put a link in it.

Create social media pages

Make your presence on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc. This helps you to drive more traffic. You can also use a paid promotion method to boost your content on these platforms.

How to make money from a micro niche site?

There are various ways to monetize your micro niche blog. Here are some recommended ways.

Amazon Associates

One of the most recommended ways to monetize micro niche sites is through the Amazon Affiliate program.

If your niche belongs to any product category in Amazon, then it would very good for you. Join the Amazon affiliate program and its free.

Then find some relevant products and pick the affiliate link. Then place the link in your site. When they purchase through your affiliate link, then you would get commissions.

You can write some review articles of some products and place your affiliate link in it.

Google Adsense

You can monetize your site through the world’s largest display Ad network. This is CPC (Cost per click) based network where you would get paid for clicks from your website.

The Adsence earning is directly professional to the amount of traffic you are getting. As micro niche sites get limited traffic, you may not rely long on it.

You may target high CPC keywords to get more money from each ad click.

Sponsored posts

You can publish sponsored posts on your site and earn money through it. Once your blog starts getting traffic, you can allow sponsored posts.

Sale your products or services

You can sell your physical and digital products through this site. Instead of depending on other mediums, you can promote your own.

Niche-specific sites drive very targeted traffics and the changes of conversion would be high.

Do’s and don’ts

Here are some do’s and don’ts of micro niche sites in 2020 and beyond.

Do’s of micro niche sites

The first and foremost thing to do is to stick with your niche. If you are not getting traffics then focus on producing high quality contents.

Be consistent and publish enough content. Target as many as keywords in your niche through high quality content.

Define your minimization platforms and build strategies accordingly. If you are targeting affiliate products then place and promote relevant products.

Don’t do’s of micro niche sites

Don’t create thin content. Instead of that, create quality content.

Don’t force people to buy from your affiliate links. I have seen many niche blogs place ads in various places hoping to get more clicks.

Conclusion

Micro niche blogs are the best way to earn some quick money on little investment. You have to do some initial works and then wait for the money to come.

Follow the above steps to find a micro niche idea and build your own blog.

The post How to Create a Micro Niche Blog and Make Money appeared first on KnowTechToday.

It helps to create, manage and customize your blog. WordPress is free and an open-source project. WordPress has its own ecosystem that contains thousands of free themes, plugins, widgets and other tools.

Currently, WordPress is powering more than 35% of websites on the web.

Let’s see various aspects of WordPress CMS.

What is a CMS?

A CMS or content management system is an application that capable to create, modify and publish digital content.

It also supports multiple users and allows them to work in collaboration. You can create many administrators, moderators, and users in WordPress CMS.

CMS also includes text and formatting features and the ability to upload photos, videos, audio, maps or even your own custom code.

The three most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

People often confused between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Sometimes people also use it interchangeably. But there are some major differences between them.

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is also known as “the real WordPress”. This is the popular website and blog platform that you have heard all the great things about.

When someone saying “WordPress” only, then assume it as WordPress.org.

It is open-source software and 100% free for anyone to use. All you need to have is a domain name and web hosting. You have the freedom to customize it according to your needs. Hence it is called as self-hosted WordPress.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a hosting service. It was founded by the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg.

Because of the same founder and name, people often confused between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

It works very similarly to other hosting companies. Unlike other hosts, WordPress.com has a free plan that provides you 3 GB disk space to host your website. You can use it to create a blog for free. But never use the free plan as it has serious limitations.

I personally never recommend using WordPress.com hosting plans.

I use and recommend A2 Hosting for their amazing service and support.

So let’s proceed with our discussion on WordPress CMS.

I am assuming that you have installed WordPress in your hosting and ready to use.

The WordPress front end and backend

WordPress CMS has two major areas. One is the front end and another one the backend.

The front end is what your blog visitors see when they landed. These things contain fonts, themes, design, plugin functionalities, etc.

The second one is the back end. This is also known as the WordPress Dashboard. This allows you to manage all the functionalities of your blog.

Here is a cool demonstration of the front end and back end of a blog.

You can customize your blog by adding a new theme, new plugin or various other multimedia.

In order to access the backend of your site or WordPress dashboard, you need to type: example.com/wp-admin in the address bar of your browser. Then you need to log in using your WordPress username and password. You have the username and password at the time of installing WordPress. So you are the administrator of the blog.

Once you log in, now you are inside the WordPress dashboard.

WordPress dashboard

WordPress dashboard consists of three main parts: top toolbar, left side menu, and middle section.

The left side menu contains all the admin options. This column includes menu options for various sub-areas.

Updates

Find various update related information like WordPress version update, and theme, plugin updates.

Posts

View all blog posts (blog content), add a new post to your blog, view and create categories, view and create tags.

Media

View your media library, upload images, videos, documents, mp3/mp4 files, etc.

Pages

View and add various pages to your blog.

Comments

Mange your comments using this section. You can approve, reply or delete new comments on blog posts and pages.

Appearance

Manage themes, customize your blog design (it depends on the theme you are using), manage widgets, manage various menus items and edit your blog’s header (it depends upon theme).

Plugins

Manage and add new plugins to enhance various functionalities.

Users

Manage users, add new users, assign them various roles, and update your profile.

Tools

This section helps to import and export content to the WordPress blog.

Settings

Edit general blog settings, reading settings, writing settings, media settings, discussion (comment) settings, and permalinks (URL structure of your blog).

In addition to the general menu items listed above in the left-hand column, you’ll also find other menu options for various plugins you have installed. It can be added to any existing standard or creates a new menu item anywhere in the left-hand column.

Left-hand column menu items

Let’s analyze each left-hand column menu item in detail.

Updates

WordPress releases minor and major updates at regular intervals. The update brings new features, bug fixes, security updates, etc.

If any update released by WordPress and you would be get notified in this section. Otherwise, you can enable the automatic WordPress update.

In addition to that, you would get various themes and plugins related updates if available.

Posts

The posted menu allows you to manage old content and add new ones. Published blog posts are listed in descending order.

In the Posts menu, you will get the following options:

All Posts

All the posts you have added in the backend would be visible here. You can use the quick edit section to edit single or multiple post categories, tags, status, author and ability to comment. Otherwise, you can edit individually by clicking on each post.

Add New

This option allows you to add a new post to your blog. You will also get this option inside existing posts as well.

Categories

Edit and add new categories to your blog. View all of the categories you have created.

Tags

Edit and add new tags to your blog. You can also see all the existing tags you have used in your blog.

Media

This is your WordPress media manager. You can upload rich media content like image, video, audio files, documents, etc.

You can add new media files, preview, edit and delete them.

In the Media menu, you will get the following options:

Library

View all of the media files you have uploaded to your WordPress blog. It would be shown in the grid view layout.

Add New

Add new media files like images, videos, etc to your WordPress blog.

Pages

Pages in a blog provide static information to users. In a WordPress blog, usually, the page is about us, contact us, privacy policy, disclaimer, products, services, etc.

In the Pages menu, you will get the following options:

All Pages

All the pages you have added to the WordPress dashboard would be visible here. You can edit or delete them from here.

Add New

Add a new page to your blog.

Posts vs Pages

Post and pages have their own uses and can’t be used interchangeably. Although they have many similarities, there are some differences as well.

Pages are not part of the main blog content. It is used for the static purpose. If you have a blog on travel niche, you would write posts about your latest travels and trips. You would create pages for contact, about your blog, etc.

Posts are part of your main blog content. It would be shown in the latest blog posts sections and RSS feeds.

Comments

In this section, you can manage various comments on posts and pages. Comments are great ways to engage with your blog readers.

You can approve new comments, edit and delete. There is also automatic spam filtering that filters spam and bot comments.

Appearance

In this menu, you would find various design-related options. You can search and install new themes for your blog. According to your theme, you would find various visual customization options.

In the appearance menu, you will get the following options:

Themes

Using this option, you can search and install new themes. If you have downloaded or purchased a theme from somewhere else then you can upload the zip file here.

Customize

Depending on the theme, you would get various customization options. You can customize title and tagline, background image, favicon, static front page, color, font size, and featured content.

Widgets

Depending on your theme, you can add various boxes in different places of your blog. Widgets can showcase social media links, categories, a search bar, subscription links, tags, about the text for the blog.

Menus

According to your theme, you can add one or more menus.

Header

Depending on the theme you would get the option to add a header image. The size varies from theme to theme.

Background

Depending on the theme, you can change the background color and add a background image.

Editor

The editor is for advanced users and requires coding knowledge. In this section, you can edit the source code of the theme.

Plugins

Plugins add various new functionalities to a blog. It can extend the theming capability and helps to customize your blog.

There are thousands of plugins available in the WordPress repository.

In the Plugins menu, you will get the following options:

Installed Plugins

In this section, you would find all the plugins that you have installed on your blog.

Add New

In this section, you can add new plugins. You can also upload a plugin in zip format.

Plugin Editor

Like theme editor, this plugin editor is for advanced users and requires coding knowledge. In this section, you can edit the source code of any plugin.

Users

In this section, you can add new users to a WordPress blog. You can assign various roles to each user. Here’s the list of roles:

Administrator

This is the highest role in WordPress. Users having this role can all the actions in a blog. The user can do anything as he/she has the highest level of access. Don’t assign anyone this role if you have not high trust.

Editor

A user with editor role can access and edit all posts, pages, tags, categories, comments, and links.

Author

A user with the author role can edit and publish posts, upload media files. But an author can only have access to edit his/her posts.

Contributor

A contributor can write and edit posts. But can’t publish a post.

Subscriber

A user with a subscriber role can only read and comment on posts or pages.

Tools

With the help of tools, you can perform some extended tasks in your WordPress blog.

Available tools

Under the thin section, you would get an option called “Press This”. It helps you to clip texts, images, etc. quickly and easily.

Import

This option allows you to import data from other blogging platforms.

Export

This feature allows you to export the blog content. Then you can import and install on new WordPress install. This is very helpful for blog backup.

Site Health

With the new WordPress 5.2, this is the new feature. It checks various aspects of a WordPress blog and provides a percentage score.

Export Personal Data

This is a security feature added to WordPress due to the GDPR rule. With the help of this tool, you can send personal data to your user on demand.

Erase Personal Data

This is also available in WordPress due to the GDPR rule. With the help of this tool, you can delete the personal data of users on demand.

Settings

This section controls all the settings of your WordPress site.

General

This section contains the basic settings for your WordPress site, including the site name, URL, date format, description, timezone, and main administrator email.

Writing

This section allows you to set default categories and post format. If you assign any, then WordPress would automatically assign one.

Reading

Using this section, you can set the home page of your website. It may be a static page or the latest blog posts.

Discussion

This option allows you to set a default setting for your WordPress comments. You can set the comments automatically approve or manually.

Media

This allows you to set the default size of the upload files. The upload size also varies from hosting to hosting. You can change this option in cPanel as well.

Permalink

This section allows you to customize the URL structure of your website. Here you can set a default URL structure for posts and pages.

Conclusion

These are things you need to know about the WordPress CMS. In the beginning, it seems quite difficult. Once you start using this platform you would know how simple it is. You can easily manage your blog using WordPress.

The post How to Use WordPress CMS (Beginner’s Guide) appeared first on KnowTechToday.

Would you believe if I say you can make your living and earn millions with full-time travel life?

This is not impossible. Because many people are doing travel blogging and making millions of dollars per month.

Why don’t you?

The cool thing is, you can start a travel blog after reading this article and start your journey today.

In this article, I will discuss how to start a travel blog and everything related to it.

So let’s get started.

Pick your domain name

To run a blog you need to have your own domain name. Your blogging journey starts with a domain name. This is the name people will remember and use it to land on your blog.

Amazon.com, Facebook.com, YouTube.com, Twitter.com are some examples of the domain names.

This is something that can’t be changed in regular intervals (or never) as it carries the identity of your blog.

So picking a domain name is crucial in the beginning. There are no hard and fast rules on picking a domain name.

Domain names are like real estate. You need to pay the rent to have one. Domain names are priced annually. The price varies from registrar to registrar. Usually the .com domain costs around $10 – $15 per year.

But the following tips would be helpful for picking an awesome domain name for your blog.

Note – I have already written an in-depth blog on how to choose an awesome domain. So feel free to check that one once.

Keep your domain name short

Short and meaningful domain names are always good as it has many advantages.

The domain name has less than 15 characters are always good.

A single word domain name is worth finding but very very rare. If you are lucky enough, then you may find one.

You can combine 2 or 3 words relevant words and make a meaningful domain.

Always go for the .com domain

The .com extension is considered as the king of all extensions. According to a survey, more than 70% of all websites have a .com domain extension.

People are more acquainted with the .com domain as it is mostly used. By default, people assume this domain extension with any domain.

When you are in search of a domain name then go with .com domain only.

Avoid including trademark names

Always stay away from trademark names and never include them in your domain. If you do this, then you may face serious legal action in the future.

Before choosing a domain name, it would be a good idea to check the trademark name database. For this, visit Wipo.int and search the name.

Don’t include a year

Adding a year is a common mistake among new bloggers. This is a bad practice and you should never do this.

After one year the domain would seem old and outdated.

It is also good practice to not include any numbers in a domain name.

Buy instantly before someone else takes it

Domain names are selling quickly. So search for a good domain name and make your decision quickly.

I recommend you to buy your domain name today.

Thousands of people are actively searching for domain names and once they find would book it for them. (I have faced this many times)

You can delay to write and publish your first post. But don’t be lazy on domain name buying.

GoDaddy, Bluehost, Namecheap are some of the best domain registrars you can choose from.

I personally prefer to go with GoDaddy (The biggest domain registrar in the world).

Buying a domain name is very similar to purchase something on Amazon. So I am not discussing the steps here. You would do it easily.

Choose a blogging platform

To start and manage your blog, you need a platform. There are many blogging platforms available. Some of the examples are Blogger, WordPress.com, and Tumblr, etc.

If you want to start a blog for free, then you can choose the above option. But the above platforms have serious limitations and I never recommend to go with the free ones.

If you choose a free blogging platform then you would face various difficulties in the future. You may take it to make some fun and experiments.

There is an option to go with a custom-coded website. But it is pricey and as a beginner, I don’t recommend to go with this one.

I recommend going with Self-hosted WordPress. There is no limitation in it and you’re absolutely free to customize it completely.

When I am saying self-hosted WordPress (simply WordPress) it is WordPress.org. There is much difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world and powers 35% of the internet.

You would have the option to install WordPress for free with your hosting plan.  After installing WordPress, you can manage the whole site through this CMS tool. We would discuss it later in this article.

Sign up for a hosting

After picking your domain name now its time to sign up for hosting. This hosting will store all your blog files and helps to keep running your blog.

There are a lot of hosting companies. One can easily get distracted by the wrong one.

I like A2 Hosting and have been using it for more than 2 years.

I am going to show you how to buy a hosting plan from A2 Hosting step by step.

First, visit A2 Hosting’s website.

Click on the Shared Hosting option in the top navigation menu

On the next screen, there would be 3 hosting plans. You might be confused about which option is best for you.

As you are just starting your blogging journey, you don’t need to take a lot for hosting spaces.

In A2 Hosting Shared Hosting plans, you can choose the Lite plan. This would be sufficient for your travel blog. You may choose the Swift Plan as well.

So click on Get Lite option.

On the next step, you need to enter the domain name of your blog. As you are here, I assume that you have already purchased the domain name.

If you have not purchased a domain name yet then buy it now. If you have already purchased a domain, then choose the option “I will my existing domain and update my nameservers”.

Enter your domain name and extension on the appropriate field. Then click on Use.

On the next screen, you would be inside the cart. By default, A2 Hosting set the plan for 36 months.

Click on the dropdown list and choose 12 months plan.

If you click on the below link, you would get a flat 51% discount (offer is for a limited time).

Get Flat 51% OFF Now

Check the Customize Your Hosting option. Make sure that you have not any extra service added in the cart expect, hosting.

Once you ensure, everything is correct, click on the Continue button.

On the next step, review your plan and click on the Checkout button.

Next step, you need to enter your personal details and billing information to checkout. On the Account Security field, enter the password and security questions. You would use this password when login to your A2 dashboard after sign up.

Once you fill all the required information, check the “I have read and agree to the Terms of Service” option.

Then click on Complete Order.

Now you have successfully signed up for the hosting.

You will get a confirmation email with all the necessary details.

Note – A2 Hosting provides a 100% money back guaranty. That means if you don’t like their service, then you can cancel it anytime and get a refund. I have been using their service for a long time. I have not faced any issues.

Above all, A2 Hosting also offers 24/7 world-class customer support via live chat, telephone, a ticket-based system. So if you ever need any hosting-related assistance, they are available for you all around the clock.

Connect your domain with hosting

As of now you have the domain and hosting. Now its time to connect them both. After the connection, when someone visits your blog, the hosting server will serve your blog pages.

No matter where you buy the domain, you would have the option to change the DNS records.

No need to worry about the technical terms. You need to do it once and the process is very simple also.

Go to your domain registrar control panel and find the option to change DNS.

Find the nameservers for your A2 hosting account.

To find nameservers in A2 Hosting, login to your dashboard first. Click on the Account details. You can also get the nameservers in cPanel.

Copy the name servers and paste it in the domain control panel.

Once the process successfully completed, allow up to 24 hours for DNS to fully propagate worldwide.

Install WordPress

Once you connect your domain with hosting, the next step is to install WordPress. There are two ways to install WordPress in your hosting.

One is manually and another one is through cPanel using Softaculous. In this post, we would discuss the Softaculous method. This method is more simple with A2 Hosting.

Follow these steps to install WordPress through Softaculous.

Log in to your A2 Hosting account. You would find an option to log in to your cPanel.

Go to Softaculous Apps Installer section

Click on the options WordPress – A2 Optimized

On the next screen, you would be inside the Softaculous. Click on Install.

Fill the WordPress installation details.

After filling all the fields, click on Install.

Softaculous will check the submitted data and start installing the files to your server for WordPress.

After a successful installation, you would get the confirmation. On the next screen, you would get the admin URL.

Basically, the WordPress login page is domain name/wp-admin. But A2 Hosting cares about your site security. So it hides the admin login URL to keep your site safe. Note that URL. You will use the URL to login to your WordPress dashboard.

Install a theme

After installing WordPress, a default theme would be installed. The latest version of WordPress installs a theme named Twenty Twenty.

The default theme lags in features and doesn’t have a good user interface. The good news, there are hundreds of themes available for free in the WordPress repository.

The theme controls the user interface of your website. There also various customization options is available.

Best WordPress themes for travel blogs

These are some of the best WordPress themes for a travel blog.

• Travelberg
• Inside Tours
• Safar Lite
• Whitish Lite

To install a theme in your new blog, follow the below steps.

Login to your WordPress dashboard

Go to Appearance > Themes > Add New

Search for the above name and install it as per your choice. Once you install one, then go to Appearance > Customize to edit various aspects of your blog design.

Install some essential plugins

After installing a suitable theme, the next step is to install some plugins. WordPress plugin enhances the capability and adds some features.

There are over 50,000 plugins in the WordPress repository. Basically, you would find a plugin for almost every need.

To install a plugin go to Plugins > Add New

Akismet Anti-Spam –  It is the best anti-spam plugin in WordPress. This is the best way to protect your blog from spam. Go to your Akismet Settings page to set up your API key and you are good to go.

Yoast SEO – The most widely used and best SEO plugin for WordPress. This helps you to optimize your blog for on-page optimization. It helps to optimize title, URL, meta descriptions for your posts. It also creates and submit a sitemap for search engines.

UpdraftPlus – UpdraftPlus is a good option to take automatic backups. This plugin will keep the backup files in remote storage like Google Drive. You can restore it if needed.

Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights – Track your traffic through the MonsterInsights plugin. Just connect your Google Analytics to this plugin. Then you can track your traffic directly from your WordPress dashboard.

Note that these are not the only plugins to have on your site. According to your need, install other plugins.

Create some essential pages

As the name suggests, there are some essential pages in a blog. This means you need to create it in the beginning. There are

About Us page – On this page describe something about you. You can start from the history as well. This gives readers a clear view of what the blog is all about and what message you want to pass to people.

For a clear understanding, you can check other blogs. Tell people about your experience in travel and what you have learned.

Contact Us page – This is the page where you need to provide contact information. This will help interested people to contact you.

Create a custom email with your domain name. Your domain name would be like contact@domainname.extention. With your hosting plan, you will get the option to create this type of email.

Privacy Policy page – A Privacy Policy is probably one of the most important and legal agreements for your online business. On this page describe whether you are collecting personal data or not, uses of cookies, etc. on your website.

Disclaimer page – Disclaimer page is also known as the Terms of Use page. It protects you from lawsuits and liability. This page is also important in a monetization point of view.

These are some of the essential pages you need to have in your blog. In the beginning, you need to add these pages to your blog. In addition to this, you can add other pages according to your needs.

Learn some WordPress basics

You have installed WordPress and also installed a nice looking themes. As WordPress is going to be your next home, you need to learn the basics.

I have written a compressive step by step guide to learn WordPress CMS. So feel free to check that out to know more.

Write your first post

Once you complete all the above steps, now it’s time to write your first post. Writing the first post is always contains lots of energy and motivation.

Find some topics that you would cover in your blog and make a list of them. There is no hard and first rule what to write in the first post. It’s your blog and starts with whatever you want. It completely depends on you.

If you have traveled somewhere in the past, then you can start what one of them. Describe all your experience from the beginning of the journey to the end.

To get some idea, how to write travel blogs, you can visit some other blogs.

Do some basic SEO

SEO stands for search engine optimization. This the practice of optimizing sites for search engines.

This a vast topic and can’t be covered here. On the surface level, you can optimize your individual post to rank on the first page of Google.

If you have installed SEO plugin like Yoast, then it recommends you various steps.

Submit your site to Google Search Console

One of the most important things many new travel bloggers miss is to submit the site in Google Search Console.

To show your posts and pages in Google search results, you need to submit the blog in GSC. To get your site listed on search results, Google needs to “crawl” and “index” your content.

Follow the steps

Go to Google Search Console.

Login or click ‘Start Now’, if needed.

Click ‘Add property’ under the search drop-down on the left side on the page.

Google allows you to verify the site ownership through 2 methods. One is a domain level and another one is the URL level.

Choose the URL verification and enter your website URL in the box and click ‘Continue’. Enter your exact URL.

Then Google will show you various verification methods. Choose the HTML tag method. Click the arrow in the ‘HTML tag’ to expand the option.

You need to place one line of code on your blog’s header. Install the insert header and footer plugin and place the code in the head section of it.

Once you place the code in your blog, go back to the Google search console and click verify.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully connected your website to Google Search Console!

Next submit your, sitemap to GSC. Then Google will take its time to crawl and index pages.

Create social media profiles

Make your presence on social media platforms. This helps you get new visitors to your blog. This also helps in the beginning days.

Create social media profiles on various platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Post your published articles there and drive traffic to your blog. Post regularly and you would get new followers as well.

Promote your blog

You have made an amazing blog and written many quality content. Now its time to promote your blog.

As you have made social media profile for your blog and posted something, you can promote them. You can run ads to reach many people in less time.

There is also the option to run Google ads that shows your page in Google Searches and display networks.

This way more and more people will know about your new blog.

How to make money with a travel blog?

There are many ways to make money with a travel blog. In fact, you can live throughout your life through the income of this blog.

Google Adsense

You can place Google Adsense in your blog and get paid. This is the biggest display ad network in the world and you can make a decent income if you have traffic.

Affiliate marketing

This is the best source of income for a travel blogger. You can recommend people to buy some products and earn a commission based on it.

Join some affiliate programs like Amazon, Booking.com and recommend your audience. When they would buy products or services from your link, you earn a commission.

Sponsored content

The brand pays to publish a post on your blog. You can allow them to do so and charge for each post.

Selling products

You can sell products on your blog and earn money also. This may be a physical or digital product.

Is it too late to start a travel blog in 2020?

Many people ask me is it too late to start a travel blog?

My simple and only answer is NO.

Travel blog was very crowded a few years ago. At that time many bloggers wanted to enter this niche and became a travel blogger. But they quite after some time as they have no vision.

At that time there are not many monetization options also. People were also struggling to get paid for their work.

Now everything has changed and you can make your living with travel blogging.

Now there is a lot of option for monetization and you can earn in many ways.

So this may be the perfect time to start a travel blog.

What are you waiting for?

So here’s the link to get started with A2 Hosting today where you can save 51% instantly.

Create a YouTube channel to maximize the earning

We are living in the age of videos. YouTube is skyrocket nowadays. People are watching videos like never before.

So creating a YouTube channel is a wise idea.

As you are traveling around the world and exploring places, you can make videos of them. People have the curiosity to see new places and you can make available them.

In the beginning, if you can’t afford an expensive camera then it’s OK. You can record videos using your smartphone. These days a smartphone is also rich with camera specifications and you can easily record HD videos using it.

After recording, make some edits and publish it to YouTube. The best thing is, you can monetize your videos and earn money from them.

This way you have multiple sources of income. You can also place a link to your blog in the YouTube video description and drive traffic to your blog.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Travel Blog?

To run your travel blog, there are some upfront costs. It includes the price of domain and hosting.

The cost of a .com domain is under $10 (per year) and the best hosting plan of A2 Hosting is around $3 per month.

In the beginning, you don’t have to buy fancy stuff like premium WordPress themes or plugins. There are a lot of good themes available in the WordPress repo for free.

Is the travel niche too saturated?

No, the travel niche is not saturated yet. Many people are in this space but don’t work seriously. Very few people taking it seriously and make their living with it.

There is always a space for a new blog like you.

Can I make money from travel blogging?

Yes, you can make a lot of money through travel blogging. There are many ways to earn from a travel blog.

How much I can earn from it?

There is no limit. People are making more than $100,000 per year through travel blogging.

What do things need to start a travel blog?

You need to have a domain, hosting, smartphone, Laptop, and dedication.

Should I buy a travel blogging course?

No, it is a waste of money. You can learn everything for free. As you start entering this orbit, you would learn. If you stuck somewhere, then Google it or watch some video tutorials on YouTube.

Just buy a domain and hosting today and you are good to go.

Conclusion

Everyone wants to be a travel blogger. But most of them quit early and few get success. You would be get paid to travel around the world. This might be a dream job everyone wants to do.

The world is waiting to read your travel story and tips. What are you waiting for?

Buy your domain name and buy a hosting plan from A2 Hosting and start your blogging journey now. 

Start your travel blog today before it’s too late.

I Want to Start My Blog Now

The post How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money (Step-by-Step) appeared first on KnowTechToday.

The domain name seems very ordinary but demands many hours and days to get. This is something that can’t easily change as it carries the brand.

So, needless to say, choose the best domain name from the beginning.

In this article, I will share all the essential tips and procedures you need to follow to get various domain name ideas and choose the best domain name.

After this, I would also show you how to register your new domain name for free.

So let’s get started.

How to choose a domain name

Here is a list of some of the recommended tips you need to follow when you are searching for a domain name.

1. Always go for the king of all domain extension (.com)

There are thousands of domain name extensions available. According to Wikipedia, there are more than 1530 Internet top-level domains (TLD).

Some of the popular extensions are .com, .org, .net, .edu etc. But nothing is more popular than the .com extension. It is considered as the king of all domain extensions.

According to a survey, more than 70% of all websites have a .com domain extension.

I also recommend using the .com domain.

People are more acquainted with the .com domain. By default, people assume this domain extension with any domain.

Many people are using smartphones to access websites. You have noticed that there is a dedicated .com button on the smartphone keyboard.

As the extension is so popular, it is hard to find a good domain name with .com availability. If you found a domain name but the .com extension is not available, then you should forget about that one and search for a new one.

Some people prefer to use country-level domain extensions for better ranking and SEO benefits. If you want to isolate your online presence inside your locality, then this might be helpful. In the age of the internet, why should we isolate in a particular region where we can present globally with .com domain extension.

Some companies also choose country-level domains for dedicated sites in the countries. This can be done through sub-domains and no need to go with the country-level domain.

If you want to make a brand with your domain name and establish a strong online presence, then you should go with the .com domain.

2. Keep your domain name short

Short domain names are always good for various reasons. Peoples can easily remember short names rather than long (That’s why we prefer to call someone by their nickname).

The domain name has less than 15 characters are always good.

When people type your name then a short name takes less time whereas a long name takes more. In addition to that, the chances of typo is always there. This may lead to traffic loss.

A single word domain name is very very rare. If you are lucky enough, then you may find one.

Otherwise, you may pay thousands of dollars to domain brokers for a single word domain. I don’t recommend to do so, as you can get another good one by applying your creativity.

You can also combine 2 or 3 words and make a meaningful domain.

So, it is a good idea to keep the domain name short and memorable.

3. It should easy to use and pronounce

We have discussed the importance of short domain names. So people pick short names but have a critical combination of words and hard to pronounce.

As you have chosen the domain name, then you may spell and pronounce it easily. But what about other people who just heard your domain name?

Complicated words may create confusion and listeners take it wrongly. As a site owner, you would never want this.

You never know when you’ll be asked to tell your domain name. So you should make your domain name easily pronounceable and understand.

4. Make it unique and brandable

Your domain name seems ordinary at the beginning but will be your brand. The unique domain name distinguishes your site from the mass. This creates a separate space in people’s minds.

We are surrounded by brands. Pick any successful brands and you would find that the names are unique and carry the brand.

Whether you are searching a domain name to start a blog, or want to start a brand, unique and brandable domains fit in all.

The best way to get a brandable name is to create one. You can create a new catchy word and make your brand with it. This name would be your identity and people remember it.

Brandable domain names are always catchy, unique, and memorable. For example, “Amazon.com” is a much more brandable and unique name than “BuyOnline.com.”

5. Avoid trademark names

When you are searching for domain names, make sure you should not violate any trademark names. It is illegal to use trademark names in the domain names.

Big brands like Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, etc trademark their name to save the brand identity.

Before choosing a domain name check the trademark name database. For this, visit Wipo.int and search the name. There are various search options available and choose as per your requirement.

If you found no such name registered under the trademark, then you can proceed further. This helps you the confidence that you are using your own name and won’t violating any trademark.

6. Avoid numbers and hyphens

Avoid the uses of numbers and hyphens inside a domain name. Numbers create confusion. Because when you told the domain name to someone then he/she might confuse whether the number is in text form or numeric.

Similarly, hyphens create typo errors as visitors fumble about it. Error in typing leads to loose in traffic.

7. Avoid consecutive double letters

Your domain name shouldn’t contain consecutive double letters. It creates confusion and chances of losing traffic due to typos.

This means if you are using a two-letter domain then the end letter of a word should not the beginning letter of the next word.

So when choosing a domain name pick the words that will not create confusion when some read it.

8. Check social networks usernames

This is a smart step you can take when choosing a domain name. Check whether the social media user names are available or not.

To build a brand, your social media usernames should contain the exact same name as the domain.

For example, facebook.com/yourdomain, twitter.com/yourdomain.

Namechk.com is a great tool to know social media username availability. Please note that, don’t use domain extension here. Just put the name only. The tool will do the rest. You can also check various domain extension availability as well.

9. Use domain name generators tools for quick Ideas

When you feel prostituted after searching domain name, then what you should do? Well, you can use some domain name generator tools.

Rather than manually putting words and checking whether it is available or not, you can use this tool.

After putting keywords, the tool will automatically suggest thousands of available domain names. These tools actually combine different words and show availability.

If you are in a hurry to pick just a random domain name, then you can go for these tools. Or you can grab some ideas for searching or make an innovative word.

Namemesh.com is a trusted and well-known domain name generator tool.

10. Choose a trustworthy domain registrar

The domain registrar is the company that registers domain names for you, and then allows you full access to that domain name.

Register your domain name with a trusted domain registrar to avoid further issues. Some people have already lost their domain names for registering domain names with the bad registrar.

We recommend GoDaddy, Bluehost, and Namecheap for domain registration.

11. Buy instantly before someone else takes it

With the growth of the internet, domain names are selling very quickly. Thousands of domain names are registered every day.

Once you find an awesome domain that you like, then don’t waste time and buy it as soon as possible. If you wait then the chances are you would not get the same domain when you book it in the future.

Thousands of people are actively searching for domain names and once they find would book it for them.

Domain names cost a few dollars for a month so one can buy it instantly.

12. Lock the domain for better security

The domain name is like an online asset. So you need to protect it from spammers.

Domain hijacking actually happens and many people lost their domain more often than you’d imagine.

Hackers can access your password via a phishing attack, and other fun methods to steal the domain name.

Some domain registrars offer a feature to lock it. It prevents unauthorized attempts to transfer the domain names.

Once you enable this feature, one can’t change DNS and transfer any domain until you unlock it.

What about expired domain names?

Some people prefer to use expired domain names instead of a new one. Expired domains were taken by someone else but not renewed in time. Now the domain is again available for sale.

Domain names are like real estate. Until you pay the rent, the asset is yours. Once you stop paying the renewal fee, then it would not be yours.

People prefer to use expired domain names due to their SEO benefits. These types of domains may have some domain authority and backlinks.

Search engines like Google refresh their index once the site goes down. The authority may be in the domain side, but may not be considered when it dropped and again taken. Sometimes expired domain backfires due to the history associated with it.

One of the major disadvantages of the expired domain is the name itself. You should take it as it is. You would never find a quality expired domain name with a unique and catchy name.

Taking a domain name is the onetime decision. So take your time and decide whether you will take a new unique, catchy and meaningful name or take a random expired domain just to get tiny SEO benefits.

Free domain registration

There are hundreds of domain registrars in the world. The price of the domain varies just like web hosting. It also depends on the extension as well.

Why pay for a domain name where you can get it for free?

Would you believe me if I say, you can get a domain name for free?

Yes, you heard right. For free.

As you know, a domain name is incomplete without a hosting. Today or tomorrow you should buy a hosting plan to connect both. But what if you would get a free domain name with hosting?

If you’re going to start a new website, then it’s a very smart idea to take advantage of this ongoing offer and get your dream domain name for free.

Bluehost is one of the most trusted and largest brands in web hosting space. It is also officially recommended by WordPress itself. Now it is powering more than 2 million websites worldwide.

Currently, they are giving a massive discount on hosting plans. Moreover, you would get a free domain name with every plan.

Use this tool to check your domain availability.

There is a very famous phrase in domain space “All the good domain names are taken”.

Before someone takes your dream domain name use the above tool to check the availability. Get a chance to enjoy the free domain registration as well.

Conclusion

So these are some of the tips you need to follow to choose the best domain name. Some names speak for themselves and show the brand identity. Would it be your domain next?

Don’t forget to get the chance of free domain name registration with Bluehost hosting. The world gets noisier each day. Before its too late, have a domain name.

The post How to Choose an Awesome Domain Name appeared first on KnowTechToday.

Who doesn’t want freedom? The definition of freedom may be different for different people. Someone wants financial freedom someone wants to express their thoughts to the words and called it as his freedom or some other type. You name it all.

Can you accept me if I say that you will find all these things in blogging? I know this is a big commitment, but the truth is it’s absolutely right. Someone may raise conflict on this, but I will standstill.

No one is a born blogger. Every big name in this industry was like you once. They also once search like you for how to start a blog. Or may have learned to blog from other sources.

So, you can start your blogging journey right now. Do you know you can start your blogging journey for free and in the next 5 minutes?

Yes.

Now you may have the doubt that how to start a blog for free? Don’t worry I will discuss this in detail.

However, as a beginner, you may not want to start blogging with some initial investment. Or you may not have sufficient funds to create a blog. This is completely reasonable. Don’t worry you are not alone.

Before going on the journey just wait some time. I have to clear some points.

As I told earlier, I will discuss it in detail means “in details”.

I don’t know you have searched for this somewhere or not. Or how many ideas you have in this. If you have the knowledge, it’s ok. You can skip some beginning steps. If you have not don’t worry, I am going to start it with the starch.

Are you ready? Let’s begin our journey.

Things to know before you start a blog

I know that some people have a basic idea about the blog. So I am discussing for those who are complete beginners. If you want you can grab some more ideas too.

Although you have decided to start a blog then what? The world is full of exciting works. There is a world exists outside the blogging world.

Why you take such types of decisions. Wait, wait, I am not confusing or demotivating you. A lot of excitement is still to come. Keep your patient.

So, let me clear one thing if you are really passionate about it, then nothing is better than this. I personally respect your decision about starting a blog. If not then you may choose different things in the world.

Are you too busy to know how to create a new blog for free? Just wait. I am going to discuss some of the resigns why should you start blogging. Read these resigns.

If your purpose is present among the list, then go ahead. The world is yours.

Why should you start blogging

Blogging gives you a platform for your voice to be heard

This may be the most important purpose of blogging. Do you think that you are unique and want to teach people or want to express your thoughts in front of people? Then nothing is cool as blogging.

A blog will give you the platform where you can stand straight and express your language. There is no burden or huddles. Your voice will reach thousands of peoples.

You may not have some expert knowledge on any topic, but you have a unique voice. Who knows people are just waiting for a voice like you.

Blogging helps you build trust by proving the value

With blogging, you will have the trust of thousands of people. People will sign-up for your newsletters etc. they just want to hear from you. What an awesome world for you at that time.

The resign is not that you are a blogger. You are providing value to them. You are helping others.

Blogging can give you financial freedom

Let me be 100% honest here. Most people start blogging to make it money-making the machine. Just do some blogging and make hundreds of dollars.

If you have the same kind of thoughts, then the next line will break your heart into pieces. According to a survey done by Blogging.org, 81% of bloggers have never made $100 from their blogging efforts.

Is this hurt you? Now you may find your answer. You may think why they are not making money on this. According to my opinions, they are not as passionate or serious about it.

If you are entering this world just to make some decent income then you have to try something different from blogging. Similarly, if you have the passion or dedication then no one will stop you from making handy money.

Blogging is fun

If you are serious about it then blogging is fun. If this were just another job, people don’t too serious about it. Bloggers enjoy their works. When you start enjoying your work, just remember my words “Blogger enjoy their works”.

Oh, how interesting blogging is?

There are several other regions that may push someone to blog. But as per my experience, these are some of the selected regions of blogging. What is your region of blogging? Leave a comment below. I always respect your voice.

Now you have some basic idea about blogging. Now you have a clear vision of what is blogging. If your vision is clear, then why you are waiting for it. Just start your blog today.

So, as a beginner, you want to start a new one. The region for starting a blog for free may be different in different people, but the vision should be one. To start a blog.

But how to do this?

Well, there are many ways. I am going to discuss some trusted platforms that can you can use.

How to start a blog for free

As you decided to start your blog for free I appreciate it.

There is a number of ways you can create a blog for free. Many beginners like you put their hands on different platforms.

The option to start a blog is a lot. But there are some recommended ways.

If you are looking for a simple free blog, my personal suggestion would be to start blogging with WordPress.com or Blogger.com.

These are the two best blogging platforms you can start your journey. A lot of bloggers have started their journey with these platforms and now became a successful blogger.

You will not a successful blogger overnight. There is a number of things to learn in it.

As these platforms are free, these have some limitations. I will discuss it in detail in a few moments.

Once you have some handful of blogging experience, you can go with a self-hosted WordPress blog.

First, let me discuss Blogger.com. Then I will discuss WordPress.com.

How to create a blog on Google Blogger

Before I start talking about how to create a blog on blogger for free, let me clear some points.

Blogger (Blogger.com) is a blogging platform powered by Google. It gives you a platform to start a blog without any cost. But all your images will be hosted by Picasa (also part of Google). You can create your free blog in the next 5 minutes.

Step by step guide process

To create your free blog on Google Blogger, just visit Blogger.com.

The interface will look like this.

Then click on the CREATE YOUR BLOG button.

It will redirect you to the Google accounts login page. If you have a Gmail account then just log in (Probably have). If not then create one for free. With one Google account, you can create 100 blogs.

After login to your Google account, It will prompt you a screen like this. This means you are inside Google blogger.

The first thing you need to do is add a title and select your domain. Be creative and pick your domain name.

You may face some error message when adding your domain name.

Don’t be harass. Most of the name was already taken. This does not mean you are so late. This means a creative name just waiting to name.

Avoid using your personal name as the domain name (Someone chooses his name as a domain name and makes it as a brand. But rarely).

Choose a good title and domain name and then select a template. There are hundreds of templates, you can change it any time you want. Then click on the Create blog button.

Note that I have just picked a name for example. You name your blog according to your passion or creativity.

Then Blogger will prompt a screen like this.

This means you can search a domain matching to this domain. Nowadays Google also started selling domains. If you are not interested in the blogspot.com domain extensions then you may go for a custom domain.

If you want to buy a domain name from Google and then just press Search.

As we are discussing the free methods, So we can skip the step. You can buy a custom domain later and can connect it later.

So you have just press close button.

Now you are inside of your blog (In this case – Blogging Journey Started).

Congratulations!

Your blog was successfully created.

Are you excited to see your blog how it looks like? Then why are you waiting for?

Just click on the View blog option on the left side top of the page.

Your blog will open in a new tab.

In my case, the first looks like this. In your case, this may vary according to your template.

This seems quite simple and nothing showing here right? Yes, you are right, there is no post or pages.

You have to add posts, pages widgets as per your requirement.

For that, you have to go to the backend of your blog. Just visit where you were before and start editing.

Now you need to edit the templet and look of your blog. Just head over to set. You will find every option.

As a beginner just plays with the blog. Nothing wrong with this because the more you try the more you learn.

This may not be possible to explain all the functionality of a Google Blogger in this article. So this is the basic.

You have just created your blog. Try hundreds of different options on this. When you start tiring you will face some problem.

Just Google your problems. You will find your answer and try to fix your problem. In this way, you will learn more and more.

When you have enough posts on your blog then you may think about earning. Google blogger also includes an option named Earnings.

You can put ads on your blog and earn money from this.

As you see this is currently showing “Your blog doesn’t currently qualify for AdSense.” You may understand this.

It also shows you the guidelines on how to qualify for AdSense? AdSense is a free, simple way to earn money by placing ads on your website. It also owned by Google.

So these are the steps you can follow. In this section, I have discussed how to create a blog on blogger for free.

Limitations of Google Blogger

Like everything in the world, the Google Blogger platform also has some disadvantages.

• The domain name contains a blogspot.com extension.
• Blogger owns your whole blog. You have no control over
• A lesser number of plugins/widgets and customization options.
• Limited template available for your blog

However, this just the first phase of our discussion. This means we have created a free blog using Google Blogger.

Awesome.

Let’s move to the second phase of our discussion. I.e. how to start a blog on WordPress for free?

So let’s discuss it step by step.

How to start a blog on WordPress

WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS). You may have the doubt that what is a content management system (CMS)?

Well, A content management system (CMS) manages the creation and modification of digital content. This means CMS provides a complete environment where you can manage your blog. It is the most famous CMS that powers 31% of the internet.

It seems a little bit technical, right? Yes, it is.

But here is the twist.

Do you know that there are two different platforms in the same name? One is WordPress.com and another one is WordPress.org.

Many beginners confuse the two which leads them to choose the wrong platform.

So what is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

There is a lot of difference between the two. Here you can find the complete list of differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a hosting service created by the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg.

It offers some plans like this.

You can choose the first plan and start your blog for free.

WordPress.org

You can term the WordPress.org as the “the real WordPress”. It is open-source and 100% free for anyone to use. All you need is a domain name and web hosting. Just install WordPress CMS in your domain and go. This is why it is also termed as self-hosted WordPress.

So we have to continue our journey with WordPress.com

Step by step process

To create a free blog just go to WordPress.com and click on Log In.

If you don’t have an account then just create one. It’s free.

On the next screen, you will see a page like this. Here you have to fill the details like the name of your blog, what is your site about, etc.

Fill all the details and press Continue.

The next screen will ask you to enter your blog’s name or keyword. In this case, I am going with the same name I used in Google Blogger. I.e “Blogging Journey Started”.

You can pick any name as you wish. This will be your URL with the wordpress.com subdomain extension. Why? Because we are in a free plan.

If you want you can buy a custom domain and place it. You can do this step later.

It will show you various options with domain extensions. This shows your exact match domain with various extension options.

You can buy a domain name from here and use it or do it later. Now we will go with the free domain provided by WordPress.com i.e bloggingjourneystarted.wordpress.com.

As indicated the image picks the Free one and press Select.

The next screen shows you like this. Here you have to choose a plan. Because I mentioned earlier that WordPress.com is a hosting service provider in which you can go with the free plan.

Click on Start with Free as indicated on the image.

If you completed the whole process right then you will show a message like this.

Just press Continue.

Congratulation! Your blog was successfully created.

You will see a page like this.

Now you are inside the backend of your blog.

The first page suggests you complete some of the steps. Complete the steps.

This complete interface is called the Admin panel. With this admin panel, you can do customizations of your blog.

With this admin panel, you can add new pages, posts and much more.

As I said in the Google Blogger section. This is just the beginning of your journey.

I have given you the step by step guide for starting a new blog without any cost. It is for absolute beginners.

Limitation of WordPress.com

There also some limitations on WordPress.com free plan.

• The domain name contains wordpress.com extension
• Earning Limitations
• You can’t upload themes and plugins
• Change of account suspension (It is very strict to their terms of service)

These are the steps you can follow to create a free blog with Google Blogger or WordPress.com. I think you are now very clear about it.

Which one should I choose as a beginner?

This may be the most asked question in the blogging industry.

A lot of new bloggers like you find himself in this double-cross.

To say frankly there is no golden answer to this question. Blogging is based on which platform you choose or not.

A lot of bloggers have started their journey on both of the platforms.

But as per my experience, I have seen a lot of famous bloggers have started their journey with Google Blogger.

As we are on a journey to create a blog for free, we are only talking about free options.

Don’t waste your time finding the right platform to start blogging. Take one platform and just start with it.

Google Blogger is a famous blogging platform you can start your journey. It is a bigger friendly platform and ready to go.

You can start your blog in the next 5 minutes and starts publishing posts on Google Blogger.

If you are very serious about blogging and want to put your soul in it, then I recommend going with paid options. Buy a domain and hosting and start blogging.

Now you may have clear understating what to do next.

Conclusion

Oh, after a long journey, now you know how to start a blog for free. Finally, we are in the conclusion. It is a long journey is no it?

To say frankly, if you have a passion for blogging then dive into it you will find that it’s fun. I have been blogging for several years and I found that it’s fun for me.

Or sometimes the passion came after blogging for some time. A strange force attracts someone toward blogging.

I have seen that people come to this industry (blogging) and after working for 1 month or 2 months they left it completely. Why? Because they are not passionate about it.

When someone asks them should I start blogging, their immediate answer is no.

There is no straight high-way to be a success in blogging. It takes time to grow in this field. You have to spend a handy amount of time on it. The time you spend on it will never valueless.

The majority of people start blogging to earn a decent income from the beginning. Think a bit logically, If this really happens then why should people are doing other jobs. They may leave their jobs and just start a blog and earn from it. Is it right or not. If it was easy everyone would be doing it.

This may be hard for you but that’s the truth. The truth is always bitter.

So, don’t come to blogging for earning only. You will be tired too early in this journey. No one is a blogger from day one. Try to learn something each day and implement it in your blog. In these ways, you will grow as well as your blog.

The world gets noisier each day. If you have a genuine interest in this don’t waste your time just start your blog today. If you are late you may miss the last boat towards your destination.

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