The Complete Personal Blog Guide: How to Start a Personal Blog on WordPress

There’s plenty of space on the internet for everybody. People love to share ideas, voice their thoughts, and maybe even try to reach a global audience. How do you set yourself up to achieve those goals? Well, one way to do it, is to start a personal blog. Blogs are super-effective for a couple of reasons. Chief among them, is that 77% of internet users read blogs, so your potential audience is already out there. Moreover, creating a personal WordPress blog isn’t hard to do, so why not give it a shot?

How to start a personal blog

As mentioned, everybody reads blogs.

If we take a closer look at the statistics, people who blog usually do it by using WordPress. The data tells us that the WordPress platform runs more than 30% of the internet (as in the number of sites built with it).

However, if you’re new to blogging or web development, then you might not know that WordPress comes in two varieties: WordPress.org (aka the self-hosted one) and WordPress.com (which comes with hosting included, but not the same flexibility).

There are many other differences between the two platforms. I’ll summarize the major ones below to give you an overview.

Check out the full comparison between WordPress.org and WordPress.com here.

In a nutshell, if you prefer to have full control over your website, and want to ensure that it stays with you long term, WordPress.org is the better choice here. With that said, you don’t actually need go to the WordPress.org website to get started with the platform. Do this instead:

The technical setup when starting a personal WordPress blog

Let’s talk about the actual process of building a personal blog. The very first step in creating a personal blog is hosting. Since there are loads of good hosting companies out there, each providing diverse and attractive packages, it can be challenging to pick one that will fit your blog the best.

Before we dive deeper into how to start a personal blog, below is an overview of the process. Check it out and then keep reading as we get into the details of each step:

1. Sign up for web hosting (We recommend Bluehost).
2. Choose a hosting plan.
3. Pick a domain name for your personal blog.
4. Complete your hosting registration.
5. Make sure WordPress was installed during the hosting account setup.
6. Log in and write your first blog post.

When you’re ready to sign up for a web hosting account, make sure you use one of the Bluehost links on this page. The reason is because we’ve partnered with Bluehost to get a special discount for our readers, which means you’ll pay only $2.75 per month when you first sign up. You won’t get this discount if you visit the Bluehost site directly. It’s our thanks to you, for choosing us as your go-to source for trusted WordPress-related information and news.

The other nice perk of using Bluehost is that they will install WordPress for you – or if you prefer, they’ll let you do it yourself via the user panel. That’s why there’s no need to go to the WordPress.org website. The installation happens directly through your hosting provider.

The only thing you need to do is choose who that hosting provider will be, click the sign-up button, and then follow the procedure. Almost all reputable hosting companies have easy-to-follow instructions on how to install WordPress on your blog, and some – like Bluehost – will even pre-install it for you.

You can think of a domain name as a sort of “digital address” for your blog. It’s how visitors will identify and access your website. For example, our domain is themeisle.com.

Once you complete the hosting plan registration, you may still need to set up WordPress. As mentioned, it will depend on the host you decide to go with. Similar to Bluehost, there are other hosting companies that also offer “WordPress installation included” packages, or they provide you with a one-click installation option during signup. The process is very simple. All you’ll need is to fill out some basic information, such as your site’s name, your admin username, and so on.

What elements make up an effective personal WordPress blog

If you’re the kind of person who likes to write, having your own blog can be a great outlet. You can create content about whatever you want, whenever you want, and share your thoughts with your friends, network, and complete strangers. If you’re feeling entrepreneurial, you can even use your personal blog to network in your field by writing about the latest developments and your own insights.

Once you start a personal blog, you will be able to include whatever features and information you think are necessary. However, there are a few elements all the best personal blogs have in common, such as:

• A focus on blog posts. Unlike static WordPress websites, you want your blog posts to take center stage.
• Some personal information about yourself, to connect with your audience on a more intimate level.
• Links to your social media profiles and general contact information, for visitors who want to follow you or get in touch.
• A carefully chosen blog post format, to make each entry highly readable and engaging.

Fortunately, all four of these elements are easy to incorporate into your blog. In practice, this means you probably won’t have to use a fancy premium theme or pay extra for all the bells-and-whistles. Instead, you can opt for free alternatives that are more budget-friendly.

Which theme should you install?

We talked about how to make your personal blog run smoothly on the backend, but now let’s discuss a bit about its design, which is extremely important for the future readers of your personal blog. First of all, your site navigation should be intuitive. You need to make it easy for people to comb through your site by providing an organized navigation structure.

The same goes for your post layouts. It doesn’t matter how great your written work is, if the way you present it is hard to follow. Your visitors shouldn’t feel confused or annoyed when they land on your posts. Proper presentation is absolutely vital for blogging success.

One of the most important foundational elements of that presentation is the theme you choose for your blog. Luckily, adding an aesthetic, easy-to-navigate theme to your personal WordPress blog is actually very simple.

It only takes a few quick steps.

The more challenging part is deciding which theme to actually go with, because WordPress has a lot options – and that’s an understatement. Whatever personal criteria are important to you – whether it’s free, good-looking, feature-rich, responsive, minimalist, or something else – you’ll find multiple themes to fit your needs. So the answer to which theme you should install is quite simple – whichever one will suit you best.

How to install your WordPress theme

Upon entering your dashboard, look for the tab labeled Appearance. Click on it, and then choose the Themes option. This will show you all the themes that WordPress comes pre-installed with:

These themes are free, and make decent starter options for a personal WordPress blog. However, you’ll probably want to use a theme that’s a bit less basic and more customizable, such as our own Hestia:

This particular theme is based on material design guidelines, which give it a very modern look. Plus, it comes with all of those core elements we discussed earlier (such as contact information and a personal bio). To set it up, you just need to follow a few simple instructions. These instructions also apply to other WordPress themes.

Great tools to improve your personal blogging experience

Aside from choosing a hosting provider and a WordPress theme, which are sort of the basic foundational requirements of starting a personal blog, you also have access to many additional tools that are designed to optimize your site.

Some can be used right through your internet browser, but others will require you to install them through the WordPress dashboard. Thankfully, most of them are very intuitive to use. It certainly helps make it easier for you to start a personal blog and maintain it.

Jetpack

Revive Old Post

Blog Topics Generator

This is a nice online tool created by Hubspot that generates content ideas based on the keywords you’re interested in. You write three keywords that you think are relevant to what you want to talk about, and the tool returns five related headlines.

Here’s an additional guide of ours on how to come up with good blog post ideas.

BuzzSumo

Another great free tool that tells you which topics are popular. Enter a topic you’re considering writing about, and BuzzSumo will analyze what content works best for that given topic. This tool will also tell you the most successful pieces of content published by a specific blog. Just enter the blog’s URL and you’ll get a list of its most shared posts.

Grammarly

Install the Grammarly extension in your web browser and then start writing your post in WordPress. The tool will mark nearly every mistake in your work. So make sure you check your grammar before you hit Publish. A great helper tool for anyone who’s planning to start a personal blog.

MyStock.Photos

For every blog post, you need pictures. While you can certainly use some of your own pictures, a lot of the time you will end up using free images from the internet. MyStock.Photos is Themeisle’s photo collection and it provides some awesome, high-quality images that you can use anywhere you want. All of them are free, so please, help yourself!

SEO for your personal blog

One of the most overlooked aspects of starting a personal blog that beginners make, is ignoring SEO (search engine optimization). In simple terms, SEO is how a new blogger like you gets more readers to visit their site, by improving how posts show up in search engine results.

For example, let’s say you’re a dog lover and you start a personal blog about your life with dogs. You write some posts about various subtopics related to taking care of dogs – but then what?

Who’s going to read them, outside of people in your own social network?

To expand your audience, you’ll need your posts about those topics to show up in search results when people search for them in Google (or other search engines). That’s what SEO is for. Another way to put it is:

If getting more readers to your personal blog is the end goal, then SEO is a means to that end.

If all this SEO talk is new to you or only vaguely familiar, then make sure to check out our beginner’s primer on getting started with WordPress SEO.

Choosing a good SEO tool

Once you realize how important SEO is, then you’ll naturally want a reliable SEO tool to help you with it.

These days there are many options on the market, but one of the ones we love to recommend the most is SEO Power Suite.

It’s a comprehensive tool kit that gives you access to keyword research tools, backlink checkers, PPC optimization suggestions, competitor rank tracking, social media stats tracking, and more.

When you first start a personal blog, you might not know what any of those terms mean – except perhaps “social media stats”. However, as you spend more time developing your blog, you will quickly become familiar with them. Not only will you become familiar with them, but you’ll likely use at least some of them in an effort to grow your audience and expand your personal blog’s influence.

At a minimum, you’ll need to use some sort of SEO site auditing tool to check on your own site, and that is another one of the features that is included with SEO Power Suite. All you need to do is register an account with them, and you can start using their collection of tools for website audits in a matter of minutes.

Did we mention they have a free-mium version?

Time to write your first post

Once you’ve chosen your WordPress theme and possibly added some plugins, all that’s left to do, is to begin writing your first blog post. To get started, look for the Posts → Add New option in your dashboard. This will bring you to the WordPress editor:

Here, you can set a title for your post, write about whatever you want, and insert images and other media. When you’re done, you can save your work as a draft or publish it right away – it’s all up to you!

Is a personal WordPress blog a big commitment? How often should you post?

There’s no hard and fast rule here. After all, that’s why it’s called a “personal blog”.

You don’t have to follow any rules or adhere to tight deadlines, but you should still try to post at least once a week if possible (you’ll find plenty of counter-opinions to this, though).

Of course, it depends on what you use the blog for. If you just use it to put your thoughts on paper (screen), then you should write every time a great topic comes to mind. If you use it for talking about hobbies and want to grow a community around it, then you should try to post frequently and on a somewhat reliable schedule – weekly at a minimum.

For example, even in the WordPress space, you can find a variety of posting schedules. On one end, you have Tom McFarlin who posts daily.

While on the other end, you have someone like Brian Krogsgard who publishes every few months.

A personal blog can help you professionally

Like was said before, even if you start a personal blog about your hobbies, for instance, this can help you shape your thoughts and connect with other people who love the same things you do.

But another important reason why you should have a personal WordPress blog is professional exposure. You might not create your blog solely for that purpose, but it can be a nice, unintended side benefit.

For example, if you’re sending a resume to a company, including a link to some relevant content you’ve researched and written yourself can score you some brownie points with the HR person, hiring manager, or whoever will be interviewing you. You may even be approached about job offers if the right person stumbles upon your site and your content somehow resonates with them.

A personal WordPress blog can sometimes help you in your career too, because it helps you build your personal brand.

According to a survey by Domain.me:

When you have accounts on various online platforms and social media channels, it can be challenging to create a clean division between the “personal you” and the “professional you”. Nowadays, companies tend to do thorough checks of a potential candidate’s online presence before inviting them to an interview or hiring them.

According to CareerBuilder, 40% to 60% of hiring managers use social media to analyze and get an overall opinion about potential employees. If they’re searching for you that thoroughly, there’s a good chance they’ll find your personal blog.

In short, a good personal blog can help you make a great first impression and boost your chances of landing new opportunities. Potential employers are likely to find your personal blog, making it a solid tool to stand out in a competitive job market. While you might not be starting a personal blog with that intention in mind, it certainly is a positive benefit.

Wrapping up

In closing, while it’s nice to read other people’s opinions and stories, there’s something very rewarding about creating your own content and sharing it with the world. All your discoveries, your thoughts, your stories … all of them can lead to something great. Aside from allowing you to connect with likeminded people who share the same hobbies and interests as you, a personal blog can also open the door to new professional opportunities.

So, how do you start a personal blog? Here’s a recap:

1. Pick a platform between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. We recommend the first one because you will have full control over your site.
2. Choose the right WordPress hosting. For a personal blog, you don’t need the biggest fish out here. Cheap WordPress hosting is fine.
3. Select a beautiful theme. There are some nice, free personal blogging themes that you can choose from. Install, try, and customize different ones. You can play with their design, and find one that’s an ideal fit for your site.
4. Install some free tools and plugins that will make blogging easier and more efficient.
5. Write your first blog post.
6. Think about the range of topics you would like to tackle. If you don’t know yet and just want to write about random things, that’s also a start. Remember – a blog is a way to express yourself.
7. Try to create a personal calendar or a notebook to hold yourself accountable to a posting schedule. You don’t have to post daily. Once a week is enough. The key is to be consistent.

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