How to Create and Start a

WordPress Blog In 2020

An Easy Free Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide to Create a

Blog in Sixty minutes

This Exclusive Report is brought to you by Jim Sugarman

So you have been looking for a free, easy way, step-by-step guide on how to create
and start a blog?

Well, Congratulations! This guide will show you how to create a blog that is
excellent and functional, in an easy and methodical step-by-step tutorial.

WordPress is an excellent solution for how to start a blog, plus it's the most
popular and preferred platform for many bloggers around the globe. It's also our
choice to start a blog because it's so easy to work with.

Starting a blog can terrify any newbie, especially when you are not a geek, but
guess what, you are not alone, so many people have gone through the same
process.

Even if you are a complete novice who doesn't know anything about the technical
aspect of web design or coding, with just a little amount of guidance and the right
materials, you can have your very own personal or professional blog created,
uploaded and running within an hour or two at the most. But it takes much more
time to write a decent blog post (content) that quickly acquire a mass appeal.

As simple as it is to get started with WordPress, knowing what you need to do and
how to do it in a record time is still important so you don’t waste time.
 Therefore, I have decided to create the most
comprehensive guide on how to start a WordPress
blog in the year 2020 without any technical experience
or coding knowledge.

I’ll be showing you every single step you need to take to start a blog using a self-
hosted WordPress. And I’ll be doing it with lots of screenshots and simple
instructions that are beginner-friendly.

WordPress Blog Platform

WordPress blogging platform is the most popular content management system

(CMS) in use today. This content management system is quite popular around the
world at the moment. They are used to power a substantial amount of all websites
in use around the globe.
As can be seen in the above screenshot, word press is very popular and way ahead
of others in use. That’s why I will be sticking with this platform in this tutorial.
They are way above the crowd.

What really is a Blog?

A blog is a kind of website which focuses primarily on written content, know as

blog post. Anyone can start a successful blog on just about any topic you can
imagine on the surface of the earth.

Everyone has one story or another to tell, which begs for exposure. Starting a blog
gives you the tools needed to pour out one’s mind.

A story is an extension of one’s life; it allows your voice to be delivered to the

masses and allows your experience to be exposed to a whole lot of new audience to
benefit from it in many ways including simple entertainment.

Most of the time, bloggers write from personal experience which enables them to
linkup directly with their audience. Plus most, if not all blogs also have a section
for comments, where the audience can respond to the blogger. This enables both
the blogger and the audience to bond together.

This bonding with the audience is one of the major benefits of creating a blog. The
linking up allows you to blend, compare and share ideas with other likeminded
individuals. It also enables you to acquire the trust of your audience. When you
have the trust and brand loyalty of your audience, it opens up the avenue to making
plenty money from your blog, which is mainly one of the reasons of starting a blog
in the first place.

The best part of blogging is that one can generate some handsome income from it
if one is willing to devote a substantial amount of attention to it.

A lot of ordinary people are blogging on a daily basis and generating a full-time
income, at the same time, many are simply working on their blogs to earn some
little extra passive income to augment their finances.
Am I capable of Blogging?

The major misconception about blogging is that many believe that you need to be a
great and seasoned writer to be successful at blogging. This is very far from the
truth. Most bloggers write simply in a very informal style and in a conversational
approach.

Furthermore, you necessarily needn't be an expert on any given topic in other to

successfully blog at it. Most readers of a cooking and recipe blog don't really want
to read a textbook from a food scientist; they simply want to read from a seasoned
and well experienced cook, with successes, mistakes and all.

To be successful at blogging, the only requirements needed are passion and

tenacity deployed to it.

All said blogging is all about sharing what you know with the world. Picking a
topic you are knowledgeable and passionate about makes starting a blog
successfully much easier. Exploring several topics is not a bad idea as well.

Provided you are writing about items you are really interested in, your passion and
tenacity will shine through and keep your audience looking for more.
Why Start A Blog?

So many reasons can be adduced to this;

1. Generating income from home: Blogging is a lucrative venture when done in

the right way. Top bloggers around the world makes some good income, while the
part time bloggers is also expected earn something reasonable if things are done
properly. The best thing about blogging is that it generates passive income; you
can write a blog post within just a few hours in a week and keep earning income
from it continuously for a long time to come.

2. Personal and business recognition: Successful blog translate your ideas into a
reality thus gaining you a lot of recognition in your niche. Lots of bloggers are
regarded as experts in their chosen field just because of their blogs.

3. Story sharing: Blogging allows you to be heard and have a voice. Your story
can be shared with the whole wide world if it's your desire to do so. Blogs can be
used as a diary by bloggers to share daily activities with friends, family and others
at large.
4. Establishing a Community: At its core, blogging is interactive. People make
comment on virtually every blog post. It is a great way to link up with like-minded
people. Blogging allows for the exchange of ideas between you and your audience.

The great news to intending blogger is that the internet at the moment is growing
exponentially. More and more people are online than ever before all because more
and more people are getting access to the internet through the mobile phone.

This growth explosion in online presence means more potential readers for your
blog. In fact, there is no better time than right now, if you are planning on starting
a blog.
Steps to take to create a blog in less than 60 minutes:

• Select a domain name for free. Pick something very descriptive.

• Put your blog online. Register your blog and get the best web hosting.

• Customize your blog. Pick a free template and tweak it to your taste.

• Write and publish your first blog content. The fun part begins!
• Promote your blog. Acquire more audience readership to your blog.
• SEO optimization. How to optimize your website SEO.

• Make money blogging. Select from many options to monetize your blog.

Let’s get your blog started!

Step 1: Select a domain name (this is the name of your blog (i.e.)
anything.com)

First step to getting a good blog name is by choosing your topic correctly. If you
don't know what to blog about, there are many possible ways to get a good blog
topic.

Passion: Hobbies and interests you are very passionate about are a great place to
start with. Good examples are sports, fashion, travelling and many more. Blogging
about even mundane things can be a success just because your audience is
practically anyone on the internet around the world.

Experiences: We all have lessons we have learned through life experiences. By

sharing such knowledge and experiences, others in similar situation could benefit
from it tremendously.

Look into things you have gone through in life, good or bad, positive or negative.
For example, it could be about your family, your work, such as dealing with
customers, and many more other life encounters like trouble times such as an
illness or breakup in marriage or about good times such as getting ready to wed or
given birth to a child.

Diary: A periodical diary or personal blog is one about you. It should include very
many topics about your being, from things you do periodically to random thoughts
and occasional occurrences. It is a pleasant way to share your thoughts with your
audience without necessarily having to adhere to just a single topic.

Once you have a topic picked, it's time to select your domain (blog)
name.

A nice blog name should be very descriptive such that likely readers can almost
instantly determine what your blog is all about just from the given name. If it's
only a specific topic you blog about, that should definitely reflect in some way in
your blog name.
If it's a diary or personal blog you are creating, where you discuss about a variety
of topics, it's just reasonable to use your real name or nick-name, since your blog
will be all about you. A variation of your name is also acceptable just in case your
real name is not available.

After your domain name is selected, it’s time to pick a domain extension.

The most preferred choice is the .com extension, but a .net or .org is equally good.
You must be careful not to leave any space in between the domain name, (i.e.)
'Jim Sugarman blog’ must be jimsugarmanblog.com

Once you've got your name selected along with a suitable extension, the next step
is checking to see that no one else has already registered the same name.

If you find out that the name you picked is already taken, there are some things you
could do about it:

• Try a different name extension, if .com is taken, try .net, .org and many
more versions for your blog name.

• You can add small words such as "a", "my" or "the" to the name.

• You also can add dashes between the words (i.e.) any-thing.com.
Step 2: Put your blog online.

Sign up for web hosting (we recommend Hostinger web hosting).

Once your blog name is selected, it's time to put your blog online. It might sound
difficult or a bit technical, but the following steps will walk you right through it
and make the process simple and less cumbersome.

Getting your blog up and running, two things are needed: blog hosting and
blogging software. The good thing about it is that these usually are provided
together.

A website or blog host is a company that keeps all of the files for the blog and
provides them to the users when they type in your blog name. It’s essential that
you must have a blog host in other to have a blog.

It is also required to have software to build your blog. This tutorial is going to
show you how to create a blog using the WordPress blogging software, because it's
the most popular, easy to customize and very simple to use.

I strongly recommend Hostinger for your blog hosting; it's one of the best and cost
saving hosting platforms out there. I personally use it and recommend it for all
new bloggers because:
 • A free domain name registration is provided for you.

• Free, simple WordPress blogging installation software is provided for you.

• 24/7/365 customer service and web Chat Support is provided.

• 30 day money-back guarantee is provided in case you are not satisfied for
any reason whatsoever. No hassle, no risk.

• They have well over 30 million users and some of the lowest prices, thanks
to low running costs and overheads.

Start your blog creation now, get your blog hosting from Hostinger and get a free
domain name registration as well.

1. Select your hosting plan. I recommend that new bloggers get the Premium
Shared Hosting plan so as to enjoy the free domain name registration which comes
with the package but not provided in the Single shared hosting plan.

- But, if you like complete freedom with no restriction whatsoever, go for the
Business Shared Hosting plan, at the quoted price, it's still far cheaper than most
basic plan from other hosting company.

2. Type in your domain name in the box and then click “next” to start the
registration process.
 - If you already own a domain name and want to use it for your blog, type your
existing domain in the box provided. Only use the appropriate box if you have
previously paid to register a domain!

3. Fill out your billing details on the registration page.

4. You also have to choose your hosting package plan and options.

- All the packages except one have everything you need to get your blog up and
running, including a free domain name, simple WordPress blog installation
software, web (blog) hosting, and branded email accounts i.e.
anything@yourdomain.com.
- The 48 month package subscription gets you the lowest monthly rate, while the
monthly rate cost much more higher.

5. You will then be requested to create a username and password for your account.

Once that is done, you can choose the basic design template for your blog which
can easily be changed later, if you so wish.
Choose a blogging platform

Next step is choosing the platform where all the work will be done, and since blogs
are mostly made up of content, consider using a content management system
(CMS).

When you pick a CMS as your blogging platform, it will let you do the following:

Set up a blog without technical or coding knowledge.

Conveniently publish and create new content.
Focus more on writing rather than technical aspects.
Add new features easily with the help of plug-ins and modules.
Find a gorgeous website design from a huge library of free themes.

Next, your blog software (WordPress) will be installed. Once the install is
completed, click “Start Building” to be logged-in to your blog.
Step 3: Customize your blog

If you are not already logged-in, go to Hostinger.com and click “Login”. You can
then login using your domain name and the password you submitted in the
previous step. If you have misplaced your password you can reset it by clicking
the “Forgot Password” link.

Once you log-in you will be taken to your Hostinger Portal. From the portal you
can click “Log in to WordPress” to be logged-in automatically to your blog.

Next step is to change your blog design; once you login you will be in the
WordPress administrator area. This is where you can make any changes you want
to your blog.
Everyone has a completely different opinion of how they want their blog to look.
One of the great things about a WordPress blog is that you can change your entire
layout and design with just a few clicks.

In WordPress, web and blog layouts are called “Themes”. Blog themes control the
complete design of your blog. To change your theme you are going to click on the
“Appearance” tab on the left menu.

So many themes will already be installed on your blog: Twenty Sixteen, Twenty
Seventeen, and so on. These are already well-designed, sharp and clean-looking
themes that can work for just about any type of blog. As a matter of fact, majority
of top bloggers around the world use one or more of these themes.
I recommend you use one of these themes to begin with, unless there is a specific
design you intend to use for your blog, let’s use the “Twenty Seventeen” theme as
an example. To activate the theme on your blog, just hover over the theme and
click the “Activate” button. There you have it; the entire design of your blog will
be changed to the new theme with just a single click.

At some point you will probably want to switch to a theme with more features for
your growing blog website, you can easily choose from thousands of other free
themes.
To make the switch is very easy – all that is needed is just to install a new theme.
Just navigate to Appearance > Themes > Add New via your sidebar and then click
on the button to upload your new theme. Then select your theme zip file to upload,
install the theme and then activate it. There you have it; you have just installed a
lovely theme with more features and options, which you can get in a free theme.
Plug-ins:

The Plug-ins section offers of a large library of free extensions. You can view them
as add-ons that extend the functionality of your blog.

Here is a list of 3essential plug-ins that every blog must have:

• Yoast SEO will let you optimize your posts much easier with the latest SEO
practices.
• Akismet Anti-Spam will keep your comment section clean and spam-free.
• Jetpack offers a bundle of features related to security, performance, statistics
and more!
Step 4: Write a blog post & publish it.

Now that your blog is up and running it’s time to start the main thing, do some
blogging!

On the Pages section, you can use it to create more pages on your blog (such as
About us; Contact us and other pages like that)

Most certainly, the Posts section will be the area you visit the most, as all new blog
posts will be created to be posted from there.

On the left menu click on “Posts”.

There will be a post already there. This is a default post on every new WordPress
blog, which you don’t need. So, delete it by clicking “Trash” just under the post.

Start writing a new post by clicking the “Add New” link.

You will be taken to the post editor screen. Enter the title of your post in the top
box and then start writing your post in the lower box.

If you would like to add a picture to your post, click on the “Add Image” icon and
click “Upload” to upload a picture from your computer. You can make adjustments
to the picture size on the next screen. When you are ready with the image, click
“Insert into post”, to add the picture.

You can get quality stock photos here: https://www.dreamstime.com

Publishing Your Blog

Once you have finished your post just click the “Publish” button on the top right
side of the screen to publish it.

Congratulations! Your blog is published!

You now know how to start your own blog and publish content!

Step 5: Promoting your blog

When you create a good looking, well designed blog with great written content,
this is just the start. Getting readers to your blog is another thing entirely; you will
need to spend some time and maybe some money to promote it, most especially as
a beginner.

One of the best ways to get readers to your blog is by posting links on your social
media accounts like Facebook and Twitter. It's a great method because when your
friends see the link, they will probably share the link with their friends as well and
it subsequently supplies multiplying effects to the blog readership. A high-quality
content on your blog will quickly go viral when link is posted on social media.

Another way to promote your blog is by collecting the email of your readers and
promoting your new contents to them via email marketing. It get your audience
coming back often to your blog, it gives you more readers in the long run and also
allows you to build a closer relationship with your audience.

Step 6: SEO optimization. How to optimize your website SEO

You need to take your SEO seriously if you want to be ranked well in the search
engines. Using WordPress, luckily puts you way ahead, as it’s already pretty much
SEO friendly right from the start. Many choose WordPress to begin with mainly
because of this out of many other reasons.

When starting a blog, especially at the beginning and because content is king,
every single blog post you write must have a keyword in mind.

There are exceptions to this rule, such as when writing a news piece that’s only
pertinent because of some event or writing an update about product and services,
but for the most part, you will want to optimize every post (content) around a
keyword.

Many reasons account for this:

SEO takes a while to take effect, so getting optimized from the beginning gets you
there faster.

Several marketing channels on the web put organic traffic at the top of the list,
since it is responsible for hundreds of thousands of visitors to top blogs around the
world in every niche.
It’s also not as difficult as believed. Some people even believe as I do, that SEO is
still a low-hanging fruit for many bloggers to pick. It’s because SEO looks
complicated that so many people avoid it at all cost, thereby bringing less
competition into it.

There are a number of things you can still do to take serious advantage of
WordPress SEO.

Follow me in this guide to look into the best tips you can use to improve your
website’s traffic.

1. Install a WordPress SEO Plug-in:

WordPress has some pretty good built-in SEO features. But, your optimization can
be taken further by using an SEO plug-in. The best SEO plug-in among the rest on
the market is Yoast SEO; in fact, it’s what they use at Hostinger.

You can optimize each page and post for your chosen keyword perfectly with this
instrument. It also has built-in analysis based on the latest algorithm updates. You
can even generate an XML sitemap, and add schema markup to your site.

To setup Yoast navigate to your WordPress dashboard and select Plug-ins › Add
New. In the search bar type in ‘Yoast SEO’ and click ‘Install Now’ on the plug-in
that looks like the one below. Finally, click ‘Activate’ once it pops up. The plug-in
is now running on your site, and you can access it by clicking on the SEO icon on
the left-hand menu.
2. Do Keyword Research:

Keyword research will make or mar your WordPress SEO strategy. Doing
keyword research will permit you to:
• Create content your visitors are actually searching for.
• Develop a better understanding of the needs of your market.
• Track the success of everything you write.
• Generate valuable traffic for your site.

There are so many tools that will help you with keyword research. Some of the top
tools include KWFinder, SEMRush, and even the Google Keyword Planner. You
should also pick a tool to track how your keywords are ranking.

The basics of keyword research are as follows:

1. Create a list of target keywords related to your topic.
2. Place them into a keyword research tool to open up keywords that receive a
decent volume of traffic, and have lower competition.
3. Research competitors by running similar sites through keyword research tools to
see which keywords bring them the most traffic.
4. See which of these keywords have a low enough competition where you can
compete.
When keyword list created, then you start to create content and optimizing it with
the tips on this list.

3. Turn On Search Engine Visibility:

There’s a built-in option within WordPress that will hide your site from the search
engines.

To see if this setting is on, navigate to Settings › Reading from within the
WordPress dashboard. Scroll down and you’ll see a section called Search Engine
Visibility.

Make sure that you leave this box unchecked. Then click ‘Save Changes’.

4. Adjust Permalink Structure:

When WordPress is first installed on your site’s pages and posts, it comes with a
default structure which isn’t good for your SEO.
The “post name” setting is the best search engine friendly URL structure. By
switching to this setting you’ll also be able to include your post or page title, and

even a keyword in your URL. To change this setting navigates to Settings ›

Permalinks.

Under the ‘Common Settings’ section, select the option that says ‘Post name’.

5. Add Your Site to Google Search Console:

Using Google Search Console will show you how your site is currently performing
in the search engines, and alert you to any site wide errors.
To add your site to Google Search Console first navigate to this page and sign up
with your Google account. Next, click on the ‘Add A Property’ button and enter
your website’s URL.

Google search console add a property

Click ‘Add’, and you’ll be taken to a screen where you’ll need to verify the
ownership of your site. There are multiple methods you can use to verify your site,
but the easiest is selecting Alternate methods, and then choosing HTML tag.
 Verify
Google search console

Copy this code, and then navigate to your WordPress dashboard. To add this code
to our header we’re going to utilize a plug-in. Navigate to Plug-ins › Add New,
then search for ‘Insert Headers and Footers‘.
 Insert headers and footers WordPress plug-in

Install and activate the plug-in shown in the picture above. Next, open up the plug-
in by going to Settings › Insert Headers and Footers.
Using insert headers and footers WordPress plug-in to add code

Now paste the code into the box that’s labeled Header, and click ‘Save’. Finally,
navigate back to Google Webmaster Tools and click the Verify button.

6. Integrate Google Analytics:

Another Google tool you’ll want to have in your arsenal is Google Analytics. This
tool will show you how well your SEO strategy is working by giving you an in-
depth breakdown of your site’s traffic.

To set up your account, navigate to the Google Analytics homepage and create an
account. Next, you’ll want to locate your tracking code. It should be under
Tracking Info › Tracking Code. Then, copy the code that looks similar to the
example below:
 WordPress SEO tip - adding Google analytics website tracking code

Depending on your theme you might have an option to directly add the Google
Analytics tracking code. If it’s not possible, then you can use the same Insert
Headers and Footers plug-in we used above.

Open up the plug-in, navigate to the header section, and paste in your tracking
code. That’s it! Now you can view your site’s statistics.

7. Submit a Sitemap to Google:

Sitemaps are used by the search engines to better crawl your website. Your site
will still get crawled without a sitemap, but creating one allows you to report the
data that you want the search engines to crawl.

You can ensure certain pages that don’t contribute to your rankings aren’t crawled,
as well as give precedence to your more valuable pages. If you’re using the Yoast
SEO plug-in, then you can easily create and submit a sitemap.
Navigate to SEO › General › Features. Then scroll down and enable ‘XML
Sitemaps’.

WordPress SEO tip - enable xml sitemaps

Click the link that says ‘See XML sitemap’ and this will open your sitemap to
ensure it’s actually created.

Now we’ll submit that sitemap to Google. Go to your Google Search Console
dashboard and click ‘Sitemaps’.

Submit sitemap to Google

In the right-hand corner, you’ll see an option to Add/Test Sitemap. Click that
selection, insert the URL of your sitemap, and click ‘Submit’. Now Google will
crawl your sitemap on a regular basis, which can help for speedy post indexing.

8. Optimize Your Site for Mobile:

Google just announced that they’re starting to test their mobile-first index. This
means that they’ll start to use the performance and functionality of your mobile
pages to determine your rankings. So, if you aren’t utilizing an unresponsive
theme, this is the best time to fix it up.

But, beyond choosing a responsive theme you can check to see how your site
currently performs across the mobile spectrum. To do this, open up Google’s
mobile-friendliness test, and enter your site’s URL.

WordPress SEO tip - run a Google mobile friendliness test

This will give you a breakdown of how the mobile version of your site performs
and offer some tips on how to improve it.

9. Speed Up Your Website:

Website speed has always been important. Having a slow loading website will
negatively impact your rankings and user experience. Page speed is even on its
way towards becoming a ranking factor.

Luckily, fixing a slow loading site isn’t hard to do. The steps below will help you
get started:

Get a Baseline Number

First, you’ll need to get an idea of how your site is actually performing. Open up a
tool called GTMetrix and run your site through the tool. This will give you a
breakdown of your current performance numbers, so you can see what you need to
improve.

Upgrade Your Host

Sometimes, misconfiguration from the server side can cause slowness. This is why
choosing a correct web hosting environment is important. For the WordPress site
performance, we recommend going with a WordPress-specific hosting package
that’s custom-tailored to your site’s setup.

Utilize a CDN

A CDN will help to speed up your site by storing versions of your site on servers
across the globe. That way when a visitor lands on your site, they’ll get the version
that’s closest to their physical location. For a reliable free solution, you can
integrate your site with a CDN like Cloud flare.

Use a Caching Plug-in

A caching plug-in will generate static HTML files, instead of the PHP files
normally required to run WordPress. This will minimize the number of requests
between the server and your user’s browser, which will decrease your loading
speeds.

Some of the most common WordPress caching plug-ins includes W3 Total Cache
and WP Super Cache.

Optimize Your Media

If you’re uploading images to your site, then these need to be properly optimized.

To optimize your images do the following:

A. Reduce the file size by running your images through a tool like TinyPNG.
B. Resize your images before upload.
C. Install an image optimization plug-in like WP Smush.

10. Have a Focus Keyword For Every Post:

Even though the way we optimize for keywords has changed, they still play an
important role in SEO. Whenever you’re writing a post on your site you should
have a focus keyword for that specific post.

Here are some best practices when optimizing for a chosen keyword:

• Don’t overstuff the keyword into your post, only include when it’s natural.
• Include your keyword in the first paragraph of your copy if possible.
• Use your target keyword in your title and your subheadings.
• Add your target keyword to your URL, and meta description.

Yoast SEO makes implementing the above tips easy.

Whenever you’re writing a post input your target keyword into the tool. You’ll get
an analysis of how well-optimized that post is for your chosen keyword.
 WordPress SEO tip - keyword optimization

You’ll be given tips to improve your keyword optimization and increase your
chances of ranking in the search engines.
11. Create High-Quality Content:

Google is in love with high-quality content. Have a look at the top 10 results for
any given keyword and you’ll find the content satisfies two major requirements:

1. The content is generally longer and has high content standards.

2. The content satisfies search intent.

Long and well written content is super. But, you might not know what search
intent is. At the core, search intent is the intention behind the keyword phrase.

When you’re creating any kind of content you should research what’s currently
ranking, and try to understand why it’s ranking. Sometimes, the content will be
ranking because of the strength of the domain name alone. But, if every site has a
similar amount of authority, then the content itself will be what will differentiating
one from the other.

To have a better perspective of the keyword and what searchers are looking for,
ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the searcher looking for information or product content?

• Are they looking for something in-depth? Or a short read?
• Why are the current pages ranking?
• What style of content will best answer the keyword?
With a better understanding of the keyword, the pages that rank well, and what the
searcher wants, you’ll be ready to create a piece of epic content.

12. Create Longer Content:

Longer content tends to rank better in the search engines. Recent studies from
Buzzsumo and Moz found that longer content gets more social shares and
backlinks overall, which means higher rankings.

Another study has found that most of the content that’s ranking on the first page of
Google is over 2000 words long. This doesn’t mean every post on your site has to
reach this content length, but it's something you should shoot for.

You should be very careful not to stuff your content with unnecessary words in
other to hit your word count goals.

Instead of that, focus on the intent of the keyword. That is, what’s the reason the
user is searching for that keyword in the first place. Then, answer the goal of that
keyword in the most thorough and useful manner possible, which in some cases
might mean writing fewer words.
13. Create Evergreen Content:

Evergreen content is usually a powerful driver of traffic. This style of content will
always be relevant as it doesn’t rely on timely information.

Think a post like, ‘The Ultimate Guide to Onsite SEO‘, versus something like
‘What You Need to Know About Google’s Latest Update‘.

The first will be relevant for a long time, while the second will rely upon a time-
based information. This doesn’t mean you publish your evergreen content once and
forget about it forever. Instead you update the content regularly to reflect the latest
and most relevant aspects of your industry or topic.

Evergreen content is very valuable because it doesn’t lose its relevancy. This
means that you can continually share, promote, and pick up backlinks to this
content. This style of content will typically hold down top ranking positions for
years to come.

Although, evergreen content takes more time and effort to create, the results
always pay off for years to come.
14. Optimize Your Post and Page Titles:

Your title tag is your most important heading tag. It tells Google what your page is
about, and will influence whether readers will click through to your site. If you’re
not sure which tag is your title tag, it’s the name of your post or page.

Follow these best practices for optimizing your title tag:

• Include your target keyword as early in the title as possible.

• Create a title tag between 60 to 70 characters.
• Create an enticing title that gets people to click.

To change your title tag to something well optimized and clickable is very easy,
especially if you’re using the Yoast SEO plug-in.

To change your title tag, open up one of your posts and scroll right to the bottom.
You’ll see a section called ‘Snippet editor’.
 WordPress SEO tip - using yoast optimization snippet

Here, you’ll be able to adjust your SEO title and optimize it to rank.
15. Optimize Your Header Tags:

Header tags will give the crawler bots an idea of what your content is all about and
using these tags throughout your content will make it well-optimized and more
readable for the search engines.

Generally, you should have one H1 tag per post and use a hierarchy of H2, H3,
H4, and so on below that.

The title of your post should normally be your H1 tag, so you’ll definitely want to
include your target keyword. For the rest of your header tags use a variation of
your target keyword, if possible. However, don’t stuff your heading tags with
keywords if it doesn’t make sense for your post.

Within the WordPress editor, you can easily add header tags via the drop-down
menu.

WordPress SEO tip - setting proper header tags

16. Use Shorter URLs:

When it comes to your URLs, the shorter it is the better. Do your best to shorten
your URLs, so they don’t show multiple categories or directories. Try to only
include your target keyword, and get rid of everything else.

A long URL won’t penalize your rankings. But it could make your link look like a
spam link and lower the CTR. If you changed your permalinks, this will help to
give you more control over your URL structure.

Follow these best practices when creating an SEO-friendly URL:

Use a shorter URL whenever possible, and cut out filler words
Include your target keyword in your URL
Sensibly match your titles and URLs
Make it readable to human beings
Avoid multiple categories and folders whenever possible

With the above in mind, you can easily edit your URLs from within WordPress
itself. On the page or post creation screen, just click edit on the ‘Permalink’ section
right below the title:

WordPress SEO tip - edit post permalink

17. Optimize for Google SERP:

You’ve probably seen the boxes that appear at the top of the Google search results.
If not, they look like this:

Google knowledge graph example

This spot is effectively position zero so you’ll get more traffic and high click-
through. But, if you’re already ranking on the first page, then getting this spot will
give you two listings in the results.
There isn’t tried and true way to get this top spot, but the following optimizations
will increase the likelihood that you get it:
• Add schema markup to your site
• Answer the question implied in the keyword early on in your post
• Format your answer in the form of an ordered or unordered list
18. Optimize Images For Search Engines:

Using images throughout your content will create a higher quality reading
experience. This will help keep your users engaged with your site, which will give
positive site performance indicators. But, beyond adding images to your site, you
can optimize these to improve your SEO too.
You can get quality stock photos here: https://www.dreamstime.com

There are three components of proper image optimization:

The Image Title Text

The image title text isn’t crawled by the search engines, but it can be a factor in
your user experience. When a user hovers over your image a pop-up will appear
that has your image title text.

To change your image title text navigates to your post editor where you’ve placed
an image.

Hover over the image and click the pencil icon, which will bring up the ‘Edit’
option.
 Image title change hover

On the ‘Advanced Options’ screen, you can then enter your image title.
 Enter image title

The Alt Text

Your image’s alt text will give an indicator to Google what your page is about. In
the first image in your post, you should change the alt text to the post’s focus
keyword. For other images, use keywords that are variations of your target
keyword, or describe the image.
To change your image alt text navigates to your visual editor and hover over an
image you’ve inserted. Once again, click on the pencil icon which will bring up the
‘Edit’ option. The pop-up box will bring up your image details. Look for a field
called ‘Alternative Text’, and enter your focus keyword or related keyword into
that box.

Change image alt text

The File Name

Your image file name can help your image rank in Google image search, which
can bring your site some additional traffic.

Most default image filenames are long and confusing, plus they don’t relate to the
topic of the post. Before you upload an image to WordPress you should consider
the purpose of the image, and the keyword phrase you’re targeting. Then include
that keyword and other descriptive phrases in your image filename.
Also, if you’re using multiple words in your filename make sure you’re using a
hyphen between them, as Google will read these hyphens as a space.

19. Do an SEO Audit:

If you aren’t sure if your site properly optimized, then you can perform an SEO
audit. But, instead of going through every step yourself, you can run the site
through an SEO auditing tool. These tools will run your site through a series of
checks, and you’ll get a report that tells you what you’re doing right and the things
you can improve upon.

SEOSiteCheckup is a free tool that’ll analyze over 50 different onsite ranking

factors and let you know how your site is performing. You can also use the Varvy
SEO tool, which will see how well your site is aligning with Google’s guidelines.

20. Force Google to Crawl Your Site:

Usually, your site is crawled by the frequency you publish new content. But, there
is a workaround that’ll get your content immediately indexed by Google.

Open up Google Search Console, navigate to Crawl, and click on Fetch as

Google. Input the URL of the post you’ve just published or updated and click on
‘FETCH’.
 WordPress SEO tip - force Google crawl new and updated content

Next, click on ‘Request Indexing’ and your new URL will be indexed by Google.
Sometimes this won’t happen instantly, but it’ll be much faster than waiting for
Google to crawl your site.

21. Target Long-Tail Keywords:

Depending on your niche, ranking on the top page of Google for the main
keywords can be really difficult. Many of them are conquered by veteran pages
with content that’s been worked and perfected for a long time. Not to mention a
big a profile of backlinks assisting them.

In such cases, you’ll need to think outside the box and work your way up by
targeting smaller, yet highly specific keywords. These are often referred to as long-
tail keywords. For example, try to brainstorm what a potential visitor might look
before purchasing a product. Then use a tool such as KWFinder to get a rough
estimation of the difficulty and search volume. Make a list of option that could
bring the most potential and publish your post while applying all the above-
mentioned WordPress SEO tips. This will bring a consistent stream of targeted
traffic towards your website.
Step 7: How to make money from blogging

There are several methods you can employ to make money from your blog.
1. Selling advertising space.
2. Selling your own products or services.
3. Get paid writing reviews of products on your blog.
4. Promoting affiliate links on your blog.
And many, many more methods.

Once your blog become popular, advertisers will show up uninvited asking to be
allowed to advertise on your bog. The best way to take advantage of this situation
is to use Google Adsense. They find the advertisers for you and all you have to do
is place the Google Adsense code on your blog to start running ads. Google
Adsense takes all of the hard work out of the process and just cuts you a check
periodically.
 What Are You Waiting for? Go Start a Blog Now!

Getting started with blogging is really as easy as the steps enumerated above.
There is plenty of time to obsess over minor theme tweaks, new plug-ins and
optimizing your SEO but successful blogging almost always comes back to the
content that you produce.
Usually, visitors aren’t going to be bothered about your design and so on, but
rather will be more concerned about your content. You must adhere to the saying
that content is king, especially to the blogging world. So embrace the heart of
blogging, get inspired and start posting great content on your blog!

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