Build a Blog That Is Optimized for Search – Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide

If you are starting a blog for non-profit reasons, read the title above as: “The First Step to Starting a Successful Blog Is to Choose an Audience That Will Be Engaged and Make a Difference“. Maybe you want to build a community around your love for a cause. If you are well funded to do such a thing there is no concern for money.

If you have an eCommerce store or small business, the audience question is more easily answered. Even in that case, you should take time to answer the audience question and take into consideration things like:

• What audience would be likely to increase my conversion rate and average order value?
• What potential customers are currently not able to find my business?
• What questions can you answer for customers that are not currently being served by your business?

If your new blog is the starting point of your business, the answer to the audience question is quite different.

I think that it is appropriate to warn you at this point that if you choose an audience that is very frugal or one that has an interest but is unlikely to spend much money on that interest, you may want to change your target audience.

If you are not interested in earning an income and it is all about the passion and interests, do as you please. If you want to earn money then you should target a group of people who you can solve some problem for and who will readily spend some money on the solution.

Your audience should have a pain point and you should be able to resolve that for them. Perhaps they need reviews of competing products in order to make up their mind. You can sell them either product but also inform them.

Perhaps they need a technical question to be answered and you will have the perfect business solution in the list of affiliate marketing relationships that you are planning to build.

Generally speaking, you will find higher conversion rates in the B2B (Business to Business) space then the B2C (Business to Consumer) world. When folks are using their budget at work they are more likely to spend then they are with their personal accounts.

Folks who are starting a business are likely to have high conversion rates as long as they believe they are going to succeed.

In order for you to pull this off and be a success in the blogging world, you will have a much easier time if you can make profits. Profits have a tendency to motivate people even more than their hobbies and interests.

If you can tune your interests to a profitable audience you will win all around. You will succeed in every way if your blog is both fun to write and profitable.

Some will tell you to blog about:

1. Hobbies & passions
2. Life experiences
3. Yourself
   
   or blog to:
   
4. Enhance writing and thinking skills
5. Establish expertise
6. Increase self-confidence

That is all fine and good, I am here to tell you that if you do not couple one of these things with the ability to make profits, you will likely be one of the 95% of blogs and businesses that fail to make a profit and shut down. If you do not find an audience that is willing to spend money, it is likely that you will stop blogging in the next year or so.

Consider the Following Points When Choosing Your Audience

These are things that you should consider when starting any business, including a blog.

1. What is the potential budget of your audience members? Is that number sufficient to support your concept?
2. Will you be regarded as an authority in the space? You may be able to fake it until you make it, it will be easier however if you are able to leverage your expertise and get others to cooperate with you that way.
3. Is there sufficient demand in the market place for your niche? Competitor analysis, market analysis, and keyword analysis will answer this question.

Choose a Niche for Your Blog

Once you have chosen your target market it is time to choose the specifics of your blogging niche. Here too it is important to be selective based on similar measures used when choosing the audience:

• How specific and selective can your niche be before you narrow the audience too much?
• Are you going for an affluent audience or a mass audience?
• How much competition is there in the chosen niche?
• Can you outperform much of the competition in the chosen niche?
• Are you able to innovate sufficiently in order to compete for an audience in the chosen niche?

This is a fun step, your blog’s name is the domain name that you choose. Domain names are not expensive so just register another one if you change your mind early on in the process.

There are a few schools of thought on how to name an online business. The right answer is that one should combine optimal branding strategies with domain name conventions that allow for certain advantages when it comes to search traffic.

The availability of the desired domain name is a big consideration. Most words and most common combinations of words have been registered for years. Adding short words like “a”, “my”, or “the” may solve this problem but is not ideal from a branding standpoint. This is especially true if the other variant is, in fact, a competitor of your fledgeling blog.

If it is a personal brand, you can choose your first and last name. If your name has ambiguous spelling and or is very lengthy as in the case of “Peter Fougerousse” you may want to simplify it.

If you are able to simply use words that will often be present in searches related to your chosen niche, that can give you an advantage.

Misspelling words to make a brand often looks gimmicky and is not the best choice from an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) perspective either.

Simplicity and brevity must also be taken into consideration. Short, easy to remember, easy to spell names will give you an advantage.

It is best to register and use a .com .org or .net domain. If you choose a .co, .blog or other newer domain extension, make sure the first part of the domain name is short and easy to remember.

You cannot use spaces in your domain name, but you can use dashes and any combination of letters and numbers. Careful not to combine words that have an alternate meaning when you take out the spaces as these folks did:

• itscrap.com – IT Scrap
• whorepresents.com – Who Represents
• penisland.net – Pen Island
• therapistfinder.com – Therapist Finder
• powergenitalia.com – Powergen Italia
• molestationnursery.com – Mole Station Nursery

Need domain name ideas? Check out this post about the best blog name generators for some inspiration.

If you can’t decide on a good name for your blog contact me and I will personally help you for free.

There are many places where one can register a domain, those companies are known as domain registrars. Many domain registrars will also host your site for an additional fee. You can also host your site with a separate web hosting service.

In this article, I will provide you with recommendations and a specific set of solutions that will work for most bloggers who are getting started. These solutions will give you everything you need in terms of speed without compromise. If you follow my recommendations your site will be delivered all around the world at high speed with near 100% uptime.

If you are planning on registering a whole bunch of domains over the years you may want to shop around for the best deals on domain registrars otherwise there is a good chance that you should just go with the same company that you are hosting your site with as a registrar as well. In many cases, you will get some kind of discount if you do that.

There are many domain registrars, the price of your domain will usually be around $10 per year. In some cases, you can get the domain registration for free if you sign up for a hosting service.

If you are launching a new blog you should use Bluehost as your registrar and web hosting service. They are the biggest and most well-known hosting company. I have a deal with them where you can get started for just $3.95 a month (plus you will get a free domain name and free SSL certificate). Bluehost compensates me if you signup through my link above, but this is at no cost to you.

I use Bluehost myself for many websites. I would not recommend them here unless I believed in their service. When you get started with them you can go with the basic package. Once you grow to have over 25000 visitors per month you can simply upgrade to their VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting or Dedicated Hosting.

List of Top Domain Registrars

• Domain.com
• Bluehost
• HostGator
• Hostinger
• GoDaddy
• HostPapa
• Namecheap
• iPage
• DreamHost
• Siteground
• BuyDomains

There are hundreds of other registrars and they will all do the trick. There are small pricing differences. They all try to tack on a lot of services, most of them are unneeded. Some folks may want to use the privacy features. I personally only use the privacy feature when registering a domain.

Change the Nameserver in Your DNS Settings With Your Registrar

Regardless of where you register your domains you can always point them to any web hosting service that you would like to use. All you need to do is change the Nameserver in your DNS settings with your registrar.

Here is an example of how that is done on GoDaddy:

You simply choose to update the Nameserver and change it to the one provided by your Hosting service.

If you use the hosting service provided by your registrar you will not need to update your DNS Nameserver.

All of the Domain Registrars have similar setup options that allow you to modify your Nameserver. When you change this setting you are telling the world where it can find your website.

DNS servers around the world will communicate with one another automatically and update the new Nameserver destination for your domain. To track the progress you can use any DNS Propagation tracker like dnschecker.org.

It can take up to 24 hours for your new Nameservers to propagate globally, usually it works in less then 30 minutes in 2023.

I am going to jump the gun in this section and tell you that WordPress is the right solution for almost all readers.

Companies like Wix who have developed very easy to use alternative solutions do serve their purpose as well. Wix is able to be set up in minutes and requires no technical skills. If you need to create a site in a flash and point people to it, WYSIWYG drag-and-drop website builders are a perfectly good tool for the job.

If on the other hand, you want to build an audience around a new site and build organic (free) search traffic to drive paying customers to your business or affiliate programs WordPress is the right tool.

Before I get into the pros and cons of each platform I would like to explain that the biggest blogs and publications in the world use either multimillion-dollar custom-developed blogging platforms or they use WordPress. No other Free or cheap platform even comes close to the level of features that WordPress has. The success of this platform speaks for itself.

There are a few exceptions to the rule, however, if you follow the path of the few successful blogs who use a tool like Google’s Blogger (something.blogspot.com) you will likely not get the best results. I do not even list Blogger as an option below because it ultimately belongs to Google and may not stand the test of time as a business unit. Folks who use the platform will never own their site outright.

Another system that is successful but I would not recommend is Drupal, the system works well for Whitehouse.gov as they work tirelessly to spend your tax dollars but it is not the best solution for an individual or small business. See the pros and cons of Drupal below.

The following list is not comprehensive but this is by choice, I have purposely left out platforms that do not allow you to use your own domain name as well as services where you do not have actual ownership of your site.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to each system. Highly proprietary systems like Wix are easy to use but, not as feature-rich as open-source projects such as WordPress.

Take a look at the pros and cons of each system to get an idea of what is out there.

The general rule of thumb, when it comes to blogging platforms, is that if it is easier to use it is also less customizable. If it is extremely simplistic it will likely be more difficult to make it rank well in search. If it is not sufficiently feature-rich, it will not be able to be customized to suit every business application.

Top Blogging Platforms

1. WordPress.org – BEST CHOICE
   
   • Pros
     1. You have control over every function and feature of your website.
     2. You can add features like forums, online stores, and paid membership. WordPress is the most business-friendly platform, it is designed to make money.
     3. WordPress has thousands of free themes. There are infinite possibilities when it comes to customizing the look of your site.
     4. WordPress has more than 55,000 free plugins. Plugins are apps for your blog that allow you to add features.
     5. Everything about WordPress is able to be optimized for search. There are many SEO plugins to choose from.
   • Cons
     1. You have to learn some technical skills to get everything to work as you would like (this article will get you most of the way).
     2. You need to manage your own backups and the security of your site (I will cover this as well).
        
2. Drupal.org
   
   • Pros
     1. Drupal is a good system for creating large complex websites with multiple languages.
     2. Security is a major emphasis on this platform.
        
   • Cons
     1. Drupal is more complex than WordPress and every other system on this list.
     2. As a result of the complexity, Drupal requires more time and effort.
     3. Drupal has speed performance issues that other platforms don’t have.
        
3. Constant Contact Website Builder
   
   • Pros
     1. Constant Contact Website Builder is easy-to-use with a drag-and-drop website builder. No technical skills are required.
     2. It has an easy setup since Constant Contact hosts the website for you.
     3. It has a 60-day trial that allows you to try out the service.
     4. A free SSL certificate is included.
        
   • Cons
     1. There aren’t many third-party plugins like there are for WordPress.
     2. Limited integrations with third-party services and platforms.
        
4. HostGator Website Builder
   
   • Pros
     1. It has an easy-to-use with a drag-and-drop website builder to customize your blog & website design.
     2. It has an easy setup since HostGator hosts the website for you.
     3. Website performance, backups, and security are managed by HostGator.
     4. A free Domain and the necessary SSL certificate are included.
     5. It only takes a few clicks to add an eCommerce store to your site.
        
   • Cons
     1. There are not many, plugins, apps and extensions.
        
5. Squarespace
   
   • Pros
     1. Squarespace is for folks who aren’t very tech-savvy.
     2. It has beautiful professionally designed templates.
     3. Squarespace offers the ability to use a domain name, SSL/HTTPs, and an eCommerce store.
        
   • Cons
     1. Squarespace has limited features all of which are part of a proprietary platform.
     2. Squarespace has very limited integrations, services, and tools.
        
6. Wix
   
   • Pros
     1. You can customize your site using dozens of templates and third-party apps.
     2. It has an easy-to-use with a drag-and-drop website builder to customize your website design.
     3. Setup is quick and easy.
        
   • Cons
     1. The free account shows Wix branding and ads on your site.
     2. Free third party apps are few.
     3. You cannot change your template once you set it, you have to start over with a new template.
     4. Ecommerce features are limited in scope.
     5. Blog features are limited in scope.
        
7. Ghost.org
   
   • Pros
     1. Ghost.org is great for blogging and writing.
     2. The interface is clean and intuitive to use.
     3. Ghost.org is really fast.
     4. The hosted version has a very easy setup.
        
   • Cons
     1. Ghost.org is not as easy to customize with apps and plugins like WordPress.
     2. Due to its simplicity, there are fewer features in general.
     3. Ghost does not have many themes so it is not easy to customize the look of your Ghost site without incurring development cost.
     4. If you install Ghost yourself it is a more technical process than WordPress.
     5. Ghost requires a VPS because you need to set up NodeJS and have a dedicated IP. Because of this, it will not work on a shared hosting service.
        

I must say that I really like where Ghost.org is headed, I even believe that the platform may prove to be real competition to WordPress down the line. I would not recommend it at this point in time due to the lack of ability to customize it without incurring significant development costs. If you are a web developer with a lot of SEO knowledge and experience, have at it. I considered it for this site. Ultimately I went with WordPress because it is the right solution for my audience.

So you have chosen your audience, your domain name, and you may or may not have registered your domain.

If you have not registered your domain yet, you can simply do that while setting up your hosting account. Many hosting service providers like Bluehost will let you register a domain for free upon signup to their service.

Bluehost

If you are launching a new blog you should use Bluehost as your registrar and web hosting service. They are the biggest and most well-known hosting company. I have a deal with them where you can get started for just $3.95 a month (plus you will get a free domain name and free SSL certificate). Bluehost compensates me if you signup through my link above, but this is at no cost to you.

Make sure you choose to host your site with an SSL certificate regardless of what service you use. To rank well in search, your site should be “(Secure Socket Layer) https://yourdomain.com” rather than “(Not Secure) http://yourdomain.com”, for this, you need an SSL certificate.

Google started to deprecate http:// sites as “not secure” in 2018. This is not good for your brand or your rank in organic search.

List of Top Web Hosting Providers

1. Bluehost
2. HostGator
3. DreamHost
4. Hostinger
5. A2 Hosting
6. GreenGeeks
7. WP Engine
8. Inmotion
9. SiteGround
10. HostPapa
11. Kinsta
12. iPage

Hostinger

Beyond Bluehost another service that I have had a great experience with is Hostinger. My favourite package from Hostinger is their Business Shared Hosting package. I have a deal with Hostinger where you can get started for just $3.99 a month using their Business Shared Hosting and save 75% (plus you will get a free domain name with an annual subscription and free SSL certificate). Hostinger compensates me if you signup through my link above, but this is at no cost to you.

WP Engine

If price is no object, and you want very high performance for a hundred thousand visitors per month right off the bat I have two recommendations for you. First, I would recommend WP Engine. With my link, you will get 3 months for free and 10% off your first payment (pay for the year and you get 10% that year). The deal is risk-free for 60 days.

Kinsta

The second High-end option is Kinsta. Features that form the basis of their service are, first, the fact that they are fully managed, so they handle optimizing your site for speed, security, and backups (in this post I will teach you how to handle this on your own for free or very cheaply.) Second, Kinsta provides free WordPress migrations from other hosting services. Finally, Kinsta also uses the Google Cloud Platform so they are wicked fast.

Later in this post, I will show you how to make your hosting service perform wicked fast for free using Cloudflare in combination with certain plugins.

So the levels of service I recommend above will serve any need, that being said, most people starting a blog will not need to pay for the higher priced plans at WP Engine or Kinsta.