Setting up your own blog can seem daunting, but with the right plan in place, it can be a breeze! Luckily, we have an easy blog checklist you can follow to guide you!

A new blog is an exciting step in sharing content online, and there are a few core elements to consider.

Let’s go over some of the basics you need to have in place when you start your new blog.

Pick a Niche 

The first step in our easy blog checklist is to decide what you will blog about! 

Choosing a blog niche can be difficult but it is also incredibly important. 

It’s important to select a field that will suit your industry background, experience and  expertise. This will ensure you create content that is both authoritative and engaging. 

Doing research on top-performing blogs within your industry can be very beneficial. It can provide insights on content that resonates with the right readership. 

By selecting a niche that aligns with your industry, you can tackle topics more thoroughly. This will lead to trust among your readers.

Come Up with Content Ideas 

Before starting a blog, it is important to brainstorm blog content ideas to ensure your blog will remain fresh and engaging.

You can do this by taking some time to think about the topics that you want to be writing about.

You also want to think about what your audience may come onto your blog expecting to find. 

Some blog topics can include lifestyle tips, product reviews, travel adventures, success stories and more. 

You can do keyword research on these topics to find even more content ideas and ensure you get some traction. 

Having an idea of which blog topics work best within the space of your blog (and which topics to avoid) will help create an organized blog structure.

It will set up clear expectations for both yourself and your audience. 

With a list of content ideas in hand before beginning a blog, you will start on the right foot.

Create an Editorial Calendar 

Creating an organized content and editorial calendar for your blog can make posting and managing your blog much easier. 

Your calendar should include a posting schedule to ensure there is a consistent flow of new content being published, as well as topics to blog about that engage readers.

Check out our article to help you figure out how often you should post on your blog. 

Choose a Domain Name, Host and Plan

The domain name you choose will be the defining factor for your site’s URL.

Think carefully about what you want that to be because changing it later is not a good idea. 

Once the domain is set up, you will need to select a host platform and plan. 

Consider the type of content you’ll be sharing.

Think about how much traffic you hope to generate.

Also consider any special features you may need before deciding on a host option.

All of our sites are hosted by Bluehost and we’ve never had any issues! 

Taking the time now to do proper research and make informed decisions will save time and hassle later.

Create Your Logo and Visuals 

Your blog will need a logo and images to accompany your posts.

You will also need other visual content to promote your posts on different platforms and social media channels.

When it comes to designing your visuals for your blog, Canva can be an excellent pre-made tool to get you started. 

We love Canva because it has tons of pre-made templates, images and illustrations available that can be tailored according to different requirements.

Best of all, Canva is easy to use and you don’t need any design experience. 

As an alternative, you can outsource these elements if you want to focus your time on other blogging tasks.

Select the Right Theme

When it comes to choosing a theme for your blog, it’s important to consider how you want the look and feel of your site to reflect the work you produce. 

Do you want a crisp, modern layout or something more whimsical and inviting? 

Depending on what style works best for you, WordPress offers a wide variety of customizable themes available for free or purchase.

These theme can help bring your vision to life. 

Some themes are best suited for specific niches though.

Thankfully, you can change your theme without altering your blog content if you choose one you don’t like or want to change the look of your site later on.

Add and SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate is a security protocol meant to help keep your online space secure. 

When securing your blog with an SSL certificate, you are adding an extra layer of security that can help protect your data and messages. 

But security isn’t the only reason to add an SSL certificate. Did you know it can also help boost your ranking with Google!?

Google announced a few years ago that having a secure website would be something they take into consideration when ranking search results. 

Take the time to invest in an SSL certificate and give yourself security and peace of mind in knowing your blog is safe and may even benefit from the process.

Add Some Plugins

Enhancing your blog with plugins is a great way to give it a speed boost and improve user experience. 

Your visitors can navigate faster, find what they need quickly, and enjoy the content a lot more. 

Plugins also allow you to add functionalities that weren’t available when you first launched the site. 

Depending on the plugins you install, you could add comment section integration, photo galleries, contact forms, etc. 

Other useful plugins help take care of search engine optimization so that your website stands out in search results pages. 

Whatever you decide to do, be sure to read reviews for each plugin and test them before enabling them on your blog.

And remember not to add too many since they can slow down your site if you overdo it.

Submit Your Sitemap

This is the final item we are including on our blog checklist, but don’t skip it!

Submitting a sitemap can be one of the most important steps in optimizing website results after you start publishing. 

With HTML and XML documents outlining each page of content, a blog search-engine will more appropriately identify the contents of a site, allowing for easier navigation and better rankings. 

Quality sites should submit an HTML as well as an XML sitemap, so that users have multiple options when attempting to find pages. 

Creating and submitting a proper sitemap for your blog will ultimately help it rank higher, resulting in more user traffic.

It’s best to submit a sitemap when you first start out – this will help the search engines get an initial feel for the layout of your blog and its content. 

After this, it’s recommended that you submit a new sitemap after each significant update. This way, search engine crawlers will continue to crawl through the recent additions listed within it. 

This process will keep your blog fresh in their index, helping ensure that it remains much more visible with them in general.

Conclusion on Our Easy New Blog Checklist

Setting up a new blog can seem overwhelming at first. It takes a lot of organization, planning and determination. 

Take the time to do your research and check off the items above little by little to avoid headaches once your site is live.

We hope this new blog checklist list was helpful and you feel more confident on your blogging endeavors!