Last updated on April 6th, 2024 at 05:03 am
There are platforms that allow you to start a blog for free in the UK, you can have your blog set up within a few minutes.
Most of these platforms have tools that you can take advantage of to start blogging easily. This post will discuss these platforms and also explain how you can start your blog immediately.
Where to start a blog in the UK free
1. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a free platform you can use to start your blog in a matter of minutes. When you create an account with them, you will easily customize your blog with their free themes and plugins.
If you want to monetize your blog or enjoy other benefits, you will have to opt-in for a paid plan.
2. Medium
Medium is a platform you can start bogging fast, all you have to do is sign up and then you can start writing.
It is a multipurpose platform where many people can post their articles and expect people to read because they already have millions of readers visiting their site monthly.
However, you need to know that you don’t own the platform, which means you don’t have control over how the website is being run.
3. Blogger
Blogger is one of the oldest free blogging platforms in existence. You can start blogging by using their free beautiful templates to design your blog.
You will have to register with your Gmail account to start using the platform, after which you will choose a name for your blog and finally start writing.
When you register on Blogger, your blog will be hosted on Blogger and you will have a Blogspot domain extension
4. Wix
Wix is a free website builder that you can use to start a blog for free in the Uk. They have templates that you can choose to build your blog.
Their design is modern and easy to create. You can start your blog by answering some questions regarding the purpose of your blog and then your blog will be designed for you automatically or you can choose t design your blog with their templates.
5. WordPress.org
WordPress.org is an open-source platform that has dominated the content management system (CMS) space. 35% of the web uses WordPress, with 70 million new posts each month.
It is easy to use and has a lot of advantages, the most outstanding one is that you have control over your blog because you manage and run it by yourself.
However, you will have to buy hosting and domain for a little price, only if you want to blog just for fun if not, using WordPress.org is one of the best platforms you can use to start your blog.
The second section of this post will explain to you how you can start a blog in the UK using WordPress.
How to start a blog in the UK
1. Choose your Niche
Choosing a niche means narrowing down your blog content to a particular area or field. Experts advise focusing on a niche makes it easy to grow a successful blog.
Therefore, it is very important to choose a niche before starting a blog. Some examples of successful blog niches are health, wealth, and relationship.
When you choose from one of the above niches, you can focus on a sub-niche under any of them.
However, choose a niche you are passionate about because it will make it easy for you to grow it since you are creating content in a field you love.
In conclusion, there is a need to balance profitability and passion while choosing a niche. You need to consider carefully if the niche can bring you money even if you love it, you wouldn’t want to be doing something that won’t profit you financially, would you?
Of course, except if you see the blog as a hobby and as a tool for fun, then you don’t have to consider its profitability.
2. Buy your hosting and domain
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When you have decided on a niche you want to blog on, the next step to take is to buy hosting and domain. Remember, your blog will be designed using WordPress.
How to buy a web hosting
Hosting is the space given to you on the internet to store your website or files so you and your visitors can easily retrieve them whenever there is a demand.
When you want to buy hosting in the UK, you need to consider the location of the web hosting servers, because servers that are located in the UK are faster.
There are many web hosting companies like Bluehost, A2hosting, Dreamhost and Truehost. But this post will show you how to use Truehost. Hostking provides one of the best hosting services in the UK.
Their services are affordable and reliable. They have different packages that can meet all of your blogging needs.
Select any of the above packages to host your blog. Visit Truehost to get started.
Choose a domain
A domain is the identity of your blog on the internet or the name can be used to identify your blog on the internet.
Some people name their blog after the purpose of the blog while others name it after their names. Choose what resonates with you.
Domain names have extensions. Some examples are .com, .uk, .blog, .org etc. You can select from any them to name your domain.
Cpanel
When you buy hosting from Truehost, they will send details to your Cpanel and other features of your Webhosting. what is Cpanel?
Cpanel is a web hosting control panel software developed by Cpanel LLC, it provides a graphical interface (GUI) and automation tools designed to simplify the process of hosting a website to the website owner or the “end-user”.
Cpanel is simply a package given to customers by web hosting companies to help them manage their websites easily. It is the administrative part of your website
After completing your payment for your hosting and other services, a mail would be sent to your email address with the following
- Your new account information
- Your Cpanel Login credentials
- Your FTP Address
- Your Server Information
- How to set your email
- How to upload your website
- And many more
Install WordPress
You are to use the Cpanel link and login credentials sent to you to access your profile. After logging in you will scroll down to Softaculous Apps Installer to install WordPress on your site.
Click on WordPress as shown above and then install it as seen in the image below.
After installing WordPress, this may take a few minutes. You will then go to your WordPress Admin dashboard.
Go to your WordPress Admin Dashboard
To access your dashboard in WordPress, you are to type your domain/wp-admin.com, i.e if your blog name is purposeful.co.uk, if you want to access your dashboard you will type www.puposeful.co.uk/wp-admin.
You should have created a username and a password from your Cpanel while installing WordPress. You will then use those details to log in to your dashboard.
Your dashboard is where you manage everything that has to do with your blog, it is like the powerhouse of your blog where you control everything seen in the front end.
You will do things like the creation of posts and pages, and the installation of plugins and themes.
Install themes
When you access your dashboard, you are to install a theme on your website.
A WordPress theme contains already made templates that you can make use of on your blog. There are thousands of free themes in WordPress for you to install but if you want more customization then you have to buy a premium theme.
Install plugins
Plugins are software that adds functionality to websitesWordPress. Examples of such functionalities are inserting a table, adding forms, SEO, and security.
There are free and premiums plugins also in WordPress. Most plugins are free but you will need to upgrade to enjoy more features.
Configure your settings
1. Configure your reading settings
On a WordPress website, you have the option to make your home static or dynamic ( a blog). When you choose your home page to be static, that means you are creating a website where people can get information about what the business or organization is all about.
On the other hand, If you make your latest post your homepage, that means your website is created majorly for blogging. However, it is possible to make your homepage static and still have a blog included on the website.
That is to say, you are having a website with a blog together. This is the method many businesses employ to create brand awareness and improve their SEO performance.
2. Configure your permalink settings
This setting is important because it is the link people can use to visit specific pages or posts on your blog. The options are day and name, month and name, post name, etc.
Blog experts advise boggers to use post-name ( the option selected in the image above) to configure the permalinks for two reasons.
Firstly, it makes Google easily understand the purpose of the permalink, and secondly, it helps people know the purpose of the post by merely seeing the permalink.
Create your pages
There are pages you have to create on your blog for users to have access to information about you. Pages like your about me, Contact me, and Privacy Policy.
Carefully write and publish them, after which you will include them on your menu or footer.
Create your post
On your WordPress dashboard, you will find an option for the post, you will click add new post to write your first post on your blog.
You will now write your post title and then start writing.
Apply SEO skills and tools
SEO stands for search engine optimization which means doing everything ethical on the internet to make your blog post rank on search engines when people make queries.
For you to be able to understand SEO well you will need to learn the skills from courses and free resources on the internet and then apply the principles to your blog.
There are tools like SEO plugins that help to make your blog rank on search engines. Some popular SEO plugins are Yoast and All in One SEO.
These tools will guide you on how to rank on Google by analyzing your post title, the readability of your post, and even the keyword.
They even go as far as submitting your sitemaps to Google. Google robots crawl sitemaps to find relevant content on the internet. Therefore when your sitemap is submitted to Google, your website content can easily be indexed for Google to retrieve them when people search for them.
How to make money on your blog in the UK
Starting a blog has a lot of benefits, it gives you the opportunity to make impact and make money at the same time.
Your blog can become a source of passive income over time because a single post you have written can be bringing you money for years non-stop.
There are lots of ways to make money blogging, but the popular ones are through placing ads and affiliate marketing.
You can make money on your blog by recommending products to your audience and visitors for a commission. Whenever someone makes a purchase through your affiliate link, you will be given a commission.
For ads, businesses pay ad networks like Google Adsense to advertise their products for them on the internet. Ad networks make use of blogs to advertise these businesses through ads. When you place Ads on your blog, you will get rewarded when people watch them or click on them.
Other ways to make money on your blog in the Uk are through the selling of digital courses and ebooks, allowing sponsored posts, selling your skills, and becoming an influencer.
Conclusion
Starting a blog in the UK is almost free, considering the little cost involved, therefore you can start today by buying your hosting and domain.
At this time, it is important to state that the difficulty in blogging doesn’t lie in starting a blog but in growing one. You will need to invest time and resources in marketing and creating great content.
The beginning stages may be difficult but the end result will be worth it, therefore, keep learning and improving even after starting your blog.