The Minimalists
Learn how to start a blog in less than an hour. Become a blogger today by following the steps we used when starting our blog, which now has reached more than 20 million people and has been seen in the New York Times, TIME magazine, and on the TODAY show.
You can start a blog in just 5 simple steps.
This is a long essay and you may want to start your blog without all the detail.
This is the first how to quickly start a blog guidepost.
To start a blog fast simply:
Click here to go to the first step.
Want to create something meaningful? Why not start a blog? Why not become a blogger? Creating this blog is one of the best decisions Ryan and I ever made. After all, our blog is how we earn a living. We make money blogging, but more important it’s how we add value to other people’s lives.
So you’re thinking about starting a blog, but you don’t have any idea where to start, right? Guess what—neither did we! Before we became “The Minimalists,” we wanted to start a blog to communicate our thoughts and express our feelings, but we were overwhelmed with options.
Clueless, confused, and confounded with choices, we had no idea how to start a blog or how to be a blogger. When should we start? How do we register a domain name? What is hosting? Which blogging platform should we use? How do we choose a blog theme? What should we write about? Heck, we could hardly spell HTML, let alone build a blog!
But good news: it turns out that starting a blog is much easier than you think. We’ve learned a ton of lessons during our ascent to millions of readers, and now you can learn from our pain and suffering to avoid much of the tedium involved in setting up a blog.
If you prefer to watch our process for setting up a blog, we’ve created a step-by-step start a blog video, How to Become a Successful Blogger Today, which shows the entire starting-a-blog undertaking. Otherwise, read on.
While there are other blogging platforms out there like Blogger, Squarespace, and Wix, nearly every serious blogger uses a self-hosted WordPress site because of its creative freedom and flexibility.
It’s not only because it’s the easiest blog to set up. The Minimalists uses WordPress because it gives us greater control over the look and feel of our blog—more creative control than any other platform. Oh, and WordPress itself is free!
These are the exact steps we took when we created this website. If you follow these five steps, you will learn how to set up a blog in less than one hour.
The first thing we did when starting our blog was go to Bluehost and register our domain, which is free with hosting. We’ll explain hosting in a moment, but let’s talk about your domain name first.
In this first step you will choose your blog name (domain name) and buy your blog hosting.
Click here to jump to the next step.
Your domain name is an important part of your blog because it creates a first impression—it is the name of your blog. Also known as your URL, your domain is also your address on the web. For example, our domain name is www.theminimalists.com.
So, what do you want to call your blog? Maybe it’s YourName.com. Maybe it’s YourBusinessName.com. Or maybe it’s a creative brand name you thought up. If you’re having a hard time thinking of a good domain name, try Wordoid, a wonderful naming tool that will give you plenty of great options. Just make sure you don’t buy the domain from them since Bluehost will give you a free domain. (If you’ve already purchased a domain elsewhere, that’s okay, too, because Bluehost will make it easy to transfer your existing domain during the setup process.)
Once you’ve decided on a domain name, you’ll need to set up hosting for your blog. While WordPress itself is free (see Step 2 below), you need a reliable place to host your WordPress blog (your blog needs to be on a server somewhere on the Internet).
For hosting, we recommend Bluehost for several reasons:
Now that you’re ready to get started, go to Bluehost and click the Get Started Now button.
Next choose your hosting plan.
You’ll see that prices range from $3 to $6 per month, depending on whether you want a basic, single blog hosting plan or a more robust plan that allows you to create multiple blogs.
Once you select your plan you’ll choose or enter your domain name.
If you don’t own a domain name simply enter your desired blog name into the New Domain box.
If you’ve already own a domain name simply enter that into the I have a domain name box.
Click Next.
Finally create your blogging account.
And click Create your password to complete your blog hosting setup.
Just like that you’ve nearly become a blogger!
Pressed for time? Learn how we started our successful blog using this free ebook.
Next you will install WordPress, which is free. Don’t let the word “install” intimidate you, though. It’s much easier than it sounds and Bluehost does all the work for you.
Next you’ll install WordPress.
Click here to jump to the next step.
To begin simply click Log In.
Bluehost provides several blog design options, but simply scroll to the bottom and click Skip This Step (you’ll see why in a moment).
WordPress is now installed. Simply click Start Building to go to your new blogging dashboard and continue to Step 3.
A theme allows you to pick a design for your blog without the need for coding expertise or design knowledge. In other words, a good theme helps you to design your blog exactly how you want it to look. If you’re not a coder (I’m certainly not a coder), then a theme makes the design work a million times easier.
Next you’ll choose and install your blog’s WordPress theme.
Click here to jump to the next step.
Our blog design is from BYLT, a platform created by our good friends at SPYR. They have several beautiful, simple WordPress themes to choose from, and, in fact, you can purchase the same theme we use if you like.
Simply go to BYLT and find the minimalist WordPress theme that best fits your desired aesthetic. Their themes are feature-rich; plus, once you buy your theme, you will have the same team supporting your work that we trust to support ours.
Once you purchase your theme you’ll be able to download your WordPress theme (a .zip file) from your BYLT Dashboard. Save this file to your Desktop because you’ll need to upload it to WordPress in just a moment.
Remember how easy it was to install WordPress? Well installing your blog theme is just as simple.
First return to your WordPress Dashboard.
You should already be logged in, but whenever you are signed out go to my.bluehost.com, enter your new domain name (or username), your password, and click Submit.
From here, go to My Sites and click on Log in to WordPress.
Next, in your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance > Themes.
Next, click the Upload button.
Then, click the Upload Theme button followed by the Choose File button.
Find the .zip file you downloaded from your BYLT Dashboard (this is your theme file) and click Install Now to install your new simple blog design.
Finally, click Activate and your blog theme is installed.
Plugins are third-party appendages that add additional functionality to your blog.
In the final setup step you’ll install two plugins that will improve your blog’s features.
Click here to jump to the next step.
It’s best to keep your number of blog plugins to a minimum and install only the best ones, because too many plugins—as well as unreliable plugins—can slow down your site. We use very few plugins at The Minimalists.
In this section you’ll install and activate the following free plugins:
In your WordPress dashboard go to Plugins > Add New.
Search for Yoast SEO.
Then click Install Now followed by Activate and your blog will immediately have improved SEO.
Next search for MonsterInsights.
Then click Install Now followed by Activate.
Next click Launch the Wizard! and follow the steps to complete the MonsterInsights setup.
Finally, so people can receive our blog posts via email, we have an email newsletter. For a feature-rich email-subscription service we recommend ConvertKit (affiliate link). (By the way, if you don’t already, subscribe to The Minimalists’ blog via email.)
Congratulations! You started a blog, and now it’s time to start blogging. This is where the fun begins.
Now that you have your own blog, you get to make it yours; you get to turn your vision into a reality.
We hope you have loads of fun expressing yourself on your new blog. We’re certain it will be a huge growth experience for you during the coming months. You have now officially become a blogger. Wherever you’re going, make sure you enjoy the journey ahead.
We receive many emails asking how to blog, about blog topics, and about creating meaningful content. The bulk of this essay explained how to start a blog, but that’s just the initial step. Now it’s time to start writing and publishing your content.
Here, to answer the frequently asked “How can a beginner start blogging?,” are 20 tips for beginners on how to blog.
We were inspired to research and write this blog post after reading Joshua Becker’s 15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog, in which he discusses 15 great reasons why you should start a blog.
Why is the keyword here. Crucially, Becker writes about the purpose of blogging, not just how to start a blog. That’s what many of these other “blogs about blogging” seem to miss: they miss the purpose—the why behind starting a blog.
Here is a summary of our three favorite reasons from Becker’s list:
So now you have 15 reasons why you should start a blog, and we’ve shown you how to start a blog, step-by-step, based on our personal experience.
But after giving you those detailed instructions, which could save you hundreds of hours of wasted time, we also want to give you some good reasons why you should not start a blog. (Keep in mind that these reasons are just our opinions, and we do not pretend to offer them up as a collection of empirical blogging maxims.)
The funny thing is that all these things can happen. You could make a full-time income from building a blog. We do it and so do many others. And you could become an Internet famous blogger like Leo Babauta.
But if these are the sole reasons you start blogging, you’ll be miserable because it will seem like a job. And if it feels like a job, you won’t be passionate about it, so you’ll either hate it or fall flat on your face (or both).
Instead, become a blogger and write because you’re passionate about it…
If you want to learn more about blogging, publishing, writing, and SEO, then check out these additional resources:
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How to make money blogging is the topic that beginner bloggers tend to be most interested in. At The Minimalists, we earn money in several ways:
- Creations. By building an audience who finds value in our message, we’ve been able to offer our three books and our documentary, Minimalism, to an audience who is willing to support our creative work. Consequently, all three books have been bestsellers and are now translated into more than a dozen languages; and thanks to Netflix, our documentary is available in 190 countries. (For more information about our book-publishing process, read this blog post series: How to Publish an Indie Book.)
- Audience Contributions. Since we refuse to clutter our blog or popular podcast with ads, we depend on audience support to fund production of our podcast. With more than 5,000 supporters on Patreon and many others via PayPal, The Minimalists Podcast is fully funded with audience support, which means we’re able to pay for our podcast producer, filmmaker, and studio space without advertisements on our platforms.
- Speaking. As we built our audience, many organizations, universities, and conferences began contacting us about speaking at their events. At first, we starting speaking for free just to build a name for ourselves. Then, we started charging a few hundred dollars per event. Now, we’re able to charge significantly more money because the demand for our talks is high. So far, The Minimalists have spoken at Harvard, Apple, Google, Allstate, SAP, SXSW, TEDx, and many other organizations. We speak about a wide array of topics, from simple living and “simple work,” to health, relationships, writing, publishing, social media, personal growth, and contribution—and it all started because we started this blog. (Anyone who is interested in hiring us to speak can visit our speaking page for details.)
- Tours. Over the past eight years, The Minimalists, have embarked on eight speaking tours, including 2017’s 50-city “Less Is Now” theater tour, which attracted an average of more than 1,000 people a night, with considerably larger audiences in bigger cities. Our 2014 “Everything That Remains” bookstore tour spanned 119 cities in eight countries and attracted 75,000 attendees.
- Writing Classes. I get countless questions about writing, so I’ve been able to transfer that skillset to help hundreds of students improve their writing over the years. I teach a four-week online writing class designed to improve the writing of people at any skill level—beginner, intermediate, or professional.
- Amazon Links. If The Minimalists recommend a product like this photo scanner, and then a reader purchases that product, we receive a small commission for that sale at no additional cost to our audience. We’re careful about what we recommend, however, because, as minimalists, we want you to consume less and to consume intentionally.
- Affiliate Sales. When we recommend services such as Bluehost and ConvertKit, we receive a referral fee. Once again, though, that’s obviously not why we recommend these services. Virtually every hosting company has an affiliate program, so we think it’s best to recommend the companies we trust.
Through these various means, Ryan and I are able to earn a full-time income through blogging. But it’s worth noting that making money from your blog is not the best place to start.
While there’s nothing wrong with making money—which you can do through affiliate links, advertisements, and your own products and services—the best reason to start blogging is because you have something to express.
If you make money along the way, that’s great. In fact, if you help people solve their problems, you’re all but guaranteed to make money from your blog—eventually. Let’s just remember there are at least four resources that are more important than money: skills, time, energy, and attention.
That said, let’s not kid ourselves by acting as if making money is irrelevant—it’s not. Making money from our blog is simply not the primary driver for our creativity or why we became bloggers. Although people often think of money as the ultimate resource, it is the least important of the five mentioned above.
Money won’t necessarily improve your life, but it will amplify your existing behaviors. If you have bad habits, then more money will make your life considerably worse. And if you’re already a generous person, then more money can help you be more loving, caring, and considerate.
Personally, I write one or two blog posts per week, usually in the evenings, or on weekends, so it doesn’t get in the way of my other activities. That’s the nice thing about blogging: you get to write whenever you want-no one tells you what to do, when to do it, or how much must be done. Within five months of learning how to blog, you’ll find your own rhythm that works for you.
Starting a blog is fun and simple. Using the instructions in this post, you can set up a blog today and start blogging by this evening.
This might sound simplistic, but bloggers write blog posts. Of course, that’s not all we do. Most bloggers I know are passionate about a particular topic-interior design, rock climbing, music reviews-and they use their blog to express their thoughts and opinions about that subject.
Writing a blog does not require a degree or special training. In fact, all you need is a desire to communicate with an audience. If you have that, then starting a blog is ideal for you.
According to Wikipedia, a blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of “discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts).” The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997. The short form, “blog,” was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog in 1999.
Today, blogs have many shapes and sizes. Many are public journals people use to express their feelings. Others, like this blog, exist to help people think critically and solve problems.
There are blogs that cover nearly every topic, ideology, and interest—from sports and politics to religion and travel and everything in between. Even the world’s largest news organizations—ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, and MSNBC—all have their own blogs.
It feels like we hear about Squarespace on every podcast. But when you compare Squarespace to WordPress, you soon discover that WordPress is superior in several ways.
While Squarespace isn’t a terrible option, it lacks the personal control that’s available with WordPress. This is why every serious blogger I know uses a WordPress blog.
Here are five reasons WordPress is better than Squarespace:
The answer is in the question: the only way to become a blogger is to start a blog. This might sound overly simplistic, but that’s because it’s not that complicated. If you follow these steps you’ll become a blogger and start blogging today.
There’s an old truism, “Writers don’t like writing; they like having written.” I think the opposite is true for bloggers: because of the instant gratification of the WordPress “Publish” button, I find that bloggers enjoy writing because they’re constantly sharing that writing with the world.
The barrier to entry is gone, so start blogging if you want to become a blogger. It really is that simple.
While the lines have blurred over the years, the simplest way to put it is that a blog is a type of website, one that catalogues, over time, the personal or professional thoughts and beliefs of a person or organization.
As your thoughts, beliefs, and ideas change, so will your blog. It’s nice to have a time capsule of our thoughts, as they’ve evolved over the past decade.
No, blogs are not “dead.” In fact, blogs are more alive than ever!
As a matter of fact, our blog has grown every year since 2010 and now boasts more than 3.78 million readers and an email list that continues to grow every month.
Millions of people read our blog every year-and our audience continues to grow because, thanks to our blog, new people find our work every day. But it’s not just The Minimalists who are successful. Blogs are popular all over the world, and they are the simplest way to publish content without middlemen or gatekeepers.
Blogging is the opposite of a waste of time. If you have a genuine desire to share your creativity with the world, then it’s one of the best “time investments” you can make. Our blog is simultaneously our practice space-where we share new ideas and writings with the world-as well as an announcement board that keeps our audience abreast of any new developments in the world of minimalism.
Starting a blog is arguably more important than ever. Whether you want to publish your writing, build an audience, open a business, or start a podcast, your blog is the home for your creative projects.
Once you’ve started a blog, you are no longer reliant on other people’s platforms. There’s nothing “wrong” with having an Instagram or TikTok account, but those platforms are ephemeral. If they fall out of relevance, then so do you (remember MySpace). That’s not the case with a blog, though. Because you own your blog, it stays with you no matter where the culture sways.
The best time to start a blog was a decade ago. The second best time is now. If you have an idea you want to share, get started!
You don’t have to pick one over the other. You can start a blog and start a podcast. That’s what we did. After starting our popular blog, which is now read by millions of people, we started a similar podcast, which, at the time of this writing, has more than 100 million downloads. Frankly, our podcast would not have witnessed the same success if we didn’t also have a blog. So if we had to pick one, we’d start a blog. But thankfully, you can choose both if you’re compelled by both creative outlets.
No, you don’t need a business license to start a blog. Even if you start earning money from your blog, you can claim that income on your personal taxes under your name and social security number. It was several years before Ryan and I turned The Minimalists into a limited liability company (LLC).
Blogging is still a career for many people, a great way to make supplemental income for even more people. But Ryan and I don’t look at blogging as a career. Rather, for us, it’s an opportunity to add value to people’s lives. Of course, if you add enough value, income tends to follow. Blogging has also enabled us to showcase our books, podcasts, films, social media, and other projects that add value to our audience.
While new forms of media continue to enter the picture-podcasts, newsletters, social media-nothing replaces having a home for your creative work. The Minimalists have a podcast, an email newsletter, and several social media accounts, but none of them could ever supplant our blog. Instead, we use our blog to point to these additional resources.
We often hear people say that you should blog about what you’re passionate about. That’s great advice if you know what that passion is. Maybe it’s technology, finance, baking, music, or rock climbing. If so, write about that!
If, however, you don’t know what you’re passionate about, don’t worry. Passion isn’t simply stumbled upon; it is cultivated.
Here are six questions to ask yourself to help you determine what you should blog about:
A blog is used for two things: to express and to communicate. A good blog is able to marry communicative writing and expressive writing to create blog posts that are informative and entertaining.
When considering how you want to use your blog to communicate and express yourself, ask these questions:
You get to define what success looks like for your blog. Maybe your goal is to reach a thousand true fans, publish a blog post every day, or build a large audience so that you can sign a book-publishing contract with a major publisher. It is possible to accomplish any of these feats with your blog (I’ve done all three). Blogging has brought me more success than I ever expected: New York Times-bestselling books, millions of readers, international book tours, an Emmy-nominated Netflix film, speaking at Harvard, and much more. None of these achievements fit my original idea of success, but as I added value to an audience, I discovered what was possible.
While it is best to blog about subjects that interest you, these are some of the most searched blog topics:
In short, what do you find compelling? Blog about that! Your blog is more likely to become popular if you’re passionate about the topic.
The good news is that starting a blog is free with WordPress. All you need to pay for is hosting, as outlined in the step-by-step instructions above.
There are also other “free” amateur services like Tumblr or Blogger that allow you to start a blog on those company’s platforms. Just be careful, because you may not own your content if you’re posting it on someone else’s website. That’s one of the many reasons why we use WordPress.
When talking to my writing students, I recommend writing every day and publishing a blog post at least once a week. We usually publish two blog posts per week on this blog. Seth Godin blogs every single day.
Whatever you decide, we recommend you stay consistent. Setting a weekly schedule helps you create accountability partners (your readership) so you feel compelled to write even when you don’t want to write.
Avoid grandiosity. Avoid throat clearing. Your first blog post needn’t be a grandiose mission statement. And your first blog post doesn’t have to be a vapid, self-involved introduction to your blog.
Instead, find one thing that interests you today and write about that. Use the prompts in the “What should I blog about” section above.
For reference, you can read the first blog post on this blog, circa 2010: Be on the Mountain.
Don’t worry about introducing yourself in every blog post. Instead, create an “about” page that new readers can reference if they want to learn more about you, your life, and the projects you’re working on. See The Minimalists’ About page as an example. Our friend Derek Sivers also has a wonderful Now page that could work for you.
There are at least three reasons blogs fail:
Bluehost bills annually, so when you use our link to receive the discounted rate of $2.75 per month you will be billed for the entire first year.
That said, if for any reason you decide that it’s not right for you, Bluehost offers a 30-day money back guarantee.
A blog (short for “weblog”) is a written communication by an author or creator that is meant to communicate with an audience; a vlog (short for “video log”) is a video version of a blog.
Blogs and vlogs are both excellent ways to reach an audience. However, a blog has a lower barrier of entry (no cameras, lighting, or microphones required), which makes it easier to start blogging today.
The word “blog” is an abbreviation of the term “weblog.” So the B in blog doesn’t stand for anything specific; it is merely a shortened form of the original term.
I’ve made significantly more money from blogging. Yes, The Minimalists create both blog posts and vlogs, but the dynamic nature of our blog has allowed us to reach more people and retain an audience, which is significantly more difficult with vlogging alone because with vlogs you don’t have direct access to your audience like you do with your blog.
It’s worth noting that we also use this blog to share many of our YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok vlogs with our dedicated blog audience, which amplifies our creations much better than social media alone.
Yes, you can make money solely from your blog. There are at least seven ways The Minimalists make money with this blog.
A blog can be as simple or as complex as you’d like. Successful blogs mirror the personality of their authors. For example, this blog is aggressively simple because, well, we are “The Minimalists.” Other blogs deploy bright colors and elaborate designs that mimic the quirky character, style, and disposition of its author. Either way, a WordPress blog grants you and your blog the flexibility to be as ornate or austere as you desire.
You do not need a license to run a blog. However, when you begin earning money from your blog, it can make sense to set up a separate LLC (limited liability company) for your blog.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to establish an LLC, you can also claim any earned revenue from your blog under your personal social security number (I did this for the first few years of this blog, before finally registering The Minimalists, LLC).
You do not need to copyright your blog because you already own the intellectual property of everything you create. Your blog and all of its contents, blog posts, photos, images, and written words are already considered “copyrighted” the moment they are published. As long as you can prove that you are the author of a piece of content, a copyright is granted by public law without the need to file additional paperwork.
Unlike other blog and social-media platforms, your WordPress blog allows you to download and save all of your blog contents so that you can protect your photos and written words. Personally, I keep a backup of all my photos and written content on a separate hard drive, as well as a cloud storage account (e.g., Google Photos or Dropbox) for double redundancy. This isn’t required, but it gives me a piece of mind that I can’t get from social media.
Registering your blog name is free and easy. In fact, registration is a built-in part of the simple setup process outlined in the instructions within this blog post.
When you use Bluehost to host your blog, you’ll receive a free domain registration, which allows you to choose any blog name you want. If you can’t think of a good blog name, Wordoid is a free tool that can help you pick an effective name for your blog.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, you are not required to register your trademark, but where or whether you decide to register your trademark can determine the scope of your rights. Specifically, you can rely on common law rights or file for state, federal, or international trademark registration.
Because of the monetary and time costs associated with filing a trademark, The Minimalists did not trademark our blog name for the first several years. Once we began selling products using our blog name (“The Minimalists”), it made sense to trademark that name because, according to the USPTO, there are several benefits of trademark registration, including:
Yes, it is perfectly reasonable to use stock photos on your blog, as long as they are obtained lawfully from a creative commons website such as Unsplash or Pond5. Just make sure you credit the photographer.
It is not acceptable to simply use Google Images on your blog; those photos are copyrighted. If you’re not careful, reusing photos from Google Images can lead to a costly lawsuit.
It is a good idea to use your full name and photo on your blog. Why? Because people connect with human beings, not faceless avatars. That’s why I use my full name—Joshua Fields Millburn—on this blog.
Alternatively, if you’re worried about maintaining anonymity because of your job, family, or the divisive nature of your blog’s content, then a pseudonym can be an adequate substitute for your real name. Just understand that blogging pseudonymously can make it more difficult to build trust with an audience. It’s not impossible to connect with others using a fake name, but it is an uphill battle.
While WordPress allows you to establish a home page for your blog, most blogs don’t need a home page because a home page creates one extra step for new readers to read your newest blog content. That’s why we removed our home page on this blog—we want readers to get right to the good stuff without any friction. Then, if a reader wants to learn more about our blog, they can always visit our about page.
Once your blog is public, anyone can see it. This is a good thing. As a writer, you want the opportunity to connect with new readers, even when you’re sleeping. A public blog is the best way to connect with a fervent readership.
However, readers can’t see your unpublished content (drafts, deleted posts, etc.); only your published blog posts are available for everyone to see.
Any sentence that makes the reader want to read the next sentence is a great sentence. The best opening lines force readers to ask questions. For example, how does the following sentence make you feel?
The average American household contains more than 300,000 items.
That sentence might lead to several questions and doubts in the reader’s mind:
Wait, what?
No way, that can’t be true!
Tell me more!
As soon as a reader is hooked, the sentence has done its job. I call this writing technique Narrative Urgency.
Do you have a question about becoming a blogger that isn’t answered above? Post (Tweet) to @theminimalists with your question and a link to this essay.
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