John Rusyniak
Are you a business owner looking to get more web traffic and leads on your website? Are you an entrepreneur trying to build up an audience? Maybe you just enjoy writing (so do we) and want to put out content and build a portfolio. Whatever your reason for starting a blog, you’ve got to start somewhere. In this article, we’ll show you how to set up a blog on 4 different platforms.
How to Start a Wix Blog
Wix is a popular choice with beginner bloggers, with an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. Once you sign up and download Wix, you’ll want to choose a template for a website that’s blog enabled. If you don’t, you can create a blog directly from the website editor section. Your next step is setting up the blog in “Blog Settings.” Then, you can change the display settings, layout, and design of your blog. Wix has a helpful guide that can take you through each step in the process if you get stuck along that way.
How to Start a WordPress Blog
WordPress is a great platform for those who want total control over their website, and it’s a popular choice for many bloggers. You can create a blog or website with WordPress.org or you can pay for a WordPress.com site. We recommend WordPress.org to start — it’s 100% free and open-source. However, you will need to purchase two things before getting started, a domain name and a hosting provider. You can get a domain name from registrars such as NameCheap, GoDaddy, or Bluehost. They run around $20 a year. Next, it’s time to decide on a hosting provider; this can be the host as your domain registrar if you’d like to keep things easy. With that out of the way, it’s time to set up your blog! The next steps are pretty easy. You’ll need to install WordPress, customize your blog, and add web pages. WordPress already has a nifty step-by-step guide that users can follow through the process.
Using WooCommerce with WordPress
Woocommerce is an open-source plugin for online businesses using WordPress. If you already have a Woocommerce store set up, the rest is easy. Adding a blog to your e-commerce store will allow you to share updates and news updates on your company. Maintaining a blog will also help drive more customers to your online store by boosting its search engine ranking, provided you stay on top of SEO best practices. Posting to your blog with WooCommerce is the same as with WordPress. You already have a blog built into your site, you just need to access it on the dashboard. All you have to do is open your dashboard and click “Add New” to make a new post.
How to Start a Shopify Blog
If you’re already running a Shopify store, you should start a blog as well! Shopify online stores come with a blog section called “News” by default, so all you have to do to log into your admin account and launch it from your dashboard, just like this WooCommerce. From there, you can start a new blog with the click of a button. You can change the title, tweak the formatting and layout, and create new posts on your blog. The steps for this process vary, depending on if you’re making a blog from a computer, iPhone, or Android. Creating a blog through Shopify is pretty straightforward, but if you run into any issues, their help center is a great resource.
How to Start a Big Commerce Blog
Big Commerce, another e-commerce retail provider, also includes a built-in blog on its platform. You can toggle blog visibility to remove all blog links from your website header and footer. To create a blog post, all you have to do is go to “Storefront” and then click on “Blog.” Click the + button to create a post. There are some other fields you’ll encounter when posting your blog, such as author, tags, and summary thumbnail images. These are optional. You’ll also be presented with several SEO fields: a post URL, a new URL if the old one changes, and a meta description. Be careful messing with the URL fields unless you know what you’re doing. Changing them can affect your SEO. If you’re unsure about it, it’s best to leave them set at SEO Optimized, which Big Commerce does for you. For more information on setting up your Big Commerce blog, you can visit their help center.
Starting a blog isn’t nearly as difficult as it’s been in the past. Blogging websites such as WordPress and Wix are making it more accessible and easy for everyone, and many e-commerce providers now have built-in blogs you can utilize. Take advantage of these resources and start your blog today!
