How to Explain What You Need When Starting a Blog

Over the last two Blogging 101 posts we’ve covered things that may be holding us back when we’re trying to start a blog.  Fear and embarrassment.  Today we’re going to talk about how to explain what blogging is to those around us who may not know.

I’m on the internet everyday.  I visit blogs everyday.  I remember when I first told my husband I wanted to start a real blog.  He didn’t even know what a blog was.  That was a very painful conversation to say the least.  Here’s kinda how the conversation went…

Me: So I think I want to start a blog.

Him: What’s that?

Me: You have a website where you can share stuff like recipes, crafts and how to do other stuff.

Him: Do you make money?

Me: I’d like to try to.  You can do affiliate marketing …

Him: What’s that?

Me: That’s where you recommend products to people that if they buy then you make money.  You can also write sponsored posts …

Him: What’s that?

Okay, you see why I say it was a painful conversation.  It’s hard to try to explain something to someone who has NO idea what any of this blogging stuff is.  Then you need to explain to them that it costs money to blog.

Me: Well I’m going to need to purchase a theme for my blog.

Him: What’s that?

Me: That’s what your blog is going to look like.  And I’ll need to pay for a web host, too.

Him: What’s a web host?

Oh. My. Gosh.  At this point my head has exploded and now there’s no need for me to start a blog because I have no brain cells left to function so the whole thing is moot.  Okay, so it’s not quite that bad but pretty close.  There is so much more to starting a blog than just getting on the internet, choosing a free theme and typing till the cows come home.

I have to smirk when I come across pins on Pinterest that claim you can start a blog in 10 minutes.  It takes me 10 minutes to sit down with my computer and get comfy. Then I have to make sure that I have my snack and drink within arm’s reach not to mention the remote for the T.V. because I’m a multi-tasker ;).  I’m sorry, maybe 10 minutes for someone who’s done it before!  For a person new to this whole thing 10 minutes is a stretch!  I’ve researched building blogs for a year, even had a Blogger blog and some WordPress.org blogs and I still found it kind of confusing.  You can only imagine how someone who is unfamiliar with the internet and the basic functions of a blog would be confused by all the blogging terms you’re throwing around.

Comparing Blog Basics to a House

• The blog theme  – This is the shell of the house, what it looks like. – This is the way your blog is going to appear to your readers.
• Choosing a web host  – This is the ground your house will sit on. – This is where your blog will “live” to be available to the internet world.
• Purchase a domain name  – This is the house address. – This is the address of your site or where people will find your blog on the web.
• Come up with a blog name  – This is what you’d call your house, (Lazy C Ranch). – This is what your blog will be called and should be similar to your domain.

We are going to go into MUCH more detail in the future.  For now I’ve laid out the basic blog terms you’ll need to know.  Hopefully this will help explain them to those interested.  There are still a lot of other things you’ll need to know when starting your blog.  Try to get familiar with these terms and start looking at different options.  I use a theme from  Angie Makes and I love it.  With it I was able to customize a ton of stuff and if I had a problem I found the answer in the knowledgebase.  I searched tons of sites to find out which web host was the best and I decided to go with Siteground.  Check out both sites to see if they may be right for you.  I swear by them both!

That’s it for this post.  I hope you feel like you can explain what you’ll need to start this whole process a little easier if someone asks (like my hubby).