How to Create a Free Blog is one of the most searched for terms by freelancers on Google nowadays- i being one of them.
Well, this is my story:
One of the first things I did when I decided that writing was my thing was creating my blog, techbizwriter.com. I then made sure I wrote high quality and useful content.
From there, I decided to fully utilize my website to recruit customers…
So, each time a client asked me for samples, I would just redirect them to my site and most would proceed to hire me..
I am yet to know what impressed them most- my writing or just the fact that I had a personal blog.
You know what?
While employers are happy to hear you have a website, I doubt they read whatever is there
This is why I doubt them:
You give them the link, then a few seconds later they are back “Hi John! I like your work…blah, blah, blah…and I will hire you?”
If you are an employer, tell me….do you people read these things? (Am not kidding!)
Anyway, let’s go back to my blog…
The first client I got from my blog was paying me $5 per 1000 words. Not bad for a star or so I thought.
We worked together for some time then I realized his work was much more involving and he wasn’t willing to raise my pay.
That is when I resolved to go on the prowl for better paying ‘bosses’…
Just as I was starting to think that I was on a wild goose chase, I met this client who was willing to hire me for double what my old client was paying.
I had seen her Ad on Facebook and immediately directed her to my blog.
I still work for her even today- and she has since tripled my pay.
Can you now see why am convinced that a blog can work wonders even for a newbie?
What you need is to vigorously market your blog -even if just on social media (anybody can do this) – then have fun as you land those BIGWIG clients, one after another.
It all boils down to planning and commitment.
Now, I am planning to revamp my fledgling blog and publish more of my best content there. Certainly, I will land some ‘MONEYED’ clients.
And you don’t have to spend a lot…
Since at first I didn’t have the resources, I started by publishing on the free hosting platform waibochigitahi.wordpress.com. I recently checked what I was writing there recently..WAH WAH WAH…some of it was raw and hardcore writing.
By the way, go to that blog at your own risk! I was a complete novice then, so getting what I was rambling about could be hectic
Anyway, I like the free word press because it offers you a perfect training ground – It is from there that i learnt many things about blogging.
And I still think it’s a superb option for beginners- you can continue posting there till you feel confident enough to open a full-blown website.
But should you settle for the free platform as a permanent solution?
Well, the wordpress.com sub-blog free package has its own good share of critics. Most hate the fact that you can hardly customize things, which is true.
You will find that most of your hands are tied as far as adding things like own themes is concerned. You will also have to contend with a mouthful sub-domain address. See how heavy mine sounds (waibochigitahi.wordpress.com)?
But I also feel that for starters, what you need is basically somewhere to publish your stuff -not an e-commerce store – so, if I were to be asked, it’s enough – FOR NOW!
I actually think that bloggers underrate the power of wordpress.com. Come to think of it- you can actually make money from this freebie.
Well, enough of my ramblings. Let’s get down to serious business:
Now, we will see how you can create your own free wordpress.com sub-blog
Step 1: Go here and choose Get started
Step 2: You will be taken to this screen
Answer the simple questions
- Give your site a TITLE – something like Magical Writer, Incredible Writer, Writing Magician or anything you feel clearly describes what the website is all about
- Then specify what your site will all be about
- Now clarify the purpose of the website
Then click continue…
This is where you land.
A keyword is a searchable word that you believe people use to search for sites with certain information. For example, I believe when clients are looking for freelance writers, they may type “FREELANCE WRITER” in the search bar- or something of the sort. It will become the TITLE of your WEBSITE..
Here I choose FREELANCE WRITER ..
And I get some many great suggestions…I will obviously pick the free one as I am not ready to spend – at least as of now.
Step IV: Pick the free plan – you can clearly see it’s for students.
Just click START WITH FREE
Step V: Create your account. You need to have your email ready. Jot down your USERNAME- it’s very important since it will be your web address. Mine is again a lengthy freelancewriter897507526
Remember to create a strong password.
An email will be sent to your email. So, login there and verify your account before making your first post.
Now, I log in to my Gmail account and find this email from wordpress.com
Click to confirm your email. You will be taken back to your original wordpress.com blog site
I get to my brand new website….Lovely. Huh?
DON’T WORRY IF YOURS LOOK SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. THE APPEARANCE OF A BLOG IS HUGELY DEPENDENT ON A THEME.
SO THE THEME I GOT IS WHAT MAKES MY SITE THIS AWESOME. IF YOU GOT A DIFFERENT ONE, JUST PROCEED WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION SINCE STEPS ARE THE SAME
Congratulations friend! You have a full blog with a beautiful theme (background)
Now, since I don’t want to bore you with the technical stuff, I will show you how to publish your first blog post.
I will also cover a few other things I consider important for your new writers website.
BASIC CUSTOMIZATION
We need the following key pages.
- Home
- Portfolio
- Hire me
- Contacts
EDITING THE HOME PAGE
Here you write a simple welcome to your blog. You could add other stuff but we are keeping tidy and simple- at least for now.
- Click Home, then scroll down there and click the edit button…
You will be taken to the following window. Now, go down to the content area and add some content
Then click update (Remember this is an already published post)
Close the window after saving.
Don’t copy. Adapt and make it better. Remember to display your contacts here. It could be what your clients are looking for.
When you close, you will be taken to the all posts window below. We will now change the ABOUT tab/menu
EDITING THE ABOUT MENU
Start by Clicking the ABOUT post. Scroll down and click edit
You will get the window below.
Before you leave the post, I think it’s a good idea to add your passport just to give yourself more credibility.
Here are the steps;
Click add on the left top corner , choose media and browse to where you have saved your passport by clicking ADD NEW.
This is what you get when you click ADD NEW.
Scroll to where your photo is and select it to open.
From there just click insert button and your image should be placed at the point where your cursor is in your post.
You can click the alignment tabs to position it center. Make sure your image is still highlighted. If not, click to highlight.
You can also drag it to your preferred position.
Of course now it looks much better and we can save the changes.
Just click update to save
Mine looks like this…
Close and let’s edit the next post.
For now, I feel we don’t need the post called PAGE and so, we will remove it and move on to the next item.
Click it, go to edit and then send it to trash. Click move to trash.
Don’t restore!
Once you visit the site now, you should have this..MAGICAL!
Your site should look like this..MAGICAL!
EDITING THE CONTACT MENU
Here we have a form through which prospects can ask you any burning questions ,get in touch or leave a comment.
Let’s get down to business..
Editing the contact form
Click contact and scroll to edit option
You get this..
Use your imagination to modify the content and make it a bit tasty.
Here is mine.
As usual, update your post once satisfied.
I thought that the post title should be CONTACT ME not just CONTACT so I clicked at the TITLE AREA and added ME before updating.
Now visit your site and you should have something like this;
EDITING YOUR BLOG ENTRY
This is where your samples will be- or portfolio as some prefer to call it. So, here is what we will do;
- Edit the TITLE to be PORTFOLIO (not blog)- of course you can leave it as blog if you are okay with it.
- Learn how to edit(replace) the existing posts with your own content
- Know how to add a brand new post to your blog list(portfolio)
EDITING THE TITLE TO READ PORTFOLIO
Click my site on the left top corner.
This menu pulls down;
Click site pages to get this.
Now, click Blog.
You can now delete the TITLE and replace with PORTFOLIO
I also edited the text slightly as you can see
Now it’s time for another update. Click to update!
Close and visit your site.
I am happy with mine..
ADDING A BLOG POST
Now, let’s go to add new blog post- essentially, we are talking of how you can add your samples to your blog/portfolio which is of course very crucial.
Click portfolio.
Narrow down to the edit under YOUR FIRST BLOG POST. We want to replace this POST with one of my samples without messing up the overall site structure.
So, I click edit.
I am taken here.
Edit the title. Now, I want to publish one of my favorite samples titled “MISSING WHAT YOU HAVE”
So, I will change the title from FIRST BLOG POST to MISSING WHAT YOU HAVE.
Then, I go to the body and copy paste the rest of the content from Ms Word (where I originally wrote it) to here.
Lets now insert an image (I downloaded it from the free photos website- pixabay.com)
I click where I want the image to appear;
Click add (top left corner)
Choose media . You will find yourself here.
Now click add new;
Select the image you want , then click open
Click insert, then align your photo nicely.
This is what it will be like.
Update and close this post.
ADDING A NEW POST/ YOUR SAMPLE
Before you do this, make sure at least one of your sample articles is open in Ms Word.
Go to my site, and then click blog posts.
Now, click add. You get to here.
Type the title . Mine is “AN INTERNSHIP IS YOUR FIRST JOB INTERVIEW, TAKE IT SERIOUSLY”
Then copy-paste everything from Ms. Word. My body comes to this
You know how to insert an image. So, go ahead and upload an image of choice. (Have you heard of pixabay.com? – They don’t charge for their photos. Head there and download a few)
FEATURED IMAGE
Now we will set the featured image. These appear as thumbnails in your blog list..
See the freelancingbuddy.com blog and how the featured images make the site look smart.
Here is how to add a featured image. Download appropriate images from pixabay.com first.
Then click featured image
Your computer should browse to a nice image. Select it, click set featured image and that’s all.
Now update your site and visit it to see how it’s like.
You have just published an article.
Now, we will edit the featured content (these are blog posts) since they are part of my blog’s theme, I customize the 2 just to match with the rest.
Go to my site. You can see them here
Now click each of the 2 posts and edit them to hold each one of your favorite samples.
Now your site is like this..
TESTIMONIALS
Here you display reviews from your customers. If you have been freelancing, you can contact any of your clients and request them to send you a photo plus a comment.
If not, just leave the post empty. You will edit in in future when a client leaves you a feedback.
In case you would like to edit it at this point, this is how;
Click to open the page and go to edit
Just click edit and insert your clients comment.
Obviously you can only do this when your get a real client (otherwise you might be caught)
When editing, also add your client’s picture if available and also customize the page appropriately(For example, you can add your own custom text in the space below).
LINK YOUR BLOG TO YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
You simply click the relevant social media account- You can see here I have Facebook, Linkedin, twitter and instagram.
Then you are redirected to the home page of the social media account.
From there, sign in and WordPress will pick the rest of the profile information automatically.
Here is the screen I get when I click the Instagram icon..i will sign up /in and in a few seconds, my blog and my Instagram will be connected.
So, that’s How to Create a Free Blog.
SEND US YOUR BLOG LINK FOR FREE EVALUATION
Now, you can go and build your free wordpress.com blog.
You have everything.
When done, do send us the link to your blog to training@freelancingbuddy.com
I will personally evaluate it and give you free feedback via email.
And don’t forget to leave your comment below.
Related: How to create a WordPress website
