Hi Karen – I’m thrilled to see you start your lifestyle blog!!

You can use whatever name you wish as your domain name. It doesn’t necessary have to be your business name but do consult with any accountant or professional for business advice. 🙂

Let me know once you’ve started your blog. I’d love to see it once it’s launched.

Hey Sarah

I have a blog post on what to blog about here:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/what-to-blog-about/

Topics like home decor, fashion, beauty, food, baking, and a ton of other niches do very well on Pinterest, so that’s a yes for me.

I never recommend anyone going for any “free” sites like blogger because you’re not even the owner of the blog when you sign up for a free account. If you want to earn money with your blog, I HIGHLY recommend going self-hosted and starting your blog with Bluehost using this tutorial page:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/how-to-start-a-wordpress-blog-on-bluehost/

I also talk about why one should NEVER go for a “free” blog in that tutorial along with an example of one of my readers who regrets signing for a free website.

Going self-hosted is so cheap and affordable – I don’t know why anyone would want to start with a free blog. It’s best to just go self-hosted right off the bat! I am so glad that I did because if not, I don’t think I’d be where I’m at with my blog today!!

I also recommend reviewing this blog post and reviewing how much it costs to start a profitable blog. Everything I’ve laid out here is affordable and budget-friendly for beginners who are looking to turn their blogs into a stream of income that generates money.

I hope this advice helps!

Hey Jessica

I am currently using Pinterest to grow my reach, but I don’t consider that as a social media. It’s more like a search where people can find inspiration and ideas on what they’re looking for. I am also learning how to increase my reach by learning how to rank on Google searches. I currently only use two of these sources for my traffic and reach. I personally stick to searches because they are more intentional than social media as I’m not much of a social media person (e.g. FB, IG, Tik Tok, etc) however it doesn’t mean social media doesn’t work.

I’ve heard a lot of people use social media to raise their brand awareness rather than to get traffic. On the other hand, I’ve heard IG can be a good social media to use for traffic driver back to your blog.

My recommendation is to start off with 1-2 mediums and learn them really well before you expand your reach on other sources. It’s so important to learn how to master one and know it well before you learn something else. Less is always more.

I hope this helps you get started on your blog! 🙂

Do you have a website platform you like more than others? I have plans to secure my domain, but I’m not much in the way of web design.

Thank you!

Hi Rohit

That is awesome to hear that you already decided on a niche and came up with five blog post ideas! Woo-hoo!

As a total beginner, you can definitely go ahead and install the Astra theme. I really like the Astra theme because it is very simple and easy to use – one of the best free ones. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a free theme.

I know many of my readers want to make their blogs look better than just the basic, and no matter how many times I tell them that they can start off with a free theme, they always end up purchasing a more premium theme.

If you ever feel that way too, I have a post about how I use the Genesis framework here. It also walks you through a step by step tutorial on how you can install it no matter which theme you decide to choose using the Genesis framework – I highly recommend this too:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/foodie-pro-theme/

To be honest, nobody ever feels like they are an expert. I don’t think everybody or anyone will know it all. As long as you are a few steps ahead of your readers, and your readers are inspired by you and your story, you can blog about it.

I know so many people who started as non-experts and didn’t really know a lot about the topic they were blogging about, however by writing about it and teaching it to their readers, they improved and became more knowledgeable in that area. Again, everyone’s audience is different and it really depends on who you are tailoring and delivering your message to.

As long as you are willing to learn and put in the effort and care about helping your readers, you’re going to do well!

I have a blog post about how to choose your domain name here and I highly recommend you going through this article:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/how-to-choose-a-domain-name-for-your-blog/

Let me know your progress and how it goes! I am excited to see you learn and grow in your blogging journey! 🙂

I haven’t started my blog yet, but I have decided on the niche, came up with 5 blog post ideas. And I have currently started writing the ‘about me’ page. To be honest, when I read your about me page, I instantly felt that I am just like you even I am an introvert. So while writing about me page I am keeping your page as a reference 😁 (I am not copying or anything, just to get an idea).

So what I am struggling with is the theme, will the genesis framework theme be good for beginners or should I go with Astra?

But I am not an expert in a few of the topics I have selected as my niche and don’t know whether it will work on Pinterest or not?

And one more thing I forgot to ask. I am really confused about choosing a domain name, I was thinking about my full name. But do you think it will be too long and hard to remember? And in that case, how should I select a domain name?

Don’t know whether I was able to explain it correctly or not, but it’s quite overwhelming. Want to hear your thoughts!

I think Google Adsense may have changed some of their requirements when I started my first blog a few years ago. Today, your domain name needs to be at least 5 or 6 months old before you can apply and that’s why I recommend beginners to always start their blog as soon as possible, so they can let their blog sit there and “age,” even if that’s just publishing only one blog post.

I also had my pages ready and about 10-15 blog posts published when I applied for Google Adsense in the past. Don’t apply for Google Adsense yet if your blog doesn’t look ready and not at least 5 months old.

Also good to know that you have your first blog post ready! Keep it up! 🙂

Hi Marsha!

That’s great to hear that you’ve started your blog and close to finishing! Here are my answers to your two questions:

1. One way is in your WordPress dashboard when you log in, go to “Appearance” >> “Customize” and this will lead you to your theme that you selected for your blog. Click on the “Typography” box and this is where you can customize your body font, menu font, heading font, etc. Depending on the type of theme you chose and installed, this may be different for everyone. So, if you’re looking for other styles, I recommend trying out different themes until there is one you like. The other option is to go into “Additional CSS” and do some coding to change your font if you are familiar with that. I personally don’t know how to code and I’m not a technical person.

2. Signing up for your Pinterest Business Account and setting up your profile will be quick, but building the account will take time. It’s important to consistently use it. I recommend creating boards with titles or “keywords” that align to your blog’s niche and saving pin images into those relevant boards. There are tons of information on how to use Pinterest and drive traffic back to your blog, so it’s important to learn those strategies. One place I recommend learning from is Simple Pin Media. You can also invest in an ebook or course that will teach you Pinterest strategies to learn it quicker.

I hope that helps! 🙂