How To Create Your Own Blog In South Africa

Start a blog in South Africa, for free, means you have nothing to lose.

However, by starting a free blog today you have the opportunity of generating a decent income for yourself, just like many other bloggers do.

So if you're wondering how to start a blog for free and make money from it, this is the ideal way to do it as it's not only free, but you can also experiment with a few free blogging platforms in South Africa to see which suits you best.

The steps below will show you exactly how to start your blog in South Africa, oranywhere else in the world for that matter, andmake money by blogging.

So let me show you how to create your blog for free…

Pro Tip: To Become a Successful Blogger, you'll need to ensure that your blog looks professional and is packed with awesome content – the stuff that people love to read

8 Easy Steps To Start Your Own Free Blog

1. Choose your free bogging platform

You can choose from the 2 most popular free blogging platforms in South Africa below;

i. WordPress – powered by WordPress

click here and follow the prompts to create your account

ii. Blogger (Blogspot) – powered by Google

How to start a blog for free with Blogger — How To Start a Blog For Free With Blogger (Powered by Google)

click here and then hit the "CREATE YOUR BLOG" button which will prompt you to login with an existing Google account or you can create a new one (for free).

There's nothing to stop you from setting up blogs on both platforms to see which one is best for you. They're both free and it won't cost you anything extra.

I've based this free blog startup guide on Google's blogger platform.

So once you've signed in or created your free Google account here just follow these steps…

2. Click the Down arrow In the top left corner & click "New blog"

3. Then click "Create new" in the bottom right corner

4. Enter a name for your blog

Make sure the name you choose is a memorable one that you can also use for your domain name.

It should also be appropriate for your blog's theme or niche.

So if you're going to be publishing the latest fashion trends you would rather have jacksfashions.blogspot.com than jacksblog.blogspot.com (or blogspot.co.za)

PS. Prefer to build your blog under your own domain name? (often the best option)

You can register a free .COM or .NET Domain Name with Hostgator…

Read more & register it here »

5. Choose your blog's URL

Your blog's URL will be your blog's domain or web address.

Although the Url will end in blogspot.com (the price you pay for a free domain name) you should try to use your blog title (name) in some way for your blog's Url.

Remember to make it memorable which means it should be short, sharp and catchy.

Whilst it's not easy to come up with something straight away, it may be worthwhile spending some time thinking of a name you'll be proud of and that's appropriate for your blog.

Check out other blog names in your niche to get some good ideas.

6. Choose a template

The template you choose should be appropriate for your blog's theme.

So if you blog's to do with fashion, a techie design may not be the one you'd want to choose.

7. Click create blog

Time to publish your blog and create content that will have visitors flooding in.

Don't forget that you can always go back and edit things that you think should be changed.

8. Get your blog out there

To get some interest and visitors to your blog you should start a social media campaign by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

5 Benefits Of Setting Up a Free Blog

Your blog can be live on the net within an hour or so. There's no hassle of getting a domain name and hosting account set up.
It is completely free to setup and publish your blog on the net.
Everything is 100% free – even the domain name you choose and the cost of hosting your blog is all totally free.
All you'll need to pay for is your internet connection, unless you do all your blogging from a coffee shop with free WiFi.
The best thing is that you can set up your free blog to start making money for you – more about that below…

Here's a Quick Way To Make Money From Your Free Blog

Now that you know how to create a blog for free you probably also want to know how to make some money from it.

The easiest, and one of the most effective ways, to almost instantly start making money from your blog is by displaying Adsense ads on it.

Just a few points about Adsense & Blogger…

I should just mention that the free blog setup guide above was to start a blog on the blogger platform (blogspot) which is powered by Google.
This is important as it makes a lot of sense to partner with Google's Adsense program with a blog published on Google's blogging platform – see the connection?
So, in my opinion, it makes good sense to use one of the most effective online earning methods (Adsense) on the blogging platform that is owned by the advertising program's parent company, Google.

5 Steps To Publish Adsense Ads On Your Blog

So without further ado, sign up to become an Adsense publisher here…
Once you account has been approved you can sign in to your account and copy the code for the size ads you want to display and copy the code into your blog.
Remember that every time someone clicks on your ads you (and Google) get a portion of the ad revenue – the more clicks you get, the more you earn.
So it's important to get the size and positioning of your ads correct as this can effect the CTR (ClickThrough Rate) and consequently the amount you make from Adsense.
Lastly, before you start slapping Adsense ads all over the place please post some decent content on your blog and let it get a bit of integrity first. Also be sure to read the Adsense TOS because if you run foul of them your account will be closed & you'll probably be banned from Adsense forever.

Go here to find out more about making money with Adsense »

Want To Change Your Blog's Name?

It's easy to edit and change the name of your blog, just follow these steps…

Sign in to your Blogger account
In the left menu, click Settings and then Basic
Next to "Title" click Edit
Enter a new name for your blog
Click Save changes and you're done

I hope this guide gives you some inspiration to getting your blog started today.

Once you start posting some interesting content you'll find it really rewarding, especially when your site visitors start acknowledging your work.

The more useful your audience finds your blog the more money you'll make too.

So get blogging and enjoy the journey.

Pro Tip: Email marketing is the most effective way of making money online…
So, do not let your site visitors click away without getting their details for your email campaign »

PS. Some bloggers like Smartblogger (and others) make more than $100,000 a month from their blogs, however others (the majority) only manage to scrape together a few measly dollars a month from theirs.

Oh yes, there's also Michael Arrington who pulls in a cool $500,000 to $800,000 per month from his technology blog.

I know which side my earnings are moving towards, where do want your blog earnings to be?

Now that your blog's set up, you need to read this (free)…

6 Step Guide On How To Make Money By Blogging In South Africa »

5 Disadvantages To Creating a Free Blog

Whilst Google's free blogging platform provides many bloggers an easy way to create a free blog, this article would not be complete if it didn't point out some of the pitfalls you should be aware of.

Limitations
With a free blog you won't be able to make use of custom themes and useful plugins that you can access and easily implement with your own blog.
Termination
When using a free blogging platform you will be subject to the company's specific TOS (Terms Of Service).

This could have massive implications if you unwittingly violate any of them as you could have your account suspended or, even worse, shutdown completely.

So imagine having the blog you've invested so much time & effort in creating just wiped out overnight, it would be disastrous especially if it's started generating an income.
Credibility
If you're serious about building your blog into a sustainable business you need to consider the impression your free blog's url will create.

You won't find many people who will be too keen to build a relationship with a site that clearly is based on a freebie which can clearly be recognised with a url such as: https://myfreeblog.blogspot.com/

Having a blog address such as: https://myblog.com/ would create a more professional image as well as trust.

2 Options to buy cheap domains in South Africa »
Control
The control you have over the look and feel of your blog could also have certain limitations.

Even worse, some free blogging platforms will display random advertisements on your blog that you have no control or say over.

If you're going to have ads displayed on your blog, you would want them to be from your own Adsense account so that you can earn revenue from them.
Speed
Not only will a fast loading page help you in the search engine rankings, but you will be penalised for having a slow blog.

As you can imagine, free blogging platforms host tons of blogs all on one server which does not contribute to fast loading pages.

Therefore, your free blog's performance could be seriously compromised by having it hosted on a free platform.

A Better Alternative To Creating a Free Blog

Having your blog fully under your control, with all the features & benefits that come with it, is something that you should carefully consider if you want to establish a professional online presence.

In fact, you can register a free .com, .net or .org domain of your choice with a reputable company like HostGator that has packages starting at just $3.00pm.

Their hosting plans come with so many useful & essential features that you can use to create a professional looking blog, or website, combined with awesome support.

Just to recap, if you're serious about establishing a professional web presence, owning the IP of your blog & domain is essential.

This is in order to avoid the pitfalls associated with having your blog hosted on a free blogging platform.

Find out more about registering your free domain name here…