Welcome to Be Our Guest Fridays!

Be Our Guest Fridays is a weekly feature where I feature guest posts by my favorite bloggers and authors. I started this feature as a fun way to give back to the blogging community. I are excited to share with you these creative, inspiring and knowledgeable bloggers.

I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about Rachel from Fit Triangle Mom. She’s a fellow NC blogger who blogs about her family, faith and fitness. She’s got two boys and recently joined our Small Victories Sunday Linkup team so I’m sure you’ll hear from her too if you link up with us! She’s previously been my guest where she talked about Accepting Your Body’s Limitations and 7 Tips to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle When You Can’t Exercise. Today, she’s sharing some tips on getting started with blogging.

Getting Started Blogging

4 Tips to Help Your Blog Soar

by Rachel from Fit Triangle Mom

Last weekend I had the chance to help my friend, Kristin start blogging. She had mostly everything ready for her first post– a domain name, a platform (wordpress.com) and most importantly a theme. She would be blogging about life experiences, adoption and family. I was happy to help her with the technical side to blogging—design, plugins and code. Once she had the basics down, the real excitement came as I watched her begin to fly. Her written words were like the wind that carried her higher into the sky, and the more she shared her heart the more inspired she became.

As a writer, I understand the freedom and release of emotions that writing about my passions creates. It can be difficult to explain it to non-writers, but writing is the most effective way for us to share our passions, our hopes and dreams.

However in the blogging world, you need a little bit more than written words to blog. I started blogging three years ago, and I haphazardly started in Blogger. If I only knew, I would have started on a self-hosted site like, wordpress.org.

The good thing is that I joined a group of local bloggers, and slowly started flying. Here are a few things, I learned along the way.

1. Find yourself a group of local bloggers.

The support and continued education is very beneficial for new and seasoned bloggers. There are many blogger groups on Facebook. Do a search and find one near you. If you are in North Carolina, the NC Blogger Network is an excellent group and resource.

2. Blog about your passions.

When I first started blogging, I wrote about frugal finds and savings. I
ended up switching gears and blogging about my true passions- fitness, family and faith. It’s easier blogging about something you love.

3. Purchase a domain name.

A unique and catchy name makes for easier navigation to your siteplus strengthens your brand recognition. New Blog Hosting offers domain names for only $10/annually.

4. DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED by wordpress.org.

I originally started my blog in Blogger then recently switched to wordpress.org, and I am so glad I did. It’s easy to format and customize. Many plugins are free and the cost to self-host is priceless when you own your content and don’t have to worry about being censored. My blog was easily imported to WordPress with the assistance of New Blog Hosting. New Blog Hosting imported my blog, set up my template and even redirected my former Blogger site for only $35/annually.

If you are still on the fence about self-hosting, read this post from Fabulous Blogging.

There’s plenty more to blogging than these four steps, but this is only the beginning. Once you’ve accomplished these tasks, you are cleared for takeoff and ready to fly.

About Rachel

From Rachel’s About Me page:

Hey, I’m Rachel, the mom behind FitTriangleMom. When I’m not writing, I enjoy playing with my 2 boys, running, trying new workouts, date nights with my hubby and reading. My blog chronicles my journey of balancing a life with boys, living in the Triangle area of NC all while thriving for a fit and healthy lifestyle.

Follow Rachel on Fit Triangle Mom / Facebook / Google + / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter

I started out blogging the same way as Rachel, on free Blogger. After a year and the realization that my blog content was not my own, I moved to self-hosted WordPress and am so happy with the change. WordPress was easier for me to customize. There’s always something to learn to improve my blog. Thanks Rachel for sharing your encouraging words for new bloggers! 

How long have you been blogging? Have you taken the plunge into self-hosted WordPress? What blogging networks do you belong to? I agree, if you’re in NC, the NC Blogger Network has been fantastic!