So you are thinking of starting a blog in Nepal. You might have a lot of doubts and questions on your mind, like:

• How do I start?
• What am I going to make the blog about?
• What kind of content will I be creating?
• Who will be my audience?
• How do I make money from the blog?
• I don’t know how to write articles.
• I don’t know how to set up a website.

Starting a blog seems like a lot of work and quite honestly, it is. But once you get familiar with everything, it becomes easier.

There are many aspiring bloggers and writers in Nepal who want to start a blog of their own. But, they are not able to do so because of these doubts and questions.

This article is for those who are thinking of starting a blog of their own in Nepal. Even though you are clear about what type of blog you want to start, you might still be having some misunderstandings about blogging.

This article is not a tutorial on blogging. It is about clarifying some of the misunderstandings about blogging and the things you need to know before you start a blog.

So, let’s begin…

6 Things You Should Know Before Starting a Blog

1. What is a Blog?

This one is quite obvious. You have to know what a blog is before you start one. In simple terms, a blog is a website where you share information, ideas, thoughts, or suggestions with other people.

Many people have a misunderstanding that a blog is only about writing articles. That is not true. There can be different types of blogs. For instance, a photography blog will include photographs and information related to it. Similarly, a cooking blog will include recipes and cooking lessons. So, do not think that you can start a blog only if you know how to write articles.

2. Purpose

What is your purpose to start a blog? Is it:

• to share your ideas, thoughts, information, or skills with people?
• to help other people by teaching them something of value?
• for personal branding?
• to track your life’s happenings?
• to grow your business?
• just for fun?
• to improve your personal skills?
• to make money?

Identifying your purpose will help you determine what kind of blog you want to start. Why is it important? If you have a purpose, you will know exactly what you are doing. You will know who your target audiences are. For example, if you want to teach people about blogging, you will be making content specific to the topic and targeting a specific type of audience. But, if you are starting a blog for reasons like improving skills or just for fun, you can make any kind of content you like. It might, however, be difficult to attract a specific type of audience to your blog if you do so.

It is recommended to start a blog that provides value to people. Give them genuine information. Teach them something of value. If your purpose is only to make money, for instance, it will not be easy at all. You might have heard that people are making a lot of money blogging so you want to give it a shot. But remember, it takes months (even years) of hard work and consistency to be able to make decent money from blogging. It is even more difficult to make money blogging in Nepal because of reasons like; smaller audience size, limited revenue streams, etc.

3. Interest

It is important to make sure that you are really interested in blogging before you start a blog. Don’t do it just because other people are doing it. They are doing it because they are interested in blogging. Yes, you can try it out to see how blogging works. But if you start to lose interest in it, you better leave it.

After you have decided whether you are interested in blogging or not, be interested also in what you are blogging about. For example, if you have an interest in photography then start a blog on photography. Don’t start a blog on something else just because it is popular. When you do something you are interested in, you are naturally going to enjoy it. And, when you enjoy it, you will become good at it. So stick with whatever it is that you are interested in.

4. Learn. Learn. Learn.

There is only one way to become good at blogging and that is by learning. Learn as much as you can. You will be needing a lot of skills if you want to start a blog. The first skill is setting up a blog. How do you build a website for your blog? Learn it. It is available (for free) on YouTube. Take the time to learn it. Don’t sit there saying, “I don’t know how to make a website.” You can set up a blog in just 10 minutes using WordPress.

“You can learn anything you want for free.” — Elon Musk

But, you have to want to learn it.

Also, learn about your niche. The more you learn, the better your content will become. It will help you attract more audiences to your blog.

You can learn everything, from building a website to making money from a blog, online for free. You only have to be willing to find and learn what you need.

5. Don’t Spend Money Right Away

There is a common myth that to start a blog, you have to spend money. Yes, you do, but only if you want your own domain name and hosting.

If you are not sure about blogging and if you don’t know anything about blogging, it is better that you do not spend money right away.

There are a lot of websites and platforms where you can start a blog for free. These websites allow you to set up a blog, write articles, and promote them for free. The only problem is that you will not be able to have a unique domain name of your own, which is absolutely fine for starters.

Blogger.com, WordPress.com, and Wix.com are some of the popular sites that allow you to create a blog for free.

If you are more into writing articles, you can try out Medium.com and LinkedIn.com. You can write as many articles as you want (for free) on these sites and share them with your audiences.

6. Just Start

Just do it. If you really want to start a blog, don’t overthink. You will never learn it if you don’t start it.

“Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. —Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week

Don’t say that you will do it “someday” because “someday” eventually becomes “never”. If you start and fail, you will at least be able to learn something from it. You will still be ahead of those who did not start.

So the best thing to do would be to start. Seek help if you need it. Find other bloggers who are doing what you want to do. Send them a message. Ask them how they did it. People love to help out other people.

Just start your blog. Doesn’t matter if you use free platforms or paid ones. Do it.

In Conclusion

Starting a blog might be easy, but being consistent is not. It takes a lot of hard work to create a successful blog. You have to know your purpose. You need to provide value to the audience. Making money should not be your priority when you are starting out. Money is the outcome of hard work and persistence. Find something that interests you. Focus on learning. Learn as much as you can. Just start it. The right time is now. Do not expect to start a perfect blog at the beginning. You can’t. You will become perfect as you learn and grow.

Happy blogging!