Why, How, and What I Did to Start my Website

I have been wanting to create a blog for the longest time, and finally I have! I have so many posts ready, so much knowledge to share & so many cool experiences.

A few things I intend to write about are recipes, my pregnancy experience, cool places I have been/tried, my journey to expanding into the world of doula, amazon must haves, art, stories, etc! I am so excited to have an outlet for myself to expand on all my hobbies and interests.

Starting a blog was kind of crazy, and I am still wrapping my brain around how I did it– the best way for me to understand is by teaching so this was the step-by-step for how how I started my blog.

Why?

I have always loved to write and talk–I mean seriously, you can’t spell talkative without kat. Writing has always been a big outlet of mine for as I can remember, on top of that, learning. I love learning new things, I love teaching, and I love talking. I feel like that pretty much sums it up, haha!

I wanted to start a blog to have a creative space to write my thoughts, feelings, and knowledge on topics and experiences as I experience them. As of right now, I have no intention of sharing this other than with myself, but I can’t wait to expand on that.

How?

So how did I get this party started? Prepping, research, and tons of ‘stupid questions’. I know they say there is no such thing as a stupid question, but do you ever learn about something and then look back and think… oh, that was way harder than I made it out to be? Well, thats basically what happened here.

I would see my friends and family starting blogs and just be exceptionally intimidated by the concept of creating a website, hosts and domains, which company to choose, what title I should use, etc. So I did what most people do when they genuinely don’t understand something– I asked my dad ha! This was my first problem, I asked such an open question without having enough knowledge under my belt that when he started explaining it to me… I just felt lost and was not at all ready to understand. (Kind of like math–if you know you’re bad at it, you’re always gonna think you’re bad at it and give up before you even try.)

So troubleshooting from there, I started googling everything under the sun, I started reading articles, and watching youtube videos, and finding whatever resources I could to even begin to understand the concept of what it took to create your own website. After all, what good was all the planning and prepping and ideas I had, if I didn’t even understand how to begin to get them all down?

So there I was, starting fresh watching video after video and here is what I learned:

• There are a billion ways and companies out there to create your own website, many of which will do most of the work for you, but with a heavier price tag
• It is often times better to go through buying your own host/domain and creating your own website that way then paying to host and use a domain through wordpress for example
• This article was written in a way that helped me understand the difference between a host and a domain, and why they matter.
  • A host is basically where all your website’s data is stored, but a domain is your website name. For example: apple.com or google.com
• Youtube really is a learning app, because I probably watched like 8 videos and finally started to understand. Here are the two videos that I felt helped me understand best: How to create a wordpress blog & Ionos WordPress tutorial.

What did I do?

So after getting the understanding of what a host versus a domain was, the different sites that are out there, and watched a substantial amount of videos I was at the point where the stuff my dad was telling me, started to actually make sense.

He told me about a website called Ionos, where I can use them as my host and purchase a domain there AND build with their tools–basically giving me free range to a ton of resources. It took me a while to understand that although WordPress can be a host and a domain, they are also just another tool. Basically, you can get your own host and domain and still use WordPress as a tool and use their templates–and that’s just what I did.

Step-by-step this was how I got the ball rolling:

1. I started by making a list of all the ideas I had for my own website, this can be pretty simple, I just used the notes app in my iPhone. I wrote down every idea that I wanted to make possible and even started writing some out or putting cliff notes on each.
2. Next, I did what any young person does nowadays, I tiktok, youtubed the hell out of ‘How to start a blog in 2023’–which was intimidating, but helped me to realize that thousands of people do it everyday, how hard can it be?
3. I started to get real in depth research, from the beginning, because in order to understand how to run and write a blog, you have to understand the concept of creating a website, so I took off with that research and the links I provided above were the best resources for me.
4. I decided who I wanted to host with, I chose Ionos, and then the real fun began: You get to pick a domain, I tried SO many different names until I stopped on the one you are surfing on today.
   • Typically, this name should be something guided toward your Niche, such as: if you are a baker, try your name x bakes or a fun adjective x bakes
5. From there, Ionos has a variety of packages and tools accessible to you when you choose your plan–I wanted to use WordPress so I opted for that platform.
6. AND THEN BOOM! You started a blog! It really was THAT simple! The hardest part is understanding and researching what company works best for you–once you sort that out the rest is cake!

So get to it! It is both as intimidating and easy as it sounds.