Do I need any special software to start a blog?

To start a blog you only need a few things:

  • A solid internet connection
  • A decent computer or laptop
  • A blogging software platform – self-hosted WordPress is recommended
  • A writing tool

There isn’t a lot you need to start a blog, but there are a few essentials.

It should go without saying that you’ve got to have a reliable internet connection. Let’s save some of that bandwidth you’ve been using for Netflix and Hulu, and use it to publish your content!

When it comes to computer hardware, you don’t need a lot. Something that’s stable and can connect to the internet will do the trick. I’m recommending doing your writing online, and you’ll see why in just a minute below.

Next, as we talked about before, self-hosted WordPress is the way to go when it comes to people who take their blog seriously.

You can reference that section for learning how you can get started with your own self-hosted WordPress blog.

The writing tool I recommend is Google Docs because it saves your work as you go, it’s super easy to use, and it’s available everywhere.

Very early on I learned the hard way not to do your content creation in your actual website. All it takes is a browser crash, or an internet blip and all your hard work simply vanishes.

It’s happened way too many times to me.

As a quick example, I was having problems with my Macbook Pro while I was working on this post and it crashed several times. If I wasn’t using Google Docs I’d have easily lost what I was working on.

So I recommend that you do all of your writing in something that saves automatically as you go, like Google Docs.

You can use Microsoft Word if you like, or any other word processing platform like that. But you don’t have to go buy Microsoft Office just because you’re starting a blog.

If you’re starting a podcast the fastest and easiest way to get started is to sign up for a free account at anchor.fm.

That’s where I host my podcast and it’s more than sufficient for getting started with your podcast.

If you’re starting a video blog, or “vlog”, all you need is your phone. Seriously, you don’t need expensive video editing software to get started. There are pro-level tools like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro (which is my personal preference). But to get started you don’t need anything special.

If you’re on a Mac you’ve got Quicktime which can do basic editing. If you’re looking for a free platform Davinci Resolve is something you should take a look at.

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