How to Start a Crochet Blog to Teach Others a Craft

Whether you are a business owner, or simply a crochet enthusiast, starting a crochet blog is a brilliant way to make money and share your talents online. If this is something that interests you, then you have come to the right place. Below, you will find out how to start a crochet blog.

Becoming a crochet blogger will allow you to connect with like-minded individuals, build a forum, and even aid in producing crochet related videos for your blog. Having a crochet blog can open up a lot of different doors for you.

Let’s take a look at what steps you need to get through to start a crochet blog and teach others your craft.

Perform the steps below in the order they are given and you will have a crochet blog up and running in no time at all.

What You Need to Start a Crochet Blog

You will be going on a journey that involves several steps. Before you actually start the website build, it is a good idea to have some things in place. A great way to get these important items organized is to create a checklist.

Make a website checklist of all the things you think you may need for your blog. Each website is different. But in this case, we want to get a checklist ready that applies to items you may need for your crochet blog.

Create that checklist now, before anything else. If you already have a list in place, great! If not, here are some things you may want to consider adding.

Crochet Blog Checklist

• Write Some Starter Content and Have it Ready
• Create Posting Schedule
• Create Email Newsletter
• Build Social Media Pages
• Develop Your Branding (logo)
• Contact Info
• Comment and Interaction Policy
• Domain Name (below)
• Web Host (below)

Domain Name and Web Host

Now that you have a checklist in place, you can begin working on it and have it ready for later. Now it is time to find your domain name and get web hosting. You may have a domain name in mind. Remember, though, there are already millions of sites online. You may not get the exact name you want.

If you cannot find the domain name you want, then try using a different domain name extension. There are so many available now that you should have no problem getting one that you are happy with.

Next comes web hosting.  You want to find a web host that has a fantastic online reputation and gives you everything you need to easily start a crochet blog.

GreenGeeks web hosting not only gives you every tool imaginable to get your website up and running, but it will also give you a domain name. Getting everything in one place will make the entire process even easier.

Use WordPress to Build, and This is Why

Yes, you will have some different options available to you when it comes to CMS (content management system) platform choices. However, for this tutorial, we are using WordPress to do the site build. Here are the reasons behind our choice.

First off, the platform is very user friendly and there are a lot of resources and tutorials online to help you build a crochet blog for beginners.

WordPress is open-source, which means there are thousands of developers that have contributed to its development. And you have the freedom to build around themes any way you want. When you design and build using WordPress, you allow yourself the freedom to add many bells and whistles to your website.

There are steps you can take to further secure your WordPress website, but overall the platform, out of the box, is very secure and built with solid code.

Last but not least, you can easily install WordPress when you are ready to use it through the cPanel area of your web host. You can either use the one-click installation method, or install it manually.

Either way, you are up and running in no time at all.

Choosing the Right Theme and Plugins

Let’s talk about how choosing the right WordPress theme and plugins will help take your blog to the next level. WordPress offers thousands of stunning themes (free and paid) that can help take your site to where you need to get it.

That being said, you want to look at certain themes that may interact better with the type of site you are trying to build.

At this point, you have your checklist in place, have your domain name and web hosting, and you have installed WordPress. So now is the time to get that perfect theme.

If you aren’t sure where to start, here are a couple of theme suggestions perfect for a crochet blog.

Crochet

The Crochet theme is a multi-purpose theme, perfect for those dealing with crochet materials. The theme is packed full of functionality and gives you a bunch of different page and display options. Use the post display options when you are blogging about crochet patterns.  It is also easy to use and has WooCommerce built-in so you can easily sell your crochet items directly from your website.

Magnolia

Another great theme option for a crochet blog is Magnolia. This is a simple, smooth, elegant theme that is perfectly designed for crafters. It is beautiful to view, and very easy to customize. It is a parallax-style theme that provides plenty of functionality and is mobile ready.

When you have chosen a WordPress theme to build around, your next step is figuring out plugins. There are several plugins you need to make your site run smoothly. Make sure you have a fantastic SEO plugin, as well as a plugin that you can use to optimize and compress images.

That being said, it is always a superb idea to try and find niche related plugins that can help take you to the next level. In this case, you are starting a crochet blog. So maybe find a couple of plugins that can help you in that niche.

Here are a couple to look at if you are interested.

NextGEN Gallery

NextGEN Gallery is a plugin that will allow you to display all of your crochet patterns and work in beautiful, customizable galleries. It offers a complete WordPress gallery management system that allows you to build and create many amazing galleries to display on your site.

Affiliates Manager

There are several ways to make money on a blog. You will probably want to make some money on your crochet blog through affiliate links. This is where the Affiliates Manager plugin comes into play. Track and run your entire affiliate link system right from the comfort of your WordPress admin dashboard.

Marketing Your Crochet Blog

Most of the work for your new crochet blog is either done, or is about to be. Once the site is live, it is time to get the word out to everyone and market it.

You may have some marketing ideas of your own. If you are a little stuck, then here are some some solid website marketing options for you to consider.

• Social Media Ads
• Share Site on all Social Media Pages
• Use Email List
• Share Site Links on Message Boards
• Guest Post on Like-Minded Sites
• Allow Guest Posting on Your Site
• Add Social Sharing Buttons to Site
• Collaborate
• Use Video
• Create a Webinar
• Use Infographics
• Build a Website Forum

Conclusion

Creating a new website can be daunting. However, if you have the information in front of you and all the steps in place, then you should have no problem putting something together that you can be proud of.

Use the steps above in the order they are given and you should have no problem getting your new crochet blog up and running in no time at all. I hope this tutorial has been helpful to you. Have fun with the process and enjoy your new website!