How to Start a Basketball Blog or Website in 2022
Are you looking for an easy, simple way to start a basketball blog or website?
Well, you’ve come to the perfect place. Below, we’re going to walk you, step-by-step, on how to start a basketball blog or website in 2022. This is an updated and current list and will be your best bet for starting and being successful with a basketball blog or website.
And, once you’ve completed this guide, you will have a beautiful, ready to share basketball blog or website with all your family and friends.
While starting a basketball blog can seem intimidating, there really is nothing further from the truth. In fact, starting a basketball blog or website can be done in just twenty-minutes and can help you deepen your own understanding of the game.
You may also be interested in our guide on how to monetize a basketball website or blog.
Why You Should Start a Basketball Blog
There are, honestly, a plethora of reasons why you may want to start a basketball blog. From the love of the game to a deep understanding of offensive and defensive schemes, to a particular affiliation with a particular NBA or NCAA team which you would like to write on and support.
Whatever the reason, if you have any connection or a deep, undying love of the sport, then starting a basketball blog is one of the best ways to show it.
And, you don’t have to be the next Mark Twain to begin a blog. In fact, many people read blogs to gain a personal perspective on things and to read other peoples opinions and thoughts. While you should have and maintain proper grammar and avoid typos, you don’t have to be an excellent writer to start a basketball blog.
In addition, contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be an expert in the topic you write about to have a successful blog. For example, if you’re serious about starting a basketball blog or website, you don’t need to get into the nitty-gritty details of an offensive scheme.
Rather, you can write about your experiences attending games, why you believe a certain player is poised for success, or your own personal pick on who will win the NBA championship for the upcoming year. And with basketball, there really are a nearly endless supply of content and things to write about.
Honestly, when it comes to being a successful blogger, the only prerequisite is that you should have a passion for the topic you are writing about. Whether it be basketball or sports in general or cooking, so long as you are passionate, you will find success.
But, if you are looking for some tangible reasons why you should start a sports or basketball blog, then we’ve got you covered below:
- Make money from home. Blogging is, without a doubt, one of the best ways to make money at home and can be done so with relatively little upfront costs. Once you have paid for a domain name and hosting, you really don’t have much more expenses.
- Start a community. Blogging is one of the absolute best ways to start a community of like-minded individuals. Whether you’re passionate about basketball, cooking, or coffee, blogging will help you to build a community of individuals that also enjoy those topics.
- Grow your business. Blogging is also one of the best ways to grow your own business. Whether you have a personal basketball training program or sell coffee online, blogging about those topics will help you to reach like-minded and interested individuals worldwide.
- Blogging is evergreen. Unlike social media accounts and posts, which often disappear or are no longer shown after a certain amount of time, writing about topics on a blog that is of interest to others will continue to show up in Google and other search engines for years to come.
What is a Basketball Blog?
A basketball blog is a website that focuses mainly on written content about basketball. These written posts are also more commonly known as blog posts.
Although we often hear about news blogs and other niche focused blog sites, in this guide, we’re going to help you start a blog about basketball.
When it comes to writing a basketball blog, it is often best to write about basketball from a personal perspective. This helps you to connect with readers and your audience. It also allows you to have unique content to write about, as your experiences are unique to yourself alone.
Pick a Blog Name
The first step to any successful blog or business is to come up with a name. this is an extremely important part of the process and should relate to the topic that you are going to be speaking on.
For example, if you are looking to start a blog about the Brooklyn Nets, you wouldn’t want to name your blog Bobsbasketballthoughs.com.
Rather, you will want to incorporate the theme of the blog to the blogs name.
Once you have chosen a blog name, simply head on over to SiteGround or any other domain registrar to purchase the domain name. if your preferred blog name is already taken, then unfortunately, you will need to register with another name.
You could, theoretically, purchase your preferred domain name from the current owner, however it will likely be much costlier than purchasing a new domain name and your chances of successfully purchasing a domain name, particularly a popular name, may be slim.
However, if you are adamant about a certain name, you may try to purchase the domain name with a different extension. So, instead of a .com address, you could try with a .net or a .org address.
Similarly, you could place dashes in the name to try and capture a unique domain name. so, instead of broooklynnetsbasketballblog, you could try brooklynnets-basketballblog.
Niching Down a Basketball Blog
Basketball, and sports blogs, are definitely a dime a dozen. However, in order to be successful with a basketball blog, you should aim to niche down the blog even further. As the famous saying goes, “niches build riches”.
So, before deciding on moving forward, you should niche down your topic list. Do you want to discuss a specific NBA or NCAA team? Are you passionate about strength training for basketball? Do you want to teach and help others enhance their rebounding skills?
Whatever it may be, be sure to decide before you register a domain and begin writing.
Getting Your Basketball Blog Online
A lot of people I speak to believe that the most difficult part of starting a blog is getting it online. Thankfully, getting your basketball blog online is extremely simple and can be done in less than 30-minutes.
To get a blog up and running, you simply need two things: a blog hosting service and blogging software. These two typically come together!
A blog host, such-as SiteGround, simply hosts and stores all of your website files and delivers them to a user when they go to your site.
As for the blogging software, we’re going to go with WordPress. WordPress is by far the most popular blogging software due to its ease of use, SEO features, and countless themes and design choices.
The web host that we opt for is SiteGround and is the web host that we use for our website. SiteGround is one of the best web hosts out there and offers operations powered through Google Cloud, so you know that your site won’t go down.
In addition, SiteGround helps new users with purchasing a domain and provides a full, end-to-ed solution to building your first site. With premium support and an integrated site builder, SiteGround is our hosting solution of choice.
Install WordPress
Once you’ve successfully purchased your hosting package and your domain, you will want to install WordPress. Luckily, with SiteGround, there is a one-press WordPress installation ready.
- SiteGround will email you with the information about accessing your account
- Using the provided information, login to your cPanel
- Look for the one-click WordPress installer
- Click on the WordPress icon and click install
- You will then notice that WordPress has been successfully installed. You can then login to your WordPress dashboard and set up your blog or website.
Installing an Appropriate Theme
The wonderful thing about WordPress is its flexibility and ease of use. In addition, there are a plethora of free and paid WordPress themes that you can utilize to make your site unique and all your own. A WordPress theme dictates how your site will look and act when a user goes to it.
Although there are a ton of themes to choose from, we recommend going with a theme that is light, easy-to-use, and doesn’t require too much out of the box work. That’s why, we personally use the Kadence theme. This is a great theme for a first site and is also free, so no worries about having to spend too much money to start.
Creating Blog Posts
Now that you have your website up-and-running, it’s time to begin creating your blog posts. To do this, we tend to prefer writing all your content on a word document and then copying it over to WordPress. This not only allows you to come back to it, but also allows you to flesh out your content in a more familiar space.
However, to create a new blog post in WordPress, simply go to Pages > Add new. You can either write your blog post there or copy and paste from a word document.
Setup Communication Methods
Once you have successfully started your blog, you will also want to enable ways for people to contact you. In addition to providing commentary, ideas, and musings on your posts, many people may simply reach out to thank you for the information you provided.
In order to appear as professional as possible, you should ensure that you use a professional email address. With Siteground, you can create a free email address with your domain name. For example, my email address is [email protected].
However, you don’t want to limit your communication methods to just one source. In addition to having a professional email address, you should also provide a phone number and a fax line where people can reach you.
There are a plethora of services available online for sending and receiving faxes via the internet. However, we definitely recommend going with CocoFax.
CocoFax is one of the easiest fax services available online, and with the free fax number provided, you’ll be able to send and receive faxes in no time!
The Sky is the Limit
Honestly, with a basketball blog or website, or just about any blog or website, the sky is the limit. There is no telling how successful you may be and the success of your operation really comes down to how much you write and attract an audience to your site.