A blog is a great way to build your following and show the world your expertise as a dog trainer. That is why there are a lot of questions about how to start a dog training blog.
Just like we did on how to start a natural hair blog, we will also guide you with an easy step-by-step guide on how to start a dog training blog.
Although many people think that starting your own blog from scratch can be difficult, the truth is that you can actually create your own dog training blog in just a day with this easy step-by-step guide on how to start a dog training blog.
Other questions that may also come to your mind are “How much do freelance dog trainers make?”, “Do dog bloggers make money?”
Having a professional-looking dog training blog that sells is one of the most important things you’ll do to grow your business and make a lot of money from it. When I say lots of money I mean it.
With these guides, you are going to create the best dog training websites that will actually fetch you money in addition. After reading this article, you will not only learn how to start a dog training blog but also how to start a pet blog in general.
Without wasting much of your time, let’s delve into the step-by-step guide on how to start a dog training blog.
Table of Contents
1. Choose a name for your dog training blog
The first step on how to start a dog training blog is to choose a name for your blog. Your blog name will also serve as your domain name and the link or URL of your blog (for example “YourBlogName.com”).
If you don’t have any idea of how to make up a blog name for your dog training blog, we will show you a few ways to find a good name for your dog training blog. You should keep the below tips in mind when choosing your blog name.
- Make the name of your dog training blog short
- Use words that are easy to remember and also unique to dog training
- It has to be descriptive for new visitors to instantly know what your blog is about
For instance, If you are starting a personal dog training blog where you write a variety of dog training blog topics, you can use your name and add other dog training related words to it, such as Anita dog Academy, John breeding, Sophia Dog training, Paul dogs, etc.
The availability of your chosen blog name is another thing to consider when thinking of how to start a dog training blog and choosing your blog domain name. If the blog name you selected for your dog training blog is already taken, there are a few things you can do:
- Use another domain extension version of the name, such as the .net, .me, or .org
- Add more letters or additional words to the name, such as “a”, “my”, “best”, or “the”.
- Or you can entirely change the blog name to another nice dog training blog name
2. Get your dog training blog online
Setting up your dog training blog and making it online is the most essential step on how to start a dog training blog and make money.
This is the time, to begin with, the technical setup sections of how to start a dog training blog and you need to pay proper attention to the step-by-step guide.
It’s really fun in creating your blog by yourself. So we will walk you through the easiest and simples way of how to start a dog training blog, making the process easier and fun.
There are ways to create dog training websites free of charge but these methods won’t give you that professional look that you deserve as a professional dog trainer.
There are two types of blog hosting:
- Free hosted blog (yourblogname.wordpress.com)
- Self-hosted blog (yourblogname.com)
Since you are creating your dog training blog to make money and build your career as well, there is no need of starting your dog training blog with a free web hosting platform.
Free blogging platforms look odd with the .blogspot.com, or .wordpress.com which will constantly make your blog visitors think you are not serious about blogging. And the funniest part is you don’t have total control of your blog.
You have to go for a self-hosted domain that will assure you the liberty and total control over your blog without any limitation and it doesn’t cost much. A self-hosted domain plan will cost you only $2.95 or less per month depending on the hosting provider.
That is why a lot of bloggers are using Bluehost as the platform that hosts their blogs. Not only is their price cheaper, but their web hosting features also make things easier for you as a beginner in terms of technical support and provide services that are worth more than what you are paying for.
Below is the step-by-step guide on how to set up a dog training blog with Bluehost. The green marks on pictures will guide you on where to click.
1. Visit the Bluehost website by clicking here and then place your cursor on hosting, to select Shared hosting
2. It will take you to the shared hosting page. Then click on “Get Started” to move to the next step
3. Because you are starting a dog training blog from scratch, we suggest that beginning bloggers should select the basic plan. This plan is more affordable and you can always upgrade in the future.
4. It’s time to check your domain name availability. If you are new to blogging, you can type your blog name in the 1st column and then click “next”. But if you want to use an already existing blog THAT YOU OWN, then type it in the 2nd column.
Note: Aside from a dash, you cannot use space or punctuation while creating your blog URL.
5. It’s time to fill out your personal information on the registration page. Do that with your most accurate personal information
6. In the next section, you will fill out your billing information as well as your payment information
7. After you are done filling out the forms with your accurate information, read and tick agreement terms and click on the green submit button.
8. After purchasing your hosting plan, you will be taken to a page where you will create your account. Once you are taken to that page, click on “Create Account”
9. Next is to fill out the simple forms. The 1st one is your domain URL, the 2nd is your login password, and repeat the password in the 3rd space. Then tick agreement terms, and click on “Create Account”
10. After creating your account, then it is time to login into your account. First, you have to click the blue “go to login” button
11. Type your email address or domain name in the first box and the password of the account you just created in the second box and then click on the blue “Login” button
12. The login will take you to the installation helper. We don’t need it, so you will use the “Skip this step” buttons in the next four pages to jump into your Bluehost dashboard.
13. Once you are at the Bluehost dashboard and it’s like the image below, that means WordPress software has automatically been installed for you already. Click on the blue “WordPress” button to be taken to the logged-in admin area of your blog.
14. This page is where you will be managing your whole dog training blog and also writing your blog posts. The WordPress dashboard page should be open on your browser and while you go to the next step.
15. The next step is to verify your email address. You can do this by simply going to the email address you used in creating your Bluehost account. Once you are there, open the email with the title “WHOIS verification for yourblogname.com Action required.” Then click on the green “verify your email” button.
16. The next step is to go back to the WordPress dashboard page that you left open, at the left sidebar click on Bluehost, and then launch your dog training blog by clicking the blue “Launch your site” button.
CONGRATULATIONS! you have successfully created your dog training blog. If you want to visit your new dog training blog, you can click on the green “visit site” button. You can also see your new blog by typing your blog URL (yourblogname.com) on your browser. Your new dog training blog will look like the image below.
3. Customizing your dog training blog
After seeing how your dog training blog looks, you will notice that it doesn’t look like an actual dog training blog. This is because you have not customized the design yet.
The next step on how to start a dog training blog is to customize your new blog or website to look like an actual dog training blog.
When talking about how to start a dog training blog, your blog should look more professional and unique. To achieve that you have to change your WordPress theme to the design you like as well as the design that will give your blog a dog training feel.
The WordPress theme usually determines the look of the entire layout of your blog which consists of the design, color, and appearance of your entire blog or website.
One good thing about WordPress is that you can easily customize or change the entire layout and design of your blog with just a few clicks.
In order to customize your new dog training blog, you have to go back to your WordPress Dashboard because that is where most of the customization of your blog is done.
If you are logged out of your WordPress dashboard, you can log in again through your Bluehost dashboard. Just click on the blue “WordPress” button on your Bluehost dashboard to log into your WordPress dashboard.
To change the theme of your dog training blog, follow these few steps below:
1. Click on the “Appearance” tab at the left menu of your WordPress dashboard and then click on “theme” which is the first option.
2. Once you are at the theme page, you can select any of the themes already installed or get new ones if you don’t like the themes already available. To install a new theme you just have to click on any of the “add new theme” tabs either above the themes or below the themes.
3. Once you are at the new themes page, you can select from what is available on the top menus: popular, latest, or favorites. If you know a particular theme you want to use, you can type the name on the search box at the right-hand side of the menu. You can also or search for the keyword “Dog” to get suggestions of dog training-related themes.
4. If you see the theme design of your choice, hover your cursor on it and click the blue “Install” button to install the theme to your WordPress site.
5. Once you’re done installing the theme of your choice, click on the blue “Activate” button to activate the new theme on your dog training blog.
Go back to your dog training blog and refresh the URL to check how the new design looks. When talking about how to start a dog training blog, you have to select themes that are specifically created for dog blogs. So play around with the above process to get your preferred theme.
After concluding with your most preferred theme, delete all the other themes you have installed and keep only a few themes, like 2 or 3 themes in addition to the active theme.
But since you have no blog posts on your blog yet, the theme you have selected will bring out all of its features and may not look like the picture of the theme on the installation page, but when you start publishing posts, it will look better.
4. Set some of your blog information
Now you have added the new design of your choice, the next step on how to start a dog training blog is to set some of your blog information. To achieve that you have to follow the step by step guide below:
(i) Set up your dog training blog name and tagline also known as description in the WordPress dashboard. This is the information that will be available for your potential visitors when they search your blog name on google or other search engine platforms.
When talking about how to start a dog training blog, this is the beginning part of your blog SEO keyword. To set up your dog training blog name and tagline, you have to place your cursor on the “Setting” tab at the left-hand menu of your WordPress dashboard and then click on “General”.
In the first column which says “Site Title”, type in the name of your dog training blog. While on the tagline column, type in a short description of your dog training blog. On the WordPress Address (URL), and Site Address (URL) just type in your blog URL ( https://yourblogname.com)
At the Administration Email Address, type your email address which must be the same email you used in setting up your Bluehost account.
After filling out the above-mentioned, scroll down the page and click on the blue “Save Changes” button to save your new setting.
(ii) When it comes to how to start a dog training blog, you need to set up the link structure of your blog posts. This setting usually controls how the link of your blog post and pages are automatically generated.
While you are still on the “setting” tab of your WordPress dashboard, click on “permalinks” and select “Post name”. The image below will guide you. After setting up your link structure, scroll down the page and click on the blue “Save Changes” button to save your new setting.
(iii) The next thing on how to start a dog training blog is to add categories that also serve as the main Menus of your dog training blog.
Examples of dog training blog categories include Dog treats, Dog wellness, basic training, behavior training, etc,
To add a category to your dog training blog, you have to place your cursor on the “Posts” tab and then click on “category”. Only type in the name of the category and leave the rest of the other options empty.
Then scroll down and click on the blue “Add New Category” button to save and create your first category. You can create as many categories as you wish but 3 to 5 is ok.
(iv) As we mentioned above, the categories you have created for your dog training blog will be used as the top menu on your blog.
To achieve this, you need to click on the “Appearance” tab of your WordPress dashboard and then click on Menu. Click on the blue “Create New Menu” on the new page and then type the name of the menu using names like menu1, category menu, or header menu. Click on the “Create Menu” button below the right-hand side to save your new setting.
(v) Once you are done creating the menu, the next thing is to set up the menu to start showing on your dog training blog. Follow the step-by-step guide below to achieve this, the picture below will also guide you.
- Ticking “Primary menu” to set display location column
- Click on “categories” at the left down of the menu item
- Select the “view all” tab
- Click on “select all” to select all categories.
- Then click on the “Add To Menu” button
- Save changes by clicking on the blue “Save Menu” button
Congratulations!! you just added a Menu to your dog training blog. You can then check out how the menu looks on your blog.
5. Add essential plugins to your dog training blog
It’s impossible to learn how to start a dog training blog without learning how to add WordPress plugins to your blog, especially the essential ones.
The WordPress plugin is a technology that will help in the smooth running of your dog training blog. WordPress has a lot of plugins with different functions, but in this article, you are going to learn how to install and activate only the most essential and important one for now.
When talking about how to start a dog training blog, it is advisable to install and activate only a few plugins so as not to make your blog slow.
Below are the important plugins your new dog training blog needs, for now, to keep it running. You can easily install and activate more WordPress plugins as you grow your dog training blog.
Delete all the already installed and active plugins on your WordPress dashboard and only activate the ones below:
- Jetpack
- Akismet Anti-Spam
- Rank Math SEO
- Autoptimize
- Classic Editor
To install and activate a WordPress plugin, you have to click on the “Plugin” tab at the right-hand side menu of your WordPress dashboard as shown in the image below.
Check out the already installed and active plugins and install any of the above-mentioned plugins that are there. You can get a new plugin by clicking on the “Add new” tab and then searching for the name of the plugin in the search box. The screenshot below will guide you.
Remember to delete all the plugins that are not active, you can easily download them again whenever the need comes but if they are not active, delete them. Some WordPress plugins require special settings to function properly, you can research how to set them, especially the Rank maths plugin which is the most essential for SEO.
6. Write and publish your first post
Now that you are done with the essential setups and your dog training blog is up and running, the next on how to start a dog training blog is to write your first blog post yourself and then publish it.
This stage usually makes one nervous and exciting at the same time. Talking of the nervous part, we are going to guide you with the easy step-by-step procedure of how to write your first blog post and publish it.
The first step is to click the “Post” tab at the left menu of your WordPress dashboard. When you open your post page, you will see a default post that is usually on every new WordPress site. You don’t need that post, so you have to delete it. You can delete it by clicking on the “Trash” button just under the default blog post.
Once the default post is deleted, the next thing is to start writing your new blog post. You can do that by clicking on the “Add New” tabs at the top of the post screen or on the menu bar which will lead you to the page where you will start writing your new dog training post.
Once you are on the editor page, write the title of your new post on the top small box, and then start writing the body of your post in the big box below the small box.
If you want to add an image to your post, click on the big “add media” tab located on the top of the post body and then upload the image from your computer.
We recommend you play around with the other menu on the top of the post body to know their functions and how they can help you write amazing dog training posts.
Also check the right-hand side to add other things that will show on your blog post, such as the featured image, tags, category, etc.
Also, remember to scroll down the page to check the metrics of your rank maths SEO plugin. Once you are following the guidelines of Rank maths SEO and write your blog post to get as many green scores as possible, it will help your post to start ranking on the first page of Google when anyone searches for the keyword you used.
To better understand Rank Maths SEO, you may read this article to learn how to use rank math to improve your blog writing and SEO.
As you write your blog post, save what you have written once in a while so that you won’t lose it if anything happens to the network or your device, most especially whenever you want to close your browser or device.
You can save your work by clicking on the “Save Draft” button at the right-hand bar of your post editor. Once you are done writing and reviewing your article, you can then click on the blue “publish” tab to make the post live on your dog training blog.
7. Promote your blog to get visitors
How to promote your new dog training blog to get more visitors is one of the most essential things you need to learn after learning how to start a dog training blog from scratch.
Using a nice WordPress theme and having a well-designed dog training blog is one thing, then writing awesome content and getting traffic to your blog is another thing.
To get more traffic to your dog training blog, you need to spend a lot of your time promoting your blog post, especially now that you are first starting up. This is the reason it’s among the steps on how to start a dog training blog from.
You may start promoting your blog heavily after pushing like five blog posts or more on your dog training blog. After you publish more posts, you can also learn more in-depth about SEO. Read this article to get started with SEO.
As you grow your dog training bog, you may now Sign up for a Google Webmaster account and open the Search Console. This is the process that makes your blog posts show on google searches when people search for content.
8. It’s time to Monetize your dog training blog
After your efforts to create an amazing dog training blog as well as the content with a good number of visitors coming into your dog training blog, the next step is to monetize your blog and make some money out of your hard work.
With the above step-by-step guide of how to start a dog training blog, you have already designed dog blogs that make money. The only thing you need to do is to monetize your blog.
Dog training blogs and other blogs have the potential to make you a lucrative amount of passive income, but you are not going to start making money right away, It takes some time (like six months or more).
There are several interesting ways you can monetize your dog training bog and make money which includes but are not limited to:
- Selling advertising space
- Selling affiliate products
- Selling your own products and services
You can read this article for more guide and information on how to make money with your blog
CONCLUSION
We hope the above well-written article will definitely help you with the step-by-step guide on how to start a dog training blog and make money as well.
While following this guide, if anyway you get stuck or have any questions at any point, simply drop your questions in the comment and we will reply to you as soon as possible.
Thank you for having the time to read our article about how to start a dog training blog to the end. Remember to always visit our blog for more business and entrepreneurship-related articles.
