Hi friends! So I’ve recently put together a resource library that you can access for free if you sign up for my newsletter. In it are all of the resources I’ve used to start this blog, as well as how I’ve learned everything I know about tarot, witchcraft, crystals, and all that stuff. If you haven’t already subscribed, you should check it out! But putting it together got me thinking: is this really enough information for someone to start their own blog from scratch?

I’m a big enabler and I want everyone to start a blog, all the time. I’m constantly trying to pressure my friends and fam into making blogs because I’m a creep who likes reading about everybody’s lives. So I think YOU should start a blog, too!

While there are 572098065983423 blog posts out there about how to start a blog, I feel like the witchy niche is pretty small compared to, say, the beauty and fashion niches, so I feel that there are some different things you need to keep in mind when starting a metaphysical blog (whether you want to blog about tarot, spirituality, witchcraft, or what have you.) Today I thought I’d share how I got my blog started, and maybe some of these tips and tricks will help you out! Note that affiliate links may be used on this page, marked with an * – that just means that if you make a purchase through the link, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Because I might as well use that link instead of a regular one, right?

1. picking a platform: blogger vs. wordpress vs. squarespace

The very first thing you’ll need to do is decide on a platform to use for your blog – Blogger, WordPress, or Squarespace are pretty much the big three. Blogger and WordPress.com are both free, WordPress.org and Squarespace cost moolah. (If you’re confused about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org… me too. More on that later.)

Here’s my take on this: a lot of bloggers out there will tell you that you can’t hope to grow your blog using the Blogger platform. I call BS. Blogger is super user-friendly, it’s free, you can use your own domain name, and if you’ve never had a website before I think it’s a great place to start if you want to have a blog. You don’t have to mess around with self-hosting and like I said, it’s free – the paid options are pretty darn pricey and that’s not accessible for everyone. It can look super professional and you can use it for a long time with no issues. I love Blogger.

BUT.

Here’s the but.

Blogger is pretty much only good for having a blog. If that’s all you want, that’s great! But if you might eventually want to expand into a website with a landing page and all that, Blogger is not gonna work for you. And then you’re going to have to deal with switching over to WordPress or Squarespace and importing all of your posts and praying they don’t get lost in the shuffle and crying into your wine when your new website doesn’t work and spending two hours on the phone with customer service and throwing your laptop out a window. (Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.)

So my advice is this. If you truly can’t afford one of the paid options at this time, go with Blogger. But if you can, even if all you want right now is a blog, I would go for one of the paid options I’ll discuss below.

I’m going to briefly touch on WordPress.com here (the other free option) and say that while I’ve never used it for long, I didn’t like it. I couldn’t find a way to use my own domain name (meaning your url would always be website.wordpress.com instead of just website.com) and I also couldn’t find a way to use custom templates, so I was really limited as to how I could get my site to look. There’s pretty much no customer service for WordPress, either, which makes it really hard to get things set up if you don’t have any experience with it. If you can get it to work for you, that’s great – it’s a lot easier to upgrade from WordPress.com to WordPress.org than it is to switch from Blogger to WordPress.org. But I prefer Blogger by leaps and bounds in terms of free sites, and importing my posts didn’t kill me even though it tried, so I’d really just recommend that.

OKAY, so now, which paid site to use? That depends on what you want to use it for! Squarespace has a great option if you want to have a shop built in to your website (so if you want to sell your tarot readings right on your website, for example, they make it really easy.) However, they’re expensive, they don’t have a huge selection of templates, and their blogging feature doesn’t work as well as WordPress (from what I’ve heard.) I used the free trial of Squarespace but couldn’t get my website to look the way I wanted and also couldn’t afford it in the end, so that wasn’t the right option for me. Plenty of people LOVE it though, so maybe check out some other reviews before making your decision and see if it sounds like your thing!

I use WordPress.org, which is the paid version of WordPress, and I’m really happy with it. They do have a way to add a shop to your website, too, so don’t fret if that’s your goal but you don’t want to go with Squarespace. It takes some getting used to, but after that the navigation is really easy. I like how customizable it is and I’ve never had any problems, except when I was trying to import everything from my Blogger site and it took me two months of blood sweat and tears.

Okay, so once you’ve decided on a platform, it’s time to think about getting your own domain name!

2. getting a domain

I really recommend purchasing a domain name for your website if you want to turn it into more than just a hobby. It looks professional and it’s a good way to make sure no one else takes the name! I don’t know how this works with Squarespace, so I’m just going to show you how I did it with WordPress.

I used BlueHost* to purchase my domain and to host my website. It was pretty easy to get it all set up – once you sign up with BlueHost, you can follow this tutorial to install WordPress and get started. This is pretty expensive if you’re short on cash, so there’s absolutely no shame in just riding the free websites for a while to see if you’d even be interested in keeping up with it long-term! I was kind of shocked at the amount of shaming that’s out there for people who just want to use Blogger or WordPress.com, so if you come across that on the Internet, just ignore it. Those people are trying to make commissions off of your signups so they want to scare you into switching to the paid sites. Super uncool. (Side note: if you sign up for Bluehost with my link, I’ll make a commission too, but that’s not the part I have a problem with. Shaming people into buying your stuff is a crap business model.)

I will say, though, that finally buying my domain and setting up my WordPress site was the kick I needed to take my blogging more seriously, so if you can afford it, I really recommend it!

3. choosing a template

Now that you have your site set up, it’s time to choose a template for it! Squarespace has its own templates, but if you’re using Blogger or WordPress, the Internet is your oyster. There are tons of gorgeous templates on Etsy to choose from – I got my first Blogger template from SkyandStars on Etsy, and then I got this template I’m currently using from Beautiful Dawn Designs*. I really recommend them for WordPress.org themes because they do this thing… I don’t have the vocab to explain it, but basically their themes come with a lot of customization options and tutorials for using them, whereas some other themes just leave you high and dry if you want to do something like change the font color.

ALSO, be careful that you’re checking whether a theme is for WordPress.com or WordPress.org. They’re not the same!

I can’t stress enough the importance of a good theme. I don’t think you need to pay for one in order to get a good one – there are plenty of free options you can customize no matter what platform you go with. But the theme is really the first thing people notice when they go to your site, so I recommend trying to put as much of yourself into it as possible! Give them an idea of what they can expect from the rest of your site.

4. growing your audience

Okay, so now you’ve got a killer site with a template you love and possibly your own domain. How do you go about getting readers? Well… as much as I’d like to say “if you build it, they will come,” the fact of the matter is that you’ve gotta let people know you exist before they’re going to check out your blog. I think the tarot/witchcraft/metaphysical niche has an advantage because we’re smaller than other niches, so it’s easier to make genuine connections with people even if they have a SUPER popular blog that makes you feel intimidated!

I do have an old post (look at that old Pinterest graphic, yikes) about how to find your people and make meaningful connections on various social media platforms, so I won’t rehash that, but here are a few other tips for growing your audience:

1. Support other bloggers: I can only speak for myself, but if someone leaves a nice comment on my blog I will 100% check out their website in return. Comment on posts you like, reply to people you follow on social media, include bloggers in roundup posts and tell them when you do. That not only gets your name on their radar, but also might score you a promo in return if they like your stuff! (Note: no one is obligated to do this, so please don’t expect things from total strangers, but if you’re genuine there’s no reason to think people won’t gravitate towards your site in return.)
2. Engage on social media: This goes along with the above, but don’t just creep – comment on peoples’ posts! This is how I’ve made 100% of the friends I have on various social media platforms. If you leave a meaningful comment (keyword: meaningful, none of that BS where strangers comment one emoji on an Instagram post) people are going to want to respond to that.
3. Automate your social media: This is in addition to engaging, not in place of it! Sign up with a social media scheduling program like Buffer or Hootsuite so you can schedule your social media posts head of time. This is a great way to be sure you’re promoting your posts on social media without needing to remember, or take more time out of your day. Once your posts are scheduled, all you have to worry about is responding to people and using social media for fun! I’ve used both of those sites and enjoy them, and I schedule all my Pinterest posts through Tailwind*. I highly, highly recommend it. Tailwind is $15 a month, but most of my traffic comes from Pinterest so I think it’s well worth it.
4. Have a mailing list: You can sign up with Mailchimp for free and easily add a little signup button or pop-up to your website. I won’t tell you what to do with your mailing list because to be honest I kind of suck, but it helps to have a base of people who like you so much they want to let you into their inboxes. If you have some kind of incentive for people to sign up, like a free eBook or something, your list will grow WAY faster.
5. Be patient: Blogging is truly not easy. It takes a lot of time, effort, planning, and engaging, and if you have other commitments like a job or a family it’s going to be tough. You’re not going to see growth overnight, and it can be so frustrating when it feels like you’re just shouting into a void. But honestly? It’s so, so worth it. Stick by your blog during the hard times and you’ll see such a huge reward when you see your first successes.

And that’s about all I’ve got! If you read through that whole thing, you’re a trooper. And if you have any questions about any of this stuff, feel free to ask me, whether in a comment or an e-mail. I remember how frustrating it was to try and figure all this stuff out on my own, so I’m happy to help anyone else if I can.

And if you have a metaphysical blog or just set one up… dude, let me know in the comments. I’d love to check it out! (Also, let me know if you want more posts about blogging. Do you guys blog or do you just read blogs? Tell me what you wanna see!)