The Soccer Geek

Here is a concise, introductory guide on the subject of how to build your own blog about soccer. If you are interested in joining the club of soccer bloggers I encourage you to check out the further resources I suggest below.

First you will need to decide what sub-niche or topic of soccer your blog will be about. You could make it a how-to guide for new players, a factual compilation of stats & figures, an unofficial fan club for your favourite team, a guide to a particular tournament, or whatever. No matter which soccer sub-niche you pick, it would be a great idea to brainstorm loads of ideas for blog posts before you create your blog.

One of the best resources available for finding out what people are searching for is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. This tells you all the search phrases relevant to your subject. Just enter your keywords (e.g. how to play soccer or Manchester United) and then see all the relevant phrases, and how competitive those subjects are. Genius!

A .com domain name should cost you around $9.99 per year, though prices vary. My favourite place to get webhosting and domain names is DreamHost because they are green, and they have excellent customer service, a technical support wiki, and a 1 click install of WordPress (blogging software). You also get a free .com name with your web hosting package.

Visit DreamHost and use the promotional code THESOCCERGEEK to get a $22 discount on your web hosting. Bargain!

If you sign up with DreamHost then you’ll get a 1 click installer of WordPress (located under Control Panel > Goodies > 1 Click Installs). This means that you can get a worldclass CMS (content management system) without going into the technical bits of intalling it yourself.

Then you’ll need a WordPress theme (like a website template). You can get free ones from http://wordpress.org/extend/themes or you can get a premium one from WooThemes. The advantage of the latter is that they look more attractive, they are easier to use and give you a better chance of showing up in the search engines due to their solid SEO framework. Visit WooThemes to get 3 templates for just $70.

Finally you can extend the functionality of your blog by installing plugins. The most essential ones are Akismet (spam protection), Google XML Sitemaps plugin (search), and the All in One SEO Pack plugin. To learn how to install them, visit Become a Blogger.

So there you have the ultimate basics of creating your own soccer blog. Of course, if you want to set up a blog for free, you can just head to WordPress.com and do it in minutes. If you would prefer to set up a static website rather than a blog, then just click here to view my slightly longer article on that. Otherwise, I hope you’ve enjoyed these quick tips.

Have fun,

Soccer Geek