Ready to share your words with the world, but not sure how to get started? Lucky for you we live in a world full of fantastic and free options. This post covers how to start a free blog on Google’s Blogger service. You can also check out our post on creating a blog using WordPress.

Step 1: Make sure you have a Gmail account set up already. If not, you can create one here.

Step 2:  Go to Blogger.com and click the CREATE YOUR BLOG button. You’ll be asked to pick an existing Google account to create your blog and sign in.

Step 3: Next you can customize your Blogger profile. This means you can use a different screen name, image, etc., than your “regular” Google profile.

Step 4: Now it’s time to get started. Click the CREATE NEW BLOG button and pick a name for your blog. You can enter the title and the domain (or web address for your blog). By default, you’ll be given an address that ends in .blogspot.com. You can then pick from one of the pre-set themes and create your blog.

Step 5: Time to start writing your first post! Click the New Post button in the upper left of the screen, give your post a title and write all you’d like in the main text entry screen below. You can add links, images, formatting, etc. Once you’re ready to share your writing with the world, click the Publish button in the upper right of the screen.

Step 6: Hey, you’ve blogged! Congratulations! To see how it looks to the rest of the world, visit the address you picked out in step 4. You’ll see all of your posts on that page, and if you click the title of the post it will take you to that post’s specific page. The address for that page is the one you’ll want to use to share that specific post with friends, family or to post on social media.

Step 7: Keep on blogging! Seriously, you’re a blogger now, people are waiting for your next post. There are plenty of other customization options for your blog that you can explore in the left-hand column of your blogger dashboard, including customizing your layout and seeing statistics about who’s reading your posts.

Step 8: Write enough posts that you’re ready to build a blog book with Blog2Print!