If you are interested in learning how to start your own blog, this post will guide you through the technical process.
My goal is to not only help you get everything set up quickly and easily, but to also help save you time, frustration and money! 🙂
3 Things You'll Need to Start Your Blog
- Domain Name - The URL of your website (for example, mine is www.taratierney.com).
- Web Hosting - The place where all your website files (pages, photos, graphics, etc.) are stored. All websites need hosting in order to be viewed on the internet, so you will need to rent out space on a server, which you can do at monthly rate, yearly rate, etc.
- WordPress - A free, yet powerful, web publishing platform you can use to create your own website or blog.*
* You want to make sure this is WordPress.org NOT WordPress.com... the latter has a lot of limitations.
What I'll be Going Over in This Post
I am going to help you get set up with a self-hosted WordPress site using Bluehost as your domain and web host provider.
A self-hosted WordPress site is best choice if you want full control over your blog without limitations.
This is the platform I have always used and I highly recommend starting with it right from the beginning as this allows your blog to grow with you. If you use a different platform, you could run into "a wall" and have to switch later, so if you don't want to deal with the potential hassle of all of that, set yourself up right from the beginning!
*This post contains affiliate links
1. Set Up Your Domain Name + Hosting
Head over to Bluehost and click the green "Get Started" button.
2. Choose Your Plan
I would start with the basic plan for $3.95 a month as you can always upgrade later if needed.
3. Choose Your Domain Name
Your domain name is going to be something you're going to be using for a while, so choose something you love that also reflects what you do. I recommend something that is easy to spell, doesn't include hyphens and isn't too long (6-10 characters is a good goal.) In addition, I would recommend using a domain that ends in ".com"
Click here if you'd like some more tips on how to choose a domain name.
4. Create Your Account
Fill in your name, address, phone, email, etc. and then choose your account plan. The more months you pay up front, the cheaper the monthly hosting cost is.
5. Choose Your Package Extras
I recommend getting Domain Privacy + Protection (protects your personal contact information from marketers, spammers, and unwanted solicitation) and Codeguard Basic (automatic daily site backups).
6. Enter Payment Info
Fill in your credit card info, check off the agreement terms, then hit submit!
7. Choose a Password
Click on the green "Create your password" button.
Enter your password, read the terms, and check off the box. Then click the blue button.
Once you've created your password, you should this screen. Click the blue button to login.
8. Pick a Theme
Choose a free theme to get the look of your site started. You can change your theme later if you want.
If you'd like me to help you design your site, check out my website design services!
9. Start Building Your Site
Click on the blue button to login to your WordPress dashboard.
10. Choose Which Kind of Site You'll be Setting Up
11. Begin Designing Your Blog
Browse around the dashboard and familiarize yourself with the customizing options to make your blog your very own!
The sidebar on the left of your dashboard contains everything you need to build your blog.
Here's a Quick Summary of Things You'll Probably be Using the Most:
- Posts - This is where you'll be creating new blog posts.
- Media - This is where you can upload photos, graphics, and other media.
- Pages - This is where you can create new pages for your site, like About, Services, Contact, etc.
- Appearance - This is where you can find new WordPress themes, customize your colors, add pages to your menu, etc.
- Plugins - This is where you can find special add-ons, widgets, and features.
12. How to Create Your First Blog Post
To write your first blog post, go to the sidebar on the left and click on "Posts." Then click "Add New" to create a new post.
Create a title, write your article and then click publish!
BOOM! Your blogging journey has now commenced!
13. Launch Your Site
Once your site is ready to go live, click the blue "Launch" button on this page.
Enter your site title and a description if you'd like.
Congratulations! You can now show off your magic to the world!
How to Login to Your Blog
Whenever you are ready to work on your blog again in the future, you can login by going to https://my.bluehost.com/cgi-bin/cplogin and entering your credentials.
Once you've logged into Bluehost, click on the blue "Log in to WordPress" button to login to your WordPress dashboard.
That's it! I hope you enjoy your blogging journey!
I Want to Hear From You!
Was this post helpful in getting your WordPress blog set up?
Do you have any questions or is there anything else I can create to help you build your blog?
Feel free to let me know in the comments below!