Have you been wondering how you can start a blog …. your very own blog?Is this something you’ve thought about doing for a while now? Or maybe you’ve just been looking for a straight to the point step-by-step to follow to setup your very own website? Look no further, you are exactly where you’re meant to be.
Dear Diary,
Today I am going to be sharing the exact steps I took to start my very first blog! eeeppp! If I can do it anyone can do it and I am going to show you just that!
Reasons for starting a blog?
- Share your thoughts. Writing is a fun way to express your creativity and talk about the things you love or share personal experiences all while making a profit!
- Build a brand. Having a profitable blog canprovide you the ability to stay home with your little ones without constantly having to stress about your bills. (As a single mom who’s son got put on his schools waiting list for kindergarten and decided to take on homeschooling I knew I had to overcome my fears and start creating the life I so long had been dreaming of.)
- Pay off your debt.
- Take that dream vacation you’ve been dying to go on.
- Freedom to work from wifi anywhere in the world your heart desires.
- Most importantly my personal favorite is the ability to help others!
If any if not all of these things sound appealing to you lets get right to it! Say goodbye to your boss and hello to CEO!!
Ready to get grow?
How to Set Up a Blog in 5 Easy Steps:
1. Create a WordPress self-hosted blog.
In order to start a blog, you will just go to www.wordpress.org. WordPress has two options from which you can choose from. www.wordpress.com will be a hosted website which essentially means WordPress owns your site. A self-hosted site will be on www.wordpress.org meaning you host your site and essentially own it completely. My recommendation is to always go with a self hosted site so you are in full control. WordPress is the most popularly used software with great reason it is super user friendly, completely customizable and easy to use for anyone. There are no crazy coding or computer skills needed when it comes to wordpress and as it is so popular you can find tons of tutorials on any search engine or social media platform.
2. Get your blog online
In order to officially start a blog you need to get it online. For this step you will need to decide on a web host. A host is what makes your blog “live” and able to be seen by the public. Bluehost is the number one recommended host for beginners and has multiple options for expanding as you grow. They have incredible customer service you can reacand if at any point you decide to upgrade you can call them and get a pro-rated price to do so. Bluehost is an incredibly affordable one stop shop for getting your website online and creating a professional email with your domain/ business name.
First you will need to go to bluehost and click on the yellow get started button on the screen. (Please note the Bluehost site and colors may look a little different based on any updates, which they do frequently but all of the fucntions will be the same.)
Choose your plan. There are currently 4 options availble for you to chose from. I went with choice plus since the price difference isn’t much more plus I do own another domain and it’s nice to have the extra feautures. The more page views you are getting you will want to consider going with choice plus as it will make your sight load faster. Either way the basic choice will work especially if you are just getting your feet wet.
After choosing the plan that’s right for you, you will be offered a bunch of upgrades to your plans and special deals but if you are just starting out you absolutely do not need any of these, just decline them.
3. Chosing a blog name/ domain.
At this point you should have already chosen a blog name or name for your Buisness. Make it something memorable because this is what people are going to type in to search engines and socials to find you. Don’t over stress or overthink it make it something fun and relatable to you or your brand without making it overly complicated for readers to find. If you are still having a hard time choosing a domain name don’t worry you can skip this step for now and circle back when you’re ready.
There are many sights where you can purchase a domain and there is no right or wrong choice to go with. I’ve used a few different ones in the past but I find things to be more seemless going through bluehost vs buying it somewhere else and having to wait a few days or months to fully transfer all the rights. PLUS bluehost has tons of sales throughout the year where you can bundle and save with purchase of hosing.
4. Set up your website!
This is my personal favorite part! I highly recommend purchasing a WordPress theme. Depending on what you want your blog to be about or look like you can search your keywords followed by WordPress theme in Google or Etsy and there are hundreds and thousands of options out there in all price ranges. I went with a theme from 17th Avenue Designs which is the one you are currently seeing and I absolutely love it.
Not only was the theme super simple to install they also have tons of easy to follow tutorials on changing or removing anything on your site and they have an amazing customer service team for any specific questions you may have. My first time around I had them set it up which made things so simple. This saved me lots of time to start working on writing and the turn around was super quick! However on my second sight I was able to install it myself with ease so if you are looking to save some money, I assure you its totally do-able. Make your decision based on your persoanl situation, timeline and goals.
17th Avenue Designs themes are so beautiful, aesthetic and incredibly affordable compared to other themes I liked out there north of $1,000!! Yes, I highly recommend going on a search for a theme because this is the bow and wrapping paper wrapped around your present which readers will see first and you always want to make a great first impression with a clean, put together site that will make your blog look professional and leave a lasting impression.
5. Create Essential Pages
Set up and edit the 3 most important pages About Me, Contact, and a Privacy Policy. If you did end up purchasing a theme from 17th Avenue Designs these pages come installed with Demo content you can remove or customize to your specific blog/ website.
There you have it! Congratulations, you now officially have a blog up and running!
Now time for content content content!
The best advice I’ve received and want ro share with you is just start writing!! In order to have a successful blog you need to be putting out content. Your content does not need to be perfect, my biggest set back was wanting everything to be perfect. Learn from my mistakes, and just get your content out there!
What do you think about this guide on how to start a blog I created for you? Let us know in the comments!
