Many people want to learn how to start a blog think it's only for nuclear scientists because it's complicated but it's actually quite easy these days. In fact I'm going to show you exactly how you can get your own blog up and running in just 5 minutes! I started this blog (prestonscorner.com) and I don't know how to program websites or anything like that. you don't need to know how to program to start a website or blog this day in age. There are tools to help you create content without actually coding the backend stuff so let's get started with the how to start a blog tutorial with step by step instructions so you can follow along.
Step #1: Get Your Own Domain Name
Bluehost is a fantastic webhosting company to choose and their plans are quite desirable. However, it is the ease with which users can start a site that draws many to this company. You can quickly set up your WordPress blog in less than five minutes. While WordPress is a blogging tool, it is very easy to convert a blog to a website. First things first you need your own domain name. You can use the tool below to see if your desired domain name is available. If someone else has your domain name then you can not register the site. I would recommend a .com domain extension and not a .org or .net as your site will rank better. Put in your desired domain below and see if its available.
Step 2: How Will You Host your Website? (Free or Paid Web Hosting)
Now that you have a domain name decided it's time to decide how you will host your website. You will need a webhost to “host” your website on their server so that when people go to your website it will actually work! There are free and paid webhosting providers and I have listed the pros and cons of each below.
Things You Need Should Be Aware of with Free Web Hosting Providers
- No option for custom domain names – your free site will be like this url (blogger.yourwebsite.com)
- Limited Site Bandwidth (Your site might not load after a certain number of visitors)
- Limited Customization Options
- Limited Advertising Options
- 100% Free but they charge for extra services like more bandwidth etc.
Things You Need Should Be Aware of with Paid Web Hosting
- More Reliable – Your website will be up 99.9% of the time
- Unlimited Hosting Bandwidth (your site never goes down from too much traffic)
- Unlimited Storage of Website Files like images, videos, podcasts, and text.
- Cost start from just $3.95/month
Step 3: How To Start A Blog with WordPress (No Coding Necessary)
In order to create your website without actually coding the website then you will need a framework for your website. This is where WordPress comes in. Think of it like the engine behind your website and it's 100% FREE! Most hosting companies offer WordPress as a quick install for your site in just a couple minutes.
Webhosting service providers now offer efficient website building features and tool within their plan to assist with quick site creation. Bluehost is one of the most popular webhosting companies existing in the market and they offer web building tools. Here are a few reasons why Bluehost is a great hosting choice for your new website or blog.
- Bluehost offers free install of tools you need for your blog like WordPress.
- Bluehost currently has over 2 million customer websites on their servers
- They have 24/7 Support via email, phone, or online chat
- Money Back Guarantee on all Services
Because BlueHost is a top-quality web host they cost a bit more ($5.99 per month) than low-quality hosts. But if you use one of the links on this site you can get BlueHost’s high-quality service for just $3.49 per month (for 36 months), including a free domain name.
Step 4: How To Start a Blog or Website for just $3.49/month
The first step is to purchase your webhosting plan at Bluehost (https://www.bluehost.com/). Once you are in their home page, simply click on Sign up now. You will then be required to choose a domain name which simply the URL of your site. If you already have a domain, you will enter it in the given box. In this case, Bluehost will take you through a simple process to verify that the domain name is yours. Bluehost offers different plans that are paid for after every 12, 24 and 36 months and you can also find monthly plans at an introductory price of only $3.95. Going for the 12, 24 and 36 month plans is more cost effective. You can choose basic shared hosting plans, dedicated servers or VPS. Depending on your unique requirements, choose a plan that suites you. Shared hosting is perfect for small sites that do not require much interaction and sharing of resources. If you plan to use your site for various activities that include offering materials to be downloaded, consider higher plans like VPS and dedicated servers that allow you to control your resources. Bluehost will then ask you to fill in your personal information. Click next to finish the sign up and then set up your passwords to something discreet that you can remember then log in to the Cpanel.
Start installing WordPress. After you have bought a webhosting plan, the next step is to install WordPress. WordPress is the CMS (content management system) tool that is widely used today and it is offered for free. It simply allows you to organize and manage content which you will be uploading to the site. Installing WordPress has been made into a very easy process. In your Cpanel, scroll down to the part where you see MOJO Marketplace and then click on the “One-Click Installs” button. This lands you on the Scripts and Platforms marketplace. A section called blogs is right at the top of the marketplace and WordPress is the first feature in the list. Click on the WordPress button which will take you to an installation window. Click the green “Start” button to commence installation. WordPress will ask you to specify where you want to install the CMS (it could be a domain, sub-domain or a folder in your domains). Click on “Check domain” to verify that the domain is yours. You may get a warning telling you that you are about to overwrite files if you had already installed WordPress on the site. The last step will be to “Show Advanced Options” which allows you to set up usernames and passwords for your new WordPress installation. Check the “Automatically create a new database for this installation” unless you already have a database set up. The last step is to read through the terms and conditions and check the box then click on “Install Now” to start installing WordPress. Once the progress bar is complete, you will be provided with the login details (username and password) which will be used to log into your WordPress.
Step 5: WordPress Basics
Your Login Url for your website is
www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/
A copy of this information will also be sent to your email. Start building your siteOnce you have installed WordPress, the remaining bit is to start working on your site and adding content. Logging into your account will take you to the dashboard from which you can modify various things. WordPress will usually come with a few pre-installed plugins and also offer inexhaustible number of plugins to use. Start installing themes, customizing your titles and URLs, adding pages, content and media. You can also upload different plugins such as SEO tools and install them. The real work of starting a new website is found in this step. In order to have a complete site that can be accessed online, you will need to create a couple of pages with information about your site.
Once you get everything setup you can now login into your website and control your website from your site's dashboard. Wordpress is a very complex and versatile tool so it has many features that you can do for your website like
Dashboard – See what's going on with your site quickly in this view.
Media – Add images, videos, and podcasts to your website.
Posts – See your blog posts including posts already published or posts you are working on but have not yet published called drafts.
Pages – Control your website pages like homepage, about page, contact page, etc.
Comments – See what people are saying on your site and respond.
Appearance – Control the look of your site with your site theme. You can use a free theme for your site or use a premium theme for your site which have more options like integration with other services that help you do more in your business.
Plugins – Control the addons of your site that can help you improve thousands of things like SEO, sitemaps, contact forms, etc.
Users – You are the website administrator but you can setup other users on your site.
Settings – Control various settings of your site. The main thing to change here is your site's permalinks. You will want to change it from the default setting to post name and click Save Changes.
Step 6: Essential WordPress Plugins
WordPress has thousands of plugins which help you customize your site. Most of the plugins for WordPress are free but some are premium plugins. There are a few must-have plugins you will want to install immediately
- Yoast SEO (The Best Plugin for Search Engine Optimization)
- Google Sitemap (The Best Sitemap plugin for getting your site indexed for search engines)
- W3 Total Cache (This plugin helps your site load super fast)
- Akismet (To provent comment spam)
- Contact Form 7 (Build Custom Forms so your customers can contact you)
- Wp Date Remover (This Plugin Removes Dates from Blog Posts so your content always looks fresh)
- ManageWP – Worker (This plugin backs up your website automatically just in case it crashes then you have a backup copy)
Step 7: WordPress as Blogging Platform or Website
WordPress was primarily offered as a blogging tool which is why its template is optimized for blogging. However, you can still turn your WordPress site into a website. Simply change the default settings that have your blog page as the static page and create a new home page which will be the new landing page to your site.
You can always change this whenever you want to convert it back to a blog. You can even have both static pages and a dedicated page called blogs. This is the simplest way to start a website or blog with Bluehost. Of course there are other ways that include independently codding your site then uploading it but this requires much technical knowledge.
You may also consider other content management systems like Dreamweaver. The installation and set up processes are slightly different but fairly similar.
In all cases, you will be smoothly guided through all the steps. If you want to start a website first, then you should be producing content already so the only remaining part will be to upload, format and organize your site.
So now you know how to start your own blog. If you have any questions just leave a comment below.