Is writing your passion and hobby?? Have you ever considered to start a blog to show case your writing, but don’t know where to begin? Then you are the right place.
With my blog, I assure you that you will learn to start your blog in no time. I promise you that with this exclusive guide you can start your WordPress Blog, Portfolio or Personal Website without any technical knowledge.
Points to Consider before starting your own blog
Well, you need to define the purpose for which you want to start the blog. This will actually make things easier for you! If you are looking for a passive income then you will need to shell your wallet a bit! Don’t worry it is not as much as you are thinking! Understanding the difference between a free WordPress blog and a self-hosted blog is necessary if you want your blog to generate any income. Self-hosted blog will fill your pocket back and for that you might have to follow the following steps. Don’t worry, it is not as difficult as you think.
- Where and how to buy web hosting and a domain name
- How to install and set up WordPress on hosting
- How to install and design WordPress theme
- How to post your first blog on WordPress
Steps to Start a Blog on your own Web Hosting
So, are you ready to follow the steps to get an income that has a grehat growth potential? My detailed, yet easy to understand blog start guide will take you through:
Hosting and Domain Name
Hosting: Hosting is nothing but a hard drive on the internet where your created blog can be saved. Hosting service providers put up your blog posts up on the internet and everyone around the world can see it.
Domain Name: The domain is nothing but the website address or the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of your blog. For eg: www.google.com where google.com is the domain name and www.behance.net where behance.net is the domain name.
Choosing the right Hosting and Plan
Bluehost is one among the best hosting service provider for self-hosting. Their cutting edge technology and support makes them my favorite. WordPress.org also recommend to choose the Bluehost Hosting. They said, “Just like flowers need the right environment to grow, WordPress works best when it’s in a rich hosting environment.”
There are mainly 3 types of hosting: WordPress hosting, Linux hosting, and Windows hosting. The best hosting to begin with is the Linux hosting (also called as shared hosting). Are you wondering why to choose Linux hosting when you can go with other options?
While there are many reasons to it, which I will be sharing shortly in the next article, the main reason is the price. For the Linux hosting you need to pay a meager amount of $2.9 per month, whereas the WordPress hosting will charge you with a hefty fee of $19.9 per month. This great difference in price makes Linux hosting friendly for your pocket. There are several other features available to cater to your needs with Bluehost. However, if this is your first time, then going with the basic plan would be awesome!
Click on the green “select” button as shown in the figure and move to the next step.
Once you have chosen the domain name and with who should help you host the blog, the next step is to choose the hosting plan that fits your pocket. If you are new and a beginner at blogging, then start with the basic plan. If you have some experience and looking for extra features then you can typically choose business or advanced plan. You can compare the salient features of Bluehost with that of others and decide. When I started, I chose Bluehost.
Choosing your own Domain Name
You can choose to add your own name like www.yourname.com or choose a unique domain name based on the nature of your blog. The only factor that is important to consider is while choosing your domain name make sure the correct extension (.com or .com.au or .uk or .in) of your choice is selected. If you have already bought the domain name, enter the same name when the hosting provider asks at the time of placing an order for hosting.
Procedure to Install and Set-up WordPress
Once you complete the registration process and purchase your hosting plan and mode, you will receive a welcome email from Bluehost. If you have chosen Bluehost, you will receive the cPanel details along with the welcome email. Below mentioned is the procedure to install and set-up WordPress.
- Login into your cPanel using the link https://my.bluehost.com/cgi-bin/cplogin that is provided in the welcome email.
- Go and select the “Hosting Login” tab and provide your cPanel login info that you would have received in the welcome email.
- The next step is to install the WordPress. You can do this by clicking on the WordPress logo that is present within the “Website builder” area. To know the detailed step by step WordPress installation process, you can click here How to install WordPress on Bluehost in 5 minutes.
- After installing WordPress, you can begin blogging by going to the “wp-admin” page which is www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin. From here you can begin to add your new blog post.
Designing and Installing WordPress Theme
Once you are set-up with your WordPress blog, the default pre-set theme is very basic. To make it look professional or interesting to cater to your needs, you need to install the WordPress theme. The website wordpress.org gives a detailed information on how to choose, design and use themes according to your purpose. click here for a tutorial on how to install and use your own. Following are the steps to install WordPress theme:
- Login to the wp-admin page of your blog.
- Go to the appearance tab, select theme and in that choose “Add new theme“.
- Choose the desired theme, upload and install.
WordPress has this amazing feature in switching to different themes very easily without any difficulty. There are many WordPress themes that are available for free and can be easily installed. To buy a theme, you need to purchase it from the professionally made premium themes like Elegant Themes, Template Monster, and Themefuse.
And, if you are sceptical on data loss with change of theme, then it’s time to shed that fear. The cool hosts will not let it happen! So, give your blog a makeover from time to time. Attractive themes will keep the traffic moving.
There you go. Wasn’t it simple?? Play around with all the features of the blog to understand the WordPress set up. By following some simple steps, you can have your own blog ready.
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Rajinder Singh
https://thehotskills.com
