I will show you an easy guide for beginners within 20 minutes on how to start your own WordPress blog. Our guide is absolutely free. After finishing with my guide, you will have a stunning blog to show to the world. I made this guide particularly for beginners with no to little knowledge about blogs and computer.
Starting a blog can be scary and tense, but that’s why I am here! I will show you how easy it is and that it can be done with basic computer skills. Age doesn’t matter as long as you are passionate about what you write.
For a blog, you don’t have to be an exceptional writer. People read blogs to read about your personal opinions or different angles on things you write about. It can be the things you would try for the first time or something you have experience on. You can focus on just one topic as a start and later add on many others.
Blog let you talk about anything you want, like sharing your stories, whether it’s new experience or something you are expert in. It can be used as dairy as well.
Blogging can bring you money if done properly. Even if it’s a part-time, small blog. Blog can even get you a book contracts if you get the right audience. I will get more into this subject later on. Listen to your audience and adjust your writing or make a post about a subject they want to hear about from you.
Let’s get started!
You will need to complete these few steps to learn how to make a blog:
- Choosing topic
- Choosing a name
- Getting your blog online
- Personalize your blog
- Publishing your very first post! (yaay)
- Promoting the blog
- Ultimately make money
1 – Topic for a blog
If you are not sure what to write about, I can help you with these following tips.
Lessons learnt in life are great material to write about. With this possibly unique knowledge, you can help others who are in similar position as you were.
Think about all the experiences you had in your life. It can be about family, work or even pet problems you have encountered. For example, you had a disease and you want to share your struggle with it or how you defeated it, how you deal with difficult costumers at work.
You can write about your life. It can be something like a dairy, what you do every day, what you think about, what you dream about, just what is ongoing right now with you.
Writing about something you love like cooking, sports, fashion, cars, travelling or some completely different hobby you have is awesome. You can show your passion for it through writing.
2 – Name for a blog
If you already have a topic in mind, you can start thinking about name ideas. You can check name availability and if it already is taken, try adding various domain extensions. For example name.com, try searching for name.org, name.net, etc.. If none of this helps, try adding a short word in the name. For example MYname.com, THEname.com, BESTname.com, etc.. If that is also taken try adding dashes between words, for example my-name.com.
The best name for your blog should describe the essence of your content. If you are writing about one subject, it would be good idea to incorporate it in the name. For example if you are talking about sports, your name could be sportsbasket.com.
3 – Getting your blog online
Now after you pick a name for your blog, it’s my time to show you how to get your blog online.
I show you how to do it step by step.
To get your blog online you need two things :
1 – web hosting / blog hosting
2 – blog software
A blog host is a company that stores your files for your blog or your website, there are many companies can do that with little money.
Blog software is a software you need to build your blog, there is also many choices but lets talk about the best, which is WordPress.
Let’s start with web hosting first :
I have two to recommend, Bluehost and Interserver.
Why Bluehost ?
- You get Free Domain name you can pick by yourself.
- 30-Day money-back guarantee, if you changed your mind or if you are unsatisfied.
- 24/7 amazing customer support Via Phone or Web chat if you have a specific issue, or you want to ask about something.
- Bluehost offers reliable web hosting that has been recommended by WordPress since 2005, powering over 2 million websites, they offer the ultimate WordPress platform. Tuned for WordPress.
- They offer free WordPress one click Installation, means you don’t need any coding knowledge to install it.
Now, to register your domain name, first you need to go to bluehost.
Then click on Get Started button :
Select your plan. I would recommend the basic plan for new blogger, click “Select” to choose your plan.
Type in a domain name you chose in the left box, then click “Next” button to start the registration process.
- If you own an existing domain name, and want to use it as your blog name, type it in the right box then click “Next” button. Use the right box only if you already got an existing domain name or if you have paid to register a domain!
If your domain name is already taken, you can always pick a new one or choose one from suggested domain names that bluehost provides.
Remember! Domain names are not case-sensitive, these domain names use capitalization for readability purpose only.
Now fill out your billing details on the registration page.
Bluehost made it even easier. You can use your Google account to create an account!
Now you will need to choose your hosting package and options to include from Package Extras.
Remember, every Bluehost hosting plan has everything you need to get your blog online and running smoothly, including a free domain name, one click WordPress installation, web hosting, CPanel and custom Email with your domain name (e.g. [email protected])
It’s up to you what you really need, you can always click More Information to understand exactly what are you choosing.
But I personally recommend choosing “Domain Privacy & Protection” because it hides your personal information from public database of registered domain owners such as (name, address, phone, Email).
You will need to create your Bluehost username and password, if you didn’t use Google sign in method.
Once you finished this step, you will be redirected to an installation helper.
But I’m here for you, so you can to skip this and follow the rest of the tutorial, just click “Skip this step” on the next few pages.
Install the WordPress Platform (Blogging Platform).
Bluehost will install WordPress automatically. If you want to install it manually or having any issues, simply follow these instructions.
- Click on “My Sites” from the left side navigation menu.
- Click on “Create Site” button at top right.
3. New windows will appear for two recommended website builders
4. Click “Start Building” button under WordPress option.
5. Enter Admin Information.
- Site Name : This is the name will be displayed on your site. This is not your URL but the name you use in your website.
- Admin username : Your admin page username to log in to your admin panel and manage your WordPress website.
- Admin Password : Your admin page password to log in to your admin panel and manage your WordPress website.
Try to create a strong password for extra security!
The installer will take roughly 2 minutes to install your WordPress, after you done installing your WordPress:
- Click on “My Sites” from the left side navigation menu.
- Then click on “Manage site” button.
3. Click on “Log in to WordPress” button, top right of the page.
4 – Personalize your blog
Once you log in, you will be redirected to WordPress Dashboard. This is where magic happens! You can change everything you want to make your blog look stunning!
Everyone has their own taste and different ideas of how you want your blog to look.
Related : How To Customize your WordPress blog
You can change your entire layout with few clicks in WordPress layout or Design known as “Themes“. You can change this from “Appearance” Tab on the left menu.
You will see 3 themes already installed in your WordPress, I recommend using one of them as a start. They all look great !
Don’t worry, you can always change your theme without losing anything. You can find many free Themes to use. Simply click on “Add New Theme” or the plus sign.
You will find thousands of free themes and you can click Preview to check how it looks by hovering your mouse cursor on any of the themes you like.
Once you have installed your theme, click “Activate” to activate the theme on your blog.
Check this: How To Customize Your Blog!
5 – Publishing your very first post!
Now your blog is up and running with the beautiful theme you picked, time to do some blogging!
Let’s create your first blog post.
Go to the left menu and click on “Posts”
You will see there’s a post already there. In every new WordPress blog, you get a default post as an example. But we don’t need it, so delete it by clicking on “Trash” under Hello World!
To start writing your first post, click the “Add New” button.
Now you’re on the post editor screen. Enter the post title in the top box.
To upload an image, simply click on the plus sign to add a block.
Then choose image block to start uploading.
Blocks help you to organize your content inside the block editor, there’s plenty of them by clicking “Browse all”. Most of the blocks have a preview, you can check it out by hovering the mouse cursor.
Once you’ve done writing your post, it’s time to publish it to the world! Just click publish at top right side of the screen, also don’t forget you can always preview your post before you publish it.
You can choose to preview your post for Mobile, Desktop, Tablets.
6 – Promoting your blog
Writing a great content and creating a beautiful design for your blog is just a start!
To get visitors to your blog, you will need to promote it. Yes, you have great content, but you need to inform people about it!
I’ll tell you about some strategies that can help you to get more readers and visitors.
Start with your inner circle
Your family, friends, colleagues will always be interested in what you write. Tell them to become your followers and readers, ask them to tell others about your blog.
Social Media Power!
Post a link of your new content, post it on your social media profile or create a page!
When you post a link to your social media, your friends can share the link with their friends. GO VIRAL!
Leave a comment in other blogs
Find other blogs in your community and engage with them, leave a comment there to introduce yourself and engage with their posts. Many of blogs are allowing to leave your link there in their blogs.
Remember! Don’t Spam.
Engage with your readers
When your readers leave a comment, always engage with them. If they’ve a question, try to answer as fast as you can, reply to their comments and thank them. When your readers see that you care about them and their opinions, they will naturally encourage you and share this to their friends.
Post Consistently
Everyone is busy with real life, creating a post takes time to make a great and unique content!
Make a schedule, post once per day or week! But don’t let your followers be disappointed or they’re going to stop visiting your blog!
Add your blog to search engine
Now you need to add your blog to search engines to get more visitors and rank up your blog.
Google :
- Sign up for a Google webmaster account, or you can log in with your Google account.
- Open the Search Console to add your blog.
- Click “Add Property” and follow the steps to add your blog.
Bing :
- Sign up for a Bing webmaster account, or you can log in with your Microsoft account.
- Open Bing Webmaster Tools to add your blog.
- At top left under Microsoft Bing logo, then click “+ Add a site”.
7 – Ultimately make money
Blogging can make you money, even if you don’t commit to it full time. Slowly build your audience and rank up in search engines to get to a point where you can make money. There are many methods, like affiliate marketing, Google AdSense, renting a space in your blog to advertising companies or all combined.
Google AdSense
Google AdSense is an easy way to earn money, especially if you just started your blog, they’ve responsive ads and about 5 ads format you can pick.
Google AdSense is using CPC (Cost Per Click) system, which means every time someone clicks on your ad you earn money. They take 35% and you get the rest (65% per click).
To sign up for Google AdSense
- You need about 15 unique posts.
- Good design and responsive blog.
- You must be over 18 years old.
- You must have a content comply with Google AdSense policies (e.g. porn website, child abuse, or any unwanted or harmful content). Not only that, but you can read more about it in this link.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate program is a commission-based way to advertise, when your visitors click on a link or ad you’ve in your blog and buy something, you get a commission from their purchases.
Some affiliate programs give a fixed percentage and some give a fixed number, depends on which one you join.
There’s many affiliate programs on the internet, such as Amazon.com or HostGator.com …etc.
Sell Advertising space
Once you’ve a popular blog, Advertisers will start to contact you for Ad space in your blog.
Conclusion
Blog isn’t a scary, complicated thing to make. With a little bit of will and time, you can have a great time writing and ultimately make money from it. Picking a catchy name, that will express what you talk about, will benefit you. Pay attention to your regular visitors for a productive change in content of your blog. Spamming isn’t promoting, it can make counter effect. Make your content original and unique to surpass all other competitors. Appearance and visual details matter, so try to make it more notable.
P.S. Happy posting ⌨
