So you won't know how to start a blog in WordPress and don’t know how to do it? Then, you might think, you want to do it yourself. Well, this is good news for you; we want to let you know that creating a blog is not as difficult as you might think.
With our little guidance, you can definitely do it. In this post, we try to help you learn to create your own blog. As complete as possible and in easy-to-understand words.
So, you definitely can do it yourself. If you succeed later, you can try to make money with a blog.
Before we start, let's look first:
We know that you are feeling excited right now and can’t wait to make money with a blog, but first, let’s learn and understand the basics...
What Is a Blog Exactly? What Is It Used For?
Generally, a blog is a website created to share information, resources, or point of view on different topics, experiences, or passions. You might intend to start this amazing journey; here are the reasons why:
- Get more exposure for your business. If you are self-employed, adding a blog to your website gives you the ability to gain more visibility at a lower cost. This also applied to your small business or a large business entity. It's a great way to get quality leads for a business.
- To make money working from home. You may have heard of moms making money while babysitting their children at home, right? In 2020, tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people chose to create their main income or a side income by blogging. But be careful, don't be under any illusions. Making money as a blogger is a lot of work, but it is within reach of most people, and the financial risks are as minimal as $100.
- Suppose you're passionate to write & share. Do you want to share your travels and stories? Cheer on other people? Review restaurants? Or build a community around a specific topic? ...then blogging is a fantastic way to get on the mic.
What Is WordPress, Then?
WordPress is a CMS (Content Management System).
It is actually software that serves as the foundation for building a website or for blogging.
Soon, we will cover in-depth each of the stages of creating a WordPress site: starting from picking the host, to the final upload, via the modification of the visuals and the addition of your content.
Why Should I Use WordPress to Blog?
Why choose WordPress rather than another? Is it popular among bloggers? Okay… Here, we’ve gathered seven important reasons why you should choose WordPress for a successful blog website.
- The first reason is that WordPress is a free and open-source software
- Has a large community
- It is flexible!
- Allows you to use many types of media
- It also allows you to build all types of websites
- It offers a very good basis for SEO
- Easy to manage with the right tools
If you want to know more explanations about why you should use WordPress to blog, read this article.
Which Person Is Suitable to Do Blogging?
If you feel unsure yet if blogging is what you want to do, these are some pointers to look at, so you will know if blogging is right for you.
- If you are looking to make money full-time: Most bloggers use blogging to earn income. There are several earnings opportunities on the Internet. These include advertising programs run by Google, Amazon, and other social media sites to put on your blog. Plus, you can make this full-time income while doing it in the comfort of your home.
- Bloggers with passionate hobbies: If you like traveling, collecting stylish clothes, doing makeup, or anything else for fun, then you should go for it! It's such an amazing way to show your creativity, express your passion, and talk about yourself and your work!
- Especially for Non-Tech Savvy people: If you thought we were some tech genius when we first started, let us tell you that it is far from the real truth. FYI, you don't need to have crazy amazing computer skills to do blogging! It's super easy to do, and you will do much after just a little bit of practice after a while.
What Are the Main Requirements for Creating a Blog?
To have your own blog, you need:
- Domain & hosting - Name and place to store your blog
- Budget - To buy a domain and to host
- Time - A period to create a blog until it’s ready
First of all, you need to get a domain and hosting for your blog.
A domain is the name of your blog.
For example - www.infomasta.com.
Hosting is where the files for your blog are stored. Usually, these domains and hosting you can get simultaneously from the company of your choice. Of course, you can also buy from different companies, but it's so much easier to buy in one place.
It's also to look after and manage the billing of it. Then, you will need to pull a little expense to buy the domain and hosting. It is about $30 ++ per year for the domain and hosting.
Remember, this amount you spend will be easily covered when your blog starts to bring income later. We will explain later on how to buy in the next section.
So now, maybe you're thinking...
Why Not Create a Free Blog?
Can we create a free blog with worpress.com or blogger (Blogspot)?
If you want to create a blog just to try it, you can use those free ones. BUT, if you are serious about blogging, we highly suggest you buy your own domain and hosting.
It is difficult for us to take full advantage of the benefits of blogging with such a free service. It limits your blog's content expansion. You can't do this, and you can't do that (because of the limited functionalities of free blog services).
Okay, if I Buy the Domain & Hosting Service, What to Do Next?
After buying a domain and hosting, you need to spend some time installing and setup your new blog.
This process takes a little time.
But you will do it only once.
Once completed, you can start focusing on creating awesome content for your blog...
So, now you know most of the basics, let’s not waste any more time and go step-by-step to create your very first WordPress blog!
Side note, here’s a quick list of the tools we used to create our successful blog:
If you want to quickly start up your own blog for a lower price (only $3.95/month through our special link here), then we highly recommend you Bluehost. We used it when we first started, and you need a hosting service if you want to make earnings from your blog more easily.
Step 1: Choose a Niche Blog
What is a niche? Niche blog?
Niche in the blogging world means the theme you bring in your blog. It's what you tell in your blog. All the posts you will make are playing around with that niche. It's almost synonymous with the topic or the title.
Some examples of niche blogs are travel, hiking, facial skincare, and so on.
An example of a niche for www.infomasta.com is 'how to create a blog.'
Why define a niche?
"Can I just create a blog and post anything I want?"
Yes, no problem.
The blog is yours, and the right to decide is up to you.
But if you have a mission behind creating the blog, for example, to generate income online, it is best to define a niche for your blog.
Advantages of Niche Blog
In summary, here are some of the advantages of having a niche:
- Good SEO ranking
- Easy for you to get followers
- Easy for you to post later
- More trusted by your target readers
- Easy for you to generate income
- Very good for affiliates
- Target your readers more active
A brief example is as follows.
You want to find information about the benefits of vitamin C.
You search near Google and get two related search results as follows:
- Article "benefits of vitamin C" from Health blog
- Article "benefits of vitamin C" from Mr. Roberts blog
Which one do you believe or are more confident to read?
No.1 or No.2?
It is definitely the No.1. Isn't it?
Next:
How to choose a Niche Blog?
If you create a blog for your company (travel agency, construction, etc.), of course, you have to decide on that niche.
If you want to start a blog from zero;
The best option is:
- Create a niche that you are interested in
- Create a niche that is your expertise
- Create a niche that you want to learn
For example, Your hobbies, expertise, and so on.
If you're passionate about playing the guitar,
= then you can create a niche blog specific to guitar instruments.
If you're an expert in the field of farming,
= then create a backyard niche blog.
If you know a lot of video editing skills using the latest software,
= then why not create a video editing tutorial blog, right?
Tactics like these are very effective in the long term. When you choose a niche that interests you, you will have fun creating it. You can insert your feelings or emotions in blog writing. This makes your blog more interesting.
On the opposite side, the probability for a blog to be bland is very high if you don’t like the chosen niche. It’s a bit hard to ‘lie’ to readers. Especially if the reader is indeed interested in your chosen niche, they will know that you're not passionate about the niche from looking at your writing style.
For example, you want to create a focused blog for affiliates.
Based on your research, the hottest affiliate niches are natural cosmetic items. You are not directly interested in the niche, but you create it nonetheless. You can still create content, but it won't be as fun as you think.
If you still want to publish posts that you're not passionate about - it is already dead of lice. It will be a burden and hardship for you in the long run.
(This is based on many bloggers' experiences…)
So, when you want to choose a niche, choose based on the three options above.
Step 2: Define a Domain Name for Your Blog
Last you select a niche, and the next thing is the domain name.
What is the best domain name for your blog?
How do I choose the best domain name?
If you create a blog for a business/company, you will use the company or business name.
If you do not have a specific name, here is a guide you can use to choose the best domain name.
Guide to choosing the best domain name
- Easy to spell
- Short
- Easy to remember
- Always choose .com as the main option
- Make sure others have not used it
- Target your topic
- Avoid the use of numbers and symbols
See also this post: 12 Tips for Choosing the Best Domain Name.
For example, you might want to create a blog about personal financial management.
A good domain name according to the above concept is:
- beautydaily.com
Examples of the poor domain name are:
- sarah-free-makeup-coupons71.com
As you can see, beautydaily.com is more interesting as it is easy to remember and easy to spell.
Once people see and read, they can instantly know your blog must be related to beauty, skincare, makeup, or anti-aging.
On the other hand, sarah-free-makeup-coupons71.com is very long, unprofessional, and hard to remember. It is also has a big no-no on domain name rules. Remember this, if you want to be successful, don’t put your domain’s name with dashes, symbols, and numbers.
Plus, sarah-free-makeup-coupons71.com looks very sketchy, like a scam.
The right thing to do is, keep your domain name short and professional. Then, it is easy to remember, and more people will have the confidence to go to your website.
Any idea for your domain name?
Maybe this link can help you: Wordoid.
Try searching for multiple domain name options for your blog.
Then check if each of the lists is still available for use or not.
To check, you can use this link: Instant Domain Search.
What if you already get the domain name you want? You can proceed to the next step.
Step 3: Buy a Domain and Hosting
This section requires you to spend a little money to buy a domain and hosting.
The amount of payment required depends on the company or seller you choose.
What hosting company should I choose?
There are many choices you can make.
For us, if you are starting in the blogging world, there are three things to keep in mind:
- Support & technical assistance - You need a lot of help if you are starting. In order not to be stuck when there is a problem.
- Cheap & affordable cost - According to your ability.
- Speed & less downtime - For SEO and also the smoothness of your blog creation.
So, what to go with? There are plenty of web hosting sites out there. But we just want you to focus on Bluehost only. FYI, Bluehost is literally the best overall for new bloggers.
Bluehost - about the hosting
Bluehost is one of the web hosts that we personally recommend since they have a great price (affordable, of course) for new bloggers. In addition, they are the ones basically everyone suggests since they are seriously professional web hosting for WordPress. We also started our blog (when we were a small entity) with Bluehost, and we have a good time with them.
So, if you're looking for a hosting service that gives you less headache and answers all you need for your blog, then definitely go with them.
Their hosting plan is $3.95/mo which is a special price you can only get through our Bluehost link, so definitely check them out.
We also have a completely free A-to-Z guide on how to set up your blog with them.
P.S. - Right now, Bluehost offers free domain names when you sign up. So grab that offer now before it's gone!
Guide to buying a domain and hosting package
Before buying a domain + hosting from any company, check first whether there is any promotion or not.
This is to get as many discounts as possible.
Such promotions are often displayed on their websites.
If you choose to use the Bluehost service, you can see this guide.
(Other companies are more or less the same way)
Important Note: If you buy hosting, and get a FREE domain name from Bluehost, don't directly install WordPress. Leave it first for 24 hours. This is to enable SSL to sync with your domain and allow you to select domain URLs (starting with HTTPS).
When ready, proceed to the next step.
Step 4: Install WordPress
Edit: The images provided here and the pictures of the latest version of WordPress may be slightly different. But the way is still the same, just different positions.
Performing the WordPress installation varies from one hosting company to another. In general, it is quite simple, but it still requires performing some specific maneuvers. Here is the detailed procedure to make your purchase and install WordPress.
So, here's how to install WordPress for your blog with Bluehost.
How to install WordPress at Bluehost
Once the page opens, click on the green “Get Started Now” button.
Choose the package with which you want to start your project. We generally recommend either the "basic" plan or the "plus" plan for starting a new website. FYI, if your needs change over time, you can always switch from one package to another. Click on the green "select" button to go to the next step.
At this step, you will be choosing your FREE domain name. If you already have one, write it down in the right section. You will later need to associate Bluehost's DNS addresses (ns1.bluehost.com, ns2.bluehost.com) to your domain name through your domain name registrar (e.g., GoDaddy if you purchased it from this company). Click here for the exact procedure to link your domain name to your Bluehost hosting.
Add your personal details. Also, you are prompted to choose the options you want to add to your package at this step. Choose the term of your agreement (you can choose accommodation for 1, 2, or 3 years). You can keep the "Domain Privacy Protection" option checked or not protect your personal details linked to your domain name. This can be an interesting option to avoid unnecessary spam to your email address.
Finally, enter your credit card information to proceed with the purchase. Next, click on the checkbox "I confirm I have read and agree to the terms..." and complete your order by clicking on "submit."
You will be redirected to an account creation confirmation page.
Then click on "create account" and determine the password for your Bluehost account.
Install WordPress in Your Bluehost Account
Enter the name of your website and a short description of it. Then, click on "Continue."
Check the boxes appropriate to your web project.
You can then choose a free WordPress theme provided by Bluehost. This is an optional step. However, we advise you not to use a free theme to create a professional website.
Here! It is done! WordPress is now installed on your BlueHost server.
You can connect to your WordPress content management console to start creating your website.
GET BLUEHOST NOW (FREE DOMAIN NAME INCLUDED) >>
This means the completion of the WordPress installation process on your blog. After that, your blog is online, and you can start working on it.
Step 5: WordPress Admin Access
To start working on your blog, you need to log into the WordPress panel or admin.
For those of you who are just starting to get used to using the WordPress platform, the admin panel looks like this:
To access your blog's admin panel, you just need to add /wp-login.php at the end of your domain. An example is as follows:
www.yourdomain.com/wp-login.php
This will take you to the login view of your blog. The login or login display looks like this:
Enter the username and password you registered when you first installed WordPress, then click Log In.
If you forgot your username, you could use the email address you registered when installing WordPress.
Step 6: Install themes, plugins, and blog setup.
There are three things you need to manage before your blog is ready for public display.
- Install the appropriate theme
- Install the necessary plugins
- Make basic settings on the blog
Let's look at them one by one:
#1. Install the appropriate theme
The theme makes your blog display more attractive and easy for visitors to read.
WordPress will provide you with the original theme by default, and it’s ready to be installed for your blog.
But you can change the theme if you don’t like it and want third-party options.
And you can install any theme that suits your blog niche.
To change the theme:
Appearance > Themes > Add New
Menu Appearance is located on the left side of the admin panel. The button Add New is located at the top of the Themes display.
The following display will appear:
There are many theme options for you to choose from. You can use the Search function and featured filter or the Featured, Popular, and Latest menus to help your search.
As a guide for choosing a theme:
- Simple yet good - A heavy (has a variety of functions) make your blog difficult to use and slow to load.
- Do not choose a theme whose font is difficult to read.
- Choose a responsive theme - The size changes according to the PC, tablet, and mobile phone screen size.
- See the suitability of the theme color with the essence of the blog - Dark or light background-color
- See the theme rating - Choose an average rating of 4 stars and above.
If you have a budget, consider buying a premium theme.
The cheapest and best premium WordPress themes are available from Theme Forest.
After getting the theme you like, click Install, then click Activate to activate the theme on your site.
#2. Install the necessary
The plugin works to give your blog additional functions that are not provided by the theme you installed earlier.
For example, plugins for contact forms, SEO, speed-up sites, and so on.
To install a plugin, you can go to the menu:
Plugins > Add New
There are various plugins that you can use for free.
It's good to have this plugin, but don't use the plugin excessively.
It can ruin the performance of your blog.
The key is to use only the plugins you really need.
If not necessary, do not install it.
You can refer to this post for a guide: 8 Essential Plugin Lists for WordPress Blogs.
Ready to install the necessary themes and plugins, next:
#3. Make basic settings on the blog
The last part is before you start creating a post/page.
Make settings for the display of your blog.
These settings can access through the menu:
Appearance > Customize
This will open a new page showing the display of your blog.
There are options provided on the left side of the display.
Display options are such as site identity, color, and so on.
Making this set is quite easy, as you can see the changes made in a given blog view.
Another option for this section varies according to the theme you use.
Take the time to choose the best settings for your blog in this section.
Another setting you need to see.
(after finishing customizing the blog)
That is the URL part of the site - Permalink.
Access this setting through the menu:
Settings > Permalinks
Change the setting to 'Post name' so that your site URL is more beautiful and easy to read.
Don't forget to click on the 'Save settings button to save the settings.
Once this section is complete, you can start focusing on your blog content!
Step 7: Create a Post
Before that, find out first the difference between Post and Page and when to use it.
- Post: Your top choice for any blog article you create. Sorted by time.
The new one is ahead. - Page: For static pages like about me, company policy, contact us, and so on.
To create a new post, click on the "Post" menu located on the left side of the admin panel, then select "Add New."
The following display will appear:
You can save it as a draft or publish your post.
If you need a reference for the basics of creating a post can refer to Basic Guide to Create a Post in a Blog [WordPress]
If you're looking for tutorials on how to manage, do settings, and so on in the admin panel of your WordPress blog, you can watch the following video tutorial:
(Click here if you want to sign up for WordPress with Bluehost)
So, welcome aboard to the world of blogging!
Share this post if you think this is useful and helpful to you. Also, share with your friends who are interested in creating a blog also. We would be very happy if we could attract more people to the blogging world.
