When was the last time you had a great idea that you wanted to share? Do you have a remarkable story from your trip to Spain or some cool things you learned during all those years of gardening?
Everyone has a story that demands exposure, and a blog gives you the tools to get out and start writing. Before blogging I asked for technical skills in order to be able to share his story. This has changed drastically since there are tools available these days that allow you to set up a number of things quickly.
A story is an extension of your own life, spreading your message to everyone, and bringing your experiences to a whole new crowd that could benefit spiritually, physically, or even just through a little bit of entertainment.
The coolest thing about blogging is that you can make a good income if you put your heart into it. Lots of regular people blog everyday and they have full time income while others are just working on their blogs to generate passive income.
How to start a blog with WordPress
It all starts with a blog, and WordPress is the best place to start. In what follows, you will have a fairly detailed guide, which will show you how to choose a blog domain name through choosing a WordPress theme. We will learn to to set up a WordPress blog in less than 15 minutes .
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
The first step in starting your WordPress blog is to understand the framework. Basically, WordPress is the content management system (CMS) that helps you upload photos, type words, and post your content. It's designed to work well for people of all experience levels, so you don't need to know a lot about programming.
WordPress exists in two forms: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Here's what you need to remember about the difference between the two:
- WordPress.com means that the WordPress company hosts the site for you.
- WordPress.org means you own your site and host it yourself (that's what you'll find out in this guide).
- WordPress.com is a good system, but you don't have a lot of control or customization over your blog.
- WordPress.org is where you can secure, back up, and customize the site yourself. You even have access to thousands of handy plugins to make your site unique. This is typically what serious bloggers use.
What do you need to start your new blog
- An idea for your domain name.
- A hosting account SiteGround (use our link to save a lot of money on your monthly subscription).
- WordPress (completely free).
- A WordPress theme (sometimes free, sometimes a little extra depending on what you choose).
- A credit card (accommodation is rather cheap).
Step 1: Think and buy the perfect domain name
The domain name is your online identity. The domain name of this site is blogpascher.com. It's what people type in every time they want to find your site, and it's tied to your branding strategy so people remember who you are. Take the time to think of an area that relates to what you want to offer on your site.
Many people just use their names, while others may have company names to use. Lots of other sites try to focus on keywords, which can help a bit, but that's not going to make or break your search engine optimization.
You will be able to purchase your own domain name for $ 14,95 when you sign up for hosting in the next step. While you can buy a domain name for a few dollars less through other sources, it's easier to go through. SiteGround, one of the web hosts we recommend for WordPress hosting because the process of setting up your domain is much less complicated.
We'll talk about choosing a domain in the next step, as this goes hand in hand with purchasing hosting, but first I wanted to explain why we like to recommend SiteGround :
- SiteGround is a large and experienced company, and many bloggers use their services.
- The interface is easy to use, so beginners shouldn't have any problems.
- If you have problems, they offer 24 / 7 customer service.
- The service loads your pages very quickly.
- Compared to other brands, you get a good deal, starting from 3,95 $ per month (plus the free domain).
- Their uptime is unmatched in the industry.
- They automatically update your wordpress software, a feature that is usually only available in managed WordPress hosting.
Step 2: Go to SiteGround and start with your WordPress site
To get started, go to SiteGround, then click the orange button Start.
It is recommended that you start with the SiteGround Starter Plan. This is a decent option for those who are new to blogging. You receive hosting for a website, 10 GB of website space, and it is suitable for 10 monthly visits to your website.
The GrowBig plan is the most popular option, and it's not much more expensive than the Starter plan. For $ 7,95 per month, you get as many sites as you want. You also receive 20 GB of website space and up to 25 monthly visits to your website. Also, there are some great premium features like the exclusive SuperCacher plugin used to speed up your website and improve overall performance.
The final plan, called the GoGeek plan, is for businesses that need features like PCI compliance and WordPress staging. Give it a try if you plan to run multiple websites for your business and are going to scale quickly.
Step 3: Complete the acquisition of your domain
Now that you've selected your hosting plan, it's time to register your domain name. As mentioned earlier, SiteGround charges $ 14,95 for a domain name, which is competitively priced.
Just click on Register a new domain and enter your chosen domain in the space provided.
Click on the button Continue to see if the domain is available and complete your payment. If the domain is used by someone else online, you must try a different domain name. If not, you can continue with the last part of the registration process.
You will notice that you need to complete several sections to complete your domain acquisition and continue to sign up for SiteGround hosting services.
You will need to fill out some general information about yourself, choose a password to access your SiteGround hosting account, and enter your preferred payment method.
Before you complete your payment, you will need to answer a few more questions and you will also have the option of adding a few more features to your hosting services.
Here is the breakdown of the last section that you need to complete before finalizing your hosting service subscription with SiteGround:
- Choose the data center that best represents your target audience: Chicago (USA), Amsterdam (NL), Singapore (SG) or London (UK).
- Select the duration of your subscription: Trial (1 months), 12 months, 24 months, or 36 months.
- Choose additional services: Domain confidentiality (so that your personal information is not accessible to the public), HackAlert Malware Monitoring (alerts to possible hacks).
After choosing the features you want to add to your subscription, read the terms of use of SiteGround and confirm that you agree. Then click on Pay now .
Step 5: Install WordPress on your SiteGround hosting account
Now that you have completely set up your SiteGround account, you can install WordPress on the host. Once the payment is made, SiteGround will automatically direct you to its Client Area so that you can install WordPress on your hosting account.
If by any chance you decide to come back later, simply log into your SiteGround hosting account using the username that was sent to you at the end of payment and the password you chose during of the initial phase.
When you choose to go directly to the area client SiteGround, the SiteGround SetupWizard program appears.
To start the installation of WordPress on your host select Get WordPress preinstalled in this account (Get WordPress preinstalled on this account).
Before starting the installation process, SiteGround will ask you to choose your WordPress admin email, username and password. This information will be what you use to log into your WordPress dashboard to do things like create and publish posts.
After doing this, you will then have the option to add a free WordPress theme to your website through SiteGround. Themes are what your website will look like from the perspective of visitors.
Remember, there are tons of WordPress theme options on the market today, and you can change the theme on your website at any time, even if you choose one from SiteGround right now.
When done, click Submit. If everything has been done correctly, you will be congratulated on completing your account settings.
Step 6: Access your WordPress dashboard
On your SiteGround account, you will be able to visually see that WordPress has been successfully installed on your website.
Navigating from the page Home > My accounts, you will be able to see the domain name you have chosen with a small WordPress icon located right next to it to make sure that WordPress has been correctly installed on your web hosting account.
If you click on the little green button near the left of your domain name titled Go to Admin panel, you will be taken to your WordPress dashboard login screen. Here you enter the username and password you chose when installing WordPress.
A look at the WordPress dashboard
The WordPress dashboard is basically the control panel for your site. This is where you can manage:
- Your blog posts and other content
- What does your blog look like ( via a theme )
- What functionality has your blog ( via plugins )
- Basic configuration settings of your blog
We'll cover some of these areas in detail later, but for now let's show you how to write your first blog post!
How to write your first blog
To write your first blog post using WordPress, go to Articles → Add on your WordPress dashboard.
This will take you to what's called a WordPress editor, where you can:
- Give a title to your blog
- Enter the content of your blog
- Format your blog post using simple buttons ( like Microsoft Word )
- Upload your own images
- Define categories and labels for your blog
Once you're happy with how your post looks, just click the button Publish to publish your article.
Step 7: Install and customize your own theme
While we've shown you how SiteGround lets you choose a WordPress theme when installing your website, you might not have liked the themes that SiteGround offers.
This is totally normal! There are tens of thousands of WordPress themes available for you and you will find some very beautiful and practical ones.
Where can you find and install free themes?
If you do not want to pay for your theme, the best place to do your research is WordPress.org official directory .
All displayed themes are:
- 100% free
- Code verified by the WordPress theme review team
- Optimized for easy search
Once you find a theme that you like, you need to install it on your site. Here is how to install a WordPress theme (click for a more detailed guide):
- Go to the' appearance → Themes on your WordPress dashboard
- Clicking on Add new
- On the next screen, search for the name of the theme you found
- Roll over the theme and click Installer
- Wait for the button Installer becomes Enable
- Click on the button Enable for activate your theme
That's all ! Your new WordPress theme is installed and active.
Where can you buy premium WordPress themes?
Premium themes generally offer better designs and more features. For often on a light budget, they usually offer the best experience.
Here are some great places to buy premium WordPress themes:
Themeforest: It's the best platform in the world to find WordPress themes for your blog. Click here to be redirected directly to the topic category for blogs and ezines.
ElegantThemes: Discover DIVI, the best WordPress theme to create any type of blog or website for individuals and businesses. The site is currently offering 20% off.
Here are some themes I recommend
Once you find a premium theme that you like, be sure to download the theme zip file from the site where you purchased the theme.
Then you can install it on WordPress by:
- Accessing the appearance → Themes on your WordPress dashboard
- Clicking on Add new Then on Upload a theme
- Click on Choose File and select the theme zip file
- Then click on install now
- Wait for WordPress to install the theme
- Click on Enable for activate the theme on your blog
That's all ! You have just installed and activated the WordPress theme.
Step 8: Add features to your blog with WordPress plugins
While WordPress themes are mostly about appearance, WordPress plugins are all about adding extra functionality to your blog.
For example, you might want a Contact form so that your readers can contact you. You need plugins to add functionality as well to your WordPress theme.
Where can you find WordPress plugins?
We set up an article with some of the best WordPress plugins for bloggers, but if you prefer to dig yourself, you can browse tens of thousands of free and premium WordPress plugins:
- Official WordPress.org plugin directory - a massive collection of over 50 free WordPress plugins that you can easily install right from your WordPress dashboard.
- Elegant themes - besides themes, they have tons of useful plugins.
- Code Canyon - a huge third-party market for premium plugins.
How to install WordPress plugins
Once you find a plugin you like, here's how to install it:
- Go to Plugins → Add new
If you found the plugin on WordPress .org:
- Search plugin name
- Click on install now
- Wait for WordPress to install the plugin, and then click Enable
If you bought a premium plugin:
- Click on Upload Plugin and download the ZIP file
Finally
At this point you have a fully functional blog built with WordPress. We told you you would learn how to set up a WordPress blog in under 15 minutes!
Now all that's left is to start writing blog posts that people love to read. You will probably also want:
- Learn more about WordPress SEO so that your blog ranks higher in Google search
- Find some means of earn money from your blog
We hope you found this guide useful, and congratulations on the launch of your blog!
If you need any help or have any questions, please let us know in the comments below and we'll try to help!
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