Have you always wanted to start a WordPress blog and didn’t know how to do it?
Did you think it would be difficult to start a WordPress blog, with WordPress installation needs etc? Well, let me show you how it can be done in less than 30 mins. Yes, you can do it yourself.
All you have to do is follow this step by step explanation on how to do it.
5 Steps To Start A WordPress Blog
Step 1. Setting up your domain and hosting
We all know WordPress is free, but to set it up and get your very own Self-hosted WordPress blog, you will need a domain name and web hosting. A domain name is something which acts as your address on the world wide web and the web hosting is where your blog resides, it is like a home to your blog.
Domain name costs can cost around $12 ( Rs. 800) annually and web hosting costs can roughly add up to anywhere between $6 ( Rs.400) to $10 (Rs.660) per month. Now there are web hosting providers who charge much lesser than this too, but I have taken an average cost for the benefit of beginners.
Some of the reliable and cheap web hosting services you can use are:
- Bluehost: (FREE DOMAIN)Used extensively by over a million WordPress users SIGN-UP NOW
- Dreamhost: slightly expensive but great service for WordPress SIGN-UP NOW
- Hostgator: Cheap and reliable hosting for WordPress SIGN-UP NOW
I will show you the setup procedure using Bluehost as an example, The first thing to do is go to Bluehost web page, open it and click on the green button:
Once you do that, you will be led to a page where you have to make your hosting choice. I recommend selecting a shared Linux hosting. For beginners who just want to start one blog, I recommend making the below-shown selection circled in red. This hosting plan is the cheapest and also will allow hosting of only one domain. But It is substantial for any beginner. This is called the standard package.
Once you have chosen this package, you will be taken to a domain selection page. On this page, you fill the domain field with the name that you have chosen for your blog and make the relevant TLD selection( .com,.in etc) and hit continue.
Once you hit continue, you will be taken to a registration and payments page. Once this is complete, you will be sent an email to your registered email address with the customer and cPanel login details.
Step 2: Installation of WordPress
Once you have gotten your cPanel credentials, you should log in with them and you will be led a page with multiple icons. Find the WordPress icon and click on it.
Once you select this option, you will be led to WordPress quick install screen. Here, you have to click the install button to start the installation process. Your next screen with show you an option to select your domain. Do this and click on next or check domain.
This will re-direct you to the next screen which will ask you to enter your Site name, username, a password and do remember to check all boxes on this screen. Once you complete filling the relevant information click the Install now button. This will complete the process of WordPress installation on your web host.
Once the installation is successful you will be taken to a page where your WordPress site login details will be displayed. This will include your WordPress login URL and the username and password. Make sure you save this, as this is the URL you will log into every time you want to publish a blog post or do anything with your blog.
The login URL will ideally be like this: http://yoursite.com/wp-admin.
Step 3. Selecting a theme for your blog
Once your installation is complete, open your WordPress log-in URL and sign in with your user name and password. Once you do that you will be taken to your personal WordPress dashboard. Here to select your theme, find the Appearance option on the left menu bar, click on it to show themes option in the drop down and click.
Here you will see many standard Theme selection options, which may not be very attractive. Hence, I suggest clicking on the Add New button to search for thousands of Free responsive WordPress themes. On the next screen, you will be privy to thousands of paid and free themes to select from.
When you find the theme that you really like, go ahead and select it and click on the install button. Wait till the theme gets installed. Once the installation of the selected theme is finished, the install button the theme will change to ACTIVATE. You should click activate to finish the selection and activation of the theme.
Step 4: Writing your first blog post
Now that you have successfully installed WordPress, selected the theme of your choice, you can proceed to write your first blog post.
Before you embark on writing the first blog post, make sure you do know what you want to write and have some a clear understanding of what your first post needs to be.
To write your first post you should click on posts options on the left menu of your dashboard, and click on Add New ( as shown in the figure below)
Once you complete this action, you will be taken a screen where you can Add New Post, This will show you a title field and an editor to start writing your first post.
Once you have finished writing your first post, you can do a re-read to see if you have covered all the points, check for spelling and grammatical mistakes and then click the publish button which will be on the right side of the text editor.
This will publish your first post to your blog. You can also select categories and tags based on the type of post you are writing. This is, of course, one of the most crucial steps in your endeavor to start a WordPress blog. But this is not the last step yet.
Step 5: Further Customization and Plug in selections
This step is all about customising your blog. This will include adding new elements to your blog layout, installing plugins which will help you create a contact form, access basic SEO services, set up an email opt-in form etc. Also, adding pages such as an About page, Resources page etc.
Once you are done with this bit of customization, you are now officially the owner of your very own WordPress blog. A blog which will help you share your knowledge and also help you make money blogging.
This is the final step of ” Start A WordPress Blog”.
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