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Want to start your very own blog? GREAT!! You’re in the right place.
I’m so happy you’re here & are trusting me to lead the way. Blogging is a journey. It won’t happen overnight but with a little hard work, some elbow grease & love, you’ll be off on your own.
First things first.
Like I said up there. Blogging is a Journey. Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to start a blog. One reason some people want to let that creativity out. Other reasons include the need to earn extra money to stay home with their adorable babies. Some just want the freedom that blogging brings. Whatever the reason why I want you to know that you can do this too.
I do want to make one thing abundantly clear though. It takes hard work. You have to commit to it because as I have already stated, Blogging. Is. Hard. Work.
Is it worth it? In my opinion, heck yes. I’ve only been blogging for 2 months now but I’m having an absolute blast.
I’m a newbie too.
So why should you listen to me if I’m just a newbie myself? Well because I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve been steadily creeping on those blogging income reports that float around Pinterest.
& I’ve been stuck in the research paralysis too. Are ya there now? Well, I’m going to give you some actionable steps that I’ll break down into easy to do tasks. I want you to succeed in this journey too.
You ready? Good. Let’s ROCK it!
Actually setting up your blog isn’t as daunting as you may think. I’m a relatively tech savvy person but I had no idea how to do this when I started. I promise you do not have to be a computer wiz to do it.
Set up your blog with these 6 simple steps:
- Find your focus
- What Platform?
- Buy Hosting
- Decide on a name.
- Install WordPress
- Cuteness overload!
Finding your focus
Before we even talk about names or where to host your blog, I want to talk about finding your focus. If you want to make money off of your blog, then you need to figure out what you want to write about and who you need to write to.
I’ve read this a lot. You’re blogging for your person. Not yourself.
Your person is who will be reading your posts. They will resonate with them and they will subscribe to your list to follow you along on your journey.
My Focus: I want to live a financially free life and help others do the same. I know that this online business thing is for me so I’m using my blog to help others achieve the same thing.
But I’m also passionate about home décor, trying to get and keep my house organized, and saving money where I can because let’s face it. I’m a spender. So I choose for my blog to be a lifestyle blog.
As I’ve started to write more and more, I’m learning to hone my skills. I really want to help others just like you discover how to make money outside of the normal 9 to 5.
Choose your platform
I highly recommend a self-hosted wordpress.org blog. WordPress is easy to learn and use. A lot of major websites use WordPress. I pretty impressed to find this out.
A few notable brands include Martha Stewart, The Walt Disney Company and Sony all run their websites with WordPress.
I’ve found that with a couple quick videos and this site, I’ve been able to learn WordPress very quickly. There are a couple other platforms including Blogger, Wix, and Shopify. I would advise that you look into these and determine which is the best for you.
Deciding on a name.
Before we jump into buying hosting for your blog, I want you to think about what it will be called and what your domain name will be.
A domain name is the Site’s name that is incorporated into the URL of your website. For example, my domain is tiarenee.com. My full URL is https://www.livingwellmillennial.com
You’ll want to do a little research when choosing your domain name to make sure that your name is available. Another reason to do a little research is if you’re not using your own name, you want to make sure there isn’t a similar name in the same or similar niche so you don’t get confused with someone else’s blog.
If you choose to not use your name but are stumped on what to do, check out BustAName. It’s a tool where you can enter a couple different words and it generates possible domain names.
After you select a name, you’ll need to register it. I registered my domain through Namecheap. It was very simple to do and cost about $10 I think.
Buy some hosting
What is hosting? Well in simple terms, it is where your blog will live. This is a service that is provided by a company which gives you access to the technology and services needed to have your website to be viewed.
You’ll need your own domain name, but we’ll get to that next.
I recommend you start with Bluehost if you’ve never had any type of website. There are a couple of reasons why I recommend them.
It was super easy to get set up. Any time I’ve had any issues, I’ve contacted the tech support and had my issues fixed quickly. Bluehost is inexpensive which is super helpful when you’re starting a blog on a budget.
How to Sign up
Here is a short overview of purchasing hosting: Head on over to Bluehost here.
You’ll start on the homepage.
Start with the get started here button. It will lead you to the next page where you will need to choose which plan you would like to use.
I have the Plus plan but if you’re just starting out, you can go with the basic plan with no issues. After you select a plan there’s good news on the next page. You get your domain name free for a whole year when you sign up! How exciting?
Select if you need a new domain or if you’ve already registered one.
The next step in getting your hosting set up is entering all of your account information. You’ll see a screen like this:
After the account information is entered, you’ll scroll down to the next box
You’ll need to select what options you want to use. I didn’t use the backup Pro however, I would recommend you find some way to back it up. I am currently researching ways to back up my own site and will report back.
The last step is to enter your purchase information here:
Install WordPress
After payment is done, congratulations! You’re a blog owner. Now there are a couple more things to do. You’ll want to go ahead and install WordPress. Login to your new Bluehost account, you will be directed to what is called the CPanel. From there you’ll navigate to where it says install WordPress here
Once WordPress is installed, you will be able to login to your site on the WP admin page which will look like this
From there your dashboard is where you will be able to navigate through your website. You’ll write your pages from here, posts your blog posts from here and everything in between.
That’s it Y’all!
You’ve got yourself a blog. After setting up your blog you’ll need to choose a theme to make it pretty. I will go more detail into this process in an upcoming post. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment and I’ll do my best to help you find the answer.
