This post is all about how to start a blog – a super easy step-by-step guide:
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Do you dream of starting your own blog?
This post is about how to start a blog easily and will show you the exact steps for setting up a blog in no time. These are the exact steps that I took to set up my blog and will make you’re experience so much easier!
I decided to write this extremely simple step-by-step guide on How To Start a Blog so that it’s super easy for you!
Why should you start a blog?
1. Freedom to write & it’s fun!
You can literally write about anything you find interesting on your blog and share it with others.
Some super successful blog topics or niches can be found on the list below (click on the list to download it for free). I believe if you find the right audience, you can blog about ANYTHING! Here is a list of awesome blogging topics.
2. Blogs are very helpful to people.
Most blog posts (like this one) are informational and help others learn how to do something or give others new ideas.
3. Blogs have the potential to make money!
Did you know that successful bloggers make a ton of money every month? Blogs can make money from affiliate marketing, advertisements, courses, products, etc.
One of my favorite bloggers makes more than $10,000 every month with her blog! Crazy, right!? Also, you have the potential to make money while working from anywhere!
Of course, blogging is not an overnight success (at all!) This is one of the biggest misconceptions about blogging.
If you want to be successful, you will have to treat your blog like a job and work very hard!
If you work hard, usually the longer you blog, the more money you will start to make. Blogging is not a race. It requires patience and dedication.
However, once you hit the blogging sweet spot of making a consistent amount of money every month, you’re golden! (Think about how happy you will be that you started your blog!)
4. Looks impressive on Resumes!
If you start a self-hosted WordPress blog following the directions in this post, your blog will be set up to be your business.
Think about how amazing owning your own successful blog will look on a resume. Starting and managing a blog shows initiative and character!
Related: The Best Resume Template and Tips For College and High School Students!
Ready To Become A Blogger?
This step-by-step How To Start A Blog guide was created to make setting up your blog super easy! You can have a blog up and running within 20 minutes (exciting, right!?).
When I decided to start a blog I did a ton of research about how to start a blog correctly because I wanted to make sure I was setting it up for success.
One thing that I noticed was that ALL of the best bloggers out there were stressing the importance of setting up a self-hosted blog.
I knew that if all of the bloggers making thousands a month were doing this, I should too!
Now, I completely understand why setting up a self-hosted WordPress blog is the way to go instead of using a free platform like Wix or Blogspot.
Important reasons why NOT to set up a free blog:
1. Limited Features:
If you want a professional-looking blog, a free platform is not the way to go. You will get a very limited amount of features and your website won’t look very professional.
Also, you usually have to put the free platforms name at the end of your URL which won’t look professional at all!
2. Control the amount of money you can make:
Free platforms ALWAYS want you to spring for their “upgrade” and will limit the amount of money you can make so that you have no choice but to upgrade.
Also, a lot of Ad networks and some affiliate programs don’t trust free platforms and won’t accept you (which may cause you to lose more money.)
3. Less support:
Free services have no reason to help you as much because they aren’t really getting anything from you.
One of the BEST features about self-hosting is their customer service! They have the best customer service I’ve ever experienced.
4. Difficult & Stressful to Upgrade:
I’ve heard horror stories of bloggers trying to upgrade and losing all of their work. Links in old posts can be lost, formats can be messed up and it will probably cost a lot more money to fix.
5. Money = Business:
All businesses require money to get started! Oftentimes, those who pay for things are more likely to become successful than those who are handed things for free. This is because you want your money and hard work to pay off.
You will be more invested in making your blog a success and more importantly less likely to quit! (don’t quit blogging, keep going!)
Owning your own self-hosted blog, only costs less than $4 a month. Totally worth it!
Step-By-Step Guide On How To Start A Blog!
Want this free checklist? Click here to visit my free resource library
1. Download WordPress:
Click here to download WordPress. I only recommend using WordPress because all of the best bloggers use WordPress and swear by their services. I use it too and it’s amazing!
WordPress is a free software that allows you to design your blog and write posts easily. (It’s honestly the best!)
There are a lot of different platforms out there, but in my opinion and a ton of others, WordPress is the best platform and will help you build a beautiful blog with ease!
WordPress has two options that you can choose from. They offer a hosted option (www.wordpress.com) and a self-hosted option (www.wordpress.org).
Please choose the self-hosted option (www.wordpress.org) as it is preferred by the best bloggers and will give you more ownership over your blog.
This step-by-step guide will only teach you how to start a self-hosted WordPress Blog.
P.S. The .org is not something to fear. You can still have a .com website (like mine!)
To make things easier, download WordPress to your computer! This will help ensure that you’re the only one that can access your blog. Click here to download Self-Hosted WordPress (Click on “Download/Get WordPress”)
2. Sign Up For Web Hosting With Bluehost:
A host is a company that gives your blog space on its servers so that it can be reached by anyone online. Basically, it allows your blog to be viewed by the public.
Because your host is literally what is making your blog “live,” it’s super essential that you pick a quality and well-trusted one!
I personally (as well as many top bloggers!) use Bluehost and love them! Here are a few reasons why I recommend Bluehost.
1. Super Cheap:
Let’s face it, nobody wants to dump a ton of money into something. That’s why Bluehost is the best! Bluehost is super cheap (only $3.95/month) but still gives you everything you need for a quality blog (which is so nice!)
2. Extremely Easy To Use:
I have been using Bluehost for more than a year now and my experience has been absolutely amazing!
The best part is that I’m nowhere near a techy person which means literally anyone can use Bluehost. It’s just that simple!
3. Amazing Customer Service:
I have literally never experienced better customer service in my life! They are both helpful and accommodating.
Starting and managing a blog comes with a lot of learning curves and sometimes you just need extra help (which is totally normal!)
Whenever I message Bluehost’s 24/7 customer support, I always hear back from them within minutes. They always help me with whatever I am asking about too, which is the best feeling ever!
3. Go To The Bluehost Website:
Go to the Bluehost website and click on the green “get started” button.
4. Select Your Plan:
After you click on the green “get started” button, you will be greeted with this page. Above the four plans are three important choices (12 months, 24 months, 36 months.)
Bluehost will automatically choose 36 months for you.
The plans will show a cheaper monthly rate because you will be paying for 36 months upfront. That is going to be expensive and is unnecessary!
I suggest choosing the 12-month or 24-month plan. I chose the 12-month plan, and it has worked really well!
Bluehost won’t allow you to pay a monthly rate, which is annoying, but I promise the websites that do allow you to pay monthly are so much more expensive!
It’s also nice that you don’t have to worry about paying every month.
The 12-month basic plan will only cost $3.95 per month and comes with everything you need! I have the choice plus plan but it was cheaper when I bought it. You can make an amazing blog with the basic plan!
5. Choose a Domain/Blog Name:
This is one of the most fun and difficult parts! Your domain is what people type into the search bar to find your website. Mine is positivityispretty.com (don’t add the .com when searching domains.)
The best domains are short and memorable. If your blog name is catchy, people will remember it and share it more often, which is what you want!
If Bluehost says, “unable to continue” the name you’re trying to use already exists. This can be frustrating but at the end of the day if the name you want isn’t available it wasn’t meant to be.
If you can’t think of a blog name you can always try using your name. Using your name is good too because the name won’t limit what you can write about on your blog.
Just keep trying until you find the perfect name! I know you can do it!
Try your best to think of a name during this step. You technically don’t have to and can choose one later but I learned from experience that it is more difficult and annoying to add the domain in later.
Already have a domain name? Just put it into the “I have a domain name” box and continue following these steps (they are almost exactly the same!)
6. Account Information:
Once you choose an available domain name you will be taken to an account information page.
When Bluehost asks for your account information, make sure ALL of the information is correct. Bluehost will send important information (like your password) to your email address, so double-check that it’s correct.
Double-check under “package information” that your account plan is correct. You can change the number of months (12, 24, 36) you wish to pay for here.
You don’t need to add any “package extras.” You can un-click any that are checked in. I didn’t get these and never noticed a difference.
7. Choose a Secure Password:
After you fill out the account and payment information you will be asked if you want special deals and upgrades.
You don’t need these, say no unless you really want them.
After your purchase is complete, Bluehost will ask you to create a password. Pick a password that you will remember. It will allow you to log into your portal and is VERY important!
Click here to download my free Password Log!
8. Website Design:
This is the best part of creating your blog!
After you log in from the last step, a screen will appear that tells you to pick a theme. A website theme is the heart and soul of what your blog will look like (important, I know!)
I decided not to choose any of these themes because they don’t look very professional. With that said, I’m sure you can make one of these themes look professional with a little extra work.
Just remember that the more professional your website looks, the more people will want to stay.
Your theme is literally the first impression your blog will make on others so you want it to be good!
I searched for a while to find a theme and decided on the Yoon theme from Skyandstarts.com. It was under $20 which is really good for such a professional-looking theme!
You can find a lot of their themes and awesome similar ones on Etsy too! Make sure that you buy a theme meant for a SELF-HOSTED WORDPRESS site.
People also LOVE 17 Avenue Designs themes!
I did not pay for my theme to be set up by someone else (I didn’t want to spend any more money). Mine came with instructions and it was very simple!
Most themes come with instructions, and you can totally set it up alone (doesn’t take very long), but if you’re super eager, you can usually pay the creator to set it up.
9. Become Familiar With WordPress:
Yay! Congratulations on your new blog, this is so exciting!
Now that you’re the proud new owner of an amazing blog, you’ll need to become familiar with the WordPress back-office (literally where all of the blog magic happens!).
WordPress Basics:
1. Left Navigation Bar:
If you’re ever looking for anything, it can usually be found on your main navigation bar on the left. The navigation bar is to the left and says “dashboard” at the top of the bar.
2. Pages verses Posts:
Pages are important things on your website that usually don’t change. The pages on my blog are my home page, about page, contact page, and recommendations page.
Posts are where you will write all of your content (blog posts.) You can’t organize pages into categories and tags but you can and should with posts.
To create a new post, select the “posts” tab on your main navigation bar to the left. Next, click “add new” and it will take you to the post builder.
If you want to create a new page, select the “pages” tab on your main navigation bar to the left. Next, click “add new” and it will take you to the page builder.
3. Appearance:
It allows you to edit theme settings and create your blog’s main navigation bar.
To create your navigation bar, first, go to “Posts” and then “Categories.” The screen should match the picture below.
Next, scroll down to where it says “add new category.” You can see that my categories include (college, high school, and positivity.) Categories allow you to organize your posts.
First, type in the category name. For “slug” type in the same word (category). Don’t worry about parent categories right now.
Add a description if you want but you don’t need to.
Once you create your categories go to “Appearance” and click on, “Menus.” To the left, you will see “Add Menu Items.”
Press the “categories” button and all of the ones you made should appear. Click on the ones you want to add and then select, “Add To Menu.”
The final step is to scroll down and press “Save Menu.”
Yay! Now your main navigation bar is all set up!
4. Media:
This is where you can upload all of your photos, videos, and PDFs. Make sure that you don’t use copyright images (you can get in big trouble for this!)
My favorite free stock photos that you can use on your blog are from Pexels.com and Pixabay.com
5. Plugins:
These are like apps for your website. They allow you to do a ton of different things! There are a lot of plugins so it’s worth doing some research about which ones will work best for you. Most are free too!
My Favorite Free Plugins (great for new bloggers!):
Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights (MOST important!) This Plugin tracks a ton of data including how many visitors come to your blog every day and what posts/pages are most popular.
GS Pins for Pinterest Lite: This allows me to embed any Pinterest URL into my site. Example Below!
Official MailerLite Sign Up Forms: This allows me to easily embed email sign up forms with my email provider (I use MailerLite)
My Favorite Paid For Plugins:
Elementor Pro: I have a yearly subscription to this plugin. It’s one of the most advanced drag & drop page builders out there.
It allows you to create professional pages and posts in a super-easy way! I use this for my home, about me, and recommendations pages.
You don’t need this when you’re starting out but eventually, you will want to create a more professional home page than just your most recent posts. This will help you do it with ease!
Tasty Pins:
Tasty pins helps you optimize your images for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Pinterest.
Basically, whenever I upload an image in a post or page, I simply fill out the Pinterest title and text (with Pinterest keywords).
Whenever anyone saves an image from my site to Pinterest, the title and description I added will be saved with the pin. This is key for Pinterest SEO.
If this confuses you, don’t worry! You don’t need this plugin right away either! 🙂
10. Create A Logo/Header:
I used canva.com (free version) to create my logo (picture above) and it looks very professional! You can create a free Canva account and search “logo designs” under the templates section.
I suggest coming up with a catchy slogan that represents what your blog is about. For example, mine is “live your best life in the most positive way – college, high school, lifestyle.”
Putting a slogan like this under your logo tells people exactly what your blog is about and makes it look more put together.
How to upload your logo to your new blog?
These directions may be a little different depending on your theme.
First, go to your main dashboard and click on “appearance” and then “customize.” (highlighted in the picture above)
After you click on “customize” you should be brought to a page that looks like the picture above. Click on “header image.”
Once you click on “header image” you will be brought to this page. Select “add new image” to add your header. Take notice of the picture directions your theme gives you.
After you insert your logo you can press the arrow back next to “header image” (top left). This will take you back to the previous page where you can play around with the “header size.”
11. Create About, Contact and Legal Pages:
One of the main ways to make your blog look professional even when it’s super new is to have these important pages.
About Page:
Explains who you are and why you started your blog. Make sure to emphasize how you plan to help others through your blog.
Contact Page:
A contact page will allow your readers to get in touch with you easily which is important!
Legal Pages:
Disclosure: I am not a lawyer, this information is for informational and educational purposes only. Always consult a professional in the area for your particular needs and circumstances prior to making any professional, legal, financial or tax related decisions.
Legal pages are important because you can get in trouble if you don’t have them. The most important pages to have on your blog are a privacy policy, disclosure policy and terms and conditions. When I first started my blog I drafted my own pages by researching what to include. WordPress has a free privacy policy that you can find by going to “settings” and then “privacy.”
Honestly, the legal pages always really stressed me out. Once I fully committed to blogging I decided to invest in these three legal pages that were already written by a lawyer and really easy to customize. I purchased the Blogger Starter Legal Bundle: https://gibs3548.krtra.com/t/Lel1aUMBIJdT and instantly felt so much better that my blog was protected by professionally written legal pages by a lawyer.
12. Create a Business Pinterest Account:
Start a business Pinterest account as soon as you can. Pinterest is one of the best ways to drive traffic to a new blog. While you’re at it, follow me on Pinterest too! 😉
13. Write Your First Blog Post:
Yay! It’s time to write your first blog post. My biggest tip when it comes to managing a new blog (if making money is one of your main goals) is to treat it like your job.
Schedule time to work on it and just keep writing! Your content doesn’t have to be perfect, you just need to start.
If you want to make money blogging, stay away from talking about yourself too much in posts because, sadly, your readers usually don’t care. They are on your blog to gain new ideas or learn how to do something. Your posts should be reader-focused!!
Like all things, blogging will get easier over time! Remember to be patient and proud of yourself for working so hard!
What should you do after you finish the steps in this post?
After you create your blog there is still a lot to do. Here are some things you can tackle next.
1. Make sure your SSL is activated:
Bluehost will give you a free SSL which is great! SSL will make your site secure and will allow Google and other search engines to trust it.
Don’t know if yours is activated?
No problem, just message Bluehost’s 24/7 support and ask. If it isn’t they can even activate it for you.
2. Set up email marketing:
It’s NEVER too late to start your email list. The sooner you start the better. Having a strong email list will help you make more money blogging later on.
I use Mailerlite and love them! Their free plan is what I use now, and it works well. I know a lot of people love ConvertKit, but in my opinion, Mailerlite works just as well and is much cheaper!
3. Create a lead magnet:
Most likely people will not subscribe to your email list if they aren’t getting anything from you.
A lead magnet can be any free downloadable item. Examples include the password to a free resource library, exclusive content, printables, checklists, guides, etc.
Just think about something that you would give your email for.
4. Start learning about Pinterest & SEO (search engine optimization):
These are the best ways to drive traffic to your site.
5. Social Media:
If you want you can also use other social media platforms to drive people to your blog.
Share Your New Blog With Me!
Congrats on your new blog! I hope that you liked this post on how to start a blog. Don’t leave yet; I would love to keep up with your fantastic new blog.
Let me know how I can find it in the comments or email me at emily@positivityispretty.com
I can’t wait to hear from you and see your new amazing blog!!
As always, let me know if you have any questions. I’m always happy to help!
Related To How To Start A Blog- Popular Post: Bluehost Review 2021 – Why Bluehost is Best!
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