How To Start A Blog Today

How To Start A Blog Today

Are you looking to create your own blog but don’t know how to start? You might think the best thing to do is to hire someone to create your blog. Stop! There’s no reason to hire someone to build your blog when you can do it yourself.

How can you do that? You just need some simple tools to help you get it done. In fact, with these tools, you could have your blog up and running within the hour. That’s right! Just one hour!

Before you know the tips to help you get a blog started, you need to understand that you must get the right domain name and have a reliable web hosting service. And, with so many to choose from, you need to find one that will ensure you’ll have the best performance possible for your blog, some of the things to look for in a hosting provider are speed, up-time, stability, etc.

What’s a Domain? For those folks who aren’t that internet savvy, a domain is what your blog’s key address is. Most people call it a URL and it looks a little like the following www.forexample.com. Keep in mind that the domain, on its own, isn’t going to represent your blog. It’s just a place to point people in your direction after you’ve created the blog.  Thus, your blog must have a hosting service since this is what gives the Internet the space it needs to support its content.

After you’ve got both the web hosting service and domain name set up, which should take you no more than 15 minutes, it’s time to determine how you want the blog to show up.  To help you understand how to start a blog, this article will use the ever-popular CMS platform called WordPress.

There are really just 5 simple steps to making your own blog and once we have been through the 5 steps below you will be up and running in no time.

Are you ready to starting making your blog? Then let’s get going.

Step 1 – Registering Your Domain

When you go to register the domain name you want to use, you need to be careful what you name it. Visitors/Customers get a first impression of you, your blog and the business with your domain name.

- Does the name sound catchy?
- Is it something people will easily remember?
- Is it descriptive and short?
- Will it have the right extensions to it (.com, .net or .org)

Keep in mind that what you choose for a domain name will have a factor in the search engines ability to find you.  When someone using Google or Yahoo to type in “lose weight fast” or “kettlebell exercises”, your domain name should be something that matches these phrases or has some relevance.  When you do this, users will often pick blogs with URLs that are similar to the phrase they use or relevant to the topic.

Firstly you must choose your domain registrar.

Godaddy.com is the world’s number one domain registrar.

To get started, you’ll need to go to the Godaddy.com website.  This should take you to a page that allows you to search for domain names you can buy.  Keep in mind that you should only look for the following extensions to use for your blog: .com, .net or .org. The reason is that they are commonly used and most people know them and often try them first when searching for a particular URL.

Once you get there your screen should look something like this, so type the url you want into the search box, then click on GO.

Once you’ve got a domain name you can use, click on the add button to continue the registration process. GoDaddy will ask if you’d like to purchase additional extensions and list them so you can consider them. Or, if the domain you want for your blog isn’t available with the extension you want, it’ll list the others to consider using for your blog.  Unless you have the desire to purchase the extra extensions, just click the extension you want and move forward.

Now that you have your domain name for your blog, you’ll need to complete the registration process.  You’ll have a variety of payment options to consider as well as how long you want the blog’s domain name for. Consider the 12-month registration so renewal will occur every year but you can always add additional time at anytime.

You’ll also be shown offers for privacy protection and web hosting services. There’s no reason for any of that so decline them.  If you want web hosting, you may consider using the GoDaddy web hosting service but it would be better to use another web hosting service that we will go through in step 2.

After you have bought the domain name for your blog, you’ll receive an email, which will be a receipt with all sorts of important information in it. Save this… never know when you might need it!

Now, you’re the proud owner of your own domain name! That wasn’t so difficult, was it?!

Step 2 – Setup Your Webhosting Account

After you’ve set up your domain name for the blog, it’s time to put it to use! This is the point you need to search for a web hosting provider; a provider who will provide you with excellent service and is well-established as a host. Those are the two key things to remember when you look through the different companies out there.

Make sure you do some research. Just like everything else, you’ll find some gems and diamonds among the tar. You want to make sure that the price you’re paying is exactly what you need from your hosting service. You want your blog to run constantly; not constantly be down.  If you notice a web hosting service has this issue, avoid them like the plague.

We would like to suggest a well priced, well established hosting service called Hostgator. They are extremely popular in the industry, competitively priced and have an outstanding reputation for customer service, reliability and speed. It’s able to handle a large traffic load with no upload capacity limit.

What are the steps to setup the Hostgator account?

Firstly you will need to go to their website by clicking this link www.Hostgator.com and when you are there click the “View Webhosting Plans” button.

You’ve already got your blog’s domain name so pick the “Hatchling Plan”. Choose a timeframe for their services; how long do you want them to web host for you? Once you’ve figured out the length of time, use the “Order Now” button.

Hot Tip – If you sign up for 2 years you will instantly save 35 dollars

B – You’ll be prompted to register or use an already existing domain name. You’ve already got your blog’s domain name so pick the existing one. Here, you’ll need to enter the blog’s domain name.

C – We have secured a 25% discount code for all our customers so enter the words “bloggingmadeeasy” like the picture shows below to secure your immediate discount.

Lastly Enter all the account and billing information and click “Create Account”.

Once everything’s been processed and setup, your hosting plan for the blog is ready to go. Keep in mind it can take up to an hour or more to get configured. You’ll receive an email with the important information – name servers, login information, etc. Keep it!

Pretty simple, isn’t it?! 10 minutes of your time and you’ve got your blog domain name and web hosting service all set up.
Still, though, that’s not all! Now, you need to bring them together.

Step 3 – Setup The Name Servers

Many folks worry about this step of setting up their blog but there really isn’t anything to fret about. It’s fairly simple to do! What you need to do is log into GoDaddy.com, if you’ve logged out.

Once you are logged in scroll down to the bottom of the page and on your left under the heading “Account Manager” click on the “My Account” tab.

Now click the “Domains” tab and then click “Launch” on the domain you wish to change, which will bring you to a whole new page. Once that’s brought up, you’ll configure the nameservers. Choose “Set NameServers”, which should bring up a window – be sure your pop-up blocker isn’t activated. If it is, temporarily give the site permission to have pop-ups.

Next, you’ll need to look at “I have specific nameservers for my domains” where you’ll input the webhosting plan information that you were given at registration. Be sure you do this for both Nameserver1 and 2. Hostgator gave you the information in the email so refer back to it. Once done, click “ok” to confirm changes and it should take about two hours before the changes are effective.

There, now you’ve got your GoDaddy blog domain set up with the Hostgator account. Just remember that it takes time for the changes to be effective so be patient.  If you do have problems, contact the customer service at GoDaddy.com for help or hot the contact us button and we will be more than happy to help.

Step 4 – WordPress Installation

What’s so good about WordPress you ask? Why should you have it for your blog? Keep in mind that for several years now, bloggers have used this free platform to get the word out about whatever they wanted. WordPress enables you to create a blog without much effort.  WordPress is very customizable, user-friendly and can be a powerful tool for blog creation.

WordPress allows you to use the free themes they have. There’s no reason to spend money hiring a web designer to create your professional-looking blog. It’s also friendly in terms of search engine optimization (or SEO). You also have the ability to install and use third-party plug-ins. This will increase the visibility of your blog, among many other things.

If you’ve never loaded WordPress onto your blog’s site before, it can be difficult and a bit time-consuming. Hostgator, on the other hand, already has the WordPress installer. All you have to do is click one time and it’s done.

A – Keep in mind that the new domain needs to be pointed back at the Hostgator nameservers. Now, type in your blog’s domain name www.forexample.com/cpanel”>www.forexample.com/cpanel

B – Using the login information that you received in the Hostgator email you will be able to log into your cpanel. Once done, you want to make sure it’s noticeable. Explore it, as it’s got a ton of features on it. Once logged in you should see a screen like this.

C – Scroll down to the Software/Services category and click on the “Fantastico Deluxe” tab to install wordpress.

D – Now, click on “Wordpress” and then “New Installation”. You’ll be prompted to enter in specific information such as WordPress username and password, leave the rest as is for now.

E – Lastly click on the “Install WordPress” button and you are done, wordpress will now install. You will then have the WordPress’ twenty-ten theme installed on your site, don’t worry you can easily change it when you get into the wordpress dashboard.

Step 5 – Some WordPress Basics

After you’ve gained access into your blog and see the default theme, type in the following: /wp-login to get to the main URL. From there, log into it using the information you just created in step 4. You also have the option to login using the login link on the homepage, which you’ll find on the right sidebar.

www.forexample.com/wp-login

What you’ll see immediately are quick-links to posts, pages, comments, tags and change WordPress theme.  Get familiar with the dashboard. On the left hand side of the screen, you’ll see the sub-menus. They have a purpose but place your attention on the more important ones for now. These include:

A – Appearance – This part will allow you to customize the look of the blog including the theme, sidebar widgets and menus. There are all kinds of things you can do to customize the blog.

B – Links – Here, you’ll be able to produce a number of links and links categories to use in the creation of your customized sidebar widgets.

C – Media – This menu allows you to manage pictures and videos you’ll include on the website.

D – Pages – Use this section to include new pages to the blog. Brose the various options like adjusting the template, modifying the page order, disabling/enabling comments, etc.

E – Plugins – When used correctly, plugins can be quite useful. There are a ton of third-party plugins that will increase your blog’s visibility, its performance, style, look, etc.

F – Posts – Since you’re running a blog, you’ll be posting often. Generate posts inside WordPress and choose what page to display them on, the date you want them published, publisher’s name and determine if you want anyone commenting.

G – Settings – With the settings section, you’ll set up the blog’s name, description, front page display, date format, etc. Here, you can mess with the third party plugins.

H – Users – This section is about the changing of or addition of existing user settings such as emails, passwords, profiles, etc.

Now, if you’ve done everything in the above 5 steps, your blog should be up and running! And, if it is, you just need to add in some wonderful content and look at the different themes for your blog.  If you’re still having issues, consider going through the steps once more and determine where it is you might have flubbed. And, don’t worry, it happens! Before you know it, you’ll have a great blog with lots of visitors. Good luck!

If you are having problems with any step just contact us at anytime and we will get back to you and point you in the right direction.