The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Blog
The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Blog
Reasons You Should Start a Blog
Help Others
You were blessed with skills, talents, and passions that many people would enjoy reading about. Trust me!! You’ll learn a lot by helping and teaching others. Additionally, you can connect with a network of awesome bloggers and learn how they are successful!
Make Money
Maybe you’re like me and are seeking fun and easy ways to make extra income to pay off debt. Or maybe you’re tired of your 9-5 job and want to set your own schedule! Blogging can help you start a profitable business and work anywhere, anytime!
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The Step-by-Step Guide
Register your domain name
It took me a few days to come up with my domain name, firsthustlethenbrunch. Don’t rush! First, determine what you are going to blog about. What are you good at? What are you interested in? And what are your favorite bloggers blogging about? Just like with life-long partners, when the right name comes along, you’ll know it’s the one.
When you’re ready, you can click here and purchase your website domain directly through Bluehost! BONUS: You will get a FREE domain for the first year when you buy 12 months or more worth of Bluehost web hosting.
Purchase Bluehost hosting
To establish a professional brand, you need to be self-hosted. Luckily, you can get started on Bluehost for less than the cost of a cup of coffee each month! Choosing not to purchase a self-hosted Wordpress blog means that you don’t own your site, which limits your earning potential.
You can start out with the “Basic” package, and upgrade as your blog grows. I recommend that you sign up for at least 12 months of hosting for several reasons. When I invest in something, I’m more likely to follow through. Signing up for 12 months will motivate you to keep going when you feel like throwing in the towel! Nope, you’ve still got several months left to try!
As mentioned in the first section, you will receive a free domain name for 12 months when you purchase 12+ months of hosting directly from Bluehost. Be sure to select the “Domain Privacy Protection” add-on so that your personal information isn’t published. The other add-ons are optional.
Lastly, I’m all for saving money. The more months you buy, the cheaper it is per month. Therefore, the 36-month plan will give you the best pricing. Purchasing 12+ months of hosting is also great because you don’t have to worry about expired domains and losing traffic to your site. When you pay month-to-month, if you’re not careful, your site could go down.
I’ve included screenshots of each step in the section below. If you have any problems, Bluehost offers excellent technical support and a 30-day hosting money-back guarantee.
Note: Other hosting options include WP Engine or Siteground.
Choose a Wordpress theme
Here comes the fun part! After purchasing Bluehost hosting and creating a password, follow the instructions to choose a WordPress theme that matches your brand. Bluehost makes this super easy!! BONUS: There are many free options!
Since your site is self-hosted, you also have access to thousands of plug-ins that allow you to customize your site. Once you have chosen a theme, click “Start Building.” Next, you will choose whether this is a “Business” or “Personal” blog, then continue to your dashboard.
CONGRATULATIONS, you just created your blog!!!
Create your design and content
Now that you have created a self-hosted blog, you can have fun developing your website! There are many tools online that can help you navigate WordPress, HTML, etc. Just know that you can create a successful website with little to no technical background.
You also don’t have to be an English major to create great content! Grammarly instantly checks your blog posts, emails, social media posts, etc., and alerts you when you make a spelling or grammatical error. We all know spell check doesn’t catch everything! There’s a free version and a paid version. I highly recommend checking it out if you want to improve your writing skills and elevate your content!
I also recommend joining the Billionaire Blog Club. Paul Scrivens, the creator of BBC, shares all his secrets when it comes to niche selection, Pinterest, SEO, Wordpress, and more!
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