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If you are looking at getting into starting your very own blog, then this post is for you! Learn how to start a blog on WordPress is just a few simple steps, and take your first step toward having your very own piece of the world wide web!
The 8 steps I have laid out today are the exact steps I used when learning how to start a blog on WordPress, and I suggest you follow them too.
Creating a blog that looks professional really does NOT require you to be tech savvy at all!
I, like so many other bloggers, started out having never ever had anything close to an online blog.
I didn’t understand what domains, hosting, SSL etc were, and I really didn’t even know that WordPress existed.
But I found an article just like this one, got myself out of the starting blocks, and here we are!
Why Even Start A Blog?
Now you may just want a creative outlet. Or a place to upload photos and share stories of your personal life. Or even just a personal journal.
But let me tell you why I started a blog which I knew would become a full on business. Maybe a few of these hit home with you?
I was:
- Absolutely SICK of working a dead end corporate job
- Felt trapped in one place, doing the same stuff everyday, completely unsatisfied
- Had travelled full time for 2 years and now felt like a caged animal. I knew I needed to figure out a way to create my very own online business
- More often than not I felt down and out rather than optimistic about life
- Weekends felt like hours, and working weeks felt like months
I really hated the rat race. I don’t even know why I joined it in the first place! I needed to get out, and that’s exactly why I started blogging!
SO, let’s get cracking into the basic steps you need to take to start a successful blog today.
How To Start A Blog On WordPress In 2019
Also see:
- July 2019 Blog Traffic Report
- August 2019 Blog Traffic Report: 27 331 Page Views
- September 2019 Blog Traffic Report: 58 451 Page Views!
- October 2019 Blog Traffic Report: 227 030 Page Views!
Below is a free guide for you to take your first steps into the blogging world.
This is probably the most exciting and challenging phase of blogging!
Full disclosure: I am an affiliate for Bluehost, the only hosting platform I will be recommending! This means that I will receive a small commission every time someone uses my link to signup with Bluehost. This is at NO additional cost to you, so don’t stress. By using my link, you can get your hosting and WordPress setup for as little as $3.95 per month!
Here are the 8 steps you need to start your blog today:
- Choose your blog topic or niche
- Build your blog (get your blogging platform & hosting setup)
- Get started on WordPress
- Selecting a theme
- Install essential plugins
- Write your very first blog post
- Get traffic to your blog
- Work your ass off until you succeed!
1. Choose Your Blog Topic or Niche
If you already have an established business, then your blog will naturally need to focus on what your business is all about!
However, if you are an individual who would like to start a blog, then your choices in terms of topics really are unlimited.
Most blog topics can actually make money. Obviously certain niches are more popular than others, but there are literally bloggers out there who make money from the most random topics!
Some blog topics that already have profitable bloggers include:
- Health & fitness
- Finance
- Food
- Travel
- Vegan, Keto, Vegetarian diets
- Beauty & fashion
- Tech
- DIY
- Home decor
- Home organization
- Lifestyle
- Educational
- Parenting
- …And the list goes on!
Now most people think you NEED to pick one topic only and purely focus on that.
That’s really NOT needed.
Yes some may say that if you aren’t niche-specific then you won’t even rank for certain keywords etc, but I don’t agree with that 100%.
You can easily mix up a few topics, and create your very own general lifestyle blog.
That’s what I have done on this very blog!
Pick topics you feel you are either passionate about or are very interested in. This makes writing and researching the content a lot more fun!
And remember, you do NOT have to be an expert in a certain field to be able to write about that field. You do, however, need to have an interest. As you write and research your content, you’ll learn more and more about your field!
Don’t stress too much about this phase. As you get going with your posts and your blogging journey starts to take off, you’ll figure out exactly what’s working and what’s not.
It’s better to start off broader and slowly work your way towards what you know is working well.
2. Build Your Blog (Blogging Platform & Hosting)
Your blog will require two things to be functional:
- A blogging platform – This allows you to write posts, design your site and so on
- Hosting – This is how you get your little slice of real estate on the internet. By paying for hosting, you are essentially “renting” a space to have your website exist
Now there are numerous blogging platforms out there, but I will always only recommend one: WordPress.
WordPress is the most popular blogging platform around, and for good reason.
It’s just simply the easiest and best platform to use!
And as for hosting, Bluehost will be our provider.
WordPress and Bluehost go together really well! When you sign up with Bluehost, you’ll be able to access your WordPress dashboard and begin designing your blog immediately.
Bluehost has really good 24/7 customer support, so if you ever have any technical issues or queries, jump online and get asking. I did this very often when I was first starting out!
Right, now it’s time to get your hosting sorted. Once done, we can move onto getting WordPress setup!
Click here and sign up to Bluehost now! Thereafter, follow the basic steps below to get your website up and running!
You will land on a page that looks like the one above.
Click the “Get Started” button and select your plan.
Go for the basic plan. This is all that’s required! If you ever get to a certain level where you might require an upgrade, then you can do so.
But for now, the basic plan is perfect!
Next you’ll select your domain. Enter it in the box as shown below.
If you don’t have a domain name just yet, then just select the “choose later” option and you can come back to it!
Next you need to enter your account information.
After filling out your details, you’ll be prompted to select your plan under “Package Information”.
I suggest you take the plan for 36 months. It’s the cheapest, and it gets you to commit to making your blog a success! Remember, you want this blog to become a HUGE success, right?! So by going in for 36 months, you are committing to making that happen.
But of course if you feel that it’s too much of a commitment, then go for the 12 month plan.
Under package extras, untick all of the boxes except the “Domain Privacy Protection”. This hides your personal details which is really useful!
And finally, enter your credit card details!
Tick the T’s & C’s box and hit the green button.
Congrats! You now officially own a website!
Now the next few steps just require you to create a password, answer a few questions etc for your account.
Now it’s time to get started on WordPress!
3. Get Started On WordPress
The next step is to actually install WordPress on your Bluehost account.
This step is extremely easy and FREE to do!
Firstly you’ll be prompted to pick a theme.
Just pick any theme you think looks cool. Don’t worry too much about this step now, as we will be changing themes shortly!
After you have selected your theme and your setup is complete, you can click the “Start Building” button.
The next few steps just require you to answer questions about your blog.
And that’s that!
All done!
Now let me quickly show you how to access your WordPress dashboard.
There are essentially TWO ways to do so.
Firstly, log into your Bluehost account and click on the “Log in to WordPress” button.
And the second way requires you to create a new admin account once in WordPress, and then you can login to your dashboard via the link yourdomain.com/wp-admin/.
It will take you a good few weeks to get used to the feel of the WordPress dashboard, how it works and where everything is.
DON’T STRESS!
We all were like headless chickens the first time we got on WordPress, but like so many other people, I now feel right at home working with WordPress.
Take some time and play around with the dashboard.
Get a feel for it, and soon you’ll see just how simple and user-friendly WordPress really is!
4. Selecting A Theme
So a blog theme is the magical bit of software that allows you to design your blog and have it looking fantastic!
This section is really important, because your blog function and design plays a big role in how successful your blog becomes.
If you have a blog that looks horrible on mobile, is too slow, doesn’t do anything you actually want it to do, etc etc, then you’re going have a nightmare of a time!
Select a good, proven theme and master it!
That’s my advice.
Now when it comes to selecting a WordPress theme, you have two options:
- Go for a FREE theme
- Or pay a one time fee for a PREMIUM theme
Option #1
Starting off with free themes is really great as it allows you to get a feel for how a basic WordPress site works, how to publish content, upload images and so on.
But they do lack a lot of tools which you will want to have as time goes by.
You can easily select a free theme under appearances > themes tab.
There are plenty of free themes to select!
Check out this list of free themes.
Option #2
To be honest, I bought a paid theme immediately when starting out.
I had chatted to a few successful bloggers, and after giving it some thought I decided it’s better to just go for a premium theme right away.
I mean, I always planned on having my blog become successful, so I didn’t want to have to wait a year and then try and move over to a new, foreign theme and learn everything again.
Not for me!
So what theme should you go for??
The million dollar question!
As I only have experience using two paid themes, I will be recommending them.
Newspaper Theme
This blog, Richard-t.com, uses the Newspaper theme.
I absolutely LOVE this theme.
It’s so user-friendly, and you do not have to be tech-savvy at all to manage your way around it!
I am extremely satisfied with how this theme has gone.
It’s mobile responsive, has a natural beauty about it, and is perfect for any type of blog.
Click here to see the demos of this theme in full action!
Avada Theme
I have another completely unrelated website that uses Avada.
It’s one of the best-selling themes ever created, and has many easy to use customizations.
In terms of looks, I think it’s a bit more bland than the Newspaper theme. Yet still really good.
Click here to see the demos of this theme in full action!
5. Install Essential Plugins
Plugins are awesome pieces of software that allow you to make additional customizations to your blog. They can do things such as:
- Help speed up your site
- Compress image sizes
- Show your website traffic stats
- Help with SEO
- …And so on!
Most plugins are free to use, but you can also get paid plugins with premium features.
To install these plugins, simply go to Plugins > Add New and search for the plugin.
Below I will give you the list of essential FREE plugins that I use that are really helpful!
#1: Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is the most essential plugin you need, and helps you to optimize your content for Google.
It works with a traffic light system, so when you are writing your articles it will tell you what needs to be improved in order to have a green light across the board.
#2: Smush
Smush is an image compression plugin that’ll make sure your images take up as little space as possible. This is very important for site speed!
#3: WP Fastest Cache
A caching plugin is essential for user experience. It saves the downloaded files of your site for users, so that when they visit your site again the speed is increased as your site files don’t have to download all over again.
WP Fastest Cache is what I use, and it’s really good.
6. Write Your Very First Blog Post
Now let’s get started with your very first blog post!
This is really easy to do, thanks to the user-friendliness of WordPress.
Simply go to Posts > Add New and you can get started.
I’m sure you already know what you plan on writing about.
A few things to remember when starting out writing posts.
- Make sure you check the relevant categories
- ALWAYS preview your article and read over it a few times and check for any errors
- Make sure your Yoast SEO is green
- And please never give up!
7. Get Traffic To Your Blog
Without traffic, you cannot turn your blog into an actual business.
It’s that simple.
Now there are many different ways to get traffic to your blog, but make sure you do NOT fall into the trap of trying to be everywhere at once.
Focus on ONE medium, and master it.
I know it’s tempting to immediately get a Facebook page and an Instagram account and to start inviting all your family and friends to like it.
The truth is, this really isn’t going to bring you much traffic anyways.
So where should you start out to get traffic?
It depends on your niche, but my honest answer is that there’s one platform every blogger NEEDS to start with, and that platform is Pinterest!
Pinterest is a gold mine for free, organic traffic.
It’s not a social media platform at all.
It’s a visual search engine, and if you work hard at your strategy and pin design, you can rank high up!
At the time of writing this, I have 500 followers on Pinterest but am sitting on 25 000 views for the month (that’s after 4 months!). It’s really an amazing platform and one which I suggest you master before even thinking of getting on any other social media platform.
When I decided I wanted to get serious traffic I purchased and started implementing the strategies I learn’t from probably the best Pinterest course I could possibly have bought, which is the Pinterest Traffic Avalanche course.
It took me a few months to see results, but damn am I happy!
This course, in my opinion, is the number one Pinterest course available right now, and is extremely in-depth!
I will soon be writing a full review on them, but for now click the link below and check them out!
8. Work Your Ass Off Until You Succeed!
And the last step of this tutorial is one you need to remember the most!
The whole blogging business is a long term game, and you need to remember that having success won’t magically happen overnight.
Forget those stories you read of bloggers saying how they went from starting a blog to making thousands a month within 3 months.
Be realistic.
Success is possible. So possible!
Just make sure you keep working toward your goals. Keep trying new things. If something works, keep at it. If it doesn’t, then change your strategy.
In a year from now you will look back at where you were right now and be amazed at the progress you have made.
Yes, you will only have a 100 visitors to your blog this month, but in a few months you’ll have more than that in a day.
Good luck and please, don’t give up!
Cheers,
Richard-T
For more help with blogging, make sure you follow my Blogging Tips & Tricks Pinterest board!
PIN FOR LATER!
