HOW TO START A SELF-HOSTED WORDPRESS BLOG.

You can start a blog quickly –  in about 10 minutes – did you know that?  Since blogging, we have had some amazing opportunities.  We are making significant incomes and have met fantastic people and have helped many others do the same thing!   I want to tell you how to start a blog, since a lot of my readers (& friends) ask me on a daily basis.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we earn a commission if you purchase a plan.  Thank you for supporting our site!  

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN TODAY: 

When you have walked through this page, you will have your own blog- a self-hosted WordPress blog!  Wordpress is by far, the best way to go if you are going to have a blog.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO START YOUR BLOG:  

1. Hosting (we recommend Bluehost)
2. Name your blog (a domain name)
3. Installation (I dreaded installing WordPress, so we make it easy for you!)
4. How to use WordPress
5. Setting Up Social Media
6. What now?!  Learning what to do next.

SO here you go… let’s start a blog!

STEP ONE:  HOSTING

If you are BRAND NEW to blogging, you can CLICK HERE TO START A BLOG IN A NEW WINDOW

(If you already have a website on Blogger or something similar and you want to switch to Bluehost, you can click here to do that, too).

THere are a few ways that you can go when starting a blog.   You can go the free route using Blogger or something similar, or you can do Self-hosted WordPress (this is completely different from WordPress.com, which is a free site that is NOT self-hosted.  Both Blogger & wordpress.com have too much “say so” in how you earn an income, so I do not recommend it.)

If you want to have a serious blog & earn a serious income go with self-hosted Wordpress. We both suggest using Bluehost.  I always recommend them, as they were fantastic to work with and they are great when you are learning to start a blog!   CLICK HERE to have it open in a new window… that way you can see exactly what to do (using this page) while you start your blog (on that page.) 

1. On your new page, click on the green GET STARTED NOW button. 
   

   STEP TWO:  PICK A PLAN 

   You need to pick your plan.  I always recommend the “plus”.  It is the most popular for a reason.   When I first started out, I had very (very) limited money to spend on blogging, so I went with the STARTER package, but once I earned enough to cover a better plan, I went with PLUS, only because it does a little more.  It holds a little more traffic (so more readers can be reading it at one time.  If you have ever clicked on a page and it has said that it isn’t working, most likely it is because the server has crashed from traffic or another issue.) You won’t run into this problem for quite some time (maybe a year or more), so do what fits your budget & your goals.  
   CLICK THE GREEN SELECT BUTTON to make your decision (on the other page that you have opened).
   

    

   STEP THREE:  PICK YOUR DOMAIN NAME! YAY! ♥

   What is a domain name?  It is your blog name!    This one is www.beckyandpaula.com  – the domain name is beckyandpaula.com.  I also have yourmodernfamily.com and beckymansfield.com   These are all my domain names.   If you already have one, great!   Skip down to the next picture.  If you are picking a new one, here are a few things to remember:

   DOMAIN NAME TIPS: 

   • Don’t make it too long or it will be hard for readers to remember (example: which is easier Anniecooks.com or Annielikestocookandeatcake.com?)

   • Consider using your name or part of your name (ex: A few spins off of my name could have been Mansfieldpark.com  or MansfieldMatters.com  or ChronicalsofBecky  or TalesofRebeccaLynn  – you get the picture).

   • Don’t make it confusing or hard to spell.  You want people to remember it.

   • Remember that if you start out as “Food Mama” and you start writing about saving money, it will be really hard to change it down the road, so decide what you want to write about first, or use something that leaves it open to a lot of things (Ex: Your Modern Family).

   • I would try to get a .com name (because it is common and people seem to assume that is what you are using.)

   • If your domain name is not available, keep trying until you get a new one.  DON’T WAIT DAYS.  DON’T LET THIS HOLD YOU UP.  JUST PICK A GREAT ONE AND MOVE ON.  (Ask friends & family for advice – once you have narrowed it down to three.  Give them your top 3, take a vote and move on with it). For the next example, I’ll go with ChroniclesofRebeccaLynn.com

     Next you will see this screen: SIGN UP NOW. 
     

     NOW YOU WILL ENTER YOUR DOMAIN INFORMATION:
     If you DO NOT have a domain name, enter one in the left box (don’t forget the .com or .net)   If you DO have a domain name, enter it on the right.
     Click on the BLUE NEXT BUTTON on your other page. 
     

   

    

   
   STEP 4: FILL OUT YOUR INFORMATION! 

   Now you are going to fill out all of your account information.  This will be sent to your e-mail address.  Be sure that you have full access to that e-mail, because you will need this information.

   

   STEP 5: CHOOSE A HOSTING PACKAGE

   Next you will pick your plan.   You will choose a package and you will pay in advance.   They will bill you a year at a time, but it ends up being a great monthly rate.  (You will earn it back, trust me!) 
   Here are the options that I selected when I first started blogging:

   • I ended up selecting back-up pro later (several months later) but at first, I didn’t get it because they told me that it was backed up weekly anyway, but I’m not sure if that still stands true.  If it makes you nervous, just add it on for $1.99 a month. Backup pro means that every night they save your blog info and back it up for you.  If something goes wrong, they can restore it to 24 hours earlier.

   • The only one that I highly suggest is the Domain Privacy Protection which keeps your personal information private.

   

   STEP 6: BILLING INFORMATION
   after you enter it, hit the blue next button (or you might see a green submit button)
   
   

STEP 7: CHECK YOUR E-MAIL AND GRAB YOUR LOGIN INFORMATION 

Complete your purchase.  You don’t need to add anything else right now or upgrade anything today, but you do need to check your e-mail.  Find the WELCOME e-mail from Bluehost and grab your CPanel (CONTROL PANEL) login information.  
Save this email! 
I put mine into a separate folder and I never delete it.     That’s it – you are ready to go and build your WordPress blog!

STEP 8: INSTALLATION

STEP NINE: INFORMATION:

Once you are in select the HOSTING tab and enter your information (from your email).

STEP TEN: Click WORDPRESS INSTALL:

STEP 10:  THE ACTUAL INSTALLATION

You are ready to install WordPress, so click on the green INSTALL button below
(when I first did it, it said start, but now it says Install)

STEP 11:  WHERE TO INSTALL WORDPRESS

You will see a dropdown menu.   Click on your domain name.  You do not need to fill out the directory field.  Click Check Domain. 

STEP 12: SET YOURSELF UP AS A USER. 

Select SHOW ADVANCED OPTIONS.   Enter the Title of your website.  (example: Becky And Paula  or Your Modern Family).  Whatever it is, enter it here. 

Pick an ADMIN USERNAME.   You can not change this.  Do NOT pick Admin (hackers know that one).  I picked something unique… it is not my name, but it is a word that is very easy for me to remember.   Choose a password.  Enter you e-mail address.

Your user login information will be sent to your email.  Save it.  Agree to the terms.  Click the INSTALL NOW button.

LAST STEP: SUCCESS! 

Now that WordPress has been installed, you will see a SUCCESS note.   Take a screenshot and save it, or write the information down.   Save it.   It will also be sent to your email (this is the 2nd Welcome Email).

WHAT NOW?  

When you go to your domain name, it will be up and running.  Note: it might be in maintenance mode.  You can take that off.   To login to the backend, you will go to your domain name/wp-admin.   Example:  Beckyandpaula.com/wp-admin      This is where you will go every single time.  

To see what OTHERS are seeing, click on the little HOUSE icon at the top left.   It will take you to the home screen.  

Now it is up to you!

**You can sign up for our newsletter.  We will send you HELPFUL information (for free) once a week!  You will also get a freebie just for signing up.

**You can start designing your page.  I HIGHLY suggest finding a “theme” that you like on Etsy.  A theme is the look of your blog.   If you click here, it will take you to Etsy’s WordPress Themes.  

**You can write your first post by clicking on NEW and then click on POST. (It looks like this at the top of your page) 

Good luck!  If you are ready, join our Facebook group, where over 5,200 bloggers are waiting to help one another- its amazing!  Find us in there, too!

**You can buy our book where we walk you through the first few weeks of getting your blog up & running, so it can become a successful blog that will earn an income, right from the get-go! 

This is where I tell you to start watching YOUTUBE videos like crazy until you learn everything that you need to learn.   
PS- Remember that if you are confused at any time, you can Call Bluehost.   if you are confused at all during this process or afterwards when you are setting up your actual blog.  The beautiful thing about Bluehost is that they have the best tech-team and I called them several times a day (more like 10-15 times some days!)  1-888-401-HOST  and pushed the option to get to their tech support.