How To Start A Blog

Have you ever thought of starting a blog (or any website for that matter) but wondered how it all worked? Or where to even start? I’ve been asked those very questions by friends and readers so I’ve created this little guide to on how to start a blog to show how the process works. Follow the guide below and you’ll be up and running with a beautiful blog in no time!

Before I delve in, I wanted to illustrate to you the process through an analogy: Building a blog is like building a house:

1. You need land where your house will be built and what will become your address (blog terms your address will be your domain name, and your land will be where your blog is hosted).
2. You need a foundation/walls/frame of the house (basically all the essentials – think of this as wordpress.org)
3. You will want your house to look pretty on the outside and inside-the exterior and interior designing and all the little personal touches (think of this as your theme-you can use a free wordpress.org theme, or you can purchase one from Genesis-they provide a framework and themes that go on top of wordpress.org that really add to both your exterior and interior of your website-things like great coding, search engine optimization, etc.)

So are you ready? Here goes, How to start a blog in 3 steps

1. Purchase a domain name & host
2. Install WordPress.org
3. Choose a look

1)      Purchase a domain name & host
Do know what you want your blog to be called? If so, you’re all ready to get started and your first step is to head on over to Bluehost.com to see if your domain name is available and to host your new blog!

Here is an overview of what the process will look like:

Need a little more time thinking about what you want your blog to be called? Think about what your blog will be about and how you want readers to identify you, brainstorm and write down all your ideas. My domain name is www.sweetphi.com, I wanted to start a food blog, and sweetphi just so happens to be my nickname so for me it was easy. The biggest tip I would have on choosing a name would be to keep it simple! Think of something with a funny pun perhaps… for example: for someone starting a bread blog my two suggestions would be ibreadyourpardon.com or allyoukneadisloaf.com … hahaha oh I make myself laugh sometimes, anyway, moving on.

Next step in the process is all about purchasing your domain name and hosting. I’ve read numerous articles about purchasing your domain name and then finding a host for your website, but doing it separately is very time consuming and you have to wonder what part is where…why not do it all together? One can do just that by using a wonderful site called Bluehost, and Bluehost is absolutely fantastic because it does BOTH domain name and hosting, and they give you the domain name for FREE when you host with them! They now also automatically install WordPress for you, so the process is even easier.

I used Bluehost for the first 5 years of Sweetphi.com and had nothing but great experiences with them (when I got my site redesigned, the design agency took that over for me). I literally called them in the middle of the night and had them walk me through my problem. I’ve also used them to help walk me through the process of switching an existing blog over to them because my past hosting experience wasn’t great…and I’ve used them to host quite a few websites I’ve created, all around, they are my favorite of the hosting sites I’ve used.

Now that you have your name and are ready to get started, head on over to bluehost.com to see if your domain name is available and to host your new blog! Below is a screen shot of the process and package information for hosting your blog (Domain Who Is shields your private info i.e. telephone number, etc. from the public)

2)      Install Word Press
Now that you have your hosting all set up, you need to install WordPress onto your hosting account. Bluehost now does this for you. 

3)      Choose a look
There are plenty of Free themes with wordpress, and while there is no shortage of amazing themes, I found that the best platform to work with that has all the cool behind the scenes stuff that can help build your ranking and searchability built in already is the Genesis Framework – studiopress themes, that is what run on www.sweetphi.com . I only learned about the Genesis Framework after 2 years of blogging, and immediately installed it once finding out about it. I can honestly say my traffic has gone way up since installing it-guess all that behind the scenes stuff actually works!

Now that you have your amazing website set up and ready to go I’d love to hear from you.

Did this guide help you set up your blog? I’d love to check out your site, send me an email at sweetphiblog@gmail.com and let me know your url!

Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links and I will earn a small commission if you purchase through those links at absolutely NO cost to you. I use all of the products or services listed above and recommend them because they are helpful and are  products I love, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products.