Your Step-by-Step Guide to

Starting a Blog

The Easiest Way to Start a Blog in Less Than an Hour

Copyright © 2017 - Lidiya K

Contents

Why Become a Blogger?

Step 1: Set Up Your Blog

Best Place to Start a Blog

Choosing a Domain Name

Getting Web Hosting for Your Site

Installing WordPress and Making it Live

Step 2: Customize Your Blog

Log into Your New Blog and Use The Dashboard

Choose a Theme

Conclusion

Why Become a Blogger?

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We all crave freedom and independence. But that won’t be possible without

laying the foundation by doing some meaningful work.

This always includes sharing your journey online, building your expertise,

writing on a subject and building content on a platform, having an

audience, grabbing attention by exposing your opinion, making a difference

with your words, being noticed, and more.

And this includes writing.

Now if you haven’t done it before, a few things might concern you, or even

stop you from ever giving this a try.

Such as what to write about, how to come up with ideas for new blog posts all

the time, how to distribute that content afterwards, what platform to use, how

long it will take to build some traffic, what the goal should be, and more.

These are all things that deserve attention. Although, truth is, you can simply

write something now, hit ‘publish’, and thus start your online journey.

Easier said than done, though. And that’s why so many people still haven’t

started their own blogs or shared their written work anywhere.

Here’s Exactly Why You Need to Start a Blog in 2017

- It will be the only platform online you can control;

- each thing posted can bring you traffic years from now, or be the reason a

potential client finds you when you least expect it;

- all your work and online creations will be in one place;

- you’ll be a site owner;

- you’ll start selling your future products there too;

- your site will be the home of your personal brand;

- and you’ll be growing together with it.

In fact, I think you should write it down on your to-do list for the next few days

to get a domain name and hosting and install WordPress on it. The rest will

happen in small steps.

More responsibility goes together with it, of course.

In this case, you just contact the support team of your hosting provider

(Bluehost, in my case), and let them do their job. If your site is down, for

instance, (which may happen for a number of reasons), they’ll get it back up

in minutes.

Having a blog is applicable to every possible thing you’ll want to

achieve online in the future.

Want to be a freelancer?

Well, it’s much more professional and attention-grabbing to showcase your

work by linking to relevant works on you own website.

There you’ll also have a Contact, About and Portfolio page.

With WordPress, the free beautiful themes it offers, and the easy to set up

and smart plugins and widgets (such as testimonials), you can make a

potential employer take you very seriously once they land on your website.

What’s more, if you are updating your blog frequently, are on all social media

channels, have published a short guide on a topic, or something like that,

you’ll gain trust and credibility in less than a minute.

If you want to be an entrepreneur and start a real business after some

time, begin building your brand and an audience today by having a blog and

publishing content around the niche you’ll be in and the problems you’ll try to

solve with your products or services.

Your name can serve as the name of the site, and if you really set out on a

mission to say all that you can about all aspects of the topic, you will become

an expert in the field.

If you aren’t sure what you want to do yet, but know you’ll want to be making

money online after some time and break free from the 9 to 5, start building

your digital empire today by having your own website with a blog.

It’s a therapy to share all that you’re going through and know that your words

might inspire someone in the same situation if they end up reading your post.

Expect to form connections too. And not just with anyone, but with like-

minded people who have similar goals, attitude towards life or current

lifestyle.

Who knows, you might meet up with them, travel with them, start something

together. The possibilities are endless.

Step 1: Set Up Your Blog

In order to set up a site, you need a few elements. That’s a domain name, a

hosting provider, and a content management system (so that you don’t

need to use any code to have a functioning and beautiful site).

In this guide, I’ll show you how to get the 3 right and do it using some of the

best platforms out there.

Best Place to Start a Blog

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The easiest way to start a blog is by using wordpress.org and create a self-

hosted site that you’ll have almost full control over.

That’s the open-source content management system that my blog Let’s

Reach Success is built on, together with more than 15,886,000 other

websites.

It powers 26.4% of the Web and is the most popular platform for creating a

website.

There are others, like Blogger, Joomla, Magento, ModX, RefineryCMS, and

many more. I’m not saying you can’t build a good site with each of them and

grow it, but WordPress is something else.

It’s free, of course, and lets you put everything you’ve always dreamed about

on your website, without knowing anything about coding.

How the site looks like depends on the theme you’ll choose, which is also

highly customizable, and what people can do with it (comment, buy stuff,

share, contact you through the site, watch videos, become a member, etc.)

depends on the widgets and plugins you’ll add, which are basically the

features that are already coded for you, and which you just need to install and

start using.

The only thing that confuses some people in the beginning is that there are

two versions of WordPress – wordpress.com and wordpress.org

The main differences are that with the former you can only write and publish

content, your domain ends in wordpress.com, you don’t really own the

platform, can’t monetize it, and are limited in terms of features (there aren’t

any plugins, only widgets).

With the WP.org, though, you can finally say you have something you control

on the Internet. And the possibilities there are endless.

But even if you don’t want to make something big out of your site, and just

want it to present your brand, look professional, or else, it’s still worth going

for the org version.

My experience looks like this: I was using WP.com for maybe 1.5-2 years,

before I wanted to be able to do more with it. That’s because I didn’t really

know what the platform offered and I didn’t really believe in what I was doing.

But I’m a writer before anything else, and did build some traffic initially. That’s

when I started feeling comfortable with the digital world and found out how

someone can create big things on the Internet, and learned a lot about online

marketing.

Then, I got a domain name (from WordPress.com, although it’s as easy to get

it from your hosting provider), chose a hosting company (Bluehost), and

installed WordPress.org on it (with one click).

Choosing a Domain Name

Find your niche.

In the digital world, they say that the riches are in the niches.

There are 2 ways you can go about this: you can either choose a broad

subject (like personal development) and niche down once you find your voice

and have some readers.

Or you can start blogging about something specific, which you have enough

knowledge about, and see where that takes you (such as productivity tips for

freelance writers, best places for digital nomads to work in Thailand,

relationship advice for mums-to-be, etc).

Truth is, there’s too much of everything out there. So if you don’t have

anything useful to say, your blog won’t stand out.

Make sure you know something about the topic you’ll cover, but also be

interested in it, care about the problem you’ll solve with your content, and

make sure there are others out there wanting to read about it.

You can dominate even a crowded niche if you’re serious about it, publish

content frequently, include your unique voice, establish yourself as an

authority in the field, and hang around long enough to be noticed and get

traffic.

Once you find your niche, choose a domain name connected to it. That’s how

your site is called, in my case it’s letsreachsuccess.com

Getting Web Hosting for Your Site

When it comes to choosing a hosting company, the options are many. Some

are popular, others are new. Some are cheaper, others offer more options

and plans.

Something you can’t go wrong with, though, is Bluehost.

That’s what I’m using on Let’s Reach Success, that’s what most of the sites

you’re visiting daily are hosted on, and that’s what experts refer to as one of

the top hosting companies of 2017.

What’s more, once you create a profile, you get a domain name for free for

the first year (so that makes one of the 3 elements of your new site a no-

brainer), and there’s a one-click install for WordPress.

Wondering why you need a hosting provider and to pay for this service?

Well, it’s the surest way to know your site will be up and running every

morning when you wake up, and that its data will be stored in a secure

server, being handled by the specialists of the hosting company of your

choice.

It’s about safety and performance.

Why Bluehost?

Again, with their package, you get a free domain and a free one-click

installation of WordPress so that you can create your site and blog, and they

are trusted by most of the marketing and online gurus, and power millions of

sites on the Web.

Installing WordPress and Making it Live

Step 1: Sign up and get your domain name.

Go to Bluehost and click the ‘Get Started Now’ button.

1. Choose your plan.

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Assuming you’re just starting a website, be it to have a blog, begin making

some money online, offer your freelance services, sell products, or have a

platform on your own online to build your brand, go with the basic plan.

2. Choose a domain name.

Here’s what you’ll see on the next page you’re taken to:

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You should have thought about it already. If not, take your time now.

The easiest option is to use your real name. But if you’re more about creating

an authoritative site in a certain niche, much like Let’s Reach Success, get

creative and brainstorm some ideas.

It must be related to the field, short and easy to remember and spell.

If you already have a domain, you can use it now and still get a WordPress

site on Bluehost in a matter of minutes. Just use the second field on the

screen.

3. Create an account.

The next page you’ll be taken to is where you’ll add your information and

chose a payment method.

Note: You should sign up for at least 12 months to get the other benefits

Bluehost offers. But also to make sure you give your site a year to rank in

Google and become a trusted platform. It’s not worth paying for just a month

or a few.

What’s more, that’s the only way to ensure your domain name is yours and

yours only.

Then, check all the details you just filled in, together with the final price, and

complete your Bluehost registration to proceed with the next step.

Note: There are some add-ons that will be recommended to you and even

included in your package. These are things such as Domain Privacy and Site

BackUp Pro. You can easily uncheck them if you just want to test things with

this first WordPress site of yours and see how serious you’ll get about it.

Congrats! You now have a domain name and a hosting provider.

Let’s install the actual site on them and create your own digital empire.

Step 2: Install WordPress with the One-click Installation of Bluehost.

When you’re logged in your Bluehost account, click on Hosting in your

Cpanel.

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Note: You can always log in at my.bluehost.com

Scroll down to the ‘wordpress’ section and click Install WordPress.

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The next screen will give you a big ‘Install’ button.

You’ll now need to select which domain to install it to from the dropdown

menu.

Bluehost also gives you the option to decide whether to have www. in the url

or not. The shorter, the better.

By clicking ‘Show Advanced Options’ underneath it, you’ll see a few more

fields.

These are your site name, admin username and admin password.

The first you should know by now. The other 2 should be secure enough so

that hackers can’t easily guess them.

That’s how you’ll be entering the back end of your site once it’s installed, after

all.

Note: Remember to save these for future references.

Also check the field saying “Automatically create a new database for this

installation”

After that, you’re ready to hit the ‘Install’ button and see the creation of your

site.

Give it a minute or two. Close the window only when it says that the

installation is complete.

You must have received an email from Bluehost that very minute too.

Congrats! You’re the owner of a WordPress site on Bluehost hosting now.

And your online journey is about to officially begin.

Step 2: Customize Your Blog

The email you just received includes 3 important things.

Your username and password for entering the dashboard of your new

WordPress website, and also a special admin login url that no one else will

have.

Save these as you’ll be using them often.

Log into Your New Blog and Use The Dashboard

So, you log in and see a dashboard. Now what?

If you’ve never used a content management system like that, or even seen a

dashboard, no worries. It’s pretty easy and soon you’ll do all the possible

things on WordPress effortlessly.

From now on, and what would possibly become your hobby and main free

time activity over the next few weeks, you’ll be creating content and adding

widgets and plugins to your site to let it do all the amazing things that it can.

In your dashboard you’ll be seeing general stuff such as your blog traffic, all

your posts and pages, comments, and other general info.

On top of the screen is where you can quickly add a page, post, media or

else by clicking ‘New’.

Sometimes, after installing a caching plugin for instance, you’ll see other

items added there. You might be able to delete unnecessary data from your

site, or take other actions from that place.

What’s important is on the left side of the screen.

When you install plugins, you’ll see them added to the dashboard too.

Now you have Jetpack already. WordPress are closely related to them and

this is installed for you.

They offer you plenty of options, so don’t hesitate to go to Jetpack, and click

Settings now.

You can activate some interesting features such as speeding up images,

adding custom content types (testimonials and portfolios), add a like button to

your posts, add sharing buttons, etc.

With Jetpack you can also generate an xml sitemap for your site (which is

important for optimization), verify your site with major search engines, block

suspicious-looking sign in activity, and more.

Just a few clicks, and you now have more features on your site activated.

There’s more in the sidebar for you. There you can access all your posts,

pages, media, comments, feedback and users.

The Appearance tab is where the customization happens mostly, in terms of

design. We’ll use it in a minute.

You’ll also find interesting things under Settings.

For example, by clicking Settings and then going to Permalinks, you’re able

to choose the url structure for anything you publish.

I suggest you go there now and click Post name. This will make every link

that’s created for new pages and posts on your site easier to remember and

better looking. No need to add extra stuff in it, such as dates or else, as

Google wants to know what the text is about. You can state that by leaving

only the most important words (the keywords) of your blog title in the url.

What we’re talking about is the part of any link to your site that comes after

your domain and .com (or whatever you’ve chosen).

Choose a Theme

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Something you’d want to do now (or maybe leave it for tomorrow morning if

it’s late, as you might invest more time in it once you see how many options

there are), is to choose a theme for your site.

That can happen by clicking Appearance, then Themes, on the sidebar on the

left. Now click ‘Add New’ on the page.

Although you’re already given one of the default ones, there’s a huge number

of free ones out there that will answer your needs better.

A theme is basically the layout of your site, the design that’s already coded for

you and which you simply install and activate.

Use filter to see only the magazine-style blogs, business websites, news

sites, or templates for specific niches such as restaurants, travel,

photography, hotels, etc.

You’ll be amazed at what’s out there that you can use right away at no

additional cost.

The WordPress theme directory offers thousands of choices for free. All look

extremely good, and none of that was possible decades ago when everyone

needed to use html and css to create a basic page and design templates for

their websites.

Now, however, it’s all a matter of clicking a button and giving your site a whole

new look.

You could make it look like a magazine, news blog, a portfolio site, or just use

a one-page template to present your business.

While getting a free theme is alright in the beginning, when you’re still getting

to know everything that goes together with owning a WordPress website, a

premium one is what you’ll get your hands on eventually.

The main reason is simple. Cleaner code is guaranteed, and that’s yet

another factor Google uses when deciding if a site should be ranked high and

if a domain deserves to be given more authority.

If you want to check out some premium themes, ThemeForest are killing it.

If you’re wandering what theme I’m using for my site and want something

similar, it’s this one.

Conclusion

So if you still weren’t sure whether to start a blog or not, I hope I convinced

you.

Life is meant to be spent working on things you believe in and are passionate

about. That’s how you can be sure you’re doing your best at any moment,

you know it’s worth it, are purpose-driven, help others and make a difference

at the same time.

I’m also a believer in new projects. And starting a blog in 2017 is gonna be a

fantastic one for you.

We have only 24 hours in a day and it’s better to dedicate them to our main

goals in life, the things that truly matter to us and what’s giving results.

But it’s equally important to always have a side project to work on, a new

hobby to practice, a new field of expertise to explore, etc.

It doesn’t really matter if you fail, because you gain much more than you think

when you set up your own blog and share it with the world.

Acknowledgments and Contact

Thank you for downloading this guide. Your time is important and I appreciate

investing it in reading this.

I do hope you found it helpful as I’ve shared what works not just for me, but

also for millions of other bloggers and site owners out there.

Some of the links in the content might be affiliate. Meaning, I earn a small

commission if you purchase a product through them. That adds absolutely no

cost to you.

For more on blogging and online business, visit my site Let’s Reach Success.

Feel free to reach out personally at lidiya@letsreachsuccess.com

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