If you are planning to start a blog for business, or for fun, I’ll show you how to do it in a few simple steps.
I’ve been blogging for over 15 years, and I’ve been using my online business to provide for my family for the last 5 years. You can definitely make money blogging. And you can have a lot of fun too!
Step One: Choose your plan
There are a few plans to choose from, starting at $3.95 a month!
I recommend the choice plus plan, because it also comes with site backup. That’s a fancy way of saying Bluehost goes above and beyond to make sure you won’t lose your site if you get hacked, make a mistake or if something goes wrong.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed to use my backup through the years but it is invaluable.
You can do your own backups yourself, but it does require a bit of know-how so it’s nice to have bluehost taking care of this for you, and have them be the ones to return your site to the backed-up version if something goes wrong. Take it from me – someone who has called Bluehost crying before only to have them restore everything I thought I’d lost… the backups are WORTH IT.
With this plan you also get a free domain name!
Step Two: Choose your domain name
You can either come up with your domain name on the spot, or choose to continue sign up, and decide on your free domain later.
Your domain name is the spot you’re going to live on the internet so really think about it before choosing one! I would have chosen something else, if I could go back – but I’ve stuck with Beauty Through Imperfection because it’s the brand I’ve built for almost a decade.
Here are a couple of things to consider when choosing a domain name:
- Easy to spell
- Easy to say when you tell people out loud
- Involves what you’ll be writing about
- Clearly communicates your brand/idea
I’ll share more about choosing a domain name later, but this can get you started!
Step Three: Install WordPress
Don’t worry – this part sounds intimidating, but it’s not! BlueHost makes it very easy to setup wordpress, which is where your blog will live. In fact, after you set up your account and log in you’ll see a WordPress Install button under website builder options.
Click Install WordPress and select the domain name you’ve chosen from the dropdown menu.
As WordPress installs, you’ll set yourself up as a user for your new blog!
This is the exciting part! You are so close to having your blog ready for writing!
You’ll see a “success!” message when wordpress is installed with your new domain name, and you can dive in and start creating amazing content for your readers!
You’ll start with a free out-of-the box wordpress theme, but you can also find pretty themes on etsy that can give your blog a unique look and feel! Check out some options here.