You’re bursting with ideas you want to share with the world, but you are intimidated with the process of setting up a self-hosted site. Does this sound familiar? The technical side of setting up a blog can feel overwhelming to those starting for the first time.
Since we’ve been sharing my blog income in our monthly financial reports, I’ve had lots of people ask how to actually start a blog, as in how to actually go through the nitty gritty technical details of getting a self-hosted blog up and running. I’m not an expert, but I’m happy to share what I do know, so I decided to put together a step-by-step showing how I set up my own blog!
I recommend Bluehost for hosting, as that’s exactly what we did and we had a great experience. My husband, the technical one of us, did the research before we chose Bluehost. I didn’t even realize at the time (though my husband probably did) that Bluehost is the only hosting service officially recommended by WordPress. Personally, we’ve had a great experience.
Getting Started
Go to the Bluehost site and click on the green “get started now” button.
Next, choose your plan. If you’re just starting out, the starter plan will be perfect. That’s what we did and it’s worked fine. If you pay for 36 months up front, you’ll get the lowest rate of $3.95 per month.
UPDATE— Right now Bluehost is letting me offer my readers a $2.65 monthly price! This won’t last though, so get started now using this special link!
Choosing a Domain Name
Now it’s time for your domain name. Some people will tell you just to hurry up and pick a name so you can move on, but I think it’s important to be sure you have a domain name that you’re really happy with. My advice is to choose a name that is :
- Easy to remember — You want people coming back and telling their friends, right?
- Easy to spell — Avoid cutesy spellings that could be confusing.
- Not too long — This goes along with easy to remember, but also easy to read as a url.
- Gives a hint as to what your blog is about — You want to pique readers’ curiosity and give them a reason to click over to your site.
- Something you love — This is going to be your “brand,” so make it something you are proud to promote.
You get a free domain name registration with your Bluehost hosting package! If you already own a domain name, you can enter it here under “transfer domain.” You’ll have to go through a few extra steps to make sure your DNS points to Bluehost.
After entering your domain name, you’ll fill in your personal information for the account. This is pretty self-explanatory.
Choose a Hosting Package and Add-ons
Now it’s time to choose the hosting package you want. You can use the dropdown menu to see the available options. If you have the money upfront to pay for 36 months and you’re committed to at least three years of blogging, it will be cheaper in the long run. Not only will you get a cheaper monthly introductory rate, you’ll be at the introductory rate for longer. After the promotional period of 12, 24, or 36 months the price goes up slightly (but is still inexpensive).
Also, noteworthy is that Bluehost allows for seamless upgrades to their non-shared hosting plans (VPS and dedicated server hosting), when your site grows to need them. Bluehost doesn’t require a contract and you are free to cancel at anytime. I love when companies stand behind their product or service enough to offer a guarantee like that.
You’ll have a couple of other options for services to add to your bill. The one I recommend to everyone is Domain Privacy Protection (sometimes called WHOIS privacy). With a simple online search you can normally find the name, address, and email of the person who owns any domain name, unless it is privacy protected. The person who found you through a WHOIS search could then send you email, or mail, or make a surprise visit. With domain privacy protection, your own information will not appear in a search. For us, this service is worth paying for. If you bought your domain elsewhere then you won’t see this option (you were given the option when you bought your domain name).
If you don’t have another site backup tool in place, it’s worth looking at Site Backup Pro as well. Avoid that terrible sinking feeling that comes when you begin to suspect a mistake or a technical failure has erased your hard work on the site.
If you aren’t interested in any of this additional services, simply make sure the boxes are unchecked. The only extra option we choose is the Domain Privacy Protection.
Enter your billing information and click Next to finalize your purchase.
You’re now the proud owner of a domain name (and hosting package).
Check your email for a welcome email from Bluehost and an email about activating your domain if you got one through Bluehost. Click to activate it!
The next step is to get your site set up. You’ll be asked to create a password for your account.
Please choose a strong password, something with upper case and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Don’t make it obvious either. You don’t want to find your site has been taken over by someone who correctly guessed your password was Password123.
With your password created, you’re now ready to sign in and get started! Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you (this saves you from some of the complicated parts that confuses people).
Click the “log in” button to get started!
At this point you can choose a free theme from the options given or you can just stick with the default for now and change it later. I think you’re probably best off just sticking with the default and then shop around for a free or paid theme in the near future once you have the basics set up. So either choose one of the given themes or click at the bottom to skip this step.
Now it’s time to start building your site. It may take up to a day for your domain name to be registered, but you can still start working on your site right away and Bluehost will take care of the details for you.
Click on “Start Building” to… start building!
At this point you can opt to be guided through the set up by answering the questions in the middle, or if you’re familiar with WordPress you can click “I don’t need help.”
Now you’ll be able to start creating and publishing posts and pages for your blog. Put up a sample post, and then play with the Appearance and other settings and the available themes until it looks just like you want it to.
Your domain will display a “coming soon” message until you are get it looking the way you want and are ready to launch it.
You did it! You set up a WordPress blog with Bluehost like a technical pro!
Happy blogging!
Vaulable (but FREE!) Blogging Resources
7 Surefire Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight
11 Ways to Boost Your Blog Reach Overnight
Goal Setting Workbook for Bloggers
10 Steps to Take When a Blog Post Goes Viral
Secret Blueprint for Blogging Success
Note: This post contains my affiliate link, so I’ll receive a commission when you sign up through my link at no extra cost to you. As always, all opinions are my own! For more info, see my disclosure page.
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