Do you want to start blogging, but don’t know how to start? To create a website seems hard and technical, but don’t let it stop you. To create a blog is actually easy! Read my guide on how to start your WordPress blog on Bluehost.
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Hi, my name is Richard Walker, and I will guide you through the process to create a WordPress blog on Bluehost. To create a blog comes in many steps, and I understand it seems hard for some people, but I hope this guide will help you.
And remember to take one step at the time, then you have your blog up and running, and you will regret why you didn't do it before. Because this is easy!
I remember my brother created a homepage once a long time ago. Someone he knew created one for him and taught him how he could update his site. He had to use software and edit the site in more a raw format. After he was finished with the updates, he was able to upload the new content to his website.
I did the same and I was playing around in the same software, and it was sort of cool to do it, but this was not easy. Now most people use WordPress to create their blog or website. WordPress is a free web software where you can easily create posts and design your site how you like it. This without complicated software and working with the code. This is so much easier to do now than in the past!
Why Use BlueHost?
WordPress is a web software that needs to be installed somewhere. So you need to pay for a service named hosting. So you need to contact someone that can provide that for you, and If you go to WordPress.org, you will see Bluehost is on the top of 3 recommended providers by WordPress.
WordPress recommends Bluehost as hosting service
Bluehost is one of the biggest hosting services out there, and they are that out of a reason. They provide fast and easy hosting at a low cost. The competition for customers is big, and if they didn't deliver value, they wouldn't be so big as they are now.
So what will you receive when you join Bluehost?
- Fast hosting that both your viewers and Google will love. Google and other search engines want to give their audience the best answers to the searches. Slow websites will not be on the first page on the search results.
- You will receive a free SSL certificate, that way you can provide secure browsing to your viewers. Google also prefers to show secure sites in their searches.
- You can install WordPress to your site with one click on your mouse, no technical stuff to deal with.
- You will receive support around the clock every day.
- Free domain registration so you have everything you need to start your blog.
- 30 days money back guarantee, so if you are not satisfied, you get your money back without questions.
So the first you need to do is go to Bluehost to order their hosting. Click here to check the current price. This will open a new tab. The link will give you a discount on hosting. You will see a page similar to the one below.
Step 1 - Create You Bluehost Account
You need to select your plan. If you plan just to create one blog, the basic plan is fine. If you are not sure or you plan to create a couple of blogs or sites, then go for plus. If you plan to create a passive affiliate marketing site, I recommend you to create 2 or more blogs. So the best choice is plus, and the price difference is not that big.
Step 2 - Choose Your Free Domain Name
Now its time to choose your domain. If you already have a domain, you can use that one, but I assume you don't have one or you want to create a new one. Remember the domain is free.
Don't spend much time to create a domain. If this is a personal blog, your name is perfect as a domain name. If you want to write about a niche, pick a name that tells people what niche this is. I also recommend you not to pick a name that is too narrow. If you later want to broaden your topic a bit, the name should not hold you back.
Let's say you want to write about budgies, pick a name that allows you to also write about other birds in the future.
And try not to add numbers, misspelling, and other variations to find a domain that is not taken.
And a .com domain is always preferable.
Step 3 - Finish Your Account
You have picked your domain, and now you need to finish your account. Fill out the form so Bluehost can register your account and domain name.
You are not able to pay month by month at Bluehost, and this option is not standard in the industry. The longer time you want to pay upfront for, the less you need to pay for each month. The most common choice is 36 months since you get the most discount. That way, you will work harder to make your blog work and a higher chance of success.
I recommend you to add domain privacy protection. That way you will not be visible as domain owner with a public email address. There is software out there that crawls the internet after email addresses so they can send spam or other shady deals.
One alternative can be to use an email address only for this type of stuff. If you check that email rarely, you may miss domain renewal notifications. So go for the first alternative.
You can save your money and skip the other extras.
You need to add your payment information.
Choose a password for your account.
Remember to use a unique password for extra security.
Your Bluehost account is up and running!
Step 4 - Install WordPress
Then its time for you to install WordPress. This is done automatically, but you need to choose a theme for your site and a name. The different themes have different layout and functionalities. So look at the pictures and the description and pick the one you like. And remember, this can easily be changed later. In the beginning, a good website design is not important in the beginning. Your writing is important.
You have picked the theme and now its time to build your site!
Then its time to go through the last customization. Click and answer the questions Bluehost have for you.
The WordPress site is created, but not yet launched. Let's go ahead.
Write the title on your site with a nice short description. This description will be visible on the tab in your audience browser.
Step 5: Log in to Your WordPress Site
Now its time to log in to your website and you do that by going to yourdomain.com/wp-admin where yourdomain is your chosen domain. If this is not working, try later since it can take up to 48h for your domain to be fully registered on the internet. You will use this link in the future, so I also recommend you to bookmark the page.
Log in with your chosen username and password. If you have not chosen it yourself, Bluehost have sent you the login details on email.
Step 6: Setup Your WordPress Site
There are some settings you should have done before doing more, if this is not already set. Most of the settings are fine, and you can try to set everything out of what you think is correct. Most of it is not too important and can be changed later, but below there are some settings I want to explain, and you want it correct from the beginning.
Your homepage displays: You can, in the beginning, choose your latest posts and concentrate on writing content. You want at least 10 posts before you are starting to think on the home page. Then you can create a static page and choose that one as your homepage. I recommend this to be a page and not a post.
Blog pages show at most and syndication: Just set it to 10 if not already done so.
For each article in the feed, show: You want to set summary. Not necessary if you don't use feed. I don't use a feed.
Search Engine Visibility: You want to turn on visibility right away. No point to hide your website.
Discussion Settings
Always do manually approved comments, there are so many spambots out there writing nonsense comments with a spam link as their homepage.
Permalink Settings
The most important setting. You want your permalink to be the post name. You don’t want to include day, month, or other nonsense. For SEO you want it to be your post name. That way you will help Google to understand what the post is about, and the link is easy to post on social media and easy for your audience to write if they need to do it sometimes.
One extra tip is when you are writing a post, shorten the link even more so your link to the post is as short as possible, but still explain what the post is about.
With the setting above, the permalink to this post should be:: /how-to-start-a-wordpress-blog-on-bluehost/
This permalink is long and unnecessary, so I have set the permalink to: /wordpress-on-bluehost/
Short and easy. Easy to write, don’t take much space, and my audience and Google will still understand what the post is about.
Step 7: Install Plugins
You need some plugins, and I actually recommend you to delete all the plugins that come with Bluehost. The reason is that plugins may decrease the loading speed on your site. So you want to remove all the additional plugins and install only those that have the least impact on your loading time.
All the plugins are free, and you don’t need to upgrade to the paid versions.
The necessary plugins you should have is:
- Google Analytics Dashboard for WP (GADWP)
This plugin is used to connect to Google Analytics, and you need to create an analytics account. Then you can see your visitor stats on your WordPress dashboard, and I find it helpful. - Pretty Links (not pro)
Pretty links are one of the best plugins to create short and nice links that you can use to shorten your affiliate links or just track links you want to track. That way you see how many that have clicked on that link. - UpdraftPlus - Backup/Restore
You want to back up your site. Even that Bluehost do this for you, you want your own backup and be in control of your site. - Wordfence Security
This is a very good security plugin you should use. You need a security plugin so people can’t hack your site. - WP Super Cache
This is one of the best cache plugins for WordPress that will speed up your site. Is also very easy to configure and you only need to use the defaults. - Yoast SEO
This plugin will help you with the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and help Google understand your site and find your posts.
Optional plugins:
- Facebook Pixel
Makes it easy to add Facebook tracking on your site. Then you can do retargeting and advertising through Facebook. - Search Exclude
Sometimes I have pages I want to be secret. I can set them to be excluded from search engines, but they will still be found in my website search results. This plugin will exclude them from my website search also. - Search Meter
With this plugin, you can monitor the searches. If you see several people are searching for the information you don’t have, then you can create it.
The BlueHost Dashboard
You can do most of your activities from the Bluehost dashboard, but I recommend you to go to your site and the admin area. After you have set up your website, there is very seldom you need to login to Bluehost. Go straight to your WordPress site.
How to Get Traffic to Your Website
Now it's time to get some traffic to your site. When you have set up Yoast SEO and given Google your site map, Google should find your site and index your posts and pages. I will now provide you with some additional tips on how to get people to your site.
Content: Write content often and write long posts with many words. You want quality articles on your topic. Backlinko has done an analysis of the length of articles that ranks on Google, and the result is approx 1900 words So try not to write articles that are shorter than 1000 words.
Answer questions: You should at least in the beginning answer questions people in your niche have. That way you will get more people to your site. People usually search on google for an answer, and the better your answer is, the higher on the search results your article will be shown.
A post about your opinion or post that don't answer a question will not be found or ranked on google.
Most people quit too early: Many people start a blog and do some writing, but they don't receive visitors to their post. This is frustrating, and you will probably ask yourself why you are doing this. Many people quit at this stage and give up, but don't do it! To rank on Google take time, and whatever you are doing regarding get people to your site, this will take time. Most people quit way to early. You have to expect to write 30 articles before Google want to show your site high on the search ranking.
How to Earn Money From Your Website
Affiliate Marketing: One good method to earn money from your blog is to do affiliate marketing. Amazon.com or ClickBank.com is two popular sites to find affiliate offers to promote.
You can read more about affiliate marketing here and you can find courses I recommend here.
Advertising: You can do advertising. I advise you to wait with this until you get some people to your site. Ads may turn people away, and you don't want to do it in the beginning. You need at least 10 000 visitors a month before you start with this.
Products or coaching: You can create your own products, both information products or physical products. Information products are probably easier to create, and you can create a course or similar. Coaching is also a popular method you can begin with.
Conclusion
This is a short step by step guide on how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost. I hope the guide is helping you, both deciding if you want to start a blog and where to host it.
Comment below if the guide was helpful and if you have some questions, I'm happy to answer them.
You can order hosting and Bluehost here and receive a discount.
