How to start a blog step-by-step

Seems like you’re thinking about starting your very own blog – it’s a very smart decision!

I will personally guide you how to start a blog step-by-step in this article.

First of all, by starting your own blog you can grow as an expert (personal branding & expertise). You can write about a specific niche. Your hobby. Your work. You can help thousands of people along the way by sharing value, experiences, thoughts.

The most noteworthy thing is that blogging works exquisitely in every single niche. Those things aren’t only related to the “Make Money Online” niche but to a broad list of hobbies, interests, careers or even direct sales and Network Marketing.

Hence, a blog can be a professional place to show your self as an expert and let people know you, like you, trust you and eventually pay you for your services/products or join your team.

I will show you in this post how to start a blog step-by-step in the proper way and how it is possible to turn this into your new, full-time career.

How To Start A Blog Step-By-Step

We will cover the following:

  1. The reasons why would you want to use WordPress for your 1st blog.
  2. Choosing your custom domain name and why is it important.
  3. Setting up your blog in just one click (without requiring any tech experience!).
  4. Customizing your blog to your personal taste.

Step 1 – Why WordPress?

Because WordPress is perceived as the industry standard for bloggers and website creators.

When you decide on using WordPress it means that you’re using the platform which all professional bloggers use to build their sites and big businesses. WordPress is beginner friendly enough that actually everyone can customize their blogs to their fitting. Without any technical skills.

Few key points why so many people recommend WordPress:

  • WordPress is free (You just need to have a hosting provider like Bluehost and own a domain)
  • WordPress powers over 99% of all the profitable blogs (including mine)
  • Thousands of plugins which you can use (free & paid). Thanks to them it’s possible to level up your blog in terms of functionality.
  • It’s truly beginner friendly. Anyone can start their blogging journey and use it properly.
  • There are also thousands of themes (both free & paid ones). It’s easier than ever before to create the prefect design you have always wanted.

Why you should NOT start your blog on a free platform?

People ask me why not use other platforms like Blogspot or Blogger… I always answer that those platforms LACK a lot of features and customization.

Why shouldn’t you use a free platform?

1) People WON’T take you seriously…

If you want to build a personal brand, make people trust you and eventually buy your products then using a free platform is a bad way to get credibility.

Just ask yourself would you take me seriously and even read this post if my domain name was “tomaszdrozd.blogspot.com”? I think you wouldn’t.

Blogging is the cheapest and most affordable business that nowadays exist. There is no reason for you not to have an own hosting and a nice domain name.

2) Making money is limited.

Most of the free platforms have strict rules on things you are allowed to promote or sell. Some of them will prohibit selling your own products or recommend various affiliate services. Just because they don’t like it…

The worst part is that some of those platforms force their own advertisement popping up on your website and you can’t control anything…

3) Limited customization.

Just imagine being limited to basic templates. Which most of the time suck and are ugly. With WordPress you can make your blog look just the way you’d love to see it.

4) 0% control.

Using a free platform literally robs you from having any control over your online business. They can tell you what kind of things you’re allowed to do and what you’re prohibited of. They’re running their own advertisements inside your content at any given time. They can also delete your entire blog without any prior warning. Feel free to google it up and you’ll see for yourself that this is an existing problem.

If you’re serious about starting your blog and creating a full-time income – the only option is to get a hosting and a domain name.

Step 2 – How To Choose A Custom Domain Name

There’s an agelong debate whether the domain name matter or not. Taking in consideration my knowledge, experiences and observations… It doesn’t matter. It’s nice to have a nice looking domain name but at the end of the day what truly matters is your CONTENT.

You can invest in a superb domain name, create an incredible brand, have a wonderful website design and make $0 revenue if you don’t focus on delivering brilliant content.

Below I will share a few tips which you can use to brainstorm ideas for a good domain name.

Tip #1 – Most good domains aren’t available any more.

I consider myself lucky for being able to buy tomaszdrozd.com. I wanted to get drozd.com but unfortunately, it was and still is unavailable. If I would want to buy it I would have to somehow contact the person who has bought it before and probably spend at least 200$ or even more.

Most of the fancy domain names are already owned by domain brokers. The prices are most often too expensive to even consider buying them. I will repeat myself – domain names are not that important.

The best domain names for personal branding goes like this: “first name + last name .com“. But it’s also important to make your domain name easy to say, spell and remember.

Remember that content is the most important thing on your blog so if your favourite name is already taken – don’t get discouraged.

Tip #2 – Get the “.com” version if avaliable.

It’s getting more difficult to get good .com domains. The best tip that I can give you is to look for a name that’s short, easy to say and easy to remember & spell.

After brainstorming using my tips you still can’t find anything good – only then you can consider getting a “.net” or “.org” domain.

Tip #3 – Brainstorming with words related to your niche.

Look for words and phrases that are closely related to the niche you’re in. Look for ideas using the Google Instant Search. (www.google.com)

After a few minutes of playing with keywords, you can look at your competitors’ websites. This alone can bring you an endless stream of ideas and concepts.

Note down these things:

  • Website names of your competitors
  • Unique keywords which are suggested by Google
  • Keywords that other people use in the post titles.
  • Keywords that are in the first 2-3 sentences of a post.

Do this and you should have at least 50-100+different keywords in less than 15 minutes.

Tip #4 – Create your own words or look for slang words.

You can use your own unique style, your sayings. Try adding different words to the end of your main keyword and maybe you’ll create something that’s catchy like nothing never before!

Tip #5 – Use your name!

As I mentioned before, a perfect domain would be your first + last name. Personal branding is crucial nowadays. People want to connect with real, legit people.

This is why you are seeing a lot of people using their names for various niches. Starting from marketing blogs, fitness, personal stuff, music, sport, and any other major niche.

If your name is available but you don’t want to use it right from the start – I would buy it right away. You might want it one day and someone else might want $1,000 for it…

Tip #6 – Combine the keywords from your own research

You should already have some keywords or phrases you already like. Try combining them into a catchy domain. Now, if you’ve got something that sounds great for you – check if it’s available to buy.

Step 3 – How to setup your new blog

When you finally decide what domain will you go along it’s time to purchase hosting from Bluehost.

If you’ll have any trouble setting up your blog you can reach out to me at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to assist you. You can always use the option in which I will setup your blog for you.

If you prefer to follow the guide you will find a visual tutorial below.

This Is An Easy Way On How To Setup Your Brand New Blog With Bluehost

Once on Bluehost’s main page click the green “Get Started Now” button.

After clicking the “Get Started Now” you will be redirected to the pricing options page.

What I would suggest is to choose the basic plan because it’s enough to get you started.

In the future when you decide to create more websites you can make an upgrade at any given time.

Note: The lowest price, which is $3.95/month, applies only when you choose the 36 months of web hosting option (paid up front).

I highly suggest going with the 36 months for a few solid reasons:

  • You Are Making A Commitment

If you’re serious about starting a blog then it shouldn’t be an issue for you. You’ll have web hosting covered for 3 years and if you follow my teachings and strategies then you can earn back your initial investment in a matter of weeks.

  • Saving money

This point is a no-brainer. I don’t see any sense of paying $7.99 per month while you can choose to save 50% by purchasing 36 months.

  • There’s no risk

Bluehost offers a 30-day money back guarantee. If you won’t be happy for whatever reason during this period you can ask for a full refund.

So… After selecting a plan you will be taken to a page where you have to write your desired “new domain”.

I will guide you how to start a blog step-by-step. Owning a blog yields pure benefits. From building a personal brand, proving expertise and making money. www.tomaszdrozd.com

Here, select the “new domain” and type the one you like best. If it will be available then you’re good to go.

Click the “next” button and on the next screen, you will need to fill out basic contact information.

I will guide you how to start a blog step-by-step. Owning a blog yields pure benefits. From building a personal brand, proving expertise and making money. www.tomaszdrozd.com

In the next step, you will have to select how many months you want to purchase your web hosting. As I already mentioned earlier, I recommend the 36 months plan as it gives the best value.

Note: Some of the boxes can be automatically checked, but you don’t have to get all the extra features. The only one I could suggest is getting the “Domain Privacy Protection”. This keeps your contact information private.

I will guide you how to start a blog step-by-step. Owning a blog yields pure benefits. From building a personal brand, proving expertise and making money. www.tomaszdrozd.com

The final step is to put your credit card details, check the Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and click the green submit button!

After the payment is done you will receive your receipt via email along with the login details.

Remember to send me an email with your receipt so you will be able to receive the bonuses from me.

You’re almost done!

Once you login to your Bluehost account you will be asked to set a new password. After that, you should also be asked to pick a theme for your new WordPress blog and it should look like this:

I will guide you how to start a blog step-by-step. Owning a blog yields pure benefits. From building a personal brand, proving expertise and making money. www.tomaszdrozd.com

It doesn’t matter which one you’ll select. You can change this anytime.

After selecting one of the default themes your screen should look like this:

I will guide you how to start a blog step-by-step. Owning a blog yields pure benefits. From building a personal brand, proving expertise and making money. www.tomaszdrozd.com

Click “Business”. Next, you will be taken to a new screen. If there is some reason that you don’t plan monetizing your blog – you can select “Personal”.

You can finally start navigating the WordPress dashboard or even start writing your first post but before that, I would like to show you how to upload a theme and start customizing your blogs’ design.

Step 4 – How To Customize Your Theme

Now that we’re ready to go, it’s high time to customize the look of the design of your blog. It sounds difficult but it’s really easy.

Picking a free theme is super easy, but I would suggest upgrading to a premium theme as soon as your budget will allow that.

If you purchased Bluehost via my affiliate link, you will receive a premium theme from the bonuses.

Generally speaking, free themes work fine for a beginner, but they lack a lot of features & tools. Premium themes always provide extras which really can enhance your website.

To change the theme simply go to the left-hand menu. Click “Appearances” and then “Themes”.

I will guide you how to start a blog step-by-step. Owning a blog yields pure benefits. From building a personal brand, proving expertise and making money. www.tomaszdrozd.com

After that, you will see a “WordPress.org Themes” button. After clicking it, you will land on a screen with a lot of various themes. Both popular or featured. If you want to preview a particular theme just click on the “Preview” button.

This will give you a glance at the theme and the settings which you can customize and experiment later on. If you’ll find one that will look fin just click “Install”.

Basically, this is the end and it’s as easy as written here in my guide.

If I haven’t covered something in this article or if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below.

I’ll be happy to answer and guide you further!

Author

Tommy Drozd