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I frequently get lots of questions from my readers about why I decided to start a blog and more importantly, how I set up my blog by myself.
Today I am going to teach you how to start a blog with Bluehost in under 30 minutes, by following these simple steps.
Blogging has created a healthy income stream for me, and people have made thousands of pounds a month just from writing about things they are passionate about. You could help people understand why to invest in social media marketing for financial advisors or share your recent travel destinations.
The best thing is, you can start a blog that will generate income for just a few pounds a month. From choosing a domain name to installing WordPress, I’m going to show you how I started my blog, and how you can start yours today.
Whether you want to make some extra money or if you fancy working from home and having a flexible income, starting a blog is a great way to earn money and schedule when you want to work.
1. Choose Your Host
I would recommend choosing Bluehost as your hosting provider as they are very affordable, they offer a free domain name for your first 12 months and they also offer 24/7 support in case you need their help.
To get started, go to Bluehost’s home page and click on the green ‘Get Started’ button. This will then take you to a page where their various hosting packages are described (as shown in the image below).
You can choose between the ‘Basic’, ‘Plus’, ‘Choice Plus’ or ‘Pro’ plan.
If you are just starting out, you may be on a budget like I was, so I would recommend choosing the £3.02 per month starter plan. This plan is excellent value for money, as it includes 50GB of website space, a free SSL Certificate (which is very important when it comes to making a professional website or blog), and your own domain.
2. Choose A Domain Name
Once you have picked your Bluehost plan, it’s time to choose your domain name. It took me a few days to come up with the name Brit On A Budget. I knew I wanted something money related but I wasn’t quite sure how I would incorporate this.
I chose ‘Brit’ because I am from the UK, but I have had a few people in the past think that my name was Brit, which makes me laugh!
Keep in mind that if the domain name you want is taken, the page will tell you it is unavailable and that you cannot use it.
TOP TIPS FOR CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME
– Use .com instead of .org, .net or others as it is the most commonly used and people are more likely to remember it
– Make your name easy to remember and short if possible
3. Enter Your Details
Once you have successfully picked your domain name and pressed ‘Next’, the following screen you will be taken to will be the account information screen.
You will need to enter your name, address, email address etc. You will need to enter a valid email address as your receipt will be sent there.
There are some options to upgrade, although I would advise to skip these as they aren’t necessary and will just add to your total cost.
You also have the option to choose whether you would like the web hosting for 12 months, 24 months or 36 months. However, it is cheaper in the long run to go with 36 months (3 years).
Finally, enter your payment information (PayPal or credit/debit card) and choose a secure password and that’s it! You have set up your shiny new domain name, your hosting account and now you’re ready to set up your blog.
4. Install WordPress
You’re almost done, just a few more simple steps to go! Bluehost makes the process extremely easy to create a WordPress blog, so step 4 is straightforward.
Once you have logged into your brand new Bluehost account with the credentials you received in an email, you will be taken to your Bluehost Control Panel. Navigate to the ‘Website’ section and select ‘Install WordPress’.
For the first section, you can leave the URL where WordPress is going to be installed as http ://www.yoursite.com/ and leave everything after the slash blank.
Scroll down and accept the terms and press ‘Check Domain’. WordPress will start to install, and once it is finished you should see an ‘Installation Successful’ confirmation page.
You are now the proud owner of a brand new WordPress blog! You know need to decide how you would like your site to look and start to produce some content. This is where the hard work starts!
5. Work On Your SEO
Now that you have your website set up and ready to go, you need to start making sure it rises the ranks on the search engines results pages. There are many ways to do this, and they all come under the heading of SEO – or Search Engine Optimization.
If you have never done any SEO before, you might want to think about getting a professional SEO agency to do it for you, or at least to get advice from and help you out. With their assistance, your website should be much more popular on Google and other search engines, which helps to ensure that it becomes more popular with your readers too.
To gain more readership, be sure to start out with strong SEO – and keep it going all the way.
The Benefits of Using Bluehost
There are a number of benefits when it comes to using Bluehost as your hosting platform, although just a few are:
- Access to domain name and custom email address – When it comes to building brand awareness, domain name email addresses are extremely important for creating trust in business.
- If you want to make money from your blog, the eCommerce features in Bluehost are very useful as they make it very easy to set up an online store with Bluehost. You also get SSL security for your transactions, which is a certificate generated for free, and this makes all transactions on your site secure.
- Another extremely important aspect of Bluehost is the security features it has. You will receive anti-spam protection, and if you need to block access to your site you have the option to blacklist IP addresses.
- Bluehost makes it a breeze to set up your website and manage it. Their cPanel interface is easy to use and you can look after every part of your website from one central location.
- Bluehost also covers all their plans with a 30 day money back guarantee, which means that if you cancel within the first 30 days of taking out your plan, you will receive a full refund. However, if you cancel after those 30 days you won’t get a refund from them.
If this post was helpful, please share it with your friends so they can also learn how to create a blog using Bluehost. If you’re unsure of anything or have any questions, please contact me and I will do my best to help you, or I will point you in the right direction.
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This is really helpful information for those who want to start a blog but may feel intimidated by the process. I hope this inspires people to start blogs who have been considering it, but holding back for some unknown reason.
Thank you for the comment, I hope it helps someone who wants to start a blog but something may be holding them back.
Really good post, I think these tips will be helpful people who just started. I haven’t tried bluehost but I think its good from some feedback I read on it.
Thank you for the comment! I would recommend Bluehost to anyone
Hi Lauren. Interesting stuff, thank you. Other than the price, what other advantages does Bluehost offer compared to other providers?
Hi Richie, Thanks for your comment! Some advantages of using Bluehost compared to other hosting providers include: Access to domain name and custom email address, a free SSL certificate, the eCommerce features they have as well as the security features to give you and your customers piece of mind and most importantly, how easy it is to use!