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Start WordPress Blog– WordPress is undoubtedly the most popular and hands down the best CMS or Content Management System for bloggers. If you are someone who is planning to get into the world of blogging, then you should definitely consider using WordPress as your CMS.
Since you are new to blogging, we assume that you are not familiar with WordPress and blogging. Well, don’t you worry as we are here to help you out in creating your first blog post? Today, in this post, we would be covering on How to start a WordPress Blog?
Don’t worry if you are a complete beginner with no previous knowledge about WordPress or blogging in general. We have written this ultimate guide in a beginner-friendly language. With that being clear, that being said, let us hop right into the post. Should we?
WHO IS THIS ARTICLE FOR?
Generally speaking, this article is for anyone willing to start their own blogging website on WordPress. These includes:
- People who move from Blogger to WordPress for their blog.
- Those who want to start their new blog on WordPress.
- Anyone who is willing to know what is WordPress and how can one start their blog with it.
Let us now take a look at Who is this Article not for. Yes, there are people who this post is not for.
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT FOR –
- People who are already using WordPress as their CMS and have all the basic knowledge about it.
- Those who think they can make quick money in a single month by just reading this article.
Is WordPress FREE?
Yes, the WordPress.org is completely free to use and is even open-source. This means that you can install WordPress on as many domains or websites as you want. You need not pay any charges at all. Not just this, since WordPress is also open-source, you can even contribute to it or distribute your own version of the CMS. Now, a lot of people have doubts regarding What is the difference between the WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
In simple words, we can say that WordPress.com has limited features and has paid plans. On the other hand, WordPress.org is completely free and open-source with no limitations at all.
Is WordPress better than Blogger?
Well, the answer to this question is pretty obvious, WordPress is better than Blogger. Why you ask. Well, with WordPress, there is literally no limitations. You can do almost anything you wish to on WordPress. Not to forget, there are thousands of Themes and Plugins out there to extend the features and functionality of your WordPress website. On the other hand, in the case of Blogger, you can’t do a lot and have limited features.
Having said that, let’s start our ultimate guide without wasting any more time.
How to Start a WordPress Blog – The Ultimate Guide
We have divided this post into simple steps to make it easier for you guys to understand. Also, do take some time out to read the whole article and make sure that you don’t miss out on any step. Having said that, let us now take a look at the first step of starting a new WordPress Blog.
Step 0: Prepare for your new blog
Were you expecting something like Get your Domain and Hosting? Well, though we can’t really deny the fact that those are one of the most essential steps. But if you ask us, the first step of starting a new WordPress blog or generally anything new is to prepare for it. Alright, but what you need to prepare how should you prepare it? Well, by saying “preparing” here. We mean to say that you should have a clear idea in your mind regarding what would your blog be about.
One of the most common mistakes that a lot of new bloggers do is that they run behind the niches which have higher CPC. Don’t worry if you don’t understand those terms right now. If you ask us, we will recommend you choose a Topic or Niche which you are interested in or have enough knowledge about. Say you are really good at Health and Fitness, then it is not a good idea to start a Tech Blog just because you get to attend these launch events. Do your own research and make sure that you have a clear idea about it in your mind.
Step 1: Get the essentials
Once you have got a clear idea in your mind, the next step is to decide the name for your blog. Now, if you are lucky enough, you will get the domain of your choice. But unfortunately for most people, the name they like are already taken. If this is the case, then don’t just get disappointed. Think of another name which is short, easy to remember and brandable. You should also make sure that your domain name does not contain special characters and is not too long.
Now, by “essentials”, here we mean just 2 things:
- Domain: Unique address of your blog to identify it on the Internet.
- Hosting: A rented server space to host your website.
- Optionally you can also purchase some premium WordPress Themes and Plugins if you wish to.
Here are the steps involved in the process of Buying Domain:
- Start by deciding the name for your new blog.
- Once you have decided the name, go to Domain Marketplaces like Godaddy and search for your domain name. If your domain name is already taken by someone, try another one.
- After finalizing an available domain, simply add it to your cart and proceed with the Checkout.
- To make sure that your domain is pointing to your hosting, change it’s DNS Records or Nameservers.
Once you have purchased your domain, the next thing which you wanna do is purchase Hosting. There are a lot of hosting companies out there to choose from. If you are looking for recommendations, then we would recommend:
- Siteground – For those looking for premium WordPress Hosting.
- Namecheap – For those who are on a budget.
You can get either WordPress Hosting or Shared Hosting. Yes, you can still install WordPress on your Shared Hosting via CPanel. If you don’t know-how, then you can simply ask your Hosting Provider to help you out in setting up WordPress on your domain.
Step 2: Login to your WordPress Blog
Once you have installed WordPress on your new website, simply login to your WordPress dashboard. To do so, simply add /login at the end of your domain name. For instance, if your domain is example.com, then simply enter example.com/login in the address bar and hit the Enter key on your keyboard. Finally, enter your username and password and click on login.
You can assume WordPress Dashboard as the Admin Panel of your website. You will only be able to make the changes to your website when you are logged in to your WordPress Dashboard. Now, the default theme of WordPress might not look appealing to everyone. So our next step is actually to Install and Customize theme on your WordPress blog.
Step 3: Install and Customize WordPress theme
If you are just starting out, then we will highly recommend you go with a Free theme. There are millions of free themes on the official WordPress.org theme directory. Why you should install a FREE theme from the WordPress directory only? Well, here are the reasons:
- 100% Safe and Secure.
- Theme code is reviewed by the WordPress Theme Review Team.
- Easy to search and install.
How to install a WordPress theme?
To install a new theme on your WordPress website, you need to follow these steps carefully:
- Go to Appearance >> Themes.
- Here, click on the Add New button.
- Search for the theme which you want to install. If you are looking for some suggestions, then we will highly recommend you install the Astra theme which is best for beginners since it comes with a lot of ready to import Starter Sites.
- Anyways, once you found your theme in the results, simply click on the Install button to install the theme.
- Once installed, click on the Activate button to Activate the theme on your website.
- If you install the Astra theme, you will get an option to install Starter Sites. Feel free to go ahead and import a Starter Site.
Once you have installed the theme on your website, the Next Step is to do some customizations to make the site look more brandable. We won’t be going to the Customization part as it will make this post a lot longer and boring. To customize your website look, go to Appearance>> Customize and do the needful. If you have no idea about the designing, then simply put site title, tagline, and a logo. Also, don’t worry since you can always change the look of your website in the future.
Step 4: Install the plugins
Plugins are useful in a lot of scenarios, extending the features of your site, doing SEO, improving performance are just a few places where plugins can really help. You can find a lot of free plugins on the official WordPress.org plugins directory. Why you should install a FREE Plugin from the WordPress directory only? Well, here are the reasons:
- 100% Safe and Secure.
- Plugins code is reviewed by the WordPress Theme Review Team.
- Easy to search and install.
How to install a Plugin?
To install a new plugin on your WordPress website, you need to follow these steps carefully:
- Go to Plugins>> Add New.
- Search for the plugin which you want to install.
- Now, click on the Install button to install the theme.
- Once installed, click on the Activate button to Activate the plugin on your website.
Plugin Recommendations:
Are you looking for some plugin recommendations? Well, here are a few plugins which are worth taking a look at:
- Yoast SEO: Great for On-Page SEO and to manage Sitemap, Robots.txt file of your WordPress blog.
- Akismet: For declining the number of spam comments on your blog.
- Tablepress: To insert tables in your blog posts. Tablepress offers some great table styles.
- Easy table of Contents: For the table of contents. Also, the Table of Contents is known to be one of the helping factors in SEO.
- WordFence Security: To make sure that your WordPress blog is safe from hackers and intruders.
- Updraft: For regular backup which is another crucial thing when it comes to maintenance.
A quick SEO Tip:
- Go to the Settings >> Permalinks.
- Here, select the Post Name option for SEO friendly permalinks.
Step 5: Publish your first blog post
Great Going Major! You have done a great job so far. Now, this is the first step which will definitely make you feel proud and you are gonna feel like all of the efforts you have put into your site are all worth it. In this step, you’ll be publishing your first ever blog post. Here are the steps which you need to follow to do so:
- First of all, you need to click on Posts>> Add New.
- Here, enter the title and start writing your post. Feel free to add Videos, Images, External links to make the post look more appealing and do better for your audience.
- Once you are done writing the post, create a new Category under Category option and select the same.
- Finally add the tags, along with a Featured Image and click on Publish to publish your first ever blog post.
- That’s it! Now click on View Post to view your first post on your website.
Your first post is now live on the Internet. Go and share your posts with your friends because Why not? Also, you can add your Author Bio and image by going to User>> Your Profile.
Step 6: Maintain Consistency
This is another crucial yet the most ignored step when it comes to blogging. A lot of bloggers, especially the new one does not maintain consistency when it comes to publishing posts or maintaining their WordPress website. Sure, publishing a post each day might not be possible since you are a complete beginner. By consistency, we simply mean that you should be willing to work on your blog.
We have seen a lot of new bloggers leaving this field thinking that it’s not their cup of tea. While the truth is that you haven’t done the needful to make blogging your sweet cup of tea. Even if you like Coffee. Anyways, like they say consistency is the key to success in any field. This is true with blogging too.
Conclusion & Summary
To conclude, we can say that WordPress is definitely one of the best and the easiest CMS out there for almost everyone. Doesn’t matter if you are. a beginner or a professional blogger. Also, if you have just started your journey, then we would like to tell you that don’t just focus on the money. We do understand everyone needs the money and after all, we all work for money. But you do need to do the hard work consistently while learning about things like SEO which can help you make more money. Just keep improving your skills consistently and the money will flow in.
What to do after you create a WordPress blog
Once you have started a blog and is putting efforts for a while, the next step which you should consider doing is paying attention to the revenue model of your blog. There are a lot of different ways using which you can earn some decent amount of money using your Blog, but here are the most popular ones:
- Advertisements: As the title suggests, in this method, you either use an Advertising Network like Adsense for your blog. Or you might even sell the Ad space on your website to a brand or company and can earn by charging them for this ad space on your website.
- Affiliate: Say your blog is around technology, then you can promote products on your website with their affiliate links. This way when anyone clicks on the link and purchases a product, you get a decent commission. Not only the physical products, but you can even find some service affiliate networks these days.
- Sponsored Posts: If your blog is generating a decent amount of traffic, then you can write or publish some sponsored posts. You can charge an amount from the sponsors.
We wish everyone Good Luck for their awesome journey of being a blogger. Just in case if you have stuck somewhere between the steps or had any questions related to the topic, then feel free to leave them in the comments section down below.
