Building a WordPress website with a reputable web host has become simple and stress-free because of the availability of detailed online tutorials like this one. With the world suddenly dealing with a pandemic that none of us was prepared for, most of our times are spent from our homes, and working on a blog from home could be a great idea. How do you then build a WordPress website?
In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to build a WordPress website from scratch.
Blogs are one of the ways people make passive online income today. However, the naked truth is that blogs are not instant moneymakers, it takes time and requires a lot of time and work. However, once you get to your breakthrough, there is no turning back.
What is a blog?
A blog is an online journal or a website where information on any topic is shared.
The information or content in a blog is presented in reverse chronological order, meaning the latest posts appear first.
Similarly, a blog is an online platform where a writer/publisher shares random thoughts or views on a particular subject of interest.
According to OptinMonster, today there are about 70 million posts being published each month by WordPress users. From these statistics, you can already imagine the competition in blogging but as they say in content creation space is enough for everybody. Just find your corner of the Internet and go!
Why do people start blogs?
Are you wondering why people start blogs? Why people build WordPress sites?
To share our stories. Blogs allow people to have a voice and be heard. It gives us that platform to share our unique stories.
To be recognized as an individual and for your business. Successful blogs turn ideas into reality and can gain a lot of recognition in the respective field. Many bloggers have turned experts just because of their blogs and get deals based on their blogs.
Find an online community. With blogs, people comment on your posts and share ideas. You also get to share ideas with people who are interested in the same things as you are. Blogs allow you to teach from an experience perspective.
An option to Migrate your WordPress site
If you already have a website and are looking for options to migrate to a better web host, then you are sorted because this web host has launched a new product (a plugin) that enables website owners to migrate their WordPress websites for free.
You can also download the plugin from your WordPress Dashboard and migrate your site.
Process of starting a blog/Building a WordPress Website
- Select your blog niche
- Pick a blog name
- Register your blog and get hosting
- Customize your blog by choosing a free theme template and tweaking it to suit your needs
- Get people to read your blog by promoting it
- Make money blogging. There are various methods that bloggers use to make money depending on their niche and the method they are best comfortable with.
Select a Niche before building your WordPress Website
Before picking your blog name, you need to select a niche. What will your blog be about? Is it fashion, lifestyle, sports? Technology etc.
If not sure about the topic of your blog, you may want to consider brainstorming over the following ideas.
What are your hobbies and passions? Are you interested in fashion, lifestyle, cooking, baking, sports, or design? These are just some of the examples.
Life experiences. You may have a unique topic about your life experience that you would like to share with the world. For example, you may be a mummy of quadruplets and you want to speak about the experience you have taking care of four kids all born at the same time. People would love to read your thoughts and experience on that.
A personal blog. This is basically a blog about you. In this type of blog, you can share your daily activities, thoughts, and ideas. My advice about this type of blog is to discuss things that add value to your readers and make them feel included in the posts. If you just go around talking about yourself and thinking your opinions are the only ones that matter without concentrating on solving your readers’ problems, you may not gain as many followers or readers to your blog.
Once you have settled on a blog topic, it is time to choose a blog name also called a domain name.
Choose a Name for your site before building your WordPress website
Also, worth noting, if you are blogging about a single topic, it is a good practice to include it in the domain name/domain name. For example, ‘sports’ does not ideally have to have the word ‘sports’ in the blog name but could have tennis, football, rugby among other sports games.
If you intend to cover a variety of topics in your blog, then it is recommended that you use your name as the blog name or make one of the parts of your name of the blog name. You will find that most common names like Alice are already taken so maybe you could use your second name in that scenario.
If you are still having trouble picking out your domain name/blog name, reach out to me here and I will assist you for free! This offer applies to new individual bloggers only, for corporate blogs I charge a small fee.
Register your site and get hosting
What is blog hosting anyway?
You live in a house, right? Your website also needs somewhere to live just like you that we call hosting and that is what web hosting companies take care of. Your domain name, on the other hand, is the street address. That is the name your website will be known by just like a street is given a specific unique name.
You do not want to hire laborers or architects that will do a shoddy job in building your house because that is where you are going to spend most of your time. In the same way, you do not want to host your website with some crappy web hosting companies. Trust me there are there.
You need to go through the options available and choose a web host that is reliable and offers great customer service. This is very important because you may need to contact them at any time of the day in case anything goes wrong with your website.
I have been there, and my hosting company really came through for me. The customer service was great and responded promptly.
Just to summarize the point about hosting, when we compare the advantages of a free website with the disadvantages of the same such as limited ways of making income in the future, not reliable and lack of flexibility among other cons I haven’t mentioned here, the choice is pretty obvious. Go for SELF-HOSTING, not free hosting.
Here we will get just a little bit technical, not too technical that a non-tech savvy person cannot comprehend though.
It is time to get your blog up and running.
At this point, you need a web host or a blog host and blogging software that enables your blog or site to be viewed by Internet users. Do not stress since the two will come packaged together.
A web host is a company that is responsible for making sure that your site can be browsed by Internet users. The web hosting company does this by storing your site’s files and availing them whenever needed by online users who look for information daily on the Internet.
Therefore, a blog or web host is mandatory for your site’s online visibility. It is not an option.
Equally important, there is the software that you use to build your blog. I would recommend WordPress since the most popular Content Management System that is used globally. In addition, it is very user friendly.
For WordPress solutions only, Sign Up here only at $ 2.95/month.
I use Bluehost for my blog and the customer service is great. They are available 24/7 to assist whenever you have issues or stuck with something. I speaking from a point of experience.
For following are some of the reasons why I recommend Bluehost for new bloggers especially.
- The registration for your custom domain is free.
- Bluehost offers reliable web hosting and has been recommended by WordPress since 2005 and they currently host 2 million blogs and websites.
- WordPress Installation is free! You will not be charged.
- Customer Service is 24/7 via phone and webchat.
- If you are unsatisfied which is unlikely, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Disclosure: If you use any of the Bluehost links on this site, you will get yourself a special offer of $3.75 per month. How affordable and convenient is this.
Digital Resource KE gets a small commission from Bluehost when you purchase through this link ad all my services are free of charge to newbie individual bloggers. Feel free to contact me here when having issues setting up your blog.
If you are using my tutorial and you experience any challenges setting up your blog, contact me and I will set it up for you free of charge!
Get started setting your blog using the following steps.
To set up your blog you first need to register your blog and get hosting as I already mentioned.
- First, you will need to access your hosting company’s official website which in this case has selected Bluehost. Go to Bluehost official website and get started!
- Secondly, it is time to select your Plan. If you are a new blogger, I would advise that you pick the basic plan for starters.
- Type in your Domain Name in the “Create a New Domain” if you are a newbie/or a new blogger. Equally important to note that you should only key in a domain name in the right box if you have paid to register for a domain name before.
You have the option of choosing a domain name later in case you have not settled for one. Take your time there is no pressure here.
- Fill out the billing details on the registration form.
- Choose your hosting package. Just to give clarity here, all the hosting packages have all you need to run your blog smoothly. That includes; a free custom domain, WordPress Blog installation, web hosting, and custom email addresses, for instance, yourname@yourdomainname.com. In my case my official email address is alice@digitalresourceke.com. That looks professional right? You do not want to be telling your clients to contact you through a Gmail or Yahoo email address. They will not view you as a serious professional.
For your information, with the 36-month package, you will get to pay lower monthly rates, whereas the 12-month package month has a lower rate that you pay upfront.
You can uncheck the boxes next to extra products save for “Domain Privacy and Protection.” Please note that this is not mandatory, but domain privacy keeps your personal information such as phone number, email address, name, and physical address hidden from the public database of registered domain users.
- Enter your payment details in the form and agree to terms by placing a tick in the checkbox.
Set up your Bluehost account and password.
You will be taken to the page that will enable you to create your account. You can skip the steps to be directed straight to the dashboard.
The system will automatically install WordPress. When the installation process is complete, click on the Blue WordPress button to enable you to access the administrator area of your blog. If you are having any issues, contact me here but make sure you have completed all the steps and you are in this step. Allow for up to 2 working days for me to finish your installation.
For any questions related to blogging, send an email to my official email is- alice@digitalresource.ke.
It is time to customize your site
First, you need to log in.
If you are already logged in from the previous step, go to Bluehost.com and click log in from the top right.
A login window will be displayed for you to enter your username and password.
How to change your blog’s Design/appearance?
For you to make any changes to your blog, you must log in as the Administrator i.e. in the WordPress Admin area.
Depending on your blog’s niche, you have an idea of how you want your blog to look like. You know the visual appearance you desire somewhere at the corner of your mind that you want to turn into reality.
Depending on your blog’s niche, you have an idea of how you want your blog to look like. You know the visual appearance you desire somewhere at the corner of your mind that you want to turn into reality.
The amazing feature of WordPress is that it allows you to tweak your blog’s appearance as you want to.
I am going to introduce a term called theme(s) that may be new to some of us in this context. In WordPress, blog layouts are called themes. Your blog’s theme determines how your blog’s design will look like to your audience.
To change your blog’s theme, click on the “Appearance” tab from the left menu.
You will notice the variety of themes that your WordPress comes with, for example, Cenote, Twenty-Nineteen, Twenty Seventeen, Beam among many others.
I would recommend that you use one of these themes especially because you are just beginning. Once you are established and have mastered blogging and have started making some income, you can purchase from Elegant Themes for instance.
These themes you currently see on your WordPress are properly designed, neat-looking, and can perfectly work for your blog. The good thing is that you do not have to pay for any of them. Most successful bloggers also use these very themes.
If you have a particular theme that you like and have already purchased, there is no har. Go ahead and use it if you are 100% sure it is from a genuine source. Some themes can contain malicious malware and when they gain access to your WordPress you will be a roasted goose!
The process of Installing a theme
If you want to install a particular theme, hover your mouse over it and click on the “Activate” button. As simple as that, you would have changed the entire design of your blog.
Blogging does not require one to be tech-savvy. That is a misconception. Things have been simplified of late.
If you want to install a new theme, go to the “Appearance” tab again on the left menu and click “Add New Theme.”
You can choose from several themes by entering the name in the search box that is if you know the name of theme you want to install.
The themes you like and have tried before are available on the “popular”.
When you come across a thee that you like and would want to try, click on the “Install” button that is in blue.
Click “Activate” to activate a thee once you have installed one on your blog.
As a newbie in blogging, this is the easiest way to customize your blog.
Write your first blog and publish it
It is now that time to write your first blog post. You may want to check out how to write a successful blog post.
his is why we were learning how to build a WordPress Website particular. WordPress is the most user friendly Content Management System (CMS).
Are you excited you have come this far?
On the left side menu of your WordPress dashboard, click on “Posts” then “Add New”
Please note a default post exists in every new WordPress Blog.
On the post editor screen, you can type the title of your post and begin writing your post.
To add a new image, click on the “Add Image “icon, then click “Upload” to upload an image from the device you are using.
Click the publish button on the top right corner of your screen when you have finished writing your post. Your post will be published once you click on “Publish.”
You can go live
If you are now sure that you have set everything in place and ready to go public, click on the “Bluehost” menu at the top left of the menu in your WordPress Admin Window and click on the button that says “Launch your Website.”
Congratulations on coming this far. You have just begun the walk to becoming an online star. Now you can start brainstorming on your long-term goals, for instance, how you want to earn money from your blog.
I would like to appreciate you for coming this far with this summarized version.
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