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When researching how to start a blog with Bluehost, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. There are a plethora of websites that share how to get started, but many tutorials skip over the basics of starting a blog and use terminology and jargon that not everyone understands.
That’s why I’ve created this easy guide for you! It’s a step by step guide to launching a blog in 2020 so you can start writing your first blog post in 30 minutes or less!
I’ve turned this hobby blog into a money-making full-time income, and you can do the same! You just have to get started!
At the end of this post, I have a special offer for you! If you sign up for Bluehost using my discount link, I’ll send you a free one-hour training video walking through exactly how to do keyword research, optimize, and write blog posts in your WordPress dashboard. Just drop me a comment or email with your confirmation, and I’ll send you the training!
A Few Things to Consider Before Starting a Blog:
- What are you going to write about?
- Who is going to be your host? In my opinion, self-hosted is the ONLY way to go. I know you’re wondering “What’s the difference between hosted and self-hosted?”. I’ll explain that soon.
- What will your domain name be? For example, a mom who shares her keto recipes might want the domain ‘ketomom.com’.
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Before I dive in and teach you how to get started, click to grab your exclusive promo deal from Bluehost. You’ll save 63% off the basic plan through my special referral link.
Skip Ahead to Start a Blog for just $2.95/mo
What Types of Blogs Exist?
In my opinion, in this digital age, literally, every capable person should start a blog.
Lifestyle Blogs
If you’re a woman between the ages of 25 and 36, you’ve got a lot of life experience under your belt.
It’s time you started sharing your gifts and experiences with the world! What better place than through an online platform where you can literally reach millions of people?!
Business Provider Blogs (Real Estate Agents, Insurance Agents, etc)
The days of radio ads, television ads, billboards, and park benches are long gone and have been replaced by mobile devices.
Think about it. When you’re stopped at a red light (hopefully in the passenger seat and not driving), you’re probably not looking at the billboards.
You’re checking your social media accounts or searching online for something. Print advertising is obsolete! If you aren’t looking at the billboards and park benches, no one else is either.
It’s time to step up your online presence and create a website or blog, with hyperlocal, hyperspecific content created for your target clientele. If you can rank on page one of Google for certain keywords in your city, in your preferred subdivision, etc you’ll be so far ahead of the competition it’ll be unreal!
Mommy Blogs
I was always a working Mom. I was actually a better Mom when I got a bit of a break from my kids. It’s just the truth. But when my husband’s career changed, causing much more travel out of state, it was up to me to be more present and involved with the kids.
It was time for me to leave my corporate career in banking and real estate and stay at home with the kids. As exciting as you’d think it would be to quit your job and stay at home full-time, I was not feeling very fulfilled. So I learned how to start a blog and when I first started, I made some mistakes.
I fumbled through it. But the truth is, WordPress is very user-friendly and almost anything can be fixed if you make a mistake. Writing gave me an outlet…a way for me to connect with the outside world as a stay at home Mom.
In some ways, I’d say blogging saved me from the loneliness of motherhood as a stay at home Mom in a new area where I had little to no friends. We had just relocated to Illinois, and we were starting over. Blogging can be therapeutic!
Fan Site Blogs
My husband is a huge fan Dragon Ball Z, a Japanese anime television series that’s been around for several years. Every week he tunes in to new episodes and watches Dragon Ball Super.
It’s the nerdiest thing on the planet. But DBZ fans are #fansforlife. The same goes for Star Wars, Supernatural, The Walking Dead, The Bachelor, This is Us…you name it. There are communities built around many of these shows and movie series’.
If you have extensive knowledge and/or have seen every single episode and want to write about it and build a following, you should start a blog!
There are blogs tailored to superfans that make well over six figures of income every year where authors enjoy talking about a tv show or movie that they love and would talk about every single day whether or not they were being paid for it.
Teen Blogs
I can’t stress enough the value of getting your teens started blogging today! If they can learn how to start a blog, they can work on their writing skills and will be so far ahead of their classmates in terms of language arts and communication.
They can even make money doing it! Imagine having an outlet other than social media…where your kids can write about their struggles and wins. A place where they can share their knowledge of a certain subject.
A place where they can create and start making money to help so they can help buy their first car or evenpay cash for college! Have you ever heard of Ryan Toys Review? Ryan is six years old. His YouTube channel grossed over 11 million dollars last year.
11 MILLION FREAKING DOLLARS. Let that sink in for a minute. A six-year-old is a self-made millionaire….by creating videos that review his favorite toys.
Now that YouTube has changed monetization, it’s made it more difficult for YouTube channels to monetize, especially if the channels are geared toward kids.
That’s why blogging is the first side hustle I recommend to nearly everyone!
How to Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost
Step 1: Choose a Blog Niche Wisely
What is the one thing that you could talk about every single day of your life? What’s the one thing your friends and family get tired of hearing you talk about? What is your passion?
THAT is what you should blog about. In my case, I could talk about personal finance, blogging, and business every single day: the journey to pay off debt, save money, and create a life we’ve always dreamed about.
I never grow tired of talking about professional and personal development. So when I finally figured that out, it wasn’t a struggle for me to come up with blog post ideas.
Step 2: Choose a Self-Hosted WordPress Site
I highly recommend starting a self-hosted WordPress.orgblog. It’s what I use, and it’s the only way to go if you’re wanting to monetize your blog and make money blogging.
The alternative is to create a WordPress.com blog, but these types of hosted blogs are just so limited in terms of income potential and, to be honest, they’re kind of ugly.
This tutorial will teach you how to start a self-hosted WordPress blog.
Related Posts about How to Make Money Blogging:
- January 2019 Blogging Income Report
- February Income Report: How I Earned $5,365 Working From Home
- Blog Income Reports: How Much Do I Earn Blogging?
- Winning Pinterest Strategy for Blogs: Tailwind Tribes Tips for Beginner Bloggers
Step 3: Choose your Host
You’ve just downloaded WordPress to your computer, but now you need server space to hold all of your content. WordPress alone won’t publish your blog posts without a hosting provider.
There is a small fee that must be paid to the hosting provider to set up your account, store all of your files, and provide support for your website or blog. So choosing a good host is vital!
I’ve chosen some pretty terrible hosting providers before that chose to outsource their customer service, and I couldn’t even communicate with customer service. Don’t do that! Save yourself a headache and go with my preferred hosting provider Bluehost.
Click Here to >>> Go to Bluehost <<< to Sign up and Receive a FREE Domain.(The link will open in a new window so you can reference these instructions as you work.)
Click the big, green “Get Started” button:
Next, you need to choose your plan:
There are three different plans to choose from, but as you can see, with the plus and prime plans, you get many more features and space than with the basic plan.
And on the Prime Plan, you get domain privacy and SiteBackup Pro included (highly recommended)! You want your site backed up in the case of technical difficulties and your blog posts get lost in cyberspace!
Bluehost Discount 2020
Be mindful of your hosting provider. When I started my very first blog, I signed up with iPage, and they were absolutely horrible. Their customer service was terrible. I couldn’t understand the agents I was speaking to when I called in for support because their English was so broken. It was a nightmare!
There are some monthly hosting providers, like BigScoots and Siteground. While these companies may be great for larger, more established blogs, they are very expensive.
BigScoots costs $10.95 per month on their cheapest shared hosting plan vs Bluehost at just $2.95 per month.
When you sign up for hosting through my referral link, you’ll save money with my preferred rate of just $2.95 per month. (Regular price is $3.95 per month, so the savings really add up!)
Step 4: Choose your Domain Name
When you sign up for hosting with my referral link, you get a free domain name with Bluehost. Your domain name is simply your blog name.
I’m a HUGE fan of using your own name as your domain name. As a total perfectionist, I obsessed over my domain name with each blog I created until I finally let that go and chose to purchase my own name.
By using your name, you have flexibility in what you write about, and you are branding your website to yourself. The only time I don’t suggest using your name as the domain name is if you’re creating a hyper-niche blog like I mentioned above (superfan status) or if you’re a business such as a bakery or a restaurant.
Update: If you’re reading this as of July 2019, I migrated my site from perfectionhangover.com to perfectionhangover.com! I still recommend using your name if you’re a service provider, but take a minute and write down some adjectives that describe what you or your business are all about.
Of course, if you already have a domain name you’re in love with, you need to go ahead and purchase it before someone else gets to it first!
If you’ve already registered a domain and want to use it for this new site, enter iton the right. If you don’t already have one, enter your desired domain on the left. This is important, but remember, if all else fails, purchase your name and then you can buy another desired domain name later.
Domains only cost $10-12 so not a major expense at all!
Next, you’ll enter all of your account information and choose the term of your package. Bluehost offers terms of 1, 2, 3, or 5 years upfront, so you can pay in advance and save money (where other hosting providers charge double or triple for monthly payment plans).
Please don’t pay more than you have to for hosting by signing up for a monthly payment plan. That’s like buying a cell phone that retails for $800 but paying 36 monthly payments of $35.00 (overpaying by $460). I hate it when people get sucked into that kind of a “deal”.
Just be sure to pin this post to your “How to Start a Blog” board on Pinterest.
Choose the plan that fits your budget, and you can’t go wrong.
Step 5: Enter your billing information.
This step is pretty self-explanatory. Just enter your credit or debit card number, expiration date, and CVV code and don’t forget to read the fine print and click “Submit”.
Next, you’ll be asked if you want to sign up for upgrades or special offers. Skip those for now. You’re ready to get started, and you don’t need any of that at this time.
Choose a Password.
Click the green “Create your Password” button. This will be your password for BlueHost so be sure to write it down somewhere safe.
Now it’s time to get started blogging! Click the blue “Start Building” button and use the login credentials you just created in the last step.
Step 6: Log in to Bluehost
This is what your Bluehost Login looks like. Enter your credentials so that you can get to WordPress (the program that makes your site beautifully unique).
Step 7: Name Your Blog and Create a Tagline
Now comes the fun part! You get to name your blog and give it a catchy tagline! Don’t feel like you’re committing to marriage here. Just enter something that inspires you, and it can always be changed later.
Step 8: More About Your Website Purpose
Whether you’re starting a blog as a hobby or looking to monetize it, you’ll need to define your purpose. Fill out the short questionnaire, and next comes the fun part!
Step 9: Choose a Theme
Bluehost will give you the option to choose a free theme. This will work for now, and when you’re ready to purchase a theme, I highly suggest any of the themes from Restored 316. My website started out with the “Glam” theme. You can see it here.
Side note: There are plenty of free themes available in the WordPress dashboard. You don’t have to buy a theme right off the bat. But if you want a beautiful, feminine theme, Restored 316 can’t be beat!
Be sure to pin this page to your “Starting a Blog in 2020” board for reference so you can go back and look at all of Restored 316’s themesmade specifically for women entrepreneurs.
Step 10: Easy WordPress Install
Installing WordPress is as easy as clicking a button…seriously.
Now you can log into WordPress and begin writing your very first blog post!
Last but not least, it’s time to familiarize yourself with the Bluehost cPanel and WordPress Dashboard. Your cPanel (shown below) is where you can change settings and set up email accounts for your new blog.
This is what your WordPress dashboard will look like. This is also known as the “back-end” of your website. On the left-hand side of your screen, you’ll see where you can create a new blog post, and I’m offering you a free 1-hour video training that will walk you through how to get started in your WordPress dashboard (when you purchase hosting using my referral link).
When I first started blogging, I paid for a course to teach me the ins and outs, and it cost me over $700!
Sign up for hosting here, and drop me a comment below with your email, and I’ll send you a coupon for a FREE copy of my video training.
This free training offers:
- How to find keywords that will help you rank in Google.
- How to optimize, outline, and structure a blog post so that Google LOVES you!
- How to create beautiful images for your blog posts using Canva.
- Where to share your blog posts so that you can gain traffic.
I hope this tutorial helps you jump off the fence and start your own blog! Every single blog or website has to go through these exact steps before launching a new blog, so we all know how intimidating it can be. Let me know if you have questions in the comments below and please share with a friend!
And when you’re ready to amp up your social media game, read this post on my Winning Pinterest Strategy where I share how I grew my Pinterest audience 10x the first month, driving 10,000 page views to my brand new blog using Tailwind.
Remember: Every single person should start a blog! It’s up to you to find your voice and start sharing your gifts with the world!
CLICK HERE to save on hosting with my exclusive Bluehost coupon!
