Today I am going to tell you the steps in how to start a self-hosted WordPress Blog using Bluehost . This post contains affiliate links which means I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase through a link. Thank you in advance for supporting this blog!
There are free website platforms out there such as blogger.com and WordPress.com, but if you are serious about your blog and you would like to monetize it, this post is absolutely the right one for you! Continue reading if you’d like to start your blogging career…
Eight Easy Steps to Start a Self Hosted WordPress Blog
I get this question all the time, how do I start a blog? So, I have put together this “How to Start a Self Hosted WordPress Blog” with easy to follow instructions on how I set my website! I started off my blog on WordPress.com which is a free platform and I don’t suggest this if you are serious about blogging and want to monetize your site. When you sign up for a free account, they host all of your content on their servers. Which means your photos and content is stored on their hardware for free of charge, the catch is, they own your content and if they want to shut your site down they can. By the way, it’s always a good idea to have a back-up of your hard work no matter what way you are implementing your website.
Owning my own content and wanting to monetize and customize my site is a huge reason on why I decided to switch to the WordPress.org platform and host it myself using Bluehost. Luckily if you have a WordPress site already they make it pretty easy for you to switch your content over! Essentially what you are doing with Bluehost is renting out space on their servers to store your photos, content, and website. You own all of your own content. On top of that, they provide a lot of amazing features as well such as a free domain name! You also have the added support from them if anything is going wrong with your site!
Step One: Go to Bluehost and purchase web hosting
Head over to Bluehost to purchase web hosting. Currently, I have the basic and I ordered it for two years because it saved money. You can also choose Plus or Choice Plus from Bluehost’s three available options.
Step Two: Pick your Bluehost Plan
Currently, I have the basic, but I ordered it for 36-months because it saved money. As a new blogger you will not need the Plus or Choice Plus plan, and you can always upgrade your plan as your blog grows.
Step Three: Choose a Domain Name
When you sign up for the 12-month plan you get a FREE DOMAIN NAME! I use to pay $10 a month through google for my domain name when I was on blogger.com and then switch the domain name through Bluehost. At first, I struggled with coming up with a domain name, but I ended up choosing my name because I figured it would be easy for me to change topics since I was indecisive when I first started blogging. I put out a wide net, to begin with (fashion, fitness, beauty, decor, and lifestyle) and throughout the blogging process I have narrowed down my interests (and what is profitable) to fitness and travel. You can really do whatever you are able to keep up content-wise, but I do think it is better to choose one or two niches.
Step Four: Enter Your Basic Information
This process takes about 10 minutes to complete.
Step Five: Pick a Package
Next, you can choose if you would like a package. I choose the 36 months basic because it saved me money!
Step Six: Enter your Payment Information
Step Seven: Create a Password
Click on the Create your password button.
Click the log in button to go to the next section
Step Eight: Choose a Theme
WordPress has a lot of free options but, I also suggest getting a theme from Creative Market which is the site I bought my current template. This website is great because you can also purchase landing pages and a million other stellar assets for your blog!
YOUR DONE!!
Well, things have only really begun. Blogging is an incredible journey and a lot of work. I suggest you download the plugin Yoast to begin making all of your blog posts SEO (search engine optimization) friendly from the beginning. Time to go take a look around your dashboard and get comfortable in your new home on the Internet.
After you have written some posts you can select Launch your site!
Before launching your website, I suggest that you have around 10-20 blog posts on your website so that people have blog posts to click on if they browse your site.
Back in your Bluehost account, you can manage to add an email, like the one I have hello@kitstanwood.com. Bluehost has been really great on the phone and live chat with me, so contact them if you ever have any technical issues!
Congratulations!! You have launched your website!
Now that you have your blog, how do you grow and get page views?
1. Set up Social Media Channels
You should set up a Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram account to share your blog out on!
For Pinterest I use Tailwind (get $15 credit when you sign up with my link!) to schedule out pins to boards for me automatically saving me hours of manually pinning pins so I can spend more time creating beautiful graphics for my blog ,which I make with the free website Canva. Currently I receive over 14,000 views per blog post from Pinterest using Tailwind!
You will want to join group boards on Pinterest that are within your niche. Then once you have about 100-200 or more group boards, make a list in your Tailwind dashboard. You can then install the Tailwind plugin for chrome and navigate to the pin. Hover over the pin and see the Tailwind button. You will click this and then it will allow you to schedule out to your board list. You will want to make sure you go to your tailwind dashboard and shuffle your pins so they do not all share in the same order and look spammy!
Sign up with my Tailwind link here to get a month free!
Here is an example of how tailwind has helped one of my pins:
Tailwind is a MUST for blog traffic! I suggest making 5-10 Pinterest graphics per post to see which one performs the best!
2. SEO: Search Engine Optimization
SEO is what google or other search engines use to decide what websites show up on the first page of search results. It’s easy and free traffic so uses it to your advantage! There are over 200 factors that come into play including choosing the right keywords for your blog posts through research using tools such as keyword tool (a chrome extension you can put on your laptop), how fast your website is, the quality of websites linking to your website, as well as outbound links, and a lot of other factors! You should start optimizing your blog posts from day one! Don’t skip it like I did and have to go back and redo all your keywords and research along the way.
3. Start your Email List!
I suggest signing up with Mailchimp for your first 1,000 subscribers because it is free. However, I have recently switched to ConvertKit because of their easy email automation workflow. I found MailChimp to be a little confusing and hard to use, so if your serious about growing fast and are willing to purchase an emailing service to get ahead sign up for ConvertKit. My email list has tripled since I started using it three months ago!
How to Make Money Blogging?
1. Advertising Networks
I currently use Google Adsense on my website which has an easy to use a plugin for WordPress!
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is basically (but a little more complex) when you link products and you make a small commission (at no extra charge to the buyer) when someone purchases through your link. Amazon Associates is a great starting point for affiliate marketing because of the vast amount of products they available.
The Top 5 Affiliate programs I suggest that you apply to are:
3. Selling Virtual Products
Selling virtual products includes ebooks, courses, printables, apps, plugins, themes, software, planners, photos, or templates.
4. Selling Physical Products
Physical products include merchandise that you could sell through WooCommerce!
5. Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are pretty fun, to begin with, but I have stopped doing as many as I use to. The campaigns can be very specific and cut out creativity. However, if you love to negotiate, then I suggest cold emailing companies until you land a few big sponsorships! You will want to create a media kit before emailing brands. There are also a lot of great websites out there for you to sign up for and get in contact with brands and sign up for campaigns if you are accepted. A few of my favorites are Tapinfluence, Activate, Zine, Aspireiq, The Plug, Social Fabric, Social Native, Socialix, Fotofluence, and Massive Sway.
6. Running Online Events
Online events could be from webinars to conferences, workshops, or even meetups.
Happy Blogging!
Leave your new URL in the comments below. I’ll check it out and comment!
Tatyana says
Those are great tips to get started! I need to begin working on my e-mail list.
Gaonou Lo says
Love these tips! I’m thinking of starting my blog back up again and these tips have inspired me to do so ๐
Kristina Escortell Krzesniak says
Thank you so much for all the info! I have been wanting to start blogging for a while but never knew where to start!
Kait says
Such a great step-by-step tutorial! You left nothing out!
xox-
Kait
Lena says
Every new blogger has so many questions in the beginning. Especially such questions as to how to start blogging, how to make money blogging, where to find all information, etc. Being a new blogger myself, I struggle with finding information related to my blog every day. I have to take it piece by piece and put it together after. It is so much time consuming ๐ It is always good to know exact sources which can help us to minimize stress at the first stages of our blogging career and make the whole process easier. Thank you for good tips, easy and useful content ๐
April says
These are such great tips! I picked up and learned a lot from reading this! Thanks!
nakiesia says
This is great advice! I wish I would have done more research before starting my blog. You gave some helpful tips. Thanks and keep doing a great job!
Reachel says
These are some great tips, overall good read, well said. Personally I learned so much from reading this, and now I know how to go forward. Thanks! Keep writing.
kitstanwood@gmail.com says
Thank you! Good luck with your website!! Let me know if you need any help or suggestions for your site.