A lot of people who come across the word “blog” automatically think it’s a very technical thing and that you might need a year or two of schooling to be familiar with it. Little do they know, blogging and blog creation can very easy and painless if you know where to go.

Let’s get down to the basics first.

What is blogging?

Well, a blog is a website that contains a discussion or information that might be of value to people. It can be just about anything from the life of a dog to the personal diary of a rocket scientist. You don’t have to be the owner of a Fortune 500 company or a celebrity to keep a blog. If you think you have something worth reading, a blog is always welcome.

Now, when you say blog, it means you have to publish entries every now and then. Doing this “manually” can be very time consuming. To make blogging easier and therefore more accessible to the public, people have created what we call “Content Management Systems”. Having a CMS makes blogging a whole lot fun as you don’t have to bother about the codes and whatnot and you will be focused more on the writing part.

So what CMS should you use? For starters, WordPress is the best choice. It’s a complete and newbie friendly CMS that takes care of everything else for the user. Now that you have a CMS in mind. All you need to do now is to take care of the domain and hosting.

What is Web Hosting?

Well, in order for your blog to be available for everybody to read. You need a place to host in online. In a nutshell, a web host will house all the information about your blog so that when somebody visits it, they will see everything on your blog.

So who should you trust with your blog’s details and information? Why don’t we ask WordPress? BlueHost is the only web hosting service recommended officially by WordPress. When the world’s most used and best CMS platform recommends you, you have got to be the best, right?

Here are some of the qualities that makes BlueHost better than the competition:

  1. Reliable service.
  2. Top quality customer service.
  3. Newbie friendly control panel
  4. Servers made customized to provide a reliable and stable hosting environment.
  5. A One-Click WordPress install feature.
  6. 24/7 top tier customer support.
  7. No gimmicks and no contracts.

Setting Up Your BlueHost Account

Now that you are decided that you will be using Bluehost as your web hosting provider, let’s try to set up your account.

First thing you need to do is to go to Bluehost.com and click “Get started now”.

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As soon as you click on the button “get starded now”, you will be taken to a new page. On that new page, you will be given choices or plans to choose from. Read through each available plan and see what fits your needs. If you are just starting with your blogging journey, it’s OK to start with the “bassic” plan which gives you everything you need for a price that’s not too hard to swallow. I have also made great deal with BlueHost for you and just by signing up through my link in BlueHost you will receive big discount on the hosting plan you choose.

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As soon as you select the plan you need, a new page will load. On this page, you will be given 2 options. First option allows you to search for a domain to use for your new website. Bluehost gives one free domain for every web hosting account. Selecting a domain might be hard or confusing but look for a name that is catchy and smart but it should also embody the main point of the blog you are making. The shorter the better. The other option is to sign up with domain name which you have already registered with other provider (like godady.com for example). I recommend you go with new domain name(anyway is free). And one quick tip: Don’t stuck so much with choosing domain name, the best bloggers passing fast this step because they already know what they are going to write about in the blog and have bunch of ideas for domain name.

Good examples for domain name for personal blog: iamjohanadoe.com, joahnadoesblog.com, adventurousjohana.com, johanaontheweb.com

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After choosing your domain name, you will redirected to the page where you have to fill your account information.

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Bellow you will then be provided a number of options upon signing up. You will also then be asked to select the length of your hosting package. You will be given 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years pricing. A longer subscription lowers the monthly price so it is recommended that you take the longer subscription as this lowers the monthly fee to as low as $3.49/month.

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One recommended feature is Domain Privacy. In a nutshell, domain privacy keeps your information from WHOIS databases. This means individuals or corporate entities won’t be able to get your personal information through your website WHOIS. But if you want to save as much as possible you can keep all the boxes unchecked.

After selecting the extra features, you will be then taken to the checkout page. All you have to do now is to pay your hosting and domain name.

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Don’t forget also to read and agree with Bluehost’s Terms of Service by clicking the square check box before clicking on “Submit” button.

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Congratulations you’ve successfully started your first blog!

WordPress Installation

Now that you have your hosting and domain set up, all you have to do now is to install WordPress. Normally, installing WordPress requires you to download the installation files on the WordPress website and uploading them to your site through the use of an FTP client. After which you have to run the installer inside your server. The problem with this is that it can become a bit too complicated for the ordinary folk. That’s why providers like BlueHost partner up with MOJO marketplace to offer a solution to this problem.

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MOJO marketplace allows you to install WordPress for your site with just one click of a button. You can see this feature on your cPanel. Just look for the button that says “One-Click Installs” and then find the Scripts and Platforms link. In your cPanel, scroll to the section titled “MOJO Marketplace”, where you can see WordPress under the Blog category. Clicking on the WordPress button will take you to their installation page. A bright green start button is what you should be looking for to install your WordPress.

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Step 1: First thing that will be asked is the installation destination. Remember the domain you registered a while ago? Select the said domain and click on Check domain. Oftentimes, there will be a prompt asking you if you want to overwrite files. If such prompts do come up, you can disregard it unless you have a different installation on said domain. This is just the feature’s way of making sure that you have the installation destination correct.

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Step 2: Next, you will be asked to fill in some information. This is where you can put the username and password. It is highly recommended that you change the default username “admin” into something more unique or personalized as it will prevent hackers from accessing your account through brute force. Your password should also be “strong” which means it should be unique, long, and varied. Lastly, make sure you check the box for “Automatically create a new database for this installation” which will make the installation automatic and easy for you.

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Step 3: This will be the last step for installing WordPress using Bluehost hosting. Check the terms and conditions and double check all the information you have entered so far. If you are sure you have everything in order, click on Install now. You will then see a progress bar that will give you an idea as to what’s going on with the installation. After installation, the page will display relevant information including your username, admin login URL, and password. All these information, except your password, will be sent to the email you used during installation.

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Using WordPress

Now that you have successfully installed WordPress, you can now log in. Use the admin URL provided to you by the installation and enter your username and password. Inside you will see the WordPress dashboard. This is where you can control everything on your site from design to content.

Need help?

If you stuck with any of the steps, or you have any other questions about setting up your blog, please feel free to contact me. I receive about 20 emails every day with questions about starting blog, so it will probably take me about 48 hour to answer on your question, so be patient.

You can contact me either way by leaving comment or using the contact form.

If you like this guide about how to create blog and you find it useful I will be grateful if you do these two things to help me imrpove it.

1. Send me your opinion about the guide

I really enjoy reading comments from people, who made their first blog, using my guide. Don’t be shy, contact me by email or leave comment below.

2. Share the guide with your friends

Usually nobody makes so full step-by-step guides how to do something. I hope this one will spread by word of month. If you know somebody who wants to start a blog or you think that this guide will be helpful to your friends please share it, using the social buttons below.