The First Part of Creating a Blog
When you decide you want to start creating a blog you have to start by finding the right blog host for you. This is not all that difficult to do, but you do have to know what to avoid and also you have to know what to look for. The key is to look at more than one of the blog hosts that are out there before you choose the one that is right for you.
You need the best blog hosting for you and this means you have to know what to avoid. Free hosting like Google web hosting is not what you want because this will not allow you to do everything you need to in order to make money with your blog and get ranked in the search engines. In short, Google web hosting is a waste of time if you are trying to make money or get people to your site.
This type of hosting will not give you the options you need, the space you need, or the exposure you are after. Google web hosting is the way that beginners try to go and they end up learning the hard way that it was a mistake. Do not start off with this type of a blog host or you may wish you had done some research before you chose your hosting.
What you really want to do is find a list of the top 10 web hosting companies and start comparing about three to five of them. You will find many similar options and you will find that some of these are very good as blog hosts and others are not as good of a blog host as you need. However, you are more likely to find the best blog hosting from one of the top 10 web hosting companies than from anywhere else.
Make sure you take your time when comparing these options so that you can find exactly what you need for your blog. Creating a blog is not always easy when you are new to it, but once you get it down once it will be easier to create your second blog and so on. It all has to start with the blog host you choose and you do need to make sure you get the best blog hosting for you.
The 5 Steps to Creating a Blog
Once you have searched and compared companies from the top 10 web hosting choices and you have found the best blog hosting for you it is time to move on to actually creating a blog. This is not going to be very successful if you have not done your research on the different blog hosts that are out there, so make sure you are confident in your hosting decision before you move on.
1. Get a domain of your own
If you want to get exposure, brand your blog, and get ranked higher on the search engines you are going to need a domain of your own. These are not very expensive and they make a huge difference when you are putting up a blog with the goal of making money. You want to get a .com, .net, or .biz domain name and this will run you about $10 to $20 per year.
The one thing you want to make sure you avoid is the .info domain name as this is just not a very good option and it is the worst of the domain names. However, this is still better than not having a domain name and it is very cheap. If you think about it you are only committing a little over a $1 a month to your business by getting a domain name.
2. Transfer the Domain to your Hosting Account
Many people will get stuck on this part of creating a blog because they do not know how to transfer a domain name. It is very easy, actually. All you have to do is log in to your hosting account and copy your nameservers for your hosting. Then, log in to the place you bought your domain from and go into the management of your domain. This is where you can change the nameserver or assign them and you just want to put your hosting nameservers in the boxes.
It will take about 12 to 24 hours for the transfer to go through, and then you need to create an add-on domain in your hosting account. This is pretty easy to do and just double check to make sure you types your domain in the box properly. That is all it takes and you can find help with free videos and the support of your host if this is too confusing for you.
3. Install WordPress
Probably the most important part of creating a blog is to install WordPress as your platform. This will allow you to customize your blog with themes, plugins, and widgets. Once you learn how to properly use WordPress you will be able to do so much more with a blog. This is going to be your backend management system and where you add your pages, posts, images, and more.
You simply will log in to your hosting account and find the Fantastico script, which is usually light blue and a round button. Just click on that and find the WordPress option on the left of the page. Then, you just want to do a new installation and select your domain name. Just follow the instructions from there and you will have WordPress installed on your site.
4. Log in and Choose a Theme
This is where you may want to take your time and do some testing. You created a log in username and password when you installed WordPress and you want to use this to log in to the admin section of your blog. If you cannot find the place to log in it is your domainname.com/wp-admin. You should probably bookmark this for later.
The theme will take some time and you can do a search on Google for a free theme or a paid theme that fits the style you are looking for. Installing it is pretty easy and when you download a theme it will be in the .zip form. Just go to themes, install new, and upload it from your computer to your blog. You can test the theme by creating a simple post or just by previewing your website to see how it looks.
5. Start Posting
The last thing you want to do is start posting. Once you have your blog looking the way you want you can start putting up posts. This is the most important part of creating a blog because the content is why people are going to come to your site. When you are creating a blog you have to make sure you are putting up good and usable posts for your readers. This will keep them coming back over and over again.
A Few Final Things to Remember when Creating a Blog
There are many things you can do with the WordPress platform when you are creating a blog and you need to learn each piece of it one by one. This is not something you are going to master in one week. It will take some time to master all that WordPress has to offer, but the good news is you only need to master a little bit of it to start putting up blogs.
You will want to look into all the different free plugins you can use when creating a blog with WordPress because these can help you get exposure and help you to do many things with your blog. There are plugins that will help you share your posts with Twitter and Facebook and other plugins that can help you monetize your site properly.
Basically when you are creating a blog you need to start with the hosting and the domain. If you do not have a good hosting company and your own domain name you are setting yourself up for failure and you will not really be creating a blog to make money. If your goal is to make money, then take your time when creating a blog and do it right.
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