Thousands of articles are available on the web on “How to create a WordPress Blog?” but most of them are a bit difficult to understand for beginners. Here I have written this article on “How to create a WordPress Blog in simple steps: Complete guide for beginners in 2020”
My step-wise blog creation guide will help you on How to make a WordPress press blog?
I know that creating or starting a blog may seem overwhelming and intimidating. This complete WordPress blog tutorial is all about blogging for beginners. This will teach you how to be a blogger with just the most basic computer skills.
So even if you are a beginner or having some idea, belong to a non-IT background or from an IT background you can easily learn the website or blog creation with the help of this WordPress blog tutorial.
When I was first learning how to build a blog I made a lot of mistakes and I am not ashamed to admit that.
That’s why this idea came to my mind that I must jot down all the learning from my experiences pertaining to blogging.
I am very much sure that you will be benefited from this step-wise blog creation guide. This will let you not to waste time and repeat these mistakes when you make your own blog. Once you go through this guide you will find that you can also create a WordPress blog in easy steps.
I created this free blog creation guide so that anyone can learn how to start a blog quickly and easily. And if you get stuck somewhere, please comment me below and I will surely help you!!
Table of Contents
What is a blog?
In a very precise way blog is a type of website that focuses mainly on written content, also known as blog posts. In a normal context, we often hear about news blogs or fashion blogs, but you will get to know in this guide that you can start a blog on any topic or you can say niche imaginable.
Bloggers often write on the topics which they have interest or knowledge so they can connect directly with the reader.
In most of the blogs, there is a “comments” section where readers can correspond with the blogger. This interaction between bloggers and readers helps to further enhance the connection between them.
This direct connection to the reader is one of the major benefits of starting a blog. And allows you to share ideas and interact with other like-minded people. This as a result also builds trust with your readers.
The trust and loyalty once developed also open up the door to making money from your blog, which I will discuss later in this article.
Who can start a blog?
Anyone who wants to share his or her knowledge with the world can start a blog. One of the misconceptions about starting a blog is that you need to be very good at writing. This is absolutely not true. People go to blog sites to get a personal perspective on things. So most bloggers write in a very conversational and informal style.
You just know the basic writing skills and you can start writing blogs and practice makes a man perfect. Keep writing and gradually you will see the difference.
In addition, you don’t need to be an expert on your topic to become a successful blogger. For e.g., readers of a cooking blog don’t want to read a blog from a top chef or specialist. They want to read the experiences of someone who has actually cooked something good, the mistakes made, tips, recipes and all.
To become a successful blogger there is one requirement which is a passion for your topic or niche. Blogging is about sharing your knowledge with the world. If you are passionate about a topic you can easily write a blog and your passion will shine through and keep your readers interested.
Why start Blogging?
There are four major reasons to start a blog:
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Make money from home.
If you are doing blogging correctly it is very lucrative. The top bloggers are earning like anything. Even part-time bloggers or new bloggers can also expect a decent profit if it’s done correctly.
Blogging is a very common source of passive income since you spend a few hours a week writing a blog post and then continue to make money from it long after the blog post is written.
This is a gradual process and you will learn it once you get into it.
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Share your story.
A blog allows you to share your story and be heard. A blog is a series of experiences and learning from various areas and it is shared with the readers.
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Recognition for yourself or your business.
A successful blogger gains so much recognition in the respective field. Through the blog, bloggers have created their brand value and hence their business flourishes. They usually become experts in their field and have many sources of income.
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Find a community.
As blogging is interactive and when you write people comments on it. This is called engagement and in this way, you will be connected to the like-minded people. Hence bloggers can create or find their community.
Good News:
The good news is that the internet is booming with growth right now. More and more people are online. This exponential growth means more potential readers for your blog. In short, if you have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time then go for it right now.
Blog creation or website creation is very easy if you follow the simple steps mentioned below.
Let’s start your blog!
Steps to Create a WordPress Blog
Step 1: Choose a blog name
Choosing a blog name is a very first step to create a WordPress blog and it must be appealing and commensurate with the topic or niche you decided.
Even if you are not sure what topic to write upon, find out from the following ways to select a niche.
- Hobbies & passions.
Most people write a blog about their hobbies and passions. A few examples are technology, cooking, travel, fashion, mobile phones, cars, parenting, music, and so many things are there. You can write on anything because your target audience can be from any place across the world.
- Real Life experiences.
We all have some lessons which we have learned through real-life experiences. Sharing this knowledge can be very helpful to others in similar situations.
This could be related to your family (like parenting, teenage issues with children), Other life experiences (a blog about dealing with a troubling time such as any disease or divorce, etc.), Happy experiences ( preparing for a wedding or a birth of a child).
- A personal blog.
This personal blog is a blog all about you. This will include a number of topics, from things you do on a daily basis, to random thoughts and opinions. This is a wonderful way to share your thoughts with the world. In this, you do not need to be specific about a niche or topic.
Once you have decided on the topic or niche you can choose your blog name.
How to choose your blog name?
A good blog name should be descriptive in itself so that potential readers may easily tell what your blog is about from the name.
If you are blogging about niche segment then you must include that in some way in your blog name. It’s somehow difficult to get the name which you want, so must try different names and combinations. For e.g. a travel blog doesn’t necessarily have to have the word “Travel” in it. The words “Fly”, “Tourist”, “Exotic Locations” would also let people know that your blog is about travel.
After selecting the name you need to choose a domain extension. A .com extension is most preferred as it has worldwide popularity. But .net, .org, .in also work well. There should not be any spaces in between the words of blog domain for e.g. “I am Priti.com” becomes “iampriti.com”.
You should not use any spaces or punctuation but dashes can be there in a domain name.
Now once you have got your domain name and extension, it is time to make sure that it is available and no one else has already taken the same name:
Check your blog or website name availability
If you find that the name you wanted is already taken there are a few things you can do:
What if you find that the name you wanted is already registered by someone else? Don’t worry you can try a few things as below:
- Try a different domain extension. If the .com extension is already gone, you may still be able to get .net, .org, .in etc.
- Add dashes between words. You can add a hyphen or “-” for e.g. Priya-kumar.com
- Add small words. You can add small words like “a”, “the” etc.
You can buy the domain here at a discounted price.
Step 2: Get your blog online
It’s time now to get your blog online, once you have come up with the domain name. Don’t worry this is not that technical as it sounds. The steps below will walk you right through and make the process simple.
To get your blog online you need two things:
- Blog Hosting
- Blogging Software is typically known as the Content Management System (CMS)
But here there is nothing to worry because these typically come packed together.
A hosting provider is a company that stores all of the files for your blog or in simple words it provides you a space to store your blog.
When any visitor or user types your blog website name it directs the visitor to your blog. So you must have a web hosting in order to have a blog.
Good hosting is highly recommended because it is the pillar on which the blog is based on. There are several hosting companies available in the market.
Please refer The ultimate guide on how to choose the best web hosting for in-depth knowledge of web hosting.
But this is advice that doesn’t go for any cheap or local hosting because later you will regret when you will not get any support, slow speed, frequent downtime, service issues, data safety issues (resulting in hacking) and other such things.
A blogging software or CMS is a blogging platform that allows you to build your website or blog within minutes without any need for coding or technical expertise.
WordPress is the most popular, customizable and easy to use blogging software or platform.
The Blog hosting provider which I recommend is A2Hosting. I have been using this hosting for long and I will show you how to use it in this guide.
Before we see how to use A2Hosting, I would like to share the reasons for recommending A2Hosting :
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Use any Link on the article to avail discount of 51% and bonus gifts from my side worth $85.
Disclosure: A2Hosting compensates me when you buy through my link, so my services are free of charge to you! In fact, if you have any problem at all setting up a blog with this tutorial, just comment me and I will help you.
Click on this link to avail 51% discount and then scroll down the page, in left click on COMPARE PLANS as shown below:
While selecting a plan I recommend that if you are a blogger and want to host a single website then opt for Lite else you can go for Swift or Turbo based upon your need.
Once You Select plan of your choice you will have to input your domain , if you don’t have a domain then buy domain at maximum discount and then select “I will use my existing domain and update my nameserver” else you will get a free subdomain from a2hosting till you don’t add your domain which can be done anytime even after creating the blog. Continue by selecting Check Button.
You will get the Plan page with the discount applied, proceed to Checkout.
Now you have to configure the Plan, where you have to select the time period for which you want to buy hosting currently, default it will show 36 months under Billing Cycle, so select your billing cycle and click on continue.
Now you need to fill all your details correctly to complete the order.
After you fill your details, below you will find the payment selection modes and if you are from INDIA then select the CCAvenues as marked below or Paypal if you have Paypal account and complete your order by filling the details of the payment as selected by you.
Once the Order is complete you are logged in to the Hosing panel and select My Services to continue or if you have logged out then you can log in again through the screen as shown below.
Once you login to the Client Area of A2Hosting you will see 1. Account Details (described below ) 2. cPanel Login button to directly go to cPanel to install WordPress or for any other activity
As you click on Account details the page as below appears where 1. Account details i.e. the Login link to cPanel & nameservers 2. Username and password of cPanel are visible.
As you login to cPanel, you will find the screen like below where you have to click on WordPress A2 Optimized to install WordPress.
After you click on WordPress as above you get a screen to install WordPress where you have click on install for the WordPress installation to complete.
As WordPress installation is complete you will get the link to login to your WordPress admin panel as marked below
Once you login to WordPress the Dashboard will be visible as shown below where you have to further customize your WordPress website.
We click on the Themes option we will get a list of themes pre-installed if we don’t want the themes listed we can add new theme too.
When you click on Add themes you can upload new theme which you have purchased or even you can download theme by searching on Google, further, you can search theme as shown below to find the available themes by WordPress which can then be installed as described in next step.
Once the theme is installed you have to change the General Settings from the Settings option as shown below.
Now our blog is ready to start creating posts, you can see the list of posts as you click on Posts option on the dashboard. To add new posts we will click on Add New button.
An interface like below will be there where you can provide your blog or post title and then the content and then don’t forget to Save as Draft although it may save automatically, Once you complete posting the blog you have to click on Publish button to make it live on your website.
Step 3: Customize your blog design
When you enter the WordPress administrator area after login, this is where you can make any changes you want to your blog.
Everyone has a unique idea of how they want their blog to look. This is the coolest thing with WordPress blog that you can change your entire layout and design in a few clicks.
What is Theme?
In WordPress, the blog layouts are known as “Themes”.The blog themes control the entire design of your blog. You need to click on the “Appearance” tab on the left menu to change your theme.
There are several free themes are available on the platform. All are well-designed, clean-looking themes that can work for just about any type of blog.
In fact, so many worlds’ top bloggers use one of these themes. To start with you can use any theme out of the available one. To activate the theme on your blog, hover over the theme and click the “Activate” button and it’s done. So in just one click, you have changed the entire design of your blog.
Even if you don’t like any of the themes that are already installed you can easily choose from thousands of other free themes.
You can buy the premium theme here.
How to Install a new theme?
In order to install a new theme, click on the “Appearance” tab on the left menu and then click “Add New Theme”.
This is the theme search screen where you can choose out of thousands of themes. You can change your entire design simply by activating a new theme. To find a theme you like, you may click on the “Popular” tab and start browsing. When you find one of your choices, click the blue “Install” button.
Once the theme is installed click “Activate” and it is done. To see your new theme in action, go to your blog and have a new look!
Changing your theme is the simplest way to customize your blog, but there are lots of other customization you can do. This will involve so many plugins, menu and widgets to be worked upon. Check out Setup WordPress Blog in 5 easy steps for professional blog setup.
Also, you can get check a detailed e-book on Setup WordPress Blog in 5 easy steps
Watch the YouTube video series on Setup WordPress Blog in 5 easy steps
Step 4: How to write a blog post & publish it
How to write a blog?
Congrats!! Now your blog is up and running and it’s time to start writing blogs.
Go to the left menu and click on “Posts”.
You can see there is already a post there. This is a default post on every new WordPress blog, and we don’t need it. To delete it click “Trash” just under the post.
To start writing a new post, click the “Add New” link.
You are now on the post editor screen. Put the title of your post in the top box and then begin writing your post in the lower box.
If you like you can add a picture to your post, click on the “Add Image” icon and click “Upload” to upload a picture from your computer. You can make adjustments to the image size on the next screen. When you are all set to click “Insert into post” to add the picture.
Once you have finished your post just click the “Publish” button on the top right side of the screen to publish it.
Publishing Your Blog
Even after you have written a post your blog may still be showing a “Coming Soon” page.
When you are ready to make your blog public just click the “Bluehost” menu at the top left of the menu in your administrator area then click the blue “Launch” button to remove the “Coming Soon” page.
Congratulations! Now you have reached a point where you know how to start your own blog and publish content!
Step 5: Promote your blog
This is the last step of how to create a WordPress blog in easy steps? It is good that you have created a well-designed blog and published some great content. In order to get readers you need to spend some time promoting it, especially when your blog is a new one.
The most popular and easy way to promote is to post links on your social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, What’s app groups, etc.
This is a great idea as not only your friends see the link but if your friends share it with their friends, it automatically multiplies your readers.
If you have created high-quality content than you can see the magic of social media as the post will go viral without many efforts.
In addition to getting new readers to your blog, you must make sure that your existing readers are coming back. Here you can use email marketing which plays a very major role. You can collect the email address of your visitors with their permission. All the subscribers will be notified for the new post or something new on your blog. This keeps visitors coming back to your blog, which will give you more readers over time. This also allows you to build a closer relationship with your readers.
For email marketing, I am using Convert kit which has amazing features and service.
Step 6: Make money from blogging
Making money from blogging is actually the easy part once you have put in the effort of creating effective content and promoting your blog.
There are several ways available by which you can make money from blogging. You can:
- Sell your own products or services
- Get paid to write reviews of products on your blog.
- Make money from your blog is to sell advertising space. This is the best and most easy way to earn money.
Once you have a popular blog, advertisers will reach you for the opportunity to advertise. The best way is to use Google Adsense. They find the advertisers for you and all you have to do is to place the Google Adsense code on your blog to run ads. Google Adsense takes care of the whole process and just cuts you a check.
Need more help?
Well, this was all about how to create a WordPress blog in easy steps? I hope this article “How to create a WordPress Blog in easy steps: Complete guide for beginners in 2020” has helped you in some way.
Even if you have any queries or doubts on how to set up a WordPress blog? Please reach me out by mentioning me in the comment section below. I will surely answer your query.
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Priti is a mompreneur, blogger and digital marketer. She is a co-founder of InfoTalks. Passionate about internet marketing and love to share the same in the form of blogs.
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