Starting a WordPress blog is such a tricky question. Learning how to start a WordPress blog can be beneficial for you in many ways. My recent information covers all the whirling questions in your mind relating to blog initiation. It is the most amazing and attention-seeking thing to know which website is guiding you thoroughly. As we already know, WordPress is a complete system of hosting and development as well. Though it has been affiliated with many other hosting companies, yet gives you full access to the network. Starting a blog can be terrifying for many of you. But with detailed information, it can be soothing and rejoiceful for you. WordPress has helped almost 400,000 users create influential blogs. Considering all the situations, I have just decided to write a step-by-step guide for a blog starting on WordPress. It is primarily for beginner prescribed. The process is easy to follow, yet it requires intense attention.

What is required for a WordPress blog?

Three things you need initially for blog creation.

  1. Attention seeker domain name(this is the name of your blog)
  2. Web hosting account (where your website will dwell on the internet)
  3. Your intensive attention

What you got is almost right. Here, your first flight is about to take off in 30 minutes for creating this fantastic blog. We will walk through all the processes step by step. The given tutorial covers all these prerequisites. Let’s get started.

Step 1. Picking a blog name and a platform

One common mistake bloggers usually make is choosing irrelevant or inappropriate platforms. It is blissful to choose WordPress as your self-hosted networking system. The truth behind that is that WordPress is a self-hosted system and is 100% free to use. You are getting the benefits of installing plugins, customizing your blog design, and, most importantly, making money online via blog without any interference or restriction. (The difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com is discussed in my previous blog.)

It is enormously appreciated that most well-known blogs are being created on this platform.43% of websites on the internet preferably use wordpress.com. Here the question arises, why do we choose WordPress? Why is it free and what is the ultimate goal behind this? It is free because you want to start your blogging career and host it yourself. In simple words, I want to say you probably need a domain name and web hosting.

What is a domain name?

The-Structure-of-a-URL

A domain name is your personal identity. It is a word that people write to get your website. It acts like your blog address on the internet. just like Google.com or wordpress.com etc.

How much does a new domain name cost?

A new domain usually costs about $14.99/year, and a web hosting plan typically costs $7.99/month. We are pleased to announce Bluehost. An official WordPress recommended hosting provider company is offering a free domain name and over 60% off on web hosting as well. However, you are not restricted to using only the recommended one. You have got the available choice of selecting which one best suits you. You can have access to a site ground or host and still be able to follow our blog. Is it not an amazing thing?

Why do we recommend Bluehost?

The truth behind is we recommend BlueHost is due to many reasons. One of them is it is an old web hosting company and has built up a reputation among internet users. It has become a rapidly growing brand on the internet. when we talk about wordpress.com hosting. It has hosted millions of websites up to now. Ours is one of them.

WordPress Collaboration with the Bluehost

When it comes to Bluehost is also a well-known web hosting company, and it has been in collaboration with wordpress.com since 2005. They come with a commitment to giving back. That’s y we have promised. If your blog is not online within 30 minutes of following this tutorial, then our expert team will complete the process for you for free. They will compensate you. Is it not a blissful opportunity that all the entire phenomena want to help you in setting up a blog freely.

How to purchase a Bluehost domain name and hosting?

  • Open up Blue Host in a new window and follow the prescribed steps.
  • Click on the new (GET STARTED NOW ) button to start a process.
  • Next pop up screen will show different plans (select basic and plus are the most demanding )
  • After all, enter the domain name you want for your website.
  • The last one is adding your account information and finalizing the process
  • We recommend going through the 12-month plan because that seems to be the best one to add value to your work.

In addition to that, on the screen, you will see the extra options that you can purchase. It entirely depends on you which plan bests suit your needs. Once you have completed the entire process, you will get an email showing all the details of your web hosting plan and how to log in to your control panel. This is actually the point where you can get control of the entire system by managing everything either through email or other supporting systems. The most vital thing is that you get access to the point where you can install WordPress.

Step 2. How to install WordPress blogging software?

If you are signing up via our provided blue host link, your WordPress will automatically be installed. You can start your blog the right way.

  • The first thing you can do in this context is to log into your blue host account and then click the login to WordPress button to start the entire process.
  • Here is another option of logging in to wordpress.com/wp-admin/ directly through your browser.
  • It is also an enviable point to know most web hosting companies automatically install WordPress for helping their non-techy users.
  • When WordPress set up is ready now, you can create your blog pages, do alterations in customized design, and start your blogging career.

Step 3. How to Select a WordPress Theme?

As being the most important part of the blog, it needs much attention. This is the visual appearance of the WordPress blog, which is controlled by blog themes. The screen will look like this when you first visit the blog. This needs alteration as customization and an appealing look do magic in your blog journey. One of the most amazing things about WordPress is, that it offers thousands of WordPress themes that you can install to make it attractive and eye-catching. Some of them are available free of charge, while the rest are paid premium. You can change your theme by following these steps.

  • Click on appearance =themes
  • Click on the “add new button”

On the next page, you will get in touch with 9,100 free WordPress themes that are available on the wordpress.org themes directory. You have the option of sorting them as per popularity, latest features, and filters as well. You can select a new theme by taking over your mouse. It will show you a preview button. You can click on it and it will show you what your selected theme will look like on your website. The preview might not look exactly as if it can be set by doing customization. The important things you need are design, color, and other elements. The best tip in this context is to keep the WordPress theme simple initially. That will increase the user experience. When you have selected the theme which you like, simply drag your mouse on it and it will lead toward the installation button. Click on it and wait until it gets installed. After that, the install button will be replaced with an action button. You just click on it and the theme will activate. Once it is installed, you can customize it by clicking the link in the Appearance menu. Built-in widgets and customization options entirely depend on the theme which you have selected previously. In addition to that, you can even get more design control with a WordPress page builder like Elementor or Divi which will let you create a custom header and footer, and sidebar respectively without adding any HTML coding. These plugins let you get access to more design control than what you get via Wix or Squarespace. Along with full control of the WordPress content management system.

Step 4. Creating your first blog post

To create your first blog post, click on the “posts” Add NEW menu from your WordPress dashboard. It will show you the editor area where you can write your first blog post. WordPress uses a block-based editor that enables you to create beautiful content layouts for your blog posts. Once you have completed your writing task, go ahead and click on the publish button on the top right corner of the screen to make your blog publicly available. On the posts screen, you also get notice of many other options,  such as categories and tags. All these are being used in organizing your blog posts into sections. If you want to do brainstorming in finding new blog post ideas, you can check my previous blog written on concerning topics.

  • Blog post ideas can help you earn a handsome income.
  • How to write a WordPress blog?
  • Blog topics that are proven to work.

A large number of pro bloggers do keyword research before writing a blog for the sake of targeting the most relevant and organic traffic. Specific topics strategically helped them in ranking in the google search engine.

Step 5. How do you install plugins and do customization?

After completing your writing, you probably need to add other usual elements to your website such as a contact page, galleries, email list forums, sliders, etc. To add all these additional features to your blog, you need to use plugins. We have guided you step by step through how you install plugins. WordPress plugins are apps that let you add new features to your website. There are about 59,000 WordPress plugins available in the WordPress plugin directory. That means you do not need to bother with what you accomplished because there are already plugins for it.

Step 6. How to create a contact form in WordPress?

It is possible to create a contact form for every website that allows users to email or contact you directly. Although WordPress does not build contact forms yet, you need a WordPress form builder. plugin to add a contact form on your website. Here I am. recommend using the WP FORUMS LITE plugin. It is a free version of the popular WPForms plugin. which is considered the best contact form plugin for WordPress. 5 million websites all around the world use wp forms. Go to the plugins and add a new page and type wp forms in the search box. Next, you need to click on the install button and then “ACTIVATE” and then on activation click on WP FORM >>add new page for creating the first form. This will give you a WPForms builder interface. The first thing is to enter your name for the contact form and then click on the “simple contact form template. By performing all these functions WP FORM will create a form for you with all requisite criteria .you can fill, alter any detail or add a new field from the extreme left column. Once you have fulfilled all the criteria either it is editing or something in filling in you can save by clicking the button on the top corner and exit the builder. Here you get another facility for creating a page by going through WordPress PAGES>>add NEW  and call it CONTACT on the edit screen. further, you need to enter forms into the editors. Then lastly, you can see an ad publish the pg and can open it in the browser to check is it in action or not. The best thing about contact form is it grows with you. stating from a simple contact form to it can be transformed into an advanced one by creating surveys, polls guest post submission forms, and much more respectively.

Step 7. How to set up google analytics tracking?

Google Analytics is a remarkable and wonderful feature for analyzing your blog’s growth over time. It is being used to see how much your blog has caught the attention of readers and how it has grasped organic traffic. Furthermore, point out how much traffic is coming onto your website, where from, and how long they stay on it. All this you will come to know by installing this free tool. It is best practice to install Google Analytics when you have planned to start a blog. The following steps can help you install the tool.

  1. First, you need to visit the google analytics website and sign in via your email.
  2. After that, you can sign up for a free Google Analytics account.
  3. You will be asked to put your information and website URL this will direct you to the Google Analytics tracking code.
  4. You just stop here because you are using a plugin that will automatically fetch and add this code to your blog(along with setting up a proper WordPress tracking code)
  5. Here at this point, you need to switch to the WordPress admin area for installing and activating the MONSTERINSIGHT
  6. It is the easiest way of installing WordPress google analytics, and it is absolutely free of cost, having built the trust of 3 million websites.
  7. On activation, you need to visit the INSIGHT >>SETTING page to configure the plugin settings further.
  8. Click on the “CONNECT MONSTERINSIGHT” it will connect Google Analytics to your WordPress site.
  9. By following on-screen instructions s you will be able to complete the entire setup. Once done, you will get access to see the Google Analytics report from the WordPress dashboard under the MonsterInsights tab.

Step 8. SEO optimization of your WordPress blog

The basic purpose of writing a blog on the internet is to get organic traffic. Most users don’t know how to optimize their blogs on SEO grounds. which enables users to find your blog in search engines. If you are intentionally writing blogs to get more traffic, then you must focus on SEO right away. The steps you take in this context are the followings ;

  • Get started by installing and activating the “all in one SEO” plugin. It will help you productively optimize your blog.
  • It usually comes with a quick configuration wizard which helps in starting setup immediately.
  • It further helps in setting up a sitemap, writing proper keywords and meta descriptions, adding schema markup, and a whole lot more.

There you go with another plugin like YOAST SEO, etc., but we here recommend only AIO SEO as having more friendly features for beginners. Besides the WordPress SEO plugin, You can further optimize your content by doing proper keyword research via tools. These SEO tools give you an idea of what people are eager to know on the internet by writing specific words. The tools will enhance your capability of targeting your competitors’ keywords by identifying exactly what they are. This will ultimately help you outrank them. Clear cache This will maximize traffic to your new blog and site right after publishing.

Step 9. Adding more WordPress plugins and customization

Fortunately, there are tons of other plugins that you can install, and don’t get overwhelmed by using them timely. Here is given the list of the most beneficial WordPress plugins that you need to consider.

  • The best WordPress backup plugin is Updraft Plus. There’s always a need for backing up if something wrong happens to your website.
  • Security; WordPress another excellent performing plugin is Suuri Security.
  • Performance. The best plugins being used for speeding up websites are WP Rocket and WP Super Cache.
  • Customization and design; we recommend Seedpord or Divi Page Builder for customization of your homepage design, and for creating custom landing pages. This is also beneficial in creating custom themes. (without any coding)
  • Traffic and subscribers; the most effective action taken is creating push button notifications by PUSH ENGAGE. This will work as a bridge with a visitor who left your site after visiting.

Email marketing; the most appropriate plugin in this context is CONSTANT CONTACT and HUBSPOT, acting as powerful tools in creating email marketing.

Step 10. Make money from your blog

From that time onwards, have we directed you on how to create a blog? It is the starting point of making money from your blog. What strategy you would likely use is worth mentioning here. there are numerous ways of getting in but I’ll discuss a few well know and well-equipped. Here are some of the best ways of earning money through blogging.

1.  Google Adsense

This is the most desirous way of getting approved for an informational blog through Adsense. If you have created a blog keeping monetization in mind, then this will definitely work out. This is the largest platform for bloggers and publishers to showcase their unique content. The Adsense Here acts like a middle man between you and the advertiser. Google works on the strategy of bidding for keywords that match your content. This in turn allows you to get the best rates for the ads.

2.  Affiliate marketing

As the word represents itself by denoting affiliate, it is the strategic game of the referral commission. Basically, you recommend some product or service to the customer on Amazon or any other platform, and when that thing is purchased through your referral link, you will get a commission. The basic thing in this program is to recommend high-quality products and services that you have already used and trust. There are plenty of tools and plugins that can be fruitful for you. I recommend pretty links and thirsty affiliates that you must have.

3. Online store

This idea is basic work on selling things directly from your blog. That may be including e-books, physical things, artwork, music, and more. There are some experts in different fields who sell their consultancy. We here recommend Woo Commerce as being one of the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress.

For Any suggestions write them down in a comment section or visit the contact us page.