Have you ever wanted to start a WordPress blog, but have read so many different posts, articles, tutorials and have come out of it being more confused than informed? HBHosting has put together a simple 7 step guide for anyone to use to get started straight away!
No matter if you are 13 years old or 65 years old we are sure this guide is so simple anyone can get started right away!
What you need to start a WordPress blog
- A domain name
- This is what people will type in their search bar to get to your blog. (eg: HBHosting.com.au)
- Cost: $15 AUD+ per year
- Web Hosting Plan
- This is where you store all your files on a reliable server to get it live on the internet.
- We recommend our Starter plan to get started.
- Cost: $6 AUD+ per month
- 30 min of your undivided attention!
Yes, that is correct you can start your blog in less than 30 min of your time and by spending only $21 in your first month! However, if you continue reading we will show you how to get a domain name for free!
What we will be covering
- How to Register a Domain Name for Free
- How to Choose the Best Web Hosting
- How to Install and Setup WordPress Blog
- How to Change Your Blog Design Template
- How to Write Your First Blog Post
- How to Customize a WordPress Blog with Plugins
- How to Setup Google Analytics Tracking
- How to Optimize Your Website for SEO
- How to Make Money From Your Blog
So are you ready? Let’s get started!
Step 1 – Setup
The biggest mistake people make when setting up is using the wrong blogging platform. Thankfully you have come to our post on how to get your WordPress blog set up so you do not make the same mistakes as others have in the past.
For 95% of users, it makes sense to use wordpress. Why is this? It’s because it is free to use easy to customise, many free plugins and can be hosted anywhere anytime and fully customisable!
You might be wondering why is WordPress free? what is the catch? The simple answer there is no catch, you just have to set up and host it yourself.
In super simple terms, you need your own domain name and web hosting
A domain name is what people type to get to your website. Example Google.com or HBHosting.com.au
Web hosting is where your website’s files live. It’s your website’s house on the internet. Every website needs web hosting.
How to order a domain name & Web Hosting (the simple way)
Step 1: Open up HBHosting‘s website in a new tab
Step 2: Scroll down to where you see different web hosting plans
Step 3: We will be selecting the $6 plan as that is all you need for your blog for now.
Step 4: Follow the prompts to register a new domain. Here is where you choose what your domain name will be.
Step 5: Continue until you check out and pay
Step 6: You’re done you are now the proud owner of that domain name and have web space as well!
Step 2: Install WordPress
To install WordPress on your web hosting plan at HBHosting there are two ways to do this.
- Yourself (takes 2 min) – Free
- Asking us (takes 2 min) – Free
It just depends on what you want!
Step 1: Log into our client area.
Step 2: Click services
Step 3: Click the service you just ordered
Step 4: Click login to cPanel
Step 5: Scroll all the way to the bottom where you will see WordPress manager
Step 6: Click New Site
Step 7: Follow the prompts to set it up.
And you’re done you have now set up WordPress on your own website!
Step 3: Customising your blog
Now for the fun bit, making the blog yours!
We recommend installing the following plugins. This is done by logging into your WordPress admin area.
The usual URL for this is www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin
Once you have logged in on the left-hand side you will see a heading called plugins. Click that, and then at the top of the page click add new.
Now that you are there you will need to install and activate the following plugins.
Plugin List
1. Elementor – Drag and Drop website builder
2. Yoast SEO – Easy to use SEO manager plugin
3. Litespeed Cache – Speeds up your websites load times
4. ExactMetrics – Tells you how many views you get a day
Once you have installed all of those its time to create your Blog!
On the left-hand side (the same place you found the plugins heading). Look for pages. This is where you can create and edit all your websites pages. Not blog posts we are still getting to that!
Click ‘Add New’, and at the top, there is a button saying edit with Elementor. Click that and it will take you to your page builder
Yes I know it looks terrible right now. But hold on we will make it a blank page.
Step 1: At the bottom left there is a setting button click that.
Step 2: Change the page’s title from Elementor to Home, or whatever this page will be
Step 3: Change page layout to Elementor canvas
Now you can start your page from scratch and really make it your own!
You can follow the above steps to do the exact same thing for blog posts but under the heading posts instead of pages! How easy is that!
Step 4: Optimising SEO and Getting Found on Google
Now a lot of people make this sound much harder than it really is, but in essence, to deo basic SEO, you can do it on your own with Yoast SEO.
Click on Yoast SEO on the left hand side, and follow their step by step guide on setting up their plugin!
But that’s, not it. A massive tip for SEO optimisation is to have on-page and off-page SEO.
On-page SEO is anything you write on your website. For example, having your keywords repeated throughout your pages and blog posts. This will let Google know what the posts are about.
Off-page SEO is having people link to your website.
That’s all great, but even if I search my own website I am not on google? What do I do? This is because you have not added your site to google. To do this go to Google Webmasters and register your website there – Again this is free!
Step 5: Making Money
So you might be done, everything is set up, you have a bunch of amazing posts. But now how do I pay for it and cover all my costs?
This is where you research into the niche you have chosen and find website’s that have affiliate marketing.
For example, if you were talking about web design or hosting you could sign up to HBHostings. Affiliate marketing program and earn a % of every sale you brought in. This is possible to do with every industry out there you just have to look for them!
If you have made it this far into the blog post we would like to thank you, and if this has helped you in any way please share this on social media to help others get the help they may need!
Best of luck everyone!
One Response
That is a great tip particularly to those new to the blogosphere.
Short but very accurate info… Many thanks for sharing this one.
A must read post!