The absolute beginner’s guide, but this is the only guide you need.
Congrats on wanting to join the fantastic world of blogging and content creation. I really mean it 🙂 it’s challenging, it’s hard work but it’s soooo rewarding. You’ll love it. But I hope you are ready for some hard work. So here we go.
First things first.
Which blogging platform to choose? My recommendation = WordPress
The first thing I would ask you to do is to understand the differences between the most popular blogging platforms out there. And chances are you have heard people talking about WordPress.
So there is one very important thing to know.
There is WordPress.COM
and
There is WordPress.ORG, or sometimes called self-hosted WordPress.
The website that you are reading this post now, is built with WordPress.ORG, the self-hosted one.
It’s called self-hosted because I have my own hosting on Siteground and I have WordPress installed in it. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do any program installation. Siteground will take care of that for you.
But what is WordPress.COM you might wonder? It’s the same software at its core basically, but it functions a bit differently. You don’t have your own hosting, it’s not a self-hosted WordPress. It’s hosted on WordPress.COM. That website itself hosts WordPress and it can give you access by letting you create an account that has its own blog website.
It can work, definitely. And it might be a good idea if you want to test it out, to create a free account there and start writing (more on that in a while). However, one main difference of a blog website, created on wordpress.com is that it’s very limited, compared to WordPress.ORG.
On a self-hosted (.org) website you can access ALL of its functions, whereas on the .com version, you must pay to unlock them. And you won’t unlock them all on their cheapest plan, you might have to go to their most expensive if you want to unlock everything.
That’s why I do recommend, if you are serious about starting a blog as a career path, then you should go with a self-hosted WordPress.
So, once we have that difference explained, then let’s go to the next.
Hosting and domain name
So let’s agree at this point that starting a blog is an exciting journey! So now it’s time for you to choose a domain name that reflects your niche. This may sound tricky at first, but it doesn’t have to be. Consider using your own name or something that you think best represents your blog. After deciding on the perfect domain name, you’ll need to purchase a hosting package from a service provider such as Siteground*, Bluehost, or another option. With these steps completed, then the foundation of your blog is ready!
Create your first blog posts and pages
Once you have installed your WordPress website with your hosting provider, the first step is to create some content, like blog posts and pages.
At this point, I would like to explain the difference between blog posts and pages on a WordPress website, because it can be confusing for beginner bloggers. Blog posts are like articles, news stories, or updates that you share with your readers. Pages are static web pages, such as an About Me page, or Contact page, or other pages that won’t be updated frequently but contain information about yourself or your website.
Then, you need to decide whether you want your blog posts to be visible directly on the start page, or if you want to set a static first page. In order to do that you need to go to Appearance/Customize. Then you go to the homepage settings and select the option you want.
Then you have one more thing to do and you are done (well, ok I’m joking 🙂 but really you are on a good way).
Create valuable content
In conclusion, starting a blog can be an exciting and rewarding journey. With this practical step-by-step guide, you now have the tools to get started on your blogging journey. If you need more help, I encourage you to watch my youtube videos for even more tips and tricks!
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