In this post, you will learn how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost in 2020. You need to follow only six simple steps that you will read below. Blogging is a great way to make money online because you just need to write about topics that you already love.
One of the benefits of blogging is that you can start with a few dollars per month to build your own business. If you want to blog part-time, you can have a fun and profitable hobby. In both cases, everyone can start a blog right now.
Bluehost is a top web hosting company in 2020 with millions of members. There are many top bloggers from all over the world that use it and many pricing options, so you can make the best possible choice for you.
Click here to start your own blog and follow the steps below:
How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost
1. Register A Domain Name
The first thing you need to do when you start a WordPress blog on Bluehost is to register your domain name. It is not an easy decision, but I would not suggest overthinking this step as well.
If you think a domain name that sounds good, it will be fine. There are many blogs that make thousands of dollars per week with ugly domain names. The content will be the most important part of your blog and not the domain name.
You must keep in mind that your domain will be the name of your blog as well. In some cases, you may see a different name for a blog, but they are rare and confuse the visitors.
When I decided about my domain name, I had no idea what to choose. Then I wanted to include the words “make money”. Many bloggers regret their initial decision when it comes to the domain name. However, these choices make our choices interesting.
Bluehost offers a domain name for free when you start your first blog. You need a package of 12 months or more. The value of a domain name is $10-$15 depending on the domain registrar.
So, you need to click the “get started” button on the homepage and move one to the next page with the domain name registration. If you have already bought a domain name from another site, you can add it here as well. If you want to create a new domain, you can use the relevant form to get suggestions and search for available domain names
2. Buy Web Hosting
While it is easy to start your WordPress blog on Bluehost, you may get confused with the available choices. If you are a beginner, the best option is to start with the basic plan. It is the cheaper plan, and the price will go lower as you increase the duration of your membership. The cheaper monthly fee is when you choose the basic plan for 36 months. You can check the pricing of Bluehost here.
A new member needs to buy at least 12 months of hosting to get a free domain name. In my opinion, if you don’t see yourself blogging for 12 months, it is not worth to get started at all. I just want to be honest. It takes at least one year before you can figure out if your blogging strategy works.
In the first months, you will not get any traffic at all unless you have some followers on social media. However, it will take over six months to see any search engine traffic. Blogging is a long-term business, so you need to be committed for a while to work on your blog.
The only scenario that I would recommend a shorter plan is if you already have a domain name. Then, you don’t need the free one of Bluehost, so you can pay month by month if you don’t have more money to invest in advance.
Bluehost web hosting includes other free services like domain name protection, free SSL, and tools. It depends on your package if you can get them for free or not, so you must check them out before you get started. Beginners don’t really need any of these features. As you grow your WordPress blog, you can upgrade your membership and get the services you need.
3. Install WordPress
Once you choose a domain and a hosting plan, Bluehost will request you to fill in your contact details. Then, your payment will be completed, and if everything is right, you can create a password. Your WordPress blog has been installed.
Choose a theme:
The theme will determine the design, the colors, and anything that has to do with the appearance. It is the first step when you create any WordPress blog. There are many free themes that you can install. Usually, free themes have limited options, but they are fine to get started.
Professional bloggers tend to buy premium themes. There are many marketplaces and developers that create themes for WordPress. Their price depends on the company and the features. You don’t have to get started with a premium theme if don’t want to invest more money in the beginning. However, it should be one of the first investments on your blog as you move forward.
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4. Customize Your Blog
New blogs need a basic setup and some customization. You can get begin with the settings and complete all the options. For example, set time and date, fill in an email address to get notifications, set rules for users, and more.
The customization process is a little more complicated because you have more options. Free themes allow you to make a few changes. Usually, you can add widgets on the sidebar and other places. Widgets allow you to add content, images, and ads. They will help you to earn some money or just make your blog looks nice.
Next, you can install plugins. WordPress users do not have to know coding to edit their websites because there are unlimited plugins that do that job for you. For example, if you want to add an email form, you can copy-paste a piece of code or add a plugin that includes the code. There are free and premium plugins, but the free ones will be fine in the beginning.
There is no limit on how many plugins you can activate at the same time, but they may slow down the loading time of your blog if they are too many. On the plugin page of WordPress, you can use the search bar to find plugins relevant to the feature that you want to add.
5. Create Content
Bloggers must create content. The fancy themes and plugins will not bring visitors to any blog. So, you need to do a basic set up and start blogging. WordPress gives you the option to create posts and pages.
It is easy to start writing your content and there are some available features. You can add images, videos, subheadings, calls to action, and more. Before you create the first post, you can add a user and decide on the name that your visitors will see. You can put your real name or a nickname if you don’t feel comfortable with that. Some themes allow you to create an author description.
Your new posts will appear at the top of your blogroll if you don’t have changed any of the standard options. Pages are static, and that’s all the difference. I prefer to publish content on posts instead of pages, but both options can work for you.
Your goal as a new blogger is to write as much content as possible. The length and quality of the content are important as well. However, the more good posts and pages you have, the more traffic you will get from search engines and social media in the long-term.
For most professional bloggers, SEO and social media are their main sources of traffic. The social media strategy is simple. Once you create a new piece of content, you share it on your social media accounts. It’s ok to share a post multiple times. Also, you need to engage with your audience to start building a following and get more attention.
6. Optimize Your Blog And Content For SEO
Google is the largest search engine in the world, and billions of people use it to search for information. Blogging is a business of content that provides information. So, you want to get a part of this traffic.
Some bloggers think that SEO is too difficult or unrealistic. But Google has some ranking factors that determine the positions of each post for a specific keyword. The truth is that you can get organic traffic from Google without doing any SEO work at all and just publishing good content.
SEO optimization will increase your chances of good rankings. However, the length and the quality of your posts will still be the most important factors for your results.
First, you can install an SEO plugin. Yoast SEO is a good option that will guide you step by step. It will enable you to write meta titles and descriptions for your posts and show you simple ranking factors that you must follow.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Do keyword research for every post that you want to write
- Include the keyword on your title, first paragraph, meta title, meta description, one subheading, and on the image alt text.
- Break down the content into small paragraphs and subheadings to improve readability.
- Add at least one image per post.
- Then, write the rest of the content naturally.
- Repeat the process for every post.
If you follow these rules, Google will understand the topic of your content and will rank it based on the competition of your niche and the quality of your articles. Google doesn’t trust new blogs, so you need to wait for one year or more before you get the maximum from your SEO strategy.
Conclusion
When you start a WordPress blog on Bluehost, these are the steps that you must follow. The last steps are common for every hosting provider, but they are important.
For any questions about Bluehost or blogging, you can leave your comments below.