How to start a Blog with Bluehost

A domain name is the Website URL you would like your blog to be. It can be anything from your name to the niche you chose and would look something like www.nameof blog.com. Like this blog’s domain URL which is www.kimberleyusman.com. Here you can see that my domain URL was derived from my name.

Website URLs could also end in:

• .co
• .org
• .net
• .al and many more

Those URL endings are called Domain extensions and you can have whichever ending you choose or that is available for the domain name you choose in a case where someone else may already own the domain name ending in a certain extension.

For example: if you choose the domain URL called www.nameof blog.com, someone else may already own it. Therefore, you can either choose an entirely different domain name or you can purchase the same domain with a different domain extension such as www.nameofblog.org

However, if your intention is to create a blog as a future source of income, it would be a good idea to have a domain name that is unique to you. Make sure to check if the domain name is available before settling.

Once you find your niche and, made a note of the domain name you would like to own, the next step is to make sure the domain is available.

You can start by simply adding the domain name you chose in the search web address bar of any search engine, such as chrome, to see what comes up. If it says that the site could not be found, then it is most likely because no one owns the domain yet.

OR

An even simpler way to check for availability is by:

• Visit the hosting site, Bluehost.com
• Click on the GET STARTED button
• Select the BASIC PLAN. Don’t worry, you won’t have to pay for checking for the availability of your domain. You will only need to pay if you decide to use this hosting site for your blog.
• Now you will see the option to check if the domain you wish to own is available for purchase.

Now, you may wish to purchase the domain name so that you can begin setting up your blog and designing it accordingly. For this, you will need to find a hosting company to purchase the domain name under.

This company will be responsible for securing your space on the web and making sure that you can add info and make changes to your site and, that your site can be viewed by the public.

There are lots of popular hosting companies these days. But since owning a blog for roughly 3 years now, I’ve always stuck to the OG, Bluehost.com and has zero complaints regarding my site and the cost for hosting. However, you can feel free to sign up with any hosting company you wish. Here is a list of popular hosting sites you may wish to investigate:

• Squarespace
• GoDaddy
• Wix

You can Google hosting companies to find other options but those are the names that are familiar to me, along with Bluehost.

To purchase the domain, you will need to pay a fair one-time payment to gain ownership of the said domain. After which, you will have to pay a small fee, once per year or so for the company to keep on hosting and securing the site. This is important to prevent other people from accessing your site and for you to be able to keep on updating your site.

When you purchase a domain name, it cannot be changed. Therefore, be sure to choose your domain name wisely. I had the experience of purchasing a domain name without really planning it out and then regretting the name later. This led to me having to purchase a new domain name all over again.

If you wish to switch hosting companies, your domain name will not be affected. You will simply need to transfer the domain to the other hosting company and pay for only hosting, security and any other features you wish to have access to. But not for gaining ownership over the domain name.

Some hosting company provides access to WordPress for free when you host your site with them. Downloading your WordPress site might just be 1-click away. This is especially so when you host with Bluehost.

WordPress is what you will need to begin adding information to your site and is the first step in the designing process of your blog.

At the beginning of creating a blog, no one thinks that the design process might be important for long term success but it is! Choosing the right theme for your blog is important depending on what your long-term goals for our blog are.

So how do you pick a theme?

There are two types of themes:

1. Free theme
2. Paid theme

Free themes are a great choice when starting a blog as a hobby or even when unsure of what your long-term goals for your blog might be. It is an OK place to start if you are low on funds and just want to get your blog started. They are easy to install and are available in many styles to match your niche. Unfortunately, not many changes can be made in terms of the appearance of the theme. All blogs using the theme might have the same uniformed look.

I started off using a FREE Theme myself.

To use a paid theme, you will need to pay either a one-time fee, a yearly fee or a monthly fee to use the theme for your site’s design.

Fortunately, the money is worth it. The teachings you receive from putting together your site’s design on your own is wonderful. You can play around with the colors, add your own menus and images, and build up your site in a user-friendly way to grow as a business. This site is built on a paid theme called DIVI by ELEGANT Themes.

Before launching your site, there are a few things you want to make sure your site has. These include:

• All the basic pages e.g. contact page, about me, privacy policy, etc.
• A few articles: that in no way needs to be perfect but should be done as best as possible to keep readers engage and wanting to stick around. (First impression is important)

Your first bit of content should be based on your knowledge of the niche you are in. No pressure to get fancy and do intense research on a topic you don’t know much about. Keep it simple and orderly. Maybe plan a few contents that can be linked to each other to keep things in a smooth flowing manner.

Now that you:

1. Purchase your domain
2. Install WordPress
3. Set up a theme and design your site
4. Add a few articles to your site (5-10)
5. Add the copyright tag to the footer (Copyright@ (name of blog followed by the current year)

It is time to Launch your Blog…YAYY!

This bit confused me a lot when I first started a blog of my own. My blog was already launched and confused me entirely when I was doing my research and read about launching the blog after everything else was done. I guess I did it without knowing. Anyway, that’s just a little backstory about myself.

It is not important, but it is great to have a few things done before launching your blog. It helps the blog to look more put together for your first bit of readers. The design can be changed later as you grow and become more knowledgeable about what is working for your readers, etc.

To launch your blog, you will need to:

1. Click on the Bluehost tab on the left-hand side of your WordPress dashboard
2. Select the Option ‘home’
3. Then the first thing at the top of the page will be the option to launch your site, click it
4. Finally, your blog is LAUNCHED and can now be viewed by the public.

Your job now after your blog is launched would depend less on skill and more on your character. I struggled immensely with being consistent and finding a balance between getting things done at home, working a full-time job and then finding the energy to blog.

Blogging has however changed me for the better. I am more conscious of my time and what I spend the day doing. It also forces me to find a balance that I didn’t know I needed to find before. I’ve discovered many new things about my passion for self-improvement since writing about it. 

Start a Blog and have fun with it!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or feel free to send me a message. Like and share this article on your preferred social media as well. Thank you for taking the time to read my post 😊