Creating a blog and sharing ideas to the world is now popular day by day. There are two ways to create a WordPress blog. The number one method we will cover is free, but there are less functionally. In second method we need to buy just hosting and domain for our blog.
In this guide, we will learn both methods how to create a blog on WordPress step by step for free and self hosted or non free method. Creating a blog on WordPress Content Management system does not require coding skill mean you don’t need to learn HTML, CSS and PHP. If you have good skills in MS word, then you are good to go.
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Why choose WordPress for blogging?
There are several platforms to choose while creating a blog but WordPress is free, easy to use, user-friendly and perfect for the newbie who never creates a site before.
How to start a WordPress blog for free?
As we explain above, there is a free method to create WordPress blog, but there is one drawback which is it has less functionality. If you have no expertise in WordPress and want to learn and create a blog then go for free WordPress blog. Are if you want to earn money to create a WordPress blog then I will suggest you to start self-hosted WordPress blog.
Open up WordPress website and scroll down to the plan and pricing section and click on a link compare plan and then start a free blog create a WordPress blog. In first step select start with a blog, the second step is to choose a theme from different theme options.
Next enter a website address which is like www.exmple.com. If the enter domain name is available then select it but try to find short domain name. Enter a valid and verified email address WordPress will send a verification link to email, username, and a password.
Why should you not create a free blog?
Its 100% true creating a free blog on WordPress is possible, but there are some drawbacks.
Following are the most important drawbacks:
1. Domain Address: domain address bar of free WordPress is un-professional, very lengthy and boring.
2. No control: A free WordPress blog is hosted on wordpress.com, and if you do not follow any rules even accidentally they can remove your blog anytime.
3. No customization: you can install other plugins and themes. You just have to use the one which is available with the free blog. You cannot change the design layout or style of a blog, so there is no customization option available.
4. Free space limitation: There is only 3GB space available in free option which is low for posts, images, and videos.
In short, if you have in mind to create a blog for long term and make it a brand, or you have plan to make money from blogging then never go for free blog creating option.
Instead, create a self-hosted WordPress blog where you will be able to use the domain name of your choice and will don’t face any limitation and hurdles.
Also Read: Migrationg WordPress website to A New Host
A Complete step by Step self-hosted WordPress blog
In this second section of the post we will learn to create a blog in WordPress step by step which will be not a free method. We will need two important things to create a self-hosted WordPress blog domain and hosting.
1. Pick a short domain Name (yourblog.com)
Domain name is very important to start a blog. it defines your brand, and it’s a first impression to blog user/visitors.
- Tips to choose a good domain name:Choose a domain name which is easy to type, pronounce and easy to remember.
- Choose a branded domain name over a generic domain name.
- Choose Domain name which is less than 12 characters so it will be easy to understand and write.
2. How to choose best hosting and install WordPress
Choosing a good hosting company for a WordPress website is always a complex task. There are many of hosting company who provides and claim that their hosting is one of the best. But before choosing and buying a good hosting we need to check some of the following features they offer.
Most important tips to choose A hosting
1. First know your hosting needs. If you are a going for long-term blog then you must choose reliable hosting otherwise if you want to host a personal site or event blog then buy cheap hosting is also a good idea.
2. Check and investigate the uptime and host reliability.
3. Check all other feature such as a number of addon domain, disk space, free domain option, etc.
4. Check and compare prices of different hosting company.
5. Also, check you need window application or linux based hosting.
6. Check the Hosting control panel is easy to user and user-friendly.
7. And the most important to check is customer support and live chat option. Are then online 24×7 and are responsive in answering the questions.
My recommended Cheap and Best Hosting
On bloggingfist.com I am using shared hosting of namecheap.com. Namecheap is one of the best, cheap and reliable hosting provide company. Personally, I did not face any issue; they have 99% uptime and a very good customer support option which is always available to help you.
So I will personally recommend that go for a shared hosting of Namecheap which provide three addon domains mean you can host three websites.
Once buying and receiving hosting details of cpanel then next step is to installing WordPress content management system.
Learn SEO for wordpess website
How to setup and install WordPress on Hosting
Once you buy hosting click on the cpanel link you just receive in email and enter the username and password to log in.
Now check the WordPress software in auto installers software area. Click on the WordPress icon and install menu. Fill up all the required information in the form for example enter the blog name, site descriptions, admin account username and password details. Once you fill the form correctly save the admin user name and password.
We have just installed WordPress cms successful and need some little tweaking into WordPress to make It truly yours. To login to your WordPress dashboard area, enter the url www.yoursitename.com/wp-admin and type the username and password you set during WordPress installation.
Now you have install and login to WordPress; it’s time to choose a good looking and clean design for the blog. You will find number of free themes available on wordpress.org website. You can navigate to the different category and check the available free themes.
The most important thing which you have to keep in mind is if you are going for a long-term blogging and want to start the career as a blogging then you should go for and select the premium theme.
To add a free theme goes to WordPress dashboard click on appearance >> Theme and click add the theme. Now search for your favorite theme and hover the mouse on the theme and click install and active it.
Now in self-hosted WordPress blog, we have full control over the theme customization and design. Go to customize link under the appearance menu.
Now here you can change different options like background colors, font colors and size, menus, widgets, etc. The theme customization is different from theme to theme. Premium themes have extra customization options for the ease of users.
How to install a premium WordPress theme on Your blog
Once you buy a theme from the online marketplace. You will get a downloadable .zip file after completing the payments options. Always buy a mobile optimized, SEO ready and Adsense optimized theme. These things are really important for a successful blog.
Save the theme file on your desktop and now upload it to WordPress dashboard by following the below screenshot.
Go to appearance menu >> Theme Menu>> Add New >> upload theme.
How to Install WordPress plugin to make it more amazing
WordPress plugins are some small script/coding that makes your site look better and enhance the functionality. There are huge numbers of the plugin available for different purpose like SEO, Social media, backups, caching, e-commerce, website verifications, payments gateways, etc.
Just like the themes, there are also free and premium plugins available.
1) The first way to install plugins:
Open up the WordPress website and search for your favorite plugins and click the download button.
Next step Is to go to WordPress dashboard, plugins and then click on install plugins and upload the downloaded plugin.
2) The second way to install plugins:
In this method, we can direct download and install it from the WordPress dashboard. Just enter the name of plugin and click to install and then activate it.
You can also learn how to remove or delete wordpres theme completely from dashboard.
How to Post your first article on WordPress (Content Is King)
Now its time to write and publish your first article. Remember content is king. If you want to earn money from a blog then you have to write quality content which will be very helpful for long-term blogging.
Publishing a post is very easy like MS word. Go to post on WordPress dashboard and type the title of an article and then content. If you have images or videos in content also upload it. Here is article on how to add alt tags to images in wordpress. After completing the article then hit the published button. You can make it a draft or can seclude it on any date and time.
Important Pages for A Blog
There is some important page for a blog which you have to publish it. If you are going to apply for google adsense, then these pages are very important. These pages are also important from the user point of view, So don’t miss it.
Following are the most important pages for a blog:
1) Privacy Policy
2) Sitemap
3) Contact Us
4) About Us
Read Here: Remove WordPress Pages title
Always Backup your blog regularly
As you start posting articles, then your website data need to be secure, and you have to backup it equally. I will suggest you to create a backup of your blog after every week.
To create a backup of WordPress, you can do it through manually, but It is a lengthy and time-consuming methods. The easy ways is to install a backup WordPress plugins which will do you work automatically.
One of the best plugins is BackWPup which is also my favorite and have more than 4 million downloads. Install it and setup if properly. Here is the video to setup if properly.
Learn how to speed up wordpress webiste with Wp rocket plugin.
I hope you will learn how to create a blog in WordPress step by step with free and non free methods easily with the great guide. If you have any question related to wordpress blogging you can leave it in the comment section I will try to answer it.