How To Make A Blog: Step By Step For Beginners
How To Make A Blog: Step By Step For Beginners
Part 1: Setting Up Your Web Site
1. Choose a Domain
2. Get Web Hosting
3. Create Hosting Logins
4. Log into Hosting Control Panel
Part 2: Setting Up WordPress
5. Install WordPress
a. Using the WordPress Dashboard
b. Structuring Your Site
6. Select a Theme
Part I: Setting Up Your Web Site
Step One: Choose a Domain
First, With all the Bluehost plans, you get a free domain name for the first year.
On the navigation bar at the top of the site, hover your mouse over Hosting, and click on shared hosting. (Shown Below)
You’ll see the packages that Blue Host offers. The “Choice Plus” package is $1 more than the “Plus” package,
so we’ll go with Choice Plus (2nd from the right)which will add privacy and security features. Click Select.
Remember:
Choose one that is generic (it’s free and just a placeholder)
Keep it short
You can choose it later
Step Two: Get Web Hosting
If the domain name you selected is available, you’ll see a page that says “Create Your
Account.” Fill out the information on the page.
Fill out your account information on the page. When you get down to the “Package
Information” section, select “Choice Plus 12 Month Price—$8.95/mo.” You don’t need the extra
bonuses. (Leave it Un-Checked)
In total, it will cost you $107 to have web hosting for the year. You can have as many
domain names on this hosting account as you like.
Enter your payment information, and check the box that states you have agreed to Blue
Host’s policies. When you’re done, click Submit.
Step Three: Create Hosting Login &
Step Four: Log into Hosting Control Panel
Now you can create a username and password. Your username can be your domain
name or your email. They also have a password generator for you.
When you finish creating your information, then log into your new account. You should
arrive at Blue Host’s main welcome page.
At the top of the page, there is a white narrow navigation bar underneath a blue one. Click
on Cpanel in the white bar, the second leftmost button, to get to the Control Panel. This
page looks similar, but you should see your hosting service package at the top.
Part II: Setting Up WordPress
Step Five: Install WordPress – Your New Blog
Now you’re going to set up a WordPress blog. You should begin at Blue Host’s Control
Panel.
Under the “Website” section, click on Install WordPress. (You may be prompted to log in again.)
You will see an option to select a domain for installation. Select the domain you just
created. Leave the box that says “directory” blank. Click Next. This brings us to a page
with “Admin Information” at the top.
Enter a site name or title. Your site name can be simple. Usually, it will match your domain
name.
Enter your admin username, email address, and password.
There are three boxes underneath this information. Make sure these boxes are
checked. Click Next. It may take a few minutes.
Once it says “Installation Complete,” open your hub site in a new tab on your browser,
using the URL you created.
Click Admin Login, and type in the username (or email) and password information that
you just created. The URL to log in to your site is always [yoursite]/wp-login.php.
Click Login.
The page should now say “Welcome to WordPress”. Congratulations, you now have
a WordPress site!
The page asks, “What kind of site can we help you set up?” Click on the text that
says I don’t need help.
You will arrive at the WordPress Dashboard. To access the Dashboard later, you can use
this URL: [yoursite]/wp-admin.
At the top of your Dashboard, you may see three pop-ups. If this happens, here is how to
get rid of them:
First, get rid of the green pop-up by clicking the Do not allow button.
Then, get rid of the blue pop-up by clicking x in the upper right-hand corner of the
box.
Finally, to get rid of the red pop-up, you will delete the plugin that is associated
with it. On the Dashboard sidebar, select Plugins. Find the plugin called “Google
Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights”. On the menu underneath the title,
click Deactivate.
Return to the homepage of the Dashboard, and the three pop-ups should be gone.
Using the WordPress Dashboard
Here are the buttons on the WordPress Dashboard:
-Posts: Where you can add posts to your blog.
-Media: Add pictures, PDFs, etc.
-Pages: Add a page
-Contact Form: Don’t worry about this for now.
-Comments: Check your site’s comments.
-Appearance: Change the appearance of your blog.
-Plugins: Add plugins.
-Users: Add users to your site.
-Tools: Tools you can use on your site.
-Settings: Adjust the settings.
Structuring Your Site
On the Dashboard, go to Settings > General.
On this page, you can edit your site information. Confirm that your site title is what you want. Enter or modify the current tagline, which contains secondary keywords for your site.
Your WordPress address/site address should be given, and they should both be the
same. Confirm your email address and your timing information. Leave the rest of the
information the way it is.
Click on Save Changes.
Now go to Settings > Reading.
Next to “Frontpage display,” make sure the “static page” is selected. Next to “Front
page,” use the drop-down menu to select “Sample Page.”
Leave the rest of the information as it is, and click Save Changes.
Go to Settings > Discussion.
Check the boxes that match your preferences regarding comments, articles, avatars,
etc. (If you’re not sure which preferences you want, leave these as they are.) Click Save Changes.
Go to Settings > Permalinks.
A permalink is a way that a link is structured. Under the “Common Settings” section,
select “Post Name.” Click Save Changes.
To make sure that this is correct, open your hub site on a new page. You should see the sample page as your homepage, which displays your site name and tagline. If your
homepage still shows a blog post, then you need to go back and change it so that it’s a static page.
Step Six: Select a Theme
Go back to the Dashboard. Go to Appearance > Themes.
Toward the top of the Theme page, there may be a message that says: “Your site is
currently displaying a “Coming Soon” page. Once you are ready to launch your site click here.” Click on that. (If you don’t see this message, you can skip this step.)
Now you’re going to upload a theme. Click on Upload at the top of the page. On the next page, click Upload Theme. Then, click Choose File.
Choose a theme that is already on your computer.
Click Install Now. Once it’s installed, click Live Preview to see it before you activate it.
The theme will pop up in a new tab. If you like the theme, hit Save & Activate in the top left corner of the page. Go back to your hub site and reload the page. Now you will see the theme that you just uploaded.