How do I start a blog? How do I grow my blog? This is a question we get asked multiple times per day.
This is such a loaded question that I can’t answer in one post. But since we get asked so often, we decided we’re going to start to write more and more of these posts to help you guys out. First step is to get your blog setup…so let’s chat!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Although we get paid a commission when you click through our links, all opinions and content are our own and we stand behind all brands and products we are sponsored by.
Step 1: Pick a Domain Name
This is definitely the hardest part. Before we launched our blog, we spent almost one year coming up with a name. I would not recommend this, haha…but picking a name is hard. You don’t want it to be too cheesy, but you also want it to be relevant to your industry and the brand you’re trying to convey. When we finally came up with our name, we sat down and jotted a whole bunch of words on paper. We then stared at the paper for a good week, organizing and recombining words. Although construction2style isn’t that clever, the words construction and style just kept sticking. Since there is two of us, we just said screw it and bought the domain name.
You can buy your domain name and get your blog setup right through bluehost. They make everything so simple, and they have a customer service line (that are super awesome and helpful) that’s available 24/7.
You can enter in a domain name you’re thinking of and check availability here:
How to sign up for bluehost?
Click HERE to buy your domain. Their screen will look a little something like the picture below. Click on the big green icon to get started.
You will enter the domain name you want, or if you already have a domain name, you can sign up with that existing name.
After you’ve entered in your domain name, it will bring you to a screen to enter in all of your personal information. Once you’ve entered in all of your info…
…there will also be a place to purchase the size of package you want. If you’re serious about your blog, I always recommend buying the longest length of time for a package. Not only do you save money, but Google favors websites in their search engines that have domain names bought out for an extended period of time.
Step 2: Setup Hosting
You’ll then enter in all of your billing information for the domain…
…and once you hit submit you have officially bought your domain name and set up your hosting package! Congrats! You’ve taken the first step to the best rest of your life.
Make sure to jot your username and password down somewhere safe. There gets to be a lot of information wth domain name, hosting, cpanel, and WordPress and it can feel overwhelming and confusing. By following our steps, we’ll lead you from one step to the other and it’ll be a piece of cake.
Step 3: Connect WordPress
Now you’ll have to activate your newly purchased domain name into WordPress. Just a couple more steps and your blog will be live!! There’s a spot in bluehost where you’ll login to your cpanel with your domain username and password.
Once you’ve logged into your hosting under the hosting tab, click on cpanel and then the Install WordPress icon under Website as shown below…
…then click the big green START icon to install.
Add in the domain name you bought and install as shown below.
Once you hit “Install Now” it’ll start the installation process! This takes a few minutes, so while that is installing get ready to pop the bubbly!! You officially have your blog and platform set up. CONGRATULATIONS!!
Next step is to make your blog pretty! To login to your WordPress platform you will go to www.yourdomainname/wp-admin and use your unique username and password that you created to login.
Step 4: Choose a Theme
There are thousands of free themes out there and in bluehost, which are super simple to install and use. You can also buy templates online for under $100 or over $5,000. The options are a little overwhelming. I always recommend starting out with a free template just to get the ball rolling. Unless you already have your business plan together and know exactly the look, feel, branding you’re going for, then I’d say go big or go home and hire a professional designer.
When we first launched our blog, we used a few different free templates before we came across the look we wanted. Then our brand kinda took shape and we eventually ended up hiring a designer this past year and spent $5K for a full re-design.
To get started with a free design search for MOJO in the Marketplace in WordPress.
This is what the backend of your wordpress will look like. To us it’s fairly straight forward, but we’ve had a lot of friends tell us it confuses the poop outta them…haha! So we’re going to save how to navigate around the back-end for a future post.
Step 4: Blog Your Pants Off!
Now get ready to blog your pants off! Once you got your brand all setup, the fun and hard work begins. I always recommend powering out 3 blog posts per week, if you can. You need to create your tribe and build your loyal readers. And they can’t be loyal if they don’t have anything to read. There is so much that goes into building, engaging, and keeping your tribe, we can’t wait to show you more and more tips to come.
And we can’t wait to see the fabulous blogs you guys create! Make sure to tag us so we can give you some love and help you grow that tribe of yours.
Happy blogging!