Let me guess. You have a passion that you’d love to share with the world.
Perhaps you love food. You love browsing food blogs, checking out the yummy looking photos and trying the recipes. You have awesome recipes that you know others would love to make.
Or you love to travel and are wondering what to do with all these amazing photos and stories (your family may be tired of hearing them by now).
Or you are a photography enthusiast and you wish you could share your skills with a wide audience.
Or you want to change the world to be a better place and are secretly hoping (like I do, I admit) that your blog will make a difference.
Whatever it is, don’t wait. Today is your day to start a blog!
You may be wondering what’s the rush? You still need to think about some things…
If you are waiting for the perfect moment when you have everything figured out – then this will never happen. Trust me, I started several blogs and none of them was perfect. Still, I’m glad I went ahead anyway.
So, all I’m asking you is to things on hold for the next 15 minutes. Just fifteen minutes! Follow the three steps below and you’ll be up and running with an awesome [food/travel/photography/health/design/insert-your-passion here] blog today. Let’s begin!
But, think about what? What’s really holding you back? If you are waiting for the perfect moment when you have everything figured out – then this will never happen.
If you are waiting for the perfect moment when you have everything figured out – then this will never happen. Trust me, I started several blogs and none of them was perfect. Still, I’m glad I went ahead anyway.
So, all I’m asking you is to things on hold for the next 15 minutes. Just fifteen minutes! Follow the three steps below and you’ll be up and running with an awesome [food/travel/photography/health/design/insert-your-passion here] blog today. Let’s begin!
Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. I have used all of the products listed below and recommend them because I love the products and services that they provide, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products.
How to Start a Blog in 30 Minutes or Less
The 3 Easy Steps to Your New Blog:
1) Choose Domain Name and Hosting
This part is fun! What do you want your domain name to be? Mine is GreenReset.com.
Your domain name could simply be your name, it could reflect what your website is all about, or it could be a cool, generic name that would give you most freedom.
(The danger with the second approach is that you could pigeon hole yourself. Your focus and topics may shift over time, so in my opinion it’s best to try to keep it general. I started this website as GreenSmoothiesPower.com, as I wanted it to be a place where I share my passion (and recipes) for green smoothies, but later on decided to change it to a more general, shorter name. While changing the domain name is possible, it can be quite a pain.
Brainstorm as many different ideas as possible and head to Hostgator. You may check if any of your ideas by going to their website and choosing the Domains option from the top menu. Or you can do it all at once when signing up for hosting.
Hosting is like renting space on the web to display your blog. A web host (or hosting provider – such as Hostgator or BlueHost), is a company that makes your website available for the world to see. They have the equipment and technical skills to make sure your website is available to the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Hostgator has great rates for domains and hosting, plus they provide great support. Go to their site and click on View Web Hosting Plans:
On the next screen choose the Hatchling Plan, unless you want to set up more than website. (You can always upgrade your account in the future once you’re ready to expand your blogging empire ;-)).
Fill out the billing form and choose the payment period (monthly, yearly, or more – the longer the billing cycle, the lower the price, but you have to pay more upfront). Once you purchase your domain and hosting, you’ll be ready to install your WordPress blog!
2) Installing WordPress
Once you’ve completed registration with Hostgator you’ll need to go through the process of installing WordPress. WordPress is an easy to use blogging software. It’s the software that I use for GreenReset.com. The best part is that it’s SUPER easy to use and it’s also super easy to install on your website. Here’s how!
Login to Hostgator and scroll down to the Software/Services section of the first page. Click on the “Fantastico” icon. Don’t worry about all the other options at this time.
You will now see the following screen. First click “WordPress” on the far left column, you will then see the right side of the screen will say “WordPress”; click the “New Installation” link.
On the next screen you will be able to enter your username & password. Use the something you will remember (or write it down somewhere). Leave the space blank where it says “Install in Directory” (this will install your new blog into the root directory).
After you have filled in the info requested on this page, click the “Install WordPress” button.
- Type in a unique administrator username and password (for you to access the admin area) (1-2).
- Give yourself a nick name (3), this will be seen by people reading your blog.
- Enter your email address (4).
- Give your blog a name and write a short description (5-6). This can be changed later.
- Go ahead now and click “Install WordPress” (7) and click “Finish Installation” on the next screen.
Congratulations! You have now completed your WordPress website installation.
Now you should be able to open a web browser and type in your domain address and see your new blog.
Type your Login URL into your web browser. You’ll see a login screen like the one below. Enter your Username and Password you selected in the previous step.
Now you are ready to install your new theme to make your site look pretty, so continue to the next step!
3) Making it Pretty
At this point, you’re officially a blog owner! Yahooooo! How does it feel? Welcome to the blogosphere!
You’re minutes away from sharing your delicious recipes and photos with the world. Before you jump into the kitchen there are a few things you can do to beautify your blog. It’s time to pick your theme!
WordPress has tons of free WordPress themes to pick from. You can scan through the options here.
There are millions of themes available for WordPress, but to keep it simple (and save you some serious headaches), check out these two options.
1. Elegant Themes – I looove Elegant Themes, they are just so….elegant and beautiful! This site runs on Elegant theme. There are many to choose from and all are available for just $39. Check them out here.
2. The Studio Press Themes – I also love Studio Press themes. Check them out here.
Once you’ve picked your them, follow the installation instructions provided by the company you bought it from.
A Few Words About Starting Your Blog For Free
You can host your blog for free at WordPress.com or Blogger.com. For several reasons, I recommend spending a little money and putting it on your own hosting account.
First, though it is easy to get up and running, you will quickly become frustrated with the lack of customization options available to you. Blogger blogs all look like Blogger blogs, and developing a customized look and feel for your site is difficult when your hands are tied by the limitations of the software. Basic functions can be are needlessly complicated and frustrating. Most importantly, though, is that as a hosted service, you never really “own” your blog; the company owning the site can, at any time, shut your blog down, effectively seizing its content and repossessing the site name that you have worked so hard to develop.
If you are serious about your new food blog, there’s really only one choice in blogging platforms: self-hosted WordPress. WordPress is the most popular blogging platform on Earth, with over 55 million WordPress-powered sites in the world. It has quickly risen from being just another piece of blogging software to the number one content management system in the world, with armies of developers, incredible support communities, and programmers working around the clock to extend the platform’s core functionality to do almost anything you’d like on the internet.
Want to start a food blog? WordPress can do it. Want to start a Craigslist-style job board, a Citysearch-style city directory, or a full-featured real estate website? WordPress can do those things, as well. WordPress is infinitely customizable, and when you want to add some sort of custom function to your site, you will never hit a wall with WordPress.
Brag About It!
Send me a quick message on Facebook or on my contact page to let me know when you get your blog up and running. I’d love to stop by and check out your new blog!
Good Luck,
Joanna
P.S. Also, check out my resources for bloggers page to get an inside look on the other services and products I use.
PPS. I am passionate about helping people to get their blogs started. If you have never started a blog before, the technical aspects of the setup process can be difficult. Don’t let this stop you! If you are stuck, let me help. While it’s really easy for me now to get a blog set up, I still remember that it was pretty difficult the first time. Contact me via email or use the contact page, and I’ll be happy to help.