The best hostess in town- Bluehost
The Best Hostess in Town: Bluehost
To start a blog you have to decide where do you want to store it- on a free platform or create a self-hosted website. The essential difference between the two is where your files and site are located.
Think about it this way- where would you like to store all the stuff that means most to you? In a free storage facility with limited access and possibilities or in independent storage that costs a few bucks a month and is completely yours so you can do whatever you want with it.
If you want professional hosting with great customer service at affordable prices go for Bluehost.com or SiteGround.
My site is hosted on Bluehost. Here’s why you might choose to go with Bluehost as well:
- Affordable price– I always thought having a site is a pricy business but with Bluehost, it’s possible for a less than 3$ a month!
- Free domain– with Bluehost your domain is included (15$ worth).
- Monetizing your blog– This is a self-hosted platform which means it’s easier to create an income of your blog if you ever want to make into a business (don’t ever rule it out!).
Here are 10 ways you can create an income from your blog. - Professionalism– with Bluehost, you will have control over your site and will be taking more seriously by companies and readers.
- Customer support- their outstanding and free (!) customer support is 24/7. I’ve already contacted them in the past in regards to their affiliate programs and had an excellent experience communicating with them.
- User-friendly- You don’t have to be a tech genius to start a blog. Bluehost makes the process so much easier so that those of us who are not as tech-savvy can do it!
- Free SSL certificate– this certificate adds the “https” label to your website URL and means your site is secure. Moving to HTTPS costs a fortune so having this free certificate is a huge benefit. Keep in mind that Google is moving towards marking non-https sites as not secure, so having this certificate will have a positive effect on your location in the search results. Another great side effect is your site will run faster since secure sites work with a protocol developed by Google that will speed up your site.
- Money-Back Guarantee– worst-case scenario, if you decide it’s not for you, 30-days-money-back guarantee!
Follow this step-by-step guide to start
your WordPress blog with Bluehost:
Want me to do it for you? Sign up for my Blog Set Up services and I’ll set up your WordPress blog for free when you use my affiliate link.
Go to Bluehost.com and click on the “get started” green button.
Now, you select your plan.
I went for the basic one and would advise you to do the same. In any case, you can always upgrade later on.
Choose your domain!
Here you can insert a domain you’ve purchased or just purchase a new one for free with your Bluehost account (for 12 months).
Don’t have a name for your blog yet? This part is important but you don’t have to choose one right away! Just click on the “I’ll create my domain later”.
If you need help with choosing your domain, go to NameMesh, Namelix or Wordoid. All these are domain generators in which you can enter keywords and it would generate different options for your domain.
You’re almost done! Set up your account
Under “package information,” I will say the basic 36-month-plan is the best value for your money. As you can see prices go down as your plan is longer. Still, you can choose a shorter plan since they are also extremely affordable. I chose the 36-months-plan and never looked back.
Under package extras, Bluehost offers a few extras but you can tick these boxes off if you’d like.
It’s time to purchase your hosting package!
Enter your card or PayPal details and you can move on to the next steps of starting your blog, building and designing it!
And just remember, you can always get your money back in 30 days just in case you have a change of heart.
Choose a password
Once you received the confirmation email from Bluehost and verified your domain you will have to create a password for your Bluehost account. Just like other online accounts you have (or even more), your blog is at risk of being hacked, so choose a complicated password.
Great job. Now you can log into your account.
Install WordPress
After logging in you will be led to the Bluehost dashboard where you can choose a theme. I would recommend skipping it for now since you can always choose one later on.
In the next screen press “Start Building.” That’s it! With Bluehost’s one-click installation, you just built your WordPress blog!
Next, WordPress will offer you help in setting up your business or personal kind of site. You can click on “I don’t need help” and skip that stage.
Launch your site!
Click on the “launch” button and on the next screen choose your title and description. This part is important for SEO purposes. My title, for example, is- SugarTravels and the description is- Your Exotic Travel Blog.
That’s it! In less than 10 minutes you made the first step in the process of starting your blog!
Now you can move on to designing your WordPress blog b in our next lesson.
