#bloggingedumacation – How To Start a Blog

Hey girl hey!! I’m excited you are here to learn about how to start a blog!! This is the post you will want to bookmark so you know what you’ll be doing at each step. Once you get your blog started, make sure you head back to my #bloggingedumacation page to learn all about blogging. You’ll also want to check out my podcast, Boss Girl Creative, which teaches you all about the whats, whys & hows of blogging, business & being a creative entrepreneur.
This tutorial is all about how to start a blog on WordPress. This is the platform that I use and love. So let’s get started!

STEP ONE: Buy your domain name.
If you haven’t started researching domains, please figure this out first. This is like your first impression on a date. Make it a good one! I purchase all of my domain names through GoDaddy. It’s the only thing I use GoDaddy for…to buy my dot coms. I would also consider purchasing Domain Privacy protection when you buy your dot com. There are some weirdos out there!!

STEP TWO: Purchase your hosting.
Your blog needs a place to live. That living place is called hosting. You can get hosting for around $8/month to start. I have used RFE Hosting since 2012. I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I’ve had issues. And a few of those times were self-inflicted by myself. Aaron provides excellent customer service and is quick to respond when you need help. You can also purchase your domain name through RFE Hosting if you want to do that in one fell swoop.

STEP THREE: Connect your domain with your hosting.
If you bought your domain through RFE Hosting, Aaron will connect the two. Easy peasy. If you bought your domain through GoDaddy and purchased your hosting through RFE Hosting, wait until Aaron sends you the email with your DNS information. You’ll need to update that within GoDaddy (DNS means Domain Name Servers)..basically it’s an address of where your site is hosted. Here is an article from GoDaddy that walks you through this process. And here are the steps:

Log into the GoDaddy.com Account Manager.
Select Domains.
Click the Green “Manage DNS” button next to the domain you want to manage.
Under the Nameservers heading, click the green outlined “Change” button.
Select the Custom option and then enter your nameserver info in the spaces underneath.
Click Save to complete.

STEP FOUR: Install WordPress.
Look for your cPanel login information (sent to you in the same email you found your nameservers in). Login to your cPanel and navigate down to the bottom of the page and look for the Softaculous Apps Installer section. Locate WordPress and click the logo. Click the Install Now button on the next screen (blue button).
You will need to tell it which domain name to install WordPress on and then you’ll need to decide on a username/password.
I highly recommend that you use the password generator and keep it on a sticky note somewhere safe. And DO NOT use “admin” as your username. This is the first thing hackers try when trying to enter your site (and yes this does happen!)
Don’t worry about creating a tag line (unless you’ve already figured out what your tagline will be). Just get your username and password figured out.

And ta-dah!! You now have a blog!! It really is that simple. Now on to the fun stuff!! Making it pretty and writing the content that will attract your ideal readers!

Some other things to note:
You probably want your blog to be pretty (duh!). So here are my recommendations:
Purchase Genesis + a Child Theme of your choice.
You can purchase Genesis here. And then here are some of my favorite child theme creators (i.e. the what makes it pretty part without hiring a web designer): Pretty Darn Cute & Restored 316 Designs
You can also purchase a child theme through Studiopress (there are some fun & feminine themes to choose from, including a few from Pretty Darn Cute) if you want to go that route.

Head to my #bloggingedumacation page to learn more about blogging + don’t miss out on all my podcast episodes over at Boss Girl Creative!!

(Where I Party)