Want to start a WordPress blog the right way?
We know starting a blog can be a daunting thought, especially if you’re not geeky. Imagine – you are not alone.
Reading: How to create a wordpress blog video
After helping over 400,000 users create a blog, we decided to create a step-by-step guide on how to create a WordPress blog for beginners with no technical knowledge.
The process is easy to follow whether you are 20 or 60 years old. However, if you need help, our team of experts will help you set up your blog for free. → Click here to get your free WordPress blog setup! ←
What do you need to start a WordPress blog?
There are three things you need to start a WordPress blog:
- A domain name idea (this will be the name of your blog, e.g. wpbeginner.com)
- A web hosting account (this is where your website lives on the internet)
- Your undivided attention for 30 minutes.
Yes, you read that correctly. You can start a blog from scratch in under 30 minutes and we’ll walk you through the entire process step-by-step.
In this tutorial we’ll cover:
- So register a custom domain name for free
- How to choose the best web hosting
- How to install and configure WordPress blog
- How to change your blog design template
- How to write your first blog post
- How to customize a WordPress blog with plugins
- How to add a contact form
- How to set up Google Analytics tracking
- How to optimize your website for SEO
- How to make money from your blog
- Resources to learn and Mastering WordPress
Ready? Let’s get started.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, keep reading.
Step 1. Choose yours Blog Made of Name and Platform
The biggest mistake beginners make when creating a blog is choosing the wrong blogging platform. Luckily you are here, so you won’t make that mistake.
For 95% of users, it makes more sense to use WordPress.org, also known as self-hosted WordPress .
That’s because WordPress is open source, which means it’s 100% free to use. You can install plugins, customize your blog design, and most importantly, make money from your blog with no restrictions (see the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org).
WordPress is also the number one website platform Used by all successful blogs including our own. For comparison, 43% of all websites on the internet use WordPress!
Now you might be wondering why WordPress is free? What’s the catch?
There’s no catch. It’s free because you have to set it up and host it yourself.
In other words, you need a domain name and web hosting.
A domain name is what people type to get to your site. It is the address of your blog on the Internet. Think google.com or wpbeginner.com
Web hosting is where your website files reside. It is the home of your website on the internet. Every blog needs web hosting.
A new domain name typically costs around $14.99/year, and web hosting plans typically cost $7.99/month.
That’s a lot of money for beginners who are just getting started.
Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and over Offering a 60% discount on web hosting.
→ Click here to claim this exclusive Bluehost offer ←
You can also check out other popular WordPress hosting -Use companies like SiteGround or Hostinger and still follow our blog setup tutorial.
We recommend Bluehost for beginners as it is one of the oldest web hosting companies on the internet. They are also the biggest brand name when it comes to WordPress hosting as they host millions of websites including many of our own.
Additionally, Bluehost has been working with WordPress since 2005 and they are committed to doing so to give something back. That’s why they promised us that if you can’t get your blog online within 30 minutes by following this tutorial, our team of experts will complete the process for you for free. You will compensate us, so you don’t have to. Contact us for free blog setup help.
NOTE: At WPBeginner, we believe in transparency. If you sign up with Bluehost through our referral link, we’ll earn a small commission at no additional cost to you (in fact, you’ll save money and get a free domain). We would earn this commission for recommending almost any WordPress hosting company, but we only recommend products that we personally use and that we feel add value to our readers.
Let’s go ahead and buy your domain hosting.
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Open Bluehost in a new window and follow it.
First you need to click the green “Start Now” button to get started.
On the next screen, select the plan you need (Basic and Plus are the most popular).
You will then be prompted to enter the domain name for your website.
Lastly, you need to add your account information and complete the package information to complete the process. We recommend going for the 12-month plan as it offers the best value for money.
On this screen you will see optional extras that you can purchase. It’s entirely up to you whether you buy these or not, but we generally don’t recommend buying them right away. You can always add them later if you decide you need them.
Once finished, you will receive an email with details on how to log into your web hosting control panel (cPanel). This is where you manage everything from support to e-mails, among other things. But most importantly, this is where you install WordPress.
Step 2. Install the WordPress blogging software
If you sign up for Bluehost using our link, WordPress will automatically for You can start building your blog right away.
Simply log into your Bluehost account, then click the “Login to WordPress” button to get started.
If you use another WordPress blog hosting service like SiteGround, Hostinger, WP Engine, etc., check out our comprehensive WordPress installation guide for step-by-step instructions for those providers.
Although most of the blog hosting companies above do, WordPress is now also automatically installed to tech ch to help non-savvy users kick-start their blogging journey.
Once WordPress is set up, you can create your blog pages, c customize your blog’s design, and start blogging.
Step 3. Choose your WordPress theme
The visual appearance of your WordPress blog is controlled by blog themes. When you first visit your blog it will look something like this:
This is not very appealing to most people.
Customizing the look and feel of your blog is by far one of the most exciting and rewarding Get involved in creating your WordPress blog.
There are thousands of pre-made WordPress themes that you can install on your website. Some of these are free themes while others are paid premium themes.
You can change your theme by going to your WordPress dashboard and clicking Appearance » Themes.
Go ahead and click the Add New button.
On the next screen, you can browse from 9,100 free WordPress themes available in the official WordPress.org theme directory. You can sort by popular, newest, featured, as well as other feature filters (i.e. industry, layout, etc.).
You can hover over a new theme and see a preview button. Clicking it will open the theme preview where you can see how the theme would look on your site.
The preview of your theme may not look exactly like the screenshot, which is normal as you need to customize and set it up later. What you need to pay attention to is design, colors, typography, and other elements.
The best tip for choosing the perfect WordPress theme is to strive for simplicity in design. It helps you keep things clean and clear while providing your users with a good experience.
See also: How to Create a Pay per Click (PPC) Advertising Campaign
If you need help choosing a theme, please see our guide to 9 things to do should consider when choosing a perfect WordPress theme.
Once you’ve found the theme you like, just move your mouse over it and you’ll see the “Install” button. Click on it and wait for the theme to install. After that, the “Install” button will be replaced by an “Activate” button. You must click on it to activate the theme.
Once you’ve installed your theme, you can customize it by clicking the Customize link in the Appearance menu.
Depending on the theme you choose, there are built-in widgets and customization options that you can use to tweak your blog design.
You can get even more design control with a WordPress page builder like SeedProd or Divi You create a custom header, footer, sidebar, and more without having to write any HTML.
These plugins give you more design control than what you get with Wix or Squarespace, while still giving you the full Freedom of the powerful WordPress content management system.
Once you’ve chosen your WordPress theme, you can now create your first Blo Create a g post.
Step 4. Create your first blog post
Start writing your firs To create a blog post, click on the Posts » Add New.
You will see an editor area where you can write your first blog post.
WordPress uses a block-based editor that allows you to create beautiful content layouts for your blog posts.
To get familiar with the editor, check out our WordPress block editor tutorial.
Once you’re done typing, click the Publish button in the top right corner of the screen to make your blog post public.
On the post screen, you will notice several other sections, such as categories and tags. You can use these to organize your blog posts into sections. We have a great report on the difference between categories and tags that you should definitely read.
To use all the features on the Posts screen, you should read our article on how to add a new post in WordPress (including video).
It covers how to embed video, add blog image, headline, table of contents, subheading, bulleted list, call-to-action button, social media post and all other keyboard shortcuts that you need.
Often beginners get confused between posts and side menus in the WordPress dashboard. That’s why we’ve also written a complete guide on the difference between posts and pages in WordPress.
If you need help brainstorming new blog post ideas to write about, here are some helpful resources:
- 103 Blog Post Ideas Your Readers Will Love
- 73 Types of Blog Topics Proven to Work
- How to Write a Good Blog Post (May 12) Expert Tips )
Many professional bloggers strategically choose their specific topics through keyword research. This will help your content rank higher in Google searches and get more traffic.
We have a step-by-step keyword research guide for beginners using exactly the same method, that we use at WPBeginner.
Step 5. Plugins
First you need to enter a name for your contact form and then click on the “Basic Contact Form” template.
WPForms will now create you a simple contact form with all required fields. You can click on any field to change it or add a new field from the left column.
When you are finished editing the form, click the “Save” button in the top right corner and exit Then go to the form builder.
You can now create a new page in WordPress by going to Pages » Add New and naming it “Contact Us”. On the editing screen you need to type the WPForms block in the editor.
After that, select the previously created form from the drop-down menu and WPForms will load a live preview of the form into the editor.
You You can now save and publish the page and bring it up in your browser to see your contact form in action.
It’s good practice to test your form to make sure you’re getting the notifications. If you don’t get the notification, you should read our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending emails.
If you need more detailed instructions, check out our step-by-step guide how to create a contact form in WordPress.
As a blogger, the best thing about WPForms is that it grows with you. Aside from simple contact forms, you can also use it to create reader polls, surveys, guest post submission forms, and more.
How to set up Google Analytics tracking
Google Analytics can help you see , how many people are visiting your blog, where they are from and what they are doing on your website.
It is best to install Google Analytics when you start your blog so you can see how popular your blog is Grown over time.
First, you need to visit the Google Analytics website and sign in with your Gmail account.
Once you are signed in, you can go ahead and sign up for a free Google Analytics account.
You will be prompted for your information and the website URL. After that you will be presented with your Google Analytics tracking code.
You can stop here as we use a plugin to automatically fetch and add this code to your blog (along with setting up proper WordPress tracking) . ).
Go to your WordPress admin to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. It’s the free version of the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress and the easiest way to add Google Analytics to your website (trusted by over 3 million websites).
Once activated, you must visit page Insights » Settings to configure plugin settings.
Click the “Connect MonsterInsights” button on the settings page to connect Google Analytics to your WordPress site.
Follow Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. Once you’re done, you can see your website analytics report right from your WordPress dashboard in the MonsterInsights tab.
See our article on installing Google Analytics in WordPress for detailed instructions.
How to Optimize Your WordPress Blog for SEO
Most beginners don’t optimize for SEO when creating a blog. SEO or Search Engine Optimization helps users find your blog in search engines.
If you want more traffic then it is crucial that you optimize your blog for SEO from the start.
Um To get started, you must first install and activate the All-in-One SEO plugin. It’s the complete WordPress SEO plugin to optimize your blog.
The plugin includes a quick configuration wizard to help you set it up. It will help you set up a WordPress sitemap, write appropriate keywords and meta descriptions, add schema markup, and more.
We also recommend that you check out our complete step-by-step WordPress guide SEO guide to follow for setting up the SEO of your blog.
Now there are other SEO plugins like Yoast SEO, RankMath, etc. but we recommend using AIOSEO as it offers the most beginner-friendly interface for new bloggers. The free version of AIOSEO is pretty good and is used by over 3 million websites including WPBeginner.
Besides a WordPress SEO plugin, you can further optimize your blog content by using a keyword research tool . These SEO tools will help you find new content ideas that people are searching for related to your topic.
You can even see the exact keywords your competitors are ranking for, so you can create better content and match them can surpass.
This is a great way to maximize traffic to your new blog site right from the start. Check out our beginner’s guide to keyword research for your own blog for more details.
Other WordPress Plugins and Customizations
There are loads of other WordPress plugins that you can install . Beginners often find it a bit overwhelming searching for the plugins they need.
See also: How to Publish an App to the App Store
At WPBeginner, we often feature the best WordPress plugins to help you add the features you need.
Here is our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins to check out.
- Backup – UpdraftPlus is the best WordPress backup plugin. You need to create regular backups of your website in case something ever goes wrong.
- Security – Sucuri Security is a free security scanner for WordPress. We have a complete step-by-step WordPress security guide for beginners that will help you secure your blog.
- Performance – We recommend using either WP Rocket (premium) or WP Super Cache (free) to speed up WordPress. For more information on this topic, check out our article on WordPress speed and performance with step-by-step instructions.
- DesignBasically, you are recommending your favorite products/services to your readers and when they make a purchase, you earn a referral commission.
The key in affiliate marketing is to recommend quality products and services that you are already using and trust. There are many affiliate marketing plugins and tools for WordPress that can help you make more money promoting affiliate products. We recommend using PrettyLinks or ThirstyAffiliates as a must.
We also have a complete step-by-step affiliate marketing guide for beginners to help you choose the right affiliate program and the right strategies to monetize your blog today.
3. Online store
Many bloggers make money by selling things directly from their blog. This can be physical products, digital downloads like e-books, artwork, music and more. Some bloggers even offer consulting services.
If you want to sell digital products like eBooks, we recommend using Easy Digital Downloads because we use this plugin ourselves. It has all the features you need to sell digital downloads.
If you want to sell physical products, we recommend using WooCommerce as it is the best ecommerce plugin for WordPress. It’s also the most used e-commerce platform in the world.
For detailed instructions, see our guide to easily creating an online store with WordPress.
Some bloggers do this don’t want the hassle of creating a store to sell their own products, so create an Amazon affiliate store which allows them to sell other people’s products from Amazon and earn a commission.
In addition to the 3 methods above, you can do so much more with your WordPress blog. You can create WordPress blogs specifically for reviews, fashion blogging, food blogging with recipes, and more. Each of these blog types offer you more unique ways to make money.
You can also turn your blog into a membership site to offer premium content and courses. We have a detailed guide on how to create and sell online courses using WordPress.
Step 7. Master WordPress
WPBeginner is the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners.
At WPBeginner, our main goal is to provide cutting-edge, helpful WordPress tutorials that are easy to understand for small businesses, bloggers, and non-technical WordPress website owners (see more about us).
To get your WordPress To expand your knowledge, you should check out:
- WPBeginner Dictionary – The best place for beginners to get started and familiarize themselves with the WordPress language
- WPBeginner -Videos – New to WordPress? Check out these 23 videos to master WordPress.
- WPBeginner Blog – The central location for all of our WordPress tutorials.
For more discussion you might want Join our free Facebook group WPBeginner Engage. With more than 90,000 members, the group focuses on helping novice and non-technical users achieve more with WordPress.
You can also subscribe to WPBeginner’s YouTube channel, where we regularly post video Share tutorials to help you learn WordPress.
Finally, you can use Google to type your question and add WPBeginner in front of it. Our users always find this trick helpful as it makes it easy for you to find the RIGHT answer to your WordPress questions.
If you don’t find an answer to your question, don’t worry. Simply use our contact form to send us a message. Our always helpful full-time WPBeginner support team is here to help. We love helping users get started with WordPress.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
We’ve helped thousands of people start a blog and answered many questions. Below are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about creating a blog.
Can I create a blog without WordPress?
Yes, there are some other blogging platforms available. We compared them all and WordPress is by far the best website builder solution out there to create a blog with complete ownership and freedom.
Can I create a blog without hosting ?
No, that’s not possible. Web hosting is where your website files are stored. All websites require web hosting. To start a blog you need your own domain and web hosting.
How do I find a good blog name for my website?
Most personal Blog names are named after their creator. Other blogs are named after the topic or the industry in which they operate. We have an AI powered business name generator that you can use to come up with blog name ideas.
What is the best blogging niche?
Choosing the right niche for your blog will make it easier to create engaging content and make more money online earn. Our experts have researched the 7 best blogging niches to consider when starting your blog.
We’ve also made a list of the 18 most popular types of blogs to help you get inspired.
How much does it cost to start a blog?
The cost depends on the add-ons you buy. We have a complete guide on how much a WordPress website costs plus tips on how to save you money.
Most blogging tools are either free or come with a 30-day money-back guarantee equipped so you can try them risk-free.
Can I start a blog without my parents knowing?
Yes. You can make your WordPress blog private and hide it from the internet. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make your WordPress blog completely private.
Can I start a WordPress blog and make money with Google Adsense?
Yes, you can monetize your WordPress blog with Google AdSense. We have a step-by-step guide on how to add Google AdSense in WordPress.
How can I create a blog and remain anonymous?
If If you want to have a public-facing blog but want to remain anonymous, you need to make sure your domain has WHOIS privacy enabled. Often people use a pseudonym/nickname to write under. You should also create a unique email just for your blog. It goes without saying that you do not post any pictures or anything similar on the blog. For more detailed instructions, see our article on blogging anonymously with WordPress.
How do I add a podcast to my WordPress blog?
WordPress does it great easy to start a blog and add a podcast. We have a step-by-step guide on how to start a podcast with WordPress.
Can I create a blog in my own language?
Yes, you can use WordPress in other languages. You can choose your language during installation or on the settings page in the WordPress admin. WordPress is fully translated into more than 56 languages and partially translated into dozens of other languages. Many top WordPress themes and plugins are also available in multiple languages. You can also translate a theme or plugin that you want to use on your website.
How do I create a blog in multiple languages?
Want one Start a blog in Hindi, Spanish or multiple languages? Here is a step-by-step guide to creating a multilingual website in WordPress.
Can I design a blog without coding?
Definitely . You don’t need any coding, coding, or design skills to create a professional-looking WordPress blog.
WordPress themes are easy to customize and you can set up your theme with just a click of a button. There are WordPress themes like Astra that come with pre-built starter websites that you can import with one click.
There are other powerful themes like Divi that give you a full dragYou might also want to read our article on 27 actionable tips to drive traffic to your new WordPress site and our checklist of 18 important things to do after installing WordPress.
If If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our YouTube channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
See also: University of Washington Human Resources
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