Learn how to start a blog on Bluehost! Bluehost is great for beginners as no web design or web development experience is required. Whether you’re interested in starting a blog for work or as a hobby, I’ll teach you why you need a Bluehost Blog. Learn how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost in 2023, including step-by-step guides, pricing and more!
Today you will learn how to create a WordPress website with Bluehost. Learning how to start a self-hosted blog allows me to work from home with a completely flexible schedule.
Reading: How to create a blog from bluehost
If you want to turn your blog into a business one day, it is easier to monetize WordPress.org compared to the free blogging platforms. (This includes Wix, Blogger, Blogspot and WordPress.com). Your WordPress and Bluehost blog will also appear more professional if you need a professional website for your business or service.
This article is on Bluehost for beginners, so let’s start with some definitions. Here’s what you need to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost (or any other host):
- Hosting plan: On your Website space is rented the network. Your web host is the one you rent the space from; In this case, it’s Bluehost. Some describe treating your hosting plan as your landlord, a good analogy.
- Domain Name: The domain name is the actual address where your visitors pass by. You are currently visiting me at my domain name, SummerYule.com (Welcome!). If you don’t pay your rent (host), your address (domain name) will be locked out. This leaves your domain open to being “rented” by others.
- Blogging platform: Your blogging platform is the behind-the-scenes map where you add content and other “DIY” things to your website. It’s a place only you go, not your website visitors. Here we use WordPress as our blogging platform.
Go to:
- Why use Bluehost for WordPress?
- How to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost 2023?
- How to set up a WordPress site on Bluehost
- How do I get a free theme on WordPress with Bluehost?
- WordPress Blog Tutorial
- Additional Tips for Starting a Blog on WordPress.org
- WordPress Plugins
- Other WordPress Blog Must-Hat
- How to Backup a WordPress Site on Bluehost
- Bluehost WordPress Alternatives
- Bluehost Web Hosting Alternatives
- Is Bluehost good for To blog? ?
- FAQs
- Other helpful articles you may like
- How to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost Video
- 💬 Comments
Why use Bluehost for WordPress
Bluehost isn’t the only paid host you can use for an ads and affiliate marketing website . So why use Bluehost for web hosting? Why not use AWS, SiteGround, A2 Hosting, BigScoots, GoDaddy or another host?
The number one reason Bluehost chooses between BigScoots vs. Bluehost, Bluehost vs. GoDaddy WordPress Hosting, or any other platform is price .
Shared hosting on Bluehost isn’t the fastest, but it has little downtime and is one of the most cost-effective blog hosting options. Most bloggers I know, including yours, start with Bluehost.
Start a blog on Bluehost
Here are some more reasons why you should start a blog on Bluehost:
- Free domain name: Yes, your domain name is free when hosting on Bluehost. (Note: some domains cost extra.) This can save you $10-20 a month or more!
- Easy setup: I will walk you through the step by step guide on how to start a blog with Bluehost and WordPress. I think you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to start a blog on WordPress.
- Customer support via online chat or phone: If you encounter any problems while learning how to start a WordPress site on Bluehost, customer support is round available 24/7 /7. You can reach Bluehost via online chat or phone. I’ve used both in the past and Bluehost’s customer support team has always been helpful in solving my issues.
- Free Custom Email: A wonderful feature about Bluehost is that they offer free custom emails. For example, I can use Summer at SummerYule dot com so I don’t have to use my personal email address. It looks more professional and is another way Bluehost saves you money.
- Free Staging Site: You can also create a free staging site with Bluehost. Staging sites are areas where you can experiment with site changes instead of experimenting on your live site.
- 30-day money-back guarantee: Bluehost offers a 30-day hosting money-back guarantee for new users. That means you can try their hosting service risk-free. What do you have to lose by trying them out?
To sweeten the deal a bit, I’ve teamed up with Bluehost to create a special reader-only deal. For a limited time, you can access it by clicking the button below:
How do I start a WordPress blog on Bluehost 2023?
Are Ready to learn how to start a blog on WordPress in 2023 with Bluehost? Here is your helpful guide to setting up a website:
1. Visit Bluehost and choose your web hosting plan.
Plans start at $2.95 per month for the basic plan. This is how I started and I would recommend it to most new bloggers. However, there are other plans if you run multiple websites or have other needs.
From the drop-down menu, click the “Host your website” or “Shared hosting” button. Hosting tab.
Scroll down and select the button for Basic (or your preferred plan). At the time of writing, the 36-month basic plan is the best deal at $2.95 per month. The 12 month plan costs $4.95 per month.
When I signed up with Bluehost, I was able to get the 36-month plan for $2.95 per month. However, I only used the plan for 2 years before I had to upgrade (and switch hosts) and effectively paid for a year that I didn’t use. You may find that the one-year plan suits your needs.
2. Choose a domain name.
Now it’s time to choose your domain name, i. H. the URL of your website. Choose wise! If you’re not yet sure what you want your blog to be about, you can use your name. (I have!)
Sometimes the domain you want isn’t available so you have to choose a different one. If you haven’t decided on a domain name yet, click I’ll create my domain later. Otherwise, you can register your domain right now.
3. Enter your Bluehost account information.
Next you need to enter basic information like your name and address.
If you scroll down, you will see that Bluehost has many potential add-ons. You can easily double or triple the price of your web hosting by choosing lots of package extras.
The only extra I would seriously consider as a beginner blogger is domain privacy for $1.25 per month. This will remove your name, address, phone number and other personally identifiable information from the Whois database of website owners. It’s essentially like having an unlisted number.
Here are the other package add-ons you can choose from:
- Codeguard Basic: Daily backups for your website and the ability to restore your website in one click. ($2.99/month)
- Yoast SEO Premium: Learning SEO to get found in search engines is crucial for professional bloggers importance, and I recommend taking a course on it. This is not necessary for hobby bloggers and there are other keyword tools that I would recommend for SEO anyway. ($2.99/month)
- SiteLock Security Essential: This is an automated monitoring tool that helps you protect your website from malicious attacks. I’d save money and get the free WordFence site security plugin instead. ($2.99/month)
- Single Domain SSL: You get Let’s Encrypt SSL for free with the basic package, which is fine for beginners. I would skip paid SSL for now. ($3.33/month)
4. Enter your credit card information to register with Bluehost.
See also: App Development Cost (2023)
It’s time to pay and click submit. Your plan will automatically renew unless you call customer service at 1.855.984.4546 to cancel. IMVHO this is a good thing as you don’t want to lose your site because you forgot to refresh it.
5. Let your WordPress installation complete.
You did it! Now that you have a web host, let’s talk about how to set up a WordPress blog.
How to set up a WordPress site on Bluehost
How do I start my WordPress site on Bluehost? There are two ways to log into your WordPress dashboard. The first is to log into the Bluehost dashboard and from there click to your WordPress dashboard.
Go to Bluehost and click “Sign In” in the top right corner of the screen. This will take you to your hosting login (or your webmail login if you prefer).
You can reach the WordPress dashboard by clicking on “My Sites” in the left-hand menu.
My dashboard will be more complicated than yours since I’ve been blogging for years.However, your dashboard should have an Appearance section. One of the first things you need to do when starting a blog is to choose a WordPress theme.
How do I get a free WordPress theme with Bluehost?
In the WordPress dashboard, you can find many options for free WordPress themes under Appearance > Themes > Add new. Keep in mind that you might want to switch to a paid theme later when you turn your blog into a business.
Astra and Kadence are considered two of the best free Bluehost themes for blogs. They are both very fast with a simple design. You can later upgrade to a paid version of Kadence if you wish.
When I started this blog as a hobby blog, I used the ColorMag theme. I still love ColorMag’s design, but admittedly it’s not the fastest theme out there. If you are blogging hobbyist I would just pick a topic you like; it’s easy to switch later.
WordPress Blog Tutorial
Once you’ve set up a theme, you can write a post. First, from the WordPress dashboard, click Posts > Add New. You will get to this screen:
First look at the right column. Decide when you want your post to be published and add the date. Scroll down and add a featured image and category (if you want).
(This is beyond the scope of this review, but I won’t add tags. They create a lot of thin content pages that are bad for SEO. When I first learned how to start a WordPress blog starts with Bluehost (I made a mess with tags that took months to fix.)
Next, in the left column, you can add your title and start writing the body of the post. If you click below the middle of a block, you’ll see the option to add media like videos and photos.
Here are some quick tips for writing blog posts that look great on mobile:
- Don’t keep your paragraphs longer than 2-3 sentences.
- Keep your sentences no longer than 20 words.
- Break up sections with H2 headings.
- Keep the text between H2 headings under 300 words.
- Use bulleted lists and lots of images in your post to keep things interesting.
These practices are also great for SEO. When you’re done writing, click the “Publish” or “Schedule” button at the top right of the screen. Congratulations!
Additional tips for starting a blog on WordPress.org
There are a few more things to know. First of all, don’t confuse WordPress.org with WordPress.com.
You can set up a free website on WordPress.com, but you don’t own your domain. Instead, you get a subdomain from WordPress.com. Your URL would look something like this: https://yourwebsitenamehere.WordPress.com/
With WordPress.org, you own the actual domain, not just a subdomain of another website. That’s why we went to all this trouble to learn how to start a blog with Bluehost and WordPress.
WordPress Plugins
Plugins can perform a variety of functions and help your website run more smoothly. To access plugins, simply click on “Plugins” in the left menu of the WordPress dashboard.
Here are some plugins I recommend for new bloggers:
- Jetpack: Jetpack is like the swiss army knife of plugins, it can so many things. A nice feature of Jetpack is that it includes Askimet, a powerful filter against spam comments.
- Wordfence: No matter how small your website is, hackers will try to hack it. Wordfence is a security plugin that offers a free version and a paid version. I would highly recommend both. (Advanced blogger tip: Another way to protect your site is to switch your nameservers to Cloudflare.)
- Yoast: Yoast is a popular plugin for learning basic On -Page SEO. (I wouldn’t get too bogged down in that though, as the green/red light system may mislead you.) Yoast offers a free and premium paid version. The free version is fine for beginners.
- WP Recipe Maker: If you publish recipes, you should use a plugin that creates a recipe card. I use WP Recipe Maker and love all the features and customization it offers.
As much as I love certain plugins, I recommend minimizing plugin usage overall. If you have a lot of them, they are more likely to conflict with each other and cause errors on your site.
See also: How to Create an Online Course Website With WordPress
When I was a beginner I used about 40 plugins and now I’m under 20. Less is more when we talk about plugins.
Also, do not set your plugins to update automatically and try not to update your plugins immediately. New plugin updates often contain bugs that are fixed after a few weeks.
Other WordPress blog must-haves
Here are a few places on the web where I recommend registering your blog:
- Google Adsense: You can monetize your blog with ads through Google AdSense from the start.AdSense doesn’t pay as well as Adthrive or Mediavine, but it doesn’t have high traffic requirements either. Start getting back some of the money you spent on your blog now. (Well, at least pennies of what you spent.)
- Google Analytics: Google Analytics gives you detailed information about how visitors find your site . Ad networks also want this information. Which social media channels work best for you? Find out here!
- Google Search Console: Use Google Search Console for more specific information than Analytics about how your site is performing on Google.
- Mailchimp: Your email list is one of the most important assets on your website. Your email list is yours and unaffected by social media algorithm changes and Google updates. Mailchimp can use up to 2000 subscribers for free and is great for beginners. (After that, I recommend ConvertKit.)
By the way…
How to secure a WordPress site on Bluehost
Bluehost Choice Plus offers automated backups for the first year. BluehostPro offers automated backups as part of their plan.
Bluehost Basic and Bluehost Plus do not offer automatic backups. However, they add Codeguard Basic to your hosting plan for $2.99 per month. This will give you automatic daily backups of your website.
I strongly recommend backing up your website so you can restore it if necessary. I used Jetpack for backups when I was on the Bluehost Basic plan. Another option is to use the free UpdraftPlus plugin.
Bluehost WordPress Alternatives
There are other ways to blog if you don’t want to use Bluehost and WordPress. For example, you can get paid for video blogging on YouTube or TikTok. However, if you use your own platform to reach your audience, you can earn a safer and higher income.
Let me explain…
If you make your main platform a social media channel like TikTok, you can quickly lose your audience when the algorithm changes. When the platform wanes or disappears (think MySpace), so does your audience.
Another problem is that social platforms act as middlemen and cut your income. The top ad networks (Mediavine and Adthrive/CafeMedia) pay US bloggers $20-35 per 1000 page views or more. (This is a general guide and may vary depending on your audience origin and niche.)
I’ve heard that TikTok only pays 2-4 cents per 1000 views. A video watched on your website can earn you 30x more than the same video you watch on YouTube. In addition, you need to continuously feed your social channels with fresh content to keep making money.
Social media can be a great way to expand your audience and build awareness of your brand. But is it great to depend on social media if you want to make money blogging? IMVHO, not so much.
Bluehost Web Hosting Alternatives
Of course, there are other web hosts that you can use instead of Bluehost. Here is a cost comparison chart of some popular web hosting options:
*This is the host I switched to after my website started getting heavy traffic.
Is Bluehost good for blogging?
In short, Bluehost is the best web host for blogging beginners. It’s cheap, easy to use, and has great customer support. If you’re interested in building a website cheaply, I highly recommend trying Bluehost.
For a limited time, readers of Summer Yule Nutrition and Recipes can take advantage of a special offer! Save money on Bluehost web hosting by clicking the button below!
FAQs
How do Bluehost and WordPress work together?
Bluehost offers a web hosting account and WordPress is a content management system. You need a host like Bluehost to have a live website.
Do I get Bluehost or WordPress first?
If this is your first blog, sign up for Bluehost first. Then use Bluehost’s WordPress installation process to set up WordPress for your self-hosted blog in one click.
What types of blogs are there?
There are many types of blogs, but some categorize them into personal blogs, business blogs, niche sites, and affiliate blogs . Some blogs are a combination of these types.
Other Helpful Articles You May Like
Now that you’ve learned how to create a WordPress blog on Bluehost are some other life hacks:
See also: How TO – Build a Website
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How to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost Video
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