Ultimate Guide to Start a WordPress Blog

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There was a time when you need to know some basic CSS and HTML coding to create a website. Now the things have changed, with the help of CMS (Content management system) software like Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress, you can easily build a self-hosted website or blog yourself within minutes. Yes, minutes!

The best thing about WordPress is, you can build any type of Blog or Website without writing a single line of code. Yes, that easy it is! That’s why everyone is attracted to WordPress. If you’re new to these terms, don’t worry; these things might sound little technical, but actually, it is way too easier than you think.

Beginner’s Guide on How to Start a WordPress Blog

Today, I’ll explain the step-by-step guide on how to start a WordPress blog. Just follow the below steps carefully.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a CMS (Content Management System) that allows you to create and run any type of website or blog easily. You don’t have to worry about any coding stuff, you can easily customize and design your WordPress site as you like.

Let’s get Started

This guide is about creating a Self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org), not to be confused with WordPress.com. There are many advantages of creating a self-hosted WordPress blog than using a free blog platform like Blogspot.com or WordPress.com. In this guide, I’ll provide step-by-step tutorials for creating and managing a Self-hosted WordPress blog.

How to Get your own Domain Name

Domain name is the important part of your website; it should represent your brand. For example, TheBlogMetrics.com is my domain name. When a visitor types this domain name on his browser, he’ll find my site. Once you pick your domain name, you need to register it; for this, I suggest you use GoDaddy or NameCheap. While Registering a domain name, it’s important to consider many things, read the below post to know more.

• Important Things to Consider While Registering a Domain Name
• I Have Purchased a Domain Name. Now What?

How to get Web Hosting

Once you register your domain name, you’ll need to buy a web hosting space to host your site contents so that people can access your site through Web. I recommend and use SiteGround for web hosting as they provide quality service at affordable price. You can read my SiteGround Review before buying. It’s always wise to choose a good quality and reliable web hosting for your website, read the below posts before buying.

• Why You Should Never Choose a Cheap Web Hosting
• 10 Best Managed WordPress Hosting Companies
• Top Web Hosting Companies for Shared Hosting

How to Install WordPress

Once you bought your domain name and hosting, you need to install WordPress software on your hosting cPanel. Many popular Hosting providers offer One-Click WordPress installation, with this you can install WordPress within minutes. Once you Install WordPress on your domain, your site will be live.

• How to Install WordPress on Hostgator Web Hosting
• How to Link Godaddy Domain Name with Hostgator Hosting

After Installing WordPress

After Installing WordPress on your domain, there are lots of important things to do like Installing Themes, Security Plugins, SEO plugins, adding a Logo, Privacy policy, and Disclaimer pages, etc.

• Major things to do after setting up your WordPress blog

Choosing WordPress Themes

There are millions of Free WordPress themes on WordPress themes directory, but it’s recommended to use Premium WordPress themes. Premium WordPress themes give more security and stability for your WordPress site. It’s also important to use a Fast Loading WordPress Themes to outrank your competitors.

With Premium WordPress themes, you can covert your blog into any kind of sites like; eCommerce, Magazine, Music, Sport, News site, Portfolio, Medical, Photography, Real Estate, Restaurant, etc. You can also use some WYSIWYG Visual Editor WordPress Plugins to design your blog the way you like.

• 17 Best Places to Buy Premium WordPress Themes
• 27 Best SEO Friendly WordPress Themes
• 17 Best Google Adsense Ready WordPress Themes
• 5 Best WordPress Theme Frameworks
• 10 Best WordPress Food Themes
• 17 Best Medium-Style WordPress Themes
• 31 Best eCommerce WordPress Themes

Recommended Premium WordPress Themes Providers:

• MyThemeShop
• StudioPress (Genesis Framework Review)
• Elegant themes

Installing WordPress Plugins

One of the best thing about WordPress is its Plugins. With Plugins, you can add varies features and functions for your website without touching any codes. You can find thousands of free plugins from WordPress Plugin Directory. You Just need to Install and Configure the plugins. Here is a list of some Important plugins to Install on your WordPress blog:

• Akismet
• Broken Link Checker
• BulletProof Security
• CommentLuv
• Digg Digg
• Google XML Sitemaps
• Jetpack
• Pretty Link Lite (To cloak Affiliate Link)
• W3 Total Cache
• Wordfence Security
• WordPress Popular Posts
• WordPress SEO
• WP Smush.it (To Reduce Image Sizes)

Some Recommended Premium WordPress Plugins:

• Thrive Architect
• WP Rich Snippets

Securing your WordPress Blog

When it comes to security, WordPress sites are the first choice for hackers. There are many bad guys who constantly try to take down your WordPress site by using automated and manual hacking techniques. So it’s wise to take care of your WordPress Blog’s security. I always recommend you to take regular backup of your blog. Here are some posts on WordPress Security.

• Secure Your WordPress Blog With These Security Plugins
• Secure and Speed Up your Site with Free CloudFlare CDN
• Authy for WordPress: Google Authenticator Alternative plugin

WordPress SEO

Even though WordPress is a very good platform for SEO, without SEO plugins it’s incomplete. There are many SEO plugins but WordPress SEO by Yoast is one the best and recommended SEO plugin. If you’re new to terms like SEO; don’t worry. Below are some important posts on SEO and its Plugins.

• 5 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress
• SEOPressor Review: Best Premium On-Page SEO Plugin
• Basic SEO Mistakes to Avoid for Long-Term Success
• 4 Simple Ways to Avoid Your Site Getting Penalized by Google
• Free Tools to Check Google Keyword Rankings
• How to do SEO for Your WordPress Categories

Some Blogging Tips and Tutorials

After Setting up your WordPress Blog, you can right-away start publishing your posts or articles. For writing, I use proofreading tools like Grammarly.

If you’re new to blogging and wondering how to start with, don’t worry. Here are some blogging Tips and tutorials to start your Blogging Journey.

• Essential Tips For Successful Copywriting
• The Ultimate Guide to Getting Started with Guest Blogging
• Starting a New Blog? Consider These Blogging Strategies
• Blogging Communities to Promote and Drive Traffic to your Site
• Top Affiliate Marketing Programs for Bloggers
• 10 Best Social Media Management Tools for Marketers
• 21 Best Lead Generation Tools to Grow your Business
• 17 Best Social Sharing WordPress Plugins
• Drive Steady Traffic: Ways to Promote Your Existing Blog Post Content

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means I earn some commission if you purchase any premium products clicking my links. This commission comes at no additional cost to you.

Final Words

Creating a self-hosted WordPress blog is not that difficult, it only takes few minutes. I hope this guide on how to Start a WordPress Blog is helpful. If you found this post useful, consider sharing this post on social networks.