If you want your words to be heard by the world and are looking for an extra stream of income, blogging is a great way to achieve this. Blogging has now become a career and is a great way to express yourself. If you want to start blogging, then there are many platforms to choose from. One of the best, simple, and easy-to-use platforms is WordPress. It is a great platform that gives you a lot of opportunities to start blogging.
Setting up a blog on WordPress is an easy task that requires minimal effort. In this guide, we have discussed how you can set up a blog in less than 15 minutes!
Buy a host:
The first step is to get a WordPress host. There are a lot of hosting companies available on the web, but not all are the same. As we all know, getting something free nowadays is a rare case, and even if you find something for free, it shall not match the quality you require.
Therefore, the first thing to keep in mind is to never go after free hosting. Finding High quality hosting is not difficult at all. They are currently available all over the net and packages start as low as $10 per month
Some worth mentioning hosts available on the internet are Bluehost and Flywheel.
Bluehost is ranked first on the list of hosting companies. They offer diverse hosting plans and hence it helps you to choose those that fulfills your needs.
SiteGround hosting is also an excellent option to start blogging and to opt for if you are not interested in Bluehost. Before we proceed further in setting up a blog, read more for Siteground hosting to set up a blog to make money online.. Like Bluehost, flywheel also offers a variety of plans to choose from. They also provide free resources like eBooks, videos, help books, etc.
Download and configure WordPress:
The next step is to install WordPress and then align its settings. Once you have decided which host to choose and select the plan you need, you are ready to install and set up WordPress. The installation of WordPress may vary according to the host you have chosen, but in the end, results will be the same for everyone.
Once WordPress is installed and ready to work, you can now use your URL to log into WordPress. Your host account should have a link to your WordPress login. Admin name, email, and password are the same which you use for your hosting account.
WordPress is customizable, and you can make changes as you like in your blog website. Head over to the WordPress setting and make changes according to your liking. You can even change your profile in the settings.
Select a theme:
There are many free and platinum themes to choose from. Every year, the WordPress team generates a new theme, and these themes are suitable for beginners to start a blog.
To be honest, themes don’t play an essential role in getting more following, but your content does. So, first of all you should focus on your content, and when you start generating an audience, then you can select a theme for your website.
If you are not happy with your current theme, then no problem at all as you can change your theme whenever you want. Just select the new theme and install it.
Go to the appearance option in your sidebar and then go to themes, there will be a variety of themes to choose from. Select whichever you like and upload it.
Install suggested plugins:
Getting proper plugins can take a lot of time. It is very easy to spend hours installing plugins before getting an actual one that can work in terms of your content. In reality, you do not need any kind of plugin to start blogging, but there are some which you need to get full access to your blog.
Most of the plugins are available in WordPress. Just go to the plugins available in your sidebar. There are many options to choose from. You can select those which you want. Once your plugin is installed, you’ll get a message to activate it.
Activate your plugin, and you are good to go. Below are some plugins which can help you to protect and boost your blog page.
Akismet:
Akismet will help you to deal with comment spam. As you know, comment spam can become a massive problem if you don’t deal with it initially. That’s where Akismet comes to your rescue. This plugin is available in WordPress by default. You just have to install it and after installing it don’t forget to activate it.
Also, select the strictness level if you don’t want any spam in your blog. After you have done all of this, it becomes the job of Akismet to scan all your comments and move all spam comments to your spam folder. The only responsibility you have is to empty that folder occasionally.
AddThis:
AddThis is one of the best plugins which allow other people to share your content on other social platforms. If your theme doesn’t support social sharing, then you need to add a plugin to do the job.
AddThis is good for you as it is free and available in WordPress ready. All you have to do is install the plugin and then activate it. This plugin will give you options for 200+ social networks and a lot of button styles for free.
Yoast:
Optimize your SEO with Yoast. We all know that search engine optimization is an integral part of any website. Becoming an expert in SEO will take years.
Thus, you need a plugin to do this part easily and without any effort. Yoast is available in WordPress, and all you need is to install it and activate it. Yoast will do basic SEO like keyword optimization, breadcrumbs, and more.
