How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost

Panda

4 years ago

how to start a wordpress blog with bluehost

Wondering how to start a blog? Or Ready to take the plunge but don’t know where to start?

Don’t worry. Bluehost just made it easier than ever to start a WordPress blog. You don’t have to be a tech savvy or knowing how to code. Plus, you can start monetizing your blog for less than $4 a month!(I got the price down for you)

In this post, I’ll show you exactly how to create a blog with easy-to-follow screenshots and step-by-step written instructions.

Starting a blog is the best way to express your feelings, share your thoughts and expertise online.

It’s a great way to establish your personal brand and grow your business to the next level. And you can make money online too!

I started this blog as a creative channel to share my personal journey. After successfully building a 6-figure publishing business with my partner, I wanted to pursue other endeavor and explore my interest. I was really intrigued about blogging and thought it’d be a great way to share my experience, perspective and maybe inspire others along the journey! That’s how I started…

Well, the point is you don’t need to be a good writer or successful in your life to get started with blogging. Blogging is for everyone. Everyone has unique story and point of view to tell. It presents a great opportunity for you to build something out of nothing, making a good living from your passion. Does it sound too good to be true?

My first earning with Bluehost in less than a week!

And I was able to make money in less than a week since I become a Bluehost affiliate (not bad ah?). Though it’s not a big amount, but it’s definitely a good source of passive income and there’s more room to grow. You don’t need a huge following to start making money with your blog. So if I can do it, you can do it too!

Free Blogging Platforms vs WordPress.org

You might be wondering, “Why should I choose a self-hosted WordPress blog?”

There are tons of blogging platforms out there, which you can use to create a blog for FREE -you don’t have to buy domain name and hosting.

While the thought of creating a free website without paying anything is tempting, you should AVOID it at all cost. If you just want to give blogging a try, if you only want to see how the platform works, if you want to do it just for fun, then I don’t see the reason why you shouldn’t use a free blogging platform.

However, if you’re serious about blogging, eventually make money with your blog, you’ll need a self-hosted blog.

My advice? Always go for self-hosted WordPress blog. You want to do it right from the very beginning.

I’ve compiled some of the main reasons why I think it’s a bad idea to build your site using free blogging platforms

Zero control over the blog

You have literally no control of your own content and site. These free blogging platforms have clause to delete your blog anytime without any reason.

Unprofessional web address

Your website address is the first thing that your potential visitors will see. Having a domain name like yourname.blogspot.com doesn’t look professional and thus it’s very hard for people to take your blog seriously. The very first step to build a positive online reputation is to have your own domain yourname.com.

Limitation

With free websites, you’ll have limited design choices and few low-quality templates to choose from. You can’t customize your site as you wish or add any of your own designs on your blog.

Low monetization potential

Unlike a self-hosted WordPress site where you can monetize your blog in whatever way you want, free websites offer very limited advertising options. Some of the free blogging platforms don’t even allow you to run third-party ads. Many advertisers and companies will avoid dealing with bloggers from free websites.

Read more about why you should pay for your blog hosting here.

Why Bluehost is A Good Choice to Self-host your WordPress blog?

Bluehost is one of the top website hosting providers in 2019. There are tons of reasons why you should choose Bluehost for your WordPress blog.

It’s EXTREMELY affordable. Bluehost offers cheap website hosting without sacrificing quality. You can create your website for less than $4 per month!
Bluerock, the new user interface is very easy to use. For all new users, Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you!
Bluehost provides great technical support.
You get a FREE domain.
Bluehost offers a 30-day money back guarantee. Now you can start using Bluehost plan at NO risk. During your first 30days, at any time, if you feel that it’s not what you want, you can get your money back, no question asked! If you have any question or problem with Bluehost, I’m here to help, you can contact me here.
Bluehost is one of the most reliable hosting companies. Currently, it hosts more than 2 millions website. Guess what? 850,000 of them are blogs. There’s a ton of satisfied customers, you can just Google it.
WordPress through Bluehost is FREE. In fact, WordPress themselves recommend Bluehost for WordPress!
You can self-host your website. You retain full ownership of your site. And you can start to customize and monetize your blog.
You get FREE access to Blue Spark, a service that will guide you through the complex tools and functionality of WordPress. Once you purchase a Bluehost hosting plan, a team of WordPress experts will assist with everything from getting started with WordPress, to installing plugins, to account access/navigation, and initial set up questions.

After much researching and endless experimenting, I found that Bluehost is one of the best web hosting sites out there. It’s no surprise why so many bloggers choose Bluehost for their blogs.

I have done the hard work for you, you don’t have to spend hours of comparing the website hosting companies.

Now, you can create a professional-looking blog, get a FREE domain and complete WordPress setup in 3 simple steps. Are you ready to get started?

How to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost

1. Get a Free domain name and your hosting

To start your WordPress blog on Bluehost, click here.

Now you’re on Bluehost official site, click “get started now” button to claim your free domain and get your Bluehost hosting plan with my special price.

Before you continue to the next step, you need to get your domain name ready. Remember, a domain name should be a reflection of your business name or what you’re doing. In order to make a positive and lasting impression on your audience, you want to come out with a good domain name.

Choosing a domain name for your blog can be tough, but it would be much easier if you follow this tips.

Tips for choosing a domain name

Keep it short, simple and easy to remember.Unfortunately, most of the short domain names are already taken. You can use this domain name generator to turn your ideas into fresh, available domains.

Make it easy to spell.

Use .com extension instead of others like .org, .net, .info, .biz. According to Registrar Stats research, over 75%of the domains have “.com”, followed by “.net” and “.org”. “.com “is easier to remember and more familiar.

Think long term. Your domain will define your brand and business for years. You don’t to go through the trouble of changing your domain name in the future which will cost you money, SEO rankings and branding.

It will be much easier if you get both hosting and domain name at the same time with Bluehost. I recommend you get your domain directly with Bluehost. To get a FREE domain, all you have to do is choose 12 months worth of Bluehost web hosting.

If for any reason you decided to buy your domain from another company or you already have a domain name purchased, that’s fine. But you’ll have to do the extra step of connecting your domain with your hosting, I’ll explain how to do it later. Anyway, you’ll still get a free domain name with your Bluehost hosting.

So, make sure you’re signing for the 12 months hosting plan.

Choose hosting for your blog

There are 3 options for the web hosting plans: Basic, Plus and Choice Plus. As for the plan, I would suggest you start with the least you can afford, you can always upgrade later as your website grows. If you’re just getting started, you can get the Basic plan for less than $4/month, it would be the best choice for you.

If you’re planning to have more than one blogs, then go for Choice Plus, for an extra $2 you can have unlimited sites hosted on Bluehost. For Plus and Choice Plus plan, both are priced the same. But with Choice Plus, you get extra domain privacy, site backup and more benefits. So go for Choice Plus, the most popular plan, if you want to manage more than 1 website.

Once you’ve decided on which plan to choose, click “select”.

2. Setting up your domain and hosting

Now you have selected your hosting plan. Next, you’ll need to setup your domain with your hosting.

After you’ve setup your hosting, you will come to this page where you need to enter your domain name.

There are two options: create your new domain name or enter your existing domain (if you already purchased your domain with another provider)

Remember, you will get a Free domain name by using this Bluehost link.

Once you’ve done, click “next” button.

Final registration

You’re almost there. Create your account page by entering your personal information and contact details.

Before proceeding to payment, you’ll need to select the account plan: 12 months, 24months, 36 months, and 60 months.

Want to get the best price and save more money? Select 36 months for your hosting plan.

You can see that the Let’s Encrypt SSL fee and primary domain registration fee, both are free!

Next, you can just unselect all the additional services. They are not necessary except the domain privacy protection option. You might want to keep your personal information private ( phone number, email and address) with domain privacy protection.

Complete your Payment Information

Enter your credit card details, agree to their terms and conditions and click “Submit” button to complete your purchase.

Important: Make sure you understand that Bluehost only offers a promotional price on the first bill. This means that the next time you renew your plan, you’ll need to pay at the regular price.

That’s why I highly recommend you buy hosting package for 3 years term to get maximum Bluehost discount.

Connect your domain to your hosting account

Note: You can skip this step if you get your domain directly from Bluehost.

If you already have an existing domain or decided to buy your domain from Godaddy, then you need to connect your domain to your hosting account before you can continue setting up your WordPress blog. Here’s the full support page from Godaddy on setting nameservers for your domain.

1. Log into your Godaddy account manager page.

2. From the “Manage your account” list , select “Manage Domains”.

3. Use the checkboxes to select the domain name you want to use for your website and then click “Set Nameservers”.

4. Log into your Bluehost cPanel. Make sure you use the login information from the Bluehost welcome email that you’ve received.

5. On your Bluehost cPanel, find your nameservers ( They should look like this: “ns1.bluehost.com”, “ns2.bluehost.com”).

6. Now, go back to your Goddady account, enter the updated nameservers in the spaces provided under “Name Servers” and click “Save Changes”.

7. Next, you’ll need to add your Goddady domain as an addon domain to Bluehost. On your Bluehost cPanel, click “Domains” > “Assign”.

It’s very simple, just follow these steps you’ll be able to connect your domain and hosting in minutes.

3. Create a Secure Password

Thanks to the newly introduced Bluerock user interface, you don’t have to do any extra step to install WordPress.

Bluehost will take care of the technical aspects and automatically install WordPress for you! It’s FREE!

Before you proceed, you need to create a password for your account.

Keep this password secure as you need it for account verification purposes when contacting Bluehost support.

4. Login to Your WordPress

That’s it! You now have your new WordPress blog.

Next, Bluehost will guide you through exactly what you need to do in order to start a blog.

Choose a Template for your Blog

WordPress offers lots of free themes which you can choose from. Browse through the selection and simply click on the theme you like to activate it.

If you want to do this later, you can randomly pick a theme first and change it later.

If you’re looking for easy way to actually design your own WordPress site, I’d suggest using Template.net. Template.net is used on my blog, and trust me, it can make your life a lot easier.

What particularly great about Template.net is its simple yet robust theme frameworks that’ll ensure your blog is secure and search-engine-optimized. Their professionally designed themes are fully customized and easy to use. Free and paid WordPress themes are available.

WordPress Dashboard

On your WordPress dashboard, you can either choose “Business” or “Personal” – it’s up to you.

As you can see in the screenshot below, it’s interface is very user-friendly.

Now you have a WordPress blog, let’s start designing and creating high-quality content!

You can also access cPanel from your Bluehost Dashboard. It is extremely simple and easy to use by anyone.

Even new users with no technical experience, can easily set up, manage and control websites, domains, emails and more, all in one place.

Pro Tip: You’ll need to customize your WordPress by installing a plugin which can help to enhance your blog such as improve SEO and build a bigger following.

Here’s a list of top 12 must-have WordPress plugins for your new blog.

Don’t know how to install a WordPress plugin? Follow this simple step-by-step guide to install your first plugin.

If you need help on getting started with WordPress, simply contact the support team via 844-741-1192 and ask to begin your Blue Spark service.

A dedicated support team will be assigned to will walk you through every step of getting started with WordPress such as navigating the Bluehost and WordPress dashboard, selecting the best plugins and themes for your WordPress website.

Also, if you want to build your email list and send newsletter to your readers, I recommend Constant Contact. It’s the most easy-to-use and beginner-friendly email marketing service for new bloggers. Learn how to create your first email campaign here.

If you’re a professional blogger looking for a robust email marketing service, I highly recommend ConvertKit.

Good luck!

If you have any question or problem with Bluehost, I’m here to help, you can contact me here.

Do you have any concern not to self-host your own blog?

Do you have any problem or question following this tutorial to create your own blog with Bluehost? Feel free to comment below