For Smarties Who Want To Save $ AND Time
A Cross-Post by Krystal for sHEbrews
When I started blogging, less than 1 year ago (gasp!) I really went into it KNOWING this was not going to substitute any day-job, at least not anytime soon. But over the last 8 months, I was shocked to see that with just a little effort & dedication – I COULD make money blogging & that IF I maintain & grow my momentum – it COULD be the means of my main source of income.
In the short amount of time I have been blogging, I have had (shockingly) numerous people (friends, rando convos in the grocery store & strangers on the interweb) ask me “how easy is it REALLY, to start a blog?” & “can I actually make money with a blog?” Well, the answer is – pretty freakin easy; & OH YEA!
For the most part, everything I was hearing from people was that it was all the technical stuff that was keeping them from starting their own website/blog. And yes, if you have never done it before, & are trying to do it on your own – it can get a little frustrating, to say the least. But I have good news – it’s actually SUPER easy with just a LITTLE help.
While I am an experienced website designer (it’s a part of my day job), I promise you that a) it’s so easy my mom can do it. b) you can TRUST this professional guidance because what I’m telling you is exactly what I do whenever I’m setting up a new website.
Let’s stop here for a moment.
Praise the LORD that I can even sit here & write this. But I want to be clear. I do still have a day job, & blogging is mostly supporting my ability to reach new clients within a market that involves my skill set. This is not & will never be a sit-back & money will roll in kind of income. Blogging takes dedication & passion.
In full transparency, I want to have an open disclosure here that even though I am very passionate about what I do, I DO make money off my opinion by writing about the products I support – like in THIS post. Everything in this post (& all my posts) is my true & sincere thoughts & feelings. While I do make money through these posts, I always post with 100% honesty & would never recommend any product or service that I don’t use or support to the fullness that I claim.
Ok, with all that said – let’s jump in.
Here’s the process, step-by-step, on how to start a blog (or any website) through Bluehost easily!
DECIDE ON A DOMAIN NAME
A domain name is what users will type into their web browser’s search bar to navigate to your site. For example, “shebrews.blog” is my website’s domain name.
Most people try to go for a domain name that is the name of their company, brand or a term known by their targeted audience. Brainstorm with lots of different ideas. I suggest keeping in mind making it a memorable & easy to spell domain name. At the end of the day, though – go with whatever makes you happy. Choose your favorite, & also a backup, or different variations, of your domain name preference (in case the name is already taken).
PURCHASE YOUR WEB HOSTING & DOMAIN NAME
I do this step together because it’s just much less confusing this way.
Web Hosting can be thought of where your website “lives.” It’s where all the deep code of your website is housed, and while you don’t need to know deep code to set it up, every website has to have one!
I personally use BlueHost for all the websites I create for myself & clients. Here are a few reasons why I love them:
- GREAT technical & customer support – Maybe it’s me being a typical millennial – but sometimes I don’t want to talk on the phone. And sometimes it’s midnight on a Tuesday, & my better half is asleep next to me & I don’t want to make too much noise. But regardless of my ‘excuse” my #1 favorite thing about Bluehost is their 24/7 chat option for anything technical support or customer service related. Bluehost support teams are quick & extremely helpful! If I cannot figure out my issue (no matter how big or how small an issue), I can quickly go to the BlueHost chat help & talk with a representative within minutes. No joke – minutes! The fact that they have live chat or phone support 24/7 for every level of issue is a lifesaver!
- “Champagne & Caviar” service on a $1 menu budget – BlueHost is one of the best “bang for your buck” web hosts I have ever encountered. It’s well-priced, but your site isn’t going to slow down or go down (as in stop working).
- Easy, clear setup & instructions – BlueHost’s own website design is super clean & simple. It’s clear to navigate & search. The control panel is easy to use, the email manager is straight forward, & all the menus are well organized – so I can find what I need to do simply & easily (like installing WordPress)!
There are other options, of course, & you should do your due diligence based on what your needs may be. I use BlueHost & HIGHLY recommend them to literally all my clients.
If you already have a domain purchased elsewhere & want to save money, click here for help on transferring your domain name to Bluehost.
PICK YOUR PLATFORM
There are lots of different platforms that you can use to build out your blog, but my biggest recommendation as a website designer has to WordPress (.org, not .com – trust me). It is the golden standard in website design and will allow you the flexibility you need to build out a great blog.
Other options are places like Weebly, SquareSpace, and Wix, among others. However, WordPress truly is – in my opinion, and many others – the best option out there.
Once you made an account with Bluehost, then purchased or transferred your domain; it’s time to design on your platform. The great part about WordPress is all of the theme options & easy to find help make this process pretty fun. But let’s not jump too far ahead of ourselves…
HERE’S WHAT THE PROCESS LOOKS LIKE WITH BLUEHOST
Ready to set up your Bluehost account? Click HERE!
When you first arrive at the Bluehost website, the first thing you will notice is how simple & well organized their site is. Click on the “Get Started” button (pictured above, in green!) to see & select your plan.
Next, select your plan based on your needs. Honestly, most blogs will need a good amount of storage, I suggest the “Choice Plus” or “Plus” option because of the storage issue. Now I want to point out something I didn’t notice at first – the price they show on this chart is a reduced rate based on up to 3 years of pre-paid hosting. This is how you REALLY save. If you decide to do month-to-month, you will be paying nearly double a month vs if you pre-pay. Do yourself the favor – prepay for at least a year to get a better rate. your pocketbook will thank you. Even if you throw it on your credit card, with interest you will still save way more money than paying monthly for the course of 3 years!
This is where you will claim your website domain name. Here you have two options. Create a new domain (that fun list you made) OR use a domain you already own.
If you are creating a new domain from scratch, enter it in the appropriate area & click “next.”
As I mentioned earlier, if you already have a domain with another host, you can simply enter that here. You WILL need to have access to that account later to transfer, but you can set it up for now & even build the website while the host transferring is processed. To do this, enter the domain name you already own into the appropriate field & click “next.”
If you need help with transferring your domain hosting to Bluehost from another hosting site – click HERE!
Once you have a domain selected & Bluehost confirms it is available, you will be escorted to this screen to set up your account. As you can see, it’s not super intimidating. I feel pretty confident you can figure out what to enter here.
Add your payment information. Remember, this card will be auto-charged according to the billing cycle you choose (on the next page). This is also the card they will charge when your domain needs to be renewed.
Here is where you get to see your different plan options & add-ons. As i mentioned, going with the 3-year/36-month pre-paid option for your hosting plan WILL save you the most money. $$$ But let’s talk about these other options and how crucial they are or aren’t for your blog (or website):
Domain Privacy – Simply put, I think this is a good thing to pay for for a measly $12/year. Mostly because it keeps your information off the internet & then dedicates Bluehost as your liaison IF communication to you as the website owner, is needed. How does this work? ICAAN is an organization that monitors websites for compliance. ICANN law requires each website to have full registration information filed (incase of legal things, mostly regarding bad people doing bad things on the internet). Because of this, your registered information becomes public unless you use a company to act as your liaison. So without it, if anyone wants to look up who owns this website, they can see your info (name, website & sometimes phone#). But WITH it, they would see Bluehost’s information instead – & if someone really wants to get ahold of you regarding your website – they can filter it for you & maintain your privacy! Which is pretty nice in today’s cray cray world.
SiteLock Security – Look up to your browser bar right now. Yes, RIGHT NOW. You should see one of two things, either my website logo, or a little lock just to the left of the website URL you are currently reading. If you don’t have sitelock, that becomes an “open lock” symbol & every time someone comes to your website, they will be warned (via pop-up) that your site is not secure & many people have automatic settings that won’t allow them to enter unsecured websites. Sitelock essentially is a certification for your website that verifies the legitimacy of your website & that it is a secure website for your readers to visit, even enter in their credit card info.
I personally never will enter in a website that isn’t secure, because I don’t want my financial information compromised. Having sitelock security gives everyone the freedom to visit your website with peace-of-mind.
CodeGuard Basic – This does a back up of your for you constantly so if there is ever an “oops” you can revert back like it never happened. This is a great tool, but I honestly use a different plugin all together based on the needs of the site. I also do manual backups every time I add a blog or update my website. Which is 1-3 times a month. If you are good about doing that yourself & arent running a high-traffic website yet – then I say, pass on this one.
SEO Tools – SEO can be useful, but SEO is a limited tool these days with the constantly changing algorithms & use of Social media. SEO can be done fairly simply on your own. Unless you want a team of help on your SEO – go ahead & skip it.
Outlook 360 – As a MAC user, this is useless to me. But if you are setting up a business and want to access your new company emails on outlook & have all those bells & whistles – go for it. But out of the dozens of websites I have built – I have never once opted in for this one. Un-check!
Pretty self-explanatory. Use your domain name as your log-in & create a password you won’t forget, but isn’t easy hack.
Click “go to login” to go to the next page & confirm your account.
Log-in to confirm your account.
Now you are going to be asked to tell the world a bit about your blog or website. Bluehost does a good job telling you in the blank fields, what should go there.
Name Your Site – Just like you would a business. It doesn’t have to be the same name you used for your domain, but most people have them understandably related.
Tagline – “A Blog About Wine” or “Custom T-Shirts For People Who Wear Shirts” or something like that – which will tell people what/who your focus is on.
This next screen helps the world-wide-web know what category you belong to help optimize how your site is searched. This also helps Bluehost to understand your website building needs for the right uses & theme suggestions in the next screens.
Bluehost automatically sets you up with WordPress in this next section. If you wish to use a different builder, I suggest skipping this step & then jumping onto the help chat for them to walk you through the importing process. But I HIGHLY suggest using WordPress and going ahead & selecting a theme. You can always revert if you feel you made the wrong choice.
This is the beginning step to building your blog or website. The theme you choose here will be the foundation of your website. Remember, with the addition of plug-ins & custom code, you can really use a theme and make it your own. Explore each option until you find the one that will flow with your vision and audience best.
Once you select your theme & it is loaded, you are taken to your control panel. This is what you will see each time you log into Bluehost. Again, it’s very clean & simple to use. Upon pre-launch of your website (this stage), you will see a “temporary” domain listed. This is just to create your website with, before it goes live to the world.
To start building and customizing your new blog or website, click on the blue “WordPress” button. You will do this every time you want to access the backend of your website.
Bluehost also uses a check-list guide to help you make sure everything is set up. You can return to this screen later to fulfill those tasks as you wish.
This is your dashboard or the “back end” of your website. You will want to design each page and build your site BEFORE you select “launch your site”. Is it the end of the world if you don’t? No, but it does mean that anyone who visits your site while it’s in progress will see the stages you are in as you go. So Ideally, wait until you are ready to launch to press that little button.
And there you go! Setting up your new blog (or website) couldn’t be easier! The next steps are just customizing your website (yay for templates – am I right?!) & content. Stay tuned for the next posts to help you along the design journey!