This guide on how to start a blog from scratch in 2020 is great for beginners! Follow this step-by-step guide to set up your WordPress blog in minutes!
So, you’ve finally decided to learn how start a blog? Excellent idea!
Having your own blog offers a lot of incredible benefits. Blogging is a great way to express yourself, showcase your expertise, build your professional network, market a business, or make money!
I started this blog to have my own space to express myself, my creativity and my ideas, but in less than a year, I was also able to turn this small blog here into a money-making blog!
Whatever your reason/ purpose is for starting a blog or website, I am here to help you set up your own self-hosted WordPress blog in minutes with Hostgator!
BUT FIRST, WHAT’S A SELF-HOSTED BLOG?
What does it mean to be self-hosted? In a nutshell, a self-hosted blog has its own space on the web.
If your blog is not self-hosted, it’s likely to read like www.domainname.wordpress.com or www.domainname.blogspot.com. That also means you don’t actually own your blog. Whoever is hosting your site can delete or shut your site down at any point.
Another advantage of getting your blog/website self-hosted is that hosting companies have customer support you can contact in case of technical issues. You can readily get in touch with them if you see any glitches on your site, and it’ll be fixed in no time.
With a self-hosted blog, you can also customize or design your blog to your liking.
More importantly, you need to have a self-hosted blog to fully monetize your site. Your blog needs to be self-hosted if you want to make money through advertising and affiliate marketing.
This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a small commission at NO extra cost to you. Please see my Disclosure for more information.
WHY HOSTGATOR?
I found Hostgator coincidentally and since then I’ve never looked back. They have awesome customer service and when I have concerns they are always attended to quickly!
Hostgator is one of the most popular web hosts with over 8 million domains. They have 24/7 support you can access by phone, email or chat; 1 click WordPress installation and 99.9% up time. They also offer a 45-day money back guarantee for new accounts.
START A BLOG WITH THESE EASY STEPS
CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORM
I know that many, if not most of us, are hardly techie gurus, which is why choosing to start a site or a blog on a beginner-friendly platform is important. There are many blogging platforms out there but WordPress is the platform that I advocate.
WordPress is by far the biggest platform in the world, with 82 million active users, countless themes and plug-ins that give you infinite ways to customize your site.
IDENTIFY YOUR DOMAIN NAME.
The domain name is essentially your web address, the word or phrase that comes before .com or .net.
Before setting up your blog, it is important to carefully think of the best name for your blog, so that it’s relatable and memorable, and therefore more likely to drive more traffic and possibly make more sales.
For a no-frills extension, I’d suggest simply choosing a “.com” extension as it’s the most popular and easy to remember.
HOST YOUR SITE WITH HOSTGATOR
PROMO ALERT!
I am excited to announce that I was able to negotiate a special hosting price for my readers. For a limited time, you can start a blog on Hostgator for only $2.75 per month and enjoy over 60% off regular pricing . Don’t forget to enter the Promo Code to enjoy savings: TMB2019.
Hostgator also offers a FREE SSL certificate which they can integrate onto your blog so you’ll have a secure site; and a 45-day money-back guarantee!
How to start hosting with Hostgator? Follow these 5 simple, easy steps!
1. SIGN UP WITH HOSTGATOR.
Visit Hostgator’s main page through this link to get the $2.75/ month price and click “Get Started Now.”
2. SELECT YOUR HOSTING PLAN.
Hostgator offers various hosting plan to suit different needs. However, if you’re just getting your feet wet into the blogging industry, I suggest you pick out the ‘Hatchling’ plan.
You can always upgrade to another plan if you want to run more than one blog in the near future, but ‘Hatchling’ is the perfect way to get started.
Click “Buy Now” to be directed to the next page.
If you already own the domain name you want to host on Hostgator, you can now just click “I already own this domain.”
However, if you’re looking to host a completely new domain, you can get one from Hostgator directly by entering your domain name into the Enter Your Domain bar.
Select the 36 Months billing cycle if you want to enjoy the lowest hosting rate at $2.75/ month. At this price, you are saving over $250! Please note that this price does not include your domain which only costs $12-15 per year.
If you don’t want to get tied to a long contract, you can choose a monthly plan, too, and you can start your blog today for less than $20+ ( $10+ per month for the hosting + $12-15/ year for your domain.) That’s just a tiny investment to make for something that can potentially change your life!
3.PROVIDE YOUR BILLING INFORMATION.
You will be prompted to select your payment method, such credit card and/or PayPal, and other personal information.
4.CONNECT YOUR DOMAIN AND PICK ADDITIONAL SERVICES.
You’ll also be asked to pick additional services. These services are optional and you can uncheck them for now and your blog should still set up smoothly.
I personally did not select any of these.
If you’re happy with what you have, you now have to tick off the terms of service box and proceed to check out.
Once you get started with Hostgator, you should get an email with your log-in information to your cPanel.
5. INSTALL WORDPRESS.
Now, you just have to install your WordPress blog on Hostgator. You may do it either through Quick Install or Manual. For most beginners, the Quick Install option is the best choice as it takes less than 5 minutes to complete.
1.Log into your Hostgator cPanel. You’ll find the Quick Install option under Software/Services
Click on the Quick Install button and then select “Wordpress.” Select “continue” on the drop down menu and it will walk you through the entire installation process. Don’t worry, it’s quick, easy and painless. Hostgator should also email you the details you used for the installation.
PRETTIFY YOUR BLOG.
Once WordPress is successfully installed, you can now make it pretty. You’ll find various theme selections and you just need to pick one that looks right for your niche and personality. Click “install theme” and it should be set up for you in a few seconds.
CONNECT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS.
At this point, you may want to set-up your social media accounts so that they are cross-linked with your blog. It would be best to have your social media pages carrying the same names as your blog’s domain name for better brand recognition.
START BLOGGING!
Congratulations, you’re ready to create your first blog post. Go to your WordPress dashboard and select “Add Post.” You can add content, photos and videos to your blog to make it interesting and start generating traffic.
You might think that setting up WordPress is for the tech-savvy only, but nothing can be further from the truth. You can set up your blog on Hostgator even without much technical knowledge, and the entire process is pretty quick and easy. In a few minutes, you should complete the set-up and you can start blogging your heart out.
Hello, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your blog site in Safari, it looks fine but
when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, wonderful blog!