What do you need to start a WordPress blog?
There are three things you need to create a WordPress blog:
- A domain name idea (this will be the name of your blog i.e kanohost.com)
- A web hosting account (this is where your website live on the internet)
- Your undivided attention for 30 minutes.
Yes, you read it right. You can start a blog from scratch in less than 30 minutes, and we will walk you through the whole process, step by step.
In this tutorial, we will cover:
- How to Register a Custom Domain Name for Free
- How to Choose the Best Web Hosting
- How to Install and Setup WordPress Blog
- How to Change Your Blog Design Template
- How to Write Your First Blog Post
- How to Customize WordPress Blog with Plugins
- How to Add a Contact Form
- How to Setup Google Analytics Tracking
- How to Optimize Your Website for SEO
- How to Make Money From Your Blog
- Resources to Learn and Master WordPress
Let’s get started.
Step 1. Pick Your Blog Name and Platform
The biggest mistake beginners make when building a blog is choosing the wrong blogging platform. Thankfully you’re here, so you won’t be making that mistake.
For 95% of users, it makes more sense to use WordPress.org also known as self-hosted WordPress.
That’s because WordPress is open source which means it is 100% free to use. You can install plugins, customize your blog design, and most importantly make money from your blog without any restrictions.
WordPress is also the number one website platform used by all successful blogs including our own. To put in perspective, 43% of all websites on the internet use WordPress!
Now you might be wondering why is WordPress free? What’s the catch?
There’s no catch. It’s free because you have to do the setup and host it yourself.
In other words, you will need a domain name and web hosting.
A domain name is what people type to get to your website. It’s your blog’s address on the internet. Think google.com or kanohost.com
Web hosting is where your website files live. It’s your website’s house on the internet. Every blog needs web hosting.
A new domain name typically costs around ₦9500 / year, and web hosting plans normally costs ₦1000/ month.
Thankfully, Kanohost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a very cheap domain name and over 16% off on web hosting annually plan.
Step 2. Install WordPress Blogging Software
after buy a domain name and hosting, log in to your cpanel and install WordPress.
Step 3. Selecting Your WordPress Theme
The visual appearance of your WordPress blog is controlled by blog themes. When you first visit your blog, it will look something like this:
This is not very appealing to most people.
Customizing the look and feel of your blog is by far one of the most exciting and rewarding part in the journey of creating your WordPress blog.
There are thousands of pre-made WordPress themes that you can install on your site. Some of them are free themes, while others are paid premium themes.
You can change your theme by going to your WordPress dashboard and clicking on Appearance » Themes.
Go ahead and click on the Add New button.
On the next screen, you will able to search from 9,100+ free WordPress themes that are available in the official WordPress.org themes directory. You can sort by popular, latest, featured, as well as other feature filters (i.e industry, layout, etc).
You can take your mouse over to a new theme, and you will see a Preview button. Clicking on it will open the theme preview where you can see how the design would look on your website.
The preview of your theme may not look exactly as shown in the screenshot, which is normal as you will get to customize and set it up later. What you need to look for is design, colors, typography, and other elements.
The best tip to select the perfect WordPress theme is to strive for simplicity in design. It helps you keep things clean and clear while offering a good experience to your users.
When you have found the theme that you like, simply bring your mouse on it, and it will show the Install button. Click on it and wait for the theme to be installed. After that, the install button will be replaced with an Activate button. You need to click on it to Activate the theme.
Once you have installed your theme, you can customize it by clicking on the Customize link under the Appearance menu.
Depending on the theme you choose, there will be built-in widgets and customization options that lets you tweak your blog design.
You can get even more design control with a WordPress page builder like SeedProd or Divi which let you create a custom header, footer, sidebar, and more without writing any HTML code.
These plugins give you more design control than what you get with Wix or Squarespace, while giving you the full freedom of the powerful WordPress content management system.
Once you have selected your WordPress theme, you are now ready to create your first blog post.
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