BloggingDiaries
Registered Member
- Jul 5, 2015
- 70
- 16
Since this is the blogging section, there might be new members who aren't familiar how to follow through the whole process when it comes to setting up a blog from scratch, so I thought I'd put together a small but a really helpful guide.
Step 1: Choose your niche
Before you choose your niche, you should determine whether you want to run your blog as a business (now or in the future) or you just want to run your blog as a hobby.
If you want a hobby blog you can choose a niche that will fit your interest and passion.
But if you want to run the blog as a business to actually earn money from, you can't rely just on your interest and passion when choosing a niche, although that should be the main factor when choosing it.
The second step is to research and find out if the niche is big enough to profit from. You can start by choosing 5 main (3 words max) keywords describing your niche and see their monthly search volume inside Google Keyword Planner. If they are above 100k per month (the 5 keywords combined, at least) it means there are people looking for it and you're good to go.
The third step is to lurk around and see if there are some products or services and figure out how people earn money from it and finally think of your own way to monetize it.
Step 2: Choose a Domain Name
Domain name is a URL of a website you put in your web-browser. Google.com is a domain name, Facebook.com is a domain name, EnterYourOwnNameHere.com is a domain name, you get the idea.
Once you choose your niche you need to choose your domain name and buy it.
How to choose a domain name?
Here're my criteria:
- Think of a domain name that will best describe your niche/blog
- Don't use your own name (reason: You won't be able to sell the website in the future if you decide to)
- Don't use more than 3 words (reason: It's boring and long and in most cases won't be memorable)
- use .com or .net extension (reason: it looks professional and safe)
- don't use numbers unless you have really good reason to do so
.com domains usually cost between 10-15 bucks and you can buy them from a domain registrar.
Most popular domain registrars are GoDaddy.com and NameCheap.com. Head over to one of them and type in your domain name to see if it's available.
If it is, you can make a purchase, if not look for another alternative till you find something available that fits you the most.
Step 3: Choosing a Hosting
To put it simply: Web hosting is a place where people store their websites/blogs so when someone type in the domain name they can access the website. You need to have a web hosting to own a .com website.
I personally use InterServer(.)net, but you can choose between others like BlueHost(.)com or InMotionHosting(.)com.
Step 4: Connect your Domain and Hosting
You need to host your domain name as well and you can do that by connecting it to your hosting.
Here's how to do it:
- Login at your GoDaddy/NameCheap
- Find where you can manage your domain
- Click on manage domain
- You'll see name servers section - change them with your hosting provider name servers
- Google: The name of your hosting provider + name servers
- If you can't find them through Google ask your hosting company to provide them for you
Usually, they look something like:
NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
NS2.BLUEHOST.COM
Once you insert them, click save and wait for confirmation on your email regarding the change. It can take up to 48 hours for the change to be made, but it's usually done in 3-6.
Once you're done and the name servers are confirmed and changed, you can start setting up your WordPress blog which brings us to...
Step 5: Setting up WordPress Blog From Scratch
Login to your hosting and go over to the cPanel.
You should see something like site builders or scripts section where you can see WordPress or Install WordPress (with each hosting provider is slightly different) and click on it.
You will be redirected to a page where they'll ask you where to install WordPress and you should select your domain name (the one you bought and connect with your host). They will also ask you to set up username and password for your blog (among other things).
Once you're done you'll have access to your website by going over to yourdomainname.com/wp-admin and insert the username and password you previously set it up.
That's about it for starters. I can go into more details and tips but I think it's enough for a quick start.
If you have any question do not hesitate to ask them. Cheers.
Step 1: Choose your niche
Before you choose your niche, you should determine whether you want to run your blog as a business (now or in the future) or you just want to run your blog as a hobby.
If you want a hobby blog you can choose a niche that will fit your interest and passion.
But if you want to run the blog as a business to actually earn money from, you can't rely just on your interest and passion when choosing a niche, although that should be the main factor when choosing it.
The second step is to research and find out if the niche is big enough to profit from. You can start by choosing 5 main (3 words max) keywords describing your niche and see their monthly search volume inside Google Keyword Planner. If they are above 100k per month (the 5 keywords combined, at least) it means there are people looking for it and you're good to go.
The third step is to lurk around and see if there are some products or services and figure out how people earn money from it and finally think of your own way to monetize it.
Step 2: Choose a Domain Name
Domain name is a URL of a website you put in your web-browser. Google.com is a domain name, Facebook.com is a domain name, EnterYourOwnNameHere.com is a domain name, you get the idea.
Once you choose your niche you need to choose your domain name and buy it.
How to choose a domain name?
Here're my criteria:
- Think of a domain name that will best describe your niche/blog
- Don't use your own name (reason: You won't be able to sell the website in the future if you decide to)
- Don't use more than 3 words (reason: It's boring and long and in most cases won't be memorable)
- use .com or .net extension (reason: it looks professional and safe)
- don't use numbers unless you have really good reason to do so
.com domains usually cost between 10-15 bucks and you can buy them from a domain registrar.
Most popular domain registrars are GoDaddy.com and NameCheap.com. Head over to one of them and type in your domain name to see if it's available.
If it is, you can make a purchase, if not look for another alternative till you find something available that fits you the most.
Step 3: Choosing a Hosting
To put it simply: Web hosting is a place where people store their websites/blogs so when someone type in the domain name they can access the website. You need to have a web hosting to own a .com website.
I personally use InterServer(.)net, but you can choose between others like BlueHost(.)com or InMotionHosting(.)com.
Step 4: Connect your Domain and Hosting
You need to host your domain name as well and you can do that by connecting it to your hosting.
Here's how to do it:
- Login at your GoDaddy/NameCheap
- Find where you can manage your domain
- Click on manage domain
- You'll see name servers section - change them with your hosting provider name servers
- Google: The name of your hosting provider + name servers
- If you can't find them through Google ask your hosting company to provide them for you
Usually, they look something like:
NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
NS2.BLUEHOST.COM
Once you insert them, click save and wait for confirmation on your email regarding the change. It can take up to 48 hours for the change to be made, but it's usually done in 3-6.
Once you're done and the name servers are confirmed and changed, you can start setting up your WordPress blog which brings us to...
Step 5: Setting up WordPress Blog From Scratch
Login to your hosting and go over to the cPanel.
You should see something like site builders or scripts section where you can see WordPress or Install WordPress (with each hosting provider is slightly different) and click on it.
You will be redirected to a page where they'll ask you where to install WordPress and you should select your domain name (the one you bought and connect with your host). They will also ask you to set up username and password for your blog (among other things).
Once you're done you'll have access to your website by going over to yourdomainname.com/wp-admin and insert the username and password you previously set it up.
That's about it for starters. I can go into more details and tips but I think it's enough for a quick start.
If you have any question do not hesitate to ask them. Cheers.
