How do you start a blog? In this guide, you will find everything you need to know to start a blog and create your own website.

I have compiled all of this information in one place so that you won’t have to spend your time piecing information together from different sites (like I had to do many years ago).

This is the complete guide I wish I had when I started my blog. In fact, I will walk you through the steps (with pictures) to help you start your own blog, set it up with a hosting provider, and make it content ready for your posts.

1. How Long Does it Take to Start a Blog?

If you follow my guide, it will take you 20 minutes — or less. Personally, it takes me less than 5 minutes to start a blog. When you complete this tutorial, it will take you less than 5 minutes to start your second blog (if you want to start a second one).

A few quick pointers:

• This blogging guide is not niche specific. You can use my 4 steps to start a blog on any niche you want.
• This guide does not require you to have any technical skills. If we come across any technical issues in the process, I will explain in jargon-free English what they mean and how we can address them.

2. What Makes My Guide to Starting a Blog Now Different?

• My blogging guide is free. Unlike many guides out there, I will not charge you anything (neither now nor later) for helping you start a blog. I am happy to provide this service for free. (If you have been following this blog, you probably already know that I offer a ton of free stuff on my blog. And you probably also know that helping others succeed on the web – and off the web – makes me incredibly happy. (Yes, people like me exist!). See My Story.)

• My blogging guide is straight to the point. On this page, I will be upfront with you and tell you what you need and what you don’t need to start a blog. You won’t see me promote every product on the shelf. There won’t be any distractions.

• This guide is complete. I don’t plan on giving you incomplete information and then leave you to figure out the details for yourself. My motto is that if I am going to provide assistance, then I am going to go with you all the way and I will be happy to personally answer your questions to help you out if use my referral links below.

In what follows, I start with the basics: I define, explain and clarify the most basic terms you need to know in order to enter the blogging world. You can skip this introduction to go down to step 1 of this guide.

3. What is a Blog?

A “blog” is shorthand for “weblog.” It is an online space where you log in certain information on the web. This includes pictures, videos, and writing. The content you publish on your blog is referred to as “blog posts” or posts for short.

When you “blog,” you are essentially communicating with your readers. The language of blogging is typically informal and conversational in style. In fact, this is what I love most about blogging. By writing in an informal language, you get to “speak” with your readers on a personal level. This makes teaching, sharing and learning significantly more effective.

When you start a blog, you establish a presence online. People can find your blog in a number of ways such as:

• By typing in certain keywords in their search engines. Your blog will show up if it contains those keywords (though not necessarily on the first page of google.)

• They can find you directly by typing in your url (which is your website name) in their web browser (also known as url bar). If you are a business, then printing your website name on your business cards will tell people exactly where to find you on the web.

• People can find your blog through referral links posted on various online platforms. They simply click on the link and are then redirected to your blog.

But are blogs still popular, you might ask? Are they still a thing? Are blogs still relevant in 2019? Will blogs be relevant in 2020? Let me share some statistics with you.

4. Are Blogs Still Popular?

Yes. Blogging is more popular than ever. In fact, according to Statista, the number of bloggers in the US is predicted to reach 31.7 million by 2020.

More blogs mean more information, more perspectives, and more services available at the reader’s fingertips. One reason why the number of blogs continues to increase (and rise in popularity) is the growing number of readers. In fact, 77% of all internet users read blogs (see here for source). So consider the following: In 2010, the number of internet users was 480 million. In 2019, this number has increased to a staggering 4.1 billion. Assuming the number of internet users has remained constant at 77%, just imagine how many blog readers are out there. There is a ton!

But in addition to this, the number of people who use social media platform has also grown exponentially. According to the respected Pew Research Center, the percentage of Americans who use social media platforms to read posts, engage with content, and share information with each other has grown from 5% in 2005 to 72% in 2019. More social media engagement means more potential leads to your blog.

Keep in mind that with the continued expansion of the internet, the number of readers is expected to increase even more. That’s good news for you as a potential blogger because there are (and will always be) many more readers than there will ever be blogs. And if your blog is good enough (and solves a problem), then your blog has a chance of gaining traction and of becoming popular — though, as with anything, it takes hard work to grow a massively popular blog, but given the large number of readers out there, it is surely not impossible.

5. Should You Start a Blog?

My general answer is yes!

And I say that from personal experience. If you want to start a blog to share value, make money (depending on how much effort you put into your blog), promote your business, communicate ideas, or gain publicity, then starting a blog is a must! In fact, starting a blog might be the best investment you will ever make. I say this because starting this blog is my best investment ever. I just wish I had started blogging when I first got the itch.

If you already got the itch, and you want to avoid any regrets, starting a blog as soon as possible can be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made in your life. Trust me, once you get going, you will only wish you had started sooner.

Let me also say that blogging is a way of leveraging yourself and your ideas. If you work in business (or art, or beauty, or music), I am pretty sure you had to (or you know of someone who had to) write a post, edit an article, upload a video or share one on the internet. Actually if a business doesn’t have an online presence, the business is losing out on so many potential customers.

Keep in mind that blogging is here to stay. People will continue to read blogs. I know I will continue to read blogs. And we read blogs because we want to hear from people like us: people who have been there and done that. That’s how we learn best. We want to learn from those who have made the mistakes and find ways to overcome them.

When it comes to starting a blog, or making a website and creating a presence online, you can count on me. I made the mistakes and I am here to help you avoid them.

Before moving on, what value do you want to bring into the blogging world? Feel free to write in the comments section below what you plan start your blog on. It does not have to be a piece of genius. Sometimes, reading someone else’s perspective on familiar issues is more than enough.

6. My Four-Step Method to Start a Blog

In order to start a blog, you need two key things:

1. A hosting service
2. A blogging platform

What is a web hosting provider/service? A web hosting service is a piece of online technology that allows your website to be viewed on the internet. You basically pay a fee for a space on the server of the hosting company. The company takes care of the rest for you.

Let’s start with the hosting provider/service.

Step 1: Find a Hosting Service For Your Blog

The company you choose to be your “host” is a very important choice. Going with a bad company can make a difference to the security of your blog and your data. It can also make a difference to the loading speed of your blog and thus affect user experience. And it can make a difference to your ability to recover your files in case of an attack or a crash.

This is why I personally use and pay to host my blog on bluehost. On bluehost, my blog is secure, loads really fast, and is backed-up. I recommend their hosting service to all of my friends and family members. I recommend the same to you.

Insider tip: As your site grows, you may need to add certain features to your blog. This may require you to interact with your host’s support team. In my 4 – 5 experience with bluehost, I must say that their support team has been phenomenal.

As a quick example, I wanted to verify my website with google for added credibility. Google sent me a code and asked me to add it as a TXT record to my DNS editor. I didn’t want to mess with my DNS editor back then. So I contacted bluehost’s support team. I actually chatted with them via their 24/7 chat support. They created the TXT record and added the record to my DNS editor. How long did it take them? Less than 5 minutes. And yes, all of that happened through their chat box: they completed the process for me in one interaction and while I was on their live chat with them.

Okay, so let me walk you through the process.

If you choose bluehost, you will work with a company you can trust, and – as a disclosure – I will receive a small commission from bluehost (at no cost to you) if you click on the links. Please understand that I recommend bluehost because I continue to have such a great experience with them and not because of the small commission I will receive. Okay, so Let’s jump right in.

First, go to bluehost. Then, click get started as shown below.

Clicking get started will take you to their pricing list. Here you will view their available plans.I will assume that you are looking for the best bang for your buck. I recommend the “Choice Plus” plan.

Why the “Choice Plus” plan?

It comes with domain privacy. It hides your personal contact information and replaces it with bluehost contact information. This helps protect you from spam or unsolicited emails. Trust me, you don’t want your inbox to be flooded with spam or unwanted emails. However, if you don’t want to go with this plan, you can start with their basic plan. You always have the option to upgrade later on. In fact, that’s exactly what I did.

Personally, I started with their “plus” plan then upgraded to the “choice plus.” I added domain privacy protection for $14.88/year. For the sake of full transparency, here is a screenshot of my plan: it shows that I started with a “plus” plan, and how I added individual items later on. I now have the “Choice Plus” plan.

Okay, let’s move on. Regardless of which plan you ultimately decide to choose, you will be directed to a page where you get to create your own domain.

The domain name will be the name that will show up on your url. For example, my domain name is www.believeandempower.com.

One of the many great features about signing up with Bluehost is that they pay for your domain name for the first year! Yup, free things are awesome. The page will look like this:

If you don’t want to settle on domain name right now, you can skip this step and come back to it later. When I was in the process of starting my blog, I skipped this step. I came back to it when I found a domain name I liked.

This is how the page will look like:

Either way, whether you decided on a domain name or clicked on “choose free domain later,” you will be directed to the page below. That’s where you can enter your personal information.

The first part of the page will look like this.

After completing the above, scroll down and you will see “package information” as shown below. The default account plan is 36 months. You may change the duration to 24 months or 12 months for a slightly higher price per month (like an extra dollar or so per month).

I personally used the 36 month plan. I made that choice because it allowed me to take advantage of the the low price offered to new customers for the maximum time allowed by  Bluehost. (After 36 months, prices go up a little bit, but don’t worry they only go up by a few dollars.)

I also left the “package extras” information empty. Feel free to skip it. You can blog successfully without the extra stuff.

Once you made your choice, scroll to the bottom of the page. Here, you will be asked to put in your payment information (their payment processing is ultra-secure by the way).

Once complete, check the box as shown blow and click submit.

Congrats! You have just completed step 1 of my 4 step-method on how to start a blog.

What about using a free host, can you start a blog for free? Yes you can, but I honestly don’t recommend it for one simple reason: your blog will hardly ever show on google search — and that’s something nobody wants. Afterall, if you are writing a blog, you are writing it for an audience. And you want your audience to read your blog, engage with you and perhaps even give you feedback. If that’s not exactly what you want, and you want to just write – as in writing for yourself (with limited exposure), then going with a free host is the way. I recommend blogger for a free host, but you can also use tumbler.

Step 2: Choose Your Blogging Platform

What is a blogging platform? A blogging platform is your content management system (CMC). It is the place where you manage your blog.

On the blogging platform, you will have everything you need to manage the appearance of your blog, the theme and design of your blog and the organization of your pages and posts (and more).

What is the best blogging platform? In my opinion, the best blogging platform (and most popular) is WordPress.

Why?

• It is free
• Secure
• User-friendly
• Flexible
• And it’s compatible with many important and useful plugins.

That’s why a large numbers of bloggers have used WordPress to start a blog. Big names like CNN, NFL and TED also use WordPress as their platform. See here for evidence.

WordPress is also the blogging platform that I personally use to run this site. I have been using it for 5 years without ever, ever having to deal with any problems.

Did I say it is free?

So how do you connect your new domain to WordPress? It’s very easy, and here’s how (with pictures):

First, go to Bluehost’s login page and type in your domain name and password as shown below.

Then, click log in.

Once you are logged in, click on hosting on the uppermost bar and then cpanel as show below.

From here, you will see the following box. Click on “Install WordPress” as shown below.

From here, you will be taken to a page asking you to type in your domain name (that’s after you have picked and registered a free domain name through bluehost).

Here, type in your domain name and click next.

You will now receive confirmation, and you’re all done! Your WordPress Dashboard will now look like this:

Congrats on finishing step 2!

Step 3: Design Your Blog

Before we move on, let me quickly recap. You have created a domain name through Bluehost. And then you’ve connected your domain name to the WordPress platform. That’s great, you have already started a blog!

Now, you’re going to design your blog on your WordPress Dashboard and then add content. To do that, you can start with the themes already available for free to you by WordPress. I will now show you how.

Click on appearance in your sidebar as shown below. Then click on themes. Here, you will get to choose from one of the available free themes. And Yes, you can switch between them whenever you want.

Once you choose you theme, you can customize your blog as you like. You can choose what text to show on your header (the head of the page) and what to show on the footer (the foot of the page) and, of course, a lot more.

Do I use a free theme? No, I don’t use a free theme. Free themes are not fully optimized. They are also not regularly updated. I actually purchased mine while I was still in the design stage of my blog. 

What do I recommend? For beautiful, functional and fast loading themes, you can check out my two (and only two) recommended sellers:

Disclosure: I will receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you click on the following links.

1. Elegant Themes

Elegant themes has many beautifully designed themes – including their super popular Divi themes. They make building a website a very easy thing to do. With elegant themes, you don’t have to dabble with confusing code. Creating a website with them is as easy as a drag and drop. If I were to upgrade my theme, I would purchase from them.

2. MyThemeShop

If you are looking for the best value, I would choose MyThemeShop. I also recommend a subscription. This is because you will get all the premium themes (and all the SEO plugins – these are softwares that you “plug” into your website that help the speed, visibility and the organization of your site) for pretty much the price of two themes. I think this is a superb value package for your blog especially as your blog grows and your theme taste evolves. However, if you decide to purchase individual themes and plugins as the need arises, then by all means do that. But I should warn you that buying individual themes and plugins can add up quickly.

What about performance optimizing plugins? Have you tried to manually optimize your site? Let me tell you — I have, and all I can say is that I wasted an insane amount of time trying to figure out the internet: I would read code, inspect-analyze plugin data, and translate that information into code and try to use it on my own site. I should not have spent my time doing that. If I were to go back again, I would use the relevant SEO plugins from day one and spend time writing; which is what I truly love to do. For starters, I recommend the Yoast SEO free plugin. With all honesty, you need this free plugin. It’s what I also personally use.

Optimized for Adsense. If I were to go back, I would also use an Adsense optimized site from day 1 like this list of themes from Elegant themes. Adsense is basically a program run by google that allows google (and other authorized merchants) to post ads on your site. Google will pay you a small fee for allowing these companies to post their ads on your site. So, if you are thinking about monetizing your site already, start with Adsense!

Step 4: Write Your First Blog Post

You’re almost there! Now, go to your sidebar again and click on posts.

From here, you will be taken to a page where you can begin writing your first post. It looks like this:

The top arrow is the place were you write the title of your post. I wrote “My First Post” there. The bottom arrow is the place where you get to write the body of the post.

Once you are done writing, you can “preview” your post. If you click preview, you will be shown what the post would look like when it goes live. If you’re happy with your post, then publishing your first post and sharing it will be a click away. Click publish for your post to become visible to everyone!

Congrats! You have just started a blog and you have written and published your first blog post. Let me know if you have any questions!