How to Start a Blog?

So you want to start a blog? You’re in the right spot. Learning how to start a blog is a question I get quite a bit and instead of answering pieces here & there, I decided to take everything I know about starting a blog and create a definitive resource to reference at any time. I’ve built multiple blogs with traffic ranging from 10,000 and 900,000 visits/month. In addition to my own sites, I also run an online marketing agency that has built and optimized sites for dozens and dozens of clients.

But, more importantly, I know how hard it is to start a blog in the first place.  When I first wanted tried to teach myself how to start a blog,I knew absolutely nothing. I deleted my database 3 times simply because I had no idea what I was doing. Needless to say that I used up a lot of time and cuss words trying to figure out how to start a blog on my own. I know what it’s like.

Buy Your Domain Name

Get Your Free Domain with Bluehost

Once you decide on a domain, you need to pony up the cash and register it. GoDaddy is probably the most well known place to register domain names because it has terrible commercials like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-3j4-4N3Ng

Because it’s so well known, it’s where most people start. I started there but I (like everyone I know) soon got out as quickly as possible. The user experience is horrible and they’re always trying to sell you on something that you don’t need. On top of that, they have terrible commercials and their CEO poaches elephants. I’m not a fan of PETA, but overall the company is not one I really want to be giving my money to.
Don’t play games, but if you register to host your blog with Bluehost (we’ll talk about this in a second), you can setup a domain with them for almost no hassle. You can pick up a .com/.net/.org domain will cost you $7-10/year which is dirt cheap, and no-brainer investment if you’re really serious about starting a blog.

• Get Your Free Domain with Bluehost

Get A Hosting Provider For Your Blog

Recommended Choice: Bluehost Hosting

Once you buy a domain name, you need somewhere to store your files. If you think about your website like a house, the domain name is the address, but the hosting service is the house itself – it’s where you put all the stuff. Now, there are a ton of different hosting options out there for your brand new blog, but I use Bluehost & I convinced the team over there to hook up IMPOSSIBLE readership with a 56% discount on your hosting package (just $3.95).


 For the sake of transparency, I started out hosting my sites with BlueHost. Since then, I’ve gone back & forth, but host 90% of my websites with Bluehost (serving over ~900,000 visits in a month).

•  56% off Hosting with Bluehost (just $3.95) + a Free Domain

Install WordPress For Your Blog

Install WordPress
The WordPress install can be done in a few different ways, depending on your hosting provider (but they’re all really simple still). I recommend you use Bluehost. Here’s a quick video on how you install WordPress on your Bluehost hosting environment.

How To Install WordPress In Less Than 5 Minutes (with Bluehost Hosting) Video Tutorial
Installing WordPress is really, really simple. In fact, it’s so easy that WordPress calls it the “famous 5 minute install.” However, if you really don’t want to deal with any of this, you can call up your hosting support with Bluehost and have them install it for you. You can also watch the quick video tutorial above and watch me walk you through exactly how to install WordPress yourself (because, lets face it, you’re a go-getter), and want to get started on your blog straight away.

Install Essential WordPress Blog Plugins

Plugins are a tricky territory. On the one hand, they can expand the functionality of your site tenfold if you use them effectively. On the other hand, it’s easy to go overboard and install a bunch of plugins that either do the same thing or don’t add much to your site other than bloat your code and slow your site down. You can waste a lot of time and energy on these if you try to wade through them yourself when you’re first learning how to start a blog. It can take a lot of time & a lot of coffee to figure it all out.

Yoast WordPress SEO

Yoast WordPress SEO is hands down the best SEO plugin out there (and it’s free). It gives you a super simple way to understand and evaluate SEO on your posts (with a simple red/yellow/green mark) without having to delve into a masters course on title tags and meta descriptions. This is the best way to do a quick SEO evaluation of your sites without wasting hours and hours of your time trying to figure out your keyword density on a page.

BlueHost the Best Affiliate Programs for Bloggers to Make Money Online

Whether you know it or not, affiliate marketing is the best way to make money online while you sleep.

Affiliate marketing helps you make more sales with limited traffic and limited budget. You don’t have to drive thousands of visitors from search engines to increase your sales through affiliate marketing. But you have to drive “most targeted visitors” to increase your affiliate sales.

Finding and promoting the best affiliate programs on your blogs or websites is the #1 key to increase your affiliate income. Are you thinking to use affiliate marketing to monetize your websites? Affiliate marketing is undoubtedly the BEST way to make money online.

Here are few considerations before choosing the best affiliate programs.

• Make sure to test and analyze different affiliate programs that suit your readers needs
• Use standalone pages to increase your sales
• Build an email list, create awareness about your products and increase your income through affiliate marketing

If you are searching for best affiliate programs for bloggers, don’t search beyond you are going to discover few of the top affiliate programs that pay you great amount of affiliate commission each and every month.

Best affiliate programs for bloggers

Here are few best affiliate programs for bloggers who are searching for ways to increase their affiliate sales and income.

Bluehost web hosting service: the #1 reliable hosting for bloggers

What this affiliate program is all about?

Bluehost is the top most reliable web hosting service for bloggers. Bluehost is used by millions of bloggers worldwide, it not only gives you more security and speed but it also comes at an affordable price. You just have to pay $3.95 per month to get their awesome hosting services.

Click here to sign up for Bluehost 

How much can you make per one sale?

If you can convince your readers to start their own blogs using Bluehost, you can earn $65 per referral. If you can make 10 sales from Bluehost every month, you will be making more than $650 and that is a decent amount for most bloggers.

Important things to remember:

Signup for their affiliate program, link your Paypal address and you will start receiving money when you make successful sales on Bluehost web hosting service. You have to wait around 60 days to get your money on your account after each successful sale.

How to Start a Blog

If you want to know how to start a blog, you’ve come to the right place. Whether you want to work from home, author a book, get more exposure for your existing business or simply write, starting a blog and/or website is highly recommended.

The following steps outline exactly how I’ve built most of my own sites. This guide has helped countless others get started too.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase. Thank you for your support in this way.

What you’ll get from this guide

By the end, you’ll have your own self-hosted WordPress site, one of the most popular kinds of sites around. Ready?

Steps needed to start a blog – An overview

1. Purchase hosting
2. Choose a domain
3. Install WordPress
4. Start using WordPress

Step 1: How to start a blog – Find a host

A host provides server space for your site so others can find you on the internet. You could use a free service, but I highly recommend you opt for self-hosting. You get what you pay for. Trust me, you’ll be so glad you started out on the right foot.
Start by clicking here to go to Bluehost* (this link will open in a new window so you can reference these instructions as you work). I’ve been a paying customer of this company for over 10 years and can vouch for them.
Click the green Get Started Now button.
By the way, the images you see here may vary slightly from the ones you see on your screen. This is because they never stop making site improvements. Don’t worry, the general process is the same.

Step 2: How to start a blog – Select your plan

Choose the plan you’d like to start with. (You can upgrade at any time.) I typically go with the Plus plan because you get more unlimited features. Note that all plans come with one free domain.
Just click one of the green “select” buttons to move to the next step.

Step 3: How to start a blog – Choose a domain

If you don’t have a domain, enter a new domain name on the left. A domain name is your desired web address, like AmyLynnAndrews.com. (See tips for choosing a domain below). Make sure .com, or the extension of your choice, is selected from the drop down menu beside it.
If you’ve already registered a domain name elsewhere, enter it on the right (don’t worry, it won’t mess things up if you’re using the domain already, this only identifies your account).
Click the blue Next button.

Tips for choosing a domain name:

• Go with a .com whenever possible.
• Make it easy to say and spell.
• Don’t include hyphens, numbers, obscure terms or confusing strings of words.
• If you’re not sure what to use, your name is a safe bet to start.
• Be creative and try a phrase if you’re having trouble finding an available name.
• Read more tips here if needed.

Step 4: How to start a blog – Enter your account info

On the next page, enter your account info. Make sure you use a working email address because this is where your login information will be sent.

Step 5: How to start a blog – Choose a hosting package

Under Package Information choose your Account Plan from the dropdown menu based on how far in advance you want to pay. Please note you will be billed a year a time, but as you can see, it works out to a very reasonable monthly amount. Not bad for your own blog or website, right?

I always skip the other add-ons except Domain Whois Privacy (sometimes called Domain Privacy Protection) which will keep your personal information private. I highly recommend it. (Note: the Domain Privacy option only shows up if you registered a new domain in Step 3 above. It will not show up if you used a transfer domain.)

Step 6: How to start a blog – Enter your billing info

Fill in your billing information, confirm that you’ve read the fine print and then click Next.

Step 7: How to start a blog – Skip the upgrades

On the next page you’ll be asked if you want to add any upgrades. I just skip them. Continue on to complete your purchase. After completing your purchase, check your email. You’ll find a welcome email from Bluehost with your control panel (cpanel) login info. Keep this information for future reference.
Now we’re going to install WordPress on your new site.

Step 8: How to start a blog – Login to your cpanel

Go back to Bluehost and click the Login button in the top right corner of your screen. Alternatively, you can use the link to your cpanel contained in the welcome email.

Enter your cpanel login info from the welcome email.

Step 9: How to start a blog – Install WordPress

Once logged in, click the WordPress icon under Website Builders.

Step 10: How to start a blog – Start the WordPress install

Next you’ll get a window that looks like this. Click the Start (it might say
 “Install) button to begin the WordPress installation process.

Step 11: How to start a blog – Choose where to install WordPress

Choose your domain from the dropdown menu (unless you have a good reason to create a subfolder which is unlikely if you are just starting). Simply click Check Domain.

Step 12: How to start a blog – Enter your WordPress user info

Check the box next to Show advanced options. Enter your Site Name or Title (ex. Amy Lynn Andrews, How to Blog, Sally’s Song Factory, etx.). Choose an Admin Username (do not use “admin” as your username) and password. These will be what you use to login to WordPress once it’s installed. Enter your email address (again, all site information will be sent here). Read and agree to the terms. Click the Install Now button.

Step 13: How to start a blog – Note your WordPress login credentials

After WordPress has been installed, you should see the “Status: success” indication.

Take note of the information to access your new WordPress site. This information will also be sent to you via email.
If you registered a new domain in Step 2, clicking on the Site URL link will take you to your brand new, live website. Clicking on the Login URL link will take you to the WordPress login page where you can enter your username & password and get into the backend of your WordPress site.
(If you transferred a domain in Step 2, see Optional Step 14 below.)

Congratulations! You (or anyone) can now type your domain into a browser and your WordPress site will appear.

 

Optional Step 14: If you used an existing domain in Step 2…

Your existing domain will not display your new site until you change your name servers wherever your domain is currently registered. Changing your name servers points your domain to this new site.
IMPORTANT! As soon as you change your name servers, your domain will bring visitors to this new site. Therefore, if you are currently using your domain on another site, do not change your name servers until your new site is set up and ready to go. In the meantime, you can still access your new WordPress blog via a temporary URL. You may have received one in your welcome email from Bluehost. If you didn’t, simple call them and let them know you need a temporary URL for your new site.
To change the name servers where your domain is currently registered, first note your new Bluehost name server information:

• ns1.BlueHost.com
• ns2.BlueHost.com

Next, go to the registrar where your existing domain is currently registered (Namecheap, GoDaddy, etc.). You will need to enter the above information in the appropriate place. This varies among registrars so I recommend you call them if it’s not clear.
Once you’ve done that, hop up to the “So I have a blog, now what?” section above.

How can I create a blog for my charity? Lets share

It might not be new, and it might not be sexy. But blogs can help your organization in a few key ways:

Central Communication Hub

It’s important to have a place that you can link to for more information and for follow-up, instead of sharing news or updates only in a tweet or facebook message, and especially if it is just in an email newsletter. A blog can provide the space for sharing news, announcements, stories, and other information and let you reshare and distribute it all over the web. A blog can also help people find out more about you or find other ways to stay connected to you. If someone sees an interesting post from you on Twitter, clicks through to the blog, and then can sign up for the newsletter, click to “like” you on facebook, and learn about your organization – well, that’s a whole lot more engagement and communication (that you didn’t have to work for) than simply posting to Twitter and leaving it at that.

Create Community Dialogue

Another great opportunity you have with a blog is opening up your organization by allowing comments and dialogue. Whether you are asking for feedback, sharing stories, or urging people to take action, providing a place for your community to share back with you shows your openness to feedback and interest in the community. And no, the possibility of getting a “bad” comment is not enough to disable the option for people to share their ideas, support and encouragement. Most of the time, if someone has something bad to say, other community members will step up to right the remark before you even have a chance!

Multimedia Storytelling

Think blogs are boring? Well, maybe the kind you have seen are. Or, maybe you weren’t interested in the stories being told. Your blog is a chance for your organization to show just how NOT boring it is! Do you have videos, pictures, or slides? Do you have lots of different voices? Your blog doesn’t have to be plain text on a big white page. You can use videos or images, you can hold competitions for ideas, you can post your favorite links or have guest contributors. Your blog is for you to share the storytelling you want to, with the kinds of media you want to!

Things you'll need

• Time - time to plan, time to evaluate, time to write!
• Content - often you have plenty of content already on hand to get your blog started!

1

Plan Your Route

Before you jump in the car and hit the open road, you want to take the time to plan where you’ll go, and what you need. Planning for your blog means thinking about

• what you want to achieve with your blog (reaching out to policy makers and other powerful people needs a different approach from practical advice pieces to local volunteers).
• who your audience is and what your audience wants or needs
• who may contribute (board members, volunteers, organizers, community leaders).
• What kind of content do you already have that you could reuse (videos or interviews from events, data or research, etc.) or stories you know you will have important information about (issues you are watching closely, political or social issues you are involved in). Getting an idea about the kinds of things you could post and the people who will post it will help you select the most appropriate platform to use and create an editorial/content calendar.

2

Test Drive It

There are two aspects to a proper test drive:
First, give it a go without having a blog. That’s right, I really said that. If you know who and you know what will be involved, have your “blogging team” operate as if there’s a blog, without one, for a month. If over the course of four whole weeks, you are still writing posts (even if they are just text files or emails to each other) then you know you have the stamina to get started. If you go a week and can’t get anyone or even yourself to keep going, then you may never get the blog off the ground.
Secondly, pick a platform based on the content you want to use and give it a try before you start promoting it, linking to it, and sharing it with the world. Some of the leading platforms you may want to consider include (in alphabetical order):

• Blogger
• MoveableType
• Posterous
• Squarespace
• Typepad
• WordPress

3

Prepare to Change Directions

Just like any good road trip, sometimes the winds pushes you in a different direction, and you just have to go with it! If you get started with your blog and find that the content your community responds to (or doesn’t) is not what you had expected, that’s a great sign telling you where to go. Don’t let the what or the how determine your success, but instead whether you are meeting your goals (sharing information, getting feedback, building community, growing trust, etc.). It isn’t a sign that you have failed if your blog changes direction from talking about news items to sharing the stories of volunteers – it isn’t the “what” that matters but instead that your community is engaging and you have content to support your work and communications.

GoDaddy Affiliate Program Review

GoDaddy offers a 100% affiliate commission on nearly all products. Just place some banners and links from GoDaddy on your website and make money for every sale made through these ads.
GoDaddy is here with a unique affiliate program letting you make impressive sums of money as an affiliate.
You can get as much as 100% commission on nearly all products by GoDaddy.
Just place banners and links from GoDaddy on your website and turn your visitors into GoDaddy customers to earn money.
GoDaddy’s affiliate program is so popular that it won Commission Junction “People’s Choice Award” in 2013.
We believe you would love to become a part of this amazing affiliate program from GoDaddy.
To know more, just read this detailed review of GoDaddy affiliate program.

How It Works

GoDaddy follows the traditional affiliate marketing model.
Here are the different steps involved in making money as a GoDaddy affiliate.

1. You become a GoDaddy affiliate through one of its partner affiliate networks (Commission Junction or TradeDoubler)
2. You display some banners and links on your website
3. Your visitors click these ads to reach GoDaddy and make purchases
4. You automatically earn commission

GoDaddy offers its affiliate program free of cost so you have nothing to lose.

How Much You Can Earn

GoDaddy offers a 100% commission on almost all products and services.
There is no limit to the money that you can make as an affiliate with GoDaddy. The more sales you generate, the more you earn.

How You Get Paid

Once you earn more than the minimum required commission, you receive your earnings by direct deposit or cheque.
Your earnings are subject to tax deductions so make sure you provide the necessary details at the signup if you want to save tax.
GoDaddy offers its affiliate program through Commission Junction and TradeDoubler so you must check their terms and conditions to find out about any extra charges involved.

Eligibility Criteria

Your website must not mislead people, promote illegal activities or showcase objectionable material such as profanity, racism, hatred, etc.
Apart from that, your website must meet any requisites set by the affiliate network you join.

How to Join GoDaddy Affiliate Program

GoDaddy offers its affiliate program through Commission Junction and TradeDoubler.

Please make sure that you read the terms of service and other agreements carefully before signing up.

It Pays to be a GoDaddy Affiliate!

GoDaddy offers an affiliate program that is way better than the rest in its class.
Living up to its name and reputation, GoDaddy, the world’s #1 domain name registrar, offers some of the best domain prices on the internet.
Apart from offering great deals on domain names, GoDaddy provides generous commission rates on hosting plans, email accounts, reseller plans and much more.
It’s no wonder that GoDaddy won Commission Junction “People’s Choice Award” in 2013.
Sign up now to see for yourself why GoDaddy is one of the best affiliate programs available out there.