How to start a self-hosted WordPress blog with Bluehost
How to start a self-hosted WordPress blog/website & make money without any technical skills? Follow this step-by-step beginner’s guide to start blogging!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a commission should you chose to sign up for a program or make a purchase using my link.
You probably want to build it into a business & start earning money from home or it’s just your hobby.
Many people start blogs for all kinds of reasons.
Blogging is a great way to earn money from home and become an entrepreneur.
With little investment upfront, you can share your passion and connect with other people with same interests & inspire them.
I have seen bloggers earn from $32k-184k per month. Go figure!
With little effort & dedication you can earn good enough too.
- Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income — $1,84,094.67/per month
- Michelle from Making Sense Of Cents — $121,861.28/per month
- Abby from Just A Girl and Her Blog — $33,659/per month
- Harsh Agrawal from Shout Me Loud — $32,480/per month
Starting your blog isn’t that scary.
It’s easy, quick & in next 10 minutes you’ll have your own blog.
But, before we dive into it.
Grab your snacks, sit back & relax! Because it’s gonna be a long one.
Before we start, Click on this link to get 50% off on Bluehost & a FREE domain.
1 Find Your Niche:
What are you passionate about? What can you talk about for hours and can’t stop? What gets you excited?
Ask yourself these questions before deciding on a niche for your blog.
After you’ve decided your niche, research your target market.
What problems your target market is facing? What can you do to help your target market?
This will help you write blog posts which will solve their issues & connect with your readers.
And they’ll come back for more & more again.
Because they’ll think you really get them.
2 Select your Hosting Plan
You can directly acquire your domain from Bluehost and make the whole process very easy.
If you do this, you can get a FREE domain for the first year as long as you buy 12 months’ worth of Bluehost web hosting through this link.
This makes it worth it to sign up for at least 12 months of hosting as you will be saving a good amount of money this way.
You also get a cheaper monthly price when you buy at least 12 months of hosting, so the free domain just makes it even better.
If you want an even better deal, the best value would be purchasing a 36-month plan, as your monthly rate is much lower over the long run.
If you decide to get the free domain, just continue to the next step as you can buy your hosting and get the free domain all in one step.
3 Choose Your Domain Name:
The very next thing you should do is choose a domain name. Domain name is what your website/blog would be called.
- Choose a domain name that best describes your niche.
- It should be unique yet easy to remember.
If you’re having hard time brainstorming blog name, it’s better to keep it short & simple.
When you have an idea of what to name your blog, go to Bluehost to purchase your self-hosted website/blog. (Example: www.myblog.com)
4 Enter Your Account Information
Once you’ve successfully choose a domain name that isn’t taken and hit “next”, you’re brought to a screen to fill out more information.
The first section to fill out is the “Account Information”.
Here you will fill out things such as your name, address, city/state, email address, etc.
Make sure you enter a valid email address because your receipt and other important information will be sent there.
5 Enter Your Package Information
The next section to fill out is your “Package Information”.
Whichever plan you’ve selected in the beginning, should already be filled out in the first box.
Keep in mind that the cheapest route to go is to pay for 36 months (3 years) up front.
However, if you wish to only buy hosting for 1 or 2 years, you can choose a 12 month or 24-month plan, but your cost will go up a few dollars per month.
Next, you have an array of extra options that you can choose from.
This include things such as Domain Privacy, Site Backup, SiteLock Security, etc.
The only extra option that I would recommend would be the “Domain Privacy Protection”.
Leave the others unchecked and I’ll explain Domain Privacy below.
If you check the “Domain Privacy Protection” it means you’ll be protected from a WHOIS lookup on your site.
If you’re unfamiliar with WHOIS lookup, it is where you can go to a number of sites that have a WHOIS lookup and type in a domain name such as “somesite.com”.
If that domain name is registered by someone and they don’t have Domain Privacy, then their personal information will be shown to the person looking it up.
However, if you have Domain Privacy and someone does a WHOIS lookup, then it just shows generic made-up information and none of that information can be tracked to the person who actually owns the site.
See the example below:
Without Domain Privacy
Adam Stevenson
5548 Wildberry Ln
Chicago IL
USA
adam.stevenson329582392@email.com
Tel +15485601563
With Domain Privacy
Domain Admin
ID#12345, PO Box 16
Nobby Beach
AU
contact@privacyprotect.org
Tel +4536946676
6 Enter Your Billing Information
Almost there! The last thing to do is to fill out the “Billing Information”.
Fill in your payment details, and then make sure to check the box that says “I confirm I have read and agree to the Terms of Service”.
Lastly, hit the green “next” button. You may be asked if you want any upgrades.
Skip any upgrades and continue on with finalizing your order.
Amazing! Now, you need to choose a BlueHost account password, so go ahead and click “Create your password”.
On the next screen, make sure you choose a strong password and write it down somewhere!
Once you get things all set up and your hosting package ordered, congratulations!
You have successfully purchased hosting for your new blog.
You should receive emails to your provided email address that give you some information such as the URL to your site, and the URL to access your Control Panel.
KEEP THIS INFO because we will need it for the very last step — Installing WordPress.
7 Installing WordPress
Enter the credentials you received in your email. Your domain/username will work for the first field, and then you just need your password.
Hit “login”.
On the next screen, you will be asked to pick a theme. (You can change it later) :
That’s it! You’ve successfully installed WordPress on your bluehost hosting account.
Welcome to WordPress!
Next thing, WordPress is gonna ask you is “What kind of site can we help you set up?” Business or Personal, choose according to your preferences.
Ready to launch your blog?
Fill in your Site title & Site tagline (This can be changed later at any time).
Finally! Your blog is up & running.
Congratulations!
This is the URL that you will always go to in order to log into WordPress.
It can be found at http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
Go to that URL and sign in with your WordPress credentials.
Congratulation!
If you’re more of a visual learner, this video from theminimalists.com will help you setup your wordpress blog with bluehost easily.
Before you start, Click on this link to get 50% off on Bluehost & a FREE domain.
