Welcome to the Dollar Financed’s Ultimate Guide Edition. Here I will teach you about How To Start A Blog On That Makes Money. This guide is mainly for beginners who do not have any knowledge of Blogging and how to get started it.
Before starting The Ultimate Blogging Guide for starting up a blog, I want to tell you the importance of a blog and 4 Reasons Why You Should Start A Blog In 2020.
Apart from this, I have some special Discounts and Gifts for you, only for you who have the willingness to do something in his/her own life and ready to make decisions.
So without wasting your time, Let me tell you reasons that Why you should start a blog today. So here we go:
- Blogging is one of the best ways to express yourself and to share information with others.
- You become a better person and also a better writer.
- Blogging is one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news.
- The Fourth Number is my most favorite reason and no better reason than this. And also, this is the reason why I have started Blogging, and you are reading this post. The Fourth reason is that You can make money, in fact, lots of money by doing Blogging.
Yes, You have read the right. You can make money from doing just Blogging. But How Much? You can make lots of money. There are no restrictions. But it all depends on you. There are multiple ways to earn money through Blogging. It is a massive topic. We will discuss it in another post.
Okay, so let’s start the main topic of our ultimate guide.
Table of Contents
How To Start A Blog
In this Ultimate Blogging Guide of How To Start A Blog, I will show you the following steps:
- How to buy Domain Name and Web Hosting for WordPress Blog.
- Setting Up WordPress for your blog.
- 6 Essential things you should do after installing WordPress
- Installation of theme and plugins.
Disclaimer: In this Ultimate Guide, I will show you How to start a blog on WordPress. You can also start your blog on Blogger Platform. But I will not recommend this. There are some reasons for it. The main reasons are:
WordPress gives you premium features and plugins.
You can design your WordPress Blog very quickly and effectively.
You will need some coding knowledge in Blogger if you want to design a blog like a premium WordPress Blog.
So let’s start with the first step:
1) How To Buy Domain Name And Web Hosting
To start a blog, the first thing that you need is Domain Name and Web Hosting.
Web-hosting is where your files are stored.
The domain is the name of your blog.
Now the question is from where you will buy Domain Name and Web Hosting. So for WordPress, The Official WordPress Organisation has recommended Bluehost and Siteground for hosting.
Tip: If you are from India and looking for a hosting provider with Indian Payment Options, then have a look at this one of the best hosting – A2Hosting.
Even I am also using Bluehost Hosting Services for my blogs. I am satisfied with them. They offer quality hosting services with premium customer support. The most significant part of Bluehost is that they offer Free Domain Name with their annual plan, which saves around 7$ of yours. Isn’t that a big deal?
So my recommendation for you is that you should buy Bluehost Hosting for your blog. Even as I said earlier that I have discounts and gifts for you. So here I come with a discount link of Bluehost Hosting. Buy hosting from the discounted link given below.
Now moves to the second step.
2) Installing WordPress For Your Blog
If you have bought Hosting ( + Free Domain) from the above-discounted link, then Bluehost will start installing WordPress automatically. This process can take 5 to 15 minutes.
This will redirect you to your WordPress Dashboard. If not, then log in to your Bluehost Dashboard. The below picture is the example of how your Bluehost Dashboard will look like.
Click on ‘Login to WordPress’ to automatically login to your WordPress blog dashboard.
Now in case, you want to install WordPress manually, then follow the simple steps given below.
- Login to your Bluehost Dashboard.
- Go to Marketplace.
- Click on Add Website.
- Now add your website’s details. Like Your Website’s Name, Your Website’s Tag Line.
- Click on Next and select the domain name on which you want WordPress to be installed.
- Click on Next.
That’s it. Your WordPress will be installed on your domain name, and your website will be live in 5 minutes. Well Done.
Isn’t it sound great? Yes, It is. So now move on to the next step.
3) 6 Essential Things You Should Do After Installing WordPress
As you have installed WordPress, now you need to make a few changes on your WordPress Dashboard. So let’s see the changes that you have to do on your WordPress Blog.
a) Delete Default Page, Post, and Comment
Deleting default pages, post and comment is necessary before you start publishing your content.
To delete default page:
- Go to the Page section on the WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the Trash button that is under the default page.
To delete default post:
- Go to the Post section on the WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the Trash button that is under the default post.
To delete default comment:
- Go to the Comment section on the WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the Trash button that is under the default comment.
b) Set Up WordPress Permalinks
The default WordPress permalink is – http://yourdomain.com/p=123.
These permalinks are not Search Engine friendly. So we have to change it. To change permalinks settings:
- Go to the Setting Menu on the WordPress dashboard.
- Click on Permalinks.
- Select “Post name” as your permalink defaults.
- Then click on Save.
So http://yourdomain.com/sample-post is the best WordPress Permalinks and also Search Engine friendly.
c) Set Time Zone
To set the default time zone:
- Go to the Setting Menu.
- Then go to the general section.
- Now change the time zone according to your country’s time zone.
You can also change Site Language, Date Format, Time Format according to your choice.
d) WordPress Media Setting
Now, this is an essential setting for a WordPress blog that doesn’t come in blogger blogs.
Whenever you upload an image, WordPress creates multiple size images, which is not a good SEO Practice because your blog will take time to load, and it won’t help you in SERPs.
So set the settings for Media Upload:
- Go to the Settings Menu.
- Then click on the Media section.
- Now change the default settings.
Have a look at the below image.
e) Set Up WordPress Comments/Discussion Settings
- Navigate to the Settings in the WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the Discussion Section.
This may be confusing for you that what to select and what to de-select. But do not worry. Just look at the below image to do WordPress comments/discussion settings.
f) Enable/Disable User Registration
The last but not the least setting of Essential Things You Should Do After Installing WordPress, and that is Enable/Disable User Registration.
Now it is up to you that you want to enable or disable user registration. If your blog is a multi-author blog, then you should enable it. But if you are going to run your blog yourself only, then you should disable the option.
To Enable User Registration:
- Navigate to the Settings Menu.
- Click on the General section.
- Now select ‘Anyone Can Register.’
- And then select ‘Contributor’ from a drop-down menu.
And if you do not want to allow anyone to contribute to your blog, then no need to enable this option.
That’s it. These are some necessary settings to do after installing WordPress.
Now let’s move to our next topic of how to start a blog on WordPress.
4) Installation Of Themes And Plugins
Now almost basics have been done. Another main thing that you have to do is that you have to install the theme and essential plugins. Okay, so let’s see how to do it.
a) How To Install WordPress Theme
- Go to Appearance in your WordPress Dashboard.
- Click on Themes Section.
Now here you will find some pre-installed themes in your Themes Section. And ‘Twenty Seventeen’ will be your default theme right now. So now, let’s change the theme of your WordPress blog.
Click On ‘Add New’ button on the top side of the Themes Section.
Now there is two way to install WordPress theme from WordPress Dashboard.
You can directly search for a theme from the WordPress Theme Store.
You can also download a theme from a third-party website, and then you can upload it to the WordPress Theme Section.
You can search for any theme you want to install on your WordPress Blog. And then click on ‘Install’ button. OR
Upload the theme that you have downloaded from third-party websites.
I will not recommend you to install a theme from third party websites. Because it can be harmful or infected. So better is to go with WordPress Store to install the theme.
Now you have successfully installed a WordPress theme. Now it is time to activate the theme.
To Activate WordPress Theme:
Go back to the Theme section under the Appearance Menu.
Here you will find all installed themes.
Click on ‘Activate’ button pf a theme that you want to activate on your WordPress Blog.
To Uninstall/Delete WordPress Theme:
So you have learned how to install the WordPress theme. But what if you want to uninstall or delete the theme. Maybe you have installed too many themes, so it always better to remove the unused themes. To delete the theme:
- Again go back to the Theme section.
- Click on a theme that you want to delete.
- Now at the bottom of the right-hand, Click on ‘Delete’ button to delete the theme.
After the installation of the WordPress theme, let’s install the plugins.
b) How To Install WordPress Plugins
Plugins are an essential part of WordPress Blogs. And Plugins are one of the reasons to select the WordPress Platform over the Blogger Platform. Because Blogger does not provide plugins like WordPress.
To install a plugin:
- Go to the Plugins menu in the WordPress Dashboard.
- Click on ‘Add New’ button in the Plugin section.
Same as themes, you can install Plugins in tow ways from WordPress Dashboard.
You can directly search for a plugin from the WordPress Plugin Store.
You can also download a plugin from a third-party website and upload it to the WordPress Plugin Section.
See the below image to know more.
To upload a plugin in WordPress:
- Go to the Plugins menu.
- Click on Add New.
- Then click on Upload Plugin.
Now upload the plugin that you have downloaded from the third-party website.
Again I am not recommending you to use the third-party plugins. Always prefer the WordPress plugin store to install the plugins.
To search a plugin in WordPress:
- Go to the Plugins menu.
- Click on Add New.
- Now search any plugin that you want to install.
- Then click on ‘Install Now.’
To Activate WordPress Plugin:
You can activate plugin straight away from where you have installed it. Look at this image to know more.
OR
- Go to Installed Plugins section under the Plugins menu.
- Click on the Activate button of a plugin.
To Delete WordPress Plugin:
- Again go back to Installed Plugins.
- Now Click on ‘Delete’ button of a plugin that you want to delete.
You have successfully learned how to install a WordPress plugin.
Kudos to you! You have successfully learned How to start a blog on WordPress. Don’t forget to implement these steps on your blog too! After learning and applying this, you are no longer a Beginner. You have successfully mastered WordPress. Take a bow!
As now, you have completed the first step of Blogging Career, i.e., How To Start A Blog On WordPress. There are other steps available to make a blog successful. Like:
- Submitting your blog to Google Webmasters.
- Adding Google Analytics To Your Blog.
- Essential WordPress Plugins For New Blog.
- Adding Email Subscription To Allow Your Users To Subscribe Your Blog.
- The heart of a blog: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation – This is a huge topic. Even you will find some expensive paid courses of SEO. Because only SEO can give you free Organica Traffic.)
- Then SMM (Social Media Marketing – Marketing your blog in all Social Media.)
- And many more.
But don’t worry, we will discuss them later on our other edition of The Ultimate Guide For Beginners.
Gift: As I said earlier that I have a gift for you who has the willingness to do something in his/her own life and ready to make decisions. So the gift is Full SEO Guidelines PDF. To get these guidelines, Just mail me with your details, so that I can deliver the PDF to you.
And if you have just started a new blog today by reading my blog, then contact me because I have a special gift for them who have decided to be part of my community. Mail me your details on my Contact page.
That’s it from this guide. Do let me know if you want to learn any other topic related to WordPress or Blogging. You can mail me via Contact Page on my blog.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get updates regarding Blogging from time to time.
Thank You.
Note: All the recommendations of products and services are based on my personal experiences. I am not telling you to buy or use it. But I have used it, and I liked them too much, that’s why I am just recommending it.