How to Start a Blog on WordPress from Scratch ~ A Step by Step Guide

“Start a blog on WordPress” was the best decision I have ever made. Having your blog is like you have a property online.

I make a full-time income through blogging. It was not easier for me to make a blog on WordPress online.

However, today, I will show you how to create a WordPress blog in less than 15 minutes. It is effortless to make a WordPress blog. I will guide you step-by-step.

After 15 minutes ends, you will have a BRAND new WordPress blog.

Here let’s start creating your very first WordPress blog!

how to start a blog on wordpress

How to Start a Blog on WordPress -The Step-by-Step Guide

Step #1: Pick up your Hosting – Sign up for BlueHost WordPress hosting

If you are getting started and are low on budget to start a WordPress site, Bluehost would be one of the best affordable WordPress hosting services. It’s the same service I very first used when I moved from Blogspot.

I negotiated with BlueHost to offer a special discount for Pitiya readers. So, if you buy BlueHost web hosting through my link, you get up to a 63% OFF discount. (you can get up to 83% off the Bluehost coupon if you are very lucky)

Disclosure: Some links on this page are referral links. That means, when you click those links and purchase any product or service, I will get a very small commission as a bit of thank you for referring me to them at no additional cost. In fact, you will get maximum discounts when you purchase any product through my links.

Go to BlueHost.com exclusive WordPress page over here and click on the “Get Started Now” button as shown below screenshot.

Bluehost.com website - start a wp blog

BlueHost, Your WordPress Blog Host?

Why Should You Choose Bluehost To Start a Blog?

I have experience of over one and a half years of using BlueHost. BlueHost’s shared hosting is the most affordable and cheapest WordPress hosting package for ANY beginner. Here are a few reasons I selected BlueHost to start a WordPress blog.

  • Recommended by WordPress.org officially since 2005 by a row!: What’s even important when WordPress.org recommends BlueHost as the best web hosting company for WordPress.
  • Trusted by over 2 million webmasters worldwide: Not only me, millions of other webmasters trust them.
  • Can Handle avg. 20k/unique visitors per month easily: Bluehost will never terminate your account due to high traffic peaks. Perfect for any beginner to start a blog online today and build their future.
  • Unlimited traffic transfer and disk space.
  • 24×7 world-class WordPress experienced support team. (available options: online chat, email, and phone call)
  • One-click WordPress auto-installer: You can start a blog today with just a minimum of computer knowledge.
  • No Hidden fees
  • 30-DAY money guarantee.

Step #2: Select your WordPress hosting package

On the next page, you will be asked to choose the hosting package you want to host your WordPress blog. When I started to make a WordPress blog on Bluehost, I chose the “Plus” web hosting plan. I would recommend it to you too.

bluehost pricing after coupon

You can host an unlimited number of WP blogs, and also you receive unlimited disk space to host your content. BlueHost’s “Plus” shared hosting plan is perfect for any beginner.

Click on the “Select” button under the “Plus” plan, and you are ready to go next step.

Step #3: Pick up your domain name – The first step to making your WordPress blog

As you make a WordPress blog on Bluehost, they will offer you a free custom domain (.com domain) worth $14.99.

So, type a name to find the availability of the domain.

free custom domain bluehost

Here are a few tips for selecting a perfect domain:

  1. Always try to get a .com domain: As you know, more people trust and visit websites with .com domains. When you get a .com top-level domain (TLD), you can target international people and drive more traffic to your site. Also, some advertisers and publishers do not like launching an advertising campaign on country-specific domains.
  2. Choose a short, unforgettable, and easy-to-spell name: Do not use fancy and hard-to-spell words as your domain.
  3. Select a domain name according to your needs: If you want to start a blog for business purposes, ensure your brand is laid out in the domain name. Ex: mybusinessblog.com
  4. Find a keyword-rich domain if you want to target specific traffic: Not too ordinary, but it matters on rare occasions. Do not stuff keywords in the domain name. A good practice of choosing a perfect domain name is a mix of keyword-rich and non-keyword-rich words in the domain. Ex: SEOmoz.com, SearchEngineJournal.com
  5. Don’t use stopping words: overuse or misuse of stopping terms such as “the” will prolong your domain name. So, make sure your domain does not include those prepositions, conjunctions, and stop words.
  6. Don’t use numbers or hyphens in the domain: Which would you like to visit further? Pro-blog-tricks.com? Or ProBlogTricks.com? The second one, right? So, don’t ever use hyphens in your domain.
  7. Use a branded name if you’re going long-term: If you have long-term plans, always select a branded domain name. ex: Pitiya.com, Quicksprout.com, Appsumo.com

You can use one of these search tools to find available domain names that suit your brand and business.

If you are like me, don’t know, or can’t find a good domain name for your new WordPress blog, then use your name for it! Yes, use the personal name as your custom domain name. For instance, Pitiya.com and NeilPatel.com.

Personal branding is perfect for making a personal blog on WordPress. After selecting an ideal domain for your new WordPress blog, move to the fourth step to create your WordPress blog.

What if you already have a domain?

If you have bought a domain from a domain registrar like Godaddy, CloudFlare, PorkBun, or NameCheap, you can type your domain under the field of “I have a domain name.” Then log into your domain DNS manager and change name servers to those below. Learn more…

ns1.BlueHost.com
ns2.BlueHost.com

Caution: Once you point name servers to Bluehost, people will be able to visit your blog. So, if your existing domain already receives traffic (in a case like you want to migrate from Blogger (hosted blogging platform from Google) to WordPress.org (Self-hosted content management system), then you should not yet point name servers.

You can use the temporary URL you received through email to log in to the WordPress admin area and make the necessary changes. (more about WordPress administrative panel in 6th step)

If you didn’t receive the temporary login URL from Bluehost, contact them and ask for a new temporary URL.

bluehost-wordpress-account-information.png
The temporary URL for your WordPress admin area will be delivered via email

Once you have set up your new WordPress blog and are ready to go, point name servers to BlueHost.

Step #4: Create Your Hosting Account – Set up personal information, billing information

You can see a few text fields to fill out on the next page.

Account information: Fill in real information. Your name, email, and phone number should be real ones. You will receive messages about your account at the email address provided. Therefore add a working email address.

bluehost account information

Package information: You can select an account plan you would like to opt in. Personally, I chose the 36-month billing circle because I can save $217.44 (which is a 54% cut-off total!), and I never want to worry about rebilling. Bluehost offer VAS (Value Added Services) or extra features such as SiteLock security, Site Backup Pro, and Search Engine Jumpstart. You can deselect these features. However, I recommend you purchase SiteLock security. If you run a personal blog, you should buy this one because anyone can reverse look up your domain (on Whois directories) and find your personal details such as name, home address, and phone number.

Bluehost hosting package information

Note: Domain privacy shows up only if you get a domain from BlueHost. If you have already bought a custom domain, you should enable the domain privacy (SiteLock) setting through your domain registrar. 

Payment information: You can buy Bluehost hosting through credit/debit cards. Bluehost currently supports all credit and debit cards that support international shopping.

bluehost payment information

After you buy Bluehost WordPress hosting, you are ready to move to the next step; account activation.

Step #5: Account activation – Log Into Your Bluehost CPanel

After your successful payment, BlueHost will send you a welcome message to the email address you provided above.

welcome to bluehost

It will include various details, such as your login credentials to BlueHost Cpanel. cPanel is the engine of your web hosting account. It is not too much complicated. In fact, it has been made to ease web hosting arrangements and set up forums, websites, social networks, etc.

Once you click on that link on the email, you will be redirected to a page where you can log into your account. Alternatively, you can follow these simple steps to log into your BlueHost cPanel.

Go back to Bluehost.com and click on the “Login” tab upper-right corner.

bluehost cpanel login
After purchasing blog hosting to start a WordPress Blog in BlueHost, you should first log into your account.

Enter cPanel info from the welcome email. Select the “Hosting” tab if it is not selected already.

bluehost login cpanel

Now move to the best part of this tutorial; install WordPress on Bluehost!

Step #6: Install WordPress on BlueHost – One-click Install WordPress

You will get a few notification messages when you first visit your BlueHost dashboard. Some are welcome messages, while others are promotions like this one.

install wordpress promotion
Don’t purchase these services. You can install WordPress on your domain yourself.

As you see, Bluehost will install WordPress for you for $99+. You should not purchase these promotions. I will guide you on how to create a blog in WordPress step by step without hiring ANYONE.

In your cPanel, you can see tens of icons. Don’t get overwhelmed. Now we are going to install WordPress securely using a script provided by Bluehost.

Scroll down the page and locate the “WordPress install” icon under the “Website” section. Once you find it, click on the “WordPress Install” icon.

wordpress auto installer bluehost cpanel

To start creating the WordPress blog, you should find WordPress one-click auto-installer script in BlueHost cPanel. You can also find WordPress auto-installer in the BlueHost home panel too.

#6.1: Start the WordPress Install

You will be redirected to the “WordPress Installation Startup” page on the next page. Just click on the “Get Started” button bottom right corner.

start installation wordpress bluehost marketplace

On the next page, you will be asked to select the domain name on which you want to install WordPress. Select the desired domain from the drop-down menu.

select domain installation

Again at the bottom of the page, you will see the promotion message informing you that BlueHost will manually set up a WordPress blog for you. Don’t even look at them! You are going to set up a WordPress blog yourself.

After selecting the domain you want to install WordPress, you can also choose the directory of WordPress installation.

install wordpress separate folder
Add the directory only if you want to install WordPress on an addon domain

For example, if I want to set up a new separate installation of WordPress to my personal blog like this www.priyadarshana.com/deals, the new directory should be “deals.” So every post, page, or video I post through this WordPress installation will locate at www.priyadarshana.com/deals

This is very useful if you want to create a website for your business. You may name the directory “Blog.” If you do not want to mess around and want a simple WordPress blog set up under the root domain, leave the directory field alone and click on the “Next” button.

install wordpress root domain
Empty the directory field if you want to install WordPress on the root domain. (make WordPress website on own custom domain)

#6.2: Set up WordPress Installation Settings

Here you will start making a WordPress blog on Bluehost. Before the installation process starts, specify your website or blog title, Admin Username, and Admin password.

wordpress installation settings

Now let’s learn what these terms are one by one.

  • Site Name: This is your website’s title. People will find your site in search engines knowing this name. So be aware and specify with the website title. It is excellent to use your domain or brand as a Website title. Ex: www.priyadarshana.com/deal ⇒ site name: Best Deals & Discounts by Chamal Priyadarshana www.pitiya.com ⇒ site name: Pitiya – Converting Dreams into Realities
  • Admin Username: The first most important info about your WordPress website. Don’t ever use ‘admin’ as the Admin username. You will use this one when logging into your WordPress admin area. You can use a complex or a hard-to-guess name.
  • Admin Password: The second most important info about your WordPress website. Don’t ever use a name, a phone number, or pet names as admin passwords. A good practice to make a unique password to your WordPress blog is adding a mixture of simple form & capital form characters, symbols, numbers, and spaces (yes, it is!).

Check those two boxes “I understand that installing on the same domain will overwrite any files” and “I have read the terms and service GPLv2“.

Don’t forget to write down your new blog’s WordPress admin username and password in a paper. Don’t ever save it on your computer. I do not need to explain why it is, right?

Once you are done setting up the website title and admin login credentials, you are ready to install WordPress on the Bluehost server. Just click on the “Install” button.

wordpress is installing

Installing WordPress on Bluehost Shared Server

Wait a few seconds for that AWESOME message…

…that is.

installation complete

Woohoo!

woo hoo

You have a brand new blog!

Just click on the link to get login credentials.

wordpress installation details bluehost

That is all. Now you have successfully created a new WordPress blog on BlueHost.

#6.3: Log into WordPress Admin Area

You can log in to your WordPress admin panel and make the necessary changes. Here is how to log in to your blog’s WordPress admin panel or control panel.

Visit the admin login page. It should be something similar to this: http://www.yourblogname.com/wp-admin

Enter your blog admin login details which you saved in the sixth step. Click on the “Log in” button.

wordpress admin login page

At first view, you will see a screen slightly similar to this.

wordpress dashboard
Your WordPress Blog Dashboard:- This is where you add posts, pages, and images and change the appearance of your blog. You manage all aspects of your blog from here.

Now enter your blog address in to address bar and press the “Enter” button. You can see your brand new WordPress blog live on the Internet. Here’s mine.

new wordpress blog
My Brand New WordPress Blog

Here are a few essential steps you should follow after making a website on WordPress.

  • Install a WordPress security plugin: Forget about SEO or any other plugins other recommend for you. You have many times to play with them. Just for now, install a WordPress security plugin such as WordFence. Many of those security plugins provide various tools to strengthen the security of your WP blog. Ex: change WordPress login address, restrict visiting directory files, save your website from DDoS attacks and hacking vulnerabilities.
  • Use a Two-factor authentication plugin (optional): Two-factor authentication plugins or PIN verification plugins such as Google Authenticator will build another strong security level for your blog by requiring a time-based PIN on the WordPress Admin login page.
  • Prevent search engines from crawling and indexing your website (optional): This might be your very first WordPress blog. Now you have set up a blog, and you expect that search engines will list your blog on SERPs. I understand your concern, but it is a right to prevent search engines from crawling your “under constructing” blog. Make sure the option “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” is checked in the “Reading” section under the blog “Settings” page.
discourage search engines indexing wordpress settings
Go to Settings >> Reading >> Check “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.” You can uncheck this option after you publish your website/blog.

Now What? You have started a WordPress blog

Starting a new blog online is actually easy, and you can do it within 15 minutes. However, what is tough is maintaining your blog continuously. You need to make a few essential things to run an excellent blog and make money through blogging.

  • Install a premium theme: Yes, this is the first thing you should do right after starting a blog. My very first theme was Genesis by StudioPress. However, there are many cheap WordPress Premium themes with tons of features. You can either buy a stand-alone theme from marketplaces like ElegentThemes and ThemeForest or build your own with Elementor.
  • Start Building your list from the very first day: I cannot insist on how important it is to build your email list from the very first day. Not many first visitors would ever come to your site again. So, collect their contact details and build an email list you can reach anytime. Build your email list on Aweber for free. Or get started with an advanced CRM, multi-channel marketing automation tool like Gist. Learn more in this Gist setup guide. You can use an email list-building tool like ConvertBox (check review here and pricing details here) and Convertful (check review here) to increase opt-ins.
  • Analyze your competitors: Don’t have a clue from which point to start? What to write about and how to get traffic? Don’t worry. I have a good solution. Use competitor analysis software like Semrush to find competitors’ SEO strategies and techniques. I have explained how to use Semrush to identify competitors’ SEO strategies in this review, this competitor research tutorial, and this article on how to use Semrush for blogging.

Over to you

Starting a blog online was not an easy job in past years. But, now, you can build a blog on WordPress without ANY experience easily and quickly.

With a small investment and a low-cost, renowned web hosting company such as Bluehost, you can start building a WordPress website from scratch.

The actual works start after you create your WordPress blog. You have to write content, select a theme, optimize it for search engines, social networks, and mobile users and grow your business.

I have written dozens of articles, tutorials, and guides on Blogging, SEO, Content Marketing, and Social Media Marketing on Pitiya. Search, and you’ll find a relevant guide.

If you have any questions, please share them in the comment form below. I am happy to help you with making a WordPress blog on Bluehost to make money with it!

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