I know a lot of people like to blog for personal reasons and some people do it for a means of income. Whatever your reasons for wanting to blog, I think you should start doing it if you haven’t already!

I’m going to lay out a simple to follow guide to help you start up your own blog. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be too tech savvy to start a blog. I basically repel technology and I figured it out! Haha! Really, you can get your blog up and running in less than an hour even if you have little to no technical experience.

Don’t forget that when you use Bluehost you’re getting the best customer service that’s available to you at anytime. That’s one of the reasons I love Bluehost, they’re always available and have professional and courteous techs on stand by ready to help you with your biggest or smallest problems. I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of support team I want being available to me 24/7, especially since I don’t know what time of day/night I’ll be up working on my website/blog.

Hosting & Setup

This page is going to help you start you very own WordPress blog. Whether you’re doing this for income or for leisure, you need to be on a self-hosted WordPress platform. I’m recommending Bluehost because that’s who I use personally. You’ve heard the saying, “The biggest and the best”, well Bluehost is the biggest and the best and I believe the most trusted. Bluehost is currently powering over 2,000,000 websites worldwide on their server.  They are the largest WordPress hosting company and the majority of bloggers that I know use Bluehost . . . . . including me!

I’m excited to tell you that for a limited time, if you’re a new signup with Bluehost using my personal link, you’re going to get the discounted price of only $3.95/month AND that’s including a free domain for your first year. Free SSL is included, 1-Click WordPress Install, and 24/7 Support. This special intro offer comes with a 30-day money back guarantee too!

This really is such a great deal!

Are you ready to become a blogger? Let’s go!

Start Here: I want you to get the special intro offer through my link, so click here! This is an affiliate link, it doesn’t cost you anything, it just helps me support my little family. You’re going to start your blog for just $3.95/month. This is such a great deal!

You have 3 package choices to choose from. This is where you start tailoring your website to meet your own needs. So maybe right now you have a limited budget, you can choose the Basic plan to get up and running and do great. This is the plan that I started on. I was on a very limited income but desperate to get started the right way so I knew I needed to go through Bluehost, and I’m glad I did. You can always upgrade later so there’s no need to fret about not getting the extras right now.

If you are able to go ahead and pay a little more then go for it! I think that the Prime package is such an excellent deal that I wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on it. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all great packages, but the Prime has a free SiteBackup (*huge, no need to worry about anything happening and losing everything) and it has SpamExperts, plus you can have more than one domain. I. love. this. I’d love to have one blog where I just did more of a blog focused on my faith and life stuff, and another focused on reviewing items and blogging for income, or maybe one for strictly personal use. So if you want more than one blog all you have to do is purchase an additional domain name (the first one is free) and you can have them both on the same Bluehost account. Something to think about.

I chose the 36month plan when I signed up but do what’s right for you.

Okay, have you decided which of the preferred plans you want to use? If so then click on the green “Select” button at the bottom of your Bluehost page.

Notice how there are 2 options to choose from here?

New Domain: If you’ve not already selected and claimed your domain name then now is the time to get your domain name! This is a very exciting part of starting the blog, just type in the domain name you wish to have (hopefully it isn’t taken) and click the blue “Next” button.

I have a domain name: If you already have a domain name from a previous site then enter that domain name in now and click the blue “Next” button.

Now it’s time to create your account!

Fill in all of your account information. Be sure to skim over everything you’ve typed to ensure your phone number/address/name are all correct.

Remember a few minutes ago when you chose which of the 3 package plans you wanted? Well now we’re going to add on some extras (if you want them).

The Basic – 36 month price – is $142.20

That’s it!

That’s $3.95 a month for 36 months.

I know a lot of people who spend that much on a Starbuck’s coffee everyday. Don’t you think you can give up one coffee a month? Or eating out fast food just once a month? I think so, too!

The minimum term agreement is for 12months and everything is paid at the time of sign up, so once you’ve paid today you won’t have to worry about paying any monthly fees! You’re going to get the most savings with the longer plans. (With the 36 month plan you get upgraded storage and no extra web hosting fees for new websites you add, outside of purchasing a new domain name.)

Some of the “extras” I was talking about are things like:

Site Backup Pro – This tool allows you to restore backups that you’ve created of your account’s files (blogs/emails/etc) It’s a super important tool whenever you’re able to get it!

Domain Privacy Protection – When you have a website your domain registration is stored in a public database. Whenever you choose to purchase the Domain Privacy Protection add-on, this keeps your information private.

Enter your credit card information, then check the box agreeing with Bluehost‘s Terms of Service, and press “Submit”!

Yay!!!

You’ve officially become the owner of your very own blog and are ready to take on the world!

Choose a password for your account.

*Don’t make a super easy to remember password. Use capital letters, lowercase, numbers, and signs. Write it down somewhere in a safe place if you need help to remember it, but this is your website, do your part to protect it with a strong password.

Once you’ve decided on a password; WordPress 1-Click Install is going to start installing on your account. You can open a new window and go to your email, you’re going to be receiving emails from Bluehost. You’ll get an email(s) with your account information and WordPress information on it. If they aren’t in your Inbox in a few minutes, check your junk folder. While you’re there go ahead and add Bluehost/WordPress to your “Contacts” on your email so you don’t have to worry about missing any further correspondence from them in the future.

Now it’s time to make it yours! What’s Your Style?

Choosing & Installing a Custom Theme

Choose the style of theme that speaks to you! Think of what design matches your personality and the functionality you want for your blog! Don’t worry, you can change this later!

Welcome To WordPress

Are you ready to start building?

Here you choose if you’re creating a personal or business account.

You might see something like this on your screen. This was so overwhelming to me when I first started my account, I thought, “I’ll never figure all this stuff out.” I was wrong, and I’ve figured out most of it on my own. You just need to familiarize yourself with where everything is on your site, it’s going to grow your confidence and stretch your ability to quickly maneuver around!

You don’t have to launch your site yet if you don’t want it to go live. I made my logo and set my theme up before I made my website public. Build on it until you’re ready and don’t rush yourself. You can make it a simple blog (like I did) or something more complex (which I will do at some point) but this is all yours, build it up into something you want it to be.

This is my favorite page.

Why?

Every day I get onto my laptop and type in Bluehost.com

I click on the Login button and type in my user name and password. Then I see this page. When I see that blue “Log Into WordPress” button, I know that I’m about to have fun. I thoroughly enjoy what I get to do on my blog. I also love to check my emails when I login because nothing is as exciting as having your own personal emails from your own website.

I think everything is going to run really smooth for you but if you happen to need further assistance you can email me at heather@prayersandpineapples.com with any questions and I’ll help to the best of my ability. Plus don’t forget that now you have an endless supply of support from Bluehost! You can contact them 24/7! Yay!

Grace & Peace