Once you’ve chosen a niche, the next steps are to buy a domain name and a hosting plan.
Domain name: This is the name of your site. For example, wandercincinnati.com is a domain name. This typically costs around $10 per year.
Hosting plan: Once you have a domain name, you need to set up hosting. Your domain name is simply the name of your site, but you need to actually host the site on a server somewhere on the internet. The cheapest hosting plans you can find typically start at around $5 per month but can get up to several hundred dollars per month if your site eventually brings in hundreds of thousands of visits per month.
For both domain names and hosting plans, I’ve found Bluehost to be the cheapest and fastest way to get started. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you’re unhappy for any reason you can easily get your money back.
Once you’re ready, head on over to Bluehost and click the “Get started now” button.
On the next screen you’ll be given three choices for hosting, ranging from monthly prices of $3.95/month up to $5.95/month depending on how many sites you’d like to create.
Once you pick a plan, you’ll be taken to a page with two options. If you still need to register a new domain, you can simply type the domain name in the box on the left and choose your desired extension (e.g., .com, .net, .org). If you already purchased your domain somewhere else, don’t worry because Bluehost will give you the details you need to easily transfer your domain.
Once you select a domain, you’ll be taken to a new screen where you’ll fill out some basic information:
Once you fill out this information, you’ll see a congratulations page indicating that a confirmation email was sent to your email inbox. Go to that email and click the confirmation link.
After that, click the “Create your password” button.
Set Up Your Site on WordPress
Once you have your domain and hosting set up, it’s time to pick a publishing platform to use for your site.
There are many different platforms that you can use for writing and publishing content on a website. My personal favorite is WordPress because it’s incredibly user-friendly, there are thousands of free plugins (more on this later), thousands of website themes to choose from, and it integrates nicely with major ad networks if you eventually want to put ads on your site.
From your Bluehost dashboard you can install WordPress for free with a one-click installation. On this next screen, you’ll be prompted to create a password:
After creating a password, you’ll be taken to a Log In screen. Click the “Log In” button.
On the next page, you’ll be presented with several theme options. Choose one of the themes presented on the page. If you don’t like any of the options available, you can always change your theme later on easily.
WordPress is now installing and will be completed shortly. Next, click “Start Building” to go to your new WordPress dashboard.
You should be presented with the following WordPress dashboard:
On the left-hand side of the screen, near the top, click the “Bluehost” option. You will be presented with this screen:
Currently your site will be displaying a “Coming Soon” page. In order to make your theme show up live, click the blue “Launch” button.
You will be asked to choose a Site Title and Site Description, which will likely show up near the top of your website, depending on which theme you chose.
Then, click “Next Step” and you’ll be able to launch your site.
How to Change the Theme
You can change your website theme at any time from your WordPress dashboard by clicking Appearance on the left-hand side and then clicking Themes. You can then click Add New to search for a new theme to use.
Note: I personally use a free WordPress theme called Wisteria because I like the simple and clean layout it offers.
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