How to setup up your web hosting with Bluehost

 

How to set up your web hosting with Bluehost

Enough said, it’s now time to set up your web hosting with Bluehost. Below is a step-by-step tutorial – complete with screenshots – to guide you through the entire process.

Step 1. Go to Bluehost.com and choose your hosting plan

Click the button below…

GET THE BEST WEB HOSTING ON BLUEHOST

…which will take you to this page. Click HOST YOUR SITE…

…which will then take you to this page. Now click GET STARTED…

…which in turn will take you to this page.

This is where you can see the price cards for all web hosting packages offered by Bluehost. Note that more prominent prices displayed are discounted prices – they only apply to your first purchase/invoice. The regular prices apply after your first 12-month or 36-month term – whichever you buy – is over.

For beginners, the best package is the BASIC PLAN. It has everything you need to build your blog, including:

• Web hosting service for one website.Perfect for beginners.
• Free domain for one year. You’ll have your custom domain name registered and ready-to-use – for free – for your first year.
• Free CDN. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a group of globally-distributed servers which enhances your website speed and security, and enables your webpages and content to load faster.
• Free SSL certificate. A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate is an important security feature to keep personal information, e-commerce transactions, and other sensitive data safe with encrypted connections.
• 50 GB SSD storage. This is more than enough space to store all the content you create on your blog, and will take a long time to use up.
• Custom themes. Pick from hundreds of beautiful, bespoke themes to bring your blog to life.  
• Website builder. Create a professional-looking website fast and easy with this easy-to-use drag and drop WordPress website builder.
• 24/7 customer support. Bluehost has your back every step of the way.

Now on the Basic Plan price card, click SELECT.

Step 2. Set up your domain name

After choosing your web hosting plan, you will then be taken to this page.

This is where you can register your domain. We’ve already checked if your domain name is available a while ago, but you can also do that here. You can also choose a TLD, but a ‘.com’ is already the best possible choice, and it’s automatically chosen as a default – though you’re free to choose whatever you want.

So type in your domain name on the text field provided, then click NEXT.

Step 3. Create account and complete your purchase

Once you finish setting up your domain, you will get to this page.

Now this is where you can register with Bluehost and complete your purchase. So fill in the required fields with the appropriate information.

Then choose your hosting plan’s duration. With a 12-month plan, you’ll pay a lower price upfront. However, with a 36-month plan, you’ll make a lot more savings in the long term. It’s up to you. Remember, you’ll only be getting your discount for your first 12-month or 36-month term – whichever you buy. After that, the regular renewal rates apply.

But before you pay for anything, take a look at this part first.

As you can see, Bluehost has taken the liberty of bundling some additional features to your purchase. It’s up to you if you want to buy these extras or not. You can find out more about each by clicking More Information.

But if you ask me, only the first one – the Domain Privacy + Protection – is really essential. If you select this, Bluehost can hide your personal contact information and keep it from being accessed by just about anybody, including spammers.

Meanwhile, the rest of the add-ons are just optional. Besides, if you do need them, you can purchase them later on anyway.

So check only the boxes next to the features you want to buy, and uncheck those you don’t want. Then enter your payment details. 

If you have filled in every field with the appropriate information, you can tick the check box indicating that you read and understood the Terms and Conditions.

Then click SUBMIT.

If your purchase goes through successfully, you’ll receive a confirmation email from Bluehost.

Step 4. Complete Bluehost account set-up

After completing your purchase, you’ll now be taken to another page welcoming you into Bluehost, and also prompting you to complete your Bluehost account by creating a password. Make sure your password is something strong and difficult to guess, but also one that you won’t have a hard time remembering.

Once you have your password, you can then log in into your Bluehost account.

4. Set up WordPress

The fourth step in starting a blog is to install WordPress.

WordPress is an amazing piece of software – a Content Management System (CMS), to be exact – that lets you create and customize your website or blog and publish content online. Think of it as your blog’s operating system.

WordPress is free and open source, which means anyone and everyone can use install, use, and modify it.

It’s also very simple – you can use it to create, edit, and manage your blog even when you don’t know anything about coding, web design, or web development. In fact, it’s actually built for non-technical people.

And it’s also very popular – about 40% all websites on the Internet are powered by WordPress. So chances are, two out of every five websites you visit are made with WordPress. By the way, the overwhelming majority of blogs use WordPress.

Now, to use WordPress, you have to manually install it on your website through your web hosting. At least that’s the old-fashioned way to do it.

But with Bluehost, WordPress will be automatically installed for you. All you have to do is complete a few finishing touches to make your WordPress blog on Bluehost good to go.

How to set up your WordPress blog on Bluehost

Upon logging in to your Bluehost account, Bluehost will offer you a step-by-step guide to help you set up your WordPress blog. Note that this is optional. You can skip this if you want and do it all by yourself later on. But for absolute beginners, this is really helpful and can make setting up your blog a total breeze.

Step 1. Tell a little something about your blog

You’ll be asked what kind of site are you creating (blog, etc.), what type is it (personal, etc.), and who are you creating it for (myself, etc.).  

Step 2. Add a few things to your blog

You’ll be asked to pick some features to add to your website, such as an About Me page, a custom logo, etc.

Step 3. Tell some more about your blog

You’ll be asked what name do you want your site to have, what’s its tagline (or slogan), and how comfortable are you with the whole process of creating websites.

Step 4. Pick a theme

You’ll be asked to pick a theme for your blog from a selection of free and paid themes. By the way, a theme is a collection of templates used to change the overall look and feel of your website. You can pick one now, or do it later. You can always change your theme anytime you want.

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After all that, WordPress is already installed for you. You’ll then be taken to your Bluehost account dashboard.

How to launch your blog

Inside your Bluehost dashboard, you’ll see even more options to customize your blog just before you launch it. Note that these are all optional. You can do all these on your own time, and through your WordPress admin dashboard instead. Bluehost is just really being helpful and making sure you get a nice, simple, step-by-step guide in setting up your blog.

Anyway, you can launch your blog and make it online by clicking on the button Launch My Site.

You see, while installing WordPress, Bluehost has put up a ‘Coming Soon’ page on your domain name by default. It’s just a temporary page, sort of a placeholder or an ‘Under Construction’ sign, that gives you time and privacy to work on your blog before it’s ready. If you launch your site, this page will disappear, and it will now be your blog that people will see when they type in your domain name (instead of that ‘Coming Soon’ page).

There’s also another way to launch your blog, but through your WordPress dashboard, which you’ll find out later.

You can launch your site now, or launch it later.

If you do launch your blog now, notice that everything still looks incomplete. That’s totally ok – it just means you have a blank canvas you’re completely free to work with and make beautiful. Now’s the time to do some actual blog-building, including changing the design and structure and creating content, through your WordPress dashboard.

How to access your WordPress admin dashboard

You can go to your WordPress dashboard by clicking the WordPress button on your Bluehost account page.

Alternatively, you can manually access your WordPress admin dashboard directly on your browser’s address bar by typing in ‘https://yourdomain/wp-admin’ (for example, ‘https://phmillennia.com/wp-admin’). Doing that will take you to a log-in page where you can enter your WordPress username and password, and which will then take you to your WordPress admin dashboard. It’s a good idea to bookmark your blog or your WordPress login page on your browser so you don’t have to type it in on the address bar every time.

5. Customize your blog

You now know that WordPress is what allows you to modify your blog and fill it with content. And all that is done through your WordPress dashboard.

Your WordPress admin dashboard, or admin area or admin panel, gives you access to all the site management features of WordPress. It’s full of menus and submenus that let you change the look and feel of your site via themes, enhance your site’s functionality via plugins, tweak other various settings of your website, moderate and respond to comments, upload images and other forms of media, and create and edit pages and posts for your blog, among other things.

Your WordPress admin dashboard is like a studio, if you’re an artist; a kitchen, if you’re a chef; or a cockpit, if you’re a pilot. It’s where you make things happen. It’s where you work your magic. As a blogger, you’ll be spending a lot of your time on your WordPress dashboard.

Now, there are plenty of exciting stuff you can do on your dashboard. You can explore all of them later on. But for now, you should focus on two things – changing your theme, and adding plugins.

Themes

As has already been mentioned, a theme is collection of templates used to change the overall look and feel of your website. It’s what controls the entire design and layout of your blog. There are a lot of themes to choose from. Some themes are free, some paid. Some themes focus on expressing your creativity, others on giving your blog a clean and simple look. If you haven’t chosen a theme from Bluehost’s 4-step guide a while ago, you can do so now.

How to change your blog’s theme

On your WordPress dashboard, on the lefthand menu, click APPEARANCE, which will open the THEMES panel (or hover over APPEARANCE then click THEMES).

Notice that you already have a selection of themes (the ‘Twenty-Somethings’) pre-installed for you for free by WordPress. Hover your cursor over each theme card to know more details. Click LIVE PREVIEW to see what your blog will look like with that particular theme. If any of among them catches your fancy, click ACTIVATE to make it your blog’s current theme.

To see your current theme in action, simply click your domain name or blog name on the left part of the top bar (the one with the house icon), and it will direct you to your live site. To go back to your WordPress dashboard, click the same thing (your domain name with but this time with a dashboard icon), and it should bring you back to your blog’s behind-the-scenes.

But there are thousands more free WordPress themes to discover. To find more themes, simply click the ADD NEW button on the top, or the ADD NEW THEME card at the bottom. Either will open a panel with tons of themes to choose from. You can filter the themes according to what are the most popular or the latest. Hover your cursor over each theme card for more details and for a preview of a particular theme. If you find a theme you like, click INSTALL, then click ACTIVATE (after it completes installing) to make it your blog’s new look and layout.

You can also purchase paid premium themes from third-party websites. Just buy the theme you like, download and save the .zip file on your device, and then upload it to your dashboard by clicking UPLOAD THEME, then CHOOSE FILE, then selecting that specific .zip file. Once it’s uploaded, click INSTALL NOW, then ACTIVATE, and your blog now rocks your paid premium theme.

Now, if you’re having a difficult time picking a theme, just choose a theme that looks simple and clean for now. You can change it later. Besides, you can change your theme anytime you want.

Plugins

Next on the list is to add some plugins to your blog.

Plugins are bits of software that integrate – or plug in – to your WordPress site. They enhance your blog’s functionality or add extra features. Some plugins are free, some are paid, though most offer a free version which you can then upgrade into a premium one at a fee.  While there are thousands upon thousands of WordPress plugins available, you won’t need them all. In fact, you’ll only be needing a few. Too many plugins – as well as unreliable ones – can slow down your site and even compromise security, so install only the ones you need.

Must-have plugins for your blog

As mentioned, you’ll actually need only a few plugins for your blog. For starters, here are the most essential plugins you’ll want to install first. All of them are free, and Bluehost might have already installed some of them for you.

• A Google Analytics plugin. Google Analytics is a free service that allows you to track, analyze, and understand your website traffic through detailed statistics and metrics. Instead of logging in to your Google Analytics account on a separate page, a WordPress plugin brings the power of Google Analytics right on your WordPress dashboard, and simplifies and summarizes the data so you can understand them better. The most popular choice for a Google Analytics plugin is MonsterInsights.

• An SEO plugin. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, in simple terms, is the process of improving your website or webpage so you can rank higher on Google (or other search engines) and get more traffic. Did you know that the first five results on page one of Google get nearly 68% of all clicks? That’s why you need a WordPress plugin for SEO to help you create high-ranking content and drive more visitors to your blog. The most popular choice for an SEO plugin is Yoast SEO.

• An anti-spam plugin. Your blog will inevitably attract spam, a term that refers to all forms of unwanted user content, and which often contains links to harmful sites or files. Hence, you need a WordPress plugin to filter, block, and fight spam from comments, trackbacks, and contact form messages. The most popular choice for an anti-spam plugin is Akismet.

• A contact form plugin. Your blog will also inevitably attract people who want to talk to you, from impressed readers with heartwarming messages, fellow bloggers wishing to collaborate, to brands and companies wanting to establish business ties. A WordPress plugin provides a way for everyone to reach out to you in a fast, simple, and organized way. The most popular choices for contact form plugins are WPForms and Contact Form 7.

Note that after installing some plugins, you need to set them up further and adjust their settings accordingly. For example, after installing MonsterInsights, you need to launch it and complete the steps necessary to set up Google Analytics on WordPress. Don’t worry. It’s all very easy and the steps are all laid out for you via the plugin’s handy guide.

How to add plugins to your blog

To manage all your plugins, simply click PLUGINS on the lefthand menu on your WordPress dashboard. It will open a panel where you can view every plugin you have installed, along with their details and settings, and with options to activate, deactivate, update, or delete them.

Again, you will notice that Bluehost has taken the liberty of installing plugins it thinks are important – and well, it’s right. Bluehost has installed some pretty useful plugins for you, like the ones mentioned above. It’s also installed its own plugin so you can access the tools on your Bluehost dashboard right on your WordPress Dashboard.

To add new plugins, simply click the ADD NEW button on the top part. That will lead to a page where you can browse thousands of free WordPress plugins. You can filter the plugins according to what are featured, popular, or recommended, or just search for what you want through the search bar. If you see a plugin you think you need, just click INSTALL NOW and then ACTIVATE.

You can also add your own plugin from your device via the UPLOAD PLUGIN button.

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Now that you know how to customize your theme and manage your plugins, you can explore the rest of the tools on your dashboard. But you have plenty of time to do all that later.

For now, focus on the last stage of building your blog.

6. Start creating content

You’re now on the homestretch, at least for now. You already have a blog live on the Internet. But it’s still empty, so it’s time to fill it with some pretty amazing content. In blogging, content mostly means two things: static content or your pages or webpages, and dynamic content, or your blog posts.

Pages

A page or webpage is a document written in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and is accessible on the Internet. Webpages make up websites. They are what pages are to a book.

Now, pages give your site structure, organize your content, and provide information about your blog to search engines and to your visitors. They can usually be accessed via your blog’s main menu. They’re mostly static content, which means that they aren’t created or updated as regularly as posts.

Must-have pages on your blog

When you have a brand-new website (like you do now), there are a couple of webpages that you need to create first, namely:

• Homepage. This is the page that visitors will land on when they type in your domain name on their browser’s address bar. Homepages vary in design, but an ideal one usually includes a brief introduction on what your blog is all about, a selection of your most popular or recent posts, a display of products or services you’re offering, etc. And since first impressions last, you should make your homepage as appealing and as engaging as much as possible.

• About (Me/Us). This is the page where you provide more information about your blog and about yourself. This is usually where you introduce yourself as the author, tell something about your blogging journey, what motivated you to start blogging, what plans do you have for your blog, etc. As you can already tell, an About page is as personal as it gets – it’s your chance to share your story, build a connection, and convince visitors to trust you.

• Contact (Me/Us). This is the page where you have your contact information – email address, business address, telephone number, etc. – displayed, and a functional contact form furnished, for persons or organizations who want to get in touch with you.

Other pages that are less commonly thought of, but are no less important, include:

• Disclaimer. This is the page that explains how you monetize your blog. If you plan on making money off your blog, such as by displaying ads or promoting affiliate links, then this page is a must.

• Terms and Conditions. This is the page that displays your Terms and Conditionsagreement, otherwise known as Terms of Use or Terms of Service, which outline the rules that visitors must abide by when they use your blog. These terms are designed to protect you from abusive users, intellectual property theft, and even unnecessary litigation.

• Privacy Policy. This is the page that contains your Privacy Policy, which outlines how your blog collects and uses data from its visitors. If you plan on running ads, posting affiliate links, or even just using Google Analytics on your blog, you’ll inevitably be collecting data from your readers, so this page is another must-have.

These are just some of the pages you want to have on your website before anything else. As your blog grows, you can add more webpages to fit your needs, like a separate page for an ebook or online course you’ll be selling, or one for your archives to display all your posts – you get the idea. But for now, these first pages will do.

How to create a new page

To manage all your blog’s webpages, simply click PAGES on the lefthand menu of your WordPress dashboard. That will open a panel where a list of your blog’s pages is displayed, as well as options to create new ones and edit, duplicate, or delete existing ones.

To create a new page, click ADD NEW. That will open an editor where you can create your blog’s pages (or posts). It’s called the Gutenberg Block editor. As its name says, it allows you to create content using blocks.

There’s a block for titles or headings, another for paragraphs, separate blocks for images, audios, videos, quotes, lists, buttons, columns, tables, everything. The idea is that if you want to create something, just add the appropriate block.

Say you want to add a title to your page – then simply add the appropriate block (heading) via the plus (+) button. To insert an image, add an image block. To add a video, add a video block. You get the point. Each block offers plenty of customization, allowing you to increase font sizes, change the background color, align images to the left, right, or center, etc.

The Gutenberg block editor is very intuitive – you’ll learn how to use it in no time. You’ll simply be adding and arranging blocks according to your preferred design and layout. So go ahead and start building the first pages for your blog.

You can use PREVIEW to get a peek on how your page will look like before you publish it. Every time you save your work, you can refresh the preview so it will reflect your most recent changes. And your page will remain a draft until you publish it, so you can keep editing it until you’re ready.

Once you’re done, you can click PUBLISH to make it live. Remember, if for some reason you don’t like the look of your page, or you need to add something to it, you can always edit your page anytime you want. And you can even unpublish it, too, or delete it altogether.

Posts

After setting up your most essential pages, it’s now time to turn your attention to writing posts for your blog.

Posts, also known as entries or articles, will form the bulk of your blog’s content. They are what blogs are really known for. They are the material you write – stories, guides, tutorials, walkthroughs, recipes, lists, news articles, case studies, product reviews, etc. Your posts are what gets Google to notice your website (mostly). They are what makes people notice your blog and come visiting. They are what helps people, answers their questions, provides solutions, makes them laugh or cry or be inspired or whatever. They are what makes people remember your blog, and keep coming back for more. Also, they are what makes you money (mostly).

What makes a great blog post?

Before you start hacking away at your keyboard, it’s an excellent idea to find out what really makes a good – no, a great – blog post. After all, the success of your blog (largely) depends on your how well you compose your entries. You don’t want to settle for writing just good posts (ordinary posts are out of the question!). You want to craft great blog posts. Because good blog posts bring visitors, yes, but great blog posts make them stay and keep coming back for more.

Of course, defining what a great blog post is is very much subjective. After all, great blog posts come in all shapes and sizes. Nonetheless, they do tend to share certain similar characteristics. With that in mind, a great blog post:

• Has a clear topic. It has a specific, well defined, and straightforward subject, and doesn’t stray from that from start to finish.
• Is interesting or helpful or both. It’s something that appeals, engages, solves problems, answers questions, and imparts information, insight, and inspiration.
• Has an intriguing title. Your title is the first thing people will see – and the last, if you don’t do it right. So grab people’s attention and get them to click with a title that tickles.
• Has a captivating introduction. The title is what makes people click, sure, but the intro is what makes them stay. So get them hooked right from the get-go.
• Is well outlined. A proper outline provides structure and organization to your post, and helps you convey your topic effectively.
• Is scannable. Make sure your post is easy to digest. Use headings and subheadings. Break up long paragraphs. And your sentences are generally better off short than long.
• Is well edited. Four words – write well, edit often. Proofread your post before you publish. Weed out typos. Rewrite awkwardly put together sentences. Use proper punctuations.
• Has images. Whenever possible, add images to your posts for visual engagement. Did you know articles with images get 94% more total views than articles without?
• Has a compelling call to action. At the end of your post, encourage your readers to take an immediate action – whether that’s to buy your product, subscribe to your newsletter, share your content, donate to your cause, etc. 
• Is SEO ready. A great blog isn’t just something search engines can find, but something they’re fond of. Make sure your post is SEO friendly.

Remember, these are all just tips. They’re not meant to limit your creative freedom or force you into altering your own writing style. These are but to guide you into crafting a blog post that works for all. Because if you want other people to discover and delight in your blog, then you can’t just write for yourself – you have to write for them, too.

How to write your first blog post

With all that out of the way, you’re now ready to write your first ever blog post.

You can manage all your blog posts via the POSTS button on the lefthand menu on your WordPress dashboard. Clicking that will open a panel where all your blog posts are listed, and with options to create new ones or edit, preview, or delete existing ones.

Now click ADD NEW. That will open the very same Gutenberg Block editor you used to create your pages. It’s the same thing you’ll be using to create your first post, and all your blog posts, for that matter.

As already mentioned, the Gutenberg Block editor works by adding the appropriate block. You want to write the title of your post – add a heading block. You want a subtitle – another heading block, but this time change the heading size. You want to add your main text beneath the title – go with the paragraph block. You want to add a beautiful picture just underneath that – do so with an image block. You get the idea.

But what should you write for your first blog post?

Perhaps you want to write an introduction to your blog, some sort of a primer or an explainer about your blog, what is it about, who is it for, and what visitors can expect to read. Or maybe you want to tell a little tale about yourself, a travel story, life lesson, funny anecdote, or the reasons that made you take up blogging. Or perhaps you’d like to get straight to a well-researched topic with plenty of statistics and links to credible sources. It’s up to you.

But these are all just suggestions. You can write whatever you want, really. Just make sure to write something interesting, something engaging, something amazing. Add pictures to make it livelier. Insert some quotes if applicable. And don’t forget to choose a great, catchy title. Remember all the things that make a great blog post? Do those.

You can click PREVIEW to get a look on what your post will look like before publishing it. Just like with your pages, as you work on your blog post, you can keep refreshing your preview to reflect the most recent changes. Your post will remain a draft until you decide to publish it.

If you’re ready to share your post with the world, click PUBLISH to get it online.

Note that publishing a post isn’t irreversible. Just like with your pages, you can edit and update your published posts anytime you want. You can even unpublish them or delete them. And that SEO thing from earlier – you’ll learn that, too, but later, in the next stage of your blogging journey.

But that’s it for now. You’ve just written your first post. What do you think? Isn’t it amazing? Don’t you feel proud and accomplished? Well, you should be!

Anyway, now that you know where and how to write your first blog post, you now also know where and how to write your second, third, tenth, fiftieth, or even one hundredth post, and all the rest of your posts. Because you’ll be writing many more than just one.

The more posts you create, the faster your blog will grow, and the more visitors you’ll have on your website. Of course, the number of posts alone will not determine how successful your blog will be, but it helps a lot of you’ve got a ton of content to offer. You’ll learn more all about growing your blog in the next big stage of your blogging journey.

How to launch your blog (if you haven’t done so in the fourth step)

If you haven’t launched your blog from your Bluehost account page, you can do so from the comfort of your WordPress dashboard. Notice the glowing COMING SOON ACTIVEbutton on top of your dashboard? Simply click it, and that will deactivate the ‘Coming Soon’ page that people will see when they try to visit your site (you can’t see it yourself when you’re logged in on WordPress). Your blog proper will then be accessible to the rest of the world. You can also click BLUEHOST on the lefthand menu on your WordPress dashboard and then LAUNCH YOUR SITE from there.

On to the next stage of your blogging journey…

You’ve just created your blog – from scratch to something beautiful.

You picked a clear topic and came up with clever and creative name. Your blog is now online, it’s got a lovely theme and some nifty plugins to boot. It’s also looking quite well organized, thanks to the pages you created. And look, you just wrote your first ever blog post, made sure it wasn’t anything ordinary, but a good – no, a greatone – and you even shared it with the rest of the world.

To think you did all that by yourself… you’re really amazing, you know that? You make me proud. And more important, you make yourself proud.

But this isn’t the end. Your blogging journey has only just begun. Everything you’ve done so far, is but to prepare you for what comes after. In the next stage of your blogging adventure, you’ll learn the tools, tips, tricks, tactics, and techniques you will need to grow your blog, rank high on search engines, reel in readers, and build a loyal following.

Beyond that, you’ll then come to one of the most exciting moments of your blogging journey. You’ll be learning how to monetize your blog, and watch as you grow your earnings from a few cents to a few dollars to a fulltime income, and maybe something more.

So you see, there’s quite a lot in store for you. A lot of hard work and commitment. But also, a lot of rewards and fulfillment. 

Are you ready? Good luck!