Do you want to know how to make a WordPress blog? Then keep reading, because it’s pretty easy. Even if you’re technically challenged and barely know how to send an email.
Firstly though, I should mention there are two versions of WordPress. At wordpress.com you can create a completely free blog, without any technological knowledge. This is great to get your feet wet in building your own blog. However, there are quite a few important limitations. For example, if you want to make some extra money with your blog, they will shut it down before you even received your first check. I know what I’m talking about and it’s extremely frustrating to lose all that hard work.
So what I want to focus on in this article is on how to make a WordPress blog on your own paid hosting. It’s a little more work, and it does cost a little bit of money, but the advantages far outweigh these minor disadvantages. If you do some research, you should be able to set up your blog for a couple of dollars a month.
The first thing you’ll need to do is buy a domain name and webhosting. You can get both pretty cheap, hosting can be paid on a monthly or yearly basis, domain names are usually paid yearly or free if you also get hosting.
If you’re truly technically challenged, never heard of FTP and prefer a push button solution, then I recommend you choose hosting that offers WordPress Express, Simple Scripts or Fantastico. All three systems will install a WordPress blog with a few clicks.
Simple scripts and Fantastico are pretty much the same when it comes to the installation procedure.
Look for the following buttons in your hosting account:
Click install, leave the version as is, select the domain where you would like the blog to be installed (either the root or a directory, for root install leave second box after “/” empty), agree to terms, and click on complete.
WordPress Express is a little different.
Click Access WordPress Express, create a new blog, enter domain name (or select one that was already entered below), click continue, choose blog name, choose theme (you can always change this later), continue, click create blog. This blog install comes with a few interesting plugins pre-installed (like all-in-one seo).
So now you know how to make a WordPress blog on your own hosting service. As you can tell, there’s really not much to it.
If you want to build a simple blog, just for the fun of it, Fantastico and Simple Scripts are pretty much equal in ease of use.
If you want to monetize your blog though, my personal preference goes to WordPress Express, even though it is more expensive. It comes with a huge amount of online training, personal coaching and a top notch internet marketing forum.
