blo genat o r.co m http://blogenator.com/how-to-start-a-blog/

How to Start a Blog

Hey there guys,

In this quick guide, I’ll teach you how you can setup a self-hosted WordPress blog in less than 5 minutesand you’re f ree to share it with your f riends and f amily who are looking f orward to start their own blog. J

A self -hosted blog is one, which you host on your own hosting account, and thus gives you 100% controlof the blog.

This overcomes the downside of using f ree-blogging platf orms (like wordpress.com, blogger.com andtypepad.com) as these services can take down your blog without prior notice or any justif iable reason.

If they do update their policies and your blog is something that doesn’t f it in, you’ll be kicked out.

We’ll be using WordPress as our blogging platf orm (dif f erent f rom wordpress.com) as it gives us a lot off lexibility while building up our blog. It is Search engine optimized and we can develop a lot of f unctionalityusing WordPress themes and plugins.

So here’s how we go about it:

1. Select a domain name

2. Buy the domain and the hosting account

3. Install WordPress using the cPanel provided with our hosting account

4. Done.

Selecting a domain name

Domain name is the name of your site…like xxx.com or abc.org, where xxx.com/ abc.org is your domainname.

Now, if you already have something in mind then that’s great and you can move on to the next step, but ifyou’re still have no idea what you’d name your site, here are a f ew guidelines or suggestions that can helpyou make the decision.

1. Keep it short and catchy.

2. It makes sense if the domain name is relevant to your niche.

3. Be creative.

I know you would’ve guessed these three on your own but hey I’ve still seen a lot of people getting domainnames like JohnDoechocholatecupcakeblog.com and to be honest, nobody’s going to type that a domainname that long.

Keep it f un f or everyone.

How to Setup the Domain name and the Hosting Account

If you’re just starting out (which is most probably the case) then I’d recommend you to buy your domainname f rom the company, you’ll get your hosting account f rom.

This will keep you f ree f rom taking care of the “technical” stuf f and you can work on more important thingslike writ ing your f irst blog post.

I’ve been using Hostgator f rom the very beginning and I’ve not been disappointed once yet.

Moreover, the good news is that you’ll get a 25% discount for using “Blogenator” as your coupon code, whilesigning up f or a new account and the longer your period of subscription is, the more money you’ll save.

Setting up your Blog with Hostgator

Step 1

First, head over to Hostgator.com and click on “View webhosting plans”.

Now, you would be presented the dif f erent shared hosting plans that Hostgator of f ers.

I’d personally recommend you to go with the Baby plan, since it ’s pretty af f ordable f or new bloggers who donot need a lot of resources in their init ial days of blogging.

Moreover, this plan allows you to add unlimited domain names to the same hosting account and you won’thave to buy a new hosting account incase you’ll want to setup a new website or blog in the f uture.

I’d recommend you to get at least 1 year worth of subscription because

(a) It will save you f rom the hassle of renewing your hosting account every month

(b) You will save more money in the long run, since you’ll be getting a 25% OFF on your total amount.

Once you’ve chosen your desired plan, hit order now.

Step 2

Now, you should be at a web page where you’re required to enter your domain name (if you already haveone) or buy one directly f rom Hostgator.

Moreover, you are given the option to use a coupon code which will save you some money on your totalorder.

Now enter your domain name in the f irst f ield and replace the current coupon code i.e. Snappy (gives 20%discount) with Blogenator (gives 25% discount) and hit the next button.

Here, you’ll have to enter your billing details and complete your order.

When you’re done, you’re new account will be setup by Hostgator.

You’ll receive the cPanel and the account details via e-mail.

Setting up WordPress on your domain name

Now that you have your domain and hosting in order, let’s move on to getting your blog live f or the world tosee.

First of all, you need to login into your cPanel account using the details sent to you by Hostgator.

You’d need to put http://yourdomainname.com/cpanel (f ictional url) in order to get to your cpanel loginscreen.

Once you’ve logged in, you need to scroll down and click on the smiling f ace with called “Fantastico Deluxe”under the Sof tware/Services section.

Now click on WordPress, and select “New Installation”. Enter the required details as per your need and nowyou can successf ully login into your wordpress dashboard.

Assuming you’ve done everything right t ill now, you should be able to login athttp://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin (replace yourdomainname.com with your actual domain name) usingthe username and password you had set in the last step.

Once logged in, your dashboard will be something like this:

And you’re done.

Congrats, you’ve just setup your f irst blog. Go on, write your f irst blog post and do drop me a comment.