Full Disclosure
Before I begin this post on how to create a blog with WordPress, I want to fully disclose something. I do have affiliate links in this article. Some of the sites that I suggest you visit and some of the services that I suggest you use, I am an affiliate of. However, I do not promote any products that I do not use myself. If I suggest a server host or a domain name company, it is because it is the one I use and I have had good experiences with them. If you want to use one of the services that I am suggesting but you don’t want me to get the credit for it, go ahead and search the company on Google and sign up that way. I just want to be upfront and honest from the start.

Why Use A WordPress Blog?
The majority of the money that I have made online to date has been because I have set up several WordPress blogs. It is very quick and cheap to set up a WordPress blog and once you manage to get traffic to the blog, there are many ways to monetize the blog. The first WordPress blog that I ever set up was over at HowIWillBeRich.com. I probably made my initial investment back on that site within the first month of the site going online. Now I rarely update the site and it still brings in probably $30 every single month.

WordPress is very simple once it’s set up. Once you’ve got it installed and running on your server, it’s incredibilly easy to keep your blog updated. No advanced html or programming language knowledge necessary. Just log in, type up your blog post, hit publish, and you are updated. It’s so simple.

First you need a domain name and a host.
I am a big fan of a hosting company called PowWeb. With these guys you only pay $3.88 per month and you’ll get both your hosting and your domain name all in one place. By doing this, you will eliminate several steps of getting your domain and your host linked together. I recommend paying for a whole year in advance. You will pay $46.56 and you won’t have to think about it again for a year. You will get a domain name, unlimited webspace, and unlimited bandwidth (the amount of files that can be transferred from you to your viewers). On top of that, they give you $50 free in adwords. That’s $50 in free advertising. Sorry if it sounds like I’m really pitching their product. I really am just a big fan of their service. They’ve been great to me so far. So that’s your first step to creating a WordPress blog. Get your domain and server lined up over at PowWeb. (I had to cut this here because there are images and I want to keep a good load time. Just click below to keep reading)

Now lets install WordPress on our new blog.
Now that you have a snazzy domain name like matthewwolfe.com or something and you have your hosting, it’s time to install WordPress. With PowWeb this is extremely simply. First you are going to log in to your account at PowWeb. Then you are going to find the button that says “Install Central”.

On the next screen, you are going to click on the tab at the top that says “blogs”. Once the screen reloads, you will click the link below that says “WordPress”.

Now scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Begin Installation”.

Finally, you are going to fill in your information. Give your blog a name, pick a username and password, and enter your e-mail address. Make sure that the “Domain/URL” is set at the domain name that you just registered when you signed up. Make sure “Yes, install to this directory even if the directory already exists.” box is checked. Make sure the Database is set on “Create a database for me automatically.

Click “Install Now”. Your WordPress blog is now online! You can go to “www.yournewdomain.com/wp-admin/” to log in to the area where you write your posts. Enter your username and password and start blogging!

I hope this was an informative post. I am trying to give clear action steps to people who want to get moving with something. This won’t make you money yet but I will teach you how to get it monetized in no time. The first step is to get some posts on there, preferably something that people would want to read. Don’t worry about the layout or the theme yet. Just get content on there. I will get in to how to modify your theme in a later post along with how to set up some money making tools for the site.

My next post is going to be on WordPress plugins. Plugins are amazing and they are what make WordPress so powerful. With Plugins you can Optimize your blog so that the search engines find them, you can create methods to get people wanting to comment, you can better track your visitors, and so much more. There are so many useful plugins. I will get in to all of my favorites tomorrow.

For now, go set up your first WordPress blog!

You may also be interested in:

1. Giving Your Blog Curb Appeal
2. The Best Plugins For WordPress
3. Last Night My Blog Crashed
4. Some Awesome Blog Posts
5. The WordPress Classroom 1.0 is Live

15 Responses to “How To Set Up A WordPress Blog”