Easy Guide on How To Start A WordPress Blog On BlueHost
I’ve been blogging for nine years, which has completely changed my life. So today, I will walk you through the steps to start a WordPress blog on BlueHost.
Not only have I developed new skills that I have applied to every job I’ve ever had, but I’ve made pretty good money from my blog. Last year, I made $49,000 from my blog. You can read my post here on how I make money with an online magazine.
I’ve also had some pretty cool life experiences with my blog. I got to interview Miss USA 2015 right after she won. I did a sponsorship for a company that paid for my trip to California, and I’ve got some pretty awesome products over the years, including printers, books, and two mattresses. Blogging has definitely become a lifestyle for me.
Blogging is so much fun and can bring in substantial income, but you must know the steps to succeed. And you have to know how to get started.
For many people, the first step in creating a blog is setting up your website. Setting up a blog is relatively easyeven if you do not have much technical knowledge or experience.
Read on to learn more about how to start a WordPress blog on BlueHost!
Why BlueHost?
Full disclosure: I am an affiliate of the BlueHost hosting service, which means I will be compensated if you decide to use them. Despite this, I genuinely believe I’ve used BlueHost as my hosting provider and LOVED using them. Here are a couple of reasons why.
They make setting up your Bluehost blog pretty darn easy. And you are going to find that out for yourself today. But it is so simple. They do not use a lot of technical jargon and give clear instructions on what to do each step of the way.
They have 24/7 telephone support. This support is critical when you have a blog, and not all hosting providers have it. So if it’s your first time creating a blog, I highly recommend using a hosting provider with telephone support so you can call them anytime you have an issue with your blog.
There are other reasons I like using BlueHost, such as having a speedy site for a fraction of the cost of other hosting providers. In addition, they have plans that make it easy to start a WordPress blog on BlueHost.
Let me show you how to do this.
How to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost
1. Create an Account on BlueHost
The first thing you want to do is go to BlueHost and create an account. Then, on the homepage, click on the box that says “WordPress made easy.” Now, you choose this because if you initially go with a WordPress plan, it will automatically install WordPress for you on your new site.
When you choose this option, it will take you to another page that will give you a special offer for WordPress users. Next, click on the green “Get Started Now” button.
Choose Your Hosting
Next, you have to choose your hosting plan. When I started M3, I had a hosting plan for only $3.95 per month, and you could do the same! Choose the plan that works best for you, depending on your needs.
When you start your WordPress blog, I suggest having domain privacy. What happens when you register a domain under your name is that there are online rosters that keep track of who owns which fields. If you do not have domain privacy, anyone can see your name, email, phone number, and address online. So, pick a plan that offers that security for you.
Pick a Domain
Once you choose your hosting plan, it is time to choose a domain name that fits your blog. I like the ways that BlueHost helps you with this because it checks to see if the domain is available before you can buy it. And if not, it allows you to search for other parts until you have an open environment.
If you already have a domain name you want your blog hosting to reside on, just add it to the section that reads, “I have a domain name.”
Complete Your Account Information
You can complete the rest of your information now that you have your domain name. This part is pretty simple since it is just putting in your personal info. This page also shows you how much you would be paying today to get your massive monthly discount.
Once you complete all your info, the next step is adding your payment information. If you select a payment plan, this will be the card you use to make payments for your hosting.
The last step to setting up your account is to set up a password. Again, ensure it is secure, as you do not want anyone hacking into your site.
Once that is finished, you are now the proud owner of a new blog. HOORAY!!! But now it is time to get to business. Hit the blue button that says “login” to get started.
2. Set Up WordPress
Once you complete the payment form, it’s time to get into the fun stuff to start your WordPress blog!
Pick Your Theme
Once you create your hosting account, it is time to pick a WordPress theme. There are many themes out there. There are paid themes, and there are free themes.
BlueHost will give you a nice variety of free themes to choose from. Just pick a style and make it your own. Of course, as you start growing, I highly recommend you go with a paid theme that fits more with your brand, but I started with free articles and did great!
Once you pick your theme, it’s time to start building! Hit the blue “Start Building” button to go to your WordPress Dashboard.
Working in WordPress
Once you make it to your Dashboard, look around, as this will be your home for your website. To get to your Dashboard after today, simply type in yourdomain.com/wp-login.php. Once you enter your login information, you will return to this page. Select whether your blog is business or personal to get started from here.
Now you are in! There are several things you can do to get started on your blog. You can create pages, write blog posts, choose your WordPress plugins, and even start an online store.
You can edit your “coming soon” page to say whatever you want while you get your content up and running. When you are ready for people to see your content, hit the blue “Launch” button.
Once you launch, you can add your site’s name and description and click “Next Step.” And you are life!
And there you have it—all the steps needed to set up a blog on WordPress, and you know how to host your blog on BlueHost. Now it’s time to make money with it!
Make Money
There is no reason why you can’t start making money with your WordPress blog right away. While it does take some work, you can absolutely earn money quickly. Once you develop some content on your site and launch your blog, you can start making money. Below are the most important things you can do to start making money with your blog.
Start Tracking
Once you create your website, you must set up tracking to know how many people are going to it. This is important for two main reasons:
1. Knowing what is happening on your site.
2. Continue to grow your website traffic and report your stats to different places that need to know your stats to work with you. I like using Google Analytics since it is free and pretty easy to set up.
Drive Traffic with Pinterest
The next thing you will want to do is drive traffic to your website. One of the best ways to drive traffic to your site is with Pinterest. Start by creating Pinterest images for each blog post you made and add them to it so it can be shared on Pinterest. You can see the bottom of this article for an example.
The next thing you want to do is share your pins on your own Pinterest account. I like using Tailwind to share my pins since you can schedule them, and you can use Tailwind communities to have other people help you share your pins. If you are looking for Communities to join, I have a list of 101 here!
Put Ads on it
So you are tracking traffic to your site, and now you are sending traffic to it; it is time to start monetizing from that traffic. While there are plenty of ways to make money from your blog, one of the easiest ways is with ads. Unfortunately, while you are still developing your traffic on your blog, you may not have enough traffic to sign up for some of the highest-paying ad networks like Mediavine and AdThrive.
But you can put ads on your site from the start with a site like Ezoic. The ads are pretty easy to implement on your site, even if you do not have much experience with coding. It is free to use, and once installed, you just sit back, relax, and watch the money roll in as your traffic grows!
You can sign up for Ezoic here.
Collect Emails
Although it may seem early, something you want to do as soon as you start your WordPress blog is to collect emails. Even if you do not have anything to say to people yet, start getting emails so once you are ready to start emailing them, you are ready. You can learn more about email marketing from my article 11 Easy Ways To Make Money With An Email List.
Many bloggers make a good portion of their income by selling affiliates and their own products to their email list. Hence the phrase “The money is in the list.” Building your email list is one of the most essential assets in your business, so begin building it from day one!
I use ConvertKit, a tool that securely stores your list of emails and makes it easy to create email automation, schedule emails, create landing pages, and even test subject lines to your email list. But I like them mainly because they are an email marketing platform for bloggers!
You can get a FREE plan with them while you are building up to your first 1,000 subscribers. Sign up for a free ConvertKit program here!
Sign Up for Influencer Networks
Making money with influencer networks is my favorite way to make money! I even talk about how to make money with sponsored posts in this blog post here. It works because a brand pays me to write a blog post featuring its product.
I like this method of earning income because it’s a great way to get creative with your content while building a portfolio for yourself. But, of course, you must sign up for a few influencer networks to get brands to work with you.
A few I am a part of quite a few, including:
All sites are free to join, but you may be limited by how many campaigns you are accepted to depending on your site’s traffic. While this is only a tiny number of influencer networks, there are hundreds of them. Some have opportunities ranging from $50 to $5,000 per campaign.
If you want to know what other influencer networks you should sign up for, you can get my list of 150+ networks by clicking the button below.
Get Your list of 150 Influencer Marketing Agencies Here.
Suppose you want to get in front of these opportunities without having to worry about sifting through a bunch of other useless campaigns.
In that case, I recommend you sign up for my newsletter called Blogging Money Update. In this newsletter we send the BEST opportunities to your inbox three days a week.
Sign Up for Affiliate Networks
Affiliate marketing in my newsletter in my newsletter is a beautiful way to make money as a blogger. If you do not want to make your own product but still want to be paid for promoting products, affiliate marketing is for you.
How it works is you promote someone else’s product, and if your audience buys, you get a percentage of the sale. Simple, right? Start by joining a few affiliate sites, then signing up for brands you know and want to promote.
A few affiliate networks I am a part of include:
Join them all since they do not cost you anything to do so.
There are so many strategies to being successful at affiliate marketing, but it does take time and effort to discover what works and what doesn’t. If you need some tips on getting started in affiliate marketing, I highly recommend Tasha Agruso’s Free Quick-Start Guide to Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers. She makes over $16,000 monthly in affiliate sales, and she knows her stuff!
That’s a Wrap!
I hope this step-by-step guide has been helpful! You should now have a brand new site and tips on making it profitable.
Nice, thanks!
Thanks for the review.
can i monetize my site with standard plan in blue host?
This is such a helpful post. Thanks so much
Very nice and informative article. I’ve been an avid reader of your website and l love the content that you publish. You mentioned that Bluehost is the best option to use for a website hosting and I agree with that. Bluehost India is different than the Bluehost US, and also they have different offers too. Bluehost is mostly suggested by many top bloggers and looks like the best-shared hosting to begin a blog. It has hardly negative customer reviews. Bluehost provides a lot of user-friendly features that attract the newbies bloggers.
Anyways, this is very useful because all beginners prefer tutorials to study about it. So it plays a crucial role among them. This information will be helpful for the wp beginners who even don’t know how to install wp. Good job, Keep it up.
Thank You!
Thanks!