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Setting up your very first WordPress blog can be very confusing and a somewhat daunting experience, so this will be a quick and easy tutorial of exactly what you need to do to set up your very first WordPress blog!
Where should you set up your very first WordPress blog? There are a couple different places you can get started, but if you’re looking to make money with your blog, the best place to get started is a self-hosted WordPress website on Siteground.
You can start a blog for free, but there are so many downsides to doing so that it is 100% not worth it. And I know this because I made the mistake of doing this when I first started!
I wasn’t aware there was a difference, so I started on free WrodPress.com.
I quickly figured out my mistake and why my blog didn’t look as professional or beautiful as all the bloggers I looked up to.
If you’d like more information on WordPress.com Vs WordPress.org , check out this blog post right here!
So, this tutorial is going to show you how to set up your very first WordPress blog with Siteground, which you can sign up for right HERE!
Choose a hosting plan If you are just getting started and only have one website in mind (a good idea if you’re brand new!) Then all you’ll need is the StartUp plan. But, if you have more than one website planned, go with GrowBig!
The plans are on this page right HERE!
2. Choose a domain name After that, you’ll choose the name for your blog! It will let you know if it’s available or not.
If you’re struggling to come up with a domain name, check out this helpful blog post right here.
Or, if you already have a domain name, you can transfer it over to Siteground!
3. Review and complete your order Next, you’ll need to fill out all of your personal information and complete the purchase. You’ll also choose the length of time you want services.
It’s good to note that the longer you choose your services to last, the more money you’ll save in the long run. I always choose the longest length of time for mine to save money!
4. Set up your very first WordPress blog! Now it’s time for the WordPress blog setup and installation!
Chances are, this is your first website so you’ll want to choose “Start a new website” and “WordPress”. Otherwise, if you’re transferring a site you already own, you can choose “Migrate Website” and then “WordPress” instead.
5. Choose your Add-on (Optional) If you’d like to add either of the add-ons, you can do that here. I personally have neither of them!
After that, click on “Finish” and wait for WordPress to be installed.
6. Choose a free blog theme I personally like to get my themes from either Creative Market or Etsy, but to get you started, choose a free theme.
Siteground gives you a lot of options for free themes and these are good to get started on, but eventually, I would upgrade to a more professional-looking paid theme of your choice!
7. Choose your plugins If you’d like to have Siteground automatically download any plugins, there is a list of some useful ones you can choose from!
8. Start writing blog posts! Once you finish choosing your plugins, your website will be ready in a few minutes with everything you’ve just added.
Just log in to your site from http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin (Obviously changing the “yourdomain.com” to whatever domain you’ve chosen) and start adding content using the custom WordPress dashboard!
I recommend that you bookmark this page for easy access later. I have my admin link bookmarked for safekeeping too.
But, on the off-chance that you forget how to access it, don’t worry! Just head to your Siteground account to gain access again.
How to access the WordPress Admin dashboard The easiest way to access the dashboard is through the link (http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin ) but on the off-chance you forget, head to your Siteground account on the homepage and click “manage” under websites:
Then, from your website details, click on “WordPress Admin” . That will take you to the same spot as the link!
I still highly recommend bookmarking it to make accessing your site a lot easier though!
How to start writing your first blog post It’s important to start putting content out on your site so you can actually get traffic to your blog! And starting a new blog post is super simple.
All you have to do to add a new post is log into your WordPress admin dashboard and head over to the sidebar.
You’ll see where it says “Posts” and when you hover over it click on “New posts”.
And then from there, you can begin writing your post!
Once you’re done, all you need to do is hit the blue “publish” button in the top right-hand corner and your post is now live!
If you’d like to learn the ins and outs of writing a successful blog post, check out this post right here.
And don’t forget to PIN THIS POST if you found it helpful!