El-Softnest

Are you looking to create your own blog but don’t know how to start? You might think the best thing to do is to hire someone to create your blog. Stop! There’s no reason to hire someone to build your blog when you can do it yourself. You may be thinking you should just use blogger or tumblr may be your best option but we believe to have the best blog you need to have total control over your blog. You are in charge of it, there are no limitations it’s yours to start a blog and yours until the end.
How can you do that? You just need some simple tools to help you get it done. In fact, with these tools, you could have your blog up and running within the hour. That’s right! Just one hour!
Before you know the tips to help you get a blog started, you need to understand that you must get the right domain name and have a reliable web hosting service. And, with so many to choose from, you need to find one that will ensure you’ll have the best performance possible for your blog, some of the things to look for in a hosting provider are speed, up-time, stability, etc.
What’s a Domain? For those folks who aren’t that internet savvy, a domain is what your blog’s key address is. Most people call it a URL and it looks a little like the following www.forexample.com. Keep in mind that the domain, on its own, isn’t going to represent your blog. It’s just a place to point people in your direction after you’ve created the blog. Thus, your blog must have a hosting service since this is what gives the Internet the space it needs to support its content.
After you’ve got both the web hosting service and domain name set up, which should take you no more than 15 minutes, it’s time to determine how you want the blog to show up. To help you understand how to start a blog, this article will use the ever-popular CMS platform called WordPress.
In your tutorial today we are going to use the same company for our hosting and domain purchase. This eliminates a whole range of processes that will be done automatically for us. It makes it simple and easy so we can just get on with blogging
Are you ready to starting making your blog? Then let’s get going.
Step 1 – Choosing Your Domain & Hosting Your Site
We are going to use Hostgator for our domain purchase and our hosting today. They are one of the largest hosting companies in the world and offer a variety of domain and hosting options. We use them for all our website hosting so it saves you from having to shop around because we have done that and trust us when we say they are the best!
So lets head on over to Hostgator to complete step 1.
Then click on “View Webhosting Plans”

Because we are just starting off we recommend you choose the “HATCHLING PLAN”. It’s their smallest plan but we can always add to it later. So click “ORDER NOW” on the hatchling plan.

Hot Tip – If you sign up for 2 years you will instantly save 35 dollars, Its a great deal!!
Now you should see a page like this.

So in the box on the left type the domain name you choose and before you click Continue To Step 2 in the box at the bottom, we have secured a 25% discount code for all our customers so enter the words “bloggingmadeeasy” like the picture shows to secure your immediate discount it’s a fantastic deal. Once that is all filled out now you can press “Continue To Step 2″. If your domain isn’t available just keep repeating this small step until one you like is available.
Choose your billing cycle, we recommend to start with a 6 month payment but it is entirely up to you to pick something you are happy with, the more time you choose the cheaper it is.

Lastly Enter all the account and billing information and click “Create Account”.
Once everything’s been processed and setup, your hosting plan and your domain for the blog is ready to go. Keep in mind it can take up to an hour or more to get configured. You’ll receive an email with the important information on it so remember to keep them in safe place because we will need them for step 2.
Pretty simple, isn’t it?! 10 minutes of your time and you’ve got your blog domain name and web hosting service all set up.
Still, though, that’s not all! Now, we just need to install wordpress and we are ready to start blogging.
Step 2 – WordPress Installation

What’s so good about WordPress you ask? Why should you have it for your blog? Keep in mind that for several years now, bloggers have used this free platform to get the word out about whatever they wanted. WordPress enables you to start a blog without much effort. WordPress is very customizable, user-friendly and can be a powerful tool for blog creation.
WordPress allows you to use the free themes they have. There’s no reason to spend money hiring a web designer to create your professional-looking blog. It’s also friendly in terms of search engine optimization (or SEO). You also have the ability to install and use third-party plug-ins. This will increase the visibility of your blog, among many other things.
If you’ve never loaded WordPress onto your blog’s site before, it can be difficult and a bit time-consuming. Hostgator, on the other hand, already has the WordPress installer. All you have to do is click one time and it’s done. Hostgator might take a bit of time to configure everything from their end but once it’s done you should be able to log into our control panel or as its more commonly know cPanel.
Now, type in your blog’s domain name www.forexample.com/cpanel
Using the login information that you received in the Hostgator email you will be able to log into your cpanel. Explore it, as it’s got a ton of features on it. Once logged in you should see a screen that looks like this.

Scroll down to the Software/Services category and click on the “Fantastico Deluxe” tab to install wordpress.

Now, click on “Wordpress” and then “New Installation”. You’ll be prompted to enter in specific information such as WordPress username and password, leave the rest as is for now.

Lastly click on the “Install WordPress” button and you are done, wordpress will now install. You will then have the WordPress’ twenty-twelve theme installed on your site, don’t worry you can easily change it when you get into the wordpress dashboard.
Step 3 – Some WordPress Basics
After you’ve gained access into your blog and see the default theme, type in the following: /wp-login to get to the main URL. From there, log into it using the information you just created in step 2. You also have the option to login using the login link on the homepage, which you’ll find on the right sidebar.
www.forexample.com/wp-login
What you’ll see immediately are quick-links to posts, pages, comments, tags and change WordPress theme. Get familiar with the dashboard. On the left hand side of the screen, you’ll see the sub-menus. They have a purpose but place your attention on the more important ones for now. These include:

A – Appearance – This part will allow you to customize the look of the blog including the theme, sidebar widgets and menus. There are all kinds of things you can do to customize the blog.
B – Links – Here, you’ll be able to produce a number of links and links categories to use in the creation of your customized sidebar widgets.
C – Media – This menu allows you to manage pictures and videos you’ll include on the website.
D – Pages – Use this section to include new pages to the blog. Brose the various options like adjusting the template, modifying the page order, disabling/enabling comments, etc.
E – Plugins – When used correctly, plugins can be quite useful. There are a ton of third-party plugins that will increase your blog’s visibility, its performance, style, look, etc.
F – Posts – Since you’re running a blog, you’ll be posting often. Generate posts inside WordPress and choose what page to display them on, the date you want them published, publisher’s name and determine if you want anyone commenting.
G – Settings – With the settings section, you’ll set up the blog’s name, description, front page display, date format, etc. Here, you can mess with the third party plugins.
H – Users – This section is about the changing of or addition of existing user settings such as emails, passwords, profiles, etc.
Now, if you’ve done everything in the above 5 steps, your blog should be up and running! And, if it is, you just need to add in some wonderful content and look at the different themes for your blog. If you’re still having issues, consider going through the steps once more and determine where it is you might have flubbed. And, don’t worry, it happens! Before you know it, you’ll have a great blog with lots of visitors. Good luck!
If you are having problems with any step just contact us at anytime and we will get back to you and point you in the right direction.