Get your first blog up and running!!
I wrote this as my first post when I was just starting this blog. The advice contained below is exactly what I needed when I was new to blogging. I have loved my blogging journey and hope this helps you start yours…..
Original post starts here – May 2017. I am a new blogger and learning all the time from the huge number of articles out there. I have found it to be a complete information overload.
Many articles claim to make the process of setting up a blog simple, then proceed with complicated instructions.
I am a complete beginner and have no qualification or expertise in this area. I am only sharing my experience and limited knowledge in the hope that it helps you on your journey.
Below I share two links that are enough to make a proper start and get a working blog out there. These are the best I have found. I am still learning and I will continue to share as I find helpful information.
Firstly it is important to note that there are many free options out there for hosting your blog. However, the solution I have chosen uses WordPress on my own domain hosted by 1&1. This means I have paid for my own website name. My site is not part of another website. I read several horror stories about bloggers who put hours of work into blogs only to lose the content later. Owning your own domain removes a big risk of this happening.
The links below take you to 1&1 Ionos where you can choose your own domain name and hosting package. 1&1 make this part very easy and quick. Hosting packages can be very cheap and I would advise you start small. You can always upgrade later as your requirements change.
I found navigating WordPress and getting my blog up and running the hardest part. I had made a small start using the welcome instructions in the WordPress software but I didn’t make any serious process until I found this free online course.
It really is free! Signing up gives you access to a facebook based user group for support. There are also discounts on offer for more WordPress support services. I do not know yet whether I will need to use these but it is good to know they are there.
The only investment I made other than in hosting my own domain was to buy a WordPress Theme. This is not essential and does cost money. However, the free themes are quite restrictive in what they allow you to do. I bought the Genesis theme. The course covers this subject.
This is all it took to get my first blog up and running!! I did have to break off in the middle of setting up to complete a few tasks that I could have done in advance so I will put those into a separate post. The main tasks were taking photos and preparing text. I am still working on the photos!!
I hope this helps you and I wish you all the best in getting started on your own blog journey! Please let me know how you get on 🙂
If you would like to read more of my blogging journey – click on Blogging in the menu above or follow this link to one of my more recent posts.