How to Start a Blog for Free

by Shatela Hamza / Thursday, 02 November 2017 / Published in How To's, Online Business, Website design

Are you searching for easiest step-by-step guide on how to start a blog?

I’m going to walk you through the steps on how you can set-up your first functional blog, and in less than 10 minutes.

Ready to start the simple step-by-step tutorial? Skip Intro

My name is Hamza Shatela, and I am going to be guiding you to build a successful blog for free. I have been building blogs and websites since 1998 (that’s when the internet was launched in our region). Since then I started helping people starting their own websites and blogs.

Starting a blog is not and should not be overwhelming. After reading this guide on how to setup a WordPress blog for beginners, you will be able to setup your blog and launch it online in less than 10 minutes.

If you get stuck at any point, feel free to contact me and I would be happy to help you, I even provide free blog setup with no additional charge, that way, you’ll focus on your articles and my team will take care of your blog setup.

What is a blog anyway?

In short, a blog is a type of website that focuses mainly on written content, also known as blog articles, or posts. Today, we most often hear about news blogs or celebrity blog sites, but as you’ll see in this guide, you can start a successful blog for almost any niche.

Bloggers often write from a personal experience that allows them to provide value and connect directly with their interested audience. Additionally, most blogs are “affiliates” for Market brands where a blogger can feature a product/service that holds value to the readers and share his/her experience to help the reader find the best offer in return for commission.

This indirect income to the blogger is one of the main benefits to start a free blog and keep it going. This portal helps the blogger sustain the blog by sharing value with like-minded individuals, or people who derive value from the information that is being presented. Establishing trust and loyalty with your readers opens up the door to making money from your blog.

When should I start a blog?

I think the right question is not “when you should start a blog?” but why didn’t you already start your blog yet?

Everybody has a gift, and a personal experience that can be blogged about. To be successful as a blogger, there is really just one requirement: a passion for your topic.

People read blog sites to get a personal perspectives on the things they care about. Whether these are travel hotspots, different experiences, food recipes, business insights, trending subjects, or even just about goofy cats. Most bloggers write in a very informal and conversational style because their content should run like a conversation and not a manual.

At its core, blogging is about sharing your personal, unique experience and knowledge with the world. Choosing a topic that you are passionate about makes the process of starting a successful blog so much easier. Writing about more than one topic is totally fine too, but its always better to be known for a particular niche.

Set-up your first functional blog in less than 10 minutes. Click To Tweet

How to Start a Blog in 4 Steps

Learn how to create a blog in about 10 minutes following these steps:

Chose a blog name. Choose a domain that describe what you are all about.
Get your hosting Account. Register for a hosting account. (Compare top 10 hosting providers)
Customize your blog. Choose a free template (no coding experience needed here)
Write & publish your first post. Here’s where you start having fun!

Let’s start your blog!

Chose a blog name.

The first step to finding a good blog name (yourblogname(dot)com) is choosing your topic.

Once you have some blog name ideas you will need to choose a domain extension.
A .com domain extension is the most preferred, but .net or .org works just as well.

Note: You cannot use any spaces or punctuation other than dashes in a domain name.

If you find that the name you wanted is already taken, there are a few things that you can do:

Try a different domain extension. If the .com version is already registered you may still be able to get the .net or .org version of your blog name.
Add small words. Words like “a”, “my”, or “the”. For example, this site is called Thebarbershop.com instead of Barbershop.com.
Add dashes between words. For example, barber-shop.com

Get your hosting Account.

A blog host account is a company that stores all of the files for your blog and delivers them to the user when they type in your blog name. You must have a host provider in order to have a blog.

You also need to have the software to build your blog or called CMS. In this guide, I will be showing you how to build a blog using the WordPress blogging CMS because it is the most popular, customizable, and easiest to use, but first register for a hosting account.

Hosting providers I recommend are Metropolitan host, and Host Gator. I personally use both, Metropolitanhost and Host Gator, I recommend them both for all new bloggers because:

They offer a free, simple installation of the WordPress blogging software (which I show you how to use in this guide).
They have helpful 24/7 customer service via phone or web chat.
They have a money-back guarantee if you are unsatisfied for any reason. (You can select the hosting provider that suits your budget and blog needs, here is a list of the top 10 hosting providers in the industry.)
Click here for the special offer on Metropolitan host and then click “get started now”.
Select your plan. I recommend that new bloggers get the Deluxe plan. Click “Buy now” to choose your plan.
Select the time period which you want to register for.
Fill out your billing details on the registration page.
You will also need to choose your hosting package and options.
You will then need to create a password for your account. Once you do that you can choose a basic design template for your blog (you can easily change this later, as you will see).
Now your blog software (WordPress) will be installed. Once the install is complete click “Start Building” to be logged-in to your blog.
You should also receive an email with your blog log-in details. (NOTE: The login details for your blog will be different than for your Metropolitan Host account.)

Customize your blog. (Changing your blog design)

To start with, you will need to login to your blog. Go to http://www.yourblog.com/wp-admin to access your website back end, or to bring up the login screen.
In WordPress, blog layouts are known as “Themes”. What is a blog theme? Themes control the entire design of your blog. To change your theme you are going to click on the “Appearance” tab on the left menu.
If you don’t like any of the themes that are already installed you can easily choose from thousands of other free themes. To install a new theme, click on the “Appearance” tab on the left menu and then click “Add New”.
Once the theme is installed click “Activate” to activate the theme on your blog. To see your new theme in action, go to your blog and take a look!
Changing your theme is the simplest way to customize your blog, but there are lots of of other customization you can do. Check out my full post on customizing your blog for an in-depth step-by-step guide. You can also watch the video at the end of this guide to see me completely customize a blog from scratch.

Write & publish your first post.

Now that your blog is up and running it’s time to actually get excited to do some blogging!

Go to the WordPress dashboard left menu and click on “Posts”.
You will find a sample post there. This is a default post on every new WordPress blog, and we don’t need it. To delete it click “Trash” just under the post.
To begin writing a new post, click the “Add New”.
You are now on the post editor screen. Enter the title of your post in the top box and then begin writing your post in the text area box.
If you would like to add a picture to your post, click on the “Add Media” button and click “Select Files” to upload a picture from your computer. You can make adjustments to the picture size on the next screen. When you are ready click “Insert into post” to add the picture.
Once you have finished your post just click the “Publish” button on the right side of the screen to publish it.

I hope this guide has answered any questions you had on how to start a blog for free, but if any of the steps were unclear to you, I will help you with the WordPress blog set-up phase. Read more on how to create a website in 5 steps . Do not forget to sign for my weekly newsletter (in the footer of the website) to get updates and tips on how to generate revenue from your personal blog.

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About Shatela Hamza

Hamza Shatela is a front-end designer and online business developer with over a decade of digital marketing experience. As the founder of Slide Sigma, Hamza has worked with a series of professionals within the Medical, Financial, Non-Profit, Wedding and Entertainment industries.

Hamza Shatela