We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
Are you thinking of starting your own WordPress website? Starting a new website can be an overwhelming, intimidating experience, most especially if you are a newbie who has never created a blog before. There are so many WP Themes, web hosts, and URL names available that it can be hard to narrow the options down. Luckily, sites like LCWsoft.com that make web hosting simpler to understand and offer you the best deal for what you need. Of course, it all depends on where you are, what your hosting requirements are, and lots of other factors, so be sure to take a look. There are a lot of resources available that can help you to find the perfect website for you. If you are looking for a professional touch, you can check what this web design company toronto has to make your new website user friendly and showcase your business in the right way.
You should also note that there are lots of dogdy sites out there that are only there to scam you or take advantage of your lack of knowledge. One of the platforms you can trust when it comes to website creation is HostGator. Do you know how to set up a website, and specifically how to start a WordPress blog with HostGator?
In just 2 hours, you can start your own blog in WordPress by just following step-by-step instructions. With HostGator support, starting a fully-functional blog is a lot simpler than you think. But, you should know that there is a lot more to building a successful blog than just learning how to create a website straight from scratch. Many people opt to use a wordpress seo company to help them out because of this. Read on to know everything you need to know about starting a new blog.
Turn your simple blog into a huge, global brand
A blog is a kind of website that focuses mainly on written content. Those pieces of written content are called blog posts. You can find blogs on every subject imaginable, ranging from business blogs to personal blogs.
Blogging can help your online business by establishing a targeted readership, in which you can sell courses, and other products and services. With the help of the right content, you can turn a simple blog into a successful online, global brand.
Starting a Blog for Your Online Business
There are many reasons why you need to start a blog for your brand as soon as possible. Whether you want to establish yourself as an expert on a niche, generate more traffic to your existing website, share your own perspective to the entire world, or build a blog so you can work from home based on your own schedule, you can depend on the power of the blogging industry. Just make sure you learn how to how to start a WordPress blog with HostGator.
You know what’s the most brilliant idea you can execute? Create a blog that can transition into an ecommerce website! Then, once you learn how to go about it, and move your way around the ecommerce industry, you can make a big profit with your very own online space.
Use HostGator in Creating your WordPress blog. Here are some of the advantages!
Before learning how to start a WordPress blog with HostGator, you should first understand the benefits of creating a website on that reliable platform. There are tons of HostGator reviews online, so you probably know some of this already.
1. Easy to Understand (Perfect for Beginners!)
HostGator is developed for newbie webmasters and bloggers. The platform is full of walkthroughs and tutorials in order to help beginners navigate around. It also has additional features for those who want to set up a website ,without the hassle of spending a lot just to hire a person to manage and design everything.
2. Stable, Strong Uptime of 99.98%
As per HostGator, if their uptime drops below 99.9%, your account will be automatically be given credit for that specific month. To acquire this, you need to reach out to them, and asked for the credit. Just submit a support ticket to their billing department in 30 days.
3. Reliable Support
You can rely on HostGator for quality live chat, email and phone support. Their team members have the knowledge base to support users, and help them solve their problems. Friendly and well-trained! If you are dealing with a terrible problem that you want to be addressed as soon as possible, settle for the live chat support. HostGator’s service rep can attend to you in just 15 seconds!
4. 45-Day, Money-Back Guarantee
HostGator is very confident with their own services that they extend the industry-average 30-day refund policy an additional two weeks to 45 days. This means that you can utilize them for more than a full month, and still get the purchase back, in case problems pop up.
HostGator’s 45-day money-back guarantee applies to all reseller, shared and VPS hosting plans and packages. There is a catch, though. This doesn’t apply to admin fees, domain name purchases, customized software installation fees and dedicated servers. If your web hosting plan already comes with a free domain name, they would deduct the $15 standard free for the domain name from the refund amount.
5. Website Security Features Available
Do you really want to know how to start a WordPress blog with HostGator? You need to read more about security features first. All of HostGator’s shared hosting packages are of great quality. HostGator provides extra security elements and features, such as the ability to integrate SiteLock monitoring to your website. This specific service is expected to run daily, looking out for many potential website hacks and breaches.
How to Build Your Website with HostGator: 6 Easy Steps
1. Select your own niche.
The niche functions as the very foundation of your blogging life. It is an important decision that can contribute to your success as a blogger. Before naming your blog, and creating your website, you need to decide first on the topic you will write about. That will be your niche.
Don’t forget that this niche is more than just a market or segment. It’s about how you are going to address the subject, the audience you are speaking to, and their unique background. It gives your blog its much-needed focus, helping you design your website and give unique value to visitors.
2. Select the right platform.
You have plenty of different options for actually building your website. Choosing the right approach is important and might be one of the most time-intensive parts of the process.
For example, you can build your site entirely from scratch, using programming languages like HTML, CSS, and more. You can use a website builder to drag and drop your way towards creating a basic website. Or, you can depend on a content management system to provide you with a customizable framework to build your site from.
If you have some complex website requirements, WordPress is an excellent choice for you. In fact, “How to start a WordPress blog with HostGator” is a super common question asked. In the WordPress platform, the customization options are almost unlimited. It was developed to help users produce quality content, and make the most out of their website.
Almost all reputable website hosts allow users to install WordPress in just less than 5 clicks. It may look complicated at first, but the learning curve is quite small, making it an ideal option for newbies.
Learn from the best affiliate marketing websites! Click here.
3. Choose a domain name and web host.
Beginning your own WordPress blog may sound like a huge, complex step. But, it’s not as difficult as you may think. Platforms like HostGator has made it simple to host blogs for beginners! HostGator offers excellent web hosting services, as well as brilliant 24/7 customer service and support.
How to start a WordPress blog with HostGator? The next step for you is to choose the most appropriate web hosting package. Basically, a website host is where your website lives, and where you store your content, from text and images to videos.
Keep in mind that selecting a plan can be tricky. The best thing you can do is begin with the most affordable plan, and then just upgrade as your blog grows.
There are many options you can choose from! However, since you are just building your first ever website, a basic shared hosting plan would do well for you. At this point, it’s always better to start with a simple web hosting package.
A short background on shared hosting–the perfect beginner plan.
With shared web hosting, you are sharing the server’s resources with other websites on that same exact server. The cost is split between many users, so expect your bill every month to be low. Are you okay with this? Feel free to research on all available options, or just settle with this one, just like other beginners.
You can also turn to HostGator for domain name services.
Remember that this domain name must evolve straight from your niche and blog name. Your blog name should be memorable and descriptive, so people would immediately know what your website is all about.
Take some time to list down all the keywords related to your niche, as well as other random terms and concepts that come to your mind. For instance, a health-related blog doesn’t need to have the term “health” in its website domain. You can use related words such as “personal trainer,” “diet,” “nutrition,” “exercise” and “fitness.”
In order to keep things consistent and catchy, others want their domain names and blog names to be the same. This will keep the website congruent.
4. Install your content management system on your host.
Once your domain name and hosting page has been addressed, it’s time for you to install WordPress. HostGator makes this process easy for newbies by including a reliable software that allows you to install WordPress’ content management system in just a few clicks.
Instead of downloading and uploading WordPress yourself, this specific software can do all the work for you. It can automate all the technical tasks.
How to start a WordPress blog with HostGator? HostGator needs to gain access to your server first. This can be done through cPanel. cPanel is installed on the server, and makes it easier to manage the entire server environment. After installing WordPress, you are just a few minutes away from conquering the online world.
5. Pick the perfect WordPress theme.
HostGator can help you make the most out of your WordPress blog. Basically, WordPress forms the foundation of your website, while HostGator fuels it. However, to make all the necessary customizations, you first need to install a WordPress theme. This theme would determine your website’s functions and looks.
Consider WordPress as basic structure that holds your website. Moreover, since WordPress is a vast ecosystem, you would surely have a hard time picking themes. Apart from free themes, there are also premium ones that can provide even more support and functionality.
How to start a WordPress blog with HostGator? Think about the best theme for your platform. If you want greater functionality, go for premium themes. They function and look way better than paid ones, have dedicated support staff behind them, and are developed with high-quality code.
The best thing about this is this is that if you feel like you need to change the theme, you can do so anytime. The change wouldn’t have any effect on all the existing blog pages, posts and other kinds of media. Doing a lot of customizing might not display some of the content properly, but don’t worry. Your posts wouldn’t go anywhere.
If you really want to learn how to start a WordPress blog with HostGator, and be successful in the long run, you would make use of plugins. WordPress is home to tons of plugins, both free and premium ones, that can help people add the website features they want.
6. Customize your WordPress blog.
It’s time to customize your WordPress. The very first thing you must plan are the most important pages–the Blog, About, Contact and Home pages. Depending on the kind of blog you are creating, you may want to add more pages, such as resource and services pages.
Adding web pages to your WordPress blog is easy. You will also be able to add images, videos and other forms of media without any problem. After typing your blog post, you just simply need to click “publish.”
7. Make your blog post SEO-friendly. Don’t forget to set up Google Analytics.
Learning how to start a WordPress blog with HostGator is not just about the technical processes, and content creation. Optimization is another important thing you must explore.
When setting up your WordPress blog, you would want to use on-page and off-page SEO practices to ensure that your website would be found on Google and other search engines.
Monitor the performance of your blog by incorporating a Google Analytics tracking code. With this, you can understand better if your blog is performing well, and which types of content is bringing in the most traffic. If you’re also wanting to try and increase the traffic to your blog and its various content, you may also want to start researching into SEO tactics such as implementing niche edits to boost the ranking of your webpage in the results of different search engines.
Need to improve the performance and speed of your website? Click here for some web hosting tips? Click here for some tips.
8. Time to launch your WordPress blog!
Are you already satisfied with how your website functions and looks? If yes, then it’s time to launch your WordPress blog! After taking care of all the previous steps, your website should be ready for browsing. Type in the URL to your browser, and see your blog live.
If you want to create your website without other people viewing it in an unfinished state, you can use a maintenance plugin, or a coming soon mode. Feel free to install a plugin such as ‘Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode by SeedProd.’ When you are ready, you can just disable the plugin.
Guest blogging is a great strategy to widen your reach online! Click here for a quick guide.
Choosing a domain name: 4 Helpful tips
1. Keep your domain name simple, short and easy to remember.
But, let’s face the truth that many interesting short domain names are already taken. You can still use unique ones, though. There are many domain name generators out there that can help you turn your brilliant ideas into available domains.
2. Your domain name should be easy to spell.
Avoid using confusing, long domain names. You wouldn’t want your website visitors to mistype the domain name, end up getting redirected to a different website.
3. Use .com as a domain extension.
Use .com extension instead of .org, .net, .info, .biz. According to research, more than 75% of websites use “.com” as their domain name extension, followed by “.net” and “.org”. “.com “is, so far, the most familiar and easiest to remember.
4. Think long term.
Your domain name will define your business and brand for many years. You wouldn’t want to go through the trouble of changing your it very soon. This can cost you money money, branding and SEO rankings.
Blogging Tips to Help You Out
1. Define your blogging goals.
So, blogging is now a major part of your content marketing strategy. To give yourself a good start, you need to establish and define your goals. Why are you doing what you are doing? Many bloggers would agree that blogging is more about having a thorough creation process, not necessarily about the content’s business impact. Make sure that your web content lives up to a specific purpose. Of course, your posts can entertain, but it can also drive readers to take a particular set of actions.
2. Your blog must define and embody your style.
How to start a WordPress blog with HostGator? Be ready to spend a lot of time tweaking your theme, to get the look and feel you want. Today, you think you already got it right, finally. But tomorrow, you would feel like you need to tweak it even more. That’s completely fine! Take your time, and make sure that your blog perfectly defines your own style.
3. Select the most beneficial plugins for your blog.
Choosing the best plugins for your website shouldn’t be that hard. Installing it wouldn’t take a lot of time, either. Two of the most basic ones people choose are Yoast SEO and Google Analytics. These two only take a few seconds to install. Feel free to play around, and explore its features.
4. Invest enough time in content ideation and creation.
Producing content is really not that easy. Before working on your blog content calendar, you need to spend plenty of time looking for relevant content creation topics. Check which ones would resonate well with your target audience.
In producing content, you would want to meet your audience’s needs, and do it in a way that sets your brand apart from the others. This usually requires creativity–investing time ideating your content. Use these “creativity sessions” as a way to gather new ideas. What comes after this is the creation of engaging, compelling content.
5. Regularly update all your blogging-related systems.
Blogging requires some standard operating procedures that need to be updated once in a while. You can do this yearly! Over the course of 12 months, plenty of things may evolve and change. You need to know if it’s finally time to overhaul your blogging systems. Do you need new blogging tools? Is it time to ditch some of the ones you are currently using? If you are working with a team of writers, is there the need to shift responsibilities?
Happy blogging!
The entire blog creation process is exciting and at the same time, challenging. If you really want to know how to start a WordPress blog with HostGator, and be successful in the long run, you need to conquer all the challenges. All you need is choose a reliable web hosting plan and website builder.
At this day and age, creating a website is no longer that difficult. You just need to follow the steps enumerated above, then you are on your way to having a visually appealing, fully functional website. Remember, there are multiple methods you can follow for this, some are just more complicated compared to the others.
For instance, if you are already utilizing HostGator’s web hosting services, and is planning to create a complex website, you must consider WordPress. WordPress is a popular platform that is preferred by many, because it is easy to use and highly flexible. This means you are free to create any style, and apply any functionality you want!
Feel free to choose whatever approach you want to take. Some people will choose WordPress hosting, others would settle for HostGator. Just see to it that you have everything you need, including skills and goals before taking on big steps with regards to your new WordPress blog project.
ANY HOSTGATOR TIPS YOU WANT TO SHARE? LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET’S CONNECT! I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Thanks for sharing your wisdom on using hostgator to start a WordPress Blog.
Thanks so much for sharing how to use Hostgator! I have never hard of them until your post.
This is a great step-by-step guide for any newbie. I started my blog with HostGator 6 years ago, and overall have been very pleased with their service and support.
Fantastic tips! I love using Hostgator. They make everything so easy.
Definitely a must-read for all those planning to start a wordpress blog. Thanks for the share!
I wished I came across this post before changing to a different host. I’m planning on creating a website for daughter and will go back to WordPress. WordPress does offer much more and thanks for the breakdown.
@shelly – I totally understand – please let me know if you need help with any questions around HostGator.
Having an easy to use and idit platform is so important. Cluttered pages are such a turn off.
Interesting to know. Sounds like a great option.
Starting a blog is a big project. I am not familiar with Hostgator. It is interesting to read the process that goes into it.
Hey Angel,
This is one of the best post I’ve seen, Thanks for the Blog tips.
I like coming across insightful blogs like this since I am shopping around for a host. Will bookmark.
This is such a thorough post! So great for those just getting started!