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How To Start A Blog

Last updated: March 22, 2020

Today, I’m going to share with you how to start a WordPress blog with Siteground. It was one of the best decisions that I made especially doing the time when my kids were just babies. I started my blog initially as a way to cope with being a mom and a new wife. Since then, I have found some more ways to add an extra $600 per month from blogging and I’m sure that this year it will increase.

I’ve been a work at home mom since early 2009. You can start your WordPress blog and it can be as easy as making peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Since starting my very first blog, I have learned a lot of things and I can tell you this; your blog has to have the proper resources in place in order for it to function. Earlier this year, I lost all three of my blogs due to hacking and malware. So I want to help you avoid having the same thing happen to you.

Today, I will be sharing with you how you can start your WordPress blog for as little as $3.95 per month and in about 15 minutes or less, your blog can be up and running in no time. I would act fast because in order for you to start blogging, you have to go through a few easy steps and I will show you them below:

If you are super ready, you can check out my How to start a blog tutorial here!

If you are looking to start your WordPress blog for cheap, then choosing Siteground will be your best option. I can personally say that switching over to the last few years has made a world of difference! Their customer service is phenomenal and they respond to you right away. Get your WordPress blog doesn’t have to be hard.

Blogging has really allowed me to not only make extra income but it has also allowed me the opportunity to get my brand out there and my business in the social media world.

Working from home has been a dream come true for me and my family because it allows me more time to spend with my kids and be an active part of the school activities.

Anyone can make money with blogging and I can show you how with the steps and practical tips that I will be sharing this tutorial.

There are a few steps that must be done before promoting your blog to the world. The blogging platform, hosting, domain, SEO tools, backup tools, plugins and etc.

Siteground is one of the best web hosting sites in 2018 and you can start your own blog for as little as $3.95 per month. Also, If you choose their 12-month package, you save 60% off their regular price. So, if you are ready to start your blog, keep reading below:

2 Reasons why I love Siteground:

I have been blogging for ten years and I’ve been through a few hosting companies, but by far, Siteground is the best on the market. Their customer service is everything. Anytime I have an issue with my blog, once I put in a support ticket, they respond back to me within 24 hours, if not sooner.

Their platform is very user friendly and even if you are a beginner, you can navigate within the backend. I was very impressed with how easy it was to get started.

Step One:

Blogging Platform

I highly recommend wordpress.org because it gives you more control and ownership of your content and blog. In order for you to have a hub for all of your blogs, you need to understand what a platform for blogging is and it is simply your content management system. My advice would be to just start blogging. I know you have something of value to share with the world.

Step Two:

Hosting

This is a website server that houses your content such as blogging, videos, and etc. I use Siteground for my blog. You can get hosting from them for as low as $3.95. I find that you save more when you opt to pay annually instead of monthly.

I paid $92.00 for an entire year for the business package. Before switching to Siteground, I was with HostGator and I always had issues with them; like shutting down myself without notice or warning. It was always something.

Step Three:

Domain

A domain is what you will use to direct people to your site. www.latersablakely.com is an example of a domain and you can grab domains for as little as $0.99 at godaddy.com. When thinking about your domain, make sure it’s short and one that people can easily remember.

Blog Design

Now, that you have your blog up and running, it’s time to design it and make it feel like you. Well, my first blog was Moms Wearing Multiple Hats. I uploaded a ready-made mommy blog from one of my mommy friends. While it was nice and all, I couldn’t make changes to it because it wasn’t my own.

I kept it for years because it was very appealing to moms, which is my ideal audience.

In 2011, I changed my theme to optimizepress because I wanted to be able to create my own landing pages. It felt good not having to pay a designer to change my banner or create a landing page for me. I was spending tons of money just to update a banner.

Yes, it can get very expensive if you add it over a year’s time. You can also try Genesis or Elegant Themes to get a larger variety of themes. I recently just switched my theme and added some Elemento pages to jazz it up.

If you want to stand out in the crowd and not look like everyone else, you should get an avatar or logo made. I have used a few designers in the past, but I recommend when starting out, invest at the level that you can afford. Fiverr is a great one starting at $5. Always look for the designers with the top ratings. I now use Canva for business and that is what I highly recommend to all of my clients. I still use Picmonkey for backup and it’s super user-friendly.

If you are want to learn How To Make Money With Your Blog, start now!

How To Make Your Blog Run Smoothly

Congrats on getting your blog up and running. So now you want to make sure it’s running properly and I have a few tools you want to incorporate into your site. These are plugins. Just add a new plugin and search for it.

Yoast SEO
Cookie Cache
SG Optimizer
WP Rocket (for caching)
Short pixel (for image compressing)
Askimet (spam plugin)
Shareaholic (allows your visitors to share your content via social media)
Wordfence (Antivirus and spam control)

How To Get Your Blog Visitors

Social media. Are social sites that bloggers and mompreneurs use to get traffic to their sites. My all-time favorites are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Google Plus. Now, my advice to you is to start with one platform and get good at that before you start trying to be all over the place. You want to share consistently on a daily basis because with how social media works if you are not showing up regularly, people will forget about you.

Guest posts/Writing. You can sign up via other people’s blog that are within similar niches as your blog and does guest-post. I have done this a lot throughout my career. In order for readers to visit your blog regularly, you have to have great content that they love reading. But, please don’t make the habit of just rushing through writing because I promise you, you will have a few typos. I suggest you use Grammarly, it’s one of my favorites. Learning how to start your WordPress blog with Siteground will have you up and running in no time.

Email Marketing. This is a way that you communicate with your audience. I have used Mailchimp my entire time working at home and I highly recommend them when you are first starting out. Now as you grow in business, Mailchimp will become very limiting, so I just switched to Convertkit and I can’t stop raving about all the ways I can track engagement with my list. You can stay in contact with your readers via emails. Another option would be Aweber.

Here are more blogging-related articles that will help you…

I hope you can find this post helpful to you. Be sure to share this with your mompreneur and mommy friends! If you are ready to do some serious work and get started with starting your WordPress blog and making money with your blog, grab my FREE Blogging Worksheet! Download them here!

QUESTION: Make sure you share this with your friends and family! What were your best tips from this blog?