How to Start a Blog (Your First Big Step)

In this post you will learn about how to start your own blog.

These are only the beginning steps and we here at Every Further Mile will help you not only with this step, but also how to gain location and financial freedom by giving you step-by-step actions to be ready for launch.

To get you started though, we’ve put together this post that will help you take the ultimate first action steps towards starting your own making money freedom blog. Yes, that’s right, you can make money writing about what you love and, in time and with dedication, find the freedom to live life as you love and desire.

6 Stages to a Successful Blog & Where Most Quit

How to Pick the Right Blog Topic (& Feel Confident About Your Choice)

How the Heck Do I Make Money on My Blog? (A Surprising # of Ways to Monetize)

The very first step in this? Create a website.

That’s what we’re about to do together, so let’s start this thing:

Step #1: Hosting

Get your hosting, domain and install WordPress in one spot with Bluehost (for as low as $3.95/month). Bluehost is the only hosting company we’ve ever used and they have always offered amazing customer support. If something is off on your website, then you can ask them in an online chat form and they will get it worked out in no time. They will get you through the installation process without having to hardly think about. And they also offer a guarantee if you find out it just doesn’t work for you. 

I know that there are ‘free’ hosting options out there, but I highly recommend that if you want to make money on your blog that you go with paid hosting. It’s not costly and is the only way to actually make money on your blog. As in you can’t actually make money with free hosting companies. Think of it as your first investment into your soon to be growing business. Be dedicated and start with Bluehost.

With Bluehost you will only need the Basic plan that can start as low as $3.95/month for 36 months. There are shorter options with slightly higher prices ($5.95 for 24 months), but no matter which one you end up with, it’s incredibly inexpensive. When comparing a brick and mortar business start up and the start costs for an online business, the costs are astronomically different. You can start this blog for 3 years with only $99! Or you can start it for the year for only $59. It’s amazing!

These are the three big steps Bluehost will walk you through to get your website set up when you sign up with them:

1. Registration with Bluehost
2. Setting up your domain
3. Installing WordPress (Update: This is not longer needed! Bluehost will do this for you now. Yay!)

So, what are you waiting for? Follow this link and these steps:

1. Go to Bluehost and click the “Get Started Now” button.
2. Select the package you want
3. Sign up for your domain or enter in a previously purchased domain
4. Enter the personal and payment information they request
5. Create a secure password
6. Done.

With Bluehost activated, you can NOT install WordPress….because Bluehost now does this. Look at all the steps you get to skip now:

1. Go to WordPress 
2. After signing in, You will see a section titled ‘Website’. In this section click on ‘Install WordPress’.
3. You will follow their steps starting with entering your domain name
4. Click on ‘Show Advanced Options’ and enter in the information
5. Agree to terms and conditions (after you are ready)
6. Click Install
7. Bluehost and WordPress will do the rest for you

Congratulations!!! You’ve started your blog! I’m so proud of you and excited for you!

Now find the best theme you need for your business:

Themeforest is a great place to start. They have some great options for just about every style of website.

We, however, use the Divi Theme by Elegant Designs and I (Amanda) made the website from scratch. I love Divi for its diversity, but it is more complicated to use than the themes from Themeforest.  If you are new to website design and development, then Divi may not be for you. I’m by no means a web developer or designer, I am self taught in every way, so it’s certainly not impossible to learn Divi. It will take some time and patience, but I love it and feel the diversity is worth the time it takes to learn it.

One of my favourite features it has is the ‘Library’ where I can create the layout I want for a page, post or sections and quickly and easily use it whenever I need it. It makes replicating certain areas really easily, so it saves time in the end.

Don’t let this portion scare you. There are many easy ways to get started. Give it a try and you will surprise yourself.

If you have some income to help you get started, then you can hire someone to get your website set up. This could cost anywhere from $1000 to $10000 depending on the quality of and relationship with your developer. If you like our website, then you can always hire me to help with your website design (costs determined by your needs).

There are lots of groups and forums that can help you along the way to creating a beautiful and easy to navigate website.

My best advice for getting started with blog design:

1. Research other similar blogs and see what you really love
2. Write down the aspects you love about others blogs
3. Brand your business 
4. Use simple and easy to navigate design to draw attention to only the important aspects of your website
5. Become part of forums and/or Facebook groups where others hangout and can help answer your questions
6. Get started. There is no better teacher than practice!

If you are serious about wanting to create a money-making freedom blog, then I strongly suggest starting with our totally free Start to Launch email course