So you’ve done your research on the basics of starting a blog. You’ve looked at your options and decided that starting a WordPress blog hosted by Bluehost is the right decision for you.
And you are right. Choosing these two companies together is the right start for your blogging career. If you missed my first post, I’m a big fan of both and highly recommend them as you start your blogging journey.
But you’ve done some clicking and are already feeling a teensy bit overwhelmed. No worries! I’m here to walk you through step by step on setting up your blog with Bluehost and installing the WordPress software.
For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase from these links I may make a small commission at no cost to you.
Well…I’m here to walk you through the process. And to get started all you have to do is simply click here to go to the Bluehost website and click on “Get Started Now.”
From here you will be taken to view their tiered plan options. Each option offeres an array of benefits and you will need to decide what is best for you. Currently I am on the “basic” package and find it meets my need perfectly. Go ahead and select your plan. 
You will then be directed to a page that asks you to choose your domain name. This will be where you want your blog to live. For example my domain name is thiscraftymom. I touched on this in my previous post, but I strongly suggest keeping it simple. Something in the 3-5 word range. You want it to be catchy and unique, something people will remember.
You will then be prompted to enter your account, billing information and confirm your package selection and payment information.
You will also need to select a password. Make whatever you choose super secure. You do NOT want to have your website hacked!
And that’s it…the very first part is done for you! You are halfway there!!
Now, you need to select a theme. WordPress has 9 free themes you can choose from. However, don’t feel obligated to stick with it. I didn’t find any of these to my liking so I changed it as soon as I got my site up and running.
From here you will be prompted to “Start Building” your WordPress blog.
Once it’s installed, you will see a prompt asking you to select your purpose for the website. Most blogs are just personal sites, however, if you plan to sell a product or offers a service, select business. I selected business as I plan to offer products on my site in the near future.
Now you are ready to launch your site. Whether you choose to do this or not is a different question. I personally waited until I had it looking exactly as I wished and had added all my pages and the plug-ins I wanted. Until you actually launch your site, if someone tries to visit it they will get a “coming soon.” If you decide to hold off on launching your site, you can re-visit this in your dashboard when you are ready.
When you decide to officially launch your site, this step is very important for SEO purposes. You need to name your site and add a site description. This will be the information that shows up in Google and other search engines when someone seeks information about your blog. Be sure to work the keywords you want your blog to be known for in to your description.
And there you go! Ready, set, blog! It is imporant to note that to access your blog and make changes to it you will need to log in from your WordPress admin URL. I personally only log into the CPanel for Bluehost when I need to view my account info or make changes. You can also set up and email through them that uses your site address. I highly recommend this as well. Otherwise, you will probably not need to visit CPanel too frequently. 
Like I used to tell my kinderkids…easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. You are up and running. Now it’s time to work on getting some content out there, or perhaps tweaking your blog design. If you need some help with blog design, be sure to check out my post on the foundations of a good blog design!
