How to Create a Blog in WordPress

Share Your Winning Ideas with the World

How to Create a Blog in WordPress - Blogger Image
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Welcome to 2020 and congratulations on starting your blog! In this age of transparency blogging is a powerful action you can take in sharing your opinions, hobbies, and expertise on subjects with the world. Writing about your passions is fun and super easy while learning how to create a blog in WordPress.

Here are 5 steps you need to take to start a blog using Managed WordPress web hosting.

  1. Decide on your niche market
  2. Choose a domain name for your website
  3. Sign up with a web hosting service
  4. Choose a keyword for your blog
  5. Write your blog post

Decide on Your Niche Market

The first blog was created in 1994 when the internet was in its beginning stages. Since then the number of websites has grown worldwide to about 1.7 million that feature more than 500 million blogs (source: Blogging.org).

That being said, choosing a target niche in a subject for which you have knowledge, or a passion has never been more important. Your blogs will more than likely show your interest and your site visitors will tend to gain usable knowledge and insight during their site visits. Examples of blogging subject categories include:

  • Personal interests are hobbies or topics that interest you and will likely interest many others around the world too. Common examples are photography that can be shared with a wide audience. Articles about exposure and darkroom techniques are sure to be an interest to many others. Travel is another example where you can blog about the places that you have visited which can generate lots of articles: places to stay, sights, and photo ops. Cooking and sports are two more blogging topics that are sure to draw many readers.
  • Life’s challenges are another topic that you can share with readers. For example, Alzheimer’s is a controversial topic and I have friends that are facing that challenge. Blogging about your experiences and the latest treatment options are an excellent way to connect with others that are experiencing the same challenges.
  • Sociopolitical issues like global warming, poverty, and fair taxation are great ways to share your views and connect with others.
  • Personal stories and anecdotes are always interesting to share with others. Telling an interesting story reveals the lessons you learned and captivates your readers. Sharing a good story encourages comment exchanges.
  • Niche marketing is rapidly becoming a popular way to make money online. Generally, people do tap the internet for solutions to their problems or answers to their questions. Thorough research is a critical step in preparing to promote a product or service. This includes the source of the product (Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc.) and the target audience to whom you will promote those products.

Who would you love helping with their pains, frustrations, desires, and needs? Are they willing to pay a fair price for your products, services, or information? This is how you define your niche market.

It’s important to understand the needs of your target audience and how they view their concerns. Refer to my article Finding My Niche Market for more details on how to find your niche market.

Choose a domain name for your websiteHow to Create a Blog in WordPress - Choosing a Domain Name Image

A good domain name is an important representation of your chosen niche and your brand. Domain names have a huge impact on the click through rate for your website. This includes the search results on social media, referring links, and even offline advertising. Choosing a domain name wisely leaves a brand name impression on your site and will attract return visitors.

Free online tools are available that can help you brainstorm domain names based on the keywords that you enter. Jaaxy is a great tool and easy to use.

Benefits of Creating Keyword Domain Names (Source: DesignLab):

  • Direct searches by visitors that search on the term that uses your website URL. For example: autoinsurancebrokersinlosangeles.com will come right up on the first page if that is your website URL.
  • Increases organic search traffic as one of the search qualifiers that Google uses in searches include domain names.
  • Increases click-thru rates as visitors are more likely to click on a website that matches their query.
  • Helps build brand recognition and credibility.

Take your time deciding on a domain name as it’s your real estate and closely identifies the purpose of your website. In the end, your domain name will be one in which you are proud to call your own.

Sign Up with a Web Hosting Service

How to Create a Blog in WordPress - Choosing a web host imageThere is an abundance of companies that provide WordPress web hosting services with competitive services and pricing. BlueHost, WordPress, and DreamHost are three of them. In my opinion, the quality of the service is pretty close to equal among these three providers.

WordPress blogging packages start at an introductory price of less than $5 per month. Be advised that the trial periods range from 1 to 3 years and regular rates apply after the trial period ends. DreamHost stands out with a 97-day money back guarantee.

The WordPress hosting platform that I would eagerly recommend is Wealthy Affiliate as web hosting is included with your membership along with many other tools for your blogging. What’s even better – you can launch your own website for free without even touching your credit card. Here are some of the web hosting features and why I think Wealthy Affiliate is the best deal:

  • SEO Optimization
  • 30 GB of Space
  • Average Load Time 1.3 Seconds
  • 500,000 Visitors Per Month
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Daily Website Backups
  • 24/7/365 Access to Tech Support
  • Multi-Layered Site Security
  • 1 Website with free membership; 10 websites (with premium membership)
  • Over 2,400 mobile-ready templates
  • Free domain emails
  • And Much more

Whether you are just starting your online business or looking to grow several different businesses to new levels, a robust web hosting platform, SiteRubix is only one of the many benefits you get with your Wealthy Affiliate membership.

In the video below, Kyle Loudoun, co-founder of Wealthy Affiliate will demonstrate how to create a free website when you sign up as a Starter Member with Wealthy Affiliate.

How to Create a Blog in WordPress - Creating a free website videoChoose a Keyword for Your Blog

Choosing the right keywords and keeping your content relevant to your chosen keyword is critical for good SEO rankings. Everyone wants their blog posting to come up on page one of the search engine result pages (SERPs).

A well-chosen keyword will boost your SEO rankings for your blog as you are likely to achieve higher rankings with search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. To select the best keywords for your blog, you will need metrics that will help you decide the best keyword for your blog. Here are some keyword search tools that offer free trials and reasonable rates:

My #1 recommendation for a keyword search tool is Jaaxy. It’s a powerful keyword research tool that can generate a ton of keywords with only one lookup query. The utility provides useful metrics about the keyword or phrase that you enter: average monthly queries, competition, and domain name extensions that are available to use with the entered keyword.

How to Create a Blog in WordPress - Jaaxy Keyword SearchThe metrics in the above sample keyword results display statistics that are critical to your blog’s rankings on Google, Bing, and Yahoo search engines. Below is a more detailed description of each of the columns in the above display:

  • Avg – The average number of searches that the keyword receives per month.
  • Traffic – The number of visits to your website if you achieve first page rankings in the search engines.
  • QSR (Quoted Search Results) – This is the number of web pages that are ranked in Google and competing for this exact same keyword.
  • KQI (Keyword Quality Indicator) – A color-coded indicator where Green is great, yellow is OK, and red is poor.
  • SEO – A score on a scale of 1 to 100 that is based on traffic and competition. The higher the score, the more likely you will rank for this keyword on the first page.
  • Domains – This column displays the available domain extensions (“.com”/”.org”/”.net”) in which your exact keyword can be used as a part of your domain name.

The best keywords are the ones on the display with the highest average number of monthly searches (AVG) and the least number of sites competing for that keyword (QSR). Low-hanging keywords are recommended that have a QSR < 100.

Check out my Jaaxy Review 2020 page for a complete description and tutorial on how Jaaxy can help you create the best blog.

Try 30 free searches on Jaaxy and see for yourself. There is no credit card required or a time limit on the free trial.  See if you don’t agree with its convenience and ease of use.

Type a keyword or phrase in the box below and click the “Find Keywords” button to see your results.

Write Your Blog Post

The core of a successful blog is great content that your visitors will enjoy reading and find value in exchange for the time it takes them to read your blog. Your content should draw the readers’ attention and keep it. If they feel that there is value in your content, they will bookmark your site and return for more.

Blogging should be educational and a benefit to both you and your readers. I like to research topics of interest and enjoy writing about what I learn from that research. I learn something new and pass it along to my readers as they are likely to have the same questions.

See my How to Create Copy That Sells page for tips on creating great content.

Where Can I Find Topics to Write About?

Blogs are written on just about any topic imaginable to share personal knowledge with a specific group of readers – more commonly known as your niche.

Along with great content, a successful blog builds an audience with interactive exchanges by inviting the readers to leave comments about your post. Answering the comments within 24 hours forms a relationship with the readers and eventually builds trust.

Information Sources

Several resources are available both online and offline for research a multitude of subjects for your blog. These include e-books, periodicals, and images. Many of these resources can be accessed free of charge. Refer to my Best Free Blogging Research Resources page for more details.

Writer’s Block?

We all have times when we just can’t think of a topic on which to write a blog post. This is where your connections in the Wealthy Affiliate community are a great resource. Several articles have been written by members that provide answers to any questions or problems you might encounter as a blogger.

“How to cure a writer block, 101 blogging ideas” is one example article contributed by one of our Wealthy Affiliate members. This article features a list of topics that is guaranteed to help generate an endless flow of ideas and get most anyone writing again.

Outline Your Blog Post

Creating an outline of your blog post before you start writing will map out your key sections and help you to stay focused on the topic.

Checking Your Work

Take your time and check your blog post for spelling and grammar errors. Also check for unintentional plagiarism and make any corrections there. There are several plagiarism checkers that you can use to ensure your content is original: Copyscape, Grammerly, Dupli Checker, and many more.

A Final Note

Creating a blog in WordPress is a step-by-step process and takes thought, time, and effort. Having a goal in mind before you start your blog helps in the planning and final product. Ask yourself why you are writing a blog and what you want your blog to say to the world. When you have established the foundation of your blog, the rest falls into place more easily. Then it’s time to choose a domain name that reflects your idea or your brand. Then have fun writing and reaching out to the world with your ideas.

 


Blogging Q & A

What is a URL?

A domain name defines the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) which is the official address that people will use to get to your website. The URL also specifies which protocol to use when retrieving that resource like HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP, etc.

What is the difference between a page and a post?

Posts

Pages

Visible author/date/time stamp

No visible author/date/time stamp 

Displayed in reverse chronological order (newest to oldest). Can be organized using categories and tags.

Organized in a hierarchal structure with parent - child pages

Timely information consisting of the latest facts

Contains more static information: About Me, Contact forms, Services, Privacy Policy, and Home page are great examples of WordPress pages

Post can be sent out to RSS feed subscribers

RSS feeds not supported
Social sharing icons by using plugins
No social sharing via plugins

What is the difference between Shared and Managed WordPress Hosting?

  • Managed WordPress hosting is a WordPress site that includes maintenance services such as WordPress installation, automated daily backups, WordPress core updates and server-level caching.
  • Shared Hosting is exactly what the term implies: your site shares the server and network resources with other sites on the same server. Shared hosting leaves much of the maintenance work like backups, optimization, and upgrades up to you.

What are plugins and how are they used?

A plugin is a third-party software application that adds functionality to your website. Note: Too many plugins on your website tend to slow performance in terms of load times. Ultimately, this can affect your Google ranking. WordPress offers close to 60,000 plugins for you to use to enhance your blogging website.

Where Can I Find Topics to Write About?

Blogs are written on just about any topic imaginable to share personal knowledge with a specific group of readers – more commonly known as your niche. The key to a successful blog is to build an audience with interactive exchanges by inviting the readers to leave comments about your post. Answering the comments within 24 hours forms a relationship with the readers and eventually builds trust.

What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

The key differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org are listed in the chart below.

WordPress.com

WordPress.org

Free hosted blogging services

Free open source PHP platform

Managed by Automatic, Inc. Includes setup, product upgrades, automatic backups, security, and support.

Managed by website owner (self-hosted)

Limited functionality - no plugins, custom themes, or monetizing

Full functionality with the use of plugins, custom themes, and monetizing

Limited SEO features

All SEO features

No e-commerce or membership site

Full e-commerce store or membership site

Free (for up to 3GB of storage space)

Monthly fees 

Best choice for personal blogging

Best choice for a professional online business

 


Thank you for browsing my website. Feel free to share your own new domain names or any questions about how to create a blog in WordPress below and I will respond to all of them.

How to Create a Blog in WordPress - Selfie Image
Larry

 

18 thoughts on “How to Create a Blog in WordPress

  1. I Created a blog but I could not keep it running for more than a month. Maybe I was not disciplined enough to make it work. One might have the determination but once the discipline is not there everything definitely falls apart. I am going to start all over again and this time I am going to ensure that I put lots of discipline into it. I have read on how to go about my blog on word press and this is a great refresher material for me. I hope to learn more from this article too. 

    1. Hi Samikings,

      Thank you for commenting on my web page. What was the problem with your blog? There is a lot of information in the Wealthy Affiliate database that might help solve the problem. Send me an email and I will be glad to help.

      Larry

  2. Hello there,  thanks for this very detailed and informative post,  I must say that this is a very timely post for me as my friends have always wanted me to have a blog that can help me share the wealth of my music knowledge and my experiences being a professional musician for  a decade and more now,  I think this Is the perfect time to start and I’m saving this site for refrence purpose when I start building.

    1. Hi Jomata,

      Thank you for your comments on my web page. Once you get your website setup with a good hosting and domain name, you can share your music knowledge. We look forward to reading what you have to say.

      Larry

  3. Hey nice article you have there, your thoughts are indeed invaluable. Blogging in recent time has proven to be an efficient source of revenue. This has made me searching online for quality WordPress platform for web hosting, I was directed to this article, having gone through the features of Wealthy Affiliate platform, I am overwhelmed with it’s numerous tools to make blogging experience pleasant 

    1. Thank you for your comments, edahnewton1. WordPress has become the most popular blogging platform. WordPress is used by about 455 million websites and written in over 100 languages. Lots of features and support makes it a very useful too..

      Larry

  4. Very informative article! I’ve been working on my WordPress website for just under three months, which is hosted at Wealthy Affiliate. I agree, WA is an excellent hosting platform, and you get access to so much more as well! Sadly, my rankings and traffic are not there yet, but I refuse to quit. The earning potential is huge! As far as making money online goes, I strongly believe blogging/affiliate marketing is the way to go.

    1. Hi Joe,

      Thank you for your comments. I’ve been working on ways to provide value to the readers and show examples of how consistent efforts pay off handsomely.  Yes, keep at it and never give up.

      Larry

  5. I see you are using Wealthy Affiliate and all their provided tools!

    I am a WA member for more than a month now. 

    I have already 2 websites. I joined the Amazon affiliate program. I already see people clicking my affiliate links. I write the content as much as I like. I am blogging! And your blogging advice is very well presented! I 

    I can approve that your tips are working great! I hope others will also use your tips or even choose to become a WA family!

    1. Hi David,

      Thank you for your comments on my post. I used examples of how WA can benefit bloggers in publishing successful articles. I like my content to be informative and provide some value to people looking to make money from home. Best of luck to you in your endeavors.

      Larry

  6. Hi, I like how this post looks like – neat, detailed, structured. Isn’t your main keyword too much competitive? How long do you think should it take for this post to get to Top10 on google? Maybe you did research this and have any idea?

    btw a good idea to include the FAQ section, this will certainly increase visitors.

    1. Hi Saulius,

      Thank you for your comments. The keyword is the title of the article and I felt that although the competition is > 100 that it was still favorable.  The article indexed on Google in less than an hour. That’s a good sign too.

      Larry

  7. This is such a well written and informative post. I feel really motivated to get writing. I’ve been having trouble picking a niche but I just spotted your other post so I’m going there next. One question – If you use shared hosting, is any help available for dealing with updates and other issues? Thanks so much.

    1. Hi Debbie,

      Thank you for your comments. I would recommend the Managed WordPress option when selecting a web host. Managed WordPress takes care of all the administrative tasks like updates for WordPress and plugins, automated backups, and 24/7 technical support for your site. Wealthy Affiliate provides all of that plus training, and a supportive community. All for one very affordable package price. Otherwise, most web hosting providers offer a Managed Word Press option at some very low entry prices. Just have to be aware that those the regular prices kick in after the intro period expires. Some of them can mean substantial rate hikes. Hope this helps.

      Larry

  8. Hi Larry, I am very honored that you have placed a link to my training about 101 blogging ideas which I have provided for free on the Wealthy Affiliate platform. I hope to help a lot of people inside and outside the platform with all my online training. Success and enjoy building your online business, Larry.

    Loes

  9. Hey larry this is very helpfull post that i have ever searching .its really a very informative post. ..As I am facing the problem to select domain or to.making web and also niche .
    It clears all my concept and will study other links for further information.

    1. Hi Atika,

      Thank you for your feedback on my webpage. I’m hoping to add more information that will help you get started with your online business. Bookmark my site and check back with me.

      Larry

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