The Who, What, Why, Where, When, and How of Starting a Blog

Whether you create a blog for fun or for money you can get a lot out of blogging. Some time ago I read an article about the tremendous growth that blogging was experiencing and it really caught my attention. I feel like I have a lot to talk about and a blog seemed like a perfect venue to write some of the things I wanted to share. The article recommended a couple of books. One was about how to blog, and the other was about starting a blogging business. I ordered them and eagerly awaited their arrival. They were good books, and I recommend reading them (to order the books go to the Products page) but I was still in need of more information to get started. I searched the internet for information about starting a blog from scratch and I found a few good sites but even they assumed that I knew a lot more about getting started than I did at the time. Now that I have a blog up and running I am writing this article to try and help people with very little computer experience get there own blog started. If you are hoping to start a blog to make some money or just want to have some fun and an outlet for what you have to say then then this is the article for you. Let’s get going and learn how to create a blog.

Who should blog?

I think that everybody has something to say. If you have something to say then you should have a blog. You might be asking, “what would I write about”? Good question. Here are some answers. What are your hobbies? What are you passionate about? What do you consider yourself an expert in? What do you find yourself talking about? Are you interested in politics? Can’t get enough news talk radio or TV? Love football, basketball, baseball, hockey, NASCAR? Fascinated by celebrities? Love to cook? Raising kids? Watching movies? Reading books? You can start a blog about anything that you are interested in. Write good articles and people will come and read them. If you build it, they will come. I have a couple of articles that might help you with writing as well. One of them is about using the WordPress Editor to write with. The other one is about getting motivated to start writing. Check them out later on.

What is a blog?

This is the definition of a blog I found at GoodNewsDomains.com (a good place to get a domain name and web hosting for you blog. We will talk more about this later in the article). “A web log (or “blog”) is similiar to an online journal. It is largely text-based, so it’s easy to update and maintain–even if you have no experience running a Web site. Any type of information can be presented in a blog, from stories about a family vacation to in-depth commentary on world politics. In addition, most blogs allow visitors to post responses to blog articles or entries and leave feedback for the person running the site, known as a “blogger”. Overall, a blog is a fast, easy and fun way to establish an online presence.” A blog takes the articles you write (called posts) and organizes them by date and category so that people who visit your blog can easily find, read and enjoy them. If this is starting to sound complicated don’t worry. One of the great things about a blog is that the software that runs them is very user friendly and does most of the work for you. Later in the article when we talk about domain names and web hosting I will also introduce you to a wonderful blogging software called WordPress. One of the great things about WordPress is that it’s free.

Why a blog?

A blog is not only a great way to talk about your ideas, there are also some very real possibilities of making some money. There are programs like Google Adsense, Affiliate Programs, Click Banks, and opportunities to sell articles that you write. A blog is a lot simpler to set up than a regular web site and thanks to software like WordPress everyone can do it with just a little bit of help.

Where do I get a Domain Name and Web Hosting?

Let’s start with a domain name. A domain name is the internet address of your site or blog. The domain name for this site is mynewbieblog.com. It’s good to try and find a name that matches what your blog will be about, although some people do fine by just using their name. My site could be stephenlawes.com for example. Regardless of the domain name I choose I can give my blog a different title. In order to find out if a domain name is available you need to do a search. I like to use www.goodnewsdomains for this.

At the search bar type in the domain name you would like to have. A lot of domain names are already taken so you might have to get creative. The domain search bar will actaully return a list of ideas to you. Lets say you entered “chickenwings”, in fact let’s try it and see what happens.

I have a feeling chickenwings.com is not going to be available, after all, who doesn’t like chicken wings.

I was right. Not only is chickenwings.com not available, the .net, .info and .org are already being used as well. By the way, I think the other extensions work just fine if the .com is not available. Fortunately a list of possible ideas based on your search will also appear.

It appears as though chickenwings.ws and chickenwings.name are available. Or I could choose chickenwingssite.com or chickenwingsblog.com. There are a lot of options. Once you decide on a name go ahead and register it. When you are signing up for anything on the internet always write down the information you use (user name, password, etc.) because you almost always need it later.

After you enter you name and password click Continue and you will be at the Registration and Checkout Options screen.

Select any options you want and click Continue. You will need to review your cart, select a payment type, read and click on the Domain Registration Agreement and Universal Terms of Service and the click on check out now. On the next screen you need to enter a password and a password hint. Write down your login ID number and your password and then click Continue With Checkout. Fill out your credit card information and click on Checkout Now. You will see a screen that says Thank You for your Order. Make sure you have written down all the important information. Then press Login to My Account.

Enter in your Customer number and Password and hit Secure Login. The first time you do this you will get a screen asking for a Call in PIN number.

Enter in a 4 digit pin (write it down) and press Save.

Now that you have a domain name we need to get you set up with a web host. Web Hosts are the computers on the internet where your blog is stored. There are a lot of web hosts available. I use GoodNewsDomains.com for this service as well. There prices are reasonable and they have a control panel that is easy to use. They also have WordPress available for free for your blog. WordPress will make your blogging experience a lot more enjoyable. At the GoodNewsDomains welcome screen put the mouse on the Web Hosting button and on the drop down menu press Hosting Plans.

I use the Linux server deluxe plan and I suggest you do the same. The plan is on sale as I write this post at $7.24 a month. It will be money well spent.

Click on Add and then follow the directions giving all your pertinent information (don’t forget to write down your user name, password, account number, etc). You will get a screen asking you to customize your order. You can always come back and upgrade later. Read through and click Continue. You will be asked if you need Website tonight. Since we are going to install WordPress you do not need Website tonight. Click Continue to Checkout. At the Secure Checkout screen check your payment method and check that you have read the Universal Terms of Service. The click Checkout Now. Enter in your payment information and click Checkout Now. You will get a screen that says Thank You for Your Order. Click on Login to My Account. Put the mouse over Web Hosting and on the drop down menu press My Hosting Account. You will see this:

Click on Setup Account. Read the Hosting Service Agreement and click Next.

Enter a user name and password (write it down) and click Next.

Select a domain name from your list (you probably only have one) and click Next.

Go with the default setting on this screen and click Next.

Review the information and click Finish.

The account is now pending setup. This can take a few minutes or longer so log out and take a ten minute break.

When can I get started?

Once your site is active you can get WordPress installed and your blog started. I will walk you through the process of getting WordPress installed now.

Go to the GoodNewsDomains.com site and put your mouse over the Web Hosting button and a drop down menu will appear. Click on My Hosting Accounts.

If you are not logged in you will need to do it now. Sign in with the Customer Account number and the Password you set up when you signed up for your domain name and web hosting.

The next screen will have your hosting account listed and a link that says Open.

Click on the Open link and you will see the Hosting Control Center screen.

Look for the Value Applications link and click on it.

Look for the Show all applications link and click on it. Scroll down that page until you find the WordPress application.

Click on the WordPress button.

Click on the Install Now button. You will then be asked what domain you want to use. Unless you registered more than one domain name you will probably only have one to choose from. Click on the domain name and click Continue.

You will then be asked for a Database description and database password.

Type in a description for your database. I usually use the name of the blog but you can call it anything. Enter a Password. Make sure you write down this information. You will need it again. Click Next and you will be asked to choose an install directory.

The screen will have wordpress typed in it. You need to put your cursor in the box and delete wordpress. For this installation you want that folder to be blank.

Once its blank click Next. Now you need to enter your admin name, password, a working email address, and your blog title. You can change the title in the future so don’t panic about this. After your title is in click Finish.

It takes a few minutes to an hour for your blog set up. You can see if your blog is installed by typing in your domain name in your web browser. Once its installed you will see your blog.

How do I add the bells and whistles?

If you made it this far into the article then you probably have the right stuff the create a successful blog. Now that you have your blog started you can change the theme to give it the look you want. You can start writing and adding articles that express your ideas. To help you get your blog looking good and working well read the articles on mynewbieblog.com. All of the articles will help you step by step to add all the bells and whistles. After you finish this article read Starting a Blog. Then read 50 Things to do to Start a Blog from Scratch - Part 1, then Part 2, and then Part 3. Read Making Progress on Starting a Blog and More Progress on the 50 Things to Do to Start a Blog from Scratch. Then read the various articles about installing plugins and Google Adsense, etc. You will be well on your way. At that point you might want to go and learn from blogs that can help you to make your blog profitable(monetize). If that’s what you hope to do some good sites to check out are Court’s Internet Marketing School, ProBlogger, DoshDosh, and CopyBlogger. Come back often and checkout mynewbielog.com as well. Better yet, sign up for the RSS feed or get an email subscription to the blog so you don’t miss anything. Happy blogging!

My new theme is in place. I used a theme called Blogsmith. Getting a new theme installed takes a little effort the first time. But once you get the hang of it it will help you in installing the plugins as well. It will take some work to start a blog from scratch, but I think you will enjoy the process. I like to learn new things and consider it a challenge to make things work. I hope these posts will help you get started and keep from getting discouraged. As I write these posts I try and include every step I can think of. I hope the screen shots are helping with the process. You may have noticed that I changed the tagline again. The tagline is now “How to Start a Blog from Scratch”. Getting a theme installed takes a little while but let’s go through the steps. (I use WordPress through GoodNewDomains.com so these steps reflect this setup. If you access Wordpress differently they might not be quite the same but I think they will give you an idea of what you are looking for).

Installing a WordPress Theme

Your WordPress came setup with a default theme which looks like this:

There is also an option available called the WordPress Classic:

You can locate this information by going to the WordPress dashboard and clicking on Presentations and then clicking on Themes:

There are a lot of other WordPress themes available for your blog. To look at some of the available themes just scroll down to the bottom of the Themes page and click on the WordPress theme directory link.

You will then be taken to ThemeViewer screen:

At this screen you can look at pages of available themes. Under each theme you have two options. You can Download or Test run. A Test run will give you a good idea of how the theme will look. If you like it then hit Download.

When you press Download you will see this screen:

Click on the Save button. You will be prompted for a location to save the file. Make sure you remember where you save it.

You will see a screen telling you the file is being saved and then Download complete.

Click on the Close button and then exit out of the ThemeViewer. Here is where it gets a little tricky. You need to go to the GoodNewsDomains.com site. Once you are there run your mouse over the Web Hosting button and the drop down menu will appear. Click on the My Hosting Accounts option.

At the Login screen type in your login information and press Secure Login.

You will see a screen with your blog site listed. Press the Open button.

At the Hosting Control Center screen look down on the left side of the page and select the Content option.

At the Content page you want to select the File Manager Icon at the right side of the screen.

This will take you to the File Manager screen. At the left hand side of the screen you will see the following options:

Press the + sign next to the wp-content option and you will get the following options:

Put your mouse on the themes folder icon and click on it. You will see the themes directory load up.

Select the Upload option on the toolbar.

Press the browse button and navigate to the location of the theme folder you downloaded earlier.

In the choose file screen select the file(in this case a zipped folder) and then press Open. You will go back to the browse screen you had previously and the file selected will be displayed and you can press OK.

The file will be uploaded and you will see the archived file at the bottom of your screen.

Check the box next to the file and then on the toolbar the option to Unarchive will w be available. Select Unarchive and you will get the following screen.

Go ahead and press OK to get the file to unarchive and be put in your file manager.

Congratulations! That was the tough part. Now you need to go back to your blog and login. Go to the WordPress dashboard and then to Presentation and then Themes. You should see the theme you just copied as an available theme. Click on it and WordPress will install it. Give it about a minute and then click on view site and you will see your new theme. One of the neat things about WordPress is that you can upload several themes and keep playing with them until you get the one you want. I hope this is helpful! We will get to more on the list with the next post.