Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
I’m back with part two of three to teach you how to start a blog and make money without having to pull your hair out.
You can read part one of the How To Start A Blog Series, first if you stumbled on this post before reading it.
So you have a domain name and a hosting account, great!
Now what?
The next three steps are these:
- You want to “point” your domain to your hosting account (associate it with your hosting account),
- Install WordPress on your hosting account (and understand the difference between “self-hosted WordPress” and Wordpress.com),
- Know how to log into your new WordPress site and get started blogging.
How To Point Your Domain To Your Hosting Account
This step is where you are essentially telling your domain name where your hosting is, its internet “address,” so that when someone types in your domain name, they are taken to the content on your hosting account.
First, find out what your hosting service’s nameservers are.
You probably got an email with this information when you signed up for hosting.
If not, search online for “[your host] nameservers,” for example, “bigscoots nameservers” (without the quotes).
Usually, they’re very straightforward, something like ns1.bigscoots.com. There will be two nameservers, so make sure to note them both down.
(img of nameservers)
Tip: Copy & paste the nameserver addresses into a text file so you can then copy & paste them again when needed.
Next, log into where you purchased your domain.
You will need to find where to change your “DNS” settings; some domain registrars will have a place to change nameservers separate from “advance” DNS, and some will have nameservers in with DNS.
Just search online for “[your domain registrar] change nameservers” (again without quotes or brackets), and you should find instructions.
Once you find the spot where you add nameservers, add in the ones you have from the first step above, save, and done!
(img of nameserver area of a domain registrar)
It can take a few minutes to a few hours and up to a day or so before your changes are visible online – any time you make changes to a domain, it needs time to “propagate” across the entire internet, which means time for those changes to be seen by every other computer.
(The internet is fast, but “fast” is often a relative term!)
How To Install WordPress On Your Hosting Account
Once your domain name is associated with your hosting account, it’s time to log into your hosting account and install WordPress.
This is a lot faster now than it was a few years ago; the way WordPress was installed years ago was by creating a database, then downloading the entire WordPress program, uploading it to your hosting account, opening its settings file, and entering in the details of the database you created, then going to the installation page and running the installation script.
It didn’t take that long, and it’s pretty simple, but when you tell people to “create a database” and “run an installation,” they assume it’s much worse than it is and usually don’t bother.
So, thankfully, someone figured out a way to automate the entire process and make installing WordPress VERY quick and simple now.
But before I explain how to do that, I want to clarify the difference between what I just described – manually installing WordPress – and the website WordPress.com.
Seems like they should be the same, right?
But they’re not.
What is the difference between WordPress dot org and WordPress dot com?
The program you download and install (and create a database for, etc) is available (freely) at wordpress.org – emphasis on the “dot org” part.
This is where WordPress started life back in the early 2000s.
If you used WordPress, wordpress.org was where it came from.
You would download it, install it, and away you go.
But some years after WordPress started, blogger.com became the popular new kid on the block…they offered free blogs that did not require a domain name or hosting account.
Blogger grew in popularity enough that WordPress wanted some of those users, so they created WordPress.com, which offered WordPress-powered blogs for free – no domain name or hosting account (or installation!) required.
The caveat was that you could not use plugins or do much customization…but that didn’t matter back then like it usually does today.
So wordpress.com became the place to get a free WordPress-powered blog, and wordpress.org was where you got the full program you installed on your hosting account.
So “self-hosted” WordPress means you have your hosting account and run your copy of WordPress on it.
“Wordpress dot com” refers to…well, it used to mean free WordPress-powered blogs.
But these days, you can pay for upgrades at wordpress.com and have a fully-capable WordPress site with plugins, custom themes, and everything that a self-hosted WordPress has & can do.
Confused yet? Yeah, it’s all a bit muddy now, ha.
Think of “self-hosted” when you have a hosting account to run your site. 🙂
Wondering why you should do self-hosted instead of just getting upgrades from wordpress.com?
It is much cheaper to do a self-hosted site.
Installing WordPress
So now it’s time to install WordPress on your site.
The exact place/steps to do this will vary by host, but these are the general steps:
You log into your hosting account, find where they have the WordPress installation button, click it, change a few details, click install, and done.
It’s much better than the old way of doing it.
Here are detailed steps for the hosts I’ve mentioned so you can see how much it can vary, but it’s all still straightforward – it’s a matter of finding where your host puts the install buttons:
Disclosure: If you purchase through our links we are compensated at no cost to you.
Creating A Username
Before you install, ensure the username is NOT “admin.”
Never, ever use “admin” for a username.
Ideally, don’t use your email address, either. Use something unique.
Do you already have “admin” as a username?
See the last post in this series to learn how to change it.)
Also, write down (or copy/paste into a text file) your username and password for WordPress so you can easily remember it.
With a few clicks of buttons, WordPress is ready to go!
How To Log Into WordPress And Start Blogging
Once you have WordPress installed, you can access your admin area by going to yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
Use the username and password that were set up when you installed it.
Tip: Don’t know the password? Some installers will set things up so you log into your hosting first, then click into the WordPress admin area – Bluehost does this. But those are extra steps you don’t need. Do that the first time, and once you are into WordPress, go to Users—>Profile, scroll down to Account Management, and look for the button “Set New Password.” Do that, then log out and log back in with your username & new password. From now on, you can go into your WordPress at any time at yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
Once logged in, you will be on the “Dashboard” of WordPress.
While this screen can be useful later on to get a glimpse of various stats, the places you will want to get familiar with right away are, as shown on the left side menu: Posts (All posts, Add new, Categories), Media (Library), Pages, Appearance (Customize), Plugins, and Settings (various ones).
As you add plugins, more items will appear on the left side menu.
To start, go to Settings—>General and make needed adjustments there, then go to Appearance—>Themes and find a starter theme for now.
About plugins – Think of plugins as being like apps on your phone.
They give additional functionality to your site.
There is a LOT you can mess with, but you don’t need to worry about them at the very start (unless there are some you know you want to use).
Once you have a theme picked out & activated, try creating a post! Go to Posts—>Add new, then play around with the whole interface.
Add a title, start typing, and try out various blocks (“blocks” are pieces of content you add to a post – headings, paragraphs, images, video, etc).
Tip: When you first go into the screen to add a new post, the left side menu will disappear, and you will only see an icon on a black background up in the left corner. This is called “Fullscreen mode” – I don’t care for it, and I know it confuses people who are new to WordPress & prefer to have their full left-side menu available all the time. To get the side menu back, look in the top right corner of the editing screen for the three vertical dots. Click those, then click “Fullscreen mode” to toggle it off. The left-side menu will be back, and it will stay there for the rest of your session in WordPress.
So now you’ve done it! You have a site set up & ready to go.
Have fun exploring and using your new blog!
How To Start A Blog To Make Money Series
In the last post of this series, part three, we’ll cover the following:
- The basic “grammar” of WordPress
- Some tips for working with WordPress
- How to change your WordPress username & some security notes
If you missed part one of the How To Blog And Make Money series, you can still access it now. How To Start A Blog And Make Money-Part One
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