How to make a WordPress Blog

So, you want to make a WordPress blog. Congratulations! WordPress is a great solution for how to start a blog, plus we think blogs are great!

Better yet – creating a free blog is also surprisingly easy. That’s why we say you can do it in less than 15 minutes.

But as easy as it is to get started with a WordPress blog, knowing what you need to do and how you can do it is still important so that you don’t waste time on your way to becoming a successful blogger. That’s why we’ve created this step-by-step guide.

We’ll show you every step you need to take to start a blog using self-hosted WordPress. And we’ll do it with plenty of screenshots and beginner-friendly instructions. Start a blog today!

How to Make a Blog: What You Need

If you want to create a blog, here is the whole process step by step:

• Sign up for web hosting.
• Choose a domain name for your blog.
• Install free WordPress blog software.
• Log in and write your first blog post.
• Change the design of your blog by choosing a theme.
• Install some necessary plugins.
• Don’t forget marketing

We’re going to cover each of these steps in detail below, but for now, what you need to know is that none of these steps require in-depth technical knowledge. Yes, you really can learn how to set up a blog on your own!

Once you get your free WordPress blog up and running, you’ll probably want to start writing and possibly changing its appearance/functionality (eg completely changing your header or your homepage. changing). To help you do this, we’ll also show you:

• Write your first blog post using the WordPress editor.
• Change how your free WordPress blog looks using a “theme”.
• Add functionality to your blog using tools called “plugins”.

As long as you know how to use social media sites like Facebook or Tumblr, and have an overall confidence when it comes to “web content”, you can follow this guide. We promise!

Step 1: Buy hosting and your domain name.

Already decided on your blog niche? Great, then two things are needed to make your free WordPress blog accessible to people around the world or ready for search engine optimization:

✅ Hosting – This is the engine that powers your site. While you may not “see” it, every website on the Internet has a hosting provider that powers it.

✅ Domain – This is the permanent address of your blog. For example, ours is themeisle.com. If you need help coming up with a good name and figuring out how custom domains work, check out this post.

You can buy your blog hosting and domain at the same time – so don’t worry too much just yet. But before you can do that, you need to choose a WordPress host. Due to the popularity of WordPress, there are a large number of WordPress hosts.

We have personally tested the performance and reliability of many hosting companies. With the results of all these experiences in mind, we can recommend Bluehost to bloggers new to the world of WordPress.

Here’s why:

• It is affordable. You can host your site for a small flat fee per month – that’s just $2.75 per month for your first 12 months.
• You get a free domain name when you sign up. This has to do with affordability – your own domain would otherwise cost $10+.
• You can easily install WordPress. With just a few clicks, you can launch the WordPress software and create a working blog. No technical knowledge required!
• It has enough performance to get you started. When you’re just getting started, Bluehost offers enough performance to load your site.

All in all, it will cost about $33 to host your blog on BlueHost for an entire year, including your free domain name. It also offers a 30-day money back guarantee.

Step 2: Install the free WordPress software.

If you want to create a WordPress blog, you will, not surprisingly, need to install WordPress software.

We know it might sound a little scary – but we think you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to install WordPress.

When you have completed the sign-up process in the previous step, you should have received an email from BlueHost with details on how to log in to the BlueHost customer area.

Go ahead and login to Bluehost.

As soon as you log in for the first time, Bluehost will give you a simple wizard that will walk you through the process of installing WordPress on your new site.

Don’t see the setup wizard? No worries, installing WordPress with Bluehost is still really easy. Simply go to the My Sites area and click the Create Site button to launch the wizard:

How to Install WordPress on Bluehost

After that, you’ll be able to fill in all the important details for your site name and username/password that you’ll use to manage your WordPress blog:

Enter the details to create a WordPress blog.

Once you have completed the installation process, you can access your new blog’s dashboard by visiting yourdomain.com/wp-admin.

Step 3: Go ahead and write your first blog post – you’ve got it!

Now that you’ve learned how to make a WordPress blog, you’re probably excited to get blogging!

We’ll show you how your blog looks and works in seconds. But first, let’s see how easy it is to start blogging on your new website.

When you first log into your blog’s WordPress dashboard.

Your WordPress dashboard on a free WordPress blog

To write a blog post:

Hover over posts.

Click Add New.

Creating a new post on a free WordPress blog

This will launch the WordPress editor, which lets you write your blog posts using a really intuitive block system.

To add text, you just click and type. For other content – like an image or an embedded YouTube video, you can add new “blocks”. To help you get started with using the editor, you can follow our detailed guide here or our more high-level guide.

Step 4: Here’s how to change how your blog looks.

When you create a WordPress blog, one of the biggest benefits you get is access to WordPress’ huge collection of themes and plugins. Here is a quick overview of both of them:

Themes – This change how your free WordPress blog looks.

Plugins – These add functionality to your blog.

We will cover the former in this section.

As soon as you create a WordPress blog, you already have a theme enabled. This is either the default WordPress theme or the theme you selected during the Bluehost setup wizard.

But there are actually thousands of blog themes available for WordPress sites (many of them open source like WordPress), so you’re by no means limited to the small selection BlueHost shows you initially.

Where to Find WordPress Themes for Your Blog

When you go to choose a WordPress theme, you have to choose between free and premium themes. There is no inherent difference between the two, but premium themes often have more detailed designs and features.

To find free themes, the best place to search is the official WordPress.org theme directory.

To find premium themes, you’ll need a more comprehensive approach. Some good options are:

Theme Forest

ThemeForest – A large directory of premium themes.

Thyme oil

ThemeIsle – We think our themes are too bloated.

If you want to stop searching, we also put together a list of the most popular and best free WordPress themes.

How to Install a WordPress Theme

Once you find a theme you like, WordPress makes it easy to add that theme to your site.

Here is the method:

Hover over Appearance.

Select themes.

Click the Add New button.

Adding a new WordPress theme to a free WordPress blog

If you choose a free theme on WordPress.org, search for the theme by name and click Install.

If you purchased a premium theme, click the Upload Theme button and upload the zip file you should have received when you purchased the theme.

Installing a new WordPress theme

After installing your theme, be sure to click the Activate button to make it active on your site.

How to further customize your WordPress theme

You can treat your theme as a kind of template and further customize it using the WordPress Customizer (which is similar to a website builder). This interface lets you make some changes to your theme to improve your web design without needing to know code or HTML.

You can access it by going to Appearance → Customize:

Accessing the WordPress Customizer

Depending on the theme you choose, you may have a different set of options on the left sidebar. But in general, you can:

• Make changes using the options on the left.
• See the real-time preview on the website preview on the right
• Make your changes live by clicking Save and Publish
• Using the WordPress Customizer

Step 5: Here’s how to add functionality to your blog.

While themes are mostly about appearance, plugins are more focused on helping you add functionality to your free WordPress blog.

When you first create a WordPress blog, you only have the ability to write blog posts and create pages.

Plugins are ones that allow you to add more advanced functionality, such as:

• Contact Forms
• Social network buttons
• Backups
• Better SEO
• And much, much more

If you can think of a feature, there’s probably a plugin for it. This is because the WordPress community offers over 50,000 free plugins, in addition to thousands of premium plugins.

Where to Find WordPress Plugins for Your Blog

As with themes, you can find both free and premium plugins.

Keeping with the similarities, the best place to find free plugins is in the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

For premium plugins, the best way is to usually do a Google search for something like “best X plugins” and buy from a reputable developer.

Many free plugins listed on WordPress.org also offer premium versions with more features.

A must have WordPress plugin for all sites.

While there are many niche plugins that are only good for specific uses, there are some must-have WordPress plugins that all sites, including blogs, can benefit from. Here are some of our suggestions:

⭐ UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin

⭐ Google Analytics for WordPress by Monster Insights

⭐ WP Super Cash

⭐ Yoast SEO

⭐Word fence Security

⭐ Jetpack by WordPress.com

⭐ WPForms

⭐ The best

How to Install WordPress Plugins

We have already written a detailed guide on how to install WordPress plugins. But here’s the quick version:

Go to Plugins → Add New.

If you choose a free plugin on WordPress.org, search for the plugin by name and click Install Now.

If you purchased a premium plugin, click the Upload Plugin button and upload the zip file you should have received when you purchased the plugin.

Installing a WordPress Plugin on a Free WordPress Blog

Make sure to activate the plugin after installing it.

You can always manage your existing plugins by visiting the Plugins tab:

What to do after make a WordPress blog

Ok, so you managed to create a WordPress blog, install your theme, and add some functionality with plugins.

Of course, you should also be aware that there are other blog building options on the market, such as Wix or Squarespace, but they are either less flexible than WordPress or come at a higher price, making WordPress more attractive to newbies. Makes a great start for newcomers.

How to Create a Contact Form in WordPress

Every website needs a contact form. This allows your customers to email you directly. Since WordPress does not come with a built-in contact form, you will need the WordPress Form Builder plugin to add a contact form to your site.

We recommend using the WPForms Lite plugin. This is the free version of the popular WPForms plugin, which is #1 on our list of the best contact form plugins for WordPress.

Over 5 million websites use WPForms!

You can install the plugin by going to Plugins » Add New Page and typing WPForms in the search box. Next, you need to click “Install” and then “Activate”. After activation, you need to go to WPForms » Add New Page to create your first form.

Adding a New Contact Form to WordPress

This will open the WPForms Builder interface.

First, you need to enter a name for your contact form and then click on the ‘Simple Contact Form’ template.

• Simple contact form

WPForms will now create a simple contact form for you with all required fields. You can click any field to change it, or add a new field from the left column.

• Editing your contact form

After editing the form, click the Save button in the upper right corner and then exit the Form Builder.

You can now create a new page in WordPress by going to Pages » Add New and calling it ‘Contact’. On the edit screen, you need to insert the WPForms block into the editor.

Add a WPForms block to the editor.

Next, select the form you created earlier from the drop-down menu and WPForms will load a live preview of the form in the editor.

How to Set Up Google Analytics Tracking

Google Analytics helps you see how many people are visiting your blog, where they’re coming from, and what they’re doing on your website.

It’s best to install Google Analytics when starting your blog, so you can see how much your blog has grown over time.

First, you need to visit the Google Analytics website and sign in using your Gmail account.

Once you’re logged in, you can go ahead and sign up for a free Google Analytics account.

Sign up for Google Analytics.

You will be asked to provide your information and website URL. After that, you will be presented with your Google Analytics tracking code.

You can stop here as we will use a plugin to automatically retrieve this code and add it to your blog (along with setting up the correct WordPress tracking).

Go to your WordPress admin area to install and activate the Monster Insights plugin. This is the free version of the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, and it’s the easiest way to add Google Analytics to your site (trusted by over 3 million websites).

After activation, you need to go to the Insights » Settings page to configure the plugin settings.

Integrate Google Analytics using Monster Insights.

On the Settings page, click the ‘Connect to Minister Insights’ button to connect Google Analytics to your WordPress site.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. Once done, you will be able to view your website analytics report directly from your WordPress dashboard under the Monster Insights tab.

How to Optimize Your WordPress Blog for SEO

Most of the beginners are not good at SEO when creating a blog. SEO or Search Engine Optimization helps users find your blog in search engines.

If you want more traffic, it is very important to optimize your blog for SEO from the beginning.

To get started, first you need to install and activate the All-in-One SEO plugin. This is a complete WordPress SEO plugin that will help you optimize your blog.

AIOSEO

The plugin comes with a quick configuration wizard to help walk you through setup. It will help you set up a WordPress sitemap, write appropriate keywords and meta descriptions, add schema markup, and more.

We also recommend you follow our complete step-by-step WordPress SEO guide to set up your blog’s SEO.

Now there are other SEO plugins like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, etc., but we recommend using AIOSEO because it offers the most beginner-friendly interface for new bloggers.

In addition to the WordPress SEO plugin, you can further optimize your blog content by using a keyword research tool. These SEO tools help you come up with new content ideas that people are searching for around your topic.

You can even see the exact keywords your competitors are ranking for, so you can create better content and outrank them.

This helps you maximize traffic to your new blog site right from the start. For more details, check out our beginner’s guide on how to do keyword research for your blog.

More WordPress plugins and customizations

There are many other WordPress plugins that you can install. Often beginners find it a bit overwhelming to find the plugins they need.

At WPBeginner, we often offer the best WordPress plugins to help you add the functionality you need.

Here’s our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins you should check out.

• Backup – UpdraftPlus is the best WordPress backup plugin. You need to make regular backups of your website in case something goes wrong.
• Security – Sucuri Security is a free security scanner for WordPress. We have a complete step-by-step WordPress security guide for beginners that will help you secure your blog.
• Performance – We recommend using WP Rocket (Premium) or WP SuperCache (Free) to speed up WordPress. For more information on this topic, check out our article on WordPress speed and performance with step-by-step instructions.
• Design and Customization – We can use SeedProd or Divi Page Builder to customize your homepage design, create custom landing pages, or even create custom themes (without writing any code). Recommend. For more on this topic, see our article on the best WordPress page builders (competition).
• Traffic and Subscribers – We strongly recommend using push notifications through PushEngage. It lets you connect with visitors after they leave your website. This is our top 5 traffic source on WPBeginner. For more details, see How to Add Push Notifications in WordPress.
• Email Marketing – We recommend using Constant Contact or HubSpot as your email marketing service. To get more email subscribers, we recommend using the OptinMonster free plugin to create high-converting pop-ups, scroll boxes, and calls-to-actions.

If you want to learn about all the plugins and tools we use on our website, check out the WPBeginner Blueprint. This list includes all the tools we use to enhance the WPBeginner blog.

Select your contact form.

You can now save and publish the page and view it in your browser to see your contact form in action.

It’s a good practice to check your form to make sure you’re receiving notifications. If you don’t get the notification, you should check out our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending emails.

If you need more detailed instructions, check out our step-by-step guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

As a blogger, the best thing about WPForms is that it grows with you. In addition to simple contact forms, you can also use it to create reader surveys, polls, guest post submission forms, and more.

What next?

How to create a #WordPress #blog in less than 15 minutes.

Click to tweet.

Well, the world is your oyster! But if you’re like most people, you’ll probably want to find ways to:

Get more visitors to your blog.

Make Money from Your Blog (How to Monetize)

And if you’re a beginner, you might be interested in 45 things our team of bloggers wish they knew before starting a great blog. You can read all these blogging tips here.

You may also want to create a blog content strategy and figure out how to come up with new blog post ideas. If you’re not interested in running a personal blog sharing random thoughts, filling your site with high-quality blog topics and doing keyword research is one of the most important tasks of a full-time pro blogger.

Once your site allows you to make money blogging, you can also create your own newsletter and start email marketing, email lists, or forums to further engage your audience. can do A great blog is also a great addition to selling products (even when done through e-commerce marketplaces, such as Amazon or eBay).

At this point, you’re already equipped with everything you need, so get out there, put some effort into new content, and turn your new WordPress site into a successful blog!