In this quick and easy tutorial, I will show you how to start your join a website blog host in just a few minutes.
The ultimate endpoint of this tutorial is setting up your WordPress self-hosted site. WordPress is a free and open-source management system.
While you can have a blog on WP alone, you will find it extremely limiting. If you plan on being considered a professional in the blogging or business world, it is important to have your own web address.
In this case, you need to be self-hosted. This part 1 tutorial will walk you through the opening and registering your domain name. I am assuming that you have already read the previous post and are ready to move on.
Cons of being on a free website platform:
- With the free WP platform, your website will read yourblogname.wordpress.com. This tells people that your blog is more of a hobby. Therefore your emails and contact information will go right in the trash.
- You are limited as to what you can offer on your website. For instance, some free websites will not allow you to monetize your blog. This might be important to you further down the line.
- It is a pain in the butt to change further down the line. Most companies will charge for doing it for you. The cost? .. about $79!
With a self-hosted website, the sky is the limit. You have the flexibility of making your site exactly as you want. It grows with you.
You might start it off as a hobby, then decide to monetize. You wouldn’t have to worry about the headache of migrating all your previous hard work to a new platform.
The best part is that you always have your name and brand. With the free one, your chosen name might have been taken, and you would now have to deal with re-branding yourself.
Easy Install Steps with SiteGround (Affiliate link):
Click on this link to get your signup discount.
Click on Sign up.
I would suggest the StartUp plan. It should be more than enough to get you going. You can always upgrade later if you wish.
Your next screen will ask you to choose a Domain name :
Since you’re brand new to this, l will assume you don’t already have a Domain registered. Type in whatever name you want for your domain.
The domain registry will be searched to make sure the name is free to use. If it isn’t, you will be notified to choose another name.
From there, you click proceed. Notice how you get your Domain registration for free, saving yourself some hard-earned cash.
On the last screen, you will need to review and complete your order:
The only Add-on l would recommend at this point is “Domain Privacy”. The law requires every website to have its owner listed with their contact information visible for all to see.
In this day and age, l find that very scary as it can fall into the wrong hands. Domain Privacy allows your information to be replaced by the hosting company’s contact information. This will save you from dealing with spam emails. Trust me, it is worth it.
There you have it! You have now done the hardest part. Setting up your host registration. Give yourself a pat on the back.
The next post will outline what to do now that you’re set up with your host. This whole exercise should have taken you less than fifteen minutes by my calculation.
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This is closer to setp ZERO in my book…
Thank you Kind Sir! 🙂