Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Now that you have an idea for your new blog, it’s time to set up WordPress. This is because WordPress is one of the easiest and most versatile platforms on the Internet for content creation.
Not to mention the fact that you can easily move your content to another platform, can monetize it any way you see fit, own the website outright, and have access to the largest support structure online.
In reality, the benefits of using WordPress are superior to most systems for both the short and long term. Of course, I’m talking about self-hosting WordPress and not using the WordPress.com website.
I’ll explain the difference in a moment.
Choosing the Domain Name
Perhaps the most difficult and time-consuming part of building a new blog with WordPress is deciding on a domain name. This is because the names you want to use might already be taken.
A domain name is the name of your website that people type into their address bar. For example, “WriterSanctuary.com” is the domain name of this blog.
Because there are new websites created every second, the chances of being able to secure the name you want are slim to none. It could take quite a few attempts to finally come up with a domain name you want to use.
For instance, WriterSanctuary was not even close to being my first choice. But the name grew on me over the years.
It took a lot of variations and synonyms to finally nail the name of the website. So, don’t be discouraged if your choices are already taken. It’s a process we all have to manage regardless of expertise or experience.
Try to Keep the Domain Name Relevant
The name of your website should be relevant to your primary topic. Take WriterSanctuary, for example. It’s a relevant name as I am showing methods for successful “writing” while providing a “sanctuary” for those who want to learn.
Initially, I was going with “haven,” but that just wasn’t going to happen.
If you’re building a personal blog, there’s nothing wrong with using your name. Well, as long as the name is available. My personal blog, MichaelBrockbank.com, is a breakdown of everything I do on the Internet.
I know a lot of people who will use their names or pen names as a domain.
5 Tips for Choosing a Domain Name
There are a lot of things you can do to improve your chances of getting a domain name without it taking all day. It all comes down to your imagination and the topics you plan to cover.
To get your domain name:
- Come up with a list of 10 to 20 domain names you’ll be OK using. You may need more.
- Try variations of certain words by looking up synonyms on Google (ie. as I did with haven and sanctuary).
- Keep it as simple as possible. Make it quick and easy to type in an address bar.
- Remain as relevant to your primary topic as possible. It creates a connection with human visitors and bots.
- Learn to grow with the name you finally get. Appreciate the name and let it become a part of you.
In this series, I decided on “TubeArcanum.com.”
This was after spending about two hours trying different variations and coming up with an idea for my primary topic; YouTube. And I can tell you it was quite an adventure getting that domain.
That’s because you can’t use trademarked names in a domain name. And since brands are super litigious nowadays, it’s better to err on the side of caution.
The other half of the name denotes “working magic” while creating a YouTube channel. In fact, I already have a few design ideas as well as a logo in mind.
The primary idea of my new blog is to show a fun, educational site that centers around creating a YouTube channel. What is the primary goal of your website?
Using GreenGeeks for the New WordPress Blog
In this series, we’ll be building a new blog with self-hosted WordPress. This means using a web hosting provider and then installing the WordPress core files. But don’t worry, most hosts have a quick and easy way to install WordPress.
Today, we’re using GreenGeeks Web Hosting*. They’ve demonstrated superior performance contrary to my last host.
Case in point, I had a website that was taking more than 15 seconds to load. After moving the site over to GreenGeeks, the speed dropped to just under five seconds. That’s more than a 300% boost to speed without me doing any optimizing or fixing.
The servers are just that fast.
Not to mention that the tech support staff are amazing and work hard to make sure your sites are running smoothly. They just seem to go the extra mile in comparison to other hosts I’ve used.
Signing Up with GreenGeeks
When it comes to picking a web hosting plan, it’s best if you have an idea about what you want to accomplish. If you’re a beginner and setting up a new blog on WordPress for the first time, you’ll probably want to go with the “Lite” account.
You can always upgrade later if you need more umph behind your website.
If you’re like me and want to host more than one website for whatever reason, the Pro and Premium versions are the ones you want to choose. You get more CPU, memory, and inodes, which is needed if you run more than one blog at a time.
Besides, the Lite account only supports a single domain.
In the case of this new WordPress blog, I’m going with the Lite plan. I already have all of my blogs on the Pro and wanted to keep this new site separated for a variety of reasons.
Mostly because I don’t want the other blogs to affect the performance of this new site. I wanted to demonstrate as closely as I could what you’ll see by getting the Lite hosting account.
Once you choose a hosting type, the first step is creating a new domain name. Here is where you’ll start trying to secure the best domain for your site.
Don’t forget that you can also choose from the TLD, or Top Level Domain. This is the suffix that comes after your domain name, such as COM, US, and NET.
Sometimes, you can get the domain name you want by changing it from a .com to a .net. Just be aware that if someone is entering your address and puts the wrong TLD, they could be met with a much different website.
Use the drop-down list and pick one that best suits your needs.
Once you’ve successfully secured the domain name, simply enter your billing information to get started.
How Much Will You Need Up Front?
At the time of this post, you’ll need $106.20 to set up a Lite hosting account if you pay for three years in advance. This is perhaps the best deal, which technically makes each month only $2.95.
Since you also get a free domain name for a year, this is all you’ll need up front, outside of taxes depending on your region.
However, you’ll still need to pay for your domain name after the first year. This usually comes out to just under $20 per year, but you won’t need that until after your first year with GreenGeeks.
Installing WordPress
Now that we have our hosting account set up, it’s time to install WordPress for the new blog. GreenGeeks makes this part extremely easy and has a nifty dashboard tool that can also help with troubleshooting.
From the GreenGeeks dashboard, click on “Manage” next to your domain name.
Make sure you’re currently managing the domain where you want to install WordPress. If you have the Eco Lite GreenGeeks account, it should be the only option available.
Click on WordPress and select “Install and Manage” from the drop-down window.
Choose the installation type. You can choose between basic WordPress or installing WordPress with WooCommerce. Unless you plan on setting up an online store, you should choose the basic WordPress installation.
Besides, you can add WooCommerce later should you change your mind.
Add your website’s information. This includes the admin username, password, email, the name of your site, a brief description of your site, an other details.
NOTE: Never use “Admin” as your admin name. Choose something that is unique. Also, consider having the installation system “Generate” a password. Just don’t forget to copy it or write it down somewhere.
Once the information is entered, click the “Install WordPress” button under the LiteSpeed & LSCache information.
NOTE: Depending on when your domain was registered, it may take a bit of time to access your website. This is because the DNS has to propagate across the Internet. I’ve never seen this process take longer than 10 minutes. However, some hosts want you to wait from 24 to 48 hours before panicking.
Once WordPress is installed, click the three-button option under Actions for your domain and click, “WP Dashboard.”
From here, you’ll see the WordPress dashboard of your new blog on the screen.
Basics of WordPress for Your New Blog
The reason why most people choose WordPress is because of its versatility and the ability to customize the site. You have full access to everything to build anything you want.
After all, there’s a reason why more than 40% of the entire Internet uses WordPress, to begin with.
Today, I’m only going over the basic elements of WordPress to give you an idea of what it entails. I’ll go deeper into each one as we use them to build the new blog in the future.
Dashboard
The WordPress Dashboard shows you all the immediate elements of the new blog. This includes things like Site Health Status, Quick Draft, WordPress events and news, and more.
Some plugins you install will add to the Dashboard, but they can be disabled by going to the Screen Options tab on the top right. Just click the check box to enable or disable the available element.
Posts
Posts are the workhorses of a WordPress blog. It is here that you will create the vast majority of your content. Posts are different from Pages as they are content that is more flowing.
This means that posts are constantly in motion as you create new articles.
Media
The Media section is where you’ll find all of the images and media files you add to the new WordPress blog. While you can access these directly from posts and pages, here is where you’ll find them if you need to make adjustments.
To save on drive space, it’s always a good idea to delete any images you’re not currently using.
Pages
Pages work similarly to Posts only that they are meant for static content. These are things that never change, such as an About Us or a Contact page.
Pages typically don’t have categories or tags unless you install a plugin that adds them.
Comments
The Comments section is where you find comments that people make on your blog post, should you enable them. Some people don’t like to enable comments for a variety of reasons.
In any case, you can approve, like, mark as spam, or trash comments from this section. Or, you can read all of the comments that are currently saved on your blog.
Appearance
In Appearance, you’ll find all the necessary tools to affect the layout and visuals of your blog. This includes themes, Customizer, widgets, menu items, and other tools.
One of the more difficult aspects of creating a new WordPress blog is settling on a theme. There are so many to choose from and thousands of ways to customize your site. The best part is that you can change the theme at any time.
Plugins
Plugins are the bread and butter of WordPress. These are functions and features that you can install to improve everything from security to how you create content.
If there is something you want to show on your blog, there is probably a plugin available.
Users
The Users section is where you can manage all the users of your website. You can change the color scheme of WordPress for yourself, add an author bio, show your author’s social links, and more.
Unless you plan on having registered users, you probably won’t spend a lot of time in the Users area.
Tools
Some tools you’ll install from plugins will go into the Tools area. By default, WordPress comes with a few to get you started including a Site Health checker.
Site Health will show when there are problems with your website that hinder the performance of WordPress. It’s a nice little tool, but there are others that will offer greater insight through plugins.
Settings
The settings screen is where you’ll customize a lot of your new WordPress blog. This will include the basics of using WordPress and most plugins that you install.
Keep in mind that some plugins will have a settings option as well as a function placed in the left admin panel.
LiteSpeed Cache (GreenGeeks install)
When you sign up with GreenGeeks and use their installer for WordPress, you automatically get LiteSpeed Cache. This is a caching plugin that can vastly improve site performance.
Although you probably won’t notice much of a difference at first, caching will be a necessity once you start publishing content.
What Kind of Site Are You Going to Build?
So, that does it for the initial setup of the new blog while using WordPress. Right now, it’s a bit of an empty shell. However, we’re going to change all that in the next stages by installing a new theme and customizing the settings.
Have you decided on a personal blog or a niche website?
*As I always lean on full disclosure, I do work closely with GreenGeeks as the content marketing team lead. But I would still use them over my last host in a heartbeat.
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