Business, Social Media
& Online Marketing

Setting up your blog for the first time can be a little intimidating. If you are holding off because you’re uncertain of where to begin, not to worry. This post will get you through the process unscathed. It really is painless, I promise!

After reading this post, if you still feel that setting up a blog isn’t for you, we’ll do it for you. Better still, if you don’t currently have web hosting, we’ll do it for free. Find out the details on our WordPress Setup page.

Step One – Decide on a domain name (web address)

The first step to setting up your blog is deciding what you want your web address to be. To find out if a name is available, go to the GoDaddy homepage and use their domain search. Don`t buy your domain on GoDaddy just yet though. You can get one domain for free when you set up your web hosting in step two.

Step Two – Get a web hosting account

I use FatCow for web hosting because their servers are fast, they have a quick install process for WordPress and they’re relatively cheap. You pay for hosting (currently $66 a year with FatCow and it includes your domain name) and they give you your own space on the internet where you can place your WordPress Blog. If you haven`t already, head on over to get your web hosting.

Step Three – Install WordPress

In your FatCow control panel, there is a section titled Scripting and Add-Ons in the centre near the bottom. In this section, you’ll find a link titled InstallCentral. Click on it. Once in the InstallCentral section, you will:

1. Click on the Blogs tab
2. Click on the WordPress button
3. Scroll to the bottom and click on the Begin Installation button
4. Fill in the install WordPress form. Leave the Installation Directory blank and let FatCow create a database for you automatically.
5. Once the form is complete, click on Install Now!

After the installation completes, you’ll be taken to a page that gives you a link to your WordPress admin portal. This is where you’ll create new blog posts and pages. Make sure to bookmark it so it’s easy to find when you need it.

Note: FatCow’s customer service has been, in my experience, fantastic. If any of these steps prove to be a challenge, give them a call on their toll free number listed on their site

Now that your blog is active,  you can change your theme and choose from all kinds of different plugins (mini applications that add functionality to your blog).

Step Four – Choose a theme for your WordPress blog

There is no shortage of both free and premium WordPress themes. Now that your blog is active, let’s pretty it up a little with a fresh new theme. To find themes, visit my blog post titled – Where to find quality WordPress Themes.

You can also find themes right from your WordPress Admin console. To do so, login to your new WordPress admin and click the Appearance tab in the left hand column. In that section, click on Add New Themes link. This takes you to a page where you can search for themes.

Step Five – Install your theme

There are two different ways to install a theme. the easiest way is to use the search option in the Add New Themes section mentioned above. Once you’ve found a theme in this section, you simply click the Install link listed below the theme thumbnail. After it has completed installing, click on the Activate link.

If you’ve found a theme that isn’t listed in the Add New Themes section, that’s ok too. To install a theme that isn’t located in the directory in your admin, you:

1. Download the theme to your desktop from the website where you found it (it will be saved in a .zip file)
2. Go to the Add New Themes section of your WordPress admin
3. Click on the Upload link at the top
4. Click the Browse button and look for the theme file on your desktop
5. Click the Install Now button
6. Once the theme has been installed, click Activate

Your new theme is now active. Depending on your theme, there may be some additional theme options that you can customize. If you see a link with your theme title listed in the left hand navigation after you complete your install, click on it for additional options.

Step Six – Select plugins for your site

Plugins are mini applications that can greatly increase the overall usability of your site. These tools can add social features, help optimize your site for search and much more. One word of caution, loading too many plugins will slow down your blog. Select a few options that will enhance your blog and be useful to your readers. I have a couple of blog posts that will help in selecting plugins – recommended plugins for WordPress & social media plugins for WordPress.

Step Seven – Install plugins

The easiest way to install plugins on your Wordpress blog is through the Wordpress admin. To do this:

1. Click the Plugins tab in the left hand column
2. Select  Add New
3. Type the plugin name into the search
4. Hit the search button and select the appropriate plugin from the results page
5. Click on the Install link
6. Click on the Activate link

Once activated, you’ll find a configuration panel in the left hand column of your blog under Tools or Settings. Some plugins will actually have their own section on the sidebar as well.

With these seven steps finished, you’ve completed your WordPress setup.

After reading this, if you still aren’t interested in setting up WordPress on your own, remember our offer to set it up for you. Just visit our WordPress setup page for details.

Now that you’re done, you might want to check out some of my other posts about using Google tools with WordPress – Add a WordPress site to Google Webmaster Tools & Adding Google Analytics to WordPress

Related posts:

1. Create an XML sitemap for your WordPress blog
2. Where to find quality WordPress themes
3. Using GoDaddy and Wordpress
4. Adding Google Analytics to Wordpress