This article originally appeared on createandgo.co find it HERE.

Why start a WordPress blog? Listen to our story about how we went from full-time corporate workers to full-time bloggers in our first year of blogging!

10 months ago, Lauren and I were just a couple frustrated young professionals looking to make money online and escape the 9-5. We were tired of chasing fleeting weekends and vacations that never lasted long enough.

In less than a year, we started our first blog (Avocadu.com) completely from scratch and turned it into a money-making machine. You can see our income reports, and they will show you that we average around $20,000/month with our little health and fitness blog.

It’s not just the money though.

It’s what this WordPress blog has done for our LIFE that is most important. We can wake up every morning, have our coffee, and completely design our day. We have been able to visit family more often and travel to countries like Nicaragua and Bali and still work while having fun!

Today, we want to walk you through how to set up your first blog and get you on your way to designing your own life!

Save

The following will be a step-by-step guide to creating the blog of your dreams and actually make money from it! And trust us when we say this: If we can do it, ANYONE can!

Click here to start a blog on WordPress, then use the tutorial below for easy step-by-step directions.

In this article, we are going to talk about starting a blog the ONLY way you should – through Bluehost.

Why Bluehost? Well, they are very affordable! You can start a blog with Bluehost for just $3-4/month (that low price is through our link only!).

It also comes with a FREE domain name! These cost savings matter so much more in the beginning before your blog is generating any revenues.

Lastly, Bluehost also offers a complete guarantee on their hosting packages. If you sign up for 12 months or more (best pricing option) and decide that it’s not right for you, you can ask for a full refund within 30 days of purchase.

Bluehost is also incredibly easy to use. The process to start a blog can get a little confusing when you start talking about domain names, hosting packages, etc. Our step-by-step tutorial below has images, and we even set up a new domain just to show you how it works.

Let me also just say that we didn’t initially start out with Bluehost. Our transition happened when we had an issue with another popular hosting company, Siteground. Basically, we had an unexpected influx of traffic from Pinterest, and our entire website shut down.

This cost us a TON of money in forgone sales, and we vowed that it would NEVER happen again.

We got on the phone with Bluehost, and their awesome customer service team took care of everything for us! They are available by phone 24/7, and they take care of whatever issues you throw at them!

Also, this article is focused on a successful blog (or blog that actually makes some dolla dolla bills) and not a personal journal or diary blog. There are other resources out there for things like that (but not here).

On that note about starting a blog that actually makes money (who can afford to give out free content all day???)… Let’s talk briefly about free vs. self-hosted.

There are free blog hosting and free plans (think blogger.com), but there is also a reason why 99.9% of profitable blogs don’t run on them and why you should not use them…

1. It looks incredibly sloppy.
2. The customizations are limited.
3. The websites are slow (there’s nothing more frustrating than a slow website).
4. You are limited in how you can monetize your blog.
5. I personally know of ZERO successful entrepreneurs who use them.

If you’d like to know a little more about the differences and why free blogs are a mistake if you want to take your blog biz seriously, see our article on WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org (free vs. self-hosted blogs).

Because of these glaring flaws, we are going to focus on self-hosting (think Bluehost) in this article, because that is the ONLY way a profitable blog will ever run. The difference truly is only $3-4/month, so you can’t afford NOT to go with self-hosting!

Okay, so this post is going to EPIC. It will walk you through how to do EVERYTHING. Make sure to save/pin this, and come back to it for later if you can’t finish everything today. Setup your WordPress blog in 5 easy steps:

• → Step #1. Decide on a domain name and get web hosting.
• → Step #2. Follow these steps to get everything set up.
• → Step #3. Set up WordPress.
• → Step #4. Grab a Theme for Your Blog!
• → Step #5. Some Additional Help for Your Blogging Adventure
• → Step #6. Get Visitors to Your Blog.

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2018 – Step-by-Step Guide

Step #1. Decide on a domain name and get web hosting.

Domain name is the name used for the website address. For instance, Pinterest’s domain name is Pinterest.com.

Hosting is a little different. It’s the power to your website and backend that other people don’t see. Without hosting, your website has nowhere to run and will not exist.

Anyone who wants to have their own blog has to pay for a domain name and hosting.

It’s also not something you want to skimp out on. A bad host we used one time almost cost us $20,000+ in sales over the course of a month. Trust us, you NEED a good host.

The good news? It’s ridiculously cheap with the right host. A powerful host like Bluehost (the host that powers over 850,000 successful blogs and only costs $2.75/month – less than a fancy coffee).

*Note that the above pricing is only with our special deal, so make sure you use any of our links on this page to get the special pricing!

To find your blog name you can use this tool:

Your name might not be available and that’s okay. Try a few variations or even using your name can help.

If you need more help we have a great article on How to Come Up with a Great Blog Name in 30 Minutes or Less.

You can add unlimited websites and blogs to your BlueHost account so don’t worry too much if you’re not totally sold on your current domain name idea.

Step #2. Follow these steps to get everything set up.

We have reviewed and used every host you can imagine. Without a doubt, Bluehost is the best for your blogging needs. (The following images are screenshots I’ve taken from BlueHost so you know what to do.

Click here to open up BlueHost in a new window and follow along.

Yep, those are our bright, shining faces greeting you on the page!

Click the green Get Started Now button at Bluehost to get started.

On the next page, enter the domain name that you’d like to use.

After you click the button to get started on the homepage, you will then see a list of pricing options.

Save

Next, choose which pricing plan is best for you. No worries – you don’t need anything more than the BASIC plan.

Note that the lowest price of $2.75 per month is if you sign up for the longer contract term of 36 months (and paid up front). We recommend that you go ahead and take advantage of this low pricing plan, and here’s why:

• You can cancel risk-free for 30 days. Bluehost offers a guarantee, and you can cancel your plan at any time during the first 30 days and get a full refund.
• Signing on for a longer plan represents a commitment you are making to your blog and yourself. Commit to making this a long-term deal that will reap you TONS of rewards over the next few years!
• It also ensures that they won’t raise the price of your hosting during that time.

After selecting your plan, you will want to enter your new domain, as seen below:

Enter your domain under “new domain” (you can see where we inserted the paleoeatz.com), and hit next. Fill in your contact information, and then go to the package information section.

FIRST — Select your account plan. This is where you select the LENGTH of your plan. As we said above, we recommend the 36-month plan, because it provides the best VALUE.

NEXT — Some of the boxes on this page may already be checked, but the only option that we recommend is the “Domain Privacy Protection.” Adding this feature ensures that your personal information as the website owner remains private.

Your screen should look like this:

Finally, all you have to do is add in your credit card details, check the standard Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and hit the green submit button!

Congratulations! You now own your very own website!!!!!

Not too painful, right???

The next few steps will direct you to create your password before beginning with anything else. Make sure to create a secure password!

Okay, let’s get you started with WordPress!

Step #3. Set up WordPress

Bluehost just made it easier than ever to get started with WordPress. They actually eliminated a couple of steps in this process, so you’ll get through it in no time.

After setting up your password, you should be directed to select a theme for your WordPress site. Your screen should look like this:

Save

You can select any one of these free themes to get started. Don’t worry – you can change this at any time, and we’ll discuss it in more detail in a few moments.

First, we want to get you to the main screen where you can start to play around and customize things.

After selecting a theme to start with, your screen should look like this:

Save

Select the “Business” option to be taken to the next screen (it doesn’t matter if you don’t have an actual business started yet – this is the first step in that process!).

You will then be taken to a dashboard that looks like this:

Save

From this step, you can write your first post and start looking through the options in WordPress, but we recommend settling on a good theme first.

Read below for our recommendations.

Step #3. Grab a Theme for Your Blog!

From the black, left-hand menu –> click “Appearances” and then “Themes.” It’s now time to find a great theme for your blog and start making it look how you want!

Save

Here, you can see the options to change your theme. Simply activate a new one to see the changes.

Note that WordPress has a few free themes that you can choose from, so play around with those a bit to get started and find one that works for you.

Free themes are a great place to start if you’re a beginner blogger, but they will lack some of the tools a paid theme gives you.

If you free stretched at this point, we get it. Rock a free theme for a month or so and get used to the platform.

If you have the extra $50 – $100 to invest and want to get your blog looking the way you want it to in less time with fewer headaches, then go for a paid theme.

We have a few recommendations here:

1. Divi Theme

Divi Theme is incredibly customizable and very user-friendly. It’s our #1 recommendation and what most of our new bloggers in our Launch Your Blog Course are using. You can easily customize the design of your homepage and other pages on your website and they have great customer service.

They also have a no-questions-asked, 30-day money-back guarantee so there is absolutely no risk to try it!

When you purchase Divi, you also get access to the entire Elegant Themes market, which includes over 70 other themes to choose from if you don’t end up loving Divi. This theme is quickly becoming the #1 new theme on the market for newbie bloggers!

2. Avada Theme

Avada Theme is what we personally used for the first couple of months on our blog. At the time that we used it, it had fewer customizations than it did today, and that was why we ultimately made the switch to X Theme. That being said, it has since been updated and now comes with just as many customizations of X Theme with a little less of a learning curve.

While it’s a little bit cheaper than Divi Theme, it’s just a tad bit less beginner-friendly than Divi. It’s still a GREAT theme though and is our #2 recommendation in our Launch Your Blog Course.

3. X Theme

X Theme used to be our #1 recommendation, but they have recently made some updates to the software that have made it a little less beginner-friendly than the other two. It’s still a really great theme, but there is a slightly bigger learning curve with this theme that you should be aware of.

Lastly, you can also search for free themes, but these will be very limited in what you can customize and will ultimately end up looking less-than-spectacular. It’s totally okay to start here though and then upgrade to a paid theme when you are ready!

Step #5. Build and Launch Your Blog (Important Update).

This post has been getting quite popular lately and people kept asking us for more help. They loved the walk-through but wanted to speed up the process to building and launching their blogs…

• When is the right time to launch my blog?
• How many posts do I need to start with?
• What should I start writing about and how can I improve my writing?
• How do I make my blog look as beautiful as I envision?
• Etc.

I sent out a survey and our thousands of readers were begging us to build a course on how to build and launch a successful blog FASTER.

You can absolutely build your blog on your own without our help, but the idea is to speed up the process and help you avoid the many mistakes newbie bloggers make when building their blogs!

At this point, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed, but I wanted to make sure you have every resource at your disposal.

For some of you, just start with the basics and start working through things yourself. For others, this is going to be the best resource EVER for starting a blog…

Introducing our Launch Your Blog Course! – How to Build and Launch Your Successful Blog with WordPress in 1 Month or Less, Without Any Coding or Being a Tech Wizard, Guaranteed!

It contains…

• WordPress Training
• Step-by-Step Designing Your Blog
• How to Create Beautiful Images
• How to Produce Amazing Content People Love
• Getting Started with Email Marketing
• Setting Up Social Media
• And so, so much more!

You can click here to check out the Launch Your Blog Course and get starting on the building phase! ?

Step #6. Watch This Video All The Way Through.

Listen, Lauren and I know it can be overwhelming and confusing when starting out. We were right there looking at our computers sitting in the same seat you are right now.

That’s why we made this little video to get you motivated for what being a full-time blogger can be like…

For more free blogging tips and tricks from the experts, make sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel Now scroll back up and get started!! =)

The next parts of running a successful blog are painfully obvious, but many people miss them anyway:

1. Get traffic.
2. Monetize.

Therefore, part 2 of the How to Start a Profitable Blog Series is about getting massive traffic to your blog.

Part 3 is then about how to convert that traffic and monetize the SMART way.