Hello there, you lovely creative soul! Are you here because you finally decided it’s about time you start a blog?! But you don’t know how?

I sense with all my senses that you’ve been up all night trying to find the last pieces of all the puzzles this almost to begin journey has sent your way. Am I right?

Ok, look, I got you covered. Because…

That day I finally decided to turn my passion into a full-time job, I was INSECURE, even about the little things. I spent nearly thousands of nights watching educative YouTube videos that were supposed to teach me where to start.

Some told me it’s an easy path but haven’t shown anything. The others were like: “oh, you gotta work hard, investigate harder and believe in yourself”.

If you ask me, they all were wrong. It’s a nightmare of throwing terrors about whether you’re good enough to “write out loud”. Or it’s a “time to say what I mean” to others.

However, we all are worth the puzzle. We all are worth solving it if we always had that tiny bit of writing gene.

Now, hold on tight. It’s about time you learn how to start a blog for only $2.95 without spending a dime on courses and hours on trying and trying and trying. 😉

Is blogging for you?

Yep, I know that you’ve probably figured this all out, but just in case we’re sure you should continue giving your precious time to this blog post, let’s do a quick quiz.

If you give me more than 3 YES out of 7 questions, then you’re about to make this a business.

1 You have the writing gene. 

Or you’re good at taking photographs or at graphic design. There are a lot of successful blogs out there that either blog about those specific things or sell items.

2 Working from home sounds comfortable to you. 

Except for the fun and educational events that bloggers and influencers usually go to, you’ll do most of your job at home. Tbh with you, I opened this blog for the sake of becoming a stay-at-home business mom. 🙂 

3 You’re ready to treat it as a business.

Unless you’re doing it for a hobby. But why would you if you could make $$$ with it?!

4 Learning new skills doesn’t frighten you. 

In the first year of MY blogging journey, my writing skills were not in such a happy place as they are today. I took a short SEO writing course and an affiliate marketing course and learned graphic design and photography basics. I wasn’t as good at marketing my business either! However, here I am today with my full-time business blog.

5 Sharing is caring sounds like a lot of fun (or even little).

If you’re a bit like me, I’m sure you won’t get delighted when people start talking about your new career, and you probably won’t get comfortable sharing your thoughts either. But even for a second, if you see yourself satisfied that people are sharing your content, approving it and learning from it, then hesitate no more. You gotta start a blog today.

6 You’re ready to go on.

The month I started blogging, our city’s public newspapers published an article about my new career, and people threw rocks at it. Whilst I was desperate, I knew I had to go on with what I started. Everyone who dislikes the good or creative work someone puts his best energy into is up to no good. And not worth our time.

7 You are ready to invest $2.95. 

Yep, you’ve heard me right! That’s all it takes to start a successful blog if you sign up through my link right here. Let’s be real, your girls’ night out and a coffee date cost a lot more sometimes. 😉

How to start a blog today?

Hopefully, I encouraged you enough, so let’s get right to the point now. Here’s the step-by-step guide to follow to start a blog and make it a business.

Before we begin, keep in mind there’s no strategy that good that can teach you to open a successful blog in 15 minutes and right away. Don’t trust it. It takes a lot of effort and a bit more time.

Let’s finally get this going! Here are the 6 steps to starting a blog.

1 Determine your niche & your audience.

2 Pick a domain name.

3 Choose a blogging platform.

4 Choose your host.

5 Start a blog and log in.

6 Pick a theme.

You don’t start a blog and then figure out what to blog. It doesn’t naturally come to you after you set up your pretty new blog. Whilst you surely don’t need to be tech-savvy to start a blog, you must find your passions. Why? When you talk about what you love, people buy the idea.

So, don’t open a blog named AllThingsYoga (because yoga is a popular topic) if you are not passionate about yoga. People will never trust your brand.

They won’t buy things from you, they won’t click your links, and they won’t come back to your blog. That may result in you wanting to change the niche of your blog. However, there’s no option to change a domain name. Of course, you can always start new. But your precious time is golden!

You should think as if you were your audience. For instance, my blog’s about highly-sensitive children’s parenting, Montessori discipline and mom’s success. So, at my very beginning, I asked myself ONE CRUCIAL QUESTION that every newbie blogger should ask: 

What problem can I solve?

With this being a crazy world, I thought none of the moms would come to my blog just for fun. Ideally, they would come to my blog to find things that basically all fall under one main category: healthy and happy parenting and life.

You shouldn’t also split too much. You can be a lifestyle blogger like me (except I’m a mom lifestyle blogger, so that’s a bit wider), but you cannot talk about debit cards and food recipes on the same blog. That just doesn’t sound catchy to anyone.

This would probably take most of your time now. Anyhow, I can help a little bit. 
Your blog’s name should be three things:
1 it should have a story;
2 it should point to what’s the blog about;
3 it should be easy to remember.

Mommysup means two things: mom is up (because that’s my natural state of life nowadays, always up and running) and mommy sup (what’s up mommy, where I directly tell that I care about you, mom, doing a great job raising that special little one).

Also, the “mommy” prefix does give an idea of what the readers would find. However, I did it all wrong with memorising, which I don’t suggest you do (it should be sweet and quick). I’m aware people don’t know how to read it, but luckily, nowadays, after five years of work, I kinda forced people to memorise it, LOL!

You can check the availability of domain here!

I’m so sorry to say, but this is where we go into the tech zone. Anyhow, I won’t let you drown in your sorrows because I wasn’t tech-savvy when I started either.

But I just went for it. Happy to say that I’ve learned the basics of WordPress (which is my chosen platform) within a month.

Happier to say, as well, that I have a quick BUT full step-by-step guide for you right here, which will help you learn the basics of WordPress Dashboard in little time.

When you get familiar with it, if you start right, you’ll look at your WordPress Dashboard as a home for all your creative thoughts and business. It looks a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but after a few days, you’ll see the clear picture! 

You should know this too. There are two versions of WordPress: hosted (WordPress. com) and self-hosted (WordPress. org).

Self-hosted blogs are not free (but not expensive either, as mentioned earlier, you can get the hosting with this price of $2.95/month through my link), and they don’t limit any of the tools you need.

Also, there are other platforms: Blogger, Blogspot, Wix etc. But I am not suitable for giving you advice on each of those platforms since I have poor knowledge. I suppose they are OK for a hobby blog, but I must admit that sometimes when having a bad day, I dislike reading blogs on Blogger since they look a bit messy.

Hosting is a service that allows you to post a website on the internet, basically a home for your blog. Like platforms, there are also many hosting providers. 

I’ve spent a lot of time digging for knowledge before starting Mommysup. I’ve gained useful experience over the past 5 years IN blogging. And I have met so many successful bloggers.

Not all, but most of them have decided to start a blog on WordPress through a 1-click-install with Bluehost.

I also, probably, never will be the one to write the pros and cons between the two or more hosts since I never regretted my decision. But to help you get the idea of why Bluehost is powering over 2 million blogs, here are some quick facts.

Here are the TOP 5 REASONS why I think everyone should start a blog on WordPress with Bluehost.

1 It’s inexpensive, $2.95/month, AND you get a free domain during your first year, to help yourself through the process as easier possible, which usually costs $15. 

2 Easy to use: 1-click-install for your WordPress.org website for free (meaning: they automatically install WordPress for you and using paid WordPress version is completely free if you decide to go with Bluehost since they are partners). 

3 You’ll be able to choose any theme from any marketplace you like and set up each area of your website however you like! 

4 They don’t set any rules on how you choose to monetize your blog.

5 24/7 free support for everyone on whichever topic causes you issues! And 30-day money-back guarantee!

LET’S GET STARTED NOW! 

1 Getting started. 

This is going to be a long and detailed guide, but I’ll explain each of the steps briefly.

Once you’ve made sure that a domain name you want is available (if not, check the availability here), go to Bluehost.com. 

Click on the blue ‘host your site’ button, as shown in the image below (but make sure to enter Bluehost through my link above to get all the advantages). 

2 Pick a plan.

I spent the whole night trying to figure out this step (sigh)! 

But please don’t get yourself to fall into the same trap as I did. The basic plan would be more than ok for your first three years of blogging (the $2.95 price is if you choose a 3-year-plan, but don’t worry, you can change it anytime)!

The basic plan offers a free domain and hosting, enough memory for everything your new blog will probably need and 5 email accounts.

You see what I mean now?! Ok, so select the ‘basic plan’ now.

3 Create your free domain name.

Assuming that you don’t already own a domain name, then write it under the ‘new domain section’.

Or do it vice versa if you already bought it somewhere else.

You can also choose one later by clicking the blue text below, if you’re not ready to think of a great one yet.

The next thing you’ll see after registering your domain is account information. Fill in the details, and choose the length of your hosting plan (12-month price/36-month price). I recommend you uncheck everything except domain privacy if you don’t want your personal details to show publicly.

4 Payment and Billing Information

Once you are here, fill in the billing info, choose your payment method, check your shopping cart once again, and read the T&C of Bluehost. Click the “Submit” button.

5 Choose a password and log in to your account.

After this step, the sanity’s almost over. I mean: you’ll have the blog. Bluehost will install WordPress for you (YAY, RIGHT), so the only thing you’ll have to do is log in!

There’s still a lot of work to do, and I know you probably want to sleep right now. And it’s ok, so go and sleep because we’ll continue later (you may want to pin the graphic at the end of the post, so we don’t bully your busy bookmarks ;).

Oh, but if you decided to grab another cup of coffee, let’s do the fun step now! 

As soon as you log in, you’ll be able to pick a theme. I will encourage you to go for any of the free themes you find interesting enough. You’ll be able to change the theme through your Dashboard/Appearance/Themes any time later! 

So, pick any theme for now. Let’s finish with this ‘start a blog’ drama once and for all. After choosing a theme, Bluehost will take you to the next step again, where you’ll only have to click the ‘start building’ button. 

Now, here is your WordPress Dashboard. Go to Appearance/Themes and click ‘add new theme’. There are plenty of gorgeous free themes to choose from there!

– Related: 10 Most Gorgeous WordPress Feminine Themes –

Always preview before you install it to the dashboard, and always click on live preview before you activate it for your website. Here are some free themes I’d recommend: Blogzine, Serenti, Olsen and Shutter Up. 

If you decide to start with a professional theme straight away, here are also some pretty themes I’d recommend.

1 Hello Foxy Theme ($59) – lifestyle blogging or beauty bloggers

2 Hello Beaches ($65) – for travel bloggers

3 Hello And Team ($65) – perfect for fitness enthusiasts or business coaches

The first three themes mentioned require that you install Genesis Framework (it costs $59.95). Otherwise, the theme won’t work. Some themes are ‘child themes’ in Genesis.

And about the logo, it also costs $50 for these themes. However, I don’t recommend that logo because many bloggers use it. You can either make a logo using Canva or hire a graphic designer on Fiver or 99designs.

4 Cressida Pro ($35) – for fashion and beauty bloggers

5 Juliet Pro ($35) – one of the best themes for lifestyle bloggers

Don’t forget to create a logo straight away. The logo will brand your blog. It’s as important as the roof is important to the house.

Aaaaand… You’re finally done!

Congratulations, you’ve created your WordPress blog today! But don’t stop there. There’s still more to do, hope you’re excited!

Head over to the WordPress Dashboard blog post to learn about creating pages, menus, categories, writing posts and the look of your homepage. You’ll learn what to do next there, so don’t waste your time!

– The Ultimate Guide To WordPress Dashboard –

Voila! There’s your new money-making machine! Don’t forget to share the image or save it for later! Cya

updated: April 2022