YOUR 6-MINUTE GUIDE TO START A MONEY BLOG
This 6 minutes guide will cover all aspects of creating your blog in 30 minutes. Now, I will show you all the technical steps that you have to go through to launch your blog.
- Register a domain name – This is your blog’s permanent address on the Internet.
- Purchase website hosting – This is the place to store your website data.
- Install WordPress – Best website building platform for creating your blog.
- Customize your blog – Set up your blog as you like.
- Start writing – Its easy like posting on Facebook but with more functionalities.
Now, I will discuss all of them one by one with no step skipped.
Step1: Pick A Name For Your Travel Blog
It’s your blog’s permanent address on the Internet.”
It is the domain name that you type into a browser’s address bar for visiting a website, such as Facebook or Google.
What Are the Characteristics of A Good Domain Name?
A good domain name should have the following characteristics
* Include words that tie to your topic
* Short and memorable
* Avoid hyphens and numbers
* Try to register .com if available.
Step 2: Set Up Hosting For Your Blog
What the heck is hosting? It’s not as confusing as it sounds. All websites need to “rent” space on the internet. A place to store all your blog’s data, files, and photos so that people around the world can easily access it when they type in your domain name.
In order to get you started down the right path building a brand new travel blog, I’ll be using the Bluehost hosting provider I personally recommend to make it easy.
Why Do I Recommend Bluehost for New Bloggers?
I recommend BlueHost because its
- Affordable- Its plan starts at just $3.95 per month.
- Crazy Easy- It makes setting up a new travel blog crazy easy.
- High-quality Hosting- It is the “Official” hosting provider for WordPress. Unlike other web hosts, it provides high-quality hosting.
- Free Domain (10$ Savings )- Normally, domain pricing starts from 10$/year. You have to pay for hosting too. As we have negotiated a deal with BlueHost so they are providing a FREE domain to all new accounts who purchase hosting through my link.
→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←
[Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. But I’d still recommend them even if I wasn’t!]
Now, I will guide you step by step with no step skipped so you can create your own site in 30 minutes
1. Open BlueHost
2. Choose Hosting Plan
Choose your hosting plan by clicking “Get Started Now” then choose a plan. Currently, BlueHost offers four plans
- Basic
- Plus
- Choice Plus
- Pro
If you are a starter, choose Basic Plan. It is more than enough for a starter.
3. Choose a Domain Name
As you have selected a domain name earlier, so add this domain name here so you can get it FREE then click “Next”
If you have already purchased a domain name, enter it in the second column and click “Next”
4. Enter your Account details
After you have selected domain, click “Next”, you will be asked for entering your account details comprising your first name, last name, country, street address, city, zip code, phone number, email address.
Then you will be asked to check your “Package Information” Now choose hosting duration. If you are on a tight budget, choose 12 months and uncheck package extras otherwise go for 36 months so you can enjoy massive discounts along with FREE perks.
After choosing a package, enter your payment information and check BlueHost’s Terms and Conditions box and “Submit” it.
After a successful purchase, you will be asked for creating a password for BlueHost account.
Congratulations, you have registered your domain name and purchased hosting too.
Step 3: Install WordPress on Your Web Host
After purchasing a domain and hosting, its time for website setup. Install WordPress on your hosting.
Don’t worry, its literally “1-click installation”. Here are the steps you should follow to install WordPress:
1. Log in to your hosting (BlueHost) account.
2. Go to your control panel.
3. Look for the “WordPress” under the Website category by scrolling.
4. Choose the domain where you want to install WordPress. Create Admin Username and Password which will be used for logging in your website’s backend.
5. Click the “Install Now” button and it’s done.
A Quick Tour of The WordPress Dashboard
As you have already installed WordPress, now you can access the WordPress dashboard. The WordPress dashboard is just like the control panel of your computer i.e. control center of your blog to
- Write & edit your blog posts
- Customize your blog looks i.e. Installing a theme
- Add functionality to your blog i.e. adding third-party plugins
- Moderate comments on your blog posts
- And many other important actions!
You can easily access your dashboard by adding /wp-admin to the end of your domain name (e.g. chosendomainname.com/wp-admin), then log in using Username and Password you created in the BlueHost setup wizard in the previous step.
Once you log in, you will see WordPress Dashboard like this:
These are some of the most important areas:
A – For writing, editing and managing your blog posts
B – To create pillar blog posts of any blog. Pillar blog posts are About Us, Contact Us, etc.
C – To customize your blog's looks. You can change your blog looks in seconds by installing a "theme"
D – To increase the functionality of your blog by installing third-party apps called “plugins”
STEP 4: CUSTOMIZE YOUR BLOG LOOKS BY THEMES
Themes are just like your clothing. You can upgrade your blog look by installing any free or premium theme. You can get themes from
- Official WordPress Theme Directory– It has thousands of free themes.
- ThemeForest – Popular marketplace containing thousands of premium themes.
I am not forcing you to buy a premium theme. Instead, use a free theme at the start and upgrade later as your blog grows.
I recommend Olsen Light, LoveCraft, Poseidon and Neve theme. All of these are Free.
How to Install Your New Theme
Now I will show you how to install a new theme.
- Go to Appearance → Themes in your WordPress dashboard
- Click Add New
- For free themes you found at the official WordPress theme directory, search for the theme by name and click Install. (For example, Olsen Light)
- For premium themes, click Upload Theme and upload the ZIP file of your theme
- Don't forget to click the Activate button after installing any free or premium theme.
How to Customize Your Theme
Don’t worry, you don’t have to play with coding to customize any theme. You can customize your theme by clicking Appearance → Customize in your WordPress dashboard.
Feel free to play around and get creative with all the available settings because you can’t break anything!
And don't forget to make categories by going to the "Menu" section. These categories let you distribute your blog posts in categories so anyone interested in a particular category can read blog posts of this category.
After making all changes, click the "Publish" button to apply all changes to your blog.
Tip: Don’t spend too much time looking for a theme. Choose any beautiful theme. You can change it later without deleting blog posts or any data.
STEP 5: INCREASE YOUR BLOG FUNCTIONALITY BY PLUGINS
Themes are mostly about appearance, but plugins are all about functionality. This functionality can range from adding a simple contact form to making an eCommerce store in your blog.
And, unlike themes, you can use as many plugins as you want at the same time. But I will recommend only use plugins you absolutely need.
You can find both free and premium plugins for your site at
- WordPress Plugins – Official free plugin directory with over 50,000 different plugins.
- Code Canyon – Huge marketplace for premium WordPress plugins.
Which Are the Essential Plugins for A Blog
To help you more, I have listed all the plugins that every single blogger needs. These are
- Contact Form 7 - To make contact forms
- WP Rocket - Caching and WordPress speed optimization plugin
- Yoast SEO - To achieve higher rankings in Google
- Social Snap / Social Warfare - To add social sharing features to your blog
How to Install WordPress Plugins
To install WordPress plugins:
Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress dashboard
- For free plugins you found at WordPress official Plugins directory, search for the plugin by name and click Install Now
- For premium plugins, click Upload Plugin and upload the ZIP file
- After installing a plugin, make sure to Activate it. Then, read the plugin’s instructions to learn how to use it.
STEP 6: WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR FIRST BLOG POST
Now comes the super fun part - sharing your thoughts with the world through a blog post on YOUR website.
- Go to Posts → Add New
- Write your blog post title at the top
- Now you will find Microsoft Word like editor. Write your thoughts now.
- Add Media button to upload and insert images
- Choose a category or add a new one on the right
- Click Publish when you finish.
- Congrats! you just wrote your first blog post.
Tip: Use Grammarly to correct your grammar and spelling mistakes. It will work in the background and underline mistakes as you write. Just bring your cursor on underlined words and it will show suggestions to correct it.
That’s it. You are on the right path to make money by your travel blog. Easy peasy. isn’t it?
A note on social media. Sometimes people ask me if they should start their travel blogs on Facebook or Instagram instead of having an actual website. No, I don’t recommend relying on Facebook or Instagram. You don’t have any control over those platforms, and they could easily disappear in the future.
Use social media to promote and support your
blog. Don’t build your business on a platform you have no control over, it’s just too risky.
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