Buying your domain, choosing your host and your platform is as important as choosing your domain.

Now that you have chosen your preferred domain you need to choose your hosting and the platform you are going to use.  There are some things that you need to consider before choosing your hosting and platform.

 What is your plan for your blog?  If your plan is to run a business from your blog and monetize it and run ads then there are some specific considerations you should make.  

Let’s start with hosting first.

Now, I recommend Bluehost for your hosting company.  Bluehost is very affordable for the beginner blogger and they have one of the best customer service that I have found from any hosting company that I have worked with.  I have used other hosting companies and have never gotten the level of customer service I have gotten from any of the other hosting companies that I have from them.

Bluehost offers free domain name for a year. Free SSL Certificate, 1-click WordPress install and 24/7 support.  And like I said I love their support.  Things they have helped me with didn’t even have to do with hosting but they were always there to help. Things that happened because I crashed my site.  I am now an affiliate for them because I believe in their service and love them as a whole.  

Bluehost offers different price points.  As you start your blog you can begin with one of the lower-priced plans and as you grow and need more you can upgrade to different levels.  

Now getting started with Bluehost is easy.  

1.  This is the first screen that you will see when you enter the Bluehost website. To get started you click that green button that says get started.

2.  Choosing your package may seem confusing.  But I recommend that you choose the basic plan to start with.  It has everything that you will need as you just get started.  I know that when I started I didn’t want to pay a lot for something that I wasn’t sure of.  Bluehost does offer a free 30-day money back guarantee.  But you can also upgrade as you grow and want to add more sites to your profile. But you can choose any package that you would like.  

3.  This is where you will add the domain name that you have chosen.  Enter it into the first box and click next

4.  This is where you will enter your account information.  And payment.

5.  Package information.  You need to pick your term.  If just starting out and you don’t want to do long term start with the 12-month plan.  You save more with the longer plans but if you are not sure if this is something you can do (I believe in you though) you can go with the 12-month.  

Now the package extras are important.  I use all except for the Office 365.  

6.  Once you have submitted your information a screen will come up and you will set up your password.  And boom… you’re there.  You will now have your site.  But you are not there yet. If you are using Bluehost it will automatically install WordPress.

Once WordPress is installed you have to choose a theme.  WordPress has a lot of free themes.  I, however, use a premium theme and website builder called Elegant themes.  I couldn’t find a theme that looked how I wanted on any of the free or premium themes that were on WordPress.  However, if you are not comfortable building your own site,  Bluehost does have an option to have a site built and designed for you. And I also build websites for business and bloggers.

I highly recommend using WordPress.org, it is simple and easy to use and you own the website.  But, I will go into that in the next article.  

If you’re stuck on figuring out what to blog about Picking a Niche article will help.  Go over and check it out here.

And picking your website name is sometimes difficult.  Here is an article that gives you some tips and ideas on how to choose and what length is best.  Hope you enjoy.

Comment below any suggestions you may have or any questions.  I am here to help.