How To Start A Blog: Hosting Your Blog

How To Start A Blog: Hosting Your Blog

How To Start A Blog: Hosting Your Blog

Yeah! You’re moving along in this process and doing great at it! If you’re joining me again today, it’s cause you’re interested in starting your own blog. You’ve thought about it, you’ve stalled, and now you’re ready to join the movement! Ready to be a leader? Well sure you are…we all have it in us.

YOU'VE THOUGHT.YOU'VE STALLED.NOW YOU'RE (1), How To Start A Blog: Hosting Your Blog

This post is a continuation from our new series – How To Start A Blog.  This series is for the person who has always followed blogs but has been intimidated by the process of starting their own. I have so much to say about this topic, so I’ve split each task into manageable steps. If you work on one step at a time, you won’t be overwhelmed. You will also make the right decisions for your blog and you. Each week, I’ll be sharing a new step, and I’d be happy to learn about your progress along the way. Got a topic to write about?! Picked a name that represents your brand?! Proud owner of your own domain name? Look at you getting all technical. This next step is going to take a little while but I need you to hang in there.  You’re getting very close to writing your very first blog post.

Purchase your own hosting account. 

Did I lose you with the hosting jargon? Hosting is the little, bitty space where your blog information (content, images, files, etc.) are stored on a server (computer) somewhere. So, you pay a hosting provider to rent space on their server to store your wonderful blog. Your hosting account is also where your domain name and actual blog meet up.  Hosting is essentially the powerhouse for everything regarding your blog. Sweet isn’t it?!

So maybe you’re thinking, I thought I could setup a blog for free? And yes, you can setup a blog for free. However, I feel it’s important that you be in total control of your blog and owning your own domain and hosting your own blog is important for doing that. Yes, there is an option to let WordPress or other blogging platforms host your blog for free. If we let WordPress (our blogging platform for this blog) host our own our blog, the url would read “www.thehollidaysathome.wordpress.com” instead of “www.thehollidaysathome.com”. This is one of the big things you’ll notice if you don’t host your blog. Your blog name is part of a sub domain when it’s not self-hosted.

If you really want to give this a good shot, it’s better to go a step further and get your own brand. You will be completely in charge of it, and it’s all yours.  All your content, images, files, and hard work belong to you. To self-host your own blog can cost anywhere from $4/month to several hundred or even thousands of dollars for companies. Since you’re just getting started with a small space on the internet and don’t have a lot of web traffic, it won’t cost you much. This series is to help you not only start a blog but eventually grow it into something bigger. Start off the right way. Buy your own domain name and hosting account. Let them meet up and now you are on your way to curating your own brand.

For blogging purposes only, here are the hosting providers that we support and believe in: GoDaddy, Bluehost and WP Engine.  I love savings and right now, WP Engine is offering 40% off  any new annual plans. For a beginner, this is just the tip of getting started with hosting. I’m confident that one of the 3 providers I provided are the easiest and have great support teams. Pick the one that you like best and get started. You’ll need to pick a blogging platform in order to completely setup your hosting account. Stay tuned for the next post on help with the platform that is the easiest for blogging purposes. You’re about to connect everything technical and start writing. Come back next week for more detailed help with this step.

As always, if you are intimidated at any point during this process, please contact me. I’d be happy to walk you through any of the steps up until now. Email me or message me on Facebook. Remember, you’ve thought, you’ve stalled, but now you’re ready. 

-Crystal 

WP Engine Managed WordPress Hosting

 

 

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