THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.

Need to understand the basic blogging terms like blog, WordPress, domain, web host, WordPress, content management system?  Here is an easy four step guide that takes just minutes to get your head straight so you can start a blog.   It uses the analogy of opening a physical store.

Confused about words like blog, WordPress, domain?

Don’t feel at all stupid.  I put this together after attending almost a dozen in-person WordPress 101 classes and realizing about half the class was lost as soon as the as those terms came up.  In the fourth class, I finally shakily raised my hand and offered this clarification.  While the instructor (a tech person) was a bit put-off by my analogy, many in the class told them it immediately helped them “align their brains!”

So, below is that quick way to get your brain aligned!  Take a couple of minutes to get this set in your mind. If you are a newbie, I promise it will help.  And it will make starting a blog which you can then do here (and I’ll walk you through that too).  

Starting a blog is like opening a new store

*If you have a passion, start at blog and share it!  Just click here for step by step guide.

 

*If you have a passion, start at blog and share it!  Just click here for step by step guide.

 

 

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.

I don’t understand anything about blogging

If you are interested in blogging or just want to have a basic understanding of how it works, click here first to understand basic terms and idea.

Why should you start a blog?

Everyone has a blog in them.  If you are ready to let it out,  click here  and use my step by step guide below.  If you’re not sure if you should start your blog, ask yourself a couple of questions. 

1. Has anyone has every told you that you ought to write a book about something?   
2. Do people at work, at church or in the community ask your advice on relationships, or cars, or raising kids or anything?   
3. Do your kids, nieces and nephews or grand kids love it when you tell stories about your childhood, when you were a teen or first married. 

Blogging enriches you

Even if you don’t become the next blogging superstar, you are going to get rich blogging in other ways.  When you start a blog and maintain it,  you become a better writer, communicator, photographer.   You experience places, people and problems differently.  You become more solution oriented and can advance more in your job as your visibility extends beyond the next cubicle or office.  Your brain becomes more flexible as you learn to put together your blog from a technical side.  And you exercise your creativity!

Get on with it already

If you are thinking “get on with it” because you are ready to get started,  click here and I’ll walk you though with the steps below.

It has gotten so much easier to blog

I started my blog four years ago but didn’t really spend the time or effort needed.  When I got laid off in 2016 from 36 years in media, I picked it back up.  Over those three years, it had gotten so much easier to create a blog and promote it.  I went from five posts over  three years to over 50 posts since April 2016.  I’ve also learned all kinds of digital tricks from other bloggers that have helped me create two different redesigns. 

Blogging gives your passion a focus

I’m having a blast traveling and writing about odd places, interviewing off beat people and seeing the world around me as if for the first time.  Check out my visit to the best beach town on the Gulf of Mexico or an exploration of the ghost town of Terlingua.  Because of my blog, I was fearless in going deeper into my vacation destinations.

 My former colleagues can’t  believe I don’t miss my old job.  I tell them that I have never been more energized in a career than I am in blogging.  Whether you are ending or beginning a career, a family or a new life, think about blogging as a way to give and get support.

Blog with the Best

One thing that hasn’t changed in four years.  Bluehost  still seems to be  the go-to company to start a blog.  That was the recommendation I got when I researched it exhaustively both then and now. I am that anal.

Because I was basically starting over, I spend a lot of time with tech support at Bluehost and they wonderful. I wish it was as easy to get a human to help me over the phone at my bank and my cell phone provider. 

While having a blog with Bluehost only cost a few dollars a month, you can start a blog for free with some other companies.  When I investigated that route, there were a lot of restrictions.  I felt like I’d just have to start over at some point with Bluehost.  But it is an option.

Starting your blog compared to starting an actual store

If you were like me when I started, you don’t know much about  blogging.  This quick analogy comparing setting up a blog with setting up a physical store might help give you an idea of three basic elements needed for a blog (or click here for a visual guide)

1. A business name or brand – For a blog, that’s your domain.  Mine is funkytexastraveler.com
2. An area to do business in like a mall or shopping center – For a blog, that’s your host.  As with a physical store, you want to put it in a place that people can get to, like a mall or shopping center.  My host is Bluehost
3. An actual space in the shopper center where you serve your customers  – For a blog, that’s your content management system that decorates your store, stocks it with merchandise, cash registers, etc.  My CMS is WordPress.

The big difference is how quickly and cheaply you can start a blog.  Minutes as opposed to months and between $4-$7 per month.  And there is a money back guarantee if you decide this isn’t for you. 

Preparing to start your blog

Here’s a step-by-step guide to start your blog.  Allow twenty minutes to complete your initial set-up if you have your name already in mind.  Even if you don’t, you can get started with one domain name and later register another domain name for less than $20/year.

There’s really nothing holding you back.  Let your blog out and get started.  Email me at linda@funkytexastraveler.com if I can help.  Or have the Bluehost tech folks on speed dial like I do – 844-213-7846.

Blog set-up steps

Right click here and open in a new tab make it easy to go back and forth between my instructions and the Bluehost site.  I’ve drawn yellow circles where you need to click.   Or watch this video to get an overview before you start.

On Bluehost Screen 1 – click in yellow circle

Screen 2  – Click in the circle.  The details about what  you want will come up in a few more screens

Screen 3 –  This is the exciting screen where you name your blog.  Type in the name you want and it will show you if it is available.  Sometimes you have to get creative but it is fun to see what you come up with!  Try to get a .com domain if at all possible. 

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