Steps to Create a New WordPress Blog
Some people love to write, they just want to express their beautiful thoughts out to the online world. Some might get a golden chance to do so and later express their experience as blissful while others just find it difficult to get started. If you are part of the latter, take heart.I have outlined a few guiding steps down below on how you can create your own account on WordPress.
What WordPress Platforms are Available?
First of all, you need to understand that there are two WordPress sites which you can use to write as a blogger. There is WordPress.com and there is WordPress.org. The two have distinct significant features that are key to note.
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1. Domain Names:-
If you were to open an account on WordPress.com, you would be given a subdomain. That means that you will be working under a bigger domain. Your blog name would look something like ‘WordPress/YourDomain.com’. That means you won’t actually own your account. If you want to, you will have to go premium with an annual subscription fee of $10 to own a domain that looks like this ‘MyDomainName.com’. Not expensive, but you will pay for it.
On the other hand, WordPress.org it gives you a domain under your own username and not a subdomain. You don’t have to make payments to get this domain. It would look like this ‘MyDomainName.org’.
2. Content Usage:-
Under WordPress.com, you lose ownership of your articles and blogs. They get town them. What’s worse, they can shut down your account anytime you want and there is nothing you will do about it. Also, there is a limit to the content you will write in it. For example, Pharmacy related content, porn, or articles about gambling are restricted. However, on WordPress.org, your content is your own.
3. Bag of limitations:-
With WordPress.com, there are key features that you miss if you create an account with them.
First is that you have only a handful of themes to choose from. WordPress.com has only given its uses about 100 themes to work one as opposed to WordPress.org which has over 1500 themes.
Second, it’s the ability to customize your account, with WordPress.com you will have a limit to the number of additional applications in case you intend to expand your blog for business purposes. You won’t have access to using apps such as GetResponse, AWeber, or Mailchimp which are actually come in handy if you want to link up your account to get email notifications.
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Also, WordPress.com has a limit to the video sizes you wish to upload to your account. They have given an alternative for which you can subscribe for $99 if you wish to expand and customize your page.
4. Public Image:-
WordPress.com is suitable for private use such as in the case of a classroom conference no doubt. But as for self-image, it reflects poorly on you as a blogger. People won’t take you seriously.
How To Create an Account with WordPress.com
Starting a blog on WordPress would only require you to log in to WordPress.com and clicking on Start then you get to set up your blog. The steps that follow thereafter will lead you to have created a successful blog that meets your set goals or otherwise a shambolic work that would obviously deter you from continuing to write further. Key steps in creating a successful blog include:
- Choosing a homepage layout
- Choosing a suitable theme
- Selecting a domain i.e. a blog address or blog name
- Picking up a plan
- Creating your account
1. Choosing A Homepage Layout:-
Selecting a suitable and homepage layout greatly depends on your line of interest or on your occupation. For example, for a photographer, a suitable layout would be: A grid of my latest post, and for one in the business field something like An online store.An appealing homepage layout is a direct personal inspiration reflecting the views of the blogger.
2. Choosing A Theme:-
This is the general appearance of your blog. You can interchange the color and pictures of its composition at any time.Picking up something similar to what you are looking for now would save you down the road. There could be suggestions put across from which you can select the appropriate color or picture.
3. Choosing A Domain, (A blog Address or Blog Name):-
Writing up a domain and it getting accepted has proven challenging to many as either the suggested username is already taken or cannot be accepted. As such, WordPress would give you suggestions to pick from that closely match to yours.
For example, keying in Lilian, Lilian23, you would find that they are all unavailable. In the end, you may end up getting suggestions that you would find awkward- Lilianweb.wordpress.com.Bear a name that reflects who you are and what you care about. Something creative that can build an identity you are excited about.Also, choose a name that is easy to remember: A name that would easily stick the minds of your readers.
Have a domain extension that is trustworthy such as ‘.com”. Domains such as “.biz” or “.rock” are less commonly known, not easy to remember and even less trusted. Remember, WordPress.com has an offer where you can choose to buy a domain name. but before you do, consider the purpose of your blog.
What blog name should I pick?
Choosing a domain name does not necessarily have to come from your name unless you ran out of ideas and names after brainstorming which is pretty much least likely to occur.The benefits of using your name in the domain of your blog will save you from being stuck into writing one topic in the long run.
4. Picking A Plan:-
On completing the above basic steps including filling in your blog name, you need to click on the “select free” button. You need not use the paid version as it is quite expensive as I mentioned earlier and does not give you much advantage. Unless you need to grow your account for business related purposes, then you can go for the premium offers available.
5. Creating Your Account:-
E-mail Address: Preferably the e-mail address that you use the most if you have several.
Username: Your username will not necessarily match with your blog name and would not really matter nonetheless. Have a desirable username but if it is not free to add some numbers until its unique.
Password: Make a strong password. Involve special characters to it like “**” or “#@)” and different numbers. This would help secure your account from hackers who have been known to break into blogs lately.
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Logging Back Into Your Blog Account
After successfully creating your blogging account, you need to verify your email address. Simply go to your email and hit on the ‘verify’ link which will appear in just a few seconds. After doing that you can then log back in freely to your account from http://wordpress.com/wp-admin.
Customizing your blog and creating your first post
After having logged back in, the WordPress dashboard is conveniently straightforward and user-friendly. The most immediate thing you would want to do is to change the design, that is, the appearance of your blog by clicking on ‘Appearance’-Themes.
As you will see, there are lots of different suggested themes to choose from just as I had indicated early. Some of them are paid, some of them are also free. I would suggest you wait on having to buy a premium theme as the prices are quite high. Start with the available free theme as a trial and see how it goes. You can also change them occasionally as you wish. I found ‘Truly Minimal” most suitable for my case and I loved it. It is clean and neat. It fits pretty well on the overall blogging environment. After selecting a theme click ‘active’ for it to apply over your page.
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Adding new pages and blog posts
Here, be accustomed to the dashboard options. For posting use ‘Post’ then click on ‘New’ and for pages use ‘Page’ and click on ‘Add new’. Briefly, in the ‘pages’ you would indicate your contact or about me location while for ‘post’ they are largely for your blogging.
To create your first blog click on the ‘Post’ then on ‘Add new’ then write down on the blank page. After you finish writing, click on “Publish” to make it like. You can add some “tags” to make it easier to find in many WordPress blogs on search engines. Sharing your new blog with your friends, colleagues and on platforms such as Twitter/Facebook would be a great way of promoting it such that it can get more traffic.
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Conclusion
Creating a blog is not that hard at all. Following the above simple guidelinesshould take you about 4 minutes and 52 seconds to create an account successfully. Here is a link of where you can create your blog on your own personal domain: https://startbloggingonline.com/
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