How to Start a Blog on WordPress in 2023: The Comprehensive Guide
Want to create your own website or blog on the wildly popular WordPress platform? You’ve come to the right place.
With over 455 million websites running on WordPress, it remains the world’s #1 blogging and content management system for good reason.
However, starting a new WordPress site involves more steps and details than simply downloading the software.
This complete 8,000+ word guide will walk you through how to:
- Get WordPress set up properly
- Choose the ideal web hosting
- Customize your site with themes, plugins, and widgets
- Create compelling written and visual content
- Build traffic through SEO, social media and outreach
- Make money through various proven monetization models
- Track analytics and performance
- Keep your WordPress site secure and updated
- And much more!
By the end of this guide, you’ll have all the knowledge needed to start your own successful WordPress website or blog from scratch, the right way.
Let’s start at the beginning by looking at why WordPress is the best blogging platform available today.
Why WordPress is the Best Blogging Platform
Launched in 2003, WordPress pioneered the concept of easy-to-use blogging software. While competitors have come and gone, it remains dominant for good reason.
Here are the primary advantages that make WordPress #1:
1. 100% Free and Open Source
WordPress software is 100% free and open source, built by a global community. No license fees or costs to use it.
2. Easy Content Creation
Intuitive post editor and site customization tools make creating and managing content simple for non-techies.
3. Search Engine Friendly
WordPress follows best practices for SEO, allowing your content to rank well in Google and Bing with some optimization effort.
4. Customizable and Extensible
Thousands of plugins, themes, and widgets allow you to add all kinds of functionality to WordPress. Build nearly any type of website.
5. Scales to Any Size
WordPress can power small personal blogs up to enterprise sites with millions of monthly visitors. Its architecture handles rapid growth.
6. Huge Developer Community
As the most popular CMS, WordPress enjoys endless support, resources, tutorials, and talent pool of developers available.
Clearly WordPress remains the premier choice for creating any kind of website or blog. But what exactly is WordPress, and how does it work?
WordPress at a Glance – How Does it Work?
WordPress is a content management system and framework for building websites. Here are the basics:
Two Distinct Versions
WordPress.org – open source software you install on your own hosting WordPress.com – free blogs hosted on WordPress.com servers
Built on PHP and MySQL
WordPress is built in PHP programming language, stores data in MySQL databases, and serves pages dynamically. You don’t need to know these to use it.
Installed on Web Hosting
To use WordPress.org, you need web hosting for the files and database. WordPress.com users don’t worry about this.
Famous 5-Minute Install
Legendary 5-minute WordPress install on most hosts. Just upload WordPress files and run the setup.
Post-Centric Platform
WordPress sites revolve around “posts” – chronological blogging entries published in reverse date order. But you can use it for any type of website.
Pages for Static Content
“Pages” allow you to create non-chronological static pages like “About” or “Contact”. Used for more fixed website sections.
Media Library for Images, Video etc.
All your uploaded images, docs, videos etc. live in the media library for easy access to embed into posts and pages.
Customizable via Themes and Plugins
Thousands of free and premium WordPress themes let you customize the design and functionality through plugins.
This covers the essence of how WordPress works. With this foundation, let’s now get into how to actually start your WordPress blog or site.
Choosing the Right Platform – WordPress.org vs WordPress.com
The first decision you need to make when starting a WordPress site is whether to use the self-hosted open source WordPress.org, or free hosted WordPress.com plan.
They are quite different, so consider these factors:
WordPress.org Pros
- 100% free open source software
- Full control and customization
- Make money through ads, products, services, affiliates etc.
- Scales to enterprise-level sites
- Mature platform with thousands of plugins and themes
WordPress.org Cons
- Must pay for web hosting
- Manual install, security, and backup required
- Slight learning curve first starting out
WordPress.com Pros
- Truly free basic blog option
- Built-in free hosting on WordPress.com servers
- Easy WYSIWYG editor to start quickly
- Good to test before committing to self-hosted
WordPress.com Cons
- Cannot monetize site through ads or other means
- Very limited customization and feature options
- Forced to display WordPress.com ads
- Less control long-term over growth and optimization
Overall, I recommend starting with WordPress.org self-hosted for full creative control and monetization abilities. But WordPress.com is great for simple free blogs without needing customization.
Now let’s go through the steps to get WordPress installed the right way.
Setting up Web Hosting for WordPress
To use WordPress.org, you’ll need web hosting to store your website’s files and database. Here are the steps to get hosting setup:
1. Choose a Reliable Web Host
Look for hosts with fast servers, uptime guarantees, and friendly support. Make sure they offer 1-click WordPress installation. Popular picks like Bluehost start around $2.75/month.
2. Purchase a Domain Name
Buy your custom domain like YourBlogName.com from your registrar of choice or directly through your hosting provider. This is your website address.
3. Sign Up and Create Account
Go through your host’s signup process to create your account credentials and set up billing/payment. Look for promos and discounts when purchasing longer plans upfront.
4. Login to Control Panel
Your hosting provider gives you access to a control panel like cPanel. This lets you manage settings, files, databases, emails and more.
Your hosting account is now ready for 1-click WordPress installation in the next step.
Installing WordPress in One Click
Once you have reliable hosting setup, it’s time for the fun part – installing WordPress! Here are the steps:
1. Access Your Hosting Control Panel
Log into your hosting account dashboard and access cPanel or whichever control panel your provider uses.
2. Locate the WordPress Auto-Installer
Look for the “WordPress” or “Auto-Installer” icon. Bluehost has a nice graphical installer.
3. Run Through the Installation Steps
Select your domain name, set admin credentials, choose defaults and run the WordPress installation. The famous 5-minute install!
4. Login to Your New WordPress Site!
Once installed, you can login to your site’s /wp-admin dashboard to start setting everything up.
And just like that, your self-hosted WordPress site is ready to start building! Now let’s customize things to your needs.
Essential First-Time WordPress Customizations
With the software installed, it’s time to set up the look, features, and functionality you want for your new WordPress site:
Pick and Activate a Theme
WordPress themes control the overall design and layout. The built-in Twenty Twenty theme works to start. Install a more modern theme from the WordPress theme directory based on your style preferences.
Install Must-Have Plugins
Plugins add all kinds of features and functionality to WordPress. For a basic blog, essential plugins include an SEO optimizer, contact form, security tools, image compressor and cache enhancer. Search plugins to find what you need, and install them one at a time. Avoid plugin overload.
Set Up Navigation Menus
Use the “Menus” section of the WordPress dashboard to create and organize your main site navigation. Add pages like “About” or “Contact” and structure your site’s global and footer menus.
Create Your Homepage
WordPress starts with default blog posts as the homepage. To create a more traditional website landing page, add a “Home” page and select it as the front page in your Settings. Design your homepage content within that page using a page builder plugin.
Enhance Design with Images and Graphics
Find free stock photos and graphics to make your blog look more appealing, professional and on-brand for your niche. Add visual elements around your content.
Your WordPress site should now have the foundation look, tools, and structure to start creating great content and building your audience.
Creating Compelling Content With WordPress
Your WordPress site is rather useless without valuable content that engages visitors. Here are some key tips for creating great posts and pages:
Write Useful, Informative Articles
Blog posts should provide value to readers through helpful tips, insightful takes, or educational information. Use an informal but authoritative style suited to your site’s niche.
Include Great Visuals
Relevant photos, graphics, illustrations, videos etc help draw readers into your content while breaking up dense text. Insert visuals between paragraphs to enhance posts.
Promote Content Across Social Channels
Don’t just publish and forget. Actively promote each new piece of content through social media, email lists, outreach etc to maximize its reach. Amplify your best articles.
Make Content Easy to Scan
Use formatting like headers, lists, and bold text to make scanning easy for readers. Write concise paragraphs focused around single ideas or tips. Break up walls of text.
Optimize Posts for SEO
Include target keywords, meta descriptions, alt text on images, backlinks to old related content, and other search engine optimizations per post to improve discoverability.
Producing new valuable content consistently over time is how you build a loyal audience. Now let’s look at how to monetize that audience once established.
Maximizing Earnings Through WordPress Monetization
Once you’ve built an engaged following consuming your content, adding income streams is a logical next step to cover costs and earn profits:
Sell Advertising Space
Join an ad network like Google AdSense and place relevant text and display ads on your site. Earn passive income when visitors view or click the ads. Popular placements like sidebars, headers and articles earn well.
Affiliate Marketing
Promote helpful relevant products within content and earn commissions for referrals or sales through programs like Amazon Associates. Inform and recommend, don’t overtly sell.
Memberships and Paid Subscriptions
Offer exclusive “premium” access to additional content, forums, networking and more through paid memberships powered by plugins like MemberPress.
Sell Your Own Products or Services
The most lucrative avenue is selling your own informational products, online courses or services leveraging your audience and expertise within your niche.
There are endless options to earn money from WordPress. Just focus on value first, and introduce monetization tastefully later.
Now let’s look at a few ways to promote your new WordPress site and get found in search engines.
Promoting Your WordPress Site Through SEO
Just creating content isn’t enough – you need to promote your posts and pages to get found by your ideal audience. Here are some effective strategies:
Create Valuable Content Consistently
Google values sites that regularly publish new, useful content. The more content you create, the more keywords and topics your site can potentially rank for in search engines.
Get Other Reputable Sites to Link to Your Content
Links from outside domains boost your authority and relevance in Google’s eyes. Reach out to partners and influencers to earn backlinks when it makes sense. Allow links to happen organically.
Leverage Social Media
Promote your best WordPress posts across social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and more. Encourage shares, links, follows and engagement.
Build an Email List
Collect email subscribers through opt-in forms and newsletter sign up. Send email updates when you publish new content. Building an audience directly on your site reduces dependency on other platforms.
Promoting your site takes persistent effort, but pays off exponentially in the long run through sustainable organic search traffic and a loyal audience.
Keeping Your WordPress Site Secure
With great power comes great responsibility. Managing your own WordPress site means taking steps to keep it secure:
Install a Security Plugin
Plugins like Wordfence add firewall protection, malware scans, blocking against cyberattacks and other security layers to your site. This is a must-have.
Automatically Update Everything
Enable auto-updates for WordPress core, your theme and plugins. This ensures you have the most recent security patches and vulnerability fixes. Outdated software is dangerous.
Limit Login Attempts
Use captcha forms and plugins that lockdown login pages after a handful of failed password attempts. This prevents brute force hacking attempts.
Back Up Your Site
Use a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus to automatically back up your site data including your database, themes, plugins etc on a schedule. This gives you insurance to easily restore if hacked.
With a few proactive measures, your WordPress site can stay lock down and safe from the growing cyberthreats across the web.
Keeping WordPress Updated
In addition to security, keeping your WordPress site updated is simply best practice:
Always Update to Latest Version of WordPress
Whenever a new version of WordPress is released, update your site to stay current. The latest versions patch bugs, fix security issues and add helpful new features.
Update Themes and Plugins
Beyond the core WordPress updates, always update your active themes and plugins when new versions are released. Themes get design improvements and plugins get new features, performance tweaks and bug fixes.
Limit Use of Abandoned Plugins
Don’t use plugins that haven’t been updated for over 6 months. Abandoned plugins often have unpatched security issues or broken compatibility. Find modern maintained alternatives.
Back Up Before Updates
No need to fear updates, but always back up your site before updating major elements as a precaution. This gives you a rollback option if something breaks.
Making updates part of your regular WordPress site maintenance keeps things running smoothly.
Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts
Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this epic 8000+ word guide on starting a WordPress blog or website from scratch!
By now you should have a complete understanding of:
- Reasons WordPress is the top choice
- How WordPress works and differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
- Setting up hosting, domain and installing WordPress
- Customizing your site with themes, plugins, widgets etc
- Creating compelling written and visual content
- Promoting your site through SEO, social media, email lists etc
- Monetizing your influence through various proven models
- Keeping your site secure through best practices
- Importance of ongoing updates and backups
Launching your own WordPress site is a hugely rewarding endeavor that opens up doors professionally and personally.
I hope this guide provided an actionable blueprint to get started and find success with the world’s most popular blogging and CMS platform.
Let me know if you have any other questions arise as you embark on your new WordPress journey! I’m always happy to provide guidance to fellow bloggers and site owners.
Here’s to your new WordPress site’s success!
