How to Start a Blog using WordPress and SiteGround

Do you want to start a blog using WordPress?  Have something you want to say and share with the world?

Trust me, I understand.  That’s why I started Run The Money.  With the Internet and technology the way it is today, you can start a blog using WordPress and have it up and running in less than 30 minutes.

Sound like a plan?  Great!

There are 3 areas I’ll focus on with you today and that’s the following:

1. Domain name
2. Hosting company
3. Blogging platform

We will keep things basic for all you blogging newbies and non-technical people.  Don’t get discouraged as you start a blogging on WordPress because understanding the ins and outs takes some time.  You just have to be willing to learn and put in the time.

To start a blog using WordPress, you will need a domain name.

The domain name is basically the address of the blog.  So, you type in “RunTheMoney.com” into Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Internet Explorer, and you come here to my site.

You should try picking a domain and blog topic in a high traffic niche. For some examples, be sure to check out https://diggitymarketing.com/profitable-niches/.

For your blog, I recommend keeping things simple.  Therefore, get your domain name from SiteGround and you can everything together.

Since you’re hosting with SiteGround anyway, you might as well get your domain name with them as well.  Plus, they’re one of the top hosting companies and recommended by many other bloggers.  Another host you will see mentioned a lot is Bluehost, so I wanted to be sure to mention them here.

However, I decided to go with SiteGround because of their fantastic customer support.  I had to migrate my site from GoDaddy hosting to SiteGround since they were better and cheaper.  And the customer service I was received was impeccable.  I’ll be transferring my domain name over with them soon as well.

Another great thing about SiteGround is their page loading speed and performance speed is among the top in the hosting space.  Not to mention they are one of the more safer places to house your new blog! If you want to know why they are so awesome, you can read this Siteground review.

You’ll need a hosting provider to start a blog using WordPress.

Alright, so you have your domain name.  Now it’s time to get your hosting taken care of with SiteGround.

Here are the main reasons why you should go with SiteGround (besides those already stated):

• You can get your new blog set up in just 3 clicks
• 99.99% uptime for your new blog
• User-friendly interfaces (you will understand why this is so important as you advance in the blogging world)

Plus, they have a variety of plans and all are a pretty good deal.  Check them out below.

StartUp Plan for $3.95 per month

The StartUp Plan is what I went with when transferring my hosting from GoDaddy to SiteGround.  With the StartUp Plan, you’ll have all the essentials covered as you begin your new blogging endeavor.  Per SiteGround, you “will most probably outgrow this plan if you start attracting more than 10,000 unique visits per month on a regular basis.”

Here are the features of the StartUp Plan you will care about:

• Free Website Builder
• cPanel & SSH Access
• Free Setup & Transfer
• 24/7 Technical Support
• SSD Storage
• Free Daily Backup
• 30 Days Money Back
• Unlimited Emails & DBs
• HTTP/2 Enabled Servers
• Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs
• Free Cloudflare CDN

GrowBig Plan for $5.95 per month

I like to think of this as the “GoBig or GoHome” Plan.  With the GrowBig Plan, you mean business.  You’re slated to build your empire using your brand new blog or a collection of sites.  It’s media company status for you!

With GrowBig, you get:

• Premium Priority Support
• SuperCacher for Premium Speed
• Premium Security with 30 backup copies of your site
• Unlimited Websites
• Premium WordPress & Joomla
• Premium E-Commerce

GoGeek Plan for $11.95 per month

Are you a geek?  Well, then GoGeek is the plan for you.

Here’s what SiteGround says about this plan as it’s pretty robust:

“If you have a really heavily-visited or resource-intensive website then the GoGeek plan is your best option. The GoGeek customers are hosted on instances, where fewer users share the server resources. Additionally, this plan is great for average-sized e-commerce websites because it can accommodate a much larger product line and also includes server PCI compliance!”

Let’s get the domain name hosted for your new blog using WordPress …

If you decide to keep things simple and go with the StartUp Plan, here’s what you do:

• Select the “Get Started” button under the StartUp Plan.
• Enter your desired domain

• Register your account information including your email address and password
• Fill out the client information including your name and address
• Then, complete the credit card payment section
• Finally, confirm your purchase details and click “Pay Now.”

Now, it’s time to install WordPress on your new blog.

OK folks, we are almost done.  You have your domain name.  Check.  You have your hosting for that domain name.  Check.

So, let’s get your WordPress platform set up and get you blogging my friend!  It can’t be this easy … right?  Oh, but it is!

Another great thing about SiteGround is that they are BFFs with WordPress.  In fact, WordPress officially recommends them as “one of the best and brightest WordPress hosting providers.”  Not too shabby.

Head over to your “Manage Accounts” section in your SiteGround account.  You will see “Go to cPanel.”  Click on that and you should see something similar to the following.

Now, you can see under Autoinstallers, the WordPress icon.  Click on that.  Then, hit the install button and customize your settings.  Go with “http://www.” and forget about anything with “https” for now.

Make sure you complete the Site Settings portion and change the Admin portion to something you will remember.  Write it down or put it in your phone so you don’t forget!

From there, complete the WordPress installation process and make not of your Administrative link for WordPress.  That’s where you will be able to sign into your WordPress account.  It will look something like – “http://www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin“.  The wp-admin stands for WordPress administrator.

Done and done.

Hooray!  You just learned how to start a blog using WordPress … and SiteGround.

Well, you should feel on top of the world.  You now have your own blog setup for next to nothing.

Now, it’s time to write.  Of course, that’s the easy part, right?  I’ll let you be the judge.

So, we covered getting your domain name, setting up that domain name on a hosting provider, and installing WordPress.  But, that’s just the beginning.  Come back for more blogging tutorials as we help you get a side hustle going.

What’s your blog about?  Have you ever blogged before or wrote in a journal?  Will this be a hobby or is this the beginning of your side hustle?  Tell us in the comments below.

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