The Ridiculously Simple Guide to Starting a Blog
Do you want your own web site? Do you want it cheap? Of course you do.
Here’s the easy way to start your own web site for under $200:
1. Get a Web Host
This is where the $200 comes in. The money is for two years of hosting. It’s an up-front cost and is the cheapest option. You can always do a month-to-month plan, but it comes out a little more in the end.
I use DreamHost for all my hosting needs, and so far they have been great. They are cheap, reliable, and hilarious. Take this excerpt from one of their official newsletters:
One thing we do value over here in Japan, is honor. Another thing is loyalty. Let’s get back to this honor thing, because it just reminded me of an old dirty joke very popular in Kansai; “She offered her honor. He honored her offer. And all night long, honor, offer, honor, offer.”
Official DreamHost Newsletter
Now that’s the kind of company I like doing business with. One that’s not afraid to send dirty jokes to their entire customer base. And this one was pretty tame compared to some of the others.
Seriously though, they are a great hosting company and I definitely recommend them. I also recommend you click this link to sign up with DreamHost. That way I get some money.
Nothing beats brutal honesty…
Except brutal discounts! Put in ELEMENTALFOCUS in the promo-code box for $10 off any hosting plan. And at $7.95 per month, that’s like a month and a half of free hosting!
The next step is actually part of the first step if you go with DreamHost.
2. Get a Domain Name
This can be tricky, but if you followed my advice in number 1, it will be free. Forever.
When you sign up at DreamHost you will get a free domain name for as long as you are with them. Now I’m no financial expert - I leave that to my wife - but by my calculations, free = good deal.
The tricky part of getting a domain name is finding one that isn’t already taken. DreamHost doesn’t do much in the way of helping you either. They simply say “yeah” or “nay” when you type in a domain name. A good way to go about finding a domain name is to use GoDaddy.com. They have some pretty cool tools for finding an unregistered domain name.
Just don’t register your domain with them!
You can use GoDaddy to find the domain name, then head back over to DreamHost and register it when you sign up for hosting.
Are you signed up yet? If so, continue and
3. Install WordPress
Once again, if you followed my advice in number 1, this will be easy. DreamHost has a handy little one-click install of WordPress. If you’re not familiar with WordPress, it is basically a blogging platform that requires no knowledge of HTML. WordPress makes owning a blog easy. For more info, you can visit www.wordpress.com.
To install WordPress:
- Go to panel.dreamhost.com
- Navigate to Goodies -> One-click Installs.
- Choose WordPress under “What software would you like to install?“.
- Make sure your domain name is in “Install to:” - which it will be if you only own one domain.
- Under “Select a database to use:” choose ”Create a new database now“.
- Name your new database whatever you want. I recommend something with “db” in the name.
- Under “Use existing hostname:” choose “Create a new hostname now“.
- Under “Create a new hostname:” put in what you want the web address of your database management tool to be. I recommend using the same name as the database.
- Under “First User:” choose “Create a new user now“.
- Create a username and password.
- Click the big Install it for me now! button
- You will get an email with instructions on finishing the install. Basically you just have to set a password, and the email will tell you where to go to do it.
Once you’ve completed the above steps, you can
4. Choose Your WordPress Theme
Your WordPress blog’s appearance can be customized with themes. When you use DreamHost’s one-click install you get about fifty different themes to choose from. Now you can make your site look pretty.
To choose your WordPress theme:
- Navigate to your WordPress dashboard at www.<your domain name>.com/wp-admin
- Log in to your dashboard.
- Click on “Presentation“
- Click on whatever theme you want.
- Presto! You have a sexy new blog!
And now the most important step,
