How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost Step By Step

Do you want to learn how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost within minutes? If yes, we have got you covered.

Before you start building your WordPress website or blog on Bluehost we want you to understand a couple of things. These are the things you must know, before building any kind of web property online.

And they are the domain name and web hosting.

Domain Name

The domain name is the address or the name of your website. It is the URL that your visitors type in their browsers to get to your website.

For example, the domain name of this website is smartwebpreneur.com. Similarly, Google’s domain name is Google.com.

In the same way, you are going to need a domain name for your upcoming blog. We need to pay a yearly fee to register the domain name with the domain registrar. However, in this tutorial, we are going to show you how to get your domain name for free with Bluehost.

In the domain examples mentioned above, the first part is the actual domain name and the .com is the domain extension. For example, if we take FaceBook.com as an example, FaceBook is the actual domain name and the .com is the extension.

A domain name can have different extensions and .com is not the only available option. You can have .net, .org, .website etc, as extension to your domain name. You can also choose country-specific domain extensions like .in,.us,.fr, etc.

However, the .com domain extension is the oldest domain extension on the world wide web and is also the most popular one.

The Dotcom extension has become almost synonymous with websites and blogs and many people think that all the websites and blogs on the internet have a .com extension at the end of their names.

For example, if you tell someone your website’s name is ProWellnessTips, they will go to their web browsers and will most probably type in prowellnesstips.com. That’s the way the world works, at least for now.

And that’s the reason why we recommend you to choose a .com extension for your blog as much as possible. More so, if you are going to have a non-tech savvy audience. 

If your chosen .com domain name isn’t available, try to be creative. For example, if mindpower dot com isn’t available, try to get mindpowerguide dot com or mindpowerinfo dot com. I am sure you got what we are trying to say here. 

Web Hosting

Web hosting is your space on the internet where the files of your websites and blogs are stored and are made available to your audience 24×7. This is the place where your website lives.

The typical web hosting service contains these big powerful servers which are expected to be up 24×7.

If we compare your website to a house you are going to build, the domain name is the address of your house and the web hosting is the land on which you are going to build your house.

Today there are many types of web hosting plans available for you to choose from. But if you are a beginner blogger, the one that’s the most appropriate for you is the shared web hosting plan.

They are cost-effective, easy to use and quick to get started. And that is the reason why we will be using the Bluehost shared hosting plan in this ‘how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost’ tutorial.

Ok. So now that we have covered all the necessary basics of building a WordPress blog, let’s move on to the next stage and actually build your first WordPress blog on Bluehost.

This Is How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost From Scratch

Now to get started with the process of building your first WordPress site, you will need to sign up for a fresh Bluehost web hosting account. To do that, click the link below.

Now on the next page, click on the ‘Get Started’ button to start the process.

Now, on the next page, you will be shown 4 Bluehost shared hosting plans to choose from. They are the Basic plan, Plus plan, Choice Plus plan, and the Pro plan.

If you are a beginner, the Basic plan or the Plus plan should be sufficient for your web hosting needs. The Basic plan is the cheapest plan but can host only one of your websites.

So we recommend you choose the Plus plan that allows you to host unlimited websites on your Bluehost hosting account.

The ‘Plus plan’ is going to cost you $5.95 per month but has way more space and features than the starter ‘Basic plan’. Click on the ‘Learn More’ button in the ‘Plus plan’ column to proceed further.

Now on the next page, you need to choose a domain name for your WordPress blog. Type in your desired domain name in the search box and choose the extension.

It is always better to choose the .com extension for your domains because it is a popular one and is also brandable. However, there is no hard and fast rule.

Once you choose the domain name click on the ‘Next’ button. The interface will show you the success message if your chosen domain name is available.

If not, you will be shown an error message in which case you will have to choose another domain name.

Now on the next page you will have to enter your personal details like the name, email address, phone number, city, state, etc, to finish the account setup process.

You can also choose to create the Bluehost web hosting account with your Google login credentials.

Once you have entered all the credentials, scroll down to choose the hosting billing cycle and enter your payment details.

As you can see in the picture above, there are three billing cycles for you to choose from. The yearly, two-yearly and three yearly plans.

Higher the billing cycle, lower the hosting price. If you choose the 36 months billing cycle, you will have to pay $5.95 per month, for the Bluehost Plus plan.

The same will become $6.95 per month for the 24 months billing cycle and $7.95 per month for the yearly billing cycle. Choose the one that suits your budget and needs.

As you can see in the picture above there are some package extras for you to choose from, which are completely optional. If you are on a tight budget, skip these package extras for now.

Finally, enter your credit card details in the payment information section, on the billing page, below. You can also choose to pay using your PayPal account. To do that, click on the ‘More payment options’ link.

Agree to Bluehost’s terms and conditions and click the ‘Submit’ button. You have successfully signed up for the Bluehost web hosting account.

Once you finish paying for your order, you will be brought to the confirmation page where you will have to ‘set password’ for your account.

Once you finish setting your password, you will be greeted with a congratulatory message. Now click on the ‘log in’ button to continue.

Now when you click the ‘log in’ button, WordPress is going to get installed right away on your domain name.

Once the installation is complete you will be shown a bunch of themes to choose from, for your WordPress blog. This is completely optional and can be done later too.

Whatever you choose to decide, the WordPress blog setup will now be complete and you can directly login to your new WordPress blog using the ‘Start Building’ button on the next page.

When you click on the ‘Start Building’ button, you will be taken to your blog’s WordPress dashboard.

And this is where you can add your content, update your theme, add plugins, and do many more things to manage your blog effectively. This is the backend of your website or blog.

How To Install WordPress Manually On Bluehost Without the Auto Setup?

If for some reason, WordPress failed to install on your domain name after sign up or you missed the auto-setup process, here’s how to install WordPress manually on your website.

Login to your Bluehost account and click on the ‘My Sites’ tab on the left and then on the ‘create site’ button on the right.

On the next page, give your site a name and a tagline and click ‘next’, as shown in the image below.

Now on the next page, choose the domain name where you want to install WordPress, and click ‘Next’.

Congrats! You have successfully installed WordPress on your website.

How To Make Your Blog Live And Customize It?

Once you are done with installing WordPress on your domain name, your blog becomes live automatically. However, it may be showing the ‘Coming Soon’ page.

To make the blog live, click on the ‘coming soon’ tab, on the top of your dashboard and then click the ‘Launch Your Site’ button, as shown in the image below.

How To Add Content To Your Blog?

Now, we are going to show you how to start adding content to your new blog quickly. You can add content to your blog in mainly two ways.

You can either publish a ‘Page’ or a ‘Post’.

Pages are meant for those content which is likely to be static and kind of evergreen. The about me page, contact page, privacy page, disclaimer page, etc. belong to this category.

The majority of your blog content will be published in the second format, which is called the ‘post’. Posts are for your regular content. These posts will later be arranged in reverse chronological order in your blog section and will be shown to your readers.

Now, to start adding pages or posts, click on the ‘Add New’ section, under the respective category. If you want to add a ‘Post’ click on the ‘Add New’ section under the ‘Posts’ section on the left side of your WP dashboard and likewise.

Now your WYSIWYG editor will be opened.

The modern editor is called the ‘Gutenberg’ editor, which behaves like a page builder. You can add the desired blocks to the editor and add it to your article.

For example, if you want to add a headline, drag the headline block to your page/post. If you want to add an image, insert the ‘image block’, for videos, add the ‘video block’, for bullet list, add the ‘list block’, and so on.

Once you have finished adding the content, you can either save your article as a ‘Draft’ and publish it later using the ‘save draft’ button or you can immediately ‘Publish’ it, using the ‘Publish’ button.

How To Change The Theme of Your WordPress Blog on Bluehost?

The default WordPress theme that comes preinstalled with the installation of WordPress is a pretty basic theme.

Depending on your niche, for the purpose of better blog branding, you may need to choose a different WordPress theme for your blog.

There are thousands of WordPress themes available for us to choose from. Some of them are free and the others are paid.

We use the popular Astra theme for most of our blogs. It is clean, fast and works great with the popular page builders. It is offered under a Freemium model.

The basic theme is free. If you want the extended features, you will have to pay extra. Here is the download link for the Astra theme.

The other WP themes we recommend are the GeneratePress theme and Genesis themes. You can also make your own research and find the one that best suits your needs and budget.

If you have limited cash in your wallet, go for a free theme. You can upgrade it to a paid version later. By the way, even the GeneratePress theme is offered under a freemium model. This is the link for the GeneratePress theme.

Now, let’s learn how to change the WordPress theme of your blog. To do that, click on the ‘Appearance’ section on the left side of your WP dashboard and click on ‘Themes’.

Now click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Now, on the next page, you can either upload your own theme in the ZIP file format or you can browse through the hundreds of free themes that are available on WordPress and install one of them.

And that’s how to install a WordPress theme or change an existing one.

How To Add Plugins To Your WordPress Blog on Bluehost?

Plugins are software add-ons that extend the functionalities of your WordPress blog. To add a plugin, you need to follow the same process as you did in the case of WP themes.

Click on the ‘Plugins’ section on the left-hand side of the WP dashboard and click ‘Add New’. Then you need to upload your plugin file or install a free plugin from the WP plugin repository.

Like WordPress themes, even the WP plugins can be classified into free WordPress plugins and paid once.

Here are the most common plugins we use on our WordPress websites and blogs. These will definitely help you get started on the right path with your new WordPress blog.

Classic Editor Plugin

As you may already know, WordPress had a different editor in its earlier versions. This was called the ‘Classic Editor’. It was simple and powerful.

Many people still love to use this editor for writing articles and blog posts. Even we love it. And that’s the reason we install the ‘classic editor’ plugin on most of our blogs.

[However, in the coming years this plugin is going to be obsolete because the WordPress team is going to stop updating and supporting this plugin in the future.]

Akismet

Akismet checks your comments and contact form submissions against the WordPress global database of spam to protect you and your site from malicious content.

JetPack

This plugin has a lot of powerful features that include stats, monitoring your website’s uptime, security, back up, video hosting and more.

We use this plugin to automatically back up our site and also to host unlimited videos on our website without third party providers.

Yoast SEO

This is the SEO plugin that helps us with our SEO efforts. It is a very popular SEO plugin and is very easy to use. This also has a free and a paid version.

We use the paid version. You can download the free version from the WP plugin repository. It helps you to write better content and have a fully optimized WordPress site

WP Smush Pro

Smush is an image optimization plugin that helps to compress and optimize the images on your blog, for better page speeds and performances.

What we are using is the pro version or the paid version of Wp Smush. You can download and install the free version from the WP plugin repository.

Insert Header and Footer

This plugin allows you to easily add additional scripts to the header and footer section of your blog, without having to edit the original code of your theme.

This is a great way to insert Google webmaster code, Analytics code, Adsense code, etc, into the header sections of your blog.

Really Simple SSL

Really Simple SSL automatically detects your settings and configures your website to run over https. This is the plugin we use to resolve the problems of mixed content signals associated with the SSL certificate.

Most Commonly Asked Questions Regarding Bluehost Hosting

Is Bluehost A Good Web Hosting?

Bluehost is a good web hosting for beginners and intermediates. It is one of the few Webhosting companies that are recommended by WordPress itself.

Bluehost offers great web hosting packages at a very affordable price. Also, you get a free domain name when you sign up for a brand new hosting package with Bluehost.

Does Bluehost Have a Monthly Plan?

No. Bluehost currently doesn’t offer any monthly plans. You can sign up for the 12 months, 24 months or the 36 months plan.

How To Get The Lowest Price on Bluehost Hosting?

The secret is to sign up for the longest plan. Longer the duration, lower the price. But this is only advisable for those who are not planning to shift to a different web hosting plan in the near future.

If you plan to shift to a better web hosting solution on a later date, please sign up for the 12 months plan only.

Why Choose The Bluehost Hosting?

Here are our reasons why you should choose the Bluehost hosting for your first WordPress blog.

• It is one of the most affordable web hosting plans.
• You get a free domain name.
• Free SSL certificates.
• One-click WordPress install.
• Except for the basic plan, all the other plans support unlimited websites.
• 30 days money-back guarantee (at the time of writing this blog post).

That’s it for now.

We have tried to cover the most important aspects of starting a WordPress blog on Bluehost, in this guide. If you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We will be more than happy to help you out.