Hey Shouter,
Welcome to this exclusive edition of ShoutMeLoud where you will be learning how to create and setup your WordPress blog. This guide is exclusively for new bloggers who want to set up their blog on the WordPress platform.
For existing WordPress bloggers, I have also listed some pro tips that you should start implementing right now to make your WordPress blog more professional.
This WordPress guide will show you the following things:
- How to buy web-hosting and a domain name for your WordPress blog.
- Essential things to setup after installing WordPress.
- Things that you need to do immediately after the initial WordPress configuration (Step by step tutorials with pictures).
- WordPress plugins that you need to install and how to set them up.
- Pro tips to make your WordPress blog grow faster.
- Essential SEO of your WordPress blog.
You can have your WordPress blog up and running in the next 10 minutes.
Do remember, this WordPress for beginner’s guide is crafted with the utmost care and is regularly updated. You should bookmark this page for future reference. You are encouraged to browse our WordPress catalog where you can find more articles apart from what I have listed here.
Creating your WordPress blog (First step)
The first thing that you need to do in order to create a WordPress blog is to buy web-hosting and a domain name.
- Web-hosting is where your files are stored.
- The domain is the name of your blog.
You can buy hosting from Bluehost, which comes with a free domain and costs only $5.95/month for unlimited hosting space and bandwidth (with the discount link below).
This process will take 5 minutes and here is a guide to help you along the way. Click on the below link and get a hosting package now.
- Sign up for Bluehost (Exclusive discount + free domain name)
The next thing you need to do is install the WordPress blog onto your domain name. This process will take another 5-10 minutes. Below is the step by step tutorial:
Once you have your WordPress blog Installed, you need to make a few changes such as setting up permalinks, updating the ping list, setting up discussion settings, etc. Don’t worry, it’s not technical and you can quickly do it with the help of the guide below:
- Essential settings after installing WordPress blog (This should take another 10 minutes)
Good job on getting this far! Your blog is now up and running.
But before you play with more stuff, let’s quickly watch a few videos that will make you understand WordPress better.
- Free WordPress videos for beginners
- If you need more systematic video training, get it from here.
A few things to learn before moving to the next level:
Here are a few more things that you need to learn before moving to the next level. This will help you to move through everything quicker and without getting stuck anywhere in between.
WordPress For Beginners:
Use these guides as your reference:
With all of the above steps completed, you have graduated from newbie to beginner!
Alright let’s begin by installing essential WordPress plugins:
- Start from here: Useful list of WordPress plugins for a new blog
Now it’s time to pimp up your blog with some important things. Here they are:
- Burn your blog feed using Feedburner (This will allow your readers to subscribe to your blog via RSS feed or email updates.)
- Adding Google Analytics to your WordPress blog (This is important as it’s here that you will be able to see how much traffic you are getting and where it’s all coming from.)
- Set up Google tag manager (This is a little bit of a pro-tip, but you should read it and implement it right now. This will help you to manage all tags, including the Google analytics tag, from one place.)
- Update WordPress ping list (Go to this post and copy/paste the list as guided. This will help you to get more traffic to your blog.)
Beginner Tips To Blogging Like A WordPress Pro:
One of the major mistakes that many newbies make after creating a WordPress blog is they don’t bother setting up some of the things that can create a huge difference.
These few setups will help out in every aspect of your new website and each step won’t take more than 5 minutes.
In case you have any confusion, you can drop me an email at [email protected], and I will reply to your query within 24 hours.
Now it’s time to set up a few WordPress plugins that are very important:
- Activate the Akismet plugin (You will need the Akismet API key. This tutorial will help you get your free API key and teach you how to add it on your blog.)
- Install and activate WordPress SEO by Yoast (This is an amazing free plugin to make your blog SEO friendly, and this tutorial will guide you on how to set it up. This is quite easy to do and if you are stuck at any step, just drop me a comment and I will help you along the way.)
- WP Super Cache plugin (This plugin is important for making your blog load faster. Make sure you don’t use any other cache plugin with this one.)
- No self-ping WordPress plugin (Don’t ping yourself!)
- WordPress related post plugins (Use any of these plugins to add related posts with thumbnails after each individual post. This will help your readers to discover more content on your blog.)
- SocialWarfare WordPress plugin (These will help you to get more shares on social media.)
- PushEngage (Free WordPress plugin to make your blog web-push ready. Highly recommended .)
WordPress SEO: From Beginner to Intermediate Level
Welcome to the next level!
These steps are going to create the biggest difference for your WordPress blog. This section will ensure you start driving traffic to your blog & your written post will be seen by more people.
You will need about one hour to understand everything here. If you have been learning and implementing everything continuously thus far, take a break! Come back with a fresh mind as you will be learning the things that will make you stand apart from other bloggers.
- Exclusive WordPress SEO training video from WordCamp (This video will answer most of your SEO queries in the next 30 minutes.)
- A DIY guide for WordPress Blog SEO
- How to SEO optimize individual posts in WordPress
- Why & How to submit your blog sitemap to Google Search console
- How to submit your blog sitemap to Bing Search engine
WordPress Pro Tips:
As promised, here are some tips for those WordPress bloggers who have been using WordPress for a long time and want to learn some advanced tips. (You need it after 2-3 months of launching your blog)
- How to reduce database size of your WordPress blog
- Broken Link checker plugin:
- This plugin will find all broken links (internally and externally) and quickly fix them.
WordPress Security:
- Use WordFence plugin for hardening overall security
- 7 Essential WordPress security tips
- 9 steps to secure your WordPress Blog
Do let us know if you want to add any specific WordPress topics into this WordPress guide.
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Note: In the spirit of full disclosure, this is an affiliate link, which means that I may get a commission if you decide to purchase anything from any of the above-listed companies. I only recommend products & systems that I use and love myself, so I know you’ll be in good hands.