Basics of Blogging

Basics of Blogging

 When we are discuss on Blogging, The first question that comes to the minds of every new blogger is – what are the basics of blogging? No newbie can proceed without understanding that. So let’s begin this step-by-step blogging guide with this question itself – what are the basics of blogging?

If you want to install a blog, you first need to have some resources. Happily, you only need a domain name and hosting.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is, in words of one syllable, the address or link to your site. It is the address of your blog that people will use to find you. Your domain name will end with a .com, .info, .org or other extensions depending on what you chose it to be when you register it at the start.

For a website to work, it needs to have a domain name. And when you are creating a new site, you first need to register a domain name for the site from one of the domain name companies out there. When you register a domain name, you will be granted the right to use it for your own blog, or sell it or pass on the ownership to anyone you want.

How it works?

When people want to visit your website, they will type your address or ‘yoursite.com’ into their browser boxes and click go.

It is in effect an IP address of a website, and when visitors type it into their browsers, they are led to the web page that the domain is connected to.

How to get a domain name?

There are a lot of domain name companies you can register a domain name with. You have to first pick a domain company and go to the website of the domain name company and check if the domain name you want is available. It will tell you if it is available automatically when you type it into the search box.

Then, if it is available, you will simply make a payment and enter your sign up details and click on the ‘Register now’ button and the domain name will be yours automatically. When you register a new domain name you have to make it short and catchy and avoid dashes as much as possible without stuffing keywords.

To mention some of the top domain name companies out there, GoDaddy and Namecheap are among the highly popular ones. Namecheap has been voted as one of the best and most popular domain companies in a lot of polls. The company also offers coupons for new domain name registrations or renewals. Though not very fast, 1&1 is also another top domain company. It offers discounts and you can register a domain name for less than $2 when you register a new domain name for the first time.

You can register an unlimited number of domain names with any of these companies.

What is Web Hosting?

Hosting is like a stock room that stores the files and everything of your site. You can simply buy hosting service from one of the top hosting companies out there and you will receive your login details in an email to log into your account and start creating and uploading files or your site.

How it works?

You will sign up with a hosting company and then upload the files and others of your site. Then your domain name and hosting will be connected with DNS (domain name servers). So every time people type your domain name or address, they will be led to your host and be able to see the site.

How to sign up?

There are a lot of web hosting companies that you can choose to setup hosting for your blog. When choosing a hosting company to buy hosting service from, you have to make sure that the hosting company offers first class customer support, and has excellent uptime guarantee, a refund policy, email forwarding or other features. Fantastico or other auto install features that will let you set up a WordPress blog automatically if you want to should also be kept in mind.

You can choose Bluehost because it has robust customer support, has Fantastico feature and it’s good for hosting WordPress sites. You will also get a free domain name along with your web hosting account. I useBluehost for this site and I also recommend it to all my clients.

After you have picked a hosting company, you will then sign up by going over to the website of the company. You will receive an email from the hosting company in which you will find your hosting account details like login username and password right after you sign up.

What are you going to do after that?

So, a domain name and a hosting account are the two things you need to setup a blog. What are you going to do after registering a domain name and signing up for a hosting account?

If you buy hosting from one company and a domain name from another company, then you will have to connect the domain name to your hosting account with DNS. You will login into your domain name account and change the DNS to that of the hosting company that you have signed up with. You can then start using and uploading files within 72 hours.

After that, you will need to install WordPress (you can read my article on how to install WordPress easily) then configure the blog. Then install a theme or edit the theme that has been installed in your blog. Also, you will have to install plugins to make your site powerful and get it up and running fast. Some of the plugins you should install on the new blog that you just created are, to mention a few, ‘All in one SEO Pack’ or ‘Yoast SEO’, ‘contact form 7’, and so on.

Free WordPress Blog Setup

If all this sounds daunting to you I have you covered up. I can set up a free WordPress Blog for you and you can start blogging right away.

Happily, you can get both, a domain name and a hosting account from one place. When you buy hosting from Bluehost you will get a free domain name. So you don’t have to register a domain name or connect DNS and wait for hours or days, and so on. You can sign up, get a free domain name and get moving.

Having covered the topic on ‘what are the basics of blogging’ let me now move on to show you how a blog is set up.