It’s not a secret that WordPress, the self-hosted software lets you create a powerful blog with your own domain name and without worrying about the ownership of the site. You will own your blog at 100% because you have the best blogging and CMS software that is installed on the server.
This step by step tutorial will show you how to create a WordPress blog with your own domain name in a few minutes, and without the need for any technical knowledge.
Just follow these easy steps and you will be a blogger in the next few hours. As I said many times in the WordPress topics, WordPress is my only recommend blogging platform to use. And, that’s for many reasons, including the simplicity and the friendly interface.
But also, people love WordPress for its power to create any website or blog niches that you can imagine. With a few clicks, you can create a complete platform that lets you blog, and introduce yourself to over 2 billion people who use the web these days.
To create a WordPress blog with your custom domain name, you have two options:
- Getting a free domain name from Bluehost when you host your blog with them and run it at maximum security and speed.
- Or, you can use your actual domain name if you have one, and you really want to use it. Bluehost lets you install your blog with your domain name, and all you have to do is to point your name servers to your new hosting account. I’ll show you how to do that step by step later.
Now, you knew that in both, two cases, you will install WordPress and the main reason that I recommend Bluehost, is that they are the only secure and safe hosting provider I’ve tried. Furthermore, they have great auto-installer software for WordPress and all the other applications. That makes things easy and professional with a well-configured setup and installation.
At the same time, they offer a discount and you can save money today, and get a free domain name that comes with free privacy protection (it cost $12 normally, but it’s free) with up to $200 in free advertising credits with Google and Facebook offers.
The free credits depend on your plan, the longer plan you select, the lowest price you pay, and the more free Google advertising credits you get. To be honest with you, no other web hosting offers all that.
But wait, Bluehost is also the official WordPress recommended hosting service. It’s a trusted hosting company that will take care of your WordPress websites and make them load quickly and smoothly.
I will start with the first case, where, you get a free domain name, and you need to use it for the new blog. Then, I will show you the second option when you have an existing domain name, and you just need to point to the name servers.
1. Launch a blog with your own free domain name
First of all, you need to Visit Bluehost and see their plans. Then, on the signup page, you will get an option to register your own free domain name from them for a full year. Enter your domain and click the “next” button to verify if it’s available or not. If your domain is not available, make a few changes and you will get it.
I recommend to use a short domain for your blog and avoid numbers, special characters, and symbols. You have to be different from the others and look professional at the same time.
When you click the “next” button, you will get the below page, where you will get the signup form. Next, enter your details, you can check or uncheck the options, it’s up to you, then click the “next” button.
By default, you will see the credit card as a payment option and it accepts the major credit cards. However, if you need to use PayPal, just scroll down and click on “more payment options” as the following screenshot example.
This is a top-rated web hosting service that accepts PayPal, and also credit card at the same time. After the sign-up and the confirmation, you will receive your hosting account details that contain all the information that you need. So, check the email that you’ve used for the SignUp, and save it for later use.
Now, you can launch your self-hosted WordPress, blog by logging into your Bluehost account, and you can install your blog.
2. Build your WordPress blog with an existing domain name
This is the same thing, but, the only difference is to point your domain name servers to Bluehost. In general, all the domain name registrars should have a DNS management system in their server. And you can change your old name servers and add the new one that points to Bluehost. The default name server for Bluehost are:
ns1.Bluehost.com
ns2.Bluehost.com
When you replace the old name servers with the new ones, click the “OK” button and wait a few hours In general, until the new name server changes points to your Bluehost servers. (In some rare cases, you need to wait up to 24 hours for the domain propagation)
Later, visit your domain name to verify if it was propagated to the new web servers. If it’s the case, then, login to your Bluehost account with the details received in the welcome email, and start the WordPress installation process with Bluehost.
For more step by step tutorials, you can see how to install themes in WordPress, or ask your questions and get help by sending me an email from the contact page.
As you can see, no matter if you have a domain or not, It’s easy to create a blog with WordPress. You get a free domain if you don’t have one and it’s yours. Or, you can use your actual domain, and point it to the new hosting account, by following the above tutorial as a basic guide, all the other domain registrars are similar.
