Registering your very own custom domain name (e.g. yourname.com) along with your very own blog online is very easy. I will demonstrate step-by-step how I set-up a new website in less than 3 minutes.
I will set-up WordPress for the new website (automatically done for you) as it is the number one most popular and well supported blogging system out there. You may hear the acronym CMS sometimes (Content Management System).
WordPress has many free templates available. Also as a bonus, for those of you who feel you aren’t comfortable with all this “web stuff”, I will show you how to publish directly to your new WordPress website using Microsoft Word.
See my step-by-step instructions below in red (easier to spot with all the screen captures I provided).
CLICK HERE to open Bluehost with discounts. This is step 1!
(Here is a discount link to HostGator if you would rather use them. The instructions below would be different for setting up the HostGator account however the same once you are logged into WordPress. HostGator also has a 1-click WordPress install.)
Click on the green “Sign Up Now” button.
Enter in a domain name that you would like to register. You may have to try a few times if the custom domain name has already been registered by someone else. Many people like to blog under a topic name or their own personal name.
– Fill out your account information, select the package you want.
– I unchecked all of the additional options so I ONLY had the basic account plan selected.
– Complete your payment information and click the blue “Next” button in the bottom right.
I did not select any additional upgrades.
Go to the bottom of the page and ensure it says “$0.00” if you do not want any additional features.
Click on the blue “Complete” button.
Congratulations, you just registered your own custom domain and now have your own website.
Now click on “Create your password“. Write down this information! This is how you will access your Bluehost control panel. This is where you manage the billing information, domain renewals and website hosting.
Your website is now live. If you go to it, you will see a Bluehost banner and a blank white site. We now need to do something with it (i.e. install WordPress). There are 2 methods of accessing the WordPress installation in case you have troubles with one of them. They both end up the same.
METHOD 1
(to install WordPress)
After you log into your new website on Bluehost, go to your control panel (cPanel) and click on “WordPress” under the Site Builders section.
Click on the green “Start” button.
You have the choice of going with a “www.” in front of your custom domain or not. I am choosing not to. People can still go to www.the3minuteblog.com but it redirects you to the3minuteblog.com as this is how I chose to install it.
METHOD 2
(to install WordPress)
When you first log into your Bluehost account, click on the “Home” menu item in the top left. You should see the items listed below. Click on “Create Website” under the Getting Started section.
Now choose “Use WordPress”
Choose “WordPress” under Blogs section below. Note that many people run their entire websites using WordPress. It is not just a blogging platform.
You have now ended up in the same location as Method 1 above.
As per method 1, you have the choice of going with a “www.” in front of your custom domain or not. I am choosing not to. People can still go to www.the3minuteblog.com but it redirects you to the3minuteblog.com as this is how I chose to install it.
Also your username and password is located here. Write down this information! This is how you will administrate your new WordPress website. You will use this information a lot.
If you now open your new website in your web browser, you will see a default WordPress installation with the Hello world blog posting (which you can delete from inside your WordPress administration panel).
Open in your web browser www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/ to log into your WordPress administration. Note this is different than your Bluehost control panel. You will use the WordPress administration to do anything regarding the content on your new website (make blog posts, change templates/colors, post images, etc).
Once you log in, you will be presented with your WordPress dashboard. Click on the big blue “Customize Your Site” button to name your website and choose some different colors.
You can also choose to install different WordPress themes. There are many free ones available and even some extremely professional themes that are inexpensive to purchase.
Under the “Customize Your Site”, I am change the title of my site and placing a tagline. I also changed the Colors.
Click on “Write your first blog post” to enter in your very own first blog post.
I recommend you choose the “Visual” tab just above toolbar for typing in to your new post. Type in a title at the top, something into the body of the new blog post, and when you are done, click on the blue “Publish” button on the far right side.
Now visit your website once again and you should see your new blog post! Congratulations!
Let’s get rid of that Hello world post. Click on the “Posts” menu option in the top far left of your WordPress dashboard.
Now hover over the title Hello world! and you should see “Trash” as an option. This will allow you to delete that default blog post. You can also manage and edit your own blog posts from this screen. You can create draft posts and edit your existing posts here.
This concludes setting up your very own custom website with WordPress for blogging or whatever else you want to have on your own website.
BONUS MATERIAL
(using Microsoft Word to post blogs)
For those of you who are more comfortable with Microsoft Word and would like to publish directly to your new website this way, here is a way that works for Word 2010. It may be different for other versions.
METHOD 1
(publishing directly from Word into your new website)
If you have an existing Word document, click on your “File” menu option. Then click on “Save & Send“. Then choose “Publish as a Blog Post“.
If this is the first time you are trying this, it will prompt you to Register a Blog Account. Select “Register Now“.
Now choose “WordPress” from the choices.
Now enter in all your information: your website address along the username and password to manage your WordPress website.
NOTE: Your WordPress website must have /xmlrpc.php added to the end of it with no spaces. This is important and how Word communicates with your website automatically.
After you have chosen to publish as a blog, it will open up Word into a different view with the following menu tool bar.
If you click on Publish, you have the choice of publishing it live right away or as a draft. Going as a draft is nice if you want to schedule it, continue to edit it, etc. You can log into your WordPress dashboard and go to “Posts” and you should see what you Published from Word.
Word is easy to work with if you want to place images and such in your blog posts.
METHOD 2
(Using cut-n-paste from Word directly into WordPress)
Here is another method if you want to cut-and-paste from Word directly into the “Edit Post” within your web browser (and logged into your WordPress dashboard). This does not involve publishing directly from Word (as per method 1).
Click on the square icon with all the dots in it on the far right of your editing post toolbar.
This is a toggle that will display a second layer of tools.
One of the tools is “Paste from Word” (the icon with the W).
If you COPY information from Word and want to PASTE into your web browser to WordPress, select this button as it will format things to be more web-friendly. Otherwise Word will insert a lot of extra junk that will cause you problems.
I hope your enjoyed this article on how to get your very own website up and running.
Enjoy!
I feel this would definitely take more than 3 minutes for me, especially with my dodgy connection. Still, great guide though thanks!
Instead of bluehost I would’ve used HostGator though, I have used them before and had a great experience. I will try bluehost in the future though thanks for the discounts.
Well, the metaphoric allusion to 3 MINUTES is most commonly used to let you know it is simple and not very time consuming, in this case the really important aspect of the post is not really how fast you could actually get a website up and running but the resources themselves which are selected primarily by their simplicity and intuitive functionality (such as blue host and the whole wordpress software and almost WIZARD like interface).
I actually timed myself and tried it out. It is possible to setup in under 3 minutes. 🙂 However as MaykhOliv pointed out, it is just to indicate how simple the entire process can be if you want.
Here is a discount link to HostGator if you would rather use them. The instructions would be different from above for setting up the account but the same once you are logged into WordPress. HostGator also has a 1-click WordPress install.
Although I knew to set up blog, I was unaware of posting a blog post through microsoft office, thanks for that. 🙂
And nice post, it will be more than helpful to any newbie who is setting up a new Wordpress account but I would love to see useful plugins for pro bloggers in a future post on our blog.
Great post! Thank you for the detailed instructions. You’ve made it easy to understand how to create my own blog. I really like the visual examples that you included as it makes it easier to see how to set it up properly. Is Bluehost or HostGator the most affordable of the two?
They flop between each other with the special of the day/week/month. Both are competitive with pricing, just need to check out which happens to have the best deal that day. It was Bluehost at the moment when I wrote this article.
Nice and simple, great post. I personally installed WordPress onto my own server, slightly different to this but still easy. I really though applying themes ect through WordPress would be much harder especially if it is installed on your own server but it really is not. So I must say WordPress have done well with there various ways of installing and running.
Again great post will definitely send people here who ask me how to do it (PS: 3 minutes is a bit small but it really does get across how easy it is).
Great tutorial! As a recommendation here are some great Wordpress Plugins include:
1. WordPress SEO by Yoast for SEO optimization of your blogs.
This plugin is extremely to use and you can adjust your blog accordingly to rank higher on Google. The plugin lets you know if you have used your Keywords enough times, how easy your blog is to read, to add a picture, and more!
2. NextGen Galler and Lightbox Plus:
These two Plugins are great for image gallery management. Once again, SEO optimization falls into play. You will want to ensure that each image is properly titled and alt tagged.
3. Members
This plugin allows for you to control the access you want for each member on your site!
I can definitely recommend Next Gen Gallery. It works like a charm and is very easy to use. Same is true for Lightbox Plus. And as you’ve said, SEO is a key part of getting your website well known.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m just starting a blog myself on WordPress and I’m getting all sorts of tips from David’s blog. Somehow, he attracts the most helpful people to comment useful information here.
I got a little confused but worked my way to the finish. A few more plug ins and i’m sure it will work out great. Thanks!
Very nice tutorial! I’ve been considering learning wordpress since I know there’s some money in making themes for it, I’ll definitely come back to this guide when I decide to take the plunge.
This is a nice tutorial. The only difference I would make is I would host WordPress on a free server. I perfer buying domain names on GoDaddy. It may take some time to find a good free web server but they do exist. 000webhost.com can host WordPress for free.
This is great quick and easy guide on how to set up a WordPress website. I have used WordPress once before, but I am in no way an expert, so I was able to pick up a few tips from your post. I particularly liked the part about publishing a post directly from Microsoft Word. I will definitely be using this with my new blog. Thanks!
I made a WordPress site a while back, but I can’t even remember how I created it… This guide will be pretty helpful when I decide to make another website. There’s nothing better than having my own website with my name on it.
I don’t have Bluehost, but I do have a host with a one-click install. I LOVED it. I could have done it on my own, but why when it’s so easy to do a one-click? Fab guide, by the way, I’ll have to share this with some of my blogging friends who are looking to switch from Blogger to wordpress when I meet up with them at BlogHer13. Fab post, thank you for sharing!
This is a great guide! Easy to follow, even for beginners. I also really appreciate the extra bit about publishing straight from Word, as that is what I am used to using. Could you maybe include a link to W.P. plug-ins that might be useful when first starting a site? Thanks.
Thanks for this detailed, step-by-step guide. I will suggest you embed a video on this page so that your readers can choose the most convenient one for them.
I am currently working on my WP site. I started with a static site I designed myself and I really regret why I didn’t use WP from the start!
Thanks for this input. By the way, do you have any tips on choosing templates?
I really like http://themeforest.net/category/wordpress – they have some very professional templates that are easy to implement and configure, and inexpensive.
Very informative post, on how to set up a WordPress site fast. WordPress, is the only platform I use to create my websites, and blogs. That along with Optimize Press, is a great way to build fast squeeze pages, that convert high.
I also enjoyed your bonus material, on how to write your post in Word, then transfer it directly into your website.
Wow, I never knew you could publish blog posts directly from MS Word and I consider myself very web savvy.
I dislike using Wordpress for websites because it has a lot of little quirks such as not aligning images properly, etc. It’s great if you don’t want to dive into code, but for those of us who like to tweak code to our specifications, it’s not that great.
I like WordPress right now but then I’m relatively new at it. Do you have any other suggestions on what else would be good to use in terms of customization? I’ve heard people talk about plugins, is it safe to assume that WordPress might have something in line with what you need?
You simplified a bundle of resources into a wealth of information.
The guide is simplistic and easy to follow (I’m so glad you added pictures!)
Thank you for your time.
This is a great helpful post. Thank you for doing this. I am still a bit of a techno backward person when coming to creating websites or blogs. Are there pre designed looks or do you do it yourself too? I know this is something that can be done in 3 minutes or less but I am sure I’ll be taking quite a bit of time to accomplish this step.
Very helpful tutorial. I’ve used Wordpress before but it was a long time ago and I probably wouldn’t have even known where to begin now. I was contemplating using Blogger instead, but I think I’ll give Wordpress another go with this guide 😀
I have been telling people for years how easy it is to set up your own WordPress site (I didn’t say blog because you can do more than make a blog with WordPress) and your very easy-to-follow tutorial helps to prove what I’ve been saying.
I also advocate using a web host like BlueHost because of their decent up-time AND because of their one-click installs of not just WordPress, but loads of other scripts. There really is no excuse not to jump to self hosting your own WordPress blog.
Blue host is something that I will have to check out. Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve also spread the word about wordpress being user friendly and capable of doing more than hosting a blog. The tutorial above is fantastically detailed and educational. Thank you for posting it. I will pass the link on to many people that I know who are interested in blogging.
Great post. I’ve never really been interested or required to make my own website. I have some experience in Adobe Dreamweaver, but that’s an entirely different beast.
My family is actually looking to pay for someone for a blog-type website, I might just offer to do it after reading and seeing how easy it is. Though it’ll probably end up being a clients from hell type of story.
Wordpress is a bit difficult to use .. right?
Personally, I use sites that allow you to create websites easily and gratuitements.
Does it take you a long time to maintain a WordPress site?
Very nice! You really knocked it out the park with this post. This is probably the most simple-to-follow Wordpress tutorial I have read. I didn’t realize that getting a site up and running could be so easy. Thanks for sharing.
Great post!
I’ve been looking for a tutorial like this and this is super in depth.
I’ve also read a bit about Blogger, any advantages to that?
Thanks for the information on setting up a wordpress site. I didn’t see it in your archives, but if you have any posts about maintaining a wordpress site, especially in a blog setting, that would be really helpful for me.
I think if you check out his other posts you might be able to find them. I think I came across some so maybe you should as well find it 🙂 It was really helpful for me. Thank you David!
Very thorough post. You really make it easy for a beginner to be able to sign up to a host and learn how to do a 1-click install. Do you see any advantage to using BlueHost over HostGator or visa versa? When I was first starting out many years ago the simplicity of most general hosts these days have taken the vast majority of the pain out of installing. Do you recommend these types of hosts for beginners for any specific reason or? Thanks for laying this out in such simple terms.
Installing Wordpress is really a breeze. Makes me wonder why would people choose blogger over it? It makes no sense at all. Some might get fooled into thinking that blogger is much simpler for a newbie, which is not the case. With all the plugins that are constantly being made, owning a blog with Wordpress installed means you can do practically anything with a few clicks of a button.
Wordpress can be pretty insecure if you don’t keep it up to date. The ease of use, unfortunately, happens to also be the reason for its vulnerability. By automating so many parts of the install, it leaves some gaps that attackers use to compromise the site.
The widespread usage of Wordpress also makes it particularly easy to target, since some research yields very large amounts of results. Most especially because people don’t keep their Wordpress sites up to date.
You seriously have the BEST step-by-step posts! You break everything down with screen shots- very easy to follow and very informative. I like that this is a very quick way to set up your site with wordpress, as well.
Very informative and clear article. These step-by-step articles on your blog are great every single time again. I am glad you put so much effort into them to even have meaningful pictures. That saves everyone a lot of time that can be put into making content and link building.
This is such a wonderfully detailed tutorial. The screenshots are especially useful. I am sure it will help many who may feel intimidated by this process.
I know I felt intimidated back in 2006 when I set up my first WordPress site. Even with Fantastico, it still took quite a bit longer than 3 minutes! There was a lot I did not know once I did set it up; how to set up search engine friendly permalinks, for instance.
And I should note that we are extremely fortunate years later that WordPress has advanced so tremendously and become increasingly easier to use with each new update.
As for hosting companies, I can vouch for HostGator. I have been using them for nearly five years. What I appreciate most of all is that they have telephone technical support. Being able to call their 24/7 toll free number and speak directly with someone is a huge advantage. I have been with other hosting companies where the only options were support tickets and live chat. For me, nothing replaces being able to have a phone conversation when I have an issue that needs to be resolved.
Thanks for the tutorial, really informative. However I’m not very good with computers and took it a little longer then 3 minutes. But next time I do it, it should take a lot less. Also I used Hostgator to host my website.
This is a great article, as someone who uses WordPress regularly I know how simple it is but intimidating to start using. I sent this guide to a friend who used to setup his website and he thought it was great.
Thanks for this article, I was looking to make a website for my gaming community, this is surely going to help me. I thought HG was the cheapest way to make our own website, but I was surely wrong. Nice to see you put so much effort into this article.
A comprehensive walkthrough that would make things much easier for a first time Wordpress user. That’s one of the great things about Wordpress – it’s so very easy to get set up that almost anyone can do it.
New users need to be careful of staying up to date though. Wordpress sites, due to their ubiquity, are notorious for being broken in to.
Wow, this is much more in-depth than I imagined when I first opened it. Bravo at a nice job with this entry. I am definitely going to bookmark this. I have made a few Wordpress blogs, myself, but have never gone this far into the development of them.
I am willing to try this out, but I ant to create a website that generate and income for me to pay off the monthly expenses to run the website. I thought about doing blogs as well. This step by step guide seems quite easy and detail and I am sure anyone can do it. Thanks for the handful of information David.
I’ve been using WP for partially half of my sites due to the fact that it’s a CMS and it’s easier to manage however I’ve had countless encounters with security issues so I just moved on to another platform. But it’s a good thing that you can set up WP in just over 3 minutes, one of it’s biggest strengths.
Wow this is really informative. I’ve been using WP for a long time and I never knew some of the details. I don’t even know you can do that with MS Word!
This is some great steps that would help bloggers. I tried blogging but I was not successful with it. I might try again and make a website. Your instructions look easy but it will take a little time. It’s defiantly worth giving a try.
I just recently started using Wordpress and these are some great instructions. If I would have seen this before I signed up, it would have made things a lot more simpler for me.
I’ve recently just began using Wordpress, intending on using it as a blogging and back-link platform for my main website. The way you outlined the steps of how to set up on the website is very helpful, especially since I find it a bit challenging to get use to using. Wordpress is a great place to set up for a site though and works wonders for webmasters looking to thrive.