Complete Guide to Set Up a WordPress Blog and Make Money

image byMike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Are you a writer? Would you like to make some good money writing about topics that interest you? Then starting a blog is something that I highly recommend. Because of my experience and success, I’ve had a couple friends and family members ask me how to set this up. I thought I would share it with everyone here for free. This is a Complete guide to starting a WordPress Blog and earning money from it. And as a bonus you can download a free checklist to keep you on track. Here are the topics that will be covered:

1. Create Blog File
2. Picking a Domain Name
3. Sign Up with a Web Host:
4. Point Domain to Web Host.
5. Install WordPress
6. Login to WordPress
7. Install WordPress Theme
8. Set Up Permalinks
9. Install Plugins
10. Set Up RSS with FeedBurner
11. Set Up Google Analytics
12. Making Money – Set Up Advertising
13. Getting Traffic to Your Blog
14. Learning More
15. Can Someone Do This For Me? Yes!

What Is a Blog?

A blog is a website that has some automatic organizing features included in it. Your theme, the look and feel of your website, will be consistent on every page. Your readers will find navigating your website very easy if it is in the blog format. They can browse by category, tags, or date. And you can make money all while offering your content free to your readers. How?

How Blogs Make Money

Blogs make money through having advertisements on them and also by selling products or services. I will cover all of this in detail in Step 12 below. For now, know that if you are persistent in building your blog, your content, and your readership, over time you will have the potential to make good money. How much? Some people make very little and give up. Don’t do that! When starting out, you might only make a few dollars a month while you are building your readership. Over time you could quite easily earn an extra $1000 per month from advertising revenues. Some top bloggers make a full living off their blog earning 5 or 6 figure incomes. And their are the tippity top blogs that earn in the millions. Your income potential is only limited by your belief and the work you put in. Of course you will need to be persistent and stick with it even when it seems like things are going nowhere. Build your network of blogging friends over time and compare notes, ask for feedback and share learnings with each other. And, of course, continually provide great content for your readers and they will reward you with loyalty and referrals.

Complete Guide to Setting Up a WordPress Blog

There is a ton of information available on making money through blogging. This post will give you the steps for setting up a WordPress blog, customizing it, getting traffic to your blog, and how to make money from your blog. I promise to offer details where it is necessary and help make things simpler where there is already a lot of complexity and confusion. There are other blogging platforms out there, but none compares to WordPress. It is the most popular and the easiest to use. It is also free. (Your only costs will be domain registration – about $10/year and web hosting – about $6.95 $5.95    $4.95/month.) I’ll guide you to getting the most important things done so you’ll get off to the right start. Then once your blog is up and running, you will have enough knowledge and experience to search the internet for information that will allow you to hone your blog even further. For now, this guide will be all you need. There are many steps, but with this post and the free WordPress Blog SetUp Checklist (free excel download), you can complete this quickly, in a day or two working full time, or you can spread it out over as much time as you need. The WordPress Blog SetUp Checklist will help you keep track of where you left off and a place to write down notes or questions to follow up on at a later time.

The Best Way to Use this Guide

Bookmark this page. Download the WordPress Blog SetUp Checklist (free excel document). Check off your progress and follow the steps one by one right online with this post.

The Steps to Setting Up a WordPress Blog, Building Traffic, and Earning Money

1. Create a BLOG FILE.

This is where you will keep all the usernames, passwords, affiliate codes, login URL’s, instructions and anything else relating to your blog so that you can reference them whenever you need to. There will be a lot of them, so start this right away and be diligent about putting every new item into it. The easiest way to do this is to create a text file or a Word document. This way you can just copy and paste the information into your BLOG FILE. When you need to find a particular item, just use the “Find” feature in your text file or Word document to search for the information you need. If you want you could use a notebook instead or any other method you like. For each item that you enter into your BLOG FILE, type a title of what the information is. (Example: “Web Host Username and Password”) This will make searching for the information easier in the future. I CAN’T STRESS ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS. Set up this simple file right away, keep it updated always and you’ll never be panicking for “what’s my password??!!!”

2. Choose a Domain Name.

This is the name of your blog (www.YourBlogName.com). I recommend using BlueHost for registering your domain name as well as using them for your webhost because registration is free if you use BlueHost for your hosting. So your first year you will only have the webhosting fee and no domain registration fee. (See Step #3)

When you sign up for your domain, it’s important to know that Google search engines give more favor to sites that have bought their domain for longer than 1 year. So if you have the option to sign up for more than one year, do so as this will be to your benefit: you will ultimately get more search traffic from Google.

When choosing a domain name think about how you want to brand your blog. You can choose a name related to your blog’s theme, you could choose to brand with your own name, or you can make up a name that sounds cool. Or you could do some combination of those. Usually “.com” is preferable to other extensions such as “.net” because it makes it easier for people to remember. Everyone thinks “.com” but if you can only get “.net” or some other extension with your favorite name that should be fine.  (“.cc” or “.tv” or “.co” are other common extensions)

When it comes to picking a domain name I suggest brainstorming on paper first. Mindmaps are helpful for generating ideas. You can check on availability at BlueHost. You may need to modify some of the names you thought of. They will also make suggestions for you too.

So now you’re ready to move on to Step #3 now to both buy your domain name and purchase your webhost, which for both I recommend using BlueHost. If you want additional ideas for designing your domain name click here for more information on that topic.

3. Sign Up with a Web Host.

I recommend one of the following 2 webhosts depending on your needs. Choice #1 will suit 90% of new bloggers. Choice #2 is more expensive, but a good choice if you plan to have high traffic pretty quickly.

1. BlueHost Web Hosting

A web host is the company that will store all the files of your blog and serve them via the web to your readers. I recommend using BlueHost as your web host. They are the #1 on WordPress’s list of recommended web hosts. (I don’t think there’s a better recommendation than that.) Here’s some info about BlueHost:

• $6.95 $5.95 $4.95/month (at the time of this writing)
• Unlimited hosting storage space, unlimited file transfers, and unlimited domains. Also unlimited Email accounts.
• If you decide to register your domain with them, the first domain for the first year is FREE.
• $100 towards Google ads for promoting your blog.
• 24/7 US Based Support via phone, online LiveChat, and Support Forums
• 1-Click install of WordPress
• Fast, reliable, and safe. If you want the technical specs on this, click here.
• ANYTIME Money-Back Guarantee. It doesn’t get better than this guarantee. The name says it all.

They offer an excellent deal. Once you sign up, be sure to put all the info they send you into your BLOG FILE. There are others, but BlueHost is the best in terms of both price and quality. And it is super easy to sign up right online.

2. MediaTemple Web Hosting

This option costs more, but makes sense if you have plans for a website that may include heavy traffic early on or large spikes in traffic (visitors) to your website.  If this is the case you might want to consider MediaTemple as your webhost. This is the webhost that I use for some of my sites that often experience large spikes in traffic. MediaTemple has a shared hosting “Grid-Service” that allows them to handle big traffic spikes without your site slowing down or crashing. When you get big spikes in traffic you want to be able to handle it or else you lose all that opportunity. They also offer dedicated servers if your site is going to be really big. MediaTemple‘s Grid-Service costs a little more than BlueHost ($20/month vs $5/month), but is totally worth it if you want to take advantage of big web traffic. Plus they have EXCELLENT customer service and One-Click installs for WordPress just like BlueHost.

4. Point Your Domain to Your Web Host.

Once you are signed up with your web host, you now need to tell your registrar (GoDaddy) to point your domain name to your web host. This way when people go to your new blog (www.YourDomainName.com) they are automatically sent to where your blog is, at your web host (BlueHost). This may sound scary, but it is simple as pie and only takes about 5 minutes. Sometimes this step is called “Modify DNS” where DNS= Domain Name Server. Only complete this set of steps if you bought your domain through GoDaddy.com separately from BlueHost. If you registered your domain with BlueHost in addition to hosting with them, you don’t have to do this step. Steps

1. Open email from Web Host – BlueHost.
2. Look for the “NameServers.” There will be two.
3. Copy the first nameserver. It will look something like:
   1. ns1.bluehost.com
4. Go to GoDaddy.com and login using the user name and password they sent you in an email.
5. Go to “Domains”
6. Go to “My Domains”
7. Click on your domain name (the name of your blog.)
8. Click on NameServers
9. Click on the “Custom Nameservers”
10. Paste your first nameserver (that you copied) in the first nameserver box.
11. Do the same thing with the second name server. (i.e. “ns2.bluehost.com)
12. Click on OK.

Here is a screenshot of where you will type in your two nameservers: Now your domain name will be pointed to your web host. That’s it! It takes about 3-5 hours for the site to propagate over at your web host. And in rare cases it can take up to 24 hours. Once propagated you and everyone else will be able to see your site on the web. Even though you can’t see your site on the web yet, you can still work on getting your blog set up at your web host! So let’s move right onto Step #5!

5. Install WordPress.

This process is where you install all the WordPress code to your server at your web host (BlueHost). This is very easy too because BlueHost has a one click install! There are a few steps but most of the steps only take 3 seconds to do. It goes pretty fast. Don’t be intimidated if you see words you don’t recognize. It justs looks weird because you’ve never done it before, but don’t worry you can do it. Just follow the steps below. If you are a visual person, you can see these steps in a free online tutorial at BlueHost here:

Steps to Install WordPress on BlueHost:

1. Go to your new blog website.
2. Click on “cpanel login.” If you don’t see this then go to “www.yourDomainNameHere.com/cpanel.”
3. Type in your username and password that you chose when you bought the web hosting. Should be in your BLOG FILE.
4. Scroll down to “Software/Services.”
5. Click on “Simple Scripts.”
6. Click on the WordPress Icon.
7. Choose the latest version of WordPress. (The highest number is the latest.)
8. Click “Install Now.”
9. Select your domain name.
10. Leave the “subfolder” box empty.
11. Give your site a name. This is the name of your blog, i.e. “My Big Honkin Blog.” Usually the same name as your domain name.
12. Enter a tagline – caption catchphrase. This would be like your branding, i.e. “The Place Where You Learn All About Ducks.” (You can modify this very easily later so don’t worry about it being perfect now.)
13. Uncheck the check box next to “Generate Admin Login.” This way you can choose your own.
14. Choose your Admin user name and password. This will be for logging into your WordPress Dashboard for writing your posts and setting up your blog. It is best if this is different from you cpanel user name and password.
15. Leave “Automatically create a new database” checked.
16. Check the legal agreement.
17. Click “Complete.”

You’re done installing WordPress!The system is now installing all the WordPress code for you! It only takes a few minutes. You will receive a confirmation email from BlueHost (your web host) with the username and password you chose along with any other information you might need like support phone numbers etc. Copy and Paste the key parts of that email into your BLOG FILE. Give it the heading “WordPress Login Info” or something like that.

6. Login to Your WordPress Dashboard.

This will bring you to the place where you control almost everything about your blog including writing posts and customizing how your blog looks.

1. To login go to: “YourDomainName.com/wp-admin” in your browser.
2. Enter your WordPress Dashboard Login username and passsword that you just set up in Step#5.

If you don’t land at your dashboard, just give it a couple more minutes while your web host is installing WordPress to your site. When it is installed this is what you will see: In Step #14 I have links to multiple articles on getting started with using WordPress. In the meantime, lets continue with the next step which is setting up the look of your blog, called your Theme.

7. Install WordPress Theme.

Where to Find Free Themes

In this step you will choose the overall look of your blog. There are many free WordPress themes. The best place to search for one is at the WordPress Theme Viewer. All themes can be customized with different colors, fonts, font sizes, layouts and more. However, you should look for one that is pretty close to what you like unless you are comfortable changing the code in your theme. Below I list some premium themes that make customization easy if you don’t want to deal with changing code. (Even thought I can do the coding I find the premium themes to be well worth the cost.) Look for themes that are compatible with the latest version of WordPress that you just installed. You’ll be able to check on this at the theme view. You can also find themes by searching for “WordPress Themes” in Google or your favorite search engine. And of course in your WordPress dashboard you will be able to see lots of different themes available under “Appearance>>Themes.” The theme that I am using as of this writing is the “Genki Theme Fixed Width” by ericulous. It is compatible with WordPress 2.7 and I like how it has 4 widget areas in the sidebars.

The Benefits of a Buying a Premium Theme

If you want be able to easily customize a theme, (and not have to deal with coding!) you might want to consider a premium theme. These themes have a one-time cost that gives you an additional dashboard for changing the colors, fonts, layout and more on your theme. This is HUGE! The benefit to you-making changes to the look of your blog is easy. With premium themes you will have access to online tutorials on how to use the theme and you’ll also have access to online support when you have questions. Often these are not available with free themes. With free themes when you want to customize them you will need to change the coding which can be a little tricky if you’re not familiar with coding. If you are new to this, a premium theme can save you time and hassle learning how to code. Also, over time your free theme may not stay updated with WordPress updates and then you may be forced to find a new theme. If I were new again, I would choose a premium theme right from the start. Even today knowing how to do a little bit of coding, I would choose a premium theme just for the convenience of being able to change the theme so easily, ongoing theme updates, and online support when I need help. At some point in the life of your blog you will want to update your look even if it is incrementally. Having a customizable premium theme is the way to go. It’s a one time investment that will pay off by saving you enormous amounts of time over the lifetime of your blog. UPDATE JUNE 2012: I only recommend one premium theme and it is Catalyst theme. This is because:

• easiest to use
• has the most customization available without coding
• many framework skeletons to begin the layout of your site
• can view changes “on the fly” without having to refresh your site
• one of the least expensive premium themes

I absolutely love Catalyst theme! Hands down the easiest premium theme to use. It’s fun to use too. I will be installing it soon on this site. You can see it in action on my two other sites right now:

• RunningZen
• BellyDanceJoy

If you want to do your own comparison, here are 3 additional Premium Themes that I have researched and tried:

1.”Headway Theme”

Headway Theme is a very flexible theme. For me it was almost too flexible in terms of laying out the site, but that was me. I found that Catalyst Theme gave me more “bones” to start with, a framework, that made it easier for me to design my sites. You might like this one though if you want ultra flexbility, i.e. starting with a blank slate and building. Also it has probably improved since I was working with it a couple years ago.

2.”Thesis Theme”

The Thesis Theme is very very popular. It also comes with a control panel for customizing the look of your blog. When you click on the above icon to see more about the them you’ll be able to see many blogs that have used this theme to create spectacular looking sites. To do a lot of customization requires some coding type work, but they have a great library of videos that show you how to do just about anything you want with it.

3. “Affiliate Theme”

There are many ways to configure this theme including several different layouts, all without touching a line of code! Unique Blog Designs is known for their beautiful, simple, and elegant web designs. Click here to see a very short video demonstration of how the theme looks and works. (Click on the “Learn More” button to see the video.) They are all excellent and all are highly recommended within the WordPress blogging community. But if you want to keep it simple, you can’t go wrong with the Catalyst Theme.

Steps to Install WordPress Theme

There are two ways to install a theme. 1. WordPress Dashboard Method Most of the free themes you can install right through your WordPress dashboard under “Appearance>>Themes>>Install Themes.” Just pick the one you want, “install” and then “activate” it. 2. FTP Method Some themes, especially premium themes, use this method. Don’t be scared. It’s easy if you just follow the steps. Also check to see if your theme has special installation instructions.

1. Download the theme that you like the best. Look for the “Download” button on the website offering the theme. This will deliver a zipped folder to your computer. Choose “Save.” For now I would choose save to your Desktop. When you’re done you can move that folder to a designated “Blog” folder that you set up for all blog documents and files. You can download and install as many themes as you like. At the end of this process you’ll choose one to activate.
2. Open the Zipped Folder and choose “Extract All Files.” This will then open a new folder with all the files unzipped and ready to use. (If you don’t have a zip program, here’s a reliable free one: WinZip.)
3. Important: Check to see if there is an extra folder inside the Theme folder you downloaded. So the folder you unzipped might be “ABC Theme” and when you click on that folder to see the contents you see another folder called “ABC Theme.” (Yes, the same name. Or maybe different.) The bottom line is it is this inside folder that you will need to upload. If you click on the unzipped folder and you see files and and image folder etc, then it is the top level folder that you upload.
4. UPDATE (FEB 4 2010): You can skip steps 5-20 sometimes by using the “Add New Themes” option under “Appearance” in your WordPress dashboard.  Here are the instructions. (NOTE: You can still use FTP if this tool doesn’t work, which sometimes happens. In that case just go to steps 5-20 listed below starting with “Download FileZilla….)
   1. Click on “Add New Themes” under “Appearance” in your WordPress dashboard.
   2. Under “Install Themes” click on the link that says “Upload.”
   3. Click on “Browse” to find the zipped folder that contains all your theme files. (Don’t use the unzipped file.)
   4. Click on “Install Now.” Skip down now to Step 21 below to continue.
5. Download FileZilla if you don’t already have an FTP application on your computer. Click on “Download Filezilla Client.” This application allows you to upload files to your blog, such as theme files, pictures, and plugins (which add functionality to your blog – we’ll get to that later.) This is quick, free, easy, and painless.
6. Open FileZilla or whichever FTP application you have. (FireBug is another great option. It is a free add-on for FireFox browsers. It opens right in a browser tab eliminating the need to open another program, like you must do with FileZilla.)
7. Click on File -> Site Manager.
8. Click on New Site.
9. In “Host” type “YourDomainName.com”
10. In “ServerType” Choose FTP.
11. In “User” type your WordPress FTP username. (from Step #3 – you will set this up with your webhost or they will send it to you.)
12. In “Password” type your WordPress FTP password. (from Step #3)
13. Click on “Connect”
14. Under “Remote Site” expand your folders by clicking on the [+] sign. This will show you all your blog files that are on your BlueHost server.
15. Double Click on “public_html”
16. Double Click on “wp-content”
17. Double Click on “themes.” Here you will see a couple of themes already loaded: “Classic” and “Default” which you are free to use if you like them.
18. On “Local Site” search for the (unzipped) folder that holds all the theme files.
19. Drag that theme folder to your “Remote Site” into the “Themes” folder. You will see a running log of all the files being transfered over to your site.
20. Login to your WordPress Dashboard: “YourDomainName.com/wp-admin”
21. Click on “Appearance” in the left hand navigation section. This brings you to “Themes”
22. Click on the new theme you just uploaded. This will show you a preview of how your site will look.
23. Click on “Activate” in the upper right hand corner of the preview box.
24. Scroll to the top of the page and click on “Visit Site” to see how your site looks. (Bear in mind that you may not see it show up if you are still waiting for your nameservers to propagate.
25. To customize: for Free Themes you’ll need to change code in “Appearance”->”Edit.” For Premium themes, follow their instructions to find the theme control panel within your WordPress Dashboard.

Congratulations! Your theme is set up! Troubleshooting tip: if the theme you uploaded doesn’t show up it may be because of step 3 above. Double check that again.

8. Set Up Permalinks.

This is a small little step that will make your posts more likely to show up in search results. You want this so that you will get more traffic. Here’s what you do:

1. In WordPress Dashboard, click on “Settings” in the left hand navigation panel.
2. Click on “Permalinks.”
3. Click on “Day and name” option.
4. Click “Save changes.”

That’s it. Takes less than 1 minute and it is well worth it! At this point, you could write your first post if you wanted to. If you want to wait until everything is in place then keep taking the next steps.

9. Install Plugins.

Plugins add functionality to your blog. The install is the same process as installing your theme (Step#7). You have two choices for installing.

• WordPress Dashboard Method
• FTP Method

WordPress Dashboard Method – just like installing a theme, go to “Plugins>>Add New.” Search for the one you want. Then choose “Install” and then “Activate.” Some plugins have additional setup options which are usually found under “Settings” in your dashboard after you have activated the plugin. FTP Method – You download, unzip, and then transfer the plugin files to your site via FTP (FileZilla) except this time you put them in the “Plugin” folder on your “remote site” not the “Theme” folder. The “Plugins” folder is inside the “wp-content” folder on your remote site. Have that folder open before you drag the plugins over. (See the exact steps below.) Once uploaded, go to “Plugins” in your WordPress Dashboard and click on “Activate” to enable each plugin. For each plugin, there may be additional instructions for usage that you will find on the page where you downloaded the plugin. Here are the plugins that I recommend installing. They are all free, as are most WordPress Plugins. The ones that are in Bold I recommend installing first. You can click on the link on each to get to the download page: Acurax Social Media Widget A Simple WordPress Plugin Which Allow You To Add Widget Which Links Social Media Icons to Your Social Media Profiles Twitter,Facebook,Pinterest,Youtube,Rss Feed,Linkedin,google plus. You can define icon style size for each widget.

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Complete Guide to Set Up a WordPress Blog and Make Money is a post from: Life Learning Today