How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Step-by-Step Guide

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Step-by-Step Guide

As I wrote in my previous posts, blogging, probably, are the easiest way to start earning from home, so blog can be your next legitimate source of income. In this article I will explain you how to create your own online page and How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Step-by-Step Guide

This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional costs to you.

Starting a blog can seem overwhelming and intimidating. I’m not ashamed to admit that when I first learned to blog, I made a lot of mistakes. You can benefit from my experience so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes when creating your blog. There are different blogging platforms out there, but WordPress is definitely the best. This easy step-by-step guide will outline exactly what you need to do to get started and how to create a blog in WordPress in 2020.

What is a blog?

To answer this question we can go deep, but this is not purpose of this guide. I put it simple, a blog is a website or web page, usually maintained by one person, who publishes articles on current topics, daily adventures, as well as images or videos. Blogs can be grouped both by their content and by the way this content is presented to the reader:

Niche blogs

The author expresses opinions and publishes news on a specific topic, such as politics, fashion, pets, travel adventures etc.

Niche blog puppyleaks

Online diaries

The author writes about his daily life, thoughts and current topics;

Broken Hearted Girl screenshot

Corporate blogs

These are blogs of the company’s internal network, which are created with the intention to improve communication between different company structures;

Daimler blog screenshot

Even this How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Step-by-Step Guide is part of the blog.

Famous blogger Ryan Robinson summarizes:

A blog is a regularly updated website where new content is frequently published, typically written in an informal or conversational style—often with the goal of attracting readers and achieving some sort of goal, whether community-building or growing a business.

It started as an opportunity for individuals to write diary-style entries, but has since been included on the websites of many companies.
Like most Internet-based innovations, many entrepreneurs saw the potential of marketing by creating a blog, and the introduction of concept in the business community helped to further increase the popularity of the media.

Nova days a blog is also cost-effective way to communicate quickly with and get feedback from your audience of readers, whether they are colleagues, competitors, the media, prospects or customers.

How to start a blog

Let´s assume that you already have an idea about what your blog will be. There are five main steps you need to take to start a blog:

Choose and register a domain name

Choose a web host for your blog

Set up a WorldPress

Design your WordPress blog

Start blogging

If you follow this How to Start a WordPress Blog Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners in 2020 exactly, you will have your own blog in 60 minutes or less.

Choose and register a domain name for your WordPress blog   

Domain names make the internet easy to use for everyone. Without domain names, you’ll have to enter long strings of numbers called IP addresses to visit websites. So, as you see, your domain name is the key element of your website. Your URL is the first thing your visitors will see. A good domain name can make a positive and lasting impression about your blog. And last thing, when it comes to the length of your domain, shorter is better.

In 2020 domain name extension might not be so important, although some might argue that “.com” is still the best. Albeit there are many successful websites with a “.net”, “.org” or “.info” extension.

There are literally tons of domain registrars out there. These companies compete to sell domain name licenses which allows you to get better service and tools when you purchase your domain name. Several web hosting companies even offer domain name registration for free if you purchase hosting with them.

In my opinion, if you want register Your Domains Hassle-Free do it with Namecheap. They have a domain search tool that helps you find the right domain name and makes suggestions when your preferred domain name is not available. They also offer domain add-on services like domain privacy and premium DNS, and most important, as name suggests, they are cheaper than competition.

Screenshot below shows comparation between Namecheap and Domain.com.

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Namecheap domain registration
How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Domain.com domain regitration
Domain.com domain regitration

As you see from this example, you can save more then 11.00$ USD with Namecheap.

Domain name configuration

So, let´s get started.  Open the Namecheap website and write your desired domain name in the search box. Click search button. The site will show you all available options for your name and price for one year. Pick what you like and add to cart, then click “Check out” button.

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Namecheap order confirmation
Namecheap order confirmation

Make sure “WhoisGuard” is checked. You may also select “Auto Renew” option. At this point you don’t need to buy any additional addons, just click “Confirm Order”.

On a next page you will see the option to create your account or log in into existing account. This will lead you to next page which will ask for your payment details. You can choose between credit card or PayPal. Click “continue” and this will lead for confirmation page, where you can review your order details once again. If everything is in order, pay for the order. Next you will see your order confirmation. At this point you will also receive an e-mail with your order confirmation.

Now you have completed step one and you have your own domain name.

Choose a web host for your WordPress blog

Next thing you need to do is get yourself a hosting account. To publish your website online, your website requires a web hosting service. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed on the Internet.

You will find millions of web hosting service providers on internet. Most of the guides are very likely to recommend you a popular overall hosting solution, like Hostinger or SiteGround, but as a new blogger, you are constantly balancing your need to get better tools and services to do your job effectively, against a budget that forces you to pick and choose. In some areas it is not possible to cut corners or find savings, while in others it offers great opportunities to reduce costs while purchasing the best services. When it comes to web hosting, you don’t have to sacrifice quality savings.

I’ve managed many websites myself over my career. Large, small, and everything in between. There are several features to evaluate when choosing a web hosting company – security, storage, site speed and pricing. If you not sure and just want to try out your first steps, web hosting company InterServer.net is running promotion 90% off Web Hosting. So you can buy 3 month subscription with unlimited storage space just for 1.00$ USD. This all-inclusive web hosting plan has everything you need to power your website.

However, as example in this How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners I will use smaller, cheaper but reliable European company AreaIT. They’ve been around a long time, offer great hosting at a great price, and have a great reputation for supporting their customers. They have a 99.9% uptime guarantee along with 24/7 support whenever you need help. They are typically very quick to respond and can assist with a wide range of issues. Among other, the offer free SSL certificate, free daily back up service, user friendly control panel – cPanel and 1-click WordPress installation.

Web hosting configuration

Their pricing starts from 1.13$ USD (1.00€ EUR) a month.

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Area.lv tarif plans
Area.lv tarif plans

So, go ahead and choose the plan that you would like to start with. If you start with cheapest plan which is “Micro”, you can always upgrade latter. The only difference between the plans are the number of websites that you can host.

Choose the plan and click “Sign Up” button. On next page choose option “Use existing” and type your domain name in the search box.

Area.lv hosting confirmation
Area.lv hosting confirmation

Then click “Use”. In next page choose billing cycle and click “Continue”. In the following page you will have to fill up the form with your personal details and choose payment option. Then click “Complete order” button. You will see an order confirmation page and shortly after than you will also receive an email with your all login details. That´s it. You have purchased the hosting for your blog.

Connect your domain name with hosting

The next thing you have to do is bind your domain name with your hosting service. In order to do that, you have to go back Namecheap page, log on to your account and click “Manage” button.

Namecheape-dashboard.jpg
Namecheape dashboard

In the next page scroll down and look for option “Nameservers”. Here choose custom DNS and down below you have to enter Area name servers, which are:

  • ns1.areait.lv
  • ns2.areait.lv
  • ns3.areait.lv

Then click the green “check” item on the wright side.

Namecheap custom DNS.jpg
Namecheap custom DNS

When this is done, you can see on the top of the page massage “DNS server update might take up to 48 hours to take effect.”

Namecheap DNS update confirmation
Namecheap DNS update confirmation

Usually it takes only 10 to 20 minutes. So, take a break, drink your coffee, and come back after 20. Min.

Set up a WorldPress

After 20 minutes or so your web hosting should be connected wit your domain name. The next thing is WordPress installation and blog set up. Luckily for us the Area offers easy one click WordPress installation. To do that, log in on to your hosting account C-panel. At this point, you should have receive an email with all your login details.

Log in onto C-panel, scroll down and look for section called “Softaculos Apps Installer”.

Softaculous Apps Installer
Softaculous Apps Installer

Click on WordPress icon, this will lead you to next WordPress installation page.

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: WordPress installation
WordPress installation

Then click “Install Now” button. In next page scroll down to “Admin Account” section. Here you choose your WordPress username and password. Note, that these should be different from your C-panel username and password. Write them down and store them. You will need those later to log on onto your WordPress admin site.

For now, the other options you can leave as is, just click install button on the bottom of the page. Installation process will start. Usually it takes 2-3 minutes to get done.

After the installation is completed, you can type your domain name into the browser, and you should see something like this:

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: WordPress sample page
WordPress sample page

Congratulations. Now you have your WordPress blog online.

Design your new WordPress blog

To personalize your blog, you should log in onto WordPress admin page. To do that, type into browser yourdomainname.com/wp-admin/

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: WordPress admin login page
WordPress admin login page

Use your WP username and password and click “Log in”. This will lead you to WP dashboard.

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: WordPress dashboard
WordPress dashboard

You are almost done. There are only few more things I recommend you do.

First, in dashboard, go to settings, select “General Settings”. On top of the page you will see “Site Title” and “Tagline”. The title represents the name of your blog. Together with the tagline, site title has the role to define site identity through text. It increases relevancy of the website content to users. Due to the site title, visitors can easily understand what the website is about, and they know what to expect from browsing its pages.

Briefly, you need to change the defaults with optimized title and tagline. The site title or site name is a short text that’s representative of your website. With just a few words, you can sum up what makes your blog different, and how it is unique.

The tagline represents a short description of your entire website, it is also appearing in the search engine results page. Whenever people look for something and your blog matches their search, your tagline will be the complete title they see in the results. So, set up your “Site Title” and “Tagline” and click “Save changes”. With this initial setup is done.

WordPress blog themes

At this point, if you follow this How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020: Step-by-Step Guide, you have a default WordPress theme installed and you can start use it, however there are tens of thousands themes to choose from. If you look for something fancy, you can choose the premium themes at Templatemonster or Themify. Although, for beginning I recommend to use free themes from the WordPress repository.

To do this, in dashboard go to Appearance > Themes menu. Select Add new and the group themes by popularity.

WordPress themes
WordPress theme installer

Choose your desired theme and click install. The blue “Install” button will change to a blue “Activate” button. Click this when you see it.

If you have a premium theme, you’ll first need to download the theme’s files. If you’ve gotten them from a third-party provider or a theme marketplace like Templatemonster or Themify, you have to first download the themes to your PC, then in WordPress dashboard click “Add New” to add your theme. Then click the “Upload Theme” at the top of the screen:

WP Uoload theme screenshot
WordPress – upload theme

A file uploader will appear, choose theme file from your PC and The uploader will automatically install and activate the theme for you.

With your theme now installed, it’s time to customize it. Under the Appearance menu, click Customize. This will start the WordPress theme customization section. WordPress customization options will be on the left and the preview on the right.

WP theme customization
WordPress theme customization menu

Here you can add your logo, change fonts, change or add color and background photo. With premium themes you will have even more customization options.

Start a WordPress Blog

Finally you have your own WordPress blog website. The good question is “What to do now?!”

When I first time start my blog, I spent first month trying to make my site look amazing. I experimented with different themes and templates and I spent the whole time making the graphics look nice, figuring out the structure, the menus. I revised it about 40 times to make it perfect. What I didn’t do was write anything. I wasted a lot of time on things what actually is not essential to successful blogging.

Just write. If you go so far, I assume you already have an idea about what your blog will be. If not, write anything. You can even share your experience and write a blog How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2020. Even if you have to write about what you did last weekend – that’s great! People are curious, and they want to get to know you.

Writing a blog post is a little like driving; you can read articles telling you how to write a blog for months, but nothing can prepare you for the real thing like getting behind the wheel and hitting the open road. As more you will write as more you will enjoy it.

Congratulations! Now you should know the basics how to start a WordPress Blog in 2020.