Have you decided to create your own website but don’t know how to start? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, it’s easier than you think, just follow the step in this article. We will discuss everything from getting your own domain to hosting and creating your very first website using Bluehost, which is one of the largest website hosting providers and powers millions of websites. Let’s get right into it:
Step 1: Selecting a Domain Name
The first thing to create a blog is to have a domain and you must come up with a very good domain name for your website. It should be catchy and easy to remember. We recommend you to spend a little time on deciding the name. It should not be too long and should be related with the topic of your website.
Let’s see an example
— We want to create a travel website
Bad examples:
www.howtotravelallaroundtheworld.com — This is very long, it’s hard to type into the browser and does not look ok
www.xytravelx.com – I know that travel.com is taken and you wanted that domain, but please don’t just add random letter to it because it’s too hard to remember the name
www.653travel.com – Search engines do not like the numbers in the domain name, neither the final users, so please avoid using numbers or any strange punctuations
Good examples:
www.joetravels.com – This is a great name, it’s short, it has the keyword travel in it and it also the name of the owner in it, it looks personal, so people expect to get real information from it
www.foodnomad.com – This is catchy and a great branding, I could already imagine t-shirts with this logo
— Another example, let’s imagine you have a stock trading blog
Bad example
www.earnmoney.com – This is too general, if your blog niche is stock trading, then include that in the name, be more specific
Good example
www.stockinvesting.com – This is a great and specific name; it includes exactly what information you can find on the website
A good domain name increases your search engine ranking. Let me tell you that not all the good names are taken. Use your creativity and you’ll find the best one for you and for your content.
As you build your business and develop your website with quality content, your domain name will become more and more recognizable in search engines like Google, which draws more customers in your direction.
Once you have decided to a domain name, visit Bluehost.com and use their Domains service to check if that name is available or not. If it is available, you can now simply buy that domain.
Step 2: Selecting a Hosting Package
So now that you have your domain, you need website hosting in order to host your domain and make it available for the whole world. Go to Bluehost.com and click on their Hosting service. You can see various hosting packages plans to select from. Choose the one which meets your requirements in the best way. Usually $2.95 (Basic plan) is recommended as it’s the most affordable one and it the best choice for creating your first website. You may see the price in your own currency. You can upgrade your plan later on or if you want, you can start with ‘Plus’, ‘Choice Plus’ or ‘ Pro’ package. I personally recommend you to start with the basic and see on the go what fits best. It’s not good to invest a lot of money in something that maybe you’ll not need.
Also, if you do not want to create a blog, then see how to earn money while writing articles on Medium
Select the plan you want to subscribe and you’ll be redirected to a new page where you have to setup your domain. On this page you can see two option as follows, Create a new domain or Use a domain you own.
If you haven’t already got a domain name, you can search for a domain name on this page by entering your desired domain in the ‘Create a new domain’ option. Or if you have already got a domain, simply enter that domain name in the ‘Use a domain you own option’.
Click on ‘Next’ and you’ll be redirected to the following page. Fill in all the necessary Account Information to proceed.
After filling in the Account Information, you can now proceed with the subscription package. Select your account plan, from 12, 24 or 36 months. Here too, let’s not invest on a very long run, I would take one year, and if the blog or website is doing well or you’re still passionate about it, you can extend it to a longer term.
After selecting your package, you will be asked to add some Package Extras. Among all these, Domain Privacy Protection is recommended. If you want to add any other package extra, you can also select that.
Now that you have entered all the information and selected your hosting package, all you need to do is to make the payment and you have bought your very first hosting package.
This is the most simple and economical way to have your hosting done using Bluehost.com.
Step 3: Creating your website
There are many CMS available which you can use to create your website, no matter if it’s an e-commerce website or a simple blog. In this tutorial, we will use WordPress to create our website, that is what I am using for my blogs and websites and I think it’s the best.. WordPress is not only easy to use, it also has extensive features and numerous plugins (many of them are free). You can also customize your site according to your own needs using WordPress themes and can earn through it too without putting much efforts. This can be done in a very few basic steps mentioned below:
- Login to your Bluehost account
- Now click on ‘My Sites’ on the left side menu.
- Click on ‘Create Site’ on the top right-hand side to create your site. Select the theme you want for your website, as visual appearance of your website will be controlled through the themes. Try to find some appealing theme so that user can have the best experience while being on your site. You can modify these themes or add a new one later on as well. My personal opinion is to buy a theme, as it looks more professional. The website is displayed in a nice way on mobile or devices with different resolutions. Also it has many features and it gets upgraded over time, but don’t forget to look for the ones that have many positive reviews. A free theme is also alright for the beginning, choose one that looks professional and make sure the website is displayed correctly on mobile devices (that is where you get most of the traffic nowadays)
- On the next page, enter a name and tagline for your WordPress website. Name of your website should be similar to your domain name, else it will create confusion for the user. Also having a good title will help you website from SEO perspective. And tagline defines the crux, that what your website or business is all about e.g. If “McDonald’s” is the name of the website then “I’m lovin it” would be its tagline.
- The next step is to choose the domain on which you want to install WordPress website. Choose your domain from the drop-down menu and add a directory name if you want to, we would recommend to leave it empty as it is.
- Now clicking on Next, Bluehost will setup your WordPress website. This can take a few minutes.
Once this step is complete, you can see your recently installed WordPress website in the “My Sites” tab. Select your website and you will be redirected to your WordPress dashboard. Using this dashboard, you can modify your website settings and pages.
Congratulations
You are the owner of your very first website. Now you can go to your domain in a browser like Chrome and you will see that your website is live. I know…this is such a good feeling!
What you need to do next is to modify your WordPress website according to your needs and start posting articles for your readers. I hope this tutorial helped you to understand better how to create a website with Bluehost.
Happy blogging!
See also: Top ways to get more website traffic
Disclosure: Note that I earn a commission from Bluehost if you use my referral link to make a purchase. It will make no difference to the price paid by you. This helps my blog, so I can share even more useful information. Also note that my recommendations are products I really trust. Thanks for your support!
