To create your blog
You need a domain (name of you website) and web host. You have to create your hosting account first, After then you can install WordPress and star creation of your pages.
Next choose a template, put your ideas and all done!
Difference Between Blog & Website
There is some confusion over websites vs. blogs. People are often not sure which one they should create. Let me explain the difference.
Blogs are a kind of website
The content on blog is organized by date and category with the most recent post/content displaying first.
On the homepage of many blogs, you will see posts going down the page with the newest on top.
This is the default organization if you use WordPress.
Blogs also have comments by default, but you can disable them.
I will show you how to get started
A static website is created with a manual process and does not use WordPress. You can either use software or learn HTML/CSS. Publishing content requires you to either use the editing software or learn how to use an FTP program.
This method is not as popular now that blogging is the choice for most website creators.
You can create a "static" site with WordPress by simply changing how your content is arranged. You don't have to sort everything by date.
Creation of a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog
There are two kinds of WordPress sites.
You can go to WordPress.com but the problem is you cannot add ads or monetize your site. It's against their terms and conditions.
You want to create a self-hosted WordPress site. As I have already mentioned, you first need to register your own domain (yoursite.com) and sign up with a web host.
Next, you simply install the WordPress script on your domain from the control panel.
This is a very simple and quick process with most web hosts.
Are you thinking about to create a free website?
I will not recommend free hosted websites. I think they look cheap.
Also, your site could be removed for any reason at any time because you don't technically own anything. You're renting the space like you would be renting an apartment.
Your site Taken away?
Also, it's easy for free sites to be taken away from you. If someone wants to sabotage you, they can report your site and get it taken down with little problem. It has happened to many people before.
WordPress or Blogger?
As I've already noted, I don't endorse free hosting so that's why I would choose WordPress in an instant.
Blogger is often a popular choice among newbies because it's free. However, WordPress is so much more robust and has thousands of free plugins to make it more functional.
It's always best
WordPress is not hard to master with some guidance, so make sure you check out my tutorial video below and you'll see just how easy it is to create your blog!
WordPress is open source. That means developers have access to the source code so they can modify it. This makes the possibilities endless for what you can do with a WordPress website.
If you were a Blogger user, it may take you some time to get used to the WordPress format, It's definitely worth it.
WordPress Blog Hosting
If you use a company like WebsitePalace.com to buy your domain and host your site then you can setup a self-hosted WordPress blog for free in seconds with their WordPress hosting plan.
You simply login to your hosting account and follow the instructions for launching your WordPress blog. It literally takes minutes.
After your account is setup, go to yourdomain.com/wp-admin and you will be presented with the login screen to start creating your site.
wordpress login screen
Once you login, simply go to Appearance >> Themes, choose, install and activate a theme and you're ready to launch your site! Be sure to check out my WordPress tutorial video below for some basic instructions on how to get started.
Create a Blogging Test Platform
If you want to test your site locally on your Windows computer, download a free software program called InstantWP. This is one of the best inventions for WordPress because you don't have to do everything live and pray it looks right.
You can screw up all you want and no one will know but you! Also, this program installs right inside any folder or flash drive. So you can easily take your local copy of WordPress with you and work on any computer.
Free vs. Paid WordPress Themes
As you may know there are thousands of free WordPress themes at your disposal from the admin panel.
About every few months, WordPress updates its software. That means your current theme may not be completely compatible anymore.
So if you're using a free theme, often times the developer won't support it anymore and you're stuck with a broken site.
However, if you use a premium theme then you know that you will have the support when there are any updates or problems. Just something to think about as you create your site.
Also, premium themes have a lot more features and easier ways to customize the design without having to tinker with much code.
Content Organization on Blogs
Having your visitors view/sort your content by date and category may not be the optimal solution for every kind of site because the older content will get buried over time.
Have you ever visited a blog and had trouble finding what you're looking for because of the content organization?
That is because some people only use the default navigation for WordPress. You don't have to organize everything by category and date if you don't want to. In fact, that doesn't make sense for some kinds of sites.
Blogs are awesome for highlighting new content, but if you don't take the time to organize your content effectively, your important information can get buried.
When You Need a Traditional Blog
If you plan on creating the kind of website where you're just highlighting newsworthy information on a very specific niche, then a traditional blog format is ideal.
Think TechCrunch
This site features the latest and greatest info about technology. So it makes sense to just sort the content by category and date because people coming there just want the most recent information.
Also, if they are interested in a certain kind of content, they can browse by category.
If you plan on writing a lot of newsworthy content on a certain topic then a standard blog is perfect for this.
However, if you are creating a tutorial site where a static layout is more appropriate then you may want to either consider a static site or make your WordPress site more static by using WordPress menus, Pages, etc.
WordPress allows you to create posts and pages. Posts (dynamic) automatically show up on the homepage with the newest on top and oldest at the bottom. As you upload more content, the older content eventually gets pushed off the page.
The key is to use the WordPress menu function to link to static pages instead of categories with dated content organized from the newest to oldest.
Make The Best of Both Worlds
For most websites, the hybrid approach is what you should aim for. In other words, you'll want to use both static and dynamic content.
You Can Make Your Own WordPress Theme
Did you know you can build your own theme without knowing any PHP or CSS at all? Thanks to cool programs like Artisteer, you can actually build a theme using their wizard.
Start Your Blog Today
If you've decided to create a WordPress site, you can get very low cost hosting at Website Palace.
Choose the Deluxe Plan and host unlimited domains/websites under one account!
If you've decided to go with a static website instead, you can just choose a regular web hosting platform.You can download free templates from the web, use Artisteer, Dreamweaver, etc.