How to Create a Blog or Niche Website in Minutes!
How to set up and start a WordPress website or blog on Bluehost in just minutes! This is summation of what I have learned about setting up a blog or niche website over my last few years of blogging and running niche websites. Some of what I learned , I learned the easy way. Unfortunately, (for me) – most of it was through trial & error (the hard way). This is what I have found to be the easiest, most efficient and inexpensive way to set up a website as possible. I make some specific recommendations with regards to domain registrar (Cosmotown), web host (Bluehost) and a theme (Blocksy) for your website. Benefit from the lessons I have learned over the last few years! If you find value in this – please consider using my link to sign up with Bluehost as a means of providing me some compensation. Thank you!
6 Steps To Set Up Your First Website or Blog
- Select Domain Name
- Purchase Domain Name (Cosmotown)
- Select Website Hosting Service (Bluehost)
- Add Your Domain to Bluehost
- Install WordPress
- Install WordPress Theme (Blocksy)
1) Select a Domain Name:
Before you can use a domain name – you need to make sure it is available. Use this tool below to check for the availability of any domain name you might be interested in using. For example – if you were interested in the domain www.ILoveLucy.com type in “ilovelucy” and click the “check availability” button to see if is available, or already taken (It is taken!)
I would suggest that you stick with .com extension – if at all possible – as it is the most recognized extension, and the one people think of, by default. You probably won’t be able to get your first choice – so will have to combine a couple of words or a short phrase to do so. Try to keep it as short as possible – but relevant. Nothing to complicated or confusing to remember.
2) Purchase Your Domain Name:
Once you find a domain name that you like AND determine it is available – I would highly recommend you purchase it through Cosmotown.com. I initially got my domain name through Bluehost for free when I signed up with Bluehost for web hosting and then had to move it after the first year was up – since the renewal rate at Bluehost was significantly higher than it is at Cosmotown ($17.99 for Bluehost versus $8.29 for Cosmotown – with whois privacy included!). I wish I had just purchased it FIRST at Cosmotown – and then signed up for web hosting at Bluehost. I suggest that you do this right up front – even though it will take you slightly longer to get up and running. You will save yourself more money in the long run and some frustration when you are coming up on your first year renewal!
| Domain Registrar | First Year | Renewal |
| Bluehost | FREE* | $17.99 |
| Cosmotown | $5.99 | $8.29 |
Oh – and if you think that you will be able to get the free domain name – and just move it to Cosmotown after the first year – Bluehost will charge you a fee to recover their expense of offering it for free – so don’t waste your time! Here is their language regarding their “Free” Domain Policy:
Free Domain Policy
If your hosting plan comes with a free domain through Bluehost and you cancel within the first year, please note there is a non-refundable domain fee based on the regular cost of the domain, which can be found in your control panel, plus any applicable fees, for the domain name. The fee not only covers our own costs, but it ensures that, even if you’re dissatisfied with your experience at Bluehost, you won’t lose your domain name. Upon payment of the domain fee, you’ll be free to transfer it or simply point it elsewhere. Please note, however, that newly registered domains cannot be transferred to another registrar during the first 60 days of the registration period. If you elect to renew your domain name, you will retain ownership of the domain name until the end of its registration period.
Bluehost website May 27th 2021 – click on “Free Domain” on hosting / shared pricing-cards
If you are going to use Bluehost for your web hosting – (which I would strongly recommend that you do) you might as well take care of the one item that you will also need to set up @ Cosmotown while you are already logged in there. Go to the “Manage Domains” section and set the name servers to ns1.bluehost.com and ns2.bluehost.com. This directs web traffic for your domain that is held at Cosmotown to Bluehost – which is where your website will actually reside on their servers.
3) Select a Website Hosting Service:
I use Bluehost for all of my websites and have been very satisfied with them! They are one of the top hosting companies in 2021. I have found Bluehost easy to work with and have been very impressed with the quality of the technical support I have received every time I have reached out to them. Click HERE to start the process!
Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Bluehost, and will receive a commission if you sign up through my referral link. There is no additional cost to you, and you will get great pricing through using my link.
4) Add Your Domain to Bluehost:
Since you purchased your domain name @ Cosmotown you will need to add it to Bluehost. After you have logged into you Bluehost account simply click on “Domains” and then “assign”. Follow the steps indicated to complete the process.
5) Create New Website & Install WordPress:
WordPress is the opensource software that makes publishing posts and pages to your website a breeze! It is very similar to using a word processor – but also allows you to add various plugins for increased functionality. There are literally THOUSANDS of plugins available (many for FREE)! There are ones that can help you add everything from a shopping cart and e-commerce functionality to your website – to plugins that can generate popup forms for people to opt-in to your email list.
Bluehost makes it VERY easy to setup a WordPress blog or website! WordPress is FREE – and Bluehost makes it pretty much a 1 click install procedure.
6) Install a WordPress Theme:
This is really easy too – and I will save you a lot of time & monkeying around. I would choose Blocksy as your first theme. It is free and very easy to customize. I like the clean look and have been using it on all of my websites for a little over a year at this point. I tried a lot of other themes and endured a LOT of frustration before finding Blocksy!
Conclusion
I hope you found this to be a valuable resource in helping you to set up a blog or website easily and inexpensively.
I know that it is probably EASIER to just go to Bluehost and take the free domain for the first year. However, I truly believe that you will find, like me – that the significantly higher on-going cost of the domain renewal at Bluehost outweighs the minor inconvenience of setting up your domain separately with a domain registrar like Cosmotown and just pointing things back to Bluehost – where the website is hosted.
If you have any suggestions – please leave a comment below.
Sincerly,
