“I want to start a blog/website – help!”

I’ve been asked this question a lot lately, and seen it pop up around the place. You want to start a blog, but you don’t know how to go about it? Read on!

The first question you need to answer is what do you want to do with your blog? Do you want a place to just keep your customers updated on new products; or do you want to take it further and have your own website – with a blog – that you could one day also sell your work on?

If the former sounds like you, then I’d recommend just going with a free blogger, typepad, or wordpress.com account. They’re all easy-to-use systems, and they’ll get you on your way!

If, however, you’re like me and are aiming for the latter, then I wholly recommend you go with a self-hosted WordPress blog. Not sure how to do this? Well, you’re in the right place, read on!

(P.S. If you are really interested in having a site like this, but are positive you won’t be able to work it out/ don’t have the time to do it, I can help).

Buying Hosting and a Domain

The first thing you need is to choose a webhost and a domain name. I recommend Dreamhost (aff*), as they are an awesome hosting company, and you can buy your domain names directly from them (in fact, you get one free domain when you sign up with them)!

They are my own host, and I’ve been with them for many years now. Oh, and did I mention they are a carbon neutral company? Yep 🙂 For the initial techy stuff, I’m going to assume you’ve signed up with them. If not, the info below should still help you figure out your host!

Once you’ve signed up for hosting with them, go into your dashboard and click on ‘Domain Registrations’. Now, hopefully you’ve worked out what you want your domain to be… here’s your chance to see if it’s available! Just type it in the little box, and cross your fingers! If it is, hurrah! Nab it, and move onto the next step.

If not, don’t despair – try a few different combinations/spellings if possible, and chances are you’ll find one that’s available. For example, if I wanted to register my name, jessicavanden.com (which I have) but it was taken, I’d try jessica-vanden.com or jessica-van-den.com (use those hypens)!

“But Jess, I already have a domain name that I’ve re-directed to my Etsy/Artfire/DaWanda etc. shop or my current blog!“

Well, that’s easy to solve! In your Dreamhost dashboard, look to the sidebar, and click on ‘Domains’–>’Reg. Transfer’. Pop your domain in there and request a transfer, easy! It should take about a week to process. (You’ll also need to send an e-mail to the people who you bought your domain from, because they’ll need to ‘unlock’ it for you).

Installing WordPress

In your Dreamhost dashboard, look for the sidebar. On there, you should see ‘Goodies’–>’One-Click Installs’. Head on over here.

Click on ‘Install new website software – Advanced mode’ (don’t be scared by the word ‘advanced’, it just means you have a little more control over your site, not that it’s hard).

Choose WordPress, select your domain down the bottom, and click ‘Install it for me now’!

Ta-da! Mosey over to your e-mail and check for a message from Dreamhost. There will be a link to click on, which will take you to a page where you name your site, and choose your Username and Password. Then, it’ll ask you to log in.

That’s it! The first stage finished. You now have a domain, a host, and you’ve installed WordPress.

In upcoming posts, I’ll teach you:

• some more useful techy stuff – all about Plugins, and the behind-the-scenes set-up info you need to get things running smoothly.
• fun stuff – Widgets and Themes! The funky bits and pieces you need to know to get your site looking pretty!
• all about ftp, and how to set it up and use it to add images to your sidebar.
• how to move your current blogger.com blog over to your new WordPress blog!

However, I’m going to continue this series at my new site ‘Crafting a Business‘ – which is where all the Crafty Biz goodness will be happening from now on!

So head on over there, or just click here to subscribe to that blog and get the follow-ups in this series!

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Interested in having a WordPress website/blog set up for you? I craft websites for fellow artisans – my prices start from as little as $349 AUD. Find out more here.

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(aff* – this means affiliate link. Dreamhost very nicely give me a little $$ bonus if I refer people. Since they’re my host and I’d recommend them anyways, I think that’s very nice of them).