How to Start a Blog with Bluehost

No matter when or why you want to start a blog, getting off the right start is the best way to be successful and have fun right away.  I started with Bluehost in 2019 and it was the best decision I made.  As of 2021, I retired from my day job and I am now a Full-Time Food Blogger. Dreams come true!  

Below are some key lists that you will want to review to help you decide how best to move forward.  In addition, there are step-by-step instructions on how to start a blog using Bluehost for your self-hosting provider, pick a domain, and get started. Here you will find everything you need to know on how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost. For very little money your blogging business can start today.  

DISCLOSURE: The links below to Bluehost are affiliate links. This means that The Short Order Cook earns some revenue (at no cost to you) when you click through the link(s) and set up your service. The views expressed in this post are all the real opinions of the writer and are in no way swayed by the company. The Short Order Cook is hosted by Bluehost and it is a great service with impeccable customer service. 

How I Started my Food & Lifestyle Blog

I started back in 2019 and let's be real, no one makes money immediately when blogging. It does take time so when starting, you want to be as frugal as possible. You won't have much traffic so having a low-cost hosting company, like Bluehost, is really the best way to go.  

To ensure the startup costs of getting a blog off the ground are kept low, make sure your overhead costs are minimal. The main costs at the beginning of my blogging journey were my insurance, starting an LLC, and my hosting services.  Since my hosting was going to be a monthly expense, I wanted to make sure I was not overpaying for what I needed. 

Cost of Starting a Blog

When you choose Bluehost for your hosting, you really are getting the best money can buy.  For a cost as low as $2.95/month you are literally starting your blog for pennies a day.  You can choose from several plans and price ranges.  Bluehost offers the choice of a 12-month or 36-month plan.  With so many great choices and different prices, the costs are almost nothing, and could not be cheaper to start a blogging business. 

 

Bluehost is Easy & Good for Blogging

This post will share the few easy steps to get set up and the amazingly low price. Plus how to make money and start a blog business today.  No matter why you want to start a blog, it has never been a better time as the world is more online.  It is not a saturated market but I will be honest there are many blogs out there, likely in your niche.

However, creating a blog correctly and monetizing it to bring in income is often not done correctly or not given the time it takes to succeed.  First, you need to make sure you sign up with a quality hosting company like Bluehost.  Besides being the best hosting company, once you join Bluehost, it is so easy to launch WordPress for your blog.

Starting a blog seems complicated and expensive.  But starting a blog with Bluehost is easy and inexpensive.  For less than $100 a year you can start a blog and turn it into a money-making business.

Why I Started a Blog -

• Share My Love of Food and Travel
• Desire to Start Another Business
• Preparing for "Retirement"
• Work When I Want and Where I Want & FAMILY TIME !!!
• FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHY I STARTED A FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG HERE

Why You Should Start a Blog?

• Hobby / For Fun
• Start a Blog for an Existing Business
• Make Money Blogging
• Stay Connected with Others
• Share a Passion and Help Others
• Expand an Existing Business
• Start a New Business  / Be Your Own Boss
• Flexible Schedule
• All of the Above!  (That is Me!!!)

Types of Blog Businesses to Start and Make Money

The best way for beginners to start a blog and be successful at making money is to write about what they are passionate about and have a relative level of expertise.  The knowledge, trust, and excitement will come through and that is how you gain followers.  To find your niche and get started on one of the many popular types of blogs that will bring readers in and drive your traffic to success.  Some ideas include starting a:

• Travel blog
• Food/cooking/recipe/nutrition blog
• Sports blog
• Fashion/style blog
• Make-up/beauty blog
• Personal blog
• Mom/parenting/family blog
• Political blog
• Music blog
• Finance blog
• Retirement blog
• Car blog
• DIY blog
• Home design/garden blog
• Health/exercise/weight loss blog

If you want to make money with your blog...

If you want to monetize your blog and have income from it, the most important thing to know is that you need a WORDPRESS.ORG account. You will want to be self-hosted and not have WordPress "control/own" your site and your content.  To ensure you have your own hosting site and own your website you need a hosting company before you install WordPress. Starting a blog with WordPress is the best first step to starting a blogging business.

This is where Bluehost comes in. I did a lot of research and reading before I started my blog, and there was no doubt that Bluehost was the only way to go.  I am so impressed with the company and how far I have come in less than a year, that I wanted to begin helping others start their blog and make sure the first important choice they make is the right one - start with Bluehost and WordPress.org.

 

Why use Bluehost for your Blog?

• Budget-Friendly Pricing - several price points to work into any budget
• Free Domain Name for the First Year - Free, enough said!
• Amazing Support - I have needed customer service a few times and it is exceptional. The online chat has helped resolve each issue I have had and answered my questions (mostly in relation to setting up my email acct)
• Automatic WordPress Installation - after you set up your Bluehost account, there will be easy steps to install WordPress and get your blog going. WordPress is the #1 website builder and ⅓ of all websites worldwide use WordPress.
• Email setup with your domain name
• SSL certificate - Google and most companies prefer a site that is "secure" with SSL
• Site Backup - Choice Plus package includes site backup so you always have a secure backup of your site should anything go wrong. It is saved daily automatically under this plan for peace of mind.

 

8 Easy Steps to Start a Blog

All the information on low pricing with Bluehost, installing WordPress, and how to make money.

1 - Pick a Niche - Before you start a blog, you need to decide on what you want to write about, share with others, and focus on.  For me, that was easy, food. I had a previous personal chef business with the URL https://theshortordercook.com/ and luck be had, that domain was available once again (for about 6 years it was taken - this was fate!). 

Need help deciding your blog name? Here are some of the Best Food Blog Name Ideas that may spark your imagination. So once you have a domain idea or topic, you will search to see if that is available through Bluehost - shared later in step 5 below.

 

2 - Go to the Bluehost site.   Click here to take you to the website -

 

3 - Get Hosting Started - Click on the GET STARTED button on the Bluehost home screen.  This will take you through a few simple steps to get your hosting and domain started today. It takes less than 10 minutes from start to finish - including loading WordPress.

 

4 - Pick a Plan - Bluehost has pricing for any budget. The best Bluehost Plans for bloggers are all offered in a variety of price ranges.  They start as low as $2.95 and go up to $13.95/month. All Bluehost pricing is inexpensive & has the best pricing. 

Here are the screen and pricing as of Fall 2019. Sometimes there are even better holiday and seasonal deals.  You can see there are different plans and services included.  I picked the CHOICE PLUS.  I wanted to ensure I had my site backed up daily. 

I also wanted Domain Privacy. I was going to have my family on my website and I wanted my full name and home address blocked and not made public.  For just a few dollars more a month, it was a no-brainer to pick this plan.  Plus at the time it was the SAME price as the Plus plan - come on could the decision be any easier?

5 - Pick a Domain - Here is a big step. You get a FREE domain for the first year.  To make sure your domain is available, you can type it in and pick it up next. If it is available, it will let you know (see screen prints below)  But if it is taken it will show you a different screen with close / similar options. Some will include a ".net" vs the  ".com".  Everything you read highly suggests you stick with the ".com" domains as it has more authority and is easily recognized and remembered.

 

6 - Domain Accepted - once your domain is available and you like what you have, continue on.  The Account Information screen will come up. Here you enter everything about yourself / your company that applies to this domain.

 

7 - Pick a Package & Extras - You already picked a plan, now you can pick how many months you want that plan for. As you can see the more initial months you pick, the cheaper the per month price is.  Here is where I picked 36 months.  This was not just because it was the biggest cost-effective monthly price. I knew I was going to blog for a minimum of 3 years to get my business off the ground. All my research pointed to a 2-3 year plan to really get a blog off the ground and be a full-time business. I was making that commitment and was "All In"!

For Bluehost package extras, there are several.   I recommend SiteLock.  For under $2 a month it scans for malware and site vulnerabilities.  Two others are included in the package that I selected.  The privacy protection and Codeguard.  Codeguard is to ensure your site is backed up.  If you did not pick the same package as I did, I HIGHLY recommend you check that here.  No one wants to lose their blog and all their work.  You can uncheck any you do not want.  After mine was complete it was less than $75/year to start my blog!

 

8 - Add Payment Information - the last step before you get your blog started is to pay.  If you already started a business and have a business account, you can use this here also.  Then hit submit and you are on your way.

 

 

Congratulations, You Started Your Blog!

So what is next ---

• Launch WordPress
  • Log into Bluehost & follow the steps
• Pick a Theme
  • This is a template for how your site can look & be customized. There are many free but also paid ones out there.
• Start writing!
• Earn money even doing this part-time
  • Sign up with Google Adsense
  • Work with companies and write sponsored posts
  • Join an affiliate marketing group like Amazon Affiliates
  • Create your own products or services

Stay Tuned for more Blogging Resources available here at The Short Order Cook.   Good luck & Enjoy it!

 

PIN FOR SAFEKEEPING & SHARING!

 

 

DISCLOSURE: The links below to Bluehost are affiliate links. This means that The Short Order Cook earns some revenue (at no cost to you) when you click through the link(s) and set up your service. The views expressed in this post are all the real opinions of the writer and are no way swayed by the company. The Short Order Cook is hosted by Bluehost and it is a great service with impeccable customer service.