Starting a blog or website

Starting a blog or website can be incredibly fulfilling when you think of the endless possiblities you have on the internet. With a blog you can share your thoughts, opinions, stories, pictures, videos and anything else you can think of. With a website you can help more people find your business online, promote your products or services online, or just give your business a professional look. Whatever the case, there is a perfect platform out there called Wordpress.

Wordpress can be used for just about any type of website or blog your heart desires. Wordpress comes in two different forms, the self hosted Wordpress found at Wordpress.org and the Wordpress hosted on the wordpress servers. In this article we will cover just a little bit of what the self hosted Wordpress has to offer.

The self hosted wordpress means you will need to host the Wordpress software yourself. The cheapest route to go is with a shared hosting account at places such as Bluehost.com. If you look at the prices of a dedicated servers or even most virtual dedicated servers you will be paying a lot more than a shared hosting account. You really don't need to even consider a virtual dedicated server or a dedicated server unless you plan to get huge amounts of traffic or are building an extremely large complex site.

How to get started

I recommend Bluehost.com as long as your website fits within their guidelines. Before heading over to Bluehost you need to think of some domain names you would like. For example: www.yourdomainname.com. You can pick something unique that fits you or something related to your product or service. If you are planning to promote a product or service it is a good idea to try and get something with a keyword or to in the domain name itself. For example, if you are going to be selling motorcyle parts you may want to get the word motorcyle into your domain name.

Alright, so you have couple domain names picked out you would be happy to own. Now let's head over to bluehost.com and sign up. At the sign up process is where you will enter the domain name you have picked out. If the name you picked out is not available you will have to try some different variations of it until you find a name that is available.

After you have settled on your domain name and signed up you are ready to go, and only minutes away from having your very own blog or website. After signing in you will see a strange looking panel called a cpanel with all sorts of strange icons that you may or may not know what they mean. There is no need to worry or panic. Just follow these instructions and you will be just fine.

1. Click the icon that says Simple Scripts.

2. Click the Wordpress icon on the following page.

3. Click the install button on the following page.

4. The next page will ask you to specify with or with out the www. prefix in the dropdown box. It's really up to you and your preference.

5. Don't worry about the advanced settings.

6. Read and agree to the legal information.

7. click complete.

You will now be given a link to www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin. This is the link to your admin panel. First you need to check your e-mail and get the password Simple Scripts sent you. After you get the password simply sign into your admin panel and start building your blog or website.

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Stay tuned for more articles on builing and customizing your Wordpress site.