How To Make Your Own Blog Website During Lunch

How to create a blog | Life Nomading

We all have exciting insights and ideas to share with the world. Odds are that some of you actually want to share these things with the world. But the problem is that you’re usually overwhelmed by how to make your own blog website to share your thoughts. There are tons of different avenues in which to share your wealth (information and expertise) with the world. Whether its via social media, YouTube, blogs, or forums, there are endless ways to share.

How ever you decide to share your information, there is one thing you must have in place to have the best chance at making actual income from your pursuits. That being a blog, just like the one you are reading right now!

I know how overwhelming it can be to start your own website. Trust me, we have all been in your shoes. That is why this post will be a simple step-by-step process that will take you from zero to a full fledged blog in as little as 10 minutes.

So let’s get started!

Before we start, you will need:

  • A credit card
  • Domain name idea

That’s it.

Craft a Brand Name and Purchase a Domain Name

To begin, every blog or general website starts with a domain name. For this website, I chose www.Lifenomading.com and you knew this because that is how you accessed this article in the first place. 😉 When it comes to domain name creation you must first think if you want to create it under your own personal name or it’s own brand name.

As you can see, Life Nomading is a brand name that I created and my IanHoyt.com website is for my personal portfolio of work un related to what I talk about on this blog. Once you have a name idea down, you can purchase your domain name.

Usually at this point, I would recommend that you purchase your domain name on a separate domain name platform from your hosting. However, the hosting service I am about to recommend gives you one free domain when you register for hosting. So obviously, you should use that for making your first website.

Buy Hosting

There are thousands of different website hosting companies out there. All of which provide similar services. When it comes to very competitive pricing and the best customer service in the industry, I lean on Bluehost as my go-to hosting service.

Bluehost, in my opinion is the best hosting service to date for someone like you and I to host our websites on. They keep their servers (the computers that house our websites in the cloud), clean, and up-to-date. This ensures that your website is always up and running.

So, if you don’t have hosting yet, be sure to quickly sign-up for their service to get started. This is also where you will get to pick your free domain name! This is also where the credit card portion of this how to will be needed. But have no fear, their low price of only $3.49/month is a small price to pay for unlimited hosting.

Install WordPress

Okay, so you have your Bluehost account all set up now and you chose an awesome domain name to rock the world with.

Now it’s time for the critical step in this whole ordeal, loading the WordPress platform up!

This is simple.

First, on your Bluehost dashboard you will see a ton of grey bars which are all likely all expanded. I first recommend collapsing them all or searching for the WordPress icon under the “Website Builders” section. Then click it.

How To Make Your Own Blog Website | Life Nomading

You will be taken to this screen where you want to click the big fat “Install” button.

install wordpress with bluehost| Life Nomading

Then from the drop down you will see your domain name listed. Be sure to select it and then click “Check Domain“.

Download wordpress on website | Life Nomading

You will then be taken to this page where you want to check both boxes shown below.

select advanced options on wordpress install

Here is the important part.

You want to make sure to remember what you enter in the “advanced options” area, especially the “admin username” and “admin password”. These credentials will be used for your log-in once the WordPress platform is fully downloaded on your domain name.

Remember your admin username and admin password for future use.

Once you have selected your login information, press the “Install Now” button.

Create a Blog Quickly | Life Nomading

 

You will then see in the upper bar the progress of your download. Be patient this may take a few minutes.

Downloading WordPress | Life Nomading

 

Wooohooo! It’s done when you see this.

Wordpress download complete | LIfe Nomading

Purchase an awesome Theme

When it comes to how to make your own blog website one of the most important aspects about creating a quality blog that readers will want to hang out on is having an awesome theme that makes your content look great and function well. When it comes to finding a theme that is easy to manage, I always use ThemeForest

It’s sometimes scary to think about all of the money I have spent on so many great themes throughout the years, but I am never disappointed when I buy a theme via ThemeForest.

It’s super easy to find themes. Just go to Themeforest.net. Once you are there, search for WordPress Themes and be prepared to get sucked into looking at so many different ones. Take your time, and find a theme that fits your style best.

Themeforest wordpress themes | Life Nomading

If you like the theme that I use for Life Nomading, it is called “SimpleMag“. Feel free to check it out and use it, it’s one of my favorites that I have ever owned.

Theme sorting hack: When you are sifting through the thousands of WordPress themes on Themeforest, sort by most popular or most downloads. It will make new themes not come up, since these typically are too new to be fully functioning. Get a theme with high ratings and sales. 

Install Theme & Begin!

Now that you have your WordPress platform successfully downloaded, it’s time for the fun part!

First, to log-in to your blog you simply type in your web address with this ending added: www.YOURDOMAIN.com/wp-admin

Remember when I told you to remember your credentials that you entered in the advanced settings? Well now it’s time to use those. When your page loads, you will be prompted to put in your Username and Password that you had assigned when downloading WordPress.

ps… Your username should be the email address you chose.

Wordpress Login Tutorial | Life Nomading

 

Once you have successfully logged in for the first time, you may be overwhelmed on where to begin. Have no fear, first we need to install the stunning theme you purchased on ThemeForest.

To do this, you need to click on the “Appearance” button on the left hand side and then select “Theme

Then you will see the “Add New” button, click it!

Once this is done, it will have you upload your theme’s .zip file.

**NOTE** Make sure to upload the .zip file you downloaded directly from ThemForest. Don’t unzip any files. It will not accept them.

Build a blog quickly | Life Nomading

Then click “Install Now

Now wait for a minute or so as the theme uploads to your WordPress.

You will then be prompted with this screen…

Start a Blog | Life Nomading

To make the theme you just uploaded active, you must click the “Activate” button on this page.

That’s it! You now have an active blog. Now all you need to do is go into your specific theme’s options and customize anything you want to fit your brand image and voice.

Or, you could get started creating content by going to the “Posts” page and creating a new post.

How to make your own blog website is really not that hard.

As you can see, creating a blog is extremely easy and cheap. The crazy thing is, this small investment can reap a ton of passive nomadic income for you if you put in the work, learn about SEO and create useful content. Although creating a blog is cheap and easy, it takes REAL dedication to keep new articles published and the site looking great for your readers.

Life Nomading has been around for about five months (from when I posted this article), and I will tell you that I have put full time effort into everything I produce here. So being successful is more than you see on the surface!

If you are looking to make a blog to just document your personal journey, that is absolutely great! But if you are looking to create a sustainable business/income from your content be prepared for a long road ahead. It will happen, you just have to work hard and be patient.

I’m excited that you are now on your way to a new journey in your nomadic life. Be sure to comment below with your website link so I can keep tabs on your progress!

If you want more information about the products I recommended in this article you can visit my Nomad Toolbox.