How to Start a Blog

In the first two parts of this series, you learned how to find a niche topic to blog about and how to select a domain name and blog hosting client. If you haven’t read the first two parts to this series, please go back and read them now if you do not currently have a domain name or hosting client.

Get started with Wordpress

Now I want to discuss how to transfer your domain from the Godaddy.com site to the HostGator.com site (the same concepts can be used for any domain registrar transfer to any domain hosting client.) Then I will discuss how to install the Wordpress software onto your domain using the HostGator.com Cpanel. Wordpress.org is a platform where you control everything about your own blog, unlike Wordpress.com where the blogs are free and very limited in their use.

I will then discuss how to find a free Wordpress theme to fit your new blog and how to upload the theme to your site using free FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software. Once these steps are complete then you will be ready to begin your blogging adventure.

HostGator

Go to HostGator.com
• Log into your HostGator.com Cpanel account that you created when you started your hosting service with HostGator.com

• Find your Name Servers, usually in the bottom left corner of your Cpanel, write both of them down.
How to Change your DNS Nameservers

Godaddy

Go to Godaddy.com
• Log into your Godaddy.com account.
• Under your Account Manager select the domain you want to be hosted on HostGator.com
• Once in your Domain Manager find where it says Nameservers then select Manage.
• Select the option that states “I host my domains with another provider”
• In the box’s for Nameserver 1 and Nameserver 2, replace what is there with the Nameservers that you wrote down from HostGator.com
• Select the OK button at the bottom then log out of Godaddy.com and wait about 15 minutes, though sometimes it can take several hours depending on site and server traffic.

HostGator
Go back to your HostGator.com Cpanel
• Towards the bottom of your Cpanel there is a section called “software and services”, select the Fantastico icon.
• Select Wordpress from the Left side navigation button
• This will install the WordPress software for you on your domain.
• Write down all the log in information that you provide.
• When finished, you can log out of your Cpanel .

Your Domain

Navigate to your new domain by typing it into your browser.
• You should see a generic Wordpress theme with the name of your blog and the words “hello world”
• On the bottom right of the generic theme there will be area labeled “meta” where you can log into your new blog.

Select log in and enter your information.

• Once in your Dashboard (the administrative area behind your blog where all the work gets done) find the “Appearance tab in the left navigation.
• This is where your themes are stored, where you add or change widgets and where the editor is to make changes to the theme (once you have the skills to play with that)

Find a new theme

There are thousands of free Wordpress themes available to any self hosting Wordpress user. You can go to any search engine and do a search for free Wordpress themes. You can narrow your search down by adding keywords that represent your blog. For example, if you’re planning to blog about kittens then you can do a search for “free kitten Wordpress theme.”

Once you find the theme you like, download it to a file on your computer that you named “Wordpress themes.” You will have to unzip the file before you upload it to your site.

FTP Client

Using your FTP
• Navigate to the FileZilla website and download the FileZilla Client software. Install the software on your computer. Once the software is downloaded onto your computer you can open it up.
• At the top of the page you will see boxes for “host,” “username,” and “password.” For “host,” enter your domain name, i.e. homemadecandyrecipes.com, then enter the username and password you created for your HostGator.com Cpanel account. FileZilla is an FTP client which you use to upload files from your computer to the HostGator.com server where your domain is.
• After you entered all the login information and hit “enter,” you will see the client log onto your host server. On the left side of the window you will see a column titled “Local site” and on the right side a column titled “Remote site.” The Local site contains the files on your computer and the Remote site contains the files on the server. You well be dragging and dropping files from your Local site into the Remote site.
• On the Remote site side click on the small + icon to open up the file. Once that is open, find the public_html file and double click on it. Find your domain name and double click on it. Find the wp-content file and double click on it. Find the themes file and double click on it.
• Now on the Local site side, navigate to the file where you downloaded your theme to and then drag and drop that theme in the bottom right window under the Remote site side. The upload will begin and you will be notified when the upload is complete. When the upload is complete, you can exit the FileZilla software.
You Are Ready to Start Blogging

After the upload is complete, you can log into your Wordpress blog and from the Dashboard select the Appearance tab.
You should now see the theme you just uploaded. You can upload as many themes as you like until you find one that “fits.” Select the theme you want to use and “activate” it. At the top of your Dashboard you will see the tab that says “view site.” Select that tab and it will take you to the front end of your blog. Your new Wordpress theme should be installed and you are now ready to start blogging away.

More Posts in this Series

FINDING A NICHE ———> Part 1 How to Start a Blog

DOMAIN NAMES AND DOMAIN HOSTING ———> Part 2 How to Start a Blog