How to Start a Blog for Your Creative Business

Are you wondering how to start a blog or creative business website? Or maybe you’ve started on a platform and don’t know if it’s the right fit. Well, you’ve come to the right place. Here I will show you how to create a blog and why it should be synonymous with your business website.

I created my first blog back in 2010, while I was pregnant with my first son. It was hotmochamommy.blogspot at the time. (Almost as bad as my myspace username, eek). It took me forever to google how to make it pretty, I had the hardest time monetizing, then I settled on a free template, next the designer of that template stopped hosting the images. Two words: hot mess. Fast forward to 2018 and every week I get some question about websites, logos, domains and hosting.

“Hey, I’m a *insert creative hobby title here*, I’m not trying to be a mommy blogger, I just want a website to display business info and take payments.”

I hear you. But hear me, NO ONE WANTS TO GIVE YOU THEIR MONEY, YOU HAVE TO GIVE THEM SOMETHING FIRST. If you’re a photographer, baker, cotton candy maker, you can still have set pages to display FAQ, menus, price lists, portfolios, galleries, contact forms and a shop section, but you’ll also have the opportunity to provide value to prospective clients. It could be a post about “10 Cool Locations to Shoot Engagement Photos in Memphis ” or “10 Unique Cake Flavor Combinations You Have to Try” or even “The Top 10 Baby Shower Themes for 2018”.

Not only will your visitors know about the services that you offer, but now you’re providing value upfront and people remember that.

Since I’ve (hopefully) convinced you that a blog and business website can be the same thing, what will we build it on?

*THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS TO PAY FOR MY COFFEE. SEE FULL DISCLOSURE HERE*

SELF-HOSTED WORDPRESS ON SITEGROUND.

Why WordPress and not Squarespace or Wix or Weebly? 

WordPress is robust. Great content creator, amazing flexibility through the use of plugins, hundreds of thousands of templates you can purchase to beautify your site instantly. Plus plenty of websites, blogs and video tutorials to help find solutions to any questions you may have.

Why Siteground and not GoDaddy?

Let me say that I hosted quite a few blogs on Godaddy until I recently discovered Siteground. I made the switch and I’ve experienced amazing customer service, lightning fast page loading and a free SSL is included (godaddy charges $50+ a year for their ssl)

LET’S GET STARTED

Click Here to go to Siteground  and Start Your Blog and Website (it will open in another window so you can follow along).

1. Choose Your Hosting Plan

SiteGround has three plans, all of which include free email accounts at your domain name. Plus if you sign up through my affiliate link you can get 60% OFF!!!

• The StartUp plan is perfect if you only have one website and only need basic features
• The GrowBig plan is my personal recommendation, it has premium features and includes the option to host multiple websites *go halfsies with a friend maybe*
• The GoGeek plan is perfect for people with e-commerce and larger sites, or more geeky development needs like staging and GIT integration

I currently have the GoGeek plan, simply because I want to ensure I am PCI compliant to sell products on my site. However, you can still do that with the other two plans if you accept payments through paypal.

Step 2. Select Your Domain Name

A domain is a web address. Mine is VictoriaShari.com. You can buy a new domain, or sign up with an existing one you may already have. Just remember you want it to be short and memorable. Choose something you can live with. Don’t be a hot mocha mommy, like I was.

Step 3. Review and Complete

Unlike many other hosting providers our advertised discount applies to any of the initial periods chosen during the sign up process. Being able to get the low price for the one year period is a fact that increases conversions greatly in comparison to other providers where the lowest monthly price applies only for the longest period. So highlighting this fact may strongly increase your conversions.

 

STEP 4: INSTALL WORDPRESS

So, that doesn’t sound too hard, does it? Next, with Siteground they offer automatically installation of wordpress.

1. From My Account tab, simply click the red GO TO CPANEL button.
2. Underneath the AUTOINSTALLER section, click  WORDPRESS.
3.  Click the blue INSTALL button
4. Fill in information on the next screen. **NOTE: the admin username/password will be what you use to sign into wordpress and your site. REMEMBER IT!!!
5. Select a Theme. **I would leave this blank for now, as wordpress has themes already or you may decide to purchase one at a later date.
6. Click INSTALL and you’re done.

The next step is just beautifying and customizing that website of yours.