So, you want to start a blog? You’ve probably already read about how you should avoid free blog sites and go with a hosting provider rather than Blogger or WordPress.org.
One reason for this is the importance of having your own domain name in order to be taken seriously as a blogger and progress past being a hobby blogger. Before starting this process, you should come up with several desired domain names using the .com ending. You’ll want to have alternatives in case your first choices aren’t available.
This post may contain affiliate links; please read my disclosure here.
Why Start a Blog With GoDaddy Managed WordPress?
- It’s inexpensive, and your initial plan will include a free domain registration.
- It’s quick and easy to set up, with no need to go through installing WordPress on your own. GoDaddy gives you one-click WordPress installation and walks you through easy steps to get your blog running quickly.
- GoDaddy takes care of updating WordPress. This is very important, since security updates come out frequently. These updates need to be installed right away to protect your blog.
- GoDaddy automatically backup your blog regularly. I once messed up my blog and had to restore from backup. Boy, was I grateful for that backup, and it was incredibly easy to go through the restore process!
- You won’t have to worry about accidentally installing rogue or flaky plug-ins. One of the great things about WordPress is the enormous number of free plug-ins available to expand on your blog’s functionality. GoDaddy Managed WordPress maintains a blacklist of plug-ins that are known to cause problems. It also notes whether each plug-in has been tested with the version of WordPress your blog is using.
- GoDaddy offers video tutorials for free, plus free phone support 24/7. I used the phone support on a weekend and did not have to wait terribly long on hold.
Get Your Plan and Free Domain
Click here to start a blog with $1/mo WordPress Hosting from GoDaddy!
Look for the Basic Plan and click Configure underneath it. This will give you 10 GB of SSD storage for your site’s content (including photos and videos), 25,000 monthly visitors, free domain with annual plan, thousands of free plug-ins and themes, free daily backups, free 24/7 support, 150+ WordPress walkthroughs and training videos, automatic WordPress updates and 99.9% uptime promise.
Choose the 12-month plan. Important: You won’t see the $1.00 per month offer until you get past this point. Don’t worry – you’ll soon see a total of $12.00 plus tax for an entire year of hosting.
Scroll down and click Continue.
Enter the domain name you’ve chosen and click Search. Once you’ve found an available domain name, click Select and Continue.
Click Proceed to Checkout and pay for your purchase. You will need to pay for a year to get the discounted price, which should total $12 plus applicable tax.
You do not need to choose the other options at this time, the ones that cost extra, unless you’d rather hide your domain’s WhoIs information. WhoIs is available to anyone who wants to look up the contact information of a domain owner. You’ll need to pay extra if you want to keep your contact info private.
You will need to set up a GoDaddy account. Be sure to select a very secure password and keep it somewhere safe.
GoDaddy offers a quick and easy, step by step process to follow for setting up your WordPress blog in only a few minutes. When you finish going through the process, you’ll have a basic WordPress site with some common and useful plug-ins.
You will need to choose Setup and Install a New WordPress Site, and enter the new domain you registered previously.
Make sure you create a very secure password for your WordPress login account. It’s best if you do not use the same password you used for your GoDaddy account.
Also, create a secondary account (under Users on the side), and give that account administrative access and a very strong password, just in case you somehow get locked out of your account.
GoDaddy offers a unique Quick Setup plug-in (linked at the top and on the left), which will walk you through some different choices for customizing your site.
GoDaddy also provides helpful videos and FAQs to get up-to-speed quickly in working with your new WordPress blog.
Ready to write your first post? At the top, click New, Post. Give your post a headline and write the text below it. You’ll find categories and tags on the right side. I recommend starting with just a few categories at first, then going up to a maximum of 10 or 12. Use very generic categories, and a limited number of tags for each post.
How About You?
Do you have a blog now, or have you had one in the past? What has been your experience with WordPress or other blogging platforms? What’s been your experience with various blog hosting providers?
If you enjoyed this post, could you please like it on Facebook and give it a G+1?
You can enjoy more of my blogging posts at this link.