Are you looking for an easy guide on how to create a blog on WordPress?
If so, your search ends here! We’ve prepared the easiest tutorial on starting the best WordPress blog effortlessly.
We’ll also recommend a theme to go with your blog site that offers templates for you to get a quick start.
So, please stick with us until the end!
Benefits of Having a Blog on WordPress
We all know WordPress. It was launched as a blogging platform.
Now, it’s one of the most popular and advanced content management systems, empowering over 43% of all websites on the Internet.
Hence, you can use WordPress to create websites of any niche seamlessly, including online stores, magazines, businesses, etc.
All you have to do is use your imagination and create content. WordPress takes care of displaying it!
Here are a few benefits of blogging with WordPress:
- Share your Passion: Having a blog helps you connect with your audiences by delivering content on what you love.
- Advertisements: You can place paid advertisements on your website and monetize your site.
- Online Exposure: Writing compelling blogs can help you attract attention and opportunities.
- Affiliates: You can also earn commissions from your blog via affiliate marketing.
- Inspiring Other People: With your blog, you can inspire and motivate others by sharing your ideas, thoughts, beliefs, stories, etc.
And there are many more!
How to Create a Blog on WordPress? (Step-by-Step Guide)
You’re probably tempted to create a blog as soon as possible. Well, we’ve prepared a step-by-step tutorial on how to easily create a blog on WordPress. Let’s start!
Step 1: Set Up a WordPress Website
First and foremost, you must register a domain name for your blogging website. A domain name is the name of your website.
For this purpose, you’ll find many domain registrars on the market.
However, here are a few recommendations to narrow down your search:
After registering a domain name, you need to find a proper web hosting service. Web hosting allows you to rent a space to save and store your website’s data and files.
Here are some of our suggestions for web hosting services:
If you wish to explore more options, check out this article on the best web hosting services.
Since you’ve completed registering your domain and purchasing appropriate hosting, you can proceed with installing and setting up your WordPress website.
Step 2: Choose the Right WordPress Theme
The next step is to choose the right theme for your site. There are hundreds of the best WordPress blog themes to explore.
We’ve narrowed the search to ColorMag, a powerful yet simple WordPress theme with pre-built templates for a blogging website.
It’s also one of the best magazine themes, allowing you to import professionally designed magazine-themed templates instantly.
Step 3: Install and Activate ColorMag
You can install the theme in two ways. In this tutorial, we’ll install it from the dashboard.
Open your WordPress dashboard and go to Appearance >> Themes.
You’ll see a button labeled Add New Theme on the top-left side. Click on it, and you’ll see an interface like this.
On the search bar, type “ColorMag”. Then click on Install and wait for a few seconds.
Then press on Activate.
There you go. You’ve successfully installed the ColorMag theme.
Step 4: Import a Starter Template
You’ll see a welcome message and a Get Started button upon installation of the theme.
Clicking on the button installs the ThemeGrill Demo Importer plugin. It enables importing theme demos with just a click.
Thus, to integrate it into your WordPress site, click the Get Started button.
The plugin will be activated automatically, and you’ll be directed to the Starter Templates page.
We’ll be using the Main template for this tutorial.
However, you may select any other option that meets your requirements.
Click on the Import button.
You can visit the front end of your site and view the template placed on your website.
Step 5: Customize Your Theme
The pre-built template surely looks great. But surely you want to customize it to your requirements.
We’ve prepared a detailed guide on how to customize a theme. Be sure to check that out!
Coming back to the article, let’s customize our blog.
Go to Appearance >> Customize.
Then, you’ll see an interface with all the settings to modify your theme.
Head on over to Content. You’ll see four tabs that allow you to change your blogging methods.
First, go to the Blog tab. You’ll see an organized collection of settings you can modify for your blog page.
- Post Elements: As you can see, you can show/hide post elements that appear on your blog page. Additionally, you can drag to rearrange the order of the post elements.
- Post Title: You can change the title’s typography as you need. This includes font, weight, size, etc.
- Post Excerpt: You can display the post excerpt or full content here.
- Pagination: You can disable or enable pagination. You can also decide whether to apply the default pagination or number one.
When modifying single post settings, return to Content and select Single Post.
Here are the settings available for the post:
- Post Elements: Similar to the blog page, you can show/hide elements and rearrange their order by dragging them.
- Featured Image: You may enable or disable the featured image of any post. In addition, you can use the Lightbox feature on the image without any additional Lightbox plugins.
- Related Posts: Display related posts to your users to keep them exploring throughout your content. You can also set Query based on Categories or Tags.
Moving on to the Post Meta tab, you’ll find options to rearrange the meta elements i.e. Date, Author, Views, Comments, Tags, Reading Time, and Edit Button of a post.
Additionally, you can also display/hide those elements.
And finally, from the Page tab, you can show/hide featured images on the blog page.
Step 6: Create Your First Blog Post
Now, let’s start adding content to your blog. You need to create a post, not a page.
Here’s an article on the difference between pages and posts.
To do so, head on over to Posts >> All Posts.
You’ll see pre-written blog posts that were imported with the template. Thus, you can effortlessly replace them with your content.
Conversely, if interested, you can also add your posts from scratch. In that case, you can delete the existing content.
To do so, click on the checkbox on the left side of the Title.
Next, select the Bulk Actions dropdown and select Move to Trash. Then, click on Apply.
That will clear all the posts on a single page. Repeat that until all the posts are cleared.
After that, click on Add New Post.
First, add a title for your blog post. Then, proceed to add content.
Additionally, you can insert appropriate blocks to beautify your content. For this, installing the BlockArt Blocks plugin can be helpful.
The plugin has a bunch of pre-built blocks from which to use.
Suppose I want to add a map to my post. I can add a Google Map block from BlockArt Blocks.
After clicking on it and modifying it as needed, you can view the post on the front end to see how it looks.
Keep adding blocks and content until you’ve created your first amazing post.
Step 7: Publish the Post on Your Site
Once you complete creating your first post, it’s highly advised to save it as a draft and preview it.
To do so, you’ll see a button labeled Save as Draft on top. Click on it.
Then select this icon and press on Preview.
You can see how the post appears on the front end and find any mistakes you weren’t aware of.
If there are any, fix them, and once you’re satisfied, click on the Publish button in the top right corner.
Step 8: Promote Your Blog
Simply creating a blog and posts isn’t enough. It would be best if you promoted them to reach a larger audience and hit the spotlight.
For this, we’ve listed a few strategies for you to try:
1. Create Quality Content
Creating meaningful and helpful content ensures users visit your blog. They are more likely to retain their views if they benefit from it.
2. Social Media Platforms
The craze of social platforms is a huge ground for gathering users. Be active on your social accounts and post content there for more views.
3. Optimize Content for SEO
Implement on-page and off-page SEO strategies to rank your content higher on search engine results.
Here’s a detailed guide on SEO copywriting tactics.
4. Email Campaigns
Sending out attractive emails to users who’ve given consent will alert them of any new or important articles, driving more traffic to your blog.
5. Guest Blogging
Inviting fellow bloggers or writing content for another blog will grow your portfolio, build connections, and create interesting content.
Recommended Plugins to Choose for Your Blog Site
Let’s face it: A theme alone can’t guarantee it’ll fulfill all your requirements. That’s why you’ll need the best WordPress blog plugins.
Here are our top picks for your blog website.
1. Everest Forms
The first thing that comes to your mind is probably a form for your website to communicate with your viewers. Everest Forms is one of the best form builder plugins.
It comes with pre-built form templates for your website. They are highly customizable, powerful, and easy to implement.
2. BlockArt Blocks
Since most templates from the theme are made with Gutenberg, you’ll surely not want to miss BlockArt Blocks.
It’s a Gutenberg page builder plugin that offers 25+ dynamic and robust blocks, as well as pre-built sections, to ease the process of site creation.
3. Yoast SEO
Just creating a blog isn’t enough. Reaching a greater audience would help. Yoast SEO does the job for you!
It’s a fantastic WordPress SEO plugin that will elevate your traffic-generation efforts. With it, your blog will thrive and be easily found by the general audience.
4. Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress
Do you have excellent content you want to be recognized on social media platforms? Let Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress do it for you!
It’s a social media plugin that allows your viewers to share your content over their social media profiles with just a click. This will help you gain more views.
5. WP Rocket
Slow-functioning websites are a turn-off to anybody. WP Rocket is a popular caching plugin to boost your site’s performance.
It’s easy to set up and use. Your site’s speed plays a vital role in SEO. This, in turn, improves the conversion rate. All with just a single plugin.
The plugins will undoubtedly accelerate your growth, and soon enough, you’ll have the best WordPress blog in the competition.
Concluding the Tutorial on How to Create a WordPress Blog!
This concludes our article on how to start a blog on WordPress. We’ve successfully created a blog on WordPress using the ColorMag theme.
In just 8 steps, we were able to create the best WordPress blog for ourselves.
If you want to boost your site’s performance, here’s a guide on speeding up your website.
We hope we helped you create the blog site you’ve been dreaming of!
If you’ve any queries, please let us know!
