Starting your own blog can be a fun and rewarding way to share your knowledge or passion with the world. While we will be talking about food blogs specifically in this post, all the information down below can be transferred to whichever niche and passion your heart calls for! The best part? It doesn’t have to be difficult, in just half an hour you could have your very own food blog up before you know it.
Trust me, if a doorknob like me can do it -so can you!
So what are we waiting for? Let’s get right into it!
This article contains affiliate links. While at no extra cost to you, The Humble Kitchen automatically receives a small commission if you so choose to purchase a product through this blog. Thank you for your continued love and support <3
- Passion -No matter what you choose to write about, make sure you are passionate about it! I can’t stress it enough. If you are moderately interested in cooking but are head over heels about goldfish, then write about goldfish! (And then share it with me). The last thing you want to do is create a website that winds up feeling like a chore to manage and write about.
- Patience – Blogging takes time. Designing your website, writing the posts, taking the photos, and not to mention the social media aspect of it take a lot of time. On top of it all it takes a long time to rank on Google, so don’t despair that the only person reading your blog for the first few months is your mom (p.s. Hi, Mom!). Create quality content and quality images and you’ll go far.
So you’ve got passion and patience, that’s fantastic! Both are often the most overlooked aspects of creating a blog. Look at you -you’ve got the hang of this already! So let’s take a closer look at the steps we need to take to create our blog.
Don’t worry, it may look intimidating but I’m right here to walk you through it.
- Domain & Hosting
- Installing WordPress
- Make it Pretty! (The very best part!)
Your domain is the name of your blog. I said ‘Making it Pretty’ was the best part, but honestly, this is pretty fun too!
What do you want your blog to be called?
The most effective way to come up with a name is to brainstorm as many ideas as possible. Is there a certain ingredient you like to cook with? Any descriptive words someone would use to describe you? Your favorite food? Are you dairy free, gluten free, vegan or vegetarian? All of those can play a part in creating a name that sets you apart from the rest of the blogging crowd.
Take your time. Mix and match phrases, play with words until you’ve hit the sweet spot.
NOTE: It is EXTREMELY important to pay attention to how your domain looks and sounds. Names that are very long, difficult to spell, contain made up words (such as combining two words together), or contain words that are purposely misspelled (such as Fone for Phone or Phat for Fat) can make it very difficult for readers to remember and find you!
Once you’ve found the perfect name, it’s time to decide on a host.
Hosting is a lot like renting an office space for your blog, and you need a large enough ‘office space’ to accommodate all your lovely readers. Too small of a host, and your website crashes whenever you get a large influx of readers (which is never good).
The two hosts I recommend are Bluehost and Netfirms. Both are equal in quality, so you can’t go wrong. The largest difference between the two is that (unfortunately for us Canadians) you are not able to register a .ca domain on Bluehost. On the flip side, Bluehost will give you your domain name for free if you host with them while Netfirms will not. Alternatively, if you wanted both worlds, you can always register a .ca on Netfirms and get Bluehost to host it.
For this post, we will be strictly focusing on how to get a host with Bluehost. Don’t fear Netfirm and Canadian lovers, a post on how to get started with Netfirms is on the way!
To begin, click “Get Started Now” and you’ll be redirected to a webpage that looks like this.
You are required to pick a package first. Which package you choose is up to you, but I would recommend the basic package when you are first starting out.
Now we get to enter the perfect name we chose at the beginning! Remember that Bluehost gives you your domain for free if you sign up with them. If the domain is already taken, you may need to go back to name planning. Again, be wary of names that are too long, difficult to spell, purposely misspelled and so on. Once you find the perfect, untaken name enter it and click to the next screen. Alternatively, if you already have a domain, you can enter it in the right hand box. Next, you’ll be brought to a screen to create your account. You’ll be asked to fill out your standard personal information (name, country, and so on).
Underneath, you’ll see a screen to modify your package. You can choose to purchase your domain for 1, 2, 3, or 5 years. The longer you host with them, the lower the monthly cost and higher the savings.
As for the add-ons, they’re completely up to you! However, out of all of them, I’d recommend the Domain Privacy Protection. The information for who owns a domain is accessible to anyone on the internet. With Domain Privacy Protection, you will remain the owner of the domain, but only Bluehost’s information will be listed for the whole world to see.
Next, you enter your payment information, create your password, and you’re well on your way to your very own blog!
Once you’ve completed registration with Bluehost you’ll need to go through the process of installing WordPress. WordPress is a blogging software, the most popular type of blogging software to be precise. As of 2014, there was 74,652,825 sites that rely on good ol’ wordpress, so it should come to no surprise that it’s also the software that I use for The Humble Kitchen. As the polar opposite of a techy person, I promise you it’s super easy to use and super easy to install to your website. Here’s how: Log into your Bluehost account and access your cPanel. Under the ‘Website’ section, click ‘Install WordPress’. Okay, now for the next step. Once upon a time, this was even simpler to do, but thanks to Mojo they made it a whole lot more difficult than it needs to be. One click my rear end. Thanks a lot Mojo. Don’t worry, it still is simple…we’ve just got some extra clicking to do! After clicking “Install WordPress” from the screen above you will be taken to the Bluehost Marketplace.
Click ‘Get Started’.
Below this install domain section is a bunch of WordPress ‘Done for You’ kits. Ignore it and save yourself the money, we got this by ourselves. Select your domain for installation, leave the directory section blank then click ‘Next’. Now it’s time to enter some basic information about your website. The website name, your username (mine is just ‘Savannah’), email, and your password.
Make sure all three boxes are checked, then click ‘Install’.
WordPress is now installing. Let’s be real that was like at least five clicks Mojo. Once you see the words “Your Installation Was Successful” copy down all the installation details. These details are your wordpress admin dashboard link, your login, and your password. This is super important. Maybe write it down on a piece of paper and save a copy of it to your computer, just in case.
Seriously, Write. It. Down.
To access your new blog, click on the link ending in ‘/wp-admin’. You’ll then be face to face with your new blog’s log in page. Take the time to bookmark this page, you’ll be coming here often!
Enter your username and password then say hello to your very own blog!
Congratulations!
Many people never take the leap into the blogging world, so give yourself a huuuge pat on the back! Turn up “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira and let’s have a little happy dance session to celebrate!
The very best part!
Time to let your creativity shine and make your blog an (internet) home!
Your new blog already comes equipped with a basic WordPress theme. A theme determines the look and feel of your website. Its up to you whether you choose to purchase a custom theme or download a free WordPress theme. Lucky for us who want to save a bit of cash, there are thousands of free WordPress themes available! Just be sure to watch the theme’s rating and try to pick one rated 4 or 5 stars, with (ideally) hundreds to thousands of downloads.
Other than that, run wild and play with as many different themes as you want!
This is your site, so pick a theme that suits and reflects you!
The Humble Kitchen has been with a premium theme provider called Elegant Themes. I’ve specifically been using the theme aptly named ‘Extra’ since the beginning and I’ve never looked back. What sets Elegant Themes apart from other themes is something called Divi which is a visual theme builder.
No coding, no computer gibberish. Just simply write to your heart’s content, then if you need to arrange anything it’s a drag and a drop away! You’ll have complete control over how your blog looks and feels while editing your blog with this visual feature. Divi allows you to see how your blog and blog posts will look to your lovely readers in real time! No back and forth previewing, no nonsense. Perfect for people like me, who are nearly completely useless when it comes to technology but want a professional and unique blog to call their (internet) home!
Now that’s just me, this is your internet home remember? So you do you!
Look to the sidebar of your blog’s dashboard. Hover over ‘Appearance’ and then click on ‘Themes’. Here you will see a few theme options that are already installed on your blog. They are free to use to your heart’s content.
However, if you aren’t happy with the themes WordPress has already downloaded for you, simply click ‘Add new’ and you’ll have access to the thousands of themes that WordPress has available. Alternatively, if you already have a theme installed you can upload it by clicking ‘Upload Theme’ on that same page. If a theme that has caught your eyes, simply hover over your desired theme to view the details and preview it. Do this with as many themes that spark creativity and delight! Once you love what you see, simply click ‘Install’ and then ‘Activate’. You’re nearly done! Now all that’s left is to fill it with your words, stories, and pictures. This is your story and your chance to share it with the world!
Before I cut you loose, let’s go over how to write your very first post.
In your dashboard, hover over ‘Posts’ and then click ‘Add New’.
You’ll be brought to a rather blank screen with formatting options that look kind of similar to Word. So hopefully they’ll look familiar to you too!
Here is your blank canvas where you can write to your heart’s content!
Don’t be afraid to write whatever comes to mind, and remember to have fun with it! To add images simply click ‘Add media’, and you’ll be able to upload any images you have on your computer. Be very careful about using images that aren’t your own though, especially ones off Google. You could get into some major trouble. It’s far better to take your own pictures or purchase stock photos through Shutterstock or something similar.
Other than that, run wild with it!
Once you’re done simply click ‘Publish’ and you’ve just become an official blogger!
P.s. You’ll notice a couple things on my screen that you won’t have, such as The Divi Builder which is the visual builder I mentioned before (unless you also decided on Elegant Themes too of course!) and the Amazon Associates link which allows me to link to Amazon. Trust me, that’s a whole other blog post… but if you want to use it too I’ve got the plugin called Amazon Associates Link Builder.
How does that feel? You’ve created your very own blog!
Welcome to the blogging world my friend!
This is merely the beginning, there is still so much to learn and so much to discover when creating your own blog. Even now, I’m still learning and figuring out new tricks of the trade so be sure to refer back to my resource page often for up to date plugins, helpful tools for ranking on google, and of course some websites to help promote your brand new blog!
My final piece of advice?
Let your personality shine through your words and pictures. Expose your quirks, guilty pleasures (like listening to Despacito on repeat for days on end…), and your blunders along the way. We’re all human after all. Overtime you’ll grow, learn, and meet some amazing like-minded friends!
So what are you waiting for? Let’s get right into it!
This article contains affiliate links. While at no extra cost to you, The Humble Kitchen automatically receives a small commission if you so choose to purchase a product through this blog. Thank you for your continued love and support <3