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How to start a new wordpress blog in 15 minutes without breaking a sweat

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In this new era, things are pretty easy to do with point – touch and click convenience. Starting a brand new wordpress blog has also become a lot easier with this easy with this click and install technology. [ Blog post updated May 2021]

Below I have given an easy to follow guide to install your new wordpress blog  with bluehost in minutes. I have chosen bluehost, because they have also been the official hosting partner to the most popular  website and blogging platform online – wordpress.org and are also recommended by them.

Bluehost has come out with a  new deal at $2.95 for limited time, and its updated just below.  The 1 click install comes with all of their plans to make the process of creating a blog so much more easier and quicker.(this deal wont last long)

blog creation

 

When you start to think  and ask yourself Will I be able to make a blog on my own,  you might  start to get  a bit worried or  stressed. But let me assure you, – it’s not that hard as many people would make you think. With the 1 click install and new custom software, making the whole website process has become quite easy peasy (really!). I will show you how below. Here is a current bluehost offer to get your started

Low Price off Bluehost  Hosting

Deal just updated – Its not often that you get such a good hosting offer from bluehost at

Just $2.95 for their sale in 2021 – Grab it here via my link ($2.95)

 

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[Below is my detailed step by step starting guide.]

I am going to give you the most detailed and easy to set up guide to get your shiny new blog started today, so there is no more reasons for you to slack off and you can get it literally started today – Like now!

You could most definitely do the whole website install in 5 to 10 minutes if you’re that good, but  for some it may take a tad bit more time than five minutes (15 to 20 mins max)

Installing and Setting up a wordpress blog Easily

 

I have created tutorials on getting your website started before, but people have given me feedback that it’s not detailed enough and had too much fluff . So here is a brand new one.

This is a  “barebones get your blogging started today” kind of guide with as many pictures as i could gather –  that I could include in one mega post . So don’t be shy and get started with your online venture already!

I deal with many hosting companies and bluehost is one of my favourite hosting companies. I recommend them just because they are always priced nice and affordable and have reliable hosting and they are also easy to use.

In fact they have been the top recommended hosting company by wordpress.org. I also recommend the “WordPress CMS” which is one of the easiest to use website software.They are many top Australian websites using wordpress including HeraldSun which uses the more pricey enterprise version VIP wordpress.

Below is the main hosting pricing plans for blue host called the

  • Basic plan
  • Plus plan
  • Pro plan.

[Prices for hosting plans below]

The plus plan is most popular for a reason, if you decide to start another blog then you can use the same hosting account for more blogs – anywhere up to 10 blogs.

Off course the basic plan makes sense if you are just starting out and on a budget, which most of us are.

I know when I was looking to start my first blog, the price was the most important factor in addition to reliability of the provider

Special Promotion Offer for 2021 from Digital GROG + BLUEHOST

 Bluehost  Hosting Special deal for 2021

Deal : Its not often that you get such a good hosting offer from bluehost at Current updated deal for 2021 
Shared Basic Hosting Package Now Only $2.95 for 36 Months! one low price
[Most plans include one free domain]

 

The next couple of steps  to start a blog, could easily be done in a couple of minutes.

 

Step 1 – Choose a hosting plan that is suitable for you

 

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At this stage, click on select – after selecting your plan if you have not got a domain and you are making use of the free domain name with your bluehost plan, you can then search for that free domain name over here.

 

Step 2 – Choose your  domain name

If you already got a domain name that you want to use with this webhosting account then you can transfer it to your blog hosting as well on this screen.

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Step 3  – Provide the Name and details for billing  and your confirmation emails 

Next you put in your payment details and then go to the next step of choosing your plan and optional extras you would choose.

 

 

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To get the $3.95 deal you will need to get the 36 month webhosting plan. I will be honest and tell you, that I thought this to be a trick to get me to sign up for a longer period. But in fact it saved me money over the longer period when I purchased my first hosting as the price rose the next year.

I managed to escape that price rise due to being on a longer plan. But you can choose a plan according to your ownr budget  and affordability.

At the minimum, I would recommend you get the domain privacy and site back up pro as optional extras, if you can afford it.

The domain privacy stops people from snooping on your name and address which would need to be listed in the registration details when you buy a domain name.

The site back up is regular backups of your website  that the hosting company  keeps just in case of any emergency  or hacking  of website by outsiders.

 

Step 4 –  Select  your Plan or Package and any Optional extras

 

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Please note down your login email/name and password that you will register with bluehost to login into WP admin later.

When you finish purchasing your hosting, you can login to your hosting account immediately with the login and password details.

Below is the wordpress backend cpanel sitehosting screen once you login top admin area. The website login area is different from this login area.

 

Step 5  – Click on the install word-press icon

 

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Step 6 – Install WordPress

You will see this screen next (to start a brand new wordpress blog install), click start

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Step 7 –  Select the free domain name you got or then the domain name you transferred in this screen and then click to install your blog

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The wordpress website/blog installation process will begin now.

WordPress can be customised to be used as a blog or a business website. All you need to do is change the theme to change the blog design and look of the blog/website to any sort of website you need.

 

 

Step 9  –  Blog is installing

 

Themes are available on the internet from as low as $10 a theme and also for free from within your wordpress blog.

 

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That’s it, follow the instructions on the next pages to finish, and your blog should get installed in the next couple of minutes and you should be ready to blog.

 

You will get sent an email with login details

 

Your blog is ready and set up, now all you have to do is write content and tweak your blog further if you need by logging into the admin area of your  blog.

 

I suggest you first  write up and article or two  on your blog as your first priority and then explore further  options from within your admin area over a period of time  to improve your website functionality, design and SEO.

 

Remember that this special price of $3.95 a month can be claimed by our digital grog readers by signing up from this tutorial here and you get this special price for 36 months + a free domain name.

The type of web host you choose is an incredibly important choice for what type of website you create. The type of server you choose impacts elements like performance, security, scalability, and management level of your website. Shared hosting is a great choice for beginners and smaller websites. It’s cost-effective and doesn’t require lots of technical knowledge to get started.

The good thing about getting a bluehost hosting account is that they not only offer other popular website software like Drupal and Joomla apart from word-press, but also offer a range of other software’s like Coppermine (you can create your own image gallery online which other people can contribute too), PHBB forums (you can create a forum of your own) and many more useful scripts.

I hope this detailed picture tutorial helped you in some way. Do leave me a comment below to show you luv or just ask a question and I will try to answer it soon as I can. Let me know if there is anything worth adding to this tutorialonce you have gone through the same process and I shall add it in or update in a new post.

Good luck on your new journey!!

/jeff

Article originally published Jul 13, 2017 at 02:42 updated on 29/05/2021

Daymm !! Domains Cheap as chips

by | Oct 30, 2018 | , , , , , , , , , ,

The World’s #1 Domain Registrar. Get Your Australian Domain Today with discounts and our special coupon codes. Snag a discount while watching how I used some coupon codes to get some great discounts on domain names when I planned to start a new website. These promo codes will have to be used at the end of your purchase process in your cart.

Interactive website designs to inspire you in 2021

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Website design is a very subjective area – what appeals to one person may not hit the mark for someone else. There are, however, some websites that seem to resonate for everyone, both in terms of their overall design, but also the way they perform. Interactive websites have become more prolific over the past few years and it seems website designers and developers are constantly pushing the boundaries when it comes to the things a website can do.

User experience (UX) has become an integral part of the design process. Not only does a website have to look good, but it also has to perform well. As a UX/UI designer, it’s your job to create delightful experiences for users. But usability alone is not enough. Visitors are demanding more from websites and the interactive elements of a website are what keep visitors engaged and coming back for more.

We’ve identified some of our favourite interactive websites and highlighted some of the things that make them great.

Nike React

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This is a website that immediately grabs your attention. Nike has long pushed the boundaries when it comes to interactive website design, however, they have taken things to the next level with their Nike React site.

The site allows you to build personalised Nike React trainers and try them on for size through the interactive website. As you work your way through the design process, each element is hugely engaging, interactive, and intuitive, making it both engaging and highly user friendly.

Draggable by Shopify

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This example is a little bit meta. Draggable by Shopify is a microsite hosted by GitHub featuring a lightweight, responsive drag and drop widget library. It’s literally an interactive website that features elements that help you to create a more interactive website.

As well as being able to drag and drop website UI elements into your Shopify website, you can also get involved on the site and play around with the on-screen items, creating a highly engaging experience with a modern design.

Betway

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Online casino sites are leading the way when it comes to interactive website design. Whilst the initial landing pages may not jump out as outstanding examples of interactive and engaging sites, once you click through to play one of the thousands of games on the website, the Betway Casino website really comes into its own.

Websites like Betway rely on engagement and repeat visitors. In a highly competitive market, it’s important to be constantly innovating, both in terms of the games you present online but also in the way that users can interact with them.

Related post – How to build a WordPress website

Zwift

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Zwift is a training app for cyclists and runners, enabling you to train at home. As soon as you enter the website, you get a sense of how inspiring the app can be for those wanting to train from home. The homepage is an interactive video reel, showcasing cyclist and runners competing from the comfort of their own home overlaid against a backdrop of professional racing.

Not only does the app allow you to compete against yourself and your own goals, but it also allows you to join a community of fellow cyclists and runners, building your own online community. The website includes interactive previews of the app simulation to give visitors a taste of the types of workout they can expect and the goals they can achieve with Zwift. The UX of the site is highly engaging and the interactive elements really grab your attention.

Related post – Simple tips for driving traffic to your website

Apps

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Apps is an action-simulator for cider making. It’s a really cool way of showcasing the cider making process in a totally interactive and engaging way. You are in control of the process and a narrator talks you through each step of the process as you make decisions using different keys.

You are in full control of the experience – by pressing various keys, you control the pace of the experience and you can walk through the process in your own time. The graphics and design are really modern and you are encouraged to complete the process even if you are not necessarily that interested in the cider-making process. Of course, at the end of the interactive feature, there is a strong call-to-action to click through to the product pages, helping to drive conversions.

Summary

These are just a small handful of some really cool interactive website designs that can hopefully inspire you in 2021. We love great web design here at Digital Grog and we’d love to hear more from you in our comments below if you have seen any great interactive website designs that we should include in our next post.

Black Friday Deals 2020 – The Top 20 picks for Australia

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I search online for black friday deals and find Australian businesses like Harvey Norman, Kogan and News.com.au flogging deals for this American online sale frenzy that happens each year in November. The weird thing is most people in Australia don’t have a clue what this whole online sale event is about.

Before Google Search Australia got invaded with “black friday sales” by all the commercial websites for a “thanksgiving day that Australia does not celebrate”,  it used to show the real black friday bushfires in Australia that everybody knew about. The bushfires that happened in 1939 in Victoria, Australia.

The Royal Commission noted that “it appeared the whole State was alight on Friday, 13 January 1939”. The infamous Black Friday bushfires happened on the 13 January 1939, in Victoria, Australia. It was said to be among the worst natural bushfires (wildfires) in the world. Almost 20,000 km² (4,942,000 acres, 2,000,000 ha) of land was burned, 71 people died, several towns were entirely obliterated. So we pay our respects to those affected by those bush fires.

Black Friday for the US  is a commercial bonanza for  retail and online business. Black Friday  and Cyber Monday is a  big event in the US and massive discounts are available online. Everybody loves a good bargain online and for this reason, I have done a roundup of all the good deals  that I have updated from  2020 to 2018. I made a list, so you too can benefit from these online sale offers here in Australia.

One deal I always get  every year @blackfriday is a new hosting account as I am into blogging and website as a hobby.   This year I got myself a  siteground website hosting deal . They got 75% off on the 12 month shared hosting $4.99 deal and also deals on the 24 month $7.49 deal.

I signed up as  an affiliate  so you can get their deals here. Maybe I will need to end my $700 Aud Presidium hosting account  now.

australia black friday discounts

I know most  webhosts have deals right now including Bluehost and HostGator which I also use for websites. Bluehost has  Shared Hosting starting at $2.65/mo* for 36 months and Hostgator has a 75% off deal. Connor clothing my local shirt shop also has a 30% off deal right now. Below are some more deals.

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Most of these crazy upto 60% to 70% off online offers are available this cyber weekend (yes that’s what they call it) So you can get off on this – this weekend, but surely some of them companies will extend their offers at the end of this November date, because they so like to give us deals -don’t they.

wordpess dealsSome of the deals/links listed above will convert  to the Black Friday discounts  when they start on black friday and some are just discount offers that are listed  for your online shopping convenience from my affiliate partners.  You get a discount and I get  compensated at no extra cost to you for listing the deals.

I have used  most of these products( tech, website and gadgets related ) on this page  and  hope to  test out the rest, which I have not used yet. Hope you find a deal that interests you.

When is Black friday and cyber monday ?

  • Black Friday 2020 is on 27 November 2020 
  • Cyber Monday is on  Monday, 30 November 2020
Black Friday is an informal name for the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
From wikipedia
The earliest evidence of the phrase Black Friday applied to the day after Thanksgiving in a shopping context suggests that the term originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.
 
This usage dates to at least 1961. More than twenty years later, as the phrase became more widespread, a popular explanation became that this day represented the point in the year when retailers begin to turn a profit, thus going from being “in the red” to being “in the black”

Website Design and Theme – Offers

Website deals – It is the perfect time to invest in loads of useful wordpress plugins, tools, themes, plans and more. Our list above features a lot of website related products, whether you need it for your own website, or a client’s, purchasing a product that is priced way below its actual price is always a good deal.

Software Blackfriday Deals

The list also features streaming and recording software, video editing  and  website and online shops software. This holiday season is the perfect time  to get into  downloading or editing videos with our discounted software  products listed above.

If you do spot any good deals worth listing here this year, do send me a note over here and I will include it in my 2020-21 edition of deals, if good.

You want to check out what we featured earlier check out our 2016 deals post here and these earlier posts over here and here.

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Happy deal hunting and have a good cyber 2020 !

Restrictions: Most offers featured over here are valid for new customers . Not valid for existing customers, renewals, upgrades, or any other product purchase. 

Validity: The deals featured above are mostly over the  Black Friday and  Cyber Monday weekend, unless they are extended by respective providers.

Starting a Technology Blog in Six Easy Steps

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Post updated 02 June 2020: Starting a tech blog is not a difficult task as some would think it to be — anyone can do it with just a little bit of effort and time.

The process is the same for creating a website with wordpress, be it any niche or topic/subject you choose. However, creating a good looking and quality blog would possibly demand a little bit more hard work that you would think.

It would surely involve you set aside, some time and money. (Some nice deals provided below)

# Things to Know before you start your blog

If you are starting a blog –  having some passion for what you are doing or blogging about would surely help you a lot in becoming successful in your blogging journey. Obviously having a passion for something will make your work easier and you will write better about your passion, and that’s what draws people to your blog and makes it a success.

You can decide to write about anything – Gadgets, Android phones, Software hacks or Gaming tips. There is an audience for all sorts of information online.

Lots of folks think about starting a blog as a hobby or project. Some start just to connect or keep updated with their friends and family. Some people just want to create their online presence to share, or connect with people and get a massive audience/ followers to their blog and make themselves popular + perhaps also earn some money on the side. What do you want from your blog?

If all you want – is to start a blog just as a hobby, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! Go and build a totally free WordPress.com blog over here.

But If you are planning to really put in some effort and make a successful blog with many followers, and possibly earn some money too on the side, then you should think about getting your own self-hosted blog with wordpress.

I have given the whole step by step process for this below.

 

If you are going to spend some time writing good content and uploading nice pics for your blog stories, you might as well give it the best chance to flourish and become popular or perhaps make yourself a famous blogger. If you are really serious about this venture, then read below on how to get your self-hosted blog started with wordpress and Bluehost easily and quickly.

Getting a self-hosted blog has many advantages, the most important is you have more 100% control of your blog and you have more money making options plus customisation or design options. You can also change the look and feel of your website with easy 1 click plugins installation and 1 click theme install. They are thousands of plugins Free and premium plugins available for purchase.

Before we get started with our step by step process of building our website – I have given below a comparison snapshot of web hosting prices with different webhosting companies. I have also attached the latest deal with Bluehost which is what I recommend for beginner bloggers.

Comparison table of webhosting providers

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I am happy to bring you this special deal right now (56% off)  from Bluehost for starting a self-hosted wordpress blog/website. Using this special discount offer, you can install and set up a wordpress blog in minutes for just $3.95 a month and you get a FREE domain name.

# 56% 60% Percent off Bluehost  Hosting Special deal for  2018

Deal link updated – It is not often that you get such a good hosting offer from Bluehost at 56% off  – Just $2.95 USD ( $4.39 AUD) for their special hosting deal – Grab it here via my link (56% off -$2.95)

Let me tell you a little about bluehost from my experience with them . When i started my first blog, I didnt know much about hosting and servers and that kind of geeky stuff. But I soon had to learn – at that time many years ago there was not as many reviews and write ups available on-line to read – before making that choice of picking a hosting company .

I just ended up signing up with a local hosting company. They had wordpress software availability …  but they had their own custom installer software for it.  Getting your blog started with thier software was a bit of a process (actually a pain). Once I managed to get teh installing bits all sorted out – There was other problems, WP plugins needed special permission just to work  properly and I had to contact  the server admin to change settings which took time going back and forth. It was quite frustrating.

I am glad that the top hosts like Bluehost and Hostgator nowadays have the one-click install that makes installing and starting a blog yourself a breeze and It can be done in minutes. I have given below a quick run through on how to set up your blog with Bluehost.

# You Ready?

Ok, so You’re set to give this  a go!

You’ve chosen your tech blog site name and already purchased one  ( if you havent – dont worry you can choose your free domain name in the bluehost sign up process below)

You have got a few articles/posts planned or already written, and you now possess a few gadgets that you want to review or got some new trending and exciting technology stuff  that you want to write about.

Fantastic! Let’s design your desired blog.

# Step 1: Get Hosted.

Don’t be anxious or scared — If the web hosting mumbo jumbo  seems scary to you- Don’t panic , It isn’t as hard as you would believe it to be ! It’s simply hiring a small piece of the web network for your site.

So arises the very important Question, which host should you select?

The answer is one that  is reliable, easy to use , easy to set up your blog  and got good support.

From my personal experience, I suggest Bluehost for nearly everyone including fresh and new bloggers. I use Bluehost for the majority of my websites since it offers quality web hosting for a low price ($4.39 AUD per month for 1 year) and I can contact them  if anything fails at all , whihc hasn’t happened so far. They give you your web domain name for free  and they have a very good 1 click install  for easy and quick set up of your blog!

Start by clicking the big   Get Started Right now  button or pic :

Screen-Shot-2015-08-17 1 step

 

Next – You will see this pricing  screen based on your country currency.

 

Screen-Shot-2015-08-17 2nd step

The starter plan should be good enough for a new blog or   even a 5000 viewers a day blog.

Click on select.

 

Your next screen will be this – you can choose your free domain name over here and they will tell you if that name is available when you type it in.

Screen-Shot-2015-08-17 3 rd step

For your own hosting account choice,  you could choose simple hosting offers for 12 months , twenty-four, or 36 months. I recommend if you are in two minds, you can decide to go with the 12-month plan for $6.95  or then  go for a longer 24/36 month  and lock in a cheaper rate (as low as $3.49 a month currently- Links updated)

when I purchased my first bluehost hosting, I took a 36 month plan  to save money over the longer run as I  couldn’t  see yourself creating more work for me changing hosts over the shorter term after just starting a blog and starting to get it off the ground.

I would suggest the 36 months plan as you still get the Free domain and the cheaper hosting price is locked in for 3 years. Often if you take a 12 month plan you could see yourself ending up paying more when you need to renew (inflation + price increases) the plan after twelve months and trust me, time flies fast.

Check out he screen below

Screen-Shot-2015-08-17 4th step

For the optional accessories on the list,  Thats what it is  optional

You don’t need Search-engine Jumpstart or Site Lock Domain name Safety  unless you decide too, as they are optional as per your needs. You can invest in the Site Backup Professional in case you really are worried about security  of your blog, however, I choose to perform the backing up myself and there are tutorials on-line that will show you how to do it. (I utilize the $80 plugins Backup-Pal).

On some of my blogs I use the manual export function to backup my blog posts + pages, this can be done within a few clicks and is the quickest way to back up your written content from blog.

Domain Security Protection, nevertheless, is something that you ought to spring the additional $9.99 for. Anybody can check out who owns any particular web site; when you don’t pay for Domain Security Coverage, anybody can find out your name and also mailing home address on your site. The domain security blocks this.

Now It’s time to start your WordPress up and get it up and running.

# Step 2: Install WordPress

Once you login with your new login and password into the bluehost website. You will see this image below,  you just need to click install and follow instructions to get the blog up and running in a few minutes.They also offer a paid installing service ,but its so easy why would you not do it yourself.

WordPress is regarded as the world’s largest website and blog publishing system. It’s immense, it’s simple, it’s utilised by multi million-dollar publishing company such as CNN and People journal, and nearly every blogger I know utilises it, which means there are lots of specialists available to help you if something goes wrong.

Bluehost offers easy one-click WordPress set up, which saves you from struggling to set it up or employing somebody to get it done.

On the cPanel, BlueHost’s own home display, you’ll notice this button:

2016 step by step guide building blog step 6

Click through it and it will take you via a simple installation process.

While in this process, it will ask you where you’d want to set up it, choose your domain (eg. http://www.mynewtechblog.com). It will provide you with your login name and password via this process.

Screen-Shot-2015-08-17 5th step

Once your wordpress blog is set up, you come to know where to login (generally the www.mynewtechblog.com/wp-admin) and it is also emailed to you. You would have already written down your password .  This login and password can be used to login  to your blog and start the process of blogging.

From this provided link, you’ll manage to sign in your own WordPress dashboard write articles and further optimise your blog as you wish.

# Step 3: Set up Plugins

Think of WordPress like a blank canvas — plugins are accessories that make your tech blog functional. The majority of plugins are free but some of them ask for donations to support them.

A few premium plugins cost money. After you log in from the admin panel in wordpress, in the right part bar, click where it states “plugins” and choose “add new” to explore and install useful plugins with the help of keywords search.

Here are some useful plugins that I recommend for new tech bloggers (All free!) :

Google xml sitemaps- This is necessary to get you in the search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo

Contact Form 7 — can make a simple contact form page for your blog or website so people can email you through your site.

SEO plugin – ALL in one SEO or WordPress seo by yoast ,they both are good choose one. A bit technical but necessary to make it popular on the internet. Plenty of guides to sue these plugins available online

Akismet — Keeps spam under control (NECESSARY, As you will get LOTS of spam )

Share This – Adds links at the bottom of posts to share via Email, StumbleUpon, Digg, Facebook, Twitter.

Comment Reply Notification — Somebody comments on your article , this one is your personal assistant and will reply to them for you

Sucuri Security – This plugin help protect your blog from hackers and keeps a log of who is logging into your blog besides you

Wp Smush it – This helps in reducing the size of images you post in articles on your blog to help make your blog faster to load

WP supercache – This helps you r blog load faster to viewers and therefore helps get better ranking in search

FD Feedburner Plugin — Manages your feed, your stream of new content.

WordPress Related posts – Quickly increase your readers’ engagement with your posts by adding Related Posts in the footer of your content. Click on Related Posts tab to configure your settings.

Pretty Link — if you want to put in a n affiliate link that looks too long , you can mask the url or then shorten that url with this

Ultimate Google Analytics — Installs Google Analytics easily onto your website. You will need to track what keywords people are searching to reach your blog and what pages they are visiting on your blog.

Monarch plugin – Want to share your articles easily from your blog to Facebook, twitter etc . This one adds nice share buttons and is fully customis’able .Its free – once you get a $69 elegant wordpress theme membership that gets you $80 plus professional themes so technically it’s not free . Though I would say it’s worth it by just getting the plugin you also get free 80 themes (you also get access to 3 other plugins Free with this membership)

Be mindful of not getting too excited and adding too many plugins just because its freely available, as too many wordpress plugins can also slow down your website.

 

# Step 4: Secure Your Social Media Handles

Grab your preferred screen name on the social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter,Instagram, Pinterest and especially Google+ . You should look to maintain your first name / username identical across almost all domain names to bring more brand awareness for your website. With Google+, which uses your complete name you will not be able to do this. Keep in mind that Facebook or my space will never allow you to create a custom link until you have 25 followers.

 

# Step 5: Begin An Email List

 

Do you really need an email list?

Ask any experienced specific marketer or web guru and they will tell you — an email list is the sole most beneficial factor that your site will and should surely have. People are more prone and able to see your own content by means of email than they are by any other social network, and also even though social accounts can vary in popularity over time, the email address is right here to stay.

My first large blog earnings were less due to not starting an email list initially. When I finally dis start a mail list, I made my second big mistake — starting it on MailChimp, a free supplier. While they are good to start with, I did not realise the big features and options a premium service provider could give and how I was missing out on automation and money by trying to save money by going with a free provider. With Free provider, I lost an enormous part of my email list in the process because you can’t just include all your names on a listing just by adding it to their new list — but they have to verify and get approval from that list of users all over again.

Today I choose to use Aweber, the perfect email service available, and also I’m kicking myself personally because I wasn’t going for it from the start.

# Step 6: Make Your Tech Blog Successful

If you are interested in starting off a tech blog that will help you make money and be a success, you have come to the greatest resource here: Blogging to Success with Clickbank. (Course Website: http://clickbank-course.com/ ) I was not willing to enrol and spend money on learning how to blog + make money (something which I was actually was already doing).

I actually didn’t think I required it, because I was already making a bit of extra cash, but when I read how many more top bloggers were members and gained from it and were successful, it lured me in to join up. Eventually, I thought why not give it a go – and I became a member.

I was surprised how beneficial and useful the content they provided and the detailed and informative video tutorials they provided via the course. I learn a lot even though I thought I knew quite a bit. They had put together access to all the lessons, all the webinars and interviews, and even better, actual helpful bloggers speaking about how they have actually grown their blogs to success and created online businesses to million dollar enterprises. They speak about how they built their blogs and started earning money.

In short, this is the resource that will help you build the best blog you may and guide you on monetising it with internet marketing — and get paid for it.

Mom bloggers, Travel Bloggers, Fashion bloggers  Gadget Blog

It doesn’t matter if you are starting a blog on fashion, travel, a mom blog, a gadget website, a baby blog  – this six-step tutorial should get you going with building a blog. Once you create your website/blog all you need is relevant graphics to be updated to your niche to give it a proper look for your topic. Updating to a relevant logo and your niche content articles will make your this niche blog stand out.

While we recommend Bluehost, we do believe you should always check out other website hosting providers too before deciding for yourself, so here is another comparison list of other website hosts for 2018.

Next What? Keep Calm and Blog regularly 

used to advice new and even experienced bloggers to write new articles or posts at least 2 times a month . But this all changed and with increased competition and google updates now it is better to blog at least 2 to 4 times a week when you start a blog. In your early days, blogging prolifically and more regularly is the best thing you can do — because you’ll develop your own voice, you’ll see what your readers like, and you will also understand of what you should be writing about by getting feedback and comments to shape your blog much better to success.

Is my blog a success yet – It’s not an easy task and can take a long time and a lot of work and writing before you gain a loyal and regular audience or traffic interested in what you have to say on a regular basis. But once you see this happening, the perks in this field are rewarding and maybe it also will surpass your expectations.

 

Good luck, you tech savvy blogger, you!

[Disclosure: Digitalgrog.com.au is a affiliate partner to most of the Hosting services and some other blog related promotion services that I have listed here on my blog and I use, which means that in addition to using their service, we also receive a commission for referring new customers. To be fair, though, we still use these services even if we weren’t an affiliate. We don’t recommend any particular host just because we’re an affiliate (every hosting company offers a similar affiliate program); we recommend certain Hosting companies because they are the best, most reliable option. Plus, because we’re a partner, these providers offers a special price for Digitalgrog readers.

Ergo, we don’t recommend Bluehost or any featured host just because we’re an affiliate (every hosting company offers a similar affiliate program and you could pick any of them ), but we recommend Bluehost because they are the best, most reliable option. Plus, because we’re a partner, Bluehost offers a special price for digitalgrog.com.au readers: only $3.95 a month and you already have our godaddy $1 special above

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How to start a new wordpress blog in 15 minutes without breaking a sweat

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Get WebHosting Discounts. The Easy Way to Create a Custom Website using WordPress in 2021. Use this method to make your first professional looking blog in 15 minutes.
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Top 1click install webhosting software to build websites in 2020

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A website hosting company is as good as the services it provides to its customer. To compare from the best of the best, you need to know if they provide good speed, bandwidth, 1 click install, enough disk space and  good customer service to get value for money.

comparing hosting solutions for blog and websites in 2017 and 2018

I have  a hosting account with most of the webhosts featured over here at some stage and listed them comparing all these essential web hosting features.  While not all of them listed here in below table are Australian based hosting, most of the companies are US based servicing clients on a global basis. I prefer US based hosts as they are cheaper have multiple upgrade hosting options available compared to aussie hosts  and have a better custom or standard cpanel dashboard for administering  and building your website.

The software and quality of the  web-hosting company you choose can have a substantial impact on your success online and so it is important to start with the right choice.

Below is a Quick top 3, I recommend if you are on a budget and just starting!

WebHosting Co.

Price

Domain Free

Servers

Bandwidth

Offer

Bluehostbluehost canada

$2.75-12.95 USD

Free

Shared
Dedicated
VPS
Cloud

Unlimited

Go to site

Godaddylogo goddaddy australia

$5.49-10.99 AUD

Free

Cloud
Dedicated
VPS
Shared

Unmetered

Go to site

Hostgator
hostgator canada

$2.75-5.95 USD

From $0.95/year

Cloud
Dedicated
VPS

Unlimited

Go to site

Before I started my blog I pussyfooted around a lot as to where to get my blog hosting from and finally decided to get it from a US web Hosting company, even though my blog is based in Australia and Australian focussed, it was because of the huge price difference.

The other factor that eventually supported my decision was that you will get a lot of US traffic to your blog even if your blog or website is Australian focused and Australian based, so it does benefit speed wise for your website loading faster to viewers in both countries.

hosting australia start a website

 

Some features that are desirable in a hosting provider:

Unlimited domain hosting – you can host multiple domains names (www) in 1 hosting account (which means you can have more than one website in one account). The cheaper plans normally don’t provide this, but if your lucky you still can get a shared plan within $5 and under that provides you with the ability to host multiple blogs under one shared package.

Free Site builder Or wordpress support– All providers support wordpress, but not all have an inbuilt site builder. If you’re building a website with wordpress ( which is what I recommend) then you don’t need a site builder included as its easy and quick to build a website with wordpress.

Email Account: Not all providers give you an email account with your domain name, but most of them listed here do so. So if you got a website blahblah.com then you would be able to get an email such as yourname@blahblah.com for yourself for free. It is important to get a domain email to look more professional

Uptime Guarantee – You don’t want your hosting-company having downtime, which means you are paying them for hosting your website and their servers are overloaded and crashing all the time and so your website is not showing to your viewers or its just taking ages to load because of bad slow servers – not good. Most of the providers listed here have 99.9 % uptime. Page speed and load time are important.

 

Comparison of website hosting /Blog hosting

Below are some of the top hosting providers in the website and blogging industry, which also include a few which I am currently using with my affiliate referral and discount links. These are well known to established and pro bloggers, with most of these providers already in this industry for more than 10+ years.

The below list focuses more on starter plans featuring shared hosting packages $1 to 5.95 a month ( cheap web hosting ) compared to providers with VPS hosts and premium hosting packages that can range from $29 to $65 a month.

Below I am comparing hosting packages from many hosting providers to find the best features for your website at the best price for your budget

I have written a Recommended against the providers, for the ones I think I would readily sign up for a second account right now.

  • Speed 90% 90%
  • Price 87% 87%
  • 1 Click Install 100% 100%
  • Service 85% 85%

star rating

“Bluehost shared hosting prices are reasonably priced,  and they are one of the earlier adopters of 1 click install so that you can setup a wordpress blog in minutes. They provide good customer support and have upgrade options to make your journey future proof  when you grow with your website.”

— Shoutaloud.com September, 2018

Bluehost Hosting (Recommended)

bluehost australia

Website: www.bluehost.com

Price:$ 7.99 Now  $3.95 a month (54%off Link)

[ 2018 deal ]: Cloud Sites $9.99 $6.95 a month

  • unlimited domain hosting
  • unlimited hosting space
  • unlimited file transfer
  • unlimited email accounts
  • free domain name
  • free site builder w/ templates
  • free instant set-up

Plus Point:

One click Easy Word press installation

Updated NEW Fast Servers

Special Bonus:

60%  54% Percent off Bluehost  Hosting Special deal for 2018

Deal just updated – It’s not often that you get such a good hosting offer from Bluehost at  54 % off. The price – It’s an amazing $3.95 a month for 12/24/36 months just for Digitalgrog Blog Readers. Bluehost supports multiple website software and have auto 1 click install for 25 + website software including CMS, WordPress, Joomla, Picture galleries and more which allows you to get your website up and working quickly and easily. Get the latest deal below.

Get Todays Deal!
  • Speed 95% 95%
  • Price 60% 60%
  • 1 Click Install 70% 70%
  • Service 90% 90%

star rating

“WP Engine scored highest in the area of cloud capabilities.”

- Gartner, for Web Content Management Systems 2018

WP-Engine Hosting (Recommended fast hosting)

bluehost for blog

Website: www.wpengine.com

WP Engine (recommended)Starter Plan $35 a Month
[Wp engine has fast wordPress with baked in CDN]

  • 1 website
  • 25k Visits a month
  • 50 GB bandwidth
  • CDN & SSL(https) included
  • Migration is done free
  • Page performance free
  • Powerful tools available

Plus Point:

Get two months free with annual prepay

Managed wordpress platform for performance

WPEngine Discount offer!
  • Speed 85% 85%
  • Price 80% 80%
  • 1 Click Install 87% 87%
  • Service 67% 67%

star rating

“Hostgator prices are reasonably low,  and they provide great customer service. That means no outsourcing customer support to other countries, which naturally makes their representatives easier to follow for global users.”

— aus.pccomputermag.com September, 2018

Hostgator (Recommended)

hostgator sale for webshosting $5 domains and hosting for under 3 dollars

Website: www.hostgator.com

25% off Now @ $3.95 a month(25% off discount link)

Hostgator 1 Penny offer – click here 

(Create A Website For Just One Cent For Your First Month! Use Coupon: 1CENT.)

  • Unlimited Disk Space
  • Unlimited Bandwidth
  • Easy Control Panel
  • 1-CLICK Script Installs
  • 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
  • 24/7/365 Technical Support

Plus Point:

Reliable and stress free hosting

Good support

Get Gator Deal!
  • Speed 65% 65%
  • Price 99% 99%
  • 1 Click Install 99% 99%
  • Service 77% 77%

Godaddy (Recommended)

Website Builder Deals:

godaddy in australia

Website: www.godaddy.com

Price: AUS$ – A$.99*.Com Domain – Get it here with Godaddy

$1.00 Deal (normally$10.99) – Click Here

 

 

  • Easily create your own website
  • Free Hosting and Unlimited pages
  • Beautiful, customizable designs
  • Free Domain with the annual plan
  • Award-winning 24/7 technical support
  •  *99.9% uptime guarantee
  • .com.au domain $7.49 a year (limited time)

Plus Point:

They stand out with special deals often at 99 cents for domain and $1 month for hosting with a free domain name thrown in for the initial year. They also offer free USD $100 Bing Ad Credits  and Free USD $50 Facebook business promotion Ad Credit  with some restrictions applied.

Has Good 24/7 US-based phone support and many other blogger related services, like cheap domains, domain name privacy, SSL security certificates, Cheap domain names and ability to sell your domain name via their auctions.

Godaddy Specials
  • Speed 87% 87%
  • Price 90% 90%
  • 1 Click Install 90% 90%
  • Service 77% 77%

Hostmonster

hostmonster webshosting price matching

Website: www.hostmonster.com

Price: $4.95 a Month

[ Get Hostmonster Deal Here   Coupon: Gimmemore ]

  • Unlimited Space & Bandwidth
  • Free Domain
  • Unlimited Domain Hosting
  • Free Site Builders
  • Unlimited Email Accounts
  • Free Online Store
  • WordPress, Gallery and More
  • cPanel Interface

I’m a bit in favour to Hostmonster with their service speed and other ratings,  as I had a blog for 7 years on their platform and never really had a problem. If you really want good speed and your blog to flourish, I would recommend their pro plan at approximate $14 .95 a month to whihc I had upgraded – rather than their budget shared plan starting at $4.95

Hostmonster’s this  $14.95 package compares well to some of the premium hosts pricing of $29 to $39  that is offered elsewhere as premium fast hosting.

Hostmonster Deal
  • Speed 91% 91%
  • Price 85% 85%
  • 1 Click Install 80% 80%
  • Service 74% 74%

Dreamhost

dreamhost wordpress space for websites

Website: www.dreamhost.com

Price: Normally$9.95 a month ($119.40 yearly)

www.dreamhost.com

Our Current promo offer:$7.95 a month($95.40 yearly

+ Free lifetime domain registration (use this promo code: startwebsite )

*promo code also applies to two-year plans purchased

*This promo code adds 1 extra FREE lifetime domain registration to any plan signed up for with it!

  • Unlimited storage.
  • Unlimited bandwidth.
  • Free Domain Name!
  • cPanel cloud platform
  • SSD based storage
  • 24/7 x 365-day support

They also provide VPS Servers

Our Digitalgrog Dreamsaver Deal >>  $50 off hosting offer

Dream Deals
  • Speed 72% 72%
  • Price 74% 74%
  • 1 Click Install 70% 70%
  • Service 76% 76%

Digitalpacific

australian hosting company digital pacific

Price: $4.90 Month

  • Limited storage 1 GB
  • Limited bandwidth. 10 GB
  • 1 click install available but excluding personal basic plan
  • Unknown: If all plans support Word press and other blog software!
Browse Offers
  • Speed 78% 78%
  • Price 60% 60%
  • 1 Click Install 65% 65%
  • Service 78% 78%

Netregistry

net registry aussie webhsot

Website: http://www.netregistry.com.au

Price: $9.95 month

  • Free website builder
  • Limited 5 GB  Storage
  • Supports WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento and more
  • Local data centreUnlimited 24×7 support

Smartyhost was taken over by Netregistry

Registry Deals!
  • Speed 81% 81%
  • Price 60% 60%
  • 1 Click Install 65% 65%
  • Service 78% 78%

Melbourne IT

aussiehosting melbourne it analysis

Website: https://www.melbourneit.com.au/

Price: $27.95 a month to $99.95 a month for cloud hosting and CPanel Hosting @ $12.95 a month.

Melbourne IT is one of Australia’s oldest domain provider and also provides hosting for websites. They have now got cloud hosting which is a bit pricier than shared hosting and supports wordpress, Joomla and Drupal.

 

MELB IT DEALS!
  • Speed 65% 65%
  • Price 60% 60%
  • 1 Click Install 55% 55%
  • Service 78% 78%

WPhosting

Website: www.wphosting.com.au

australian wp host affiliate reseller

Price: $19 a month
Australian Secure, scalable and rock solid hosting for your WordPress powered website

  • 10 GB Bandwidth
  • 1 GB Disk space
  • 99% uptime guarantee
  • Daily backups
WP Deals

Bomerang Hosting

Bomerang hosting (2)

Website: www.bomeranghosting.com

Price: Sale $6.99 Month (normally$9.99 month

  • 1 Website
  • 100 GB Space
  • Unlimited Bandwidth
  • 100 Email Accounts
  • 10 MySQL Databases (1 GB ea.)

Deluxe Plan($8.99 Month)

  • Unlimited Websites
  • Unlimited Storage
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • 500 Email Addresses
  • Award-winning 24/7 technical support

Use coupon code: Boom2018  for discounts in 2018

loading speedLoading speed of your website among other ranking factors is a big factor, for your website or blog and so choosing a hosting company that meets all the essential criteria for your website is important. SSD storage  is a new feature that can improve site speed but not as much important compared to other factors.

It is necessary for your hosting solution provider to have a variety of shared hosting plans as well as dedicated server packages for when you want to upgrade.

FREE Domain Name with Webhosting?

Our list above compares local hosting or buying a hosting service for your website, but if you have not purchased a domain name yet – I recommend two providers.

The one I use is Godaddy.com (one of the best) for mainly domain names purchasing and if you are getting hosting from one of the providers above,  sometimes you also get a free domain with the webhosting package.free domain name

The other one is Bluehost who also offer a free domain name with  their shared $3.95 webhosting plan. They fall into the category of  “cheap hosting” and “shared web hosting” for their competitive prices offered and are recommended by wordpress.org as well.

If you intend to get multiple domain names over a period of time, I would suggest Go Daddy as they also provide transfer of domains from other registrars, plus many blogging/website related services all in one place. They have good  host & domains promo offers on a regular basis and  has 24/7 US phone support.

Today there are a growing trend of  new types of website-hosting including cloud hosting and green hosting, however for beginner blogs the shared plans to be the most popular mainly based on price factor.

The information and listing given above is generally what you will need to get started with a hosting company and choose a suitable hosting provider, but if you want to research a bit further, do read on and I will provide more general information on wordpress hosting

How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting?

linux vs windows wp hosts

There are various different types of WordPress hosting options available such as Free, Shared, VPS, Dedicated, and Managed WordPress hosting. Generally, the shared hosting is one of the cheapest hosting-options ($3 to $5 a month) available and this should be suitable for most beginners in blogging or people starting a website.

If you are looking to start an online shop you can still use wordpress + woocommerce option, but a fully automated online shop solution is better supported with a Shopify solution. SSL certificates are also a important feature to have with eCommerce sites. Godaddy has a wide range of types of SSL certificates with different security levels that they sell. Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Cloudflare would also be a good addon to consider  if your hosting an online store.

The above listings are all shared hosting plan prices, with most of them also offering VPS or Dedicated hosting. Most Shared hosting plans easily handles traffic anywhere from 1000 to 4000 visits a day to your website without any problems or slowness.

Once you  are getting over 2000 visits a day you can easily generate some money from the traffic either from AdSense or other methods, and it’s time for you to consider moving to a more optimised hosting provider anyway to get the most from your blog traffic.

If you Are getting more than 2,000 to 4,000 Unique visits a day to your blog, it is worth checking out a CDN or then even VPS or Dedicated server hosting. When traffic  gets this big on your blog it is wise to do regular speed testing, check uptime  and have DDos protection enabled for further security.

The technical Bits – So what is Linux hosting Vs windows hosting

To most people, this won’t matter, unless your more technical minded and worry if your hosting uses Linux hosting or windows hosting. But irrespective of type, both of them do the job efficiently for your website.

linux vs windowsLinux and windows are just two different server systems or software which hold your website files and make it all work. Both Windows and Linux support the popular wordpress blogging platform and other website software, however wordpress is more popularly supported by Linux.

The only difference  between the hosting type is, if it is virtual private server or  dedicated hosting server  or shared web hosting  with virtual and dedicated normally being a bit faster in speed and pricier.

Most providers give you a custom control admin panel or cpanel which makes managing the backend of your website easy anyway, so it doesn’t matter if its windows or Linux based solution.

Know Your  Server and Software

web disk space server

Control panel – A cpanel control panel is very easy to navigate and do admin things on the backend of your hosting panel, so if they have this its a plus for you.  Most packages have a control panel/cpanel

Google AdWords  – Google/Facebook or Bing Adwords Free bonus provided with a plan is a good bonus to start some free advertising on the search engines for your website.  This can be used to get some free advertising traffic to your website when you start.

1 click install  – I click install makes it easy to install wordpress quickly and easily. This is the preferred blogging software among bloggers.

Unlimited Bandwidth  – Bandwidth is an important deciding factor for speed and loading of your website, so an unlimited plan is good for your website, but not necessary if you would be hosting just a few websites on your plan and not like 20 to 50 websites on one plan.

Unlimited Disk space  – This feature varies from provider to provider and if you get unlimited disk space then its a bonus, however most plans are sufficient to run many blogs in one plan.  The disk space if the storage for your files that make up your website.

Loading Speed  –  Speed of  your blog or business website can impact if more people end up visiting your website or not. This can get more important as your website grows.  Shared servers are good for a start, but  when you grow it would be good to have optimised servers with nginx customised infrastructure with caching and CDN if possible to maximise loading speed of your website.

VPS Hosting  – This though similar  to dedicated hosting is different and is a virtual server. If your hosting solution company have this  product when your traffic reaches thousands of viewers a day, this is a good upgrade option to grow from your cheap starter plans. Most hosting companies offer dedicated  hosting as well as virtual private server hosting as an upgrade plan.

Phone support vs Live chat  – This is good to have instant online support from your hosting company. Rather than pick up that phone and call, you can just have an online chat with a support officer to get support and help.

Renewal rates  – Make sure their renewal rates after the first year is not a rip-off. Most providers if they give a cheap inaugural price discount offer, it will usually default to standard pricing after the contract ends/renewal or 1st year – so be aware of this.

Hosting options : Managed WordPress Vs Cloud hosts – Cloud hosting is a new concept and is convenient for new websites with high bandwidth needs as resources can be more easily allocated and upgraded as per needs. Managed WP hosting is good as its speedier than normal plans due to customs server infrastructure that is optimised for better speeds. They normally use nginx, custom caching and advanced server configurations with PHP and CDN.

Linux or windows hosting – Most hosts use Linux hosting for blogging, but it really does not matter, if you just want to run a normal website or blog or online shop.

Support for Blogging software – Make sure it supports at least at the minimum wordpress and also  Joomla and Drupal. As these other two are good website alternatives if you think wordpress is not your thing.

Reseller Hosting – This is not really needed when you start  your website, but if the provider you sign up offers reseller hosting and you are happy with their service, you can set up your own hosting shop  with your own brand name and sell their services. Godaddy offers white label reselling of their hosting and domain name services.

Money back guarantee – Most  good  hosting companies offer a a moneyback guarantee for their plans from the range  of 30 days  to 90 days. If they include a free domain name in their plan you might need  to process a refund for that as well, but I personally have never had to  take a refund so far with the above hosts.

[ Disclosure: Digitalgrog.com.au is a Bluehost/ Hostgator/Hostmonster/ Godaddy / Dreamhost/ Ipage affiliate partner and we also have hosting accounts with these services, which means that in addition to using their service, we also receive a commission for referring new customers. To be fair, though, we would still use any of these Hosting services, but do have a preference for some and so we have done a full review of all the hosting partners we use. Ergo, we don’t recommend Bluehost or any featured host just because we’re an affiliate (every hosting company offers a similar affiliate program and you could pick any of them ), but we recommend Bluehost because they are the best, most reliable option. Plus, because we’re a partner, Bluehost offers a special price for digitalgrog.com.au readers: only $3.95 a month and you already have our GoDaddy $1 special above. That’s a phenomenal price. Links provided above will take you to the latest updated promo deals. Feel free to pick which host suits your budget or preference and good luck 🙂 ]

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Starting a Blog for Making Money Online in 2019

by

Recently I wrote a extensive post on “how to blog successfully and make your blog popular” ,  and I received a quite a few questions from new bloggers, who are  just getting into the blogging game asking me “How do they make money and start with blogging“. [updated 28 March 2019]

2016 moneymaker

The short story  is, that you will need a “Australian WordPress hosting”  account and  a good “WordPress Design Theme” to truly blog with freedom attract your audience  and grow  your  traffic to your blog.

Making Money from blogging

Making money from blogs  is not easy today, it used to be easy at one part of time but now everybody  and their dog is in the game.

Today  the blogging world  is kinda saturated  with mom bloggers, business bloggers, fashion bloggers, travel bloggers and all sorta bloggers ( my dog is a princess bloggers).

So you pick any damn niche and you already got competition.

 

It’s a struggle to survive – if your already in the game 

What google says  about what a blog is – “A blog is a website, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis” – I really like this simple and to the point definition.

 

Look and search everywhere, but there is no magic mantra or magic bullet  for a Sucessful Blog.

In addition, google keeps changing the goal posts with annoying algorithm updates that keep bugging SEO’s and bloggers.

Every year there is something new with google requirements  to be popular in their search engine , like now you need a https website  for security, your website design needs to be responsive, you need amp and what not.

Its harder and costlier  to make money every year.

What you should do  to become popular online ?

You should definitely get your blog a USP (Unique Selling Point) to stay on top of your competition.

If you get this right you will get blog viewers, likes and  sharing of your content, which will surely get your blog traffic coming back to you on a regular basis.

This will also encourage your  viewers  to  subscribe to your email list and also people to comment on your blog, which all creates a buzz around your blog.

These all work together in your favour and also help you #rank in google search

Trust me  people commenting on your posts  or  on the blog  and contacting you via your contact me button is a sure sign of you becoming more popular (or in some cases unpopular) in your blogging journey.

 

When you write quality interesting  content  better than most other blogs, have a professional looking designed website and you share  your top written content  in the right  social media channels and forums – Your blog will soon get  noticed and  be on its way to being successful.

 

If  all of this happens a lot (people interacting , commenting , likes on facebook, sharing your posts) and it happens more often, then your on your weay to becoming a blogging superstar so to speak and you don’t have to chase money, but the money will chase you sooner or later.

This shows people are listening(reading) to you, want to interact  with you and you  have become bit of a influencer, and companies and brands love that.

This is a sure sign of achieving success and if you get all these above tips/hints correct and implement it, you will be  lucky and will surely succeed. If your luckier  than most other bloggers/instagrammer’s then  brands will also approach you.

Success surely involves one important thing  in these times  and that is making authoritative and quality content  and getting the word spread  about that “Epic Content” you just created to the  blogosphere.

You do this  by getting it shared on social media ( Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linked in)  and  also getting mentioned by popular people of note in  your blog niche.

Today many people do outreach  to amplify their best content  and get it shared online  and this can  work for you as well. Its not hard to do, outreach can be done by yourself or then  you can hire an agency to do it.

Influencer’s are kinda getting big right now on the Instagram platform. Some popular infleuncers get paid  quite well if they have a huge following and can earn even more than a full time job.

However Blogging aint getting any easier, so  don’t expect the great Matt Mullenweg of wordpress or Matt cutts of google to help you out with this. This job will have to be done by you – by doing the hard yards.

There is another option to speed things up, I would recommend learning from a experienced blogger who is already earning income online. I have got an online tutorial if you want  to get started today atleast getting your blog online as a start.

In relation to making money online, I would recommend Rosalind Gardner  who is a super affiliate and has helped many into  their online affiliate marketing careers, she has an in-depth  affiliate guide called – “Super Affiliate: How I Made $436,797 In One Year which covers how to start Your Own Home-based Affiliate Marketing Business.

These guides will surely teach  you how to go about and start earning  with affiliate marketing or  increase your existing blog income

Keeping on top of competition, also involves churning out  regular awesome content,  sharing it on social media, doing proper SEO so that  the content shines,  promoting the blog and updating it regularly to match what google search engine  needs(SEO) to keep it ranked high on their search engines.

My Post of

“The 3 Steps to Setting Up a Popular and Successful Blog”

just got published at dailyblogtips.com, so you might wanna check out this extensive post  to get some tips on – How to get a successful blog going!

3 steps to suucess in blogging

For People Looking to Start a blog

Luckily there are quite a few free platforms that help you start out on blogging  totally free and so you can start your blog without spending money.

Free Blog Platforms is not my recommended way of starting a blog  if your really serious about blogging, but if your cash strapped  then you can surely take  advantage of  this method and get started. 

Most successful bloggers would have used these free bloggin services at some part of time  or maybe even when they started their new bogging journey. WordPress.com offers free as well as paid options for a website, but if your after self hosted which is most suitable for making money with affiliate offers then the below offer might be more useful.

But, if you can  afford a reasonable >>  $3.49 hosting a month for a brand new self hosted wordpress blog. I would recommend this as a preferred starting platform. Not only  you will have 100 % ownership  of your own blog , you dont have the risk of ban or deletion of your website by google / tumblr /wordpress.com (whichever platform you decide to go with)

My recommended service for  a self hosted blog is  the wordpress software and the recommended service provider is Bluehost hosting. Below is a link to my blog post

startatechblog

With Bluehost WebHosting you get both Hosting and domain name , plus a 1 click install option to get your wordpress blog installed quickly.

The WordPress CMS is recommended, because it is one of the most versatile website software which give you 100 % flexibility in design. It also has  awesome flexibility in functionality  which can be added if needed with heaps of plugins , WP themes and tutorials available online.  Your website can be designed with easy install themes to make it look , just like any professional website. It is also one of the easiest to use blog/website software.

Bluehost hosting , I recommend because I have had blogs on their servers for ages, besides they also have a 1 click install which is so easy to install a website or  blog in minutes, just by following their install  prompts.

Below is a current deal for you from my blog as I am an affiliate partner with them

Special Promotion Offer for 2019  from Digital Grog + (BLUEHOST)

Special Feb/March bonus, My readers can enjoy the ultimate steal of  $7.99 $3.95/mo  on the  shared hosting plan (this promo is for a limited time! – Get it here )

+  offer, $3.49/mo for 36 months (link here) on the Basic Plan.

A self hosted wordpress blog is a website that your run on your purchased hosting account and have full freedom over  this website.

Most hosting  companies provide a 1 click install nowadays  to get your self hosted blog set up easily.

 

Getting a self hosted wordpress blog will also avoid the hassle of moving your blog later on  which every free blogger does eventually.

Because for sure,  if you sign up with a free service like blogspot or tumblr or wordpress.com, you will move sooner or later  to a self hosted wordpress blog like most professional bloggers do.

This normally happens when they realise the constraints and limitations of using a free blog service or getting a blog deleted for a policy violation.

However, choosing what blog service you want to start with is totally upto you and so are below are some free blogging hosts listed for you.

  • WordPress.com (or  from wordpress.org)

WordPress.org is one of  the largest self-hosted blogging tool and software in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day. You can check out their features here  and get a free or Premium blog at wordpress.com

Get a free or paid wordpress blog here

 

  • Blogger.com ( from Google)

Blogger is free blogging platform by google.com  with a host of features to make blogging as simple and effective as possible. You will need a google account  or gmail account or  then just create one for free when registering with blogger.com

Get a free Blogger blog here

 

  • Tumblr.com

Tumblr is a mini blogging or micro blogging service and  lets you effortlessly share anything, Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos from your browser, phone, desktop, email.

Get a free Tumblr blog here

These three services  are free to use  and if you get real popular fast you will have the option of breaking out or branching out from their services  to  transfer your blog to a paid server.

Most people when it is time  to upgrade, move to self hosted wordpress platform with their own custom domain name and webhosting.

As I said before , if you don’t want the hassle of moving hosts and your  blog  later when you get more traffic on your blog and start to earn some revenue, then I would recommend for you to sign up with Self hosted blog  choosing a hosting company  with 1 click install to get your blog started. Here are some price comparisons for hosting companies.

Intro – Digital Grog Blog Video

 

Review of website –>  Hosting 2019 ( Best WordPress Host Providers)

Website Hosting 2019 Australia 

However, just starting a blog is not sufficient to make money and the best way to ensure you are doing this the right way is to get the right training right from the start. This ensures that you dont have to waste time figuring things out and can start earning money quicker.

There are not many brick and mortar university courses that teach you how to earn money on-line  and the online courses that are available are for specific niches like social media marketing, web design and on-line marketing.

The on-line marketing course available in these universities go though the traditional approach and basic concepts of on-line marketing, but is often outdated as this subject matter changes rapidly.

It is best to take a course from a on-line marketing agency that is currently practising this in the market and that is why I recommend Rosalind Gardner  who is a super affiliate and has helped many into  their online affiliate marketing careers, she has  an indepth  affiliate guide called – “Super Affiliate: How I Made $436,797 In One Year which covers how to start Your Own Home-based Affiliate Marketing Business.

There is also Affilorama By Mark ling  and  click bank university .

Clickbank is one of the largest marketplace for digital products and has made many millionaires.

These courses, not only provide you training to earn money on-line as a affiliate (selling other peoples products through your blog/website) but also trains you for making and launching your own product and promoting it.

Some more Useful internet marketing courses

  1. The “Affiliate Blogger Pro”
  2. Affilorama By Mark ling
  3. CB Passive income for 2019
Step by step Instructions to start a WordPress blog 

If you don’t have a blog yet and you are ready to get started today with a wordpress website, then you might want to check my tutorial post with step by step instructions  on starting a website over here –  https://www.digitalgrog.com.au/australia/starting-a-tech-blog-in-six-easy-steps/. This post will give you a step by step break down of how to start your own WordPress blog today with bluehost webhosting.

You can start by choosing a good domain name  with our domain checker tool below

More tools : Bluehost Domain Checker

How to make money with  a wordpress blog

No one is going to give away  all their secrets for this one. But i can atleast point you int he right direction. Here are some tried and tested methods to make money with your website.

Google Adsense

This is one method whihc needs the least  effort  to make some money, but will also pay  peanuts if you dont have much traffic  to your blog or if your  blog is in a  niche where you cant earn much.

 

Affiliate Income

This is where many blogs earn top dollar, by promoting  products  in the niche they are bloggin about  to their audience.

Fashion bloggers can earn thousands of dollars promoting the right brands. Technology bloggers can earn thousands of dollars promoting technology and gadgets. Food bloggers can earn hundreds of dollars  promoting products in their niche.

I have seen  many people in all of  these mentioned niches doing  anywhere from $2,000 to $40,000 a month in revenue.

 

Ecommerce shop

This is a new trend where people are creating their own products and selling on platforms like shopify – online shops. 

They are many people not stock/products on hand, but selling stuff online and  getting it shipped directly to customers from vendors in china, while making a nice commission with no inventory, this is also called drop shipping.

 

 

Amazon Niche Websites (Amazon affiliate)

This income stream has taken off in the last couple of years. They are bloggers who write articles on certain niches. example fishing lures.

create an amazon store and product

The bloggers then have links to fishing products  from amazon on their website.  when a viewer purchase  a product from amazon, they earn a commission for advertising that product on their website and making a sale.

While all these methods are good, there is one basic  thing they need to make money – Qualified leads or  targeted traffic to your website.

If you are getting  the right people coming to your website  who are interested in your products, you will be making sales.

Targeted Traffic with Advertising

One way to get quick targeted traffic is online advertising with  the search engines themselves. I suggest Bing adwords as they are cheaper and more flexible with their  ads. Here are some free started coupons worth $50  to get you started.

With search engine advertising  you can make unlimited money if you get your advertising right.

New Business and website customers in the following markets receive free search adverting credits to help them get started:

 

Other methods for targeted traffic is as  I have said before – SEO for your website, awesome content on your site/shop or blog,  promotion on social media  by you or a hired agency – which will get you on your road to success.

If all this is not your cup of tea and you would just rather doe something quick and earn money , then maybe  you need to check  these survey websites out here “Make money surveys – Australia”  or  iSurveyWorld Surveys (Australia) and just fill out surveys and make some money online.

Good luck!