In this article I’m going to walk you through the steps of how to start your own blog. It’s super simple, quick and F R E E.
This article contains affiliate links, please read my disclosure for more information.
It starts with a free blogging platform called Wealthy Affiliate.
Here’s the thing, I’ve been using the Wealthy Affiliate blogging platform for a couple of years now; I kinda had no choice in the matter because my husband Ben signed up for it, paid for the premium access (which he wanted because it gives us the ability to add FIFTY websites to the one account and not have to pay any extra for hosting… Ben has a tendency to start blogs like they’re going out of fashion) and so I figured I may as well use it since he was already paying for it.
And I’m so glad I did.
The support has been excellent, the hosting platform is stable and reliable, and I don’t have to worry about upgrading my hosting or anything as we get bigger.
It is SUPER easy to get started on Wealthy Affiliate, and you’ll have a great looking website in next to no time. Promise.
See, look how easy it is…
Step One: Sign up for a free account
Click here or the picture below and sign up for your free account.
Step Two: Log in to your new account
When you first log into your account it’s gonna look like one big, hot mess. But like any good piece of software, they walk you step by step through the basic navigation, so that at least you know where to go.
You’ll set up your account with things like your profile picture, description and your goals; and they’ll show you where to go for help.
Step Three: Go through the ‘Get Started Here’
And now this is the fun part, where you actually get to build your blog!
They’ll step you through it, but start at the ‘Get Started Here’ (I’ve put a red arrow on the picture above in case you can’t find it… like I couldn’t. :-/)
Below are the steps you’ll go through.
If you just want to blog about your random thoughts or maybe keep a travel diary for your future reference (and so that mum and Aunt Mary can keep tabs on you :-O) then you’ll just do Step 1 and 2.
And you’re DONE!
But if you want to do more with your blog, then Wealthy Affiliate will walk you through ALL the steps.
Here’s why I love Wealth Affiliate (without sounding like a sales pitch…)
- WordPress platform – Your blog (whether free or paid) is built on the WordPress platform. Everyone who’s anyone builds their blog on WordPress. This will give you great training on how to use WordPress so that IF you want to take your blog further, you’re already on the best platform to use.
- Free – yeah, I’ve mentioned this a few times. The biggest difference between this platform and other free blogging platforms (like Blogger & Medium) is that if you decide to amp things up later on, Wealthy Affiliate makes this super easy.
- Site security (protection from malware, bot-net attacks etc) and daily website backups.
If you want to go further and have your blog earning money, or supporting a sticks and bricks business, I would recommend that you upgrade to the Premium Wealthy Affiliate. The great thing is, you get to have a look around Wealth Affiliate, ask questions, build your own site for free; and see for yourself if it’s as good as I’m saying it is.
Just a heads up
- As you can appreciate, the free account gives you access to lots of stuff, but not everything. But the extra stuff that you won’t have access to, is not things that are relevant to a free blog anyway. For example, you won’t need an https site, or instant DNS setup, or more than 5GB website space. You will have FULL access to help and support, but only for the first 7 days, so make the most of this and ask as many questions as you need.
- Of course they want you to sign up to the Premium account, and they’ll give you every opportunity to do so with discounts etc. But I’ve found that (thankfully) they’re not pushy about it. And, unlike other tools that give you a free account, this one is excellent and gives you everything you need to build your blog.
Side story: I signed up for a free account with an Infographic tool the other day. It was so limited that it was virtually impossible to build anything with the free account because everything had premium plastered on it. That is NOT the case with Wealthy Affiliate, you’ll get everything you need, plus a lot more, with just the free account.
Enough of my talking, if you like to give Wealthy Affiliate a go, just sign up here.