Chapter 5 – How to Setup the Initial Installation and Configure Your Blog

In our last guide I discussed considerations to make when setting your blog for the first time. Now I would actually like to cover how to setup your blog.

As I mentioned in previous articles, Make Money Life is geared towards teaching anyone how to get started making money online. I do not want to assume that someone already knows one area or another.

While doing a lot of my research, I came across sites with great information that left out key points, because the author assumed people knew about these things already. This created a lot of unneeded research time for me that could have been spent setting up my site. If you come across information like this on my site please let me know so I can revise articles and help better answer your questions.

• I will always address questions or feedback if they are in the form of comments on the blog.

 

Blogging Hardware and Software Requirements

I’m sure you will be glad to hear that blogging it not a very intense operation for a computer. Because of this, you can probably get by with almost any computer you currently own. In some rare exceptions you may notice slower performance on very old systems, but most PCs out there will work fine.

The software you use for your blog is dependant on your preferences and hosting service. I would highly recommend using WordPress software to maintain your blog.

WordPress is completely free to download and use, is widely supported, and has a very helpful community of users. It also has a lot of extended functionality through the use of free plugins and themes that people make for it.

There are other software alternatives but for the scope of this article and providing support to my readers, I am going to focus mainly on WordPress.

Now as I mentioned, sometimes the software you are able to run with your host may limit you to a specific application. A good example was setting up a blog for my company through their hosting service, which only supported “Movable Type” blogging software.

If a host tells you that you can only use one type of software it is a potential red flag for future support issues. I prefer a company that accommodates my needs instead of the other way around.

As I mentioned in a previous article, I am very happy with Dreamhost web hosting. I have sites on several hosts and out of all of these services Dreamhost has the best track record for uptime and helpful support.

You can save $10 signing up with Dreamhost by using the coupon code: MMLSavings

 

WordPress vs. Blogger

In my previous article Setup a Blog to Start Making Money Online I covered the pros and cons of using free blog services vs. WordPress software and web hosting. I will cover setting up both in the sections below.

 

How to Setup Your Blog on Blogger.com

To create a blog on blogger.com all you need to do is signup for a Google account. If you have a Google or Gmail account already you are one step ahead of the game. If not, you can do this right through the blogger website.

01. First go to blogger.com. You can either sign-in with your existing Google account or click on the orange “Create Your Blog Now” link.

02. Fill out the information on the following page and click the “Continue” button.

03. Once you have your account setup, you should be taken to “Step #2 – Name Blog” which is the blog creation section. (If you signed in with an existing Google account you will see a “Create a Blog” link at the top of the page.)

04. On the Name Your Blog screen you need to decide on two very important bits of information. A blog title and blog address.

“Take your time and choose wisely. This is a very important consideration for the future of your site.”

• I have written a guide on Choosing a Website Name that will help Sell Your Business that covers many of the considerations that need to be made when choosing a site name and address.

05. Once you have decided on a name, fill in the required information for the blog title and address. Then click the “next” button.

06. You will now be taken to a screen that will allow you to “Choose a Template” to customize the look for your blog. Choose a template that best suits your tastes and click the “next” button.

07. You are now at the final screen “Your blog has been created!” You have successfully created your first blog and can now add your first post by clicking the “Start Blogging” button.

You might want to do this and write a quick Hello World post explaining to people who you are and what your blog is about. This can be done as a practice post and you can always go back and delete it if you don’t like it.

Congratulations on setting up your first blog! Now you know how easy it is to setup a free blog with blogger.com (blogspot).

I am also happy to tell you it is just as easy to setup your first blog using web hosting with a service like Dreamhost.

I will cover this type of setup in the section below. If you are setting up your blog with Dreamhost checkout the following instructions for everything you need to know to easily get started.

 

How to Setup Your Blog with a Hosting Service

To setup a blog on a hosting service like Dreamhost there are a few more steps involved, but it can be just as easy as setting up a free blog. Don’t worry; I will walk you through everything you need to know to setup a blog with a professional appearance.

The first thing you need to do is register for a hosting account. As I have mentioned before I think Dreamhost is a great option for bloggers because they cater to WordPress and their “one click install” service makes it easy for even a beginner to get their first blog up and running in minutes.

When you sign up for your hosting you will need to register a web address if you do not already have one. I am guessing most people reading this article do not already own a web address so you will need to think of a name for your blog if you have not done this already.

I have a great guide on the site that will walk you through all the considerations to make when choosing a name for your site and web address.

Once you have your name picked out you are ready to complete the signup process.

01. The first screen you will come to says “Signup – Let’s Get Started”. Here you will need to select the type of hosting you want, or decide if you only want a web address.

• You will need hosting for setting up your blog on a web host.

02. The next choice asks if you need extra features for your site. They offer Unique IPs, Premium phone support, VPN Access, SSL Secure certificates, and Google Apps.

I feel that most of these extra features are unneeded. If this is your first site, you do not need a lot of fancy services you are not going to use.

The premium phone support is expensive in the event that you don’t use it, and the Dreamhost support staff responds to email requests in a VERY timely manner. I recommend using email for any support questions you may have, because it’s quick and free.

The Google Apps option is worth leaving checked because it’s free. I left it checked when I signed up for my account. I haven’t used it to date, but the price is right.

03. The next step will instruct you to “Please configure your first hosted domain now.” Here you have a couple options.

• Register a new .com/net/org/info domain for me. (Free with hosting!)
• I already own a domain, I just want to host it with you (you can still register a free domain later)!
• I already own a domain, I want to host it AND transfer the registration for free!
• Just a dreamhosters.com sub-domain for now (you can still register a free domain later)!

You are probably going to want to go with the first option here. When you sign up for hosting you get to pick a free domain name so you can setup your web address now by choosing this option.

The second and third options apply if you already own a web address (domain). If this is the case you probably know which option best suits your needs.

The last option allows you to setup a sub domain with Dreamhost. Since the whole point of signing up for hosting is that you can have a unique site name and address I recommend registering the free domain that is offered to you in the first option.

04. Once you have made your selection you need to complete the registration form. This is standard information you would need to provide for any type of subscription-based service.

Once you have filled in the required information you can move onto the next section.

05. In the “Finally” section you will want to make sure to use the MMLSavings coupon code to get your $10 discount on hosting. You can use the money you save to register a second domain if you would like to setup a second website down the road.

Once you have entered the coupon code click the “Continue to Secure Payment” button to finalize your registration.

06. On the next page it will give you a couple options for how to pay for your hosting. The two main options are by PayPal or Credit Card.

If you read the fine print you can see that only Credit Card payments are eligible for refunds so this is the option I went with to be safe. It’s also nice because not everyone has a PayPal account.

07. Once you have filled in your billing information click the “Charge this card now” button and you will be taken to the “Let’s Get Started” screen.

• “Welcome to Dreamhost”

This screen tells you that your payment has been accepted and that your account will be setup as soon as it is approved. (It only takes about five to ten minutes to approve your account.)

I recommend printing this page out for your records. You will also receive the same confirmation to your email so if you prefer to save it as an email you can do that too.

From here click the “Continue to your web panel” button. This will allow you to login to your new account for the first time.

When you click this button it will take you to the “Current Users: Log In” screen. You will be required to enter your Web ID and password to login into your new account. Your Web ID is the email address you provided during registration. Your Web Panel password is the password you setup when you registered.

Once you have entered this information press the “Log In” button and you will be taken to your account control panel.

Congratulations. You have just finished setting up your first web hosting account. From here you can install WordPress using the Dreamhost “one click install” service. For more information on this, checkout my next article about Using Dreamhost One Click Installs to Setup Your New Blog.

 

Blog Setup Overview

You have now learned how to setup a blog on a free host like blogger or on a web host like Dreamhost. You are finally ready to start writing your first blog posts.

At this point feel free to log-in to your blog and explore. Don’t be afraid to write some test posts to get a feel for your blog and the publishing process. Keep in mind that anything you create can always be deleted later so have fun and try things out.

Once you are ready you can move onto my following article about Logging into Your Blog for the First time.