How to Get a Free WordPress Website

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform out there, and for good reason – it’s incredibly easy to use and customise. Not only that, but it also has an extremely high growth rate and is incredibly flexible. With WordPress, you have the freedom to be as creative as you want – if you can dream it, you can probably build it!

One of the biggest barriers to entry for new bloggers is getting started – choosing a domain name, creating a design for your site, and building out your initial content. While these are certainly necessary steps to getting started, they can be a lot of pressure. Especially if you’re under a lot of pressure already – maybe you’ve got a day job and a family, plus a business to run.

To help you out, we’re going to walk you through the steps to get a free WordPress website.

Step 1: Choose a Domain

Your domain is the address of your website – the web address people will type into their browser to reach your site. Nowadays, it’s incredibly important to have your own domain name rather than using a subdomain of a big tech company’s site (like Google, YouTube, or Facebook). Your domain will be the ultimate symbol of your brand – the first impression people get of your site will be the name they type in to get to your site.

If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop for all your web design needs, try checking out Namecheap – they offer awesome tools for bloggers and creators, plus a free domain privacy option that hides your personal information from public view. (Go ahead and try it out – no spam here, it’s completely free!)

Step 2: Choose a Hosting Provider

Once you’ve chosen a domain, it’s time to move on to the next step – hosting. Just like with your domain, you have a variety of options when it comes to hosting providers – some are free, some are paid for, and some are shared hosting. To help you out, we’re going to recommend a dedicated hosting plan from Bluehost – an extremely popular option that provides you with a free domain and installs WordPress to create your blog or website.

If you want to explore other shared hosting solutions, hunch.com is a fantastic resource that compares the features and pricing of all the major hosting providers. (Hunch is a technology company that owns TopTierReviews.com).

Step 3: Install WordPress

Now that you’ve got your domain and hosting setup, it’s time to install WordPress. WordPress is a “content management system” – it provides you with the tools to create and manage your blog or website. Once you’ve installed WordPress, you have a number of options when it comes to how you want your blog to look.

The first thing you need to do is go to your dashboard and click on the wrench icon to get to the WordPress tools – this will open up a menu of options. From here, you can click on the Install button to start the WordPress installation process. (Alternatively, you can use the handy one-click installer on the WordPress.com homepage to install WordPress in less than a minute).

Once WordPress is installed, it’s time to log in and set up your blog or website. Navigate to your dashboard and click on the wrench icon to get to the WordPress tools. From here, click on Settings and then on the Advanced tab. You’ll see a variety of options – the key ones are outlined below.

Step 4: Choose a Theme

You’ve got your domain, hosting, and WordPress all set up – it’s time to choose a theme. This is the design of your blog or website – the “skin” you’ll be using to create your content. There are thousands of WordPress themes out there, all with different features and pricing structures. To help you choose the right one, we’re going to recommend you get a dedicated hosting plan from Bluehost – they’ll install the theme for you (including support for the most recent version).

On the Bluehost dashboard, under the section named “Themes”, you’ll see a variety of free and premium WordPress themes. When you click on the title of any theme, you’ll be taken to the respective website where you can learn more about it.

Step 5: Customise Your Blog/Website

Once you’ve chosen a theme, it’s time to get creative and style your blog or website. With WordPress, you have access to a variety of different styling options – you can create a look that’s completely unique to you. If you’re feeling extra creative, you can find and download a variety of free CSS templates from WordPress.com/support to give your blog or website a complete makeover.

To make matters even easier, there are dozens of premium themes out there with pre-designed templates you can choose from. You don’t have to worry about any of the code – the template designers take care of that for you.

Step 6: Establish Email Signals

Having a separate email address from your social media accounts is an important part of maintaining a professional image. Your email address will be the first point of contact for anyone who wants to get in touch with you – whether it’s a client, a business partner, or a person you met on social media. It’s essential you establish meaningful email signals with a variety of individuals so you’re easily accessible when people need to get in touch.

One way of doing this is through automation – you can set up automated email replies that can be triggered by certain keywords or phrases. For example, you can have your email autoresponder reply with the following content:

• Hello [Name],
• Thank you for contacting me!
• I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Hopefully, this will remind the person reading the email that you are a real person and not a robot – giving you a chance to build a connection before you ask for a sale.

Step 7: Promote Your Blog/Website

Now that you’ve got your blog or website set up, it’s time to promote it. You can put up a blog post once a week – or every two weeks – it’s up to you. Just make sure you promote it on social media and through email marketing (we’ll talk more about email marketing in the next step).

You can also use social media to find and connect with potential clients – just remember to be consistent! If you’ve got a business blog, you can write and post content related to your industry – this will help show your expertise and create credibility.

Step 8: Monetise Your Blog/Website

Finally, once you’ve gotten the hang of things, you can start to make money from your blog or website. You don’t need to do this immediately – consider what you’ve got and assess how much you’re willing to spend on ads before you start making money from your blog. (You can use tools like Google Adsense to easily create adverts on your site).

After you’ve had some success, you can start looking at ways to make more money from your blog. These could include taking on some affiliate marketing, selling and displaying ads, or even running a lucrative product review website. There’s plenty of potential to make money from a business blog – just make sure you’ve got a clear idea of how to achieve this.

Step 9: Maintain Your Blog/Website

Once you’ve made some money from your blog, it’s time to maintain it. Just like with any other “for-profit” business, you’ll want to ensure you’re staying on top of things – keeping up with the latest trends, tweaking your offer to meet evolving customer needs, and continuing to grow your business.

As a business owner, you’ll be well aware that you don’t always have the time to do everything yourself. That’s where automation and outsourcing come in – having an active social media presence is important, but so is having an email autoresponder that sends out automated alerts to designated contacts (like a CRM tool).

Keeping up with all of this can be quite challenging, which is why we’ve gone ahead and provided you with this entire guide – so you can have everything done for you. From choosing a suitable domain to setting up your blog or website, to finding the right theme, automating email responses, and more – everything is covered in this guide. From beginner to expert, if you’re looking for a way to get started then this is the perfect option for you.