If your looking for an easy way to get your first website up and running, starting a WordPress blog could be just what you're after. WordPress doesn't require you have any knowledge of HTML, PHP, CSS or any tricky coding terminology. All you need is a domain name and hosting account to have full control of your very own website. To follow this seven step process does require a little knowledge of uploading files via FTP to your domain. If unsure, simply perform a search on Google and you'll find all the information you need.
Here's my 7 step process to start a WordPress Blog any time of day or night:
1. Register a domain name. If you want full control of your blog, registering a domain name and hosting it on your own server (hosting account) is essential. WordPress does provide a free option which is ok to play around with but if your serious about your blog, you want full control. You may decide later down the road, you want to include Google Adsense ads on your site. Without full control of your site, this can be a difficult task.
2. Install WordPress on your domain. When registering with a website hosting provider be sure they provide something called "Fantastico". Fantastico allows you to easily install a blog on your domain name in seconds. No need to upload all the files via FTP to your domain. Simply click a few buttons within your hosting account Cpanel and you're done.
3. Upload and install a new theme. WordPress comes with a pre-installed WordPress them that looks pretty tacky to say the least. First thing you want to do is install a free WordPress theme. You can find these by performing a search on Google. Another site that provides free WordPress themes is called WooThemes.
4. Upload and install plugins. There are a range of plugins you can install to optimize your WordPress blog. Some of the more popular plugins include 'All in one SEO,' 'XML Sitemaps' and 'Twitter Tools'. This is where your knowledge of FTP is required as you'll need to upload the plugins and WordPress theme to your domain via FTP.
5. Edit categories. Next step is to login to your control panel and select categories, then edit the category from 'Uncategorised' to something that relates to your blog. Click save and you've successfully removed the 'Uncategorised' category and added on that makes sense. You may wish to add more categories now, but you can always to this later on.
6. Make your first post. Next it's time to make your first post. That's what blogging is all about so get cracking.
7. Ping your post. You want to get your new website/blog indexed in Google as quickly as possible so you can start moving up the rankings in Google. By pinging your post you are notifying a range of different search engines or directories that you've just updated your blog. This makes it easier for Google and the other search engines to find you and put you in their index.
Do you want to learn how to get your website or blog indexed in Google in less than a day? Click here to access these free video tutorials: Indexed by Google
For a bundle of internet marketing information, check out my blog at Clickbank Product Reviews.
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