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Have you ever dreamed of starting a blog? Here’s a starter guide for you aspiring bloggers! Do you have a topic that you’re passionate about? (it doesn’t have to be food!)

One of my passions beside food blogging is animal rescue. Animal rescue is very near and dear to my heart. I recently designed the website for the rescue that I volunteer for (you can see it at www.cvrrescue.org.)

If you want to start a blog, you’re in the right place!

Three Easy Steps to Starting Your Blog:

1. Domain Name and Hosting
2. Installing WordPress.org
3. Designing and Personalizing

1) Domain Name and Hosting

First up: the fun part! Picking your domain name!

   Use this search bar to find out if the name you want is available. I suggest brainstorming lots of names before deciding on yours. Then check bluehost to make sure the name you want is available!

When I set up the website for CVRR (http://cvrrescue.org/), I went through bluehost and it was so easy! Bluehost is a great host to start off with.

Next up you need to choose your hosting plan. Your “host” is the home where your blog will live on the internet. Bluehost offers your domain name for free if you use them for hosting – another plus! I  recommend choosing the cheapest hosting plan to start off with. You have to pay a year at once, but you’ll save a bunch in the long run. You don’t need anything fancy when you are first starting your blog.

When you fill out the “package information” at checkout, I recommend getting the domain privacy. This keeps your phone number and personal information from being viewed publicly.

2) Installing WordPress.org

WordPress.com is a very common blogging platform. I’m sure you have either started a blog or know someone who has where the domain name is xxx.wordpress.com. WordPress.com is a great free blogging platform, but if you want to start your own blog, you’re going to want to use wordpress.org. There are many reasons for this, but the most important for bloggers who hope to make money is that you cannot display ads on a wordpress.com blog. WordPress.org is what we want to go with.

WordPress.org is a blogging software. You can download this from your bluehost account. This won’t take long at all! If you have any questions, make sure to ask bluehost support and they will point you in the right direction.

3) Designing and Personalizing

The last of our steps is to start designing and personalizing the look of your blog! My blog has gone through many facelifts since I started it. Designing your blog is totally up to you, there are both free themes and paid that you can use!

A “theme” is what you’ll install on your blog and personalize. There are a vast variety of themes to choose from (you can always start off trying free themes by installing them in wordpress.) You can see all of the free themes by clicking here. Check back soon for the themes that I have used and loved!

Now that you’ve officially set up your blog, you can get start getting familiar with wordpress and start to publish posts.

Happy blogging!