Learning how to create a blog website for free can be very beneficial in this day in age because of the number of people that your website can be extended to. All over the world people are creating a name for themselves in the online space to help build their businesses or personal branding. It’s so much easier to reach your audience on a larger scale with the help of the internet since there are nearly 400 million daily active users.
What to expect
In this article, I am going to walk you through a step by step process on how to create a blog website for free. I will be discussing this using WordPress, choosing a theme, as well as posting your very first blog.
This process can take you about 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on your speed. Now once you do end up getting the hang of creating your first blog post, you will get much better at it. Now if you’re ready let me show you the steps I took to create this website you see here.
Step 1:
Choose your niche
Your niche is going to be the subject matter that you will be providing information on. Once you have a subject you are passionate about then let’s continue.
Now in this post, I am going to be demonstrating this on the Wealthy Affiliate platform which is what I use for all of my web functions. There are so many of them that you can choose to get you started but this one, in particular, offers free sub-domains, hosting, marketing strategies and more.
>>Skip this step if aren’t using Wealthy Affiliate<<
Once you are on your Wealthy Affiliate dashboard on the left side, you are going to click where it says “websites,” and upon the top, you are going to click the + sign.
You will then have the option to purchase a domain or use a free sub-domain. No worries you can buy a domain name later on, for now, let’s continue to the next steps.
Now you will see where you can choose a theme right from the platform. Go ahead and choose a theme, I will show you where to change if you don’t like what you picked
Step 2 Decide on web hosting
If you haven’t decided on hosting options check out this deals page that will help you decide which hosting is right for you.
>>DEALS Page here<<
You can also read website hosting reviews below.
Now since this post is based on a FREE website here is a hosting platform you can choose to get you started.
Step 3 Choose your website’s appearance
You will then be taken to the main dashboard of WordPress where you will have a variety of menus. If you aren’t particularly happy with your theme to go ahead and change it, click on appearance + theme + add new theme.
At the very top right you can also type in “blog” so you can see themes that closely matches what would appear to be a blog site.
Once you see one you might want to customize and work with go ahead and click activate your theme.
Image of a WordPress dashboard.
Read this if you aren’t familiar with theme customization
If you aren’t familiar with WordPress customization, then let’s go ahead and add some plugins so you can have a fully responsive website. Some of these themes aren’t going to display how it’s shown on the actual preview which is why this is a good alternative.
Go ahead and download Elementor and Astra Sites since we are on the plugins page go ahead and add the following as well.
Recommended plugins
- Yoast SEO
- EWWW image optimizer
- Elementor
- Astra Sites
Once you have your plugins downloaded, go to the appearance menu and look for Astra Site. Then where it says choose a builder to go ahead and scroll down to Elementor.
Activate your plugins
Once your plugins are activated, go to Astra Site on the dashboard to the left then on the top menu choose free or blog to have a complete website built for you. This theme is fully customizable.
Activate and import your FREE site
Once you have your theme go ahead and on the upper left facing you will see a button to activate and import your website as shown in the image below. Your website will then be fully customizable and responsive.
Remove unnecessary menus
Once your theme is activated, go ahead and customize your menu go to appearance + menu then go ahead and remove the unnecessary menus from your list and save it.
Your website will then look like this, I added a blog section and removed what I didn’t want to appear up on the top. This will give you an idea of what it will look like.
Step 4 Optimize for Search Engine Traffic [blog post ready!]
If you haven’t already heard of SEO, it’s a particualr keyword or phrase that are highlighted in your website. People are searching online for these words or phrases in hopes that they receive the answers they are looking for in a specific subject matter.
Monetizing your website with SEO is a billion dollar industry since so many people are more comfortable with online shopping for products and services and or recommendations.
How would you know if your sites are readable or are lacking on the backend? This part of my post is going to discuss a plugin recommendation to help you properly optimize your website and make it SEO ready.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is a going to act as a guide for each post that you create making sure that it passes SEO standards. First, let’s take a more in-depth look at the settings.
Go to > SEO settings and click on Webmaster tools, there you will see four categories, let’s focus on obtaining a Google verification code.
Create a Google Console account which will help you measure your site’s performance
Once you sign up to Google Console go to your settings tab and retrieve the generated HTML tag to incorporate it in your website.
Then insert the HTML tag to your Yoast settings and save your changes. Now you can monitor your site’s performance.
>> learn how to test your sites speed here.<<
Step 5 Start your first blog post
Now for the good stuff, the start of your blog post. On the dashboard go ahead and click on post. You will see your screen look like this and it will have the add media button for you to add some photos. The top is where your heading goes, and you will see your word count on the bottom along with the date your post was created.
Take your time and explore the whole page so you can familiarize yourself with it.
NOTE: This is an older version of WordPress to have this layout please download the Classic Editor plugin.
The goal is to have your website checked green across the board with readability and SEO using your Yoast SEO plugin as your guide.
Step 6 Familiarize yourself with your screen
Understanding all functions on the backend of your dashboard is going to extend your visibility and your online reach. It will also help you customize your website much faster. Google and crawl engines can quickly identify the category of your website which also helps with SEO. Besides, you want your readers to immediately engage on great content so they can continuously go on your website which in hence increases traffic.
As you scroll down your page, you are going to see where you have your readability analysis and your focus phrases. Try to get them all as green as possible. Keeping up with your site analytics is very beneficial for you and other social engagements.
Step 7 Add a Meta Tag
Meta tags are essential for your SEO as well; this tag is a structured code embedded in your websites heading. You add meta tags on each of your blog post so that readers can quickly identify what your post will be about. Make sure it’s short and catchy to catch the readers attention.
>>Click here to learn more on META TAGS<<
Step 8 Social recommendations
If you want to provide a product or service on your blog post, consider creating some professional profiles.
- Google My Business
- Facebook Business Page
- Linkedin Business Page
These are my top recommended professional profiles. These profiles will allow your customers to leave reviews on your products and services that you provide. Remember people are always looking for quality services that they would be able to rely on.
Check out this Google My Business training that will give you a better understanding of social engagement.
>>Click Here<<
Conclusion
To become proficient at blogging, posting or anything you do, you have to research relevant facts. There are a ton of free resources online that you can use to get better.
There are hundreds of free online tutorials and places where you can research tons of information related to your niche. You have to put the work in and do some reading.
What has been the most rewarding platform for me with all areas of online presence is the Wealthy Affiliate platform. As I stated earlier I use this platform for all of my online functions. But if there is one that you like better please feel free to share.
Check out the list of FREE reads and tutorials you receive by just signing up.
Please leave your thoughts below if you have a favorite learning platform.
