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How to Start a Family Blog

Have you ever thought of starting a family blog to share your stories with family and friends? Wondering how to start a blog quickly Here's how with step by step instructions and a video. Blogging can open the doors to amazing things. Ours has given us an income and led to life changing opportunities. Here's how to start your blog. #blogging #extraincome #sidehustle #money #onlineincome

When it comes to smart choices, starting a family blog was one of the better choices I have made in the past few years. I love so many aspects of blogging. I’m able to share our family tips and tricks with money, our travel experiences and if I wanted I could even share all my photos from my trips. But starting a family blog has been so much more than that for us. It’s opened up new channels to earn income and has taught us new skills. And things keep getting better!

I can honestly say that going online and sharing my experiences has changed my family’s life in so many positive ways. Hands down, deciding to start a family blog was by far one of the best decisions I’ve made.  It’s given my opportunities that never would have dreamed of only a few short years ago.

Getting the whole family involved

What started out as a little experiment turned into a legitimate business for us. Now that our children are getting older we are getting them involved. They are writing blog posts, and learning what’s involved in running a site. It’s pretty amazing.

My dream is that by the time they need to get their first part time jobs they won’t need to because they will have learned so much about blogging that they can do this on their own.

 

Why Create a Family Blog?

I believe everyone should have a blog or a website of some kind. I’m starting my kids in online adventures because there is so much opportunity that comes from it.

If there is a topic you love, then I suggest blogging on that topic. If you love to write you can write, if you are better at talking then you can start a podcasting. Love being in front of a camera? There’s that option too!

But before any of those things can happen, you first need to have a place online for people to find you.

 

Having A Blog Allows You to Share Your Story with Others

A blog is like having your own little piece of the internet, it tells people you have something worth sharing, and a voice to express that opinion.

The greatest thing with this a blog is that you never know where sharing your experiences may take you.

This site has opened so many doors for us. It’s allowed us to help others, share our story, and been an outlet that quite frankly I don’t know how I did without it before we started.

 

Blogs Can Make Money

This is usually on everyone’s mind, whether they are starting a family blog to share stories with family or a larger audience. Yes blogs can make money. There are a thousands of ways to do it (I’m not exaggerating) but for now, know that your blog could turn into a very good side income like it has for us.

We can touch more on how blogs make money another time. For now, know that it’s possible and that many people earn very good incomes from their websites.

 

If you plan on blogging for a larger audience…

Pick Your Niche and Your Audience

What is your niche? Who is your audience? Once you know these two answers you will have a lot more success. If this is just a blog to share with your family and friends that’s totally good. But if you are wanting to reach a larger audience then you will want to put some extra thought into it.

Now to be fair, when I started I didn’t have a clear-cut audience or niche in mind. I just love writing about personal finance and money in general so it seemed like that was the right thing to do. Even if you don’t know your niche and audience you can still start.

Here’s a Tip – Pick something you have an interest in OR something you are learning about and can share with people your progress along the way.

Contrary to what a lot of sites will tell you, it’s very hard to earn a lot of money from week 1. Most of us are figuring everything out (which is fun!) in the first stages so don’t worry about that.

The bottom line is a blog is easy to start. When I started my daughters one earlier this month it took me less than 5 minutes to have the blog up and running. I will show you how in this post. It’s never too late to get started, in fact now is the best time because it’s so easy and affordable.

First, Come Up With A Name For Your Site

When I came up with Family Money Plan  it was something that summed up where I was at (and still am). I’m a family guy who enjoys personal finance and planning things out.

I figured this site would be a personal finance site dedicated to helping families who didn’t know where to start when it comes to their finances.

As things went on we began to travel and I added that into the mix. So your first step is to come up with a name

Bonus:  if you register with BlueHost you get a free domain name. Just click here to get started.

It’s well worth having a custom domain name. It looks more professional and gives you much more respect and credibility.

Next, Find Your Host

I started this site using Bluehost and I only have good things to say about them. When I start a site I use them since their pricing is great and they have the resources to help get you going.

 

Bluehost has Great Prices

This is where BlueHost takes the cake. I always use them when I am starting a new site. Their pricing is really good and it’s less than a cup of coffee for a month of hosting (we’re talking pennies per day)

Here’s a look at their plans. You can start for as little as $3.95 a month.

2-Select Your Plan

 

I locked in for as long as I could. To create a good blog that will eventually have huge earning potential is not happening overnight. The truth is it is going to take some time and effort so I saw no problem with 3 years. By the end of the first year I had made nearly 4 figures in income and my revenue keeps growing every month.

 

The Number 2 Reason to Use Bluehost ( # 1 Is The Low Price Of Course)

Customer service

These guys have been awesome! I started out not knowing anything about websites, and have been able to talk with them or chat with every question I have had. Whenever I have had an issue they are super helpful getting things done right. Honestly, I love interacting with these people.

 

Steps to Opening a Bluehost Account

 

I made this quick video for you if you would  rather watch the step-by-step video than read it.

 

The first thing to do is go to the BlueHost page through this link

 

This will take you to their homepage that looks like this right now.

 

1-Bluehost.com

Action #1 – Click on the “Get Started Now” Box

 

Next, up you will need to select your plan. I went with the basic $3.95 per month plan, it’s got everything a starter needs and you can always upgrade later on. (Their online service is really helpful with this stuff)

 

Action #2- Select Your Plan

2-Select Your Plan

 

Action #3 – Select a Domain Name – Free with Bluehost

 

 

Next, up you are going to need a domain name. A domain name is what people will put in when they go to your site. Like FamilyMoneyPlan.com. When you sign up with Bluehost through this link you get one free!

You can get your domain right here:

This can be tricky but as a rule, it should be memorable. Try to avoid using “The” at the start of it if you can. Also, make a point of avoiding numbers in the name and plurals too.The .com is still the gold standard when it comes to a website, but they are getting hard and harder to find. If there is a name you just have to have, then consider a .org or .net or another extension that you prefer.

3- Sign Up Now

Once you have your domain picked out click on next and you will be taken to the next screen. Isn’t this exciting !!!! 

 

Action #4 – Sign up for your account

 

This is where you will need to provide some information about yourself. So go ahead and fill that out.

 

 

 4- Account Information

Next, You Will Pick Your Package

 

I suggest going for the 3 years of hosting if you can handle the upfront cost. It’s the best value. I opted for 3 years when I started because I wanted to give myself that much time to really develop my site.

 

One other note: There are a lot of options after this, I only picked the Domain Privacy and Protection for $0.99 a month. It keeps your name off of the online database as the registration for your site, just cuts down on the spam emails you get. Well worth it in my opinion. The others are entirely up to you, I opted not to do them, but there is some value to them if you decide to choose them.

 

5- Package Information

 

Fill in Your Credit Card Information in the Billing Section

 

6- Billing Information

 

Action #5 – Submit Your Information

Make sure this page is complete and read the box at the bottom to make sure yo agree with the terms and conditions, once you read all of that information you are ready to click on “Submit.

Welcome To Bluehost!

 

Action #6 – Set Up Your Passwords

 

Once you have clicked on the Submit button you will get the following screen. Click on the Create your password button. You will get a confirmation email sent to the address in the previous screen. Click on Create your password

 

7-Welcome To Bluehost

 

In the next step will be creating a password for your site. Make sure to enter something you will remember as you will be using this to get into Bluehost.

 

8-Set Password

 

Once you have created your password click on Create. You will be taken to the following screen.

 

9- Bluehost:cPanel Login

This is your Bluehost login screen. So far we have our domain and our hosting. Well done!

Now we need to get WordPress installed on our site. WordPress is the program you will be using to create your site and publish your posts.

Enter in your domain or user name and the password you just created.

Then click on the Submit button. (In the future you will be able to get to it by going to the main screen on blue host and clicking on the login at the top left hand.)

This will take  you to the cPanel in Bluehost. This is your behind the scenes website. In here you will be able to do a lot of behind the scenes website stuff.

The BlueHost cPanel:

10 - cPanel

 

 Action #7 – Install WordPress.

 

Scroll down to the website area and click on the “Install WordPress” Button.  This will set up WordPress on your site so that you can start blogging.

 

You will get this screen:

 

11-WordPress

 

Click on Start

 

12-Install WP

Your domain should appear here and you can click on “Check Domain”.

 

This will take you to the next screen.

13-WP Login

Make sure to fill out your information. Your email will be the Admin Username for your site. Create a new password.

You will be using this to log into your site to start creating your new domain.

You will want to change the name of your website and make sure”Automatically create a new database for this installation” is checked off. Read the terms and click no the check box and click on “Install Now”

The install process will begin and you should see this screen.

 

14-Installation

Once the installation is complete you will see the following:

 

15-Install Complete

 

16-Mojo Email

 

This will show you your login site link https://yoursitename.com/wp-admin

This is where you will go to put in the above username and password to get started on your site. There will be a login screen that looks like this. Enter your username and password and click on Log in.

 

17-WordPress Login

 

Next, you will need to log in and select a theme. Your theme is the overall look of your site. At the time of writing this, the default template theme is 2016 but you can browse to pick any theme you like.

 

18-WordPress Dashboard

 

Congratulations you have now set up your website! A whole new world has opened up for you, enjoy the journey!

Have you ever thought of starting a family blog to share your stories with family and friends? Wondering how to start a blog quickly Here's how with step by step instructions and a video. Blogging can open the doors to amazing things. Ours has given us an income and led to life changing opportunities. Here's how to start your blog. #blogging #extraincome #sidehustle #money #onlineincome

How to start a blog step by step | Blogging | How to get started blogging | Make Money Online |