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You want a blog – we’re gonna make that happen! 

So in this post we’re going to show you how to get yourself online as easily as possible – completely FREE.

Before you start though please note:

1. WordPress has a family friendly policy.  So if you intend to make some kind of site about gambling, drugs, porn or anything else you’d be pretty embarrassed to share with your grandmother … then this isn’t for you.  WordPress won’t allow it (for pretty obvious reasons)
2. The method I’m going to share in this post is for the free option.  Many people start here, which is great – but if you’re serious about turning this into a business you’ll likely want to consider getting your own domain and using a self hosted version, which opens up a LOT more options.

What’s the difference between free and self hosted WordPress? 

There are some pros and cons to using WordPress’ free blogging system – here’s a few.

The downside to using the Free WordPress option:

• You can’t use your own domain.  For example, your website link will be something like yoursite.wordpress.org, which… besides being super wordy to type and hard to say … looks super unprofessional
• You’re limited with the themes and plugins you’re able to use.  There are hundreds of thousands of different plugins you can use to customise your blog, making it do a LOT of different things.  When you host your own blog you’re able to make it your own and that reason alone can open up many new avenues of income generation… so it’s worth it.
• They’ve build it to grow their business, not yours.  When you’re hosting it yourself you aren’t forced into sharing their ads, promoting their business.  You can control everything in a way that’s much more profitable.

Major benefits to using the Free WordPress option:

• In-Built traffic.  You’re no longer flying solo when it comes to starting off with traffic.  WordPress.org has a good reputation with Google, so when you’ve got some content on there you can get traffic from the big G – as well as getting more from the actual WordPress community themselves.
• It’s easy.  They’ve got the whole system completely nailed… i’ll walk you through that below in a moment, but getting your blog created and ready to go and looking great won’t take you long at all.
• It’s free. If you’re on a budget this is an excellent place to begin!  You’ll learn your way around the WordPress software without hosting costs hanging over your head etc.

Getting Your FREE WordPress Blog Set Up On WordPress.com

NOTE:  WordPress have some ‘tricky’ ways to try and sell you their premium service.  For what I’m explaining to you today you DO NOT NEED TO PAY.  If at any time you get confused with any of the steps and feel you’re being bullied into paying… pause, come and check this list – and make sure you’re on the right track.

I recommend you get a paid blog at some stage – but only when YOU are ready…  don’t ever feel like you’re being forced into this, WordPress can chill until you’re ready to do this on your terms 😉

I’ve said it’s easy, yeah?   Well really – it is.  You can do it in just 5 steps.

Step 1: Go to their site
Step 2: Add some details about your site
Step 3: Choose your website address
Step 4: Choose your plan
Step 5: Create your account

So let’s break all of those down and get you a blog!

Step 1: Go to WordPress.com

The actual link is here: https://wordpress.com/create

Step 2: Add Some Details About Your Site

When you’re picking these, think about the kinds of things people will be searching for on Google.   Give WordPress as much info here as you can (without spending too much time…)  Get it done, but don’t spend more than about 3-5 minutes here.

Step 3: Choose Your Website Address

Here you’ll be offered a .com (or .org.. or whatever is available).  If you choose anything other than the first option you’ll need to pay, which is cool if you wanna…. but this post is about the thrifty option – which, I suggest you give a try if you’re completely new to WordPress… until you learn your way around a little.

Step 4: Choose Your Plan

As I’ve said… we’re going thrifty here, so choose the free version if you’ve not used WordPress before.

There are lots of things you can spend your money on online.  If you’re COMPLETELY new … this is not one of those things yet…  I’d recommend you get clear on what it is you want to do, what appeals to you – inspires, motivates and excites you into this online venture.

If you’re sure about what you want to do online, or have purchased premium plugins/themes etc and want to be able to use those – then go ahead and choose a paid option.  Otherwise, pick the free alternative.

Step 5: Create Your Account

OK… so, I goofed the screenshots a little (you’ll note it now says step 5 of 5… lol)  That’s because I was already logged in to my WordPress account.  Sorry if that mixed you up!

The main point is… once you’re done – that’s it!  🙂  You’ve got a blog!

That’s it, you’re live!

There are a few things you can do now… edit your theme and the look and feel of your site – or write some posts on your brand new blog!

I’ve had a few people asking what theme I’m using on the ShopABot demo blog and if you’re able to use it on your free blog too.  Short answer is – the theme is called ColorMag, it’s a free theme – but  – you need to have a hosted WordPress blog to use it (you can’t use it on a free WordPress blog)

WordPress does give you access to almost 300 themes, with almost 100 of them being free.  To change your theme, click ‘my sites’ at the top left and then click on your site name and customise theme.

Here’s what that looks like:

There is a theme that’s similar to ColorMag that looks pretty good too (see the image above), but the choice of theme is totally up to your own personal preference – so pick something you like.  Remember too – you can switch it at any time 🙂  If you want to change things up, just go back, click on customise and choose a different theme.  All of your posts will still be there it’s just that your design will change.

Once you get started blogging, you’ll realise there’s a lot more to learn and see and do at every corner.  Do your best to stay focused on creating and completing ONE task at a time and you’ll start seeing results faster.

• Do you have some areas you’d wish I’d covered?
• Have you created a blog and want to share it with the Wildfire Concepts community?
• Are there any parts you got stuck on?

Post them in the comments below!

Talk soon,
Cindy Donovan

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