How to design WordPress blog

17 replies
Hi everyone, newbie need help, I'm so excited to start my blog, but I'm getting confused on how to design WordPress blog, also I don't know which is the best hosting company to choose. Please don't recommend any hosting provider so you can get the commission from them; I mean only serious people. Thank you.
#blog #design #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    First - there are countless tutorials on how to build a wordpress blog that can be found online....free of charge. Use Google search and find those.

    Also, use the search function on this forum to find recent recommendation for hosting (no affiliate links allowed in posts) and also to find WSOs or threads by members where they focus on building wordpress blogs.

    There's a lot of info on this forum that will help you but you have to help yourself a bit, too.

    My own recommendation for hosting (for a newbie) focuses on one thing: the amount of tutorials, explanations and tutorials, help available. I'd recommend hosting such as Hostgator for that reason. Others have different opinions. Any of the larger hosting companies should have the "how to" info you will need.
    Signature
    Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
    ***
    Sometimes I just want someone to hug me and say...
    "It's going to be OK - here's a horse and two million dollars."
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11151969].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    You've asked "how to design a WP blog"?

    There's no designing necessary with WP unless you want to customize the look and feel of a particular theme.

    Find a hosting account that offers a one-click WP set up. Search this forum and you'll find lots of threads about the pros and cons of specific hosting companies.

    There are unlimited free and paid WP themes you can choose from (again, search the forum for threads on WP themes for blogs.)

    In addition, there are free tutorials all over the web and YouTube on how to use WP that will help you if you have questions.

    That's all you need to get started.

    Good luck,

    Steve
    Signature

    Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
    SteveBrowneDirect

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11151970].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Nauman K
      I would suggest to buy a good course about WordPress from udemy online training. If you want to take blogging seriously then you need to consider a worth investment. As I feel like one has to learn the WordPress upto a smart level. I am not big fan of freebies to search arround as they are not focused.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11155436].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MightyWarrior
    Hello, Bessy. I'm serious, since 2008 on this forum. You want help, but don't want to help others? What's the best, "help me, help me", but no affiliate links 'cause then I know you're just wanting my money.

    There are thousands of ppl to help, so why should I help you when you have the attitude that my time isn't worth anything and shouldn't be compensated for.

    Please! Attitude check. If you want to go far in life, it shouldn't matter how much people are making around you. In fact, you have alienated some of the ppl who could help you the most, I'm sure of it!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11152040].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
      Steve and Kay did a fine job answering your question and Bessy, awesome add. Being allergic to spending money or skeptical of other folk's motives are 2 easy ways to go broke online You can do all things fabulously, but these fearful energies will muck all things up. Take it from my personal experience; be generous, don't resist spending dough and be open....leaving your skepticism and doubt behind.
      Signature
      Ryan Biddulph helps you to be a successful blogger with his courses, manuals and blog at Blogging From Paradise
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11152161].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Rory Singh
        Steve and Kay did a fine job answering your question and Bessy, awesome add. Being allergic to spending money or skeptical of other folk's motives are 2 easy ways to go broke online You can do all things fabulously, but these fearful energies will muck all things up. Take it from my personal experience; be generous, don't resist spending dough and be open....leaving your skepticism and doubt behind.
        Yes exactly! You can not be afraid and skeptical all the time. What ever you think and act...you become. And then you will attract the like...

        People who will be too skeptical and who don't want to pay $$$ for your product.

        In order to be a 'seller' you will also have to be a buyer.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11152487].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author fratt55
    hey there

    well if you want to customize your blog then there are different plugins that you can use for that

    but let me answer your newbie question "how do i create a wp blog"

    You start off by going to wordpress.org and sign up.. after that you are assigned username and

    password

    log into your free account using your username and password and update your account..make sure

    you upload a picture to let visitors know who you are

    answer any faq. that you feel necessary

    Once you are logged in

    wordpress will give you all the necessary tutorials how to use the site....this will take a while for you to

    get to know everything so be patient...

    You are now able to write blogs , save them . edit them and post them for the entire universe to read

    your blog content

    After you get situated may may want to change your free wp link to .com or .net or . gov

    link

    this will require you to pay a small monthly fee to hosting company like hostgater.com or

    godaddy.com

    ok
    talk soon
    sam f
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11152179].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    While I agree in principle with the idea of not being afraid of affiliate offers because you think people just want your money, there are a lot of people out there who just want your money.

    So how do you tell the difference?

    I like to use the "here's why" test.

    Look at Kay's post above. She suggested one of the big hosting companies because of the training materials provided. In other words, "pick one of these, and here's why..."

    It also helps to have an idea of what you really want.

    Imagine walking into a real estate office and saying "I want to buy a house, which one is best?" and having the agent start showing you houses.

    How do you design a WP blog?

    It depends on what you want it do do for you. Having a blog aimed at collecting emails will be different than having one to show off a portfolio, showcase videos, or just publish your rants and daily minutia.

    Use the resources available to build a list of requirements, then look at themes that seem to meet those requirements. Look at the structure and function, not the images. It would be like rejecting an otherwise ideal house because you don't like the paint in the den.

    Pick a theme, then make the cosmetic changes that "make it your own".
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11152723].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I'm the only one that ever searches Google.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11152727].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      I'm the only one that ever searches Google.
      Geez, how do you find time to do billions of searches and still find time to write posts here?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11152789].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rhealy29
    I see nothing unreasonable about a person asking to be given advice based on merits rather than on potential commissions. Quite frankly, I think it's admirable that a person new to all this has the good sense to be significantly skeptical about a lot of the advice she might find on this forum, because the reality is an enormous amount of the advice and information passed around here is total garbage.

    There is absolutely nothing wrong with specifically asking for no affiliate links. It ensures any advice she does get is driven by a desire to help rather than just a desire to toss up some quick affiliate links for "the best company" regardless of the actual quality or suitability of the hosting company being pimped.

    The fact that so many people seemingly take such great offense to this is telling.

    To the OP, welcome to the forum. Be skeptical. There are a lot of islands of great information here. Unfortunately those islands pierce up through a sea of bullsh*t. Use the search function regularly. Be critical of each piece of information you consume. Eventually you will start to see patterns in who you can trust, what information is worthwhile, and what is garbage.

    As for your question on hosting, I'll agree with Kay that really any of the "big" hosting providers will likely suit your needs. I personally switched to HostGator after years of using another, smaller hosting company. Their prices are very reasonable, their customer support is readily accessible, and as Kay mentioned, there is a wealth of training resources available. For your blogging purposes, there is nothing you need beyond what they (or companies with similar offerings) can provide.

    On the design aspect, start by finding a free theme that you already like. Find the 80% solution that will give you most of what you want and that you find aesthetically pleasing right off the install. Install that on your blog. Now install is somewhere else that isn't public, fire up Google, dig into the thousands of free tutorials online, and start practicing your editing. WordPress is incredibly customizable when you begin digging around in the code editor. Just remember, you can also break it! So don't practice on your live site.

    Final Important Note:

    There are a few people here telling you that being skeptical and resistant to spending money will sink you in Internet marketing. What a bunch of total horsesh*t.

    You should always be skeptical when parting with your money. Especially here where the WSO forum turns over daily with an ocean of products of marginal worth at best, and one of the most common diseases new people fall prey to is chronically spending a crap ton of money on products they never see value from instead of just utilizing the immense wealth of free knowledge available here and elsewhere online.

    This forum is full of people trying to sell you this or that. It is full of people who sign up on Monday, ask a question on Tuesday, and then have their own MMO product for sale in the WSO forum on Friday.

    This advice you're getting, i.e. "don't resist spending dough" and "In order to be a 'seller' you will also have to be a buyer" is completely, 100% wrong, and is given in someone else's best interests, not yours. Ignore it. Especially in the early day's while you're new.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11152787].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author albertocosta
    Take a free or paid theme of wordpress and edit as per your requirement. Give look and feel as you want.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11153194].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author spartan14
    Well i do my thing with watching youtube videos .This will make you a little inconfortable at first because you will face some blocks until you learn .But leave your comfort zone etc .About host just do a research on google you will find plenty
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11153210].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    Originally Posted by bessy len View Post

    Hi everyone, newbie need help, I'm so excited to start my blog, but I'm getting confused on how to design WordPress blog, also I don't know which is the best hosting company to choose. Please don't recommend any hosting provider so you can get the commission from them; I mean only serious people. Thank you.
    There are plenty of theme providers for WordPress which will help you create a wonderful WordPress blog with elegant designs. Some of them are Thrive themes, Genesis framework, Mythemeshop etc. For best WordPress hosting you can go with Dreamhost and Siteground.
    Signature
    Techbizmasters.com- Blogging, Technology, and Digital Marketing
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11153407].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kpmedia
    Originally Posted by bessy len View Post

    Please don't recommend any hosting providers
    How about recommending some hosts to avoid?

    1. Avoid anything EIG -- Hostgator, Arvixe, Site5, ASmallOrange, iPage, etc.

    2. Avoid using a VPS, unless you want to waste all your time managing a server. This assumes that you still have a small site, which it seems you do.

    Originally Posted by vishwa View Post

    Mythemeshop
    These really are nice, aren't they?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11153630].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author AshtonAsh
    As for a hosting company, I'd suggest NameCheap.com, it is great, they have a good support system, so if you'd have any troubles, they will always be there for you.

    As for designing a WP blog, I think it's better to pick one of many ready templates. It's much easier and it definitely will work better, than the customised one. But if you want to make your blog more personalised, you need to know some HTML, if I'm not mistaken.

    Or just google more free templates for WP (I bet there are a lot), choose the one, that's the most suitable for you and it's done.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11154300].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jhonewill
    To start a blog website you can choose wordpress. Wordpress is design specially for blogging. You can download free themes and install it with various customization features. To buy a hosting i suggest you to go for reputed and reliable hosting provider. Because if you get hosting from local providers there may be a chance of internal server errors which causes your website to be down for a long time.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11155406].message }}

Trending Topics