How To Create A Blog For Free On Wordpress

2. Choose a Theme

A theme is what your blog looks like. Don't worry – you can change the theme including the colors and pictures later!

If you pick something similar to what you're looking for now, it will save you a little time down the road.

3. Choose A Subdomain (Blog Address/Blog Name)

Unfortunately, it's pretty difficult to find a unique and somewhat catchy blog address on WordPress.com because most of them are already taken.

Here's what I tried to get: StartBlogging, StartABlog, StartABlogOnline – but they were all unavailable.

Finally, I was able to get myself registered but the blog name turned out pretty clumsy – StartABlogWebsiteNow.wordpress.com, so I just scrapped it.

Should I buy a domain name?

If you are considering buying your own domain, WordPress.com is not the best place to do it. I do however have a guide on how to buy a domain blog name.

Don't worry – you don't have to buy a domain from WordPress in order to use their blogging software.

What blog name should I pick?

I suggest you keep looking until you find something good. Take some time off and brainstorm with ideas and names. If you can't decide, using your real name is fine.

Some of the most famous bloggers have their names in the domain, and you won't be locked into writing about one topic.

4. Pick A Plan

plans

Once you have completed the basics steps above (including your blog name), you need to click on the "Select Free" button.

There is no need to use the paid version since it's quite expensive and does not give you many advantages. In fact, you can get the exact same service for less with my preferred host here.

5. Create your account

signup

E-mail Address: That's obviously the e-mail address you are using the most. In my case, it would be a Gmail account.

Username: Doesn't really matter. I tried to use my personal name, but unfortunately, it was taken. If your desirable username is not free, then add some numbers until it's unique. Don't worry, this will not be your blog name.

Password: Strong one! I suggest you use special characters like "^^" or "(/&#" and different numbers. There are lots of ugly hackers trying to break into blogs lately.

How do I log-in? A note on WordPress login

Now you are almost done! But before you can start blogging you need to verify your email address.

Simply head over to your mail and hit the "verify" link (it should appear in few seconds). Once you have done that, feel free to log in from https://wordpress.com/log-in

This is the log-in screen you should see:

wordpresstutorial3

Customizing your blog and creating your first post

Now, log-in and let's move forward. The WordPress dashboard is quite straightforward and user-friendly.

However, before you start blogging, you might want to change the theme – the design of your blog. You can do it by clicking on "Appearance" -> "Themes" (at the left sidebar).

how to start a WordPress blog

As you can see, there are lots of different themes. Some of them are paid, some of them free. Don't go crazy and buy a premium theme right away unless you have plenty of money to do so as they can be expensive.

Start with a free theme and see how it goes. Keep in mind that you can change it whenever you want. Even 10 times a day if that's your wish!

When I register a blog on WordPress.com, I usually go with what is considered one of the fastest and cleanest themes around today. It's called "Astra" (click here to see it) and I personally love it because it's also great for SEO.

The other benefit is that it does, in fact, have a premium version, so when you're ready to get serious, you can buy the full version and all of the capability it offers.

Adding new pages and blog posts

To create new posts and pages you have to use the dashboard options. For posting use "Post" -> "New" and for pages use "Page" -> "Add new".

I usually don't bother myself much with pages. In short, "pages" are usually your Contact or About me location while posts are your blogging posts. Quite simple, right?

So let's create a first blog post and see how it goes. In order to do that, you have to click on "Post" and then on the "Add new".

Here's an example of my first blog post (you need to click on "Publish" to make it live).

how to start a WordPress blog

After you hit the Publish button, you can add some "tags" to make it more "searchable". In other words, if you add some tags, it's easier to find your blog from the many WordPress blogs on search engines.

However, don't be too excited since new blogs won't get much traffic at first. You have to promote it, share it with your friends, colleagues and use Twitter/Facebook etc.