I’ve shared why you need a blog, I’ve shared how to set up a blog for free. Now I’m going to share with you how to host and setup your blog for less than $75 per year.
First, why spend any money when you can set up a blog for free? Lots of reasons, but here are my 3 most important ones.
1) Credibility – If you have your own domain, folks take you more seriously. I experienced this first hand, as I used to have Make It Great! over at TypePad (you can see it at http://makeitgreat.typepad.com if you wish). When I told people what the URL was, they would inevitably type makeitgreat.com which is someone else altogether.
2) Personal e-mail – As much as I love Gmail, it’s nice to have phil @ philgerbyshak.com to give people, plus it looks better on a business card.
3) Control – I get a LOT more control now that I have my own domain on a shared hosting. I can add widgets to the sidebar, I can control my design, I can change colors, and if I wanted to, I could add advertising and do other things to make money. Please note: I am not going to tell you how to be a professional blogger. If you want those tips, please head to http://problogger.net and Darren Rowse will tell you how to do this!
There are tons of other reasons you may want your own domain, and one day I may go through them with you. For now, if you’re interested, please keep reading, and if you’re not, then go ahead and go back to set up your blog for free.
Register your domain for $10 a year and sign up for small hosting at A Small Orange (It’s only $5/month). Pick your name, pick your mantra, pick your niche, but pick something easy to remember and easy to spell (except for your last name). ALWAYS register a .COM address. Trust me, you’ll thank me for this!
Wait for the e-mail to come to you with your control panel (CPANEL) information. It usually takes less than 15 minutes.
Log into CPANEL and scroll down until you see the Fantastico De Luxe smiley face. 
Click on Fantastico De Luxe smiley face.
Look on the left side for WordPress and click on it.
Install WordPress
Here’s a screenshot with 1 of my domains
- Leave the install in directory blank
- Enter your administrator name (please don’t use administrator) and your password (please make it 7 or more characters with letters and numbers to be safe).
- Enter your name in the Admin nickname, and your e-mail address in the Admin e-mail.
- Enter your site name in the site name, and enter 3 or 4 keywords in the description field, then click Install WordPress.
- Click on Finish Installation.
- Follow the instructions on screen to get your admin stuff (if you followed my instructions, you’ll be able to login with your administrator username and password at yoursite.com/wp-admin
- Get writing!
And now you are set up with your website for just $70 for the entire first year!
Any questions?
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