Frankly, there’s one thing I don’t understand…
Those other blog-making guides – yes, the old ones which list 7-8 steps and take an hour to complete – why would anyone follow them in 2020?
To set up a fully functional WordPress blog in this day and age, you can easily do with 1 (that’s “one”) step, spending 60 seconds of your life 🚀
How on Jupiter is that possible? – you might rightfully ask:
– zero magic, just rethinking, streamlining, and then streamlining some more.
Wit aside, though:
…there exists an “established” process for creating a blog, which benefits (financially) the authors of the old-school guides, and so there’s no real incentive to try and make things easier for the users.
But it’s 2020, and we can do better –
No need for 4000 words. We’ll keep this manual short and sweet, following the wisdom of Leo da Vinci:
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”
First, let’s take a very quick look at how the “traditional” steps can be revised for a simpler, smoother process – and then we’ll describe the process itself:
The Modern Way vs the Old-School Way
Here’s the biggest problem with the conventional way of starting a blog:
A lot of preparations.
Old-school guides require you to finalize so many things until you actually get to start writing your first blog post –
- coming up with your blog’s name
- based on that, deciding on the domain name
- searching for a web hosting company
- choosing the right hosting plan
- creating an account at that company
- paying for at least a year of hosting upfront
- installing WordPress via your hosting dashboard
All these steps are interdependent, and so must be followed in that specific order to make any sense…
…not to mention that the recommended hosting will be a like of Bluehost, because it pays handsome commissions to the author of the guide. To recoup these expenses, Bluehost will then quietly raise your rate by more than 70% after your initial billing cycle.
Don’t get me wrong, the old-school way still works just as well… but would you walk around with a Nokia 3310 just because it still functions?
(sorry, Nokia, I didn’t mean to use you in that example. You will forever remain one of my best childhood memories 💖)
Anyway, here’s the important part:
When it comes to a successful log, it’s all about content – your future readers will not care if you’ve spent a minute or an entire day setting things up.
So why not minimize your time and effort spent on the setup, and instead focus on what matters to your audience?
Hence, the more modern approach to starting a blog aims to be two things: simple and lean.
By simple we mean containing the smallest possible number of steps and decisions; by lean we imply getting to the important part (actually writing your content!) as soon as possible and gradually figuring out the rest along the way.
Here’s how it works in practice:
Step 1 of 1: Create Your WordPress Blog
Using a latest-gen service like Warpgate, you can set up a WordPress website in less than a minute and start working on your content right away:
Head over to the Warp Wizard and fill in two fields: a handle that will host the working version of your blog, as well as your email.
For example, if you choose spacecat as a handle, your blog will be available at spacecat.warpgate.site until
you choose your final domain name.
No need to think too hard – later on you will be able to choose any domain name you like, regardless of your handle!
When that’s done, click on the big blue “Warp in” button:
Open your mailbox and find the activation email; if it’s not there, check the spam/junk/promo folders (when you find it, mark the email as “not spam” to be able to receive future updates).
Open the email and click on the big blue button:
Wait a couple of seconds for the background magic to complete, and you’ll see a link to your freshly baked WordPress blog.
Click on the link and go through the standard WordPress setup routine – set the language, site title, your username and password, as well as your email. Click on “Install WordPress”:
All done – you can now login and start adding content to your new blog 📜
What Next?
That wasn’t so hard…
Your teacoffee didn’t even get cold.
Now that you have a fully functional, self-hosted WordPress website, it makes sense to focus on what’s really valuable to your readers – the posts.
In the meantime, you can also start looking for a visual theme, adding some essential plugins, hardening your blog’s security, etc – here’s our separate guide on the post-install essentials (and how to avoid paying for them).
Also, you can now take your time to brainstorm a suitable domain name – the temporary [handle].wapgate.site address is free to use for 30 days.
You will find a domain search form in the section of your WordPress admin area titled “Warpgate”:
By the way, the domain name you choose is included into the hosting price, which is already one of the lowest in the industry.
Unlike with 99% of other hosting providers, your rate will stay fixed at $3 per month or $30 per year – no covert price hikes, no hidden fees, no special conditions.
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I really don’t think this manual needs any additional clutter (there’s enough in the first part of the text), so I’ll wrap it up real quick:
Firstly, thanks for bearing with me 🙌
Secondly, your questions, suggestions, criticism (the constructive type!) and all other thoughts are welcome in the comments below.
Take care and be sure to do something awesome with your blog! A.
