Are you thinking about starting your own blog? If that is the case, then you will need to zero-in on a hosting service. Hosting services help you to put your blog on the internet. While there are a plethora of options to choose from when it comes to selecting a hosting service, my bet would be on SiteGround.
SiteGround offers premium hosting services at reasonable rates with great customer service and feedback. They make WordPress hosting extremely easy. If you wish to start your blog on WordPress, a SiteGround subscription will make it a pocket-friendly endeavor. Additionally, you can have your WordPress blog up and running in less than 10 minutes.
If you are ready to start blogging, keep reading to quickly start a WordPress blog via SiteGround. Follow these simple steps –
Select a Hosting Plan
You have to choose a hosting plan out of the options presented by SiteGround. In order to make this decision, take into consideration the number of websites you might have, the amount of space you would require, and the purpose of your blog. Here are a few plans from SiteGround –
- StartUp Plan – This is perfect for people who are entering the website and blogging game. Subscribers are allocated 10 GB of space for their work. It is an ideal plan for those who are still learning about garnering traffic on their sites.
- GrowBig Plan – This plan is built for those who want to create multiple websites. It comes with WordPress SuperCatcher that adds speed to WordPress sites. Subscribers are allocated 20 GB of space. It sports a basic backup and restore facility. The plan is suitable for those who see around 25000 visits on their sites per month.
- GoGeek Plan – This plan is crafted for e-commerce sites and those that require services such as GIT integration and staging. Subscribers can host unlimited sites on this plan and are provided with 30 GB of space. It sports a premium backup and restore facility alongside manual restoration service provided by the SiteGround team. Select this plan if you expect around 100,000 visits on your site per month.
I would recommend the Startup plan, considering that it is the cheapest option they have and you are starting out in your blogging career. You can always shift to a different plan when you see your site attracting higher traffic flow.
Zero-in On a Domain Name
Although this step comes after you select a plan at SiteGround, it should technically be preceded by devising the perfect name for your blog. This is not something that you should leave up to chance. Your domain name will reflect your blog idea, thus it is important that you think about the prospective area your blog will cover and your target audience while coming up with one.
SiteGround offers domain name registrations at reasonable rates. You could also have one transferred over to SiteGround at the start of your registration process. Alternatively, you could also use services such as Namecheap to purchase your own domain.
Enter Details
After you are done with selecting a plan and getting a domain name, enter the following details –
- Country
- State/Province
- City
- Address
- ZIP code
- Contact Number
- First Name
- Last Name
- Company
Choose An Initial Plan Length and Extra Features
With SiteGator it is possible to lock on to a particular period of time for your subscription. You can prepay at introductory rates for the time you would want to use SiteGround’s hosting services for. This is available for a time period up to three years. It is a great scheme to make use of if you have a long term plan in mind. Although the amount that you will have to pay at once can be steep.
SiteGround allows you to choose and pay for extra features in the very beginning as well.
Domain Privacy and SG Site Scanner are two such examples. While the former, Domain Privacy, ensures that your personal information does not show up when your domain information is being looked at. Domain information is available for those who want to check it out. Domain privacy ensures that people cannot easily access your private information.
The latter, SG Site Scanner, keeps a check on your website to protect and inform you about any attempts to hack your website.
There is no compulsion on your part to purchase these services. If you were to be picking one, Domain Privacy would be a good choice. It will shield your personal information.
After you are done with the final payment, you will have successfully created a SiteGround Account. Now you have access to web hosting as well as a domain name.
Start The SiteGround Account Setup Wizard
The SiteGround Account Setup Wizard makes the process of setting up your account extremely smooth. It uses prompts to first setup and then install your own WordPress blog. The entire process takes only a few minutes and gives you very little to worry about.
This wizard is one of the major attractions of SiteGround services. For those of us who are not acquainted with the ways of WordPress, this is an easy way out.
Select the ‘Start a New Website’ option and then click on proceed. The following steps will help you navigate –
- Website Preferences – Here you would have to select the type of website you want to create. Your options include Personal/Blog, Wiki Website, Forum, Business/Online Shop and Non-Profit//Educational. After this, you will have to select the platform you wish to host on. Choose WordPress in this section.
- Log in Details for WordPress – The wizard will now require you to submit your login information before it can move to install the software. Enter your Admin email, select a strong username and password. These are additional steps that you can take to make sure that your blog is not prone to hacking efforts.
- Select a Template For Your Blog – SiteGround provides you with a couple of free web design templates for your perusal. You can select any one of them and it will be installed along with the WordPress account on your server. Chances are, you will stumble upon a template that you will really like. If you do wish to change your template, there are thousands of free ones available on the internet.
Voila! You have your WordPress Account ready and online. All of this will barely take ten minutes of your time. None of this requires you to be a tech genius.
Start Building Your Own Blog
Your blog can now be accessed at http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin, where ‘yourdomain’ is the name you had initially registered. Enter your log in details and you will be directed to the WordPress dashboard.
SiteGround ensures that you can focus on your work rather than spend time and money hiring a technician to set up your website. You can set it up entirely by yourself. The price that you pay is for hosting services and the ease of access.
You are now free to design and fill up your blog according to the plans that you had.
If you still have any persisting problems with the functioning of SiteGround or WordPress, do not worry. SiteGround will contact you the next day and enquire about your experience and the need for assistance. Their customer service really has all bases covered.
Although there are many more hosting service providers out there in the market, if you are looking for premium quality service at reasonable rates with great system support, SiteGround is the way to go.