It really is eay to do. This site took me 1 day to set up from start to finish, with all pages written and 3 posts done.
You need a website for long-term security of your income. It is a simple 3 step process:
- Find a Web Host (10 mins)
- Choose a Domain Name (10 mins)
- Install WordPress (5 mins)
- Set Up Your First WordPress Website (3 hours, including pages and posts)
The only income you can ever be sure of is that from your own websites. Article sites can change ownership and change remuneration policies without notice. You need to have a backup plan, just in case.
Having your own website is a good back up plan. You can link to it from your article signature and from within your articles. The site grows and matures as you add content regularly, so in ten years time when you might need it, it is producing a reasonable income. Your own website is your nest egg against the unpredictable future.
How to Set Up Your First Website
Once you have written a few articles you will have a better idea of the niche your website will occupy, so you will have a better idea of a good domain name.
Hosting
A website needs a web hosting service. This is a company that will put your website content onto its computers and allows everyone online to access it.
You can host a website for free, but it will never have any credibility. Check out Blogger.com if you are sure this is the way you want to go. All my websites are hosted on paid for hosts. I have my own domain names. If this was a free host its name would be something like WritingPayingArticles.Blogger.com. I want TOTAL control over my nest egg. It is not much of a nest egg if Blogger.com can delete your site, just like that.
There are a few things you should look for in a web host:
- Unlimited domain names
- 24/7 support with helpful staff
- Quick replies to any email queries
This site is hosted on BlueHost.com and I can wholeheartedly recommend their service as suitable for your first website.
Bluehost include ysour first domain name with their package. Choose a name related to the subject of your website. This name was chosen carefully so that when people search for Writing Articles it will come high in the results listing, after a few months.
Installing WordPress
WordPress makes running a website EASY. All the CSS, HTML, FTP stuff is all handled by the software. All you do is just type in English in a simple interface.
Starting Your First Blog
Configuring and Setting up WordPress is easy enough. Check out this article for a step by step walk through.
Once you have your blog set up you can link to it from your articles and from article signatures. You need to promote it constantly and post to it regularly, ideally every day.
Written by Phil Turner, an ex-teacher from Ireland. Phil believes that to succeed in anything you have to help others and share your own knowledge. He makes a living mostly by writing on his own sites, which include HowToMakeExtraMoneyWriting.com and 21CWoman.com.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks Phil – I concur that setting up a website (from a functional perspective) is relatively simple and in my humble opinion it’s better to own your own site than rely on others. People just get so intimidated by the process they convince themselves they can’t do it. Just remember – a website doesn’t have to look pretty to perform.
Just get it out there and then work on content and visual attractiveness. I just took a crack at this myself to promote Info Barrel as I believe they will mature to great things – you can check it out here if you’re so inclined: InfoBarrelReviews.com
Thanks for the posts Phil and keep up the good work! For those that don’t know, Phil has written some great articles on Info Barrel – when you have some time you should swing by and check out his work.
Reply
Excellent post, your right starting a website is so quick and easy. I started my InfoBarrel blog a few months ago, really to document my progress and show people some of the methods that I use.
Reply