How to build your own-name WordPress blog?

What’s a blog? Linguistically, blog is “a blend of the term Web log“. It’s a place you can make entries about what you see, hear, think, feel, or do – everything you can and want to share with others even time zones away.

What’s WordPress? It’s a piece of software that organizes your blog posts.

If you’re a serious blogger, you should consider setting up your own-name WordPress blog.

How?

First, you’ll need a domain name. A domain name is like an address of your home. By following the domain name, visitors can find your blog. For example, mine is ChangGuohua.com. It costs money to register a domain name, though. But no worries. It’s very cheap. For example, Godaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar and one of the best website hosting companies, offers very cheap domain names. I’ve registered six domain names there. Take .com domain names for example, it costs only 12 U.S. dollars or about 70 yuan a year. Click here to choose yours.

Second, you’ll need a website hosting package. Your blog or other kinds of websites will physically live in one of the folders on a hard disc of a computer (server) in a datacenter. It’s your blog’s home. Typically, a great home should be located in a well connected place (Godaddy’s Asia-Pacific or other datacenters), have state-of-the-art and full-featured infrastructure (databases and applications), have wonderful property management and security services (advanced security support and 24X7X365 customer care). Godaddy is such a great “real estate developer”. Take its fourth generation hosting packages for example, the most popular package (Deluxe 4GH) costs only 81 U.S. dollars or about 510 yuan a year. Please note that you should choose the Linux package if you want to install a WordPress blog.

Now that you have an address (domain name) and a physical home (hosting package), the next step is furnishing and decoration. Like in any house or apartment, decoration and furnishing will decide if it’s a comfortable one and feels really like home. I strongly recommend WordPress as your blogging software because it’s the world’s most popular, easy-to-use, and well supported blogging software solution. There are tons of free themes (artistic designs) and plugins (additional functions) you can choose. In real life, furnishing and decorating a house or an apartment is a very tiring project. However, what you will find quite unexpected is that setting up a WordPress with Godaddy is super easy: all of Godaddy’s Linux hosting plans include a function that allows you to build a WordPress blog automatically. You’ll just need to click a few buttons, fill in some fields and then it’s done.

Q&As

1. Q: What should I use to buy a package?

A: You can use a credit card, PayPal or Alipay (支付宝). Credit card and PayPal are ideal online payment methods. However, Alipay tends to take longer time to get your payments or refunds processed.

2. Q: Does Godaddy offer discounts?

A: Yes. It offers discounts all year round by providing coupon codes which you can key in before checking out. For coupon codes, see here.

3. Q: Why should I want a “traditional” blog when all the rage now is microblogging, e.g. Sina Weibo and Twitter?

A: I don’t think microblogging can or should come at the expense of a standard blog. Microblogging is popular because its messages are short and concise and travel very fast. However, microblogging allows only about 140 English or Chinese characters per message, which sets a cap on what a microblogger can say in a message. For example, microblogging is not enough to convey messages contained in this post you’re reading – How to build your own-name WordPress blog? A blog is an ideal place where you can comb your musings and share them with others.

I have a personal and even emotional liking for blog or website. My blogs played crucial roles in my finding jobs and even my wife. After having read my website posts, she decided that I was a good man she could consider as a boy friend and even a husband.

4. Q: How can I use WordPress?

A: Well, it’s foolproof and you can get the hang of it very easily in a short time. There are lots of guides out there on the Internet you can find yourself. But before that, you can read this comprehensive guide by WordPress.org: Getting Started with WordPress.

5.  Q: There so many blog service providers or BSPs (e.g. LiveJournal, Blogger.com, and Blog.com) which offer free and easy-to-use blogging. Why should I spend the money and time for one that I have to set up and get running on my own?

Answer: Well, I think that blogging with BSPs is like working for others and not getting paid for it. It also has limits you cannot overcome as you blog away. However, it’s a mighty different story with blogging with your own domain name and full control offered by a paid hosting package. As you blog this new way, you create and build your online name and reputation. For example, I used to run an English-to-Chinese translation training program with my blog and almost 300 readers have subscribed to my weekly emails about translation. With the help of email marketing software, I can collect emails on my blog and build an email list. This is not what a BSP can do for me.

If you have any other questions, please leave them in the comments below. I’ll see to giving them best answers I can come up with.