An Entrepreneur? What the heck is an entrepreneur anyway?
Not too long ago I knew absolutely nothing about blogging. After not getting accepted into medical school, I found myself lost and without direction. On a whim I went to my local college and took a class called “Social Media Marketing.”
This class not only taught me how to market a business via social media, but also showed me how to get started blogging. This class showed me real life examples of people who have built a business around their hobbies.
I was instantly hooked and for the past 2 years I have helped design and market multiple websites, with Tactical Toolbox being my main focus.
Blogging has been a game changer, it has allowed me to work from home and spend a lot more time with my family and enjoy my hobbies.
I never thought that I would become an entrepreneur. 10- 15 years ago the title “entrepreneur” just meant that you were and unemployed dreamer.
But now in 2016 the world is a different place and the word entrepreneur no longer has a negative stigma to it.
Now I want to share with you how you too can get started as an entrepreneur by blogging about your interest and building your own personal brand.
How to Start a WordPress Blog |A Step-By-Step Tutorial
Before we get started I want to save you a lot of time and recommend that you start with a self-hosted WordPress.org website. You can move on to a dedicated hosting service later and worry about things like Bluehost vs SiteGround uptime when you’re looking to put money towards your blog.
If you’re serious about becoming an entrepreneur, the first thing you need to do is skip all the free blogging platforms that offer free hosting and create a self hosted website. Pick a perfect domain name with hostiserver.com and then you’re ready to get started.
A self-hosted WordPress website will give you the flexibility needed to accomplish anything you need in your journey as an entrepreneur .
The Benefits of WordPress.org
It’s Free
Ease of Customization
Ease of Monetization
Tons of Online Support
There Are 3 EASY Things We Need to Accomplish to Get You Started With WordPress.org
Select and register a domain name
Select and setup hosting
Install WordPress
Done!
Although WordPress.org is free, there is a small cost involved to get started. But that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about. The first thing to you’ll need to do to set up your self-hosted WordPress.org blog is to choose and register your domain name.
Select and Register a Domain Name
Before you choose a domain name, you will need to do a little research. Preferably you want a domain name that fits you, your blog, and unique. This will give you the greatest chance as an entrepreneur to stand out in your niche. If you need some help choosing a domain name, check out “Bust a Name”.
This tool allows you to enter some keywords that are relevant to your blog and will help you choose a name that fits you and your blog.
Now that you have found your perfect domain name, you will need to register it before someone else does it first. (I’ve had this happen to me because I waited too long)
Register and Setup Web Hosting
This is the easiest and cheapest option. You can register your domain name and purchase web hosting from the same company. My wife and I use both Hostgator and Bluehost for our blogs.
These companies are by far the best and cheapest solutions for entrepreneurs.
Hostgator
Get Hostgator Here
This who I personally use. In the past two years I have never had a single problem with them. If you want to start with Hostgator, my video below will walk you through the entire process.
Be sure to use the Hostgator coupon code HGC25, and get your first months hosting for only 1 penny.
Get Bluehost Here
I’m fairly new to Bluehost and have been using them on my wife’s website for the past 3 months. They have a very user-friendly layout for beginners and even give you your first domain name for free!
Don’t stress yourself too much over which to choose from, as they are both excellent options for first time bloggers and are almost identical in price.
Now I’m going to walk you through setting up hosting with Hostgator.
Don’t let the details scare you as I will break this down step-by-step to make it as easy as possible for you! Ready? Let’s Go!
Navigate to tactical-toolbox.com/hostgator/. This will direct you to Hostgator through my affiliate link and they may give you a few extra goodies for signing up through my code.
(Thank you again for your support!)
Click on the BIG yellow button labeled “Get Started Now”
2. Choose your plan. (Baby is has the best versatility)
3. Now that you have chosen your domain name enter it where it says “Enter Your Domain” and select which extension you want. .com .net etc.
4. Select your preferred billing cycle.
5. Create your username and security pin
6. Enter your Billing info.
7. Select/Deselect Additional Services
8. To get your first months hosting for 1 penny, Enter the HostgatorCoupon Code:HGC25, and click Validate
9. Check the “terms of service”
10. Click “Checkout Now!”
11. Wait for your “Account Information Email” from Hostgator
12. Click the link to Login to your Control Panel.
13. Copy and paste your username and password and login.
14. Once your’re logged in. Click on “Get Started With WordPress”
15. Scroll down and click “Install WordPress Free”
16. Select your domain name
17. Leave Install/Path BLANK
18. Enter your admin email, blog title, username, and name
19. Clink “Install WordPress”
20. Click On “My Installs” at the top of the page.
21. Scroll down to your domain name.
22. Click “Admin Login”
23. You should now have another conformation email that has your username and password
24. Login with your username and password.
25. Finished! Enjoy Your New WordPress Dashboard!
The Best WordPress Themes
The next stepis to choose a theme for your website. If you don’t want to waste a lot of time, money and energy trying to find the perfect theme, then I highly recommend Elegant Themes.
In my humble opinion Elegant Themes has the best themes for WordPress in 2016. They have over 87 themes to choose from plus all of the plugins you will need to get you started as a professional blogger. I’m not web designer so my knowledge of code is very limited. But with Elegant Themes everything is drag and drop.
You can get Elengant Themes at tactical-toolbox.com/elegantthemes and they will give you a discount for using my link.
Advantages of Elegant Themes
Highly SEO-optimized to help your site rank in the SERPs,
Responsive themes-Google now penalizes websites that aren’t responsive.
eCommerce ready – so that you can sell your products right from now
Fabulous support – Elegant themes offers the highest level of customer service and they are there so save you from every glitch.
Great looking landing pages using the drag and drop DIVI builder.
Divi Leads – The only complaint most people had been Elegant themes lacked the sort of easy landing page builder. With the launch of Divi Leads, you can now create landing pages, squeeze pages and sales pages that convert like any other industry standard themes.
Unlimited website usage, you can actually use your package to install on client websites too.
Premium plugins that are famous for skyrocketing your sales.
Monarch plugin – increases sharing of your posts scientifically.
Bloom email plugin – This one is the show stealer with tons of features. If you loved the subscription pop-up on Elegant themes blog, you gonna love this too.
Here are just a few examples of their awesomethemes.
Vertex Theme
The Source Theme
Nexus Theme
Hermony Theme
Thank you for stopping by and I wish you the best on your new endeavours as an entrepreneur. Blogging has definitely changed my life for the better and has helped me become a better and more effective entrepreneur.
My hope is that it does the same for you, so that you can work from home as well.
Thank You and Take Care
Jonathan Wright
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Welcome..
Hi, I'm Jonathan! I'm passionate about everything firearms related, teaching others about saving money, and helping others create thriving businesses. This blog allows me to combine all three of those passions in one convienent location.
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