Jan
DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.
Career and Life Choices
In a previous blog, I wrote about the many careers you can have in the fashion industry. If you haven’t read it yet, check out my post on 22 fashion careers. Today, I will share with you how I got my freedom by blogging, how to start a blog, and why you want to start one.
Starting a blog is a great way to start a side hustle or a business. If you’re looking to start one for cheap, I would recommend Siteground. I am currently with them and like the experience that I have.
Full Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Siteground, and will receive a commission if you sign up through my referral link. This is at no additional cost to you, and you will get great low pricing.
Hosting Service
Siteground has a very helpful IT team. They are available through phone, chat, or a ticket system. When I was starting my blog, I ran into a few technical issues. However, I was able to contact them and talk to them. The situation was resolved pretty instantly.
After that, I rarely had any issues. Anytime I had any questions, I was able to get in contact and have my problems resolved quickly. They had a live chat service that you can also utilize.
There is also a direct phone line where you can reach the IT team directly via a phone call. I don’t know about you, but I definitely feel more comfortable talking to someone about an issue than to communicate through text or mail back and forth.
Siteground has a great support system. Many of their consumers would agree and had nothing but positive reviews about them.
Fashion Blogger
Anyways, being a fashion blogger has many great benefits not found in the corporate world. My time being a fashion design blogger has been wonderful. I am location independent and I have a flexible schedule.
This is especially great for me as it enables me to be able to spend time with my son. Being able to take him to school, pick him up, go on field trips, and take him to his swimming lessons and etc, are the things that I love most.
Being location independent means that I can work when I am at home or while traveling. If you’re a huge Instagrammer, like me, follow me on SeamSoReal.
Since I have a flexible schedule, I also run a competitive dance team. Some of my designs and outfit creations for the dance team are posted on my Instagram and their Instagram Nxthais Ci Ntsa.
Freedom
Being location independent is wonderful. I can show my readers the amazing new discoveries that I find on the go. Of course, this wouldn’t work without having a flexible schedule. If an idea pops up, I can wake up early to get started on it. Or if I need to, I can stay up late to work on projects.
Having the freedom to choose what I want to do and when I want to do it, is AMAZING!!!. As a fashion designer, I am not only designing clothing but I am also designing a life I want to live.
Being able to choose what, when, where, and how I live is most important to me. No longer are the days where you are late to work, daydreaming about success, and wishing for more.
Getting Started With Blogging
Getting starting with Siteground is very simple. They are one of the top web hosting service companies out there in 2019. You can start your own blog for as low as $3.95 per month.
That is the same cost as a tall caramel macchiato from Starbucks from my area. The macchiato would cover the cost of your web hosting for a whole month! With 12 cups of macchiato, your whole years would be covered.
People have come up to me and asked, “Wouldn’t it be better to start off with free online blogger sites? “ My answer to them will always be, “ It depends.” It all depends on your end goal. If you plan to be a serious blogger, turning your hustle into a business, or if you plan to make some money, then getting your own hosting service like Siteground is the way to go.
Going through a hosting service like the siteground is also extremely cheap. It’s only 12 Macchiatos for a year of hosting service. I would recommend going with the 3-year plan though. Also having your own hosting service, you can run advertisements, affiliated links, direct advertisements, and etc.
Free VS. Paid
This is different when you are on a free blogging service. When you’re on a free service, you’re basically on someone else’s hosting service. You can’t run advertisements, affiliated links, and etc. Therefore, you cannot create income from these sources. Most of the time, these free services are running their own advertising and links on your blog to generate income for themselves.
Not only that but companies will not likely work with you if you do not have your own hosting service. They do not see you as a professional business, because they know that you do not have control of what you can and cannot put on those free blogging websites. For that reason, you will be losing out on other opportunities to generate income.
Brand Name
When you think about a business and their eCommerce website you often think www.amazon.com, www.macys.com, and www.nordstrom.com. If you see something like www.wordpress.com/amazon, you automatically think that they are not an actual business.
When your brand name comes after another company, it doesn’t look professional. Not only that, it makes the website look sketchy and people become skeptical of it. This is why companies usually stay away from sites that are not owned by the person they are talking to.
Pros & Cons Example of Paid Services
A great example of going with a paid web hosting service like a siteground is like running a mall. You can choose what advertisements to put up on the outside side of the mall, inside of the mall, and who to work with inside of your mall. Your expenses will be more than the free services, but you have more control over what you want.
Pros & Cons Example of Free Services
When you’re on a free service, it’s more like you own a kiosk inside of the mall. Your expenses are low to none compared to paid services. Also, you can put up advertisements. However, they have to be approved by the mall. Additionally, your advertisements are only in your area.
You may be happy to open a kiosk in the mall. But, you can only open your kiosk where the mall allows you to do so. Have you seen what happens to the kiosk in a dead area of the mall?
When you don’t run the mall, you have to follow the mall’s policies and procedures. If you don’t follow them, the mall can cancel your kiosk and force you to quit or be shut down.
That is why being able to run your own blog with a hosting service is the best way to go. It allows you to have full control in making decisions for your own business. As you can see, this site is www.seamsoreal.com instead of www.wordpress.com/seamsoreal. You either create the rules, or you need to follow the rules.
Getting started with Siteground is very easy. So don’t delay. Start Now!
I’ve broken down the steps below. They’re easy to follow ( I have followed them myself) and will get you up and running in no time.
1. Go to the Siteground website: Siteground
Select your hosting plan for your blog!
I recommend that you go with the grow big plan. With the grow big plan, you can have multiple domain names registered with it. This is important because if you decide to change your domain name later, you can still use this hosting plan. As long as the traffic is not over 25,000 per month, then you will be perfect. As a beginner, you will not reach this at all.
However, if you pay for the start-up plan, you won’t be able to change your domain name. The domain name that you register with it is permanent.
For example, my husband started with a blog name he wasn’t sure of. Later, he decided he wanted a different name that would match his brand more. Having the Grow Big Plan, he was able to purchase another domain name. Then he redirected the DNS server with the siteground.
Having an unlimited website becomes useful when you are unsure. That is why I recommend getting the Grow Big Plan. To choose the plan, you will need to click Get Plan under the GrowBig Plan.
2. Register Your Site Name!
After selecting your plan, the next thing you want to do is let the siteground know if you will be registering a domain name with them or not. If you already have one, you can connect your domain name to siteground.
You can register your domain name with siteground for $15.95 a year. However, I have a better solution if you would like to save some more money. You can purchase the domain name through Namecheap.com for $9.99 and save yourself $5.96.
You can play with the siteground or Namecheap’s domain name checker. It will show you if it is available or not. Also, it will show you if it is available in other network extensions like .net, .org, .tv, and etc.
Make sure to get a “.COM” over any other network extension.
You will want to keep your website name short, descriptive, clever, and easy to remember and spell. This will allow people to know what your site is about from the name and remember how to return to it because it is easy to find.
3. Register and Paying for Hosting
Once you have decided on a name, click proceed. From there, you can create your siteground account and pay for your hosting services.
You can also choose how many years of hosting you’d like to pay for and purchase additional services. I recommend choosing the 12-month period so you can ensure your blog and SiteGround themselves are a match without making too big of a commitment.
Lastly, choose a data center that’s closer to where you plan on targeting users Chicago, London, Amsterdam, and Singapore are available.
As for the SG Site Scanner, it is SiteGround’s own security scanner. It is selected by default. It’s a great product, and we use it but it costs $19.80/year. If you don’t have your budget to include this in your hosting plan, you can unselect this option.
There are other great free options out there. You can install a third-party solution on your site free of charge once it’s up and running.
Once you agree to SiteGround’s terms and conditions and decide whether or not you’d like to receive marketing emails from them, click the Pay Now to complete your order.
4. Installing WordPress
Once you’re ready, you will want to create your WordPress blog. You will need to go to click on the Proceed to Customer Area button. You will then be redirected to Siteground’s setup wizard. The setup wizard will help you install WordPress on your new site.
You will want to select Start a New Website under Set up your Website section. Here you will decide what your login name and user password will be. Please change this to only something that you will know.
Do not leave your username or password as Admin!
5. Connecting Your Domain Name
Skip this section if you registered your domain with SiteGround.
Once you’re in the main Customer Area of SiteGround, head to the My Accounts tab, and open the Information & Settings section. You’ll find your nameservers here, labeled “Account DNS.” You’ll need these to point your domain to your SiteGround server.
Every domain registrar handles this differently, so these instructions may not be as clear as they could be. In Namecheap, all you need to do is click the Manage button associated with your domain, select Custom DNS under Nameservers, copy and paste the nameservers here, and click the little blue checkmark.
Start A Blog Now!
Starting a blog or an online business may seem like a daunting task. People think that you have to be an IT savvy person to start a blog or a website. However, if you follow my instructions, it will simplify it for you. As you can see from above, all that it takes is a few clicks.
Having a blog is not just about having a site where you write about things. It is an online business and it allows people to find out more about you. It also allows people to reach out to you for your products and services.
You can start a blog today for less than a tall caramel macchiato a month. Let me know if you have any questions about the process. If you started your blog through my affiliate link, let me know! I would love to get in touch and talk more about blogging!