How To Start A Mom Blog

You have made the choice to start a mom blog.  You want an outlet and really want to connect with other moms, bloggers, and readers. But how to start a mom blog of your own?

Starting a mom blog is so easy now. It requires a little bit of money to get started but is otherwise a really cheap hobby.

I’ve been blogging on and off for several years using either Blogger or Free WordPress.  Those are fine if you’re just looking to jot down your thoughts, but if you really want to be taken seriously as a blogger you’ll want to hop right into WordPress.org –  NOT the free version.

Getting Started

1. Choose a name for your mom blog
2. Set Up Hosting and WordPress
3. Start creating content and your social media presence!

This post contains affiliate links, but I wouldn’t recommend anything I didn’t try myself. 

1. Choose A Name For Your Mom Blog

Choosing a domain name and title for your mom blog is the first and hardest in starting a mom blog of your own.  Spit Up and Sit Ups came to me sometime in the beginning of 2016 and I ran with it.  Everyone immediately knows what my blog is about – being a mom and health.

You’ll want to choose a name before you go any further with the process to make sure it’s available. This does require a thought process, so give this step some time.  I feel incredibly lucky that I was able to get SpitUpAndSitUps.com and I love my blog’s brand.

Want to see if your domain name is available really quick? Check below. This neat little tool below from Bluehost allows you to check the name of the domain you want right now.

Once you have your domain name, you can head to a separate company to register the name for around $15 a year, or head right to SiteGround or Bluehost because they don’t charge you for registering your domain! You can save that $15 and put it towards hosting which I will get into in the next step.

The most important advice in starting a mom blog I want to give is getting a .com if you are able to!  You can get so many different extensions, but .com is the most used and best by far.

2. Set Up Hosting And WordPress For Your Mom Blog

Once you have your domain name, you will need to set up hosting for your new website. You can go ahead and get started by registering your domain through your hosting provider.

Here’s my story of how I came to SiteGround.

I started out on a site called Wealthy Affiliate when I decided I was ready to monetize my mom blog, but soon realized that the site wasn’t for me. The site was geared towards fully affiliate marketing sites which is not what my mom blog was about. I felt as though I didn’t fit in there and knew I needed to make a switch.

I needed to get out before being charged again to host my domain.   It was an impulse decision to join that site because I read a ton of amazing reviews, but within two weeks of signing up I realized it wasn’t for me and I needed to go elsewhere for my hosting needs.

I started doing research, but knew I needed to jump ship prior to my monthly subscription charge of close to $60 came.  Insane price!

Two stuck out: Bluehost and SiteGround. 

I ended up on SiteGround for two big reasons that I found through looking at other blogs.

1. Customer service. Now that I have been with SiteGround for a few months, the customer service, when needed, is top notch. The representatives for SiteGround are helpful and the response time could rival Usain Bolt’s speed.
2. Free site migration. Starting somewhere else and starting off with little money, I needed to make the best economical decision. SiteGround offers free domain transfers and site migration and the process was as easy as starting a chat with a customer service rep.

For my needs to start out, SiteGround fit. For a a larger blog, Bluehost is the hosting choice due to its unlimited plans and extra offers for a low price.

I will show you how to start a mom blog on both Bluehost and SiteGround later.

If you started elsewhere…

A quick blurb for those who have started their mom blogs on other sites and are now transferring.

Make sure you export your old content to import to the new version of your WordPress site. You’ll go into your mom blog’s dashboard and scroll to Tools on the left hand side. Hover, click “Export.” On the next screen, make sure “All Content” is selected and then click “Download Export File” which will be an XML file we’ll need.

Once you’ve completed the steps below to create your website with hosting, install a plug-in called WordPress Importer. You’ll use this plug-in to upload that XML file you downloaded earlier. This will upload all of that original content you had. I had to reupload some images, but this is truly a life saver so you don’t lose any posts you have already completed on your old mom blog site.

Price Comparison Between Bluehost and SiteGround

Both offered great prices for hosting for a newbie mom blogger like myself.  After continuing to kick around looking for reviews of both, SiteGround unanimously had better reviews on customer service, fast load times, and free migration.

You read that right. If you started elsewhere, SiteGround makes it pain free on your wallet and you to move your site. I made a $15 mistake starting out on WA, but it didn’t hurt when I was ready to take my site and find hosting elsewhere for my mom blog. When I was ready to migrate, I simply started a chat with a tech who responded in under two minutes. My site was seamlessly migrated to my new hosting and it was incredibly easy.

Plan Option Comparison

 

 

As you can see, for starting your mom blog both SiteGround and Bluehost offer a great deal of only $3.95 per website. The details are a bit different for each, and I ultimately chose SiteGround due to free website migration.

Here’s the little “All Essential Features” that comes with your StartUp plan with SiteGround:

For me, SiteGround was my obvious choice to avoid the Domain Transfer price tag. If you’re starting out, both hosting sites are a great place to start and build your blog.

How To Start A Mom Blog With SiteGround

I chose StartUp from SiteGround for 12 months, and it’s been great for my growing site. I highly recommend going with the 12 month option when you are starting your site and blog no matter what hosting you choose.  You need to give yourself time to grow your content and blog and not having to deal with pesky hosting monthly bills.  Go for the year and focus on your growing your mom blog! Besides, it’s a better deal!

Next page you will fill in your personal information.  When you get to the bottom you will see this:

It is up to you if you want to keep Domain Privacy and HackAlert Monitoring checked for an additional fee.  I chose to uncheck them. You can always add these features later if you have changed your mind.

Congratulations! Your site now has amazing hosting and customer service in your corner.

WordPress Installation on SiteGround

Go to your cPanel from “My Account” when logged into SiteGround.  Scroll until you see “WordPress Tools” and click on “WordPress Installer.”

Here’s a screen shot of what you’ll see in the WordPress installer in your cPanel and what you’ll need to fill out.

I would highly recommend not using the username “admin” as your admin username.  This is the first thing hackers will try to get into your site.  You can be anything!

Remember to save your username and password to access your blog.

You can select a theme to install and change this later after installation.  No worries there.  I’ve gone through a few myself until I chose the one I have.  You’ll find what works best for your blog and brand. You can also choose to have one designed for you.

Click the banner to get started with SiteGround!

 

How To Start A Mom Blog With Bluehost

Select your plan from Bluehost and begin your account signup.

You can choose other plans from Bluehost. There is a 12 month plan and a 24 month plan. The cheapest is the 36 month plan.  Choose what fits your budget right now for starting your mom blog.

Signing up with Bluehost is really easy. Once you’re good to go, the next step is installing WordPress so you can start your mom blog!

Installing WordPress With Bluehost

Log into your Bluehost account and access your cPanel securely. This is where you’ll install WordPress on your site.

During Installation, you’ll choose your Site Title, Admin Username and Password. Please please please don’t make your admin username “admin.” This is a big step in fighting against hackers because it’s the first username bloggers will go with.

 

Once WordPress is installed, go ahead and log in to your site and choose your theme.

Click the banner to get started on Bluehost!

3. Start creating content and your social media presence!

Time to have fun!

This is how you’ll make your blog successful and where the real work begins.

Start creating your content in WordPress.  You’ll also want to create social media profiles to get your blog out there and seen at first.  It’ll be great to connect with other bloggers as well!  I love connecting on social media so please reach out to me on any platform to connect. Check out Find Your Tribe by Women Winning Online’s Jen Snyder to find out where bloggers in your niche are hanging out and how to connect with them.

I recommend starting all of your social media channels. This includes:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• YouTube
• StumbleUpon
• Flipboard

If you’re not focused on all social media channels at once (which is A LOT OF WORK), at least have them in case your plans change and you want to start making YouTube videos.

Wasn’t that easy?

Monetization Tips For Mom Bloggers

To take your mom blog a step further and monetize your mom blog with affiliate marketing, you’ll want to check out Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents and how you can monetize your mom blog when the traffic starts flowing. You need this course if you are a blogger – new or you’ve been blogging for a long time.  I’ve learned so much from Michelle and I continue to reference the course as I go along.

You can find affiliates on Share A Sale! Click my affiliate link to join and find affiliate programs that fit your blog.

There you have it – the easiest and best how to start a mom blog guide!  You can start a mom blog during nap time and be up and running before your little one wakes up!

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