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How to Set up your WordPress Website on Bluehost [Ultimate Guide for 2018]

Bluehost how to set up hosting get started

In 2018 there are hundreds of different hosts you can turn to for your wordpress website. Some are more difficult to create than others, but we’ve decided after working with many of these hosting companies that Bluehost is the solution you should consider for your small business website in 2018.

This post covers the steps to easily set up your website and hosting on Bluehost.

What is hosting and why does hosting matter?

You can think of hosting as the house for your website files. It is what ensures your site is seen by visitors. Choosing your hosting company wisely can reduce potential headaches as some hosting companies provide more:

  • Customer Service
  • Easy to adjust memory limits
  • Backups
  • Minimal downtime.

After years of working with many different website hosts, we have experienced the best service with Bluehost for small business websites.

Why Bluehost for your WordPress Website?

Bluehost makes each step in your website journey easy. Without hidden fees, you know exactly what to budget and the support is incredible both with chat and phone service. Some additional features we love about Bluehost include:

  • Free SSL Certificate for the main domain in the account
  • Free email that you can set up with a variety of services (or just link it to your gmail account with Imap or POP3).
  • One click install of WordPress files
  • Easy to schedule backups
  • FTP access (which GoDaddy WordPress hosting, for example, does not allow)
  • Only costs $3.95 per month when you sign up for a 36 month hosting plan.

Setting up your Hosting account on Bluehost for WordPress is simple. In fact, you can get everything all set up 5 minutes for only $3.95 per month!

How to set up your Bluehost Hosting Account for Only $3.95 per month

First step first, head on over to Bluehost.com*.

Step 1: Get Started on Bluehost Hosting

Click the Green Button that says “get started now” at Bluehost.com.

Bluehost how to set up hosting get started

You will be redirected to a page where you can select your hosting level. For most small businesses, the Basic Level at $3.95/mo will work to fit all of your needs.

Guide on how to set up bluehost hosting select account

 

I selected the Basic option.

Step 2: Choose your Free Domain

I love how Bluehost allows you to select your free dom

ain, use an existing domain, or even, choose to select a domain in the future. For many hosting companies, you need to select a new domain immediately or else you lose the credit, but with Bluehost, they understand that you may not have found the perfect domain yet.

Bluehost setup guide for 3.95 hosting

If you have already purchased a domain at Network Solutions or GoDaddy, for example, you can tryp your domain name into the “i have a domain name field” and Bluehost will set you up with a temporary domain as your build your website until the domain name has been transferred.

Again, this is super user friendly for website redesigns and if you are just getting started. PLUS, there is no additional fee from Bluehost to transfer a domain into the account.

One downside of using Bluehost to find your domain is that it doesn’t offer selections for similar domains from this page like GoDaddy does with it’s domain selection service. I would recommend checking that your desired domain is available on GoDaddy before trying to purchase it on Bluehost.

Step 3: Purchase your hosting

The first part here is to enter your contact and business details on Bluehost

This includes adding your name, email, business name, address, and phone number into the fields listed.

bluehost create your account today

When you enter your contact information, you can also use Google Single Sign-On if you prefer.

The second part of purchasing your hosting from Bluehost is to review your purchase information

In this part of the page your can select or deselect different add-ons. I honestly unselect all of these except the Domain Privacy Protection. This selection hides your personal/business details from being available online. Especially if your business is located at a home office, this is important to protect your privacy.

bluehost verify your hosting package

As for SiteLock security in your BlueHost account, I’ve found that if you keep your website files up to date, you don’t really need this. Should you get malware installed on your website, go ahead and add it later. If you are worried about site security and not knowing what to do if malware does appear on the site, please keep SiteLock checked.

The same is true for Codeguard.

Lastly, you will enter in your credit card details

Bluehost enter your payment information

Now click “submit” – pretty straightforward, right?

Now, here is actually a tip. You can get hosting on Bluehost for your WordPress website for as low as $2.65/mo!

What!!?!? That’s less than $100 for three years of hosting!

BlueHost special signup offer

Now this doesn’t always work, but if you keep the window open without clicking submit for your credit card information, a new popup will appear with your exclusive discount offer.

Sometimes you don’t need to even enter in any details and the popup will appear with the Bluehost offer for hosting for $2.65/mo.

Again, the trick is to be patient! Don’t click submit right away 🙂

Ultimate guide to setting up Bluehost hosting in 2018, #newwebsite, #website, Create a blog, $2.65 hosting special, hosting coupon for Bluehost

Ultimate guide to setting up Bluehost hosting in 2018, #newwebsite, #website, Create a blog, $2.65 hosting special, hosting coupon for Bluehost

Step 4: Installing WordPress

Guess what, the first prompt you see when you purchase the wordpress hosting is to Install WordPress!

Before you get to building your website, be sure to have a clear understanding of your brand, values, and unique selling proposition (what sets you apart from your competition). To help with this process, we’ve created the Your Business Your Brand Workbook that guides you through your target market, finding brand fonts, colors, and writing the content for your product and services pages. It is the go-to guide for getting your business off the ground.

Purchase Workbook ($9.97)

Interested in learning more? Take a look at these articles:

2018 Social Media Marketing Planning Guide [Curated Content]

Cost-Effective Ways to Market Your Local Business Online

Search Engine Optimization, Keyword Research, and Blogging for your Business [April Overview]

branding and business workbook

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Finding Related Keywords on Google

KW Research - find related keywords

In this video I take a look at how you can find related keywords on Google to boost your position in search results.

Interested in learning more? Take a look at these videos:

Social Media Audit

Finding Topics Your Tribe Will Love 

Internal and External Goals

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How to use KWFinder

How to use KWFinder

We spoke briefly last week about KWFinder and how easy it was to find the correct keywords for your business. Knowing your keyword phrases, also known as long tail keywords will help you create that strategy for your blogging and SEO. Keyword Finder is a powerful tool to help you discover your niche keywords.

KWFinder helps you discover that sweet spot with keywords that many people are looking for but have a low competition level, meaning it would be easy to rank higher on Google for those mid to lower keywords.

The one thing I love about KWFinder is it simple and easy to use. For someone like me who is such a visual person I love the how they show you all the data you need, the ranking, what other sites are using those keywords and what their domain and page authority is. This tool takes the complexity out of keyword research. Be your own keyword expert!

First Step with KWFinder

This is a free tool, but you are only allowed to have 3 FREE searches per day. First thing, create an account here. If you really want to take your SEO and blogging to the next level and really want to dive deep into finding your long tail keywords, I would suggest looking at their monthly or annual pricing.   After your 3 free searches, you will have to either upgrade your plan or wait 24 hours.

The second Step Start Searching for Your Keywords

It is very simple, on the homepage of KWFinder there is a box that says “Enter Keyword” this allows you to search for the keywords you think are important to start with. You can also choose a specific location and language. If you are a local business then the location option would be very beneficial for you. When you are local you want to know what your community is searching for to make sure you re providing them the correct information. Or even if you sell online but only is the U.S. that is something to think of as well. Some of you may be ahead of the game already and have a list of keywords, maybe from an old website company, coach or just your own research, you can upload those into KWFinder, it has to be a CSV file.

One thing to remember or be aware of when you are using the location feature when you type in your keyword and the location you are wanting to search you would then click find keywords and KWFinder will show your results on a single screen. It will then display all sorts of data for you, such as the difficulty level of being able to rank for that keyword, cost per click (CPC), search volume.

The Third Thing, What does this all mean?

How hard it is to rank for that specific keyword.  You will see green, yellow and orange buttons with a number in them, ranging from 15-63 or even higher. This is really important for your strategy. If the keyword is in orange which is usually over 45 that means it is going to be very difficult to rank on Google for that keyword. Your strategy at this point should be looking for the yellow and green keywords. KWFinder shows you different keywords that are similar to the one you searched for, it is also going to tell you how many people a month are searching for that keyword or long tail keyword.

For example I searched “Social Media Online Coaching” the ranking was 47 which is yellow meaning it is possible for me to rank on Google with that keyword, but if I wrote about “Social Media Monitoring” which is a 32 it would be easier for me to get on the first page of Goole or other search engines with that long tail keyword.

Here are a few things below that each search will provide you:
* What’s trending
* Monthly Search Volume
* Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
* Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
* Google SERP results

SERP Competition Checker

Get localized Google SERP results with KWFinder. The SERP checker is a Google SERP competitor analysis tool providing 45+ SEO metrics. (SERP= Search Engine Results Page)

Another feature to look at when look at your keywords, on the right-hand side of the dashboard it will show you what websites are using those words and what the competition level is, the green, yellow or orange rankings. It will also display on each website their DA (Domain Authority) and their PA (Page Authority).

Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). …Domain Authority is calculated by evaluating linking root domains, the number of total links, MozRank, MozTrust, etc. — into a single DA score.

Page Authority (PA) is a score developed by Moz that predicts how well a specific page will rank on search engine result pages (SERP). Page Authority scores range from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank.

Creating Your Keyword Planner

Once you have found the keywords and long tail keywords you want to use, you can create a list within your KWFinder account that you can save to help you manage your search efforts. You may want to think of different lists, categories of your keywords. For us, we may have a list that is “Social Media” and one that is “Digital Marketing Tools” the important reason about having different keyword lists is you will be writing different content on your website, think of the services you offer and how you can write blogs all around those different topics. Those are the keyword lists you need to create.

How to create a new list:

  • Select the keywords you want to add to a list
  • Then you will see “Add to List” click that button
  • Then enter your list name
  • And DONE!

This saves the list to your account, you can always add and delete keywords from that list as you need to. You can also download your list into a CSV file if you would rather do that. One thing to always remember when adding your keywords to your list, it is better to add the easy (green) and mid (yellow) to your list rather than hard (orange).

WrapUp

This amazing tool provides you a ton of powerful information to help you succeed with your SEO and Blogging strategy. In today’s digital marketing world it is important to always stay abreast of the hottest topics and trends in your industry and become even more of an expert than you already are. By utilizing KWFinder and all of its bells and whistles you will be able to find those relevant long tail keywords for you and your business, taking your digital marketing to the next level. This is an efficient way to stay on top of those trends and searches and will save you a ton of time in the long run!

Interested in learning more? Take a look at these articles:

Digital Marketing and Search Engine Optimization in 2018

Off-Site SEO

On-Site SEO

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Increase the Max File Upload for your WordPress Website Hosted on GoDaddy

PHP Settings for GoDaddy Wordpress
Hey there techy-friends!
This video goes through how to update your PHP settings if you are experiencing problems on your WordPress website.
 
Recently WordPress made a TON of changes due to security threats and outdated code, which in return caused theme developers to update their code. These updates caused a few issues and this video addresses one of them: old PHP versions aren’t compatible anymore with the new code.
 
In this video, you will see where in GoDaddy to update the PHP Version (for CPanel accounts). BUT, I go a step further and walk through how to update your PHP settings after you upgrade your PHP version.
 
This is helpful information if you:
  • Aren’t able to upload images, PDFs, or files to your WordPress Website
  • Are experiencing time-out issues
  • Are receiving notifications about your Memory Limits being reached.
  • If you’ve read help documents that say to adjust your php.ini files or .htaccess file to increase the file-upload-size or memory-limit.
Before you make any changes to your PHP version or settings (or before you update your wordpress/theme files) please make sure to do a backup of your site and database.

We recently created a few new WordPress websites and saw over and over that either our theme files were too big to be uploaded or the media library would display a HTTP error when we tried to upload images. It turned out that these new WordPress installs had maximum file upload settings set to 2M compared to our preference of 256M.

So what do you do?

Oftentimes articles regarding not being able to load a file or image to WordPress just straight into logging into FTP and updating the php.ini file or .htaccess file. You may see something for example like:

Try increasing the following values in php.ini, for example:

memory_limit = 64M
upload_max_filesize = 256M
post_max_size = 256M

But often this doesn’t seem to do anything. Or you try adding the additional code to your .htaccess file and your site breaks. There is an easier way!

Step 1:

When you log into your hosting account on GoDaddy, proceed to the CPanel.

Step 2:

Then scroll down to the Software section and click Select PHP version.

Step 3:

This will open a new window displaying your current PHP version (heads up, if you are experiencing theme errors after a recent WordPress and Theme update, check out the PHP settings and upgrade to 7.1+. Often old PHP versions are not compatible).

Step 4:

On the right side of the screen, you will see a link that says “Switch to PHP Options”

Step 5:

From here you can adjust the:

  • max_execution_time
  • memory_limit
  • post_max_size
  • upload_max_filesize

Click Save and TADA!

No need to log in through FTP and figure out where the php.ini or .htaccess files are. If you still are unable to upload media to your media library, there may be an issue with file permissions. Or you may want to reinstall the WordPress and Theme files just to make sure they are loaded properly.

 

Interested in learning more? Take a look at these articles:

Creating Branded Images on Canva

Why Your Social Media Channels Need Post Diversity

Knowledge is Power

 

How to update your PHP settings in GoDaddy. Step by step video and notes on increasing Max File Upload and Memory Limits in GoDaddy Hosting, Great for WordPress Media Upload Error. #wordpress #phpsettings #websitehelp #website, website errors,

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Setting Your Business Up On Autopilot

As a business owner, it is important to figure out what steps go into each process, service or product you sell. When we start our business we are excited to serve our customers/clients. We sometimes max ourselves out and take on too much or can’t do everything. We forget to take vacations, spend time with family and friends, take care of US. We are working too hard and too much! Write down each step or task you do for each service or product, look at them and see which ones you can put on autopilot.

Things Each Entrepreneur should have on Autopilot:

  • Social Media Posts
  • Blog Posts
  • Newsletters
  • Chatbox on Facebook Messenger
  • Meeting Reminders
  • Invoicing
  • Leads
  • Networking Connections
  • Sales Pipeline/funnel
  • Event Registration Process

Interested in learning more? Take a look at the following videos:

Finding Related Keywords on Google

Interview with Casey Smith – Wild Liberty Design Co.

Core Values, Why They Are Important To Your Business 

 

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Importance of Having a Schedule

Has anyone called you a control freak? I get that all the time! I feel as a business owner it is super important to create a schedule and stick to it, allows yourself some grace to adjust things, and we all know life happens and things come up. I always say stick to your schedule at least 85% of the time. So, yes I do feel like I am a control freak because I like my schedule! From home life to business.

My mom and niece were just in town for a week and I was able to get most of my work done before they came so I could enjoy time with them, but I still had a schedule each day of the things I HAD to get done, like write my blog, do a video, client work etc. I gave myself the grace to have fun and I got my work done before, as soon as you fall off the scheduling wagon it is so hard to get back on track. Think of your schedule like a diet, how many times do you start a diet and do great for a week or two and then something comes up and we fall off, it then takes us weeks, sometimes months to get back on track. By creating a schedule for yourself and sticking to it, it allows your business to run so much smoother. You know what needs to get done each day when you have time to check emails, work on projects, play with your kids, run errands, videos, all those things as an entrepreneur we have to do each day. You are creating a plan for success!

Here are 5 reasons having a schedule are important:

1. Your S.M.A.R.T Goals become real

Remember back in January we spoke all about S.M.A.R.T goals and what we wanted to accomplish for 2018? If one of your goals was to increase your clientele by 20 clients, or increase your video subscribers to 1000 then on your schedule you should mark out time to network, make calls, send a newsletter to past clients or potential clients, make videos and ask people to subscribe. By putting something on our schedule that we want to accomplish helps us succeed with our goals.

2. Stop spinning your wheels

Do you ever feel like you have this imaginary list in your head of things you need to get done and then 5 minutes later you forget and you are walking around for an hour saying “What was I suppose to be doing?” I know I can’t be the only one this happens too. Within your schedule create a ‘To-Do’ list this can be a daily ‘To-Do’ or weekly, whichever feels better to you. This then allows us that space to write down those things we need/want to get done and we stop spinning the wheels in our head and forgetting.

3. Life happens – be prepared

We all know as business owners life happens, a child is sick, an unexpected event pops up, maybe you are not feeling well. Anything can happen, by being properly organized it is easier to adjust your schedule. When you are able to pre-plan and pre-work to get things done earlier you are allowing again that grace period of these unforeseen life events that come up.

4. Everyone is on the Same Page

When you are able to create a well-crafted schedule for personal life and business life everyone can be on the same page. Each person knows what they need to do and when. You know what needs to be done to accomplish your goals and maybe what your team needs to do or even family. You are creating the foundation for your business and on that schedule or plan, you are also setting guidelines for others. I know having a schedule or plan doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but when you are a business owner and entrepreneur a lot of fun, shiny, new things that I like to call SQURRIELS show up and DISTRACT YOU!

What I am getting at is having your schedule and plan set you know what you need to do and when and so does everyone else. End-goal . . . less stress for you!

5. Keeping Track

Again I know I can’t be the only one who can’t remember what I did last year or even last week at some points! When you have a schedule, whether it be a day planner or Google calendar or even a Google sheet like I use, we write down all of our meetings, activities, and To-Dos. This allows us to track what we were able to get done each day, week, month and year. This makes it easier for you to keep track of your goals. Going back to point 1, if we wanted to get 1000 new subscribers to our YouTube channel and I looked back at our 2018 schedule or plan I could see I did 5 videos per week and that increased our subscribers past 1000! Or whatever your goal may be.

It is important to add your benchmarks to your schedule for your annual goals as well, to make sure you are sticking to them and are on track. Schedule them out, let’s say June we want to have over 125 videos on our YouTube channel and 500 subscribers. When that event pops up on my Google Calendar I would know YES! I am on track and have surpassed that goal, or I need to work harder to make sure I meet the goal before the end of the year.

Tools to help you with your scheduling

Google Calendar

Google Sheets

Wunderlist

Todoist

ScheduleMaker

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Creating a Newsletter with MailChimp

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Creating Branded Images on Canva

Learn how to create branded images on Canva to help keep your brand consistent on social media.

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