How to create a blog on WordPress

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The WordPress is the best-known CMS system in the world. With it, you can create a corporate blog, essential for business today. After all, nowadays, to have visibility on the internet, you not only need a website, but also a fully functioning blog.

Having a blog is part of a content generation strategy, with the aim of attracting your ideal client. This is where the basis of the inbound marketing, which is based on the principles of attraction, retention, conversion and relationships. And then, the blog is essential.

In this article, we will show you a step-by-step guide to creating a blog on WordPress.

Keep reading and stay up to date with the creation of your blog. This way, you can do it calmly and with good planning.

What is CMS (Content Management System)

First, we need to understand the difference between a simple website and a website with a CMS platform. A CMS (Content Management System) platform is a software that allows you to create, manage, and publish content on a website in an efficient and organized way. The main purpose of a CMS platform is to facilitate the creation, editing, and distribution of content, making the process more accessible to users without advanced technical knowledge in programming or design.

CMS Structure

CMS platforms are particularly useful for dynamic websites such as blogs, news sites, online stores, and other types of sites that require frequent updates and content management. Some of the common features of a CMS platform include:

1. Content Editor: It allows you to create and edit content in a similar way to a word processor, facilitating formatting and insertion of multimedia elements.
2. User Management: Allows you to create different user profiles with different access levels, which is useful for teams of employees.
3. Content Organization: Allows you to organize content into categories, tags, or other organizational systems to make navigation easier.
4. Templates and Themes: Provides the ability to choose from pre-defined designs (themes) or create custom layouts for your website.
5. Extensibility: Extra functionality can usually be added through plugins, extensions, or modules.
6. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Some CMS platforms have built-in features to optimize content for search engines.
7. Simple Updates: Most CMS platforms make it easy to update your website, even for people without advanced programming knowledge.

Why set up a blog on WordPress?

The WordPress is one of the most versatile blogging platforms and is the most widely used CMS in the world. Its user-friendly interface allows even beginners to create attractive and functional websites. With a wide range of themes and plugins available, you can customize your blog to suit your specific needs.

Plus, it’s easy to find tutorials, courses, and tips to help you delve deeper into the features. And if you want a customized 100% experience, it’s easy to find developers, too.

Step by step guide to setting up your blog on WordPress

We will now show you how to assemble the WordPress blog and customize your theme, so you can have the design and functionality you want.

Defining the goal of the blog

What will be the purpose of your blog? Will his focus be on educating the market? Position your company as an authority? It is essential that this objective is clear before you start generating your content. After all, it takes time to get there and the work of SEO to be generated will depend on this definition.

Starting off on the right foot, knowing where you are going, impacts all the steps that follow. Therefore, be clear about what your blog will offer your target audience.

Choosing blog name and domain

Will your blog have a specific name? Will it stay on your website? In the case of Vero Contents, our blog is within our website (verocontents.com.br/blog). This is part of our strategy. There are blogs out there that are used as a subdomain and others that don't have the word blog. This all depends on your strategy.

Our blog is the Vero Contents blog, but it could be the “Super Master Blog of Digital Marketing”. This could impact, for example, the registration of a domain that was outside the agency's website.

So, choose your domain according to what the blog will present to your audience. The name must easily identify what will be offered. So don't come up with very complicated names.

To register the domain, you will need to choose a domain registration company. In Brazil, you can do it by Registro.br. To register, you must search for the desired name on the home screen:

To register, enter the domain holder and personal data, such as email, telephone and address, in addition to the CPF (if you are registering on behalf of an individual) and CNPJ (if you are a company).

Choosing the blog creation platform

The choice of CMS (Content Management System) platform or content management system must be chosen carefully. In this article, our focus is to create a blog on WordPress

When we create a blog on WordPress we always come across this question: WordPress.org or WordPress.com?

As we see it, WordPress.org gives you more control over everything (and it's free). If you opt for the paid version, WordPress.com, you will give up choosing the server where you will host your website. So let's focus on WordPress.org.

So we move on to the next part.

Choosing a reliable host

Before diving into building your WordPress blog, you need to choose a reliable host. Look for a provider that offers features like high availability, solid technical support, and good loading speeds. This will ensure that your blog performs well and is accessible to all visitors.

Here at Vero we work with the Hostinger, a highly reliable and high-performance hosting service, which has a quick WordPress installation option on its panel, making it easier for you to take the first steps to set up your website and blog.

Installing your blog, theme and tools

Some hosts offer the installation of WordPress within your control panel, with a step-by-step guide.

But if the installation is manual, the first step to creating a blog in WordPress is to download the installation package on WordPress Brazil. The package is a .ZIP file, which must be unzipped into a folder on your computer. Once done, copy the files to the hosting server. This can be done within your hosting CPanel or use FTP programs such as FileZilla. Create a database. In CPanel, there is a MySQL Database Wizard function for creating the database. Configure the wp-config.php file. For step-by-step installation, check out our article What is WordPress.

For your website to have a design, you must choose between the different themes available. You can install the free version of a specific theme or purchase the Full version. There are even several websites that provide templates for WordPress websites. So, you have a huge range at your disposal with great designs.

In addition, you will need to install some plugins, which will be important for the website to function and also to increase productivity and security. Some plugins that we consider important are: Yoast SEO (for checking the website's SEO), Limit Login Attempts (to prevent attacks on WordPress) and Wordfence Security (for security). Don't forget to also install plugins related to cookies, following the LGPD (Data Protection Law) guidelines.

Planning and producing content

With everything up and running, you must plan and produce your content. Don't forget the purpose of your blog. For content planning to work, you must know exactly who your ideal customer is: your persona.

Content is the most important thing. Keep in mind that you must also put together an SEO strategy using keywords that can attract the audience you need.

SEO Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential to increase the visibility of your WordPress blog. Use SEO plugins like Yoast SEO to help you optimize your posts by including your main keywords in a natural and relevant way. Remember to create catchy titles, compelling meta descriptions, and user-friendly URL structures.

Also, remember to use security plugins, such as WordFence and Sucuri, to ensure the integrity of your website. In addition, it is important to always keep your theme and plugins updated.

Now just publish your content and analyze the results to understand how to improve every day. The important thing is practice. Writing for blogs is an art that must be trained daily. Research a lot and study as much as possible what your persona needs. This way, your blog will take off and bring incredible results for your digital marketing!

Want help with your blog? Speak to a Vero Contents expert!

Article originally published on 10/03/2021 and revised on that date.