Blogging 101 – The Fox & She

Stop Waiting & Start Doing

blair — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 11:00:00 +0000

Last week was all about goals, resolutions and dreams for 2016 and while I love that, it’s easy to get bogged down in all the details. The easiest way to tackle your goals and resolutions is simply to take them one step at a time.

If starting that blog you’ve been thinking about for months was on your list, I’m here to tell you that it’s time. Stop waiting and start doing. I find that for a lot of people this toughest step is picking a domain and getting their blog set up. Ironically, after you have a name picked, setting it up is probably the easiest! Coming up with fresh content every week is a lot harder (but also the fun part!).

If you’re still holding back, I can understand. Starting a blog is a commitment, but it’s also brought so many amazing things into my life:

THE VERY BEST FRIENDS
Probably one of the best benefits of blogging is making new friends! I work from home, so making friends at work wasn’t an option when I moved to Chicago, but thankfully, blogging has introduced me to some of the most wonderful friends I could have ever asked for and friends I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise because we’re in different professions, from different places and we’re not the same age.

I’ve also met and connected with people from different cities and states that I most definitely would have never known if it wasn’t for blogging.
SENSE OF COMMUNITY
Again, working from home alone doesn’t provide much community. Chicago has a really great blogging community that’s always organizing fun events, opportunities and happy hours! This is actually where I originally met all my blogging friends. If you’re in Chicago and want to get involved with this community, make sure you join Windy City Blogger Collective! Not in the Windy City, google to see what groups are available in your area!
CREATIVE OUTLET
This is the reason so many of us started blogs in the first place and it continues to be a creative outlet over 5 years later. The coolest thing is to be able to see your documented progress and how you’ve changed over the years!

So, what are you waiting for?! It’s hard work, but if you’re passionate about something, it never seems like work! So, seriously — get on it! The rest of this article explains, step by step, how to launch a blog, so you really have no more excuses, just do it!

For this tutorial, I’m showing you how to launch a WordPress blog on Bluehost. There are lots of different hosting companies out there, but I continually recommend Bluehost to all of my clients. Why? Because I trust them and it’s what I use to host (The Fox & She and Leap. The thing that really sold me is their customer service. The ability to live chat with someone has been my favorite feature as I hate waiting on the phone! Their control panel is simple, user-friendly and easy to navigate too.

I’ve worked with hundreds of clients over the years and in my experience, Bluehost has been the most reliable hosting company of them all, so if you’re getting started fresh today, I really couldn’t recommend Bluehost more and highly recommend that’s the host you go with!

So, let’s get started shall we!

STEP ONE: Domain Name & Hosting

You’ve probably already thought about what to call your blog, but if not, take some time to think it through. Go to Bluehost and click that big green button to get started. To check if your domain is available, type it in the left hand box and Bluehost will let you know. By the way, Bluehost gives you a FREE domain name with the purchase of your hosting plan!

After you’ve selected a plan, you’ll follow Bluehost’s instructions. Select your package details and any other special deals you want to include. For me, the only one that’s super important is the domain privacy — it keeps your personal details private. Follow the remaining instructions and soon you’ll have hosting!

STEP TWO: Install WordPress

Hosting is set up, so let’s get WordPress installed! Thankfully, Bluehost makes it insanely easy. Navigate to the hosting tab at the top of the page and then click on “WordPress” under “Website Builders”. Next, you’ll click on “Install a brand new instance” and then select the domain you’d like to install it on and click “Check Domain” (you can leave the “directory” part blank).

Sometimes you may get an error message that says there are files already there. Unless you already have website files there that you want to keep, you can click “Overwrite”.

For the final step, select the drop down for “Advanced Options” — I promise, it’s not advanced! You can name your blog title here (you can always update this later) and choose your WordPress login and password. Check the box about creating a new database and then hit “Install Now”.

You can watch the install process at the top of the page and when it’s ready, a box will show up in the top right corner that says “View Credentials” — click on that and write these down somewhere safe so you can refer back to them to log in to your site. You’ve installed WordPress, congrats! Easy, right?

And that’s it! I’m sorry, were you expecting more instructions? I told you it was easy! Now that you’re all set up and ready to start blogging, let’s make this thing gorgeous.

STEP THREE: Make it Beautiful

Now that you’re all set up, you’ll want to add a beautiful theme to show off your amazing content. There are lots of free themes out there, but I always recommend doing a premium theme – they’re typically designed for specific purposes and can give your blog the advantage it needs when first starting! Click here to get the scoop on quickly installing a design and where to find the very best themes — TAKE ME!

FTP & Why It’s Good to Know How to Access It

blair — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 05:00:00 +0000

When I’m working with a client on a custom blog design, one of the pieces of information that I always ask for is their FTP login credentials and more often than not the response I get is ‘what is that?’ or ‘is that my hosting login?’. You might be asking yourself those same questions right now, so let’s talk.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It’s really just a direct way to upload and download files directly to your database. The main reason I ask for this information is so I have direct access to your database and all of your files, not just the ones I can see on the backend of your WordPress site. You can also upload themes and plugins via FTP. Typically I attempt to use the built in theme and plugin uploader, but every once and a while a host has some security measure that won’t allow a theme or plugin to be uploaded. So if you ever get the message ‘Installation Failed’, don’t worry. There’s a Plan B that will work.

I also like having FTP information because it’s so much easier for me to update individual theme files there than on WordPress. Caching plugins and hosting settings sometimes won’t allow for you to edit your theme files from the WordPress editor or it will appear that they saved, but they actually didn’t change within the database. Again, don’t fret! Uploading those files via FTP will replace the old file in your database so that the changes show up on the front end.

For the most part, FTP is something you’ll rarely have the need for, but it’s one of those things that you should most definitely know about! Sometimes affiliate networks will ask you to upload certain files to your database for tracking purposes and you can do that from here too.

If you don’t have your FTP information on hand, you can contact your host to get it or login to your host’s cPanel and navigate to the FTP area and find your login credentials or create a new FTP user. You can typically access FTP when you’re logged into your host, but I prefer the desktop version Cyberduck when I use FTP.

Once you open your FTP client (ie, Cyberduck), it can be a little confusing if it’s your first time, so I’ll walk you through the backend a bit so you can understand where certain things are!

public_html – on my host, Bluehost, all of my files are within this folder, when I double click to open it, you can see all of the different websites that I host on my account – Bluehost allows for unlimited websites, and clearly, I have a lot.

Navigate to the folder that holds your websites files. If you’re only hosting one website on there, this will be extra easy. The name of the folder might not be the same as your website, don’t worry, that’s normal. Once you open that, you’ll see all of the WordPress core files. These are things you NEVER want to delete, change or edit! You’ll also notice three more folders there. Double click on the folder titled ‘wp_content’. Under here you might start recognizing things a bit more. There’s a folder for themes, plugins, etc. and I’m sure you can guess what’s in there. We’ll go into themes and there you’ll see all of the themes that are uploaded to your site. Open your website’s current theme to see all the theme files. That’s where you can upload new files and replace old files with their updated version. Plugins are built the same way the theme files are.

Even if you don’t end up accessing your site via FTP, it’s good information to have on hand when you’re redesigning or working on some technical issues. Feel free to ask more questions about FTP that I didn’t answer or if there’s anything you’re confused about!

Why Self-Hosting Is So Damn Important

blair — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 08:30:16 +0000

If you’ve signed up for my newsletter, then you might already know just how important I think self-hosting is, but if not, or you’re confused about the whole concept, let’s talk about it again.

First off, not all blogging platforms require you to have hosting, but my question to you is why would you not want to host your own site?! I like to think of my blog(s) and websites as the most major assets of my business since my businesses (Leap, The Fox & She, Wandeleur) are all based online and make their money online. They are the lifeblood of my businesses and losing them could ruin what I’ve built over the past 7 years. It doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense why I wouldn’t want to own these sites completely, does it? In my opinion (and I know top bloggers would agree), the self-hosting route not only gives you the most control and allows you to look the most professional, but it also gives you security in knowing that your site won’t go offline or disappear to never be seen again. Yes, believe it or not, I have heard of this on free platforms.

So what is self-hosting?! Think about a hosting company as a landlord of sorts. You pay ‘rent’ to have a space for your website to live on the internet. It also gives you full ownership unlike Blogger, Tumblr or any free platform.

WordPress actually offers two versions of their platform — the first being the self-hosted version, WordPress.org (FYI, this does not mean your site has to be a .org!) and WordPress.com which is hosted by WordPress and doesn’t cost you anything. If you’re asking yourself, okay, why on earth would I pay when I can get it for free? That’s a good question and the answer is that the free version comes with restrictions. You can’t upload custom themes, you can’t use cool plugins, it’s not nearly as customizable (like, not even close), your url will have wordpress.com after it unless you purchase a separate domain and lastly and probably the biggest fault, you can’t use advertising or affiliate links, aka, you can’t make money. So hopefully those reasons alone will help you make your decision. If you still need more convincing, sign up for the newsletter to hear more perks on self-hosting. The second email in the chain has a lot of in-depth information on it!

If you’re ready to take ownership of your blog or get it started on the right foot, make sure you’re picking good, reputable hosting. Cheap hosting can be just as bad a free platform! I always suggest Bluehost and can easily walk you through setting it up here.

Okay! Ready, set, get to it!!!

How to Start a Travel Blog

blair — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 17:42:59 +0000

Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. I have use the products listed below and only recommend them because I trust these companies. There is no additional cost to you!

You love to travel and you want to share your experiences with the world. So, what are you waiting for? Starting a blog might seem daunting, but I promise, it’s not. All you have to do is get started, so take the next few minutes and let’s get your blog launched and then the real fun begins!

If travel is not your thing, don’t fret! This tutorial works for getting any type of blog launched on WordPress, so read on!

One of the scariest things about starting a blog, is actually getting your site up and running, so today I’m teaching you how to set up WordPress in 5 minutes on Bluehost. The majority of this blog is dedicated to style and lifestyle publishers, this tutorial will work for setting up any type of WordPress blog. It’s the content you add that will set it apart! We have a photography series that’s also helpful to everyone, no matter what kind of blog you have!

For the purpose of this tutorial, I’m showing you how to get set up on Bluehost. There are lots of different hosting companies out there, but continually recommend Bluehost to all of my clients. Why? Because I totally and completely trust it. It’s the hosting company that I use to host all of my websites (The Fox & She, Leap, Wandeleur and yes, this one!). They have incredible customer service, a simple and user-friendly control panel and the most important, I’ve never had any issues with sites going down other than scheduled maintenance (which happens on all hosts from time to time and only takes about 5 minutes). I’ve worked with hundreds of clients over the years and in my experience, Bluehost has been the most reliable hosting company of them all, so if you’re getting started fresh today, I really couldn’t recommend Bluehost more and highly recommend that’s the host you go with!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Think it’s hard to launch a blog? Think again. ” quote=”Launching a blog isn’t hard, you just have to take the first step.”]

STEP ONE: Domain Name & Hosting

STEP TWO: Install WordPress

Sometimes you may get an error message that says there are files already there. Unless you already have website files there that you want to keep, you can click “Overwrite”.

And that’s it! I’m sorry, were you expecting more instructions? I told you it was easy! Now that you’re all set up and ready to start blogging, let’s make this thing gorgeous.

STEP THREE: Make it Beautiful

Launch Your WordPress Blog in 3 Easy Steps

blair — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 10:57:26 +0000

If fashion’s not your thing, don’t fret! This tutorial works for getting any type of blog launched on WordPress, so read on!

STEP ONE: HOSTING PLAN

Chances are you probably already know what you want to call your blog, if not, make sure to figure that out before you get started! Head over to Bluehost and click on the big green button that says ‘Get Started Here’!

You’ll land here and be prompted to select a plan. We recommend the ‘Plus’ plan to start because of that unmetered website space (blogs with lots images can get big fast!). As your site grows, you can easily upgrade to Pro or even other more specialized plans when necessary!

STEP TWO: DOMAIN NAME

After you select your plan, you’ll land here to either use a domain you own or pick a new one. Fun fact: Bluehost gives you a free domain when you purchase hosting, so if you haven’t bought one yet, hold off until this step! If you bought a domain on a different website, that’s okay. You can easily transfer it later on!

Hit next and you’ll be guided through the purchase process. Once that’s all done, we’ll install WordPress!

STEP THREE: INSTALL WORDPRESS

When you’re logged into your hosting panel, you should see this screen. It may look slightly different, but in general it should look the same! You’ll notice various sections under here — find ‘Website’ and then click on the icon that says ‘Install WordPress’.

Once you’re here, Bluehost gives you two options — set up WordPress by yourself or have them do it for you. You could have them do it, but that money is better spent on a pretty design or fancy new lens! The good news is that the DIY option is insanely simple. Plus, you’re a girl boss, so let’s get to it! Hit the big ‘Install’ button under the ‘Do it Yourself’ option.

STEP 4: SELECT DOMAIN

Click on the drop down menu and select which URL you want to install WordPress on and hit ‘Check Domain’ and move onto step 5!

*If you’re not seeing your domain, don’t fret! Sometimes a domain doesn’t get assigned when you first create it.

If this is the case, go back to your cPanel and click on ‘Domains’ on the top tab. Then find your domain in the list. If you only have one, then it should be easy.

To the right side of the domain it will say ‘Add-On, Parked or Unassigned’, click on this link! If you only have one website/domain on your hosting account, you can make it a ‘Parked’ domain. If you have multiple sites that you host on the same account, make it an ‘Add-On’ domain and let Bluehost create a new directory for you. Once that’s done, you can go back to installing WordPress — almost done!

STEP 5: ADVANCED OPTIONS

After checking your domain, a box will pop up and give you the option to select ‘Advanced Options’ — check that box and these options will appear! Fill them in appropriately and agree to the terms and conditions before hitting ‘Install Now’.

STEP 6: WAIT PATIENTLY

Once you hit ‘Install Now’ you’ll be taken to this screen where it shows the progress of your install at the top. It typically takes just a few seconds!

Your site is installed! Click on the ‘View Credentials’ button.

From here you can view your credentials by clicking the ‘View’ button. Make sure to memorize these or write them down and put them somewhere safe as they disappear from the backend after 12 hours.

Well, congrats! You did it! Easy, right? All that’s left is logging in and writing that first post!

BONUS STEP: LOGIN TO YOUR BLOG

I remember being so confused on how to actually log in to my WordPress blog, but it’s actually super easy. Go to your domain and then add the extension /wp-login.php, like this: yourdomainname.com/wp-login.php. Use your login credentials here and you’re in!