Trying to start a free blog...Help please!

[kbalch]

Hi jere,

Congrats on taking the first step into blogging and thanks for posting this - I'm sure that lots of guys have the same questions.

Writing on a topic about which you're passionate can be rewarding in a variety of ways. Beyond merely earning money (and those earnings are likely to be extremely minimal for awhile), you may find that creating a community and connecting with its members is an unexpectedly uplifting experience.

A free WordPress (WP) blog (not "self-hosted", which is not free) is an excellent place to start. It's free, you don't have to buy a domain, arrange for a hosting package, or do much (if anything) in the way of web programming. Once you spend a little time configuring your first WP site, you'll see why so many others have done the same - it's readily approachable and a few hours of work can result in an attractive and highly functional website.

The chief downsides to the free WP blogs are: a limited number of available themes (the site's overall appearance), no plugins allowed (used to extend your site's feature set), and no ads.

That said, it's a great place to get your feet wet and your free WP blog can be easily migrated to a self-hosted (by you - where you own the domain and have arranged for hosting) configuration down the road.

Start by doing some reading and research here:

https://wordpress.org
WPBeginner - Beginner's Guide for WordPress

You're sure to have questions, so please post them in this thread so everyone can benefit from the answers.

Ken