Creating a Beautiful Blog On A Budget

Hello everybody! How are you all finding BLOGIFUL? Kat and I are LOVING all the feedback we are getting from this blog event and it makes my heart sing with happiness to see so many people enjoying our content.

This is literally me whenever I see likes and comments for this blog event on my notifications.

Don’t forget to check out Kat’s (my amazing co-host) blog to read her wonderful BLOGIFUL posts as well right >>HERE<<.

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Now in today’s BLOGIFUL design post, I’ll be giving you some tips on how to achieve a beautiful blog on a budget, specifically based on how you can access cool benefits for low cost. Unlike what you might think, looking at those pricey plans on WordPress.com, there is a cheaper way to have a super cute site with all the benefits without breaking the bank. And it’s all based on what kind of WordPress blog you have.

What kind? YES. There is another being called WordPress.ORG! WordPress.org is the WordPress that I use and there are a couple of great benefits of using it over WordPress.com.

What’s WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is kind of like the all access version of WordPress.com. You can have plugins, custom themes, free & paid themes, your own blog name alone without the wordpress attached in the URL, no WordPress logo on your blog footer, no ads, the ability to customise your site with CSS (more on that one tomorrow 😉 ) – all FREE.

Why is this the more expensive version of WordPress if it’s a FREE CMS (content management system)?? It’s, unfortunately, because you need to acquire your own hosting & domain – and while you can find free providers of those, you’re better off finding a secure company to host your website.

Quick Explanation of Hosting & Domain
So a Domain Name is basically the rights to use a name for your blog/site in the URL. I bought and currently own the domain for trufflereads.com for example.
Hosting is basically renting storage or space online to hold the data that makes up your blog. Without hosting or a domain name, your site/blog cannot exist.

WordPress.com offers the simplicity and convenience of not having to get your own hosting & domain, which is why they can charge extra for ‘premium’ plans for people to access features they can otherwise get for free if they already had hosting and domain. Now, if you’re a blogger that’s super keen on saving as much as possible and doesn’t really want to bother trying to understand, nevertheless, buy hosting & domain – you can check out Kat’s post that comes out tonight (!) on how to customise a free theme on WordPress.com to stand out from the crowd.

I do reiterate again that hosting & domain isn’t super expensive. For a recent project for university, I bought a domain for $2 that will last 12 months. The company I use (VentraIP) also frequently have sales and it’s a good one to look out for when sifting through your inbox in case there’s a really good deal coming up.

You’re Sold on WordPress.org – What Next?

If WordPress.org is sounding pretty appealing, the next step is to get that hosting & domain then access what’s called the cpanel in your account. The cpanel is like the settings of your online storage, and there you can add the WordPress.org (there’s already a shortcut there for you on the dashboard) and VOILA – you may begin creating your blog.

You can add super cool plugins like Google Fonts (which I personally use) so that you can access a massive free library of fonts that will be consistent on your blog on every browser and device, and even have the ability to add paid plugins like the famous Book Blogger plugin (which I’m too poor to buy but I admire it from afar). You guys can learn more about plugins in another BLOGIFUL post to come as well 🙂

How Can I Save More?

When it comes to a beautiful blog, you don’t need a whole lot. Most of what you’ll need are creative customisations (header, typography, logo, icons, photos/graphics & buttons), everything else is pretty simple: hosting, domain & theme.

Having a good theme is important, I bought my own theme (and might change it in the future because it has BUGS and it ANNOYS ME), but how you can customise it is more important. Some of the themes on WordPress are so hard to customise that it defeats the point of it being a theme when it’s already half coded to be exactly what the example website is advertised to be. So choosing a theme must be done wisely (one that I’ve personally learnt from myself obviously) and customisation is key.

You’ve got hosting, domain, a great theme and now you’ve got a great foundation for customising it to look just as you want it to! As you might’ve read in Kat’s post, you don’t need to pay to use super cute graphics and make them your own. You can also take your own photos instead of using graphics and know how to take and edit them like a pro with my tips right here. You can also combine them – experiment! Have fun with designing your blog because whether we like it or not, it usually takes a little while to find what works best and what you like best. The best and cheapest thing you can bring – that’s very much FREE is your creativity.

What are your thoughts? Don’t forget to leave some questions down below for our blog design Q&A coming up this SUNDAY (11PM AEST), we can’t wait to answer your most anticipated questions.

Until next time,

xx Tracy

Don’t Forget Our Giveaway!

To celebrate this blog design event, we’ve got an awesome giveaway lined up for you!

Want to try your luck at winning a complete blog design makeover from either me or Kat? There will be two lucky winners – one will receive a blog makeover from me, and the other will receive a blog makeover from Kat. That’s two prizes, two winners, and double the chance to win! More rules in the Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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