An Easy Guide on How to set up your site using Siteground

Even though I have an entire guide about how to start a travel blog, I felt this truly needed it’s own guide! I want to dive into WHY you should go through a third-party hosting instead of WordPress, how to do it and tips to save you tons of time!

This was the #1 thing I was confused about when starting my travel blog and I ended up spending money on both WordPress AND third party hosting. For some reason, I thought I needed both to run my site which is simply not true.

There’s a chance that this post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you), that goes directly towards little Rosie’s dog treats!

What is a hosting site?

Technically, you can create a site on WordPress that is completely free BUT it will not be seen on the internet until you pay a hosting fee. There are a few options for you to upgrade to hosting which is through WordPress or a shared hosting site (like Siteground, Bluehost, GoDaddy, etc.). Typically, shared hosting sites are around the same price as WordPress would be, but they will result in faster site speed, better tech support and still giving you the ability to build your site on a platform like WordPress.

Hosting fees will range in price depending on the package you buy, but I would recommend buying the basic / starter package that is good for one site (more on this later). If you have not pressed purchase to anything yet, I would HIGHLY recommend researching a shared party hosting site instead of WordPress.

I ended up doing WordPress first and had to migrate my site to a shared hosting, and it was the BIGGEST headache. The reason I had to switch was because as my site grew, my site speed was painfully slow. Switching to Siteground made my site as fast as it was when I first started.

What to look for in a shared hosting site?

Most hosting sites will be around the same price, give or take a few dollars per month. The main things to look for in a good hosting site are:

• Good customer reviews
• Site Speed
• Technical Support – You will need a lot of this when you are first starting out!
• Making sure it partners with WordPress (the place where you will be building your site)
• They offer multiple plans – If you ever want to grow / upgrade your site, this will be important.
• Plenty of resources and tutorials to get you started

Which one do I recommend?

I spent arguably too much time researching what hosting site to use and I decided on SiteGround. The reviews were outstanding, their technical support is always back to me within the day (sometimes within the minute!), they fixed my site speed and were very affordable.

I’ve been with Siteground for about a year now and have not had any issues. When I had to migrate my site from WordPress to Siteground, it was a total nightmare getting my theme transferred, but their tech team was there every step of the way. This is one that I highly recommend and many other big-name bloggers use as well.

Step-by-step guide on how to set up your travel blog through Siteground

Assuming I convinced you to use Siteground, I will give a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to create your travel blog through Siteground. Here we go!

Step 1: Choose your hosting

Start out by going to SiteGround’s website and choosing “WordPress Hosting.” This will allow you to build your site using the user-friendly WordPress! You will have access to their free themes, plug ins and more.

Step 2: Choose your plan

I would recommend getting the startup plan, you can always upgrade later. You will likely only have one site (trust me, you will be plenty busy!) to start, so there is really no need to for the bigger plans.

It is SO cheap to start a site, which makes your risk for started a travel blog so low. You can lock that rate in for as long as 3 years or you can do a trial month, but you will have to pay an additional fee.

Step 3: Setting up your site + creating a domain

After you select your plan, it’s time to create your site. Hopefully you already have a domain name in mind, but if you don’t I give you LOTS of tips on how to pick one on this guide here. If you have something in mind, but don’t know if it’s already taken, use this site to check! It will tell you if the name is available and if it’s not, it will give you similar names that are.

Most of the next page will auto-fill for you, but you will need to fill out the name of your travel blog in the second section.

Step 4: Pick your contract length and pay

Like I mentioned above, you can lock in that rate for as long as 3 years or you can do a trial month. If you do a trial, they make you pay a $15 set up fee, which I don’t think is worth it. I would recommend choosing the 12 month plan to start out with.

If you register your domain on this section, you will need to purchase the name. This part is exciting because this is where you become the owner of your travel blog!

YAY! You are now the proud owner of a new travel blog! How do you feel, business owner?

Step 5: Begin building your site

From here, you will either be directed directly to your WordPress admin panel OR you will need to go to My Accounts –> Go to Admin Panel.

Take your time at this step and have fun with it! You will get to pick your theme, write your first post and download plug ins. Since every theme is going to have a drastically different set-up, Youtube and WordPress tutorials will be your best friend during this process! If you want more detailed help on starting a travel blog (creating social media channels, writing your About Me page, etc.), click here!

Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂

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