Want to create a free blog on WordPress? Well, good news for you:

Starting a blog on WordPress is very simple. You are just a few clicks away from starting your own website. In this article, I’ll show you step-by-step how to create a free blog on WordPress.

From naming your blog to choosing a theme, I’ve covered everything in this article. So, let’s get started.

You are going to create your free blog on WordPress. WordPress is a blogging platform where you can easily set up your website and customize it in countless ways.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, you need to know the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
There are essentially two WordPress platforms. These are:

WordPress.com – WordPress dot com is a free WordPress platform to start your own website, whether it’s a blog, e-commerce store or portfolio site.

WordPress.com is limited and does not have many features like WordPress.org. Your website is hosted for free on WordPress.com and you get a subdomain like this:

http://www.nomdevotresite.wordpress.com

You can also get top level domains like .com, .net, .org, etc. if you upgrade to the premium plan.

WordPress.org – With WordPress.org, your website is not self-hosted. This means that you will have to host your website elsewhere and use WordPress.org.

There are many features available in WordPress.org, including plugins and premium themes.

Related article handpicked: 7 best WordPress hosting plans with monthly billing – starting at $0.01!

Since this tutorial is about creating a free blog on WordPress, I will use WordPress.com to set up the blog.

Let’s get started.

How to create a free blog on WordPress

First of all, go to WordPress.com and click on the start button. There are 4 steps to create your own blog.

The first step is to give your site a name and select the type of your site. Apart from that, you will also need to select the purpose you have with this site and your experience in creating a website.

The next step is to give your site an address. You can add your keyword and it will suggest the available domains. If you already have a domain name, you can use that instead.

The third step is to choose a plan. WordPress has three different plans but for now, we will stick with the free plan.

Now, the last step. Here you need to enter your email address and create your WordPress account.

You can either enter your email address to create your account or continue directly with your Google account.

Congratulations! Your free WordPress blog has been created. Now let me show you how to use WordPress and get the most out of it.

WordPress Blog Email Login
You can log into your WordPress blog directly via an email address. After logging into your blog, go to your profile security settings.

Here you can set a password for your blog. You can set your own password or let WordPress generate a strong password for you.

Complete Your WordPress Setup
Once you have created your site, you will have a checklist of items that you need to complete. These are some basic items you need to complete to properly set up your WordPress site.

Download a site icon
The first one on the list downloads a site icon. Every website, even your newly created blog, needs an icon. If you have an icon ready for your blog, you can use it. Or you can get one designed by someone on Fiverr for only $5.

If you already have an icon for your site, click the “Do it!” button.

Once you’re done adding your site’s icon, click the button to return to the checklist.

Create a tagline
Your WordPress blog needs a tagline. A tagline will help you describe your blog in the best way possible.

Choose a theme for your blog
This is where it gets fun! There are hundreds of themes to choose from for your blog. There are both free and premium themes available in WordPress.

To choose a theme for your blog, click on the themes menu in the sidebar. You can sort the themes based on their style, layout, features, etc. You can even type in the type of theme you want.

If you like a theme, just click on it and it will open a popup with a preview of the theme. You can see the live demo of the theme and if you want to use the theme, click the Activate button to use it on your site.

Once activated, you can learn more about the theme or customize your website. Let’s customize the website.

WordPress Theme Customizer
This is where all the magic happens. The WordPress theme customizer allows you to customize every aspect of your theme. Let’s quickly go through each of the options shown in the image below.

1. Site Identity
   Here you can change your site’s title and tagline. And if you want to display a logo instead of the title text, you can upload your website logo.

Also, there are options to change the site icon and customize the footer credits.

2. Colors and backgrounds
   Want to change the color of your blog? You can do it from the colors and backgrounds settings in the theme customizer.

You can choose between 6 color palettes.

3. Fonts
   Choose the fonts for your website. There are many fonts available so you have complete control over the look of your website.
4. Header Image
   You can choose to use a header image for your website. There are already a few images to choose from. You can also upload your own header image.
5. Menus
   You can create menus for your website here. You can add custom posts, pages and links for the menu items.

There are options to select the location of the menu. You can define different menus for the header and footer.

6. Content Options
   In the content options menu, you can select which items to display in your posts. You can ignore these options for now and change them later.
7. Widgets
   You can select which widgets to display in the sidebar and footer.
8. Home Page Settings
   WordPress gives you the ability to choose what you want to display on your homepage. You can either display a static page which usually contains information about the website, or display the latest posts.

So these are the items available in the theme customizer settings. Note that some options in the theme customizer are theme dependent.

This means that some themes may have additional options and some may not.

Adding pages to your blog

Now, let me show you how to add pages in your blog. You can create many types of pages in your blog.

I would recommend creating about and contact pages for your blog. Apart from that, you can create pages for different purposes.

To create a page, click on the Add Page button in the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard.

Give your page a title and add the content you want to add. The WordPress content editor allows you to create an impressive page by adding many different types of elements.

This includes media, checkout button, contact form, etc. You can format the content of your page by adding lists, using bold and italics, and aligning your content.

On the right side, there are options for your page. You can publish your page, add tags, include a featured image, display share buttons, etc.

So that’s it for adding pages to your WordPress blog.

Adding posts to your blog

Just like adding pages, you can easily create blog posts. Click on the Add New Post button in the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard.

The post editor is the same and you can create your post as you like. But for posts, you can choose the publishing format.

There are four different types of publishing formats: Standard, Image, Link, Gallery.

Depending on the type of post you create, you can select the format of your post.

For posts, WordPress offers more publishing options. You can write an excerpt of your post, select a location, choose to enable/disable comments, etc.

This is how you can create a post in your free WordPress blog.

Manage comments on your WordPress blog

You can manage comments on your WordPress blog very easily. WordPress gives you the ability to approve or delete any comment on your blog.

This way, you can control the comments on your blog and prevent unwanted comments. Click on the comments menu in your WordPress dashboard.

Here you can see all the comments on your blog. In the pending section, you can see the comments that are still being moderated. Comments under the pending section will not be displayed on your blog until you approve them.

In the approved section, you can see all the comments you have approved. The spam section contains comments that you have marked as spam.

And if you ever delete a comment, you can find it in the trash.

Viewing your site statistics
Want to know how many people visit your blog? You can check them in the site statistics menu in your dashboard.

Here, you’ll be able to see the traffic generated by your site each day. You can also see daily, weekly and monthly statistics.

This also shows the likes on your content and the number of comments. The statistics dashboard even shows you the traffic for each of your pages and posts received.

Right next to the traffic stats is a button to switch to the news. The news view will show you the publishing activity and views your blog has received all the time. There are more details available under the insights tab.

So this is about creating a free blog on WordPress. I know it’s a lot to take in. That’s why I created a FAQ to help you clear your head and understand the most common questions you might have.

FAQ on how to start a free blog on WordPress

1. Do I have to buy hosting to start a free blog on WordPress?

Ans. No, you don’t. If you start a blog on WordPress.com, you don’t need to buy hosting. Your blog will be self-hosted on WordPress itself for free.

2. Can I work on my blog offline?

Ans. No, you can’t. To create and manage your WordPress blog, you will need an Internet connection.

3. How much do I have to pay to start a free blog on WordPress?

Answer: Absolutely nothing. WordPress.com is free. But there are premium packages you can choose from.

4. Can I choose any theme?

Ans. Yes, you can choose any theme for your blog. Both premium and free themes are available.

5. How many pages/articles can I create on my blog?

Ans. As many as you want.

6. Can I change the logo of my blog?

Ans. Yes. In the theme customizer, you can upload your own logo for your blog. You can even set an icon for your blog.

7. Is my blog public for everyone?

Ans. Yes, by default your blog is public for everyone. But you can change the privacy settings of your blog and make it either hidden or private.

8. Can I change the address of my site after I create my blog?

Ans. Yes, you can change your website address even after you have created and published your blog. You can even use your own domain after creating your blog.

9. Can other people post on my blog?

Ans. No, unless you don’t add them. In WordPress, you can add users to your blog. These users can then contribute to your blog and add their posts.

10. Can I see my blog’s traffic?

Ans. Yes, you can see the traffic of your blog in the statistics page.

Conclusion
So are you ready to start your free WordPress blog? It’s simple and only takes a few steps to set up. You can customize it as you like and add posts.