How To Start a Blog on SiteGround and Make Your First Commission!

Want to learn how to start a blog on SiteGround and then make money blogging? Can it even be done?

Well I’m here to tell you YES! I’ve had this blog for a little over a year now, and during that time I’ve had some amazing opportunities that I would not have had otherwise.

Also I’ve made $2,660.76 in December 2019 in passive income from this blog.

How To start a blog on SiteGround!Published on: Jan 24, 2020

Summary:I highly recommend SiteGround for your blog hosting, it’s a very capable contender at an affordable price.

The Difference Between a Blog and a Website

The term blog and website get used interchangeably all the time. But to be clear a blog IS a website, but a website is not always a blog. Let’s break this down really quick.

A blog, much like this one is a website with a homepage that lists the latest posts in chronological order, with the most recent posts showing up at the top. Or in my case, from left to right in my recent posts.

Should your business be using a blog or a website? I really think it depends on what your business is. But It’s entirely up to you if you decide if you want your business website’s homepage to show your latest blog posts, or if you want your site’s homepage to be static with a welcome message, info about you, services, etc.

My business website is my blog, Brand The Boss. You can see what I mean by going to brandtheboss.com’s homepage and scrolling down to see my latest blog posts. I also have a dedicated blog page in my menu.

The advantage of blogging is that you can create more content, which helps your business get found via search engines by using a process known as SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

What’s Needed to Start Your Own Blog

Let’s use a quick restaurant metaphor to make this really easy to understand. Your visitors are your guests whom you are inviting to a restaurant you own (your website) for a meal and drinks (your content)! I know its cheesy but you get the picture 🙂

A domain name = Your address. This is the address where people can go to find your blog. (Example: This blog’s domain name is brandtheboss.com)
A Content Management System (CMS) = In this case we will use WordPress. This is where you will write and publish posts and manage plugins. (Example: My blog is on the WordPress CMS.)
A WordPress “theme.” = A theme is a design template. This how you create the look and feel of your website or blog. You want it to look nice and welcoming, because you want to keep visitors engaged. (Example: I currently use the Thrive Theme Builder in combination with a Thrive Themes plugin.)
Web Hosting = You’ll need a place on which to build your blog, right? Your host is where all your blog’s files are stored. (Example: My blog’s host is SiteGround.)

Naming Your Blog and Registering a Domain

Coming up with a name for your blog can be surprisingly overwhelming. This is because you’re not just naming your blog, but you’re establishing your brand. This is what people will refer to when they talk about your content. It’s also what people will remember when they see your content in passing. I can’t tell you exactly what to name your blog, but there’ll be more info further in the reading. Until then, here are a couple guidelines to follow.

Short and Sweet – Try to keep the name of your blog as short as possible. Remember, people will refer to your name through word-of-mouth, as well as to type your domain in their address bars. Keep it simple for them.
Brand Yourself – It’s best to name your brand after yourself or something that involves your niche. A couple examples are “Minimalist Traveller” and “Secret MLM Hacks.” When all else fails, just use your name.

Registering Your Domain

SiteGround does allow you to register domains with them, but I highly recommend choosing a dedicated domain registrar like NameCheap instead.

NameCheap is way cheaper and includes privacy protection in the price. It’s best to choose a .com domain since that’s what most people are used to. I don’t recommend using a .net domain or any other oddly named domain if the .com is already taken. This simply means someone else is already using that brand name, and you definitely want yours to be unique.

Find a domain starting at $0.88

Which Web Hosting Is the Best?

To be fair, there are dozens of hosting companies. Popular ones include Blue Host and HostGator (my former hosting company) BUT I highly recommend SiteGround. If you want to know why I switched..feel free to contact me.

How to Start a Blog On SiteGround in 6 Simple Steps!

First things first! Click here to open a new tab in your browser and follow along step-by-step as I show you how to start a WordPress blog on SiteGround:

Step 1: Select a Hosting Plan

siteground prices

Once on SiteGround.com you want to select a hosting plan. If you’re new to starting a blog, go with the most basic and inexpensive plan, StartUp.

But keep this in mind:

SiteGround’s pricing can seem a bit misleading, but trust me they’re not! It’s just that they list their prices in monthly format but do not offer monthly plans. All of their plans are paid Annually which is standard across all hosting companies.

This means the:

StartUp plan actually costs $47.40 for your first year – $3.95 x 12

GrowBig plan costs $71.40 for your first year – $5.95 x 12.

Be sure to keep all of this in mind while you make a decision as the choice you make will depend on your budget.

If you get StartUp, you can only host ONE blog on your SiteGround Account. With GrowBig, you can host UNLIMITED blogs. The wonderful thing is that you can always upgrade your plan later as your website grows. I started with the GrowBig plan and eventually moved up to the GoGeek plan as my blog grew! Now I host multiple websites on a single account.

Step 2: Registering your domain name.

siteground domain

Your domain name is the address to your website. This is how people find you, so you need a domain name to give out to potential customers and followers.

How do you get a domain name? You can get it right inside SiteGround for as low as $15.95 annually.

Alternatively, you can buy a domain name from company A, and purchase hosting from company B, or you can buy both in one place. Personally, I bought my domains through NameCheap as I’ve suggested earlier and I explain why here, but I have my web hosting with SiteGround.

Don’t worry yourself too much on this, it’s just a way to save some additional money. Domains typically cost around $10 annually, but you can get it cheaper with other companies.

If you’re a freelance designer, it makes perfect sense to buy your own name, if it’s not already taken. (Example: yourname.com) Otherwise, try to choose a domain name that makes sense for the type of blog and/or business you’ll have.

Example: I chose brandtheboss.com because I planned to write about all things related to digital marketing and building your brand.

Step 3: Add your billing information.

siteground billing

In this step, enter your desired login information in the Account Information section as well as your billing name and address in the Client Information section. You’re only allowed to pay by card on this page, so enter your credit or debit card information to pay for your hosting order. If you want to use PayPal you’ll need to contact the host’s sales department.

In the “Extra Services” section, I highly recommend getting Domain Privacy. Without it, anyone can find your full name and address just by searching your domain! I make it standard practice to purchase Domain Privacy for every domain I buy.

If you don’t, expect to be spammed to death by marketers!

Step 4: Install WordPress.

siteground wordpress

You can open a support ticket to have SiteGround install WordPress FOR YOU for FREE!

Installing WordPress with SiteGround is pretty simple. Their support team will do it for you for free! After signing up for hosting, log in to your account and select the “Support” tab.

Here are a few tips when setting up WordPress:

Don’t use “admin” as your username.
Don’t use your full name as your username.
- As with most important credentials, mix things up. For example, if your name is John Wick and you were born in 1985, use something along the lines of “jwick85” for your username.
Consider using a password manager, such as LastPass, to generate and store a unique password for your site.

SiteGround may encourage you to purchase SG Site Scanner before completing the setup process. This isn’t necessary because there are many free solutions you can use, such as WordFence.

Step 5: Pick a WordPress theme

wordpress themes

Now that you’ve got a domain name and hosting, now it’s time to design your blog! You want your website to be visually pleasing, and most importantly, you want it to be inviting to your ideal visitor. So once you’re logged in to your WordPress dashboard, locate the “Appearance tab and select Themes”.

My FAVORITE theme at the moment is Astra! It’s a Free theme but also has a premium option to get additional features. They allow you to customize the look and feel of your blog and it’s also very lightweight. Which means it doesn’t take a long time to load when someone visits your site, which is a very important factor for ranking in search engines. Google doesn’t like slow sites!

Step 6: Start producing killer content!

You’ve got to get into your blog and start creating some killer content for your visitors!

To make the most impact, you must CREATE content on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter if you’re publishing everyday or every week, just be consistent about it.

Understand, if you don’t post content, then you will not get visitors and your blog will not grow.

My biggest piece of advice to beginner bloggers is this:

Take your time to do research and write a blog post that solves your reader’s problem. Think of what people are searching for, and write a blog post answering their questions about it. Remember, it’s always quality over quantity.

Is It Possible To Make Money Blogging?

Yes it is, because I make money blogging. Lots of others do as well. As with any business, if you have a solution to people’s problems, they’ll gladly pay you to solve them!

The quickest way to earn money from blogging is through Affiliate Marketing, which you can easily learn here. It’s how I’ve been able to generate $1000s through blogging.

My Final Thoughts

Starting a blog may have seemed like a daunting task, but fortunately, SiteGround simplifies the process. Your next steps should be to configure your blog by installing a few essential plugins and adding content to your site in the form of pages (Home, About, Contact and Blog). Once finished, you can start creating content and monetizing your blog through affiliate marketing.

Did This Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented below and shared on Facebook

Mike Garvey JrFounder of BrandTheBoss.com

Work From Home

Want to learn how to start an online business and work from home like I do?

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Why I Stopped Building Landing Pages the Hard Way

If you've ever sat down to build a landing page and immediately felt overwhelmed by the blank screen staring back at you, you're not alone. For a long time, I was in that same spot. Drag-and-drop builders help, but they still take time. And when you're running a solo online business, time is the one thing you don't have enough of.

That's why I started experimenting with using Claude AI to build my landing pages for me. And what I found changed how I approach the whole thing. In this post, I'm going to walk you through exactly how I do it, step by step, so you can start doing the same.

What You Need Before You Start

You don't need to be a developer for this. You don't need to know HTML. You just need two things: a Claude AI account (the free version works for basic pages) and a Systeme.io account (also free to start).

That's it. If you have both of those, you're ready to go.

Step One: Writing the Right Prompt for Claude

This is where most people get stuck. They open Claude, type something vague, and get back something that doesn't really work. The fix is being specific.

Your prompt needs to include your product name, what the offer is, your brand colors, and what you want the page to do. For example, you might tell Claude: 'Build me a Systeme.io-compatible landing page for a digital product called [Product Name]. The offer is [what it includes and what it costs]. Use a dark navy background with red accent colors. Include a headline, features section, countdown timer, and a buy button.'

That level of detail gives Claude enough to work with. The more specific you are, the better the output.

Step Two: Getting the HTML From Claude

Once you submit your prompt, Claude is going to generate a block of HTML code. This usually takes about one to two minutes. When it's done, you'll see a full page of code on your screen.

Don't panic. You don't need to read it or understand it. All you need to do is hit the copy button and move on to the next step.

Step Three: Importing the Code Into Systeme.io

Now you'll head over to your Systeme.io dashboard. Create a new blank page and give it a name. Once you're inside the page editor, look for the HTML element in the sidebar and drag it onto your blank canvas.

Click on that HTML element, go to 'Edit Code,' delete the placeholder text that's already in there, and paste in the code you copied from Claude. Hit save.

At this point, you'll see your page take shape. It might not look perfect yet, but the structure is there.

Step Four: Fixing the Padding Issues

Here's something that trips up a lot of people. Systeme.io adds default padding to every element on the page. So when you paste in your HTML, you might notice a white bar at the top or gaps where there shouldn't be any.

The fix is simple. Click on the section that's causing the issue. Look for the padding settings, usually labeled in the element options. Drop the top and bottom padding down to zero. Do this at both the section level and the row level. Once you save, those gaps should clear up.

Step Five: Checking the Mobile View

After your desktop version looks clean, always check the mobile view. Claude does a solid job with mobile-friendly code, but the font sizes can sometimes come out a little large on smaller screens.

If that's the case, just go back to Claude and ask it to adjust the font sizes for mobile. Something like: 'Can you update the HTML so the heading text is smaller on mobile screens?' Claude will spit out a revised version of the code. Copy it, paste it back into Systeme.io, and you're done.

The Hybrid Approach: AI Plus Drag-and-Drop

One thing I want to be clear about. When you build a page this way, you can't use Systeme's drag-and-drop tools to edit text or buttons directly. Because the entire page is HTML, those elements don't work the same way. Every change has to go through Claude.

That's why I recommend what I call a hybrid approach. Use Claude to build the sections that are design-heavy, like your hero banner or feature blocks. Then use Systeme's native tools for the simpler pieces that you'll want to tweak often, like your opt-in form or your footer.

This gives you the speed of AI and the flexibility of the builder. Best of both worlds.

How Fast Is This Really?

Here's my honest answer. From opening Claude to having a live page preview in Systeme.io, I've done it in under 10 minutes. The prompting takes about 30 seconds. The code generation takes about two minutes. The import and padding fixes take another five minutes or so.

Compare that to spending 30 to 60 minutes building a page from scratch, and this method isn't even close. It's faster every single time.

Final Thoughts on Using AI to Build Landing Pages

If you've been putting off building your funnel because the tech feels like too much, this is your sign to just start. You don't need design skills. You don't need to hire a developer. You just need to know how to write a decent prompt.

Claude handles the code. Systeme.io hosts the page. You just put the pieces together. That's the whole thing.

I've put together a full video walkthrough that shows this process live from start to finish. If you want to see it in action, you can check that out on my YouTube channel.

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