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Collective #581

Collective Item image

Is reduce() bad?

Jake and Surma discuss the array function reduce() and answer the question if it’s good to use it.

Watch it

Collective Item image

CSS4 is here!

Peter-Paul Koch proposes that web developers start saying “CSS4 is here!”, for the marketing effect.

Read it

Collective #581 was written by Pedro Botelho and published on Codrops.

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Third-Party Components at Their Best

I'm a fan of the componentization of the web. I think it's a very nice way to build a website at just about any scale (except, perhaps, the absolute most basic). There are no shortage of opinions about what makes a good component, but say we scope that to third-party for a moment. That is, components that you just use, rather than components that you build yourself as part of your site's unique setup.

What makes a third-party component good? My favorite attribute of a third-party component is when it takes something hard and makes it easy. Particularly things that recognize and properly handle nuances, or things that you might not even know enough about to get right.

Perhaps you use some component that does pop-up contextual menus for you. It might perform browser edge detection, such as ensuring the menu never appears cut off or off-screen. That's a tricky little bit of programming that you might not get right if you did it yourself — or even forget to do.

I think of the <Link /> component that React Router has or what's used on Gatsby sites. It automatically injects aria-current="page" for you on the links when you're on that page. You can and probably should use that for a styling hook! And you probably would have forgotten to program that if you were handling your own links.

In that same vein, Reach UI Tabs have rigorous accessibility baked into them that you probably wouldn't get right if you hand-rolled them. This React image component does all sorts of stuff that is relatively difficult to pull off with images, like the complex responsive images syntax, lazy loading, placeholders, etc. This is, in a sense, handing you best practices for "free."

Here's a table library that doesn't even touch UI for you, and instead focuses on other needs you're likely to have with tables, which is another fascinating approach.

Anyway! Here's what y'all said when I was asking about this. What makes a third-party component awesome? What do the best of them do? (besides the obvious, like good docs and good accessibility)? Some of these might be at-odds. I'm just listing what people said they like.

  • Plug-and-play. It should "just work" with minimal config.
  • Lots of editable demos
  • Highly configurable
  • "White label" styling. Don't bring too strong of design choices.
  • Styled via regular CSS so you can BYO own styling tools
  • Fast
  • Small
  • Is installable via a package manager
  • Can be manually instantiated
  • Can be given a DOM node where it can go
  • Follows a useful versioning scheme
  • Is manintained, particularly for security
  • Has a public roadmap
  • Is framework-agnostic
  • Doesn't have other dependencies
  • Uses intuitive naming conventions
  • Supports internationalization
  • Has lots of tests

Anything you'd add to that list?

The post Third-Party Components at Their Best appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

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NetNewsWire and Feedbin

NetNewsWire is one of the classic RSS apps, debuting in 2002. I was pretty stoked when it went 5.0 and was open-sourced in August 2019! You can snag it right here. (Sorry, Mac only.)

It's super nice, is fast, and looks great. It has just the right features.

But... I thought, at least at first, that really prefer websites for reading RSS content. I have multiple machines. I have mobile devices. I don't want my RSS to be limited to my laptop, I want an online service.

NetNewsWire on my Mac

Well! I found out that NetNewsWire syncs with my favorite website for RSS: Feedbin. The syncing works flawlessly. Both unread items and all the organization. In fact, the UI for organizing feeds is so nice in NetNewsWire that I managed everything there and was pleasantly surprised how it all synced perfectly with Feedbin.

Feedbin on the web

I know a lot of people miss Google Reader, but I think we've arrived at an even better place after all these years. The Google Reader UI for Google Reader was OK, but the main benefit was that it was the central place where everything synced together. That meant people could experiment by building readers and could use whatever they wanted. Feedbin clearly has APIs that can handle those types of things, so perhaps it could become that central hub service, which would be awesome.

I use Reeder on iOS, which also syncs with Feedbin. The central hub is real.

Reeder on iOS

I know a lot of people love Feedly too, which is also good. I just click with Feedbin better. I particularly like the Feedbin feature where it gives me an email address I can have newsletters sent to, letting me subscribe to a ton of them the same way I do with sites.

The post NetNewsWire and Feedbin appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

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Have Javascript click a button upon onload

I'd like for my page (https://fiftyallstars.com/tour.html) to load, and for the TOUR to start automatically. Right now visitors must click a button with id "starttour"

Here's what I've added so far, but it doesn't do the trick:

<script>
 $(function () {
          window.onload = $('#starttour').click();
      });
</script>

<a class="start-tour" href="#" id="starttour"><span class="two skinny" style="margin:10px 5px; width:290px; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:4px;"><i class="fa fa-photo animated faa-pulse faa-slow"></i> Take a Detailed Tour</span></a>

Thanks for any help whatsoever.

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WordCamp Houston Returning After 10 Years

Decorative image representing WordCamp Houston with a rocket flying in front of the moon with a city in the background.

After a 10-year hiatus, WordCamp Houston will return in 2020. The event will run from May 9-10 at the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake and expects 250-300 attendees. The team behind the Texas-based WordCamp is still in the process of putting the event together and is looking for volunteers, speakers, and sponsors.

With 10 years between events, local organizers had to rebuild their WordPress community. “After WordCamp 2010, the community seemed to have dismantled,” said Christina Hawkins, lead organizer for WordCamp Houston. “I can only guess that because it takes an active community and dedicated volunteers, that if any piece starts to have trouble, it becomes challenging to continue,” she speculated as to why the original event never continued.

Hawkins began the Sugar Land meetup, located south of Houston but a greater part of the Houston area. The overall area has several regular WordPress meetups. “John Peterson and a few others were instrumental in building the community again,” she said. “They were dedicated and made sure we had regular monthly meetings with quality speakers.” Currently, they have 12 wranglers who are working to make sure this year’s WordCamp runs smoothly.

Considering that Houston is the hometown of Matt Mullenweg, the co-creator of WordPress, it would seem like the city would be the ideal location for an annual WordPress event. He is not involved in the event or currently on the speaker roster, which is still open. Hawkins hopes that he can at least attend the event in an unofficial capacity. “I want to iron out any wrinkles first and present a flawless WordCamp for him,” she said. “We expect 2020 to be a WordCamp that knocks it out of the park, but I want to make sure we represent WordPress in the best light and formally invite him as a keynote next year.”

WordCamp Houston is currently accepting speaker applications. The process will remain open until February 29. Those who want to speak should submit a topic and plan for a session that lasts 30-40 minutes.

“Heather Baker is our Speaker Wrangler,” said Hawkins. “Since this is the first one in years, she has been actively training future speakers. We had an in-person workshop last fall and we are preparing a webinar series soon that will be broken up in chunks.”

Thus far, the event organizers have received 29 applications and are expecting more. They will evaluate applications from the first of March and let speakers know if their session is approved on March 15.

The team is still on the hunt for sponsors. “We have the national sponsors, which is very helpful, but we are in the process of getting the word out locally,” said Hawkins. “Most of Houston has never heard of WordCamp so it’s up to us to start knocking on doors. We have a long list of people and companies that we are reaching out to.”

Individuals or businesses who wish to sponsor the event can sign up via the sponsorship page. There are four tiers, ranging from $150 to $3,000, with various perks for each level.

The team chose the Hilton Houston NASA Clear Lake venue for this year’s event. The location was ideal because it had a good room setup, which could allow them to expand in case they had an increase in attendance. They can also add an extra room if they need to add another speaker track.

“It’s also close to NASA which fits our overall theme of ‘Taking Off!'” said Hawkins.

The team initially had some trouble finding a venue that met their needs, budget, and location. “Houston is a vast city, and it is not very easy to manage so many people that live all over,” said Hawkins. “I am sure other cities like Atlanta, LA, and Chicago have the same problem with having a vast city that can extend to an hour drive in each direction.”

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Thinking Through Styling Options for Web Components

Where do you put styles in web components?

I'm assuming that we're using the Shadow DOM here as, to me, that's one of the big draws of a web component: a platform thing that is a uniquely powerful thing the platform can do. So this is about defining styles for a web component in a don't-leak-out way, and less so a way to get global styles to leak in (although that's very interesting as well, which can be done via custom properties which we'll look at later in the article).

If you're building the template inside the JavaScript — which is nice because of template literals and how we can sprinkle our data into the template nicely — you need access to those styles in JavaScript.

const template = `
  <style>${styles}</style>
  <div class="${class}">
    <h2>${title}</h2>
    ${content}
  </div>
`;

Where does that style variable come from? Maybe also a template literal?

const style = `
  :host {
    background: white;
  }
  h2 {
    font: 900 1.5rem/1.1 -system-ui, sans-serif;
  }
`;

I guess that's fine, but it makes for a big messy block of code just dunked somewhere in the class where you're trying to build this web component.

Another way is to <template> the template and make a <style> block part of it. 

<template id="card-template">
  <style>
    :host {
      background: white;
    }
    h2 {
      font: 900 1.5rem/1.1 -system-ui, sans-serif;
    }
  </style>

  <div id="card-hook">
    <h2 id="title-hook"></h2>
    <p id="desc-hook"></p>
  </div>
</template>

I can see the appeal with this because it keeps HTML in HTML. What I don't love about it is that you have to do a bunch of manual shadowRoot.querySelector("#title-hook").innerHTML = myData.title; work in order to flesh out that template. That doesn't feel like a convenient template. I also don't love that you need to just chuck this template somewhere in your HTML. Where? I dunno. Just chuck it in there. Chuck it.

The CSS is moved out of the JavaScript too, but it just moved from one awkward location to another.

If we wanted to keep the CSS in a CSS file, we can sorta do that like this:

<template id="card-template">
  <style>
    @import "/css/components/card.css";
  </style>

  <div id="card-hook">
    <h2 id="title-hook"></h2>
    <p id="desc-hook"></p>
  </div>
</template>

(The use of <link rel="import" type="css" href=""> is deprecated, apparently.)

Now we have @import which is an extra HTTP Request, and notorious for being a performance hit. An article by Steven Lambert says it clocked in at half a second slower. Not ideal. I don't suppose it would be much better to do this instead:

class MyComponent extends HTMLElement {
    
  constructor() {
    super();
    this.attachShadow({ mode: "open" });

    fetch('/css/components/card.css')
      .then(response => response.text())
      .then(data => {
        let node = document.createElement('style');
        node.innerHTML = data;
        document.body.appendChild(node);
      });
  }

  // ...
}

Seems like that would potentially be a Flash-of-Unstyled-Web-Component? I guess I should get off my butt and test it.

Now that I'm digging into this again, it seems like ::part has gotten some steam (explainer). So I can do...

const template = `
  <div part="card">
    <h2>${title}</h2>
    ${content}
  </div>
`;

...then write styles in a global stylesheet that only apply inside that Shadow DOM, like:

my-card::part(card) {
  background: black;
  color: white;
}

...which has a smidge of browser support, but maybe not enough?

These "part" selectors can only touch the exact element it's connected to. You'd have to do all your styling by applying a part name to every single DOM node and then styling each entirely on its own. That's no fun, particularly because the appeal of the Shadow DOM is this isolated styling environment in which we're supposed to be able to write looser CSS selectors and not be worried our h2 { } style is going to leak all over the place.

Looks like if native CSS modules becomes a thing, that will be the most helpful thing that could happen.

import styles from './styles.css';

class MyElement extends HTMLElement {
  constructor() {
    this.attachShadow({mode: open});
    this.shadowRoot.adoptedStyleSheets = [styles];
  }
}

I'm not sure, however, if this is any sort of performance boost. Seems like it would be a wash between this and @import. I have to say I prefer the clarity and syntax with native CSS modules. It's nice to be writing JavaScript when working with JavaScript.

Constructable Stylesheets also look helpful for sharing a stylesheet across multiple components. But the CSS modules approach looks like it could also do that since the stylesheet has already become a variable at that point.

The post Thinking Through Styling Options for Web Components appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

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The Design Squiggle

I think we all have an intuitive understanding that, at the beginning of projects that require our creativity (be it design or code), things feel uncertain and messy. Then, as we go, things tend to straighten out. There is still some wiggling and setbacks, but by the end, we find a single solution and ship it.

Apparently this feeling has a logo: The Design Squiggle

The Process of Design Squiggle by Damien Newman, thedesignsquiggle.com

It comes from Damien Newman who says that a client gave him 30 seconds to sell them on the value of design, and this did the trick.

I find it a little funny to take this little concept and give it such a grandiose presentation. A dedicated website! A story with a boatload of name dropping! Very specific attribution instructions! But hey, I don't have any famous doodles, and I gotta admit, this does a great job of expressing a complex thing quite quickly.

Reminds me of a boss a buddy of mine had who claims to have invented the Curiously Strong motto for Altoids, and didn't mind telling people about it.

Direct Link to Article — Permalink

The post The Design Squiggle appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

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GoDaddy Goes All-In With New Logo Design And Identity

Ah, GoDaddy.

The father of loads of website domains and the place of website hosting.

GoDaddy has been around for a long, long time. For 23 years to be exact.

And it was about time they got a little facelift.

GoDaddy Goes All-In With New Logo Design And Identity

go-daddy-logo-before-and-after

GoDaddy was established back in 1997 and is a website registrar and web hosting company.

The company hosts over 19 million users, and if that’s not impressive enough, let me hit you with this statistic.

78 Million website domains have been registered through them.

So, if that doesn’t prove credibility, then I don’t know what will.

I personally use GoDaddy and have been using it for many years now.

Just a few months back when I was using GoDaddy, I remember thinking, “Man, this website and logo needs some help.”

old go daddy logo and website

(before)

And I’m happy to announce that I checked back in recently and was shocked but what I saw!

I did a double-take and thought I might be on the wrong website.

So I double-checked the domain and to my delight, it was the right website domain that I had typed in. (All those years of typing classes in 2nd grade paid off)

Their site looks so good, so modern, and so sleek now. I love it.

(after)

Here’s what GoDaddy had to say about it all.

“We thoughtfully considered every detail of our brand design system and centered it around our Design Ethos.

Our design originates from a tasteful, considered aesthetic, with every creative piece distilled down to its essential form.

The GO is a clear statement of advocacy for entrepreneurs everywhere – a symbol of empowerment that encourages them to stand on their own two feet.

godaddy new logo

Always bright and dynamic, our brand colors speak to the creativity of our customers.

Our wide palette connects with people across the globe and promotes inclusivity for all cultures. We use color to bring joy to our brand.

new go daddy website design

Our bold, serif headline font is elegant and expressive projecting a fresh, modern voice.

It presents a hint of flair for professionalism, giving the brand a distinguished feel.

We use it to establish strong moments of brand for customers.”

I personally love all of the changes that GoDaddy underwent.

The colors, the new and understandable typeface they’re using, the new logo that’s got the word “Go” in it and it’s shaped like a heart.

I really think they took a huge step in the right direction when it comes to approachability.

When you change everything about your website and logo and design, well… that can be truly nerve-wracking.

Kudos to them for taking that huge leap of faith, because I really think it worked out in their favor.

No more weird animation dude sticking out of the side of the logo. Just a really cool, well-thought-out modern logo and great colors.

I personally like all of the changes made, although I know that’s an unpopular opinion.

What do you guys think?

 

Let us know in the comment section below what you think of GoDaddy’s new identity and design!

Until next time,

Stay creative, folks!

 

 

 

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How to Start a WordPress Blog the RIGHT WAY in 7 Easy Steps (2020)

Do you want to start a WordPress blog the right way? We know that starting a blog can be a terrifying thought specially when you are not geeky. Guess what – you are not alone. Having helped over 370,000+ users create a blog, we have decided to create the most comprehensive guide on how to start a WordPress blog without any technical knowledge.

Start a WordPress blog

The process is easy to follow whether you are 20 years old or 60 years old. However if you need help, our expert team will help you setup your blog for free. → Click Here to Get Your Free WordPress Blog Setup! ←

What do you need to start a WordPress blog?

There are three things you need to create a WordPress blog:

  1. A domain name idea (this will be the name of your blog i.e wpbeginner.com)
  2. A web hosting account (this is where your website live on the internet)
  3. Your undivided attention for 30 minutes.

Yes, you read it right. You can start a blog from scratch in less than 30 minutes, and we will walk you through the whole process, step by step.

In this tutorial, we will cover:

  • How to Register a Domain Name for Free
  • How to Choose the Best Web Hosting
  • How to Install and Setup WordPress Blog
  • How to Change Your Blog Design Template
  • How to Write Your First Blog Post
  • How to Customize WordPress Blog with Plugins
  • How to Add a Contact Form
  • How to Setup Google Analytics Tracking
  • How to Optimize Your Website for SEO
  • How to Make Money From Your Blog
  • Resources to Learn and Master WordPress

Ready? Let’s get started.

Video Tutorial

If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.

Step 1. Setup

The biggest mistake beginners make when building a blog is choosing the wrong blogging platform. Thankfully you’re here, so you won’t be making that mistake.

For 95% of users, it makes more sense to use WordPress.org also known as self-hosted WordPress. Why?

Because it is free to use, you can install plugins, customize your blog design, and most importantly make money from your blog without any restrictions (see the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org).

WordPress is also the number one website platform used by all successful blogs. To put in perspective, 34% of all websites on the internet use WordPress!

Now you might be wondering why is WordPress free? What’s the catch?

There’s no catch. It’s free because you have to do the setup and host it yourself.

In other words, you need a domain name and web hosting.

A domain name is what people type to get to your website. It’s your website’s address on the internet. Think google.com or wpbeginner.com

Web hosting is where your website files live. It’s your website’s house on the internet. Every website needs web hosting.

A domain name typically costs around $14.99 / year, and web hosting normally costs $7.99 / month.

That’s a lot of money for beginners who are just starting out.

Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and over 60% off on web hosting.

→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←

Bluehost is one of the oldest web hosting companies on the internet. They are also the largest brand name when it comes to WordPress hosting because they host millions of websites including many of our own.

On top of all this, Bluehost has been working with WordPress since 2005, and they are committed to giving back. That’s why they have promised us that if you cannot get your blog online within 30 minutes by following this tutorial, then our expert team will complete the process for you without any cost. They will compensate us, so you don’t have to. Contact us for free blog setup help.

NOTE: At WPBeginner we believe in transparency. If you sign up with Bluehost using our referral link, we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you (in fact, you will save money and get a free domain). We would get this commission for recommending just about any WordPress hosting company, but we only recommend products that we use personally use and believe will add value to our readers.

Let’s go ahead and purchase your domain + hosting.

Open up Bluehost in a new window and follow along.

First thing you need to do is click on the green Get Started Now button to get started.

Get started with Bluehost

On the next screen, select the plan that you need (basic and plus are the most popular).

After that, you will be asked to enter the domain name for your website.

Select your domain name

Lastly, you will need to add your account information and finalize the package info to complete the process. We recommend going with the 36-month plan because that’s the best value.

On this screen, you will see optional extras that you can purchase. It’s entirely up to you whether or not you purchase these, but we generally don’t recommend purchasing them right away. You can always add them later on, if you decide that you need them.

Hosting checkout for starting a blog

Once completed, you will receive an email with details on how to login to your web hosting control panel (cPanel). This is where you manage everything from support, emails, among other things. But most importantly, this is where you install WordPress.

Step 2. Install WordPress

When you signup with the new version of Bluehost using our link, they will automatically install WordPress for you. This new version was recently launched to make it easier for non-techy users to create their blog.

What this means is you simply need to login to your Bluehost account, and then click the Login to WordPress button to get started.

Log in to your WordPress blog from Bluehost dashboard

You can also login to WordPress by simply going to yoursite.com/wp-admin/ directly from your browser.

If you are using a different WordPress blog hosting service like SiteGround, HostGator, WP Engine, etc, then you can see our comprehensive guide on how to install WordPress for step by step instructions for those providers.

Once WordPress is setup, you’re ready to customize your blog’s appearance to make it your own and start blogging.

Step 3. Selecting Your WordPress Theme

The visual appearance of your WordPress blog is controlled by themes. When you first visit your blog, it will look something like this:

Default WordPress theme

This is not very appealing to most people.

Customizing the look and feel of your blog is by far one of the most exciting and rewarding part in the journey of creating your WordPress blog.

There are thousands of pre-made WordPress themes that you can install on your site. Some of them are free themes, while others are paid.

You can change your theme by going to your WordPress dashboard and clicking on Appearance » Themes.

Add new WordPress theme

Go ahead and click on the Add New button.

On the next screen, you will able to search from 7,400+ free WordPress themes that are available in the official WordPress.org themes directory. You can sort by popular, latest, featured, as well as other feature filters (i.e industry, layout, etc).

Select a theme

You can take your mouse over to a theme, and you will see a Preview button. Clicking on it will open the theme preview where you can see how the design would look on your website.

Preview theme

The preview of your theme may not look exactly as shown in the screenshot, which is normal as you will get to customize and set it up later. What you need to look for is design, colors, typography, and other elements.

The best tip to select the perfect WordPress theme is to strive for simplicity in design. It helps you keep things clean and clear while offering a good experience to your users.

When you have found the theme that you like, simply bring your mouse on it, and it will show the Install button. Click on it and wait for the theme to be installed. After that, the install button will be replaced with an Activate button. You need to click on it to Activate the theme.

Install and activate the WordPress theme

Once you have installed your theme, you can customize it by clicking on the Customize link under the Appearance menu.

If you need help selecting a theme, then please refer to our guide on 9 things you should consider when selecting a perfect WordPress theme.

Once you have selected your WordPress theme, you are now ready to create your first blog post.

Step 4. Creating Your First Blog Post

To write a blog post, click on the Posts » Add New menu in your WordPress dashboard.

You will see an editor area where you can write your first blog post.

Writing a blog post in WordPress

WordPress uses a block-based editor where each element is a block. This allows you to create beautiful content layouts for your blog posts.

To familiarize yourself with the editor, see our WordPress block editor tutorial.

Once you’re done writing, go ahead and click on the Publish button on the top-right corner of the screen to make your blog post publicly available.

Publish blog post

On the posts screen, you will notice several other sections such as Categories and Tags. You can use these to organize your blog posts into sections. We have a great writeup on the difference between categories vs tags, which we highly recommend that you read.

To utilize all the features on the posts screen, you should read our article on how to add a new post in WordPress (video included).

Often beginners are confused between posts and pages menu in the WordPress dashboard. That’s why we have also written a complete guide on the difference between posts vs pages in WordPress.

Step 5. Plugins & Customizations

Once you have written your first sample blog post, you probably want to get started with adding other usual elements on your website such as contact forms, galleries, sliders, newsletter subscription form, etc.

To add all these additional features, you need to use plugins.

WordPress plugins are apps that allow you to add new features to your website (without writing any code).

There are over 55,000 WordPress plugins available in the free WordPress plugin directory alone. This means no matter what you want to accomplish, there is a plugin for it.

We have a step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to use plugins to add some essential features to your WordPress blog.

How to Create a Contact Form in WordPress

Every website needs a contact form. It allows your users to email you directly. Since WordPress doesn’t come with a built-in contact form, you will need a WordPress form builder plugin to add a contact form on your site.

We recommend using the WPForms Lite plugin. It is a free version of the popular WPForms plugin, which is #1 in our list of best contact form plugins for WordPress.

Over 3 million websites use WPForms!

You can install the plugin by going to Plugins » Add New page and typing WPForms in the search box. Next, you need to click “Install” and then “Activate”. Upon activation, you need to head over to WPForms » Add New page to create your first form.

Adding a new contact form in WordPress

This will open the WPForms builder interface.

First, you need to enter a name for your contact form and then click on ‘Simple Contact Form’ template.

Simple contact form

WPForms will now create a simple contact form for you with all the required fields. You can click on any field to change it, or add a new field from the left column.

Editing your contact form

Once you are done editing the form, click on the save button at the top right corner and then exit the form builder.

You can now create a new page in WordPress by going to Pages » Add New and call it ‘Contact’. On the edit screen, you need to enter the WPForms block into the editor.

Add WPForms block to the editor

After that, select the form you created earlier from the drop down menu and WPForms will load a live preview of the form in the editor.

Select your contact form

You can now save and publish the page and visit it in your browser to see your contact form in action.

If you need more detailed instructions, then see our step by step guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

How to Setup Google Analytics Tracking

Google Analytics helps you see how many people are visiting your blog, where they are coming from, and what are they doing on your website?

It is best to install Google Analytics when starting your blog, so you can see how much your blog has grown over time.

First, you need to visit Google Analytics website and sign in using your Gmail account.

Once you are logged in, you can go ahead and sign up for a free Google Analytics account.

Google Analytics sign up

You will be asked to provide your information and website URL. After that, you will be presented with your Google Analytics tracking code.

You can stop here because we will be using a plugin to automatically fetch and add this code to your blog (along with setting up proper WordPress tracking).

Switch to your WordPress admin area to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. It is the free version of the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, and it is the easiest way to add Google Analytics on your site (trusted by over 2 million websites).

Upon activation, you need to visit Insights » Settings page to configure the plugin settings.

Connect Google Analytics using MonsterInsights

On the settings page, click on the ‘Connect MonsterInsights’ button to connect Google Analytics to your WordPress site.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. Once done, you will be able to see your website analytics report straight from your WordPress dashboard under the MonsterInsights tab.

Website stats reports in MonsterInsights

For detailed instructions, see our article on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

How to Optimize Your WordPress Blog for SEO

Most beginners don’t optimize for SEO when creating a blog. SEO or search engine optimization helps users find your blog in search engines. If you want more traffic, then it’s crucial that you optimize your blog for SEO from the beginning.

To get started, first you need to install and activate the Yoast SEO plugin. It is the complete WordPress SEO plugin that will help you optimize your blog.

Upon activation, you will see a new menu item labeled ‘SEO’. Clicking on it will take you to the plugins settings page.

Yoast SEO settings

The plugin comes with a quick configuration wizard to help you walk through the set up. You can also follow the instructions in our Yoast SEO guide for manual set up.

We also recommend you to follow our complete step by step WordPress SEO guide to set up your blog’s SEO.

More WordPress Plugins and Customizations

There are a ton of others WordPress plugins that you can install. Often beginners find it a bit overwhelming to search for the plugins they need.

At WPBeginner, we often feature the best WordPress plugins to help you add the functionality that you need.

Here is our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins that you should check out.

If you are curious about the plugins and tools we use on our site, then check out WPBeginner’s Blueprint. It has all the plugins and tools that we use on the WPBeginner blog.

Need more recommendations? See our expert-pick of the must have WordPress plugins and tools for all websites (hand-picked by our founder, Syed Balkhi).

Step 6. Making Money From Your Blog

Now that you’ve created your blog and customized it to your liking, you are probably wondering how can I actually make money from my blog?

There are a lot of different ways to successfully monetize your blog. However there is no such thing as a get rich quick scheme.

Don’t be fooled by the pictures of expensive cars and mansions because those are all fake.

Unlike other “make money online” articles, we have created the most comprehensive guide on how to make money from your blog using WordPress.

Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress

That’s a 4000+ word guide that everyone who want to make money with their blog needs to read. We have shared our 15+ years of online wisdom in that ultimate guide.

As long as you’re willing to put in the hard work and effort, you’ll reap the reward. Remember, there are no shortcuts.

Here are some of the best ways to make money from your blog.

1. Google AdSense

Google AdSense

Many bloggers make money by showing ads on their blog. If you make a blog with monetization in mind, then Google AdSense is the best way to do this.

It is the largest advertising platform for bloggers and publishers. Acting as a middleman between you and the advertiser, Google allow advertisers to bid for keywords matching your content. This allows you to get the best rates possible for the ads.

For more details, see our article on how to properly add Google AdSense to your WordPress blog.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the second most commonly used monetization strategy among bloggers. Basically, you recommend your favorite products / services to your readers, and when they make a purchase you get a referral commission.

The key in affiliate marketing is to recommend high-quality products and services that you already use and trust. There are plenty of affiliate marketing plugins and tools for WordPress that can help you make more money when promoting affiliate products.

We also have a complete step by step affiliate marketing guide for beginners, that will help you get started.

3. Online Store

Add an online store to your WordPress blog

Many bloggers make money by selling things directly from their blog. This could be physical products, digital downloads like ebooks, artwork, music, and more. Some bloggers even offer consulting services.

We recommend using WooCommerce because it is the best eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It is also the most commonly used eCommerce platform in the world.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to easily create an online store using WordPress.

On top of the 3 methods above, you can do so much more with your WordPress blog. You can make WordPress blogs specifically for reviews, fashion blogging, food blogging with recipes, and more. Each of these blog types brings you more unique opportunities to make money.

You can also turn your blog into a membership site to offer premium content and courses.

Step 7. Mastering WordPress

Business Learning and Support

WPBeginner is the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners.

At WPBeginner, our main goal is to provide cutting-edge helpful WordPress tutorials that are easy to understand for small businesses, bloggers, and non-techy WordPress website owners (see more about us).

To expand your WordPress knowledge, you should check out:

  • WPBeginner Dictionary – The best place for beginners to start and familiarize themselves with the WordPress lingo
  • WPBeginner Videos – New to WordPress? Watch these 23 videos to master WordPress.
  • WPBeginner Blog – The central place for all our WordPress tutorials.

For more discussions, you may want to join our free Facebook group WPBeginner Engage. With more than 24,000 members, the group is focused on helping beginners and non-techy users do more with WordPress.

You can also subscribe to WPBeginner’s YouTube Channel where we regularly share video tutorials to help you learn WordPress.

Lastly, you can use Google to type your question and add WPBeginner in front of it. Our users find this trick to be always helpful because it makes it easy for you to find the RIGHT answer for your WordPress questions.

In case you don’t find an answer to your question, don’t worry. Simply use our contact form to send us a message. Our always helpful, full time WPBeginner support team, will be happy to assist. We love helping users get started with WordPress.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Having helped thousands of people start a blog, we have answered quite a lot of questions. Below are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about creating a blog.

Can I create a blog without WordPress?

Yes, there are several other blogging platforms available. We have compared them all, and WordPress is by far the best solution in the market to make a blog with complete ownership and freedom.

Can I build a blog without hosting?

No, that’s not possible. Web hosting is where your website files are stored. All websites need web hosting.

How much does it cost to start a blog?

The cost depends on the add-ons that you buy. We have a complete guide on how much does a WordPress website cost as well as tips on how to save money.

Can I create a blog without my parents knowing about it?

Yes. You can make your WordPress blog private and hide it from the internet. Here is a step by step guide on how to make your WordPress blog completely private.

Can I start a WordPress blog and make money with Google Adsense?

Yes, you can use your WordPress blog to earn money from Google AdSense. We have a step by step guide on how to add Google AdSense in WordPress.

How can I create a blog and remain anonymous?

If you want to have a public-facing blog but want to remain anonymous, then you need to make sure that your domain has WHOIS privacy turned on. Often people use a pseudonym / nickname to write under. You should also create a unique email just for your blog. It goes without saying, don’t post your pictures or anything on the blog. For more detailed instructions, see our article on how to blog anonymously using WordPress.

How do I add a podcast to my WordPress blog?

WordPress makes it super easy to start a blog and add a podcast to it. We have a step by step guide on how to start a podcast with WordPress.

How do I come up with blogging ideas to write about?

Here’s an excellent guide that has 103 blog post ideas that you can write about today. Here’s another guide on 73 types of blog posts that are proven to work.

You can also follow this tutorial from Blogtyrant on how to write a good blog post (12 expert tips) which will help you write great content.

Can I build a blog in my own language?

Yes, you can use WordPress in other languages. You can select your language during installation or from Settings page in WordPress admin area. WordPress is fully translated in more than 56 languages and partially translated into dozens of other languages. Many top WordPress themes and plugins are also available in multiple languages. You can also translate a theme or a plugin that you want to use on your website.

How do I create a blog in multiple languages?

Want to start a blog in Hindi, Spanish, or multiple languages? Here’s a step by step guide on how to create a multilingual website in WordPress.

Can I design a blog with no coding skills?

Absolutely. You don’t need any programming, coding, or design skills to create a professional-looking WordPress blog.

WordPress themes are easy to customize and you can just point and click to set up your theme. There are WordPress themes like Astra which comes with ready-made starter websites that you can import with one-click.

There are other powerful themes like Divi which give you complete drag & drop design options for customizing your blog.

Then there are powerful drag and drop page builders like Beaver Builder and Divi builder that works with any WordPress theme. You can use it to just drag and drop items and design your own pages.

You can even create your own custom theme without writing any code.

Can I add a photography gallery to my blog?

Yes, WordPress comes with a built-in gallery feature that makes it easy for you to add photo galleries in your blog posts.

Professional photographers can also use premium WordPress gallery plugins to better showcase their photos and even sell photos to make money from their photography business.

How can I create a professional email address for my blog?

If you’re serious about your blog, then we highly recommend that you create a professional business email address (it’s free).

All successful bloggers use professional email address to stand out and make better partnership deals to grow their blog.

We hope that you found our tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog to be helpful. You may also want to check out our article on 19 actionable tips to drive traffic to your new WordPress site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Start a WordPress Blog the RIGHT WAY in 7 Easy Steps (2020) appeared first on WPBeginner.

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The post How to Improve Security on WordPress Websites for Optimal Performance appeared first on WPArena.