How to Create a Free Blog on WordPress? [Guide 2020]

Most people in today’s times of the internet decide to start their blog, but more often than not, they wonder how can they create a blog on the most popular platform that is WordPress. They often wonder whether they should choose WordPress.com or WordPress.org to start their blog. Are you also thinking? Don’t worry. In this article, we have explained a step by step guide on how to create a free blog on WordPress.com.

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We suggest you and all other struggling bloggers choose WordPress.org because it has various attractive features and is advanced. Whereas WordPress.com has few limitations. You must need to know about the limitations of WordPress.com. However, if you want to know how to create a free blog on WordPress.com, then read this complete article and follow the steps.

You may also read and learn how to create a blog on WordPress.org by clicking the below link.

Related: How to Start a Blog on WordPress? [Ultimate Guide 2019]

WordPress is indeed one of the top platforms to create and publish a blog. Most successful bloggers recommend others to use WordPress. But most often, people are confused between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

We have explained the difference between WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org and also try to decide which is better. But to choose any one of the two is difficult because both have their advantages and disadvantages. Here is the listed main difference between the two.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: Which is better?

1. Hosted vs. Self-hosted

First and foremost, you need to know which among WordPress.com or WordPress.org is a self-hosted website. Let me tell you WordPress.org is a self-hosted platform, and you can use your custom domain name on WordPress.org, and perhaps this is the reason WordPress.org is also known as a self-hosted site. But in WordPress.com, you may end up getting a domain name as wordpress.com (such as yoursite.wordpress.com).

2. Paid Service vs. Free Service

You might need to know which among WordPress.com or WordPress.org is free and what is the pricing. Let me tell you WordPress.org is 100% free to use, but you may need to pay for web hosting. We recommend Bluehost because it is one of the best web hosting company as compared with others. There are also a few tools and templates on WordPress.org that are premium, and for them, you may also need to pay. On the other hand, WordPress.com is entirely free, and even you don’t need to pay for web hosting.

3. Limited features vs. Unlimited features

WordPress.com is undoubtedly free, but it has limited features. Whereas WordPress.org provides bloggers with unlimited features. It alone offers more than 3,000 wordpress themes and 54,000 wordpress plugins, which is enough for any blog. If you want to create a mobile-friendly attractive blog for your customers, then you should use WordPress.org. But if you are a hobby blogger and don’t need advanced features, then WordPress.com is also best for you.

4. Upload Plugins Allowed vs. Not-allowed

In WordPress.com, there are no plugins upload allowed while in the case of WordPress.org, you can upload the famous and best wordpress plugins to extend functionality.

5. Upload Themes Allowed vs. Not-allowed

Such is the case with themes. There are no upload themes allowed in WordPress.com. But in the case of WordPress.org, you can upload the best wordpress themes.

6. Subdomain added vs. Fully custom domain

WordPress.com offers free plans only if you use wordpress.com as a subdomain. In WordPress.com, your domain name can be like “yourblogname.wordpress.com,” while WordPress.org provides your own fully custom domain name. You can choose your custom domain name for your blog (such as yourblogname.com).

Here is the step by step guide to creating a free blog on WordPress:

1. Sign up to WordPress.com

In case you want to know how to create a free blog on WordPress, then let me tell you to create a free blog on WordPress.com is an entirely straightforward process. You can create your free blog in just a few minutes (Maximum 20 minutes if following our step by step guide). You need to sign up (https://wordpress.com/start/user) to WordPress.com.

2. Create Your Account

In case you wish to start a free blog on WordPress, first of all, you have to create an account on WordPress.com, which you can do easily in a few minutes. You have to enter a valid email address, username, and password.

The username needs to be equally unique as your email address. And last but the most important, enter a strong password that one can’t easily guess. You need to enter your password each time you log in to your WordPress account. After filling all the three details, click on “Create your account” (as the screenshot below), or you can also continue with Google or Apple account.

3. Create Your Site

Step 1: Firstly, you need to click on “My Sites” (Left-upper corner in below screenshot) and then click on “ADD NEW SITE” (Left-bottom corner in the below screenshot).

Once you click on the “ADD NEW SITE,” you will be redirected to the new page to start building your blog (as the screenshot below). Then click on the “Start Now” button.

Step 2: First of all, you need to choose what kind of website you want to create, such as Blog, Business, Professional, or Online store. In this article, we want to create a blog, so let’s choose the Blog (as the screenshot below).

Step 3: After choosing the website type (In this article, we want Blog), you have to select a topic about your blog (such as Travel, Blogging, Food, Dating, and some others). If your blog is related to travel, then you need to choose “Travel” in the about section. If your blog is about food, fashion, lifestyle, pet, or any other thing, you need to choose or type a topic in the about section. In this article, you need to select the “Blogging” topic (as the screenshot below).

Step 4: When you click on the “Blogging” topic, you can see your blog preview for desktop and mobile both (as the screenshot below). Now, you need to click on the “Continue” button.

Step 5: Now, you have to enter your blog name (as the screenshot below). Always enter a unique name so that more and more people can visit your blog. After that, click on the “Continue” button.

Step 6: Now, you need to enter a domain name for your blog. Selecting a URL address is another essential step that you need to make while creating a blog on WordPress.com. And it is not an easy job to find a unique address in WordPress.com because most of them already taken (as the screenshot below).

You may have to keep looking until you find a cool domain name. It may take time, but the effort you may put on finding a domain name can be worth it. We recommend putting the domain name as same as your blog name. You can also place your name in the domain name, and it is fascinating because it allows you to write on different topics and choose a variety of niche.

WordPress.com is also not the right place in case you wish to buy a domain name. WordPress.com wouldn’t force you to buy a domain name from them to use their blogging software. It’s up to you whether you want to buy a domain name from WordPress.com or somewhere else like Bluehost or any other platform.

Step 7: Now, you need to click on the “Review our plans to get started” option (as the screenshot above) and then choose the “Personal Plan” to up and running your blog.

Once you click on the “Stat with Personal” option, you get a message that your site will be ready shortly (as the screenshot below).

After that, you get a payment screen window. Don’t worry, close the window and log in again in the WordPress.com by entering your email address and password. Now, you can see your blog home screen (as the screenshot below).

4. Setup Your Blog

You can find many things that you need to configure for setting-up your blog.

Step 1: Go to the “Manage” option and click on the “Settings” tab. From here, you can change your Site Icon, Site Title, Site Tagline, and many other things (as the screenshot below). Don’t forget to click on the “Save Settings” icon to save the changes.

Step 2: Go to the “Toos” option and click on the “Plugins” tab. You can install the pre-uploaded plugins by the WordPress.com. Remember that you can only install the plugins from here, you can’t upload a plugin.

Step 3: Go to the “Import” tab, and you can import your content from other popular blogging platforms such as WordPress.org, Blogger, GoDaddy, Medium, Squarespace, Wix, and more.

Step 4: You may also export your content by clicking on the “Export” tab. You may ship your pages, posts, and media of your site (as a backup) to a specific location.

Great, You have configured almost settings.

5. Choose a Theme

WordPress.com offers pre-built themes to save the extra burden for the bloggers. You can choose and install a suitable theme by clicking on the “Install Theme” option (as the screenshot below).

You can change the theme layout, column, and style to make your blog attractive.

6. Create & Publish a Post

To create your new post, follow the necessary steps given below:

Step 1: Go to the “Site” option and click on the “Posts” tab. After that, you need to click on the “Add New Post” option (as the screenshot below).

Step 2: Now, you need to write your post title, content, and can edit the post URL (as the screenshot below).

Step 3: After creating your post, you can add post category, tags,  you need to click on the “Publish” button on the right-upper corner (as the screenshot above).

Congratulations, you have successfully created and set up your blog on WordPress.com.

7. Promote Your Blog

After writing and publishing your free blog on WordPress.com, there comes the part of promoting. You must be wondering how you can improve your blog post by promotion. Let me tell you that it is straightforward because only creating your blog post and waiting for the readers to come to your blog and read on their own is not possible. You can promote your blogs through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Plus, you need to make sure that apart from getting new readers, your old readers should be visiting your blog regularly. And to help you with this, social media marketing can be useful.

8. Make Money from Your Blog

Every blogger wants to make money from their blog because after all, we all have an aim to make money online and blogging is one of the best ways to make money.

Here are the various ways to earn money from a blog:

1. Google Adsense: It is an excellent method of making money by doing almost nothing. Google Adsense provides a unique opportunity for bloggers to place Google Ads through blogs.

2. Affiliate Marketing Programs: Affiliate marketing is another best way to make money online through your blog. Bloggers place the affiliate links of a product or service to their blog and get a good commission. There are many high-paying and best affiliate marketing programs available online. There are various other ways to make money online through your blog, as well.

Related: How to Make Money from Blogging or Blog?

Conclusion: Definitely, WordPress.com has few limitations, but it is free to use. To create a free blog on WordPress.com is simple. You can start publishing your posts quickly, and you don’t either need advanced skills like coding or anything. Moreover, if you are a hobby blogger, you can create your WordPress.com blog as well. So, do let me know whether you are going to create a free blog WordPress.com or want to start a blog on WordPress.org?

Also, let me know if this guide is helpful for you to create a free blog. If you like our step by step guide on how to create a free blog on WordPress.com, please share it to help others.