So you've finally decided to dive into the blogging world and get your own piece of online real estate. You have two options. You can have someone set up your blog for you or you can do it yourself. If having a professional do it for you is out of your budget or just impractical right now then doing it yourself is really the best option. The good news is it's really easy to setup your own blog.

Follow these three simple steps and you'll have your very own wordpress self-hosted blog in a matter of minutes!

Step 1: Purchase your domain 

You'll want to chose a domain name that is unique and that is personal. I suggest using a website name like www.YourName.com or www.YourNameOnline.com. Make sure your domain is a .com site or at the very least a .net domain. Do not use .biz or .info or .org for your personal blog. You can purchase your very own domain name through different web companies. I suggest going with GoDaddy. Their customer support team is incredible and their website is really simple to use PLUS Danica Patrick is their spokesperson ;). Click here to purchase your domain name

Just type in the particular name you chose for your website, click search, and if it's available follow the steps to setting up a godaddy account and purchasing the domain. 

Step 2: Set up Your Hosting

Now that you have your domain name you'll want to set up a hosting account where you will store your website. You absolutly must have a hosting account. I personally recommend Hostgator as your hosting serve. They have incredible products and services, and their customer service department is absolutely stellar PLUS they're really affordable. Click here to set up your hosting account

Start out with their "hatchling plan". It's $3.95 a month and will definitely be all you need to help you get your blog up and running.

Once you've set up your hosting account you'll want to move your domain name (yourname.com) onto your hosting account. 

Log into your godaddy account. Navigate over to domain management. Click on your domain name. On the menu bar hover your mouse over the item titled "Nameservers". A drop down will apear. Click on Set Nameservers. Choose the option "I have specific nameservers for my domains"

Then type in the nameserver values. 

For nameserver 1: ns311.hostgator.com

For nameserver 2: ns312.hostgator.com

Click "OK" to save your changes. Now its time to finish transferring your domain over to your hostgator account.

To do this login to your hostgator control panel (c-panel). Your login information should have been emailed to you when you set up your hosting account. Scroll down until you see the section titled "domains". Click on "addon domains"

Now all you need to do is type in your domain name (i.e. yourname.com) and set up your log in and password.

Click "Add Domain" and the system will automatically transfer your domain over to your hosting account.

Step 3: Install Wordpress

You're almost there! Now you'll want to install WordPress software into your website. Wordpress is by far the best and one of the simplest blogging platforms you can use. It is also very effective in the search engines, making it easier for people to find your blog and helping you drive even more traffic (and of course, make more monaaaaayyyyyy) 

To install wordpress go back to the home page of you hostgator control panel (c-panel)

Scroll down the page until you find the section titled "Software/Services". Click on the icon called "Fantastico De Luxe". 

  Under the navigation menu click on "WordPress". Then select "New Installation".

Choose your domain name (i.e. yourname.com) and set up your user name and password and click "Install Wordpress"

And you're done!

Dream-then find a way,