We are giving you proper guidance for setting up your WordPress blog and for maintaining it. That’s for absolutely free of cost. Last time, one of our users asked for a free WordPress blog setup service! We are glad to provide you that!
If you are a pure beginner or don’t have time enough, we will help you to set your first WordPress blog for absolutely free!
Really Free? What’s The Catch?
You heard us.
We will not charge a single penny for setting up your WordPress blog.
What You Will Get?
We will install and configure these:
WordPress Theme
Design of your blog matters.
At this time, we have got all theme package on StudioPress. So if you like, we will install the Genesis Framework on your website with your favorite child theme.
We will recommend you choosing a theme like Aspire Pro or Kreativ Pro. These are my favorite Genesis child theme. Well, it’s really up to you.
Also, we have got all theme license from the Elegant Themes. We will help you to use any of the themes. Other famous WordPress theme shops are,
- HappyThemes – See our HappyThemes review and HappyThemes coupon.
- CSSIgniter.
- MyThemeShop – MyThemeShop Coupon.
- ThemeIsle.
- UpThemes.
- DIYThemes.
Pick one theme according to your needs.
NOTE: We have only membership on StudioPress and Elegant Themes. If you need any other themes from other theme shops, you need to purchase yourself. Or, contact us. If we have, we will share the theme! For free!
When you plan to purchase your own theme, you may want to see our best WordPress theme shops post.
WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugins will help you to enhance your website performance. We will install and configure these plugins!
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO got the on-page SEO covered! It is a freemium WordPress plugin which will help you to optimize your posts and website for search engines.
We are using the free version of Yoast SEO in our blog. The premium plugin will unlock more features. We have seen that some folks are using Yoast SEO premium nulled.
Don’t use it!
The right configuration of Yoast SEO will help you to get more traffic from search engines. If you are looking for alternatives, see All In One SEO Pack and Rank Math.
Akismet
If you are allowing comments on your blog, this is a must need WordPress plugin!
Some folks using WordPress comment form for spamming. Some are using for backlinks or redirecting visitors to any spammy website.
The Akismet WordPress plugin will help you to catch all spam comments. The plugin will delete the spam comments automatically or it will hold them in a dedicated section.
We are in love with the plugin.
MonsterInsights
When you start a blog and add contents, you must consider using Google Analytics on it. There are 2 ways to add Google Analytics on WordPress.
The first one is by editing the theme’s header.php file and the second one is using a dedicated analytics plugin.
MonsterInsights is one of the best GA plugins for WordPress. We are using this on our blog.
This is also a freemium plugin. We are using the free version plugin on our blog. The premium plugin will help you to unlock more features. Use our MonsterInsights coupon for a discount.
BJ Lazy Load
For speeding up WordPress, we use this plugin. This is the best and lightweight WordPress plugin for lazy loading images on WordPress.
The idea is pretty simple. Most folks will write blog posts with more than 1500 words these days. In that article, there must be around 20 or more images.
When a visitor comes from a search engine, it will take some time to load the entire posts. The images will take so much time. In that case, most website visitors hit the back button.
Your website must be faster. This will result in a ranking drop. By using this BJ Lazy Load plugin, you can fix the image loading issue. When you use this plugin on your blog, your images will not at the initial webpage load.
The images will load when the user scrolls down. If you need to see a live example, scroll to the bottom of this page. You can see the images will take some time to load. A useful plugin for all.
WPForms
For creating forms in WordPress, WPForms is the best WordPress plugin. In our contact page, guest posting page and advertisement page, you can see several forms.
We are using this WPForms lite plugin on our blog. Another alternative is Contact Form 7. But some folks said Contact Form 7 will slow down your website.
WPForms is a freemium WordPress plugin. The free version plugin got limits. If you need to purchase the pro version plugin, use our WPForms coupon.
Sucuri Security
The all in one security plugin for WordPress. So many folks are trying to hack into your blog. You don’t know it yet.
In the beginning, we were password protected our wp-admin directory. Later moved to Sucuri. Sucuri will help you to keep your WordPress blog secure from attacks and malware.
When someone hacks into a blog. possibly he will spread malware through the blog. This will affect your website visitors and Google will penalize the blog.
The Sucuri team will help you to clean blacklisted domains. Normally an expert will charge $250+ for 1 hour for fixing hacked WordPress sites. Here at Sucuri, you will get 1-year protection for $199. We will install the free version of Sucuri plugin on your blog.
ShortPixel
For speeding up your WordPress blog, you need to consider a caching plugin, best web hosting, and optimize images. In our blog, we are using ShortPixel as the image compression plugin.
ShortPixel is a freemium WordPress plugin which will optimize images. By optimizing images, you will be able to save disk space, bandwidth and will be able to serve images faster.
In the free version plugin, you will be able to compress 100 images a month. Another free alternative is WP Smush. In that plugin, no limits on compression!
See our tutorials about compressing images using ShortPixel and compressing images using WP Smush.
Table of Contents Plus
In our all posts, we have a table of contents box on top. It will help the website visitors to go to the specific section on the post.
Also, it will show in the search results. Saying that Table of Contents Plus is awesome and must need WordPress plugin in 2019.
You can customize the table of contents box. No need to write additional CSS. You can configure it from the plugin settings. The plugin will pick tables according to your heading tags.
In our case, we have chosen the h2,h4 heading tags in the plugin settings. A simple and lightweight plugin for WordPress.
BackupBuddy
No matter you run a small business or a pretty large one. You must consider generating a complete website backup. WordPress is used by 30% of websites all over the world.
So, many hackers will target WordPress CMS and try to hack them. If something happened to your blog, most hackers will clear the entire data.
With a complete website backup, you can simply restore your website to its previous version. We are using the same plugin here! So, we can say that BackupBuddy is awesome!
OneSignal
Push notifications are the best way to get your website visitors back. In our blog, we are using OneSignal for push notifications.
There are so many alternatives are available like Subscribers, PushCrew, PushEngage etc.
OneSignal is free and always will be. You can send custom messages to your subscribers. When a post created and published, the plugin will automatically send out a notification.
This will bring some of our subscribers to the website.
Classic Editor
WordPress 5.0 comes with the new writing experience. That’s called the Gutenberg editor. Some folks didn’t like it and wish to use the old style, classic editor.
By adding some code on your functions.php file or using this classic editor plugin, you will be able to use the classic editor for editing posts in WordPress.
In our blog, we are using this plugin and for all client projects. The team will support this plugin till December 31, 2021.
For more, see our post how to disable Gutenberg editor and use Classic Editor.
Hello Bar
80% of your website visitors won’t come back to your website. As a blogger and online entrepreneur, you must figure out something stuff to get them back.
That’s why we said you must build an email list. By collecting emails from your website visitors, you will be able to send promotional messages, coupon codes, personal messages or blog posts.
This works great and they will get engaged with your blog and contents. You can use Hello Bar for showing pop-ups to your website visitors.
For sending emails, consider SendinBlue, AWeber, GetResponse, and MailChimp.
If you are looking for more, see our must-have WordPress plugins list. On top of this, you will get lifetime WordPress support from us! For absolutely free!
How To Get Free WordPress Blog Setup?
You know for starting every WordPress blog, you need a domain name, web hosting. You know there are so many local and branded web hosting companies are available. We will not recommend you all of them. We will only recommend products that we used and satisfied.
At this time, we recommend you 2 type web hosting. First one is shared. All the resources will be shared. The second one is managed WordPress hosting. This web hosting is optimized for WordPress.
So, you will get a faster website, daily backups, etc.
Best Shared Hosting
Optimized hosting for beginners. It’s cheap. Below, the best shared hosting for starting your WordPress blog.
Bluehost
Bluehost is a WordPress community recommended web hosting company. Normally, Bluehost’s shared web hosting will cost you $7.99 a month.
But for our users, they will give the same plan for $2.65! That’s kind of a huge save! You can get the same discount using our Bluehost coupon.
Also, if you are starting your first blog, they will give you a free .com domain for your business! All you need to pay then is for the hosting!
HostGator
When we started our first blog, we have chosen HostGator for our business. Not the HostGator India site. We recommend you look at the HostGator USA site.
They are affordable for all of us. Their cheapest shared hosting plan will cost only $2.75 a month. For a 60% additional discount, you may want to check out our HostGator coupon.
They will give you unlimited disk space and bandwidth for your website.
SiteGround
Another web hosting company recommended by WordPress community. SiteGround is loved by so many WordPress users just like us.
They offer the best and cheap shared hosting for their clients. Always got a 60% discount for us! The shared hosting will cost $3.95 a month.
In the GrowBig and GoGeeks plans, they offer a free complete website migration. If you have an existing website, they will help you to restore it for absolutely free.
Just Host
Recently, we have tried Just Host and their service is pretty awesome! Another cheap and perfect shared hosting provider for beginners. Their plans start at $3.95 a month.
From them, you will get a free domain name, free business email address, unlimited disk space, and bandwidth. That’s a good choice for starting your first WordPress blog.
GoDaddy
Largest domain registrar in the world. In our cases, when we plan to register a new domain, GoDaddy is our first priority!
They always got great deals for the new customers. When we register a domain, we all need to pay is around 144INR. It’s nearly$2. It’s kind of great savings for bloggers. If you are planning to get a new domain name, consider GoDaddy.
A2 Hosting
The best hosting for starting out. One of our sister websites is hosted on A2 Hosting. Their services are pretty awesome and worth paying.
Also in most cases, they will give you a coupon code for a discount. When we signed up for their hosting, we have got 60% off on the plan with a free domain name. A .com domain.
Namecheap
Our favorite company for deals and coupons. Our domain AWPGuide registered on Namecheap.
When we registered this domain, we only paid $0.88! There was a deal going on something like KINGCOM. Use our Namecheap coupon for purchasing domains from Namecheap.
Another advantage is you will get a free whois guard while you purchase domains from Namecheap. Most web hosting companies are selling them and you will get here for free!
MilesWeb
If you need a cheap web hosting which is worth to try, you need to consider checking MilesWeb. MilesWeb is one of the #1 web hosting company in India.
They provide the best services for an affordable price. They have 3 datacenters. One is on the USA, one is on the UK and another one is on India. You can pick one according to your website traffic.
They will also give you free SSL, backups without spending any additional money
See our MilesWeb review for more.
Best Managed WordPress Hosting
Most beginners don’t need a managed WordPress hosting when they start their first blog. If you are planning to start big, consider these managed WordPress hosting companies.
WP Engine
Our favorite managed WordPress hosting company. Prices starts from $35 a month. Includes 10K visits a month. But they will charge you extra for every page views after reaching the limit.
WP Engine is a well-known WordPress hosting company. A few days back, they have acquired the StudioPress company who creates Genesis Framework and fine-tuned WordPress themes.
Now, you can get the Genesis Framework and their 35+ premium child themes in the WP Engine plan. This is a huge saving for everyone!
Kinsta
Kinsta is powered by Google Cloud. A better competitor for the WP Engine. We have seen that so many folks are migrating their sites from WP Engine to Kinsta hosting.
The reason is this. Service.
Kinsta hosting plans start at $30 a month. In that plan, you will get a free SSL certificate, a CDN, 20,000 visits a month and 5GB disk space. Worth to try!
Flywheel
Flywheel plans start from $14 a month. According to other managed WordPress hosting companies, this is kind of low. But in that plan, you will get only 5000 visits a month!
Also, you will get 5GB disk space, 250GB bandwidth, and a free SSL certificate. In the cheaper plan, for CDN, you need to spend $10 a month.
DreamHost
DreamHost offers both shared and managed WordPress hosting for their clients. They are a WordPress community recommended hosting.
A few of my friends are hosting their website on their servers. The support team is awesome there. They provide support 24*7 and fix all issues for you.
You must consider DreamHost when you are ready to start a blog that matters!
WPX Hosting
WPX Hosting is famous for their support. Most professional bloggers are hosted their WordPress blog on WPX Hosting. According to the shared web hosting companies, WPX Hosting is not cheaper.
You need to spend $20 a month for their cheap hosting plan. In that plan, you can host up to 5 websites. Also, you will get 10GB storage and 100GB bandwidth.
All their plans come with a custom CDN. So, your website will be faster for everyone!
Contact Us
Once you purchased the hosting, please let us know. You need to use the below form to get in touch.
Let’s discuss things through the form.
At AWPGuide, we love transparency. We will only recommend products that we used which will add value to our users. When you sign up for a web hosting through our partner links, we will get a small commision from the respective web hosting company.
You will not be charged a single penny more.