If you want to promote your voice acting business, it’s essential that you have a website to promote yourself. That way you have a hub that’s all your own you can direct potential clients to. Social media is also important, but you don’t own your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. They could shut down anytime and you’d lose your following.
As a side business to support my voice acting career, I learned how to set up websites. It’s flexible, you can work from anywhere, and most importantly, you can earn extra money. That way you don’t have to stress if you don’t book jobs consistently.
Below are instructions on how to set up WordPress using Bluehost hosting. I’ve used it for years and their customer service has been awesome! I have a Baby Boomer blog that I earn money from doing affiliate marketing and sponsored posts. It’s creative and tons of fun. In addition to acting, you can write about anything that you are excited about. It’s good to have options.
Please note that some of the links in the content below are affiliate links. I will receive a small amount of compensation if you choose to purchase a linked product. However, I only include affiliate links on products that I highly recommend.
You Can Install WordPress using Bluehost in 5 Minutes
Just follow the instructions below
A blog is an amazing marketing tool to create traffic and that’s the beauty of writing blog posts. But even if you don’t want to blog and are serious about running a voice over business, you will still want to install WordPress because of all the functionality it has. There are thousands of plugins to make it do whatever you want.
But… here’s the rub. There are two versions of WordPress. WordPress.com and WordPress.org. You will want to choose WordPress.org, which you install through a hosting provider.
Here’s why:
WordPress.com is completely free. You don’t need to purchase a hosting account. The downside is there are restrictions that would not be cool if you have a business. WordPress.org requires that you have a hosting account but there are NO RESTRICTIONS. You’ll have complete control of your files, as well as access to thousands of incredible plugins that will make your site do just about anything you want.
Choose a name for your brand
The name you choose for your site is extremely important. Choose it carefully. Once you’ve set up your site, it’s a pain to change it. Keep it short, memorable, and in sync with what you’re writing about. Use .com. You may be tempted to use .net, .biz, .me but they’re harder for people to find. Since your name is your brand it’s best to use it if the domain is available like JoeSchmoe.com. If not, use keywords so it will distinguish you like sandradeedoesvoices.com.
Register your domain and choose a hosting provider
I personally use and recommend Bluehost to host all my sites. When you register you get to register one domain name (site name) for free. Once it’s registered you can follow the easy instructions below to host and set up your site.
Set up your hosting account with Bluehost by clicking here!
Click the Green button that says Get Started Now
Select your plan
If you are a beginner and only have 1 site to worry about the Basic Plan is fine to start with. If your traffic increases significantly or you want to add more sites, you can always upgrade. As you can see below, the choice plus plan is recommended if you want multiple websites.
Please note that the prices listed above are subject to change.
Choose your domain
No matter what plan you decide on once you click select you will be taken to a page to choose your domain.
If you already have a domain that you’ve purchased from Godaddy or another provider, you can enter it in the second box.
Important – A domain that has been purchased from another provider will need to be pointed to your Bluehost account. You will need to go to your registrar’s account and change the nameservers to:
ns1.BlueHost.com
74.220.195.31
ns2.BlueHost.com
69.89.16.4
If you call technical support at a company like Godaddy, they will walk you through this process. However, don’t let them talk you into hosting on their site. Bluehost has a much better hosting service.
One reason I prefer Bluehost is that it makes it easy to set up a site and they don’t try to sell you a bunch of stuff you don’t need. Their customer service is U.S. based and outstanding. Bluehost technicians are always ready to help you and don’t usually keep you waiting on the phone.
You can install WordPress and get your site up in about 5 minutes by following the steps below:
The steps for WordPress hosting is slightly different but similar.
After you choose your domain you will be asked to fill in Your Account Info
Take out your credit card. The price is stated as monthly but you will be asked to pay for 1 year all at once. Bluehost hosting is very inexpensive though and it’s a business expense that you can write off. If you’re just starting out you may only want to purchase one year of hosting and see how it goes. However, you will save quite a bit of money if you order a 3-year package.
Package extras (see below) are optional and can be added later as your needs require. I recommend you leave them blank for now.
Choose a password
You will then be asked to choose a password. Bluehost will help you with your password strength. If you choose upper and lowercase letters, some numbers and a symbol, you are usually fine. Overall, you will need 8 characters.
When you click CREATE YOUR PASSWORD, Bluehost will take you to a password generator page. Enter your password there.
Step Five – Login to Your New Account
I hope you wrote down your domain name and password and are storing it someplace safe. Your password is case sensitive so write or type it correctly. When logging in, your domain name should look like mydomain.com (insert your own domain name) and enter your password.
WordPress gets installed on your domain
Once you create your account, WordPress will be automatically installed on your site. You can get into the back office of your site by clicking on My Sites on the left and Manage Site.
Once the installation is ready you will receive a message to start building your site.
You will be asked some questions to start building your site.
This is your WordPress dashboard. When you’re ready, you can launch it.
Add your site title and tagline and then launch.
You can even pick out a theme to be installed with it or upload another one once it’s installed. There are thousands of themes available on the Internet and many of them are free. I prefer using a premium theme because of the support it provides. I love StudioPress themes and am using their Parallax Pro Theme on this site. Another popular and very flexible theme is DIVI by Elegant Themes.
However, there are thousands of themes available on the Internet that you can upload.
Guess what? You just installed a website all by yourself. Pretty cool, huh?
Disclaimer – Bluehost updates its interface from time to time so if your experience is not exactly as described above, don’t freak out. (they probably made it even better)
This page updated 6/04/2020
If you need extra help setting up your site, please contact me:
Rebecca Forstadt
rebecca@rebeccaforstadt.com