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By now, you should have a pretty good idea about what good culture blogging looks like. You may have even brainstormed (or written?) a few articles.

Today, I’m going to show you how to setup your employer branding blog.

How to Setup an Employer Branding Blog

There are a lot of blogging platforms that you can use. I’ve tried a bunch of them, and my absolutely favorite is WordPress.

WordPress is what most serious bloggers use, and what I use for Renegade HR.

Here’s what I love about WordPress:

• It’s free.
• It’s crazy simple to use. If you can write a Word doc, you can blog.
• It’s robust and very customizable. You can have complete control over the look and feel of the site.
• It’s got great SEO features.

WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com

There are two version of WordPress, both of which are free. One is hosted at WordPress.com. The other is software that you download and install yourself from WordPress.org.

(Installing the software is actually a really simple one-click process.)

They look and work identically on the back end, but the version you download and install yourself gives you a lot more freedom and flexibility. That’s what I recommend using, and what we’ll be talking about in today’s article.

While the software is free to download, you do need to pay to host your blog on a server. Hosting costs less than $5 a month.

The freedom and flexibility that self-hosting provides is well worth the cost.

Self-hosting will allow you to use a custom domain name (instead of YOURNAME.wordpress.com). It will also let you have complete control over the look and feel of the site (ie. the branding elements), and it will make it super easy for you to share stuff that people can download and use (which we’ll be talking about later in the series).

If your organization is really strapped for cash and can’t afford $60 a year:

1. You may want to reevaluate whether or not your culture sucks.
2. You should look into Blogger, which isn’t as robust or easy to use, but lets you control the layout and use a custom domain name. It’s also hosted for you.

UPDATE: Lance Haun just told me that WordPress.com will register a custom domain for you and host the site for just $15 a year! You don’t have as much flexibility as Blogger (or self-hosting) in customizing your theme, but the interface works a lot better than Blogger’s does.

Buying a Domain and Hosting

There are a ton of companies who offer hosting and domain registration.

I use and recommend Go Daddy. They’re cheap. They’re pretty easy to use. And most importantly, their service is very reliable (they have five nines uptime).

Go Daddy is what I use for Renegade HR. I also have an affiliate relationship with them, so if you buy hosting from them through this site, I get a small cut of the purchase.

I’ve also heard great things about Dream Host, though I’ve never used them myself. I’ve also heard they offer free hosting for non-profits, so if that’s you, check them out. (not an affiliate link)

What kind of hosting should you buy?

Go Daddy offers a bunch of hosting and domain options. It can be a bit overwhelming if you’re new to all this. To make it as simple as possible for you, here’s my 7 step guide:

1. Go to GoDaddy.com.
2. From the menu bar on the top, hover over Hosting and select WordPress Hosting from the drop-down menu.
3. They default you to Deluxe Hosting. For new blogs, the Economy Plan is more than enough, and you can always upgrade later. It also saves you $1.50 a month! Click 12 months, and then Add to Cart.
4. In the upper right-hand corner, click the little arrow next to the shopping cart icon. Select Add Domains to your cart. Because you’re buying hosting, too, the domain will only cost $2 to register (normally they’re $10).
5. Last week you should have given some thought to what to name your blog. Type your desired name into the box and click Search. Go Daddy will tell you if its available or not. A .com name is preferred over .net or .org, so try to get one of those if you can. If not, hey, Renegade HR is a .net!
6. Once you find a name you like, go through the registration process. Go Daddy will probably try to sell you a bunch of other crap you don’t need with the domain. Ignore all of it.
7. Once that’s done, click on the Cart icon in the upper right-hand corner, and complete your purchase.

Congrats!

Now that you have a domain and hosting account, installing WordPress is a simple one-click process. Check out Go Daddy’s instructions on how to install WordPress on your account.

Getting Started Blogging

To login to your blog, visit http://YOURURL.com/wp-admin (of course, if you registered a .net or .org, don’t use .com). Your user name and password are the ones you selected during the Go Daddy setup process.

Over the next day or two, play around with WordPress a bit and get a feel for how the software works.

In a few days, I’m going to show you how to format the layout of your site. And next week, I’m going to show you how to enhance your SEO and keep annoying spammers at bay.

As usual, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments section below.

PS: This article is part of an ongoing series about Employer Branding through Social Media. If you liked it, you may want to check out the rest of the series.

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