The hosting with Bluehost costs me RM630 for 2 years. I tried to register a new domain via Bluehost but find it very unfriendly. I was instructed to call their number in U.S. before I am allowed to buy a new domain. The domain costs USD10 with free ID Protection.

So I resorted to find a local company that does domain registration. Hostpro2u.com requires me to give the IP on top of the DNS. Honestly, shared hosting does not have a dedicated IP unless I pay Bluehost USD39.00 for it.

Next I found Exabytes. Their registration does not require IP but I have to pay extra for ID Protection. That is RM29.00 extra each year. The domain price is RM38 a year. If I renew after one year, it will cost me RM55. However, if I take 2 years, it will be RM38 each year.

Overall, Bluehost gives the best deal, don’t you think so? Maybe I should just call their number. But first thing first, I need to make some money to get that new domain.

Anyone can sponsor me a domain? I plan to start a blog on how to spend less and save more.

I did not know much about WordPress blogging 2 weeks ago. I still do not know a lot about WordPress. So I will be spending some time to play around with more widgets and plug-ins in the coming weeks.

Previously I was using Blogger which is free. Anyone with a Gmail account can start blogging using Blogger. At one point I tried my hands on free WordPress but found it too restrictive.

So after some serious thoughts, I finally signed up with Bluehost. I did my research by checking other blogs and comments by bloggers. I found Bluehost to be user friendly and affordable.

The hardest part in setting up a blog is to choose a domain name. Over the years, a lot of names had been taken up. It is really up to one’s creativity to come up with a name. Many people choose to use their own names. However, I don’t quite like the idea that people can find me easily on the internet to read about my personal life.

It took me about 2 weeks to research for a domain name. Thanks to darling Greg. I got the inspiration from him. I foresee more difficulties in this area when I am to setup blogs for money-making purposes. (Yes, this is part of my plan.)

Next, I had to choose a theme (design). There are many free WordPress themes available online. You just need to download it and place it on the server. With Bluehost, this has become so easy.

Since I am a web design person, naturally I tweaked the free theme. Added in some graphics, changed some colours, edited the header, added in keywords and description (for SEO purposes) and changed some links.

However, do note that most free themes requires users to keep the footer intact. Therefore, I did not remove any links to the original designer of the theme at the bottom of the page.

Last night I paid for the hosting. Today I uploaded the theme. Now, I am blogging.