This entry will be fairly high level but is intended to address some of the high level items which must be taken care of in order to get your blog off the ground. We’ll assume for the moment that you are planning to use Wordpress as your blogging software of choice, and that you will be installing and hosting your blog yourself (rather than using the wordpress hosted service). We’ll also assume that you have a domain name either in hand or in mind, but I’ll make a note to address choosing a good domain name in a future post.
Some of the first things we’ll need to consider are:

1. Web Hosting
2. Installing Wordpress
3. Choosing a Theme
4. Installing Plugins

I’ll address each of these items over the next few days:

Web Hosting:

In general, most wordpress blogs will not be very resource intensive and can therefore be hosted on any shared hosting plan.  If you do not have any experience with web hosts, take some time to do a little research and ask friends and colleagues who they use.  There are a number of hosts which are fantastic, and there are also a number which are horrible.  If we assume that your blog is tremendously successful as we all hope they are, then the last thing you want is to have downtime or data loss because you were trying to save a few dollars.  In many cases, you can host your site for about the same cost as a couple cups of coffee at Starbucks and be perfectly ok.

This site is actually hosted on a dedicated server through a company called SoftLayer.  I have been extremely happy with Softlayer and because I run a number of sites and want complete control of my server, it makes sense.  It probably doesn’t make sense for most situations though. I also host sites through HostGator.com and have had a very good experience with them.
Something to understand about web hosting is that more expensive does not necessarily mean better… and more does not necessarily mean better either.  Here is what I mean. Most web hosting companies operate under the assumption that most of their customers will only use a small fraction of the resources made available to them in terms of disk space, bandwidth, and cpu resources.  Most customers have high expectations and assume that the smallest package can not be enough, so they upgrade before they have a good idea of what their needs are. It’s important to understand that choosing the right web hosting provider, is 100-times more important than the package you choose.  If you choose the right provider, they will work with you if you outgrow your existing package. Wordpress does not require very much in terms of features or space.
In the case of HostGator.com, the “Hatchling” plan (at $4.95/month) will work fine for any single blog.  You would only need to consider the “Baby” plan (at $7.95/month) if you wanted to have multiple websites or blogs, or if you needed SSL encryption, which is used for security in such cases as someone taking credit cards online.   Remember, start small and save the extra money for growing your site.
Once you have ordered your hosting plan you will be ready to install Wordpress. You will need an FTP program and text editor to do this, but we’ll cover that in the next post.  In the mean time, if you have an experience with web hosting that you would like to share, please do.