Basic Steps to Make A Wordpress Site

When I decided to make my first site using my own domain and paid hosting, I quickly settled on Wordpress as the way to go. Everywhere I looked Wordpress was recommended but when it came down to working out the steps to actually getting a site up and running, I found clear information more difficult to find.

There were plenty of sites that had individual steps in minute detail but as I didn't understand the point of each step it was difficult to comprehend.

The following is my summary of what you need to do to publish a site. The specific details may change between different Domain Registrars and Hosting companies but if you understand where you are in the overall process it will help make it easier.

The Steps:

1) Buy a domain name. I now use Namecheap.

2) Buy a hosting plan. I use the Baby Plan by Hostgator that gives me unlimited domains, disk space and bandwidth. This means I can start as many new sites as I want with the only expenditure being domain name registration.

3) Link your domain to your hosting. To do this, log on to your Domain Registrars site and change the DNS server details to those provided by your hosting account. This step essentially ensures that anyone who types in your domain name will be directed to where your content is situated. If your domain registration and hosting is from the same company they will simplify this step or do it for you. I choose to use different companies as my research indicated that in the unlikely event of a dispute between you and the companies you deal with, you lack bargaining power if one company has all of your eggs in their basket.

4) Install Wordpress on your site. To do this, log on to your hosting account - you want access to the "c-panel" and once there you look for a program called Fantastico. Fantastico is an application that does all the hard work loading other programs onto your site. Find Wordpress from the available list and load it to your site. Any detail you enter such as User name and Password keep a record of as you are going to need them.

5) You can now begin to add content to your site. Log on to the Wordpress interface by entering the following into your web browser:

http://www.yourregistereddomain.com/wp-admin

Enter the User name and Password you chose during the Fantastico set up process and you are now able to add content to your new site.

How to make the most of Wordpress is a much bigger topic but it is a forgiving platform and I recommend diving in and experimenting.

Note: Using wordpress with your own domain and hosting (wordpress.org) is different to using the free blog hosting at wordpress.com (similar to Google's Blogger that is hosting this site) where your options are limited and you cannot use Adsense to monetize your site.