Do-It-Yourself WordPress Website Setup

You can have a WordPress website setup in under a few hour. If you’ve spent any time in the last 10 years online then you’re familiar with WordPress or have at least heard of it, but did you know that it is the most popular way to get a website online right now? And it is very simple to install with a few instructions.

WordPress is a CMS–content management system that allows people to put a weblog or a blog on to the Internet. It also allows you to do other things like create a more traditional website, post photos, videos, or podcasting, and there are also ways to monetize your blog like through advertising and Google Adsense.

Blogging has been around since the 1990’s but has skyrocketed in popularity in the last few years. WordPress started in 2003 and has grown to become the most popular CMS in the world with the most support, themes, and plug-ins available. It is also simple to install, upgrade and post to, which is why it is the platform of choice for many new users and experts alike.

We suggest that if you are going to install a WordPress website that you install a WordPress.org website rather than a WordPress.com website. Installing on WordPress.com allows users to create a website for free without having to buy a domain name. The problem with this is that it is not your website and all the work you do is going towards building WordPress’s  website and not yours. The advantage is you can have a website up in virtually minutes.

On the other hand, getting your own website (from WordPress.org) going will require three things:

• buying a domain name
• acquiring web hosting
• installing a website

You should only ever get web hosting from a company that offers cPanel as the control panel for the administration of your website. If you have software services installed in your web hosting cPanel (either Softaculous or Fantastico), you will be able to install WordPress directly through a series of step-by-step options. If you don’t have either of these options available then you will need to create a MySQL database and use an FTP client to upload to your server and make changes to setup files. At this point it becomes easier to let someone experienced with this show you, or do it for you.
Once your blog has been installed and you’re able to login there are a few things you should do before starting to blog:

1. setup authorization keys in “wp-config.php”  for the security of your blog
   (you will need FTP access in order to do this)
2. name your blog – under Settings > General
   if you haven’t already name your blog including your primary keyword, & give it a subtitle
3. set up permalinks – under Settings > Permalinks > Custom Structure put
   /%category%/%postname%/
4. set up Akismet – this will reduce the amount of spam you get on your blog. You’ll need to go to Word press.com to get your key e-mailed to you.
5. Set up your plug-ins – install and activate. These are the must-have plug-ins we recommend:
   • • All-in-one-SEO-pack
     • XML-sitemaps
     • Google Analytics
     • Addthis Social Bookmarking
     • WordPress automatic upgrade
     • Feedburner

(Widgets are slightly different than a plug-in in that widgets will show up on the sidebars of your blog, whereas plug-ins often work behind the scenes of your blog).

1. Choose a theme and activate it-there are many sites on the Internet where you can get free WordPress themes.
   You can install them directly through your WordPress interface:
   Appearance > Themes > Install Themes > click on the options you want > Find Themes
   These you will need to upload by FTP to your site under:
   YourWebsite.com/wp-content/themes/

To be recognized by the search engines, your website will need to have a minimum of three pages:

• contact us page (create under Pages)
• privacy policy (create under Pages)
• minimum one page of content (create under Posts –  and all other content under Posts)

See “How to Post to WordPress.”
There are many great tools on the WordPress.org website, as well as videos on YouTube on how to do just about anything on WordPress.

These are the must know basics you need for do-it-yourself WordPress website setup – if you are not comfortable with doing this feel free to call our office at 1-888-688-6326 to have an expert install WordPress for you – prices range from $500-$1000 (+hosting) for custom installations and themes.