Creating a self hosted wordpress website from scratch

Creating a Self Hosted Wordpress Website from Scratch
Neil Kearney
Kearney Realty Co. / Metro Brokers

Static Website vs. Blog
Static
Cyber billboard
Not sticky
No reason to come back
At the mercy of a developer
Lock and leave or post and cross your fingers
Blog
Easy to update
Attract repeat visitors
Be a “go to” resource
Good Google juice!
You’ve Got Options

Blogger.com
Typepad.com
Weebly.com
Wordpress.com
Squarespace.com
Pro’s: Fast setup, ease of use.
Con’s: sub-domain www.coolsite.blogspot.com (don’t own domain, poor Google linking), fewer appearance options.
Which Blog Service?

WordPress.orgBenefits
Ability to upload themes
Ability to upload plugins
Great community
Complete control to change code if you’re technically minded
You own the domain and email
WordPress.orgCons
You need a good web host, which generally costs $7-12 a month, or thousands of dollars per month for a high traffic site
Requires more technical knowledge to set up and run
You’re responsible for stopping spam
You have to handle backups
You must upgrade the software manually when a new version comes out
If you get a huge spike in traffic (like Digg or Slashdot) your site will probably go down unless you have a robust hosting setup
Wordpress.orgSame as Wordpress.com but

Sign up for web hosting
I have found Bluehost offers a good plan and great customer service. I moved from GoDaddy after each change took longer than necessary and each site required its own hosting plan.
The hosting should allow for multiple sites to share one account and should cost between $6 -$8 per month.
To sign up click here
Step 1 – Web Hosting

Own your own name – www.yourname.com
Name your niche – www.BoulderCondos.com
Register a new name at Bluehost or transfer an existing domain you already own.
Step 2 – Your Domain

You may ask at this point what is a CPanel? This is the hub of BlueHost. This allows you to work with your domains.
To assign your BlueHost registered domain to your Cpanel. Go to the “Domain Manager” tab and choose
Step 3 – Assign Domain to CPanel

Once your domain has been assigned to the Cpanel you can install Wordpress. To do this you simply click on the Wordpress icon.
Step 4 – Install Wordpress

After Installing Wordpress you will receive an email with your login link and your password. Save the email and then click on the link and login. Bookmark your login screen and login.
Step 5 – Confirmation and Login

After logging in you will see your website dashboard. This is where you can access and change all aspects of your website.
Along the left sidebar you will find actions grouped under headings. Each of the headings expands by clicking on the triangle on the right hand side of the name.
Step 6 – The Dashboard

Go to Settings > General
Site Title - Type into box what you would like to name your website.
Tagline - This goes below your site title on the header.
Step 7 – Naming Your Website

By default the time of your site is based on GMT. So unless you are in the United Kingdom change the timezone. For me I chose Denver from the drop down menu.
The date format is how the date is displayed on your website. Make a choice and save changes.
Step 8 – Set Time and Date Format

Near the top right hand corner of the Dashboard you will see “Howdy admin”. Click on “admin”. Here you can change your color scheme, enter your name, email address, a bio and change your password. After completing make sure to click on “Update Profile”.
Step 9 – Change Your Password

Check your site by opening a new tab on your browser and going to your URL or website address. Your site is generic at this point. The only thing you have changed so far is your title. Let’s start adding content.
There are two ways to add content to your website one is to add a post and the other is to add a page. Right now you have one page with one post “Hello World”.
Step 10 – Adding Content

This is a good point to put some thought into your website design. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
What information do I want the viewers to see first?
What other pages do I want to include?
How often will I update the website?
The answers to these questions will dictate the pages to add.
Adding Content

This is the design of the website.
Thouands to chose from.
Form follows function. What are you looking to do?
Go to Appearance > Themes > Install Themes
Step 11 – Choosing a Theme

From the Dashboard click on Pages > Add New
Step 12 – Adding Pages

Adding Pages
For now just enter a page title like “About me” or “my services” and hit publish. After publishing check your website and see that you now have two pages, “Home” and the one you just added. At this time add any other pages you think you will use.

When new posts are added they are automatically included at the top of your Home page. Your existing posts move down and are accessible and searchable forever. Adding new posts give your website life. It also gives your website a better ranking in search engines.
Currently you have one post “Hello World” To delete that post go to To add a post go to Posts > Add New
Step 12 – Adding Posts

You can select any photo from your computer and add it to your post or page.
Size it
Align it
Caption it
Describe it
Adding Photos

You have total control over the order your pages show up on the navigation bar. To adjust menus go to – Appearance > Menus
Choose what pages you want to appear in a menu and then drag them into an order.
Step 13 – Creating Menus

These are outside programs that work within the Wordpress structure.
Examples are photo slideshows, site statistics, spam blockers …
Step 14 –Plugins

Resources:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page
http://wordpress.org/support/
More to Learn

Creating a self hosted wordpress website from scratch

by Neil Kearney on Sep 20, 2011

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