A STEP BY STEP GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS
You came to the right place to get started! You don't need to know anything about web design to begin - I promise. I didn't know the first thing about any of this before I started and I spent so much time reading overwhelming articles with way too much information - that I was getting discouraged by the end of reading it. So I am writing the below steps as simple and straight forward as possible for you to understand the first basic steps you need to take to get started now!
There are three main steps you should consider when creating a blog and learning how to host a website: you have to choose a web host, a domain name, and an application to create and manage your website with.
STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR WEB HOSTING
- CHOOSE A PLAN
- The StartUp plan is perfect if you are starting now and only plan on having one website. (My recommendation if this is your first website!)
- The GrowBig plan is a great value for money offer, including the option for multiple websites and the SuperCacher that greatly improves a WordPress website speed. (Don't worry if that sentence confuses you!)
- The GoGeek plan is perfect for people with e-commerce and larger sites, or more geeky development needs like staging and GIT integration. (Most likely not for you.)
- Click the “Get Started” button under StartUp. This is the cheapest SiteGround plan and it’s perfect for beginners. Only $3.95 per month for a limited time offer!
- Start up plans include: free domain registration. I will explain domains in step 3.
STEP 2: COMPLETE YOUR ORDER
- Enter in all of the blank fields on the "Complete Your Order" page. (Shown Below)
- Sign up for at least 12 months so you get the monthly discount, free domain registration, set up fee waived, and free help from SiteGround along the way!
- Make sure you tick the box next to " I confirm that I have read and agree to the SiteGround Terms of Service."
- Click the "PAY NOW" button.
STEP 3: CHOOSE YOUR DOMAIN NAME
Choose one of the 3 options:
- I already have a domain - you will choose this if you have previously bought a domain or you currently have a blog/website that is live and you want to move it to WordPress now.
- Register a new domain - you will choose this if you are completely new to all of this or you know what a domain is, but you haven't registered one yet.
- Decide later - you will choose this if you would like to complete other steps in setting up your website first and come back after you have had time to think about what your new domain name will be!
When you choose your domain name, make sure it is relevant to the content you will have on your blog. For example mine is "Unfolding Road" because my main focus is to share with you how I am unfolding my road through traveling and coaching others on how to earn money as well! We are all constantly creating and choosing how we live our lives and to me Unfolding Road explains that journey.
- Type in the blog name that you decided on in between the field www. and .com and click confirm.
- The domain name you chose is available and you can move onto the next step as shown above.
- The domain name you chose is already in use by someone else and you need to choose a different name as shown below.
STEP 4: SET UP YOUR WEBSITE - Install WordPress
WordPress allows you to build a website without knowing any crazy coding and confusing computer talk. This is how you will make your blog posts, add photos, and anything else you have planned for your new website! Oh and the best part - it's completely free!
There are other website platforms available that will look enticing because of their easy to use templates and compelling advertisements. (ie: Weebly, Squarespace, Wix, WebsiteBuilder, Jimdo, Sitey, and more.) But I promise you, if you are serious about making this happen and investing your time in the most efficient way - CHOOSE WORDPRESS! I'm going to say it again - CHOSE WORDPRESS! I am not being paid to say this, I am saying this because I first chose Weebly and it worked great, but once you start making some movement and gaining traffic - you will realize that Weebly and the others don't move with you like WordPress does. They have rules that don't allow you to format the pages the way you want and some of the best SEO (search engine optimization) plugins aren't available, and you start to realize that you are going to have to rebuild your entire website! This is what I did, when I was first learning and why I am writing this very detailed article. I want to help you start the best way possible and let you learn from my mistakes, instead of making them yourselves.
I would only recommend Weebly or some of the other platforms if you are only planning on building out a blog/website for yourself and/or other close friends. A website that you aren't building a business on and that you don't want to drive traffic to later on. Maybe you just want to build a page for your wedding, a creative space to write down your thoughts, or an area to showcase your photography! Only then would I recommend anything other than WordPress.
WordPress is an open platform with so much freedom to grow and definitely the most popular and user friendly software for bloggers!
Now let's install WordPress with the steps below!
HOW TO HOST A WEBSITE
- Choose "Start a new website"
- Then click the WordPress box
- Leave the "other software" box alone and leave it as shown above.
- Fill in the 4 boxes with your information
- Click the confirm button
- Leave these unchecked for now - you can always come back later and sign up for them if needed.
- Click the Confirm button
- Now the Complete Setup Button at the bottom of the page should be available to click
- Click Complete Setup
- Click "Go to cPanel (red button)
- Scroll down and look for the "AUTOINSTALLERS” heading
- Now look for the button that says “Softaculous” and click it
- You are going to hover over the WordPress icon and click "install"
- Fill in all of the boxes to complete the setup of your new account
- Use the examples & directions below to help guide you through filling the boxes in correctly
- Once the boxes are all filled in, click "install"
You did it! You now have your very own website and a space to design and create all of your visions on!
To help you start using your hosting account and Customer Area right away, check out SiteGrounds step-by-step Getting Started Guide!
STEP 5: WORDPRESS THEMES
This next step is the creative part - choosing the style you want your readers to see. Now you need to sign into your WordPress account that you just created.
- Open a new browser and type in the domain you chose in the above steps.
- Example: www.nameyouchose.com/admin. So mine would be "www.unfoldingroad.com/admin."
- Type in the username and password that you chose in the sign up process in step 4.
The first important step you need to take is choosing a theme!
- Hover over "appearance" tab on the left
- Click "theme"
- On the theme page the comes up, now click the "add new theme" box
Elegant Theme's WordPress themes are powered by the Divi Builder - an insanely fast and incredibly intuitive front end editor with hundreds of customization options, all of which are available with live previews. It will change the way you build websites forever. Also "Extra" focuses specifically on tailoring its style to fit the needs of bloggers and online publications and integrates with WooCommerce which is the most powerful eCommerce plugin for WordPress and so many other game changing plugins.
Forget about learning coding and all of that confusing computer talk and reward yourself with making this purchase and save yourself so much time!
You want to take your time and make the right decisions in the beginning when it comes to the power of your design - because this is one of the most important factors that will determine the successfulness of your site. Check out their awesome tutorial videos explaining everything in a fun and understandable way! Watch Tutorials Here!