Blogs and websites are high in demand today, website companies often charge a lot to create a custom blog/website so I thought I’d explain how to get setup for free. It’s a simple process that requires about 10 minutes of your time and concentration. I’ve changed this post a few times due to the fact I keep finding cheaper domain and web solutions. I used to recommend Host Gator web hosting because they were recognised in the US as a ‘big brand’. I now recommend TSOHOST as it’s cheaper with exceptional and personal customer support. I know their team on a first name basis via emails/phones and have faith that they’ll provide a great service for anyone reading that wants their blog/website online quickly with no fuss. I’ve broken it up into 2 steps.
Step 1
Buy your Unique Domain Name and Web Hosting (with a nifty Discount).
If you haven’t done so already please read: “How to buy an affordable domain name and web hosting”. Once you have done this, please read Step 2 below.
Step 2
Making a Blog/Website? Install Wordpress.
First of all you might be asking, “What is the difference between a Blog and a Website?” The answer: Not much. A blog comes from Web Log. The main noticeable difference between the two is that a Blog tends to have a feed of posts that allow visitors to comment on. Trends today suggest that most websites are now becoming blogs or have some kind of blog within the website to engage and converse with their visitors. Look at newspapers online, this website and other brands that want social engagement with their visitors. How does it all work? The majority of people that own websites or blogs use a CMS (Content Management System) which can be installed onto your web hosting. Wordpress is currently the most advanced free CMS that is easy to use and highly customisable. For that reason, I’m going to go through 7 steps to quickly install it onto your web hosting. The beauty of buying your domain name and web hosting from the same company is that you don’t need to waste time changing any settings to make it all work.
Simple Setup in Seven Steps:
- OK, open your confirmation email from TSOHOST with cPanel login details.
- Go to http://yourdomain.com/cpanel and log into your account.
- Scroll down the page until you see the ‘Fantastico De Luxe’ icon and click it (see right picture).
- Click the menu option ‘Wordpress’, then ‘New installation’ and follow the instructions.
- Note down the administrator username and password because you’ll need these for logging into your blog. All the details can all be changed at a later date.
- When you visit http://your-domain.com you’ll see your default blog/website appear.
- To Login to your account go to http:your-domain.com/wp-admin and enter your administration username and password.
And that’s it! You’re in.
I hope this post helps you out. If you have any problems or comments, please feel free to message me in the comments section!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Recent Posts
- 4:21 pm • How to Add a Facebook ‘Like’ button to your website
- 6:18 am • Will Facebook become a Bank?
- 6:46 pm • How to Buy an Affordable Domain Name and Web Hosting
- 8:31 pm • A Revolutionary Twitter Tool Revealed: Tweetspinner
- 1:13 pm • How to Add a Google ‘Buzz This’ Button to your Blog
- 7:26 am • How to Add an RSS Feed to a Facebook Fan Page
Recommendations:
Hi, I found your blog on google. I’m pretty happy to have found your website because I think it is informative! I will definitely come back! Great resource for my students. Youproblog
Thanks YPB, I just checked your Blog, looks great – how are you doing for traffic? – It’s great to know you found me through Google as it’s so competitive these days… All that learning pays off!
Max,
Thanks for posting this. I have a blog on Wordpress.com and I’m thinking of moving it to Wordpress.org. I’ve been putting it off since I thought it would be rather complicated. Your clear explanation makes it less so.
Hi Nancy – Thanks for your comment, having your own self hosted site means you are not limited to certain features – You can explore premium themes and advanced plugins, it gets quite exciting I can assure you! Let me know if you need any help in progressing… :)
Max excellent blog you’ve got here man. We are very similar! (close number of followers, similar bio, similar winning mindset and our blogs are even similar!)
I wrote a post on exactly this subject on my blog and yours is excellent – you even recommend the exact same services as I do.
Installing your own self hosted WP blog is a must and is easy as 1,2,3! Keep up the great work and I hope we can get to network further in the future buddy! Take care.
-Nathaniel
Hey Max,
These are the exact steps i took to create my blog! It took me quite a while to get the hang of everything though. Hope others take the initiative and take advantage of creating their own blog.
Thanks Nathaniel,
That’s awesome, very similar indeed! Great to see you’ve kept at it for so long as well – can be quite a task with all the other distractions around. I’ll have a good look through your site – great video section. I will be starting some Vlogs when I’ve had a shave…
@Tony, It definitely requires a good 5 minutes of your time concentrating and a beverage to celebrate after!
Awesome tutorial good luck man!
Hi Max,
Great Post. I have to take exception with you on the install of WordPress! I know that you are trying to make it as easy as possible for the newbie to get started, however, when you use “Fantastico” you are not allowed much control over your database.
My experience has shown that the most of my critical problems with WordPress come with database problems. The use of fantastico just complicates this.
While manually installing WordPress takes a few more steps, I find it well worth it to avoid fantastico.
And I believe, Caroline Middlebrook mentioned last week on her blog that Blue Host has dropped the use of fantastico.
Thanks for your comment Jeffrey – Very much appreciate the feedback. I’ll look into this case and Caroline’s post to see if there is a simpler and more effective way to complete this process for my readers.
Next tutorial:
Show us how to use Wordpress MU to manager multiple blogs (25-30 blogs)and use the Wordpress dashboard as an admin panel for all of them.
=( my personal mountain to climb, and unfortunately I’m not a PHP guy so I’m climbing this mountain w/ flip flops.
Great post btw!
Thanks Jerrell, Ben: Thanks for the comment, sorry to hear you’re struggling with Wordpress MU. I will make a blog post about how to use it in due course!
Hi Max, I just found yo on Twitter. I wonder what plugin you use for the social media (twitter, facebook, RSS etc.) on the left side.
Thanks
Hi Adrian, thanks for your comment. The Plugin is called ‘Cute Profiles’. You’ll find it in the plugin directory. Link me to your blog when it’s up! M