You may want to start your own website for either personal or business use. If this is something that you’ve never done before it can at first seem like an impossible task with never ending catch 22 scenarios.

What do I do first?

  • Sign-up for a domain name?
  • Sign-up for a hosting account?
  • Build the website?
  • What software do I need?
  • How do I get it all online?

What I hope to accomplish in this series is a step-by-step process of how to set-up a website from scratch. What I will do is show you how to set-up a site that is managed using the free WordPress software.

WordPress started out as a blogging software but in recent months has been moving to a platform that offers SO MUCH MORE.

WordPress is offered two ways;

  1. Offered at http://wordpress.com where your domain is hosted on the WordPress.com server and the software is administered, hosted and controlled by WordPress.com for free.
  2. Or you can download the FREE software from http://wordpress.org and upload the software to a server that you control.

Although there are many uses for #1 above, there are also may restrictions and downsides to using the totally free service at WordPress.com, the biggest downside is that WordPress.com has the power to shut-off your site for their reasons, while setting up your website, especially a site used for business purposes you will want and need more control. For that reason I will be focusing on #2 using the software from WordPress.org uploaded to a site that you control.

Don’t get me wrong both services are excellent and go way way above what you would expect. It is just that even though you will have to pay for some of the services that you need to operate a site using the free WordPress.org software, you need to start from a firm foundation where you have the control and ability to expand in areas that are not offered at WordPress.com

Don’t worry if your eyes are starting to glaze-over or you don’t understand everything at this moment. I will try to start at the simple and take baby steps until we can get to the point where you can have a WordPress site that you can develop into a business site that will help your business grow.

The following list contains the topics that I hope to cover. This list will change over time with additions as needed. Each item in the list will become a link to the page about that subject, if you can not click on an item on the list, the page is not ready yet. Keep checking back and tell your friends too. I am writing this page on June 20th 2009, so there may not be many of the pages active until a later date.

Topics That We Will Cover:

  • Picking a name (domain name) for your site.
  • Purchasing your domain name.
  • Hosting accounts.
  • Getting your hosting account.
  • Setting-up your domain name on your hosting account.
  • Installing WordPress on your domain using Fantastico.
  • What is FTP and How to use it.
  • Setting up your MySQL database.
  • Installing WordPress if your host doesn’t offer Fantastico.
  • Logging on to your WordPress admin panel.
  • Changes you should make before using WordPress out of the box.
  • Setting-up your general options.
  • Setting-up your reading options.
  • Setting-up your writing options.
  • Setting-up your “Ping” list.
  • Setting your Permalinks.
  • What are plug-ins
  • Installing some free plug-ins to make WordPress even better.
  • Creating a Post.
  • Creating a Page.
  • Creating Categories.
  • Finding a free theme.
  • Finding a premium paid theme.
  • Uploading and activating your new theme.
  • More plug-ins, some free, some not.
  • Your site after set-up.

I know, this sounds like a lot, and truthfully it is. But it is not really that hard. Like everything in life it is hard or confusing until you have experience.

If you jump-in and get stuck or don’t even want to jump-in, I can be hired as your consultant to help as little or as much as you need. If that is the route that you think you would like to take send me an email using the “Contact Us” page, there is a link way at the bottom of our site. Don’t see it? It is further down in the greenish color.

Thank you, hope you enjoy this series.

Dave West