How To Setup A New WordPress Blog
WordPress has long been a favorite platform for bloggers. With all the different themes, as well as the option of creating or modifying your own custom theme, and the many plugins that are available, WordPress becomes an excellent content management system (CMS). The possibilities are nearly unlimited as to what you can do with your blog using WordPress.
Most blogs have a similar layout and the option of a visitor posting a comment. However, there are also those who use WordPress as a CMS, but do not have comments included within the theme. Take this site for example, HonestInformation.com is running on WordPress.
Here I will take you step by step through the process of creating your own blog with WordPress.
Hosting
Look for a good web hosting. I recommend Host Gator, but choose who you like. Before you decide which hosting company you are going to go with be sure to compare among different providers. don’t just look at the prices, look at the features and limits that go with a particular plan. To start out you may do well with a hosting plan that includes 1 to 2 gigs of monthly bandwidth and 500 Megs of disc space. In the beginning your blog will use small amounts of bandwidth, but as your traffic flow builds it will also increase. That’s another reason why I recommend going with a big company such as Host Gator. You don’t have to worry about bandwidth because you can upgrade your resource allocations whenever you need to. In other words, don’t start out with the highest priced hosting package. Choose a more modestly priced package and upgrade it whenever your site needs it.
Domain Registration
There are many places where you can register a domain name. My personal recommendation goes to GoDaddy. Wherever you go to register your domain be sure that it is a reputable and well established registrar.
Set The Name Servers
Once you have your domain name registered you will need to change the name servers. This is done through an onsite control panel at your domain registrar. The name servers will be provided by your webhost.
Download WordPress
Download the latest version of WordPress at http://wordpress.org/download/. Save the zip file and extract the contents. You will see three folders; wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes and 22 files in the root.
Install And Configure WordPress
Before you begin uploading and installing your WordPress script you will need to create a MySQL database and user. If you have cPanel click the MySQL icon. You will be taken to the page where you can simply fill in the blanks to create your database and user. Be sure that you don’t forget to assign the user to the database.
Upload the entire contents via an FTP program of your choice to your hosting account. If your blog will be the home page upload everything to the root, or “public_html” folder. WordPress may also be installed in a sub-directory.
Navigate to the wp-config-sample.php in the file manager and select it for editing. Enter in the details of your MySQL database. Here is what the code will look like:
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘putyourdbnamehere’); // The name of the database
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘usernamehere’); // Your MySQL username
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘yourpasswordhere’); // …and password
Simply fill in the information. Be very careful that you do not accidentally delete or add any characters or spaces.
Next you will see:
define(‘AUTH_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); // Change this to a unique phrase.
define(‘SECURE_AUTH_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); // Change this to a unique phrase.
define(‘LOGGED_IN_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); // Change this to a unique phrase.
You can visit http://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ to get keys generated for you, or just make something up.
When these edits have been completed save, or rename, the file as wp-config.php
Once that is done you are ready to go to your home page, or the sub-folder in which it was installed. WordPress will automatically recognize that it needs to be installed. Everything here is easy, just read the screen and fill in the blanks.
WordPress Admin Settings And Options
Begin by clicking the Settings tab. On the General page you can change the title of your blog as well as the Tagline. You can also change the admin email address and choose your membership options.
Next go to the Reading tab. You should set the article feed to Summary.
On the Discussion tab you will select your options for commenting.
Now go to the Permalinks tab. Choose Custom Structure and enter /%postname%/ because it is the most SEO and user friendly format. Note that you may have to update your .htaccess for this to work. If you need to update your .htaccess you will be prompted with the code that needs to be added.
Go to Design and select the theme you would like to use for the appearance of your blog. Any themes that you have uploaded to the themes folder will be available here.
Go to Plugins and activate the plugins you would like to use. Some plugins require configuring, just follow the on screen setup.
While you are in the admin area browse around and familiarize yourself with the different options and settings.
Plugins:
Necessary WordPress Plugins:
Akismet – Akismet is included with the WordPress package. If you plan to allow your visitors to leave comments you will need this plugin to help you deal with spam. Activation of the Akismet plugin requires an activation key, but you can get one from WordPress free.
All in One SEO Pack
Google XML Sitemaps
Optional WordPress Plugins:
Adsense-Deluxe – If you plan on using AdSense you may find this useful. Although it is called Adsense-Deluxe you can use it to display nearly anything from images or text to ads.
Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form – A very useful contact form.
Dagon Design Sitemap Generator – Create and maintain a sitemap.
BackUpWordPress – A utility that allows you to backup your files and database automatically or manually.
Wordpress automatic upgrade – performs all of the following steps automatically:
1. Back up of files
2. Back up of the database
3. Downloads the latest files from WordPress.
4. Puts your blog into maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins.
6. Upgrades wordpress files.
7. Gives you a link to complete the upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins.
If you do a search you will find that there are thousands of WordPress plugins avaiable. In the end which plugins you need will depend upon what you want to accomplish with your blog.
Installing WordPress Plugins
Upload the files for the plugins to the “plugins” folder within the “wp-content” folder. To activate your plugins go to the “Plugins” tab in the upper right of the admin panel.
Let Us Install And Configure Your New WordPress Blog
If you would like to have your own WordPress blog, but you do not feel comfortable with the procedure we can do it for you.
Basic setup and installation of WordPress on your server $25
WordPress will be installed and configured for you with all plugins mentioned above. You will be ready to login and start creating posts. Creating and editing your posts in WordPress is very easy and requires no knowledge of coding.
Add Starter Pages
don’t want to start out with a blank blog? We will create unique articles/pages for your blog. Each post will be written especially for your blog and your chosen niche/theme and published on your blog. You may supply the titles and a description of what you would like written.
Use the contact form to discuss getting your new blog and/or content pages for your blog.
300 to 400 words:
1 to 2 pages $8 per page
3 to 5 pages $7 per page
6 or more pages $5 per page
400 to 500 words:
1 to 2 pages $9 per page
3 to 5 pages $8 per page
6 or more pages $6 per page
WordPress Related Resources:
Sources for free WordPress Themes – http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
WordPress Support Forum – http://wordpress.org/support/
Written by David Slone, Copyright 2008 all rights reserved.
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I have actually been thinking about starting my own blog for a long time. Somehow I thought it was a lot more complicated than this and now I am seriously going to start thinkng about a cool domain name.