Creating Your Self-Hosted WordPress Website in 8 Easy Steps
- Choose a domain name. Find one that is easy to say and spell, and make sure it reflects your business name. Also, stay away from hyphens and numbers.
- Register your domain name. Use a reliable domain registrar, and consider registering alternates (.net, .info). You may also want to protect your private information with Whois Guard protection,
- Get web hosting. Your web host displays your page on the web. For true performance, security and expertise make sure you sign up with a dedicated managed WordPress host.
- Ask your web host for the nameservers, or DNS, for your site and plug this DNS info into your domain name registrar account.
- Install WordPress. If you use a good dedicated managed WordPress host, WordPress will be pre-installed for you. If not, many hosts offer two-minute WordPress software installation using Fantastico.
- Choose your theme. Your WordPress theme gives your site a style. Chaning your theme won’t affect your content, just the way it’s displayed. StudioPress offers some really good themes.
- Set up the basics. Will your home page be a blog or a landing page? Change this in Settings > Reading. In Settings > Permalinks, use /%postname%/ so page URLs are easy to read.
- The fun part: add content! Get to work filling your pages with great content. Read Copyblogger to learn how to attract visitors and keep them engaged. After your site is set up, you can focus solely on creating content and attracting visitors.
