Setting up a new website is never easy, with multiple factors to take into account. Besides your content, audience and other aspects of making a website successful, hosting will be of paramount importance. You will need to ensure that the server you use works perfectly with the Content Management System you are aiming to use. It’s useful to note that out of all of the platforms only WordPress and Joomla will need its own hosting. Tumblr (and also Twitter) are hosted on the company’s own server. You will need to consider how much bandwidth and space you need, to make sure that you are not overpaying, and you will also need to take into account the views of other users when deciding on a host. The process for installing and setting up across all Content Management Systems (CMSs) is very similar. The CMS software will need to be downloaded and installed, a database set up to store content, and a theme applied to finish up. This hub will concentrate on the very popular web publishing software WordPress, demonstrating the specifics used for the platform. Setting up on a standard web host is surprisingly easy and all you need is to have the required information to hand. Some technical knowledge will of course speed up the process, but anyone should be able to install and set up a CMS and have a new website up and running within a couple of hours. There are numerous guides available on the internet which will help you, and in this tutorial I will offer some pointers to get you started.
Once you have chosen your host you should be offered a username and password to log in to your control panel. Be aware that each host may use slightly different techniques.
2. FTP
You’ll be given FTP data, where all of your website records will exist in. It’s necessary that you have an FTP client installed on your PC (many free ones are available) and try to connect to the address given by your host. You should see some default folders presented, which you will need to use.
3. Create A Database
You should see an option in your host’s dashboard called ‘MySQL Administration’;click ‘New Database’ and chose a username & passcode. At that time you’ll be presented with information like the hostname and username. Note these down because they will be needed in a future step.
4. Get WordPress
Go to WORDPRESS, download the file to your desktop and unzip it. It should turn into a folder with sub-folders within it. These will form the backbone of your website once they are uploaded to your host and you should only amend specific files at this stage.
5. The Important Part
In the main folder is a file called ‘wp-configsample. php’. Open it in a text editor and look for the instructions inside; you’ll need to input your database details from Step 4, like User id, Database Name and Password. Now save this file as ‘wp-config.php’.
6. Time To Upload
Remember where your WordPress files are saved and log in to your host’s server via your FTP client. Upload the entire ‘WordPress’ folder to the server. It’s advisable to upload just the sub-folders and files to your main host directory, e.g. www.123.com/wordpress.
7. Time To Configure
Once the upload is complete, go to your web browser and enter your URL plus
‘wp-admin/install.php’,
e.g. www.123.com/wp-admin/install.php. The process should now finish automatically and your WordPress installation will be complete. It is now time to start playing with your new website.
8. Time To Create
You’ll now see the WordPress Dashboard which will form the hub of all that you create on your new website. There are many parts to this screen, but almost everything you need when you first start building the site will be detailed in the left sidebar. You may take time creating each part of the site.
9. The Quick Start
Rather than designing a site from scratch, you can navigate to the ‘Theme’ option in the left column and search for one you like. It won’t make the site look unique, but it will enable you to build categories etc. quickly and see what they will look like to your visitors. You can then build something unique afterwards.
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