How to Create a Basic WordPress Website
Prerequisites
- You must have registered a domain name as described in Module 3, Lesson2.
- You must have signed up with a web host as described in Module 4, Lesson 3.
Sign in to Your Web Host
I'm going to assume that you went with my recommended web host SiteGround. If not, you'll need to modify your process accordingly.
Sign in to SiteGround with the credentials (user name or email address + password) you set up when joining.
Click the Next button.
You will then be asked to enter your password.
Enter your password and click the Login button.
This will take you to the Siteground home page, which may show a different special offer from the one shown below.
List Your Websites
Click the Websites tab in the top menu.
This will show a list of your existing websites, if any (you won't have any at this stage, but I'm using my account as an example and I have several).
Create Your New Website
Click the New Website button in the upper right.
SiteGround's New Website page first asks you to identify what type of domain you will be building your website on.
As you will be using the domain that you already own and have registered, click the Select button in the middle column Existing Domain. You will then be asked to enter your domain name. I'm going to use the domain name I registered in an earlier lesson goldilockscoffee.com (coffee that's just right, remember?).
Click the Continue button. This will bring up some Add New Website options.
As you will be using The Thrive Suite to populate your new site, all you need right now is the absolute minimum.
Click on the Skip & Create Empty Site button.
You will see an offer to add the Site Scanner facility to your new site. This is an extra cost and not necessary at this stage.
Click on the Finish button. You will see a confirmation message as your site is created.
Your New Website Has Been Created
When your new site has been created (yes, it's that easy) you will see a confirmation message.
This message also shows you the name servers that are being used for your new website.
Make a note of these and store them somewhere easily retrievable. You will need them to point your domain name as described in the next lesson.
You will also receive a confirmation email from SiteGround.
Install WordPress
Your next step is to install WordPress onto your new site, so that you have the powerful WordPress platform ready for you to start building content.
For your new website, click on the Site Tools button.
This will bring up a number of Pinned Tools.
Click on the Install & Manage WordPress button.
(If it's not there, click on Edit Pinned Tools and add it).
This will bring up two alternatives.
You can install WordPress only or WordPress plus WooCommerce.
WooCommerce is for e-commerce sites, which sell physical product, often drop-shipped.
I will be covering e-commerce in a separate course. For this course, we are focused on affiliate marketing.
Click the Select button under the WordPress heading.
This brings up the Application Setup screen for you to create login credentials.
Insert your username. I suggest just using your first name, as it will default as the author on your posts and pages. Don't use admin (or Admin) as these are the first ones that a hacker will try.
Enter an email address that you monitor regularly.
Use the Generate option to generate a complex password but make sure you copy it (just click Copy)and then paste it (Ctrl+V) to somewhere you can retrieve it from.
Uncheck the Install with WordPress Starter box as you won't need it.
Click the Install button.
After a short time, you will see a confirmation message.
There's one other thing you need to do and that's install an SSL certificate.
SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and with it, your site will automatically use the https protocol, rather than the unsecure http protocol.
You don't really have to worry about what any of this means. Just be aware that if you don't use it, Google and the other search engines will warn your potential visitors that your site is insecure and you don't want that to happen.
In the left side SiteGround menu, look for Security.
Click on Security to see the dropdown and then SSL Manager.
Under Install New SSL, it should already be showing your domain name.
From the dropdown next to Select SSL, chose the free Let's Encrypt.
Click the Get button.
After a few minutes, your SSL certificate should be installed and you will see a confirmation message.
Note that although your new website has been created, it cannot be found on the internet until its domain name has been pointed to SiteGround's DNS (domain name servers) and enough time has been allowed for this to be propagated across the internet.
This is all covered in the next lesson.
Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you've really started your journey towards your own successful online business journey.
You've created your first website and installed the WordPress platform on it, along with the SSL certificate that tells the search engines that the site is secure.
You can't yet find the site by typing in its domain name, but that comes in the next lesson.