<html> <p>https://s28.postimg.org/me3e505od/Learn.png</p> <p>Hello and welcome! In this series, I'm teaching you everything I know about WordPress from more than a decade using this awesome platform.</p> <p>If you'd like to read Part 1:</p> <ul> <li>L<a href="https://steemit.com/wordpress/@prowebwriter/learn-wordpress-with-prowebwriter-part-1-introduction">earn WordPress with ProWebWriter - Part 1 - Introduction</a></li> </ul> <h2>What You Will Need for Part 2</h2> <ul> <li>$20 or so</li> <li>A <a href="https://www.namecheap.com/">Namecheap account</a> (or other domain registrar)</li> <li>A hosting account (I recommend most anything except GoDaddy)</li> </ul> <h2>What You Will Learn in Part 2</h2> <ul> <li>What I know about domains and hosting</li> <li>How to install WordPress</li> <li>How to access your Dashboard</li> <li>How to set up WordPress so you can begin building your site</li> </ul> <p>I'm glad you're here. Let's get started!</p> <h2>WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com</h2> <p>This part can be a little confusing for newcomers. WordPress has two different platforms which I will define in my own words below:</p> <ol> <li><a href="https://wordpress.org/"><strong>WordPress.org</strong></a> - This is the home of the free WordPress software that you install on your own domain/hosting and build your website on/with.</li> <li><a href="https://wordpress.com/"><strong>WordPress.com</strong></a> - This is the free blogging platform hosted by WordPress that allows you blog online with limited features. This is comparable to Blogger.</li> </ol> <p>Of course, I think the self-hosted option is, by far, the best one. However, WordPress.com is a great way to get familiar with WordPress and is useful in other ways. Some WordPress plugins like Jetpack require you to have a WordPress.com account in addition to your self-hosted blog.</p> <h2>Domains and Hosting</h2> <p>These two things are a must to run a self-hosted WordPress site. You should be able to get both for under $20 unless you like expensive domains like dot TV or dot IO.</p> <p>I use <a href="https://www.namecheap.com/">Namecheap</a>, but any domain host will work. A dot com domain is $11 and some change as of this writing.</p> <h3>Tips for Choosing Your Domain</h3> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/9wrqw2sop/web-design-1327873_640.png</p> <p>I was really horrible at this at first. I had some super lame domains like weblogblender.com, kerbloggle.com, waxingpoetic75.com. </p> <p>That was over 10 years ago. Finding available domains is a little harder now unless you use some obscure dot club or dot store which I don't really suggest. Dot com is still the best/most professional in my humble opinion.</p> <ul> <li>Brainstorm potential domain names and make a list</li> <li>Plug them into your domain host search to see what's available</li> <li>Rinse and repeat until you have your favorite</li> </ul> <p>I recommend branding over keywords, and keywords over an exact match domain. </p> <p><strong>Branding</strong> would be choosing a domain based on your brand or a brand you'd like to build. For example, earlier this year, I did a foray into ecommerce. I built my own fidget spinners and so I created a website under the brand Spinful.net. The dot com wasn't available.</p> <p><strong>Keywords</strong> are relevant to your domain when you have chosen a niche that you plan to build your website around or blog about. I have a make money online blog called StackingBenjis.com. (Breaking Bad fan.)</p> <p>An <strong>exact match domain</strong> is when you choose a niche like selling Vitamin C supplements, and you choose a domain of the exact keywords you are trying to rank in Google for like BuyVitaminC.com.<br> <br> Make sense? Cool.</p> <h3>Tips for Choosing a Host</h3> <p>I've been with the same host since 2010. I use Hetrixbyte.com. I found them via a webmaster forum. They are small, fast, and have the same guarantees as big players at a better price. </p> <p>I have clients on Bluehost, HostGator, and Godaddy. I don't recommend GoDaddy because they are slow, I get timed-out errors constantly, and I think they pack their servers too tight. HostGator is actually the fastest of these three.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Choose a host based on your needs.</strong> I sought out my host because I could pay for it monthly via PayPal rather than annually. </li> <li><strong>I highly recommend cPanel hosting. </strong>cPanel is<strong> </strong>a UI for managing your hosting account. I just find it easier to use. </li> </ul> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/h1e5iupbt/2017-08-27_11-56-02.png</p> <p>Stumped? Try this place - <a href="http://www.webhostingtalk.com/">http://www.webhostingtalk.com/</a></p> <p>They are all about web hosting and you can find some great deals on hosting there. You should be able to make an educated decision over there.</p> <p><strong>NOTE: A word on security certificates or SSL: Google likes the https:// protocol and will rank these sites over http://; however, in my experience I don't use https:// unless it's included free with my hosting. If you are running an ecommerce website where you will be processing payments, this is a must. Otherwise, http:// is fine.</strong></p> <h2>Installing WordPress</h2> <p>Most hosting these days features one-click WordPress installs. Since I've never installed WordPress manually, I won't even cover that. If that's something you're interested in learning, the WordPress Codex is a great place to start - <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/">https://codex.wordpress.org/</a></p> <p>Most cPanel hosting has either Softaculous or Fantastico for installing Wordpress. These are autoinstallers that provide one-click installs for all kinds of things including WordPress.</p> <p>They are both intuitive and easy to use. </p> <p>Log into your cPanel, look for either Softaculous or Fantastico and click it. </p> <p>You will then be presented with the different software you can install. </p> <p>Click WordPress.</p> <h3>Things to Watch Out For While Installing</h3> <p><strong>Make sure WordPress is installing on the main directory of your domain.</strong> Your autoinstaller may insert a directory by default as pictured below. Delete it and leave this field blank.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/4e74eg88p/2017-08-27_12-17-21.png</p> <p><strong>You can change your site name and description inside WordPress later</strong> or you can specify it on install. It doesn't matter. You can change this at any time from your WordPress Dashboard.</p> <p>The Admin Account is your log in information for WordPress. </p> <p><strong>Do NOT use Admin as your username</strong> and make sure you have a strong password.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/k0ydrtm0p/2017-08-27_12-21-15.png</p> <p><strong>Once WordPress is installed</strong>, you can log out of your cPanel and log into WordPress. </p> <p>The URL for doing so will look like this: http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/</p> <p>Log in with the credentials you specified when you installed WordPress. </p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/syj3p6egp/2017-08-27_12-31-13.png</p> <p>Save all of your log in information for both your cPanel and WordPress in a safe place.</p> <p>All of our future work will be inside WordPress itself.</p> <h2>WordPress Dashboard</h2> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/o15j42chl/2017-08-27_12-33-06.png</p> <p>This is where the magic happens.</p> <p>Every screen in your WordPress Dashboard can be customized by clicking the <strong>Screen Options</strong> drop-down menu in the top-right.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/dsd1y8oft/2017-08-27_12-35-30.png</p> <p>You can also drag and drop items around in your Dashboard. Each time you log into your Dashboard, these will be the options you see. </p> <p>As you add new plugins, more options will be available to add to your Dashboard and most of them will be added by default. You can remove them or move them according to your preference. </p> <p>I, personally, don't use this screen a lot. </p> <p>The menu to the left is the main navigation of your Dashboard.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/qzc58mfuh/2017-08-27_12-40-36.png</p> <p><strong>This will be the heart of this series. We will discuss every aspect of this menu. In addition, we will cover plugins and themes that add functionality to your WordPress site. </strong></p> <p>We will start with <strong>Settings</strong>.</p> <h2>WordPress Settings</h2> <p>In your WordPress Dashboard, hover your cursor over <strong>Settings</strong> in the left navigation and click <strong>General</strong>.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/7gc5d06gp/2017-08-27_13-10-42.png</p> <p>I will go over each item below the image.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/foe2xzyd5/2017-08-27_13-12-59.png</p> <ul> <li><strong>Site Title</strong> - The title of your website goes here. You may have specified this when you were installing WordPress. You can change it any time here. This will appear in the header of your website. </li> <li><strong>Tagline</strong> - This is a short, catchy description of what you website is about. If your site is self-explanatory, you can leave it blank, but if you want just a little more info, this is the perfect place for it. This will also appear in the header.</li> <li><strong>WordPress Address (URL)</strong> - Leave as default.</li> <li><strong>Site Address (URL)</strong> - Leave as default.</li> <li><strong>Email Address</strong> - Type the email address where you would like to receive notifications from your WordPress site. This can be your main email or you can set up an email for your domain through your cPanel. For example: you@yourdomain.com</li> <li><strong>Membership</strong> - Only check this if you are running a membership website.</li> <li><strong>New User Default Role</strong> - Leave as Subscriber.</li> <li><strong>Site Language</strong> - Choose the language for your website from the drop-down menu.</li> <li><strong>Timezone</strong> - Choose your timezone from the drop-down menu.</li> <li><strong>Date Format</strong> - Click the radio button next to your preferred date format.</li> <li><strong>Time Format</strong> - Click the radio button next to your preferred time format.</li> <li><strong>Week Starts On</strong> - Choose the day your week starts on from the drop-down menu.</li> </ul> <p>Click the blue <strong>Save Changes</strong> button.</p> <p>Click <strong>Writing</strong> under <strong>Settings</strong> in the left navigation.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/9byxo5vax/2017-08-27_13-25-49.png</p> <p>Leave everything here default for now. You can always set up email posting later if you feel that's something you will use. I will only be covering the <strong>Update Services</strong> portion at the bottom.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/fs7we93uh/2017-08-27_13-30-28.png</p> <p>When you publish a new blog post, WordPress will automatically notify or ping all the services listed in this box, one per line.</p> <p>This helps in increasing the online footprint of your content and helps it index in the search engines more quickly.</p> <p>You can build this list yourself through research. You can grab it from your favorite blogger. You can Google a fresh list for 2017. Here is the recommended list from the WordPress Codex: </p> <pre><code><a href="http://rpc.pingomatic.com/">http://rpc.pingomatic.com</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://rpc.twingly.com/">http://rpc.twingly.com</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://api.feedster.com/ping">http://api.feedster.com/ping</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://api.moreover.com/RPC2">http://api.moreover.com/RPC2</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://api.moreover.com/ping">http://api.moreover.com/ping</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2">http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php">http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.blogsnow.com/ping">http://www.blogsnow.com/ping</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi">http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc">http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php">http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://ping.blo.gs/">http://ping.blo.gs/</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://ping.feedburner.com/">http://ping.feedburner.com</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php">http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php">http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/">http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping">http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2">http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.feedsubmitter.com/">http://www.feedsubmitter.com</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://blo.gs/ping.php">http://blo.gs/ping.php</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.pingerati.net/">http://www.pingerati.net</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.pingmyblog.com/">http://www.pingmyblog.com</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://geourl.org/ping">http://geourl.org/ping</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://ipings.com/">http://ipings.com</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.weblogalot.com/ping">http://www.weblogalot.com/ping</a></code></pre> <p><br></p> <p>Get more info here - <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Update_Services">https://codex.wordpress.org/Update_Services</a></p> <p>Click <strong>Reading</strong> under <strong>Settings</strong> in the left navigation.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/ki70uc9mh/2017-08-27_13-40-04.png</p> <p>I will go over each item below the image.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/wmqvp2bw9/2017-08-27_13-56-56.png</p> <ul> <li><strong>Front Page Displays</strong> - This is where you specify what the front page of your website will display; either your home page or your blog posts. You can also use this to make your website have static pages and no blog. I will cover this in a later part of this series. (Follow me so you don't miss it!)</li> <li><strong>Blog pages show at most</strong> - 5 to 10 is a good spot. This specifies how many blog posts show per page.</li> <li><strong>Syndication feeds show the most recent</strong> - 5 posts is good here. This specifies how many blog posts appear in your RSS feed. Again, I'll cover this in a later part of this series.</li> <li><strong>For each article in a feed, show</strong> - This is a matter of preference. Excerpts will appear in your feed with a <strong>Read More</strong> link. If you specified more than 3 posts in the option above, excerpts are probably best. This also gets traffic to your blog.</li> <li><strong>Search Engine Visibility </strong>- I suggest checking this box while you are building and working on your site. Then uncheck it when you are ready to launch. If you do check it, make sure you don't forget to uncheck it!</li> </ul> <p>Click the blue <strong>Save Changes</strong> button when you're done.</p> <p>Click<strong> Discussion</strong> under <strong>Settings</strong> in the left navigation.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/shfz35e49/2017-08-27_14-07-06.png</p> <p>This entire page of settings is for the comment system of your blog. They are all self-explanatory. </p> <p>I usually leave these as the defaults. Any deviation from that is a matter of preference.</p> <p>Don't forget to save your changes at the bottom.</p> <p>Click <strong>Media</strong> under <strong>Settings</strong> in the left navigation.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/ckh76flq1/2017-08-27_14-10-56.png</p> <p>Again, this is something that I just leave defaulted, but if you have more technical needs here, the settings are available to you.</p> <p>Don't forget to save your changes!</p> <p>Click <strong>Permalinks</strong> under <strong>Settings</strong> in the left navigation.</p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/4t0h7vhkp/2017-08-27_14-15-17.png</p> <p>WordPress allows you to set your website to have SEO-friendly permalinks. I prefer the <strong>Post nam</strong>e option. As you can see, there are examples of each in this screen. Click the radio button next to your preferred setting.</p> <p>I leave my Category and Tag bases defaulted, but you can specify these here as well. </p> <p>https://s2.postimg.org/o0nm4gzw9/2017-08-27_14-17-51.png</p> <p>Click the blue <strong>Save Changes</strong> button. </p> <h2>Wrapping Up Part 2</h2> <p>That's it. The base settings from your WordPress site are all set. </p> <p>More settings may be added to this menu as you install plugins. We'll cover that when we discuss plugins later. </p> <p>At this point, you're ready to begin adding Pages, your Theme, Plugins and more.</p> <h2>Coming Up in Part 3</h2> <p>In Part 3, we will discuss the difference between Posts and Pages. We will learn how to add Pages and Posts to our website. We will go over the WordPress Editor in full. </p> <p>I'm excited! I hope you are. </p> <p>I also hope that you will consider following me so you don't miss the future posts in this series. If you want to check out Part 1, here's the link:</p> <ul> <li>L<a href="https://steemit.com/wordpress/@prowebwriter/learn-wordpress-with-prowebwriter-part-1-introduction">earn WordPress with ProWebWriter - Part 1 - Introduction</a></li> </ul> <p>If you have any questions regarding setting up your WordPress site, please comment below. I will do my best to answer each one. You may just help another Steemian!</p> <p>Thanks for reading!</p> <p><a href="https://steemit.com/wordpress/@prowebwriter/learn-wordpress-with-prowebwriter-part-3-posts-pages-and-the-wordpress-editor">Go on to Part 3</a>. </p> </html>
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| permlink | learn-wordpress-with-prowebwriter-part-2-setting-up-your-wordpress-site |
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