Today I’m going to tell you about hosting and domain, and where you need to start if you want to build your own WordPress-powered website. Let’s begin!
If you want to get an official “proof of knowledge” in website development with WordPress you can take a test in our Certification Center and receive a personal e-certificate from TemplateMonster confirming your skills.
WordPress is one of the most popular CMS in the world. Almost 30% of websites are powered by WordPress. WordPress is open source and easy to use, SEO-friendly, and highly customizable. What is more, it has plugins for almost everything you’ll ever need.
Step 1: Get a Domain and Web Hosting
Before you set up WordPress itself, you are going to need two things:
- Hosting. It is a service which connects your website to the internet. If you want your website to be seen by users of the internet you need to place it on the servers of the hosting provider. There are thousands of hosting companies out there, a vast majority of which meet WordPress minimum requirements while some, like Bluehost.com, can easily exceed those requirements.
- A domain name, namely a web address. Here are some tips on how to choose a domain name:
- Stick with “.com” – The .com TLD (top-level domain) is by far the most widely accepted extension for a domain name. If you are looking for a domain name for a business then it’s even more important to choose a .com because of the credibility boost that a .com can bring.
- Keyword Rich – Choose a domain name that is full of keywords related to your website. If your site sells vitamins then try and choose a domain name that contains the word “vitamins” in the domain name.
- Avoid Slang – Stay away from slang spellings of words for the same reasons that you should stay away from numerical substitutions.
- Unique – The more unique a domain name is the easier it is to remember. Stay within the constraints of the other rules when searching for a unique domain name but if you can be clever and pull it off then finding a unique domain name can pay off handsomely for years to come.
- Sometimes you may find that the domain name you really wanted has already been taken. Look at close alternatives. Taking an existing name and inserting a hyphen (dash) can make all the difference. It also helps to break your name into individual words that will be read better by the search engines.
- If the majority of your customers are ‘local’ in the sense that you don’t export your products, then consider country extensions e.g. .us (America), .ca (Canada), .co.uk (United Kingdom) as possible alternatives, depending on where you live, of course, if the actual domain name is really important to you.
The domain name of your site depends on the topic of your website. It should convey its meaning and theme. The cafe website I am going to create falls under the local business category, that’s why I’ve decided to give it a local domain .us. The name of the cafe is “Here & There Barista”, so our domain name will be: hereisbarista.com
Step 2: WordPress Installation
Once you have set up your domain name and hosting, it’s time to install WordPress to your domain. As I said before, almost every well-established hosting provider includes WordPress auto-install and you can do it in one click. If your hosting company doesn’t provide such an option, get instructions for manual installation.
Step 3: Choosing a Template
When installation is complete, your website’s address will be displayed and is ready to be customized. Right away you will probably want to change the default theme. If you want to play with a free theme, you can choose one from TemplateMonster’s collection of free templates. Although you can find many free themes that have great functionality and a number of cool features, it doesn’t include (lifetime) support service (like TemplateMonster’s premium themes do).
This means that in case of some difficult technical problems, you’ll have to pay a third-party specialist to fix your problem.
As for the premium themes, this is where the competition starts. Every template provider tries to create the coolest and the most feature-rich products. Premium themes are usually much more reliable than the free ones, and they are not only about functionality but also about visual appeal and lifetime support. That’s why I recommend that you purchase one of the premium WordPress Templates. Here you can take a look at a gallery of premium WordPress themes.
By the way, if you make up your mind to buy one, you can get a 10% discount using the following promo code:
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I decided to buy a flagship WordPress template – Monstroid. Keeping the hand on the pulse of the latest web innovations and trends, the team of Monstroid developers implemented all of the most outstanding characteristics that are in special demand among WordPress users. The Monstroid theme remains a multipurpose web solution that can deliver any venture to the web in the most professional style with a minimum investment of your time and efforts.
The Monstroid WordPress theme is the all-in-one ready-made web design that includes all pieces of functionality needed to build and manage blogs, portfolios, business sites, and even e-commerce projects. It goes without saying that Monstroid is well-documented and comes bundled with free 24/7 professional support.
All of the theme’s components are ready to be installed with a single click using Installation Wizard. The wizard provides two installation options – automatic and manual. The automatic option installs all components of the theme’s download pack while the manual option lets you choose what specific functionality you’d like to be featured on your web page. This option will take a little bit longer to customize but you’ll have exactly the features you want for your site.
The Monstroid WordPress theme contains a collection of 19 ready-to-go styles that are suited to be applied to niche-specific online projects. Every skin is a fully-fledged web solution that’s intended to be used for the quick start of any venture. Every template is loaded with a unique set of features, which may not be found in every skin.
The topics that are available at the release of the theme’s recent update include:
- ready-made web design and portfolio designs;
- 50 built-in skins;
- full eCommerce compatibility.
All skins are available for preview on the Monstroid live demo. Take a look and I’m sure you’ll find a theme that will be perfect for your purpose.
That’s it for today. I hope everything’s clear to you so far. Tomorrow I’ll show you how to install the template to WordPress.