Would you like to know how to setup WordPress, but you do not know anything about setting up Websites, let alone how to create a WordPress blog?
Good news, I am willing to show you everything on How to setup WordPress yourself. And, I’m offering the how to’s at no charge, in my blog.
Of course, you need to have a hosted account, and the best way to do this is to setup with a host that specializes in WordPress installs optimized for performance. Go here, and get your account setup first.
They will do a base install of WordPress, and then we can configure it step, by step in my simple tutorials.
Come back as soon as they have your account setup, and then we will make the necessary changes to have a great website based on WordPress.
NOTE: If you would prefer, I can send you an e-mail that has everything you need to get your hosting account setup. Go here if you would like me to stage the WordPress hosting account, and have an email sent with the account options directly to you.
OK, I am assuming you have your base WordPress install setup and are ready to move forward with configuring WordPress.
How to setup your WordPress website – the first steps
Step 1: Go to your staged site, typing in your account address which looks something like the following website URL, “http://ktsample.wpengine.com/wp-admin/”. Do not attempt to login to my staging site, instead, replace “ktsample.” with your staging account name found in your setup email from WPEngine.
This address redirects you to an admin username/password screen. Enter your username or email address in the first field, and your password in the second field.
Step 2: Now you should see the administrator panel to your new site. Notice the options on the left-hand side of your screen.
We are going to work through those settings before we install a theme or any plugins. Click on “Settings” towards the bottom left-side admin menu.
Step 3: The Settings tab will start you on the “General Settings” page.
A. – Check to see if your “Site Title” accurately reflects the title of your site. Keep your title simple for your site. You can expand slightly in the description area.
B. – The “Tagline” is ideal for three to five words that tell readers what they will learn by reading your content.
C. – We will leave the “WordPress Address(URL)” as is for the current time, and return later after we are ready to go live with your site.
D. – The “Site Address(URL)” will also be left alone for now.
E. – Your “Email Address” should be the address where you want to receive notifications about your site including updates and user activity.
F. – “Membership” is currently unchecked (Anyone can register). Leave this unchecked for now. We may modify this setting at a later date if we build a membership site.
G. – “New User Default Role” is set to “Subscriber”. Leave this set to “Subscriber.” for now.
H. – Now we get to change something. We are going to set “timezone” to the timezone where we do our work. There are two options to select your timezone. The first is to set your time according to Universal Time or UTC. IF you don’t know UTC, don’t worry, you can select a city that is also in your timezone. The choice is yours on this, as I have used both UTC and choosing Chicago. Either way is fine.
I. – The “date format” is F j, Y. You can opt to leave this, or you can change how dates will display on your site. I do not modify this setting.
J. – The “Time Format” is g:i a or your time will show as “1:22 am”. I leave this alone personally, but feel free to change this if you have a different preference.
K. – You are okay to modify the day your “Week Starts On” in as this will impact the way your stats change in Jetpack. I leave this unchanged.
L. – “Site Language goes unchanged for me, but if you need, you can change to fit your needs.
Step 4: Go ahead and click “Save Changes”.
Congratulations, you have just completed the first steps to setting up your website.
My next post in the “How to Setup WordPress series will cover the remaining settings options in WordPRess.