Set Up a Website Using WordPress

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a completely-online system that lets you to build a website without any technical know-how. You log in to a "Control Panel" page on your website, and from there, you can create pages and make changes to your site.

You need to have bought web hosting and a domain name before you can do this step. Go back to the previous step if you don't have hosting and a domain name yet.

Overview of WordPress

WordPress is ideal for blogs, because it's so easy to make a new page/post, and because WordPress will order and organise these posts for you. (For instance, by displaying the latest post at the top of the main page.) WordPress also allows comments by visitors.

WordPress also caters for normal non-blog sites, composed of pages.

It's very easy to do the basic things in WordPress, but more complex changes are difficult. For instance, you can edit some basic features of your site's layout, but anything more than that will require knowledge of website code.

If you're happy with a basic website, you don't want to learn web design, and you don't require any specific text/colour/graphical scheme, then choose WordPress.

There is no additional cost to use WordPress.

What a WordPress Site Looks Like

This is a screenshot of a typical WordPress website, using the default TwentyTen graphical theme. You can choose a much fancier theme if you like, but I recommend sticking with TwentyTen. It's clean and simple, and is easy to edit. You can very easily replace the header picture and change the background colour.

How WordPress Works

This is a screenshot of WordPress's Control Panel.

To get to the Control Panel, you go to a special WordPress Login page on your website, and type in your password.

Everything is done from the Control Panel. At the left is a list of all the settings you can change, and things you can do.

The user is currently looking at the Add New Page page.

Basic steps to getting a WordPress website online

These first three steps are the minimum necessary to get a WordPress blog/site online. Just do them in order, and you'll have your own website.

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Installing WordPress	If you're not with FatCow, you'll need to refer to your web host's documentation, to install WordPress. If you've just signed up, you'll be looking at the Control Panel, on the FatCow website. You can do all the important stuff from here. Click InstallCentral, under the Scripting and Add-Ons heading. Click Blogs, WordPress, Begin Installation. In the Blog Title box, type in the name of your website. (e.g. Bob's Bakery.) This can be changed later. Type in any username and password you like. They can be the same as those you chose when you signed up with FatCow. Type your email address into the Admin Email box. Tick the "Yes, install to this directory, even if the directory already exists." box. Click Install Now! If it says "WordPress installed successfully", then click the link, and visit your new site. If you visit your site, and it doesn't work, then your domain name is probably still "propagating". Your internet company doesn't know it exists yet. In the meantime, visit your site at yourusername.fatcow.com (replace yourusername with the user name you chose when signing up with FatCow.) If you're with another web host, change the "fatcow" to whatever your host is. If something goes wrong with the installation, try again, or click the Live Chat button at the top, and ask for help with setting up WordPress.
Log in to the WordPress control panel	Click the Log in link. (Or go to yourdomain.com/wp-admin and click Log In.) Now Bookmark/Favorite this page in your web browser, because we'll be removing that Log In link. It's also handy to remember the address of this page, so you can log in here when you're using another computer. Type in the username and password you just chose, and click Log In. This is your WordPress control panel. You'll use it to build your site. At any time, you can click your site's name, at the top left, to see your site.
Add or edit a page	Click Pages, then Add New. Type a title in the Enter title here box at the top. I suggest making the main page of your site now. Type in something like `Home Page`. Type your page's text in the big box in the middle. You can click the little "chain" icon to add a link. At the bottom, untick the two boxes under Discussion. To insert a picture, click the little grey box, next to Upload/Insert. Click Select Files, and then go and find your image on your computer. To make some larger text (like for a paragraph header), use the Paragraph drop-down box to make some of your text into Heading 1 text. When you're finished, click the blue Publish button. If you have lots of pages, it's best to organise them into a hierarchy, by using the "Parent" drop-down box, at the right of the screen. (For instance, you'd make a main Recipes page, and then for each recipe, you'd make a new page, and use the drop-down box to set the main Recipes page as its Parent.)

WORDPRESS

Installing WordPress

If you're not with FatCow, you'll need to refer to your web host's documentation, to install WordPress.

If you've just signed up, you'll be looking at the Control Panel, on the FatCow website. You can do all the important stuff from here.

Click InstallCentral, under the Scripting and Add-Ons heading.
Click Blogs, WordPress, Begin Installation.
In the Blog Title box, type in the name of your website. (e.g. Bob's Bakery.) This can be changed later.
Type in any username and password you like. They can be the same as those you chose when you signed up with FatCow.
Type your email address into the Admin Email box.
Tick the "Yes, install to this directory, even if the directory already exists." box.
Click Install Now!
If it says "WordPress installed successfully", then click the link, and visit your new site.

If you visit your site, and it doesn't work, then your domain name is probably still "propagating". Your internet company doesn't know it exists yet. In the meantime, visit your site at yourusername.fatcow.com (replace yourusername with the user name you chose when signing up with FatCow.) If you're with another web host, change the "fatcow" to whatever your host is.

If something goes wrong with the installation, try again, or click the Live Chat button at the top, and ask for help with setting up WordPress.

Click the Log in link. (Or go to yourdomain.com/wp-admin and click Log In.)
Now Bookmark/Favorite this page in your web browser, because we'll be removing that Log In link. It's also handy to remember the address of this page, so you can log in here when you're using another computer.
Type in the username and password you just chose, and click Log In.

This is your WordPress control panel. You'll use it to build your site.

At any time, you can click your site's name, at the top left, to see your site.

Add or edit a page

Click Pages, then Add New.
Type a title in the Enter title here box at the top. I suggest making the main page of your site now. Type in something like Home Page.
Type your page's text in the big box in the middle.
You can click the little "chain" icon to add a link.
At the bottom, untick the two boxes under Discussion.
To insert a picture, click the little grey box, next to Upload/Insert. Click Select Files, and then go and find your image on your computer.
To make some larger text (like for a paragraph header), use the Paragraph drop-down box to make some of your text into Heading 1 text.
When you're finished, click the blue Publish button.

If you have lots of pages, it's best to organise them into a hierarchy, by using the "Parent" drop-down box, at the right of the screen. (For instance, you'd make a main Recipes page, and then for each recipe, you'd make a new page, and use the drop-down box to set the main Recipes page as its Parent.)

Now that your website is online, just keep adding more pages.

Customise your new website

This chart lists more basic things you'll likely want to do, once your website is online.

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Some important settings to change	Click Settings. Change or delete the Tagline. Then click Save Changes. IMPORTANT: If your site is an information or business website (not a blog), then click Reading, and choose A static page. Click the first dropdown box, and choose a page to be the home page of your site. This means your main page is one you choose, not a list of the latest "posts". Then click Save Changes. Click Discussion. As with above, if you're running a business or information site, you probably want to turn comments off, so people can't post comments and discuss things at the bottom of your pages. Untick all three Default article settings boxes. Click Save Changes. (If you do want to allow comments, you can play with the settings on this page.) IMPORTANT: Click Search Engines Blocked, at the top. Make your site visible to everyone, and click Save Changes. (Unless you want to keep your site secret for some reason.)
Change the header picture	Click Appearance, Header. Click Browse, and choose a picture on your computer. Click Upload. Move and/or resize the box, to select part of this image to be your new header. Click Crop and Publish.
Add a link	Click Links. Tick the box next to Name, and a tick will appear in every box. Click the Bulk Actions dropdown box, and click Delete. Click Apply. Now, to make a new link, click Add New. As an example here, we'll make a link to Website Setup Guide. You can remove this link later if you like, or leave it there if you like this site, and want to help me out. :) Type in `Website Setup Guide` as the name, and `http://websitesetupguide.com` as the Web Address. Tick the little box next to Blogroll. Click Add Link (blue button at top right.) This new link is now added to your Links "widget". However, your Links widget isn't on your page yet. Click Appearance, Widgets. Widgets are menus, search boxes, lists, and any other little items you can put on your site. If they're in one of the dark grey Widget Areas on the right hand side of the screen, then they're on your site. If not, they're not on your site. There will be six widgets on the Primary Widget Area. You don't want any of those, so drag them out. Drag the Links widget in. Note that there has to be one widget in the Primary Widget Area. If you don't put one in there, it will show the default widgets. (So if you don't want any widgets, just put the Text widget in there, to stop the default widgets appearing.)
Problems?	If you're having trouble with any of these instructions, or you want to do something that isn't described on this site, or you can't get your site to look how you want it to, then please go to the More Information page, and contact me. I'll be able to help.

The End

You've reached the end of the three steps to getting a website onto the internet. However, there are lots of extra things you can do, to make your new website a success. Read about them in the More Information section >>

If you've just been reading through this guide, and you feel like you're now ready to start creating your own website, then click here to sign up for web hosting and a domain name. Then come back here.