Creating your own website (or blog) is exciting stuff. Let's begin.
To have your own site, all you need to do is follow the instructions in the yellow box below. It should take about ten minutes.
Important: Please note that you don't need to download or upload anything, go to any website other than FatCow's, or do anything other than what's in this box. Just do this step, and you'll have your own website.
It's all pretty simple, but you can always talk to FatCow's Live Chat if you get stuck, or have any questions.
Click here to sign up for FatCow hosting >> (Make sure you visit FatCow by clicking this link, because right now they're offering a 65% discount, to readers of this guide.)
It's easiest to sign up for a new domain name for free when you sign up with FatCow, and just abandon your old one.
If you want to keep your existing domain name, just talk to their Live Chat once you've signed up. They'll help you connect your domain name to your new FatCow web hosting.
If you have web hosting somewhere else, my guide won't really be able to help you. The settings are different for each web host, and I can only offer assistance to people who are actual or potential FatCow customers. However, if you do want to follow this guide, and set up your website right now, you can easily switch to FatCow. Just sign up with FatCow. If you already have a domain name you'd like to keep, talk to FatCow's Live Chat.
Go to the FatCow website, and click on Control Panel, if you're not already there.
Click on WordPress, then Install, then Complete.
Click Site URL.
Congratulations! Your site is now online. It usually takes a few hours for your local internet provider to discover your new site, but you can visit (and work on) your site at username.fatcow.com in the meantime (replace username with the user name you chose when signing up with FatCow.) FatCow's Live Chat will be able to help you if you have any questions or problems.
You can play around with WordPress yourself if you like, but you'll find it much easier if you refer to these instructions (below) instead.
Ignore the Jetpack section.
Click the "Log in" link on your site.
You can also go to something.com/wp-admin (Most people bookmark this page, and then remove the Log In link from their site later.)
Type in your WordPress username and password. (These were emailed to you. They're not the same as your FatCow details. Click Lost your password? if you can't find the email.)
Click Log In.
At any time, you can click your site's name, at the top left, to see your site.
(The handy grey toolbar that appears is only visible to you.)
Click Pages, then click Add New.
(You may want to untick Allow Comments here. Click Screen Options, Discussion, to see this option.)
Type a title in the Enter title here box.
Type your page's text in the big box in the middle.
Click the blue Publish button (at the right.)
A new button will be added to the menu, that links to this new page.
Type any number in the Order box. Your site's menu bar will list your pages from lowest Order to highest.
If you have lots of pages, it's best to organise them into a hierarchy, by using the "Parent" 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.)
By default, the main page of your site is a blog, with one post on it. That's fine if your site is a blog, but otherwise, you should choose a different page to be your main page. (Don't just edit the blog post that's there. If you do that, it will still have the date, category and "Leave a Reply" on it.)
Create a new page, as in the step above. Then click Settings, Reading, and press the little button next to A static page.
Click the Front Page dropdown box, and choose the page you just created (you can make a new page first, or just choose the Sample Page if it's the only page there.) Click Save Changes.
If you still want a blog, you can choose another page to be your "posts page".
While you're writing a page, click Screen Options at the top right, and then tick Discussion. The Allow Comments box will appear at the bottom of the page. Untick it.
To have comments turned off on all new pages by default, click Settings, Discussion. Untick all three Default article settings boxes. Click Save Changes.
Click Posts, then Add New.
Type a title in the Enter title here box.
Type your post's text in the big box in the middle.
Click the blue Publish button.
Organise your posts, by creating Categories to put them in. (e.g. Family, Rants, Fishing etc.) Your categories are listed at the right of your website. A visitor can click on a category, and see the posts in that category.
While you're typing your post, click + Add New Category, and type in a name. Then click the button, to add it. Tick all the categories you want this post to be in.
If you'd like to help Website Setup Guide, you can mention it in your first post, which helps boost this site's ranking with Google. Just write some appropriate text, select some of it, click the chain link icon, and put in http://websitesetupguide.com
Click Appearance, Widgets.
The links and things at the right of the page are "Widgets".
Any widget in the Primary Widget Area (at the right of the screen) is active on your site. You can drag widgets in and out of there. Leave at least one widget in there, otherwise WordPress will just display an assortment of unwanted widgets.
Click Settings, General.
Change the Site Title and Tagline.
Important: Never change the WordPress address (URL) and Site address (URL) boxes on this page.
While you're editing a page, click the little grey box, next to Upload/Insert.
Click the Detailed instructions button below, for information about aligning the pictures properly.
Click Select Files, and then go and find your image on your computer and Open it. Then click Upload.
You can add a Caption. This is a small piece of text that will appear under the picture.
I recommend choosing the Left alignment. This will make your picture move to the left of the page, with the text flowing to its right.
Near the bottom, click Insert into Post.
While editing a page or a post, select some text. Then click the little "chain" icon.
Click Appearance, Header.
Click Browse, and choose a picture on your computer. (Choose a picture at least as big as the current header. A small image blown up to that size will look pixellated.) Then click Upload.
Move and/or resize the box, to select part of this image to be your new header. Click Crop and Publish.
Click Appearance, Themes.
Click Install Themes, at the top.
Click Featured, or type in the name of a theme you'd like to search for.
Click Install, and then Install Now.
Click Activate. (Installing the theme just downloads it and makes it available to you. You need to activate a theme, to apply it to your site.)
Be aware that many themes have extra features, and some work differently or have less features than the default theme. If your chosen theme isn't working as you want it to, you'll need to investigate it yourself, or choose another theme. I can't help with themes other than the default theme.
If there's something you want to do, that's not covered on this chart, please see the Big List of Common Questions & Issues page.
If you're having trouble with any of these instructions, or you can't get your site to look how you want it to, then please go to the Contact Page.
Plugins are significant extra features you can add to your site/blog. There are thousands of plugins available. They're easy to install, and can do almost anything.
Anyone with a new blog should watch out for "comment spam" – unrelated comments like "great post, I agree" that also contain links. These are automated messages posted by robots. They're not real comments. The Akismet plugin blocks this comment spam.
The Akismet plugin comes with WordPress, but is not activated by default. Activate it in the plugins section, then follow its instructions, to get an "API key". If you tell the Akismet site that your site/blog is a personal blog, then you can get Akismet for free.
I recommend Grunion Contact Form.
In the WordPress control panel, click on the Plugins section, then Add New. Search for Grunion Contact Form, and a list of plugins will appear. Click Install Now, next to the plugin, then click Activate.
Once it's installed, edit one of your pages you'd like to put a contact form on.
Next to Upload/Insert, a second icon, called "Add a Custom Form" will have appeared. Click it.
Create your form. This is all pretty self-explanatory. Make sure you click on Email Notifications, and put in your email address.
When you're finished, click Add this form to my post. Some code will appear in your page, but don't worry. Visitors will see a contact form, not the code.
You've reached the end of the site.
If you want to read more general information about websites, head back to Step 4: Extra Information >>
If you feel like you're ready to start making your site, head to the top of this page, and begin >>