This will be a general overview and I won’t get into too many details as the details will depend on a lot of things.
1) Purchase a domain name (domain names are like your street address on the internet). Many people suggest buying the domain name from a separate company than the company that will host your site (hosting referring to running the servers that hold the files of your website). This can help prevent lock-in if you need to switch hosts.
2) Purchase hosting. Do your research (although this is harder than it should be despite the internet) and seriously be skeptical of the “free” or really cheap plans. Make sure your hosting service provides PHP 5.2.4 and MySQL 5.0 as WordPress needs these two technologies to run. Many hosts also provide a one-click WordPress install option. I’d suggest learning how to install WordPress manually as it’s a great learning experience and ultimately you can have more control over your WordPress install.
3) Use the details from your hosting service to attach your domain name to your site (basically telling the internet that “this is where my website lives” and providing directions on how to get there).
4) Set up a MySQL database for WordPress. Your host should provide the details on how to do this. Remember the name of this database and the user account and password – you will need this when you install WordPress.
5) Assuming you have SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) access to your server, SFTP in and upload WordPress (unzip it first before uploading). This folder should reside in your webroot folder (on Apache servers, this is often called “htdocs”). Your host can tell you where that folder is – but it’s vitally important that you upload WordPress there.
6) Edit the wp-config-sample.php file found in the WordPress folder. It’s easiest to do this locally on your machine with a text-editor. Put in the correct information for the database (database name, database user name, database password). Save this file as wp-config.php and upload it to your WordPress folder on the server.
7) Now point your web browser to your-domain-name.com/wordpress/ and you should be greeted with the famous WordPress 5-minute install screen where you’ll name your wordpress site and create an admin account.
Hope this helps!
Thread Starter
AmyCh
(@amych)
Thanks a lot, that’s awesome advice. I should perhaps just hire someone else to set up a website for me… it sounds very complicated.
Another thing; which might be easier..
Can I somehow transform my WordPress.com blog into a website? I’m not sure if that’s possible, but it seems easier than ^ the above. The only things I really need to be able to do is install an e-commerce widget and my own domain name.
Is that possible/easier/something? I just want to set up a little shop on it anyhow, and the rest of my posts will be blog posts, so, er, possible?
You cannot install anything on a wordpress.com site.
