Build A Better Website With Me - How to install WordPress to your hosted site.

Build a better website with me is a series I'm sharing, covering my migration from Blogger to a self-hosted WordPress site. I have no experience or skills in the area of web-development, so I'm sharing my steps to help other bloggers through the complex WordPress system.

In my last post on this topic I showed you how to register your own domain name through your host. I'm using Just Host for my set up because they are very cheap compared to most and they offer a lot of help along the way. You should be able to follow most of these steps with your own host.

Installing WordPress

Log into your host site, and head straight to the cPanel, remember it looks like this:

The page scrolls down to show a LOT of options and management systems - you don't need to worry about any of that. All we will look at today is the section called 'Website Builders' (the one down from 'Mail' - I'll show you how to set up your own mail later).

The first icon under 'Website Builders' is 'WordPress'. You can click on that now.

What will appear if you're using Just Host is a diversion to a site called mojo marketplace. Don't panic, this is just the third-party company Just Host use to install WordPress themes (the backgrounds and designs). Mojo Marketplace sell lots of themes, but there are also plenty available from within WordPress for free. I'll show you where to get themes later.

This is what should appear once the page diverts:

Click on that shiny green 'Start' button!

Next, you have choose which domain you want to attach a WordPress site to. If this is your first site, you'll probably only have one choice.

With the drop down menu (next to the web domain name) it offered me a choice of including www. or leaving it out (http://charmaineclancy.com). I wasn't sure, so I use the name with the www. (If in doubt, have a guess and see what you can break!)

You'll probably get a warning:

Install directory exists and is not empty. Please confirm that it is safe to overwrite any content in this directory.

That's just because your host puts up stuff on your domain until you override it. Just tick the box to allow the installation to go ahead anyway. 

On the next screen, don't rush to publish - first, tick the box for Advanced Options. Now you'll be able to put in the name of your website, and you can change the password (otherwise write down the one they show you because it's impossible to remember).

Click the green 'Install Now' button and your WordPress installation will begin!

Then you'll be greeted by this screen:

At the bottom of the page you'll get the option to browse for templates through Mojo - those are paid templates to purchase. You can search for free templates from within WordPress.

To head to your new WordPress site (which will be looking pretty bare at this stage), go to the Login URL - you can click on the hyperlink with the '/wp-admin extension'. Your password will be the one you entered earlier (and wrote down... I hope... otherwise attempt to sign in and you can request your password if you need to).

You're all set! In my next Build a better website with me series, I'll show you how to install a template to your page (that's the layout and design of your website).

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Build A Better Website With Me - How to register and activate your own .com domain name

Build a better website with me will be a series on blog posts covering my journey to migrate from Blogger to WordPress. 

I outlined some of the reasons for my changeover in my previous post: Build A Better Website With Me. By keeping the beginning of each website-related post the same, those who are keen to learn how to use WordPress as their platform can follow along. But if you can do without the techie posts, it'll be easy for you to spot which ones to ignore.

Today's post is showing you how to gain a domain name through your host.

My host is Just Host (also called Host Clear). I can confidently recommend this host, they have treated me well, are easy to use and offer immediate online chat for solutions if you get stuck. There's a lot of others out there, and a few are ones I've tried that have disappointed me. There are other good hosts, but I can't recommend a product I haven't tried. Maybe ask around.

Once you're signed up with your host, and you have your log in details, go to the home page and log in.

This will take you to the 'cPanel' (control panel). It looks pretty scary! Don't worry, you'll never need to touch most of those buttons.

For now, you just need to click on the word 'Domains' on that blue bar at the top.

Yes, I have a lot of domains

See the search box in the middle? Use that to see if the domain name you want is taken. For example, I might search  for dreamwritepublish.com (I did, and it's not available). I don't recommend changing to .net, if yours is not available, I think you are better off changing the name slightly (maybe dreamwritepublishonline.com).

Of course, as an author, you want your pen name as your webpage. If your name is Stephen King, there's a good chance you won't score your name, maybe you could be stephenkingnovels.com or stephenkingsbooks4kids.com. Choose something that is easy to remember. Hyphens are a bad idea, no one remembers to put hyphens in. I'd rather dreamwritepublishonline than dream-write-publish.com. Click 'Next'.

BEFORE YOU PURCHASE

There is a box automatically clicked for Domain Privacy. This means your details will not show up as the person who registered the domain name. Go ahead and keep it if that's important to you. I choose to unclick the box, because I don't care if my name is associated with the domain (I don't have any scam websites), and it costs an extra $9.99 for every domain you purchase.

You will have to tick the 'Terms of Service' box. And click 'Add to Cart'. Another good thing about Just Host, is they keep giving me free domain name credits (I don't know why), so today I'm purchasing iTeenMagic, because I think Matilda can add it to her magic site (she has big plans).

Go ahead now and purchase your domain name. You can purchase domain names from other places a couple of dollars cheaper, but then you'd have to import them into Just Host (or your host). Being new to website creation, I don't know how easy that is.

On the next page, click on the dark grey button 'Manage' (under 'manage my add on products).

Now you're at your 'domain list manager', and you'll see your domain name listed in a box in the bottom left-hand side of the screen. If this is your first domain and your main account, it should be called your 'primary'. See from the picture that charmaineclancy.com is my primary domain:

If, like me, you've gone a bit nuts and purchased the entire internet, the extra domain names should be converted from 'Unassigned' to 'Addon'. Just Host lets you add on as many domain names as you like and you don't pay any extra for hosting those sites.

You are all done registering your very groovy domain name! Maybe you chose your author name, or your blog name, or both. The next step is installing your WordPress theme, to do that you need to go to 'Hosting' (second word in the blue bar at the top of the page, right past 'Home'). 

This will take you back to the cPanel. I'll post all the instructions on installing WordPress to your new site in my next post!

If you are not ready to set up a new website, but think you'll want this information, don't worry, I've decided to put all these posts together into a guide for everyone as soon as I'm done (for free of course, if you want to pay, there are better experts on the subject!).

And if you get impatient and rush ahead and then get stuck? Don't worry, help is a click away! Up the top on the right-hand side, if you click on 'Help?', a drop-down menu appears:

See that offer of a 'Live Chat'? Choose it! Don't be shy! The elves at Just Host are super friendly, can easily work out your problem and best of all, they don't judge you for making obvious mistakes (I know from experience).

Do you want to see how one of my sites is coming along?

Check out iTeenWrite - it's my new site for kids and teens, my aim is to inspire and teach teens to unleash their creative potential. I'm even offering free video tutorials. Let me know what you think of the design - what do you think the site could use?

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Getting your website off and running

My new website project is coming along nicely - and I will show you how soon!

Hello bloggy friends!

I'm on a bit of a high at the moment. Why? I've got a new project. Whenever I begin something new, I'm like a kid on red cordial. I stay up late and wake up early and can't wait to get started. 

But I'm not writing. This project is not a story, it's a website. A website I did not want to make ... because it would be hard. Now I'm getting some (slow) progress, I'm really excited. I promised to share the steps, so I've been taking loads of screen shots and making notes all along the way. In fact, that's my first tip: If you adjust, rebuild, start from scratch, or touch ANY button on your blog/website, keep a notebook dedicated to your site by the computer. Write down everything you do. That way, if you delete the whole project (as I did, not once, but twice) you'll be able to backtrack and at worst, will have the steps to repeat (minus the deleting bit).

I'm so keen, that I'm not just starting my website, but a few others as well! I'll be creating:

iTeenWrite - a site for all my workshop materials for kids and teens who want to write (I'm even making vlogs!).

Happy Family Challenges - anyone who knows me is familiar with my whacky challenges I set for myself and my family. I'm now going to share various activities and challenges you can take to bring your family together in a fun way.

illusions4kids - one of my challenges was to set a project for my daughters to start up a small business and run it for six months, at which time it will be evaluated for its success. They started off with ideas like dog washing, but quickly moved to an online platform for their business. They'll be following Pat Flynn's advice on setting up a niche website business. They plan on making videos performing magic tricks, only revealing the secrets to kids who sign up to the young magician's club (all free). They're hoping to be sponsored by products relevant to the magic world. Matilda is a magic lover and now a young entrepreneur (teenpreneur?).

Phew! I've got my work cut out for me. I'm hoping that recording all the steps will make it easier for each new site I have to set up.

Soon I'll post the first step. Just to remind you, I'll be using Just Host (who also go by the names Host Clear and Super Green Hosting). There are other good hosts, but I can only recommend the one I use and like (when I had a problem late last night, I hopped on the chat function and had it solved and explained within 3 minutes). 

My next post will show you how to register your domain name and install Wordpress via the 'cPanel' (fancy name for dashboard), and even how to choose a 'theme' (template, layout design for your site). If you want to see how I'm going so far, here's my landing page (most links don't work yet - but they will soon!).

www.charmaineclancy.com

And for even more excitement! My good bloggy friend, Michael Di Gesu is revealing a new novel by Siv Maria Ottem - featuring a cover illustrated by Michael! Pop over to cheer them on:

Michael Di Gesu ... In Time

Siv Ottem ... Been there, done that.

And one last thing ... have you signed up yet for the Imagination Sparks Blogfest? It's a fun event where we all share one of our favourite ways to warm up our creative muscles before writing. Do you take a walk? Have a writing exercise? Something we can try? Share it for the blogfest, then go around to others and try a few of their ides.

Sign up now and please spread the word!

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Build a Better Author Website With Me

I put Zoe in charge of building my website, but she spent all her time on Grumpy Cat memes.

It's important for authors these days to be accessible online, especially if you're starting out with self-publishing or going through a small press publisher who doesn't have the big budget to promote your work. 

I've loved my blog. It has remained my favourite form of social networking, and I've tried a lot of them! I will always blog, aiming to share any information I think can help other writers and authors. But now, I need to create a more professional website to host my blog. My page needs more than Blogger can provide.

Don't get me wrong, Blogger is still a great platform for new bloggers. It's easier to use than many others, and allows you to track your growing follower list. And I've no intention of deleting everything I've built here, but migration will begin soon to a new hosted site, using a professional Wordpress theme. My site will have pages to accommodate my upcoming vlogs for teens and kids on creative writing (iTeenWrite), information about my writing workshops, a book page, free resources and, of course, my blog.

I'm starting from scratch and doing this techie work myself, so it'll be a while off yet. So why am I telling you now? I'm going to record every step with lots of screen shots and voice over instructions, so if you take this path you won't make my mistakes. I'm hoping to make web building easy for you!  

Here's the thing. I can help you each step of the way if your process is the same as mine. My host site and domain name is Just Host, I find them reliable, consistent and fairly good value. I tried Squarespace but found it more than double the price for a platform that was too complicated for me to use and only produced a very basic site without an IT degree. I've heard good things about Crazy Domains, but haven't tried them. I can happily give Just Host a plug and have included an affiliate link below - have a look and see if it's for you. 

My first step will be installing Wordpress through Just Host:

You have homework! Even if you don't want to try this tactic for building your site, this is something you should do before creating any website. Write a plan, a list of all the important things you want to include on your website. Will you offer writers' workshop, school visits? Want a sales page for books? An email sign up form? Plan before you build, it'll make life easier later!

Don't forget to sign up for our awesome blog hop!

Imagination Sparks Blogfest

Starts August 1, sign up now!

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