How to Set Up Your First Self Hosted WordPress Blog

This is an incredibly easy process that consists of three simple steps that I will be breaking down for you so that even the most technologically challenged person can do it. Essentially these steps are as follows: #1) Grab a domain from GoDaddy, #2) Grab a hosting package from HostGator, #3) Install WordPress on the blog. And that’s all there is to it!

A self hosted blog is completely Yours. Unlike a WordPress.com hosted blog, no one can take away your blog from you for any reason because it is yours! The only way you could lose your blog is if you severely violated your hosting company’s TOS, but hey let’s discard that scenario and get started shall we?

#1) Grab a domain from GoDaddy

I recommend GoDaddy mainly because of it’s widespread popularity and the fact that since a lot of people use their services, they have great customer service. When you visit GoDaddy dot com you will be promted to register for an account – this is completely free and takes minimal effort. Once this is done it is time to purchase your domain. Choosing a domain name is important, your domain name tells viewers what to expect before they even arrive at your site. It portrays your image, your goals and what you’re on about to the world.

Be sure you at least incorporate your name or part of your name in the domain, make it catchy and easy to remember, and lastly it should be relatively short in length. Here is a video tutorial that will walk you through the buying process.

But wait! Before you go out and start snatching up all the domains out there you may want to take a look at these coupon codes that can really save you money. *Remember we are only buying a domain from GoDaddy at this point, we do not need hosting from them.

#2) Grab Hosting from HostGator

There are a couple main reasons why I highly recommend HostGator for all your hosting needs. Firstly, it is cheap without sacrificing any quality or features. Secondly, and most importantly, they have 24/7/365 support. I am not talking about email support, live forum support or some ticket based turn system crap. I am talking about 24/7, any time of the day and any day of the year live human support. You can call their help line at 3:00AM Christmas morning and you’ll speak to a live person. This to me is an important feature to have and is why HostGator has such a high customer satisfaction rate.
As you can see there are three packages, the Hatchling, Baby and Business which cost $4.95, $7.95 and $12.95 per month respectively. However, since these are promotional prices the costs do go up on each of the packages to $7.95, $9.95 and $14.95 respectively.

The Baby package will suit %99.99 of your needs to the vast majority of new and experienced bloggers alike. The Baby package is what I use and is what you should get too. The problem with the Hatchling package is that you only get 1 domain allowed, where as the Baby package allows for completely unlimited domains. You can essentially host as many WordPress blogs as you want. You get unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, unlimited everything.

Grab a Baby hosting package and you should get an email confirming your purchase as well as guiding you to your CPanel. Now comes the slightly tricky/technical part. But don’t worry it is fairly simple to do. What we need to do now is redirect the name servers from GoDaddy to HostGator.

  • Access your HostGator CPanel (should have gotten a confirmation email after purchase which will guide you there) . Once in the CPanle scroll all the way down and look on the left hand side of the page to find “Account information”. Here you will see “name servers”, you want to find the two name servers which look like [ns1321.hostgator.com].
  • Go back to GoDaddy dot com and log into your account. Find “my domains” under the Domains tab in the main menu. Here you will see a list of the domains you’ve purchased. Click on “advanced details” and find the NameServers tab. Check the bubble at the bottom labeled “I host my domains with another provider”. Copy the two name servers from GoDaddy and paste them into here. Save the info and you’re done!

This switch may take up to a couple days but usually only a couple hours. Once this is done it is time to move on to our next and final step, installing WordPress onto your new site.

#3) Installing WordPress

This is the easiest step of all. it literally can be done in a couple clicks. Firstly you’ll want to go back to your HostGator CPanel and find the button called Fantastico De Luxe. It is a blue smilely face that looks like this. Click on it. On the new page, select WordPress on the left hand side. Click new installation and follow the steps from there. Now you’re up and running with your very own blog! Uninstalling WordPress is just as easily done from the same menu should you want to start fresh. There is an excellent tutorial help guide that can teach you the ropes of CPanel.

If you need additional help with this 3rd step you can view this post on How to Install WordPress.

You’re Done!

You’ve got yourself up and running for very little costs. The domain is $9.99/ year but pretty cheap the first year if you used some of my coupon codes. On top of this you’ll be paying a mere $9.95 per month for the best hosting in town. *Note, if you’re paying more than $9.95 or are being upsold for more features than you need you’re being ripped off! The Baby package from HostGator is all you need!

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