How to Create a Family Wish List Website Using WordPress
A family wish list website is the perfect place to keep track of all those Christmas and birthday gifts you’ve been meaning to buy for family and friends. It can be a great way to keep track of Christmas and birthday gift ideas, as well as a useful tool for your family and friends. You can create a personal family web page where you can keep records of all the gifts you’ve purchased for different family members and friends, or you can create an online wish list where anyone can add their own ideas.
You can use a variety of plugins and snippets of code to create your family wish list website, or you can use the WordPress platform and some basic HTML and CSS for the simpler, self-hosted option. Whether you’re a seasoned web developer or this is your first time creating a website, there are plenty of easy steps to follow so you can get started building your dream site right away.
Step 1: Set Up Your Domain
The first thing you need to do is register your domain name. You can use a free domain name registrar like [HandyWebSite](https://handywebsite.com/) to get started. HandyWebSite is a reliable, reputable company that specializes in domain registration. After you’ve registered your domain, make sure to set up your hosting too. You can get a free domain with hosting from any of the above-mentioned companies, or you can use a WordPress hosting company like [Bluehost](https://www.bluehost.com/?affiliate=U9GSDB) to run your website on. Avoid using free hosting services like Google’s Blogger or WordPress.com as they will automatically redirect your domain to their own servers. This can cause problems with your website.
Step 2: Install WordPress
To start building your family wish list website, you’ll need to install WordPress. You can use any of the various methods discussed below to install WordPress on your site. Once you’ve installed WordPress, you’ll need to configure it to your liking. You can use the WordPress dashboard to do this. The advantage of self-hosting is that you have full control over the look and feel of your site (provided you know how to use CSS), as opposed to using a free blogging platform like Blogger or WordPress.com which are essentially pre-built sites that you’re restricted in design options to.
If you’ve already installed and configured WordPress in another location, you can use a plugin like [One Click Install](https://wordpress.org/plugins/one-click-install/) to import and export your site’s content to and from your local computer. This is a great way to move your existing content to a new location or to restore content if you’ve lost it due to a crash or hack attack. It also makes it much easier to backup your site in case it gets damaged or stolen. Some WordPress users prefer to zip up their local copy of the blog and upload it to a hosting provider as a way to keep their site secure. This is also an option, but it’s not necessary as you have full control over your site’s security if you self-host. The more steps you take, the more likely you are to create a security hole somewhere. Hence, make sure you’re taking the right steps for the right reasons.
Step 3: Set Up Your Database And Login Information
In the next step, you’ll need to set up your database and fill in your login details. You can use any of the various free or paid WordPress database administrators (DBAs) like [MySQL](https://www.mysql.com/) or [MariaDB](https://mariadb.com/) to get started. Make sure to also set up your database with a username and password to protect your content from being accessed by unauthorized users.
If you’ve already set up a database with a different DBA, you can use the [Import/Export Settings](https://wordpress.org/support/article/importing-and-exporting-settings/) plugin to bring over your database’s content. This is a great way to quickly set up a new website and doesn’t require you to have any experience working with databases. However, if you’re new to working with databases, then it’s best to use one of the free alternatives mentioned above.
Step 4: Create Your Homepage
The next step is to create your home page. A basic HTML page with your content in it will do just fine. You can add a few more fancy tricks like images or CSS to make it look a little more presentable, but it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Just make sure you’ve got content.
If you’ve already created a homepage in another location, you can use the [One Click Install](https://wordpress.org/plugins/one-click-install/) plugin to import and export your site’s content to and from your local computer. This is a great way to move your existing content to a new location or to restore content if you’ve lost it due to a crash or hack attack. It also makes it much easier to backup your site in case it gets damaged or stolen. Some WordPress users prefer to zip up their local copy of the blog and upload it to a hosting provider as a way to keep their site secure. This is also an option, but it’s not necessary as you have full control over your site’s security if you self-host. The more steps you take, the more likely you are to create a security hole somewhere. Hence, make sure you’re taking the right steps for the right reasons.
Step 5: Activate The Productive Plugins And Extensions
After you’ve installed WordPress, you’ll want to activate the various plugins and extensions for it to work its magic. It’s a good idea to activate these plugins and extensions during setup, instead of waiting until you’ve used them a few times, so you can get the most out of them. Some of the plugins and extensions that you’ll need to activate are:
- [Akismet](https://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/)
- [All-in-One SEO](https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo/)
- [Attraction](https://wordpress.org/plugins/attraction/)
- [Contact Form 7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/)
- [Easy Digital Downloads](https://wordpress.org/plugins/digital-downloads-manager/)
- [Featured Images](https://wordpress.org/plugins/featured-images/)
- [Get Response](https://wordpress.org/plugins/get-response/)
- [Highlight Text](https://wordpress.org/plugins/highlight-text/)
- [Instagram](https://wordpress.org/plugins/instagram/)
- [Jetpack](https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/)
- [Password Strength Checker](https://wordpress.org/plugins/password-strength-checker/)
- [Pretty Links](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-links/)
- [Product Review](https://wordpress.org/plugins/product-review/)
- [Revolution Slider](https://wordpress.org/plugins/revolution-slider/)
- [Scrapbook](https://wordpress.org/plugins/scrapbook/)
- [Simple Sharing](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-sharing/)
- [Solicitations](https://wordpress.org/plugins/solicitations/)
- [Statistic](https://wordpress.org/plugins/statistic/)
- [User Management](https://wordpress.org/plugins/user-management/)
- [WP-Offload](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-offload/)
- [XML Sitemap](https://wordpress.org/plugins/xml-sitemap/)
- [Yoast SEO](https://wordpress.org/plugins/yoast-seo/)
Make sure to also install and activate Google Analytics and Google Fonts which are both free and extremely helpful when it comes to optimizing your site and understanding its performance.
Step 6: Install WordPress To Your Live Webspace
The final step is to install WordPress to your live webspace. You can use one of the various free domain name registrars like [HandyWebSite](https://handywebsite.com/) or [1&1](https://www.1and1.com/) to get started. Make sure to also set up your hosting too. If you’ve already set up a hosting provider, you can use its automated installer to install WordPress on your site. Alternatively, you can use one of the various methods discussed below to manually install WordPress onto your live webspace.