How to Install WordPress on VisionHosting
Everyone needs a website. If you’re looking to get your own website, you’ll need to choose between countless web hosting companies, each with their perks and quirks. One of the more popular choices that keeps getting more and more popular is WordPress.
WordPress was originally created in 2003 as a simple blogging platform. In later years it evolved into more of a content-management system. These days, it’s the de facto standard for bloggers and website owners. Because of its popularity, simple to use interface, and open source character, WordPress is relatively easy to set up. In this article, we’ll walk you through the process of installing WordPress on VisionHosting, a popular web host that provides one-click installers for WordPress.
The Basics
Like most content-management systems, WordPress is a CMS (content-management system). A content-management system is a piece of software that acts as a middleman between your content (such as blog posts, images, and videos) and the platform on which you’re publishing it (e.g., Facebook, Shopify, and Medium).
This is in contrast to a website builder, which is used to develop a completely custom website without any content management system.
WordPress’ popularity stems from its ease of use and its vast feature set. The open source software is available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. This means you can download it for free from WordPress.org and install it on your server. Once it’s installed, you can use its intuitive user interface to easily add content and design your site the way you want.
WordPress’ biggest selling point is the huge community that supports it. The WordPress.org team constantly updates the software to keep up with the latest trends and technology. With so many people using it, there’s always someone around to help if you have any questions.
WordPress can be used to create any kind of website you can think of. It’s perfectly suited for small businesses, bloggers, or anyone else who wants to create a professional-looking web page.
Step 1: Install WordPress on Your Server
Before you start configuring your WordPress site, you’ll need to have your machine/server ready. You can use one of the many one-click installers from a reputable web host like VisionHosting to make the process of getting up and running as simple as possible. The one-click installer will install WordPress in less than five minutes and give you a beautiful, fully functioning web page with pre-installed plugins and themes that you can use right away.
This process also creates a database for you to use to store your site’s data. You’ll need to set up a separate account (with a free email address) on your server in order to manage your WordPress site. Make sure you back up your database before you start working on your site because you never know what could happen (e.g., hard drive failures, malware, etc.).
Step 2: Configure WordPress
Once you have WordPress installed on your server, you’ll need to configure it to work with your sites. This process is very similar to installing any other piece of software and follows a very specific set of steps that you can find online.
The steps below will walk you through the process of configuring WordPress so that it works with your specific requirements. You can use this guide as a template to get started.
Create a database: This is where you’ll keep your content, including posts, pages, and other things. To create a database, enter your server’s login information when prompted and then select the database administrator (a.k.a., “root”) from the drop-down menu. When the database is created, you can use the MySQL Workbench program to connect to it and get to work.
Step 3: Connect to the Database
Now that you have a working database, you can log in and connect to it using the MySQL Workbench program. You can download the MySQL Workbench program from MySQL.com and install it on your computer. Then, follow the prompts to create a new database (e.g., test) and allow the program to connect to it. Once you’re connected to the database, you can use MySQL Workbench’s Navigator program to navigate to and examine your data.
Step 4: Identify Themes And Plugins
The next step in the process of configuring your WordPress site is to find the right themes and plugins. Themes are the style (or look) of your site and plugins are how you make it work. Without themes or plugins, your site will look like a “plain” WordPress installation with no special features or functionality.
There are hundreds of free themes and plugins available for download from WordPress.org. To find the right ones for your needs, you can use specific keywords (like “medical” or “lawyer”) to search for related themes and plugins in the WordPress Theme and Plugin directory. You can find a list of the best free themes and plugins on WordPress.org.
Step 5: Create Your Homepage
When you set up a new WordPress site, you’ll initially be presented with a blank page when you load up your server. This is called a “homepage” and is where you’ll want to enter all the important information for your site. You can use the WordPress’ default home template to get started (it’s called “blogger” and can be accessed from the “Dashboard” area of your WordPress site).
This step is fairly self-explanatory. You’ll want to create a page that’s somewhere between a blog post and a traditional website’s home page. Use this space to provide important information about your site (including an about page for your blog). You can also use your homepage to promote and share important information about your site – like press releases, events, etc.
Step 6: Design Your Blog
Now that you have a working WordPress site with a homepage, you can begin designing your blog. A blog is a type of website where you publish short pieces of content (e.g., blog posts) on a regular basis. To create a blog, you’ll want to use one of WordPress’s built-in themes (it’s called “twelve” and can be accessed from the “Appearance” area of your WordPress site).
Once you’ve chosen a theme, you can start adding content to your blog. To make it easier to add new content, you can use plugins to write posts for you. There are hundreds of plugins available for download from WordPress.org. Just search for “wordpress plugin” in your favorite search engine to find them.
Step 7: Build Your Email List
With a blog, you never know when someone will want to reach out and connect with you. One of the best things you can do for your blog is to build a strong email list. An email list is a group of people who have opted to receive regular updates from you via email. You can use a tool like AWeber to collect email addresses from your blog’s visitors. You can also use a form to collect email addresses at the point of purchase (e.g., when they make a purchase from your online store).
Once you have an email list, you can send out regular updates (e.g., weekly) via email to keep your audience engaged and interested in your content.
Step 8: Optimize The Blog For Search
Blogs are meant to be accessed by the public so that people can learn about your company, products, and services. To increase the likelihood of your blog being accessed by the right people in your niche, you can use tools like Google Analytics to track the traffic (and thus, value) to your blog. Just search for “analytics” when you’re on your blog’s page in your browser and you’ll be brought to a page with all the tools you need to get started.
One of the most important things you can do for your blog is to make it more search engine friendly. The process of optimizing a blog for search engine visibility is known as “SEO” (search engine optimization). To begin with, pick a popular search engine (like Google or Bing) and enter your blog’s URL (the address of your website) into the search bar.
From there, you can use the search engine’s advanced tools to find all the problems and issues with your blog’s content (e.g., spelling errors, grammatical errors, etc.). Sometimes, these tools can even suggest the right keywords and changes you can make to make your blog more search engine friendly.