How to Self Host a WordPress Website – 5 Simple Steps
If you’re looking for the simplest way to create a stunning, professional looking website without needing any help from a web developer, then you’ve probably come across the term “self-hosted”. You might have even heard of it, as it’s become a popular option for individuals and small businesses alike who want to create their own websites. A self-hosted website is simply one that you host yourself, and typically this means that you run your own web server and design the site using a tool like WordPress.
Although there are many advantages to self-hosting a website, it’s not a simple process that everyone can take on. In this article, we’ll discuss how to self-host a wordpress website step-by-step, including offering some pro tips along the way.
Step 1. Select A Domain Name And Buy A Premium Hosting Plan
The first step to self-hosting a wordpress website is to pick a domain name and buy a premium hosting plan from a reputable web host. As the name suggests, a premium hosting plan usually comes with additional features and benefits that you might not get if you pay less for the plan. You’ll also need to decide whether you want to use a free hosting plan or a paid one.
You can use Google Domains to easily find a suitable domain name for your website. You should look for a.com domain, as these are the most popular and most readily available TLDs (Top-Level Domains). When choosing a domain name, make sure that it’s relevant to your business and that you’ll be able to pronounce it easily. You don’t want to purchase a dot-com domain and then discover that it’s already taken thanks to brandlocking or another popular domain name.
Step 2. Install WordPress
Installing WordPress is the simplest step in the process of creating a wordpress website. To do this, you’ll need to sign up for a free WordPress account (if you don’t have one yet). Then, you’ll simply need to visit the WordPress installation dashboard, which will look like this:
Once you’re on the dashboard, click the “Install WordPress” button to begin the process of installing the software.
Depending on your operating system, this process might take a while, so be sure to have some patience. Once installed, you’ll be able to log in to your WordPress installation and begin creating your website. From here on out, everything is fairly straightforward.
Step 3. Customize Your Site Sign-Up Form
The sign-up form for your wordpress website is one of the first things that visitors will see when they visit your site. It’s therefore critical that you get this right, as making a bad first impression with a poorly designed sign-up form might hurt your conversion rates. Luckily, the sign-up form for your wordpress website is very easy to customize using popular plugins like the Cforms Revolution plugin.
With this plugin, you can quickly and easily create customizable sign-up forms for your websites, as well as landing pages, blog posts, and more.
Step 4. Choose An Identity Theft Protection Service
Identity theft protection is a growing problem, and it’s not one that you can afford to ignore. According to a 2016 report from Norton, 39 million US adults were victims of some type of identity theft in the past year, and 12 million of those adults were victims of mobile identity theft. If you’re serious about protecting your business, then you might want to consider using an identity theft protection service.
An identity theft protection service will monitor your credit card transactions and mail activity for potential signs of fraud. When fraud is detected, the service will alert you and ask you to review your personal information, including credit card numbers, to ensure that no suspicious activity has taken place. In most cases, you’ll be able to rest assured that your personal information is secure, as the service will take care of any fraudulent activity that comes to their attention.
Step 5. Backup Your Site
Even if you’re running a completely automated and manual process for updating your site, mistakes happen. Unfortunately, when they do, they can cause a lot of damage, and it’s up to you to restore your site to its previous state. For this reason, it’s essential that you make regular backups of your site. This way, if anything goes wrong, you can simply replace the content with that of the backup.
There are a number of different ways to backup your site. You can use a service like Backupsquare, which automatically creates regular backups of your site and stores them in the cloud. You can also use a software application like Acronis True Image to create image backups of your entire hard drive. This is a fairly easy and straightforward way to backup your site, as well as a quick and easy way to restore your site, should anything happen to it.
In most cases, these steps will get you up and running with a functional self-hosted website in no time at all. Be sure to follow these guidelines, and you’ll be well on your way to creating a winning business website.