How to Import a Site to WordPress Managed Hosting
WordPress is the most popular open-source content management system (CMS) in the world. It’s used by blogs, websites, and online stores across the globe for everything from small personal websites to large e-commerce stores. The flexibility and functionality of the platform are unparalleled, making it the perfect choice for anyone who needs a content management system.
If you’re looking to import a website or blog to WordPress managed hosting, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about migrating your site to WordPress from another platform or CMS.
Step 1: Select The Right Hosting For Your Site
When setting up a new WordPress site, you’ll typically have the choice of going with a free or paid-for hosting plan. The price difference is often not significant, so it’s a matter of personal preference which you choose. The most popular and arguably the most reliable free hosting provider is Bluehost. With them, you’ll get a free domain and you can install WordPress straight away. If you already have a hosting plan with Bluehost, you can migrate your site to WordPress with just a few clicks.
For those looking for a higher degree of flexibility and control over the content they create, paid-for hosting is the way to go. With an established reputation and a solid track record, you can be sure to get great performance from Hetzner Online, for example. These are the pros and cons of both options.
Step 2: Install WordPress
WordPress is an open-source project, which means it’s freely available to download and install on your server. If you have access to the command line, this is a simple process involving typing a few short commands. For those looking to DIY their blog or website, using a WordPress installation service is generally the advised route. WordPress can be downloaded from the official website in a single file named wp-install.php. Once you’ve downloaded and saved this file to your computer, you can upload it to your hosting server with FTP or an equivalent program. If you’re installing WordPress on a shared hosting plan, be sure to check with your web host to see if they offer direct WordPress installation or if you have to make an additional account on their end.
After you’ve uploaded and installed WordPress, you’ll have to create a database for the platform. To do this, visit your dashboard and click on the WP icon. From here, you can click on the Databases tab found at the top of the page to create a new one. Name the database something simple like “myblog” and click on the Create database button to continue. The next step is to activate the database. To do this, click on the database in the left-hand column and then click on the Activate button next to the database you’ve just created.
Finally, you’ll want to visit the site’s administrative area by navigating to http://YOURDOMAIN.com/wp-admin where YOURDOMAIN is your domain name and wp-admin is the directory within your site’s hosting account that WordPress has installed to by default. Once you’re at this point, you can log in using the default credentials (admin for username and password).
Step 3: Set Up Your Site’s Back-end
Once you’ve installed WordPress and activated the database, you can set up your site’s back-end using the Dashboard functionality within the platform. To get to the Dashboard, click on the WP icon on your website’s toolbar to open up the WordPress dashboard. Along the top of the page, you’ll see four icons: Blog, Events, Forums, and Links. Clicking on the first one, Blog, will take you to the dashboard for your news site or blog. The remaining three are self-explanatory.
Within the Dashboard, you can click on the Settings icon and change the settings for your site. You’ll find four tabs at the top of the screen: General, Design, Development, and Network. Let’s go over each one in turn.
The General Tab
The General tab is where you’ll find basic site settings such as the site’s name, description, and logos. You can also upload and manage your site’s design templates from here. The name of your site will be used throughout the platform to reference itself, so be sure to choose a unique and memorable name.
The description is similar to the meta description for your blog posts or articles. You can add a short blurb about your site or service, as well as link to any external websites or social media accounts.
Design Tab
The Design tab gives you the freedom to choose the colors, fonts, and layouts for your blog or website. To get started, click on the WordPress logo in the upper-right corner of the screen to open the WordPress design editor. Here, you can use the color picker to change the color of your text, links, and buttons.
To start with, the color of your text will depend on the platform. If you’re using a dark background behind your text, browsers will display it in a light color. For example, if you’ve selected a red color for your site’s text, the text will appear vermilion in color.
On the other hand, if you have a light background behind your text, it will be displayed in black.
Development Tab
The Development tab allows you to make changes to your site’s code. This is where you’ll find the guts of your site’s functionality. To get started, click on the WordPress logo in the upper-right corner of the screen to open the WordPress development editor. Here, you can use the text editor to write your site’s HTML and CSS.
In the upper-left corner of the screen, you’ll see the blue and white icon for WordPress. Clicking on this icon will take you to a menu where you can select either the Classic or the Genesis framework for your site. Both of these are popular and well-established WordPress frameworks that allow you to build a professional site quickly and easily.
Network Tab
The Network tab gives you the freedom to control access to your site. You can select either the Public or the Private network option for your site’s registration. If you’ve purchased a paid-for hosting plan from a reputable company, you can also opt to make your site private by changing the Network options to Public until you’ve grown your site sufficiently to make it private.
The Public Network option makes your site accessible to anyone who’s located anywhere around the world. The Private Network option makes your site accessible only to those who’ve been granted permission to access it (typically your site’s registered users).
Choose the Public Network option if you’re looking to attract as many people as possible to your site. If you’ve purchased a paid-for plan from a reputable company, you can also opt to make your site private by changing the Network options to Private until you’ve grown your site sufficiently to make it private.
Make sure to also click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page to save your work.
To test out the functionality of your site’s back-end, click the Preview button near the top of the page to launch a preview website in a new browser tab.
Step 4: Configure Your Site’s Permissions
Once you’ve set up your site’s back-end, you can come back and configure the privileges (also known as User Levels or Access Levels) for your user accounts. To do this, click on the Users icon in the dashboard’s left-hand sidebar to open up the User CP. Here, you can create new user accounts and assign them with varying degrees of access to your site’s content and functionality.
To create a user account, click on the user icon (the square with a person’s face) in the upper-right corner of the dashboard. This will bring you to the User CP where you can enter the user name and a password for the account. After you’ve created the account, you can come back here and set the privileges for the new user.