Point Nameserver to Media Temple for WordPress Hosting

This is Niccolo Machiavelli and I’ve been playing around with WordPress recently. In case you’re curious, here’s a quick rundown of my setup. (more…)

The Setup

To follow along, you’ll need a fresh WordPress installation using the following plugins:

• Akismet
• Autosave
• Contact Form 7
• Gravity Forms
• Jetpack
• Revslug
• ShortPixel
• Simple Image Slider

Domain Name

The first thing you’ll need to do is pick a memorable domain name for your site. In my case, I went with niccolo.org. Now, it’s important to note that this is a POINT nameserver. When you use a POINT nameserver, all the names under the point are resolved to the IP address of that server. In my case, this means that all my clients’ sites are hosted on my server, and they can’t edit or update the content on my site without asking me first.

Tip: You can purchase a domain name that’s already hosted from a company like Bluehost, or you can use a free domain name registrar like WordPress.com. Either way, you’ll end up with something that resembles this:

www.niccolo.org

Web Hosting

Once you have your domain name, you’ll need to pick a web hosting provider. In my case, I went with Media Temple, mainly because they offer a free domain name with every hosting plan (more on this later). For now, just know that there are a variety of web hosting providers out there, and it’s important to find one that suits your needs. If you’re just getting started and don’t know what to look for, go with shared hosting. It’s one of the most popular options among bloggers because it’s simple, and it won’t cost you a dime. Once you’ve hosted your site with WordPress, you can always move to a more advanced plan if you decide that you need a little more power.

Tip: Start with a free trial or a few months paid hosting to see how it works for you. That way, if you do decide that you want to continue, you can lock in a good price without having to worry about signing up for a year or more in advance.

Email Accounts

Now that you have your domain name and web hosting, you’ll need to set up email accounts for your website. You can use Gmail or any other free email service, but I would recommend using a dedicated email account for your website. The benefit of this is that you can have a different email address for each of your sites, and you can even use a different password for each account. This way, if one site is broken into by hackers, they won’t be able to access your other sites as well.

Once you have your email accounts set up, you’ll need to confirm your subscription to the relevant mailing lists for your chosen topics. I recommend doing this as soon as possible, as subscribing to these mailing lists will make it much easier for you to keep up to date with the latest developments in your industry. You can also choose to get occasional emails from selected bloggers in your space. This is a great way to get ahead in the blogging world because it shows that you’re trying to be helpful and keep abreast of developments in your industry.

WordPress Installation

The last step before you start posting is to install WordPress on your server. This is very easy to do and doesn’t require any kind of professional skills. Once you have WordPress installed, it’s time to configure your account so that it’s ready to begin accepting and posting content. For this, you’ll need to visit your WordPress dashboard and click on the Settings link in the upper right-hand corner. From here, you can choose to display your site publicly or set it to be accessible by just your friends and family.

Tip: If you decide that you want your site to be accessible by the general public, you can use the free Basic plan from WordPress.com. This will give you a basic template with no design features and no functionalities enabled. You’ll still be able to use custom domains, but you won’t be able to install any WordPress plugins or themes.

Points And Meters

Just like with domain names, the quality of your content is more important than the quantity. That is, unless you plan on getting a lot of traffic to your site. In that case, you’ll want to go with a shared hosting plan, as these come with extra perks like free site analytics tools and automated backups.

So, to recap:

1. Point nameserver – (required) – (for free. If you do choose to purchase a point, make sure to find a reputable company. Never buy points from a dodgy company) – (for security. Point nameservers are more secure than using a free domain name registrar like GoDaddy with a shared hosting plan. Plus, you can use a point for more than just one domain)

2. Domain name – (required) – (go with.com,.net, or.org) – (for easy domain registration and management) – (if you decide to purchase this, make sure to purchase a reputable brand. You can also use free domain registration software like Fantastic from Bluehost)

3. Email Accounts – (required) – (Gmail or any other free email service) – (for sending out important information to your subscribers) – (this is also where you’ll set up your publication’s mailing list) – (make sure to look into each service’s privacy policy before using their services)

4. Web Hosting – (required) – (Media Temple’s free domain name with hosting plan) – (shared hosting is easy to use and doesn’t require any technical skills. Just make sure that your host is reputable) – (select this option if you don’t have the skills needed to install WordPress yourself) – (make sure to use a strong password when signing up with this host) – (they also offer 1-click installation of the WordPress content management system) – (this gives you the flexibility to add more features to your site (like custom CSS, for example) – (they also offer free backups and daily snapshots)

5. WordPress Installation – (required) – (clients’ sites are hosted on my server. So, any changes that they make to the content on their sites will be reflected on mine. Which is nice for credibility. ) – (for security. Again, a point nameserver is more secure than using a free domain name registrar with a shared hosting plan. Plus, you can use a point for more than just one domain)

6. Theme Selection – (required) – (you’ll need a theme for your site. There are dozens upon dozens of themes out there, all with varying degrees of features. It’s important to find one that suits your needs. This is a bit harder than it seems because not all themes are made equal. Some themes are built for specific platforms while others try to be all-in-one solutions. When picking a theme, make sure that you go for a quality product that is fully responsive (i.e. it looks the same on all devices). If you decide that you don’t want to use a theme, that’s totally cool too. You can always find free minimalist templates from WordPress.com.