How to Self-Host a WordPress Website – My Custom Plugins That I Use
If you’re looking for ways to save money, why not consider self-hosting a WordPress website? With this in mind, I went ahead and created a blog platform using WordPress.com’s free hosted service. In this article, I’ll discuss how I use WordPress to power my blog and some of the plugins I find useful. The aim of this article is for you to consider self-hosting a WordPress site so you can access all the tools available. You can get started for free with WordPress.com, but if you want to enhance your experience, you can look at the many different hosting plans available from the WordPress team or other reputable providers.
Beginner’s Guide to Self-Hosting a WordPress Website
If you’re looking to start a blog, why not use WordPress.com’s free hosting service? Essentially, WordPress.com allows you to use their platform and service to launch your blog. They even provide you with a custom-made domain name and install WordPress on their servers for you. What’s not to love?
The first step in self-hosting is to choose a web hosting company that offers this service. It’s also advisable to look at other features their packages offer to find the best fit for your needs. For example, does the company offer a free domain name? What about backups and security? Is there a particular feature you need, such as free storage or a dedicated IP?
The Most Useful Plugins For Blogging
While WordPress.com’s free hosting service provides you with a ready-to-use WordPress platform, you can enhance your blog’s functionality by installing various plugins. In this way, you can save a lot of time while getting your blog up and running. Here are some of my favorite WordPress plugins that make my blog more useful.
Akismet
I think we can all agree that spam is a significant issue when it comes to blogging. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution: install the Akismet plugin and prevent spam by creating filtered lists of words and phrases that you find annoying or off-topic.
Take a look at the screenshot below. I’ve installed the Akismet plugin and added a couple of phrases that I frequently encounter in spam emails. As you can see, WordPress now flags these words as problematic and displays a red mark in the footnote. When a comment is flagged as spam, it is hidden from public view and the offending user is notified via email.
To be on the safe side, install the Akismet plugin even if you don’t plan on using malicious words or phrases. This plugin is very useful for those who blog about technical topics as it helps protect your blog from spam. If you write about products, you can use the Product Review Plugin to allow users to leave reviews and comment on your blog posts.
Automattic’s Jetpack
If you’re a designer who blogs about fashion or beauty, you can use Automattic’s Jetpack plugin to enhance your blog’s look.
The Jetpack plugin is a free add-on for WordPress users. What makes this plugin so special is its integration with other services, such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Etsy. You can use these platforms to share images and content to encourage visitors to your blog. As a blogger, you can also use Jetpack to set up quick affiliate marketing campaigns with platforms like Clickbank.
By integrating with these various platforms, you can automate as much as possible. For example, if you have a store on Etsy, you can have items listed as soon as you complete their simple one-page checkout. Pinterest users can also have their content promoted as soon as it’s posted – no need to wait for your followers to come back after they’ve browsed your blog post once or twice!
As a WordPress user, you can take advantage of Jetpack’s automated tools to save time and get your blog up and running in no time. Just remember to update this plugin frequently to stay on the safe side.
Better Search
If you write about something you find interesting, it’s likely that you’ll encounter a lot of different terms and phrases when performing your research. For example, let’s say you’re a fashion journalist who covers style, trends, and fashion-related topics. If you write about the 2018 fashion trends for women, you’ll most certainly come across the following words and phrases: fashion, styles, clothing, brands, apparel, and so on.
To maintain quality and avoid any spelling errors, you could use a plugin like Better Search. This is a free tool that enables you to build your own custom search engine optimized for your blog’s content. For example, let’s say you have a blog about styling tips for men. When someone enters the following keywords into the search bar: ‘best hair styles for men’, you’ll see several results including your blog post. If you want to set up a quick search bar for yourself on your blog, Better Search is the perfect solution.
Custom Post Type Switcher
A post type switcher is a WordPress plugin that can be used to create new post types based on your existing content. For example, let’s say you’re a food blogger who predominantly covers recipes. With this plugin, you can create a new post type called’recipes’ and apply it to all your existing content. As a result, any new content you publish will be posted to the’recipes’ post type. You can also create additional post types based on your existing content, such as ‘family recipes’, ‘healthier recipes’, and so on.
If you decide to use a post type switcher, make sure you update your blog’s associated taxonomies (categories and tags) to accurately reflect the content of your new post types. For example, if you decide to use the’recipes’ post type, you’ll need to update your blog’s category and tag lists to include’recipes’. Keep in mind: categories and tags are designed to help users discover content that’s relevant to them. If you use incorrect values, you could hurt your blog’s discoverability.
Redirect for Posts
Redirect for Posts is a WordPress plugin that can be used to create temporary or permanent redirects for your blog’s content. For example, if you regularly publish how-to articles and you notice that some of these posts go viral, you can use this plugin to automatically redirect these posts to a single page. This way, all your visitors will automatically be brought to a single place – your blog’s front page.
Once installed, this plugin works by looking at your post’s existing URLs. If it finds matches, it will automatically create a permanent redirect. If not, it will create a temporary redirect that expires after a set amount of time.
If you regularly post how-to articles and notice that some of them go viral, you can use this plugin to automatically redirect these posts to a single page. This way, all your visitors will automatically be brought to a single place – your blog’s front page.
The advantage of using Redirect for Posts is that you can choose from a variety of redirect options. Some options include sending visitors to a completely different website, blog post, or section of your blog. You can choose a date in the future or choose to have the redirect point to a specific post or page.
Smashing Magazine’s WP-Slider
Smashing Magazine’s WP-Slider is a premium WordPress plugin that can be used to create unlimited side-slideshows from your existing blog content. This is a great choice for fashion or beauty bloggers who want to display their latest outfits on their blog. As a general rule, these types of bloggers should use this plugin.
The slider’s unlimited styling options make it fairly easy to implement. Simply choose a theme that has a built-in slider and you’re good to go. To make it even simpler, you can use a service like Hello Fresh to get all the ingredients for your dinner plans. As you might imagine, a weekly online delivery service can get very expensive. So if you’re someone who likes to cook, you can use the Hello Fresh app to order all the necessary ingredients for your next dinner party. Then, when it comes time to make the dish, you can mix and match the ingredients to create some variety in your routine. That, my friends, is how you can use a simple WordPress plugin to save money and have some fun at the same time!