How to Host a WordPress Site in Austin, TX
Having a website that generates revenue is something to be incredibly proud of. It means that you’ve given your audience what they want and you’ve provided a service that helps others. But, that doesn’t mean that hosting a website is easy. In fact, once you’ve established yourself as an expert in your space, hosting can become somewhat of an inconvenience.
To help you host your WordPress site in the most professional manner possible, we’ll outline a few tips and tricks that will help get your site up and running quickly and smoothly. Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll have all the info necessary to get started and your site will run smoothly.
Find A Reliable Hosting Provider
Before you start building your site, you’ll need to find a reliable web hosting provider that offers a wide variety of plans and is committed to providing you with a high-quality experience. While it’s not essential to find the perfect host for your site, it is key to find one that is just right for you. Remember, you’re paying for what you use so you don’t want to go with a host that charges you a lot just to keep the site up and running. Instead, look for a reliable hosting company that offers reasonably priced packages that don’t skimp out on any of the service’s features. Also, make sure to read their support documentation thoroughly in case you do encounter problems. This way, you’ll know exactly what kind of customer service to expect.
Pick A Suitable Domain Name
The first thing you’ll need to do to start your WordPress site is to pick a suitable domain name. You don’t want to pick a.com or a.net because these are already taken. To prevent this, you should look for a suitable alternative that isn’t already in use. In most cases, the best domain extension to go for is the.io domain. This is the new gTLD (Generic Top Level Domain) that was introduced by the IOS (Internet Operating System) and it’s completely free. So, not only is it great because it’s.io, but you don’t have to worry about running out of domains as there’s an entire library of them.
Install WordPress
Once you’ve found a suitable domain name, you can move onto the next step which is to install WordPress. To do this, click on the link below and follow the instructions. If you’re doing this for the first time, you may need to register for a free account with WordPress first. Once you’ve finished registering, you’ll receive an email from WordPress with a link to click on that will allow you to install the WordPress software. If you’re already logged in to your account, just click on the link below and continue with the instructions.
Create Your Database
The next step is to create your database. A database is a collection of data that are stored electronically and accessed via a search engine. Your database will hold all your site’s information and will serve as the foundation for your site. You don’t want to mess around with the structure of this database because it will make searching and finding information later on a whole lot more difficult. So, if you’re creating this database from scratch, make sure you follow the correct process. Alternatively, you can use a tool like MyDB to easily create and maintain your database. You’ll find this tool in the WordPress repository under the Tools section. Once you’ve created your database, you can proceed to the final step.
Configure WordPress
The final step is to configure WordPress. To do this, click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of your WordPress dashboard and select **Tools**. From here, you can click on **Options** to access your WordPress settings or you can click on **Site Preferences** to view a list of your site’s settings. You’ll find a variety of options here that you can configure to personalise your site. For example, you can change the background color, layout, and even the font face used for the site. Don’t worry, all of these settings can be changed via the dashboard.
Once you’ve configured WordPress, you can click on the dashboard’s **Sections** icon to access your site’s home page. From here, you can navigate to any other page on your site by clicking on the page’s title. When you find yourself on a page that you don’t remember creating, you can use the site’s **Lifecycle** tool to review the page’s content. This way, you can be sure that everything is accounted for and there are no missing pages or broken links. You can also use the **Lifecycle** tool to find and fix any errors or problems that may exist on your site. When you’re confident that your site is operating at its best, you can click on the **Sections** icon again to access your site’s archives. Here, you can find all the content that you previously published on your site by clicking on the **Blog** icon. You’ll see all your articles in a list and you can easily find the one you need by clicking on the article’s date or title. Now, if you want to keep track of your site’s content, you can create an archive list that will contain all your articles and blogs. This way, you can find your content easily whenever you need it.
Create Your Blog
After you’ve installed WordPress and configured it to your liking, you can begin creating your blog. To do this, click on the **Blog** icon in the upper right corner of your WordPress dashboard. You’ll then see a menu with three options: **Create New**, **Add New**, and **Reading**. Click on **Create New** and you’ll see a form where you can enter the details of your blog. Alternatively, if you already have a gmail account, you can use this to login to your WordPress dashboard. Then, you can click on the **Create New** icon to create a new blog with the details you entered.
Make Sure Your Site Is Secure
Now, you must make sure that your site is as secure as possible. To do this, login to your WordPress dashboard and click on the **Secure** icon in the lower left corner. Here, you’ll find instructions on how to enable or disable various security features on your site. Make sure to read these in case you get stuck or if you want to switch something off. For example, you can enable HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) which is a secure version of HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). This is an important step since this will make your site more accessible to everyone, which in turn, makes it more appealing to the search engines.
Add A Menu
If you’ve ever logged into your WordPress dashboard, you’ll know that it’s difficult to navigate when seeing pages spread all over the place. To make finding content easier, you can add a menu to your site’s header. A header is the area at the top of a website where the title and logo are displayed.
To add a menu, simply click on the **Header** icon in the upper right corner of your WordPress dashboard. You’ll then see a menu with three options: **Blog**, **Navigation**, and **Social**. To add the blog menu, click on it and you’ll see a list of your site’s sections and categories. From here, you can add your blog’s content to a menu that will appear at the top of every page on your site. Remember, you can always add more categories and sections later on if you run out of ideas.
Customise The Layout
When someone comes across your site for the first time, they’ll see a collection of articles and blog posts on your homepage. To make the most out of this collection, you can customise the layout. This means that you can add and arrange the elements on your page to make it more appealing and accessible.
To do this, click on the **Layout** icon in the upper right corner of your WordPress dashboard. Here, you can choose from a variety of options that will change the appearance of your site’s content dramatically. You can pull information from your posts or even your categories to create a unique layout that suits your needs. Make sure to choose a template that suits the contents of your site. For example, if you have a travel blog, you may want to use a template that looks like a map or a booking app.