How to Easily Install a WordPress Web Hosting Panel
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) used to create websites. Launched in 2005, WordPress now powers over 28 million sites across the globe. It is extremely popular among bloggers because it is free and easy to use. To help you get started with your own WordPress-based website, we have compiled a list of tips and tricks for you to follow.
Choosing The Right Place
One of the first things you will want to do is choose the right place for your website. You will want to decide whether you want to host your site on a free web host or a premium host. The cost of a web host can differ from $2.95/mo to $14.95/mo depending on the plan you choose. A free web host will most likely have limited features but you won’t be charged a monthly fee. A premium host will offer advanced features at no additional cost.
If you are looking for a free solution, you can check out Bluehost, which is one of the most popular WordPress-hosting platforms. Not only does Bluehost offer a free plan, but it also comes with all the basic features you need to get started, including a free domain and automatic backups. To get started, click here.
Install WordPress
The next step is to install WordPress on your chosen host. This can be a bit tricky because you will need to have PHP (a programming language) and mySQL (a database system) installed on your server to make it work. Since these are server-side scripts, you will need to have access to the admin panel of your web host to be able to install them. Once these are installed, you can visit the WordPress dashboard to manage and publish content to your site.
Customize The Appearance
Once you have WordPress installed, you can begin customizing its appearance. To do this, click on the Settings icon located in the upper-right corner. From here, you can choose to change the background, colors, and style of the text.
You can download the WordPress community edition to start with and begin learning the basics. Once you are comfortable using WordPress, you can download the advanced version and begin adding more features to your website.
Activate The Plugin Directory
One of the things you will want to do is register your plugins with WordPress. To do this, click on the Plugins icon in the upper-right corner and select Activate from the drop-down menu. This will open the Plugin Directory where you can browse online for free plugins to add to your site.
While there are a lot of free plugins available, it is a good idea to register them all before adding any of them to your site. This will make it easier for you to update them when needed.
Add A Menu
Another thing you will want to do is add a menu to the top of your website. Menus are used to organize content so it is easier for visitors to navigate your website. There are a lot of free plugins available for this like the Widget Menu or the Mega Menu.
If you are looking for a free solution, you can try these out or click here to see a full list of free and premium WordPress menu plugins.
Set Up Your Analytics
If you are creating a blog, you will want to make sure you are tracking the performance of your site in some way. Analytics tools like Google Analytics can help you do this. To set up Google Analytics on your site, click on the Google button in your toolbar on your website and select Create an account. You will then be presented with a form to fill out. Enter your desired email address and create a password. Once you create a Google account, you can easily set up an Analytics account on your site.
The next step is to enter your website’s URL into the dashboard of Google Analytics. Make sure to enter your website’s URL as you will be tracking clicks and conversions from this page. Once you’ve entered your website’s URL into the dashboard of Google Analytics, the next step is to click on the Settings icon in the upper-right corner. From here, you can configure some basic settings like whether you want to track only traffic from Google or also include other services like Twitter or Facebook. You can choose to include all traffic or just referrers from known domains.
You can also set up your own Google Analytics dashboard online to monitor and track your site’s performance. To access your Google Analytics dashboard, click here to be taken to the website.
Install A Child Theme
Another thing you can do to customize the appearance of your site is to install a child theme. A child theme is essentially a theme designed to look like the parent theme but with some changes to the layout and styling. To install a child theme, navigate to Appearance in the WordPress dashboard and click on the Themes link in the menu.
You will see that there are several parent themes and you can choose from them. To install a child theme, click on the Add New button located in the upper-right corner. A menu will drop down with several themes you can choose from. Select the one you want from the menu and click on the Install button to continue.
After the download is complete, you can activate the theme by clicking on the Activate link in the admin bar. To preview the changes, click on the Themes icon in the upper-right corner of the WordPress dashboard.
Curate Content
One of the things that makes WordPress so popular among bloggers is the vast array of free and premium WordPress content available online. You can use several plugins to easily find and republish content from other websites. To see a full list of WordPress content curation plugins, click here. It’s a good idea to add a bit of curation to your own blog posts to make them more informative and interesting to readers.
Manage Pages And Posts
When you are publishing a new blog post, you will want to make sure you have one or more pages pointing to it. A page is something that is visually represented on your site but doesn’t necessarily have to be formatted in a certain way. For example, you can have a Services page that describes what you offer and includes contact information, or you can have a Blog page that contains your most recent posts.
To add a page, navigate to Pages in the WordPress dashboard and click on the Add New button in the upper-right corner.
You can add text, images, or both to your page. Make sure to click on the Save Draft button after you are done editing it. This will save it to your page and you can continue adding more pages to your site.
Add Keywords And Tags
When you are creating content for your blog, you will want to make sure you are including the right keywords and tags in your articles to make them more discoverable by potential customers. There are several tools like Google Keyword Planner and Yottajewordplanner that can help you find the right keywords and tags for your content. You can also find a list of popular keywords and tags here.
To add keywords and tags to your content, click on the gear icon in your toolbar on your WordPress Dashboard and select Settings. From here, you can download the Google Keyword Planner tool or enter your site’s URL into the Yottajewordplanner tool and begin creating keyword suggestions. You can add as many keywords and tags as you want to your content and be sure to update your content with the new keywords when you publish new content.
WordPress is a free and open-source software package that is used to build websites. The above tips should point you in the right direction to easily install a WordPress web hosting panel. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave us a message below!