Freebies. Tutorials. Everything to Make a Cute Blog.
Okay, so I have been getting LOTS of email and questions about WordPress lately, and I ran across an AWESOME deal over at WP101! It is only $19 for a LIFETIME subscriptions to their training videos. I just ran across the deal, and I have no clue how long it is going to last, so take advantage of it! Click on the image below to check it out.
If you are brand new to WordPress, or if you are looking to make the switch, I highly recommend checking this out.
Step 1: Register Your Domain
The steps outlined in this tutorial will be based on registering your domain with GoDaddy. I highly recommend them as a domain registrar! (I am not paid or compensated in any way for my recommendation – GoDaddy is simply my personal preference)
The domain registration is pretty straight forward, but if you have any questions, contact GoDaddy support.
Step 2: Sign Up for Hosting
The steps in this tutorial are based on hosting through Host Gator. (again, this is just my personal preference – I am not compensated in any way for my recommendation). The “Hatchling Plan” works fine!
*IMPORTANT* – Under “Step 1: Choose a Domain,” enter the domain you registered through GoDaddy under “I Currently Have a Domain Name.”
Again, the registration process should be pretty straight forward, but contact Host Gator Support if you have any questions.
Step 3: Update your DNS Settings
Now we need to marry your domain to your hosting account. First, open the welcome from Host Gator containing your account information. You should see two lines that look something like this:
Your 1st Nameserver: ns1.hostgator.com
Your 2nd Nameserver: ns2.hostgator.com
(do not use the above unless told so in your welcome email)
Next, log in to your GoDaddy account and click “My Account” on the far right. Under the “Domains” section, click “Advanced Details” next to your domain name. Then select “Set Nameservers” as shown below and replace the existing information with your nameservers located within your HostGator welcome email.
*Important Note* – Any time you make a DNS (domain name server) change it takes around 24-48 hours to complete. During this proprogation time routers all over the world are updating their cache. This causes your site to be up and down randomly during the first 48 hours for different people at different times.
Step 4: Install WordPress
Once your DNS settings have been updated successfully, visit (yourdomain).com/cpanel/ and log in using your Host Gator username and password. If you have trouble loggin in, please contact Host Gator support.
Once you’ve logged in, click on the “Fantastico De Luxe” icon as shown below.
Next, select “WordPress” from the sidebar and press “New Installation” as shown below.
Enter your information as shown below.
Click “Finish Installation” on the next page, and you’re done!
You can log into your new blog by visiting (yourdomain).com/wp-admin/
Jessica Barnard, creator of The Pixelista™, discovered her passion for web development through adding her own design flair to a personal blog in 2005. In 2008, She went on to launch her career as the Creative Director of Mesquite Lifestyles Magazine, and later embraced her entrepreneurial spirit by professionally designing blogs through her first business venture, A Blog to Brag About™ in 2009.
As her business grew in popularity, Jessica was able to expand to a full range of web/design services. In early 2011, she re-branded her business to The Pixelista™ and hired new team members Charlie Hester (Content Manager) and Nicole Alesi (Illustrator).
Jessica is currently doing WordPress classes, I just took one and it was GREAT! There is still time to sign up for her class on Friday the 18th! Oh, and did I mention that it is only $10!!! If you are considering the switch to WordPress, it worth just taking the class to get an idea of what WordPress is like. She walks you through setting up a domain, hosting, and installing WordPress. Once the class is finished, you will be ready to dive in!
You’ve probably noticed on your recent blog-jogs that many bloggers are taking the plunge into the self-hosted WordPress blog platform(such as myself)! Of course I still LOVE Blogger.
WordPress is a powerful content management system that can bring your blog to the next level. Here are some of our favorite WordPress features that aren’t possible with Blogger (just to name a few!):
Better comments system: WordPress allows commentors to include text links! You can also edit individual reader comments.
Shorter, SEO Links: Turn “http://www.yourblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/your-post.html” into “http://yourblog.com/your-post/” Your links will be easier for humans and search engines alike! ;)
Integrated Menu Navigation: Create an organized drop-down menu bar with just a few clicks of a button!
Thousands of Plug-ins: Want to add a prancing unicorn that sneezes glitter to your blog without any messy code? There’s a plugin for that! (Just kidding. But in all seriousness, we can’t even begin to explain the awesomeness of plugins – you’ll just have to see for yourself!)
My friend Jessica at The Pixelista will be hosting a workshop on Tuesday, March 1st at 8:00pm for those wanting to learn more about WordPress. At only $10 to register, you’ve really got nothing to lose! I myself will be attending, so I hope to see you there! ;)
I wanted to start out WordPress week with a tutorial on how to set up a local server on your computer so that you can test out WordPress without having to spend any $$$ (I am sooo cheap :) on hosting, before you know if you like it or not.
Not only is MAMP fantastic for not spending money to test out WordPress, it is awesome if you are a designer and you want to work on designs without having make a “UNDER CONSTRUCTION” page or if you want to just test some things out.
First off, MAMP is for Mac ONLY, so if you use Windows, I am not a ton of help (I don’t even own a PC…). So if you have Windows, I found a tutorial HERE, that is similar to MAMP. If you are a MACaholic like me :) I will show you how do set everything up right here.
Step 1: Download WordPress
Go HERE to download WordPress, and click on the Download Link.
Now you need to unzip the file you just downloaded and rename the “wordpress” folder to what ever you want to name it (don’t use spaces, so just do a one word name, or use _ s in it).
Step 2: Download MAMP
Here is the Link to the FREE MAMP Download.
After you have Downloaded and Installed MAMP, you need to take the WordPress folder that you have renamed, and move it into your MAMP htdocs folder shown below. (you can see that I have a few different sites in there that I am able to work on simultaneously!)
Step 3: Check your MAMP Preferences
Open your MAMP application (when you start it up, it will open a web page, that you need to leave open). When you open MAMP, you need to click on Preferences, then Apache. Your document root needs to say this: /Applications/MAMP/htdocs (if it doesn’t already, change it) **if you want to save your websites in a different location, this needs to be changed to the location that you have your websites.
Step 4: Check that MAMP is running correctly
To make sure that MAMP is running properly, first, make sure that the Green lights are on. If they are red, click Start Servers. If it is working, it should look like this:
Now you need to go to: http://localhost:8888/ if you see your folder(s), then you are good up to this point!
Step 4: Setting Up Your WordPress Site
Now you need to go back to the webpage that I told you not to close earlier, if you did close it, or it didn’t come up it is: http://localhost:8888/MAMP (MAMP must be capitalized)
Next you need to click on phpMyAdmin at the top of the page.
Now create a new database, and name it the SAME thing that you named your folder earlier.
Now go back to your Folder on your computer and find the file that is called wp-config-sample.php
and rename it to wp-config.php
Now OPEN that file in Text Edit, and find this section.
Now, change ‘database_name_here’ to the folder name you have used (mine is Site_to_Test), then change ‘username_here‘ and ‘password_here‘ to ‘root‘ This is how it should look now:
Now SAVE your file, and go to http://localhost:8888/FOLDER-NAME-HERE (change FOLDER-NAME-HERE to what you have named your folder), and you should see this!
Fill in the form, and Install. Now when ever you want to work on your WordPress site, make sure that MAMP is running, and go here: http://localhost:8888/FOLDER-NAME-HERE/wp-login.php to login.
**Note: MAMP is only a LOCAL server, so no one else can access your site on the net, you must purchase hosting in order to have your website up on the net, this is only good working on the design and testing.
