How to set up a WordPress Website

Choosing and setup hosting

Choose a hosting provider that fits your budget and needs. Hosts range from ultra-inexpensive shared options to higher dollar Virtual Private Server (VPS) offerings. Most hosting companies provide an array of offerings. Here are some hosting companies I have been happy with:

• GreenGeeks
• Sentree.io
• Media Temple

Choose and purchase a domain name

The domain name is the user-facing address of your website. It consists of the domain name, the top-level domain, and- in some instances- an optional subdomain name. It breaks down as follows:

You’ll need to purchase the domain name from a registrar. Each registrar will also offer the opportunity to search for available domain names. Choose one that makes sense for your business and website. Here are some registrar options:

• GoDaddy
• Domain.com

Point the domain name to the host’s name servers

Now you have a server to host your website on, as well as a name users can enter into their browser’s address bar to find it. However, if they were to enter that name at this moment, they would be delivered the following:

What’s happening here is that even though the domain name exists, it has no idea what the end destination should be. To correct this, you’ll need to provide it that information.

The first thing we’ll need it the server name to point to. You can login to your cPanel and find this information, but really, a quick google search of ‘how to locate name server {host name}’ will be faster. In my case, the host name is GreenGeeks. The search results lead to this page:

Copy the name server values pictured above, login to your domain registrar locate your site name in the under ‘Domain’ and select ‘manage DNS’:

Next, locate the Nameservers section. This is where you’ll enter the name you copied from your host:

Save the changes.

How to install WordPress on the host

For this step you’ll typically have a couple options. You can manually install a copy of WordPress onto your server yourself. However, many hosts also have an install software embedded in their service, that will allow for a lower-hassle install. I’m not going to deep dive into either of these since there are many good tutorials out there to walk you thru it, including this one from GreenGeeks, but below is a high-level outline of the steps you’ll be taking:

Install SSL on the host

At this point your website is setup. However, the connection it is using is unsecure, which is bad for both security and SEO. To correct this, you’ll need to install an SSL certificate, which will allow for a secure connection.

Per the GreenGeeks documentation, an SSL:

An SSL certificate is a file that is installed on the web server. It ensures that the domain name in the certificate matches the domain name of the site, and enables a visitor’s browser to make a secure, encrypted connection to the site.