How to set up a WordPress blog

Some may ask "Why learn to set up your own blog when there are plenty of bloging sites on the net already"...

Well, the answer is simple. Control! You can control every aspect of your blog. From who see's it to what goes on it, to where it will be seen. More importantly - You can earn money from your blog by selling advertising on it or putting Affiliate links and not worry about splitting revenue with a blog company. Also you have the ability to add more function with the use of 3ed party Plugins (A plugin is a fancy term for neat stuff that does cool things - like if a twinkies yellow out side is WP and 3ed party Plugins are the cream filling..yumm a tasty metaphor) and more importantly you can control what not to advertise on your site. In short setting up and owning your own blog.. it just looks more professional and allows you to reflect the you better.

For the geek inclined minded people you will need to have at least this to kick it with WP...
1.A Web Host.
2.A Domain name.
3.PHP version 4.3 or greater
4.MySQL version 4.0 or greater
5.and thats all.... so no 5. :P

For everyone else... what this means is;
WP is like a sexy date, someone you want to make your wife (or Husband) however before they will move in and tie the knot with ya, your houses (or web host) has to have Door mat (or domain name), a computer (or php) and some wall space for their book collection (or a MySQL database). And thats it, WP is not a picky date. So just as long as your not hosting it off your brothers hamster powered computer... chances are good you will be ok..

Ahh, but what is hosting.. Good Question. Read on!

A host is someone (or a company) with a real fast Internet connection. No, not like that gaming kid down the block who owns you each night in on-line game play cause of their uber fast connection.. No no. it's someone who is Plugged into the backbone of the Internet with fiber optic switches and infrastructure with more computers and flashing lights then you can shake a stick at (and trust me you can shake a stick at a lot of things).

All joking aside tho, picking a host is an important issue. If you pick a bad one your site will be down a lot and you will end up getting nickel and dime for every service that should be standard with hosting (like a MySqul database), and it will end up costing you a ton more! Trust me... I worked with many people who used bad hosts thinking they are saving 10$ a year, but ended up costing them 100+ more after they added in everything they needed.

With that said, for the rest of this tutorial I will be using the host I recommend. If you chose to use someone else or have your own host already, fear not. The information presented here is pretty universal and can be applied to most any host. However I will be using www.ixwebhosting.com.

Why Do i use them?
With a http://www.ixwebhosting.com account you get 2 domain names for life just for sing up (FYI-most times a domain name is 15$ for a year- but you get 2 for the life of the time your with IX) Additional they have great up time (the time your web page is online). Signing up is easy - Here is the link.

http://www.ixwebhosting.com

Ok, so you have a host and a domain name now. Excellent! This is good time to go and down load WordPress.

Go here and look for a button that says "Download WordPress" (don't worry its big).

http://wordpress.org/download/

Just save it to your desktop for now.

While that downloads we will move on to our next order of business. Setting up a database. (so scary :P not really.

A database is just like shelfs on the wall your new WordPress install will store books and files on )

What a data base is. It is just a book shelf of sorts that an application uses to store its notes and data on. Thats it. Setting one up on your host is easy. Follow along to see how to set it up on a www.ixwebhosting.com account.

1.Log in
2.Go to your account
3.Scroll down to "Databases" and click the "MySQL Server " icon
4.Click "Add database" (It looks like a little piece of paper next to the words)
5.Enter a name for your data base and a description.
***Take note however of the letters already in place before your text box ('xxxxxx_' or something like that) This is a prefix that is added in already and can not be changed. ** Also be sure to write down your database name on a piece of paper.

Step 2 of the wizard.
1.Enter a user name - again taking note of the prefix before the words you type in and again, **writing it down on a piece of paper.

2.Also enter in a password and make note of it on a piece of paper too.

3.Bellow this is your 'user role'.
-Click the little fly out and select 'dba' this stands for 'data base administrator' and what WP requires for its user.

Click finish and your Good to go!

Ok with luck by now your copy of WP has downloaded to your hard drive. If not.. let it be, get a cup of coffee and come back. If it is done downloading great! Right click it and unzip it to a folder.

So this Word press likes to know where things are. (dont we all) Such as ... where the database we just set up for it can be found. So, we have to edit a file called the 'wp-config-sample.php'.
1Find this file in the unziped WP folder.
2.Right click and open 'wp-config-sample.php' in any text editing or HTML program (this file is located in the wordpress folder you just unziped).
3.You will see some text that may look scary. But don't worry its not, trust me.
4.Look for where it says 'putyourdbnamehere' and enter your data base name (but keep the single quote marks around it with no spaces).
5.Look for where it says 'usernamehere' and enter your use name (but keep the single quote marks around it with no spaces).
6.Look for where it says 'yourpasswordhere' and .. guess what.. enter the word 'squidoo" here... lol, just kidding enter your password you made form above here (but keep the single quote marks around it with no spaces).
7.If your on www.ixwebhosting.com or some other hosts you will need to change the line that says 'localhost' to your local host.

Heres how to find what your local host is.

1.Log in to your hosting account.
2.Scroll down to your MySQL Server again on your hosting account.
3.Click this link and you will see the database you just made in the above steps.
4.Click on it. The top line under the words 'MySQL database management ' and next to the words 'Host Name' is your localhost.

Copy everything but the numbers in the "()" at the end. So, Just copy up to the end of the '.com'

After you enter in your local host information into your config file your good to go!

last step is to save this file as 'wp-config.php' (note we took of the '-sample') This is important.

With that we are ready to move on.
Pretty simple so for right? RIGHT!

Ok, great job so far, You have just done what most fear and do not know how to do and, Best Part.. were close to the end.

Next thing we need to do is get the files from your computer to your hosts computer. Chances are good that your host is not next door so walking a disk over is out of the question.

So we are going to do a fancy thing call 'FTP' (File Transfer Protocol) it.

If you have an FTP program already great! If not i recommend the free program http://filezilla-project.org/ for PC and http://fetchsoftworks.com/ for Mac.

Here are the links to get them.
http://filezilla-project.org/

http://fetchsoftworks.com/

For the sake of this tutorial we will be using http://filezilla-project.org/ , but again all this information is sorta of universal so if you don't have http://filezilla-project.org/ I think you still can follow along.

1. Download and install your FTP client of your choice. Then we need to do 2 things.
1. set up a ftp account with our host. And
2. set up http://filezilla-project.org/ to connect to our host.

(in lame mans terms... were putting a lock on the front door and giving the moving men keys to open that lock. The door lock is your host FTP information and the Moving men they are your FTP program).

Lets set up your FTP account on your www.ixwebhosting.com hosting account first.

1.Login and go back to your hosting account.
2.Scroll down and go to the 'FTP' then 'FTP Manager' and click it.
3.Look down till you see 'FTP sub-accounts' and click the small "add" button.
4.Enter a login name and password, and make note of both on a piece of paper.
5.For now just leave the 'Relative home dir ' blank

**(this is used if you want to only let some people into one folder and not your whole site. But you as the administrator need global access so just leave it blank).

Now lets configure FileZilla to connect with our host.

1.Start Filezilla.
2.Go to 'file' and 'site manager'
3.Click the 'new site' button and give it a name (perhaps the title of your web page?)
4.Your 'host name' most times is 'ftp.your_domain_name.com' where your 'your_domain_name.com' is replaced with your domain name.
5.'Server type' is FTP
6.'Logon type' is 'Normal'
7.'user' is the user name we set up on your host. (previous step)
8.'Password' is the password you set up on your host (previous step)
9.Account and comments can be left blank.

Once done - click connect and watch all the numbers and handshake signs flash by.

If you entered everything right you will be looking at your parent directory. WooHo!

Ok, your now connected to your web host.

If your on www.ixwebhosting.com, you will see a folder with your domain name on it. (FYI- never change this folders name) double click on this folder and you will enter your site.

There are some junk files in here, however leave them except for one file, the index file. You should delete this one.

Ok,
1.On your home computer high light or select all (Ctrl+A) the files in the wordpress folder.
2.Then drag and drop them onto the side where it says 'remote site' (its the right hand side top box)

3.Then just sit back and enjoy what all geeks get paid 50$ and hour to do. Watch a status bar crank along and up load your stuff.

Hard work I know...

Once all your files have transferred your done with this step! Pat your self on the back and wipe the sweet from your brow as the hardest work is all over now.

Were almost done!!

After all your files transferred to your web host we need to run the install (WP needs to put all its books on the shelf we set up for it).

Just type in your domain name and 'POOF'.

If all went well you should be looking at a first step screen.

If you get something about a database error or other problem - Recheck and check to make sure you entered your database and user name and local host right in the 'wp-config.php'.

On the first screen enter the title of the blog and an email address for the administrator of your blog (most times this will be your email). Don t worry all this can be changed later on too, and no need to worry about spam... its your web page and I don't think you will be sapaming yourself. :p

Click finished and ... guess what... thats it.

WP will show you your new user name and password. (** IMPORTANT make note of that password and user name with great care (all the weird symbols and what letters are capital and what ones are not)! There is no way to retrieve your password if it gets lost).

After that you will be fowarded to your administrator log in screen and your good to GO!

WP is set up and running so whats next?

At this point you can start to write some content and post pages about who you are... or link to people.. or post pictures of flowers and kittens.. or link to youtube videos... or the list is just endless. However what i recommend is to install some skin templates to give your site a different look, and install those plugins I mentioned before to make your WP more user friendly and make it easer for Google and Yahoo search engines to find you.

So while I cant help you with what to Blog about, I can help you make your site look and operate great!

Read on for more super fantastic knowledge!

This extra section covers downloading and installing templates and installing and activating plugins. It all sounds so uber geek cool.. but its not. jk... it is uber geek cool!!!

A template is a new skin for WP, a new set of clothing to make your blog stand out from the crowd and look great! Best part - it requires no programming at all!!

There are many free sights to get templates from as well as sites you can pay and download a professional template from. Both have their ups and downs.

Free Template sites like:
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

are an excellent source of templates. They have a vast amount of user submitted designs and look great. However the only down side of using a template from a free source is that many, many others also have downloaded your same design.. so your blog losses some of its freshness and can be viewed as being stale.

Sites that sell templates like:
http://orbitalrice.com/

Are an excellent source of wordpress templates you can buy. Whats great about these is that you have have a site few to no others have - or if you wanted to you can out right buy the design and be the only one with this style. All in all its not a bad option and will be no more then 50$.

Total your call, but go find a skin you like and download it... go on.. I will wait.

Back? Excellent!

Once you have downloaded your template. Installing its a snap! Use your FTP program and long in to your host.

1.Go in to your sites folder,
2.then 'wp-content' then in to 'themes'.
3. highlight and Drag and Drop your unzipped theme (the full folder it is in) into the 'themes' directory on your host.
4.Once it has finished uploading your almost done.

Activation a template is easy!

1.Log into your word press site (www.your_web_page.com/wp-login.php)
2.then go to 'Design' then 'Themes' in the menu.
3. If you uploaded it right you will see a fancy little thumbnail picture of your theme.
4.If you click on it you will get a pop up window and can select 'activate theme' and thats it.

Your new theme is up and running!

Now lets get some more function for your blog with Plugins.

I have assembled a list of plugins I recommend using. and just like templates their are free and not free plugins.

Here is the list with a short description of free plugins I recommend. Feel free to go to these sights and download the newest versions of each. Also on the home page of each of these plugins is a description of what they do.

All in One SEO Pack This plugin will add all sorts of things to make your site rock in the eyes of search engines.

Google XML Sitemaps This plugin will make a site map of your blog and submit it to google. What is a site map you ask? Well a site map tell search engines whats on your page and how often it gets updated. Google loves to look at site mapes and if you have one.. you site will index faster and better.

Ozh' Admin Drop Down Menu This plugin will make your admin menu a single bar instead of many sub menus. Its not essential but it will help you navigate the back end of your page much better.

Sociable This plugin will add a fancy little icon to your posts so that people can use popular booking sites and bookmark your blog with ease!

Smart Youtube this plugin will help if you are planning on using a lot of youtube videos on your site, as it just makes it a hell of a lot easer to embed video in your posts.

Let me know if you recommend any other plugins you self.

To install a plugin.

1.Use your FTP program and connect to your site. 2.Enter your sites folder and navigate to /wp-content/plugins/ .
3.Then just drag and drop all your unzipped plugin files into this directory.

**Take note however.
Sometimes when you unzip your plugins after downloading - they are inside 2 folders (like 'plugin/plugin/files'.
Make sure you only up load one file deep 'plugin/files' where files in this case is all the files in the folder).

Simple!

Next
1.log into your WP account and navigate to plugins>plugins.
2.You will see a bunch of plugins in this folder (if you uploaded all the recommended ones)
3.Simply check the check mark box to the left of the plugin you want to turn on, then
4.Click the 'activate' button.

Poof! The Plugins are live.

Ok, so you have a fancy new blog, Good for your! It looks cool and has some enhanced function.

You know people want to see it.. so how do you get its name out, tell the masses about it? Here are 5 sure fire ways to drive traffic and views to your blog.

1.BOOKMARK IT! - this is the best way. Bookmark it and have your friends book mark it.
2.Add your blogs URL to your email signature, or forum signature.
3.Add a link to in on your social networking site like myspace.
4.Make a few silly YouTube videos on topics that your blog covers and link to your site from your youtube video.
5.Do Link exchanges with other sites that talk about what yours talk about.

We covered a lot and if your still reading GREAT!

I do hope you found this useful and will make many great blogs. I hope to write another article soon covering topics like how to make money off your blog. So stay tuned and I will be back with more later on.

Cheers and be well. :)
Tim~
http://digitalmack.com/