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Your guide to a flawless WordPress website By Dharne and Company
Pick your desired domain name • It refers to the URL of your website. It is further split into four sub-parts: • Top Level Domain e.g. domain.com • Root Domain e.g. domain.com • Sub Domain e.g. sub-domain.domain.com • Sub Directory e.g. domain.com/sub-directory
Select a hosting provider • Your files are stored in a server over the internet. You pay a host provider for this. • Popular hosting companies are: • GoDaddy • HostGator • BigRock • Siteground
Setup the Name-server • If your domain and hosting provider is the same then ignore this step. • The purpose of the name-server is to point the domain to the host. • The name-server acts as a bridge between the domain and the host. • Search for the name-server details option in cpaneland enter the details. • This process takes 24 to 48 hours to reflect the changes.
Upload WordPress to your server • Download WordPress setup from worpress.org and unzip your file using winzip. • Install FTP software Filezillato transfer files from acomputer to host server. • Enter your hostname, username and password in the Filezilla software. • Next, search for a folder named public_html in the list of folders you see. • Upload your wordpress unzipped folder here.
Let’s create your database • Login into the cpanel of your hosting provider. • Select and follow self explanatory steps in PHPMyAdmin. • You have created a database, username and password (above). • Using these credentials wordpress will be connected to the database. • Next, using Filezillarename the file from wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php • Open the file in a text editor like notepad or notepad++ etc. • Locate the following code: • define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘database_name_here’); – Replace text in bold with your database name. • define(‘DB_USER’, ‘username_here’); – Replace text in bold with your username. • define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘password_here’); – Replace text in bold with your password.
Let’s dive into WordPress • Go to your domain. • Enter the information prompted in WordPress and complete the installation. • Now, you will be able to log into the admin panel at domain.com/wp-admin. • You should also get a confirmation email about the same.
Time to get creative • Your next step is to select a theme. • Choose a theme from the in-built theme gallery. (free to premium themes available) • You may consider buying themes from outside wordpress. • Popular choices include: • ThemeForest • StudioPress • WooThemes
Tips to choose an ideal theme • Select a theme which is fully responsive. • It should have a clean design and look elegant. • Should be compatible with latest version of wordpress. • Have at-least a four preferably a five star rating. • Should have more than 100 reviews. (personal preference) • Theme must be seo optimized – support structured data, w3c validated. • Compatible with HTML5/CSS3/Twitter Bootstrap.
Avoid future road-blocks • By default, WordPress URLs are set to look like example.com?p=232. • Go to Settings→Permalinks option in the admin panel. • Replace the default permalink pattern to %postname%. • This will make your URLs: • search engine friendly. • you can customize your URL’s.
Armor your WordPress website • Ensure your wordpress version is updated else your website is vulnerable to attacks. • Always Create a backup before you hit update version else you will lose previous data. • Use plugins like VaultPress, BackupBuddy etc. to expedite your backup process. • Change the prefix of the database tables from the default wp_to something unique. • Avoid setting the site username as admin. • Install security plugins available in wordpress like All in one WP Security
Create Necessary Pages • To create pages in wordress go to Pages→Add New. • If you want to write a blog post you should use the posts option. • Few basic pages to get you started are: • Home • About Us • Contact Us • Products/Services
Leverage Browser Caching • Each time a page is requested by an individual user. • WordPress retrieves that page stored on your host server. • The process can take time which gives you an impression - the website is slow. • You need to minify your website CSS and Javascript code for your page to load faster. • Don’t worry you won’t need technical knowledge, you have plugins for that.
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