Hello readers! I had made a tutorial for the same sometime back but many people complained that it was a bit hard and they felt it impossible. So I have come to their rescue and now will teach you’ll how to create a simple site with Wordpress installed in it. Hopefully, it will solve your doubts too. Also, this time I will be giving screenshots too. So enjoy guys!

Domain :

In very simple terms, domain is the address of your website. So while choosing a domain, be sure to have a one people will tend to remember. Try to avoid numerals and hyphens in your URL, it will be more difficult to remember. Now, there are primarily 3 types of domains;

1. Top Level Domain (TLD) (Paid)

A Top Level Domain (TLD) is the highest level of domains available. These are paid domains and can be purchased from registrars. They have a better SEO (Search Engine Optimization) than the other domains and are generally prefered for good websites. Buying a domain reflects that it is a worthwhile site and naturally, you will get better traffic than others. For purchasing one, just head to any of the registrars like Godaddy, Name and NameCheap among others. Preferred payment options are Credit/Debit Cards or through PayPal.

Tip : Before buying a domain, do Google up for coupon codes. You can purchase domains for cheaper rates using these codes. If you go for premium hosting (to be covered later), you may get a free domain.

2. Free Domain (Free for private use)

Free domains are generally used by upcoming bloggers and website owners. You can get yourself a free domain from co.cc or .tk (I prefer the 1st one). These domains are mostly free unless you want a premium domain name or want to use the domain for business purposes.

Tip : If you can afford $1, then you can get .info which is a TLD.

3. Subdomain (Free with hosting account)

When you register for a free host, you generally get a free domain. These ones should be avoided as you can easily get a free domain as mentioned above. Not much to say here.

Registering For A Host :

Now once you have the domain, you need to put the files that the visitors to your website can see. So you need a hosting for that matter. Now there are 2 types of hosts, Premium and free. Free hosts have a set of limitations in place which stop you from getting the maximum benefits. But since you are a beginner in this, I suggest you to stick to free ones for some time. When looking for a host, NEVER look at the bandwidth and the space given, but look for reliability. When I had just started blogging about a year back, I had made this mistake and my website was down for most of the time.

Good free hosts include x10hosting and freehostia. But before going for a host, ask your friends or Google for reviews about that host and issues regarding it. Once you sign up for the host, you get something called as cPanel. I suggest you to avoid hosts that give VistaPanel. After signing up for any of the hosts, follow the method mentioned below.

Adding Nameservers :

In simple words, I can define nameservers as the settings in the domain that show the domain the path to the hosting. Nameservers are generally in the format :

NS1.[YOURHOST].COM

NS2.[YOURHOST]COM

So suppose you use x10hosting, just use the following:

NS1.X10HOSTING.COM

NS2.X10HOSTING.COM

Some hosts have upto 4 nameservers but there is no problem if your host has just 2.

Where to add nameservers?

To add nameservers, login to the website from where you took your domain and go to edit nameservers.

If you have gone for a free domain (co.cc) then you should add your nameservers as mentioned below:

I have purchased my TLD’s from Name, so here is the screenshot for that :

Now that you are done editing the nameservers, we need to add the domain in the host. For that you need to login to your cPanel and click on addon domain.

Now login to the cPanel and click on Addon Domains and add your domain. After adding, we now have to add files to it.

Making A Website :

Now, this is the main step of the tutorial. After you have added the domain, we need to add files to the website. You have 2 options here, either code yourself or upload already coded websites (known as CMS). I suggest you go for Wordpress because it is easy to use and can be modded to any level. For experts, I suggest Joomla.

For adding Wordpress to your domain, there are 2 methods;

1-> Automatic

I suggest you use this method. Go to your cPanel and click on Fantastico Deluxe.

2-> Manual Method (If You Don’t Have Fantastico) :

In case your cPanel doesn’t have Fantastico, then you can use the manual method. In this method, you need to download Wordpress from here and and upload this inside the website directory in the File Manager. You will find File Manager in the cPanel.

You can follow this tutorial if you want to try the manual mode.

Done Setting Up! Now What?

Now that you have setup the domain, just login to your admin panel. The URL will be yourdomain.com/wp-admin. In this tutorial, I used Fantastico and this is the website I got. This is the admin login area. The website is now setup. Just login and start posting.

How To Enhance The Interface Of My Blog?

The basic blog is generally boring and you won’t get many raised eyebrows. So, the first thing you need is themes. Head on here and download whichever theme you like. Upload these themes to wp-content/themes in the File Manager. Other method is to directly get themes installed from the admin panel. For this, click on the Appearance tab and then on the Add New Themes sub-tab.

After the themes, there are some essential plugins you must have. Don’t worry about that, I have already simplified it for you. Just check out this post and download them all

Final Words :

Thank you guys for having the patience for going through such a huge tutorial. In case you have any difficulty in any step, just comment below and it will be answered within 48 hours, guaranteed

If you have followed this tutorial, do give your blog links below so that I can guide you with more advice.

Wordpress is used by people from different levels and sectors. Personally, I think it the best way to create a site. Just upload the files, create a database and you are ready to roll, er, I mean blog The following list of plugins is the best according to my usage. If anyone has any issues with them, ask me and I would love to help you’ll out. The top 10 plugins are in RANDOM ORDER.

1. Akismet

Akismet is a plugin that included by default in the Wordpress blog files you download. It automatically scans every comment that is generated and categorises it into spam if it feels so. I am using it since 1 year and 99.9% of the comments that it automatically distinguished as spam were really spam. Thanks to Wordpress for such an amazing plugin.

2. SexyBookmarks

SexyBookmarks is a plugin that places itself on the page of your posts. Suppose the reader of your blog likes your post, SexyBookmarks allows him to spread it on Social Networking sites like Twitter, Digg, Technorati, Delicious among many others. Also, it has a clean and sophisticated look. It ads a cute looking signature type text on the top saying ‘Sharing is Caring’ or ‘Sharing is Sexy’.

3. Google Analyticator

Google Analyticator is a small widget that allows the site owner/admin add the necessary Analytics javascript code to enable Google Analytics. Google Analytics is definitely better than all other free stat counters just because they give you amazing facts about the visitors that visited your site that will help you build your site.

4. Google XML Sitemaps

This plugin generates a sitemap so that a search engine will find the links of your posts easily and add it to their search engine. This is recommended because generally websites get their traffic from search engines.

5. Limit Posts

This is a sort of trick to make more page views on your site. If you put the whole post on the front page, then the visitor reads it an then leaves your site. But if you just give a summary of your posts, it makes the reader more curious to read which ultimately gives you more traffic. I am using it on the home page so as to give it a neater and professional look.

6. Add To Any : Subscribe Button

The following plugin gives the users to subscribe to your blog in many ways like getting updated through Google, mail, Windows live, feeds and the list continues. A must download plugin for every site that needs frequent visitors.

7. Similar Posts

In simple words, this plugin shows a list of posts that match the post the user is currently seeing. In complex, it scans the common words from all the posts, the tags, their categories, and shows the related posts.

8. Wordpress Database Backup (Wordpress DB Backup)

Backing up your site is as important as backing up your PC. You never know when you may do some wrong setting that may end up blowing your site up. This is the best plugin if you hate taking up backups manually through PHP MyAdmin in your cPanel. Just set up this plugin once and you will never find the need of manually backing up again. It will send you a mail or download to your desktop according to your preferences.

9. Ultimate Tag Warrior

Tags are one of the most important things of your post. It helps you in SEO and it may be the deciding factor on getting traffic. This plugin is one of the best tools for getting automatic genuine traffic.

10. WP Cumulus

One of the best plugins available on Wordpress is WP Cumulus. This plugin is a flash based one which rotates the tags used in your posts in a cloud format. Easy to use and looks amazing. One of the top recommended plugins.

Download : Rapidshare (1.9 MB)