There are way too many confusing guides for setting up a new website online. This is going to be one of the shortest, but it's based on 10+ years of trying and trying. It's now muscle memory for me, and will be for you too!
Get These 3 Things
- Buy your domain name, such as billystacotruck.com, at NameCheap.com
- Create a free account at CloudFlare.com – this will speed up your website and help protect it
- Buy hosting – I prefer SiteGround.com, or if you go the cheap route, HostGator.com
Obviously you have choices for the above three. These are my preferences, and they work well.
How to Set Up Your Website
- Register domain on Namecheap.com, get free whois protection
- Log in to CloudFlare, type in your new domain, hit continue to get the new NS names
- Change the NS (Nameserver) records for the domain on Namecheap to the ones that Cloudflare just gave you
- Log in to your web hosting like SiteGround or HostGator, copy the IP address they give you for your hosting. If you have cPanel it will be on the left sidebar about halfway down.
- Go back to Cloudflare. Edit the A record to be the IP address you just copied. Change the CNAME which is most likely a WWW and set for some other parked domain, and change it to your domain.
- Go back to your web hosting, click on QuickInstall or Softaculous to install WordPress
- Go through the steps for the WordPress install, be sure to copy down your admin name and password. You’ll choose the admin name and they’ll give you the password or let you do your own.
- Go log in to your new site after a few minutes at your /wp-admin and you’re ready to set up your site through WordPress!
- You won’t need to bother with NameCheap, CloudFlare, or HostGator/SiteGround for awhile or ever! Just keep renewing your domain name and hosting every year (set it to automatic) and you’re good to go!
This will be one of the shortest posts on the website, but that's because the process is so frustrating, I wanted to make it simple.
Last Updated on August 28, 2017 by Joe
