Introduction

Welcome to my WordPress guide. Using this guide you will learn how to find a web hoster, download WordPress, create a database and install WordPress as a content management system. You'll also learn how to customize the default template and how to get professional templates. I will help you installing plugins and optimizing your website for major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. Last but not least, you will be able to earn money with your website.

What you learn:

1. Find and buy webspace and a domain
2. Download the current WordPress version
3. Create a database for WordPress
4. Install your WordPress website
5. Customization of your website
6. Buy and install a template
7. Customizing templates
8. Install plugins
9. Search engine optimization
10. Earn money with your website

About my person and intention

My name is Manuel and I am a 22 years old freelance web designer based in Austria, Europe. For more than 6 years, I gathered experience in web design, web development, programming, graphics design and online marketing. I am trained specialized computer scientist and work for an advertising agency.

Intention

At the beginning of this guide I congratulate you, you are on the right way to start a solid internet business that will make you independent and satisfied. The only requirement is that you have to stick close to this guide, to my instructions and also to use the suppliers that I recommend. If you follow this guide you can earn between 10$ and more than 1.000$+ a month dependent on your work.

I wish you all the best setting up your very own website. If you have any problems or general affairs, don't hesitate to reach out via email.

admin@webguidesetup.com

Hoster

One of the most important factors for a successful website are the loading times of your website. Therefore it's important to invest in a professional web hoster with a high speed connection.

My recommendation is Bluehost. You'll get unlimited storage, unlimited email accounts, automated backup (in case of hacking) and 24/7 support. Additionally, the offer includes one domain and this for only $4.95 $3.95 per month.

Please note that this is the only time that you'll have to invest money into your website. All of the other payments are good to have but not a must.

Benefits of Bluehost

One of the 20 largest web hosters in the world.

Very fast support (via email or phone).

Cheap webspace.

What you have to do

Visit Bluehost.

Follow the image introduction's.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Click on the "AGREE AND PROCEED" button.

2. Click on the "CLOSE" button.

3. Click on the "get started now" button.

4. Insert your domain name and press the "next" button.

5. Insert your personal informations.

6. Select a payment rate, I would recommend 36 or 12 month, choose "SiteLock Domain Security", "Site Backup Pro", "Search Engine Jumpstart", "Domain Whois Privacy" if you want to buy this in addition (not required).

7. If you want to pay with PayPal, choose "More payment options" or insert your credit card informations.

8. Choose PayPal, select your country and choose the purpose of your account.

9. Now you will be forwarded to PayPal and login to your account.

Now click on "send now" to successfully complete the purchase and check your emails!

Download WordPress

WordPress is a free and open source content management system (cms) based on PHP and MySQL. It includes a plugin architecture (to extend the functions) and a template engine (to change the appearance of your website). More than 60 million websites run on WordPress, which is about 20% off the top 10 million websites worldwide. As you can suggest, WordPress is the perfect system to get your website started with.

What you have to do

Visit WordPress.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Click on the "Download WordPress" button.

2. Download the current version.

3. Navigate to the download file.

4/5. Extract the file.

Set up a database

WordPress is based on the free and open source database system MySQL which contains all information about your website, just like articles, categories and much more.

What you have to do

Visit Bluehost.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Click on "login".

2. Insert your domain and password and click on "login".

3. Insert a new database name and click on "Create Database".

4. Create a new user and click on "Create User".

5. Select user and database and click on "Add".

Install a website #1

In this section you'll learn how to install a free FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client software called FileZilla and how to upload all WordPress files onto your webspace.

What you have to do

Visit FileZilla.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Click on the "Download FileZilla Client" button.

2. Now you are forwarding to sourceforce, click on the green "Download Now" button.

3. "AGREE AND PROCEED" the cookies.

4. Safe the file locally on your computer and start the setup.exe installation.

5. Click on "Next".

6. Click on "Install Now".

7. Now it open's the installation of Filezilla. Press "I Agree".

8. Finish the installation and start the program, fill out all information "ftp server", "username", "password", "port" (all information are available in the email you got from bluehost earlier), for example ("ftp.yourserver.tld", "username", "password", "21") and press the "Quick connect" button.

9. Select all WordPress files and upload them on your webspace.

Install a website #2

Now we are going to start the WordPress web installation and configure your website.

What you have to do

Visit yourdomain.tdl/wp-admin.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Click on the "Create a Configuration File" button.

2. Click on the "Let's go!" button.

3. Insert the following informations "database name", "user name", "password", "database host", "table prefix", for example ("blewhost_WordPress", "user", "password", "localhost", "wp_").

4. Press the "Run the install" button.

5. Insert the following information "Site Title", "Username", "Password", "Your Email", "Privacy" for example ("My website", "Admin", "password", "your@email.tld", "checked"). Privacy should be enabled!

6. Click on "Log In".

7. Login at (http://yourdomain.tld/wp-admin) with your informations, for example ("Admin", "password") and press the "Log In" button.

8. Congratulations! You just installed WordPress successfully! You are now able to take a look at the administration interface.

Default theme customization

Now you learn how to change the default website appearance. If you are about to use a professional template, skip this section.

What you have to do

Visit yourdomain.tdl/wp-admin.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Click on "Appearance", then click on "Customize" on your current default template ("Twenty Fourteen").

2. You now can see the "Save" Button.

3. Edit "Site Title" and "Tagline" for example ("My website", "My new website").

4. This is where you can change the color of the header and the background color.

5. If you want you can add a background image.

6. Select a static start page or your latest posts.

Find and buy a template

In this part of the guide I will show you how to find and purchase a professional WordPress template.

What you have to do

Visit Themeforest.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Click on "Create an Envato Account".

2. Fill the text fields "username", "password", "email" and "captcha" and click on "Create Account".

3. Check your emails and click on the link in the email (from Envato).

4. Go back to ThemeForest and click on "Sign In".

5. Choose a WordPress template.

6. To filter the templates, choose one of the categories on the right side.

7. Now you can see some previews and screenshots and in the upper right corner you can purchase the template.

8. Select credit card or pay with PayPal.

9. Login to your PayPal account and purchase the template.

Install and configure your premium template.

In this section you'll learn how you install a premium template from ThemeForest.

What you have to do

Visit Themeforest.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Login into your ThemeForest account and click on "Downloads".

2. Select your template and click on "Download".

3. Download "All files & documentation".

4. Extract the .zip file.

5. Login to your dashboard (yourdomain.tld/wp-admin) and click on themes.

6. Click on "Add New".

7. Click on "Upload".

8. Click on "Choose File".

9. Select the main file and click on "Open".

10. Now click on "Install Now".

11. "Activate" the template.

12. Now you are able to "Customize" your template (see "Default customization").

12+. Please note that every template works different. If you need specific help, send me an email.

My favorite plugins

In the following section I will introduce you on how to install useful plugins.

What you have to do

Visit YourDomain.tdl/wp-admin.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

My personal plugin recommendations can be found at the end of the image as well.

Explanation

1. Click on "Installed Plugins".

2. Click on "Add New".

3. Insert the plugin name and click on "Search Plugins".

4. If you found the plugin, click on "Install Now".

5. To accept click on "OK".

6. To activate the plugin, click "Activate Plugin".

Personal Plugin Recommendations

→ Contact Form 7 - Create your own contact form.

→ (Acunetix) Secure WordPress - One of the best free security plugins (backups, admin protection).

→ Shortcodes Ultimate - With this plugin you can easily create tabs, sliders, video and many more.

→ Statify or Google Analytics for WordPress - For user tracking.

→ WP-Optimize - Optimize your loading time.

→ Sharebar - Include social networks (Facebook, Twitter) into your articles.

→ Broken Link Checker - Show you broken links (which you should delete).

Search engine optimization.

In this section we use 3 plugins: "WordPress SEO by Yoast", "Do Follow" and "Google XML Sitemaps". These three plugins need an introduction because they are very difficult to configure. You can choose to play around and find out for yourself, but you can also check the developers guide on how to configure the plugin.

What you have to do

Visit YourDomain.tdl/wp-admin.

Install all three plugins.

If you have any questions about "WordPress SEO by Yoast", "Do Follow" or "Google XML Sitemaps" feel free to send me an email.

Create your first article.

This is where I show you how to write an article. To be honest, I can't specify on how much articles you should write. But it's still important to create articles once in a while.

What you have to do

Visit YourDomain.tdl/wp-admin.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

Explanation

1. Click on "Tags" and insert a new keyword.

2. Click on "Categories" and set up a new article category.

3. Go to "All Posts" and click on "Add New".

4. Insert your headline, content and category, then click "Publish".

5. As you can see you can add "Tags" and an article image (if your template does support this).

Earn Money with your blog.

To conclude you can say that you found a hoster, installed a database and WordPress, found and installed a highly professional template, tuned it up with some plugins and made a little bit of search engine optimization.

In this last section of the guide, I am going to teach you on how to earn money with your blog.

What you have to do

Visit Adsense.

Follow the image introductions.

An explanation can be found at the end of the image.

At the end of this page I'll show you a plugin that I highly recommend to use.

Explanation

1. Log in into your email account.

2. Click on "Get started now".

3. Select your email account.

4. Insert your domain and select your language and click on "Continue".

5. Select your country, time zone, account type, payee name, street address and city town.

6. Fill out postcode, phone, adsense question and email preferences.

7. Check your emails (it could take some hours)!

8. Click on "New ad unit".

9. Insert name and select ad size (and if you want personal customizations).

10. Click on "Safe and get code".

11. Copy the code inside a new .txt file (you will need it later) and click on "Close".

Adsense plugin

1. Now install the free plugin "Google Publisher" . Using this plugin you can implement and manage your ads on your WordPress website.

2. You can directly upload the plugin or search for it in the plugin manager.

Conclusion.

We are at the end of this guide and I hope you had fun using it. If you should find a mistake, got stuck or just have a question don't hesitate to drop me a line.

At this point I would like to mention that I am a freelancing web designer. If you need special code (self-made templates, personalized plugins or marketing tips etc.) contact me and in case of you being a subscriber of webguidesetup.com, I am ready to give some exclusive discount on my services.

I wish you all the best for the future and would appreciate a like on Facebook or a tweet on Twitter! :-)