Figuring out how to upload and create your website is the next task on your agenda once you have acquired your domain name, hosting package, and operating software. For this tutorial, I am going to assume you are wanting to create a basic content website and/or blog. So for this purpose, I will describe how to set up and optimize wordpress. Again, wordpress is the top software right now that is used for blogging and basic content websites, and it is totally free.
Also, let me briefly say that now that technology and software has advanced through the years, setting up your website is actually one of the easy parts. Building quality content and optimizing for search engines (and doing search engine marketing) is by far much harder and tedious.
If you are wanting to use something like Drupal or Joomla, this process will be very similar to this. If you are planning on using Yahoo stores, then I would recommend you simply sign up and use Yahoo for your hosting, domain, and the full package. It will probably be easier for you in the long run. This tutorial is mostly for those who are going to host their own websites on Godaddy and use some free software package like in WordPress. Okay, let’s get started.
Setting Up Your Hosting Account in Godaddy
Once you have purchased your domain and hosting plan, you may have to wait a few hours (or 1-2 days at most, but usually just a couple hours) until the hosting plan is ready for you to access. Once you are ready to configure your hosting and domain, you are all ready.
Log into your Godaddy account using your login name and password. Click on the “My Account” tab to view all of your products you have purchased via Godaddy. Now look under the “My Products” section and click on “hosting.” This will bring up your hosting account. Click the “Launch” or “Configure” button next to the hosting account on your screen.
On this page, you will be able to select the primary domain name for your hosting account. Select the domain you want to use from the drop down list. Once you do this, Godaddy will automatically configure the domain for you so that it points to your hosting server. There is usually no need for you to do anything further to configure your domain and hosting account to work together.
During this initial setup, you will also be asked to create an Admin username and password to access your FTP. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is what you may need to use to upload and download large files, or to backup your account. You won’t use it very often, and I will discuss this more later. Make sure to write down the username and password for this (it will be different than your Godaddy account). If it doesn’t ask you for this during your initial configuration, then you can add or change this by logging into your hosting account and selecting “Add FTP User” page. On this page, you can add FTP user accounts or change your Admin password for your FTP account.
Let me briefly say that with most Godaddy hosting plans, you can have multiple websites on one plan. Right now I use the Deluxe hosting plan, and have several sites hosted on that one plan. Also, if you ever need to change the primary domain of your hosting account, you can do so by going to the main hosting account page, and clicking: Settings>Domain Management. On that page, simply click on your primary domain, and then click “Change Primary.” Then simply enter the domain you want to make your primary domain.
You are now finished configuring your domain and hosting. That wasn’t so bad was it? Now, you need up upload the software platform that you want to use. Again this will be covering how to install WordPress, but any other software package is basically very similar.
Uploading and Configuring WordPress on Godaddy
There is a manual way to configure and upload wordpress to Godaddy, but Godaddy does have an install app that makes this super easy and quick. I will cover this first, and touch on how to do this manually as well.
Configuring and Installing WordPress on Godaddy Automatically
Again, log into your Godaddy account and locate and launch your hosting plan. This will launch the home page of your hosting account admin page. On the right you should see a large collection of links that say “Install Apps.” Click that link, or locate the app you want to install. Godaddy has most of the popular software programs (like WordPress, Drupal, etc.).
Click on WordPress, and follow the instructions on the screen. It will ask you for a password and username for your database. Make sure to pick something secure and write it down in a secure place. Also, you will be asked the directory in which you want to install the wordpress installation. To have wordpress as the home page (Example.com), then this is considered installing it in the “root directory.” Just leave the directory field blank if you want to install it in the root. And yes, you should install it in the root so that when you type “Example.com” it brings up your site with wordpress running it.
Lastly, you will be asked for an Admin Name, Admin Password, Email and Blog Title for your WordPress installation. Enter that information, and then click “Finish.” Then, take a break, because it will take Godaddy anywhere from a few hours to a day (or two) to finish the installation. Once Godaddy is finished, you will be able to log into your wordpres account and start adding content and customizing your content.
Just to quickly recap: You will be creating a lot of passwords, so write them all down. You will need an Admin (FTP) account user name and password to access your FTP. You will need a Godaddy user name and password to log into Godaddy. You will need a username and password for your wordpress database. You will need a username and password for your wordpress account login. Shew, lots of passwords huh? Make them all different an write them all down.
After this you are done with the configuration completely. You can then type in the URL of your site, and login to your site. If the login button isn’t on the homepage, try typing in: YourDomain.com/wp-admin/ into the browswer bar. Then enter your username and password for wordpress and log in. You can then customize everything, start writing posts, and more.
In the next few tutorials, I will cover how to add content, optimize your site, and so forth. That is always much harder!
Configuring and Installing WordPress on Godaddy Manually
If you wan to install Godaddy manually (for whatever reason) then you will have to do all of the work yourself. To do this, wordpress has a great tutorial here on how to install it. I will briefly cover it below. Again, this section is ONLY for those who don’t want to automatically install (which is what I recommend for ease).
- Download the wordpress software from WordPress.org. Save it to your Desktop on your home computer.
- Log into Godaddy, open your hosting account, and click on the “Content” tab, and then the “File Manager” tab.
- Once you are in the file manager page, click on “Upload” in the options above the file list. Then locate the wordpress file on your computer, select it, and then click, “upload.”
- Unzip or “unarchive” the wordpress file if it is zipped. You may have to click the “wordpress” folder once you have uploaded and unzipped the file in your hosting account, to access the wordpress core files. If you don’t do this, then your website will be located in example.com/wordpress directory. You don’t want that, so you want to click on “wordpress” to access the files. Then, click the checkbox to select all of the files. Click “Copy” and then click in the root directory to copy the files into the root directory (this is where it originally said “wordpress.”) You can then delete the wordpress folder from the root directory once you have copied all of the core files.
- Next, click “Databases” and select “MySQL” at the top of the menu tabs on the file manager page. This will take you to a page where you can create a new database. Click on “create” or “add new” to create a database manually. Enter a name, username, and password. Write it down!
- Go back to the “Content>File Manager” page. Click on the wordpress file in the root directory named “wp-config-sample.php.” Select that file, and then click the “edit” button on the menu above the fiiles.
- Change the database name & password in the wp-config-sample.php file, and click save. Select the wp-config-sample file again, and click “rename.” Rename the file to only wp-config and click save. You may also have to enter your host name in the wp-config file (instead of it saying “local host” on the wp-config file). Change it from ‘localhost’ to the actual host name. You can find your hostname by clicking on the “Database” tab (where you created your database). Click the “edit” button, and it should say your hostname for your database. It is usually like this: hx0mysqlXX.secureserver.net. Copy that and put it in your wp-config file manually and then click save.
- Give Godaddy time to save and update all of that information. Then, after an hour or so, you should be able to log into your wordpress site. Go to your site by typing in the URL in your browser. It should bring up the wordpress installation page. Enter the password they give you and follow the instructions on the screen to install wordpress. If the page doesn’t show up, Godaddy may not have configured it yet. Give it some time. If it still doesn’t work, then try typing in: example.com/wp-admin/. Then follow the instructions.
- After all of that, you should have WordPress installed. Log in, add your email address, change the password to a password you want to use, and write down your email address under the “settings” area on wordpress.
That’s it! You now have wordpress installed. At this point, you can customize it, install themes, add posts and content, and more. You are on your way to having your own website live on the web! Congrats.
Uploading Other Sites on Godaddy Manually
Also, if you want to upload large amounts of data to your server plan (as opposed to installing wordpress or a simple software package), you will need to use an FTP client. You can use a lot of free ones (such as FileZilla). Simply download Filezilla, and then enter your FTP information into the software. Then locate your file/website on your local (home) computer. Click on it, and then you can click the “Upload” button on Filezilla to upload it to your hosting plan. Again, FTP is generally only needed to upload or download large amounts of data from your Godaddy account. You will also use this for backups.
How to Create a Website: A Brief Introduction to This Tutorial
Planning Your Website, Blog, or Forum: How to Plan Your Website Project
Niche Websites: How to Find a Niche Topic to Build Your Site Around
Website Business Plan: How to Develop a Business Plan for Your Website Project
Registering a Domain Name: Choosing a Domain Name for Your Website or Blog
Website Design Software | Best Software for Websites, Blogs, and Forums
Web Hosting: Finding Hosting Company for Websites and Blogs
How to Upload a Website or Blog on Godaddy | Prepare Your Hosting for Your Website
WordPress Setup | Preparing WordPress For Use in Websites or Blogging
Writing Articles for Your Website or Blog | How to Arrange Content for SEO
Creating Hyperlinks on a Website: How to Create Internal Links for Good SEO in WordPress
Make Money With Websites: How to Make Money With Your Blog or Website
Marketing Websites | How to Market Your Blog or Website Online & Offline
Website SEO | Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs & Websites Introduction
Internal On Site SEO Tips | How to SEO Your Website or Blog Internally
External Off Site SEO Tips | How to SEO & Build Links for Your Website or Blog Externally