You don’t need to spend a fortune to create a beautiful and functional website. WordPress has been around for a while now, initially as a blogging platform. Over time, it has grown to become a leading resource for people wanting to create their own websites.
The most popular CMS in the world
As a CMS, or Content Management System, WordPress is hard to beat. According to Forbes, which also uses WordPress for its website, the package has been used to create over 74 million websites globally, representing over a quarter of all the websites currently online.
Organise your domain and hosting
The easiest way to arrange your domain and hosting is to arrange both through the same provider. Your provider will make sure that the domain is pointed to the correct server for you. Because WordPress relies on a database to function correctly, you need to make sure that you have a MySQL database included within your hosting package.
If this seems too much trouble, there are plenty of professional developers who will do this for you. You can easily source a good web development company who can build you a wonderful WordPress website that you can then manage and update without the need for further professional intervention.
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Download WordPress and set up a database
Once you have downloaded and unzipped the WordPress files, you need to navigate to your hosting provider’s control panel. You’ll find a section called MySQL databases, where you can set up a database and create a user profile with access to the information. This is an important step, as it allows you to access the installation files, so don’t skip it.
Now you need to open your download a look for the file called ‘wp-config-sample.php’. Change this file to ‘wp-config.php’ before opening it up in Notepad. Now you should scroll down to the section labelled ‘MySQL settings’. You must fill out the criteria to match the database that you have just set up, and then save your files.
Now use your FTP client to access your server and place your WordPress folder into the directory where you want it to appear. Then simply action the ‘install’ file and you’re ready to go with your new website.