More than 6,000 people have used this simple tutorial to set up their own self-hosted WordPress site. And now, for a limited time, Bluehost is offering a special for my readers for only . Honestly, this is a steal. Get it while you can!
The easiest way to
in today&s world is to start a blog. While you can do this with free hosted options , , , you will get the most control by using self-hosted WordPress. This is what most serious bloggers use. It is what I use here at .
However, this is where many people get stuck. They assume that the process of setting up a hosting service and installing WordPress is complicated and time-consuming. It&s not.(By the way, if you are not sure about the difference between hosted and self-hosted WordPress, check out this helpful .)
In the video above, I show you how to setup your blog in twenty minutes or less. As a bonus, I explain to you how to write and publish your first blog post. If you don&t need this information yourself, perhaps you know someone who does. Please feel free to pass along the link to this post.
The good news is that you won&t need any technical expertise to setup your blog. This tutorial is simple. I walk you through the process, once click at a time.
If you prefer to read about the process rather than watch a video, you can do that too. I have written down all the steps here. This will also save you the trouble of taking notes as you watch the video.
Please understand: you can get everything you need just by watching the video above. The written material below is optional.
You can launch your blog by following these seven steps:
Gather your resources. To set up a self-hosted WordPress blog, you will need:
A domain name
A credit card
20 minutes (give or take)
It&s easier if you haven&t already registered your domain. It&s also cheaper. I will show you how to get one for free, using the service I recommend in Step #2.
However, if you have already registered your domain, no sweat. You will simply need to add an additional step. I will explain the process at the end of this post.
Set up a hosting account. This is where your blog will &live.& This is a server in the cloud (i.e., a remote computer), where you will rent space to install the WordPress software and manage your blog. It&s far easier than it sounds. Stay with me.
There are a hundreds of hosting services available&perhaps thousands. However, based on my experience and research, I recommend . I believe it is the best option for most people for the following seven reasons:
Reason #1: Support. Bluehost has great 24–7 support via phone, e-mail, or chat. I have personally used it several times and found the support staff to be courteous, professional, and helpful. All of the company’s support staff are located in the U.S.
Reason #2: Reliability. Bluehost is super reliable. It boasts an . That&s about as good as it gets.
Reason #3: Ease of Use.
is super easy-to-use (as you can witness in the above video). In fact, shockingly so. They have worked hard to make it simple for non-geeks.
Reason #4: WordPress. Interestingly, WordPress itself only officially recommends three hosting services. Bluehost is number one. It hosts over 850,000 WordPress blogs.
Reason #5: No Limits. Bluehost offers unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited domains (i.e., you can host multiple blogs or sites on one account), and unlimited e-mail accounts.
Reason #6: Affordability.
is inexpensive&about $4.95 to $6.95 a month, depending on which plan you select. The longer you are willing to commit, the cheaper it is.
Reason #7: Values. In its Terms of Service (see , Bluehost prohibits pornography, nudity, and other adult content. It strictly enforces this standard and deletes sites that violate it. Personally, I don&t want my blog sitting on the same server as some pornographer. If you feel the same way, you may be surprised to know that almost all of the most popular hosting services allow pornography on their servers.
Note: I am a Bluehost affiliate, which means the company pays me a commission every time someone signs up via one of my links. But this didn&t influence my recommendation, because all hosting services have similar programs. I recommend
because I honestly believe they offer the best hosting available.
You should also know that I do not use Bluehost . My site is too big and complicated. It requires a dedicated server with a mirrored backup. However, I have my other sites on Bluehost, as do several of my family members and friends. Bluehost specializes in shared servers and it is the right choice for 95 percent of bloggers.
By the way, Bluehost offers a thirty-day, money-back guarantee, which is written into their Terms of Service. I have personally tested this and got my money back within a few hours. So there&s really no risk on your part.
Okay, so if you are still with me, go to the
home page. Click on the Sign Up Now button.
Now you need to decide whether you need a domain name or you already have a domain name. I&m going to assume that you haven&t previously registered a domain, using some other domain registration service (e.g., ). If you have, I will explain what to do at the end of this post.
Now enter your domain name in the left-most box, choose the appropriate extension (com, net, biz, whatever) and click on the Next button.
Fill in your account information and then scroll down to select your package. As you can see, the prices range from $4.95 to $6.95 per month. It all depends on the length of your commitment.
Keep in mind, you will be required to pay the annual rate in advance. That&s how
is able to offer these super low prices. Here&s the math, based on using .
12 months at $5.95 per month is $71.40 per year and $71.40 upfront.
24 months at $4.95 per month is $59.40 per year and $118.80 upfront.
36 months at $3.95 per month is $47.4 per year and $142.20 upfront.
I would not sign up for any of the other services listed on this screen, but that&s up to you.
Now enter your billing information. Confirm that you have read and agree with
Terms of Service, and then click on the Next button. The system will now verify your credit card information.
Bluehost will next ask you to &Select the Upgrades that Best Suit Your Needs.& I would skip all of these. Click the Complete button at the bottom of the page.
Now you need to choose a password for your account. Click on the Create your password link:
Use the Password Generator option to create a strong, difficult-to-hack password. Copy this to the clipboard by pressing Command-C if you are on a Mac or Control-C if you are on a PC. Now click the Paste button to paste the password into the appropriate fields. The click the Create button. This creates your new Bluehost account.
Warning: You might get an error message here. It is simply because it sometimes takes a few minutes for the Bluehost robots to create your account. Don’t panic. Worst case scenario, call BlueHost Support at 1-888-401-4678.
Then you will be asked to login to your domain. Your domain should be automatically inserted for you. If it is not, type it into the field provided. Now use the password you just selected. Since you previously copied it to the clipboard, you can paste it with Command-V on the Mac or Control-V on the PC. Now click on Login.
You may have to click through another upgrade offer. Feel free to decline by kicking on the &No thanks& link and proceed to the next screen.
You should be at the Welcome screen. Now click on
cPanel (short for &Control Panel&). You should now see a page with a lot of buttons.
Step 3: Install WordPress. Don&t be intimidated by the number of buttons in this step&it&s amazingly simple. The process used to be complicated, and you had to be a semi-geek to pull it off. But
now makes it super-simple. Trust me, anyone can do this.
Scroll down the page to &Website Builders.& Click on the WordPress logo and wait for the new page to load. You should now be looking at a page full of &scripts.& Again, don&t get overwhelmed. Simply click on the &WordPress& logo under &Blogs.&
This will tell you it’s loading up your Mojo account. Mojo is simply a system for managing automated scripts. Don’t let this confuse or overwhelm you. This is what you should be seeing.
A new ”Install WordPress” screen appears. Simply click on the “Start” button. Now select the domain on which you want to install WordPress. It should default to the correct one. Click on “Check Domain.”
You should get a new screen with an error message. This is normal. Check “Oops. Looks like something already exists there. I understand that continuing will overwrite the files.” Since this is a brand new blog, you do. So select the checkbox that says, “Directory Exists! I understand that continuing will overwrite files.”
If we were running this on a website that we already had up and running, we would not want to do this. But it is not an issue here. Now click again on “Check Domain.”
The next screen will say “You are almost there.” You don’t need the “Advanced Options,” so leave that unchecked. Click on the item that says, “I have read the terms and conditions.” Now click on the “Install Now” button. The installation process should begin and will keep you updated on the process. Be patient, this will take a minute or two.
When it is done, you will get a screen with your Blog URL, Login URL, username, and password. Bluehost will also e-mail this information to you, but I like to have a backup. I would write it down or take a screenshot. Also, copy the password to the clipboard (again, using Command-c on a Mac or Control-C on a PC).
You&re making great progress! Now things will speed up considerably.
Step 4: Load your new blog. Simply click on the blog URL address. Your new blog should load in a new browser tab.
As you can see, there&s nothing very fancy here. WordPress uses a very generic theme by default. But that&s the beauty of WordPress. There are thousands of themes available. I will recommend one in a minute.
Step 5: Log into WordPress. While you&re still on your blog&s home page, scroll down to the Login link in the lower right-hand side of the sidebar. Click on the link.
You should now be looking at your WordPress login page.
Now enter your username and password. (Remember, you wrote these down in Step 3. You also copied the password to the clipboard.)
You are now looking at the WordPress &Dashboard.& Sometimes, bloggers refer to this as the WordPress back-end. The front-end is what your readers see&your normal blog site. The back-end is what you see&how you control what appears on the front-end.
Step 6: Write your first post. Click on the Posts | Add New option in the left-hand side menu. You should now see the New Post screen.
Enter the title of your post, perhaps something like, &Welcome to My WordPress Blog!& (I know, clever, right?)
Now write your first post in the field directly below the title. Perhaps you could explain why you are starting your blog, the topics you plan to write about, and how often you intend to post. (Tip: under-promise and over-deliver.)
Now click the Publish button. This literally publishes your post for the world to see. You can click on the Preview Changes button to see it.
Congratulations! You have just published your first post on your very own self-hosted WordPress blog.
Step 7: Bookmark your blog. You&ll want to come back to your blog on a regular basis, so it&s a good idea to bookmark the two main pages: the front-end and the WordPress back-end.
In case, you have already closed the page to the back-end, you can re-open it by going to: http://[the name of your blog]/wp-admin.
If you have followed my instructions, you now have your very own self-hosted WordPress blog. Pretty exciting, huh?
The next step is to install a theme. There are literally thousands of free ones available. Personally, I suggest spending a little money and buying a premium theme, like the . This is the theme that I personally designed and built with my friend, Andrew Buckman.
has features that no other WordPress theme has. It is particularly helpful for anyone wanting to build a personal brand—authors, speakers, comedians, musicians, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, entrepreneurs, and so forth.
Note: If you need to move an existing blog
to your new self-hosted WordPress blog, I recommend you read this article: “.”
If you want to learn more about WordPress, I recommend . This is a tutorial site with hundreds of videos on every aspect of WordPress.
If you know someone else who could benefit from this information, please pass along the link to this post. If you would like to embed the screencast in your own blog, please feel free to do so. You can find the video on both
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“Great post Michael. I have never blogged before, but after reading your book Platform, subscribing to your podcast, and following your blog, I was able to start one myself. My first post will be out Monday.”
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“Michael, this made creating a self-hosted WordPress blog easy-peasy, even with purchasing the domain prior to beginning the process.
Thank you!”
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“Very informative, straight forward post that walks you through the process step-by-step.”
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“I honestly can't thank you enough! I've been completely overwhelmed with all the information about a self-hosted website! Thank you for this post and for giving step-by-step instructions. It's what I needed!”
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You made it sound so simple, so I finally found the courage to go self-hosted. I really appreciate this tutorial, and I'll be referring it to my friends who might be interested.”
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I'm all set up!”
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–Jim Mader
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你可能喜欢I’m going to be spending the next year-ish in Tanzania doing my PhD dissertation research. I’d procrastinated in renewing my passport, making things a bit tight since I’d been intending to leave in the middle of June all along – but I finally got the new one today, and this means I can leave next week. I’ll be chronicling my adventures here!
Since I’m finished my degree now and don’t have to bike to school anymore, I have to think of other destinations.
Often I’ll just pick a destination and make a rough loop in that direction.
Last week I decided to poke around the little nooks and crannies of the .
I started near Spitalfields, then headed past Bishopsgate and the instantly recognisable 30 St. Mary Axe (aka “The Gherkin”) towards the old lady on Threadneedle Street – the Bank of England.
It was a busy weekday afternoon with suits scurrying everywhere.
I headed northwest from there, passing office buildings old and new.
Near the Museum of London there’s a section of the original Roman wall (around the city called Londinium at that time).
Near there is also a roundabout which is nice and quick and smoothly paved, so I did laps around there for a bit just for fun.
It’s probably the only place in the City where you can get up to speed and maintain it for any appreciable time.
I continued on towards Smithfields and St. Bartholemew:
Then headed south towards Fleet Street, with its narrow buildings, and the Temple complex, with its hidden gardens.
I carried on eastward and homeward, stopping by St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666, and the Tower of London.
As I headed home, the sun set behind me, covering everything in that golden afternoon light that is the best part of autumn.
On Flickr:
Filed in ,
In the past few months I’ve written many many thousands of words, just not here.
Yesterday I handed in my dissertation, which in a fit of creativity I titled “A Review of Literacy Practices and Critique of an Evaluation of Ugandan Adult Literacy Development Programmes”.
it’s been my constant companion for a few months.
I won’t find out my results for a couple months, but I am feeling pretty confident about it.
Now because I don’t feel like writing anything else that needs a structured train of thought, I’ve decided to list all the hotels, hostels, B&Bs, etc. that James and I have stayed in.
We were trying to think earlier of what the best one was, and couldn’t quite remember everything.
Hence my decision to try to catalogue them.
, Saltspring Island, BC – pretty good, awkward relations with the hostess though
in San Francisco – Small rooms but otherwise excellent, especially in terms of value.
in Pender Harbour, BC – Nice place, James’ office had a complete server catastrophe while we were away and they let him use their own computer several times.
It’s a geodesic dome.
Bike-friendly.
in Toronto – Bad.
It was really bad, they dicked us around, moved us twice even though we had reservations.
When they tried to move us again, to separate rooms, we left and refused to pay any late cancelling fees.
in Frankfurt – alright.
Breakfast was good.
in Dubrovnik – basic but very nice, good value and location.
We liked it a lot.
It’s a private house (though the guest rooms are separated from the owners’ living quarters obviously) so you’re basically on your own.
We had a harbour view which was nice, especially with the breeze at night.
Hostel in Sarajevo (I can’t remember the name or address, but I think it may have been ) - I think we got a bit fleeced, $50 USD for tiny room with a twin bed… but then it was 10:30 pm, every other hostel we’d checked was full, and the owner had already gone to bed.
It was her only room and she came downstairs in her housecoat to make the bed up for us and everything.
We only stayed one night… too bad, I would have liked to see more of Sarajevo.
on Saltspring Island – really nice.
Also bike-friendly.
in Sydney, Australia – not good.
On a big busy loud road.
There were big scary bugs and the place smelled weird.
On the plus side they did give me a full refund when we checked out after one night (though the booking agency didn’t, bah).
in Sydney, down the street from Hotel-O-Garbage:
Very nice.
Same price for a much bigger room in a better location (on a quiet street in Wooloomooloo) which smelled nice and had no bugs, and with a good pub on the ground floor and a nice restaurant on the first floor, then us on the second floor.
, Schuyler, VA - fabulous setting, really good vegan breakfast.
I I think we would have enjoyed it more if we’d stayed more than one night, it definitely is a place to relax.
The hot tub and sherry was really nice.
in Bath, NC: Basic but adequate and comfortable.
There’s a nice patio right over the harbour.
in Faro, Portugal: Very nice, in quite a typical old Portuguese house in the old centre.
Owner speaks barely a word of English but is really friendly.
in Castleton, Derbyshire:
Nice place, very friendly family.
They don’t have breakfast facilities themselves but have an arrangement with
down the road.
?5 for a giant fry- the lady there is very friendly and chatty as well.
Given the choice I would probably stay at Causeway House for convenience, but both are lovely.
in Venice: Good location, close to San Marco but still fairly quiet.
We had a positive if unremarkable experience.
– not a hotel but a private apartment booking service and the service/location/price will depend on the individual landlord, but still nice.
We got “Navona 3″ near Piazza Navona, had a small kitchen and living/dining room with dishes, pots/pans etc. and a separate bedroom & bathroom upstairs.
Possibly the best value place we’ve ever stayed in, and definitely the most comfortable bed.
We were on our own aside from meeting the landlord when he first gave us the key.
in Siena – possibly my favourite.
Great location, they have a really nice terrace, you feel like the owners are your long-lost friends, there’s even a good camaraderie amongst the guests, it’s not expensive… I don’t have a single bad thing to say about it.
Possibly the family-est o the current owner was actually born in the very building.
, Vernazza, Italy – Average place for an average price, nothing at all to complain about.
– I was pleasantly surprised, I thought it might be a bit grotty for ?15 a night but really not bad at all.
in Paris – We had a private triple room with breakfast included, so it was closer to a hotel/pension than hostel for us.
Nice basic budget place.
The toilet was on the same floor as us, but the shower wasn’t.
What do you expect for EUR25 a night?
The staff was very friendly and helpful (I speak French quite well though).
Margrethe’s place in Copenhagen – it’s just part of her own flat.
The room itself has a separate entrance but the bathroom is in her flat.
Two separate twin beds (the room is long and narrow).
You make your own breakfast in her kitchen.
It’s like staying with your grandmother, if your grandmother were a friendly Danish woman.
We both liked it.
She doesn’t have a website but I’ll send you her email if you want.
in AEr? – fantastic place to stay.
Really really great, it is worth the money and it’s not even that expensive for Denmark.
The hostess is charming and friendly and the house is amazing and big and old, the garden and library are both fantastic places to sit and relax… it’s up there with Albergo Bernini.
in Oslo – generic budget chain hotel.
No complaints really.
The breakfast is really more like a school lunch – boxed sandwich, juice box, and a piece of fruit.
It’s a really good deal if you get the Oslo Package which includes admission to every museum/gallery/castle/fortress/sightseeing destination in the city plus unlimited transit.
in Balestrand – also very nice place, it’s definitely a hotel and not a B&B though breakfast is included, but it still feels quite homey.
The owner is really kind and helpful and there’s a nice library/lounge.
I think that’s all, but if I remember anymore I’ll add them.
Filed in ,
I have to say I miss springtime in Vancouver.
This has something to do with its 36,000 cherry trees.
Now London doesn’t have entire streets, hundreds of them, completely lined with blossoming cherry trees:
But the ones there are have exploded, and are leaving pink fluffy linings in many of the gutters, and bringing back fond memories for me as well.
One of my absolute favourite things to do is ride my bike alone in the dark, and feeling of exhilaration I derive from it is exponentially higher when it’s a warm spring night and the air is heavy with the scent of cherry blossoms.
This has only happened to me once in London so far, but between March and May in Vancouver I’d find myself riding through the dark fragrant streets night after night.
It’s almost intoxicating.
You will be delighted to learn, I’m sure, that James has started talking bollocks in his sleep.
When I came to bed last night, he said, “This thing finally joined me!” while holding up his hand and wiggling his fingers.
It looked like he was indicating his wedding ring, but he wasn’t wearing it.
“What?”
“See, it got to the right length.”
“…what?”
“It got shorter!”
“Your finger?” no.
“Your hand?” no.
“Then what are you talking about?”
“The THING!
[Still indicating something to do with his hand.]
You know, when you… the thing, when you cut it to the right length!”
Then he turned over told me to
go to sleep.
I had my first meeting yesterday with my supervisor, and it went fairly well.
So far my progress has been limited to drafting the thesis proposal and finding a bunch of literature – so not very much, but I am quite well on track time-wise and the purpose of this meeting is just to make sure I’m getting started in the right direction.
In case you’re wondering, the proposed topic is adult literacy development in East Africa.
He was fairly impressed with the bibliography since it’s quite a bit larger than the ones he’s seen from other students (right now it’s sitting at 55 sources).
I don’t doubt that at least half of it will be of no use to me whatsoever, but I’m pretty sure plenty of it will be quite useful.
It’s quite heavy on the historical and background material, though there is a bunch of quite recent stuff there as well.
Which our library doesn’t have, of course, so I’ll have to put in my acquisition requests quite soon.
What I haven’t found is some really good ethnographic case studies, but I expect I’ll be able to dig some up.
We also discussed my research questions.
How are literacy programmes (as development interventions) designed, managed, and implemented? By whom? Where? In what contexts?
What are the underlying assumptions evident in these development programmes?
Are they borne out in reality?
How are the programmes received by participants and perceived by other (non-participating) members of the community?
What are the programme outcomes, according to the development agency, participants, and community members?
What are people’s experiences of attempting to become literate?
What are the implications of literacy programmes being deployed as a development strategy?
Some of them are more to find out background information, which will help me make my argument (1, 3, and 4) and others are more in-depth questions, the answers to which would be my argument (2, 5, and 6).
My supervisor also had a really good idea about comparing different types of literacy programs – secular vs. religious, for example – which would presumably have different approaches and goals.
So, my job for the next meeting will be to refine my research questions, decide which routes of investigation to follow, and find the literature that’s going to answer those questions for me.
Right here.
Unfortunately this:
is my life now.
What I’m working on:
3500 words each on Oromo ethnicity and nationalism for my East Africa class, longterm conflict in Central Africa for Anthropology of Development class, and Lévi-Strauss’ structuralism in myth for Anthropological Theory class.
Plus a 2500 word review of
by Carolyn Nordstrom, also for Development.
Classes are finished though, and the one exam I had was easy peasy.
So now I don’t have anything distracting me from essay writing!
Until James’ sister gets here tomorrow anyway…
Do you want to come to work with me and hide under my desk so I can pet you?
Elaine: What?
I’m not your pet.
Well… we could snuggle in the closet then.
One tactic I’ve often used for budgeting is meal planning.
Usually I’d do it on at weekly basis, or sometimes I’d make meal plans as far as 2-3 weeks in advance.
I’d sit down with my recipe box, pick out what to make, and formulate a list from that.
Then I’d buy everything in one trip, except the perishables, which I would buy weekly.
This does not work when you have only a bar fridge.
At first I thought it would be pretty difficult to adjust, but hell, it’s been the norm for plenty of Brits, and half the world has no refrigeration at all, so I figure I can cope just fine.
And it has been very easy.
The first casualty of the minimalist regime was the condiments.
Gone are the days of having six bottles of salad dressing, two kinds of hot sauce, BBQ sauce, ketchup, three kinds of mustard, hoisin sauce, teriyaki sauce, four jars of jam, and of course the horseradish.
We have one kind of jam at a time, and at the moment none of the other standard condiments, because we haven’t cooked anything yet that they typically go on.
The second shot fired was the go-shopping-every-day cannonball.
My typical grocery bill these days is under ?5, and I’ve only topped ?10 once or twice.
The exception is the Saturday farmer’s market where I get all my vegetables – generally I will spend about ?20 there and fill up most of my fridge.
Then instead of making specific recipes, I’ll generally just make three things, including one or two vegetables.
Steamed vegetable with a can of baked beans and biscuits for example.
Or baked tofu with stir-fried cabbage and green beans.
Or pasta with tomato sauce and roasted turnips.
Or baked potatoes and carrots and brown rice.
Soups have started to figure prominently.
You get the idea.
So once I get home, I look in the fridge, figure out what to make, and go buy what I need.
Usually it’ll be something like an onion and a jar of sauce.
Another result:
with the combo of only buying what I need right before using it, and having no room for things to get lost at the back of the fridge and turn into science experiments, there’s much less wasted food.
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Autumn here has been lovely so far.
I’d gotten used to Vancouver’s leaf sludge and feared more of the same here, but it hasn’t been so.
A couple rainy days and that’s it.
I do still miss Vancouver – you don’t get that combination of sea and mountains here, for one.
I miss my friends of course, and the relatively small size of Vancouver’s biking community that meant I’d often run into one of my friends when I was out for a ride or walking around the Drive.
I haven’t met enough people here for that to happen yet, and I don’t expect I will in a year.
But there’s room in my heart for London, especially on a crisp sunny autumn day, when the best thing to do is take a walk in the park.
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