Word of warning: Unfortunately this might be classified as “Techy” which is a term I really do not like.
I prefer to call it “Stuff I don’t know… YET”, with a huge emphasis on the “YET”.
So here is my take on ways to create a website using WordPress.
Now keep in mind that “no system is perfect” but it does get the job done. PLUS I’m just letting you know, there is a little bit of a learning curve.
But Fear Not… There are a lot of online tutorials and support available BUT I’m going to do my darndest to get you up and running by just following the steps we are going to discuss here.
I STRONGLY SUGGEST that you create a new Word Doc or something where you can record your notes as we go through this step by step (Yes you need to write stuff down as you will not remember it all)… I personally Use CherryTree ( But use what you already know as we don’t want to learn “New Things” at this stage.)
The Main Criteria here is to get you up and running as quickly and painlessly as possible.
A Few Words on WordPress.
Now I’m going to refer to WordPress as a Platform. There are many other platforms out there but WordPress has became the “Defacto” Platform of choice for creating websites. Of course there are other platforms, but here, we are just talking about WordPress and the same “things” you will learn here will apply to whatever platform you decide to use.
WordPress started out as a simple “Blogging” system. Which means, it was “like” the earliest form of “Social Media” Platforms where you could document (or Blog)… well just about anything, from a “Day out with the kids” with photos to “Look Mum, No Hands!” to make your friend envious and to scare your parents with your dare devil adventures.
It was designed to allow You (The Author) to simply write and share online, anything you wanted.
At one stage, I was using it to record every new thing I learned, as what better way to “look stuff up” than on your own website. You’ll find a lot of the “Techy” or just good ole “Info” sites stem from folks wanting to share what they have learned… and I thank them…It benefits us all.
The WordPress Recipe for Success
Well like all good recipes, we are going to need a few “ingredients”. So this recipe is going to require..
Please do not get overwhelmed if what I talk about causes you to scratch your head or think “You said… what now?”.
Just read through it a few times and if something doesn’t make sense ask me in the comments and I’ll fix/clear up anything that sounds a little “muddy” ( referring to “Tim, that’s as clear as mud” )
Ok the Ingredients ( sorry that took so long…)
- A Domain Name
- Hosting
- An Open well named document to write all this down in.
- Any amount of coffee / your drink of choice to assist.
Here we go…
The Domain Name
Now a Domain Name, is like your very own Personal Website Address On The Internet ( or the never heard of before Acronym, until now, (PWAOTI). Pronounced: pwah-tee ( Sounds a bit like “Party”, which we can have after you’ve built your website.)
The Topic of “what is the best domain name” has had vast amounts of discussion over the years.
Here are my best tips for selecting a Domain Name.
- It’s preferable to be “relevent”.
- It’s preferrable to be a “Dot Com”. Or Is it?
- It’s preferrable to be memorable.
It’s preferable to be “relevent”.
Which simply means, you wouldn’t have a domain name like “MyAlligatorClimbsTrees.com” when the website is about the “Breeding Of Budgies”… But that might be why the alligator climbs your trees to catch the ones that “get loose”… You never know.
It’s preferrable to be a “Dot Com”.
Hmmm, well maybe. Only for the fact that it’s kind of Common… And no .com isn’t based upon .common, although these days it kind of makes sense… No, it stands, or did stand, for “commericial”. But times change…
But a Dot NET, or a Dot BIZ, or anything that’s already out there, is more than fine.
NOTE: These are referred to as TLD’s or “Top Level Domain Names” and there are lots of them, at varying proces…
NOW when you are searching for your PWAOTI ( ok,ok… Domain Name – I know its a new term),
the reason we are searching is to find out if…
- Some other “person” has already taken it, ( We normally don’t take that too kindly to those kind of shenanigans … how dare they have already thought of it before us…)
- OR if they haven’t and it’s up for “Grabs”… Score for us!
It’s preferrable to be “memorable”.
I had a domain name once and for the life of me I can’t remember it…
Now it is preferrable to have a domain name that you can tell someone and its something they can remember… I can’t get that MyAlligatorClimbsTrees.com out of my mind right now…Hmmmm!
I mean “what was or is” a “GOOGLE“? But it’s memorable… So you can be abstract. If you do a lot of searching in the internet for something (pick a subject) it is possible that many of those websites that pop up are either related to the Topic or just have a nice “ring” to them… like maybe “fudgesticks.com” (sadly it’s taken but it is up for sale for some crazy amount…)
But please, don’t go busting your chops if you go looking for your preferred names and it isn’t available… You can tweak them a little. ( Although I have found in 2025, there are still a LOT of available domains out there just needing a new home and a loving caretaker to help the internet grow even more…)
If you are not looking into anything “subject” related it’s always good to get your own name…Say your name was Tim Brownlaw… Well I’ve already got that domain.. But you could add on words like “Online”, “Adventures” or “IsACoolGuy”. You get the idea.
You can even try Prefixing them with something like “justask” or “thatoldbloke”. So you can change them up with a bit of something on the front or the on the end, or both but remember the “guidelines” above… Don’t go too crazy…Ok a little bit is fine…
Domain Name Conclusion
So a good domain name, is relevent to the subject the site is about… Ends in a “DOT Something” and is memorable.
Things to Avoid:
- Avoid using “Hyphens”, you know those little “-” things, between words. (unless you have a hypenated name or something)
- Don’t make unintentional “Speling misteaks” (Typos) when searching… Which is why it’s extremely Brilliant to type your “Domain Names” in your Document First, as it will Spell Check for you…
- Don’t get too clever with deliberate Typos (but you can if used Wisely)
I think the golden rule here is be creative, write out a bunch of names or IF you are really lazy you can always “ASK ChatGPT” to give you a list based around an idea and ask it to look for “Available Domains”. I nearly forgot about that one 🙂
Let’s go and get a Get Us a Domain Name.
Finally…Now let’s got and find that magic domain name and add it to your list of digital assets…
Domain names are “purchased” from a “Domain Name Registrar.”… I DO NOT RECOMMEND GODADDY… You can go with namecheap or someone else, but my Preferred goto, happy as a pig in “wet mud with that maybe familiar smell” registrar is called Dynadot. If you’ve never heard of them before… You have now. I’e been using them for “donkeys years”
The Steps
Now you will have to regsiter to create a Login… It’s free to register.
You will have to set up a form of payment… If you have paypal you are good to go (But they have other options)
So Click on the link here… (when it gets here)
Very Important TIPS…
Do NOT get sucked in by the pricing you see… Godaddy will offer your a .com domain name for like $0.20… But it is for the First Year ONLY, forever after it’s a crazy price like $24.38 USD which is absolute Unadulterated Highway Robbery!!!.
Namecheap falls into the “good zone”… And Dynadot… Well Dynadot charges $10.86 USD each year… But note these prices do sneak up over time… Godaddy must think we are in the year 2500 or something crazy… I really do not get it!!!!!
So at the Time of Writing in June 2025, you should not pay more than say $11 USD for a Dot Com Domain name.
Now I had recorded a video covering all of this but some “Wombat” forgot to turn his Mic On… So it’s a Talking Head with no Audio… I’ll try to get it fixed at some stage, but we have lots to get through.
So the process is…
- Search for your domain name ( NOT on Godaddy) and once you find a suitable name,
- Register on Dynadot and fill in your details. ( PLEASE RECORD You Login Details in your Document, you can hint at your password if you want to…)
- Search for your domain again while logged in.
- Add it to your Cart and purchase it…
They have a few options for making payment so it’s pretty simple… So NOW You have your Domain Name…. Congratulations!.
SPECIAL NOTE: In the “days of old…” well before today, the Ole “And there you go…Congratulations…” could result in a response of “I’m not even there yet… What the…” So, if any of the above has not made any sense or you are just not “seeing it” for any reason, My Number One Rule is “DO NOT GIVE UP” and ask… You can ask ChatGPT, you can definitely ask me either by email or via the comments… I see the comments before they appear on the website so it’s private between you and I…
Oh and some Hosting companies offer a Free Domain Name for the 1st Year... My Advise is…Only if you really have too, because they kind of own it “for you” and they will charge you for the renewel and you loose control of it. Especially in the case where you might want to change your hosting for any reason… And if you ever wanted to sell the Website or Domain, it might get very complicated… So I strongly suggest that You Purchase and Control your own domain names… FULL STOP!
The Hosting…
YAY, the hosting part finally! Hosting is provided by a Hosting Company.
Let’s keep it simple, I personally use Cynderhost and I use their Shared Hosting. I highly recommend it if you are on a budget… But beware of “hosting companies” claiming “We are optimised for WordPress”… Cynderhosts “Shared Hosting” is not sluggish at all if you view their Times compared to the “others”.
But the rule is.. If you already have Hosting then stick with that… If you want a High Performing Shared Hosting account then Cynderhost is your best bet…
What is Shared Hosting?
Well traditonally it’s like living in an apartment building… All Your Sites are controlled under the One Cpanel Account… And the servers you are on, are also “shared” with others… But the nice thing is Cynderhost have nice hardware and it’s not too crowded… The only real issue is, you are sharing an IP (Internet address) and someone upsets the Spam Cops and the IP gets blacklisted… Could effect your Email deliverabilty, but it’s more controlled these days… 10 years ago maybe it was an issue.
Web Host Managed Hosting?
This is the kind of hosting that allows you to create complete standalone websites each with their own Cpanels. You can also have different setups for each website. This website is being hosted on GVO Hosting… under a “Reseller Account” for $24.95 USD per month. But if you are just starting out… Cynderhost is a nice priced entry point. It’s really “six of one, half a dozen of the other”.
The Next Steps:
Legend: HC = Hosting Company, DNR = Domain Name Registrar.
- (HC) Register with whichever Hosting Company you have choosen Or Login into your existing Hosting provider.
- (DNR) Update the Nameserver Settings in your Domain Name Registrar for your domain name.
- (HC) Create a New Hosting Account (Performed using “Add Domain” in your CPanel (Webhosting Control Panel) using the domain name you have just registered.
- (HC) Once the new Account for the new Domain is created, then you can Install the WordPress Site
NOTE: This is a work in progress so please come back…hopefully this message won’t be here when you are… but just in case…