Learn how to build your own self-hosted WordPress website with this free e-course! You will receive guidance on: Why WordPress? What is WordPress and what are the differences between .com and .org? How do I purchase a domain name? How do I purchase hosting? How do I install WordPress? and much, much, much more! Here is a complete list of the tutorials included with this course: Logging in, Exploring your Dashboard and Settings, Using the Admin Bar and Creating Users Adding Pages and Posts for your Blog (and what is the difference between them?) Installing a Theme and What is a Theme? Formatting Content and Adding Links Adding Menus Adding a Plugin and What is a Plugin? Backing up with BackupBuddy Keeping your website updated Make your site secure Block spam and Manage Comments Contact forms, stats and social sharing buttons Make your site load fast with a caching plugin Make your images web-friendly for your media library Email Marketing with AWeber Keep in mind you can unsubscribe any time. Sign up for the full e-course here: http://www.catswebweave.com/free-2016-wordpress-self-hosted-e-course/

1. Free E-Course
“Build a self-hosted Wordpress website
with or without a blog”
by Cat Scholz
© Copyright ~ Catherine Scholz ~ All Rights Reserved
1

2. What is Wordpress (self-hosted?)
Wordpress is free, open-source software that...
was founded by Matt Mullenweg of Automattic, Inc. in 2003
is constantly evolving by an international community of PHP developers
anyone can download it and install it on their own server or using a web
hosting service (such as SiteGround)
is highly customizable with plugins and themes
must be kept up-to-date and be backed up regularly
can be used for e-commerce, podcasting, can have user roles, can be
used for embedding audio and video, can be used as a CMS (content
management system) and can be used for blogging
WordPress was used by more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites as of January 2015.
WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web, at more than 60 million
websites. - Wikipedia 2

3. Apparently, Mac is now supporting Windows.
Wordpress
is web-based.That means you can access your
website from anywhere you have internet
access from any device or operating system.
3

4. What is the difference between using
Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org?
Free Hosting -
Limited Functionality
Paid Hosting -
Unlimited Functionality
If you have a blog hosted on Wordpress.com, you will need to migrate your content outside
of class time to the self-hosted version for the purposes of these classes.4

5. With Wordpress (self-hosted)
you can:
draw visitors to your site with SEO techniques (use Yoast SEO
plugin and learn from SEO experts)
engage your customers with embedded videos and/or audio
sell products and services with a shopping cart
build your email list (offering an incentive is best)
deliver content to your Facebook Page, Twitter, Google+ and
LinkedIn profiles automatically when you publish a post
and so much more (it’s constantly evolving after all)!
5

6. Create a Web Hosting account
• Create your web hosting account at SiteGround.com. I use SiteGround
because the hosting environment is Wordpress-supportive, my sites load
super fast and the control panel is very easy-to-use.
• Their Wordpress-knowledgable support team is available by email, phone
or LiveChat (included with every account).
• Open your account here: http://bit.ly/SGHostLink
Complete list of Wordpress-friendly hosting companies
6

7. Which plan to get for 1 website?
7

8. Support
If your account is in pending status, contact support to approve your
account. If your domain has just been hosted, it may take some time for
the DNS to propagate across the internet (20 minutes to 2 days).
If your domain has already been hosted for some time and if it takes
more than 10 minutes for the install to complete or if there is a glitch in
the install process, contact support through your cpanel.
You can call SiteGround for support at 1-866-605-2484.
8

9. Setup Hosting for your domain
Login to your account at https://ua.siteground.com/login.htm
Click on “My Accounts”
Open your CPanel
From here, if you need to, you can register a domain or a
sub-domain
If you need help, you can call SiteGround for support at
1-866-605-2484.
9

10. Choose a domain name
SEO=Search Engine Optimization - the process by which you make it easy for
customers to find your website by searching online. Do keyword research to find the
best keywords and keyword phrases to use in your domain name - use Google
AdWords tool (free).
For example, MassageforElders.com and SeniorBodyworkNevadaCity.com incorporate
keywords people would search with.
You could use your business name or your own name as your main domain and
redirect your optimized keyword domain names to your main domain. Domain
registrations cost about $10/year for a standard .com domain. SiteGround is a domain
name registrar AND a web hosting company. They do not charge extra for domain
privacy like some companies do (Bluehost).
10

11. Register your Domain Name
Use SiteGround’s cpanel to register your domain name/s
SiteGround can tell you if your domain name is available.
You can call SiteGround for support at 1-866-605-2484.
11

12. Install Wordpress
Login to https://ua.siteground.com/login.htm
Make sure you have setup the hosting on your domain
first
Get on LiveChat and ask support to install Wordpress
on your domain or
Call SiteGround for support at 1-866-605-2484
12

13. Install Wordpress
Within 10 minutes of installing Wordpress, check your email for
the notification from the SiteGround Installer Robot and click
on the install link in the email that looks like this:
13

14. Finish WP Setup
Click the link in the email from SiteGround and enter the
information requested (choose a language)
Do not use “admin” as the username for security reasons - choose
a username that is distinct from your name.
Use a strong password (StrongPasswordGenerator.com) and save it
somewhere on your computer
Click “Install Wordpress” and welcome to your Dashboard!
14

15. Please Login to your dashboard
Wordpress login URL: http://YourDomain.com/wp-admin15

16. Core Settings
Go to the left-hand sidebar and find Settings
--->General: Sitename, Tagline, Timezone, etc.
--->Reading: Hide from Search Engines (or show)
--->Discussion: Comments Settings - - read through these and set them as you
wish. The most important one to check is "comments must be manually
approved." You don't want just anyone posting a comment on your blog,
right?
--->Permalinks: use the post name setting for “pretty permalinks” to take
advantage of the inherent SEO advantage with having words (keywords) in
your URL’s instead of the default setting, which is to have numbers.
Watch video tutorial here: http://www.catswebweave.com/video-tutorial-
exploring-settings/
16

17. Change the Site Tagline
Because you don’t want Google to think yours is “just
another WordPress site...” — this tagline will show up in
your site’s search results. If your business already has a
tagline or special catchphrase, put it here. If you don’t
have a tagline, just leave it blank. Whatever you do, don’t
leave it “as is.”
17

18. Your User Profile
Go to the left-hand sidebar and find Users--->Your Profile
Choose how your name will display on the site and which email
address to be used for site notifications.
For security reasons, make sure your username is different from
the name that is publicly displayed on your site.
Update your password if needed (make sure it is strong).
Change your color scheme if desired.
18

19. Delete Default Content
Your default WordPress installation may come
preloaded with default content like a “Hello world!”
blog post and a sample page.
You’ll want to delete the default comment that comes
with your WordPress installation. Remember to replace
it with your own awesome content!
19

20. Create your first pages
1. Go to Pages--> Add New in the left-side menu bar or from the
top admin bar (+New--> Page)
2. Publish a page called “Home” and if you want a blog, a page called
“Blog”
3. *Do not* place content on the Blog Page.You will set this page as
the page for your posts to show on in the Readings Settings if you
want a blog.
4. Visit this post for guidance on creating pages and posts:
5. http://www.catswebweave.com/video-tutorial-adding-pages/
20

21. Add a Blog
Simply create a new post (+New Post), give it a title, some content, a
category and a featured image (optimized for web, under 100KB)
then go to your Blog page to see it. Blog posts will be listed with the
most recent post at the top of the Blog page. Depending on your
theme, the blog page will display the full post or an excerpt with a
“read more” button. The featured image may also be displayed.
Visit this post to learn how to format your content:
http://www.catswebweave.com/formatting-content/
21

22. Installing a Theme
• Wordpress comes with a default theme - if you add a different theme
later, keep it in case you need to revert to the default theme to
troubleshoot a theme issue.
• Visit this post: http://www.catswebweave.com/video-tutorial-installing-
theme/
• Activate the default theme and customize the header, colors, etc. by
going to Appearance:-->Customize. Click the save button to activate
your changes.
• There are many themes to choose from - premium themes come with
developer support and usually are more solid and reliable in general. I
use iThemes Builder.
22

23. Customize the Theme
Go to Appearance--->Customize to customize the
theme. Here you can set the Site Title & Tagline,
Colors, Header Image, Background Image,
Widgets for the sidebar and Static Front Page. For
more in-depth customization, you would need to
add some custom css styles in a child theme
stylesheet.
23

24. Parent-Child Theme Structure
A word about Parent-Child Theme Structure:
•It is best practice to create a "child theme" so if/when your
parent theme gets updated, you don't lose your changes.
•Many premium themes come with a child theme structure
already in place (such as iThemes Builder).
•If you do not have a child theme, you will need to make
one. Follow these directions: https://codex.wordpress.org/
Child_Themes
24

25. Formatting Content
If you are familiar with Microsoft Word, you will find
it easy to format your content using the built-in
Wordpress visual editor. Watch this free video
tutorial on how to format your content:
http://www.catswebweave.com/formatting-content/
25

26. Menus
Go to Appearance--->Menus to create a custom
navigation menu. You will need to tell your theme
to use this menu if you want it to display. You can
use Menus to add your Blog page and Blog
categories to your navigation. Watch this video
tutorial: http://www.catswebweave.com/video-
tutorial-adding-navigation-menu/
26

27. Appearance-->Menus
27

28. Appearance-->Menus
28

29. Adding Plugins
To add a plugin (make sure it is compatible with your version of Wordpress
(you can find this in your dashboard under “At a Glance”), is rated well, is
reported “working” and has an active support forum)
Go to Plugins-->Add New
Type the name of the plugin you want into the search field or
upload a .zip file from your computer
Click “Details” to read the plugin details
Click “Install Now” then activate the plugin
It’s always a good idea to backup before you add a plugin you
are not familiar with. Plugins can break sites. It’s rare, but it
can happen.
video tutorial here: http://www.catswebweave.com/video-tutorial-adding-plugin/
29

30. Backing Up
There are 2 parts to fully backing up
your Wordpress site:
backup your database (the brains)
backup your files (the body - this is where your
themes, plugins and media library live)
30

31. Backup Buddy
Backup Buddy will make backing up a breeze!
It allows you to create an automatic backup schedule that sends
backups to a secure, remote destination daily, weekly or monthly.
And it can help you restore your site if it gets hacked.
You can also use BackupBuddy to move your site from one server
to another - highly recommended!
use this link: Buy BackupBuddy ($80 for 2 sites)
31

32. Make a Backup Schedule
Once you have obtained BackupBuddy, watch this
tutorial and video for excellent step-by-step
instructions on using BackupBuddy to make a regular
backup schedule that sends backups to a secure,
remote destination: http://ithemes.com/2012/08/17/
the-first-4-critical-steps-after-installing-backupbuddy/
32

33. Updates
You will receive a notification when something needs
to be updated in the Dashboard: Notifications area
Always backup before updating the core WP software -
can’t hurt to backup before updating a theme or plugin as well
33

34. Updates
Plugin updates:
Make sure the plugin has 100% compatibility (according
to its author) with your version of Wordpress
34

35. Updates
Theme updates:
Keep your current theme and/or the most
recent default Wordpress theme updated
35

36. Core Update
Core update:
Backup first and store backup securely
then Go to Updates in your dashboard and
choose “Update Now”
36

37. Security...
Use a secure password and store it securely: http://www.google.com/?
q=password+generator or http://strongpasswordgenerator.com
Keep your core Wordpress software up-to-date (always backup first!) to
keep your site secure and functioning well
Use the iThemes Security plugin - it has built-in tools to help you secure
your site
Keep all of your themes and plugins updated to reduce vulnerability to
hacking
Delete unnecessary themes and plugins (so you don’t have to update
them)
Use Sucuri for automatic scanning and cleanup if you get hacked - for a
free malware scan, go to sitecheck.sucuri.net.
37

38. Here are some cool things iThemes
Security can do to secure
your WordPress site:
Automatically locks out bad users after too many failed login
attempts
Provides protection from Brute Force Attacks
Renames the default ‘Admin’ user account
Enforces strong passwords for all accounts
Monitors files for unauthorized changes
38

39. Block Spam...
Activate Akismet - your spam blocker
Get an API key from Wordpress.com - it’s free for personal
use
Disable comments on pages and enable them on posts (your
blog) - it is not typical to enable comments on pages but they
are enabled by default when you create a new page.
39

40. Jetpack
Go to Plugins--> Add New in the left-side menu bar
Install Jetpack
40

41. Jetpack
Go to Jetpack--> Settings in the left-side menu bar
Deactivate features you will not be using (i.e., Subscriptions if
you are using AWeber or MailChimp)
Keep these features activated: Contact Form, Enhanced
Distribution, Publicize, Sharing, Stats, Photon)
Visit this post for help with using Jetpack:
http://www.catswebweave.com/tutorial-jetpack/
41

42. Sharing Buttons
Go to Settings-->Sharing
Scroll down to Sharing Buttons
Drag and drop the buttons you want to use at the
bottoms of pages and/or posts
Adjust other settings as appropriate
42

43. Contact Form
Create a contact page if you don’t have one already
Make sure you have added this page to your navigation menu
(Appearance--> Menus)
In the Wordpress editor, click the “Add Contact Form”
button
43

44. Contact Form
Modify your contact form as you see
fit.
You can add, edit or delete fields
Go to email notifications to change
the email address that will receive a
notification (by default the
notification is sent to the author of
the contact page)
Insert your form into your page
44

45. Stats
Go to Jetpack-->Site Stats
Click the link to Configure
You can show your stats in your
admin dashboard
45

46. Sync your feed with Facebook (profile and/or page),
Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ etc. using Jetpack Publicize:
http://jetpack.me/support/social/.
Syncing your Blog with Social Media
46

47. Blog Sync
Go to Tools-->Sharing
Connect to your social media
accounts
Use your Facebook Page (not
your personal profile) as a
best practice
New posts will now be
publicized when published
Change settings within the
Publish area in the upper right
hand corner of post editor
47

48. Caching
Use SuperCache or Comet Cache for a basic website with a
blog (usually best to wait until after you launch)
Use W3 Total Cache if you plan on using a Content Delivery
Network (CDN) such as Amazon Cloudfront and/or if you
have a really large site with lots of rich images and lots of
custom stylesheets
Visit this post: http://www.catswebweave.com/tutorial-make-
site-load-fast-caching-plugin/
48

49. Web Images
By default, most hosts give Wordpress users a file size limit for
uploads to the media library.This limit can be raised at the
server level. Contact your host if you need help with this.
Make sure you size your photographs and/or images down
before you upload them to save load time for visitors. 100KB is
a good limit for file size. DPI should be 300.
Photoshop Elements or Preview (for Mac) are great for this.
Follow the guidance in this post: http://
www.catswebweave.com/video-tutorial-web-friendly-images-
wordpress-media-library/
49

50. Widgets
A widget is very simply, a small amount of code.With WordPress,
you can place a widget, or a bit of code, into any “widgetized” area
on your website. In most cases, this would be a sidebar.
The core WordPress software gives you a set of widgets and
plugins can give you more widgets as well. Here is a video tutorial
that shows you how to use widgets:
http://www.catswebweave.com/video-tutorial-widgets/
50

51. Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed this course!
For your Wordpress success,
-Cat
Please provide feedback here:
https://getsatisfaction.com/cats_web_weave
51