We’ve received many emails about how to setup a website similar to ours. I thought it would be good to refresh the post I wrote on how to setup a self hosted WordPress site. I hope you find this to be a good start to get you on your way! Several of you have also asked us for a detailed walk through of setting up your own website. We wish we had the time to help each and everyone of you who reach out, but there just aren’t enough hours in a day. If you’d like to pick our brains, you can book an hour of our time for a fee and we can speak over the phone. We wish you all the best in the launch of your new website!
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
Setting up a new WordPress site is simple once you figure out the type of site you want. Most people are familiar with WordPress. Not everyone knows there’s a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. In short, .com is fully hosted and .org is self hosted. This post will focus on the self hosted version since that’s how this site is setup.
The process is fairly simple and should take about 15 minutes without any issues. Below is a step by step of how I setup our self hosted WordPress site.
How to Setup a Self Hosted WordPress Site
Register Your Domain
We used GoDaddy to register our domain, here’s a link to their help article on registering domain names.
Find a web hosting service
There are many web hosting providers out there including GoDaddy. After extensive research, one hosting company that kept coming up with good reviews was Bluehost. The introductory price also seemed like a good deal. The services included unlimited storage, automated backups and free domain name. They also offer a 30 day money back guarantee, which made it an even easier choice.
Our introductory price was $4.95/month for Plus Hosting and our current rate is $11.99/month renewed on an annual basis. Bluehost has been good and we are looking at upgrading to Cloud Business Pro which is $25.99/month. My one complaint so far is the wait time for customer support during peak hours. The usual wait time is about a minute, but there have been a few times where I had to wait close to 10 minutes. Another popular option you should look into is WPEngine.
Update: We upgraded from Plus to Cloud Business Pro and have not noticed a significant difference in overall performance.
Another Update: We have moved to Managed WordPress Hosting.
Sign up for a hosting service
Since we went with Bluehost, the instructions that follow will focus on the process through this specific hosting service. If you go with another hosting service, be sure to carefully read the instructions on how to setup your site.
1. Choose the type of hosting service: shared, VPS (Virtual Private Server) or dedicated. Check out this helpful infographic on the different types of web hosting.
2. Type in a new domain or existing domain. Since we registered our domain with GoDaddy.com, we had to update the Name servers. If for any reason the Bluehost help link does not work or become out of date, search for “How to Modify Your DNS Nameservers” for step by step instructions.
3. Fill out account information, select additional add ons and payment information.
4. Once the order is complete, login to your Bluehost account.
5. Under the “Home” tab, look for “Install WordPress”
6. Click on “Install” for a brand new instance. If you already have an existing installation, choose the “Import” option. It will take a few minutes for the install to complete. There is a paid option available starting at $99.
7. Once completed, your site will appear under “My Installs”.
8. Click on “Admin Login” to get started on building your WordPress site.
If you want more information, a good place to start is http://www.wpbeginner.com/.
9. Choose a Theme.
There are many free themes to choose from along with paid options. When we first started, we used the Twenty Eleven theme by WordPress. There are many options to choose from, a good starting point is the featured themes directory.
Disclosure: The Bluehost links and ads in this post are affiliate links. If you sign up for Bluehost using our affiliate link, we receive a commission.
I making plans to retire early and roam around in a Class B RV. I’ve been doing a lot of research over the past year, which has led me to a lot of your content. I live in San Antonio, TX. You are welcome to park your van at my place anytime. You can use my house if you want to. And I have a couple of motorcycles Joe can ride!
Neil Hammond.
Thanks Neil and will definitely take you up on the offer. I have all my riding gear with me!
Hey guys! Question for you … I was trying to sign up with GoDaddy for domain name, email, hosting, managed wordpress and somehow I messed up when the internet lost connection. I had to have GoDaddy help, I forgot to mention to them that I was signing up thru your affiliate links. May I ask what your affiliate link info is for GoDaddy? I’ll contact them back and have them make sure you get credit for that, if that is at all possible.
Hi Amanda. Thanks for thinking of us! You’re awesome! Here is our affiliate link http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-7756377-10730504-1462394943000
Is there a preferred way to start to learn WordPress and build a blog website without having it be “live” initially?
Thanks for the info and safe travels!
Hi Angie. One way to build the site without it going live is to setup a staging environment. Hope that helps and good luck with the website!
Thanks much! Enjoy your new Camper Van!
We will be going full time in February and I’ve been trying to gather information from various sources – thank you for sharing all this information in one place!
You’re very welcome and hope its helpful!
I guess one big reason that wordpress.com was not adopted is that they don’t allow you with any affiliate links. So self hosted WP is the only option.
I was just going to ask for suggestions/advice on how to start and this post came. Thanks so much. I will read and re-read and possibly sign up for a pay interview. Thanks for that offer and for the wonderful post.
Thank you Kim!