Three Different Ways Of Getting A WordPress Blog Up And Running
The purpose of this article is to outline three different ways of getting a WordPress blog up and running. WordPress is a free blogging software, has many benefits and is supported by a large community of users and developers.
A “blog” is abbreviated from the term, “web log” which is a form of online diary or journal.
Since its advent a few short years ago, blogs have found numerous uses. Just to name a few, these include:
- teenagers putting their thoughts and ramblings online
- hobbyists giving updates about their interests and passion
- people staying updated with friends overseas
- professional bloggers updating specific niche products
- multinational corporations (MNC’s) such as Microsoft & General Motors using blogs as marketing tool
Like a web site, a blog has global reach. However, it’s far cheaper, quicker and definitely easier to maintain a blog than a traditional web site. A blog’s contents can be easily updated by submitting short or long articles (commonly known as blog posts) through an easy-to-use graphical interface. As a blog’s content is updated regularly, they naturally attract both human readers as well as search engines hungry for fresh content.
To set up a blog, we need some form of blogging software or platform. There are free software like Blogger and WordPress and there are paid platforms like Moveable Type and Typepad.
Blogger is owned by Google. It’s free and perhaps the easiest way to create a blog and your first post, literally within minutes! Howeer, its features are somewhat limited.
Thus, WordPress is a good alternative if you are looking for free blogging software. As it is an open source software, it is literally supported by a huge community of users and developers that assists both new and experienced bloggers. Not only feature rich – it supports categories, pages and trackbacks, just to name a few – it is constantly being updated through its core software as well as through software plugin’s which are bonus software components that extend the basic functionality of WordPress. For more information, visit WordPress.org
Here are 3 different ways to get a WordPress blog up and running:
1) Via WordPress.com
2) Via WordPress.org
3) Via CPANEL’s Fantastico
VIA WORDPRESS.COM
Like Blogger, you can get your WordPress blog and first post up and running within several minutes through WordPress.com! This site is meant for people to get a taste of WordPress without having to go through the somewhat involved procedure via WordPress.org (see the section below). If this is the first time you are getting your WordPress blog up and running, you should definitely give this a shot.
It’s as easy as going to WordPress.com, clicking the button that says “Get a WordPress Blog Now>>” or something like that and following the directions there. And then, you start posting!
In this case, your WordPress blog will be hosted on WordPress.com totally free. Therefore, you do not need your own web host. The only drawback is that there are limitations such as you can’t install your own themes or plugin’s.
VIA WORDPRESS.ORG
Instead of having your blog hosted on WordPress.com, you can install WordPress on your own web host. (Of course, in this case, you need to have your own web hosting account which preferably comes with a version of “CPANEL” – a an easy-to-use graphical control panel to manage your web host.)
Setting up of the WordPress blog comprises the 3 main steps below.
Step 1: Visit WordPress.org and download the WordPress installation files which are free (since it is open source software as mentioned before). As the files are in a compressed format, run your compression utility (such as Winzip) to expand the files to your hard disk..
Step 2: Run your File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program and connect to your web hosting account. Then upload the installation files to the domain (if you have multiple domains hosted) and folder that you want your WordPress blog installed.
Step 3: This step is going to be challenging for the non-techie type if they managed to survive Step 2! You log into the CPANEL of your web host and create and configure your MYSQL database. After this is done, you need to configure some files to complete your installation.
Next, launch your browser to access your blog and start making your 1st post by running the “wp-admin.php” script that has been installed.
As you can see, this is the “normal” but very tedious way of setting up of your WordPress blog.
However, the effort you expend is worthwhile as you can configure all aspects of WordPress like installing the theme you like and adding HTML codes to include Google AdSense on your blog to earn some profit, etc.
VIA FANTASTICO
Again, you install WordPress on your own web host but this time through FANTASTICO. In this case, not only would you need to have your own web hosting account, it MUST come with a version of “CPANEL” that includes “FANTASTICO” – an advanced script installer that automates a 1-click WordPress installation! (Actually a few clicks are needed.)
With FANTASTICO, all the 3 steps above are automated for you. All you need to do is to log into the CPANEL of your web host and then click the FANTASTICO icon, which is a smiley face.
In the next screen, click on “WordPress” and then click on “New Installation”. FANTASTICO will open a form and you fill in a few things like which domain (if you have multiple domains hosted) and which folder to install to. Once you have typed in the information and pushed a button, FANTASTICO will install WordPress in a few seconds!
How is that possible? That’s because the installation files are already at your web host. This saves you time as you don’t have to download them from WordPress.org, expand them and upload to your web host. Likewise, the databas is also automatically created and configured for you.
Next, launch your browser to access your blog and start making your 1st post by running the “wp-admin.php” script that has been installed.
As you can see, this is the “preferred” method of getting a WordPress blog up and running, also within minutes.and yet you can have all the benefits of configuring all aspects of WordPress, such as adding Affiliate Programs easily (including Amazon.com) and Google AdSense to make a handsome profit month after month!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/three-different-ways-of-getting-a-wordpress-blog-up-and-running-46629.html
About the Author:
Roger Loh spent many years setting up computer networks and is an Internet marketer focusing on Affiliate Marketing and Blogging. Get started in Internet Marketing and Blogging: His Blog Blogging Video.
Hi Roger, good post. But I think it’s important for newbies to know that Fantastico and cPanel are not the only means of easy installs of WordPress. Other hosts use scripts similar to Fantastico, like their own custom bundle of software or the Elefante scripts.
Unless someone really doesn’t want to do it, I typically suggest newbies to try and first install WP on their own and ask for help along the way when needed. This is likely a program (WordPress) they will be using for a while and the learning experience can really help them be a step above others who use auto installers.
True there are other ways of installing WordPress. But, let’s face it cPanel and Fantastico is one of the easiest and the majority of hosting companies run cPanel.
As far as installing WordPress manually I think that’s a terrible idea for most newbies. You know why? Most of them would get stuck and give up at the point where they have to login to their hosting account and create a database. Then, they’d end up not using WordPress at all and miss out on all the benefits.
Most newbies don’t want to mess with all of that technical B.S. and they shouldn’t. Go to Host Gator, get a good cPanel account and install WordPress in about 2 minutes. Then start doing the things that really matter and really pay off. Learning to install WordPress the old fashioned way isn’t a money making skill.
I’m with you Cat- why the heck would you ever want to install this the hard way when there is Fantastico. I had put up loads of blogs that way and found it a major pain in the butt to then put on on an older site where you have to go and create a database. I ended up needing help from tech support when it didn’t NEED to be that much of a hassle. Maybe these hosting companies will get the message and learn how to make it easier on people who do NOT want to waste their time trying to be chief cook and bottle washer all the time.