By this point, you should have already have pointed your domain to your web host’s nameservers and allowed enough time for those changes to propagate. You should also have logged into your cPanel once or twice, using the login and password found on the e-mail that your web host sent you when you signed up for your account.

What we’re going to do now is install the basic framework of the website – the content management system, or CMS for short.

While there are quite a few choices you have when it comes to picking a CMS, the one I usually end up going with is WordPress, for several reasons.

• WordPress is easy to use, making it simple to update content on your website without knowing HTML or how to use a complex editor tool like Dreamweaver, or hiring someone every time you want to make a small change to your website. You can actually update your WordPress website anywhere that you have internet access and a web browser.
• WordPress is flexible and powerful because there are a ton of developers and programmers out there who are busy developing themes and plugins for use with WordPress websites. WordPress makes it easy to customize your website and do little (or big) things to set it apart from every other site that’s out there.
• WordPress is easy to install, especially if you have cPanel and Fantastico, like you get with a Liquid Web or Hawk Host web hosting account.

Fantastico is a tool that you have at your disposal that allows for a quick, easy installation of the WordPress framework onto your domain name. Once you log into your cPanel, you can find Fantastico on your cPanel home screen, like so:

cPanel home screen with Fantastico helpfully pointed out

So look for the little smiley face Fantastico icon and click it to go to this screen:

Fantastico home screen with WordPress section helpfully pointed out

This is your Fantastico home screen, where you have any number of scripts that will install all sorts of fun things. I’d love to go into all your options, but I’m not going to because life is full of disappointment and you should be getting used to that by now. So just click on the “WordPress” link on the left hand side of the screen.

Fantastico WordPress installation section

Because this is the first time you’ve installed WordPress on your server space, this will be blank. Once you’re at this screen, click the “New Installation” link, which will bring you to the following screen:

Fantastico WordPress install - step 1

Fill in the appropriate information. Since I’m using the domain name AllenSelby.com, I select that from the drop-down menu. Then I leave the next space – the “Install in Directory” space – blank.

In the Admin Access area, select the login name and password that you want to use. I highly suggest that you select something other than “admin” for the login name and that you make the password as complex as you can remember.

In the Base Configuration area choose the name that you would like to appear on your posts. If you have a name you regularly go by on the internet, this is a good place to put it. Or you can use your business name, or whatever. This should be different than the admin login.

Choose an e-mail address that you check regularly.

Put the name of the website – in this case AllenSelby – and a tagline for the website.

Once you’ve done all that, click on “Install WordPress” to go to the next screen.

Fantastico WordPress Install Step 2

This shows you an overview of some of the options you selected on the previous screen and basically serves as a “Do you really want to do that?” screen. You do, so click “Finish Installation” to go to the next screen here:

Fantastico WordPress install - step 3

Ok, WordPress is now installed on your domain name and you have everything you need to get started on the next step. You can go visit your website if you like, although it will be very plain at the moment.

I recommend that you use that box down below to e-mail yourself the details of the installation for safekeeping and later reference.

The Guide:

Building Your Own Website

Registering a Domain Name
Choosing a Web Hosting Company: Hawk Host or Liquid Web
Pointing Your Domain Name to Your Web Host
Using cPanel and Fantastico to Put Up Your First Website
Changing The Default WordPress Settings On Your First Website
Locating, Loading And Activating Useful WordPress Plugins For Your First Website
A List Of Useful WordPress Plugins

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