User:BedBug Guardian
In this article I'm going to help you get started on your first WordPress Website. Before we do that, BedBug Guardian let me explain what WordPress can do for you... If you don't know what a content management system is (CMS), it is the ability to manage your own content without the need of editing files. Quite simply, it's the best thing to ever happen to the way we manage our content. There are hundreds of thousands of websites on the web using WordPress as its content management system, and after I get done with you, you'll have your very own too.
Let's first get past the whole idea of hiring a web designer, because you don't need one for this! The best things in life are free, as they say; knowledge is free and lucky for you, WordPress is free too. The first things you need to do are to visit WordPress's website, and download the latest version of WordPress. The download will be a ZIP archive; it will most likely be around two megabytes in size. Remember, it doesn't install on your computer; it installs on your web host, and I'll explain next what a web host is, so for now all you want to do is download it.
Next you will need to get hosting for your website. I would recommend something from Godaddy or 1and1 because they have good customer service and give you a free domain or free hosting with the purchase of one or the other. Make sure you get PHP Linux shared hosting, because WordPress is written in a scripting language known as PHP. Once you have your hosting, and they've told you how to upload your files (FTP), then you should proceed to setting up a MySQL database, so WordPress can store all of your content.
You will need your MySQL login details. Your login to your MySQL database will be provided to you from your host (user, pass, server, database name). You're on your way to starting your very own WordPress Website. Fun times! Go ahead and unzip the contents of your WordPress ZIP (the one you downloaded from the WordPress.org website), and begin uploading the files through an FTP software (your host can help you with that). After you've gotten your files onto your site, you now need to configure your WordPress installation. And when I say configure, I mean WordPress will do almost all of the work for you.
