What is SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)? It is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. SSL is an industry standard and is used by millions of websites in the protection of their online transactions with their customers.
For creating an SSL connection a web server requires an SSL Certificate. Most better hosting companies (like SiteGround) offer SSL Certificate for free.
1. ACTIVATE SSL IN CPANEL
First, log in your cpanel and find SSL certificate icon. In SiteGround you must find Let’s Encrypt icon like at the image below.
Then click it and you will get screen like this:
Now install SSL on your domain like at the image above.
2. INSTALL FREE SSL PLUGIN
Now log in to your WordPress Dashboard (administration panel), go to plugins and click “Add new” like at the image below.
Then find Really Simple SSL plugin and install it. Look image below.
Finally go to plugin settings and click the button “Go Ahead Activate SSL!” Look image below.
Your website SSL certificate is now active!
If you want support during your website DIY join our Facebook group where you can discuss website DIY.
Want to DIY your website? For various reasons (flexibility, SEO friendly, easy to use, affordable) we recommend self-hosted WordPress.org (free) for website DIY for individuals and small businesses. Take these steps to create your new website.
1. BUY DOMAIN NAME AND HOSTING
You only need to buy a domain and a hosting. For domain name we recommend NameCheap and for the hosting we recommend SiteGround
A domain is the name of your website (www.yourdomain.com) and hosting is the place (servers) where your website content is stored.
2. POINT YOUR DOMAIN TO YOUR HOSTING
First, you need to log in to your hosting provider dashboard. Then navigate to cPanel. If you have SiteGround hosting then your cPanel will look like this:
Hosting cPanel
Find nameservers in your dashboard (look image above) because you will need it to point your domain to your hosting.
Then you need to log in your domain name provider dashboard. If you bought your domain at NameCheap your Dashboard will look like this:
Domain name registar dashboard
When you click manage (look image above) you will get this:
Manage domain nameservers
At image above you can see where you can change nameservers. That is important because that way you will point your domain to your hosting.
3. CREATE MYSQL DATABASE AND USER
Now go to your hosting cPanel, find MySQL Databases and click it. Look at the image below.
MySQL Databases
Here, you will create a new database, create a new user (with all privileges) and then add the user to your database. For the reference look image below.
Manage My SQL Databases
4. DOWNLOAD LATEST WORDPRESS, CONNECT IT TO THE DATABASE AND INSTALL IT
Go to the www.wordpress.org and download the latest WordPress to your computer. Then unpack the .zip folder and find wp-config-sample.php file. Open that file and insert your database name (with prefix), user name and password (look image below).
wp-config.php
Then save as wp-config.php. Now you can zip your WordPress folders and files to upload them to your hosting. For that go to cPanel, then click File Manager (look image below).
File Manager
Then click Web Root (public_html/www) and then Go like at the image below.
Web Root
Now you can upload your WordPress .zip in the public_html and extract it there. When it is extracted you can delete .zip.
When you type your domain name in your browser you will start the installation process. First, you will pick a language and then you will enter your website name, admin username, and a password for your website. You can change that anytime later if you want.
5. NOW YOU CAN LOG IN YOUR WORDPRESS DASHBOARD
For any WordPress website, login URL is www.domainname.com/wp-login or www.domainname.com/wp-admin. Of course, instead of “domainname” you will write your own domain name. For our website, login URL is www.fulgsi.com/wp-login or www.fulgsi.com/wp-admin.
When you enter your username and password you are logged in your WordPress dashboard. Look at the image below.
WordPress Dashboard
On the image above you can see “Posts”, the place where you can create or edit your posts, “Media”, place where you can upload your images, videos or .pdf documents, “Pages”, where you can create or find your website pages, “Comments”, where you can check, approve or delete comments from your website and “Projects” where you can publish your portfolio. You can find out more about WordPress dashboard here.
As you can see at the image above when you click “Appearance” the one more menu will show up, where you can change or upload your theme, customize your website, manage widgets, menus, and background of your website. We will write more about that in the next parts. Now you can create your beautiful WordPress website. There are plenty of free and premium WordPress themes (like DIvi from ElegantThemes) and plugins which can help you. You can find free WordPress themes in the WordPress theme directory and plugins in the WordPress plugin repository.
If you want support during your website DIY join our Facebook group where you can discuss website DIY.
WordPress admin panel is the backend of any WordPress website. (On the contrary, the frontend is what your visitors will see.) It is very easy to edit and customize your website through the admin panel.
Do you know how to access your WordPress website admin panel? Easy, just add /wp-admin or /wp-login after your domain name (www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin or www.yourdomain/wp-login).
On the log-in screen insert your username and password so you can log-in to the admin panel.
Your admin panel dashboard will look like in the screenshot below.
If you looked image above carefully, you will figure out how to create new posts in WordPress, upload photos, and videos, create new pages or manage existing, manage comments, manage themes, widgets, menus, and backgrounds, add or remove plugins, manage users, import and export content, manage settings, such as reading, permalink etc. It is very easy, just try it.
WordPress is MySQL and PHP based Content Management System. It is open source which means it is completely free and can be redistributed or modified.
Almost 30% websites are powered by WordPress. Because of that, there is large WordPress community, so you as a user can easily find almost anything you want to know about WordPress. And there are plenty of free and paid themes and plugins
The major reason for WordPress is so popular is because it is easy to learn for new users. Also, it is very flexible. With WordPress, you can have any kind of website, from blog to e-commerce or even social network.
When you create post or page in WordPress you do not have to publish it immediately. Instead, you can save it as a draft and decide later do you want to publish it. Also, every time you save post or page it is stored in the Revisions. Because of that, you are able to find some previous version of your post or page and restore it.
Post scheduling is also one of great WordPress functions. It is very useful when you go on vacation or a business trip, but you want fresh website content during that time. You just need to create posts and schedule it for certain date and time and WordPress will publish those posts at the scheduled time.
This listed above are main reasons why people prefer WordPress. If you have other reasons, let us know.
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