2 Starting a website

 

This chapter covers

  • Selecting the right version of WordPress and the best hosting service
  • Hiding your site until it’s ready to debut
  • Saving your work
  • Installing security and backup plugins
  • Managing access to your site

Starting off in the right direction matters a lot when building a website. Whether your site achieves your goals or fails can sometimes depend on choices you make before even creating your first page.

For one thing, there are two versions of WordPress, and if you select the wrong one, you can struggle with limitations and inflexibility from then on. In addition, you have to choose a quality hosting service, which stores your site on a server in the cloud. Choose the wrong one, and when you need technical assistance (and we all do now and then), you’ll get delays, bad advice, or no response at all! This chapter is all about making the right moves before you even start deciding on your site’s structure and design.

2.1 Choosing the right version of WordPress

WordPress comes in two distinct versions: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Most experts agree that, of the two versions, WordPress.org is superior to WordPress.com.

note

The terms org and com here just identify these two versions of WordPress, and have nothing to do with .com, .edu, .net (called domain extensions) and other short abbreviations that are appended to internet website addresses like cnn.com or Wikipedia.org.

2.2 Signing up with a first-rate hosting service

2.2.1 Choosing your domain name

2.2.2 Setting up a practice site

2.2.3 A hosting service checklist

2.3 Visiting your backend

2.4 Hiding your site while it’s under construction

2.4.1 Asking AI to leave your site alone

2.5 Saving your work

2.6 Ensuring site security

2.7 Automating backups

2.8 Managing site access

2.8.1 Understanding the various user roles

2.8.2 Monetizing via subscriptions

2.8.3 Password-protecting pages

Summary