How to create a self hosted (Wordpress) blog?

[I was supposed to write this post 2 days back but because of my work and other schedules I could not write it. Now I am finally writing it]

As in my earlier post I had mentioned about three simple ways of blogging. This was the third way. But in that post I made this way of creating a blog difficult rather than making it simple. So now I am hear to take you with the easy steps of creating a self hosted blog. A self hosted blog needs a domain name and  a web space to host your blog. So your first step would be registering a domain name.

Step 1]

Register a Domain Name: The most popular website for registering domain names in India is Bigrock.com You can get best deals for domain names @ bigrock

 Step 2]

Get a web hosting account. You can start with any web hosting provider. In my initial days I had used One.com which gives domain and hosting together. It's promotional package lets you get Domain Name + 5 GB web space @ 13.8 USD for one year (Yes that's too cheap!). After that you have to pay 31.2 USD for every year (economic right?). You will also get a 50 USD Google Adwords coupon to promote your blog on Google. So it is very much recommended for beginners to get web hosting + domain name from one.com. Here is the link:

Best hosting for wordpress blog signup here

You can also get hosting from BigRock.com itself. There are many other options too like hostgator, and godaddy, I won't say they are not good but they are not for beginners in my view.

Step 3] Go to Wordpress.org

Step 4] Download Latest Wordpress

Step 5] You will receive a zipped folder that contains all the essential files to create your self hosted blog. Unzip all the files.

You will see all these files in that folder:

Step 6] Download FileZilla FTP Client from http://filezilla-project.org/

Step 7] Install FileZilla Client and launch it.

Step 8] Now go to your hosting provider and ask for following details:

a) FTP Host name

b) FTP User name

c) FTP Password

Step 9] Once you get the details mentioned in the last step, go to FileZilla Client, put all the information you got from your host and click on Quickconnect.

Step 10] You will see some files on server "/" indicates root folder at server. If there is no public_html folder on right side, you will have to upload all the files directly to root folder ie. "/"

To upload all wordpress files, choose the path to all wordpress files on left hand side in FileZilla client. Once you have located all the files, select the files and click on Upload. Wait until all the files get uploaded.

Step 11] Now go to your hosting provider. There must be an option to go to PHPMyadmin. Go to PHPMYADMIN and create a database. 

Step 12] Now go to the link (domain name where you have uploaded your site or simply type the domain name that you had registered)

You will see a Configuration Error Page.

You need to create a wp-config.php file and upload it to root where you have uploaded other files. You can also create it using the Wordpress interface. 

Step 13] Click on "Create a Configuration File"

When you will click, it will tell you what details you need to create it. All the details required are mentioned in the image below:

Step 13] Now you need to click on Let's go! You will have to fill in all the information including database name that you had created in step 11. Other details you will have to take from your Hosting Service Provider.

Step 14] Fill in the details as I have done for demonstration purpose. Once you will fill all the details you will see a page which would say:

Step 15] All right sparky! Now Run the Install by clicking on the given button.

Step 16] Now after running the install on next page you need to fill some information, just do that and click Install Wordpress button.

Step 17] Well well well, your Wordpress Blog is ready! Now you need to login using user name and password you have selected in last step.

Step 18] You will see the dashboard of your newly created Wordpress Blog. Now you can create pages, posts, allow users to contribute to your blog, change theme, customize existing themes and if you have enough expertise you can create your own theme. 

(Click on the picture to see a larger view)

Mean while you can also go directly to the link of your website to see what exactly has been done. You will see your blog ready and running.

(Click on the picture to see larger view)

This is all about creating your own self hosted wordpress blog. If you have doubts in any steps, you can ask me. I will try to solve all your queries and problems. You can also go to http://wordpress.org/support/ for your queries.