One-Click Installs Are The Easiest Way To Set Up A WordPress Blog

Posted June 18, 2007 | by irene | in Blogging | 30 responses

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Non-techies listen up – now you too can have a WordPress blog set up and running at your own domain, in minutes!

The how-to instructions on how to do a manual install of WordPress can be rather intimidating. This is because you need to set up a database on your web hosting server to run WordPress, and in order to do so, you need to get into the “tech guts” of your server. Spooky.

That’s why WordPress One-click installs are great - all you have to do is follow the instructions set up by your web hosting company, which usually amount to clicking a few check boxes. The trickiest part in the operation will be naming the database, but that’s basically all you have to do: name it. The rest is done for you.

Another thing that is great about One-Click Installs is that they make handling updates to the WordPress software easy. The kind WordPress developers keep making their software better and safer, and so it is a good idea to keep updating to the latest version of WordPress, especially for security reasons. With one-click installs, the web hosts will upload the latest software for you, and when you are ready to install it, it’s just another click away.

Here are a few reputable companies that offer one-click installs. Sign up with either one and you could be blogging in about 10 minutes (with a default theme – see below for more info.)

Hostgator

We are happy to say we love Hostgator and have been using Hostgator for over 2 years now. We are delighted with the servers and with the service. With packages starting at $5.95 USD per month (for one domain), Hostgator is a sweet deal. It is also the host of choice for many pro Internet Marketers who use the Reseller Package to host all their web sites. It boasts CPanel and WHM control panels, which are very popular control panels for your hosting admin area.

One-click installs are handled by Fantastico. Login to your hostgator control panel, and look for the Fantastico icon, then follow the instructions for WordPress.

Click here to check out the Hostgator web site or to sign up for an account.

Dreamhost

Is probably the most popular one-click install company, most-likely because of their very popular affiliate program. There are as many Dreamhost evangelists as there are detractors, but the one thing you can be sure of is that Dreamhost’s popularity hasn’t waned, and they are still one of the top hosting companies out there. Their newsletter will make you laugh too, as it boasts some of the wittiest corporate writing out there.

A big plus – the hosting company is very honest about what’s going on with their service and have a blog and wiki set up so that you can stay up-to-date with what is going on with your server’s status.

Dreamhost’s Crazy Domain Insane! package costs $7.95 a month if you sign up and pay for 2 years up front. Otherwise it’s $8.95 a month. This will get you 150 GB of web host space, which increases weekly by 1 GB. Yes, this incentive is quite unique, but it seems to be working.

You get a lot of web space and transfer with Dreamhost – the allowed bandwidth or transfer amount increases weekly too, starting at 1.5 TB and increasing weekly by 16 GB.

With Dreamhost, you can host as many domain names as you like on this package and have unlimited MySql databases running – enough to set up a blogging empire. You also get 1 year of free domain name registration.

I am currently hosting this site and a few other blogs with Dreamhost and I have had very little problems with them and found their support service quite speedy.

The Dreamhost control panel also allows for other Dreamhost one-click installs include Gallery, ZenCart, PhpGedView, Pligg, dotProject, Moodle, Joomla, phpBB, MediaWiki, WebCalendar, Advanced Poll, and Trac

This way to review the Dreamhost package in more detail.

Midphase

Is growing quite a strong fan base and while is used to be one of the more expensive companies to host with, they have now become very competitive. Their basic starter package is only  $2.95 and will get you unlimited space and bandwidth, and a domain name. Unlimited domains will cost you $5.95 a month.

I have used midphase to set up  a number of websites, and love their speed and customer service. Top notch.

• More about Midphase

As usual, do your research to choose the right company for you. A quick Google search of any company name above and you will find tons of fan mail, heated debates, as well as a few horror stories. But I think you will be safe with any of the companies above unless you plan on getting millions of hits a day, which in that case you should be able to afford a dedicated server (one that you do not share with anyone else.) And that is a good problem to have

Get blogging now!

*With WordPress One-Click installs, you will be blogging with the default theme. See below.

But that’s ok, you can always customize the layout later – the Strange Duck web site is running on WordPress with our Themewhiz theme (contact us, we can help you customize your site.)

You will also want to add plugins and change your settings so that you won’t be inundated with spam, or so that your site is search engine friendly, quick to load, has back-ups made and is hard to hack( contact us, we can help you with that too.) Soon you will want to add pages, and categories for your posts, tools to help you spread the word. Then you’ll want to brand your site and make sure your message is heard. And add tools that will make sure people can ReTweet your posts easily, or like your pages etc. Yes, it goes on and on, but the best news is that WordPress will always be there for you, and is infiniteley expandable. It’s that good and popular, that you can be assured your site’s technology will never go out of date.

Just remember, if you start now, nothing will be lost. So start now!