By the end of this article 'How to create a WordPress website on SiteGround', you will realize why SiteGround is one of the most preferred hosting service providers, recommended by WordPress as well.
Also, I will walk you step-by-step on how to purchase a domain name and a hosting using SiteGround.
And as always, for any one-on-one consulting and assistance, you may mail me at tariq@bloggersbloom.com
What makes SiteGround unique is the extraordinary team of individuals, who have been delivering exceptional service for websites since 2004.
SiteGround is my preferred hosting service provider. I’ve been using SiteGround since 2012. What I really like about SiteGround is their customer support. It’s truly world class. From the smallest issue to my bigger technical issues, I get on to their 24/7 chat, and voila. The issue is solved in a matter of 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the complexity of the issue.
In addition to SiteGround being my number 1 preferred hosting service provider, SiteGround is also recommended by WordPress (wordpress.org). I have also recommended SiteGround to my clients, and as expected, they are happy too.
So, let’s go ahead and buy a domain and hosting using SiteGround.
How to Create a WordPress Website on SiteGround
Step 1: Visit SiteGround
Step 2: Select “Get Started” under WordPress hosting
Step 3: Selecting a plan
This is a call you can take. If I was to develop a number of websites, I would go in for the “GrowBig” or “GoGeek” plan. But, if you are considering creating only one website, then you could select the “StartUp” plan. Click “Get Plan” against a plan of your choice and proceed.
Once you have selected your plan, you will arrive at the following screen – ‘Choose Domain‘.
Step 4: Selecting a domain name
In this step, you can either Register a new domain or select I already have a domain.
The “I already have a domain” is typically used if you have already bought a domain using another service provider. In such cases, you can enter the domain name you’ve already purchased and proceed with purchasing only the hosting from SiteGround. Once purchased, you will have to change the DNS setting in the control panel of where you have purchased the domain. If it’s too technical, remember, I’m there to help you out!
For the “Register a New Domain” option, enter in the domain name of your choice. For the sake of this article, I will check if the domain name “howtobuyadomainusingsiteground.com” is available.
Step 5: Proceed with entering basic details and payment options
If the domain name you have entered if available, you will get a confirmation message. For e.g., I entered howtobuyadomainusingsiteground.com and the same is available.
You will now proceed with entering the basic details to complete the registration process.
Please ensure you save the email ID and password you use to create this account. You will need these details to log in to your SiteGround dashboard later on.
Under ‘Purchase Information‘, you can select the ‘Period’ of your choice. The options available are for 12, 24 and 36 months.
Under the ‘Extra Services’, you will have options which you may decided to go ahead with or not.
In addition to the mandatory ‘Domain Registration‘, the service that I would recommend is the “Domain Privacy” option. Once you do purchase a domain and hosting, you would get a number of service providers cold calling you or mail you in an attempt to pitch or sell their services. They get your contact details from the WHOIS record of your website.
If you do choose to select the “Domain Privacy” option, your contact details will be hidden, hence avoiding such sales calls.
Accept the terms and click on “Pay Now” to complete the registration process
Step 6: Welcome eMail
On completing the registration process, you will receive a confirmation and welcome mail in your registered email ID.
You will have to click on the link mentioned in the email to ensure your domain name is action and thereby, confirm on your contact details.
Once you have clicked on the above link confirming your contact details, the domain name will become active in couple of hours time. Sometime even within 15 minutes.
You can now go back to the SiteGround homepage and click on Login on the top right hand corner.
Step 7: SiteGround Dashboard
Congratulations! You have completed the registration process and have purchased a domain name and hosting using SiteGround.
Click on ‘Websites‘ on the top menu links
The domain which you purchased will appear under ‘Website Details‘.
Click on CPANEL against your domain name
Your website CPanel – Control Panel.
Spend some time on this page and familiarise with the various options available here.
From creating subdomains, transferring your domains to SiteGround, WordPress Installer, backups, creating email IDs, creating SSL, etc., and a whole lot more can be performed from your CPanel.
Step 8: Installing WordPress
From the above CPanel, click on ‘WordPress Installer‘ under the ‘WordPress Tools‘ tab.
You will get the following screen. Click on the ‘Install’ tab.
Select the version 5.4, which happens to be the latest WordPress version.
Choose the domain URL. For this example, I have created a subdomain https://wordpress.bloggersbloom.com. So, I will select the same URL.
Choose a Site Name and Site Description of your choice.
Please note. You will have to select ‘https://‘ under Choose Protocol. It’s important you use the ‘https://‘ protocol. Helps customers and above all, Google, identify your website as a trusted source and using SSL certificate. By the way, SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. SSL is the standard security technology (a protocol) that offers secure communication between web servers and browsers (web clients) over an insecure network, such as the internet.
Back to our installation.
Note, you would notice an error under the ‘Choose Protocol’ & ‘Choose Domain’ stating ‘A trusted SSL Certificate was not found’. Ignore this for the time being.
Enter in the Site Name & Site Description. In this example, I’ve just mentioned “My WordPress Blog’ for both. This can be changed later on too.
Now, the Admin Account details. The ‘Admin Username’ and the ‘Admin Password’ are your WordPress backend login details. Please ensure you save these details and keep them safe. It is also highly recommended that you go along with the recommended password, which will be a mix of characters, numerals and special characters.
Set an Admin email ID of your choice too. And then click on ‘Install’.
Step 9: Setting up the WordPress Dashboard
Congratulations!
You have completed the WordPress setup process.
If you do click on the URL, for e.g., in my example it is https://wordpress.bloggersbloom.com, you will notice the following screen.
The reason being, the SSL certificate has not been installed for the domain name.
Remember the error we had earlier when we selected Protocol.
Step 10: Installing SSL
Let us get back to the CPanel in our account. Click on the ‘cP’ logo on the top of the page.
Click on ‘Let’s Encrypt‘ under the ‘Security‘ tab.
In the next page, select the domain for which you want to add the SSL. The drop down will be under “Install new Let’s Encrypt Certificate”
After you have selected the domain for which you want to Install new Let’s Encrypt Certificate, click ‘Install’.
You will get a prompt “Successfully Installed SSL“.
The process of adding SSL would take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes.
Once the SSL certificate has been added, you will notice the following screen in which your Encrypt Certificate is active for the selected domain.
Go ahead and visit your domain name/ URL.
For e.g., in this example, I will check back on https://wordpress.bloggersbloom.com
Congratulations! Your site is live with the ‘https’ protocol active.
Next: Check my article on How to create a WordPress website for beginners to create a WordPress website
Also, if you’d be interested in learning WordPress, here’s a link to my free online course on WordPress for Beginners. I’m sure you’d find value in this course.
Have you purchased the hosting service with SiteGround? Do let me know what made you decide on going ahead with SiteGround.
I’m sure if you follow the steps mentioned in this article, you’d be clear on how to create a WordPress website on SiteGround.
For any inquiries please email